His Place Construction Outreach

Ok, sorry I haven't posted in a little while. We've been busy with a team from Washington state. They came from His Place Church in Mt. Vernon, WA to do construction on our new central church facility a few blocks away! This construction project started almost a year ago exactly, and it's so exciting to see it taking such form and shape already!!! It's really a huge undertaking, but our God is SO MUCH BIGGER!

Anyway, this team usually comes down every year and does nothing but construction. A few years ago, they came down and started building the Arrayanes church. They are hard workers and accomplish a ton of stuff in short amounts of time! This week they poured the platform floor and stairs; they built the instrument storage room up to the the first "dala" (it's like a concrete beam or something); they leveled about 25% of the sanctuary floor (which is slightly larger than a full-sized basketball court); they extended the re-bar columns on the property wall to their full height; they uprooted and moved several trees to their permanent locations; and two guys took a ton of steel pieces and welded them together to form our massive front gates (complete with man-door); which was installed by the time they left!!!

The greatest part of it all was that the entire week they worked side-by-side with folks from the local churches here: men, women, and even non-church members alike! Even I helped on the construction: shoveling for the mixing of concrete, wetting bricks that were being laid as part of the walls for the instrument storage room, and making steel re-bar cages for the wall cage extensions. I even helped load the massive gates onto the truck that transported them to the church! This project is cool enough as it is, but it's going to be even more phenomenal when it's done and we can each of us, Mexican and American and Canadian, walk around that facility and say, "hey, I helped build this wall!" or "I helped pour this very floor!", or "I helped pour the very platform that He's teaching me from!" What an incredible and tangible way to understand what it is to grab hold of the prize, to press on toward the goal, to take hold of our faith and walk forward in it! Wow, God is good!

The first Sunday that the team was here, they attended both services: in Cofradia and in Arrayanes. Then after the service in Arrayanes, they provided a wonderful meal of Taco soup for them to have a chance to fellowship with that church body. This team has built wonderful relationships with the church body in Arrayanes especially, so it was a really precious time of fellowship and catching up! And it was a ton of fun too!!

The team also went up to Mojocuautla on that Friday to be part of the Bible study ministry there. It was neat to be a translator for that. That is still a pretty tough job for me..translating that is. But even though I'm terrified every time I have to do it, it's just way cool when it all comes out well!

One morning during the week, I even did the unthinkable. Yup, I got up before sunrise! I accompanied three guys and one of the young ladies on a hike up the Cofradia Hill to watch the sunrise. From this hill you can see the entire town of Cofradia as well as all the way to the mountain in Penas, which is about 20 minutes from Cofradia by truck. It was a glorious morning as we welcomed the dawn and then hiked back down the hill to a wonderful breakfast and a day of hard but gratifying work! Praise the Lord for the glories of his creation!

The town of Cofradia from "The Hill". I live just a block or so above the first red roof you see. :)..just to the right of the radio tower!

The sunrise that glorious morning!

At the end of the week, the team went for Tacos in Pilas. There is a man there who has a popular taco stand on the weekends. Last year and this year he opened his home and made tacos exclusively for this team during the week (which he doesn't normally do). The team took probably about 20-30 people from the church with them, so were probably about 60-70 people total! It was SUCH A BLAST!!! Everyone had a good time talking and eating their fill! When it was all over, we at 660 tacos total, and the record from last year was broken for the one person who ate the most tacos. Last year it was 23, and one of our own youth broke the record by eating 24!!! Talk about big eaters!! But we had a wonderful night. I had the priveledge of sitting at a table with Sandy and Mili and one of the young ladies from the team. We had a good time joking around and eating good food.

What a marvelous outreach this team has had in this area. The people here KNOW them, and they look forward to spending time with them. They consider this team precious friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. What a great time of work and fellowship in the Lord this week and a half has been. We're definitely looking forward to next year!

Feliz Cumpleanos

So today is Mirna's birthday. She is Pola and Juan Luis' (the Arrayanes youth pastors) oldest daughter, and she is Mili and Sandy's cousin (Pola is their mom's sister, and Juan Luis is their dad's brother, so they're double cousins). Mirna turnes 13 today. So, last night....or rather this morning...around 12 am...we gathered up a handful of our youth and drove over to Arrayanes and woke her up at the beginning of her birthday by singing Las Manyanitas to her. That is the traditional Mexican birthday song. It was pretty fun, and kind of like an initiation for her. Since she is still in 6th grade, she had to wait until she turned 13 to be part of youth group. So, this was sort of our way of welcoming her into the group as well as to celebrate her in a special way. Since it's Friday, we had youth group tonight. After our meeting, which Mirna attended, Pola invited the whole youth group to their house for Mirna's birthday dinner/party. They served pozole, and it was a great time!

