Prayer and Praise

22 August 2017

Men’s Retreat and other current events…

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Last week 9 of us from our church in Las Palmas went up to the northern part of our state for a men’s retreat. This tends to be an annual event, put on by the churches in our “circuit” in the Mexico City area.

Swimming at the Men's Retreat In the end, 77 men were at the retreat. Two – or was it three? made first time confessions of faith! And we were all challenged in a number of areas.

In the pictures you can see the chilly pool, and three of the guys working on lunch – slicing cactus and onions to grill along with the meat for lunch. Each church brought their own food for lunch.

Chopping cactus and onions Anyway, it was great to hang out and have some conversations and also to hear some of the men share on Sunday about their time.

Now it’s back to other work. I think we’re mostly done with visa paperwork for the time being, as of today. So it’s a matter of waiting for a while.

And we’re getting ready for the school year to start, and for upcoming Bible studies and the Sunday service. I’ll be preaching on Sunday, finishing our “summer section” of the book of Mark (Jesus’ last day of travel before arriving in the area of Jerusalem for his final days before the cross).

12 August 2017

Directly Focused in All Directions

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Sunday School reciting verses — Shari and the Sunday School kids reciting verses last Sunday.

Sometimes life is like that. As much as it would be nice to focus your energy on one thing, instead you have to run madly off in all directions!

So that’s what life is like right now, as I take just a moment to take a breath and write you a note.

So what are just a few (seriously, only a few) of the things we’re dealing with right now? Well, getting ready for the school year (Was that book shipped? How are we getting those books to Mexico? It will cost how much??), doing paperwork for visas (Sign this please. And this and this. We need pictures taken – when can we schedule that? Why is this number missing on this document? It will cost how much??), household stuff (Uh oh, that’s falling apart – fix it or replace it? How are we going to find time to deal with those leaks? And those ones?), Sunday service prep (Songs ready? Sunday school materials organized?), preparing for the fall (When are we going to get ready for those studies? Actually, when are we going to have those studies? Who can fill in while so-and-so is away? How can we involve so-and-so?), and a myriad of other concerns (Yes, we should go to the dentist. We need to pick that up, drop that off – why didn’t that shipment come? I was supposed to pay that bill today. We’re running out of….).

Well – what’s coming up tomorrow? Tomorrow we have a guest speaker – our coworkers and friends from the city of Pachuca are coming to our service. We’re looking forward to seeing them, and all the “regulars”, and to learn together from God’s Word.

Meanwhile – I think I had something I was supposed to do…

3 August 2017

People Under Construction

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Yesterday Shari and Hannah were in the community of JesÃºs MarÃa, lending a hand at the kids’ club that the church is putting on this week. Quite a crowd, as you can see!

Under Construction Kids' Club
More construction at the kids' club The theme of the year is “Under Construction”, and so there are lots of hard hats and safety vests to be seen. Yesterday, a large group from the power company happened to be meeting right by the club, getting ready to do some repairs. So some people from the church invited a few of them over to stand at the front while the kids sang one of their songs – adding an extra “construction ambience”, and hopefully being a bit of a witness to the workers too! 🙂

Moms under construction
As is often the case, there was a little class for the Moms who were hanging around. Shari joined them toward the end, and had a good chance to talk with them.
Stickers!
There are so many challenges that people (including Moms!) go through, and it’s hard to see them struggling to find answers without really knowing Christ. Please pray that God would work in their lives, so that they would accept God’s gift!

And please pray for the church and for the kids as they continue to learn about the Lord today and tomorrow!

26 July 2017

A Prayer Request, and Remembering a Friend

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A friend and fellow missionary just passed away. From what we know so far, Jim Eberline passed away Monday night, very suddenly. He was 67.

The prayer request first. Jim was in Guatemala at home. He had been in a video conference that morning, and appeared fine. His wife was in the USA.

So do please pray for the family. Cheryl is trying to get to Guatemala, I’m not sure where things are at now.

