Art was a big theme this year, thanks to some tutoring from one of Tina’s friends. Many people produced works of art. Here are some of the campers hard at work:
And here are the artists at the end of the week (I’ll probably try to post hi-res versions of these photos in our photo gallery one day soon):
It was also cool to pray especially for Hannah, as she prepares to leave Mexico for school in Canada this coming year.
As most of you know by now, last Sunday was a very special service! It was the 8th anniversary of the Path of Life Bible Church in the community of Jesús MarÃa. But it was also a joint service – between the church in Jesús MarÃa and the new church in Las Palmas.
12 people were baptized on Sunday, from both churches. This was the first baptism service for the Las Palmas church (although some people in the church had been baptized before we officially started meeting.
Nathanael was the 12th disciple to be baptized. 🙂
I made up this video – about 4 minutes – to share with you, and also to show this morning to those who missed the service. It’s in Spanish, of course, so I’ll explain briefly.
This took place in the new baptismal tank in the new sanctuary in the church, so you can see the progress that has been made.
At the beginning, Pastor Ismael explained the theme – the unity of all believers. So you’ll see that. He shares a verse – you might be able to figure out what it is!
I would have posted more from the service, but so much was music-based, and YouTube gets skittish about that kind of thing because of copyright issues.
But there was congregational singing, there was a special women’s choir, participation from kids and youth, and Rod preached.
Afterwards, Ismael explains a bit about baptism, and then the baptisms begin!
It’s hard to get a picture, though I tried — but basically most people crowded around the stage to watch, with a few actually on the stage – those are the ones you will mostly see toward the end.
These are 12 people to pray for – and people that many of you have been praying for! Enjoy!
Congratulations to the 12 people from 2 churches who were baptized today! Seven were from the church plant in Las Palmas. I’ll try to get some photos and video online in a week or so. Exciting day!!
And… special congratulations to Nathanael, who was baptized today! 🙂
Here are a few clips that I’ve thrown together of the service on Sunday. Due to copyright restrictions on YouTube, I haven’t included any of the music, but there are at least a few pictures at the end.
Anyway, it will give you a bit of an idea of who was there and what we did! Also, if you want to see more pictures, check out our photo gallery.
I haven’t written much lately because – well – we’ve been pretty busy! It’s one of those seasons when things are hitting us from every angle. Not all big things, but lots of things.
So, you want to hear about the floods. While I was at the meetings in Texas, there was a big storm – rain, hail – here in Ixtapaluca. My family sent some pictures and video of the storm, but that was before they realized – it wasn’t just outside.
At the back of our house is our “servicio”, with the hot water tank, a place to scrub/hang clothes, our gas tanks, etc. Well, the drain backed up, and sewage water began to spew in. No one noticed until it started to come through the back wall into the house.
So this led to an afternoon of bailing, mopping, moving things out of the way – thanks to Shari, Hannah and Nathanael. A few things were wrecked, but nothing of much value thankfully.
From what I heard, Nathanael did a great job, bailing water out for two hours, so it didn’t flood the house worse!
Shari used a whole bunch of towels to mop up the filthy water. She washed them, and tried to dry them. But no heat was coming into the dryer.
That’s right, with all the extra laundry (including laundry from our travels, eventually), the dryer stopped working.
In spite of calling the repair person, no one came until this past Friday. So our dryer is out getting a very expensive repair done.
Speaking of Friday, as I was getting breakfast I noticed water on the floor (clean water, this time!). Our water jug dispenser thing was leaking. All through drawers and cupboards, leading to a drying cleaning frenzy in the kitchen which we finally finished today.
I think it was Shari who mentioned – we’ve had earthquakes, floods… what’s next, fire? So this past Monday was when the fire truck arrived. Don’t worry, this isn’t anything serious. But we smelled a whole lot of gas outside, and so did our neighbours. It was coming from around our house – across the street?
Well, with firemen and police on our street, it was discovered that someone had washed out a gas tank, and the water – with the gas in it – had poured across the road in front of our house and down the sewer. Apparently not resulting in a danger of fire, but just a lot of fumes.
But enough of that. These are not really the things I’m thinking about that we’re dealing with. It’s more a bunch of things coming up – but this will get too long if I keep writing!
Let’s just say we have a busy week ahead! But we are looking forward to the 5th of November – our first anniversary as a church! More on that later.