Ten years ago today (2012) we were having a closing program for the community centre. Part of the program was to give out some wheelchairs to people who had been identified as having a special need.
These are the “old style” wheelchairs provided by another mission. The new ones are a lot better and more sophisticated. But for someone who had no access to any chair, these were a good start!
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!
This past Sunday, the Las Palmas Path of Life Bible Church celebrated its 6th anniversary! You can see our theme in the banner below (click for a slightly larger version). For those who can’t figure it out, it’s Matthew 28:18-20. The theme was chosen by the preacher, Ezequiel.
All was chaos before the service, I have to admit. Some people were trying to put up banners from our past anniversaries, with eventual success, but with many trials along the way! I was supposed to be practising with the worship team, but just had to get a video working – didn’t work on that laptop, didn’t work with that software download, connected another laptop… and on and on. The sound system stopped working, so we pulled out an old sound system which we limped along with. The video never did happen, but after we caught our breath – it was a great day! 🙂
Oscar led the service (he’s the first person you’ll see in the video), and did a great job. I made the video below a little longer than I intended to (obviously it’s all in Spanish, although I did subtitle one or two things at the beginning), because I wanted you to see just how many people were involved. People sharing testimonies, playing music, praying… and, of course, after the service – bringing food! And leading games! You’ll see some of that too.
The sermon was a great challenge to us all – very practical. And if we do what we did last year, we might keep this banner up at the front of the church for the year, as a reminder. It’s interesting how various parts of this passage have come alive in recent months – the authority of Christ, our responsibility in ministry – and especially over the last few weeks, the reminder that He is with us – a theme that has been strong in our study of Exodus as well (which we will be finishing in tomorrow’s service!).
You might recognize the song I was leading at the end, at the request of the preacher. If not, here it is in English, one of my current favourites.
Thanks again to so many of you who have prayed for and supported this ministry. Without further comment, here are some clips from Sunday.
If you would like to see the full service, just go here and go to the link for the 6th of November (6 noviembre 2022).
These have been difficult days for our church. Difficult days drive us to God’s throne in prayer.
An elderly lady recently passed away, after some very difficult final weeks. She didn’t attend our church, but has children and grandchildren and a great-grandchild who do, so her passing affected our church quite a bit.
If you get our email update, you may have been praying with us for our friend who suddenly collapsed two weeks ago, and has not regained consciousness. He is not only a good friend, but a man who has been a key servant to the church. We continue to pray earnestly for him and his family. [Edit: As I was posting this, our brother in Christ Edgar passed away.]
Last week his family and some of his wife’s family came to the service. His daughter and son volunteered to join the worship band, and they helped lead us in praise to God. It was a moving service, as we prayed together for this and many other needs in the congregation.
In the midst of all this, we’re preparing for the 6th anniversary of the church – this Sunday. We’ve simplified the celebration somewhat due to the circumstances, but we’re still looking forward to thanking God for His faithfulness over the past few years.
(The photo above is from the music time last week – Rod is leading, and you can see Nathanael on the ukulele to the right. The banner in behind is actually from last year’s anniversary service, with text from Exodus 6:7 – “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God”. We’re just finishing our study of Exodus now, seeing the fulfillment of this promise in the book, and the application for us.)
You may have also been praying for our fellow missionary Chalo, who was in the hospital. He’s doing much better, and we were able to visit him last week. He’s home and already working, although he probably should be resting some more! 🙂
In the mundane of our own lives, this has also been a strange time. Without going into details, we’ve had some doctor’s visits. And as I mentioned in the last podcast, we went on an overnight trip to get Nathanael’s visa, only to find that the person who needed to complete the process wasn’t at the office! So this past week we made the trek again, and this time – success! Thanks for your prayers.
So in the end, the last few weeks have included a lot of unusual travel and appointments. It makes it hard to keep up with regular work (including Nathanael’s school). On the bright side, we’ve enjoyed some good family time together in the midst of it all. The “unusualness” will probably continue for the next couple of weeks, as we have at least one more appointment, the anniversary service, a wedding, rather urgent van maintenance…
So we appreciate your prayers as we navigate these turbulent times; that we would have the strength to deal with the “mundane” and still to be a light and an encouragement to others. I guess that’s a good prayer request for us all, isn’t it?