Please keep Mirna in your prayers. She has pretty much grown up in a Christian family, but nevertheless she's still very young (obviously!). Please pray for the Lord to awaken a fire for him in her heart instead of her understanding of God being about church on Sundays and Fridays. She is part of a Christian youth rap band, which she really enjoys and which is led by a young man on fire for the Lord. Please pray that his enthusiasm will be contagious and that this young lady will grow into a powerhouse for her God!

Enjoy the pics.

Mirna, now age 13!!

Steve and Gena eating pozole at the party!

Mirna and the guys
(L-R: top--Pedro, Gollito; bottom--Lorenzo, Martin, Mirna, Ruben, Chicle)

Mirna and some of the girls
(L-R: Ana, Cintia, Mirna, Mily)

Noche de Vida....

....is a once-a-month youth night that happens the last Saturday of every month. We alternate between having it in Cofradia and Arrayanes. For January, we were in Cofradia, and it happened to be while His Place construction team was here. It was a great night. We started the evening with a slideshow from the Christmas soccor tournament. Then we played this new quiz game we've started called "Quien Quiere Quinientos?" ("Who Wants 500?"). It's sort of like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", but it's Bible trivia, and the most they can win is 500 pesos (about $50USD). That was fun. We choose the player (only one each month) through a rafle. The guy who got it didn't make it past the second question, but oh well! At least he gave it a shot! Then we moved on to worship and the message. Our speaker was one of our own youth--Martin. He is the oldest son of the pastor in Arrayanes, and the Lord has done so much in Martin's life over the last 2 years. He spent a year at a Bible school in Oaxaca, and has been here since the summer, and then he plans to return to school this fall to complete the second and final year of the program. His desire is to preach and share the gospel, espeically with youth and the indigenous population. Anyway, his message that night was about "Making Decisions", and it was a great message. Lots of kids came up for prayer during prayer time including the entire rap band that Martin and his brother Ruben have started.

Speaking of prayer time, I wanted to recount a little story. I was talking with Sandy and Mili after the evening was over and they related the following to me: Pola and I were the female youth leaders who were up front to pray with the girls. Mili and Sandy had both come up but were behind some of the other girls being prayed for. I was praying with some of the other girls, but when I looked up at the end of praying I saw Sandy and Mili both praying on their own each with one other girl: Mili with Ana and Sandy with Pati! I was so surprised to see this, that afterward I asked Sandy what happened because she went up to receive prayer and ended up offering it! She told me that she did get prayed for by Pola, and so did Pati. When prayer time started, she asked Pati if she wanted to go up, and Pati seemed nervous about it. She told Sandy that she wasn't ready to receive Christ and didn't want to go up alone, and Sandy assured her that she could still be prayed for. So, she said she wanted that and they went up and Pola prayed for them (they are the three all the way to the right in the pic..Sandy in the stripes with her hand on Pati's back). When they were done, Pati hugged Sandy and was crying. Sandy said she just felt in her gut that there was something more to pray for Pati, so she asked her if there was something else specific for which she wanted prayer. She shared about some problems at home in her family and also that she wanted prayer that her parents would keep letting her come to church. So, Sandy just started praying for her. She said she just kept praying and praying and was suprised at how easily the prayer came out of her. She was just so excited because she said that was the first time something like that had happened to her, where God used her in that kind of a way, and it was so cool to her!

A similar thing happened with Ana and Mili as well. They have formed a bit of a connection and talk pretty easily. Ana confides in Mili and seeks her advice on things. After being prayed for, Ana turned and hugged Mili who was behind her. Mili asked if something else was going on, and Ana shared with her. So, Mili started praying for her as well. She said the same thing happened in that the prayer just started rolling off her tongue and she wasn't even sure what she was saying, but that it was a really cool experience! It's just so neat to see how the Lord is working in these two girls. He obviously has something very special planned for them! What a glorious priveledge to watch it beginning to unfold!

Playing at Dusk

So, when we took the Houston ladies up to Mojocuautla, we took a bunch of the Mexican ladies with us, including Sandy and Mili. After it was over and everyone was just milling around waiting to head back to the base, Sandy, Mili, and I had fun playing on a hill overlooking the river! We had fun running up the hill, but then one of them started taking pictures of us which turned out pretty cool because it was dusk and we basically just came out like sillhouettes. So, enjoy!

Ok, seriously...I think I might crow (like Peter Pan!)

"Walk with me...friend...sister..."

