Events and Prayer Requests at the end of October
Some news about the new outreach in a nearby community, the upcoming Days of the Dead, meetings at our children’s schools, and many activities coming up on the weekend. Thanks for your prayers!
Ministry glimpses
Webcam with Our Niece!
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Yesterday we had the chance to "meet" our niece Karina via webcam! She was obviously quite thrilled by the opportunity, and even talked to us for a while. Sounds like she’s doing well, and growing fast!
Karina currently lives with her parents in New York State. Be sure to check out their family website here!
We enjoyed time as a family and with the family of God over the weekend. I was able to play keyboard in the service for the first time since we got back, and after the service there was a little party for those who have birthdays in October. Such as Shari! Always a good reason for more cake…
Amy holds the microphone up for Karina,
while Grandpa Winger looks on
Men’s Retreat 2009 (video)
This past Friday to Saturday our church hosted a men’s retreat in the Paso de Cortés, the mountain pass between two of Mexico’s famous volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl. 16 men were there, not as many as we had hoped for, but I think everyone enjoyed it.
The night was cold and rainy, and the day was windy and cold, but we just kept moving and all was well. Rod Fry (see Rod’s take on the retreat here) put a lot of work into the weekend, and led some discussions on integrity which were really great.
Here’s a video to give you a bit of an idea what we did. For your viewing pleasure I’m posting the director’s cut, which includes the extended waterfall scene. 😉 I didn’t film what we had to eat on Saturday afternoon because I imagine we would soon have 20 or 30 people coming to Mexico to "help out" for all the wrong reasons. Boy, that was delicious. 😉
But here’s some better motivation for you. Besides Rod and I, I don’t think there was anyone there who had been in the Lord for more than 8 years – the vast majority 4 or less. So if you think it’s all been done in Mexico, or that God’s not doing anything, think of these first-generation believers worshipping God in the mountains…
Shari at the National Children’s Ministry Conference
This past weekend Shari was at a national conference for children’s workers, which took place in Pachuca, Mexico. She went with a group of ladies from Ixtapaluca (hey, where were the men? C’mon guys!).
Anyway, she tells me it was a great time. There were about 250 to 300 people (men AND women) from all over the country. There were lots of great workshops with great material on teaching children, including material from friends of ours like Corina (Shelli) Neufeld from Hermosillo, Becky Baron (Muñoz) from Mexico City, and from our own church Samuel along with his cohort Luis, and Mayra Fry. And there were others presenting material, some we knew and some we didn’t – many Mexicans and expats and mysterious mixtures of the two. 🙂
Corina (right) teaches a workshop on using science to share the Gospel
 The lovely ladies from Ixtpalauca |
Some topics included doing deaf ministry, miming, teaching preschoolers, drama and theatre, training youth to be involved in children’s ministry, children’s programs, how to teach new songs, helping children in life’s major transitions, and much MUCH more!
Wow, it sounds like it was a great time (and I really hope I can go next time).
Shari also really enjoyed the bonding time with ladies from our church here. You know, girl stuff.
I’ll try to put up some pictures soon.
But anyway, how exciting to see people being equipped with easy, inexpensive or free creative ideas – and to see people excited about reaching Mexican children for the Lord!
What we’re doing (now that we’re back)
An update on what we’ve been doing and what’s coming up now that we’re back from our trip…
Peace with God
This summer I really enjoyed the opportunity to meditate on, and speak on, Romans 5:1-11. Before the summer I thought a lot about the "peace" that Paul talks about here, and how there are so few that really experience it. So I thought it would be really appropriate as we shared about Mexico.
This passage doesn’t contain any commands or suggestions for living – instead, it talks about the complete reversal that God has brought about in the lives of believers. If you’d like to look at the passage yourself, I thought I’d include here a few of the other related passages that I studied along with it:
- "through whom also we have access by faith into this grace…" Heb 10:19-22
- "The hope of the glory of God…" Rom 3:23; 2Cor 4:6-8; Rev 21:23; Rom 8:16-18
- "tribulations…" Jam 1:2-4; 2Cor 4; Rom 8:28-30
- "God through our Lord Jesus Christ…" Rom 1:18-32 (we were enemies of God, now we rejoice in God); Eph 2:1-13
If you’d actually like to hear this sermon, Garside Bible Church still has it up on their website. You can download it as an MP3, or listen to it as streaming audio. Just give me a bit of a break – I still had sinusitis pretty bad then. 😉