Yes, going to Ontario is the plan – but let me give a little background.
When we wrote our last newsletter, we themed it around Proverbs 16:9, partly because we weren’t 100% sure what was going to happen. And then, due to circumstances beyond our control, the paper edition of the letter was delayed – quite delayed – do you even have it yet?
Usually, I aim to get the email edition to arrive about the same time as the paper edition, but this time I sent out the email edition earlier.
Anyway, some of you may just be getting the news that we’re not coming to Canada. That’s outdated. I hope. Although you know how travel is these days!
Lord willing, we’ll be going to Alberta to spend a little time with family. Then we’ll be coming to Ontario, hopefully to see some of you, roughly from the 7th of August until the end of the month. That is, again, tentatively, roughly….
7th-30th of August
It’s going to take us a while to get everything planned, so stay tuned. But if you would like to see us, feel free to contact us and we’ll see what we can do.
So that’s the story so far! Those of you in Ontario who receive our newsletter should have also gotten a special link, which will contain more information about our trip as it’s planned (check the special insert, or the email).
What a boring title. I was going to get creative – like, “Brides”, as in the bride of Christ and the bride at the wedding. But I opted for boring. Oh well.
So this past weekend I had the opportunity to give the charge to the couple (the devotional) at a wedding of some friends from the Santa Bárbara church. I spoke on Ecclesiastes, in case you’re wondering (although I did end on a more positive New Testament note!). You can certainly pray for this couple as they seek to be a testimony among many who do not know the Lord.
I can’t comment on the speaker, but otherwise it was a nice wedding. The couple really tried to make it glorifying to the Lord. It was fun to see the bride and groom lead a worship music time along with some others from the church!
On Sunday we had a church planting seminar with some of the upcoming leaders in the church, along with Rod and Mayra Fry. It was a very encouraging time to talk about the church and think about areas we can work on in the future.
Some of our old VTI cohorts will recognize the activity in the picture that I pulled out of moth balls. This is one of two groups:
On the right, hidden behind a vase or something, is David Gomez. Some of you may remember that David served with us early in our time here in Ixtapaluca. He has been serving as a missionary in Uruguay, but is back home in Mexico for a few months and will be helping us with the church. He’ll also especially be helping Rod and Mayra with teams that are coming over the summer.
Coming up this weekend, our next Church History class, bringing us all the way to the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 AD. My, how time flies!
Every year, I try not to repeat over and over how crazy busy May tends to be. And every year, I fail.
I’m really starting to think that the month of May is a living thing that has some kind of vendetta. It sneaks into our agendas and adds to our to do lists, when we should be checking things off. It delights in surprising us with the unexpected at the last minute.
Today I spent a good part of the day doing paperwork. Now, I admit, the timing was entirely my fault. However the complexity of the paperwork is entirely the achievement of government bureaucrats. So we’ll see if we can get that worked out this week… I at least hit the ball out of my court for the moment.
Then I spent another part of the day dealing with tech support – a problem which, believe it or not, they’ve been helping me with since last spring. But I was assured that they would solve all my problems, today between 5:30pm and 8:30pm when they give me a call. They have 4 minutes left – I expect I will be interrupted with the perfect fix in a moment.
Anyway, we would appreciate your prayer for endurance, especially this week and next. This weekend we’re looking forward to some special ministry opportunities, which I’ll try to tell you about later. But I do have to get ready for them. And Nathanael is on the home stretch of his semester, which essentially means exams and an unusual amount of chemistry.
Last weekend we enjoyed a special recognition service for a new pastor in a church in Mexico City. We saw lots of people from other churches that we haven’t seen in a while, so that and the service itself were a great encouragement. I was the keyboardist, something I haven’t gotten to do in a while. Somehow or other we end up being thankful for May, even though we don’t always get along.
Well, the phone isn’t ringing – so I guess I’d better go and get something else done, or else rest up for another crazy May day. Thanks for your prayers!
Well, “Manic May” is upon us once again – traditionally our busiest month of the year. And this year is not disappointing.
You don’t want a long litany of what’s happening, but I’ll give you a quick overview of some things.
Our institute classes are up and running for another semester. This time around it’s church history! So I’ve been making visuals for each week. I’m almost up to the year 600, so that’s certainly progress. Here’s a little segment from the timeline:
I also have a couple of sermons coming up which I’m preparing for. One of them is a continuation of our journey through Exodus, which I’m enjoying very much.
We’re hoping to get the church leaders together for a mini afternoon/evening retreat soon, so I’m getting ready for that.
On a family note, Hannah just celebrated a birthday (Happy Birthday!) and we were able to spend a little time with her and some others in the family virtually. And Nathanael has a birthday coming up – so we’re getting ready for that. I think a cake is being created, among other things!
There are some official/paperwork things that will need to be dealt with over the summer, so that’s happening. And we’re getting some other plans together for the summer, which I’ll be announcing in our next newsletter. Which I’m also working on!
It’s nice to take the time to check out the flowers, many of which are popping up as a little bit of rain starts here and there. It’s really still dry season, but the clouds give it a try once in a while.
Nathanael is frantically trying to finish up his grade 11 year. He had another exam today, with more to come. Less than four weeks until he’s done – we hope!
