Les and Val Klassen

Update on Angel Ramon

Ramon is mobile!  Yes, he's actually moving himself around.  Using his arms to propel himself, he slides his little butt across the floor, little legs stuck out straight in front of him.  He turns and waves as he leaves the room ... and then he's gone.  Looking for whatever peaks his interest ... his basket full of toys ... a kitchen cupboard full of Tupperware ... the moon and stars shining through the kitchen window.  But whatever it is, he's a little guy on the move.  And he is so proud of himself.  His face just beams at his own accomplishments.

He's come a long ways since he spent a month with us back in July.  While he could sit on the floor and play, he could not move himself forward.  He could turn around in circles, but not forward.  We could see that he was motivated to move ... he would sit and try to rock himself forward, but his arms didn't seem to have the strength to actually move his body.  Well, that has all changed.  We knew it wouldn't  be long, and when Marilyn first told us how he was moving, we looked at each other and said "we knew it ... we knew it was going to happen real soon."  He's also got a little wheeled cart he can scoot around on. One of the guys over at the Big Orphanage in Vicente Guerrero specializes in wheelchairs and he made this cool little mini scooter cart that Ramon can sit on and propel himself around, using the same principle as a wheelchair.  It only sits a few inches off the floor so it's perfect for him.  He's starting to get the hang of it too. 

Stan and Marilyn have put so much time and effort into his development and it's paying off hugely.  He really tries hard to speak, learning new words every day ... it's still hard to understand a lot of them, but you know that he knows what he is saying.  And he's so proud of himself.  He calls to you and then says his new word.  He goes around the table or room, making sure each one of us has heard him individually, needing to make eye contact or be acknowledged before he will say the word and move on to the next person.  He is such a comic.  He calls out "Dad", and when Stan acknowledges him, he'll say his word.  They he calls out "Mom" (still sounds like "Dad") and when Marilyn acknowledges him, he'll repeat the word.  And then he just gets this great big smile on his face that lights up the whole room.

And oh ya ... he loves his music.  He was born to "rock and roll".  He's got rhythm ... very talented he is.  One day he will likely play some kind of instrument.  I think Marilyn is hoping it won't be the drums, but hey, you just never know.  He's into the Newsboys right now.  If you know their music, you know the song "Devotion".  Well, that's one word he's got down ... "devooooootion", at least the "ooooootion" part.  Another one of his favorites is "Strong Tower" ... you'll hear him sing the word "Tower".  Yes precious in the sight of our God!

One little life created absolutely uniquely, just because God wanted to make someone extra special for Himself.

One little life created absolutely uniquely because He knew it takes the little Ramon's in our lives to open that part of our hearts that can only be opened by witnessing the miracles of God each and every day.

One little life ... Angel Ramon.

Missions trip to Loreto & Baja Sur 2007

Sunrise was still a good hour away as we began our trip south.  But it wasn't long until the heater in the van was switched over to the air-conditioning.  It doesn't take long for the desert to heat up, especially once you leave the coast and travel inland.  Before we would arrive in Loreto, 12 hours and one time zone away, we would go through 5 military checkpoints, and have the underside of our van sprayed ... sort of ... for who knows what kind of bugs at the Baja Sur border crossing ... some kind of agricultural control thing.

Angel Ramon came along on the trip, accompanied of course by Stan & Marilyn ... he was an absolute delight and travelled so well ... never fussing at all.  He and Les developed their own special greeting each day ... Les would stretch his arms as if he just woke up and Ramon would mimic him, followed by bending his head down and looking up at Les through his eyebrows ... quite comical actually.  They had a lot of fun together.

The hotel in Loreto was lower budget, but they did have a pool which was border-line clean after a few days of running the filter continuously ...they probably only started it up when we arrived, although we did have reservations.  Accommodations were sparse and cozy ... they are old camp type trailers ... probably from some BC or Washington coast logging camp.  But at $20/night we weren't complaining too loud.  We did have exclusive use of an outdoor kitchen palapa ... a pole building roofed with palm branches ... and it was a great place to eat our meals and have our group get-togethers each day.  We met each morning for a time of group Bible study and prayer, and would debrief each evening, often following by a time of worship ... unplugged with just one guitar.

