He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

:: Micah 6.8

September – Louisiana Trip
In September, Amy & I took a trip to the States for almost two weeks.  I had an airline voucher to use before Oct. 1st, so I thought it would be a good time to take a trip to Louisiana.  Near Baton Rouge, I have a great aunt & a lot of cousins, plus Erwinville Baptist Church is one of my sending churches!  While I was in Louisiana, Amy took a trip to visit her family in Florida.

It was such a nice time with my Aunt Rosie & all of my cousins.  I even surprised my aunt, by having her sister (my grandma) fly out to visit for two weeks!  And I was also able to share with the wonderful people at Erwinville Baptist Church what’s been happening in my life in Mexico since I last saw them two years ago!

My Future in Mexico
Now let’s talk about my future.  In my last prayer letter I sent you in September, I let you know that I had finished my Spanish study!  And that I was waiting for a ministry with NTM to help out with for the next few years.  After the quick trip to the States, I met with the staff that work at Rancho Siloe, it is where we have the Missionary Training for Mexicans.  This year there are three missionary couples that are working out there, but there is too much work for them.  I first heard about this option/opportunity back in July when I spoke with one of the staff ladies about the jobs that they needed done.  But I wasn’t able to make any decisions then because I was waiting to find out about my Spanish interview.  Before I left for my trip to Louisiana, I met with the staff and share my testimony, and answered a lot of questions!  I’ve really been praying a long time about the opportunity to work out at the Ranch, one of the biggest reasons is because I felt that it would be a good use of my gifts and the types of jobs I like to do.  And if it wasn’t what the Lord wanted for me, then He would provide another ministry opportunity.

Two weeks ago, I met with the staff at the Ranch, and they invited me to come join the team!  So that weekend I started working on packing up my house in Chihuahua and moving my things out to the Ranch.  And last Wednesday I was all moved out, and had finished everything for the old apartment in the city.  All done in less than a week!  I always feel that this is the way that God works in my life.  I pray about what might be my future and my options, and then I have to wait until He is ready.  Then He shocks me and says: “Okay. Obey.  This is what I have for you.  Now go!”  It’s like when I came to Mexico I only had three weeks to get ready to go, and then with this move, it was in like a half hour that I got the permission to join the team!  And I’m starting to love that God works that way in my life!

Amy’s New Ministry
Currently Amy’s ministry for the next two months is teaching English to missionary kids that are from Mexico or Colombia.  She is living in the Guest House on the NTM Property in the city.  Amy is still seriously dating Hector & they are working on getting his application finished for the Missionary Training Center in Missouri.  They would like to be able to head up to the States for Christmas, and then in January, Hector would like to start the missionary training.  We have amicably parted ways.  There are no hurt feelings for either one of us.  The time has just come for Amy to make plans with Hector, and for me to make my own plans.  We are still involved in the English ministry with the ladies at our church on Wednesday & Friday mornings, we also attend the Jovenes meetings on Saturday and we go to Sunday school together, so we still see each other a lot!

My Ministry at the Ranch
Some of the jobs that I will have out here include: helping plan socials for the staff & students, cleaning & scheduling the guest rooms, checking the work that the students do (work detail checker), helping out with the work groups that come, help with discipling the girl students, being a friend to the students, give the students a ride to the city, teaching some life skills, & helping out with any extra work that comes up!  I’m really enjoying my time here, and the opportunity to encourage the students as they are working through tons of things in their lives.

The next year or two will also give me a good opportunity to work on a team with missionaries from a different culture, I’ll get to keep working on building my Spanish, and possibly find a co-worker!  There are currently three single girls here, so maybe one of them would like a co-worker.  We’ll see what God does!  I’m still praying for a future ministry working in a tribe in Mexico, but I currently want to be open to what the Lord has for me here in Chihuahua at Rancho Siloe.

Dios con Nosotros

My church here continues to be a blessing to me.  There were some guys from the church that came to help move the fridge and washing machine out to the Ranch for me!  And Amy & I are still involved with the English ministry with the ladies from the neighborhood.  We just finished the 50th lesson in the Chronological Bible Teaching and had a celebration party!  We are going to keep going with this ministry, and review the Bible lessons for the ladies that have missed some of the teaching.  The ladies have been such a blessing in my life, and I look forward to how the Lord will continue to work through their lives: Yadira, Lily, Susanna, and Teresa.

