Well, for me it was mostly a day of helping kids with homework and projects and making sure they were fed.  However, they let me out to go to Bible study tonight (Hannah and I, actually – the kids have their own study at the same time), which was, appropriately, part of our "School for Parents" series.

Actually, it was exam night – and so José was being the mean taskmaster throwing out questions and expecting us to know the answers!

Which we did, of course.

So, for our picture of the day, here is José getting ready to give us the next challenging question.  (I also see in the background that we have a broken window in the rented house we study in – no wonder it was so cold in there!)

It’s always a highlight to get both the new churches in Ixtapaluca together for a service.  One church not yet 7 years old, the other not 2.

It’s great to see people growing in the Lord, to see new faces, to reconnect with friends we don’t see as often as we would like.

This time the service was hosted by the first church – Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Santa Barbara.

I tried for a panoramic shot, but it’s pretty hard in this room.  For one thing, there’s a lower level up front and you can’t see the people there.  There are also still people off to the right and left.  And as you can see if you look carefully, people were still arriving (see the lady coming up the stairs).

So here it is, for our photo of the day, the panoramic of this morning’s joint worship service.  Praise the Lord!

(As always, click the image to see larger versions)

Today I wasn’t playing keyboard, so I had the opportunity to take a picture while others were playing.  In this case, we had three guitarists (and out of the picture one singer and one drummer).

From left to right, there was Rod, Jorge, and Isaac.  The song is saying,"You are great and awesome!  You are light, love – You are Christ the Lord!"

Every Saturday morning at the community centre – starting today – there are music classes.  This morning some of the students were on a trip (lots of people from the church went to some really cool caves today), so there were only a couple of students practising violin.

We took Brittany so that she could take some pictures, and I wanted to take a few as well.

At the last minute I couldn’t find my camera (which I had carefully hid right in front of my nose), so it was an iPod-only photo shoot for me.

Here are the girls and their teacher…

Incidentally, this was taken with the Hipstamatic app, of which I am a huge fan.  I used the Jimmy lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film with no flash.  If you have the app, you’ll know what I mean.

I’m attempting to take and post 30 photos in 30 days.  I think this was day 11, but I could be wrong.

This afternoon I went to take a few pictures of the community centre and area for the team which will be coming down at the end of March.  It’s all actually in the process of tremendous change – what is now a rather dirty mess, graced with graffiti, will be (Lord willing) cleaned up and lookin’ fine for classes to begin next week.

There is also the ambition to open up a café in one of the three store fronts we now own.  The floor was just painted, and it’s in need of some furniture.  The team coming in March is hoping to add some extra awesomeness with further construction.

We’re also moving our Amigas del Alma baking class to one of the rooms, thanks in part to the donation of a new stove/oven.

This is a panoramic shot – four photos together – of the store fronts (meaning the picture looks kinda curved – the store fronts are basically half a rectangle).  Click on the picture to see larger versions.

We don’t own all this – just three of the store fronts.  We own the second one from the left (the one that’s open – which will be the café), the one in the middle with the graffiti monster (our original community centre), and the one second from the right under the awning.

This morning I was leading the singing at our worship service.  Allan was leading and José preached from Nehemiah 2.

It’s hard taking pictures at the place we’re renting now – it’s a room with some surprising curves and hallways that keep you from taking a picture of too many people at a time.

But here are some of them.  A lot of the crowd had left for their classes, and the adults that remained were listening to José’s message.  It was a good service with lots of regular people, some new people, some we hadn’t seen for a while, and lots who wanted to worship the Lord and learn from His Word!

We keep praying for a place we don’t have to rent – and a place where we have enough space!

This morning I enjoyed leading our weekly prayer meeting at Sendero de Vida Jesús María.  We prayed through Psalm 90, then prayed for tomorrow’s wedding, and then for various needs of various people.  Friday morning prayer meetings are always such a blessing (excuse the use of the generic word "blessing" – but it fits well…)!

As you can see, the building we meet in can be a tad chilly in the morning.

Click the photo to see it in the gallery along with larger resolution versions.

I’m attempting to take a photo every day for 30 days.  I guess this means I’m 10% of the way there!

Recently I was challenged to take a photo every day for 30 days.  Well, maybe I will.  If so, this is day 1.

These are our friends Ismael and Marta from Jesús María.  We got together this afternoon to talk about some of the upcoming activities of the church.

Tonight we had our December "clausura" at the community centre in Jesús María.

What in the world is that?!

A clausura (say clow-SOO-ra) is a closing program.  The fall set of classes at the community centre is finished, and at the close of each set of classes we have a special closing program.

Tonight we had some games for English class, and we sang a couple of Christmas songs.  We saw some country dancing.

  There were special presentations for everyone who participated in various classes, including basketball and baking class.  There was a demonstration from the drum class.

Afterwards there was ponche and corn dogs – what a combination!

Why in the world do you do that?!

Clausuras are a great chance to get to know people in the community.  Sometimes we meet family and friends of people who are in community centre classes.  Sometimes we meet people who just happen to be walking by.

It’s a great way to end a series of classes with a bang, and recognize students that have been working hard.  There’s usually an opportunity to share God’s Word in some way, as we did tonight by sharing the Christmas story and giving out some Gospels of Matthew.

How did it go?

Very well!  Our new community centre director, Tina, did a great job getting everything organized.  We didn’t have a lot to do tonight, although I played keyboard for the songs.  But it was good to spend some time with new and old friends.

Everyone will be taking a bit of a break from community centre activities over Christmas.  Then we’ll be starting a new set of classes later in January.  The next set of classes will end just before Holy Week, so there will be more opportunities to share about why Jesus came.

The community centre has been a great opportunity to make friends, and to offer services that actually help the community in various ways.  Thanks to those of you who have been a part of it!

The Clausura Crowds assembled for the program
Jesús María, Ixtapaluca, Mexico City

Today was a day to say goodbye.  Our friend David will be heading to Uruguay in just a few days.

David is from Mexico City, and he was a part of the Iglesia Bíblica Ciudad Azteca (Ciudad Azteca Bible Church) for many years, before coming to Ixtapaluca as a church planter.

David was instrumental in the starting of both the churches we’ve been a part of here in Ixtapaluca.

Now David has been accepted with FAM Mexico (a CAM related Mexican mission agency), and is heading to Uruguay to work with a church planting team there.

There had been a commissioning service here in Ixtapaluca for him already (while we were away), so today was a chance to say goodbye.  David led the worship time, and Rod preached from the Gospel of Mark.

During the service, the youth and the children made special presentations.  Hannah had a part – she read a verse in Spanish (I believe it was John 4:35), and later gave a little farewell in English, reading from Numbers:

Afterwards we had a potluck, and a big cake. What a privilege for our baby church to help send David to share God’s Word in a faraway land!

We’ve had the privilege to work alongside David ever since we came to Ixtapaluca, and we will miss him very much!  But our loss is their gain in Uruguay.  Please pray for David as he experiences life in another very different culture, and as he shares the Gospel with the people he meets there.

David cuts the cake