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Ministry glimpses

Nathanael Graduates into…

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Today Nathanael officially graduated into the church youth group. Seems like only yesterday that Hannah had her graduation!

He had a “final project” to complete before his graduation. He had to share the gospel, using the Wordless Book, in front of the whooooole church. And as an added bonus, he practised with a friend of his in our neighbourhood, with at least one other person listening. So who knows how God might use His truth?

Congratulations, Nathanael! He did a great job in his presentation.

Here he is sharing (with his teacher holding the mic). And below that, people hanging out and eating after the morning service.

Nathanael shares the Wordless Book

Food and Fellowship

A Week With The Mt Calvary Team

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We just finished a crazy week with the team from Mt Calvary Church! We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t spend more time with them (one of Hannah’s school projects ended up taking over!), but we enjoyed the time we had.Soccer Champs - June 2016

Last Saturday was the soccer tournament. In spite of some trouble (again) with the permits (which apparently was not our fault), it went ahead. Here’s the winning team – from the church in Jesús María, no less! Jonathan, second from the left, did a great job sharing his testimony during the day.

On Sunday the team shared in the service, even doing a song in Spanish. In the afternoon, they led an event for the youth of the church.

The Pacman Team (Jr High Rally)
Team Cheer at Jr. High RallyOn Monday we went to a local public Jr. High School, and took part in a rally. There were several hundred students – I’m not sure of the exact count. The team members joined various classes, and Hannah and Nathanael even got to join in. Shari and I helped out at a couple of the stations. The team helped in many ways, including their presentation of a skit.

Skit at the Jr. High
The Mt Calvary Team does a skit at the Jr. High.

On Tuesday and Wednesday there were various service project and outreaches – a youth girls and adult women event at the church (but with many people from the community who don’t attend our church), painting at a rehab centre, putting together wheelchairs, clean up and community improvements, and so on.

Thursday was a day of site-seeing and souvenir shopping downtown.

Chalco Event 2016
Mt Calvary Team and others involved in the Chalco event

On Friday we had a big wheelchair/hearing aid event in the city of Chalco. Many people in need were given wheelchairs and hearing aids, as well as Bibles. They also heard a clear gospel presentation from Mayra Fry!

Katelyn & Maddy
Katelyn & Maddy, with Nathanael, Hannah and Shari

Last night there was a goodbye party for the team at the church, and this morning(?) at just before 5am we said goodbye as the team headed to the airport.

We were blessed to have Maddy and Katelyn stay in our home for the week as well!

Yes, a big week! But a good one. Thanks for your prayers!

This Week, and Sunday Prayer Request

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It’s been a pretty interesting week! I won’t go into all the details, but there have been some interesting opportunities to share the gospel, and some new connections and contacts that may lead to new opportunities in the future.

We still have some van repairs to take care of – Lord willing that will happen tomorrow.

Tonight is study #8 in the Chronological Bible Study – the tabernacle and sacrifices. Learning about the sacrifices always opens my eyes anew to many important truths in the Scriptures.

Anyway, all that aside, I wanted to ask for prayer for Sunday. We’ll be going to a church about 45 minutes from here (on our side of Mexico City, so not too far). Lord willing we’ll spend the day there, hanging out with the believers and also helping out with an afternoon English class.

Hebrews
(Hebrews)
“a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”
In the morning I’ll be repeating the Hebrews “sermon”. Well, maybe I shouldn’t really put “sermon” in quotation marks, but it’s the sermon where I read Hebrews – the entire book – word for word. I did this back in February (see here for details).

(It’s not just a matter of reading it, of course. There is a handout with questions for reflection, and a PowerPoint with the verses that the author quotes from the OT, with a few other illustrations).

Hebrews is just an amazing book. I think every culture and time has Bible books that are especially relevant – although all of Scripture is relevant and needs to be taught cover-to-cover in every culture and in every age. But Hebrews is one of the books I keep coming back to over and over here in the context of modern Mexico. It keeps shining more light into my soul every time I read it and study it.

Anyway, do pray that God would especially use His Word and make it clear on Sunday. It takes almost an hour to read the whole book (apparently that’s about the normal length of a sermon in this church, so that helps!). Obviously in that time it’s easy to lose your voice, energy, or limber tongue to make the Spanish understandable. 🙂

But most of all pray that people will listen, and that the Spirit will work in our hearts.

Now – time to get ready for tonight’s study (which actually is very important to our understanding of Hebrews as well!).

Video From Hannah’s 15th Birthday Party

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Below are a few odd clips from Hannah’s Quinceañera. I’m afraid they’re very odd, because we had some technical difficulties. So the majority of the actual program was not recorded.

We were very thankful for so many who graciously helped us put this party together. People cooking, setting up, cleaning, running sound, playing instruments, making banners, sharing in the program – the list just goes on and on. And, of course, we were blessed and honoured by the people who attended (about 115 people). AND – thanks for so many of you who were praying for the event!

We were especially thankful for the many wise words shared in the program. The gospel was clear, and there were other words of exhortation – not just for Hannah but for all of us. We were thankful to see the Lord glorified. Hannah did a great job, doing a lot of the planning. She chose some great music for worship, among many other details.

If you haven’t seen them already, there are lots of pictures in our Photo Gallery.

In the video you’ll see Hannah’s entrance and the introduction to the program, then some clips of people hanging out before the meal (with Hannah & friends handing out favours), the meal, and the cutting of the cake with the singing of some birthday songs.

“Good” and “Sovereign” – (a report on the weekend)

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Tug-o'-Tube!Isn’t it funny how, when things go the way we like, God is “good”. When things go the way we don’t like, God is “sovereign” (and sometimes “still good”).

Well, God was definitely both good and sovereign this past weekend!

As you may recall, we had a team here from Palabra de Vida (Word of Life), which has a Bible institute north of Mexico City. The team was mostly Mexican, but several other countries were represented as well.

First, the team got whittled down due to sickness – the original fifteen became nine.

The next complication was that the team could not legally drive on the day they were supposed to leave (due to the laws in Mexico City to fight pollution). So special arrangements had to be made.

The team did several excellent evangelistic presentations in Santa Barbara and Jesús María. They also shared at both churches, teaching Sunday school and leading worship.

But what about Las Palmas? Well, the event was cancelled, because – well, we had “this permit” and “that permit” but we’re also supposed to have “this other permit”.

Never mind that we’ve done many events there in the past, and have never needed “this other permit”.

A sheep, and a bookSo, we packed up and shared the Gospel in another community instead!

I’m not quite over that disappointment yet, however I am overjoyed that so many people did hear the Gospel.

On Monday the team shared with 1500 kids at a junior high in Las Palmas. As you might remember, they had to do it all in small groups, because the students aren’t allowed to meet outside right now, because the pollution level is too high!

But still, they had a good impact on the school.

Isn’t it a great temptation to look back, and say “if only…” or “we should have…” — ? And yet God’s goodness and sovereignty are not different, they’re the same. I was reminded of this recently by the song “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”. Check it out — And a recent rendition here:
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