Home Again, Again,..

Maria is back living at Una Esperanza

I just returned from my first solo trip to Una Esperanza in well over a year and it was not quite the same without Lesli and Noah (or Dina) along. Our finances are at an all time low right now so I made this trip alone to save money. Please pray for us and for Gods provision as the financial resources required to sustain the Una Esperanza ministry center have been steadily growing as we minister to even more children each week!

The Una Esperanza store nears completion and the proceeds will help to financially sustain the ministry center.

Maria returned to Una Esperanza last week so I flew out to help her get settled in and I also brought her some new clothing and other essential items. She has grown quite a bit since we last saw her in August and she’s very happy to be living back at Una Esperanza. We’ve been told that Mariquita will be back in three months as well so please keep this in your prayers.

I’m happy to share that the war with the Indians over the Mariquita rescue seems to have ended peacefully. All of our regular Tarahumara children are back at the center and we even have quite a few new kids. The place is crawling with kids each day and most often filled to capacity! The children are really responding to the daily Bible lessons and we're seeing glimpses of the spiritual breakthrough that we’ve been praying for. Our staff is really focused and excited about this new year and there’s an excitement in the air about “making much about Jesus”.


I’ve posted a new photo gallery from this trip on the website.

Mariquita and Maria Update:

Maria is back at Una Esperanza!
Maria returned to Una Esperanza this past weekend and I will be flying out to welcome her back tomorrow afternoon. Her sister Mariquita who we rescued last July after she was abducted from Una Esperanza is currently living with her mother on a ranch south of Juarez and is doing fine. We’re still fervently praying for Mariquita’s quick and safe return to Una Esperanza and we’re praising God for Maria being back with us! This is indeed an awesome answer to prayer! Please continue to pray for the safe return of Mariquita.



I’ve posted a new video from our last trip on our homepage.

God Knows My Name

Friday afternoon we had a great time at Una Esperanza. In the morning before the feeding, Patsy and I had the children help with painting and decorating poster boards that depicted Creation and what happened on each day, and then late in the afternoon Patsy taught a Bible lesson on Creation and had some of the children present a play about how God created light on Day 1 and that each subsequent day, He created the things that His creations would need, all because He loved them so much and wanted to provide for them.

After we sang a song together with the children, Patsy shared with them that Jesus is the Light, and that He seeks to live in each one of us and wants us to know that He loves us. Several children indicated that they wanted the Light of Christ to live inside them and came up to receive Christ as their Savior. Following this, she had several of our staff members as well as Brad and myself come to the front of the room, and invited the children to come forward and receive a hug from each of us that was a tangible means of them feeling the love of God the Father for them each personally.


As the children came through one by one, I was reminded of a song we sing in church and had played during the lunch feeding -

I am not forgotten, I am not forgotten, I am not forgotten,
God knows my name, He knows my name.

Light over darkness, strength over weakness, joy over sadness,
He knows my name.
Father to the fatherless, Friend to the friendless,
Hope to the hopeless,
He knows my name.

I will praise You, I will praise You
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
(I Am Not Forgotten, Israel Houghton, Integrity Music)

Knowing the family situations of most of these children coming into my arms for hugs, I was brought to tears many times, knowing that this was perhaps the first time they had received affection in a long time, if at all in their lives. Boys and girls alike were in tears, feeling loved and not wanting to let go. Even the ones that can tend to cause trouble at times melted into our arms and received the love that was offered. We've been praying for a break-through, and we believe that this was a step in that direction.


This is a photo of me hugging Benito, who is the older brother to Maria and Mariquita. Benito recently returned to Kilometer 33 after being taken away several months ago. Right now he's on his own, staying at a friend's house, but we know that he's going hungry and the biting cold is taking its toll on everyone right now. It was both heartbreaking and encouraging to hold him and tell Him that God loves him and so do I, and that God knows his name and has not forgotten Him. I told him that because he has no earthly father, God is His father and he is a special son in God's sight. He is just one story out of so many more. Benito told us that Maria and Mariquita should be returning to Kilometer 33 in two weeks, so we ask for your prayers in this matter, that God would indeed bring them back to Una Esperanza.


