Letters from La Paz | Jack and Cindy Balon

We are coming up on our second month here is La Paz.  The School is everything that we had hoped for and more.  We have definitely ramped up our language comprehension now that our interpreter has moved to Toronto.  Thankfully, most of the teaching is in English translated to Spanish and the Spanish to English - well, you can always read your neighbor’s notes and then translate them yourself! 

I thought I might give you a little background of the church (Semillas de Vida  - Seeds of Life) that is hosting the school and how they came to be the first church to host a School of the Supernatural outside of Redding.  Angel and Esther Nava are the pastors and Esther was the one who related their story to me.  Five or so years ago they were a very control-oriented, locked-down congregation of 60-80 people.  Esther knew there had to be more to God than what they were experiencing so she went into an extended time of prayer over the course of a year asking God for the More.  A missionary in La Paz became their connection to Bethel in Redding and a relationship was established.  They were encouraged to connect with other like-minded churches here in La Paz.  Redding then sent a team down here to do a crusade but it was evident at the end that Semillas de Vida was the only church  that truly “got” the idea of the Kingdom of God Culture.   They invited Denny & Danette Taylor from Redding to come down and start a School.  The first School took place under an awning on the church property which had been an RV Campground.  There was only one little office building.  In the last 3 years as the blessings have grown they have been able to build a church, offices and classrooms.  The believers have more than doubled.  The church is still in transition to this new wineskin but the transformed lives of the local students (some of whom are from other churches) is a witness to the rest of the church and is beginning to stir up hunger in the others.  You can almost hear it growing! 

It is a double blessing to Jack and I to be connected with wonderful people in the church as well as in the School.  Their enthusiasm and zeal is contagious.  We are having what I call “Deep Fun” with them!  God has been faithful to begin knitting our hearts to theirs. 

 Thank you so much for the prayer that went forth for the Night of Prayer for Mexico that took place two weeks ago.  We gathered in front of a Government Plaza - 8 or 9 different churches, 1500 strong - and it was a powerful time praying for the city, state and nation.  Towards the end our pastor, Angel, asked forgiveness of the Catholic bishop for the wall that has been allowed to grow between the Catholics and the evangelical Christians.  Oh my goodness, you could almost hear the strongholds breaking apart in the spiritual realm.  It was so wonderful.  Mexicans have perhaps not always been as “polite” in their religious differences as Americans in their “tolerance” want to appear .  So it was a precedent-setting evening of healing between the believers. 

We love you all!

Cindy

Our time at the Bill Johnson Conference in Mexico City a week ago was refreshing beyond belief.  As you can see in the photo, many little orbs showed up after we had had a wonderful time of worship - wild and heartfelt!  It was deeply satisfying to spend time with folks who share our passion for Jesus, for the gospel demonstrated as well as preached and who don’t mind appearing a little “undignified” in the presence of their Lord and Savior.  Our first night saw many people getting healed (yes, even an ear opened over the telephone!) including our good friend, Kathi Gillaspie, who came with her husband with us to the conference.  Kathi has been suffering with what the doctor’s say is a “bent” tailbone since last summer, necessitating her using a donut pillow whenever she is going to be sitting for a length of time.  After a word about tailbones, she claimed that for herself and received prayer.  Later, she told us that she had sat through the rest of the session (on a hard plastic chair) without pain.  Many people received their hearing back, relief from car accident injuries, tumors disappeared in one lady’s breast, the testimonies went on and on.

Bill and Chris went on to teach about the Kingdom of God, our identities as sons and daughters of God and plunging into the depths of intimacy with Him.  The people were hungry for more and received eagerly the revelation that Bill and Chris brought.

A little sidenote:  I had noticed that there was only one flag hanging in the church and it was the Israeli flag.  I made a mental note to take a shot of it to send to Avner and Rachel Boskey just to encourage them that God had planted their country in the hearts of this church nestled in the outskirts of Mexico.  Then my eye fell upon one of their CD’s on the tape table!  Later that night in talking with the lady who administered the conference we found out that there was a Mexican/Jewish couple from that church that had brought over the CDs from Tel Aviv where they were missionaries — in Avi Mizrahi’s church — the same church that Jack & I and Ryan & Desiree had ministered in in Israel!  How small is our world!

We’re already looking forward to worshipping with you, seeing your faces and catching up on all that has been going on in your lives next month!  See you the Sunday after the 23rd!