And the sun sets on the end of a very wonderful day :)

Cy-Fair Ladies Outreach

Well, here we are a couple weeks into 2007, and it's already been an exciting year so far!! HAH! We just had a group of women here from Houston Texas. They came from Cy-Fair Christian Church on a short-term trip to do women's ministry here in Cofradia, and man was it A-MAZ-ING! It was a small group, but I believe they had a HUGE impact! We had announced that they were coming in both church for a couple weeks before they arrived. So, we had a large group of ladies show up that first day. Some were more skeptical than others about whether or not they thought they'd enjoy it (especially the youth girls that came), but after that first day, they were hooked! Each morning started off with some fellowship time just talking to folks as we waited for everyone to arrive. This group of ladies also brought a ton of books that they donated for us to start a church library. So we had all those books laid out each morning, and the women would mill about looking to see what was available. A couple of mornings we started with some crafts also. But regardless of what we did during "arrival" time, when it was time to began, we did so with AEROBICS!! It was great! It was fun and funny all at the same time, but the ladies REALLY liked it! Of course there were some who didn't participate (yours truly among them), but they would encourage the other ladies anyway. In fact, about 6-8 of them enjoyed it so much that they have continued to come and do aerobics together now that the Houston ladies are gone (they donated that video too)!

Then it was time for the Bible study lesson. The theme for the week was Sister, Daughter, Friend, and our Bible study lessons looked at different Biblical women who were one or more of these aspects of women. We studied Mary and Elizabeth, Mary and Martha, the woman with the blood disorder, etc. It was really neat to look at these very familiar Bible stories from the perspective of their interactions with each other and what that could mean for us in our lives! After the lesson, we had small group time to discuss the lesson and what the Lord was teaching us through the stories. And then several days of the week we ended with some craft time. We made banners with the theme of the week printed on them, and the women really enjoyed that! It was so refreshing to see our Mexican ladies interacting with each other the way they did during this outreach! More often than not the two church are pretty isolated from each other (Arryanes and Cofradia). And when there are fellowship activities for both churches together, it's not uncommon to hear commetns about how someone doesn't want to go because of this person or that person, etc. That can be very discouraging sometimes because it's quite the opposite of unity. But during this outreach the Arrayanes women came with a whole truck-load of women and they came everyday. We had women coming who are not part of the church, and they too came every day! We had old women and young women and women all in between! And no one was thinking about who they were trying to avoid. They were just ENJOYING themselves! And it was so precious to be part of!

I was especially pleased because Sandy and Mili came each day. I had such a hard time convincing them before the women arrived that this would be an enjoyable thing for them. They couldn't get past the fact that this would be a week of ministry for grown-up ladies, all married and with families. But I finally convinced them to come at least the first day saying that the ministry that was going to take place was not specific to women of any age or stage of life and that they really would enjoy it! Well, they had a BLAST! And it was great hearing from them during small group sessions. Two of the women on the team took a special interest in these two young ladies. They actually went with me to have our weekly prayer group that Wednesday, and the elder of the two ladies shared about her favorite Bible story: the story of Esther. This was especially cool because Sandy and I are studying through that book right now in our mentor times each week. Sandy and Mili were really touched by what this lady had to share, and they enjoyed the younger of the two as well as we took them home. The younger of the two was also their small group leader, so they had time to spend with her each week.

That week they also went up to Mojocuautla to minister to the Cora ladies in that village. We split into groups and went to several different homes. There they passed out gifts of perfumes, etc, that had verses inside about how our prayers are like incense to the Lord. After explaining all this, the women then offered to pray with the Cora ladies who gladly accepted those prayers. The group I was with had the opportunity to share with a couple of ladies who don't normally involve themselves with the Bible study activities in that village each week, so it was a real outreach opportunity. One of them was even really sick. None of us left that encounter dry-eyed. During another visit, we were all seated, and a goat began to nibble and nose one of the American ladies during prayer. When we were done and had finally stood up, the goat immediately jumped into the chair and made himself comfortable. We all had a good laugh as we realized that the goat was trying to get his chair back from our friend!