As each of these precious children came through and was held in our arms for just a moment, it was a reminder to us that God does indeed know each of their names - Maribel, Manuel, Aaron, Carolina, Adelita, Josue, Perla, Rojo, Juanita, Denise, Lucy, Benito - He knows their names and their situations, and He has not forgotten about them. He loves them and has given His Son to ransom them, and that is the message that we must continue to share with them, loving them on a daily basis and taking every opportunity to tell them that Jesus is the hope for their future.

Greetings from Una Esperanza

We’ve been enjoying our stay at Una Esperanza and the place is crazy as ever with kids everywhere! Things are going great but as usual, we’ve had our share of issues. For starters, someone broke into our Una Esperanza store last night which is under construction, and they stole the doors right off the building.









They also took the material we had just purchased to finish stuccoing the building along with a bunch of tools for the construction work. We posted a wanted poster on the building and we’re hopeful that someone in the neighborhood will turn the thief in so we can recover these items.









Students In Free Interprise (SIFE) from Texas State University is funding this store and it has taken us months to get this project near completion and we really don’t need any further delays. Please join us in prayer that we would recover the stolen items so that this store can open on schedule next month.









More to come…

A Call To Battle

The rugged but beautiful area of Copper Canyon Mexico


Each New Year I find myself reflecting back over the previous year of ministry. Doing so really seems to help in identifying the strengths of the ministry and at the same time often shines light on the areas of weakness. It also reminds me to give thanks to God for all that He’s done in our lives. Thanks for the good times and even the tough times knowing that God uses both to bring us into a deeper knowledge if Him. I also like to use this time of reflection to reaffirm our commitment to giving God 100% in all that we do.

We established the Una Esperanza ministry center in 2004 and we often compared it to a newborn baby with great potential but like any baby, we knew that this baby would require some nurturing before it could walk on its own. By January of 2007 this baby was well on its way towards this goal. We had a new church, an eager new staff, and the ministry center was most often teaming with children of all ages from toddlers to teens. The ministry center was healthy and growing.

In July of 2007, Mariquita, a six-year-old Tarahumara Indian girl and regular at Una Esperanza was abducted from Kilometer 33 and taken to a remote ranch in the Copper Canyon area of Mexico. Mariquita is just like our very own daughter so when we heard the news, we organized a rescue team and set out to find her. We knew that in doing so we would probably be starting a war between the Tarahumara and us because they do not like outsiders getting involved in any of their affairs. We were successful in the rescue but a war with the Tarahumara did indeed follow. It’s taken months to finally bring peace to the situation and while things are calm for now, our relationships with the Tarahumara have been strained to say the least.

Most of the Tarahumara of Copper Canyon live in primitive conditions often living in caves or mud homes.

The enemy has held the Tarahumara captive for generations and our goal has been to break the stronghold that Satan has on these people and bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Before the rescue, many of the Tarahumara (children and adults) attended our church and regularly hung out at the ministry center. Most of the children and several of the adults even made commitments to Christ. Ever since the rescue, many of the Tarahumara children and most of the Tarahumara adults have been absent from the daily programs at Una Esperanza. We believe that by venturing into the remote mountains of Copper Canyon to rescue Mariquita, we awoke a demonic giant that has held the Tarahumara captive for hundreds of years and he is not willing to give them up without a fight.


Dina with her new Tarahumara friends in Creel, Mexico


We know that Gods LOVE for the Tarahumara is greater than this demonic giant and that Gods desire is for the Tarahumara of Kilometer 33 and the Tarahumara of Copper Canyon to come to Him. This year we hope to establish our second Una Esperanza ministry center, Una Esperanza-Creel in the heart of Tarahumara Indian country in the Copper Canyon area. We also know that by doing this we will be venturing into another area of darkness held captive by the enemy and we fully anticipate another battle on our hands. We also know that God will go before us and through His strength, we will be victorious!

Please join us in prayer that God would restore the relationships with the Tarahumara Indians of Kilometer 33 and that He would go before us to prepare the way for the Una Esperanza-Creel ministry center.

Happy New Year!

