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A Blank Canvas

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It has been a particularly busy teaching time lately, for a couple of reasons.

First, our preachers have been taking turns helping out with the preaching at the church in Jesús María.

Plant at church
A plant growing where our church currently meets. Ain’t it cute?

But second, since we finished our church doctrine series in Sunday school, we’ve been picking our own themes, at least until the end of the year. Plus we’ve gone back to doing special themes on the first Sunday of the month.

Having a “blank canvas” when it comes to preaching is a huge amount of work! Sometimes you can pull up something you’ve done before, but I don’t actually have a huge number of one-off lessons to teach.

I did pull out one lesson that actually was the first lesson I ever taught in front of a church – that would be at Grace Church in Newmarket – “Principles of the Changed Life”.

This past Sunday the sermon was “Christmas Traditions in the Light of the Bible”. I asked people what Christmas traditions they wanted to talk about, and away we went! Not an easy topic, for sure. But not a dull study. At least, for me!

But that’s not the only blank canvas we have right now. We’re still looking for a house to rent, but also we’re looking for a temporary/permanent place for the church to meet. The place we’re at is increasingly unsuitable and we need to find a place. So I was out taking pictures of a possible place today, and we visited another place last week.

A blank canvas can be exciting, and a whole lot of work! But we’re also getting ready to celebrate our 8th anniversary as a church. And that’s a reminder – that what started as a blank slate can end up as an amazing work of a faithful God! So we’re thankful that we need a place to meet – and a big one at that!

Quick Update – October 2024

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We returned from a quick trip to Canada four weeks ago, and we hit the ground running. The first day back in town we were already off to view a possible house to rent. And … spoiler … no news on that yet. We were scheduled to view a house yesterday, and had planned to go early to be the first ones there – but even that was not in time. It was rented before we left to see it. So – we stayed home and I packed another box of stuff. 🙂

But enough about all that! Life goes on with all the regular and irregular activities. We’re getting ready for the church’s 8th anniversary service, if you can believe that. That special event will be coming up in November. And in the meantime, we’re looking for another place to meet for the church – both temporary and permanent. As you might guess, so far availability of places seems to be low, and prices high. But hopefully we will at least find a temporary place to meet, while we look for / make a decision on a more permanent place to renovate / build.

There are lots of other things going on. After finishing up our series on the doctrine/values of the church, we’re doing some special themes in Sunday school, which has been interesting. I’ve done a couple so far, and I’m planning for another one or two. We’re also doing some special themes on the first Sunday of each month, so I’m preparing to share on the traditions of Christmas in the light of Scripture. As you might guess, it’s a whole different world here in Mexico – at least, in some ways. I’ve asked people at the church to give me some ideas of what topics they would like covered, so that should be interesting!

We recently finished preaching through the book of Zechariah, and we’re moving through 1 Corinthians now. Both challenging books, for sure! But the powerful Word of God is working!

We enjoyed a visit from Tim and Brianna last week, a couple from the USA who are planning to come and serve the Lord here in Mexico. It was great to hear their perspective and also to get together with some of our Mexican friends here to hear their perspective on ministry in Mexico. There’s a lot of work to do here! But praise the Lord that He is raising up workers.

We also had a chance to see another couple from our mission, Roger and Judy, who were down for a visit.

The institute classes are continuing, and I’m looking forward to teaching one of those. And we continue to have opportunities as a church to share the gospel at a local hospital, along with hot coffee and sandwiches. 🙂

There’s a quick update on some of the things that have been going on! I will try to communicate again soon. Since I’ve been so lazy in taking pictures and video, I will at least share this picture of Tajín ice creams. You might be able to buy Tajín where you live – it’s a salty spicy Mexican seasoning. Which, apparently, also comes in ice cream.

Vacation Bible School 2024 (video)

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Thanks to so many of you who were praying for our Vacation Bible School at the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas last week! The final total – 50 kids registered (a very good number for us). Many of the parents also came and heard the gospel!

Here are a whole bunch of rather random video clips. The short-term team was from Mount Joy Church of God in the USA, and they were a huge help!

There was so much going on, as you’ll see, that it was impossible to catch everything. But hopefully this will give you an idea of the atmosphere! And even if you don’t speak Spanish, you should be able to see that the Word of God was poured into these kids all week. Even in the more active moments, they were being challenged to remember parts of the lesson of the day. I can’t count the number of times the gospel was shared.