Finally, the last night they were there, the American ladies put on a movie night for all the women and their families. They showed the Wizard of Oz (in Spanish!..quite hard to find!), and before it started they shared some spiritual principles that we can learn from this movie! Everyone had a blast during the movie! And we all ate popcorn and PINK M&Ms!!! After the movie, it was time to say goodbye as the ladies were leaving for home the next morning. I was especially struck by the goodbyes that took place between Sandy and Mili and their small group leader. There were tears (very rare on the girls' parts), and as I walked them back to their truck, I asked them what they thought of the week. Their response: "IT WAS PERFECT!" After the difficulty I had convincing them to give it a try, this was a miraculous answer to hear from them! But I was so encouraged by it because it meant that they EXPERIENCED something during the week. They were touched by it, and I've seen them more interactive with older ladies in the church since then, especially their aunts. It's just really cool to see how the Lord works through us and in us in the most extraordinary ways...even when they seem pretty unremarkable! God is really good, and His goodness shone through yet again through this outreach experience! Thank the Lord for all that He is doing!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome, friends, to 2007, a year full of promise and possibility!! Our New Years celebration was SO MUCH FUN!!! Since New Years Eve was a Sunday, it all started with another joint church service. That's right! The Arrayanes church joined us for another sunday service..that's 2 in a row! And it was so great! Then that evening, the Cofradia church had planned a sort of pot-luck-esque gathering at the home of one of our families! This is how we organized it! Every family that was coming was to bring enough meat to feed their family and enough tortilla mix to feed their family. Then on top of that each of the family groups had committed to bringing another aspect of the meal: beans, salsa, and a few other things. I wasn't in on the planning so I'm not sure what all they were supposed to bring, but let me tell you we had a feast! Then when everyone arrived around 5 pm, the men all worked on grilling the meat and the women all made the tortillas. Yes, you read me right...hand-made tortillas. It's so normal here for them, but they are SOOOO good! It was a ton of fun, and even some of our guys did a little tortilla-making...quite hillarious seeing Dave (our base director), Goyo (our pastor), and the dad of the family that did the soccer camp making tortillas!

Mati (Goyo's wife), Pola (from Arrayanes), and Maria (Arrayanes pastor's wife) preparing meat for grilling

Dave making hand-made tortillas!

Goyo making tortillas

Mr. Funk making tortillas--quite an experience for his Christmas outreach trip with his wife and three daughters!

Folks from Arrayanes came too, and we all ate and laughed and talked and had a grand ole' time. The later it got the colder it got. Eventually we had a couple fires going with folks sitting around them roasting marshmellows and telling stories or just chatting about stuff. Sandy came from Arrayanes, and we had a good time laughing and spending time with her family that came and others from the church. Everyone went home around 11:30 pm, and right at midnight everyone started shooting off their guns for about an hour! At that point, it was already pretty noisy from all the parties going on. So you could hear the music from all over town plus all the guns going off. It took a little while to fall asleep, but it finally happened!

New Years Day dawned, and I had mentor time with Sandy. We decided to go ahead with it regradless of the holiday since we hadn't had mentor time in a couple weeks due to the Christmas activities. I showed up at her house around 10 am to find her still asleep as she had been up all night at the all-night town party in Arrayanes after returning from our church party!!! We had some great time together that morning discussing some pretty serious stuff that had come up for her the night before, and God moved in amazing ways. I can still see how the look on her face changed as the truth of God's Word in relation to what was going on for her began to sink in deeply in her heart. It is a truly unforgetable experience to be able to see with your physical eyes the transformation that the Word of God has on a life in the instant that it's happening!! It was an amazing way to start the year!

The Lord has his own challenge for me as we rang in the New Year together! As I've pondered over the end of 2006 and the entrance of 2007, the Lord has been challenging me to have an undivided heart (Psalm 86:11; Ezekiel 11:19; Jeremiah 32:39) and to be committed to the pilgrimmage with Him that will lead directly to His throne room one day, from strength to strength (Psalm 84:5-7), transformed in ever increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), finding all my fountains in Him (Psalm 87:7). None of that happens by accident. None of that just sneaks up on us until we realize that it has come to be true without our realizing it! It is something we have to work for; we have to set our course in that direction and commit ourselves to how the Lord would work in us to accomplish that in us since we know it is His will and promise for us! It only happens when we seek it out intentionally. So, that's my prayer, my hope, and my "plan" for 2007, and instead of saying "we'll see if it happens", I'm claiming the truth that it WILL happen because that's the kind of God we serve! I pray that as you begin your new year that the Lord is challenging and encouraging you in your intentionality for 2007 as well, that this will not be a year that just happens to us but rather one in which WE happen to IT and all for the glory and kingdom of God.

2006 Year-End Newsletter

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MEXICO!

It's hard to believe that a year has passed since I came to Mexico for the first time. At the end of 2005 I was anticipating a short-term missions trip to Cofradia, Mexico, and now I'm a full-time missionary there!

This has truly been one of the longest and one of the shortest years of my life. Yet, as I reflect on how my life has been turned completely upside down and inside out, I'm overwhelmed with joy kmnowing that this has also been one of the most blessed years of my life! Our God is certainly a God of surprises, but His goodness and love absolutely endure forever!!

FULL STEAM AHEAD!