So for obvious reasons, please pray for Cheryl, her kids and grandkids and other family and friends at this time.

There has already been a huge outpouring of grief and also fond memories of Jim. I won’t presume to add much to that, other than to say we have appreciated Jim and learned from both Jim and Cheryl for many years.

Jim Eberline When we first moved to Mexico, Jim was the field director. As you might imagine, having a Jim & Cheryl and Jim & Shari at parties led to a bit of confusion! But even after Jim and Cheryl moved on to other ministries and other countries in 2008, we still had contact with them and received an encouraging and challenging word, and even training in various areas that have been helpful in our ministry.

We are sad that there will be this temporary separation, we’re heartbroken for what Jim’s family must be going through, but we remain thankful. As I write, I keep remembering more and more lessons that Jim taught (or tried to teach!) us over the years. His life will continue to make a difference for many decades to come – and of course, for eternity.

11 July 2017

A Month of Short Term Teams Ends!

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We have reached the end of a month filled with short term teams! How can I sum it all up? Impossible.

I did show you a few photos from the Mt. Calvary Team’s first few days. I also wrote a bit more about their trip and the upcoming team here. You actually saw a video of an event that the Connect Team (team #2) was involved in here. Rod also posted some video/pictures of this team: Connect Group in Ixtapaluca and Veracruz (Video).

I didn’t have a chance to write after that. Nathanael and I were with the Connect Team in Villa Hermosa, a small village in the State of Veracruz (there’s more than one Villa Hermosa, so here it is on the map. Just zoom out to get an idea where it is. You can even see the main road on Google Street View.)

The people in Villa Hermosa were very gracious and we enjoyed our time of ministry in a couple of churches there, although perhaps our greatest ministry was just spending time with people.

The last team to come was from Leroy Community Chapel in Ohio. They did a lot of work with the construction of the main sanctuary for the church in the community of JesÃºs MarÃa. They finished the stage and also put up lighting. They also were involved in hearing aid/reading glasses evangelistic events, visitation, a craft class, and service at a rehab centre.

By the way, there are dozens of new pictures in our photo gallery, if you’d like to see what all this looked like!

I was especially excited about the event we had in Las Palmas. We’ve never done anything like this in Las Palmas, but the party hall was full of people getting their hearing checked, and getting reading glasses. We partnered with the municipality, who also brought in a chiropractor!

Apart from seeing people’s eyes light up when they could actually hear with a new hearing aid, it was exciting to see people hearing the gospel, and to see conversations going on around the room, often with Bibles open. A new family came to our Sunday service who had gotten to know us through this event.

More video and pictures from this team from Rod: Leroy Chapel Construction and Outreach (video)

When short term teams come to Ixtapaluca, one of the things they almost always mention in the feeling of community. That’s because of the Mexican culture, but also the service of fellow believers that they meet here. The team members usually stay in Mexican homes, and get to know people in real life.

So I’d like to close with a few photos from the goodbye party that we had for team #3 in the church in JesÃºs MarÃa. This team, and all the teams, made an impact on people’s lives. And the people here in Mexico made an impact on their lives. And God continues to work!

New Mexican Family — Team members have new Mexican families

Happy birthday, Michelle! — A birthday surprise for Michelle!

Prayer Time — Two churches from two countries pray together, under the newly installed lights!

10 July 2017

Hannah Heads to Camp

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Today Hannah will be heading to camp, along with 8 other youth from our church. They’re going to the Word of Life camp which is north of Mexico City in the state of QuerÃ©taro.

She’ll be gone for a week, so I’m sure she would appreciate your prayers (and her parents would too!). 🙂

Do pray that this will be a good time of growth for all the youth who attend. Jim and Rod will be driving them all up with their luggage, a few hours there and a few hours back.

Palabra de Vida Campamento 2017 — Promo poster for the camp – “A New Start”. Don’t worry, those prices are in pesos. For this week, just over CA$90 per person.

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