December Update

Hello all,

We wanted to send out a quick update regarding what is going on here in our city.

We have been enjoying our house and neighborhood and have met several neighbors. Each of them has been very nice and helpful and one family has already invited us into their house which was quite a surprise since we have only been here a couple of weeks.

Please pray- that our relationships here in our neighborhood continue to grow.

We would like to ask you to especially be praying for our neighbors who invited us into their home. We just found out that his mother, who is 90, is very ill and both of them are traveling to D.F. (Mexico City) right now to see her.

Please pray- that God would show us how to minister to them in a way that reflects Him to them.
I (Mike) have been able to meet several men from around the area and will soon be spending time with them. They have all been gracious and have invited me into their homes.

Please pray- for opportunities to share Jesus with them.
Praise- Since our crate will soon be here it will be like having an early Christmas as we unpack things we haven't seen in two years as well as things we have forgotten that we own!

Praise- We recently had a family write us who received our card from our sending agency. They have been praying for us everyday for the last ___(?) months. It is an awesome feeling to know that people who do not know us, have been praying for us daily. It is amazing to be able to catch glimpses of how God is mobilizing His army.
Praise- Thank you Mambrino Baptist Church. You are a blessing to us.
Praise- Thank you Grace Community Church for the birthday video wishes and song to Tess. She smiled all the way through it!
Thank all of you for your prayer support!!

Praise- I wanted to share a story that I heard from a fellow m. He told me that a pastor from a church in Texas recently loaded down both his pick up truck and a trailer with boxes of Bibles and drove them across the border. Soon after entering Mexico, one of the cartels pulled him over and told him they were going to confiscate (a nice way of saying steal) his truck and trailer. The pastor said that they couldn't take his truck and trailer because they did not belong to him. He told them who they really belonged to... God.
A long story short, the cartel man told the pastor to go on to where ever he was going (which is unheard of) because he “respected” God and “feared” him.
This story reminded me of Brother Andrew in his book “God’s Smuggler” where God blinded the eyes of the Communist police so that they were not able to see the bibles that he was smuggling; bibles that eventually revealed the Truth to countless people in communist countries.
Several hours later, God’s Word arrived in Mexico City and is now being distributed among people who do not know Him. May the people who receive these Bibles come to know our Lord and Savior through this small miracle.

To have an idea regarding the culture here I am going to link to a post that some fellow m's posted on their blog who live a few hours away. Though there are some cultural differences between our city and their city, most are on the nose. HERE

We finally made it!!!

We are here in our city here in Mexico!

Praises:

We arrived safely to our city!

We have a great house!

We have all of our utilities!

We have met several of our neighbors and they are friendly and welcoming!

We are all healthy!

Prayers:

Language

Ministry

Kids adjustment

Home schooling

Crate arrival with all of our household stuff

Encouragement during the Holidays

Relationships

Thank you for your love for us and for your prayers. We miss you all. Our Stateside number is the same and is listed on our blog, please feel free to call us. We would love to catch up.

Goodbye Seattle

We have received medical clearance and are flying out to Mexico City on Sunday at 5am.

During the past four months, we have received answers to our medical questions, grown closer to my side of the family and rested. We are as ready as possible for Mexico and excited for this new chapter in our lives to begin. On Sunday at 1:50pm we ask you to praise God with us as He will bring about our arrival to Mexico, for us a long awaited moment. Thank you for all of your prayers that have carried us to this point.

Mike, Megan, Jake, Tess and Joy

My Friend Kelly

Mike-
Sadly, since we have been here I have not had a lot of opportunities to talk with people. As well, since we have now lived in 6 different houses (one of the houses 2 different times) I have not had the opportunity to build any relationships. Of course this is somewhat discouraging for me since I really enjoy getting to know people. That is not to say that I have not met people here who have impacted me greatly. I want to share with you four different people who have crossed my path here in the Northwest over the next 4 blog posts. I will go in order of when I met them.