With my family
I had a wonderful time with my cousins & enjoyed all the fellowship time with them.  After some difficult weeks in Mexico, it was nice to just hang out with family & get spoiled with some amazing German food, BBQ, & sweet tea!

Prayer Requests & Praises

:: For the amazing trip to Louisiana & refreshing time I had with my grandma, cousins, aunt, & Erwinville Baptist Church

:: For the ministry I have out at the Ranch with the students & staff.  Please pray I can be a blessing & an encouragement to all!

:: For the ladies in the English ministry – that as they continue to hear truths from God’s word, they would begin to understand Him more & their need for a Savior.  It’s a very new way of thinking for them.

:: Praise God for a sale on plane tickets & savings, ’cause I’m going home for Christmas!

:: Pray for Amy & Hector as they are making plans for “their” future!

Jovenes

In last few months, Amy & I, along with a few others have taken on the responsibility of overseeing the Jovenes group in our church.  When Amy & I first came to Mexico, this group was around 20-30 young adults, and we are currently down to less than 10.  Please be praying that these numbers wouldn’t discourage us, but that we would find our security in our walks with Christ.  We have also started a Bible study for the girls!

Wow!  I can hardly believe that I’ve spent 5 weeks down here!!!  It has been awesome.  My first week was spent helping get things ready for the Bible School Graduation.  Six students graduated from the Bible School & all 6 of them, plus two graduates from last year, are heading to the Training Center in Chihuahua!  That is so awesome.

Our next few weeks were spent visiting Joca’s family, visiting a family in the hospital, attending church & prayer meeting, helping out with the Kids’ Club on Saturdays, and also getting ready for the Summer Outreach Program.  I also spent a weekend sick in bed with food poisoning.  Not a cool weekend.  But I did go to the doctor to get some antibiotics for my body – it was only $2.50 for a doctor’s visit!  I thought that was pretty incredible.  I’m also able to go with Jocabed to the classes that she teaches.  She teaches keyboard & Bible to one of the young girls in the church.  And then a 2 hour Bible class three times  a week to a family.  It has been an encouraging time to spend with Jocabed & these people that we are working with.  And it has been great for my Spanish too.   I’m just lacking some good Spanish classes, but I’ll get that when I get back to Chihuahua.

I just finished my third week of teaching English.  I have had almost 20 students, even though they all can’t come every day consistently.  But it has been an encouraging time for the amount of Spanish I’ve learned.  After the hour of English, or the other classes offered – drums, keyboard, singing, carpentry, & crafts, it is required that they attend one hour of the Bible.  And there are about 7 people teaching the different age levels through the Firm Foundations Bible Study.  It is has been amazing to see the people responding so well to the classes & the Bible classes.

I only have three more weeks left here.  I can’t hardly believe that my time has gone by so quickly.  Some days I’m ready to be back home (in Chihuahua), and then when I spend time with my friends here, I don’t want to leave!   And it’ll be so hard to leave Joca’s family & the Bible School.  But if God is wanting me to return to this place, God will allow me to return in His timing.

I’m heading back to Chihuahua July 24th, and that week we will have a get together for all the NTM missionaries in Mexico.  I’m looking forward to this time with my friends for refreshment & encouragement!  Then I will get back into my Spanish studies!

Working on my cooking skills for the family!                                Saturday Mornings are time for Kids Club!

Helping out with the Kids Club.                                                 A Chihuahua that was hanging out @ Kids Club

Thank you for all your prayers & constant support as I’m here in the state of Mexico!
Serving in Mexico,
Crystal G. Pierce

P.S.  I’m living in the State of Mexico – not Mexico City!  We are north of the city by about 2 hours!

Can you believe it’s already May? My trip to the state of Mexico went really well. I had an incredible time meeting new people, visiting a few tourist places, and I also visited the NTM Mexico Bible School near Mexico City. I stayed with my friend, Jocabed & her family. What I thought was going to be a tourist/vacation, turned into more of a ministry trip! And I loved it!

My two week trip with Jocabed was a great time for me to see a different part of Mexico, learn about the culture down there (how it differs from the Northern states of Mexico), learn more about the NTM Mexico Bible School, & be a part of another Mexican church.