Loreto is still very warm, and the humidity is higher than what we're used to in North  Baja, so the pool  was a welcome addition.  We did try swimming at the beach in town one day ... noticing no one else was swimming there ... and found out why not, the hard way.  One of our women got stung by a stingray ... quite a gash that drew a fair bit of blood.  She did go to the hospital and they took her in right away, even though the waiting room was crowded, and gave her a shot for the venom and the pain.  We decided to stay at the pool after that.  One night we were all awakened to the sound of laughter, cannon balls in the pool and much other poolside activity...at 3:30 - 4:00 AM...partiers returning from a long evening on the town.  Kind of cut into our regular sleeping patterns.  One other night, there was a loud concert at the gymnasium across the street from our hotel.  It started at 9:30 PM and lasted until after 3:00 AM.  Again, a very short night...but surprising enough, we all did quite well even though two of our nights (the sleeping part, that is) were cut quite short ... real short!

We did take a leisure day and travelled an hour north of town to a beautiful beach called Playa Requeson ... white sand ... shallow bay ... warm water ... warmer than the hotel pool.   While the guys  played with Ramon in the water, Val and some of the women had an opportunity to share about their relationships with Jesus Christ to a lady from Montreal who was travelling by herself.  She was camping on the beach and was interested in hearing more of Jesus Christ as she was on a spiritual searching journey herself.  They were also able to share Christ with the owner of our hotel, and before we left Loreto, she had accepted Christ as her Lord and Saviour.  If we stayed at this budget hotel for no other reason than to introduce her to Jesus Christ, the whole trip was worth it.  We know heaven was rejoicing in that moment.

While the primary focus of this trip was to encourage pastors and their spouses, and encourage unity  among the churches, we did receive invitations to 4 outlying churches for a future trip south.  These churches are full day excursions back into the mountains or along rugged coastlines.  We are already looking forward to such a time as we can visit these churches and encourage the people there.

With all the opportunities presented to us in Baja Sur, we sometimes wonder if God will clearly call us to that place to live.  We have a heart for Baja Sur, and so we will continue to avail ourselves of the opportunities to continue to visit the south, bringing encouragement to the pastors and their churches and accepting invitations to new communities.  Ministry opportunities are a little different in Baja Sur ... possibly less hands-on in regards to house building projects ... but more relational with the people ... more trips into the back country to the outlying areas to spend time encouraging the people there as well as more evangelistic outreaches ... i.e. showing the "JESUS" movie, putting on concerts and community feeding programs, and working more closely with those churches as well.

Our pastor friends in Constitucion, Jorge and Gloria, are preparing to provide either a rehab/shelter for  women or a rehab facility for men.  Both are desperately needed in their city, and so there will also be opportunity to work alongside them and help them.  Then there are the agricultural and construction work camps to visit.  The Loreto area in particular is growing rapidly, so many workers are being brought in for the construction trade there.  And with growth, comes opportunities to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus to needy people

Since returning to our base at IDT, we have had several requests by people interested in joining future missions trips to Baja Sur.  Several of those are Mexican pastors, and they would be a welcome addition to our teams.  We pray that we would be open to whatever God has in store for us and that we would be willing to go wherever He calls us to go, even if it means moving to a new place.  Wherever we are, we want to continually see the needs of people around us as Jesus sees them, and respond to those needs as He would respond to them.

La Paz - Language School

It seems a lifetime ago that we were in La Paz for a month of language study, so much has happened in between time, and yet we still would like to tell you a little about our time there.

