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5 Years of Memories at Sendero de Vida JM (PICTURES!)

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Yesterday we celebrated our five year anniversary as a church in Jesús María. Before (and actually during) the service, I gathered photos from the last five years, mostly ones that I took along with photos from Shari, Tina, and Rod. We played the PowerPoint after the service, while we enjoyed chicken and mole. 🙂

And yes, the presentation includes photos all the way from the very first service we had in 2010 to yesterday’s service, all in (more or less!) chronological order.

So if you want to see what the past five years looked like, feel free to watch! It’s probably more for those who actually know a lot of the people – it’s over seventeen minutes, and, if I remember correctly, about three or four hundred photos!

Plus you’ll have to play your own music in the background – there’s no sound.

But for those of us who really have an interest, it is amazing to see what has happened and who has been a part of the history of the church – Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Jesús María (Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María). So go ahead, crank up your music and watch – go full screen for a better view – and praise the Lord with us!

Adoration Services

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Once a month at the local church in Jesús María, we have a special service that we call an “Adoration Service”. Well, except we say it in Spanish.

Sometimes the sermon is a little shorter – or longer – or there is no sermon. We have a communion service. Maybe some extra songs. Maybe some testimonies. It’s basically an opportunity to do things a little differently. And the entire church is together – all ages.

So this year the adoration services were assigned to me – leading the service, and preaching.

Now although we’re studying the Gospel of John this year in our regular services, the adoration service is not part of the series. Which means I can make the theme whatever I want (within reason… until someone gets mad and tells me to shape up!).

I was thinking this through while I was also thinking about what to do for a Sunday school series I’ll be doing later in the year. So I finally decided to do a series of themes from the Bible that would be especially relevant to the church here. Topical, that is – not focused on a specific passage, which is what we usually do (and which I usually prefer).Adoration Service

So last month we went through what the Bible has to say about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – dividing the service into three parts, of course.

This Sunday our theme will be “What is God like?” – hopefully a very different service from the last one. If I can get it all ready in time. 🙂

I would appreciate your prayers for this service – and for the first service of every month (which is when we have our adoration service). It’s a bit of a challenge to put together something that everyone will enjoy – and that will truly point everyone to the Lord.

I have something really special planned for the first Sunday in April – Resurrection Sunday (which will probably be a sunrise service – will anyone be awake enough to enjoy it? It’s also the Sunday of the time change – will half the church be an hour late?).

Anyway, I’d better run. We have a special outing today with friends – service prep will have to wait until tomorrow! That’s Saturday, right?

Encouraging Moments at the Community Centre

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Sometimes you’re encouraged, sometimes you’re discouraged. But there are some interesting things happening at the new community centre, so I thought I’d share a little encouraging news.

Some of the classes have been well attended – some not. This Tuesday my keyboard class was one of the not-well-attended ones, and I thought I’d be packing up early because there were no students.

Then a few junior high boys stopped by. One of them asked me if playing the keyboard was anything like playing the melodica.

I didn’t even know what that was – and in case you don’t, here’s a picture.

melodica
Photo courtesy of Sarah Joy
That’s a melodica in the case. You take it out, attach the mouthpiece and blow through the tube, and then play the keyboard. It’s a “free reed” instrument, similar to an accordion. It’s light-weight and small.

And it’s used in the schools here for music education! Which means there are hundreds of junior highers who are already becoming familiar with the keyboard.

So this guy came back and showed me his melodica. And I asked if he wanted to take a keyboard class. And he did.

Because he was already familiar with the keyboard concept, I taught him some chords – 96 chords in all. And it was a blast to see his eyes light up as he realized how many chords he had learned in only a few minutes. And I flipped through a music book and showed him – “Look, now you know all the chords for this song. And this song. And this song. And…”

I guess I gotta get me a melodica to add to my class.

Shari has been handing out cookies – a “demonstration” of her upcoming baking class. Well, the class was today, and four women came! A great improvement from zero last time.

