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,
Daniel W. Whittle
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
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!
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.
Ephesians 3:20-21
While the team from Word of Life was here, we did two events in two neighbourhoods to provide hearing aids and reading glasses to people in need. Various people had signed up ahead of time, many with notes from their doctors.
In the video below, you’ll see a few clips from both programs. The first was in the community of Los Heroes. The church in Jesús MarÃa has had an impact in this community for a long time, and we would love to see this develop into a new church plant. You can see pastor Ismael explaining that we ‘re not with any political party, but that we’re with a Christian church.
At each program, God’s Word was shared, both by local people and through the ministry of the visiting team. Many received literature and a Gospel of John (Gospel booklet thanks to the Pocket Testament League).
The second event was in the neighbourhood of Geovillas Ixtapaluca 2000. Some from the church in Las Palmas have been reaching out to a new group of people in this area.
Shari was helping people get set up with their hearing aids, and is always encouraged to see eyes light up as someone begins to hear for the first time in years!
These programs are part of long term works to reach out to new people in new areas with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Have a look – and consider joining us!
We have a busy weekend ahead! This weekend we have a guest from the USA who will be presenting several seminars, focused around Christian living and holiness.
Tonight we start with a workshop for the leadership of all three churches. Then tomorrow a general workshop for adults from all three churches, followed by a youth-focused seminar on the same topic.
The final workshop is hosted by our church, so the youth group has been busy getting ready. Nathanael has been working on origami butterflies, to help decorate according to the spiritual change & transformation theme.
On Sunday we head north of Mexico City to the city of Pachuca, where I’ll be preaching. It will again be a somewhat training-focused sermon.
We would appreciate your prayers for Rod and Mayra as they get everything set up, for our guests, for all those attending, and for us too as we’re a little tired after a busy week and a late night!
Here is a five minute video from the baking classes – well, with a little extra from yesterday’s craft class. This was a community event from Word of Life Chapel along with the Tiempo de Vivir community centre and the Path of Life Bible Church in the community of Jesús MarÃa.
So see if you can figure out what they’re making. Ok, I’ll tell you one, because it makes one scene near the end make more sense – they made whoopie pies.
I’m not sure what the final numbers were, but you can get an idea from the videos. There were two “classes” of three days each, so basically double what you see in one scene above. Some people snuck in their friends and neighbours to join them, and some brought kids – so the “official” numbers probably aren’t right anyway!
Amazing the amount of work that went into this – especially by the women on the team and Mayra and Shari, and also women from the church!
During or after the actual baking was a devotional/testimony time, where the gospel was shared. There were also some great one-on-one spiritual conversations happening.
So – friends from outside of Mexico – does this look like a ministry you could be involved in? 😋
Oh, one comment on the photo above. The person on the left sitting on the table reading the Bible is Marla. This is the end of yesterday’s craft class. Marla does some flower arranging in the USA, and is properly amazed at the price of flowers here. So – she did some flower arranging for the women at the class – everyone got to take home a bouquet of roses! 🌹
Just a few quick photos of the first day of construction and baking classes in Jesús MarÃa, with the team from Word of Life Chapel. Baking classes and a kitchen – I guess it’s all about food this week! I’ll try to post more pictures and some video when I have a chance.
There were two classes yesterday, and there will be two today and tomorrow as well. We had a good turnout – maybe a little low due to rain, so you could pray for better weather today and tomorrow. 🙂
The gospel was shared, relationships were built, and there were some good spiritual conversations. May the Spirit work again today!
