Every Saturday morning at the community centre – starting today – there are music classes. This morning some of the students were on a trip (lots of people from the church went to some really cool caves today), so there were only a couple of students practising violin.
We took Brittany so that she could take some pictures, and I wanted to take a few as well.
At the last minute I couldn’t find my camera (which I had carefully hid right in front of my nose), so it was an iPod-only photo shoot for me.
Here are the girls and their teacher…
Incidentally, this was taken with the Hipstamatic app, of which I am a huge fan. I used the Jimmy lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film with no flash. If you have the app, you’ll know what I mean.
I’m attempting to take and post 30 photos in 30 days. I think this was day 11, but I could be wrong.
This afternoon I went to take a few pictures of the community centre and area for the team which will be coming down at the end of March. It’s all actually in the process of tremendous change – what is now a rather dirty mess, graced with graffiti, will be (Lord willing) cleaned up and lookin’ fine for classes to begin next week.
There is also the ambition to open up a café in one of the three store fronts we now own. The floor was just painted, and it’s in need of some furniture. The team coming in March is hoping to add some extra awesomeness with further construction.
We’re also moving our Amigas del Alma baking class to one of the rooms, thanks in part to the donation of a new stove/oven.
This is a panoramic shot – four photos together – of the store fronts (meaning the picture looks kinda curved – the store fronts are basically half a rectangle). Click on the picture to see larger versions.
We don’t own all this – just three of the store fronts. We own the second one from the left (the one that’s open – which will be the café), the one in the middle with the graffiti monster (our original community centre), and the one second from the right under the awning.
This morning I was leading the singing at our worship service. Allan was leading and José preached from Nehemiah 2.
It’s hard taking pictures at the place we’re renting now – it’s a room with some surprising curves and hallways that keep you from taking a picture of too many people at a time.
But here are some of them. A lot of the crowd had left for their classes, and the adults that remained were listening to José’s message. It was a good service with lots of regular people, some new people, some we hadn’t seen for a while, and lots who wanted to worship the Lord and learn from His Word!
We keep praying for a place we don’t have to rent – and a place where we have enough space!
This morning I enjoyed leading our weekly prayer meeting at Sendero de Vida Jesús María. We prayed through Psalm 90, then prayed for tomorrow’s wedding, and then for various needs of various people. Friday morning prayer meetings are always such a blessing (excuse the use of the generic word "blessing" – but it fits well…)!
As you can see, the building we meet in can be a tad chilly in the morning. 🙂
Click the photo to see it in the gallery along with larger resolution versions.
I’m attempting to take a photo every day for 30 days. I guess this means I’m 10% of the way there! 🙂
Tonight we had our December "clausura" at the community centre in Jesús María.
What in the world is that?!
A clausura (say clow-SOO-ra) is a closing program. The fall set of classes at the community centre is finished, and at the close of each set of classes we have a special closing program.
Tonight we had some games for English class, and we sang a couple of Christmas songs. We saw some country dancing.
There were special presentations for everyone who participated in various classes, including basketball and baking class. There was a demonstration from the drum class.
Afterwards there was ponche and corn dogs – what a combination! 🙂
Why in the world do you do that?!
Clausuras are a great chance to get to know people in the community. Sometimes we meet family and friends of people who are in community centre classes. Sometimes we meet people who just happen to be walking by. 🙂
It’s a great way to end a series of classes with a bang, and recognize students that have been working hard. There’s usually an opportunity to share God’s Word in some way, as we did tonight by sharing the Christmas story and giving out some Gospels of Matthew.
How did it go?
Very well! Our new community centre director, Tina, did a great job getting everything organized. We didn’t have a lot to do tonight, although I played keyboard for the songs. But it was good to spend some time with new and old friends.
Everyone will be taking a bit of a break from community centre activities over Christmas. Then we’ll be starting a new set of classes later in January. The next set of classes will end just before Holy Week, so there will be more opportunities to share about why Jesus came.
The community centre has been a great opportunity to make friends, and to offer services that actually help the community in various ways. Thanks to those of you who have been a part of it! 🙂
The Clausura Crowds assembled for the program Jesús María, Ixtapaluca, Mexico City
