Ministry Video

If you would like to see a new video of our ministry in Guadalajara please go to http://vimeo.com/tag:factor%20fe/sort:newest it is the English one - Bringing hope to a country in crisis.

What are these ministries?

This is our main church plant.  We invest most of our time with Factor Fe in leadership partnering with Israel and Noemi Ochoa.  We have small groups with them and evangelistic bible studies.  Dan shares the preaching with Israel, finds that he is Factor Fe's handy man, does counseling, and gives direction.  MeLinda works developing the kids program and mentoring the women's leadership group.

www.factorfe.com


Proyecto Vive - These are our monthly family conferences that we do as a pre - evangelistic entry point to Factor Fe.  Most of the conferences are focused on marriages and relationships.  We upload these conferences to our web site for others to use in their ministries.

www.proyecto-vive.com

This is the second church plant out in El Vergel.  We have Edgar who is the point person in El Vergel.  He lives there and guides the youth group as they help with the kids clubs on Sat.  Edgar is also developing some evangelistic studies.  Dan mentors Edgar and we encourage and help them out with resources and doing the yearly VBS and with Factor Fe do a Christmas time "shoe box" gift for the kids.

Entretejidas - This is a ministry that MeLinda along with co-worker Barb are putting together to encourage and support pastor's wives.  They are using material done by LeadNet and adding a 3 times a year breakfast for them.  They just started their 2 LeadNet group here in Guadalajara.  Along with this they send out an email of encouragement to an international group of Spanish speaking pastor's wives.

We thought it would be good to have a little backgroud on the ministries we mention from time to time.

Thanks for the encouragement many of you give us through pray and financial giving.  If you do have interest in a particular ministry and would like to invest financially with them here is the information you need.

Factor Fe, Proyecto -Vive and Proyecto Esperanza can be given to: 


Converge Worldwide

2002 S. Arlington Heights Rd.

Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Designate the funds as follows:

Guadalajara Church Plant Fund

Project P00645081

For Entretejidas, the pastor's wives ministry can be sent to:

Converge Worldwide

2002 S. Arlington Heights Rd.

Arlington Heights, IL  60005

designating funds for project 645097

Central Mexico pastor's wives

Factor Fe Kids

Our kid's ministry at Factor Fe is a growing one.  We offer care and classes for kids 0 to 10 during the Sunday service.  We have a lot of improvements needing to be made to accommodate the little ones separate from the older ones.  We are now trying to make the room sound proof so the sound does not go back and forth between adults and kids.  We need creativity in this because the kids room is also used for classes and small gatherings at Factor Fe, a multipurpose area.

Baptisms Oct. 2010

In September Factor Fe had a "Yeah God" Sunday when 10 gave public testimony of their faith in baptism.  This is Israel baptizing Juan Carlos.  JC was Dan's trainer at a gym and through this friendship put his faith and trust in Christ.  He shared that at the time he met Dan and heard the gospel he was ready to end his life here on earth.  He had come to the end of his rope.  Praise God for the hope we do have in Christ.

Mexican Fiesta! 200 years old

In celebration of Mexico's bicentennial year celebrating independence from Spain we had a great ¡Noche Mexicana!  We had tostadas, tamales, atole (thick hot flavored corn drink, not bad),arroz con leche, games, a costume contest and crafts.  It was a great night for everyone to bring friends and family to Factor Fe to get to know us in an informal setting.  We even had a jalapeño eating contest, a man won chomping down 7 of them in a minute!!

They even got Dan, the tall "mexicano"with the hat out to dance a typical dance.  ¡He better not quit his day job!  He was a good sport considering the one teaching was a professional.

Factor Fe has a new home

On July 4th Factor Fe had a welcome service in our new building.  It was a former print shop which after a lot of work we were able to turn it into a worship center.  There is a balcony on one side that we have 4 rooms divided for an office, a youth room, storage and a sound room.  The main seating area will hold around 200.  We've built a little bookstore in the back corner. 
The kids area still needs some work.


We are located on a main street which gives us a lot of visibility.  We can envision having to go to 2 services in the near future!  That is what growth is all about.

View from the front to the back seeing the balcony with some of the rooms

Our little bookstore under the balcony.

A view from the street.  A great place where a lot of socializing goes on after the service.  Nice not to have to worry about snow!

We are so blessed to have a great worship band led by our music/associate pastor, Israel Ochoa.

El Vergel VBS 2010

Our deepest thanks to two groups, one from Stapleton Church in Stapleton, Colorado for their super job in directing the crafts and sports.  We also appreciated the second team of young kids from our mother church, Gestsemani, for coming out in force to teach, maintain crowd control, lead and play with the kids.  Thank you so much!!

The whole team still going strong after 5 full days! 

