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Ixtapaluca Project

We. have. water.

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We have water!
Yesterday I drove up to the church’s property to see a water company vehicle, a police truck, and a small group of “concerned neighbours”. Yes, it was time, again, to try to get water to the property, after over a year full of attempts.

The water company workers and the police were the constants throughout the day – the neighbours dispersed.

By the evening, this tube was running through our wall, and it had WATER in it!

Yes, we actually have real water. Not really any organized way to deal with it yet, beyond a mess of hoses, and a storage tank. But that’s a whole lot better than no water at all!

Thank you so much, all of you who have prayed for so long. God has answered our prayers.

And now – what? Maybe some electricity? Functioning bathrooms? The sky is the limit! 🙂

Water and Electricity (not)

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Some of you may have heard that we had an unexpected candlelight service on Resurrection Sunday. Or maybe I should say, candlelight-cellphone-light service.

It was going to be a sunrise service, except that we were inside the virtually windowless cement box that is our temporary sanctuary, and the night before the power went out and did not come back.

Resurrection Sunday 2015 - music team
Resurrection Sunday 2015 – music team

In the end, it turned into an especially memorable service, because we don’t usually have that much ambiance on a Sunday morning.

Now the electricity that we normally use (except when it doesn’t work) is provided due to the generosity of a neighbour. In actual fact, the property doesn’t yet have power. Before that, we used a generator.

And water? Well, we don’t have that either. We do fill up a tank so that there’s something on the property, and we use an elegant bucket-carry-and-dump method to flush the partially-functioning toilets.

As you might guess, these inconveniences do not mean we can no longer enjoy our time together worshipping God. However, they are time-consuming problems that we hope to solve, one of these days.

You could pray that we could get the water and electricity hooked up soon. It’s a matter of getting them hooked up from the city, which actually shouldn’t be too difficult – we have a lot of paperwork, legal paperwork, and after all we’ve been meeting there for – how long now? Over a year.

I’m not sure how long it takes in the country where you live, but that seems a little extreme to me.

So, we would appreciate your continued prayers that obstacles would be overcome and that we would soon have these little things that make a meeting place functional.

For more on the construction and the Ixtapaluca Project, visit the main page here.

And now, a reflection about the most important Light…

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

from John 1:4-13

Building UP!

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Building the second floor

Look up!

Here’s the building we meet in on Sunday.  But do you notice something different?  That’s right – a second floor!

After the most recent robberies of the property, we knew we had to do something drastic.  So here it is.

Actually, this was already a part of the plan, but it wasn’t what we were planning to build next.

But the plan was changed.  We’re building rooms and bathrooms up there.  The purpose of the bathrooms should be obvious.  The rooms can be used for meetings and also to house visitors.

Or – perhaps for the time being, to actually house a family.

The idea is to have someone there at night, so that no one can sneak in.  So it looks like one of our church families will be moving in, which will help them and help all of us.

Up the ladder

So the hired workers have been working madly to get the job done.

The property actually doesn’t have permanent bathrooms yet, so these will be the first.  Of course, there’s still a minor detail – we still don’t have water hooked up yet.  We’re trying, really we are.

Thanks again to all who have given to the Ixtapaluca Project.  The funds have been a huge help, especially now when the need is so urgent.  And we’re not quite done the project yet – we’ve raised about 90% so far.  If you’d like to help, visit this page.

The most important work, of course, is the people!  Please keep praying that we would be faithful to God’s calling to share His Word and His love.  There are many challenges and struggles, many of which I can’t write about here.  But our Lord is faithful, and powerful, and He holds us in His hands!

Church Property Robbed – Again.

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The Window

This is the only window leading into the building where we meet for worship services.  As you can see, the bars are pretty thick.

But if you were small … like, a child … you would be able to fit through.  It would be a bit of a drop, but with help you could do it.  And pass things out to your accomplices.

Well, looks like that’s about what happened.

I think this is the second time the property has been robbed since we came back to Mexico at the end of July, but this is the first time the building has been broken into.

Hundreds of dollars worth of things were stolen, including a video projector, the majority of our microphones and cables, including costly power cords.  Tools belonging to members of the church were also taken.  Whatever would fit through those little squares.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering – they did take the time to detach and remove the sink that was outside by our temporary bathrooms.  Yes, even the sink was stolen.

So throughout the weekend we’ve been talking about options to up the security.  None of the options are easy or inexpensive.  But we have to do something.

When we arrived at the Sunday service, I was wondering if we would stand around the room singing like the Whos in Whoville after the Grinch stole all the Christmas trimmings (Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, Was singing! Without any presents at all!).  But actually a few bits and pieces came from somewhere – even a video projector someone borrowed from work. 🙂

In fact, we weren’t talking about the robbery at all.  Everyone was talking about the Holy Spirit, and how we can better serve each other, and things like that.  Imagine!

Finally, at the very end, we did take the time to pray for the thieves.

Right on.

We would appreciate your prayers as we try to replace some of the things that were lost and try to move toward a building which is more complete and secure.  (By the way, don’t forget we’re still raising funds for the building here.  As I write we’re about 90% finished)

Just another reminder that we’re in the world.  And it’s the world we’re reaching out to.  We’re not angels reaching out to other angels the next cloud over.  But sinners reaching out to sinners.

With a God far more powerful and good than any of us.

Hear more from Rod’s perspective in Theft and Missions

Getting things started…

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We’re still trying to get an actual normal electrical line into the church building.  It’s a long story.

So someone in the church has been generously loaning a gas generator to power everything (like, way too many things).

Tonight they were trying to get some power to the building, presumably in time for the music practice.  But the generator wouldn’t start.

Ismael and the generator
I was there for prayer meeting, so I was called out to give the generator a “boost” from the van battery.  It started – but then wouldn’t start again.  So we hooked it up and boosted it again, and let it run awhile.

Then some of the men started to do some wiring and drilling inside, while we shouted prayer requests to one another over the racket. 😉

We were looking forward to having Emily play keyboard in the service tomorrow – but apparently some of the cables have disappeared, including the power cord for the keyboard itself.

So that’s a non-starter as well.

Lately it seems like it’s been hard to get anything at all started.  As another example – Julian and Malu’s vehicle.  They were supposed to be here on Tuesday, but they had a breakdown en route.  The mechanic is still waiting for the right part, which he now hopes to get on Monday… which means they might come on Tuesday… we hope!

Meanwhile there have been other unexpected projects that have drained our time, as we try to squeeze in some moments to get our visa paperwork done (renewals – Lord willing the last ones for 2.5 years!), prepare for the school year, plan upcoming ministry, and – well, you don’t want to hear all the details.

On the upside, we had a wonderful prayer meeting.  Great reminders that God can still work in spite of our stumbles, our weakness, our sickness, and our foolishness.

They’re still working on the electricity at the church.  I wonder if the generator started again after they turned it off?
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