First of all, La Paz is a beautiful little city with a waterfront walkway several kilometers long.  We enjoyed many spectacular sunsets at a little Internet cafe on the waterfront and walked along the malecon (waterfront walkway) in the somewhat cool of the evening many times.  The weather in La Paz is quite a bit warmer than it is here in North Baja, and it was hot and muggy most of November, pretty much until our last week there.

Vicente & Alicia, their daughter, Julieta, and her two sons, Eduardo (13) and Julian (11), were our  hosts for the 4 weeks we spent there.  They had a little suite within their home, with a separate entrance and a private bath, so we felt like we had our own little space, which was very nice.  They fed us and treated us extremely well, and we hope to stay with them again, even if we go back to La Paz just for a visit.

They expressed to us that they were not a religious family, and although they had a Catholic background, they did not attend church.  Julieta, however, was sending Julian and previously Eduardo, to a private Christian school and spoke of praying with them as well as a desire to go to church.  Val & Julieta had a couple of discussions about spiritual things and we continue to pray for their whole family.  Vicente is a gifted artist and he enjoyed talking about his art and the spiritual &  cultural symbolism that he uses in his paintings.  Les was particularly dawn to one of his paintings depicting Christ, and would have loved to buy it, if it had been in our price range.

We attended school from 8:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Monday to Friday with a 15 min break in between.  It was pretty intense the whole way through, but our instructors made it fun and interesting  They were also a wealth of information regarding the cultural and political history of Mexico and we gained a better understanding of the whole Mexican culture.  Elizabeth is on the left, Grizel is next to Les and Marta is on the right.

After school we would go back to the house, which was about a 10 min. drive and study or rest until around 2:30 when lunch was served.  After lunch we usually studied some more and then spent many of our evenings in the Internet care catching up on ministry and personal e-mails.  We didn't find we needed a lot for supper after eating a big meal so late in the afternoon, so a frappuccino or a smoothie and a sandwich was plenty.  The days went by quickly and we were surprised at how fast the whole month went by.

We spent some enjoyable weekends doing some exploring.  Our most memorable time was a guided  boat trip to the Isla Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit Island) with some other students from our school.  The island has some spectacular beaches and scenery that beats anything we have seen to date.  We did some snorkeling with some sea lions.  This was huge feat for Val to get in the water with these animals, but she managed to overcome her fear and take the plunge.  She stayed very close to Les the whole time, but was glad to have had the experience.  We would love to go back in May when the seas are calm and the kayaking would be extraordinary!

We attended a church there called Semillas de Vida (Seeds of Life), a couple of times, which was a very rich experience.  They had a visiting teacher from Redding, CA, teaching in their School of Supernatural Ministries, so we sat in on one of their classes and then she taught on Sunday morning  as well.  It was good for us too, because she taught in English and it was translated, so we got both the English and the Spanish.  They are a very progressive church, but only in the past 3 years have they been released from the legalism that is so prevalent in the Mexican churches.  The change from legalism to spiritual freedom is largely due to the influence from Bethel Church in Redding.

One of our instructors, Marta, was a Christian.  It was such a blessing to have this connection with her.  She had been in pain and walking laboriously for the past 6 months due to problems with her sciatic nerve.  We met with her privately in her home, prayed with her for healing for her leg and also talked about how to effectively share the Gospel with the Mexican people.  The week following our visit and prayer, she was able to walk normally for a few steps and was experiencing much less pain.  She was ecstatic and we are believing for a complete healing for her.  This picture is of Marta with Val's classmates, Lee from Oregon and Daryl & Freda from Kelowna, BC.

Our time in La Paz was memorable to say the least and we would love to be able to a month of study like this yearly, or at least every other year.  We came away at the end of 4 weeks with a much  better understanding of the language, certainly not fluent yet, but able to understand much more.  We want to express our gratitude to our home church in Black Creek, B.C. for raising the money for us to be able to have this experience.  It was absolutely invaluable!

See our Photo Album of la Paz for more pictures and stories.