2006 started with the decision to return to Cofradia for a three-month internship (March 4-June 2), during which the Lord made it clear that I was to return full-time. After a whirlwind summer of roadtrips, weddings, and lots of time with friends and family, August found me in Guadalajara where I attended 2 months of language school at Harvest Language Center. I lived with the Garza family who has become good friends in company with many others who continue to be a source of great encouragement.

In mid-October I returned to Cofradia and jumped right in. I began mentoring one of the youth girls I met during my internship, Sandy, who is 19 and desperately wants to know and please her Lord. I also continue with the Arrayanes girls' prayer group that began during my internship, and plans are in the making to include the girls from Cofradia and Santa Fe in the new year!

Our weekly youth group meetings, called "Vida Abundante!" (meaning "Abundant Life") continue to be effective and fruitful; we see new faces almost every week! I even had the opportunity to give the lesson twice in November while Steve and his family were in the States! We've also been extremely busy with various other youth events, including a youth retreat to La Cruz, Sinaloa, where we heard teaching on living under authority and guarding our lives for the plan and inheritance that the Lord has in store for us! I've also begun learning the ins and outs of being the Short-Term Missions Coordinator and picking up more administrative duties, now that our director and his family have returned from furlough!

LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON!

Our staff recently spent several days brainstorming, dreaming, and setting goals for the next five years. We're very excited about starting a weekly radio program in which our local pastor, Goyo, will preach because it will expand the reach of the gospel in this area, especially into the indigenous villages that still remain fairly isolated in the mountains.

We are also seeking ways to encourage the local church members in their dreams for their church, especially as we anticipate the completion of our new central church facility in 2008. We want to see them become much more active in taking their church into the future that God has for them. This will hopefully include more organized fellowship activities, yearly conferences, and even developing more outreach activities for them, perhaps even short-term missions opportunities as we seek to network with other organizations in the area!

The future is very bright for the ministry and churches in this area because the Lord is leading us in His plans for His people to achieve His goals for His kingdom! Praise the Lord that we are guaranteed success when we are following HIM!

"LOVE AND JOY COME TO YOU..."

My days are busy, but they are blessed. Of course there have been bumps in the road, but at the end of the day, despite frustrations, I have the peace and contentment that come wiht knowing that I'm exactly where God intends me to be, and that is EXCITING!!

Though I am far from home and all that is familiar, the true meaning of Christmas remains clower than ever in my heart. Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He came so that we may have abundant life. Linus said it best in A Charlie Brown Christmas:

"Sure Charlie Brown; I can tell you the true meaning of Christmas...'unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.' "

I pray that truth will settle deeply in each of your hearts and that this Christmas you too will know the abundant life that our Savior promises. As our youth will illustrate in their Christmas sketch, Jesus is for everyone; His presence and the life He offers were teh Father's Christmas present to us. the shepherds brought their worship, the three kings their treasures. What will we bring this Christmas and throughout the next year?

HOW CAN YOU BE INVOLVED?

As we anticipate a new year, please continue to keep me, the other staff members, the ministry, the churches, and the Mexican people in your prayers.

If you are interested in being involved in any way, whether it is financial or prayer support or perhaps by visiting or bringing a team for a short-term trip, please feel free to contact me; tax-deductible donations can be made through Alternative Missions, but please email me and let me know your intent. I pray that your Christmas is full of joy and life as we celebrat the birth of our Savior!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Praise the Lord!!

• I completed language school!
• For His financial provision. I'm currently at 80%!
• For new youth who continue to attend regularly!
• For re-awakening Sandy's hunger for God's presence and Word!
• For renewed passion in the Cofradia church!
  

Please pray for...

• The 20% of my monthly budget that's lacking. That comes to about $300/month.
• Continued improvement with the language, especially in prayer.
• Deeper committment in the hearts of our youth.
• Support for the weekly radio program we are starting.
• Wisdom in planning and executing new activities with the local teen girls.
• Continued provision for our central church construction project.

Here's an idea of what our central church will look like when it is completed!

Sick and Soccer...

So, the week after Christmas was definitely a busy and interesting one...it started the day after Christmas: a family from Dave and Kathy's church in Canada came down for the week. While they were here, they put on a soccer camp. Their three daughters (16, 19, 21) have played soccer all their lives, and their dad has coached their teams at different times. So, they put together this great soccer camp for kids ages 10-12 in this area. They brought 4 different-colored t-shirts for the teams, they brought a ton of balls, and they planned different drills and games to play each of the three days. Of course they also incorporated a devotion each day. They planned a little mini tournament for the end of the camp, and they had trophies for the winning team and medals for everyone else. The kids had a blast!

