Halfway through the year, continually amazed with Godʼs ways!

We had an amazing spring and while there were slightly fewer teams than normal, the weeks

were exceptional with powerful results. God is able to do amazing things & transform so many

lives even when there are fewer workers in the field.

As a family we have marveled & delighted in the gift of our daughter Nicole and how her

adding to our family has so thoroughly changed our family dynamics. In many ways we are

still finding our stride, yet its amazing how different our family is now. We canʼt imagine how it

was just six months ago. Sheʼs growing so fast and weʼre loving every moment with her.

In a similar way, God continues to grow & expand our EOC community. We have a new staff

family joining us June 2nd (the Alpertʼs) from Montgomery Alabama. Surely their talents & gifts

will add to the already diverse fabric of our multi cultural community. We are so excited to

welcome them on staff. Furthermore we are in the process of interviewing two additional

families from the US & Canada who are considering joining full-time. All three of these families

have young children, continuing to transform the demographics of the EOC Team.

As the team grows, as we see ministry fruit in abundance, we consider our next steps. What

do we need to do, that weʼre not already doing? Where can we go that weʼre not already

reaching? Who can we love that we donʼt already know? How can we grow deeper in Jesus

and with one another?

As we prepare to commence our 10th summer in Mexico we sense a deep peace coupled with

excited anticipation for what lay ahead.

We are so grateful for your prayers & participation in our lives & ministry. Together we form

One Body as the hands & feet of Jesus. We love you,

The Westerʼs

Nicole, Naomi, Ana & Scott

Greetings from the Wester's

We consider ourselves truly blessed and privileged to be spending another Spring in Ensenada Mexico, collaborating with an incredible community of friends from the US, Canada & Mexico in the transformative work of going out and loving our neighbors.

We are reminded of the daily reality for many of our neighbors here in Mexico & around the world who have lost hope & faith and feel unloved. They are truly the forgotten of this world.

We hope & pray your Spring is fruitful as you enjoy being with loved ones this Easter. May we continue to spur one another on to give Jesus the life he paid for with his own.

The Wester's

Thank you to our good friend Danny Meza, who recently took these family photos. Pictured: Scott & Ana, Naomi (3 1/2 yr) & Nicole (4 mo)

Seeing the Big Picture

A recent conversation revealed to me that as I have been sharing passionately about the direction the ministry is growing in and how the local Church is growing in its involvement, one could perceive that the future goal of the ministry is for less participation of teams from the US or Canada.

Is that our goal? Is that the big picture?

This past year I shared a number of times how we are witnessing God produce fruit through the faithful planting & watering of seeds in Ensenada, through the fifteen years YUGO’s Ensenada Outreach Center has existed.

I also elaborated on one of YUGO’s principle goals of equipping the local Church, and how we are seeing a momentum growing as the local Church becomes more engaged in the mission of the Great Commission in Ensenada.

As one member of many who have come together at EOC to form one body and become one community, I have delighted in seeing the percentage of this body reflect a larger local presence. And together we are pressing towards a level of local participation where it won’t be the exception to have a Mexican team participating in the Outreach Ministry.

As we get a glimpse of what may come, we also consider what that represents in the big picture or macro-view of what God is doing and producing here.

We are not hopeful for a day when there will be enough Mexicans participating that the teams from other countries will stop coming. We are hopeful that as people continue to come from all over the Americas (and the World) that this will become a sustainable ministry that isn’t dependent on any one country for its sustainability. Mexico has so much to offer this ministry, and so much to gain through the joy of participating. But the larger body of Christ IS made up of people of all races, genders, nationalities and denominations.

We don’t see that as more Mexican & Latin American teams participate that there won’t be the room for others, it’s just that the dependance on others will lessen. I was recently reminded of the transformation that takes place in the lives of those that come to serve. Its not an experience at the expense of the recipients, however, it is a reality that those coming to serve leave with a sense of equally benefiting. It is the beautiful reality of the transformation that takes place in all of us who come together to be with Jesus, as he builds his Church in Mexico.

There are many forms of poverty, blindness & captivity and Jesus came to set all of us free from these. How great that we can all come together equally in Him, to become his hands & feet in Mexico and around the world...so that He receives the Glory!

That’s our big picture vision going forward. Will you join with us?

Jan 2011 photos

Here are a few recent photos of Nicole & Naomi too!

Happy New Year! Favorite photos from 2010

Fall Update

Friends,

This year I have glanced back over the past 8 years of my personal time serving in Mexico as well as the 15 years that the EOC has existed. I have marveled at the fruit we are witnessing (All to God's glory, since he's the one producing it) as well as the faithfulness of the countless laborers who have responded to the call. I recently did some research, and in the last twelve years over 25,000 people of all ages & nationalities, have come to Ensenada, to partner with Yugo Ministries. As a result countless lives have been transformed, ours included.

Ana, Naomi, Nicole & I are fruit of this ministry. As Ana & I met here in Ensenada through working together at the EOC. And as our family grows, so does our ministry community.

To God be the Glory as he continues to produce Fruit.

Nicole is a healthy growing baby girl. She feeds really well, sleeps well & yes poops well! She is another unique, wonderful creation of God, that we are so grateful to have the honor of loving & raising as our precious daughter.

Naomi IS really excited about “baby Nicole”, she loves to hold Nicole on her lap and kisses her hundreds of times a day. She has a high level of energy (not sure who she gets that from:) and loves going to school, being with extended family & dancing to anything musical.

Ana is recovering well from the birth of Nicole, and although she is still justifiably exhausted, she is radiant. In order to help ease Ana’s transition into being a mother to two daughters & wife to me (probably the more difficult of the two), Ana has asked a longtime friend, Mari, to help in the house (Monday-Friday 4 hours daily), which is a huge blessing for us all.

I am still learning to be a good husband & father. I have spent much of my life being very self centered, as a result I put work ahead of family, and still am challenged with that tendency in my personal life. Thank God for a wife & great friends to love me & spur me on to grow.

Please continue to pray for us, as our little world has been rocked by the arrival of our daughter Nicole, as well as for Naomi, who is learning a whole new meaning of the word “share”, as she shares her parents with Nicole.

Also please pray for our finances. Our support has been at 50% of our goal and with a new arrival our living expenses will increase. Many are surprised at the fact that we don't receive any salary from Yugo, and the fact that we pay rent to live at the EOC, and buy all our own food. This is a real challenge for me, especially because when I'm out visiting ministry partners, I want to talk about the ministry as a whole; not ourselves, our worth to the ministry & our personal needs.

We have been called to this position to help build up this ministry, but we need the help of others to keep doing the work. It's as simple as that.

The deeper we invest our lives in Mexico & the work of being Christ’s ambassador’s (2 Cor 5:20), we become more aware of the great need for Jesus’ love in our own lives & in the communities we are working in. Jesus is sufficient, however we are needed to take him & his love to the ends of the earth.

There is nowhere we’d rather be, than right here, working together with all of you, in the calling we have received.

May the Lord continue to pour out His grace upon your lives & families.

Scott (for Ana, Naomi & Nicole)