I returned to Chihuahua on April 30th, and I talked with Cindy, the missionary in charge of my e2 Spanish time, and after my glowing report from two week trip in Mexico, she wanted to present to NTM Mexico Leadership the opportunity for me to head back down to Mexico for 2 months this summer!!! Well, I did get permission from the leaders to head back down. I bought a plane ticket, and made it back down on May 21! I’m staying with Jocabed’s family again. And I’ll be continuing to work on my Spanish, and working with the a team of Young Adults from the church in an outreach this summer. We will be offering English classes (I’ll teach those), voice, piano, and drum lessons, and we will also take time to be sharing the chronological Bible lessons. I’m really excited for this opportunity to be back in Mexico.

I will be staying here in the state of Mexico until about July 25th, when I’ll head back to Chihuahua. I’ll be in Chihuahua for the Annual Field Meetings, and during that time or soon thereafter, I’ll have an interview to see how I’m doing in my Spanish! And after that we’ll see what God is leading me to do!

Special Visitors

Amy’s sister, Beka came to Chihuahua for 2 weeks, and then we made a trip to the states to take Beka back, & pick up my sister, Danielle for a 10 day trip to Chihuahua! It was a huge blessing for both Amy & I to have our sisters visit us. For them to see our lives, meet our friends, see our church, and the ministries that we have in Chihuahua. Plus just encouragement to have people so excited about what God is doing in us and our friends!

Possible Future Ministry

As many of you know my co-worker, Amy, is dating a guy named Hector. It looks like for them that they will eventually get married. So with that happening, I won’t be able to head to a tribe without a co-worker. I’m praying for a ministry option while I’ll need to wait for a co-worker, and one option might be helping out with the NTM Mexico Bible School near Mexico City! On my first visit, I was so encouraged at seeing what was happening here with the Bible School and the students. There is only one couple that is running the Bible school here, Oscar & Sharon Ospina. The first Sunday at church, Oscar introduced me as the next missionary to come help out with the Bible school near Mexico City. I thought he was crazy. There was no way that I was going to give up going to a tribe to help out with a Bible School! But God is working in my heart, about staying open to His plans and not my own. So right now, I’m praying about the possibility of helping out with the Bible school until a co-worker comes along. There are so many details that will need to be worked out, and the timing too. But God is in control & He can do it all!

Prayer Requests

:: my summer ministry in the State of Mexico

:: as I keep working on my Spanish, for new Spanish helpers, adjusting to a different type of Spanish

:: safety for Amy as she is staying in Chihuahua

:: the new Bible school graduates from Chihuahua & Mexico – as they seek out what God would have them do. There are about 10-12 that are wanting to head to the second phase of the training to be missionaries!!! Pray for the funds for them to be able to go to the training in Chihuahua!

:: one of the ladies from the church here in Mexico, is in the hospital in a coma. Please pray for her and her family.

Praises

:: A great trip to Mexico! :: An awesome time with our sisters!!

:: the funds to buy a plane ticket to come back down to Mexico!

:: the amazing people God keeps putting in my life!

:: more days to serve Him!

Happy Fall!  Here in Chihuahua, Fall is different than the states.  There aren’t that many trees that are even changing colors.  The weather here is staying in the 80′s – it’s the warmest Fall I’ve ever had!   Please enjoy the Fall colors for me!

::September Sightings::

September was a fun month for me!  Mexico celebrated their Independence Day.  Did you think that Mexico’s Independence Day is Cinco de Mayo?  May 5th really is the Battle of Puebla, and their Independence Day for the whole country of Mexico is September 16th!

At the beginning of September we went with our church to a baptism.  The baptisms I’ve been involved in before have either been in churches, out at a river, or in a lake.  The baptism for our church was at an alberca.  The albercas are places where pecan tree farmers fill pools up once a week, then they open them for 3 or 4 days a week, people come in & swim, and then usually on Mondays or Tuesdays they drain the pools to water the trees.

There were eight friends from church baptized, including my friend Rous!  It was very cool to be a part of their special day!  After our church service & baptism, we spent the day swimming, visiting and eating lunch.  It was a great day with our church family.