As we look back on 2007, we’re grateful for Gods constant faithfulness and provision! God has blessed Kingdom Flight in so many ways and while this past year had its share of trials and difficulties, God has been faithful. We’re excited to see what He has in store for us this coming year. We want to thank all of you who have taken part in what God is doing through Kingdom Flight and know that we could not do this without your help!

I’ve posted a New Video of our Christmas outreach on the website and we wish all of you a blessed and happy New Year!

Brad, Lesli, & Noah Bieganski

The Name above all names

Here we are on Christmas Eve, and I feel compelled to share with you something that God reminded me of yesterday while I was in church. We were singing a song that included the line, "Glorify Your Name, Name above all names," and this line really resonated in my heart. Why the big earth-shattering revelation with a line that we sing in churches quite a bit? Let me back-track a little for you.

We went shopping at the mall for a few Christmas presents the other day, and I came away pretty depressed. First of all, I felt so discontent. Normally, I'm pretty content with focusing on others' needs and not our own, but when there is so much excess and entire stores devoted to stuff no one really needs but stuff you "deserve" to have, it's easy to get caught up in the mindset of "I really want that, I need that..." It reminded me to guard what I let influence my thoughts and my heart. I'm not saying that it's wrong to give gifts at Christmas - I love giving gifts and making people smile, it's just the danger of buying into the lies that we must have these things to be truly happy. I think I need to re-read Randy Alcorn's little book, "The Treasure Principle", and re-focus on eternal values, not temporal ones. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

The other thing that really affected me was the emphasis on designer names. Whether walking into a department store or a specialty store, it was really hard for me to swallow the prices that were affixed to certain clothing, purses, shoes, furniture, etc. The inherent value that is added to something just because it bears a certain logo or name just astounds me. I'm all for purchasing items of good quality, but when there is social status or acceptance riding on that label name, it fails to be a good value and becomes a substitution to try to give us value in other's eyes.

It made me wonder if we give inherent value to the name of Jesus at this very important time of year, the very reason we give these gifts. Is He truly the Name above all these other names? Do we value Him more than a Louis Vuitton bag or a Tommy Bahama shirt? No intended slam against these particular names, just examples that came to my mind. His name will stand long after these names have faded into obscurity, and where we place our value will have long-term effect.

I guess yesterday as I stood there during worship time, I felt the need to declare my stance in this season, that I WILL regard His name as higher than all those other names and things that we think will make us happier or better people or more accepted among certain circles. I WILL fight my natural inclination to focus on myself and my family and put Him first.

I praise God that He chose to come in human form in a stinky, animal-filled manger, not the Ritz-Carlton. I praise God that shepherds and wise men had to seek Him out to find Him - his birth wasn't splashed across the cover of People magazine. May we still seek Him out in this special season and each day, and may we be delighed and filled with peace at what we find:

When He came, He gave us royalty,
When He came, He set the captives free;
He gave us life abundantly,
He came for you, He came for me.

When He came, He taught us how to live,
When He came, He taught us how to give.
He gave us power over sin,
He came, now we can live again.

A special day, the whole world changed
When He came.

Kingdom Flight Christmas Outreach 2007

We just returned from spending an entire week at Una Esperanza and it was an incredibly wonderful trip! This years Christmas outreach was our best ever! We had 25 people from three states participating and many people from Kilometer 33 were blessed by the two-day medical clinic and the children really enjoyed the special crafts, the games, and the Bible teaching by Jose Salviati (the youth leader from our home church). The children especially enjoyed receiving all the great gifts and everyone involved had a great deal of fun.

The goal for our toy drive this year was to collect 300 shoeboxes full of toys for the children of Kilometer 33 and we ended up collecting over 350 making this the best event ever!


Getting the toys across this year was very difficult to say the least but we were able to get them all to Una Esperanza in time for the event.



We’ve posted a photo gallery on our website of the event. It can be reached through our homepage or through the media page and I’ll also have a video posted online soon. Thanks to all of you who took part in this years event through your prayers, toy donations, and financial gifts!

We praise God for His favor and His faithfulness, especially over the last few days during our Christmas Outreach event. We met most of our teams from California and New Mexico for breakfast at 6:30 AM Friday and our day was filled with getting the toys across the border (always a story in itself!) and conducting the medical clinic (held in our new store building) and sorting and preparing the toy bags for distribution on Saturday.


