Desert Streams Ministries

Note: You can download a PDF version of this update here:

Hello, friends and supporters. Here’s our latest update!

We hope you have had a great Christmas season and are getting off to a great start now that it’s 2019. We had a good time this December with our family. Both of our boys were able to come for a couple of weeks to spend Christmas with us. We very much enjoyed being able to see them, since it had been one year since we had been with them. We see each other almost weekly on FaceTime, so we’ve had constant communication, but it’s just not quite the same as being all together in person. We often joke about seeing each other either in 2D (on the flat screen), or 3D (in person). It sure was great to see David and Daniel in 3D after a year of seeing them in only 2D!

Several things have happened here since we last wrote to you. First of all, we took a brief trip to Canada for Gerda Brown’s memorial service which was held the last Thursday in November. Gerda had been a spiritual mother to us for the last 25 years, and it was our desire to honor her and support Bill during this difficult time. I was blessed to play the piano in the memorial service in Edmonton, and we also enjoyed spending several days with Bill.

December was filled with activities. Both Anna and I were working hard on finishing the material for the Advanced School of Ministry conference. I was finishing the conference notebook, and Anna was working on translating the last chapter of Dr. Frank Damazio’s book called “Seven Declarations For An Unshakable Life”. She finished just before Christmas, and I continued to edit the material and get it ready for printing. While our son David was here, he designed the covers for both of these books. Sara worked hard as my proofreader.

Also in December, we finished our semester of online Bible School classes. A total of just under 150 students successfully finished their semester of courses. The end of the semester is always a busy time, as I supervise the work of all the facilitators who check final exams and assign the final grades for the courses.

We will be starting our next semester in March, since during February we will be preparing a new course and recording it with missionary Mark Simpson. Mark will be with us for a “marathon” recording session in our little studio, teaching 24 lessons in three or four days, and also ministering to our church on the weekend.

Our Advanced School of Ministry conference, which attracts around 1,000 pastors and leaders, is coming up in a couple of weeks, so we are now working on the last details, registering participants, etc. Please pray with us for a great conference, and also that the current gasoline crisis that several states in Mexico are experiencing will be resolved before the conference so everyone will be able to have fuel for transportation to get there and back.

Thanks for your love, prayers and support. We appreciate you!

In Christ,

David and Sara, and Anna Lont

You may view a printable PDF version here.

Dear friends, supporters, and family,

Happy Thanksgiving! There are so many things to be thankful for. It’s good for us to remember our many blessings, and I believe we must start with the most import of all – Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! We give thanks because we are children of the Most High and can rejoice in our eternal inheritance. 

We are also very thankful for you! Each of our supporters, friends and family are very important to us. We want you to know that we thank God for you; for your love and communication with us; for your prayers on our behalf; for your support of our work and ministry. Thank you so much! We thank you for believing in us and in what we do.

I also must say that we are thankful for the local church we pastor here in Tulancingo, for the great pastors and leaders we regularly minister with, for the team of the Advanced School of Ministry, and for our group of course facilitators and other workers who dedicate time each week to our online Bible School. 

We are thankful for the fellowship we can have with great men and women of God who have been an inspiration for our lives. We are thankful for people like Bill and Gerda Brown, who have been such and encouragement to us, as well as many great leaders and teachers who have inspired us. We are thankful for the times we’ve had together with the people of our local church, at times, having a meal together, working, praying, practicing, or simply talking with each other.

We are thankful for our family, for our three children, and for the ways in which God is leading each one of the them to fulfill their God-given destiny. We’re thankful for their home school – Lighthouse Christian Academy, and the wonderful positive and Godly influence the curriculum and staff have had on their lives, as they have grown up. What a blessing it has been to give our children a Christian education, even within our own home. We’re grateful that David and Daniel, who are now on their own, studying in the U.S., continue to serve and honor the Lord, as they prepare for their future. We’re thankful for Anna, who remains at home in high school, and is very active in ministry. We’re excited about their future, for what God has in store for them! 

We also give thanks for our extended family. I’m thankful for my parents, who gave me solid, biblical values, and set me off in the right direction as I grew up. I’m grateful for my brother and sister (who I don’t get to see very often), and for Sara’s family, for the nieces and nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles.

