Construction has begun!
Construction has started on the sanctuary for the church in the community of Jesús MarÃa! Check it out!
(click here to help them finish!) 🙂
ST Highlight
Big News: Church Construction Update – Sanctuary!
Many of you have been following the construction of the building for the church in Jesús MarÃa (Path of Life Bible Church) since the first brick was laid. Those of you who have donated to the project through Camino Global have also received a report twice a year.
So this is an update for all of you who have given or prayed over the last few years.
For various reasons, included waiting for permits, lacking of funds, and opposition from people who do not want to see Christians in their community, construction has been slow. It was just over two years ago that we moved onto the property for our first Sunday service.
At that point until now we have used a room that is a temporary sanctuary, because the main sanctuary has not yet been built.
Some work that has been done over the past few months:
- Sunday school rooms (also used for community centre classes) have been completed above the temporary sanctuary
- Landscaping completed at the front of the property
- Water piped onto the property, flush toilets installed
But let’s face it, we’re all tired of saying “temporary sanctuary”. Quite often it’s been filled over-capacity. And the setup really is far from ideal for services.
Soooo…. you guessed it! It’s time to actually build the sanctuary!
The view below is taken from the second level, outside the Sunday School rooms and above the temporary sanctuary. The area on the left, filled with rubble (much of it from the pigsties that were originally on the property), is where the sanctuary will stand, Lord willing (the greyed-out area is an estimate).
We have most of the funds that we need to complete it. If we can finish off the Ixtapaluca Project, we will have all the funds that we need to complete the sanctuary, complete with stage and baptistery. The project is 97% complete – for more details, feel free to contact us here.
If you would like to be a part of completing the sanctuary, now’s your chance, because it’s about to happen! Find out how you can give here.
Also, pray with us and watch this space for more progress!
A Week With The Mt Calvary Team
We just finished a crazy week with the team from Mt Calvary Church! We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t spend more time with them (one of Hannah’s school projects ended up taking over!), but we enjoyed the time we had.
Last Saturday was the soccer tournament. In spite of some trouble (again) with the permits (which apparently was not our fault), it went ahead. Here’s the winning team – from the church in Jesús MarÃa, no less! Jonathan, second from the left, did a great job sharing his testimony during the day.
On Sunday the team shared in the service, even doing a song in Spanish. In the afternoon, they led an event for the youth of the church.
On Monday we went to a local public Jr. High School, and took part in a rally. There were several hundred students – I’m not sure of the exact count. The team members joined various classes, and Hannah and Nathanael even got to join in. Shari and I helped out at a couple of the stations. The team helped in many ways, including their presentation of a skit.
On Tuesday and Wednesday there were various service project and outreaches – a youth girls and adult women event at the church (but with many people from the community who don’t attend our church), painting at a rehab centre, putting together wheelchairs, clean up and community improvements, and so on.
Thursday was a day of site-seeing and souvenir shopping downtown.
On Friday we had a big wheelchair/hearing aid event in the city of Chalco. Many people in need were given wheelchairs and hearing aids, as well as Bibles. They also heard a clear gospel presentation from Mayra Fry!
Last night there was a goodbye party for the team at the church, and this morning(?) at just before 5am we said goodbye as the team headed to the airport.
We were blessed to have Maddy and Katelyn stay in our home for the week as well!
Yes, a big week! But a good one. Thanks for your prayers!
Coming Up: Mt Calvary Church Team
I’ve been wondering how exactly I was going to cart around all these team members with a van that had … well, problems.
Yes, it’s been about a month we’ve been trying to get some things fixed. The adventures have involved visits to mechanics and parts stores, hours of driving around and walking around … I can’t believe it’s been a month.
Anyway, as of a few minutes ago, the repairs are finally done!
So we’re looking forward to the arrival of the team from Mt Calvary Church on Friday.
Some of the upcoming activities (things you can pray about!) include:
- Giving wheelchairs to people in need
- Soccer tournament outreach
- Ministry at the church
- Various other evangelistic activities
That’s all in the space of a week and a day. So thanks in advance for praying for this team!
This Week, and Sunday Prayer Request
It’s been a pretty interesting week! I won’t go into all the details, but there have been some interesting opportunities to share the gospel, and some new connections and contacts that may lead to new opportunities in the future.
We still have some van repairs to take care of – Lord willing that will happen tomorrow.
Tonight is study #8 in the Chronological Bible Study – the tabernacle and sacrifices. Learning about the sacrifices always opens my eyes anew to many important truths in the Scriptures.
Anyway, all that aside, I wanted to ask for prayer for Sunday. We’ll be going to a church about 45 minutes from here (on our side of Mexico City, so not too far). Lord willing we’ll spend the day there, hanging out with the believers and also helping out with an afternoon English class.
“a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”
(It’s not just a matter of reading it, of course. There is a handout with questions for reflection, and a PowerPoint with the verses that the author quotes from the OT, with a few other illustrations).
Hebrews is just an amazing book. I think every culture and time has Bible books that are especially relevant – although all of Scripture is relevant and needs to be taught cover-to-cover in every culture and in every age. But Hebrews is one of the books I keep coming back to over and over here in the context of modern Mexico. It keeps shining more light into my soul every time I read it and study it.
Anyway, do pray that God would especially use His Word and make it clear on Sunday. It takes almost an hour to read the whole book (apparently that’s about the normal length of a sermon in this church, so that helps!). Obviously in that time it’s easy to lose your voice, energy, or limber tongue to make the Spanish understandable. 🙂
But most of all pray that people will listen, and that the Spirit will work in our hearts.
Now – time to get ready for tonight’s study (which actually is very important to our understanding of Hebrews as well!).
“Good” and “Sovereign” – (a report on the weekend)
Isn’t it funny how, when things go the way we like, God is “good”. When things go the way we don’t like, God is “sovereign” (and sometimes “still good”).Well, God was definitely both good and sovereign this past weekend!
As you may recall, we had a team here from Palabra de Vida (Word of Life), which has a Bible institute north of Mexico City. The team was mostly Mexican, but several other countries were represented as well.
First, the team got whittled down due to sickness – the original fifteen became nine.
The next complication was that the team could not legally drive on the day they were supposed to leave (due to the laws in Mexico City to fight pollution). So special arrangements had to be made.
The team did several excellent evangelistic presentations in Santa Barbara and Jesús MarÃa. They also shared at both churches, teaching Sunday school and leading worship.
But what about Las Palmas? Well, the event was cancelled, because – well, we had “this permit” and “that permit” but we’re also supposed to have “this other permit”.
Never mind that we’ve done many events there in the past, and have never needed “this other permit”.
So, we packed up and shared the Gospel in another community instead!I’m not quite over that disappointment yet, however I am overjoyed that so many people did hear the Gospel.
On Monday the team shared with 1500 kids at a junior high in Las Palmas. As you might remember, they had to do it all in small groups, because the students aren’t allowed to meet outside right now, because the pollution level is too high!
But still, they had a good impact on the school.
Isn’t it a great temptation to look back, and say “if only…” or “we should have…” — ? And yet God’s goodness and sovereignty are not different, they’re the same. I was reminded of this recently by the song “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”. Check it out —
- God Moves in a Mysterious Way – devotional thoughts on the hymn
- God Moves in a Mysterious Way – full lyrics from the Cyber Hymnal