Some of our worship times!

Here is the video with clips from some of our worship times! The love that pours out from these awesome people is simply amazing! We are really going to miss our worship times here! 

If you’re brave enough, turn up the volume for full effect and imagine the walls, floors and windows literally shaking!

Week 4 update! YIKES!!!

It is so hard to believe that we are going into 5 weeks here and our time to head home is flying at us at a break neck speed! We are in awe each day of how God has put people in our day to day that spoke such truth and love into our lives, how the Holy Spirit moved through our lives and through others has been absolutely transformational! We are humbled by the generosity of the friends we have  made here and are now like family, we KNOW we are blessed to witness their love and wisdom! WE feel honoured that they have shared their testimonies and lives with us these last weeks and we look so forward to watching their continued growth and love!
We feel so loved by everyone here and man are we going to miss them all when we leave, but we still have 5 days and what 5 days they will be!!
Here is the past week update and a bit more...

Today we will begin resting physically (well Dennis will as I am still on kitchen duty today and have my rest day starting tomorrow!), lots of Carnaval testimonies will be heard and told and worship tonight out in the park!
Have a great day!

love & prayers,
Dennis & Jodi

Lala “issues”and a tour...

Anyone who knows us, knows that Dennis and I enjoy good coffee in the mornings and  since we have been here, we have really grown to love our coffee and our cream - which leads me to share a funny story. 

Dennis and I were shopping and buying some groceries when we first arrived, being avid coffee drinkers (with cream) we began our hunt of the Soriana store! We found many coffee cream like packages in the middle aisles (non refrigerated) and creamers, but no real cream. As we searched the store we figured we would be enjoying our Looney Bean coffee black for the month! But God knew we would enjoy our morning coffees SO much more if we had actual cream! (Isn’t he amazing to think of even the small, crazy, insignificant things?!)  As we searched we found the refrigeration area and low and behold CREAM! So we bought a small bottle and found it is so thick it is the same idea as Clotted Cream in the UK. It is the most delicious addition to our morning coffee... oh my!  So fast forward to the next week where at Ley’s (a smaller grocery chain - similar to an IGA) we found the same Lala brand but in a bigger bottle AND in a tub (since it’s so thick it would be easier to use in the mornings!) 

We buy both, take them home and the next morning I open the tub and taste it... this is NOT cream... it is sour cream! which I had enjoyed a few days before with my tostados at breakfast... at the base. Good thing I had tasted it first... but if you look at the picture you can see why we would be confused ... lol to say the least the kitchen staff got a good giggle from my sour cream/coffee cream story... and yet no one could explain the labeling to me! So long story short, when in Mexico and wanting to really enjoy your coffee, always buy the BOTTLE of crema fresca. 

Tonight is our last night of Carnaval and we will be out until 1am, then back to the base and I have to dump my photos for media, Dennis will be bringing back the cafe things (because they tear it all down each night), so it will be a very late night for us again! Tomorrow we hope to get some basic house needs done, a bit of time in the sun and gearing up for packing for home! 

So this morning I did a quick video of the base, and I need to apologize to Sebastian! I introduced him as Chino (insert eye roll here)... not sure why I did that! Lol can I beg late night, little sleep and early mornings?! lo siento, Sebastian! I am still working on my video-ing skills but you’ll get the idea of it all and see where we have spent our last month! There have been some big changes in the last year and it is still changing daily! Enjoy  the tour! 

Carnaval begins!

Can’t believe we only have a week left here! We are trying to remember and enjoy every minute of work, worship & intercession and time with friends (who are more like family now!) 

But here is a quick update on our first night going into carnaval! Can’t flip my phone around during taping so there will benTWO videos again!  We will try to get a week update tonight (if we can get time)! Photos will get posted as well... again time allowing! Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm! 

and that a wrap on week three!

It is hard in imagine we have been here for as long as we have!  That means soon we will be heading home! Not something we are really getting too excited about (except to see family and friends!) 

We have made such beautiful friends here and made a home for ourselves  in our room and community, we have learned the art of getting around; calling uber or polmonia to get  home places when we are tired and bogged down with groceries  (and other purchases). It is going to be a hard internal fight to get on that plane to head home, but we know we have so much to share  with everyone, that makes it exciting too!