We recently celebrated Mother’s Day at our church, so here are some of our mothers…. click for a larger image:
So anyway, lots happening! At the moment we’re just hanging on for dear life, but I wanted to at least stop by and give you a quick update.
We’ve had some very busy, very “social” days lately. But it’s been good to have some times of prayer and celebrations of hope.
Last Friday we went to a church planting workshop put on by our mission agency. It was a blessing to get together with coworkers from around the country, talking about how to move forward in ministry.
Sunday was certainly a celebration of hope. Having a Sunday almost exactly half-way between Christmas and Easter, we had a Christmas/Easter Service! (In Spanish, we actually use the word Pascua or Passover, for Easter. I do actually believe that, contrary to popular belief, Easter is likely a Christian term. But here in Mexico it’s generally Pascua, and Holy Week (Semana Santa), and Resurrection Sunday.)
This was originally my Dad’s idea. The first half of the service has Scripture readings about the birth of Christ, Christmas carols, and so on. The second half features songs from Good Friday/Resurrection Sunday. The idea is to bring the two together, and show why they are both important.
With so many new people at our church right now, it was also an opportunity – not only to do something fun and different, but also to remind ourselves of the basics of the faith. Who is Jesus? What did He accomplish on the cross? Why is it important that He rose again?
Boxes of chairs, loaded into our van.
As you can see, Shari even thought of having a poinsettia and lily display. 🙂
But anyway, it really was a celebration of hope. What an encouragement to remember that Jesus has acted in history – and continues to do so – to bring salvation. He is indeed the Sovereign king of all.
Speaking of having lots of new people, we need more chairs! So I went and bought 16 more this week. And we also need to expand our tent – literally – so that we have shelter from the sun. So that is an ongoing challenge.
On Monday, we enjoyed getting together with Chuck and Karla, fellow missionaries in Mexico City. It was good to catch up with them, and pray for one another.
We even had a chance to “get together” as a family, connecting with Hannah in Canada, this week. We chatted and played some board games (online) together.
And Lord willing we’ll be seeing other coworkers next week, Mark and Angélica, who serve in the city of Pachuca.
Jim, Nathanael, Shari, Chuck, and Karla
And I’m hoping to have a prayer time with some of the pastors in our area next week as well, this time via video conference.
Meanwhile I’m preparing to preach tomorrow on “The Purpose of the Plagues“, as we continue through the incredible book of Exodus.
Some of you have received our newsletter – let us know if you don’t get it (it’s the “Different Opinions?” letter). Oddly enough, it was held up at the US/Canada border! Not by police, or truckers, as far as I know, but by some mistake. So I’m not sure what’s up with that. But do make sure that, if you’re on our Support Team, we have your current email address and physical address, in case something goes wrong with one or the other.
Today is Bible study day! Women in the morning, men in the evening. May God continue to teach us through His Word.
Don’t panic! It wasn’t that bad. Actually, it was quite good – just very busy!
Nathanael hanging out with friends after the Sunday service. We meet just behind this little Christian bookstore, owned by a woman in the church.
This past weekend was full of blessings, actually. On Saturday morning, the women of the Las Palmas church had their first regular Bible study. (Lots of clarification there, of course – there have been regular Bible studies for adults, and lots of women’s activities, but I don’t think we’ve had a regular women’s study until now.)
As you might have guessed, I (Jim) was not there. However, from the reports I heard it was a great time. A great turn out, everyone sharing… very cool. And, on Sunday, more women showing interest (e.g. purchasing the Bible study book they’re using).
Sunday evening was the first men’s study. And as seems to be a common trend in the world, fewer numbers! But actually we had fewer men in the first place, and one got called into work, another got sick… so we had a small study. But it was a fun one – that’s where we went through purgatory.
One of the men had been talking to some people in the week and had received a paper about how biblical purgatory is. So we took some time to look at some of the Bible passages. (Spoiler – purgatory actually is not biblical. So although we went through the topic of purgatory, no one will actually go through purgatory!) And, as is often the case, God surprised us with a lot of truths that had a very person application for us.
On Sunday morning we were counting the chairs and wondering if we should buy some more. Yes, we were full up – men, women, teens and children. Some of our regular people were away, but there were also lots of visitors. So we were taking time in our service to explain how we do things, and to make sure people had access to information about our church. And sharing songbooks, because we didn’t have enough.
I always have extra respect for people who visit – it’s a brave thing to visit a church for the first time. Especially around here – sadly, we hear horror stories about people who visit churches and have a very bad experience (many of these would not be biblical churches at all – a reality in this area). So I hope we made everyone feel welcome.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many of you have been contacting us lately, telling us that you’re praying, asking what you can pray for. We even recently enjoyed a couple of special prayer times with coworkers via video chat. And if you’re part of our Support Team, you’ll be getting a newsletter in the next week or two (Lord willing) with news and prayer requests.
It did feel like a battle going into the weekend (and coming out of it!) for various reasons. But sometimes opposition reminds us that God is working in a special way.
So thanks for your prayers! Do continue to pray for the many new people we’ve been coming in contact with, especially those who do not yet know the Lord.