I’m not sure there was anyone in our church was not involved in some way. Our coworkers Rod and Mayra have been mostly working at another church for the last little while, but Mayra still found the time to oversee everything, organizing groups from two countries and still being involved “on the ground” everywhere you looked. Rod was also involved behind the scenes, and even on “stage” on the last day, sharing God’s Word with kids and their parents. Even some people who had to work were there before and after each day’s activities to set up and take down (remember, although there was a tent, we were outside, and so most things were stored each night and set up in the morning).

You’ll see a lot of our friend David, a resident missionary from Mexico City, who was the “Captain” who gave the main lesson each day.

The clips are basically in chronological order, starting with some of the last-minute preparations and ending with clean-up. So you’ll probably get an idea how the week progressed as well (perhaps a tad bit more chaotic as time went by?). Another thing you’ll notice is that the entire event took place in one small space (the place we meet at on Sunday mornings). It’s amazing what the organizers accomplished in a few metres of area!

Remember to keep praying for the people you see here – both our church and those who were our guests!

Beaches and Boxes

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No, we’re not going to the beach. But the beach is coming to us!

Stage for the VBS

Tomorrow we’re starting our vacation Bible school (VBS) at the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas. Yesterday people of the church were scurrying around putting up last-minute decorations and getting in a little last-minute music practice. This involved shipbuilding, arboriculture, aviculture and mariculture – that is, creating an activity station that looked like a big boat, completing the creation of palm trees, and putting up birds and sea creatures. There’s sand and sun and – well, it looks like it’s going to be a fun week!

boat, trees, and more!

Shari has been working hard on activities to help the kids memorize their Bible verses – activities that also involve sand and sea creatures!

There’s also a team coming from the USA to help us out – they arrive today.

Testing out a "sandbox".
Sand testers

So the VBS will be four days long – Tuesday to Friday. Parents are invited to join right in. The focus is on the Lord Jesus and His Truth as the solid rock in a world of shifting sand.

In the middle of all the preparations for the VBS, we’ve been packing – hence the boxes! We’re preparing to move, although we still haven’t found a house to move to. We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to look! But meanwhile we’re getting things organized and labelled and ready to go wherever they’re going. It’s a lot of work after we’ve been settled for so many years!

Please do be in prayer for the many teachers who will be sharing with the kids this week! We’re so thankful for a church that has been so involved in every aspect of this week’s activities!

Vows Renewed

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This past Sunday, our friends Viri and Oscar renewed their marriage vows during the service.

Exchanging rings - again...


It’s been 5 years since their wedding! And there is now a third person in the family – their son Josué. 🙂

Shari and I had the priviledge to lead a time of worship (along with the rest of the music team), and we had the same songs that we led five years ago. As I shared on Sunday – this was our normal Sunday service, but not so normal! Normal because even at their wedding, Oscar and Viri wanted to sing worship songs, and hear God’s Word preached, and so as they renewed their vows we did it again at our normal worship service.

They exchanged rings – again – a ring or two may possibly have gone missing over those five years, so this was important. Some of the same symbols were presented, typical of a Mexican wedding. The Gospel was preached. And Oscar and Viri threw a party for everyone afterwards!

Renewal of Vows Cake?


But essentially it was a time to celebrate God’s faithfulness in their lives, and to talk again about the importance of the covenant of marriage.

And a good time was had by all!

Please continue to pray for these and so many other families in our church. The days are evil, but God is great.

Following God’s Will in Mexico

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So last month a relative (we’re still not sure which one, but that’s another story!) asked us a question for a school assignment:

How are you following God’s will in Mexico?

That’s a good question. Of course, we still have a long way to go – we often fail. But what exactly are we aiming for?

So this is how I answered:

The Lord Jesus left us with these instructions:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

The Lord asks His Church to reach out to other nations, sharing the good news of “repentance and forgiveness of sins . . . in His name” (Luke 24:47) from the Bible (Luke 24:44-48). So we invite everyone to come to Jesus for forgiveness, baptizing those who put their trust in Him (Acts 2:41) (we just saw nine people baptized earlier this month!) and going on to teach them Jesus’ commands – that is, helping them learn to be His disciples/followers/imitators.

We do this in many different ways, but that’s basically how we’re following God’s will in Mexico.

How would you answer? How are you following God’s will in _________________?

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