Yesterday we enjoyed a brief Bible study (and a little party! – because it’s our last study for a while) with some friends in Las Palmas. We talked about Romans 12:1-2 (cool passage – I know it’s a familiar one, but always worth another look), and some other interesting topics. 🙂
We are excited to announce that Matheus da Silva, who served with us regularly in 2016/2017, will be joining our team here in Ixtapaluca!
Matheus is a Brazilian who lives in Portugal. He came to school at Word of Life Mexico, and part of his education included his weekend trips with several other interns to serve in Las Palmas.
Matheus will be crossing the ocean again to join us on a full time basis – basically as an intern for a year.
We very much appreciated Matheus when he was here last. He and the other interns who came played a key role in the beginning of the new church in Las Palmas. He has been serving in Portugal since then, in his local church and also in Word of Life Portugal.
Lord willing, Matheus will be coming through Camino Global and FAMEX (a Mexican mission agency associated with Camino), and we hope to see him in Ixtapaluca before the end of the summer. Rod has been working hard at navigating that paperwork and general bureaucracy involved in getting Matheus from here to there.
Please pray for Matheus, that God would prepare his heart for the ministry ahead. Also pray that the funds he needs would come in quickly, and that God would raise up more people to commit to pray for him during his time here.
If you’re interested in supporting Matheus through prayer or financially, please contact us.
There’s an interesting family connection between the Frys and Matheus – you can read about that, plus see some more pictures and videos, right here. (By the way, yes, this post has the same title as Rod’s. I wanted to go with something else – but frankly, this is just plain exciting news!)
Just because we won’t be in Mexico this summer, doesn’t mean we can’t be involved in what’s going on. And so can you – through prayer!
Well, it’s going to be a fun summer. The first team arrives on the 8th of June, and the last team leaves at the end of July. Our friend Samuel (and elder at the church in Jesús MarÃa) came up with a logo for the summer teams:
The church in Las Palmas will be working together with a team from Pennsylvania (Hope Community Church) to put on a VBS during the fourth week of July. Please pray that this international cooperation will reach a lot of the kids in the community!
The youth of our church are also raising money to go to a summer camp put on by Word of Life Mexico. The theme will be … er … how would you translate that? I guess you could say, Get Passionate! Although in English that sounds a little too passionate for a summer camp! 🙂 Looks like it’s a soccer theme – can’t imagine why.
Oh! And how about this tempting looking baking class, which will take place in the community centre in Jesús MarÃa with the help of one of the teams.
Of course, this is all on top of the regular activities and ministry going on. That includes a series on the book of Philippians on Sunday mornings – sorry to miss that! And a continuing series in Sunday school on the heroes of the faith in the Bible.
It all sounds like fun, but remember – it’s all with a purpose! To serve the community, and most of all to share God’s Word! So pray for the events of the summer, and all the many many who will be involved!
I’ve been slow to report on recent ministry, because it’s just so crazy around here right now! May is traditionally our busiest month, and this year is no exception.
The team also participated in our morning service, teaching Sunday school and sharing from God’s Word in the service.
We had more visitors last weekend, from a church in California, who came to see what all the excitement is about here. 🙂
We have a busy weekend coming up, where all four of us will be serving during the morning service – fun fun fun! AND, it’s “birthday month”, so there are some parties coming up.
If you want to hear more about the Word of Life team, check out Rod’s blog – he has a video there if you can view it in your area: Word of Life/Palabra de Vida Mexico for Kids Day 2018 (video)
We send our a quarterly newsletter, called “Notes from the Cottrills”.
Do you receive it? Great! If you’re in doubt whether or not we have your current address, be sure to let us know. We’re getting a special letter ready for you now!
By the way, if you are wondering if we have your address, just check if you received our last letter. It would have been around the beginning of February, and it featured art by Hannah. The theme was the love of God, and it contained news about earthquake relief, our upcoming time in Canada, health issues, and other ministry updates.
If you don’t receive our newsletter, you can! Just go here to sign up.
Now this is a little confusing, but everyone who receives our newsletter is a part of our “Support Team”. (Confusing because some people equate “support” with money, but we use it in a broader sense. Maybe I should change the name to something catchier. Or maybe we should keep bucking the trend.) Those on the team are considered special partners with the ministry.
So everyone on our Support Team receives our newsletter. If they like, they can also receive our “email update”, which is sent out a little more frequently, sometimes in the case of an urgent prayer request. About 40% of those who receive our newsletter also receive our email update.
About once a year, we send out a paper newsletter to everyone (even those who usually receive the newsletter by email). This allows us to share more private news that we don’t put online, or include special goodies. 🙂
So if you’d like to be a part of the team, go here!
Here it is!
In case you can’t read it, it says…
Come and celebrate Children’s Day with us!
When? 4pm, Sunday the 24th of April
Where? Party hall “The Happy Corner”, Palmas 1, beside High School #161.
You’ll have fun. There will be games and much more!
Don’t miss it! It’s completely free!
Does that sound great, or what??
This is just one of the activities will be taking place in three different communities this week, with a team from Word of Life Mexico! I’m not sure I have all the terms right, but I think this is part of their ministry called “Fusion Zone”.
I think they’re doing a presentation called “The Great Escape”, but we’ll learn more in a few days.
The team will also be helping out at our service on Sunday, with the kids. Someone from the team will also be sharing God’s Word with the adults.
The fun starts at the first event – 7pm on Friday – and continues until the above event is over.