::October::

This month we went to the Apple Festival in a little town about 3 hours away.  We went with some friends & fellow missionaries here, Pete & Liesl, and Jona, one of our good friends here.  The little park/fair grounds area was all ready to sell us apple products.  It was a pretty cool.  There were vendors with lots of apple products, homemade breads & pastries, and crafts for sale.  Of course there were food vendors with lots of Mexican food!  We bought a box of apples to make of apple butter, pie filling, apple crisp, and soon, applesauce!

::A New Ministry::

At the beginning of October, we started a new ministry with our church.  Our ministry is with the ladies in the neighborhood our church is located.  On Friday mornings, the ladies, bring their children to the school across the street from the church, then they come over to the church, we drink some coffee & start in on teaching them English.  Two weeks ago, some of the ladies in the church will began teaching the ladies chronologically through the Bible.  We are so excited to be a part of the ministry our church is involved in & we are having a great time with the women!

::Casa Hogar::

The time that we are spending out at the Casa Hogars on Thursday afternoons is going really well!  We have been able to help quite a few of the kids improve some of their reading skills, and then also encourage the others as they are beginning to learn to read.  And our friends Pete & Liesl have recently joined us in helping out!

::New Family Addition::

We have adopted a gray female kitten & her name is July!  She has a great personality, is sometimes crazy, & loves to cuddle with us (is that weird for a cat?).  She definitely adds some fun life to our apartment!  She is currently three months old & we are working on getting her vaccinated!

::Prayer Requests & Praises::

- Spanish Study – profitible times with Rous as I try to grasp Spanish!  I’ve come a long, Praise the Lord!  And please pray for another friend to help me out with my Spanish.

- English Ministry/Chronological Study – for the 8 ladies that are coming each Friday.  Please pray for soft hearts & that they would have time each Friday to be able to come!

- Literacy Teaching at the Casa Hogar – for Amy, Pete, Liesl, & I as we work with these kids each Thursday & that they would be able to grasp the concept of reading Spanish.  Praise God for Pete & Liesl as they are helping us out with kids!

Merry Christmas to y’all!

Home for Christmas!

With my plans coming together for moving to Mexico – possibly in February – I am blessed with being able to stay home for Christmas with my family.  Last year my family was altogether, but this year my brother won’t be around.  He’s currently overseas until March or early Spring.  But my parents, sister, sister-in-law, and two of my grandparents will be together!  We are excited to just have a laid back holiday with each other.  Right now it’s time to go over to Mom & Dad’s for dinner & presents with the grandparents.  I made cranberry sauce (for the first time), pumpkin/cheesecake pie, and sweet potatoes!

God’s Perfect Timing

Amy Heckman & I are very close in reaching the required 60% monthly support level.  Amy has reached 54% & I’m at 52.6%!  How cool & amazing is that!

We received an email last week that we have a church to connect with once we reach Mexico.  They are excited to meet us & praying for us!  What a blessing is the body of Christ!

This last month we also learned that Glenn & Teo Urquhart – the missionaries whose house we were going to live in for two years – won’t be able to leave Mexico until Summer 2010.  That means that we will be getting a different place than what we were expecting.  Amy & I are looking forward to seeing how God will provide for us with another place to live in a different neighborhood!

We are also looking to God to see when & how He will be providing the last part of our monthly support.  We are both less than $235 away from our monthly goal!  Exciting!  We are so close to being able to head to Mexico, but we will need to reach 60% before we can set a travel.

I Praise God For…

• my family
• the opportunity to serve Him wherever I am
• the constant provisions in my life
• all of my prayer & financial supporters

Please Pray That…

• my brother will be safe
• the last $235 in monthly support will come in

I want to wish you all a blessed Christmas & a Happy New Year as we continue to remember Christ every day!

Crystal

**I have been trying to mail this letter for the last week, but have had no Internet access on my laptop.  Hopefully I can get it mailed while I’m at one of the three airports I’ll be in today!**  Sunday update:  didn’t happen at the airports.  This is being sent from Oregon!

Here is a quick recap of my last four weeks.

Four weeks ago I was in Oregon & packing to head to Florida!

Three weeks ago I was in Florida!

