Baptism

Saludos en el amor de Jesus,

Ministry here is amazing. The kids at the mission school are starting to play with me more and the youth is growing more. The youth worship band is getting a little better. The church is growing really fast. I remember the first time I was there on sunday morning the church was fill with 30 to 40 people and now we don't even have enough chairs and space for the people to sit. I have to stand up during the service. I have great joy in our Lord Jesus Christ for allow me to see such a grow. I know God will do great things in this ministry. In the begining of February the pastor gave an anouncement of a baptism on february 9 for all the believers on the churh. He also gave an hour long class to all the people who raised their hand to be in the baptism. I felt conviction from the Lord because I never been baptize before but I did not raise my hand nor attend the class. When I went home I spent some time studying about baptism and why should we do it. The day came and after the sunday morning service I get to talk to a guy who wasn't sure about the baptism. I got my bible and started to teach him about baptism. At the end of our talk I knew I have to be baptize too. I did not tell anyone about it and I was still thinking if I supposo to do it or if I should wait. We all went to the beach and we decided to do the baptism at the river that touches with the sea. the water is always still and clean. Then the people started to be baptize and when I saw that the guy I was ministering to step up and decided to be baptize I decided to be baptize too. This was a big thing for me because I was giving up my roots and traditions from my parents and my country for the baptism of water and spirit. The cool thing about this baptism was that I was being baptized with the people God sent me to minister to. The water was a little cold and I was scared and happy. When I was getting in and out of the water I thought of the great sacrifice Jesus did for me and that the only thing He required for me was to believe in His name and follow His comandments. I thank God for all that He has done for me and for the promises He gave to me.

In Christ,
Cesar Rodriguez

Music Ministry

Saludos,

The bookstore Ministry has been an exiting experience. I still don't know what to do but I trusth God will do great things.

I also got involved in the worship team here in CCPV. Bill calls me Fill or Junior becuase I do whatever he needs to be done. Being here has teach me a lot of things. I learned to play the drums and bass and to set up the whole sound for the worship. We have kids who are learning to play instruments. Its really funny to see a whole worship team where half is teenagers (Brian !!!). But these kids are really talented and its been a blessing for me to be part of teaching these kids to worship God. We hope one day we can do outreaches to neighborhoods iniviting teenagers to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The worship team is form by one keyboard, bass player, three accoustic guitars, drum set and percussion instruments. Cool huh? Since I been here I seen people come and go but one thing is true and exiting is that the church is growing fast and makes me happy to know that people are getting save.

In Christ,

Cesar

Bookstore Ministry

Saludos,

After working at the mission from 8am to 8pm doing construction work I was promoted to work at the church in the bookstore and cafeteria. So I left the hammer and nails for a cash register and books. I still go to the mission on tuesdays, thursdays and fridays for the clasess. I was a litthe bit sad because I was getting used to the work with JD and Jonathan but I knew I need it to follow God's direction. I dont know anything about Bookstore ministry but Paul gave me some advice and encouragement. This ministry has show me a lot about patient and endurance. Im used to do things that have a result but this ministry has been really slow and tirering. The good thing about this ministry is that people often come and I get to share Jesus with them. The purpose of this ministry is to encourage people to buy their own bibles and grow even more by learning about Him. Also we have a cafeteria which is just starting too. We have a cappuccino and expresso machine and we are thinking to offer more beverages to the people walking in. We are also thinking on getting more bookshelves and bring more spanish books. We sell accesories like purses, shirts, bible covers etc... We are also trying to get more music in spanish but this has been really hard for me because I dont know any good music in spanish. I would like to ask you for prayer about this ministry that the Lord has place on my way.

In Christ,

Cesar

The Cathey's

As some of you guys know. Paul Cathey is a Go missionary too. He was serving the Lord in Mexico city and he was going to come and help out in the ministry here in PV.

The funny thing about all this starts at CCNorco when I was planning being a missionary. When I told Pastor Louie about me becoming a missionary in Mexico He told me he wanted me to meet Paul Cathey from Mexico city. I told Louie I would like to meet him but I wanted to serve the Lord near my family in Tepic Nayarit. Couple weeks after Linda Dewsnap from CCNorco ( You know the Maidmoiselle(french) from the church office) told me about Paul Cathey praying about going to Puerto Vallarta and serve the Lord there in CCPV. I felt like the Lord was confirming my coming to PV and also Paul's too.

I seen Paul before in pictures from the wall at CCNorco but when I saw him in Puerto Vallarta I didn't recognize him at all. He started making a conversation as he knew me before and I was just trying to figure out were do I know this guy but when he started mentioned HERMANO and LINDA and BRIAN and LOUIE I knew he was Paul so I started joking back to him. Paul turned out to be a great brother in the Lord and I felt I wasn't the only missionary here in PV and I knew I can learned a lot of stuff from him. His wife was cool too and their daughters were a little bit scared of me I think they still are a little bit but they are great children and I knew God will do great things here in PV.

