The last couple nights we have been teaching Neva to put herself to sleep.  Something she has been doing off an on, but now we are expecting a little more of her.  Which means some crying is involved.  It is hard on Matthew and my heart to hear her cry so we pray.  It was amazing to see how God answered our prayers. 

As I (Leslie) sat in bed the other night I prayed that God would protect Neva from spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental harm and attack while she is in bed crying.  I prayed that He would teach her how to lay down from her sitting up potition (which we usually find her in when we go in to remind her it is bed time).  I prayed that He would comfort her, and love on her, and meet her where she was at.  As I prayed she got quieter and when I finished she was asleep, it was 8:30pm. 

Last night Matthew and I lay her down and initially she was out because she was so tired.  Then she woke with a poopy diaper,  so Matthew cleaned her up said night night, lay her down and she began to cry.  So after about 30 minutes of crying our hearts needed to talk to God.  So we stopped held hands and prayed for our little girl a similar prayer to what I prayed the night before.  We finished praying and Neva had quieted.  10 minutes later she was asleep, at 7:30pm. 
Though it has been hard to listen to Neva cry, it has brought Matthew and I closer and it has drawn us closer to God.  Thank you Lord for this difficult time.

Through this I have also found renewed desire to pray so I start my day with prayer and Matthew and I end our day with prayer.

Matthew's sister is in town for a couple weeks and we had her over for dinner last night.  It was so good to see her.  Of course within moments of Matthew arriving home they began an intense conversation which lasted through dinner and on into our card game.  Love it!  What is famliy for if not to challenge your way of thinking. 

Garage sale next weekend at our place, if you are around.  We hope to sell a few more things to pay down debt...

In other news, Neva is pulling herself up, unfortunatly once she is standing she can't always figure out how to get back down:).

Matthew has an ATV training this weekend for SAR (Search and Rescue).

I had my first cup of caffinated coffee in 20 months and I feel ill!!

We are getting ready for Neva's 1st birthday, I found a gluten free dairy free chocolate cake I am going to try.  I hope to sew Neva her present, if I can get my sewing maschine to work. 

So much has happened. We have a little girl Neva Ann, who will be a year old this month!! For almost a year we have been renting a couple rooms and living with a friend of ours in Sisters. Leslie has spent her first year as a stay at home mom, which has been challenging. Matthew is working for Rescue Response Gear and loves it. We have been working for two years to pay off all our debt and we are 80% there! We are now trying to sell Matthews Jeep, snow mobile and Odyssey to pay off more debt. This June we are headed to a training in Colorado for Campus Crusade for Christ's Life Lines ministry. Matthew will we working part time for them this coming fall. Recently our "reliable" car died and we were thankful to have an emergency fund so we could buy a replacment. This weekend I will go to Portland to pick it up. It is a Trooper, we have been so impressed with Matthew's other trooper which is still going at 280,000 miles, that we wanted another one! It is also a little bit more spacious since we have a baby. Off to get something done now that Neva is napping...

God is faithful but confusing. After along couple of days we have decided not to pursue the latest opportunity to start our pastor's ministry. There are still mixed feelings as we seek to pursue with all our hearts the things of God but seem to keep missing the mark. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as we continue to walk, crawl and run down the path ahead.

To Him be the glory!

Mateo

It has been a very difficult and good couple of weeks. Last week we celebrated our anniversary on the North Umpqua River camping and rafting. It was a sweet time of adventure and rest. We explored dirt roads on the way there and back. We slept (I slept 13 hours the first night) rafted and just enjoyed a beautiful time.
It is amazing that we have been together for three years. So many adventures, so much growth, pain and deep joy. I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China or gold medals for that matter.

This weekend we went rafting on the McKenzie with my company and a couple from Corvallis. After a great float ( it was almost 100 and the water was perfect for such a hot day) we camped with friends, Brent Lindsey.

On Saturday we got the call. If you have been following our story you know that we have been trying to start a ministry for Pastors and others who need a break. The call was from some friends who are moving out of town and wanted to know if we could rent their place. It is a 6 bedroom log cabin that they have been using for the last five years in close to the same way we would like to run our ministry. It would be a great place but right now with the house payment for our house in Corvallis we can't do it. Another thing they need to know today if we want it.