Two weeks ago I was attending an amazing Seminar in Florida at the NTM Home Office – “Sharpening Your Inter-Personal Skills”.  It was a great seminar and will greatly help us with our friendship, our co-workers & teammates, & also in the future with anyone we come in contact with!  I normally hate attending seminars/workshops, but this was very good because it had a great amount of interaction with each other, and there was no boring lectures!  Following the seminar I was able to spend some more time with Amy & her family, and we even got to go to the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida!  Life was busy & exciting in Florida!  And I even saw my alligator!!  He/she was around 10-12 feet and I could have reached out & touched him!

One week ago I was in Louisiana.  I came to Louisiana with the big purpose of sharing at my cousin’s church in Erwinville, Louisiana.  I was able to share with their church on Sunday (9/6) for about an hour!  It was a great time & I came away totally encouraged by this church and their desire to see God’s name reach people all around the world!  I’ve been able to stay with my Aunt Rosie, and I have seen almost all of my cousins that live in Louisiana.  We even took a trip to Mississippi to visit with my cousin & her family.  Now I am helping my aunt pack for our trip to Oregon on Saturday!

My Aunt & I will flew home to Oregon on Saturday.  Then Sunday I plan to 56will drive her to my grandma’s house and she will spend about 2-3 weeks with her, while I will only stay until Wednesday.  And that is all of my traveling (I think) for just a little bit.  My next big travel plans should be to Mexico!!!

When I get back home to Oregon the next big plans are: continue to raise my prayer & financial support, prepare for a yard sale, & pack my things for Mexico.  Currently my financial support level has reached 41% ($1299 out of $3152)!!  Amy & I have been trying to plan for a leave date to head to Mexico, and while we would like for it to be October, we are really going to have to wait until our support level reaches 60% ($1900).  And then we will be able to plan on heading down to Mexico!

Please continue to pray for us as we seek to do God’s will in our lives.  Also as we are getting closer to heading to Mexico, and for our families as we will soon be leaving them.  And also praise God with us as He continues to prepare the way for us to head to Mexico!

Patiently waiting on the Lord,

Crystal Pierce
en route to Mexico with
New Tribes Mission
www.ntm.org/crystal_pierce

P.S.  You can also check out my website – it has now turned into a blog & it looks pretty good!  www.ntm.org/crystal_pierce And Amy’s is www.ntm.org/amy_heckman .

Hey y’all,

This last month I have stayed busy with helping out at two Vacation Bible Schools, house-sitting, filling in for my sister at the church office while she was gone for 10 days, and hanging out with my family & friends!

Here are two pictures from the two Vacation Bible Schools (or Summer Kids Club!) I helped out with! The picture on the left happened at First Baptist Church in Haines, Oregon. Every day I was able to give a short presentation about Amy & I moving to Mexico. We were able to talk about fiestas, food, transportation, piñatas, and so much more! On the last day we had a fun quiz and reviewed all that we had learned, including learning about animism! It was cool for these kids to hear about what the kids in Mexico believe and how the kids there live in fear every day. The kids at Haines were so generous and raised money for Amy & I to buy mattresses after we get to Mexico!

Then after the 4th of July I helped out at my grandma’s church in Condon, Oregon. This time I was a group leader of 6-10 kids, depending on the night. The last night with my little group I explained about why I was moving to Mexico! The kids asked some really good questions about “why” I am moving to Mexico.

Here is my updated support level: 28%! Which is $868 committed monthly support out of $3100 of my recommended support! Just two months ago I was at 20%! It’s cool to watch how God provides for us as we trust Him to! My “car” has made it to: Blue Creek, Utah – which is kind of in the middle of nowhere Utah! Amy & I are praying for the opportunity head down to Mexico this Fall! God has risen Amy’s support to around 35% ($1085/3100)! Please be praying as we continue to seek out more financial support, we need to be at 60% ($1860/3100) before we can leave.

Click here for my prayer requests.

Thanks for letting me keep you updated on what’s happening in my life!
Your missionary en route to Mexico, Crystal

Hey y’all,

Here is a breakdown of what has been happening the past month! And just so you know, I did try to send this out about 3 weeks ago, but it did not work, plus I’ve added some more photos, so I hope you enjoy them!

May 11 – I celebrated my 26th birthday!!! How many of you thought I was younger than that??? Tell the truth!

