Ten years ago today we were at a kids’ club in the community of Jesús María. There were about 80 kids every day (and not always the same kids!). Shari helped out with the little kids, and also found time to lead a baking class (that moms could come to while their kids were at the club – another opportunity to make friends and talk about the truth).
There was a visiting short-term mission team from Pennsylvania, and so the baking class mission was to make whoopie pies!
The theme of the kids’ club – airplanes! Hence the cool piñata…
Last Sunday we celebrated baptisms together, this Sunday it was communion!
Setting up a tent – just one of the coverings we used
This past Sunday we met outdoors, a place we’ve met before, at a property owned by a friend in our church. We will probably meet here for a few weeks, because they place we used to meet in is not currently available. But we’re used to moving around!
It will probably take a while, though, before everything goes smoothly. But there were lots of people on hand before the service to help set up tarps and tents and hook up sound equipment and set up chairs.
This was our special monthly adoration service, and we’ve been learning about the fruit of the Spirit. This week, goodness! And God has been good.
On Friday we also completed our virtual kids’ club! We had only a handful of kids, but mostly not church kids, which was neat. And with the online format, a small group probably works better anyway. In spite of some technical challenges, the kids and their families were exposed to God’s Word and clear presentations of the gospel throughout the week. The teachers found creative ways to present the truth in an interactive way. Thanks to all of you who were praying!
Playing a game to review a Bible verse at the kids’ club
So this week we continue with our hermeneutics class, and we also finish our 15 week Discovering Life bible study.
And we also appreciate your prayers as we continue to work on the challenge of a visit to Canada. A lot of work, short time, full of change and uncertainty. But God is in control of it all!
There’s a lot going on right now – and now it’s a matter of juggling both in-person events AND virtual events!
So this Saturday we continue our 60 hour Old Testament Survey class – that’s online.
Announcing our Sunday service
But on Sunday – Lord willing – we will have an actual church service! Imagine! It’s been 19 weeks!
And not just any service – a baptismal service! So please pray for those getting baptized. Exciting! We’ll be meeting at the facilities of the church in Jesús María, so that we can use their baptismal tank.
Some of our “re-opening” will really take place gradually over the next three weeks, so every Sunday will be a little different.
So please do pray as we prepare and try to meet the government’s requirements and people’s expectations. As you can guess from the graphic, there will be masks in the service!
And then, starting on Monday – a kids’ club! And we’re back to virtual again.
A special ministry in Mexico called “Summer Missionaries” trains believers to lead kids’ clubs all over Mexico, and this year due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 restrictions, they’ve moved everything online, and organized it so that individual churches can have their own special clubs.
So our club will be a combination of videos to watch, songs to learn, crafts to do, puppets to watch, and also an interactive time with other kids online and leaders from our church. Pretty exciting! Shari has already been busy registering children for next week’s club.
Oh, and some of you already know, but we’re planning a visit to Canada! Out west, although we are also planning a longer visit to Ontario later on (next year, if God permits). We have some business to attend to, as well as ministry, so it had to be AB, SK (and maybe MB!) this time around.
This is actually not the time we planned to go, but everything is super-uncertain and complicated due to COVID-19. So our plans have been and ARE in flux – what a surprise, eh?
So we’re really taking our plans one step at a time. Lord willing we’ll be flying to Canada mid-August. But as you know, if someone gets the sniffles the morning of the flight, they won’t let us on the plane. SO – like I say – one step at a time!
We will be looking for places to stay (first of all, a place to quarantine when we arrive), so we would appreciate your prayers – and if you have any ideas/contacts, do let us know!
And as for our last month in Mexico, who knows what else will be virtual and what else will be in person? Let’s just try to get past this weekend first, and then we’ll see!
Is it just a week of over-stimulation, or a reminder to pray? I close my eyes and I see the faces of the kids who came to the VBS in Las Palmas this past week.
Santiago, Zuri, Emi, Donovan, Sara, Logan, Ismael, Mario, Les – there were 70 or more in all. Many from very difficult backgrounds, dealing with very difficult situations. The vast majority no Christian and with very little contact with the Church.
Well, it is a good time to pray. There were many opportunities to share the gospel throughout the week, both through the official teaching times, Bible memory, and group and one-on-one conversations. And that includes not just kids and youth but adults as well. Many seeds were planted.
We praise the Lord for the help of many local believers, and for the help of the team from Hope Community Church. Events like this can bear fruit for years to come, and we pray that that will be the case here. That fruit is not only the community outreach, but the growth of believers as they learn to serve the Lord in new ways!
The team was also involved in other activities during the week. An event to provide hearing aids and reading glasses to some seniors in need, English classes, a basketball tournament. And the important ministry of spending time with lots of people all throughout the week.
Thanks for your prayers for the first day of the VBS in Las Palmas! So far so good. I believe there were 53 kids there today – a great start and far more than last year. If we grow a bit through the week, we should be able to double last year’s number! Lots of great Bible teaching and talks today.
Anyway, I’m just swinging by to share a few pictures to prove that it’s really happening…
You can tell by the buckets on our floor and the drips from our ceiling that rainy season has arrived at last. On Sunday morning I was at the front, just about to lead in a Scripture reading, and I let out a yelp as I got sprayed by water from above. Apparently the rain from the night before was sitting up there, and dripping not only on me but on others throughout the service. Hopefully not much on our sound system!
But hopefully I can be forgiven if I started thinking about the old song Showers of Blessing…
Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need: Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.
Daniel W. Whittle
The words are an expression of thanks and prayer. Yes, we’re so thankful for what God is doing in our lives – in our community – in our church – but we want more! Not for ourselves, but for the Lord.
It fits well with Sunday’s study on the lives of Gideon and Barak – imperfect, hesitant men who nonetheless accomplished great things because of their faith in God. As William Carey pleaded – Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God!
VBS promo flyer
So we are looking forward to more great things. In two weeks we’ll be well into a major community outreach event – a vacation Bible school in Las Palmas. We’ll be back at the old party hall where we used to meet for the week (that’s another story), Monday to Friday. We’ll have help from a short term team for the week, and a lot of help from many people in the church.
We’re preparing and praying – asking for those showers of blessing!
The theme of the week is the life of Joseph (otherwise known as Zaphenath-paneah – that tongue-twister was Pharoah’s bright idea) – certainly one of my favourites.
So we would love it if you joined us in prayer – pray for our church as we prepare, for the team as they travel, and for the families in the community. We’ll be having not only lessons for kids and young teens, but also for parents who will be hanging out while their kids are there. So pray that many would come, and that we would clearly share God’s truth and love with them!
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