Finally, I wish to express how thankful I am for my wife, Sara. She is such a blessing to me, and such an asset in ministry. I am thankful for these past twenty-six and a half years of marriage, for the patience she’s shown toward me, for believing in and supporting our ministry projects, for her relentless love and dedication to the Lord and to her family. The Bible says, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD”  (Proverbs 18:22). I am thankful for Sara; she is such a wonderful wife and a fantastic mother. 

How about you? What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving Day?

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psalms 69:30

Have a blessed day! We appreciate your love, prayers and support.

In His love,

David and Sara Lont
and Family

Download this as a printable PDF: update-september-2018

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

Happy Autumn! Summer has gone by so fast for us, as we were preparing for our trip to Africa during July, we left in August, and we returned in September. Perhaps you also have the same feeling. Life goes by so quickly, and we must take advantage of every moment the Lord has given us to live life to its fullest and make good use of our time, especially for the purposes the Lord has given to us. It is good to have time off, to relax, to enjoy life; but it is also good to have a purpose in life and work every day toward that purpose, setting goals and accomplishing the tasks that bring us closer to the fulfillment of our God-given dreams, visions and purposes.

Bill Brown Visits Us In Our Church

A real highlight of our summer was to have Bill Brown with us here in Tulancingo for a Saturday evening and Sunday services in July. It was such a blessing to us personally, but also for the church. Bill and his wife, Gerda, have been our “mentors” for many years in the ministry, and their lives and unwavering faithfulness have been a living testimony to us of the goodness of God. Their lives and service have literally changed nations, and the abundant fruit that continues to this day is an incredible inspiration. It is just amazing what God can do when a young person says “Yes!” to God and His plans. Bill and Gerda answered the call of the Lord to ministry in their youth, and now, almost 70 years later, they are still going strong!

Several years had passed since the last time they were with us personally, although they have also taught and preached in our church via Skype and FaceTime. What a blessing it is to have technology that allows us to connect with others virtually. But it is even a great blessing to have Bill with us personally this past July.

Online Bible School

We continue to work on our online Bible School. In August, we began our Fall semester with just under 150 students. This is the most students we have had up to the moment. The students who have been studying with us during the past semesters have been telling others how much they are learning, growing, and enjoying the classes; as a result, we have seen the numbers increase.

We are currently teaching Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey and Systematic Theology. We will soon be recording courses on the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit, and the Life of Christ. We are excited about the future of this program, as many pastors, leaders and others involved in ministry are taking our courses and growing in their faith. We believe that this program will have a positive impact on many churches throughout the nation. When pastors and leaders take the courses, they in turn teach many of the concepts they learn to their churches.

Trip to Africa

The biggest ministry focus we have had during the last month was our trip to Africa. For us, this was our first trip and it was full of unknowns. We were sent by Bill Brown to minister to the group of churches he and Gerda originally helped to plant in Uganda back in the 1960’s. From very small beginnings in Kampala and then other towns and villages, the group has now grown to around 1,800 churches. Many of the pastors of these churches were in Kampala for the conference in which Sara and I taught.

We left Mexico on August 22, and didn’t get back home until September 16, so we were out for quite a long time. We felt a bit bad leaving our church for so many Sundays, but we were blessed to come back and see that things had gone well in our absence.

It was quite a trip, full of adventure! I enjoyed trying all the different Ugandan foods and attempting to understand the Ugandan way of thinking. It was fun to worship with the churches and participate in the services. We had the opportunity to preach about 32 times total. I think the most difficult subject for us was teaching in marriage seminars, as the cultural differences are so great. In Uganda, a man can legally have many wives, and women are often treated as objects. From what I understand, a man will traditionally “sell” his daughters (the concept is really a dowry), although things are changing, especially in the church. In all, the conferences went very well, and we were able to share many Biblical concepts on the subject of marriage.

It was also a challenge to communicate. Although many people speak English, their accent is so different that we often had to listen very carefully to understand what they were saying. During the conferences, we had an interpreter who translated into Luganda, the main language spoken in the area, and in the pastor’s conference, their was another interpreter on the balcony who translated into a third language for the pastors who were seated up there.