May 12-19 – Amy & I finished our Washington & Oregon trip!!! Yeah! We traveled over 1700 miles! To pass the time in the car we counted Toyota Prius’ – 140, Log Trucks – 13, deer – 8, snakes – 2, & Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine Vans – 1 in Seattle! We also encountered rain, snow, wind, & sunshine, of course! It was so nice to see friends from our time at Bible School, friends that used to live in Baker (my hometown), family members, & meeting new people!! We also did a little bit of sightseeing by stopping at the Space Needle in Seattle & Crater Lake in southern Oregon. We shared at a Bible study in Seattle & a church in Ashland, Oregon about the need for the gospel to be shared with those that have no opportunity to hear about Jesus in their own heart language! It was a very encouraging time!

May 20-27 – My sister, Danielle, and I were able to get amazingly cheap plane tickets ($200!) to head down to San Diego, California to see my brother & sister-in-law!!  And before I headed down to Mexico, I really wanted to go down and see Lloyd & Rayne (brother & my sister-in-law) because it’ll be a while until I see them again. Plus, Lloyd got 5 days of leave to take us around San Diego! It was a great time just hanging out together for a week! While we were there we spent a little time hanging out by the pool soaking up the sun, visited La Jolla Beach with the sea lions, the Wild Animal Park (awesome), Point Loma Lighthouse, Balboa Park, Miramar, the Midway Carrier, and even saw one of my roommates from Bible School! San Diego is beautiful in the Spring time & I loved it!

May 28-30 – I started moving into an apartment with my sister, Danielle, until it’s time to move down to Mexico (September-ish)! I live on the old NTM MI property. Plus I got prepared to head to Meridian, Idaho!

May 31 – Amy & I were able to share with a young adult Sunday School class in Meridian, Idaho and then we had a BBQ with them! (Sorry, we didn’t take any pictures)

June 1-4 – I spent time some more time moving, packing, & cleaning, paying bills, and all the other responsible adult type things that need to get done. Amy & I were able to catch up with a dear friend, Linda, that lead a weekly Bible study for teen girls when we were in High school! I also did some babysitting this week, and will continue through part of July. And Amy & I shared with the teens from her church at an all-nighter about how they would be able to partner us after we move to Mexico! Amy braved it and stayed all night, while I went home to get a good night’s sleep in order to be prepared for the long weekend!June 5-6 – Amy & I drove up to Camp Elkanah (one of my most favorite places in the world!) and were able to go to a family camp with some of our friends from McEwen Bible Fellowship. We had a great time hanging out, resting, & relaxing. It was a special treat to see some of my dear friends from Ukiah & McEwen!

June 6-8 – I was sad to leave family camp behind, but I needed to road trip to St. Helens, Oregon! I was able to stay with some dear friends that used to live in Baker. Then on Sunday evening I was able to share at a church in Vernonia, Oregon! It was an awesome time! On Monday morning I drove to visit my Great Aunt Willa May in Portland, and in the afternoon I drove on home to Baker (5 hours)!

So that’s what I’ve been up to. How has your summer been going? Are you busier than me?!

Also I wanted to let you know that this month in the NTM@work, Amy & I were featured in the magazine! I’m including a link for you to check it out: http://www.ntm.org/magazine/09june/ (you can download/open it in Adobe Acrobat). The magazine also has some awesome articles about church planting, animism, literacy, and the chronological Bible teaching! Very good information to pass on to others that don’t know about what is happening among villages isolated from the Gospel!

My future summer plans includes: Babysitting, House/Pet-sitting, helping with 3 Vacation Bible Schools, finishing up attending a woman’s Bible study, continuing with the Young Adult Bible study, staying with my Grandma for the 4th of July & the week after, visiting a few more churches, hanging with friends in Baker, spending time with my parents, continue to raise my financial support, and whatever other random things may come up this summer!

Catch y’all later!

Crystal

Celebrating Christmastime with my family.  My brother &
sister-in-law (she’s not pictured) were able to come up from California!

Sharing in Awana & Sunday school is an awesome time! Especially helping the kids understand why I am going to Mexico!

Taking a special trip to the Oregon Coast with members from the Bible Study I attend!  It was so relaxing & refreshing. Just what I needed!