Baking Valentine's Day CookiesAnd Shari too was reminded of the joys of teaching something new. When you’ve never baked before, and you realize that yes, you can bake cookies – WOW! 😉

So Shari really enjoyed her time at the class today. Teresa helped out too, but escaped from the camera lens.

Speaking of Teresa, she apparently had a good time in her English class today. Shari said that the students seem to really like her. Teresa is getting a lot of English teaching in, and she’s making friends and connections which I’m sure will yield fruit in the future!

And activities continue with Tina, and Rod and Mayra Fry as well. Lots going on!

Yes, there has been plenty to be discouraged about. But God is working, and it’s gracious of Him to give us some encouragement along the way.Chocolate Face

Reminds me of the verses we memorized in Sunday School a while ago. We were talking about how the Spirit is Someone who goes with us on the journey, encouraging and exhorting us.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philipians 2:1-2)

So how are the classes going?

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The classes at the community centre at Las Palmas are going quite well. There have been about 33 scheduled classes so far this year. They average a handful of students, with people dropping by all the time to ask questions and get the schedule.

Keyboard class - February 2015I had two enthusiastic students at my keyboard class this past week, where we worked on two Mexican classics РLas Ma̱anitas (a song typically sung for birthdays), and Mexico Lindo y Querido.

English classes, country dance, guitar classes, and craft classes are also in full swing.

Last night Shari dropped by with some home-made cookies – a little preview of what’s going to be happening at the baking class next week. The recipe is, I believe, galletas flores de cacahuate. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what that may be!

Later this month some of our team members will be starting up a kids’ club and Bible study in another area of Las Palmas.

Classes also continue at the other community centre in Jesús María, with a few at other locations as well.

Please keep praying as we network within the community and try to provide quality, useful classes, while at the same time sharing the love and truth of God.

Real Life

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We’ve definitely been experiencing real life lately! Sometimes we wish we weren’t! 🙂 I guess it depends on how you define it.

Pozole with TeresaLast week we picked up Teresa from the airport, and have been enjoying our time with her. Here’s one of the many times when we’ve enjoyed Mexican food together – our first stop was for pozole, a wonderful hearty soup.

We also spent some time doing a little site-seeing and introducing Teresa to Mexican culture – and, as always, learning more ourselves!

I’ve enjoyed some great opportunities to talk about “real life” with people lately. For example, last week Teresa was a help at the last minute – staying with Hannah and Nathanael while Shari and I went to a wake. The mother of one of our friends passed away, and I was asked to speak to the friends and family who were gathered.

In case you’re wondering, I talked about 1Corinthians 15:55-58. Death is bad – which is why we need victory over it. And that victory comes only to believers in the Saviour, Jesus Christ. For us, the good we do can live into eternity. Real life.

Speaking of doing good, Jessica was out at the community centre in Jesús María tonight, teaching a painting class to over 20 eager students, including Hannah. They were painting our local iconic volcanoes. Looks like it was a lot of fun!

Painting class with Jessica

We’re also working frantically on some home school issues – we appreciate your prayers as we try to find solutions to various issues. And I’m looking forward to leading a special service on Sunday, all about … well, I won’t spoil the surprise.

Mobilizing and Starting Classes!

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This morning Rod and I get together with various Christian leaders from the area to hear some presentations about “mobilizing” Mexican missionaries. It was a good chance to meet some people and chat with some people. We talked about bringing some missions training to churches, about Bible translation, leadership training, Islam in Latin America, and so on.

Yesterday at our morning service I shared a little about nineteen unreached people groups here in Mexico, many thousands of whom live quite close to where we are. It was interesting because we learned about some of the same groups today, such as one people group of more than sixty thousand people, no believers among them that I know of, who have only the New Testament in their language. Many other groups in Mexico only have a few portions of the Bible.Coming Soon!

This afternoon our new semester of community centre classes started, including the very first class in the new building in Las Palmas! English class and painting class (they’re painting cacti) were the order of the day. I believe there was some soccer going on too. Quite a few students. Exciting!

Lots more coming up this week, including for us a baking class on Thursday and a keyboard class tomorrow.

Painting class - January 2015

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