It’s hard to believe that we’ve already had three Sundays in our new (rented) hall back in the neighbourhood of Las Palmas. There’s still a lot to do. We have some significant leaks that need to be worked on. There’s more painting to do, curtains to make – well, ok, it’s a long list!
But I at least wanted to share a few pictures to prove that we are actually there!!
For example, although we’re hoping to get a bigger sign up on the wall, we do have a sign up on our door (right).
On the first Sunday, I shared some pictures of the “pilgrimages” of our church – 6 or 7 places where we’ve worshipped, depending on how you count, including this place…
We have an actual Sunday school room… the first time we’ve had an actual room, now that I think about it…
We took some time on the first Sunday to celebrate those who have been in our children’s Sunday school class in the past…
We had our first youth group there on Saturday, and even celebrated some birthdays (although not all the people with birthdays showed up – more cake for everyone else!):
And yesterday we celebrated Mexico’s Independence a few days early with our first potluck back in Las Palmas!
We’re very thankful for this new space that we can use!
In spite of the fact that our church is called the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas (Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Las Palmas), since March of 2020 we actually haven’t been in the community of Las Palmas. But – we’re about to return.
Ezequiel and I went to look at one of the local properties for sale a while ago, and unfortunately it just wasn’t going to work for the church. So we do appreciate your continued prayers about that.
However, David and Ezequiel were able to check out a place to rent. We’ve been renting a party hall each Sunday morning. But for slightly less money overall per month, we now have a place 24/7. That’s a huge blessing, because we’ve been moving a lot of equipment every single Sunday! Plus, we now have a place for other activities if we choose to do something during the week.
Last Saturday a bunch of us from the church got together to clean and fix and paint the place that we’re now renting. There’s always more to be done, but I think it’s just about ready to go.
The next step will be, of course, to see how it all works in real life! This past Sunday we practised setting up the chairs, but this coming Sunday will be the real test when we have an actual service.
As I was looking back over the past (almost) 9 years of the church, I realized that this will actually be the very first time that we’ve rented our very own place. So that is a great blessing! Plus, we have separate rooms which we can use for things like Sunday school.
I’ve been thinking back to all the times we spent praying for that community. God has chosen to spread our reach further and to other places, but maybe He has further plans for Las Palmas itself!
Whatever the case, may God use this new place for His glory!
This past Sunday we enjoyed a special baptism service, joining our sister church in the community of Jesús María. We praise the Lord for the testimonies of each of these believers!
Yes, there are some exciting things coming up! If you would be willing to join us in prayer, we would appreciate it!
* See below for info
First, coming up on Sunday – a baptismal service! We will be joining the Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María for a worship service – and for the convenience of a place with a baptismal tank. 🙂
Please pray for those who will be following the Lord in baptism, and for their families, some of whom may not yet know the Saviour.
Then on the following Saturday, we will be joining another church – Mount Horeb Bible Church, in the nearby municipality of Iztapalapa. Next week they’re having a VBS, and they will be inviting the family and friends of the kids to a closing program on the last day.
And that’s where we come in! A friend from our church wrote a little play based on the VBS themes, and we’ll be performing that. Another friend will give a evangelistic presentation. We’ll be playing some music. And then we’ll help with the food, and Lord willing have time to talk to people one-on-one. Please pray that we would be clear and wise as we share!
It’s been great to see so many of the people of the church jumping in to get involved in these events! Praise the Lord!
Looking ahead, I’m preparing for some important teaching times in early August. So there’s lots coming up!
Thanks for your prayers!
* Oh, in case you’re wondering – the picture is the title page of our play. It says “Iztapalapa Event” (obviously – you probably figured that out already), “Stage Play”, and then “2nd Proposal”, because she actually had two versions. The play has the main character hearing testimonies from the Bible characters that the kids learned about during the week.
Shari took this wonderful photo of a little visitor we’ve had in our yard lately. I told her that if she was going to talk to him, she would have to give him a name. I suggest Herbert.
That has nothing in particular to do with this post, except that you may be wondering why I haven’t been posting much. In a way, I suppose, it’s the usual excuse – an extra busy time, for a number of reasons!
Sometimes things move along quickly – more often progress seems slow. But God continues to work!
Recently I enjoyed teaching Sunday school. We’ve been doing some random themes in Sunday school – things that we think are needed, or things people ask for. This was one of the latter – a series of two classes on Bible translations.
I’ve taught the “Where did the Bible Come From?” seminar in this church, though it’s already been a few years. So I designed these classes as a bit of an extension on the teaching about Bible versions.
We laid some of the theological foundations in the first class. And then talked about some specifics in the second class. We talked specifically about how manuscripts are used to translate, and then issues of translation itself – translating at different levels, more literal or more of a paraphrase, and so on.
In Spanish, and in English too, actually, there have been more translations in recent years that are put out by certain sects that are less an attempt to be faithful to the original, and more of an attempt to fit a certain theology or certain ideology. Some of these have been around a long time, but there are others that are more recent. I think it’s more of an issue than it used to be when I first started teaching on this topic.
That was last Sunday – and actually, that will be our last adult Sunday school class for a while. We’re anxious to prioritize and put our energy into what’s most needed and most effective. So we’re going to be looking at some special training for certain groups in the church. We’ll see how that goes.
Although adult Sunday school is taking a haitus, children’s Sunday school is continuing! Shari is going to be involved a little more again with teaching the kids, which includes lessons and things like activities and verse memorization. They’re learning about the life of Jesus right now.
We ended our classes on Bible versions with this little text from Colossians, which reminds us of our responsibility when it comes to the Bible:
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
As many of you know, for the last few years we have had institute classes – that is, Bible college level classes open to students from three or four churches in the area.
Starting in August, and running (roughly) every two weeks, we were doing a course on the basic Christian life, including topics such as:
Prayer
Temptation
Spiritual Warfare
Suffering
Authority
God’s Will
Money
Use of Time
And much more! The challenge for the teachers was that we often had to cover two, three, or even four topics in one week – and not easy topics, as you can see!
For the last class this past Saturday, our original teachers, John and Frank, came down from Texas to teach and hand out the diplomas.
For the last two classes, we focused on the return of Christ – a wonderful theme to end with, after struggling through so many topics related to obedience to the Lord. We are reminded, once again, to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
John was showing us an object lesson at the end, intended to show how the Holy Spirit works through our imperfect human efforts. The experiment actually didn’t show anything – something went wrong, as sometimes happens! But it reminded me that there is so much that we don’t see in this life. God is going to do amazing things – and is doing amazing things through His Word and His Spirit – someday we will see a much bigger picture of the great things He has done!
Another class is being planned – after we take a break!
