Ten years ago today! This wasn’t exactly an event, but an ongoing work. The building of the main sanctuary for the church in the community of Jesús María.
Ten years ago we were already using this “sanctuary” because we had an open-air baptism service right there! But it’s interesting to see how it was, knowing how much use that space has gotten since it’s been enclosed.
It’s the day to share your memories, so here are mine. I was listening to the news first thing in the morning, and immediately got up to turn on the TV and fired up the computer.
I imagine most people knew that they were watching something that would truly affect the course of history. North America was about to become less free.
I went over to the computer and started printing out news articles. Because, after all, it would be interesting years later to see how things were at the time. Digital articles can be changed or removed – paper would keep the record the same. So I printed articles from various sources and various countries.
(Actually, I went looking for an article online that I had printed and couldn’t find a full copy anywhere, so I guess I’m glad I have it!)
I kept up the printing for about a month – all the way from “looks like some planes crashed” and “who in the world is Osama Bin Laden” to the US attacks in Afghanistan and the worldwide response in October.
Someone out there might be interested in seeing a couple of the articles from the 11th, so here’s a sample, in pdf format. First, a CNN article from 3:02pm (EDT), with a chronology of events up to that point. Then, a CBC article from that night.
We would appreciate your prayers for the Bible studies this week! There’s a general study starting up tonight – please pray that God would bring the people that should come, and that God would speak through His Word.
We’re also restarting the Men’s Bible study on Saturday, after a false start or two! Please pray that God would guide as we move forward.
The Women’s Bible Study is also on Saturday, and will be wrapping up a study they’ve been doing for the last few months. So you can pray that God would give them direction for future studies.
Bible studies have been a particular challenge with this church because people tend to be so busy during the week. And when I say busy, I mean that people often are out of town from early in the morning until late at night due to work and study. And yet we know we need these times to study God’s Word together. So we’re trying to find ways to make it happen!
Thanks for your prayers!
So if you’re a part of our Support Team, you should be getting our newsletter pretty soon in your mailbox. There are some extras in there for you to discover. 🙂
It wasn’t easy for us to get this newsletter out – we had various problems which delayed it. One was a technical problem that messed up some of our address database.
So – if you don’t get our letter, or if it’s forwarded from your old address – let us know! You can actually update your information here, or join our team if you’re not on it already.
And here’s another weird – embarrassing? – thing. We mentioned in our letter our particular need for regular pledged support. And … um … I kinda thought that our little donation cards that we’ve sent out for seven years had all that information on them!
Yes, seven years. And I never noticed that no, there isn’t anything on them about pledges at all.
So I will try to make that and other things a little clearer in our next letter – and here on the website. But in the meantime, there is some information on the “Donate” link above. Or you can go directly to the Avant website. There you can enter an amount (our account # is 82708), and then on the next page there’s a tiny box that says “Recurring” (almost missed it myself!).
Hmmmmm… we’re not making things easy, are we?
Anyway, once you click that, you will get options further down the page for dates and “Monthly, Weekly, Annually, Quarterly, Bi-weekly, or Every Six Hours”. (I might have made that last one up.)
The rest should be pretty clear.
Anyway, like I say, I’m hoping to revamp a few things around here later in the year so that everything is easier.
Here’s one small bit of news since I sent out that letter – just yesterday we finally got the last of our reimbursements from the luggage debacle from our trip to Canada in April. Yay!
Remember, if you don’t see our letter over the next week or two, you might want to check with us and make sure we have your correct address!
Thanks, and have a great day!
Ten years ago today Hannah went for a ride on a dolphin! This was in Mexico City.
You can’t really see the dolphin in the pictures, but it’s a “dolphin push” where the dolphin is under the water and pushing her foot. Here it is (no sound, just pictures)!
I’ve heard that you should never actually ask someone who recently moved if they’re “settled in”, because the answer will almost always be in the negative!
In our case, it’s been quite an unusual year. We moved suddenly and unexpectedly in January. Then there was a rush to get things kind of in working order in the midst of a busy ministry season – and in time for Nathanael and his friends to arrive a month later.
Nathanael left 🙁 and just over a month later we were on the airplane to Canada.
Now we’re back, and we quickly discovered two things. First, we have a lot of unpacking to do! And second, with everything else that has been going on there were a lot of things that we “put off” doing.
So, once again in a busy ministry time, we’re trying to get the house in order and to catch up on a whole lot of other things. Several van repairs, a major appliance repair . . . some household repairs are upcoming . . . Shari has had some success in unpacking . . . I’m hoping to get to that point soon!
A busy time, yes – at times overwhelming – but that’s not to say that it’s been a bad time! It’s been great to be back and to be back in ministry. I’ve been able to dive deeply back into Deuteronomy as we continue our teaching series – what a blessing! Shari has enjoyed the women’s Bible study, and we’re hoping to start up the men’s study soon.
Our pastor Ezequiel organized a day retreat for the men, which was excellent. Some of the men are newer to the church, so it was a great help for everyone to get to know everyone.
Here are some of the men packing up at the end of the day . . .
That’s just a bit of what’s been going on! It’s been good, but I really need to unpack some things . . . I really need this item, and I’m constantly reaching for that item, and . . . well, if you’ve ever moved, you know how it is! 🙂
