Hi everyone,

We hope that this letter finds you all well, I know we are long due for a good newsletter so we would like to write an update of everything that we have been doing here in Picture Butte, Canada, during these past few months.  We are so blessed and recognize that in everything that we are doing we can see God’s faithfulness in our family and our church.

As you all know, we have been working in the Cornerstone Community Church in Picture Butte, (southern Alberta) for 9 months now, which for us has been a whole new stage in our lives.

In April Jorge had the chance to travel to Chile and participate in the pastors’ conference and the ordaining of the pastors who we left working in the church of Yumbel, Chile.  While there, Jorge was also able to participate in different church services, preaching and teaching the Word of God.  We want to thank everyone who supported us for this trip, as it was a great blessing for us.  On the way back from Chile Jorge flew accompanied by a young man from Yumbel, who is right now staying with us and waiting for his wedding day which will take place here in Canada (That’s a long story that we will share with you later).

Once Jorge was back home he jumped right back into our church and community activities, I will give you a brief explanation of what we are up to right now…

• English Classes:  In January 2015 after seeing a need in our community, we decided once again to start up our English classes.  We have seen that in Picture Butte the Hispanic community has grown greatly in the past few years and with it, the need for them to learn and speak English.  With that in mind we began meeting every Tuesday, having a morning and evening class, and now we also have added another class on Friday mornings, with a total of 18 students in the three classes.  The training that we give them is designed to help them adapt to life here in Canada and to communicate while here.

• Work with the Youth Group: Ever since Jorge took the position as Associate pastor in the church, he was asked to work with the youth to be able to help them through the process that they were currently in.  Almost 90% of the youth that attend are not Christians or do not come from Christian families, which has made this challenge even greater.  We have prayed and waited for God to work in the lives of these teenagers and after many months we can see the fruit in their lives, as we finished up the year a great majority of them received Christ as their Savior.  We hope and pray that God will continue His work and His purpose in their lives.

• Women’s group: About two months ago now, Mandy began to meet with a group of Hispanic women, with the purpose of learning more about God together and also just having time to talk and share. As Mandy is fluent in Spanish, she has been able to help them in many other areas, as well, such as accompanying them to doctor appointments, helping them with paper work, and just running daily errands with them.  As this group has been growing over time, we hope and pray that these ladies will come to know Christ and the hope that the Gospel will bring to their lives.

There have been a lot of other things that we have been involved in and with every day that goes by we realize more and more that God has called us to be in this place at this time.  Without a doubt, God has a purpose for both the church here in Picture Butte and the local Hispanic community and we are willing and available to respond to that call from God.

We would like to ask you to please continue to pray for:

• The guidance of the Holy Spirit in our ministry and as a family.
• God’s provision, God has remained faithful.
• For the community here in southern Alberta, that we can take the power of the gospel to every one God brings into our path
• We have a great desire to have a house, please pray that God will put the right people in our path to help us and give us godly advice, as only God knows how we can achieve this.

Once again we thank those of you who are praying for us and for those of you who support us so that we may continue our work in ministry.  We have no doubt in our minds that God will fulfill His purposes in our lives and this place.

In Christ,

The Santana family