As we Leave the Swan River Valley and Surrounding Area....

      First of all please allow me to say that we will be leaving the Swan River Valley around October 26th and if anyone would like to sit down and chat over coffee about what we will be doing or what our needs are, please feel free to call or send an e-mail to set up a time.
  It has been our pleasure to live in the Valley both in 1999 - 2002 when we pastored the Little Woody Baptist Church, and over the last 5 years since we have been back. Over the 8 years we have been able to get to know many families and so very many friendships have been developed. We are very grateful to the people of the Valley, first of all for accepting us when we first came here, and secondly for their continued friendship over the years we were gone and now as we have been back.
   There is a value that comes with the friendships we have made in the valley. I was able to cry with many of you as you mourned the loss of a loved one, when I was the chaplain at Paull Funeral Home. I have over the past 4 years been able to develop good relationships with many of your children right from the middle school into the high school where I am working now.
   You the people of the Valley have become like family to us, like any family some closer than others, but in the end family (people who care for one another) and as we prepare to leave for missions in Mexico I want to thank you for that acceptance. One great example is the Star and Times putting my family's heart and desires into a story for all to read. If there was not a care for my family, they could have just known we were leaving and said and done nothing. But that is not what good friends do, good friends help each other out, and that is what they did for us.
   Allowing the desires of our hearts to be made known to the public, allows the public to come along side us and team up with us through prayer support and financial support. We will be adding information as to how things are going in Mexico here on this blog.
   So for now it is good-bye to the Swan River Valley, thank you for what you have done for us in the past and what you will be doing in the future. Feel free to take a look at the information I have posted over the past few months. There is information about speaking engagements I have had, the loss of one of my best friends ever from the valley here, and also information on how to support us and become another team member that will help make a difference in the lives of the people of Mexico.  
    Thank-You and God bless you.
       Irvin, Mari, Leah and Jaxon Penner   

New information from YUGO Ministries

     Hello everyone, YUGO Ministries passed on some information to me today that I would like to share with you. There is another place that you might like better if you are desiring to support our family financially. I had never heard of this web site before, it is called canadahelps.org ( http://www.canadahelps.org/ ) if you so desire to use this new avenue I would like to share with you the directions.
1. Log on to http://www.canadahelps.org/
2. Click on donate now
3. fill out donation amount
4. You can make one tome donation or change to monthly by clicking on donation frequency
5. Click on Fund / Designation
6. From the Fund / Designation area scroll until you see Missionary Support, Irvin and Mari Penner
7. Finish as directed.
   

 I also updated our penner's parables e-mail earlier today before I obtained the above information from YUGO Ministries and thus the information is not in the prayer letter. Here is a copy of it just in case you do not get our e-mails.

 Hello everyone!!

     I first want to thank all of you for praying for us. God has been displaying answers to prayer over and over again. Here is what is new:

  

     It has always been my personal belief that for one to be a missionary they need to have no debt before they go onto the mission field. Therefore we have been praying about the debt we have in our house, car, and the 2 1/2 acres we purchased for our future before God called us to the mission field. Well within the past two weeks God has answered our prayers by finding people to purchase our house and the 2 1/2 acres and by doing so our debt is covered and we step out in faith that God will prepare the way by filling the needs we have in regards to our prayer team building and our financial support raising.

    For those of you that have already sent us a reply to last months update e-mail to confirm that you would like us to put your name on the list of people that will be praying for us so we can tape it to our wall in Mexico and be encouraged as we look at it, thank you. If you would like to have your name added to the list of people praying for us and thus become part of our prayer support team, please reply to this e-mail so we can add your name to the list.

    In regards to our financial support, we are also continuing to build our financial support team. As you might know already we are not able to go out into the mission field until we are almost at 100% of our needed support. To this day we are at approximately 1/5 of our support needed and that is due to the kindness of your hearts as you pray and listen to the leading of God in the matter of finances. God is so good to supply all of us with our needs, and beyond so we can take part in the furthering of His kingdom through obedience. Stepping out in faith is a blast, seeing God answer prayer after prayer while some people question us as to why we are going and some might question you as to why you are giving, but in our hearts we know that God has called us to be a team of prayer warriors and financial warriors for the furtherance of His kingdom.

   

    Stepping out in faith   

    While many missionaries continue to speak at churches, Bible study groups, and other avenues to get their word out about the mission they are planning to go into, there has been a door swing open for us to go to Mexico and get involved with the mission work we have such a passion for. The YUGO house "El Faro" is in need of house sitters from December 15th until the beginning of March. Mari, Leah, Jaxon and I are going to house sit and become involved in the lives of the Mexican people we so love and desire to see come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We are asking that you pray for us as we minister in Mexico, and because we are not supported close to the 100% mark we would need to come home in March to continue raising our support. Please pray with us that as we minister in Mexico that God would raise the support needed to keep us in the mission field. 

Ways to pray

    There are a variety of ways we can bring our requests to God, personally as individuals, intercessory prayer praying for others, and prayers of thanksgiving are three of the ways that I can say God has directed and shown Himself to me and my family. We have prayed for God to direct us in the way we should go, for our house and 2 1/2 acres to sell and for our support to come in quickly. It is one thing to see God answer our prayers, but it is another thing to directly thank God for the answers He gives us, and not every prayer we pray will be answered the way we want or expect it. No matter what the answer is we need to be thankful to God for His direction, discernment, and confirmation either with a yes or no.

    I would like to encourage you to pray that God would speak to you within your heart in regards to supporting our family by becoming a member of our prayer support team or financial support team or in both. Also pray for others that God is challenging to become members of our prayer support team or our financial support team or a part of both. As you pray for others they will be praying for you also. Be sure to thank God for what He has done in Mexico already and for what He is going to do in the future through your prayers and financial support as He uses our family through you to further His kingdom.

   

   There are great things happening and it is exciting to see it first hand and to have the opportunity to be your eyes and ears in Mexico. In this way you can rejoice with us in the great times and cry with us in the hard times.

    Thank-You again for making the commitment to pray for yourself, for others, and for us giving God all the glory and thanksgiving.

              Jude 1:2 "Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you."

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God Bless
Irv, Mari, Leah and Jaxon Penner