Anna had the opportunity to share six times. She did a great job! She ministered together with Sara and me at the Makerere church, at the Nsambya church to young people and children, and by herself at a youth camp. We are “humbly grateful” (as my grandfather would say) for our daughter. She’s only fifteen years old and has already preached in Africa!

Sara finished our ministry time in Uganda with her participation in a women’s conference. She also did an excellent job, and I believe that she really connected with the women during her ministry time with them. We then had a day to rest before starting our 61 hour trip back home.

While in Uganda, we had a chance to see some of the animals at Murchison Falls National Park. I celebrated my birthday there with dinner next to the Nile River. It definitely was a trip we will never forget!

We believe that God used us to sow some good seeds of His Word into the hearts of the African people. We pray that the church in Uganda will continue to be strengthened and become a blessing for many generations.

Thanks for your prayers!

Thanks so much for praying for us. We were all healthy and well during our trip. God was good to us and protected us from all harm.

Now we ask for your prayers as we continue ministry here in Mexico. We are beginning another very busy season, getting ready for the Advanced School of Ministry conference, translating books, recording for the online Bible School, editing new material, pushing forward with our local church leadership and more. Thanks!

God bless you,

David and Sara Lont and Family

Dear friends, family and supporters,

Happy 4th of July! We hope you are having an excellent holiday today. We’d also like to give you a short update on our family and ministry activities.

Children’s Day celebrations

Since our last update, we have celebrated “Children’s Day” here in Mexico. This is a special day designated to celebrate all the children in the country, and many churches take advantage of this day to organize celebrations and evangelistic events to attract young children and their parents.

We participated in two events this year. The first was held in the city of Tula, Hidalgo, in a church we have ministered in several times. Our children’s praise and worship group participated, and Anna and David shared a short message with the group.

The second event was at our own church. Our children’s church leaders organized this celebration, and as you can see, the children had a really good time with all the games and activities.

Bible School and Local Church

During the months of May and June, we have spent much of our energy and focus on the online Bible School and the activities in our local church. During Sara’s time resting after surgery, I took over her Bible School group for a while. I also continued working on the online software, developing the modules that have to do with accounting, receiving payments, transferring funds, etc. As we look to expand the school, this is going to be a big help, as I had been doing everything manually up to this point.

In June, our group of about 120 students finished their first semester. They are now on a short break before starting classes again August 15.

We have also been focusing on our local church. We’ve been having meetings and study times with some of our leaders, worship practices each week and time to study and prepare for each service. For me it has been especially rewarding seeing Anna grow and mature in ministry. She even preached with me in May about reaching the next generation with the Gospel. My only regret is that Sara wasn’t able to be at that service because of the surgery.

Our Family

As you probably know, our two oldest children, David and Daniel, are both in the U.S. to study. David finished his first year at Western Michigan University and is spending his summer working at a local Starbucks Coffee shop and also helping prepare presentations for the online Bible School. Daniel finished his first year at Portland Bible College and is staying on campus during the summer to work a custodial job at the church and the school. We sure would love to have them here for the summer, but they need to work in the U.S. in order to pay for their upcoming fall tuition bills. Both of them are doing well, and we see them almost weekly via Facetime.

Anna recently finished 9th grade and is spending her summer reading many books, studying some French, and translating one of Pastor Frank Damazio’s books on leadership from English into Spanish.

Sara and I recently celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We went out to the town of San Miguel de Allende to celebrate.

Getting ready for Africa

Sara and I will be going to Africa with Anna toward the end of August. We will be involved in a large women’s conference and a pastor’s conference. Anna will be doing some children’s ministry as well. We went to Mexico City a couple of weeks ago to get some of the “hard to find” vaccines that are needed in order to visit Uganda. I ended up getting a slight fever as a reaction to one of the vaccines, but am doing better now.

We are also working on getting together our teaching sessions for the conference.

Please pray for us especially as we prepare for this upcoming trip.

• For health and protection from illnesses and other dangers
• For an exact word from the Lord for the pastors and the ladies who will attend the two conferences
• For a good and blessed trip there and back

Thanks! We appreciate each one of you and pray that the Lord will abundantly bless you and your families. We’ll be in touch again soon. Have a blessed summer.

