Hola Amigos!
Can you believe it’s November already?! This year is coming to an end so soon and we’re trying to recap in our own minds, everything that has happened. This has been such a non-boring year for our family. We had another baby and moved as missionaries to a foreign country! Not to mention daily life raising 3 little girls! How much ‘adventure’ can a single family handle?! Well apparently that isn’t enough. We currently have no vehicle! For those of you who didn’t already know, our van died on our trip across the country from south Florida. We rented a truck for the rest of the way to get here and have been borrowing another missionary couple’s van. But as of today, their van has been returned and we are without a vehicle. Nothing like trials to purify our hearts, and see how much we actually trust God for our needs, huh?
So since our last missions letter, we celebrated our baby girl Olivia’s 1st birthday after home church here at our house. It was a sweet gathering of new friends, great food and of course, cupcakes! Liv tore through her very first cupcake and was an adorable mess by the end.
Stella and Naya are also doing well. It’s one of those times in life when it seems they literally grow overnight. Clothes and shoes fit them for about 1 week and suddenly nothing fits anymore. One week is an exaggeration, but not by far! I guess this is where hand me downs come in “handy.”
Melissa has been part of an amazing Bible study group consisting of about 20 female missionaries in the Ensenada {or outskirts} area. God is faithful to provide such an encouraging and energizing weekly meeting where they can come before the Lord through the Beth Moore study and pursue our beloved Jesus! Melissa also has been making jewelry again and hoping to create a small online business for additional income.
Theo is leading a young men’s discipleship group each week focusing on the Sermon on the Mount scriptures and various other areas in the Word. The fruit coming forth from these meetings are awesome and these young guys are getting noticeably more on fire for God! Pray for them during these pivotal years in their lives where we hope the cement of ‘JESUS’ dries forever! Theo has also been keeping busy working to make the house our ‘home’ by doing all kinds of man work, fixing the yard and building or refinishing various pieces of furniture.
Home Church at our house has truly been a life-giving fountain for us. Theo has been teaching each Sunday along with our longtime friend Sean Cates and also Nic Brouwer. Nic is a musician and new missionary to Ensenada as well. He and his family moved down about a month after we did, from Canada. Our families have been spending a lot of time together in prayer, worship and fellowship. Each Wednesday evening we gather together for worship, and throughout the week we are meeting together for meals and fellowship. This new friendship is proving to be a true blessing from the Lord. We love building solid relationships with like-minded lovers of God, and we’re excited to have found them! We also have been having new visitors come and join us every single Sunday so far. Apparently there are a lot of hungry hearts out there that are finding their way to our humble little church meetings! Praise God for his goodness and faithfulness!
As we briefly mentioned in our last missions letter, we are going to begin serving with a ministry called ‘El Refugio,’ aka ‘The Refuge.’ This is a ministry serving young women and girls who have been abused and/or neglected in the Ensenada area. We have a ‘home’ for these girls called ‘Casa De Esther’ where they live and are taken in free of charge and their children are also taken care of while the girls attend school or work during the day. We are really excited that the Lord has led us to this amazing ministry of caring for the hurting and needy young girls here. By the grace of God, we will both be serving in several different areas including construction to expand the home to now house up to 40 people, teaching the young girls much needed life skills and the young mothers, parenting skills. The girls in the home have been sexually, physically and emotionally abused and are in serious need of love, mentoring and training for their lives. We are super excited to help provide those things as the Lord has provided them for us. Please keep them in your prayers as the Lord begins to transform their lives and us in your prayers as we begin to serve them!
As of now, our hopes and plans to begin ministry with the YUGO team in January still stands. We are excited and eager to see how the Lord will work our service into this ministry in the new year.
We are also still facing the ‘support raising’ giant right now. We are lacking quite a bit of funding to meet our budget and basic needs. We know that God knows, but maybe YOU don’t know and you’d like to be partner with us in ministry?!
For those who aren’t sure what support raising is, here is a basic description and the scoop with us….
We are not on a salary from a missions agency. We bring our support through Light International. We are fully funded by our own sponsors, including individual friends, family, churches or businesses.
Some sponsors/supporters give ‘one time gifts’ which are always a blessing. What we NEED is enough monthly partners to help sustain us in our ministry work.
Any donation given is a lot more beneficial to us than it may seem and it’s way easier than you think!
Examples of how your donation can help us!
~Your Cup of Starbucks Coffee $3- 5---{Our personal drinking water for the month!}
~ Your Tickets at a movie theater $15 ---------{Home church supplies}
~ Your Dinner out at a restaurant $30----------{Diapers/wipes for baby}
~Your Average cost to fill gas tank $50---------- {Propane for our tanks}
~Your Average grocery bill $150----------------- {Help with our grocery bill}
And so on…
All financial support sent through LIGHT INTERNATIONAL is tax deductible and you will receive a receipt of your donations each month.
You can go online to http://www.lightinternational.org/ , click sponsor a light missionary.
{For first time donors, you’ll have to create an account which will lead you to the page to contribute}, click on
Theo & Melissa Steinhauer, enter your information and you will be emailed a receipt.
OR
You can send a check to:
LIGHT International
P.O. Box 668548
Pompano Beach, Fl 33066
{Please attach a small note with our names on it. Do not write our names on the check itself.}
For questions or problems, please call (954) 876 – 0302.
You can also donate directly and immediately {no wait and no fees taken out} through
Western Union, or by direct deposit to our bank account. Let us know if you are interested in those options so we can give you details. You can also send a check by snail mail to our US mailing address.
We get paid our support from Light International at the beginning of the month.
{ONCE A MONTH, only}
Financial donations need to be given before the last week of the month to be included for the next payment.
We are lacking about $1500 to meet our monthly budget!
We know that sounds like a lot, but we know if a handful of people partner with us, we’ll be able to continue in the place the Lord has us. We trust HIS provision for us through the Body of Christ, friends and family. If you’d like to take part in this ministry, please contact us!
Our US phone line in Mexico is (949) 945- 5956
Theo’s email address: theosteinhauer@gmail.com
Melissa’s email address: melissasteinhauer@gmail.com
We look forward to hearing from you!
Love & Blessings to you all…
Theo, Melissa
Stella, Naya & Olivia
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