Thank you so much for opening our newsletter to catch up! Thank you for your continued support, your partnership, friendship and the wonderful encouragement each of you is to our family.

May at El Monte was HOT, hot like we didn’t imagine, and we are so glad that the temperature is slowly getting to lower numbers as the rainy season begins. Normally, houses in Mexico are not built with air conditioning units, so the hottest weather is managed with ceiling and floor fans.

Scott continues to deepen his relationship with the hired local maintenance workers, and we praise God for their times of work and rest together as they come up with both really fun conversations, and deep questions about faith in Christ. A few days ago one of the men had a serious accident at the shop, that led to him being taken to the ER by ambulance. Praise God Ricardo is recovering well, and is aready back working! He did end up needing some stitches and he has a slight fracture, but it could have been so much worse. God kept him safe. Please join us praying for Ricardo’s full recovery and for him to encounter Jesus as he awaits for complete healing.

An exciting piece of news is that Scott has finally fully entered into his job description, Project Manager, and we can now focus on vision casting and carrying into reality big projects that El Monte has had the need for during many years.

The Village Project: Staff housing at El Monte 

God has strongly placed in our hearts the need for adequate and sufficient staff housing at El Monte for the families that are already here, and the families that we pray God will bring in the near future to expand the team.
Although Scott and I are currently living in a more than adequate family house that unexpectedly became available, some of the other families have been living for many years in very small houses even though their families grew over the years. Some single full-time missionaries are currently living in apartments that originally were designed to be occupied by students of the missionary training center, short termers and visitors. This makes it very difficult for the staff to grow in numbers, and for new families, like it was our  case when we came here from Michoacan, to arrive, serve and thrive as part of the community, living on campus.  Scott will be sharing more on detail about the Village Project in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned to see God at work! We have seen the Lord do beyond our imagination in the development of the ministry center we helped build with the P’urhepechas, and we are excited to see him do wonders here at El Monte, Mexico. This ministry is powerful and impactful for the Kingdom of God in Mexico and plays a big part in sending workers to the nations!

As we dive into month number 6 of serving at El Monte, after close to 8 years serving in Michoacan with the P’urhepechas, we can truly say that God has sustained us during this transition. It hasn’t been easy, we have encountered many different kinds of challenges over the past 6 months, as in every transition it is expected, but the Lord has been so kind, leading us and providing for us in ways we only want to praise Him.

Please join us praying for:

• The birth of our son, Elliot Gray, due on June 8^th 
• Scott’s Mom flies down to visit for 10 days on June 4th. Please pray for safe travels and blessings over her during her time back at El Monte with us!
• Wisdom and direction from the Lord as we begin the second half of our secondment year at El Monte. At the end of this secondment year we will see if God leads us and opens doors to stay in this ministry long term.

We praise God loudly for:

• Good health for Isabel and baby Elliot soon to be born.
• A beautiful connection to our church in Cuernavaca (one-hour drive from El Monte), “El Conquistador”, who have been a loving and supporting family in Christ to us for many, many years now.
• “The best puppy in the world” (well, according to us). Scott found Isabel´s dream pup after years of searching and waiting for the right one. We are all in-love with our 3-month-old Golden Retriever.
• We praise God for our sending church Father’s Vineyard in North Carolina, our sending organization Perception Funding, our supporters and our prayer partners.

We are so grateful for your friendship, and for covering us as your missionaries. You are an incredibly huge part of what our family does in Mexico and we are honored and blessed to have you in our lives.

See below for our favorite glimpses of May!
Love in Christ,
The Somervilles in Mexico.