Dr. Trinh, Dr. Henry, Julie and Brenda brought their teams of medical personnel and volunteers in and were such a blessing to the people of Kilometer 33 in so many ways. They saw and treated many people in real need of medical attention, and spent the remainder of their time playing with the kids and helping wherever we had a need. We all had a lot of fun, and a lot of people were blessed. Jose and his daughters, Jordan and Sierra, came along and Jose gave a great message to the kids, encouraging them to give back to God, not just receive from Him.

We were blessed with cold, but clear weather, and despite temperatures in the 30s to 40s, we were able to hand out over 325 Christmas bags, 12 backpacks filled with clothes, pajamas, shoes, school supplies and toys, as well as countless stuffed animals. Smiles were abundant, and we thank you all for your involvement and your prayers for this event and for our safety. We fly home this morning, so more details to follow later.

Season's greetings from Mexico, or I guess I should say Feliz Navidad! The kids have been busy decorating their gift bags, and we have paint everywhere. Can anyone compete with our Christmas tree (see above)? The fact that it's in the middle of the chicken coop and beside the clothes line adds to the charm and ambience.



We arrived Monday and have been spending time with the kids and preparing for the rest of the team, most of which will arrive tonight. We'll all meet for an early breakfast in the morning and then head to the ministry center, where we will have the free clinic in the new store building and will prepare the gift bags for distribution on Saturday.



It's so nice to be back here with the kids. We've missed them so much, and they are as loving as ever. They are so excited about this weekend and all the toys. We pray that God will use these toys as a bridge to build relationship with them, and that they would come to know Christ as their savior and know true peace and hope.



We ask for your prayers for crossing the toys over the border, that it would go smoothly and that God would be glorified through it all. We would also ask that you pray that the Word of God would go forth boldly and be received in hearts that are softened and prepared to respond. Thank you to all of you who have been involved in this outreach in any way, and we pray that God would bless you richly.

Outreach 07-"A Festivas For The Rest Of Us"

We’ve been extremely busy planning for and collecting toys for our annual Christmas outreach at Una Esperanza. The toys donated so far this year are by far better than ever! We’ve received several backpacks filled with wonderful gifts and one person even sent us a huge box filled with Barbie’s including a few very expensive special edition Barbie’s. Many of the poor little girls of Kilometer 33 do not even attend school, but most of them are experts at appraising Barbie dolls. Thanks to you, these children are going to have a wonderful Christmas! It really makes them feel loved and special when they receive such great gifts. Thanks to all who have taken part by sending gifts this year!

Yesterday we shipped out 28 large boxes to Una Esperanza and we anticipate sending out another 15 or so on Monday morning. Our goal is to be able to distribute 300 gift bags to the children, and while we’re currently short of this goal, we have no doubt that we will end up collecting all that we need and then some. This event costs thousands of dollars to sponsor and we are currently well short of our goal. We would ask that you please prayerfully consider helping us with a tax-deductible financial gift. Your gift will enable us to share the Gospel with hundreds of children throughout this event.


We fly out to Una Esperanza this Monday afternoon and we will be there until Monday the 17th. We have about 25 people from 3 states joining us for this year's event. The outreach will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday December 14-16th. Each day we will be providing medical clinics, crafts, food, fun and a Gospel presentation. Please keep us in your prayers and check back for updates as the week’s events unfold.

Thanksgiving

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done.” Psalm 105:1


Today as we celebrate Thanksgiving, I’m reminded of all of the countless and wonderful blessings that we’ve received over this past year. God has been so incredibly faithful as we’ve sought His will for our lives and for this ministry!

We thank God for allowing us the privilege of taking part in what He’s doing through Kingdom Flight. We are truly blessed!

We thank God that He’s provided abundant financial resources over this past year, enabling us meet both the physical and spiritual needs of countless children and adults.

We thank God that we have wonderful friends and godly, Spirit-led counsel as we seek God’s will for this ministry.

We thank God for all that He’s taught us through the difficult times this past year.