 So here is a movie about the last week, and photos will follow possibly tomorrow or Monday! Enjoy!

love & prayers, 

Dennis & Jodi

Photos of our first two weeks!

Sorry this is later than I had said, but I have had issues uploading this and I am not feeling so great the last two days, but here it is! These are photos from when we left home until last week! I promise I will try to do a better job on the photo movies as I learn iMovie! 

When you watch the video, there is a body surfer during a worship session! That is Phil and he has been coming down to Mazatlan for a long time and is 78 I believe! God does some crazy, amazing and FUN things here! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask - I am on my way now to work on a better photo movie for this week! lol

Happy Thurday!

love and prayers, 

Denis & Jodi

Week Two...

Hola! Here is our week two video (recorded yesterday - Sunday)! We have been pretty busy with our work shifts and ministries but we have been so content and at peace here! 

I am dealing with a sunburn from yesterday, but I am not to terribly uncomfortable. We had such a wonderful day to rejuvenate and rest for this coming week! God is good and knew just what we needed! This morning we have worship time and then work, with a break this afternoon for an hour, then back to work. I will try to post some photos with the stories behind them today/tonight.

Both Dennis and I have been having some clarifications on some things we had been praying about and all we can say is God is good! We will continue praying and we definitely want to thank y’all for your prayers! They mean so much to us! Again if you have any questions drop a comment or an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can! Have a blessed week!

Love and prayers,
Dennis and Jodi

Week ONE!!

HOLA! here we are almost a whole week into our mission trip and have so much to share, but we will try to contain it in this video! Keep your eyes on the INSTAGRAM act for more frequent updates with photos as we are finding our days are quite busy! We have weekends off and this weekend we toured around trying to get our bearings straight and finding out what shops are where and how to get there! WE walked to the lighthouse this morning (the walk was 7.53km+ ... I forgot to turn on my tracker sooner) and it was like walking up 43 flights of stairs! Yesterday we also walked over 4km (according to google maps) to go to the grocery store (Soriana's) ... so much walking lately! LOVE IT!

We will try to update with videos on Saturdays if possible, but we will have to see how things are going once we are in full swing with our work details! Enjoy the video and the photos that are on the left in our IG acct! Drop us a comment if you have any questions and the PRAYER REQUEST list has been updated!! Thank you and until next week!

love & prayers,
Dennis & Jodi

Hola a nuestros queridos amigos!!

Welcome and Hello! 

Bienvenido y Hola

We are so excited to be only 116 days (ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN!!!!) away from our mission trip to Mazatlan, Mexico to volunteer at YWAM, serving and loving on the staff, students and people of the city -- wherever God takes us we are ready!

So YES, this is us right now:

quietly,
patiently,
expectantly,
WAITING!

We have our tickets booked, arrangements made with YWAM, in the process of making farm plans for while we are away(where will cattle be, who will look after cats and dogs, chickens, etc) ...


... and waiting... and waiting.

We both feel like we want to leave RIGHT NOW! But we also know that in this time of waiting, we are preparing and learning so much through our personal studies, church services, reading books, talking to friends who have been on missions. This time is so precious as well, we are learning and growing in relationship with our Father; to me it is time that is very much like when your babes are small and your midnight feedings ... there is no one else - just you and the baby BONDING, growing in love and understanding - Precious and so needed! as we wait we are resting in this knowledge that He is with us and helping us to grow in so many ways!

We have also both been doing some bible studies (Dennis has just completed James and I am into Galatians!). We are waiting on actual Spanish lessons to begin on Oct 22 - so we continue to use the Duo Lingo app for Spanish;

Estamos aprendiendo más y más palabras y podemos formar oraciones pequeñas! (este no era uno de ellos) (still using a translator for some... ok many!)

{TRANSLATION: We are learning more and more words and can form small sentences! (this was not one of them) haha}

...And we try to use what words and phrases we know as often as possible!


