November Update

Ok, so I know this is long overdue, but here it finally is..my November update!

Happy Autumn to you!! November has been quite a full and exciting month, so much so that I just have to share pictures with you along with the stories. Normally, November and December are my two favorite months of the year; they are full of holidays and festivities that we celebrate with dear friends and family, and for that reason I look forward to this season all year.

As November was approaching, I found myself dealing with sadness and homesickness, praying that the Lord would find some way of making these months just as special as ever, although I don't think I really believed it was possible. Despite my lack of faith, He has continued to reveal His endless faithfulness to me, and He managed to make these two months more special than I could have ever imagined! The first joy of November was a double delight because Dave and Kathy Elias (Dave is our area director) returned from furlough in Canada on the very day of my 27th birthday, November 16. Now, many of you know that I LOVE to celebrate birthdays and usually plan some kind of get-together for mine each year. However, in Mexico, if you plan something for your own birthday you can pretty much be sure that more people than you invited will show up (since it's ok for those you invite to invite anyone else they want), and it's expected that you will serve a meal that will feed anyone and everyone that shows up. It is extremely shameful if you run out of food. And if you don't invite someone who thinks they should have been invited, they get offended. Well being part of the ministry/churches here, I would have had to invite at least half of three different towns, and since I live by myself and have very little space for such an event and don't know how to cook, throwing my own party was simply out of the question. However, Mili and Sandy's mom, Flavia, decided she wanted to do something for me; so she made a wonderful dinner of posole (pronounced "po-SO-lay") and invited her sisters and their families. It was such a wonderful time for me and truly special beyond the power of words to describe! Since my birthday was on a Thursday, I invited the girls to spend the night on Friday, at which time we ate "cake" (lacking at the dinner) and they sang both the Mexican and American birthday songs to me. We also opened the presents I'd received the night before, since it is not customary to open presents at the party.

The following week we spent several days as a staff planning for the upcoming year and for more long-term dreams and ideas. It was really n eat to be part of such planning, to sit with a grop of people and dream and share visions and get back to the heart of what we do here. That week was also Thanksgiving, and Jay and Faith spearheaded the first Thanksgiving festivities for this area. Mexico does not have a Thanksgiving holiday, so the fourth Thursday of November is just a normal day usually. However, this year, in the church in Arrayanes, we gathered together for a dinner feast of turkey, ham, potatoes, refried beans and home-made corn tortillas, jamaica (pronounced ha-MY-ka), flan, and lots of great fellowship. We then went into the church for a short time of worship and a short video that Jay put together of recorded testimonies from two years ago and still photos from when they started building that building five years ago. As we all watched htose videos and the pictures and remembered all that God has done in our lives and in this place, you could see the joy and thanksgiving in everyone's eyes. At that point we took some time, for those who felt led, to share what we were thankful for. Every person that shared said they hoped we continued to celebrate Thanksgiving like that because it is so good for us to remember. We do in fact have plans to do such a thing each year, but to do so with all the churches together! What a great joy that will be!

One story I wanted to share with you from Thanksgiving has to do with the family of Mili and Sandy. Sandy was the first Christian in her immediate family. A few years later her mother, Flavia, and sisters (Mili and Aide) and little brother (Juan Diego) followed suit. I cannot tell you if her father, Benito, has made a committment to Christ or not; however, he has not had much interest in the church or its activities, and when he is unhappy withthe girls or something going on in the church, his first threat is to keep them from going to church. It has been the prayer of many people for quite some time that the Lord would do a changing work in Benito's heart. Just before Thanksgiving, Benito pulled Jay aside one day and told him he wanted to find a time to talk with Jay because he felt it was time he began to get serious about God and church. Well, the first person to share at our Thanksgiving gathering was Flavia, and her praise report was that her husband was seated right next to her, smiling and having a good time in church!!! Since then, he has come to services several times, and Sandy has shared with me various ways in which her father is treating them differently, acting differently, even praying out loud over meals--evidence of something changing inside of him!!! Please continue to keep their family, especially Benito, in your prayers.

The Lord is certainly doing amazing things here in Cofradia, Arrayanes, and Santa Fe, and we are excited as we anticipate all that He still has in store and the amazing ways He will be continuing to reveal Himself and bring in His harvest. Thank you for your continued partnership in our ministry, whether through prayer support, financial support, or words of encouragement! This Thanksgiving, I thank my God each time I remember YOU!

Grace, Peace, and Blessings to you and to your holiday season!!


PS: If you'd like to see more pics, make sure you check out my Online Photo Album (link on the right under Personal Links).

Updated Links..