We thank God for His guidance, protection, leading, and many miracles during the Mariquita rescue this past July. (We know that this story isn’t over and we thoroughly believe that God will be glorified through this precious lamb.)

We thank God for the upcoming Christmas outreach at Una Esperanza. We thank Him for all the children that will be blessed and for those that will come to know Him though this event.



We thank God for the upcoming year and all that He will do through Kingdom Flight in 2008.

We thank God for the new and more capable Kingdom Flight aircraft that is on the way!
We thank God for the abundant financial resources that He’s about to provide!
We thank God for those that will come to know Him through Kingdom Flight this coming year!

We especially thank God for you; those who pray for us, those who encourage us, and those who have stood with us as we seek to share the Hope that lies within us, to the lost and to the “least of these”.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

A Leap of Faith

Nothing before, nothing behind:
The steps of faith fall on the seeming void,
And find the rock beneath.
- J.G. Whittier

I found this little quote in a biography on Hudson Taylor that I just finished reading, and it means so much to me right now. Faith may often involve hope and the future, but it also has to be lived out in the now. It has to be more than belief. As we're taking the step into what seems like a long, foggy chasm with no bottom in sight, the object of our faith had better be something beyond what we can see. It feels frightening at the time as we leave terra firma and step out onto that which we hope and trust will hold our weight and not send us free-falling into the pit, but when our foot touches down on the unshakable rock as we put our weight into it, there is no greater feeling of security.

Right now, we feel somewhere between the step off the cliff and landing on the rock of safety. We know that God is faithful and that He will prove Himself and His Word true, but we're having a work-out of our faith muscles in this season. God knows the many needs before us and the many people that depend on us to meet those needs, but, more importantly, we know that we are totally dependent upon the very Vine from where the provision and sustenance flows. We know and actively trust that He will be faithful to His promises.

God is really focusing me in on John 15:5 right now - I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. He is the source of all that I need, I am merely an extension of Him. He will not abandon what is part of Him, as I abide in Him, stay in Him, don't move away or disconnect when it seems to be rough going for a while.

We are hoping to get to Una Esperanza soon, God willing, and continue what God has begun in this place of hopelessness. Patsy, our on-site missionary, informed us that both Maria and Mariquita are working on a ranch with their mother, so while we are saddened that they are not with us at Una Esperanza, we pray that God would protect their family and that the seeds of faith that have been planted in the girls would grow and fully mature into a faith that would compel their mother to trust in Christ. We pray that they would return to the safety of Una Esperanza as a family in the near future, and we are remembering them in our prayers daily.

Thank you for checking in on our blog and for keeping us and Kingdom Flight in your thoughts and prayers. We truly cherish everyone who is involved with this ministry, in whatever capacity.

As a quick news item, here is a link to an article the Orange County Register published today on Kingdom Flight. We're grateful for the exposure that Lori Basheda and the paper have afforded us, and we pray that God is glorified through it somehow. We don't see ourselves as special in any way, but we know that we serve an awesome God, and we're excited to see all that He's doing, even through us.

Una Esperanza Update

As far as we know, Mariquita has been taken back up to the mountains to the same ranch that we rescued her from this past July. The good news is that the known child molester is no longer with the family that has her. So while she may be back amongst the goats, she is somewhat safe. We’re hopeful that she will be brought back to Una Esperanza before the Christmas mission. Its our prayer that she will once again be the first child to receive a Christmas gift this year.

We’re busy planning for our Christmas outreach at Una Esperanza and we can really use some help with the toy drive if anyone is interested. The latest newsletter is posted online and it contains the details of the toy drive. Please continue to pray for the safe return of Mariquita. Maria is doing great at Una Esperanza and the war with the Indians appears to have subsided for now.

We still have a few spots open if anyone is interested in joining us on the Christmas outreach mission. We also have a new Christmas video posted on the website from last years event.

A Little Lamb Amongst The Goats

Sometimes we just don’t understand why God allows things to happen the way they do. Mariquita has been taken back to the mountains and is once again forced to shepherd goats from early in the morning to late into the evening. Mariquita was abducted from Una Esperanza this past July and was taken to the Sierra mountains by a Tarahumara woman whose son is a known child molester. When we heard the news, we set out to find her. We were miraculously led to her and we were successful in the rescue. However, this set off a major war between us and the Tarahumara Indians, as they did not like the fact that we involved ourselves in their affairs.