I’m sorry I haven’t been writing here more, but we’ve been trying to catch up on a number of things, as I mentioned earlier.
But that’s not to say that nothing has been happening!
For example, one Sunday this chicken ended up on the church property. (No, this has nothing to do with Church’s Texas Chicken.) It did get out alive, you’ll be glad to hear (although there was some talk about wanting to illustrate the burnt offerings in Exodus). (Many of us may or may not have been inspired to have some yummy chicken dinners, though…)
For example, the last class of the Church History course was completed, with certificates being handed out. These are currently being given under our “civil association”. That’s how our community centre is recognized by the government.
This last class marked the end of three years of classes, with four churches involved, covering five college-level courses. We will likely be continuing with something in the new year, but we’re not sure yet what that will look like. We would like to do some more pastorally-focused courses (such as a preaching class), but I’m sure there are others who would like to continue their education as well, so we’ll see.
Shari and Nathanael enjoyed some time with other missionaries to Mexico at the annual InterMission Conference. What happened to Jim? Well, he was a little sick and so decided to sit this one out. Thankfully, it was a quick recovery.
Last Sunday I spent some time with some of the leaders of the churches in the Mexico City area. We’re hoping to restart having some meetings and activities on a regular basis, starting in the New Year. It was great to see some familiar faces and share and pray together.
Services and studies continue, of course. I won’t speak for everyone, but I’ve really enjoyed our study of Exodus! Lord willing we’ll be finishing our study in November, after more than a year. Right now we’re talking about the priests – their special clothes and their consecration.
Shari was teaching Sunday School last week. Look – rainbows! As you might guess, they were in Genesis 9. A wonderful testimony of the mercy of God in the face of our sin. They’re going through the Generations of Grace curriculum, which takes them right through the Bible.
Tonight there’s a men’s Bible study, which Rod is leading (Rod and Mayra are back from some travelling in the US and Mexico over the past 6 weeks). And tomorrow I’ll be leading the music in the service. Nathanael often helps out with the music on the uke.
And meanwhile, we’re trying to get some personal things done – some fixes around the house (our internet is still suffering, but a lot better than it was!) – Nathanael catching up with school – some doctor’s appointments – and working toward Nathanael’s new permanent residence visa. (Yes, he already has a “permanent” visa, but because he got it before he was an adult he needs to renew it once to get his adult version.)
There’s lots of planning going on as well. We’re already looking toward next year and what will be happening in the church. But more immediate is our church’s 6th anniversary – on the 6th of November! Lord willing I’ll be able to show you some pictures – maybe even some video, if I’m on the ball.
Thanks for your prayers!
Getting back home to Mexico, and getting back into ministry, can sometimes be a challenge. Not that there’s anything particularly wrong, mind you. And we’re glad to be here!
Part of it is simply that (1) there were a few things we were planning to do over the summer here that we didn’t do, because we went to Canada, and (2) we’re still dealing with some things from our trip, on top of regular ministry.
But also, there’s quite simply a lot going on and a lot that needs to be done! 🙂
In a few minutes I’ll be going over to help set up for the institute class, which our church is hosting this week. The Church History course is continuing, this week the topic being “The Era of Liberalism, Progress, and Missions”. A few light topics, including Marxism, slavery, liberalism, missions movements and religious sects to finish off our week.
We’ve been enjoying a study of the Tabernacle as we continue our journey through the book of Exodus. I’ll be speaking tomorrow about the court and the altar.
Yesterday was Independence Day, so we had a bit of a focus on that last week, and we will again this week from what I understand. Last week I led the music and we sang quite a few Mexican worship songs.
Other activities are continuing – the men’s and women’s Bible studies, and youth group tonight. A kids’ class started up again while we were gone. So we’re looking at how things might change and adapt in the weeks ahead.
We’re so thankful for the men and women who are serving the Lord here with us. We appreciate so many of you who are praying. It’s completely cliché to say that these are challenging times, but indeed they are.
But as we continue our study of the Tabernacle, I’m reminded that when God gives the work, He also provides for the work. And somehow He gives it an eternal value. Praise the Lord!