The same day they arrived, we started our first ever youth soccer tournament. It lasted 5 days in which 5 teams played for about 4 hours each day, and at the end of the week there was a playoff game and a championship game. It too was a ton of fun! Check out the video from our tournament! The championship day was a Saturday, and after the tournament was over we had our Noche De Vida event. That means "Night of Life!", and it's something we do each month (our youth ministry is named "Life!") in order to try and bring in new youth, etc. It usually consists of something fun, worship, a message, and a time of prayer. There were a ton of kids there that night since half the teams were made up of kids who have never been part of the youth ministry. It was pretty neat.

The kink in the week was that I got sick that Wednesday with a stomach flu. That illness doesn't hit me often, but when it does it's REALLY bad. So, I was out of commission for about three days. Mili and Sandy ended up coming and taking care of me since I live by myself. I was pretty much recovered by the time they came, but it was very sweet of them, and I was glad to have the company after being by myself essencially for 2 days at that point. Being sick, of course, meant that I missed half of both soccer events. I didn't get to see the end of the soccer camp, but I did get to go to the final day of the youth tournament and to the youth event afterwards. It was a good time. And I'm certainly glad to be healthy again.

Well, enjoy the pics and video!

Kids Soccer Camp stretching warm-up excercises!

This was one of their drill/games. It's the numbers drill. Each kid on each team has a number. When the ref called a number, the kids with those numbers had to come out and try to get a goal in a certain amount of time.

Devotions

Youth Soccor Tournament "Video"

Festival of Lights

So..in between my tree and the actual Christmas holday celebration, there has been a lot of activity preparing for the celebration! It's crazy how something that lasts such a short amount of time requires a huge amount of time to prepare beforehand! Anyway, we weren't originally planning to decorate the church palapa this year for the Christmas service, but about a week before Christmas, Pastor Goyo asked me if I'd be willing. Last year, when I came down here with a group from my church for our Christmas Outreach trip, we brought with us all of my white Christmas lights. Then last spring another group brought some down and left them when they were done using them. So, all in all, we probably have about 2000 white Christmas lights!

So, after spending a rediculous amount of time testing them and making them work, which basically consisted of mixing and matching bulbs since we can't just go out and buy replacements around here, I was finally able to get to the decorating part. Mili and Sandy came and spent the night before with me and then the Saturday before Christmas, we spent half the day putting up lights all in the church. It was quite a job! Duct tape and masking tape don't stick very well to brink and columns painted with a metal paint! So, it was interesting trying to get the lights to stay up, and trust me, between Christmas and New Years, I had to re-tape the strands numerous times. But the church looked COOL!

It didn't get truly dark until just after the service ended, but it was so amazing to turn out the lights in the church and just have the Christmas lights on as people were fellowshiping and leaving. I honestly don't know what it is, but there's just something about the twinkle of those lights that leaves me in awe. Just one is nothing special. But all those twinkles together is a powerful thing to behold. I think that's what amazes me about the body of Christ as well. We're just like those lights. Alone we are nothing and we can do nothing, but together functioning as ONE body in unity and fluidity in the Spirit, no force natural or spiritual or otherwise can stop us, and it is quite a thing to behold and experience! Merry Christmas!

Mili and I having fun with the lights!

Around the columns..

Around the projection screen..that things is BIG and TALL!!

Sandy, the 2006 Miss Mexico Christmas Lights!

All around the sound closet...

Around every entrance...

It's bigger than you think!

"Behold, the Light of the world..." It's a good time of year to be reminded once again of who our Light really is!

Glory to God in the Highest!!!

So, Christmas was amazing! We already know it's my absolute most favoritist time of the year, and this year it was no exception. It was certainly different, and there were times that I actually missed the cultural aspects of the Christmas season that are found in the US and not here in Mexico. It just didn't feel like Christmas all around me, so sometimes it was hard to believe or easy to forget that it was actually Christmas time! But when it arrived, it arrived with force and power and was unforgettable...for me at least.

So, the month of December was incredibly hectic as far as the preparations are concerned for our Christmas service. Christmas Day this year was on a Monday, but the more important day in Mexico is actually Christmas Eve. Since that day was on a Sunday, we planned a joint service to take place at 4 pm instead of in the morning. Pastor Goyo wanted to have our service as close to Christmas Day as we could, and I just thought that was such a great idea.