Today I will begin with Kelly. Kelly is a man of about 45 or so. I met him soon after arriving here in the Seattle area. One Sunday after church services I was leaving Soma Communities and I struck up a conversation with a young man who was holding the door open for me. In our conversation I discovered that he lived "on the hill". Because of the way that he said "on the hill" made me ask him why he said it like that. He told me that "the hill", 10 years before, was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in all of the U.S. However much change has taken place in that sector of the city and it is no longer one of the most dangerous in the U.S.
Being interested in where this neighborhood was I asked him how to get there. He said that I was on the edge of 'the hill' now and that all I needed to do was, as he pointed up a street, to go up that hill.
So I hopped in the truck and proceeded up the hill. As I got close to the top I turned down a main street. Not long after turning, I noticed a guy having a yard sale on the sidewalk so I looked to see what he was selling as I drove buy. Seeing some old toys that were from back in the day (yes Im still very much a kid) I turned around a couple of blocks up the street and headed back so that I could stop and peruse his goods.
This man introduced himself to me as Kelly. I quickly determined that he was a crack head from the burns on his lips and fingers and that he was homeless. He told me that he was selling items for some friends who lived in the house that we were standing in front of.
After much conversation I also found out that he was a regular kid at one time. In the early and mid 80's he told me that he was one of the best baseball players in all of the Northwest and that he had been drafted by a major league team. He said that he wasn't good enough to play in the big leagues at that time so he had to play minor league ball until he was able to move up.
I asked him what happened that prevented him from moving up.
He said that during his minor league days he discovered crack along with other drugs and from that point his new life style quickly led him to the streets. Kelly shared some stories with me that had occurred in the last 25+ years that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.
His stories were never prideful nor bragging, just very sad... even hopeless.
When a bridge to sharing Jesus opened up, I began to talk to him beginning in Genesis. As the story progressed he began to quietly cry. His started to slowly rock his head to the left and to the right. By the time I got to Abraham he was holding his head in his hands as he continued to rock his head.
-It was clear that the Spirit was moving-
When I got to Jesus' birth he was squatting, holding his head and rocking back and forth and crying. He continued doing this as I went through the New Testament. By the time I reached the crucifixion, he was still in the squatting position, holding his head, only now he would make sounds, sort of like short, brief moans.
Finally when I had finished, I asked him if he felt God calling him to Himself.
Kelly responded, "Feel Him? I am overwhelmed with Him!... I am consumed in Him... I feel Him everywhere."
I then asked Kelly if he was ready to ask for forgiveness and submit to the One who was overwhelming him.
Kelly's response was enough to make any Calvinist rethink his theology.
My friend said... "no".
After much more discussion regarding Kelly's condition and what needed to be done to alleviate it I discovered that just a few minutes before I pulled up, Kelly told me that he was in such a bad place, that he had just prayed asking God to save him (from his homelessness). He said that as he prayed, he was looking down the street (the direction that I had come) "knowing" that God's answer would come from that direction.

Here was God, desiring to restore Kelly not only from his homeless condition, but infinitely more, to restore his spiritual condition. And here was Kelly, unquestionably overwhelmed with God's presence knowing that God would save him, however rejecting Him, wanting to continue to submit to his god - crack cocaine.

Please pray for Kelly. Even after two months I am still deeply disturbed and burdened for him. Pray that God continues to pursue him and that Kelly responds in repentance.

Our long and overdue Summer update

As many of you already are aware, we had to come back to the states from language school in Costa Rica due to unexpected medical issues. By God’s grace we finished at the required level and headed to Seattle. I (Megan) had been having some neurological problems as well as various other problems and Tess also had been experiencing problems as well. Thanks to my uncle, who has a friend who is a neurologist, things quickly began to fall into place. We were able to get medical appointments quickly, housing also fell into place, and we were given a truck to drive during out stay from my aunt.

We stayed the first few nights with my uncle in Seattle so that we could be closer for doctors appointments. Tess had her first appointment on Tuesday and then a second on Thursday where the consensus was that Tess is a frequent migraine suffer and has been since the age of 5. As horrible as she feels when she is sick, we were relieved that it is nothing more serious and have already seen quick results with Advil when caught early.

We had a couple of crazy days as the kids came down with a stomach bug and we had to leave my uncle’s quickly. However, there were two pieces of good news, first the car rental place was out of the model that we asked for and had to rent us a beautiful Cadillac and second, the second was that no one threw up in it on the way to my aunt’s! :)

We picked up the truck from my aunt, returned the rental and drove to our next home about an hour south of Seattle. This house was provided by a Christian couple with a heart for missionaries. We quickly found a K-Mart and bought air mattresses and the other things we needed and moved in.

I had my first appointment July 25th with a neurologist and he ordered some tests for the 2nd of August (this past Monday). I am going to list them only because I have been on the reader side of these letters many times and know how much I appreciated details when they were provided. This past Monday I had an EEG to check for seizures, an EKG with some kind of saline IV to check for a hole in my heart and the possibility of strokes and an MRI of my brain, plus about 12 blood tests.

