Prayer and Praise

16 June 2015

We. have. water.

We have water!
Yesterday I drove up to the church’s property to see a water company vehicle, a police truck, and a small group of “concerned neighbours”. Yes, it was time, again, to try to get water to the property, after over a year full of attempts.

The water company workers and the police were the constants throughout the day – the neighbours dispersed.

By the evening, this tube was running through our wall, and it had WATER in it!

Yes, we actually have real water. Not really any organized way to deal with it yet, beyond a mess of hoses, and a storage tank. But that’s a whole lot better than no water at all!

Thank you so much, all of you who have prayed for so long. God has answered our prayers.

And now – what? Maybe some electricity? Functioning bathrooms? The sky is the limit! 🙂

11 June 2015

Aaron has been found!

Jim Prayer and Praise 4

Thanks so much for your prayers! Aaron has been found! He is alive and well.

God is good.

A little more information: Aaron took the kayak from Raotan Island, off the north coast of Honduras. He stayed with his kayak, and was found about 29km NNW of Utila Island. It had been about 15 hours. What a journey!

11 June 2015

Urgent Prayer Request: Honduras

Jim Prayer and Praise 0

Please pray for Camino missionaries Mark and Michelle Fittz and their family today. Mark’s sister and her family were visiting from Texas. Mark’s nephew, Aaron, went out on a kayak in the Caribbean Sea last night around 6pm and has not returned.

The search had to be called off last night, but is resuming this morning. The search will now be extending to Belize as well.

This from Aaron’s Dad, Daniel:

Please continue to pray for Aaron to say afloat on the kaiak, him to have peace as he remains lost on a huge sea at night, for Mary Beth and the kids. Also that The Holy Spirit with guide the rescue effort straight to Aaron’s location. I am eternally grateful for the prayers and the outpouring of love and support from both those who know us well and those we have never met. May God richly bless you. Hug your kids.

Update: Aaron has been found!

29 May 2015

T-minus 13

Jim Missions, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 0

. . . 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 2015 So 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 JesÃºs MarÃa. 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!

23 April 2015

Grateful for Honesty!

Shari Prayer and Praise 1

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!) ðŸ˜€

(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! 🙂

14 April 2015

Water and Electricity (not)

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

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

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