If God calls you to read this today we would ask for three things. 1) Please pray that we have clear thinking about this huge decision. Leslie is starting work today, there are fires burning all around us and like I said we need to make a decision today. We want to be flexible to what God is calling us to but aren't sure this is the only way, or the way to pursue it. We also want to be wise with our money but don't want to be unfaithful. 2)We have significantly lowered the price of our home in hopes that it sells. Please pray that it does and quickly. 3) If we sold our house we would be able to make the payment. It would be really tight and would require both of us to work full time jobs but we could do it. At the same time we don't think that we should do it by our selves. I have a meeting with one of the men that has the same heart for pastors today at 11:00. I am going to see if he can split the cost with me. The other thing we would love prayer for is financial support. If the man that I meet with can't commit right now I will try to find 50 people to pledge us $20-30 a month to cover half the rent. The idea being that if we can cover half we can use this house to start our ministry. Please prayerfully consider supporting us for this next year.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

Nervously but steadily walking the path,

Matt and Leslie

Well it has been a very interesting time for Leslie and me. We did not get the property that we wanted but it has not yet sold. At this point we are going to continue to pray that God would give us the lodge but right now we are taking this as a sign to pursue the same mission in other ways. We have been looking into summer homes in the area that sit empty for most of the year. We know several of the owners and are going to see if they would be willing to donate time in the house for a few weeks a year to provide for those who make a living in ministry. We would then coordinate the facilities and provide the cleaning when our guests left.
As we have been working on this idea several people have given their support to the concept and have a huge desire to see this grow. As a result we are teaming up with a few others from our church to provide a small conference. This conference is a trial run of the experience that we hope to be able to provide in the future. We will be looking for feedback from those who attend.
This conference will be for about 4 couples and we hope to be able to provide 1.) A time of rest and recuperation, 2.) Access to a pastor and counselor with over 20 years experience 3.) And finally a chance to have a group discussion on the challenges of working in ministry.

We look forward to sharing more with you as we hammer out the details.

Cheers!

M+L

Well....

It is not what we expected and when we have a little more time to process we will up date ya'll.

In His Grip,

Mateo and Beautiful

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Here we are, July 1st. If you read this today please pray that God will show up in a huge way and we will be able to buy the lodge for a pastors retreat center.

We will update again tomorrow and let you know what has happened...

Waiting with excitement,

M+L

This is the shelter that Leslie stayed in to complete her SAR basic final.

It was the best of times, it is a growing time.

Here is a quick update:
Leslie and did Search and Rescue training this weekend and she completed her preliminary certification. WA HOOO! Now we will be able to go on searches together.

I submitted a proposal to the Forest Services for a special use permit to run a yurt company in the winter time. Right now it still seems far away but it is very exciting.

We are still praying and asking God for the retreat center and wait to see how the Lord leads. Only a week to go for the first salvo.


Thanks again to everyone who has helped and prayed with us. We are excited to see what God does and look forward to what He is going to do.

Thanks,

Mateo and Leslie

THANK YOU!

We just wanted to say thank you to all who have joined us in prayer and fasting these last couple of days. The 17th was intense and a difficult day for Leslie and I. Our emotions were all over the place. I had never fasted with so many others for the same goal. Almost everyone from my work fasted with us and it was very encouraging for both of us.
At the end of the day we went out in the the woods at the base of the Sisters. We read and prayed, walked and talked. It was a beautiful time of expressing our thoughts and fears about the future and our hopes for the retreat center.

Thank you to all who continue to encourage us, We feel blessed to be given a road to travel, a partner to travel with and the beauty that surrounds us,

God bless,

M+L

Well it is a beautiful day over here and we are excited for your prayers and to see God do great things. We would like to thank you all who are going to join us tomorrow in fasting and prayer. We are excited to see what God has in store. Expect great things.

Thanks,

Mateo

Thank you to everyone who has called in the last few days with their support. We are eagerly and expectantly waiting on the Lord to see what he has in store.

This morning I got to have a great meeting with a couple of men who would like to help by adding their services to the mix and offering a more in depth type of experience for those pastors that would like to make a change in the system in which they operate. It was a very encouraging conversation and we look forward to filling in the details of this kind of help to pastors. More info on this to come.

Thanks,

Mateo and Leslie.

These are pictures I took from a Search I went on to the top of Black Butte.

Here are some of the pictures we took this weekend. Hope you enjoy!

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update.
We are still praying and fasting at different times this week for the retreat center and continue to feel like this is the way that God is leading us.

This last weekend we went to Maupin to help at the FemX (an offshoot of the CruX games I work with and help organize). Check out the pictures of the homestead we found on our adventures.

