Ten years ago today, we were having a kids’ club in the community of Las Palmas. This special outreach was in partnership with some friends from the church in the community of Santa Barbara, the “first” Path of Life Bible Church in Ixtapaluca.
That’s pretty cool, but there’s something else cool about this picture. Two of the little kids that you see here learning about the Lord Jesus are now in our youth group. They were helping me last month to teach songs to the kids at our vacation Bible school at the Path of Life. They are now reaching other kids with the gospel!
And you’ll also spot Nathanael in this shot, who is now serving the Lord in Canada. Hannah was old enough to help with the kids, but she’s not in this picture.
10 years ago was a fun time. We had these four who happened to be here at the same time, helping with the ministry. And once they had all arrived, we went and did some touristy things in Mexico City.
Here they are, downtown! You can see the fine arts centre, Bellas Artes, to the left, and a corner of the Latin American Tower directly behind them (to the right of the steeple). Malu, Julian, Jessica and Emily! Just click the picture for a larger version.
Thanks to so many of you who were praying for our Vacation Bible School at the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas last week! The final total – 50 kids registered (a very good number for us). Many of the parents also came and heard the gospel!
Here are a whole bunch of rather random video clips. The short-term team was from Mount Joy Church of God in the USA, and they were a huge help!
There was so much going on, as you’ll see, that it was impossible to catch everything. But hopefully this will give you an idea of the atmosphere! And even if you don’t speak Spanish, you should be able to see that the Word of God was poured into these kids all week. Even in the more active moments, they were being challenged to remember parts of the lesson of the day. I can’t count the number of times the gospel was shared.
I’m not sure there was anyone in our church was not involved in some way. Our coworkers Rod and Mayra have been mostly working at another church for the last little while, but Mayra still found the time to oversee everything, organizing groups from two countries and still being involved “on the ground” everywhere you looked. Rod was also involved behind the scenes, and even on “stage” on the last day, sharing God’s Word with kids and their parents. Even some people who had to work were there before and after each day’s activities to set up and take down (remember, although there was a tent, we were outside, and so most things were stored each night and set up in the morning).
You’ll see a lot of our friend David, a resident missionary from Mexico City, who was the “Captain” who gave the main lesson each day.
The clips are basically in chronological order, starting with some of the last-minute preparations and ending with clean-up. So you’ll probably get an idea how the week progressed as well (perhaps a tad bit more chaotic as time went by?). Another thing you’ll notice is that the entire event took place in one small space (the place we meet at on Sunday mornings). It’s amazing what the organizers accomplished in a few metres of area!
Remember to keep praying for the people you see here – both our church and those who were our guests!
No, we’re not going to the beach. But the beach is coming to us!
Tomorrow we’re starting our vacation Bible school (VBS) at the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas. Yesterday people of the church were scurrying around putting up last-minute decorations and getting in a little last-minute music practice. This involved shipbuilding, arboriculture, aviculture and mariculture – that is, creating an activity station that looked like a big boat, completing the creation of palm trees, and putting up birds and sea creatures. There’s sand and sun and – well, it looks like it’s going to be a fun week!
Shari has been working hard on activities to help the kids memorize their Bible verses – activities that also involve sand and sea creatures!
There’s also a team coming from the USA to help us out – they arrive today.
Sand testers
So the VBS will be four days long – Tuesday to Friday. Parents are invited to join right in. The focus is on the Lord Jesus and His Truth as the solid rock in a world of shifting sand.
In the middle of all the preparations for the VBS, we’ve been packing – hence the boxes! We’re preparing to move, although we still haven’t found a house to move to. We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to look! But meanwhile we’re getting things organized and labelled and ready to go wherever they’re going. It’s a lot of work after we’ve been settled for so many years!
Please do be in prayer for the many teachers who will be sharing with the kids this week! We’re so thankful for a church that has been so involved in every aspect of this week’s activities!
Choosing a photo from ten years ago was hard – July 2014 was a very photogenic month. I guess that’s because we travelled all across Canada and the USA, visiting family and friends. Lots of great memories!
After a breakdown in the USA (which led to more time with some friends there!), and an equally disastrous “repair”, we drove madly on to Ontario where we were finally able to enjoy a break at Fair Havens. I’m not sure it ever lived up to its name more.
So this is a shot of Hannah and Nathanael from a day of fun family games – 10 years ago today.
I can’t help a bonus – strolling with the Canada geese down one of my favourite roads in the world, also at Fair Havens:
10 years ago this month – was a busy month, seeing a lot of family and friends in Canada! So it was hard to choose just one picture. 🙂
But I finally decided on this one. We were having a birthday party for Hannah and Nathanael, a little late, in Lashburn Saskatchewan with my parents. The kids had decorated their own cakes. Just click the picture for a little larger version (and stay tuned below for a video):
And since we’re here, I had fun making the video below, which includes June 2014. When we were driving to Canada and then back to Mexico, most days I tried to take a picture on the road. So here is the video of all the pictures, with the 13th of May being my favourite. And the 7th of July my least favourite.