We have also been reading a few books and a have few books that are on our TO READ lists:

Dennis:

Strategic Compassion By Barry Slauenwhite

Kingdom Man By Tony Evans

The Invisible War By Chip Ingram

Now is the Time By Angus Buchan



Jodi:

Fervent - A Woman's Battle Plan for Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer By Priscilla Shirer

Discerning the voice of God By Priscilla Shirer

Is that really You, God? By Loren Cunningham

Love Does By Bob Goff

ROOTED- The Hidden Places Where God Develops You By Banning Liebscher



TO READ LIST:

Everybody always By Bob Goff

We died before we came here By Emily Foreman

The Book that Transforms Nations By Loren Cunningham

Tortured for Christ By Richard Wurmbrand

Kingdom Woman By Tony Evans & Chrystal Evans Hurst


Some of these books were suggested by staff at YWAM Mazatlán and others are reading for personal growth and interest! Is there any books you think would be a good read for either interest sake or a good read for those thinking about (or already on) Mission?

There is not too much else to share right now, except to finish up with prayers:

We know that your prayers are so important for us as we prepare our selves, body, mind and spirit for this trip and we THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts and praise God for y'all!
We asking for prayers (have a look at the prayer request list on the top right of the page) for us but we also would like to know how  we can pray for you as well! If there are any requests of prayer that we can intercede on your behalf, please DO NOT hesitate to ask!

So until next time, our friends!

Que el señor te bendiga y te guarde!

Dennis & Jodi

a note from Dennis!

Mazatlan mission trip December 29 2018 to Jan5 2019

God is good all the time……… I truly believed before we left for Mazatlan that the Lord was asking me to go on this trip. I was not sure why as I have never had the desire to go on a mission trip, and no desire to go to Mexico. While in Mexico I found out what Jesus meant when He said that He came so that we could have life more abundantly. It is such an amazing feeling to know that you are right where God wants you to be doing exactly what He wants you to do. We built a home for a wonderful woman, gave out bibles to people excited to receive the word of God, helped feed underprivileged children, and fellowshipped with the wonderful staff at YWAM. We heard so many amazing God stories as we went about our trip, from a guy that literally search the world for truth only to find it was the word of God then dedicating his life to spreading the word, another fellow who was addicted to drugs went to Mexico to work in a coffee shop found Jesus and now is living his life with his wife and family spreading the gospel , a young couple who invited people into their home in an attempt to be able to get up earlier in the morning before work which has turned into a wonderful ministry where people can come into their home and spend time worshipping our Lord and diving into His word early in the morning.

I  have a God story to tell:

 After leaving a young couples house before breakfast where Jodi and I had just spent time worshiping and reading God’s word, I felt I should go out to the beach to watch the waves for a bit before breakfast. It was there that I met a man searching for Jesus, he came up to me and asked if I was a Christian. I said that I was and he started asking questions. He spoke enough English that we were able to communicate and I was able to share Jesus with him for about a half hour and then I was able to pray for him before we parted ways. He had come to Mazatlan to celebrate New Years and lived in Mexico  on the border between Mexico and Texas. The fact that God brought me all the way from Manitoba to Mexico to share the love of Jesus and what He did for us on the cross with someone on a beach who was searching for Jesus just blows my mind. GOD IS SO AMAZING!!!

I also met a man named Joshua, while at YWAM, who has a heart for the rural people outside Mazatlan in the farming/ranching areas. This interested me greatly and hoping that God will open doors for him and us to reach these areas with the gospel through agriculture. Since we have been home both Jodi and I feel that God will call us back to Mexico in some form to continue His work there. We are busy learning Spanish so as to better communicate, diving into God’s word so that He can teach us what we need to know to go back and do His work, and praying that He will open the doors for us to go back.

I am so thankful for everyone who supported us both in prayer and financially, thank you so much for obeying our Lord and making it possible for us to go on this trip. It is amazing what can be accomplished for His kingdom when His people just say yes Lord and obey His command.

And all the time God is good.

God bless

Dennis 

Mazatlan Mission Trip!!

Well, we have been back for about 3 weeks now (and we yearn to be back in Mazatlan doing Gods work!) .... and to say the least... the trip was amazing!!

We built a home, we distributed 154 bibles, we fed children supper one night! We walked around Mazatlan, taking in the sights, the foods and the people!

It was most definitely a God journey... no better way to describe it! I was waiting to post photos of the trip until we had shared the trip with our church and a few other people ( and we still have any people to share with!!) but I thought I would get this quick (5 minute) video of the highlights on our trip up for y'all to see!