Christmas in Vicente Guerrero

It's Christmas in Vicente Guerrero.   Santa did an unexpected pre-Christmas stop in our town after being blown off course by fierce winds in the Pacific Northwest while he was out on his pre-season scouting trip.  He stayed just long enough to drop off a bunch of Christmas Shoeboxes and catch a few rays of warm sunshine on a local beach before heading up to the Great White North for the Christmas Eve rush.  Thankfully, he left the snow behind this year, as he knew how much more it would be appreciated by those whose winter just isn't complete without blowing snow, freezing rain, high winds and loss of power.  But he did appear to be rather content, sitting in the shade of his sleigh, red suit laying across the back of Rudolph, wiggling those big old toes in the sand, looking out from under a wide sombrero through mirrored sunglasses as he sipped on his limonada.  He was heard to say, "I could get used to this".

No one actually saw him leave, but sometime after sunset, he disappeared.  Left without a trace, except for a message written in the sand, outlined in shells.

"Remember the reason for the season."

About 1000 children will have received Christmas Shoeboxes through IDT this year because of the generosity of so many people from north of the Mexican border.  We can never fill all the hopes and dreams of so many children who did not receive anything this year, but we continue to give what we can ... a cup of water ... a bag of rice and beans ... a used pair of shoes ... a T-shirt or an old sweatshirt ... or sometimes just a smile.

This time of year is especially difficult in the San Quintin Valley.  Many are without work ... many do not have enough food for the week ... and most will not receive any Christmas gifts at all.

But then, we remember the real reason for the season, and the reason we are here.  It is to bring the message of God's love to a world so desperately in need of hope and genuine love, a message through the person of Jesus Christ.  To a world, for whom many, today is all they can focus on.  A world who cannot relate to an affluent lifestyle.  But a world who understands what it means when others are the Hands and Feet of Jesus to them.  A world who after receiving the gift of God's love, knows how to give to others ... out of their lack.  A world ... who teaches us about life.

So thanks, Santa, (if you're reading this) for stopping in our little town and reminding us what Christmas was really all about.  Thanks for the message in the same.  Oh ... and hey ... can you save some of the cookies and milk you get on Christmas Eve and bring some of it back down here when you have some time.  Or maybe ... you could trade them in for some bags of Rice and Beans.  Then maybe the whole family could eat.

We're Back!!!

It has been one busy spring and summer.

We returned from our visit to Canada, August 19th and were relieved to find the building schedule beginning to slow down.  We didn't realize how tired we actually were until we returned and were able to just sit down and relax for a couple of days.  While we encountered a few hurdles along the way, we are not discouraged and are happy to be back here, knowing this is where we are supposed to be at this time in our lives.

Our biggest hurdle at the moment is finding a new place to live.  We need to be out of our present house by December 31st, due to a gigantic rent increase, so we are in the process of beginning to look for alternative accommodation.  Options and choices are minimal, and we are still hoping our landlord will readjust his increased rent prices to reflect a reasonable rate that would allow us to stay here.  But hey, it's all about being flexible, isn't it?

As we wind down the busy season of House Builds, we will have completed 105 homes for poor and needy people in a dozen different communities this year.  Easily 2500+ people have been part of Missions Teams coming to IDT Missions, Baja, from Canada and the US this year.  They have blessed 100+ Mexican families with their generosity of time and finances in building not only homes for them, but in building relationships with the families.  Words cannot describe the emotions displayed by some of the recipients of new homes.  In all their wildest dreams, they never would have been able to accomplish in their lifetime what groups of generous people have given them in one week.  And for that, they are ever grateful.

Missions Teams have also been instrumental in helping complete other projects in the communities as well as implementing children's programs and Campo visitations.  While the "crunch" of big projects is winding down, the work of "House Build" follow-up visitation and medical crisis assistance is again stepping into the foreground.

The story of Olga's medical crisis follows this posting.

Coming Home ...