Good news again; I have a heart and a brain and apparently courage as I made it through the MRI without flipping out. We will have some of the blood results on Monday, but the rest will have to wait until my follow-up on August 11th with the neurologist. I also met with the infectious disease doctor on Monday. He ordered both Hepatitis tests and an ultrasound to look at my spleen as well as other tests. He then ordered an appointment with an Edocrinologist on August 20th for some other problems discovered in Costa Rica.

We are currently staying in a facility built for Stateside missionaries and pastors that is beautiful and fully equipped. We can stay here until September 4th which gives us some time to relax and regroup before heading to Mexico .

Here is a list of what God has done and is doing in our lives:

• We were given medical clearance from the IMB and permission to travel as a family.
• Both Mike and I tested out of Spanish at the required level 6 weeks early.
• We were able to line up appointments quickly in an area of the country known for its neurology department.
• We were provided places to stay.
• We have been given many opportunities to display Christ to family and friends.
• We were given a reliable vehicle for the duration of our stay.

Please Pray for:

• Focus
• Health
• Rest
• Visas

We love you all and will keep you updated. Thank you for your prayers!

Back to the Northwest!

Rope holders,

Since the doctors do not know what is going on with Megan and Tess, our medical team has decided that we need to return to the states for evaluation and treatment for the next ? months. Because God has opened many doors for us to go to Seattle, we will be leaving Costa Rica this Friday morning and heading to the Northwest.

We have a LOT to do in the next day and a half so this letter is going to be short and to the point.

-Please pray for our children as they transition once again into another city and culture. Though the people in the NW are incredible, the culture is very different from our southern culture. So please pray that the kids would adapt well during this process.

-Of course pray that the doctors would find what is going on with Megan and Tess quickly and that they would be able to easily treat what ever is going on.

-Praises in that of the 4 months that we were told we should count on being there, God has already provided housing for all but a month of that time, which will consist of staying in 6 different locations.

-Pray that God provides housing for us for the month that we do not have covered.

-Pray that our children, as well as Megan and I, would be able to easily transition from one residence to another.

Psalm 62:7 On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

Thank you again for your prayers!

mmjtjlee

It seemed as if the ministry with my street friends had come to an end due to each of them finding employment. Thank the Lord that it has not come to an end. In fact, I ran into one of the guys (the man who recently came to know the Lord) and he wanted to start meeting on Sunday afternoons, and he wanted to bring two friends!
-Please pray that this ministry would grow strong enough to sustain itself after Greg and I leave Costa Rica (in less than two months).

-Praises in that not only is this ministry still alive but is apparently growing!

Last I wanted to share a video from pictures that I have taken over the last 5 years in various cities in the world. The song that the video is set to, is by a popular music group from the 70's. Because the truths expressed in this song were so impacting for me as a child, I felt the song would be perfect for this video. The video closes with my all time favorite C.S. Lewis quote.

The cities pictured are:

Seattle; Dallas/Fort Worth; Kunming; Vancouver, Ca;

Chihuahua, Mx.; San Jose, Costa Rica; Acuna, Mx.

Un Sueno / Update

May 1, 2010

Dreams have been one way that God has been revealing Himself to people in Muslim countries. If you are not familiar with this information you can read about it here here here and here. Of course there are numerous other sites who have similar stories so I would encourage you to visit them if you have not done much reading on this topic; and be amazed at what God is doing.

"Un sueno" is Spanish for "a dream". Today, Megan, her parents and the kids went with a tour guide (Fernando) to a coffee plantation. When we were leaving, I stepped inside a little store to buy some gum and was able to strike up a conversation with a young man (Melvin) who was behind the counter. I asked him if he was a Catholic or an Evangelical. He said "Neither, I am a Jehovah Witness".

I then asked him a few questions regarding the Bible and what he thought about those questions. Thankfully, due to my lack of Spanish, Fernando came up and he immediately jumped into the conversation and proved to be a compassionate evangelist. He did a great job of being a light to this young man.

After much conversation, Melvin shared something with us. He said that he has been praying that God would reveal Himself to him. Last night Melvin had a dream. He dreamed that two men were talking to him about the Bible and that two of the very things that Fernando and I talked to him about were two of the things that the two men in the dream had talked to him about. After leaving the coffee plantation and traveling a few miles down the road, Fernando felt the need to give Melvin his bilingual Bible. So we turned around and brought it to him. He was overjoyed to receive it. He thanked Fernando over and over again. Thankfully, since Fernando is a tour guide, he has the opportunity to take groups to the plantation fairly frequently and thus, will have many opportunities to follow up.