A few highlights I will tell you about:

The lady we built the home for!! She was the loveliest lady you would ever want to meet! She was not only kind but extremely generous! She made us meals and every morning she would serve us cafe leche... mmmmmm cafe leche... she helped us with whatever and whenever she could - she worked many, many hours after her regular day job to pay for these treats for us! Her favourite colour is purple, so that  is why it is purple! (houses in Mazatlan are so beautifully colourful!)

We met many wonderful people while distributing bibles in a poorer colonia (neighbourhood). The people were so welcoming to not only talk with us and allow us to pray for them, but we were told they have been   waiting for the bibles we had. These bibles were PDT (La Biblia: La Palabra de Dios para Todos- which translates; The Word of God for all) and the versions they had were too complicated to read! it was so amazing to take the time to talk with people and pray over them! I will admit it was a bit scary at first and praying through a translator took a bit of getting used too, but it was a definite highlight for me!

The night at the Feeding Distribution Centre  (soup kitchen) was great too! We fed about 60 kids (there is usually 70!) This program is run by a local man (Roman) and his wife and 2 volunteers. Roman works in an autonomy shop and felt that God was telling him to feed the hungry. So two evenings a week and one breakfast he feeds the children of the local Colonia (neighbourhood) with food that is mostly donated by a local lady who runs a bakery or a restaurant. The kids there were so excited to. have some newcomers and soccer balls (and Dennis' beard lol)!! After they ate, the soccer balls came out and it was outside to play with them and to play a piggyback game!

There is so much to say about our trip, and although the Inuit have 150 words for snow, I can't seem to find the right words to convey this trip. We loved it so much and are praying that we will have the opportunity to go back again but hopefully for a bit longer, doing Gods work!

Please take a few minutes to check out the video and the photos to catch a glimpse into our week in the beautiful city!  If you are any questions, don't hesitate to ask or if you want to get together to here more of the mission trip, just drop me a comment or even a phone call!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, messages, texts, calls, donations! You made our trip that much better by being involved!!

El amor de Dios nunca falla!!! 💕🤗💕

Hopefully, we will have another God adventure to share again soon!!



Blessings,



Dennis, Jodi & Hannah

A note from Hannah!

Some of you may know that last year I did my DTS with YWAM in Mazatlán Mexico. For me that was a life changing experience. That was where I started a more intimate relationship with Jesus, I made lifelong friends, where I found myself, impacted others life, and had my own life impacted as well. Now, I have the amazing opportunity to lead a team of 15 people (from the Grace Baptist Church) back to that place. 

During our time there, we will be working with a team called Homes of Hope. We will be building a house for a family in need down there. That will take us about three days to build, and then we will be doing other ministries around the city. As a leader for this team I do have many responsibilities, but I am very excited about this. I get to lead a team back to a place that I am pleased to call home to go back and do God’s work. I am excited to see how God will use me in every way that he can, for Him to use us as a team, and as individuals. I know that God can do amazing things, and has amazing things planned for this team. Each member of the team has a special gift, and I am excited to see how God will use them during our days there. 

I have always had a huge heart to help and serve people and have always wanted to go on a mission’s trip to love on people and help those in need. When I got back from Mexico I just had a strong feeling to go back and take a team with me, to serve a family there in need. At first, I did not know if this was just a feeling I had, because I had always wanted to do a mission’s trip, or if it was God putting this desire on my heart. I brought it before my youth pastor and we started planning a little bit of it, organizing a few things, and seeing who all would be interested in going. Once things started to fall into place I knew that it wasn’t just a desire in my heart, that it was God who has leading me to lead a team. After many months of planning and prepping for this trip, I am excited to see what God has in store during the time down in Mexico.

Mazatlan, Mexico... YWAM (where we will be staying)
 is about a 5 minute walk from this beach 

Our Mazatlan family!!!

http://www.ywamhomesofhope.org

We received an email yesterday with a bit of info and background on our family in Mazatlan that we are building house for! It was so thrilling to read and learn a little about them! I don't know if we are allowed to share that information, so I won't, but I will say this; they are a family of 7 and Dennis, Hannah and I are so eager to meet them! 
As we are putting the final preparations in gear for our trip, I pray that you will all pray for this beautiful family with us and our mission team! My heart is brimming for them and I can not wait to meet them and see where God has moved in their lives! 
There is still time to donate if you are feeling lead to do so via our GoFund Me page! 
We want to say a big thank you everyone who has texted, sent well wishes and love during this first ever time on missions! We didn't (and still don't) know what to expect of it all, but so far seeing how God our Father works is so exhilarating and breathless that it is just a huge blessing! Thank you again to those who have donated money and time to our efforts! We are truly blessed! 