Mariquita’s mother knew that she was very well taken care of at Una Esperanza. It was her desire that Mariquita and her sister Maria remain living at Una Esperanza, as they had been since the rescue, but because of persecution and peer-pressure from some of the Tarahumara, she caved in and recently allowed Mariquita to be taken from Una Esperanza by another Tarahumara woman, who took her out of school and forced her to go downtown to beg each day. We received the news this morning that she has since been taken back to the Sierras to live with the same family that abducted her in July. For now, Maria remains at Una Esperanza, but some of the Tarahumara are determined to take her away from us as well.



Our goal has been to build a fulltime children’s home for these kids (Casa de Una Esperanza) and if it were completed today, the Mexican government would most likely grant us legal custody of Mariquita and Maria, and they would remain safely at the ministry center. As things are, without Mariquita’s and Maria’s mother's support, there is really nothing we can physically or legally do to prevent any of this from happening. We can, however, continue to pray.


The Tarahumara have been held captive by the spiritual enemy for generations and he will not give them up without a fight. We have experienced this spiritual battle intensely over the past few months on several fronts. Even though we do not understand how God could allow this situation with Mariquita and Maria, we do know that God is still on His throne, and that He will work this out for good somehow. Rom 8:28

While our first reaction to the recent Tarahumara behavior is that of anger for their utter lack of concern for their own children, we have to remind ourselves that they are acting predictably normal for a lost people. Should we expect anything different from them? This morning I was seeking answers to why God would allow this lost little lamb, who was found, to be lost once again? I came across Psalm 36: 1-7 and it describes the current spiritual condition of the Tarahumara people and a wonderful truth about the sovereignty of God.

Ps 36:1-7 “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

We know that God wants to use Kingdom Flight to reach these lost and sinful Tarahumara Indians who have been living in darkness for hundreds of years. God wants to break the chains of bondage and set free the captives, even the captive little lambs amongst the goats! It is our prayer that God would continue to protect Mariquita and bring her home to Una Esperanza very soon. We also pray that God will raise up people who care enough to help us build this desperately needed home. There is nothing we can do in our own strength to change things. We can, however, pray!

As we prepare for our annual Christmas outreach at Una Esperanza this year, we do so with heavy hearts. Mariquita has always been the first child in line to receive the first gift each year. She has sort of been the poster child for the Christmas event each year. Please join us in prayer that God would protect this little lamb, and that she would once again be the first child in line to receive a gift this Christmas at Una Esperanza.


This is all that we ask of God for Christmas this year, but either way, we stand in the truth that God is still in control and that He will be glorified through all of this. We know in our hearts that The “Lamb of God” will watch over our little lamb, He will protect her, and hopefully bring her home to us very soon.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Yes, I know it's still September, but we've begun thinking about Christmas already, and we would love for you to do the same. Our annual Christmas outreach at Kilometer 33 will be held on Saturday, December 15th, and we are in the planning stages for our toy drive.

Over the past five years, we've seen the smiles on thousands of children's faces as they received what was for most of them the only Christmas presents they would be given, and we've also seen the smiles on the thousands of people who have taken part in this exercise of generosity and love to a child in a poverty-stricken environment. I'm truly not sure who is more blessed as a result of this act of kindness, the giver or the recipient.

We've had family after family come up and tell us the joy they experienced in taking the focus off themselves and their children during this season and shopping for someone else as a family, putting feet to their faith and loving the least of these in Christ's name. This is truly a way to underscore to our children that Christmas is about giving, not about getting, and that loving others through giving to them demonstrates the love God showed to us in sending Christ for our salvation.

The concept is simple - we ask people to fill a bag or a shoebox with gifts for a girl or boy in Mexico. The cost doesn't have to be exorbitant, but we do ask that you spend at least $10 on one of the gifts that will be included, reaffirming the message that we teach these kids all year round, that they are of value to God. The box can contain all sorts of little items in addition to this gift - crayons, pencils, toothbrushes and toothpaste, Barbies, action figures, balls, costume jewelry - anything that would bring a smile to a child's face.

