10 years ago today, we were at Kidzania with our friends the O’Briens. Kidzania is a Mexican kids’ theme park, actually a mini “city”, where kids can go to work at popular businesses, or be involved in common services (dentistry, fire fighting…). Since its founding, it has expanded to several other countries.
So – one of the places the kids “worked” at was a Sabritas factory. “Sabritas” is a Mexican snack company, probably most known for their potato chips (sabrosa=flavourful, fritas=fried, hence the name). Of course, after manufacturing a bag of chips, the snack was theirs!
Our worship service on the 12th of February was kind of cool – because all three of us were involved! Yes, it happens sometimes.
Music practice, David leading
Shari was leading the kids’ teaching time, with a lesson about Jacob and Esau (Genesis 27:1-46; Romans 9:13). Nathanael grabbed his trusty ukulele and helped with the worship music. And I led the service.
We’re keeping busy, but there are a lot of other people working hard too! We’re still trying to get the “shade” just right, with some new mesh tarps. This Sunday will be attempt #3, but things are improving each week. It’s partly a matter of making things easier to set up, and partly a matter of covering what needs to be covered.
A Sunday morning in February 2023
Last Sunday we had another practical problem, however – we ran out of chairs. Two men rushed out to get some stools so that everyone could sit down under our nice shade.
So… I’ll be buying some more this week. However, finding a place to store them all is becoming a problem. Good problems, but problems.
As God continues to work in our local church, the world, the flesh and the devil attack. So we would appreciate your prayers for people in our church who are struggling with health issues, family problems, and bereavement. It’s a challenging time.
We’re also looking forward to starting up a couple of Bible studies – a general one starting this Friday, and in the near future a new study for the women. Please do pray that people will come and that God’s Word will be applied to their hearts.
Ten years ago today, Hannah and Nathanael were doing some cookie decorating with Tiffany at the community centre in Jesús María! Tiffany isn’t in this picture, but you can probably pick out Hannah and Nathanael. Just click the photo for a larger version.
I realized recently that I don’t like blog posts that look back over the Christmas season after it’s over. Having launched into a new year (and for us, getting past the end of the holiday season on the 6th), it seems so anti-climactic to go backwards again.
And yet, here I am, sharing a few random notes and facts from the past three weeks. I’ll try to keep it short.
New Year’s Service
Hannah in Ixtapaluca: Hannah was able to visit us, thanks to a program through our mission that helps pay for a visit home for MKs. What a blessing to enjoy our first Christmas in four years together!
Shortages: Like most of the world, we’ve been dealing with random shortages here. For example, over the fall it was certain sizes of paper. This week I discovered that my brand of deodorant was completely gone (don’t worry, I haven’t run out yet!). But for us who have our special recipes over the holiday season, our challenge was to find heavy cream, which has oddly been very hard to find at certain times.
Dedicated mail carrier: Here’s dedication for you. Our mail carrier happened to see us driving down the street, and he had a small package for us. He chased us for several blocks on his motorcycle and flagged us down so that he could make his delivery.
Two chilly services: We enjoyed two special evening services at our church, by a campfire. One was oddly rainy (add because it’s dry season). But we put up some tarps and warmed ourselves by the fire and ate tamales, and were all right. In the end, both services were great times of reflection and worship.
New life: Hannah and I were walking to the store when we saw a pregnant lady on the street a few blocks from our house. We didn’t stop and help, because there were already some people there and a police officer was walking over. But when we passed by again, there was no doubt anymore what the problem had been. The lady was still in the street, and we heard the newborn baby crying.
Games: We were able to get some time off over the holidays, and we enjoyed playing games together. One of these days I should write some reviews for you! But anyway, for new games we’ve been enjoying Space Park, Furnace, and an expansion for Galaxy Trucker – Galaxy Trucker Keep on Trucking.
Luggage: From the time it was put on the plane to the time it arrived at our house, Hannah’s luggage took almost exactly 6 days to get here. It arrived on Christmas morning. But hearing other people’s stories, we were very thankful that Hannah made it – even though she arrived a day late!
John: This year we’re very excited to be studying the Gospel of John as a church! For Christmas, Shari gave me a “Journible” of John, which is basically a good quality journal in which you write out the entire Gospel (see Journibles here). So I’ve been enjoying starting the year out in John.
Tea: If there was a gift theme this Christmas for our family, it was probably tea. Everyone got some tea. Because, after all, everything is better with tea.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! Many of you are probably feeling like you’re well into the Christmas season as well.
Our December began – well, with a heartbreaking loss by Canada at the World Cup… just after Mexico was eliminated. *sigh*
But on the bright side, it also began with a visit from our friends Greg and Shelli! A rare pleasure indeed. 🙂
We also started listening to some devotions for Advent as a family – it’s not too late to start, if you’d like to join us! The book is called The Dawn of Redeeming Grace: Daily Devotions for Advent, and we’re listening to the audiobook version. We’ve already had some great times to learn about and meditate on the coming of our Saviour this year.
If you’re praying for the ministry here, there are some neat things coming up!
This coming Sunday driving about an hour or so out of town to a water park, where we’ll be having a baptism service. One or two people will be baptized, as far as I know. Please pray for them, their families, and for the church, during this special time together.
The following Sunday I’ll be preaching a Christmas sermon, from a fascinating section of Jesus’ family tree. So I would appreciate prayer as I prepare for that. And after that we have more special services in December, fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters.
As we enter into the holiday season, it’s a wonderful time for believers here. But it’s also a challenge, as so many spend time with unbelieving family and friends. Please pray for our witness during these days.
Nathanael has a lot of heavy schoolwork right now, so you can pray for him as well, as he tries to get done in order to have some time off.
And, as many of you know, we’re looking forward to having Hannah here for a few days over the holidays! So a very special Christmas indeed. They’re all special, of course. 🙂
There are about a million other things going on, but I’ll leave it at that for now! Thanks for your prayers.
May Christ be glorified this month, and into 2023!
The beginning of an illustrious career? I don’t know, but on this day ten years ago, Nathanael and Shari were playing a game created by Nathanael himself. I have no idea how to play – maybe he remembers?
