Central America and other Spanish-speaking countries

Covenant Merge Ministries

Dale and Sarah train missions teams in North America to serve & reach Spanish speaking people, then assist in missions trips to Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries.   

On October 15, 2009, Dale gave us three prayer requests:

1.  With a deadline of commitent of October 26th, Merge Ministries is hoping to get a team of at least ten people together to send to Patzicia, Guatemala during Christmas break.  This team will support the church there.

2.  Merge needs staff in Mexico, Central and South America and Spain.

3.  Merge is praying for missions teams to sign up for trips to Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain.

Dale goes on with the rest of his report: 

The double whammy of an economic downturn and exaggerated media reports about Mexico is causing 2009 to be the first year in Merge history to be down from the previous year like it. Merge had grown 15 straight years and shrunk for the first time since it was founded.

Merge is projected to have about 550 participants this year, which is down from the 617 who participated in the last CHIC year of 2006. This represents an 11% drop.  Merge had its smallest spring participation in six years with only 206 participants.However, the summer, with 332 participants, was larger than the CHIC summer of 2006. There are two teams scheduled for trips this fall. 

The good news is Merge already has over 200 participants signed up for mission trips for the spring of 2010.

GREAT FINANCIAL UPDATE

For the first seven months of the fiscal year we have averaged receiving $10,626 per month support for our ministry. This is only $24 per month under what our $10,650 per month expenses are, so we are right on target. Thank you to everyone who is supporting us, especially those who sacrificially have given tremendous support!

WEBSITE IMPROVEMENTS

Alex is going to work on the Merge website full-time the next four months. Our website needs a huge upgrade and Alex will make sure it happens. Thanks for your patience as we improve the site. It will be full of great new info and easier to navigate in the future.

Our new eNewsletter program through the Covenant is also a huge upgrade. We look forward to better communicating with you via the internet in the future.

FIRST-EVER MERGE ANNUAL MEETING

Since the Merge staff and partnerships have grown from six people to fifteen people in one year we have had to add a new event to our calendar called our “Annual Meeting.” It will take place in September/October every year and will last for a week. It will be the only time all staff and partners in the entire ministry will come together to evaluate the previous year, plan for the next, and vision for the future. This year’s annual meeting will take place in Monterrey and Saltillo, Mexico.  

NEW AREAS READY TO GO

The new Merge team in Alaska, with James Barefoot and Kate Cannon, have been working hard to promote mission trips to Alaska! Many, many people have shown interest and we look forward to serving the Eskimo people of the Western Villages, as well as Covenant ministries on the road system.

Our crazy idea is to convince teams to go in the winter, when social problems, like drinking and suicide, are at their worst. We are looking for teams to go in the darkest months to encourage people in the name of Jesus!  So far no team has officially signed up to go, but we are hoping someone will soon!

Chris and Jenny Hoskins have arrived in Ecaudor, and have been meeting with the Covenant missionaries and church leaders to plan how Merge will oversee mission trips to the Covenant churches and ministries in Ecuador. By October we should have a good plan and begin to implement it.   There are over 70 Covenant churches in Ecuador and we look forward to taking teams to encourage as many of these churches as possible. Already teams are signing up to go.

Our new Merge Trip facilitator to Brazil, Nathalia Barros, got married this month, so she is a little busy, but starting in October we will finalize some plans for organizing trips to Rio de Janeiro to work with Covenant missionaries there. The community development opportunities there are staggering and exciting.