For those of you who have asked me about this, yes I can receive packages here in Mexico. Email me and I'll send you my mailing address. Due to requests that I've received, I created (or rather updated) a couple of wishlists on amazon.com. They are linked to the right: Movies Wishlist and Books Wishlist.

Please note this however. Though I have made the wishlist with Amazon, items do not need to be purchased through Amazon. This was just the easiest way for me to put together a list online for all to see. However, should you wish to purchase the items from Amazon, they need to first be shipped to YOU, and then you can ship them to me. Amazon does offer international shipping, but I've had extreme difficulty with their international shipping option and would like to save you that hassel. It will take far less time and money (possibly to buy the item (perhaps at WalMart, Sams Club, Borders/Barnse & Noble, a used place, Blockbuster, etc.) and then ship it to me yourself. It is also more likely to arrive in my possession in the end. :) To those of you who have asked, thank you!

The Happiest of Thanksgivings!

Thanksgiving. It's a pretty simple word with lots of meanings. During November it generally refers to the holiday that falls on the fourth Thursday of the month, and it's a holiday that many look forward to for the copious amounts of food that are consumed, the chance to reunite with fam and friends, and the enjoyment of football! But that is only in the US. Did you know that in Canada, Thanksgiving is in the beginning of October? And in Mexico there is no Thanksgiving holiday AT ALL!! ...

Until now...

On this eve of the U.S. Thanksgiving, I would like to give my own thanks to the Lord for a great evening and great reminders. Tonight, we instituted our first ever church Thanksgiving festivity here in Mexico. This time it was only with the Arrayanes church, but we are planning on doing it with all the churches together next year and every year thereafter! We made two big turkeys and a ham and flan, and the folks in Arrayanes brought beans and hand-made tortillas, candied squash, and lemonade and jamaica juice. We ate dinner in the palapa outside the church (like a pavilion), and enjoyed the fellowship time. Then we all proceeded into the sanctuary where we worshiped a little and listened to Jay share about loving each other truly and encourage the body basically not to forsake meeting together as they have gotten into the habbit of doing. Church attendance in Arrayanes is down to less than half right now, which is quite discouraging sometimes. SO, it was amazing to see the church FULL tonight! Even Sandy and Mili's dad came, which is a true miracle in and of itself!! After Jay shared and encouraged, Dave shared a little, and then Jay showed a video he made. It's really a conglomeration of testimony videos he shot about 2 years ago as well as still photos from when they first built the church building about 5 years ago and the first official church meeting before there were even walls or a floor.

It was so incredible to hear their testimonies from their own mouths from 2 YEARS AGO!! When i didn't even know them! And to be able to hear them then and see them now and all that the Lord has done in the church since then, growing it and maturing it in size and in life, it's just mind-blowing! I felt so priveledged to be able to sit there and remember with them the story that God has been crafting amongst them. It was so neat to see their faces and the joy in their eyes after watching the video and sharing things that they are thankful for, to see in their eyes the remembering taking place. What a precious thing to see that moment happen, when the remembering takes over and the forgetting flies away...the encouragement that fills the soul...that was VISIBLE tonight to the human eye and it was indescribable. I came home full of joy and just overwhelmed at the incredible life and goodness that we can freely partake of in our God and yet, more often than not, choose to ignore, or not truly appreciate.

I've been sick this week...digestive track junk, and it's PAINFUL (you can be in prayer for this please)....but I came home tonight and found myself saying, "Lord, it doesn't matter. The pain and discomfort don't matter in light of your goodness. It is a small thing to suffer through if it means being able to partake of You and Your kingdom and Your work, to know You this way."

So, this Thanksgiving I'd like to offer a challenge. We are SO BLESSED, we United States-ians, especially those of us who know the Savior, Jesus Christ, personally! We have so much to be thankful for and yet we complain and gripe about so much too. Why? Tomorrow as you're eating your turkey and loving on your wonderful family and watching that American football, take time to soak up every moment and allow yourself to look around and REMEMBER where you were before you knew HIM, and where you are now, and all that He has brought you through to get you HERE and NOW. And worship Him for it. That is the heart of Thanksgiving.

Isaiah 43:1-13

So, I kept reading tonight as I read back through Isaiah 42. I LOVE Isaiah, and I was reminded why tonight. Isaiah 43 is wonderful too...soak it up well!

But now, this is what the Lord says--
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Isarael:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name;
you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
FOr I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
Do not be afraid, forI am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth--
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."

Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of them foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses
to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, "It is true."

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
I, even I, am the Lord,
and apart from me there is no savior.
I have revealed and saved and proclaimed--
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses," declares the Lord,
"that I am God.
Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?"

