4/01/2010 An April 2010 Newsletter Article
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Mike and Vickie Kangas have been working in this area for twenty years. Most of the towns on the map do not have churches so we are working on fixing that.
It was time for a fun day in the desert so I, Mike, loaded the van with a couple thousand tracts, a few hundred music cds, a couple hundred reading glasses, a video projector, some dvds, and a sound system. Ready for any opportunity to make Christ known.
Hardly got out the door before I was needed! Drove from Diamante to the gas station just before I-Griega— you know the one, the new Pemex on the right-hand side.
A guy and a girl pumped my gas. While all that excitement was going on, the guy asked if I was going to the beach.
I said, “Nah. Just gonna go wander around some pueblos.”
Then he looked at me and said, “I know who you are! I go to Hector’s church and have charge of a men’s meeting. Do you have any tracts we can have? We are out.”
So I gave him a couple hundred tracts and a few New Testaments. Then he said, this girl could use some, too. She is going to visit her husband in the jail in Obregon and they have a little church in the jail and could use some tracts. So I gave her some, too.
Then I went to Hector’s church in I-Griega. Hector’s son saw me and said, “Hey Mike. We are out of tracts, do you have any we can have?” I like it when a pastor’s son asks me for tracts.
So I gave them several hundred tracts, some bibles, some music cds, and reading glasses and seeds they could use for outreach.
Then I headed into the desert, going towards Ultimo Esfuerzo. Of course, when you go there, the shortcut goes through Colonia Oeste, a town of less than a hundred people. I didn’t plan on stopping, but there were two guys sitting on a porch. I stopped and grabbed some tracts to give them and walked towards them. As I approached, one of them said, “Hey, I know you. You’re the guy with those God papers. I saw you over there last year.” He pointed in a direction that could have been one of several towns. “Where are you going to have a service?”
I tried to think of how to have a service with just those two guys and nothing came to mind. I could have shown them one of the films, but that didn’t come to mind quick enough.
We talked some and I gave him reading glasses so he could read the tracts I gave him. He told me I could use their baseball stadium for an event anytime.
Then I drove to Ultimo Esfuerzo, a town of a thousand, not counting the animals. We held services for eight months there fifteen years ago, so I parked near the house where we held them. Tracts in hand, I started down the street. Gave some to two guys and while I was doing that another guy said to me, “Hey, I know you, and you know me!”
“Yeah, I do, but I can’t remember your name.”
“Jorge, and my wife is Leticia. You used to have services in our house. Come on in and talk awhile”
We talked for an hour, and they asked about Vickie and all of our kids, including Suki who was two then and is eighteen now. Our other kids are older, too. They asked about my brother Matt who was a half inch taller than their door opening. He had continual scabs on his head from whacking it. Jorge has since made the door opening a few inches taller to accommodate him.
I left them some Pro-Vision Sunday School material Kristi sent me to give to a friend of theirs who might be able to teach a group of kids even though there is no church in the town. And I later gave their phone number to the pastor’s son I mentioned earlier, to see if they can hold services there.
After handing out tracts throughout the town I took a shortcut to Cerro Blanco. The main road is washboard gravel then potholes the rest of the way. The shortcut turned out to be worse.
In Cerro Blanco a number of people recognized me as I wandered around handing out tracts.
Why does it matter that they recognize me? A stranger wandering around like I do is under suspicion, but these folks know what to expect— to learn of Jesus.
That was basically all for that day, but the next morning I passed out probably five hundred tracts in this outdoor market.
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4/01/2010 Our House in Diamante
Years ago we bought a house in Diamante with the money we would have paid for rent in Caborca. It came with issues— an outhouse, running water if you run with the bucket, scorpions galore. But it also had plusses— orange and lemon trees, peaceful location. And it is a key location to minister in the area.
In 1992 our rent in the city of Caborca was $300 per month, and we purchased the house for $3,000. 3 bedrooms, 80' x 160' lot, and all the issues and other plusses. For the last year we have been willing to sell it for $5,000 since we did many upgrades, but no buyers came through.
So we're gonna keep it and use it for ministry.
Our family lived there a few years but our pastor moved us out of there because of our compounding health issues.
Vickie and I have decided to move back in there part-time, so in February we went down there to fix on the house. We painted a couple rooms, I had the house water pump rebuilt (didn’t work, need a new one), put in a watering system for the trees, and made a ministry room.
The ministry room is my favorite.
It has lots of windows, so there is a lot of light. We have two desks for computers, a cabinet for storing tracts, cds, and bibles, and ten feet of table space for working on projects. We have 2,000 tracts, 300 reading glasses, 100 packets of seeds for outreach, a video projector, sound systems, and a tent. We have a Risograph for printing more tracts. That is a copier that makes a copy then lets you print at 120 copies per minute. And the ink is so cheap we can print a thousand copies for $1.50, not counting the paper.
So when Alfonso needed some tracts the other day, it took an hour for me to crank out 1000 of five different tracts for him.
We also have some other machinery on the way. We have a poster printer which will fit nicely in the room. It can make posters up to 60” wide, so we can announce events and promote churches. I am also bringing a laminator, projection screen, and other similar ministry supplies there in April. Pray for our trip!
Here we are, Mike and Vickie. Thanks for your support.
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