Worship started off our Christmas Eve service

In our Christmas service, usually every demographic participates in one way or another. The youth put on a humorous sketch recounting the birth of Christ. We chose one we found online for free called Myrtle, Frank, and a Few Wise Guys, which I had the priveledge of translating. Let me tell you, there are few things harder to translate than humor! Primarily because it's very idiomatic and culturally based. In this sketch, the humor came mainly from play-on-words. It took some thought, but it turned out pretty funny in Spanish too, and the kids had a good time doing it. I not only tranlsated it, but I also got to help direct it and take care of most of the behind-the-scenes details like collecting props, helping to sew the costumes (first time using a sewing machine!), etc. It was busy, but it was fun and the sketch turned out really well. The kids did such a stellar job and had fun doing it, and the audience really enjoyed it too and got a kick out of it. Some of the lines from the play still live on, actually, and that's kind of cool...it's neat when you see that the investment you make is not in vain and that the results are not quickly forgotten..this result being a retelling of Christ's birth!

The youth sketch dress rehearsal. By the end of the play they were in position of a living nativity. It was pretty cool.

Sandy playing with some of our costumes and props.

Lorenzo, Martin in the sheep mask, and Beto having fun at dress rehearsal

All our props put together...we made do :)

The youth in their living nativity at the end of the sketch during our Christmas service, surrounded by all the young children watching.

The kids also did something for the service. They all participated in singing Away in a Manger, which I accompanied on the keyboard. Ok, now THAT was nerve-racking! I grew up playing piano, but I started fading out of that as soon as I hit college and didn't have a piano to play anymore. So, it's been almost 10 years since I played the piano regularly. Not only that, but the last time I played in public was when I was 10 and played at my first and last recital! So, this was definitely a stretch for me. But I got through the piece without messing up, which was my biggest concern, and the kids did such a stellar job! It was so cute! In addition to singing, several of them recited scripture or a poem, and a few of them even presented a little mini-drama/dialogue. They did such a great job!

The kids preparing to sing their song (I'm in the back left corner), and Jonathan in costume for his recitation and the mini-drama.

Some of the women actually shared a song with us, and I do believe there were a couple of testimonies, although I am not sure on that count since I was outside the church helping the youth and kids deal with costumes, etc. And finally, Pastor Goyo preached a stellar sermon about the wise men that came to visit Christ and the gifts they brought. The youth sketch ended with this line: "God gave us the gift of His Son. The wise men brought gifts to Jesus. What will you give to Him? Goyos's sermon presented a similar challenge as he took a closer look at the gifts they presented and what that means for us in our relationships with Christ. It was really cool. The service ended with a time of prayer. It was amazing because we had all three towns together: Cofradia, Santa Fe, and Arrayanes. And they were all praying together and for each other surrounded by the Christmas lights and with the worship band playing softly in the background as we were celebrating Christ's birth and it's signficance for us today. It was a powerful thing to be part of!

The prayer time at the end of the Christmas Eve service.

When the service was over, it was so great to be able to fellowship with everyone all together. Their smiles were so huge, and they were all intermixing and enjoying each other's company. That doesn't get to happen very often since Arrayanes usually has their own services. But the unity was flowing that night, and it was indescribable!

Fellowshipping and smiles accompanied all as they went on their ways for the rest of their Christmas Eve celebrations!
(Amalia holding Esperanza, Jan, and Amalia's husband Salo)

After the service, the custom around here for Christmas Eve is to go around visiting people and sharing meals with folks. The towns also have what's called a "posada", which is kind of like a town party where they have music and dancing and pinatas for the kids and lots of hanging out, etc. Well, Mili and Sandy's family invited me to hang out with them on Christmas Eve after the service, especially since it was their little sister's 12th birthday. So, I drove the Arrayanes folks back to their town and hung out there until around 10 pm. It was fun! We went to the posada for a little bit, but mainly we just hung out with the family all together and enjoyed each other and the festiveness of the night!

Christmas Day dawned beautiful. I have to admit though that it was really weird to wake up to just myself that morning. I honestly don't think I've EVER done that in my entire life! Normally I am with my family on Christmas Eve, and we all wake up together and have breakfast and open presents. Then my sister and I head to my mom's to do it all over again with her and my step-dad and step-sister. It's a full day full of food and people and festiveness. This year, I woke up to myself. It was very strange. So, I took the opportunity to call my families and talk with everyone. Then around 1 pm, all of us American/Canadian missionary staff headed over to Jan and Doug Taylor's house (part of our staff...missionaries from Canada in charge of the marriage and family ministries here) for a good ole' fashioned Gringo Christmas dinner. We had turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy (which you never find around here...quite a treat!), I made my dad's apple cider, and we had beets which is apparantly a Ukranian tradition (Jan is Ukranian and they always have something red to represent the blood of Christ).