Megan also had something interesting happen. In the tour group that we were with on the tour through the coffee plantation, a friendly Jewish lady kept striking up conversations with Megan regarding religion while we were on the tour. Megan had hoped to be able to give here a tract before we left but lost track of the lady during lunch. She prayed that God would provide an opportunity for her to at least be able to share a tract with the friendly lady and was disappointed when we left because she did not cross paths with the lady again after lunch. The opportunity arose for her to be able to give the lady the tract after Fernando turned the bus around in order to drive back to the coffee plantation so that he could give the man his Bible. As Fernando was giving the Bible to Melvin, the Jewish lady walked out. Megan ran up to the lady and gave the tract to her. The lady graciously thanked Megan and jokingly stated that she was Jewish and didnt need to be saved. She then kept the tract and walked to her bus.

-Pray that God would continue to reveal Himself to Melvin.

-Pray that the covering over Melvin's eyes and heart would be removed so that he will be able to see our glorious Savior Jesus Christ.

-Please pray that our Jewish friend would also have the covering removed from her eyes and that she too would be able to share in the hope that we have.

God bless you all! Thank you for your partnership with us in brining the Gospel to those who do not know Him.

UPDATE

May 6, 2010

Melvin just called me and asked me to pray for his son. His son is two and has not started talking yet. He thanked me and Fernando over and over again for talking to him about God (though Fernando was the one who did most of the talking with him). Melvin was so greatfull to have received the Bible that Fernando gave him, that he kept saying "gracias", "gracias", "gracias".

-Please pray that God would answer our petitions, showing Himself as Jehovah Rophe, "The Lord who Heals"

-And please pray that Melvin, as well as his entire family, sees God as Jehovah M'Kaddesh, "The One who sets you apart for My Use."

Rejoice!

To the saints who have committed to pray for us,

God has displayed His saving grace to a friend of mine here in Costa Rica who attends the Bible study that I help with. This friend, Giovanni, is a man who has found himself living on the streets of downtown San Jose for some time and is now in the process of trying to get off them.

The humility displayed by this friend is inspiring; to see his hunger for the Word of God is encouraging. God has clearly displayed that it was through the "foolishness" of what was preached as being what saved this friend. I say this because the Gospel that this man heard came from the lips of a man who does not speak Spanish as well as my four year old speaks English. This message preached was preached by a man who has been speaking Spanish for less than a year. Giovanni heard the simple message of the cross, a message that came not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.

Through the redemption of this man, God has clearly shown that it is He and He alone who redeems mankind through the power of the message preached and not through man's wisdom. God has freed this man from the bonds of sin by capturing him and making him His own and one day Jesus will lead this friend, along with us who believe, in a triumphal procession. Thanks be to God!

Giovanni is standing by me in the yellow shirt. The other Tico men in the photo (the four men in the middle) are men who also live on the streets of San Jose and attend the Bible study. Their names are Jose, Jimmy and Johnny.

The man to my right as well as the two men on the right side of the photo, are fellow language school students who are also involved with the Bible study.

Please pray for these men.

-Pray that Giovanni continues to grow and that his desire for the Lord increases.

-Pray that he will desire to share Christ with others and to disciple those who come to know the Lord.

-Pray that if these other men do not know Jesus, that God would open their hearts to hear the Gospel message as He did Giovanni.

-Pray that we, the men who are currently leading the Bible study, would be faithful in the message taught.

-Pray that these men would develop a passion to share the message that they are hearing to their friends.

-Pray that this ministry grows through these men and that they have the desire to take ownership of what God is doing and to not depend on us Gringos.

-And humbly REJOICE in the knowledge that God has shown mercy to another undeserving sinner such as ourselves.

Thank You Grace Church!

We would like to express our gratitude to Grace Church of Sequoyah County for agreeing to partner with us in reaching our city!

Prayer Requests for the week of April 20th

Thank you all for your prayers. Dios les bendigan!

Praises-
-Megan and Jake are all doing much better. Thank you for your prayers in that area.
-Megan, has reached the required language level to be able to continue on to Mexico after less than 2 semesters.
-A homeless man who participates in the ministry that Mike is involved with has recently become a believer. Please continue to pray for these men.