It's been awhile since we updated and much has been going on.  We have not been sitting idle by the beach, just in case you thought we were!  Since May 26th, Les has been involved in house building, every week, Monday to Friday, sometimes supervising more than 1 house at a time.  (IDT will have built 103 homes from January till the end of August.)  Val has been busy in the office most days, making sure the summer building schedule is on track and communicating with the groups coming down, sending them family profiles and looking after last minute details.  Saturday is usually spent doing some much needed work around our house or around the base.  Sunday's we generally lead worship for our IDT church service, so we spend time preparing for that during the day on Sunday, and sometimes we get a couple of hours to relax in between time!

We are anticipating leaving Mexico on Friday morning, July 21st, to return to Canada for a visit.  This year has gone by very quickly, but as time is coming closer, we are getting very excited to see everyone at home.  We will spend July 26 - Aug 4 on the Island, connecting with our children as well as work and church friends.  Then we will come back to the Fraser Valley until around August 16th, when we will leave for our return trip to Mexico.  If you would like to see us while we are home, please call James & Carolyn Klassen 250-334-1903 on the Island, or John & Leona Klassen 604-850-0713 on the mainland.

New Responsibilities, New Challenges

Val and I have recently undertaken a new challenge here at IDT.

Together with Greg & Alyson Schulz, a newly married young couple, we are responsible for House Build Solicituds (applications).  As of January, there were about 600 aplications on file that had been organized by someone else during the last year.  Many of these applications come from local people coming to the door of the office at IDT.  Others are brought in by missionaries "out in the field" and still others come in via supervisors at building projects who encounter many people desiring a home like the one they see being built in their community.   Some applications have been on file for 3 or 4 years, and new ones are coming in every day.  Last week alone, with House Builds occurring in seveal communities, we received in excess of 50 new applications.

Our job is to reorganize the applications and prioritize them on a needs basis.  That means spending many hours and days "in the field" visiting sites where people live and determining their level of  need.  We give them a priority rating of Urgent, 1, 2, or Rejected.  "Urgent" represents present living conditions of cardboard/plastic and great poverty; "1" represents a structure that is desperately inadequate for the size of the family; "2" represents semi-adequate housing but where an addition would be an asset; "Rejected" means the applicants already have a decent place to live and/or they have other assets including additional properties they could sell in order to build themselves a home.  A number of applications in the system are duplicated and still others have already received a new house but their names have not been taken out of the system.  We are trying to streamline this system.  We hope to eventually have it organized to the point where we can send out "Family Profiles" to groups coming down to build a home.  These "Family Profiles" would give groups the opportunity to put faces to their project as they raise funds for their particular project.

During our "field excursions" to re-evaluate applications, we encounter many other areas of need, particularly health and food concerns.  With the necessary information in hand, we can send that information to prospective groups that will be coming, itemizing some of these needs and concerns.

Please pray for us, as we require a lot of patience, discernment, and wisdom as we step into this role.  Val spends a number of hours each week in the office compiling data, and I am also supervising individual house builds, but we try to conduct the "field excursions" together.  It's easy to get overwhelmed with the needs out here, and so we are really beginning to appreciate it when we can take a day off.  Our time together as a couple is extemely important and valuable to us.

Between the middle of March and the beginning of May, we have four very busy weeks of House Builds.  Most of May has been booked off of building projects to give the missionaries in the House Build program a bit of a break before the busy summer schedule sets in.  May will be a good time for us to make further headway in the Solicitud Program.

Although there is no end to the need for homes here, it is very rewarding to watch the faces of recipients as the project nears completion.  The climax of the week occurs at the dedication of the home when the group hands the new keys over to the receiving family.  It's the part of the week when many eyes fill with tears and many cheeks have the dirt of the day washed away by those tears.  These are awe-inspiring moments.  These are heart-changing moments.  These are the moments when God gives a hug and a kiss to a family through the hands and feet of those who love Him.  These are the moments that bring it all into perspective.  These are why we're here!

