Church & Community

On Saturday, I was able to take a group of men to a conference on the work of the church in the community.  It was refreshing to hear about the importance of the church in redeeming the culture.  It was inspiring to be placed into groups to develop resources and ideas on how to make a positive impact in our neighborhood.

Doing More

For Father’s Day, the children handed out some gifts to the men.  The ladies made some yummy taco dishes.  The youth gave key chains.  The children’s leader created this wonderful picture frame for all the dads to get their pictures taken in.  As you can see, since my girls weren’t around, I was given some “adopted” children.

Deriam Preaches

Several months back, Deriam took a homiletics class with some adult leaders in our congregation.  He progressed well, but hasn’t had a chance to preach in a congregational setting, so he was willing to share on Father’s Day and stuck to his guns sharing only what was in his notes.  Great job, Deriam!

Dani Leads

We’ve been giving new opportunities for the youth to expand their abilities.  Dani has been playing in our worship team, but this was the first time that she led the music.  She was nervous, but did a great job for her first time.  We’ve opened up extra practices on Sunday afternoons so that others can practice and join us.

Dads’ Gifts

With a small youth meeting turn out, we got to work making small gifts for the Father’s Day party in church for Sunday.  They young people got the hang of how to make these gifts quickly and cranked out the very special and great looking key chains.  Thanks all for your help!

Doing Leadership

We had our first leadership team meeting since the beginning of the year due to a very busy schedule and doctrinal exam preparations.  When we got everyone together, we sang, shared requests, reported and studied Maxwell’s book entitled, “Developing the Leader wtihin You.”  God has kept each one busy and each ministry growing.

God Crashing into Our Lives

“We are Catholics, but consider this our church.  We like it here and want to learn about all this,” commented one of the moms whose children take music classes with us, and on Sunday stayed for the service along with her dad.  We also had a new visitor who brought his two children, one of whom is taking keyboard classes with us.  God is so good.  The team of 3 men and their sons haul and set up each Sunday as well as teach music classes.

Crazy Eve

After a propane tank lost its valve, awaking us to an unearthly sound, we were glad to come out of the ordeal unscathed.  While we’ve come to live with Mexico City’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, I believe that faulty propane tank explosions are probably the greatest threat to life in the city.

PRAYER REQUEST:

Please pray for us as an occultic group met in our rented facility on Saturday night at 12:30.  We don’t doubt that their master is not pleased with what God has accomplished through us in this neighborhood.

Joy Unspeakable

We got word back from Keila that she totally enjoys her time in the hospital in Africa learning and serving local patients.  On her day off, she even volunteered to help out where needed, and again today she did the same.  What a wonderful attitude to have in the midst of all the help that is needed!

 

Kiana had a practice concert on Saturday in which she just shined in her excitement, singing and her speaking parts.  It’s an amazing thing to find our niche in God’s kingdom and in our own lives.

Concerned Men

 One of the men had an accident and had 2^nd degree burns from his waist down. He has been in the hospital now for about a week.  The men in our men’s meeting took it upon themselves to gather some basic food items to offer to the family while he is unable to work.  On Sunday they brought in the items that they had promised.

Commenting on Bangladesh

With Kiana preparing in the States for her Taiwan trip, I offered to teach the kids during the prayer meeting - something she regularly attends to.  When the adults pray, the kids go off and pray in the back room and have a lesson geared to their age.  We prayed about the great need for Christian witness in Bangladesh and put together a craft to remind us to pray daily for the needs of the kids there.  It was fun to join them this week to pray and work together.

A quick glimpse

Yep.  Keila sent a snapshot of where she’s staying; at least that’s what I think it is.  It looks similar to the bungalows where we stayed in Veracruz last month. It’s hot there, so I wonder if the bugs are biting.

Stop Over

Keila was in Amsterdam last weekend tasting all the great treats that I savored many years back.  I’m envious!  She’s safely landed and arrived to her place of ministry and we hope to hear about her adventures soon at the hospital where she’ll be serving.  Glad you made it there safely, Keila!  Thanks Lord for that!

The night’s concert

Kiana’s team had a preliminary concert online to show “their stuff” for their trip. They did a great job with lots of energy.  She looked excited and happy to be there.  I trust that the next few days will polish up what remains to be done.  Way to go, Kiana!

Who’s Next?

Sunday marked the mid-term elections in Mexico.  There were all kinds of positions up for grabs.  I’m not sure who won, but I’ve been told that the PRI again rules Tecamac where we live.  So things aren’t going to change much.  That’s good for our church and the relationships we’ve made with local government to use its facilities.

I’m thankful that there wasn’t any violence involved in our area during the elections as predicted by some newspapers.  I trust that in other areas things went smoothly.  Thanks for your prayers.

More on Men

With just a review of the last study last week in hand, our men’s leader went into the meeting not knowing what else would transpire.  Who would have known that the men had been burdened by God to start doing something and not just sitting and listening?  We spent the next 2 hours discussing how to best serve and make our “works” be known, so others can see our faith through our works.  Thanks, Lord, for this breakthrough!

Prayer for the Girls

During the evening service, there was a time to pray for short-term missions and especially for our girls.  The youth gathered around them and prayed   It was an inspiring moment.  Later that evening all 17 got together and had a group hug in the rain.

Youth good-bye’s

At a rainy day youth meeting, the youth spent time writing notes to our girls so that they can read them on their trip over to Africa and Taiwan.  They had a wonderful time signing and leaving messages on a card that they passed around.  On Sunday evening after the service, we invited all the youth over to our house for a time of saying good-bye.  We sat around talking, laughing, eating muffins and drinking hot chocolate.

Women Growing

The women beat out the men with their attendance of 11.  Tracey took a few of them last week to a joint study at the founding church where over 50 women got together to hear her speak about what different women from the Bible can teach us.  Several women made comments afterwards asking how Tracey knew about their struggles because her study addressed them.

Back to Prayer

With the doctrine studies behind us for a time, we returned to praying for the needs of our families, our community and our country.  Next Sunday there will be country-wide elections for representatives, governors and community leaders.  Please pray for leaders that will serve the people.

Men on the Move

I’ve been excited to see the men invite their friends and neighbors to attend our evening study.  There were so many of us recently that we had to squeeze more chairs around our table to include all.  With coffee and sweet bread served, we discussed the characteristics of a leader from Titus.

Getting ready for VBS

Our new children’s ministry leader has taken the “bull by the horns” and has organized the program that we’ll present this summer for VBS.  It’s been enjoyable to see her flourish in her new role and we applaud God’s work in her life.  She’s worked with our Sunday school and now is branching out with our VBS.  It was exciting to see a good group of youth, children and adults support our first meeting.