Continue to pray for Edgar as he lives in El Vergel and does the day to day ministering to the community.  God is opening doors for him to minister and get involved in families that live around the Nueva Esperanza building.

This is Ismael, in this past year the Lord has been using him to lead a group of adolescence to come out and help lead the Saturday kids clubs.  Some of the same kids came out to help with VBS.  He has been a blessing to Edgar and to the Nueva Esperanza ministry.  Pray that God will continue to guide him in his desire to serve the Lord full time.  He was a big help and blessing for the VBS this year as well.

Songs, crafts, snacks, and a Bible story were all part of our 5 day fun packed VBS.

We topped off on Friday with 158 kids.

Our largest group was those 11 and older (45 in all).  Ismael has started reaching out to this age group during the kids clubs on Saturday.  We were seeing the harvest of this effort.

We were able to have a closing short session on Friday afternoon where about 30 parents, mostly mom's, came along with about 100 of the kids.  We were able to present to them our purpose for doing this and who we are and what is Nueva Esperanza.  The kids enjoyed receiving their prizes that they had been earning points for all week.

We were more than tired by the end of the week but God blessed and kids had a blast!  Their highlight of the year I am sure.

Trial Empty Nesting

We are trying to be good empty nester's but sure miss the action of the kids.  4 days after school was out they were US bound.  They are having so much fun seeing cousins and Aunts and Uncles, fishing, swimming and oh yes doing some work for Grandpa at the Motel.  Zoe is a wondering lonely dog wondering if they will ever come back.


In June, Dan did a beach wedding so we took and extra day to enjoy the beach.  It's a good thing we still have some years before we have to really be empty nester's, but this trial run hasn't been too bad.  The kids return in the middle of August.

Enjoying life even after 45!

Factor Fe / World Cup

What a blast we had!  The final game of the World Cup on a big screen in our new building.  Of course, church was out on time and a grill was put up in record time.  The meat and tortillas were grilling the "pop, soda" whatever were flowing and the pre game was on in full volume.  We have a gentleman in Factor Fe who manufactures jerseys and brought 8 from different teams and we had fun raffling them off during the pre game, half time and at the very end.  Dan put in the kids into the raffle and Adrian won the Germany jersey, Go Adrian!  We had about 90 stay after church and join the fun.


In the photo Israel and Nohemi are raffling the Jerseys and Dan is enjoying the food.

Factor Fe transitioning

Factor Fe has signed a lease on a Building!  It was a printing shop and now will be a church.  It has a big center room with balconey along the side, maybe for offices and children underneath.  Has a nice size room at the enterance for a coffee shop/bookstore.  We move in July first with our first service July 4th.  We have 4 days to make urgent improvements for 100 or so to be there on Sunday.  We have two weeks to secure our chairs and we are praying for that to happen on time.

Christian's home

For about 9 months this past year we had an additional "son" staying with us.  Christian was being adopted by friends in Denver and last fall US immigration did not allow him entry because of some concerns they had in his mexican adoption decree.  Two weeks ago Christian and his father traveled to Ciudad Juarez to present his paperwork again at the consulate.  We praise the Lord, that he was allowed entry into the US this time around and is home with his parents and brothers and sisters.

An Opportunity

A professional painter who attends Factor Fe recently donated a painting to be used to generate income for the vision to which God has called us.  We have decided to set up a website to auction it off.  You can check it out at auction.factorfe.com.  If you would like to make an offer, offers can be sent to auction@factorfe.com.  Deadline for submitting a bid is May 31, 2010 at 7 PM local time.

Snow in Mexico!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
During a trip to Puebla recently Dan had the privileged to see the snow capped peek of the volcano Popocateptl.  We had the coldest winter here in Mexico that they have had in a long time.  For about 2 weeks in Feb. our kitchen was a balmy 43ºF, the tile floors and cement walls don't do much for insulation.

Dan was in Puebla assessing six Mexican couples who are now in the process of Church planting.  It was an encouraging time to see God bring couples willing and ready to serve him.  On the way back he had a stop in Mexico City to meet with a group of leaders that are wanting to start new churches with a different, new, and energized DNA.  He had a good and encouraging time of fellowship.

Mmm, mmm, good!

Strange as it was, during one of our Bible studies we were proudly given grasshopper tacos to eat.  Our host's husband had just returned from Oaxaca and they were "fresh".  They were deep fried and crunchy.  It was one of those times you shut your eyes and go for it.

A trip up the mountains.

Not as young as he used to be!