The coming of Jonathan

Saludos (greetings),



As you guys already know the work I've been doing in Puerto Vallarta Mexico isn't quite pleasent to me because I never done something like this before. Digging holes, taking loads of trash and getting dirty and smell bad wasn't my idea of ministry at first. Bill came to me one day and said that there was going to come one guy from Switzerland and that he was going to be staying at his house for 6 weeks helping out in the ministry. I was glad to know I could make friends with someone from other country other than the States and Canada. I knew nothing about switzerland and the people there.



Sunday at noon after the service we went to have lunch and Bill went to pick up this new guy to the airport. We were almost done with our food when Bill and Jonathan show up to join us. Bill present Jonathan to the whole group and then we continued eating. I didn't have an oportunity to talk to Jonathan during lunch but once everyone was done me, Jonathan, Bill and his son carpool on Bill's suburban so I talked to him for a little bit. I was really surprise that in Switzerland they speak 4 lenguages: German, french,Italian, switzGerman. When I heard French I decided to try my french and try to speak it. He could'nt understand me but at least he correct me and I was glad I learned something at school.



Next morning as usual I get up early to be at Bill's house at 8:00am so me and JD can go to the mission and work on some more stuff. This time was different because Jonathan was coming also to help out. Me and JD gave a quick tour arround the mission and me and jonathan started digging some more for the water line to go through the yard to the street. I was glad to know I didn't have to dig all by myself. He turned out to be a farmer in his country and he was used to hard work. I felt bad to know I wasn't as hard worker as everyone in this country and switzerland. Even with all the differences we became good friends and we joke arround all the time with JD.



Me JD, and Jonathan did a lot of progress at the mission. And when I was getting used to work at the mission. Bill came to me and said I was going to change the ministry and I was going to start working at the church helping out with the bookstore ministry and the coffee shop. I was a litttle bit excited but I was also sad I wasn't going to be at the mission working with JD and jonathan. I started thinking about the things we can acomplish together at the coffee shop, bookstore ministry. and I started seeking the Lord and praying for direction.

construction work

Saludos,

I thank God for all that He has done for me and all my friends for keeping me in prayer and always being there for me.

The beggining of my ministry started one sunday morning when I left my parents house in Tepic Nay. to go serve the Lord in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. we arrive PV one hour before the service started so I got time to spend some more time with my family before I begin my journey.hahaha. After the morning service I went to the apartment I'm renting right now to clean and get my stuff in place. after I few hours Micah (pastor's son) came to the apartment to tell me that I was going to help the pastor in the children's ministry at the afternoon service. I was really excited to know that I was going to start my ministry ministering to the young fellows. Only two kids show up to the service and we talk about John chapter 2. They seemed to enjoyed the study. we finish a couple minutes early and decided to play arround with the toys in the children's ministry.

Monday morning Bill told me I was going to help JD (Juan Dominguez) and work with him in the mission doing construction work. My first tought was: "I never done that before". so me and JD worked on the kitchen for days. We used a saw to cut the cement floor to level it before getting the tile on. then we took a huge hammer and a pick and started hitting the floor as hard as I can to make it loose. and with the pick we pull the floor up. after 3 days the floor was almost level. so me and JD took shovels and took all the floor pieces to the dump which was a really unpleasent experience because it was really hot and there was a wierd smell and I had to take down all the pieces of cement down (after getting it on the trailer). after a few hours my mission was completed. yeaaaahhhhhh. So the next week we fix some doors and lay the tile down. I learned to mix the mud and level tile to the floor and some other stuff. I also dig holes. took walls down and some other fun stuff.

thank you and God Bless you,

Cesar

P.S. dont forget to pray for the ministry in PV.

Missions with Cesar "The Beginning"

Hey guys,

sorry for not being posting any blogs in a period of time.

This is the beginning of of Missions with Cesar blog spot.

As you guys already know I met Bill and his family at the Christmas service. on January 18 I started to work for the Lord at the mission. The mission is a school that Calvary Chapel Puerto Vallarta started building some years ago. The vision was to give opportunity to poor kids to learn English and to know the word of God. The mission is located at Laguna del Valle which is a neighborhood near the city dumb. This place is full of dust and trash. Some of the houses there are not completely built. And they have cartoon roof tops and walls made of wood. Its really sad to know that these people live in so poor conditions when others are living in mansions here in PV.

The kids at the mission are full of joy and they are open to the word of God. On Sunday mornings we take a van to the the mission to pick up the kids of laguna del valle and we take them to church. After the service we have some food for them and for the rest of the people. we have a good variety of people coming. I get to talk to a lot of locals and people that are here for vacations. the church is located right between hotels so we get a lot of people just wondering abut the church. We also have a liquor store on the corner and a disco-bar on top of us. It may sound to bad. but I think is a really cool opportunity to witness everyday. we also have a mid-week bible study 0n Wednesdays and a evening bible study Sunday night. youth group is on Saturdays and Tuesdays,Thursdays and Fridays there's class at the mission. We have a coffee shop at the church and a bookstore. I really thank God for the opportunity to serve him in many different ways.

Thank you to all the prayer warriors that keep in prayer PV and the mission that has to be done here. We know God will do great things to these kids and to the people living in PV. So please continue to pray and God Bless you.

In Christ,

Cesar

INSIDE THE MISSION

THE MISSION FROM OUTSIDE

HOUSE NEAR THE DUMP