Don & Sandy Godwin - Rosarito, Mexico
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It's been a while, so we thought we'd get you caught up on life in Mexico!
Before we do that, we just want to take a moment to thank you for your prayer covering, financial backing, and yes... your words of encouragement. We also want to give a BIG thanks to those of you who have made the trip down to help with outreaches. YOU make this work possible!
Thank you for partnering with us as we serve the Lord in Mexico.
Con muchas bendiciones,
Don & Sandy Godwin
Your missionaries to Mexico
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What we've been up to...
We have just returned from a long road trip to Washington State for the Foursquare 2018 Connection. We had the best time together as we DROVE all the way. First stop was Oakdale, CA where we finally got to see where our daughter,
Audrey, lives. Next stop was Mt. Shasta and then Eugene, OR. As we headed north, we were floored by all the GREEN! Arriving in Eugene, our hotel was located next to a beautiful park that featured
a massive grand orrery (this appealed quite strongly to the geeky side of Don; getting him to move on involved bribes of Starbucks and cash).
Pushing on to Silverdale, WA, we had an especially fun night with our dear family friends,
Mark and Stephanie Hooper and
Christina and Greg Kelsay and their kids. After our wonderful visit with them, we took the FERRY (yep, we drove our big ole van right onto a boat) and headed to Burlington, Washington to meet the leaders and staff of Hub City Church, with pastors (and old friends of us and our work in Mexico)
Sean and April Nault. (Sidenote: This place is so far north that it doesn't get really dark until about 11:30pm -- yet somehow they've got a TON of Mexican eateries!) Anyway,
Hub City Church is AWESOME and we loved every minute with those guys.
HCC is bringing a team to minister in Rosarito this summer, and we couldn't be more excited!
Saying goodbye to Burlington, we headed to Seattle, where we saw friends and fellow ministers from all over the world at the Foursquare 2018 Connection. Things kicked off with a dinner cruise for all the missionaries, wherein we were introduced to the beauty of the Seattle nighttime skyline, and re-introduced to many old missionary friends. Every day at Connection was like that--full of encounters with friends, plus incredible worship and preaching, and yeah, some pretty great food too. When we weren't meeting pals or taking in a session, we enjoyed walking around the downtown area.
Driving south after the Connection, we had the joy of sharing at
Rivers of Life Foursquare Church in Grants Pass, Oregon, pastored by
Tim and Michelle Wright. Like Hub City, Rivers of Life is a place full of energy and great ideas. Their love for the city around them is infectious. What a privilege it was to be with them. We look forward to great things ahead!
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Above: With Audrey at her home in Oakdale, CA; experiencing the GREEN in Oregon; with the Nault family in Bulington, WA; with old buddies Don & Gina Haislett, from Odessa, TX; at Rivers of Life with pastor Tim Wright and youth/music pastor Randy Hinton.
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Big Trees and Family Fun
From Grants Pass, we headed to Crescent City, CA for some family fun and REST.
Emily, Audrey, Allie and her husband,
Christian, all made the long drive up to spend some time with us.
Crescent City has so many breathtaking vistas, but for us, it's all about the redwood trees. These giants always take our breath away, reminding us of the majesty of God in a very tangible way. Don's parents first brought him here when he was a little boy, and we've been bringing our own kids here since they were little too, so this place is very special to us. Now that the "kids" aren't so little anymore, they're the ones who set up the daily schedule, fuel the campfire conversation and keep us laughing into the night. They also led the hiking, pulling us uphill and down, all over the beautiful Northern California coast. So yeah... we're tired, but it's a GOOD tired (Right?)
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Sandy walks amid the giant redwoods east of Crescent City, CA; Christian, Allie, Audrey and Emily stand atop two redwood stumps near our campsite.
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Coming up...
We have a very busy summer planned with several teams coming to help us minster:
July 3-9:
Grace Church, Federal Way, WA, led by Pastors
Omar and Misty Lara
July 16-20: Mexico Foursquare Convention
July 22-30:
Christian Heights Church, Sonora, CA, led by
Brandon Bourbon
July 24-27: Hope Chapel Rosarito VBS
August 3-5:
Hope Chapel Huntington Beach GO TEAM, led by
Wayne Palica
August 17-21:
Hub City Church, Burlington, WA, led by Pastors
Sean and April Nault
August 24-26:
Cornerstone Church, Anaheim, CA, led by
Art Menendez
August 26: Hope Chapel Rosarito
10-year anniversary Celebration Service!
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top left: a final pic from our Northern California visit; on the beach for HCR Fathers Day BBQ; (below) Sandy greets the congregation on Sunday, June 12.
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Please Pray
...for
unity
as we host teams;
provision
and
safety
as we continue our outreaches, including to the homeless deported near the border; and
wisdom
and
strength
as we continue to pastor Hope Chapel Rosarito, and
as we prepare for a new ministry providing bread to several orphanages
. There are real challenges in what we do, but we know that prayer is the key to hearing from God and doing what He asks of us.
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Current needs...
Big Stuff:
translation booth @ the church
lighting for church exterior
Smaller:
Fans for the classrooms at the church
$$ to buy food for our monthly border outreaches
$$ to supply bread to nearby orphanages
Bibles: Spanish and English
A Big Personal Need:
A car.
Our 15 year-old Toyota has served us so well... but with nearly 200k on the odo, it is becoming unreliable, unsafe and expensive.
To learn more about any of the above,
email us or click the link below.
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Above left: In front of the first gas station NOT named "Pemex" in northern Baja; Easter dinner at HCR; Don with just a few of the faithful men of HCR...
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pox 121570, Chula Vista, CA 91912
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