Touch of the Master

We are each endowed with amazing gifts and giftedness by our Creator.  Many of these are perfected with time.  As I watched my daughter wrestle with an art project that she has to turn in this week, I thought to myself, “You could give me months on this project and I wouldn’t come close to what you’ve accomplished in just a few hours.”  She helped us paint our set for Christmas and did a wonderful job.  Kiana, you’re one of a kind!

Growing a New Team

As our music classes opened the door last year for many to learn a new instrument, it was also an opportunity to serve in the church.  So this Sunday, we invited several of our musicians to play during the service to accompany the worship team and the congregation.  May of them were kids, and folks were struck by how well they played.  

It’s a joy for us to see the church participating in all aspects of worship.

Committed to Grow

The last Sunday of the month and we had promised to reward our students for their efforts in learning something new last year.  In our church service, we gave out certificates for “Outstanding Accomplishments.”  The certificates were for learning to play the guitar or the keyboard or English.  We also handed out certificates for completing a module in discipleship.  It was fun to see the excitement. 

Helping Others to Grow

We always want to expose the youth to something new and different, so this Saturday we took them over the bridge to join another youth group also just beginning as an extension of a church-plant.  We had a great time mixing up people to make new teams, playing some great games like “kickball” and listening to a reminder of our need for salvation.

 

Our hope was to encourage and motivate the other youth group to grow and reach their neighborhood for Christ.

All Grown-Up?

What are the signs of growing up?  Is it being taller or bigger?  Is it being older or having more experience?  Could it be as simple as signing a piece of paper?  Like maybe a license?

On Friday afternoon, Keila signed her driver’s license permit.  She’s excited about getting to learn to drive.  I don’t know when she’ll find the time to do so, but I guess that too will come.

And on Saturday, Keila took her SAT in preparation for university.  She thought that she did well.  We trust that God will prepare her.

All in the Family

After Sunday’s service, we crammed all the equipment, chairs and instruments into our van.  Since our car is not running well, I had our family squeezed into the nooks and crannies of the van.  It was quite an experience riding home.  Thanks to all who have donated towards our “new” car fund.

5 is Enough

 

We had a new family attend that is looking for a church to call home, and we managed to pull in a family that we had thought were no longer interested in our visits or our attention.  I was surprised to see how an entire family managed to fit on their “transport” as they headed home after the service.

A Solid Interest

 

We had a good attendance on Sunday and were amazed at the offering – a result of many committing to join and participate in the church’s work.  We had to go out and buy more chairs since last week we ran short.  Our music class attendance was up and a good number of kids showed up to stay for all of our activities.

The End…?

With interest high, we had scheduled a movie night with the youth.  While we didn’t get any photos, we managed to fill our van up with 10 youth who went.  Entrance cost?  Memorize a passage of scripture from our last lesson on the parable of the sower.  How many were able to complete the task without any errors? 3 The rest got honorable mention for their “almost” perfect memorization.

Full House

 As we ventured from our home to pick up families for our members’ meeting on Friday, we were surprised by the response.  Several trips with our van got most of the people to our home where we began with a worship service led by Keila and Kiana in my absence.  I had left to find a family that had decided to come but got mixed up on the meeting point.  Tracey managed to snap this photo of our worship time.  See someone familiar near the door.  Yep, that’s me.  It was fun to see the girls lead.

Organizing US

We are taking the day to prepare for our very first congregational meeting this evening.  It is an invitation for those who have been attending to step up and be counted as serving in this place.  We expect few, but have been told that many are interested.  We hope to fit about a dozen in our tiny living room while sending the kids upstairs to play under Keila and Kiana's supervision.  I guess that means moving on to the lawn our living room furniture so that we can set up folding chairs.  It looks to be an exciting event!  Wish you could be here.


We would appreciate your prayers for an exciting and enjoyable time.

Found!

see “Lost” post

At around 4:30 p.m. his wife received news that her husband had been released and not long after she received a call from him from the outskirts of the city.  So, we headed over to pick him up.  Fortunately, he was not hurt.

This was a warning to us all of the dangers surrounding us.  It makes us appreciate our loved ones.   

Thanks for your consistent protective prayers.

Lost?

We were informed early Wednesday morning that one of the men in our men’s group was kidnapped. 

We headed over to his home to talk to his wife and found out that he was probably taken sometime after getting off work in the morning.  He had worked a 24 hour shift and was scheduled for rest.  He never got home and all were concerned.  His wife got some disturbing text messages and knew that he had been kidnapped.  We prayed and involved as many churches and believers as we could to pray for his safe return. 

Got Lost in a Fog

With my mother-in-law leaving sunny warm Mexico City on Monday, many asked her last week, “why?”  Well, I guess she wanted to get back to her normal life and that includes the option of stepping out into the cold and then returning to a warm heated house.  This week, we’ve experienced some chilling temperatures.  While the sun mostly comes out, we didn’t have the option of stepping back into a heated home.  We just put on more jackets or more blankets.   

We’ve even had some foggy mornings!  Unbelievable!

Family Support

Jasmin is on the right

Jasmin has helped us for about 6 months now.  She’s been very helpful in visits, music classes and encouraging the youth.  She agreed recently to renew her commitment for another 6 months.  We hope that she benefits as much from the church-planting work as we do from her attitude and participation.  On Sunday, her family dropped her off at our rented hall.  She normally uses her savings from previous jobs to pay for transport to our activities.  We’re impressed with her commitment and her excitement.  When asked, “Jasmin, what do you like to do most?”  She responded, “I love coming here and helping the people to grow in their faith.”

Starting Off Right

…with prayer.  We’ve moved the people in an adjacent neighborhood where we used to meet for prayer, just a few steps away from our rented hall in the home of some faithful believers.  We had a different crew and enjoyed studying and praying together.

Got Rhythm?

As a kick off to teaching others how to sing, we began with a simple exercise of identifying the beat in a song.  A bit unorthodox, but I’ve seen many who want to sing, but just don’t have any idea of what rhythm is.  So we began with this exercise.  It’s not line dancing…

Just a silhouette

We’re back now. And our outing was a great way to start the year refreshed and invigorated for the things to come.  We’re expecting some great things from God this year, I hope you are too.

No net

We were completely isolated as our hotel’s internet wasn’t working properly.  It was a great time of “disconnect” and great to concentrate on just enjoying our time out.  We saw this young man, cliff diver, do his thing without a net too.

A few days away

We left the city for a few days just to take a rest and find a warmer place to spend time together.  We’ve all been working hard this year to help support God’s growth of the 1More4Christ congregation.  While it was hard to pull us away from our neighborhood - with most people out of town - we took the hint and took some time off.