Reminders

Todays' sermon was excellent. I enjoy Pastor Goyo's preaching more and more each week. I've been feeling off lately, just in my heart and head--sort of as though I'm doing the doggy paddle in the deep end and getting tired and am too far from the ledge to feel comfortable with my level of tiredness. Then today Goyo preached from Isaiah 42:1-4 and talked about the justification that God brings TO us and THROUGH Christ IN us. It was a stellar service. I love how he gets SO EXCITED about our God every time He preaches. It revives something in my own heart! Anyway, I kept reading in that chapter today and the Lord just started a refreshing work. It is a work of conviction of course, but it is a reviving work too! So, I shall leave you with Isaiah 42.

"Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope.

This is what God the Lord says--
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all
that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it;
"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon
those who sit in darkness.

"I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you."

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from th eends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
you islands, and all who live in them.
Let the desert and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for you;
let them shout from the mountaintops.
Let them give glory to the Lord
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
The Lord will march out like a mighty man,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.

"For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.
I will lay waste the mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, 'You are our gods,'
will be turned back in utter shame."

Zapo Verde Soy Yo!

Well, Thursday, November 16, was my 27th birthday!!!! It was a day of mixed emotions and sentiments, but when the day was done I was nothing but perfectly content with the day the Lord gifted me! It started off a little sad. Yes, sadly, since I'm a girl, I must admit there were even some tears that morning for missing my family and wanting to be able to receive phone calls with folks singing to me and not just have to make the calls myself and coax a happy birthday out of them. But then, a miracle happened. I was pouring out these feelings to the Lord on my couch, and lo and behold MY PHONE RANG IN MY APPARTMENT. Now, I get zero signal in my appartment; normally there isn't even enough signal to notify me that I have voice mail let alone receive an incoming call! But it rang, and when I answered I heard the sweet voice of my step-mom, Kathy, singing Happy Birthday to me! And she was with my grandmother too, so I got to talk to both of them.

So, that kicked off the joyous rest of the day. I had just finished telling the Lord that all I wanted was to be able to recieve the calls of people singing to me, when my phone rang and Jesus told me Happy Birthday through my step-mom. Talk about a gift! And it just got better from there...more phone calls to friends and family, especially those in Guad who don't even have email, and then I had time to make myself really beautiful for the special dinner being made for me that night before heading off to Faith's for some mentor time. Then around 4:45 I headed to Arrayanes to the home of Sandy and Mili. Their mom, Flavia, was the one making the dinner. She made posole, and let me tell you, she makes it GOOD! Posole is a traditional Mexican dish that is kind of like a tomatoe based broth with meat (usually chicken) and hominy (a type of corn), and it is pronounced "po-so-lay". She invited all her sisters and their families, all of which are some of my favorite people here in Mexico. We had some great fellowship and great food, and it was wonderfully fun and special. The Mexican customs for birthdays are very different. Folks arrive at the party and hand the birthday person their gift and give them a hug. I've reached an age where my natural approach is not to expect gifts, which is just fine by me, so I actually felt funny receiving gifts. But every single gift was sweet and exactly what I actually have been wanting or needing! And they had no clue...another birthday gift from the Lord!

One special gift of note came from Flavia. Aside from doing all the prep work and making the big dinner and serving everyone (since normally that is something I would do at my own party), she also gave me a necklace. It's a rose on a gold chain. She came out of the house at one point and actually put it on me and looked me in the eye and said, "May you be here in Mexico for many years to come and may you have even more years of life and life blessed!" It was really special. She has always made me feel like part of the family in a way, and this was just another manifestation of that.

The next day, Friday, I had Mili and Sandy spend the night. Since it is not the Mexican custom to open presents at the party, I opened them with the girls on Friday night in my appartment. Then afterward, I nuked a microwave brownie mix (add water and nuke for 45 secons...way to go Duncan Hines! Very tasty!), put a tealight candle in the middle and the girls sang me both the Mexican birthday song (Las Manyanitas) and the US birthday song only according to how it sounds to them: "Happy Birthday to You" sounds like "Zapo Verde Eres Tu", which means "You are a green frog". HAH! Here are links to the videos I took of them singing these songs: "Las Manyanitas" and "Zapo Verde Eres Tu". Anyway, I'm posting a couple of pics here of the festivities, but I have put together an album on my PhotoSite. The link is to the right (Online Photo Album). Thanks to all of you who helped make the day special with MySpace comments, phone calls/messages, and emails. You guys rock! Enjoy the pics!!

