Prayer and Praise
The BIG Weekend is Coming! (video)
(Note: I actually recorded this on the 7th of June 2011, but am posting it a day later)
Our Sunday
I just wanted to stop by to thank those of you who prayed for our activities today. Thanks! 🙂
Believe it or not, we all made it to the service today. I led the service and the singing, which was fun for me (perhaps a little painful for everyone else…).
After the service, Shari was able to have her meeting with the Sunday School teachers, and then she went home and crashed.
We loaded up the instruments and sound system and took them back to the house (David’s house, home base…).
Then we had some time to meet with the people who want to be baptized.
I must say, it was the highlight of my day to sit with these people and here what Jesus has done for them. WOW. What else can I say – WOW. Really, you should have been there.
Yes, God is working in Jesús María! Thanks to so many of you who are a part of it!
Now, I’m beyond tired, as is everyone else, so we’re going to try to survive the evening and get the kids to bed.
But I just wanted to stop by and say thank you while I still had the energy to do so! 🙂
Want to Pray for Sunday?
If you would be interested in praying for our activities tomorrow, we would appreciate it!
Here’s the deal. For the last 7 days we’ve gotten sick. Hannah, then Nathanael (a little, not much), then Jim, Hannah still, then Shari… nothing serious or lasting (I hope), and Hannah and Shari were at the doctor today, Nathanael’s fine, and Hannah’s almost better. And I’m … well, Shari and I are pretty sick still. (It’s not just us, by the way. A lot of people here have been struggling lately) But we’ll be better soon.
However, tomorrow is sooner than soon. 😉
Tomorrow I’m leading a special adoration service. We’re going to be doing something quite different – and learning lots of new songs – which means I’ll be talking or singing the majority of the time. It should be fun… but I hope my voice holds out!
After the service I’ll be helping to lead studies for those who are being baptized. These are very important times – please pray that José and I would have the words to say.
Shari (if she’s well enough to go!) will be leading a special time for the teachers and helpers of Sunday School, to help them in their upcoming lessons, and also to discuss some other children’s ministry stuff. This will probably be the last meeting she has with them before we leave for a while.
So – yes! Pray that people’s eyes will be on the Lord, that we will show His Spirit, and that we will survive the day. 🙂
And that we would be feeling better quick because next weekend…. —– well, we’ll talk about that later.
Which Church Are We Going To?!
Rare and beautiful in this part of the world – two local congregations meeting together to worship God!
That’s what we did today, as two churches in Ixtapaluca met together. Why so rare?
You have to think of Mexico City as a small country. There may be quite a few churches in the whole "country", but compared to the population there are hardly any at all. Then you have traffic, which separated people more than space would in a larger country. Then on top of that you have people that can’t afford to drive or take public transportation more than absolutely necessary. Suddenly, the distance from one small church to another small church is insurmountable.
So we have a dream. What if there were a group of churches close enough that they could actually worship together once in a while? What if they could share resources? Help one another?
Days like this are a glimpse of that dream. What an encouragement!
29 May 2011 – Joint Service… click for a bigger version of the photo
These photos (two stuck together), taken near the beginning of the service, show Rod welcoming visitors. There was one after another after another… new people getting connected with believers here in Ixtapaluca.
Of course there wasn’t room for all of us in the room we’re renting, so we set up a tent in front of the community centre. We’re kind of a nomadic church – Nathanael always asks,"Which church are we going to?" … not because we meet with different people every week, but because we meet with the same people in different places! 🙂
All went well, although when I was sitting at the keyboard in the front, all of a sudden my feet got sprayed. I guess someone was watering the grass behind the tent. Do things like that happen at your church?
There are still some local businesses right there, so one man was selling snacks and someone else was filling water jugs during the sermon. That was a little noisy, but I still enjoyed the message on Mark 8 from our friend Samuel.
Afterwards, some great food!
Yes, a rare and beautiful thing. And next time the two churches are together – we’ll be baptizing new believers!
The Last Doctor (for now)
Yesterday I drove into Mexico City to see a specialist again. For those of you who don’t know the history, I was having some health issues back in… oh, February or March, I believe… and so this sparked off a whole bunch of tests and specialists and all sorts of things.
No, I don’t like to give a lot of health specifics online. But the end of the story is this. I have a theory that one (or more) of the medications I was taking for migraine caused my system to go out of whack. I haven’t been taking any preventative medication since before then, and things are more or less back to normal.
Though pretty much every test showed me to be in excellent health (however I may feel!), there is one number that is slightly off. No problem, it just means we’ll watch it over the next few months to make sure it settles down again.
So, in the end…
- I’m thankful to be done all these time-consuming/money consuming tests and appointments (for now)!!
- I’m in good health (at least, as far as the tests are concerned).
- I feel a lot better than I did earlier in the year.
So thanks for your prayers! Obviously, due to migraine I still don’t feel great, but I’m greatly improved in other ways, and the good news is I don’t seem to be in any danger from any other condition.
Between Shari, Nathanael, and I, December/January/February was unbelievable. We’re thankful to have survived all the health issues, and to be past them!