Christmas Day feast at the Taylors
Clockwise, L-R: Married couple friends of Steve and Gena, Kathy, Jonathan, Dave, Doug, Jan, Steve, Gena holding Emma, Rebecka

It was a great Christmas this year. It was totally different, but it was unique and perfect. It was unforgetable, and full of significance and power..just as it should be. I truly wish that Christmas could last all year long. I don't know understand why it's so hard to carry with us throughout the year the same Spirit that makes us so festive and so disposed to unity and fellowship at Christmas, but that's my prayer for my own life as well as for our churches here: that the Lord would fill us with THAT Spirit and that it will light this area and this country on fire for Him!

Merry Christmas!!

O Christmas tree...

Ok, the Christmas season is finally upon us, and this is definitely my favorite time of year! I love the lights and the traditions that I share with family and friends; I love the sights and sounds and smells; I love what it stands for, even more than Easter! This is so much my favorite time of year that I'll watch Christmas movies and listen to certain Christmas music throughout the year whenever the mood hits me. It used to drive my roommates crazy, but what can I say? I LOVE Christmas!

But nothing in Mexico looks, sounds, or smells anything like what I'm used to for Christmas, and I started to find myself a little bummed a few weeks ago whenever I'd look around my appartment and want to see Christmas, because I had nothing to decorate with. So, I've watched White Christmas and Holiday Inn about 2 million times over the last three weeks, and I've had Christmas music playing all day (when I'm home) to try and compensate for the inability to sit in the glow of Christmas lights and the fireplace video. You say, "why didn't you go buy Christmas stuff then?" Well, it's not that easy for me to get to town, first becuase I have to use a base truck and I need to be responsible with gas, and second because although I know how to arrive in town, I don't know where anything is once I'm there, and I'd never find my way out again! However, about a week and a half ago, Isable was heading to town, and I had several errands to run so I went with her; while there she helped me buy a Christmas tree and decorations! So, I've finally bought my first "real" fake Christmas tree! It's about 190 cm tall, and it's perfect for my appartment! Here are pics of my new stocking, the decorations I bought (complete with little pinatas!), and my tree!!












I was so excited that I decided to have a decorating party with my youth girls. So, I made plans and invited them all over last Saturday to help me decorate. Mili and Sandy spent the night after youth group on Friday, which I taught for the first time (yikes!). We completely rearranged my living room, which needed it anyway, and also made the brownies for Saturday. The girls were supposed to arrive around 11 am on Saturday, so that morning we got everything ready and I made my dad's homemade hot apple cider. It has cinnamon and cloves that cook in it on the stove, so with that smell and the smell of the Vanilla Biscotti coffee I made for our breakfast, combined with the Christmas music that was playing, I had a hard time remembering that I wasn't actually at home on Christmas morning! We ate bagles and cream cheese with our coffee, which was a first for Mili and Sandy. They loved it though; their exact words were that it was "celestial", which means "heavenly"!

Around 11, two of the five girls I'd invited arrived: Ana and Sandy Paz. We all had some cider and brownies and then got to work on the tree. As we were putting on the lights, I started sharing stories about traditions my family has surrounding decorating and Christmas morning. When I asked them about theirs, they told me they didn't have any! None of them have ever had a Christmas tree! It just isn't the culture here, at least not out in "el rancho" (the country) where life is much less Americanized. Some folks may put a few lights outside their house, many will have a nativity scene, and those who are Catholic may very well have a decorated shrine to the Virgin Mary, but that's about it for decorating. The big day for them is Christmas Eve, and they'll normally have a huge dinner or something, and if there's money for gifts and stocking stuffers, those will be available for Christmas morning, but that's about the extent of celebration. So, this tree decorating was another first-time for all of these girls, and they had such a blast with it! Now, I love decorating for Christmas and of course was completely in my element, but watching their first-time enjoyment made my enjoyment so much greater! It was truly a blessing and a blast!

These are the kinds of activities I want to have more often with the girls, so that they can be hanging out and having experiences together, making memories together, getting more comfortable with each other, so that one day they will be more comfortable going deeper in their friendshipse. Please pray that the Lord will open up more such opportunities for fellowship with these precious girls!

Anyway, a complete photo album is posted on my photosite (see personal links on the right), but here are a couple of pic just to wet your appetite!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

Cheers! Hot apple cider--(L-R) Sandy Paz, Mili, and Sandy tasting it for the first time and loving it!! Daddy, your cider is a hit in Mexico!

Mili about had a heart attack over the decorations as she helped unpack them. These are some of my favorites too!

(L-R) Ana, Mili, Sandy Paz, and Sandy unpacking the decorations.

Ana and Sandy Paz putting lights on the tree.

My newly-arranged living room complete with resplendant Christmas tree! I absolutely adore this room now! I don't really put much stock in fun shuei stuff, but I think this room's got it!