June 2009

June 2009
Dear friends, family, and partners in ministry,

Thank you for all your prayers and support during the last few months. In addition to our church family in Redlands, we had 10 Mexican churches praying for us. We are reminded of our constant need of prayer and encouragement from other believers.
Shirlee is doing well and has started a summer internship at Oaks of Hebron, a Christian non-profit agency providing residential and recreational services for persons with developmental disabilities. Oaks serves nearly 70 people in two group homes, private apartments and other supported living settings in Northern California. Shirlee lives and works in one of the group homes and also works at the “farm”. The farm is an adult day program that focuses on helping people become successful gardeners. The gardeners sell their vegetables and flowers to people in the community. Shirlee worked at Camp Lee Mar, a camp for developmentally disabled children last summer and has a great compassion for those with special needs.
Shelby just left Mexico for her summer job, lifeguarding at Campus by the Sea, Catalina Island, and will be joining Shirlee at Biola University in the fall. As many of you know, Shelby was able to travel to Ethiopia on a short-term missions trip this spring. Her team passed out over 2000 pairs of eyeglasses and 200 wheelchairs. She had a wonderful time, but returned to the US with a severe case of salmonella poisoning and had to spend 5 days in the hospital. I asked her if she had any regrets about going and she said “no” and that she would return if given the opportunity.
The fear of the swine flu and concern over crime has kept a lot of folks away from Mexico this year. We can only report that we have seen no real changes as we travel back and forth to California and that there have never been any incidents involving our work teams. I feel that many have missed out on a tremendous blessing by choosing to cancel their ministry trips to Mexico. On a positive note, Mexican churches using the ranch for retreats have filled many of the “open” weekends.
Recently, Steve Johnson, Danny Van Nes (fellow HoM missionaries), and I along with about a dozen Mexican brothers built a lofthouse for a recently widowed woman. Her husband, in his mid-twenties had died and left her with two small children (2 years and 10 months). The lofthouse had belonged to the church in Lomas Bonitas and was donated to the family. We disassembled it and moved it several miles away to its new location in Salitral. It is a privilege and a blessing to help those in need.
According to the Bible, the poor, widows and the fatherless have a special place in God’s heart. Thank you again for helping us be a blessing to needy families. We hope you will be joining us on a project soon, I know you won’t regret it.

Brian for the McCoy family

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.
Proverbs 19:17 (New International Version)

Please note that we have closed our San Ysidro mail box and will receive mail at Sue’s mother’s home: 427 S Center St., Redlands, CA 92373