Dan,Adrian and Cristian had a great adventure along with the family of Constatino Varas de Valdez, the missions pastor from our mother church.  They left home at 5:30am to drive south about 3 hours to the foothills outside the city of Tepic,Jalisco.  They loaded up their food,clothes,water,tents and sleeping gear for the next 5 days and were off on a 2 1/2 hour hike straight up the mountain.  The trip was not just for fun but to go and encourage pastor Justo and his wife Mary.  They are a part of the Huichol indian people group. Dan and Constantino gave CESI classes (Church planting training) in the morning.  And all joined in for kids activities in the afternoon.  There was always time for a game of volleyball, the town's favorite sport.

great home grown corn fresh tortillas daily with beans, beans and more beans!

  Pray for the town judge, in bright blue, that his faith will grow and become a strong example to others.  Pastor Constantino is to his left.

We were encouraged to have a farewell party be there for our 6am breakfast (beans and tortillas) and pray for us.  We hiked back down the mountain and rode home to showers and indoor toilets, the simple joys of life!


Yes, that is Adrian on your far left, not little anymore!

Factor Fe 1st Anniversary

On Jan. 25, 2010 we officially turned 1 year old.  We enjoyed a black tie banquet on Sat. evening with video and power point reviewing the events of the year.  Music and reports were also part of the event to make it an official first year "business meeting". 

Sunday morning we continued our celebration casting vision for what we as Factor Fe feel God is leading us towards.  We also said good bye to a leadership couple who have moved on to work about 3 hours away.  Dennis and Mary Johnson (on the left) will be missed.

Beach Ministry!?!

The third week of January we took a week off to head to the beach.  On our way to our "beach ministry" we decided to take the scenic route through the mountains and visit a mission church in Mascota, Jalisco.  We were blessed by being invited to stay in a member's mesón which was over 100 years old (a house turned into a small hotel) and view another member's chili plantation.  They are the chili's that chile rellenos are made of.  They are Dan's favorite and MeLinda's first try at making them was delicious.


After winding down the mountain for 2 hours we were able to enjoy some personal time.  We enjoyed resting, playing lots of beach vollyball, swimming and looking at the ocean sunsets.

She is gone again.

We thank God that Diana made her 12 hour flight back to San Jose, Costa Rica to finish her las semester at Toarchbearers , the one year Bible school she is attending.  She reports that the general attitude of the student boy has improved this semester and is enjoying the new classes.  She has been asked to participate in a leadership team planning some of their activities.

Now the shortest of the 3 kids her only claim to fame is that she is still the oldest.  We enjoyed her extended 2month break with us.  She caught up with friends and on her sleep.  We miss her!

Factor Fe 2nd Baptisim

After finding a man to make us a "tank" out of fiberglass making sure it would fit a person and the alloted amount of water allowed by the Hotel we were blessed with a great service at Factor Fe celebrating 12 believers taking this step of making their faith public!  We rejoiced to see God raising up individuals with changed lives to change their communities.  It was a full Sunday with many coming to see friends and family.  We pray that the testimony given will water the seed planted in their hearts.

Check out the video:

Mario

We would like to ask you for your continued prayers for a young boy named Mario who lives in the town of El Vergel. About 2 months ago he was admitted into the hospital because he had contracted Dengue fever. He has contracted yet another unknown virus that is continuing to worsen his already weak body. He has become paralyzed in both of his legs, has lost most all of his function in both of his arms and hands, and has lost the majority of his eye sight in one of his eyes. However, despite his worsening state of health he gave us the best Christmas gift we could ask for. He surprised us with his presence on Saturday the 26th, we were all able to see him for the first time since he was admitted into the hospital. He was able to go home for Christmas, even though it was only for a few days. Since we do not know how much longer he will be home and available for visitors, Dan and Diana went to visit him at his home to see how he was doing and to give him a christmas present. We are praying that this situation, as hard as it is, brings him and his family to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the ultimate Healer, and to know him as their personal Savior and their only Hope.

115 gifts to the kids of El Vergel

Factor Fe decided to live out what they had learned the 20th at the concert. They put living "christmas" everday to practice by making up boxes to give to less fortunate kids living in a town nearby called El Vergel on Saturday the 26th of December. It was our own version of "operation christmas child." We decided to have a one day VBS type deal and at the end we were going to surprise the kids with their gifts. For many of them the gift we gave them was the only gift they received. We had such a good outcome that we were 15 gifts shy. So tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 2 we will be going back to El Vergel to give out the gifts to the 15 boys who were not able to receive any. Our time at El Vergel was very profitable because not only were we able to share the gospel to 125 kids but we were also able to talk with some of their mothers aswell.

Christmas Concert

Factor Fe had an amazing concert on the 20th of December. We were blown away with our assitance. Around 275 people gathered together to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. The Concert consisted of breathtaking songs sung by the Factor Fe worship team, then a series of short skits. The entire theme was to urge everyone to not only celebrate Jesus on Chrismtas but to celebrate "christmas" everyday of the year. The concert ended on a lovely note with Dan doing a monologue acting as Jesus and speaking directly to the hearts of everyone there.