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God has done amazing things in 2024!! Ministry By the end of 2024, we will have hosted 44 teams (over 680 people) from the US and Canada. We also had our first team from Hawaii this year! All of these teams were housed at Connections House where our staff cooked most of their meals as well. About 25% of the teams did ministry with other missionaries, so we set up the ministry for the majority of them. They served at orphanages, feeding kitchens, the garbage dump, churches, and more. There was a lot of kids’ ministry (VBS, which also reaches out to a lot of their parents), soccer ministry, construction projects, two homes built for families in need, and the gospel was shared at every single one of them. ...

We thank and praise the Lord for those that were faithful and came to serve over these last couple of years. Ministry was not the same due to COVID 19, but God was faithful. He provided enough teams to do the exact work that he had planned. We understand that it was out of the hands of most team members on teams that had to cancel - whether there were health reasons or church leaders that cancelled their trips. But we also know that Satan used it to put fear into people’s hearts and minds. Ministry is growing more and more and we are incredibly thankful to the Lord and to those of you that have decided to come and serve! ...

We hope the new year finds you all doing well! Ron and I are truly blessed by each and every one of you that read our updates and pray for us and the ministry God has called us to. We continually thank the Lord for your faithfulness and partnership! Ministry As we have mentioned several times in 2020, ministry just looks different right now. Last month’s update specified the two main areas of ministry that we will be focusing on this year - relief ministry (food boxes/cleaning supplies) and construction (building or repairing churches, feeding kitchens, orphanages, etc.). The idea behind this is to still be the hands and feet of Jesus, but safely and with much less personal contact. ...

This has definitely been a different year of ministry so far! In March we watched all of our spring teams cancel due to the pandemic. This was difficult for a couple of reasons. One, because that meant a lot of ministry that wouldn’t be happening - children that wouldn’t hear about Jesus, orphanages that wouldn’t get visited, food that wouldn’t be given away, and so much more! Secondly, it meant that Connections House wouldn’t have any funds coming in to help pay the bills. ...

Backpacks! If you recall, at Christmas time we have been getting a large number of backpacks donated for children. These backpacks are full of school supplies, hygiene products, toys, sometimes clothing or shoes, and more. They have been such an awesome tool for evangelism! This year they were used for three different outreaches. Two of these outreaches were Christmas outreaches for children. There were games, crafts, a piñata, Bible lessons, and of course, the gospel presentation. Over a dozen children professed faith in Jesus Christ!! ...

Third Floor Expansion! We are so excited to show you some photos of the expansion to our third floor! The foundation has been laid for the new commercial kitchen/dining hall and the firepit has been moved to its new location on the open, upper patio. Next week all the supports will be taken down on the second floor. What’s Next? There are two things on the list of what comes next - railings and block walls. Two of the walls for new building will be made of block. Once those are in place, the metal studs that have already been donated can be put up to finish the walls for the building. As soon as possible, we would like to get railings put up on the third floor for safety. The fire pit is ready for use, however some teams, especially those with children, will not be able to use it until railings are installed. ...

Wow! We have had a whirlwind of teams and ministry. God is so good! He is also doing big things here at our team dorms, Connections House! In mid-July the paperwork finalizing the sale of the property went through and we officially became the new owners! We are eager to show you the improvements that we have been making over the past six months or so, and update you on our newest project! However, that will have to wait for our next update, so stay tuned! ...

Summer has definitely arrived! June and July have brought some unusually hot days our way. We are eager to begin a couple of months straight of teams, teams, teams!! We are thrilled to announce that we have two interns serving with us this summer here at Connections House! This is our first time having interns at this location. Both interns have served here in Rosarito with us on at least one short-term trip. Kailyn comes to us from Colorado Springs, CO, where she attends The Road at Chapel Hills. Rachel lives in Fresno, CA, and attends New Hope Community Church (Clovis, CA). Both of our interns have missions experience, as well as a good deal of children’s ministry experience. On their second day in Rosarito, when walking into the church service at Calvary Chapel Rosarito, our Senior Pastor immediately volunteered them to help out in our Sunday School ministry. So both Kailyn & Rachel will be assisting teachers in a Sunday School classroom each week. They have been busy getting the dorms ready for teams, preparing their personal testimonies, practicing their gospel presentations, and even helped on a home build with a local ministry. Next week they will be helping with VBS at CCR. They will be teaching the lesson for VBS on Tuesday. Please keep them in your prayers this summer. Some of their regular responsibilities include assisting in the kitchen, helping run the dorms, and general support for teams in the field. There will be times that they are serving right alongside teams, whether it’s working with children, building a church/orphanage, or serving food to/praying with those who are less fortunate. They will be called upon to share their personal testimonies with others. There will be opportunities to share Christ with others, whether one on one or with a group of children, teens, or women. Our interns will be stretched, they will used in amazing ways, and we pray that many will be blessed because of their sacrifice and the work they are doing here with us this summer. ...

Team Ministry We really sprung into spring with team ministry this year! For seventeen days around Easter time, we had four teams, did ministry at three orphanages, two VBS/soccer camp/women’s ministry locations, one kids’ club, two festival outreaches, and more! Two of these teams, as well as a couple others, spent a lot of time and donated a lot of funds toward the construction of Casa de Los Angeles orphanage here in Rosarito. We have seen a huge amount of progress on this project over the last few months, which is very exciting! ...

Happy New Year! We pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and the opportunity to spend some meaningful time with family. I know that we did and we are so thankful to the large number of people that have made this possible. We would like to start off by updating you on the church plant in Santa Cruz, California. If you remember, in May 2017 we helped our friends and fellow missionaries, the Hansons, move back to their hometown to plant a bilingual church. They began their work by starting a life (fellowship) group in their home. It wasn’t long before they outgrew their home and moved the group meetings to the coffee house located at Santa Cruz Bible Church. On November 4th, we had the opportunity to attend and help serve at the launch service for Santa Cruz Bilingual Church. Kristy, William, Brian & Brittany, as well as our friend, David, had the privilege of leading worship. Two members of SCBC’s worship team, Melissa & Caleb Hanson, joined us. It was a meaningful time of worship and Pastor Michael did an awesome job preaching God’s word. We were blessed, and we pray that all who attended were blessed as well. ...