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Prayer and Praise

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. . . your faith in God has gone forth everywhere . . . (1Thes 1:8)

Summer may actually start on the 21st of June, but the season of summer activities begins here in only 13 days – the 11th of June. Lord willing, our first intern (Abby!) will be arriving that day, followed on the 12th by a team of 20 from Mt Calvary Church.

It’s always nice to have graphic designers around, and we’re thankful to Samuel again for coming up with a logo for our summer, which should explain itself –

Going Viral 2015So what are some of our goals for the summer? Well, we want to see cross-cultural relationships built for the glory of God. We want to see some major steps forward taken in the construction of the ministry centre and church meeting place in Jesús María. We want to serve our community, helping people in practical ways as well as giving spiritual food. We hope to reach out to those with physical and mental disabilities, and to city street kids. We hope to see the work in Las Palmas grow, as relationships are built with believers, unbelievers, and ultimately with their Lord. We want to know our God better, worship Him more completely, and serve Him in love.

We can’t do it on our own – so join us in prayer, that the Spirit will open doors and hearts, give wisdom and strength, and do what we could never do.

At the moment we would especially appreciate your prayers for the intensive time of ministry right at the beginning. Safe travels for those coming on the 11th and 12th, and then for all the activities over the next week – a soccer tournament, baking, English, and craft classes, construction, wheelchair distribution, and time spent just being with people.

May God give us all an infectious faith!

Grateful for Honesty!

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Found out today – after a few very stressful moments – that there are still HONEST people in this world! 🙂 I left my little change purse sitting on the counter at a supermarket after paying for the stuff I had bought. (Hang in there for this story… It has a happy ending!) 😀

(Now, that may not sound like a big deal, but change is valuable in this Mexican culture – you HAVE to have small change with you wherever you go, cuz it is used for everything! So I had quite a bit of coins in there, as well as a couple of bills – probably about the equivalent of about $30 in pesos, so not tons, but enough!)

The problem was that I didn’t realize I had lost it until at least an hour later, when I went to pay for something at another store! Couldn’t find it, was madly searching through my purse, slightly mad at myself for being so careless! 😥

I almost didn’t even go back to the store to bother asking about it, because, I thought, why even waste the time? For sure it’s gone…

HOWEVER, I went back, found the cashier who attended me, and asked her if they had seen it. Her face lit up, and relief flooded over me! I had to describe the change purse, and tell them what $ was inside, but I got it back! So grateful for HONESTY tonight, and for people in our corrupt world who go against the flow and put that value into practice! 🙂

Water and Electricity (not)

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Some of you may have heard that we had an unexpected candlelight service on Resurrection Sunday. Or maybe I should say, candlelight-cellphone-light service.

It was going to be a sunrise service, except that we were inside the virtually windowless cement box that is our temporary sanctuary, and the night before the power went out and did not come back.

Resurrection Sunday 2015 - music team
Resurrection Sunday 2015 – music team

In the end, it turned into an especially memorable service, because we don’t usually have that much ambiance on a Sunday morning.

Now the electricity that we normally use (except when it doesn’t work) is provided due to the generosity of a neighbour. In actual fact, the property doesn’t yet have power. Before that, we used a generator.

And water? Well, we don’t have that either. We do fill up a tank so that there’s something on the property, and we use an elegant bucket-carry-and-dump method to flush the partially-functioning toilets.

As you might guess, these inconveniences do not mean we can no longer enjoy our time together worshipping God. However, they are time-consuming problems that we hope to solve, one of these days.

You could pray that we could get the water and electricity hooked up soon. It’s a matter of getting them hooked up from the city, which actually shouldn’t be too difficult – we have a lot of paperwork, legal paperwork, and after all we’ve been meeting there for – how long now? Over a year.

I’m not sure how long it takes in the country where you live, but that seems a little extreme to me.

So, we would appreciate your continued prayers that obstacles would be overcome and that we would soon have these little things that make a meeting place functional.

For more on the construction and the Ixtapaluca Project, visit the main page here.

And now, a reflection about the most important Light…

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

from John 1:4-13

Teens (and young adults) of the Bible

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Last month I started teaching Sunday School for the older youth at our church. We were continuing the study that they had been doing before, on the life of David.

After getting some feedback from them, we’re going to be starting a new series for the next four months on teens and young adults in the Bible (otherwise known as jovenes).

It was the idea of someone in the class, and it’s interesting, partly because sometimes it’s hard to tell how old people were. For example, we picture David and Jonathan as two teens, but really Jonathan was old enough to be David’s father. Jacob fleeing from his brother Esau was likely long past his young adulthood.

Joseph and his coatAnyway, I’ve narrowed it down to ten people who were likely in the 12-25 age range, and we’ll be focusing on their lives during that time (no, of course I won’t tell you who they are. That would spoil the surprise! But David isn’t one of them; we just finished with him for now).

Coming to the Bible, whether it be a specific passage or character, is always a surprise. You just never know what God has hidden in His Word!

Do pray for the teens in our church. Many of the challenges that they face are the same as those in the rest of North America. But they are also dealing with things that are probably quite different from what you may experience in Canada and the USA. But our foundation is the same, and our hope is the same, even if the details and strategies of everyday life may be different.

I don’t think any of us need another “how-to” list – not unless it starts with “It is Finished!”, and continues and finishes with the same supernatural power of God. But from that starting point, I have a feeling I have a lot to learn from some of the good … bad … and sometimes all over the place … people we find in the Bible.

Anyway, I need to go and study person #1 – a woman from Genesis, whose life, I’m sure, was not turning out as she had expected…

Soccer (Fútbol) Tournament and Easter Egg Hunt

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Soccer final in Las Palmas
Trophy!Two major activities in two days in two neighbourhoods! And both a great success.

First was the soccer/fútbol tournament in Las Palmas. 22 teams, and for much of the day four games going on at the same time. Half-way through the day there was a break, and someone shared about how God saved him. And then the finals, and the awards ceremony.

Cookie decorating
Yesterday was the fourth annual Easter egg hunt in Jesús María. First, decorating cookies and dying eggs. Then a break and a presentation about Jesus’ death and resurrection. And finally, what everyone was waiting for – a mad dash to find the plastic eggs, each one with a little surprise inside!

According to Tina, there were 600 cookies decorated, about 150-200 hard boiled eggs, and 700 stuffed plastic Easter eggs!

Thanks to all the amazing people who organized and helped with and prayed for these events. Lots of new friendships were made!

A rush to find eggs!

Wheelchair Presentations and More (Las Palmas)

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Adjusting chairsLast night thanks to our visiting team we managed to assemble a set of wheelchairs to present to new friends in Las Palmas. The assembly process may not have been completely without its ups and downs, and I won’t say that every wheel was put on the right way around (but if it did happen, it was fixed). But eventually we succeeded.

Wheelchair presentation programThen this morning we had a program to present the chairs. The community centre was full of the recipients and their families. Rod shared a bit about the vision of the community centre, and Mayra shared from God’s Word, and then we made sure everyone had the right size chair, making adjustments as needed.

It has been really great to meet new people, some of whom live very close to the community centre itself. And also to see interest in spiritual things.

One of the men who visited today emphasized that he was going to be reading the Bible we gave him. And the other day, a mother and a boy walked in off the street to find out what classes we had. Tina gave them a flyer about some of the summer activities, including a soccer tournament, English classes, and a children’s Bible club. “Oh look!” said the woman to the boy,”They have Bible classes!”

Well, if everyone gets that excited, we’re good to go. Apparently there have been others asking about Bible studies lately too, so – well, the answer is yes, we do those. 😉

More pictures from Tina here.

New Friends

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