We collect these toys for three weekends, November 25th, December 2nd, and December 9th. The toys are then shipped to Juarez, where we spend several days organizing the gifts into age- and gender-appropriate categories, and they are given out as part of our Christmas outreach event on Saturday, December 15th. We have a large group of medical and dental professionals who come along on this trip and provide clinics free of charge for several days surrounding the outreach event, and we provide food, fun and gifts for the kids in the community, but the most important factor of this entire outreach is to share the gospel with these kids and their parents that attend. Each year, we see God move in marvelous ways, and hearts are opened to Him and respond in surrender to His call on their lives.

We want to open up this opportunity on a grass-roots level to anyone that wants to take part in this outreach. If you are interested in presenting this opportunity to your church, small group, Bible study, or even your work place, please let us know and we will be happy to supply you with information that you can pass along. We know that others are blessed as they give, so we make no apology for asking people to be involved in this very hands-on way of being Jesus' hands and feet to others who are in need.

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day,...or Monkey Poo On Your Shoes!

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is the title of an inspiring little book we just finished reading. The book is about a brief but interesting story in 2 Samuel 23:20 about Benaiah, who amongst other fearless acts of bravery, literally chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed him. The overall theme of this book is to take on the lions in our lives with boldness and courage. This book is a godsend to us personally, because over the past couple of months we’ve been surrounded by a whole pack of hungry lions!

After we rescued Mariquita, who was abducted from Kilometer 33 this past July, the Tarahumara Indians have been trying to cause us problems because they believe we overstepped our bounds by getting involved in their private affairs. Others are jealous that their children cannot live at Una Esperanza and are trying to cause us problems. Some are angry because we now close the ministry center early each day so that the girls living there have at least some privacy during the day. Maria and Alicia’s (Mariquita) absent and abusive father is threatening to take them away from Una Esperanza. A few months ago the person who has provided an aircraft for this ministry over the past two-years decided to sell it, so we are currently an aviation ministry without a plane. Our funds are getting dangerously low and we have a ministry center, seven staff members, and a girls home to support! Lions everywhere!

Looking at our current circumstances, I suppose we could chose to live in fear, with doubts, uncertainty and despair, questioning why are we even fighting this battle? After all, we’ve poured out our lives (and a great deal of money) into those we’ve helped over the past five years, and for what? A pack of angry lions trying to tear us to pieces?

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is about examining how we as Christians should react to the lions in our lives. We have to make a conscious choice on how we are going to react to these lions. When faced with these ferocious man-eating killers, we can run, cower and live in fear, or we can pick up the sword and go on the offensive! God’s word is this sword as described in Eph 6:17. We can choose to believe what God says about us and our situation, and we’ll be empowered to take on these lions with boldness and confidence knowing that we will be victorious!

We’ve chosen to pick up this sword and go on the offensive! We’re marching on with a boldness like never before in spite of our circumstances. Throughout all of these challenges we truly have peace, joy, courage, contentment and confidence. This ministry belongs to God and He has assured us that it will go forth, and nothing that the enemy can throw at us can stand in the way of victory. After all, the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He is first and foremost a liar and his fate is sealed.

Lesli describes the recent attacks by the enemy as being similar to going to the zoo and having a monkey throwing poo at you when you walk by his cage. The enemy spends a great deal of time hurling poo at God’s children, hoping that some of it will stick. It makes us laugh because when we choose to stand in God’s truth, it is as if God raises up such a wind that the poo blows right back into the monkey’s face!

We know that the reason the enemy has been throwing so much poo at us lately is because God is getting ready to do something incredible through this ministry, and the enemy hates it. We also know that God will provide all that we need in His timing. He will provide protection for our children at Una Esperanza, the financial resources to continue the ministry, protection from lies, and a new plane. In the meantime He has provided us with a poo-shield to fight off the attacks of the angry monkeys and a sword to slay the ferocious lions. We’re confident in Him and His word and we will be victorious!