And just like that....

... prayers are answered!! Mountains were moved!!


The house is paid for and so is the furniture!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is good, all the time!

You can still donate and the money would to the team,  as there are still travel expenses that you can help with for the team and as always we need your prayers!

other help needed:

Would you like to do a bit extra along with praying!? We have learned we are able to take clothing and things to Mexico to share with the people there!










Hannah noticed that when she was in Mazatlan last year that they love soccer! So we want to take some balls (deflated of course) and so we will also need a few pumps to blow them up (and leave them) again once there.
A few other ideas of things we would like to take are clothing, personal hygiene items, shoes - all for men, women and children, school supplies. basically things you would put into an Operation Christmas Child box.
There is not much there in Mazatlan for these items (or else we would take down money to purchase in that area to aid in their economy).

If you are wanting to help in this area let us know! I will make arrangements for pick up!

a great place to start!

Hi!! If you have found our blog page it is most likely (we hope) it is because you want to partner with us for our family mission trip to Mazatlan, Mexico in December!

Hannah, Dennis, Jodi - 1/2 of the Ginter family 

We are going with others from our church (Grace Baptist Church in Ochre River) and we are going to build a home! We have teamed up with YWAM

(Youth with a Mission) and they are through with Homes of Hope, to help us build a family a home!

The plan is to build the home in three days and then the remainder of the week will be spent spreading the gospel and the love of God in many ways like: handing out bibles, interacting with local kids through soccer, visiting area of need, doing prayer walks, etc.

Wonder how YOU can help?! For starters — PRAY!! Please for Dennis, Hannah and I as we are trying to listen to hear what God wants from us. WE are needing prayer for many other areas: preparing for the trip, being in Mexico, leaving Mexico, things on our farm will be uneventful while we are gone, raising enough money to get the materials (and hopefully furniture as well) for the home, money for the travel to and from Mexico and I am sure there are tonnes of other things to pray for and as they are brought to our mind we will add them to a running Prayers and Praise list!

If you feel lead to do so you can help support our trip financially. There is a Go Fund me page set up for our group or you can send a cheque to our church and a receipt will be mailed to you. (mailing address will be in the side link along with the go fund me link).

If you have any good ideas or want to help in fundraising in a physical way let us know! With that said we have a few fundraiser ideas in the works as of right now and we are praying they go off well! Some plans are a Grey Cup Party at the church – watch the football game on the big screen!  The evening will include the large screen game, taco bar and pop!  We are also preparing for a Big&Better auction where we will ask local businesses (from Neepawa and area and Dauphin and area) to challenge another business to donate a Bigger or Better prize for us to auction off at a local play.  There will also be an ongoing envelope pull where you can pull the envelope of the donation you want to make towards the building of the house! Tomorrow we are going to be having a hotdog sale in Dauphin at the Co-op from 11-1 and 3-5.

The bible verse that is keeping us going and encouraged is “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Hebrews 3:4 — so please playfully consider partnering with in whatever manner you feel you are being called to and lets see where God will take us all on this journey!

We are very excited to be going and doing this work! Some of you will already know why we are heading to Mazatlan – but some won’t. Our daughter Hannah was with YWAM MAzatlan last year and experienced such amazing things that when she returned from her schooling and outreach, she strongly felt God calling her back to Mexico to do something more… enter Home of Hope!! so with others who were also excited to follow God’s calling, she and our Associate Pastor began digging into it and setting up what was needed! AND now we begin the task of making it a reality as we follow His nudging and whispers!

Please keep checking in with us to see where we are at in prayer requests, praises and fundraising as we only have about 101 days until we leave for our mission trip!

Thank you for your time and prayers!!

can you tell we're a bit excited!? 

Your family in Christ,

Jodi, Dennis & Hannah