Love you all,

Mateo and Leslie

This last weekend we attended our church's retreat out at the Wildhorse Canyon Young Life center in Eastern Oregon. The time was great and the speaker very challenging. He spoke on praying for fruit, moving from surviving to significance, not seeking growth in the church but impact, and the prayer that coincides and leads each of these shifts. The talk on prayer was especially challenging for me.
He talked about the way we "protect" God in our prayers. We (I) don't always ask for what I want or need because I don't want God to fail. I want to insulate Him from failure to answer my prayers. So I will pray in vague terms and tell him that He is sovereign.
The speaker also mentioned fasting and said that it increases the effectiveness of the prayer. He quickly followed if we were asked for the theological answer to why this happens the best answer is, "I don't know."
It just seems to be the way that God set it up.
The speaker then relayed a story from his personal life where he was diagnosed with a terminal disease and the elders came and prayed for him. The him'd and hawed about God's sovereignty and His plan for the speakers life and it made the speaker more and more sad. Then of the elders got in the hospital bed with him and gave him a hug and prayed, "Father please let Ed live and serve." It was a simple and direct prayer and it was exactly what was needed. That prayer was sent out to the church prayer groups and then around the world to the missionaries that the church supported. Very soon there were over 10,000 people fasting and praying, "Father please let Ed live and serve."
That was 8 years ago. He has not been healed but lives a normal life. Last week he met with his doctor and he is the only one with this disease in the entire world that has lived this long and the only one with it that lives a normal life.
Another example of this is with my friend David. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with him and his body just kept shutting down. Again thousands of people from all around the globe started to pray for him and he recovered.

My Dad used to tell me that correlation does not impute causality, basically just because two things seem to be related does not mean they are. And that is why I absolutely love what the speaker had to say. He said that there is not some formula to get God to respond miraculously. God does not work like that. He will not be mocked and His ways are above ours. But He does have the heart of a Father and responds to us in that way. He hears our prayers and answers them every time.

The Israelites prayed for a deliver from the oppression of Egyptian Pharaohs and received it. They cried out at the injustice, the feelings of abandonment, the tortured deaths of their family members. They cried out for the promises of the Lord to come to pass. Their Father with the eternal perspective answered them but he waited for 250 years before He answered them.

This side of heaven we will never know the Father's complete plan nor the effect that our prayers and fasting has on the Father, but until then we are called to make disciples and pray without ceasing.

This week we are praying for the retreat center. We feel like it is something that has been laid on our hearts and we we have changed our prayers to a very simple request. We are asking God for a retreat center by July 1st. Our lease is up the 30th of June. We wait patiently and expectantly for his provision.

We would love your support in this by prayer and fasting with us. We are fasting today and continue to pray this throughout the week.

We love you all and thank you for the support you have always given us.
Here's to the God eternal invisible who is able to do all without us but chooses to use us to bring to Himself the glory.

M&L

Life:
"It seems that when we don't make time to have time we don't have any."
"When God made time he made enough."

The last couple of messages at our church have been about our identity As Christians, we believe we have been saved from the penalty of the actions we have taken against God and mankind, we are being saved from the power of these temptations and will be saved from the presence of these options when we go to heaven. But if we only look at the problem we might have a hard time seeing the solution.
Tim, our pastor, has been challenging us to seek out who we are in Christ. For Leslie and I, simply trying to find a quite minute seems difficult. And we want to start a center for pastors to rest! It seems that who we are determines what we do. By trying to better understand who we are and more importantly who He is, our life is lifted from the mundane to deep meaning; from surviving to thriving with and in Christ.

Please continue to pray and fast for us this week, your support is a great encouragement!

Love
M+L

Life is full of Craziness
This week we are praying and fasting for the retreat center. Specifically that God would give us a retreat center by July 1st the end of our lease. It is a big request but love your intersession for us.

It is not my might, nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord!

Thanks to everyone who has called and offered their support.

M&L

Another week has gone by since spring break, Leslie has gotten back to work and the sun came out for a couple days. It is currently snowing on April 4th!



Over the last few weeks God has begun to reveal to us more people who are like minded in creating a retreat for Pastors. Our hope is at some point to meet with some of these people to pray together and brainstorm ideas.



Currently Matthew and I are praying about begining by doing a mini retreat for ministry workers. We have found some cabins in the area that are not used year round and we want to try to coordinate some of this off time and send ministry couples away or a weekend or two. Our goal for this first step towards the retreat center would be to provide all the meals, desserts and drinks and do all the clean up after the weekend. We hope that by figuring out a system here we will do better when we have a center of our own.

We are looking for a way to keep you all updated on our prayer requests. Currently we would ask that you pray for guidance, provision and that God would bring the people into our lives that He would want to be a part of this.