Anna's Dad, Carlos

Pastor Carlos Salazar

For those of you who have not heard, Anna's father, Carlos passed away late Saturday night. We are so thankful for the many emails and calls that we have received and for those asking how they can help.

It has been heartwarming in this difficult time to see and feel the true love and support from all of our family, frends, supporters and Back2Back family around the globe.

Anna and her two sisters (all of whom work with Back2Back as missionaries in Mexico) were able to fly up to Michigan a week ago and spend the last few days together as a family. Kai and I flew up first thing Sunday morning to join the rest of the family.

While we mourn our loss of a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, spiritual leader and mentor, we are rejoicing that he is no longer in pain, and is with his savior whom he loved dearly and could not wait to see.

For those that live near Kalamazoo and have been asking about service location and times, here is the information:

Viewing and Service will be held at Carlos' church:

Iglesia Misionera Evangelica "Yo Soy"
551 Phelps Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49048

Viewing and the service will be held tomorrow, Wednesday October 31.

Viewing - 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Funeral Service - 6:00pm

We have also had many of our supporters, friends and family asking how they can help. What we really need is help with the costs of the funeral.

The Michigan Region of the Missionary church, whom Carlos pastored hispanic congregations and church plants, has graciously opened a Memorial Fund for Carlos.

You can make checks out to Michigan Region, Missionary Church and write in the Memo line of the check: "Carlos Salazar Memorial"

You can then mail the checks to the district office at:

Missionary Church, Michigan Region
1091 Creekwood Trail
Burton, MI 48509

If you would like to donate online, you may do so via Paypal to our account by logging into Paypal and slecting Send Money. Then enter our Paypal email address of andrewgconrad@hotmail.com and we will pass this along to Anna's Mom to help with the funeral costs.

Thank you again for all of the prayers, phone calls, email's, FB messages, comments and texts. We are overwhelmed by your caring hearts and geniune sympathies.

Though these are very difficult days, we are placing our hope in our God whose love never fails, whose faithfulness never falters, whose will and timing is perfect, and whose grace is always sufficient.

If you have any questions about anything or something I may have forgot to mention in this letter, please let us know via email at aconrad@back2back.org.

Fiestas, Bullies, and Teeth

This week has been filled with "To Do" lists.

So it can be very difficult to stay focused on the things that really matter...the kids.

Between moving our group house to a new location, starting up our new Fall VBS programs with all of our ministry partners, and launching our new website, it was one of those weeks that, if you are not careful, you can spend all your time laboring away at the menial (somewhat necessary) managerial tasks, and completely miss out on the real needs, ministry, and relationship nurturing that must continue to happen no matter how busy we get.

So, let me share three little highlights from this past week that had absolutely nothing to do with the hustle and bustle of back-end ministry management...

#1

Last Friday, we headed out to San Jose in the morning with Mau and Lizy to treat all the kids for lice. It was quite fun and most of the kids enjoyed having their heads massaged for 15-20 minutes...

#2

Last night, we took corn on the cob, a Mexican favorite, to San Jose to celebrate Kai's (our son) 2nd birthday with the girls. We had so much fun with them...

While we were there, we were abel to chat with Jorge, about some recent problems he has been having with a group of kids bullying him at school.

This is Jorge, at his finest...

It was a difficult conversation as he is really being bothered by them (no physical abuse or anything dangerous) and we were not sure what advice to give him. But we told him to try to kill them with kindness... please join with us in praying for Jorge and that these kids would stop bullying him.

#3

Last but not least, this morning, we were able to start taking the kids from San Jose to the dentist for much needed work to be done!

The first two lucky ones were Mari and Sofi...

Mari definitely had it the worst as she had to have two of her molars pulled...

Sofi had to have two fillings put it in...

They both did great and have appointments next Tuesday for quite a bit more work to be done. It has been a huge blessing to have a local dentist partnering with Back2Back and offering her time free of charge and only charging us for the cost of materials needed! 

PRAISE GOD!!

All New Web Presence

I am so excited to finally tell you about our new websites that are now live!

They are filled with lots of great information and our home page is now streamlined with our Blog page and our Media page for a completely seamless experience!

Here are screen shots of the sites & you can click on the pictures to visit the sites!

www.agconrad.com

For all of our videos and photos, check out our media site

media.agconrad.com

Our hope is that our web presence will be a tool of communication with you as well as a tool for you to share with others you know that may want to get involved in orphan care and serving with us through partnership or visiting and working alongside of us.

Please feel free to check out the sites and let us know if you have any feedback or questions!

I would also like to add that our organization, recently rolled out their new site as well, and you can check it out by clicking the picture of it below!

www.back2back.org

Fight The Good Fight

It has been a few weeks since we have been back in Mexico since returning to the States for fundraising the first two weeks of September.

There has been so much going on since we got back, from school starting up and new tutors starting work at Oti's house and San Jose, to changing houses for our groups, to just this last week, having an amazing group of couples from Indianapolis down to visit and serve alongside of us.

It has also been very difficult at times.

We know that each step forward in ministry is taken from am unrelenting enemy, that fights desperately against the power of the blood of Christ.

We know that Satan continues to claim that he owns this city. He thinks that he has the rights to the children and families that grow up homeless and fatherless, that poverty and hopelessness will keep these people in bondage to him, that lust and materialism will continue to reign over the hearts and minds of the thousands that visit here daily, but he is WRONG!

Just as Ephesians 6:12 says:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

And even though we know that we are under attack and this city is oppressed constantly by the enemy,

He does not get to lay claim to this city!

He does not get to claim the hearts and minds of the poor and downtrodden!

He does not get to claim the money and wasted lives of those who vacation here!

And he most certainly does not get to claim the hope and future of these precious children!

The blood of Calvary has already broken the hold he thinks he has on this city. The blood that was shed for you and me has already claimed the hope and future of these kids, and the death he died on that cross took the punishment for every sin being committed in the hearts of those who visit here.

He does not own this place and he will not have any dominion over this city and those in it.

And when he attacks, as we know he will, we will speak out loud of the promises of our faithful God and beat him off of the poor and oppressed and the hopeless with the cross of Calvary which Jesus soundly beat him with two thousand years ago.

I really cant explain to you why I needed to write this down, if for no other reason than to say it out loud and to speak the truth of the Word to the constant attack we find ourselves under.

Not that there are not days that are great, filled with wonderful ministry and times with the kids and with family and fellow staff members, but this is a time of year when the enemy tries desperately to gain ground with the holidays here in Mexico, Day of the Dead, and with Halloween in the states.

I know Pastor Randy at our home church of FCC always does a series in October on Victory over Shadows, and being outside of the US for the first time, it is much easier to see just how powerful those shadows are and how much they are attempting to gain ground this time of year.

I want to urge you to pray along with us. Not just for us (although we need it badly if you can ;) ) but also with us. Pray against the lies that this season has nothing to do with spiritual warfare. Against the lies that a little halloween fun and scary movies does not open doors to an enemy seeking to destroy you and your family.

Please join with us in prayer this month because we serve one who has already claimed the victory for us, but only if we seek after it with Him. If our hearts are apathetic to the spiritual warfare going on around us, we are losing this battle.

So, pray. Please pray. For us, for our staff, for the kids and families we are serving here, for the people who visit this city every week who are lost, for your own home and family, and against the enemy who is working so hard to destroy us.