In Christ,

David and Sara Lont

Dear friends, supporters and family,

Greetings from Mexico. We pray all is well with you and that you’re enjoying this spring season. It is a joy for us to be in contact once again via our newsletter to let you know what we have been doing during the last couple of months.

Ministry in Veracruz

At the beginning of the month of March we took a trip to the city of Veracruz and also Huatusco where we ministered to a group of leaders of the Centro Cristiano Church there. We spent the first day with the pastors, Gama and Paty, at the hotel where the leadership conference would be held during the next couple of days. There we enjoyed spending some time with them during the afternoon and evening Thursday. On Friday morning, the leaders began arriving around breakfast time. I opened the meetings with the first conference, and both Sara and I shared several times during the Friday-Saturday meetings.

It was very interesting to get to know some of the leaders and see how Pastor Gama and Paty work with them. The weekend was filled with different activities such as meals together, teaching sessions, workshops and games designed to teach people how to work together. We also had prayer, worship, and ministry times.

The following Sunday I preached to the church in the morning. They have a large and solid congregation, and I enjoyed ministering to them once again. We had been there before, in 2016, and on that occasion I had ministered in a men’s conference, and then Sara, in a women’s conference. It was very nice for both of us to minister together this time to leaders. We believe God is building up a solid leadership team for this church.

Online Bible School

We started our online Bible School classes in the month of February, and this semester we have around 125 students from three countries. We are building a team of facilitators and course developers to continue to build the school. I have hired a couple of people (including our son, David) to help develop visual presentations that run alongside of the video and audio. We are also making decisions about new courses, developing the software, building/developing more courses, among other things.

Sara has surgery

Sara had a complete hysterectomy on April 10. This has put her pretty much “out of service” for the last several weeks, as she is recovering. Her recovery is going well but she has been advised by the doctor to slow down and recover completely before picking up the normal pace of life, so as to avoid future complications.

Radical – Anna Starts Our Church’s Preteen Group

Anna started a youth group of preteen girls who meet each week on Friday evenings. She is teaching these young girls who are in the transition phase between children and teenagers. We have found throughout the years that many of the children who grow out of our children’s ministry have had a hard time adjusting to the regular youth ministry, which has focused on older teens. God has gifted Anna to minister to this younger age group and we are seeing very good results. We hope to soon open a second group for the boys as well.

We are also excited to see Anna grow and develop in the area of teaching and ministry. She is a gifted teacher and a great speaker. She even took charge of our church’s women’s meeting while her mother was in the hospital!

Local Church

Our local church is going through several transitions in different areas at the moment. I (David) have found the need to become directly involved in the worship ministry again. After sowing part of our worship team last August in the new church plant, our music ministry began to feel the loss. I stepped in during the month of February, then more directly beginning in April.

During the last year I had worked with some of the “younger generation” that had previously been involved in our children’s worship team. I have invited them to be a part of the main worship group, and we are seeing progress! Our daughter, Anna, is now part of the team, and it’s really fun to work with everyone again. I felt impressed by the Lord to train up a new generation in leading worship, and the opportunity has come.

Please pray that the team will continue to consolidate and that soon we’ll be able to get them to a level where I’m not quite as “needed” as I currently am. I would love to continue to be involved, but we also need to get the team working by themselves for the times when I need to be out ministering in other churches on Sundays. This isn’t all that often, but we really need things to run smoothly even if we are away.

Prayer requests

You can always help us by praying for us! Here are a few areas of need:

• Please pray for our leadership team, that God would give us more strong leaders with a heart and vision for the Lord and His church.
• Please pray for our preteen and youth ministries, that the Lord would allow us to restructure these key areas. We believe that a strong ministry to children and youth is vital for the long-term success of the church.
• Please pray for the online Bible School, as we plan to expand this project during the next few years. Please pray for our students, that they would learn and grow in God’s Word.
• Please pray for us as we prepare for a trip to Africa to minister in a large pastor’s conference. Sara will be doing women’s ministry, and Anna has also been invited to do children’s ministry during the conference.