Christmas 2005

Wow!  What a different Christmas this was!  In Canada, the week before Christmas has been traditionally when I (Val) would usually be baking, cooking, cleaning, decorating and shopping.  I have always found myself very busy with all the preparations.  This year I was also very busy during the weeks before Christmas, but it looked very different than any other Christmas I have ever experienced.  It was not so much about making sure we had the perfect meals to eat as it was about helping some extremely poor people even have something to eat.  It was not so much about creating the perfect environment in our home as it was about giving some people some of the most basic necessities like a bed and some clothes.  It was not so much about buying the perfect gift for everyone on our list as it was about giving some gifts to some children who were not going to get any other gifts at all.  It was definitely a Christmas to remember, and one that I had been longing to have for years.

Many of the missionaries had left the base to return to Canada and the U.S. to spend Christmas with their families, and we had been told to expect a quiet time here at the base.  I was hoping that there would be something happening so our children could experience some ministry during their stay with us.  Well ... we found that there were plenty of opportunities for ministry without even trying very hard.  God has a way of showing up with His own agenda, if we allow Him to!

Some of the highlights of the season for us were, of course, spending some time with our children, James and Jennifer.  What a blessing and encouragement they were to us.

We were also glad to be available to work with the Christmas shoebox program throughout the week, helping to sort, distribute and deliver gifts.

We also sorted through the bags and boxes of donations that James and Jennifer brought with them and build shelves in our spare room so we could organize everything for easy accessibility.  What a blessing to have these resources available to us as we encounter needs every day.

We brought some gifts to a family with 7 children at an isolated campo far from town (they were the only ones there).  Wow!  What a thrill to watch these children open their gift boxes and see how their eyes it up with excitement as they looked at all the treasures.  We also took them a big bag of clothes and blankets, for which they were extremely grateful.

Les and Stan (another missionary) gave a ride to a young couple who were in town buying propane and a new stove.  When they arrived at their house, they found that this couple, with their 15 month old baby, were living in a tiny cardboard house with absolutely nothing inside.  They were sleeping on cardboard and using other pieces of cardboard as blankets.  Les & Stan went to buy them a mattress, made them a bed and we all put together a "care package" with food, clothes and blankets.  We also made several other trips to their house during the week to bring them other things that they might need.  Carlos & Estela are on the IDT list to receive a new house, hopefully sometime this year.  They have no running water, no electricity and some of their neighbors have similar houses to theirs.  This is certainly an area that will need some new houses this year.

We are also very thankful for all the "Care Packages" from family and friends that came down with James & Jennifer.  We were very blessed this Christmas to be in this place that God has called us to.

What's been happening

We're into our third week of Spanish instruction.  We're getting lots of opportunities to practice the language.

Today we met Jose (hose-ay) and Norma, a young hard working couple who are eager to help around the place - to earn a wage rather than ask for a handout.  So we are creating some jobs for them to help us with.  Jose's story is one of extraordinary transformation.  He met God while laying on the floor of his house, bleeding from a bullet wound after an attempt on his life (his history was one of crime and a bullet remains lodged against his spine).  He cried out to God to spare him, and his prayer was answered.  The result was, he turned his life over to Jesus Christ and after, went around correcting wrongs he had committed against people and asking their forgiveness.  He was also taking ownership for steering other young people in the wrong direction.  He now boldly challenges them to get their lives together and avoid a lifestyle of crime.  As we improve in our Spanish, it will be interesting to get to know them better.  They've been married 10 years and have 4 children.  She was 14 when she got married, not uncommon among the indigenous people.

Went back to Reuben's house (recent build) in Zapata and installed a second window for him.  He was pleased to have more daylight coming into his home.

We plan to head south - together with Stan & Marilyn Schulz - the second week of November to explore other possible mission opportunities which may enable us to take groups further afield.  We plan to be gone about 2 weeks.  Pray for God's guidance and protection as we travel, and that we wouldn't miss any opportunities He has for us.