Notes from Dan and DeAnn

Recently I read the following quote by Frederick Douglass.  What hit me was that Douglass called not for an abolition of religion or Christianity but a return to what Christianity really was and is.  Article

“But you will ask me, can these things be possible in a land professing Christianity? Yes, they are so; and this is not the worst … . I have to inform you that the religion of the southern states, at this time, is the great supporter, the great sanctioner of the bloody atrocities to which I have referred. While America is printing tracts and bibles; sending missionaries abroad to convert the heathen; expending her money in various ways for the promotion of the gospel in foreign lands—the slave not only lies forgotten, uncared for, but is trampled under foot by the very churches of the land. What have we in America? Why, we have slavery made part of the religion of the land. Yes, the pulpit there stands up as the great defender of this cursed institution, as it is called. Ministers of religion come forward and torture the hallowed pages of inspired wisdom to sanction the bloody deed … . I have found it difficult to speak on this matter without persons coming forward and saying, “Douglass, are you not afraid of injuring the cause of Christ? You do not desire to do so, we know; but are you not undermining religion?” This has been said to me again and again … but I cannot be induced to leave off these exposures. I love the religion of our blessed Savior … . It is because I love this religion that I hate the slaveholding, the woman-whipping, the mind-darkening, the soul-destroying religion that exists in the southern states of America …“

—From Reception Speech at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12, 1846

Well the Spring Break teams are gone and, wow, they did a great job! We had a lot of fun and saw some great things happen. The last team left on Saturday right after E2 (more on that in a future entry) and since then it has been time to get some rest. The only problem for me is that the rest has not come due to getting seriously sick with some sort of stomach thing. I haven’t felt this way since the first time I came down to Mexico. So DeAnn (feeling a bit out of it too!) and I went to the pharmacy, bought some over the counter deparasiting pills, and just took them. Pray that this would take care of the problem. I think it was sort of God saying, “You need to get some rest!” But, I would have preferred a different messenger!

We have tons of photos from the past three weeks and I’m hoping to get them up for you to enjoy soon. But that will probably have to be this weekend. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks for your prayers during this month and I can’t wait to share with you some of the answers. Keep us and the upcoming Congreso in your prayers too. 12 days left to Congreso!!!

Well we made it back. Thanks for all of you who were praying for us during our time in the states and during our travels. Things went really well. We are a bit tired, just due to travel and lots of stuff packed into a short amount of time. I’m sick too which doesn’t help! But all in all it was a great time back home. It was great seeing family and even some friends! It was very refreshing to be in the states for a time too…speaking English and eating real American food. Too much food but good none the less! Our time doing some recruiting at Christmas Conference went really well too. We were able to connect with quite a few students and we are excited to see how many come down this spring. Pray for the trip… it is scheduled for the 21st to the 31st of May. We probably had aobut 60 people sign up as interested so that was very good. Now to capitalize on that excitement and to see it turn into action that sees Mexican college students come to Christ and movements planted.

Just some quick prayer requests: 1) That I would get better and that DeAnn wouldn’t get sick. 2) Pray as we prepare for our trip to Nicaragua. We leave on Sunday (two days from now!) and there is still quite a lot to prepare. 3) Pray for our travel to Nicaragua as that is coming up.

I ran across an article today entitled “Reality.” It caught my eye because at my very first Campus Crusade conference in Mexico (something like 7 years ago as an exchange student) the author, Rolando Justiniano, spoke. He is now the Director of Affairs for all of South America. To make a long story short (and you can read the article here: Reality…it may be a bit hard to read!) he begins by saying that Campus Crusade started at the UNAM in Mexico City in 1962 and that from there it spread rapidly throughout Latin America. But what hit me was the impact that this movement has had. Now on a continental level, in South America 15.5% of the population professes to be evangelical Christians. That is amazing. He goes on to talk about how the President of Paraguay is a Christian and wants to use his position to “bring this nation to God.” How cool is that. One that the US could bless Mexico and then that from Mexico all of Latin America could be blessed. And that is something we want to see happen even more now…and not just from Mexico to Latin America, but Mexico to Latin America, the Middles East and the Far East…places where Americans just have a hard time ministering, Mexicans can go with very little problem.

Let me share one more excerpt from the article because here is the crux of what we want to see happen…Roland goes on to lay out a three point process: 1) Reach the children for they are the next generation. 2) Reach the college students as they are the leaders of tomorrow. And 3) Reach the professionals, the business leaders, and the politicians as they are the leaders of today. And here is the reason…”We believe that this is the most strategic contribution we can make to helping fulfill the Great Commission.”

Be a part of this with us. Pray with us for this to happen. Revelation 7:9-10!!!

We will now be using the blog. This allows us to update from anywhere instead of being restricted to our home pc. If you want to view our past journal entries…up to Nov 13, 2005 please click here: Past Journals