Prayer Requests-
-Mike is one level below Megan so please pray for him over this last semester so that he may be able to at least reach the required minimum.
-Since this semester almost over, once again our children will be saying goodbye to friends. Please pray for them as they go through this difficult time.
-Due to a year of various health issues scattered throughout our family, please pray for health.
-Last night Tess had another one of her spells. She felt so bad that she had to leave her favorite thing to do (gymnastics) in order to come home. She went to bed about 4:30 and basically slept from then on. For some reason her temperature drops to around 96 when she feels bad. Please pray that the doctors can find out what is wrong with her. It seems that because they are not able to find anything to pin her symptoms to, they are trying to tell us it is a psychological problem. Of course we know better. How does a child not want to attend her favorite functions complaining of nausea, head aches and body aches, going to bed in the middle of the afternoon, having temporary anemia, coupled with low fever?

Thank you all for your prayers.

The Lee Family

Hi every one,

Here is just a quick update:

Tess CT scan and EEG came out normal! Praise God! We have an appointment with a pediatric immunologist on Monday to see if we can't get to the bottom of her symptoms. In the mean time she is doing well. This past week we found out that Megan has Mono and will be taking it easy for the next several weeks. She will be adjusting her schedule a bit to allow for some rest. The kids are all in all doing well. Still signs of struggle at times and we pray through them,survive them and move past them as best we know how. Ministry is going well. Thank you for praying for the Los Yoses church plant. Last Sunday we showed the movie,' Fireproof'. Only a few people came, but we were encouraged by it non the less. Please continue to pray for that ministry. Also, Mike is still involved with the homeless ministry downtown and has made some wonderful friends and is getting lots of practice speaking in Spanish. Love to you all,

The Lees

Please pray for Tess

Prayer partners,

Please pray for Tess. As previously mentioned this past year she has been having some health issues, headache, stomach ache and low body temperature. The last time she had these symptoms Megan checked her eyelids and noticed they were pale, but looked later and they were normal. We took her to the doctor and he had a few blood test run, but only found that her white cells were slightly elevated. Again today Tess complained of a headache etc. and Megan noticed her eyelids were pale again and called our doctor here. He has asked us to bring her in on Thursday for more blood work an MRI and an EEG. We ask that you pray for our family during this time that we would keep our eyes fixed on Him. Please pray that the doctor is able to find out what is making her so sick.

Thank you for all of your prayers,

Mike and Megan

The Lee Family Update- January 30th, 2010

Hello from Costa Rica! The Holidays have passed and our new trimester of language school and school for the kids have begun. Both Mike and I and the kids are really enjoying school this trimester and settling in more and more to our new lives. Mike and I love our teachers and thank God daily for allowing us to learn Spanish. Only to Him be the glory for everything, language acquisition most especially:). We spent most of our first trimester in survival mode to be honest and it is amazing to be on the other side of it at last. We have both become involved in ministry opportunities and feel as if the various distractions that plagued us last trimester have been put in there appropriate places in order that we may serve Him better. People ask us,"What is the hardest thing about being a missionary?", and from Virginia to Canada to Costa Rica, the answer has not changed. The hardest thing about being a missionary in another country for me, is this; Our sin knows no borders and wherever we go it goes too. To struggle with our sins far away from the support of our families, church bodies and friends is the hardest thing about being a missionary in a foreign country. Trusting that He is sufficient in all our circumstances and trials and that He alone meets all our needs, is transient thing for me. I think learning to trust God in all circumstances is the hardest lesson for any of us to learn, no matter where we are. I know it as truth in scripture and by in the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but I do not always walk it out in my life. Mike has been so good to post prayer needs for our family, for our ministry and for our lives in general and to keep you updated on the goings on with us and in fact I have not written a blog update in almost a year. I honestly have not written because I have been overwhelmed in all senses of the word and felt too vulnerable to put much in print beyond the occasional comment on face book. This year has not been in vain only because we serve a mighty God. He has been faithful to allow us to persevere and that is why I chose to write this update today. I wanted to encourage any one who reads this to realize that our lives are no different from yours. We struggle, we doubt, we get distracted from God and His plan and we fail. Our hope is in this alone; God is unchangeable and his plans cannot be thwarted! Our options are these; to allow our trials and sin to distract us and therefore miss out on willingly and joyfully participating in His plan or laying our sins before him, trusting that He is sufficient and rejoicing and participating in the work he doing all around us. Our prayer request this month and always from you is this; that we would choose the latter more than settling for the former. We love you all and are so thankful for all of your prayers.

Megan