I am hoping these pics uploaded (as you can tell from previous posts, my attempts have not executed but I have a well of hope!)  Mazatlan is a beautiful city along the ocean and especially  in the Centro Historico.  It is not ALL dust and bird droppings!  Even though it is being built up with hotels and condos along the ocean, I think it’s neat that the City has declared that the entire shore line is public property.  Every mile or so there is a public access to the ocean.  So you can take a bus from out in the colonias and have a place to come and enjoy the beauty God has created here along the water. 

On Sunday nights we help out at a service out in Villa Union.  Upon arrival we put down our Bibles and pick up brooms to sweep out the sanctuary.  It’s amazing the amount of dust that flies through the windows (which have no glass in them) from the dirt road out front.  Occasionally, there is the little dead birdie who fell out of one of the 23 nests in the rafters high above.  Sometimes the pastor has to crank the sound system to be able to preach over the avian “choir”.   We unstack the white plastic chairs that are the staple of every colonia church and wipe them down (oh yes, the dust goes everywhere!).  The songs are shown on the wall from an overhead  projector which sits atop a rickety old stool with no seat.  Quite the contrast from our sanctuary at home on Highway 30!  But you know, once the people filter in and worship begins the same Jesus joins us.  It’s so good to know that He is only a prayer away no matter where we find ourselves in this world.  This last Sunday a man joined us who had received Jesus into his heart just recently.  The joy I saw mirrored on his face, the intensity I heard in his voice as he described how his life is now … it’s the same as at home.  We have ministry time and the Holy Spirit shows up whether I speak English, Spanish or a smattering of both.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that the Kingdom only appears different on the outside; it’s always the same on the inside.  Enjoy the Kingdom today!

Okay, I know that I can do this because I embedded a slideshow in our family blog yesterday… Let’s try again.  I do want you to see a little of Mexico, but if all else fails I’ll post a few pics, okay?

Have spent a lot of time recently doing a crash course in getting a slide show on our blog so that you can have a little taste of our recent activities.  Old dogs don’t learn as fast as young ones.   But I have SUCCEEDED!  So a month or so back we went out to a little community called La Zapote about 45 minutes north of Mazatlan. We went to the village to do a shoe-tracing of the children’s feet for new shoes.  We also were able to distribute some “Crocs” to the littler ones. Afterwards we traveled aways down rutted roads to a ranch owned by the family of our friend Lalo who had accompanied us.  His family was very gracious and gave us a tour of their typical little farm which is called a ranch down here.  Before we left his grandmother and aunt made hand-made tortillas over a wood fire and  topped them with fresh cheese and salsa .  It was so NOT Taco Bell.  Simple and fresh.  We were so blessed by their hospitality.

Many thanks to the Techy Guys (josh & matt) who have gotten jcbalon.com up and running again! 

Well, we continue to hunger to see God move in greater and greater power. We do however, enjoy seeing the creative ways that Holy Spirit touches lives. A friend here has been reaching out to an unsaved acquaintance who has been quite closed to Christ. Recently this unsaved lady’s cat ran away and she was beside herself. This animal seemed to be her very best friend in the entire world! Yeah, I know, it’s just a cat right… but….  The cat had been missing for several days and all hope that this lady had was about gone. She mentioned it to our christian lady friend and she said that she would pray for the return of the cat. The very next day the cat returned!!! Suddenly the unsaved lady was repenting of her arrogance and negative heart toward God…..it was an amazing turn around! We love all the ways that God works in revealing His love and power.

Recently, at one of the colonias called “Villa Union” whereCindy and I have been helping out, I was asking this ten year old boy if he had asked Jesus into his heart. Another christian friend had shared a little about Christ; but when we asked the boy if he wanted to receive the Lord he said…no. Immediately I had the sense that he didn’t know what he was saying no to.  So, we explained the love of Jesus more and how he wanted this boy to know Him and have Him in his heart. The boy then said yes and we prayed for him as he stepped into his eternal destiny…I know that there was great celebrating in Heaven .

We just finished a small group on healing and it was good to see some hunger for more of  the love and power of God manifest through our lives. We were also leading a group for married couples using the “Love and Respect” materials…..truly great stuff! We want to raise up teams to go out into the colonias to intercede and pray for people …it’s so needed here.

We miss everyone and hope that everyone keeps asking the Father to show what he’s doing every day and who He wants us to touch with His compassion and His Spirit. 

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