Update:

As of today, Maria and Alicia (Mariquita) are still living at Una Esperanza, praise God! Please continue to pray that God would protect them from the threat of being taken away and that they would remain safely at the ministry center.

Pray For Our Girls!

We have another urgent prayer request!
After we rescued Mariquita, who was abducted from Kilometer 33 this past July, we’ve found ourselves at war with some in the Tarahumara Indian community. The Tarahumara do not like anyone getting involved in their affairs and that’s what some of them believe we have done by rescuing Mariquita. They don’t really care about these children, they are just offended that we do care, and some of them have been trying to cause us trouble ever since. We’ve been around the Tarahumara long enough to know that rescuing Mariquita was bound to cause a war, but we also knew that rescuing this precious child was worth everything the enemy (or the Tarahumara) could throw at us. We know that those opposing us are without Jesus, and we really shouldn’t expect them to act any differently.

Maria and Mariquita (who now chooses to go by her given name, Alicia) have lived at Una Esperanza ever since the rescue and both are very happy and adjusting well to the transition. Their father abandoned the family years ago and left them and their mother for another woman. This man has not been in these girls’ lives for years, but he was actually involved in the planning of Mariquita’s abduction. He now lives in Chihuahua City, Mexico and we’ve learned that he is threatening to go to Kilometer 33 and take the girls back to live with him.

Alicia (Mariquita) is only six years old, so we’ve spared her the news of this, but we thought it best to explain the situation to Maria. Maria is terrified at the thought of being forced to leave Una Esperanza to live with a father she doesn’t even know. We know that if he takes them, it will equally traumatize Alicia. We’ve heard stories of how abusive he was when he did live with his family. It’s vital that his plans are thwarted and the girls remain safely at the ministry center.

Please pray for the protection of these precious girls! Pray that this man would have no success in removing these girls from Una Esperanza. Pray that God would send His angels of protection to form a hedge of thorns around them.

I Like This Mindset...

"Truly I prefer by far this life of almost constant trial, if I am only able to roll all my cares upon my Heavenly Father, and thus become increasingly acquainted with Him, to a life of outward peace and quietness, without these constant proofs of His faithfulness, His wisdom, His love, His power, His over-ruling providence, etc." -- George Mueller

Free To Receive...

Well, we've got a prayer request to lay out before you, declaring once again our dependence on God and expecting to see His mighty hand at work in this ministry. Kingdom Flight is without the actual flight part right now. The Kingdom part will always remain. For the past nearly two years, we have been provided with the exclusive use of a Beechcraft Baron through the generosity of a gentleman donating its use for ministry purposes, but the decision was recently made to sell the plane, and so we are without a plane right now. We had known of the probability of this situation for several months, so it was no surprise when it came to pass, but it does put us in the position to see God at work in miraculous ways again.

When we began Kingdom Flight five years ago, we owned a little four-seat, single engine Cessna that was woefully undersized and underpowered for this ministry, and we felt God leading us to sell it to fund this fledgling ministry. We have never regretted that sacrifice, and God has always supplied a plane for us through the generosity of people He has raised up. We were blessed to use a Piper Warrior for several years until it was sold, and now we have been blessed to utilize this Baron as we travel back and forth to the mission field and bring assistance to people in remote areas.

We are praying that God will supply a new plane for this ministry, and we trust that He will bring it to pass. We know that this is a God-sized problem, but we also know that we have a God who loves to work in situations that only He can solve and where He will receive glory. It's been neat to see how God has not only supplied airplanes, but each one has been an "upgrade," so to speak. We know that God is not obligated to go bigger and better each time, but we also know that God gives His best to those who leave the choice up to Him, and we look to Him as our provider.

While the aircraft has never been a focus of our ministry, it is nonetheless an integral part of what we do, and this lack of aircraft could greatly limit what we are able to do as a ministry. We pray that others would not be adversely affected by this deficit right now, and we pray that God would fill this need soon.

We would ask that you would bring this request before God on our behalf as God lays it on your heart. We are encouraged by God's faithfulness and the knowledge that where God guides, He provides, and we also take courage in these words of Hudson Taylor, missionary to China in the late 1800s:

God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.