Life can be mundane or exciting. We decide how our life is with the way we live. If we live in our comfort zone life can become very boring. It is when we push out into the unknown that life becomes exciting. One of the best ways to do that is to take a step of faith to fulfill God´s purpose in your life even though it seems impossible. Walking into the impossible with God at your side is an experience that will never be forgotten.
Living here in our field of ministry we have decided to live this way every day of our lives. As we try to obey the direction that God has given us we are always extending ourselves beyond what our daily income and strength can cover. One of our goals this year is the construction of a new building for our Christian School. We thank each of you that have already sent us special offerings for this construction project. We are now at 14% of our goal. We need to have 100% by the 15th of June to start building.
Our school was pleasantly surprised to receive a prize from the State School Board this year. All schools in Mexico have to be under the supervision of the State School Board as they check our hours of classes, the qualifications of our teachers and student achievement. This year we won 1st place in student academic achievement. That included all the public and private primary schools in our zone. This shows us that we are not only installing Christian values into our students but we are also preparing them academically for the years to come. While other private schools in our zone charge over $170 dollars a month per student, we as a ministry only charge $47 dollars a month. Aside from that we have students with scholarships that pay much less.
Our camps this year were a success as they have been over the years. What makes them a success is the Holy Spirit that touches the lives of the campers that attend.
At our youth camp we had over 50 campers aside from staff. Most of them walked the last mile into camp as the place we chose this year wasn’t accessible by bus or car. Once arriving at camp nobody was leaving. From the first night the Holy Spirit moved bringing, conviction, laughter and spiritual drunkenness. Many of the youth had never been at a Christian camp nor experienced a physical move of God in their lives. As always, by the time Saturday rolled around many of the campers wanted to stay an extra week but that was not possible.
The next week was our children´s camp. This year was our smallest (large families are no longer part of our culture) but once again the children received a special touch from God. Oh that we all could have more of that childlike faith. They believe what they are told and the Lord responds fulfilling His promises. We were blessed to have good staff and teachers at both camps.
Our family has been blessed in this walk of faith. The trials and the testing only give us experiences that we can look back on to confirm our faith. Lucy is still struggling with an autoimmune sickness that has caused cirrhosis in her liver. Vanessa lives with Lupus knowing that she serves a God that is able to heal her. Philip has been blessed with health so that he can take up the extra load when the circumstances call for it.
This June Vanessa turns 15, which in Mexico is a big event. We are programming a church/family event to celebrate with her. Also she will be traveling with us to Canada this summer as we go to visit churches and family. The last time Vanessa was in Canada was 13 years ago.
Dad (David) has been through a difficult time these last through months. He was in hospital for 10 days and then at home with fulltime care. We are glad to say that right now he is doing better that he has all year, both mentally and physically. Thank you for your prayers for him.
We pray special blessings on you and may the Lord Jesus Christ let his face shine on you and fill you with peace.
Philip, Lucy, & Vanessa Tolman