Flavia serving the posole

The rose necklace Flavia gave me

Eating dinner in the front yard

Some of the family/party-goers: L-R: Erika (Flavia's sister) holding Coco, Brenda (Coco's mom), Aide, Donya Emilia (Flavia's mom), Josefina (Flavia's sister)

L-R: Pola (Flavia's sister), Me, Favi

Me and Mili at the party

Sandy and Me. She was all hugs that night..even more than usual!

The birthday "cake" and special beverages (DP is extremely hard to find here in Mexico) from the sleepover on Friday.

So, I just remembered that we as a ministry in Cofradia have a webpage, which happens to be where we post videos from each of the outreach teams that come down here as well as from various youth events. The most recent video posted is from El Reto, the youth event that took place in September. Check out the website and watch the video...www.cofradiamexico.com, or you can click on the link to the right.

Pictures

Ok, everyone...I have FINALLY updated my photosite. Check it out at foreveramber.photosite.com. There is a link on the right that says "Online Photo Album", which links to this site also, so you can check it out from time to time if you want to see if it's been updated. I've had a lot of fun going through the pics and updating this, so I hope you will have as much fun looking through them!

On another note, we have recently had a couple of different youth events. One was hosted here, and was a one-day event. We invited the youth groups from La Cruz, Sinaloa (near Mazatlan); Rosario, Sinaloa; and Rosa Morada (within our own municipality), and with our own youth we had a total of about 50 youth in attendence that day. During the day we played tournement games of volleyball, soccer, and pictionary. There were 6 teams and they each played each game 5 different times! Then in the afternoon, our youth hosted groups of visiting youth in their homes for lunch, and everyone then enjoyed some free time to rest and clean up for the evening services. Our speaker was a young man named Felipe. I believe he was also the speaker at a youth camp in July that our youth attended, and from what I hear they responded well to his messages then. Our event in October was no different. He spoke about real love vs. worldly love and challenged them to love well and to seek the true love that God offers us through His Son, etc, as well as to love each other truly. The evening ended with a time of prayer, and we continue to see fruit and hear stories of how our youth were touched by the Lord during that time.

I especially enjoyed the prayer portion of the service. I was nervous when Steve called me up with the rest of the leaders to be available to pray with the youth who would come up for prayer becuse praying in SPanish is one of the hardest things for me. But as I was going up to stand in the front, I prayed so hard that the Lord would give me the words I needed, and I felt his peace and presence just descend upon me. I had one of our own youth girls come up and have me pray with her, and the words just flowed. IT WAS SO NEAT!!! And praying in Spanish has been SO much easier ever since. Granted, my praying is not perfect in Spanish, and the words certainly do not come as easily as they do in English, but it gets better every time I do it!

This past weekend, we had another youth event, only this time we took 16 of our youth up to La Cruz, Sinaloa. The church there rented a water park to host the event, and there were youth there from Mazatlan and a couple other towns in addition to us. We arrived Friday afternoon, Nov. 3, in time to set up our tents and get settled in before the evening service started. There was worship and then a teaching given by the youth pastor of our overseeing church in Tepic. The church is called La Fuente (The Fountain), and the youth pastor's name is Paolo. He spoke Friday night about living in submission to authority. His message was truly annointed and I know that many of our youth were challenged to re-examine their approach and response to authority in their lives.

Saturday was a free day for the most part. The youth were free to swim in the pool and play soccer and just hang out and have a good time. Just about everyone ended up in the pool; and if they didn't go willingly, they were thrown in. There were also some oraganized relay games, which turned out to be a ton of fun! Then in the evening Paolo taught again, but this time on how we satisfy the hunger that all of us have in our hearts. He challenged them not to satisfy their hunger with what the world has to offer (sex, drugs, alcohol, fashion, etc), but instead to satisfy their hunger in the Lord and to guard carefully the inheretance He has given each of them in Jesus, as well as the destinys that each of them already holds in their hands, not just their own but also the destinys of future spouses and of those whose lives they will affect as they go through their own lives. It was an amazing message and was followed by an amazing time of prayer. He spoke to the girls and boys separately during prayer time, and I have heard several of the girls talk about how the Lord touched their hearts or called their attention from that message. We left shortly after the evening service ended and arrived back home around 3 am on Sunday morning.

Pictures from these events are all posted in that photo site I linked to at the beginning. Make sure to check them out and see what our youth have been up to! The Lord is moving in their hearts, challenging them to deeper relationships with him and with those around them. Please pray for us and for our youth, that we would continue to see growth in the youth currently attending, and that we would continue to reach out to those outside the church. Also, keep the youth in your prayers as the enemy is working overtime to route and destroy them. Thank you!