Thanks Giving!

Phil 1:3-5
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,"

     More than words can express, I am grateful for what God is doing through His people in Mexico.  We  have grown in the Lord so much over these last five years!  A big reason we are able to be in Mexico is because so many of you who receive these letters have sacrificially and faithfully given since our move down here.  God has blessed us with an incredible support team, for which we are very grateful.  We couldn’t do this without you! (Hint: Income tax write off 2016)
     One of the perks of being a pastor at Calvary Chapel Rosarito is getting to go to the annual pastors and wives dinner.  After we ordered, Pastor Mike Vincent asked us all to share something we were thankful for.
    

One of the first things I spoke of was our church here in Rosarito.  I thanked the Lord for each one of the pastors that has invested in me and my family.  We have never grown so much in our lives. 
     We are so blessed to be serving in Mexico.  Ministry is very encouraging here because God is doing amazing things through His church.  He has prepared a harvest and we are simply reaping: the first time guests, the professions of faith, Life Groups, the Bible studies and so much more.  I was more than half way through teaching the book of Nehemiah and people were still adding the class!  The people here are hungry for The Word, and I would encourage any and all of you to come down and serve!  There is so much to do!

     God has blessed each one of us with talents and gifts to serve the “yet to believe”.  With regard to our family:  Melissa is on the worship team and doing a lot of Chiropractic!  She sees people two days a week as well as monthly outreaches.  Melissa and her ministry team (including Sister-in-Law Tammi) will provide three Chiro outreaches over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Caleb is serving on the security team, Sarah is working with the children's ministry, and Nathan serves with me on the greeting team. Nathan is now “vlogging” (“Nate_H_Vlogs” on YouTube).  Take a look to see life in Mexico from Nathan's perspective!

     We recently visited Santa Cruz and went to the Fall Festival at SCBC.  Melissa and I were greatly encouraged regarding how many Latino families came to visit the church.  Of the hundreds of people that came, 80-90% were Latino!  Of those I asked, most do not attend church.  God used this experience as another confirmation of our calling to plant a bilingual church in Santa Cruz.  Please pray for this challenging ministry God has called us to.  

Requests: 
1. God would raise His team for this new mission
2. Housing for us and a great school for our kids.

May God richly bless you,  The Hanson Family

555 Saturn Blvd. Suite B 320
San Diego CA 92154  
www.thehansonfamily.org

5 Years of Adventure!

     

This month marked five years of adventure for us in Mexico!  As many of you may know by now, our ministry here in Mexico will most likely not extend past 6 years.  The Lord has put on my heart a vision to plant a bilingual church back in Santa Cruz - as a sending hub to plant more bilingual churches in the surrounding areas.  This church would serve two purposes:  a missional outreach to the virtually unreached Latino families in the bay area, and a training center to equip others who are called to plant a

 church.  We believe the Lord has used our time in Mexico to prepare us for this new work.  Our pastor here in Mexico has poured his life into planting churches that function as sending hubs.  He is very excited to have my family and I as partners bringing this vision up north.  Santa Cruz Bible Church (our sending church) is 100% on board with this plan and they are anxious to see some details written down so they can plan out their involvement.  These are very exciting times for all of us.
     In order to help us prepare for this work, I (Michael) am now an ordained Calvary Chapel Pastor!  I’ve been given more responsibility at our church, and just did my first sermon there July 6 (www.calvarychapelrosarito.net)!  Melissa is continuing to expand her Chiropractic ministry and is praying about joining the worship team at church to practice leading bilingual worship.  Caleb has earned his California driver’s learner permit and has been putting it to good use helping with the recent drive to and from Santa Cruz as well as chauffeuring us around here in Baja.  Sarah is excited to begin school again this coming Fall.  Sarah said recently, “Done homeschooling Mom, no offense”.  Nathan is excited to continue homeschooling and has even begun surfing with me in the mornings!  It’s been awesome having a new surf buddy.
     The Lord is doing an amazing work here in Mexico.  We continue to do our best to follow His lead, reaping the fruit He has ripened before us.  Thank you for your continued love of Mexico and support!
     As the Lord leads, please pray:  for our finanical support, for wisdom and grace in parenting teens, for continued clarity as we define and train for the bilingual church plant.
Each of you who give and pray, partner in the work God is doing and share in the eternal blessing.  Thank you! 

May God richly bless you, The Hanson Family

555 Saturn Blvd.  Suite B 320
San Diego CA 92154
www.thehansonfamily.org

Mexico is Rich!

  Mexico is rich with opportunity to serve!  There is so much to do here; there just aren’t enough hours in each day.  This is a good time to be a servant of God.  Would you consider coming down with a team to help us serve some of these needs??  Our ministry update could be pages long, but in summary, the theme is “Teaching”.  Between Bible College, Life Group, guest speaking and Women’s Bible study, my wife and I have been busy encouraging those to whom the Lord has opened a door.  It’s been great.  The hours of study make us both feel like we are college students again! 
    I am a currently enrolled in a church planting class in our Bible college at church.  The Lord continues to impress upon my heart the need for a bilingual church fellowship in Santa Cruz.  The idea would be to replicate and plant other churches just like the one in which we minister in Mexico.  We are seeing a rich harvest of souls through church planting.  I just returned from a leadership conference in Southern California encouraging and instructing us on how to build a leadership team to effectively minister to the community, and raise up leaders.  Please keep us in your prayers, and that God would clearly reveal His will as we continue to pursue church planting.
 
  With regard to outreach, Melissa has a routine now of doing health clinics rotating through the church plants that have gone out from Rosarito.  Men, women and children come in and receive prayer, spiritual encouragement and physical help while connecting them to their local evangelical church.
    Our church has a seven week “Pillars Class” that is a prerequisite to serving at the church.  50 people just finished the course including around 15 kids from Grace Children’s Home!  I have three new volunteers from GCH working with me on the greeting team, and our son Caleb has three friends from GCH working with him on the Security Team.  It is awesome to still have contact with our loved ones from GCH.
    On the home front, all is well.  Our daughter Sarah will be resigning from her position as a homeschooler and is excited to get back to school with the kids in the community.  The boys are happy to continue on with homeschooling and heading to the soccer fields to play as soon as they finish up their studies.  We got a new puppy; because the kids wanted one (for the last 6 years).  I finally caved and the kids are happily caring for our TJ mutt we named “Cali”.  Good times.

    Back in January Melissa and I celebrated our 19th year of marriage.  It’s amazing what God has brought us through and brought us to.  We never would have imagined.  Thank you for your continued support.  We could not do it without you!



May God richly bless you, The Hanson Family

555 Saturn Blvd.  Suite B 320
San Diego CA 92154