Iglesia Bíblica El Renuevo

15 November 2016

We Have Lived in Mexico for Ten Years.

That fall was probably one of the most difficult times of my life. Absolute chaos, in so many ways – uncertainty, hardly time to sleep, and just waaaay too many balls in the air. But somehow or another, on the 31st of October 2006, we left Canada on our way to Mexico.

Nathanael and Hannah: Newly in Mexico! — Nathanael and Hannah, having recently arrived in Mexico

Once we made it to Texas, we met up with friend and fellow missionary Alan McManus, who had been in the USA visiting family and picking up a few needed items. It was on this day – 10 years ago – that we followed Alan across the RÃo Bravo (called the Rio Grande in the USA), to start a new phase of life living in Mexico.

The border crossing was remarkably uneventful, and we were blessed with safe travels down (even though we were about to become horrendously sick for a few days – but let’s not get into that!).

That night we stayed at a hotel, and went to get pizza (Domino’s, I think – who would have thought our first supper in Mexico would be pizza?).

I look back with gratitude to God at those ten years in Mexico. In the weeks before we left, there were times we wondered if we would make it at all. Many times of urgent prayer. But God provided every step of the way.

Iglesia BÃblica El Renuevo Our first year and a half were spent in the city of Cuernavaca, going to classes and worshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Iglesia BÃblica El Renuevo (The Renewal Bible Church). Then we moved to Ixtapaluca in Mexico City, where we had the privilege of seeing Mexican leadership officially take over the work of Iglesia BÃblica Sendero de Vida (Path of Life Bible Church).

Then it was a new part of Ixtapaluca – JesÃºs MarÃa, where we saw the birth and growth of another local church – Iglesia BÃblica Sendero de Vida JesÃºs MarÃa. We watched as God brought people to life and gave them a hunger for His Word. Iglesia BÃblica Sendero de Vida Las Palmas

And this month – we have seen the beginnings of a new group of believers in the community of Las Palmas.

God has blessed us with so many new friends here in Mexico (and continuing friendships outside of Mexico) – people who have counselled us and spoken God’s Word to us and encouraged us. He has shown us His grace over and over.

Living in Mexico with Canadian Roots And today we still pray for many of the same things we prayed for in the first place – understanding, health, friendship, opportunity. That somehow God would use us to bring new life in an area where there are so few believers.

Thank you to all of you who have been a part of this ministry!

I have lots to do today – no time to reflect as much as I would like to. And how could I write a post that would do justice to what God has done over 10 years?

But just for fun, let me leave you with this almost-10-year-old podcast featuring Hannah and Nathanael. Less than a month after our arrival in Mexico, I asked them what they liked about it. Today they still like it, after living most of their lives here!

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Hannah and Nathanael Explore — Early exploring in Cuernavaca, Mexico

17 November 2008

Our weekend in Cuernavaca

Jim Family, Mexico, Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise 2

This past weekend we went to Cuernavaca to visit some friends and to fulfill a promise. We had promised that we would come back to the church to sing one more time.

Cuernavaca is different from Ixtapaluca. We were reminded of this as soon as we all got out of the van, and Nathanael found and killed a scorpion. 🙂

But of course the upside is the beautiful climate in Cuernavaca, as compared to Mexico City. Here at home we’re constantly trying to make sure our kids are wearing sweaters and jackets. On Sunday in Cuernavaca the kids grabbed bathing suits from their suitcases and ran around in the yard with those on and nothing else (ok, shoes too. Remember the scorpians).

But the highlight was seeing so many old friends. We had a great time with Kim and Gary Lidstone, who are here from Canada continuing with ministry and language learning for the next few months.

Unfortunately, I had a pretty bad migraine attack on Saturday, so the day is kind of a blur. I kept going for the most part, but I’m not sure what I did.

We did a little shopping – there are things we can get in Cuernavaca that we can’t seem to find here, so we loaded up. Of course, Hannah and Nathanael don’t have much patience for shopping, so that was a little rough.

While in COSTCO, I was pushing the cart in the juice isle, and Nathanael reached up and grabbed a crate of grapefruit juice. Huge jugs of juice hurtled to the floor and burst open, on my shoes, pants, and all over the floor.

A COSTCO employee rushed up,"Oh, don’t worry about it! It was just an accident! Don’t worry, we’ll get it cleaned up…."

I’m not so sure if it was an accident, and I was going to offer to pay. But then I realized that the juice was rancid – the poisonous gases were rising from the floor, and I decided we had probably done a fellow shopper a favour.

Of course, on Sunday morning we went to Iglesia Bíblica El Renuevo. We saw so many friendly familiar faces. We sang two songs, which went all right I think (not so sure about my commentary before and between the songs, but that’s another story).

Afterwards we enjoyed catching up with people, hearing about their struggles and hearing about upcoming ministry. We were very sorry to miss some good friends who weren’t there, and to hear about the struggles one couple in particular have been going through (I won’t embarrass anyone by mentioning names, but we would appreciate your prayers).

We were also sorry to miss our former landlords, Lisandro and Lupita. We didn’t realize it when we planned to go, but this was a long weekend (for Revolution Day), and so a lot of people were travelling.

We got home late last night after going through some unusual traffic. Some of the things we saw while travelling back reminded me to thank you for your prayers for our safety on the road.

Thanks for your prayers for us, our sharing of God’s love, our safety, and our friends and the challenges they face.

About the picture: We went to Hannah and Nathanael’s favourite restaurant, Don Pollo. There was a clown there that made balloon art for each of them – and here he is, after making Hannah’s butterfly.

25 February 2008

Sunday School and Texcoco

Jim Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise 3

I’ve got to stop posting about prayer requests – people actually pray and then want to know how everything went! 😉

Seriously – we appreciate your prayers. Thanks! The Sunday School class went very well. Now, we have to admit there were only 3 students – two were our kids. There was another helper from the church, and a few other people hanging around (because we basically share space with the nursery). So how many students do you need to have before it’s worthwhile?

Well, it was worthwhile, of course. The kids were into it and learned. We were blessed, and had a good chance to use our Spanish and continue developing ministry materials. And it’s a lot less nerve-racking to teach 3 students and not 50. However, I had to pop a balloon as part of the class, and that was a little traumatic. I’ll get over it.

We’re heading out to spend a few days in Texcoco, to check out the ministry there and visit with our friends Rollie and Jo Ann Smith. We’re looking forward to it, but we’re not in the "travel groove" yet, so it will be … interesting, I’m sure!

In case you’re wondering, here are the general locations of the three places we’ve visited this year. Ixtapaluca and Texcoco are the areas we’re considering moving to (probably late spring/early summer):

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