A New Year Underway

Renewing Our Vision

At the beginning of each year, as a congregation, we sit down and do some dreaming, planning, and praying. We ask ourselves vital questions such as, "What is God's plan for us this year?" and "How can we be good instruments in His plan?" Then we do our best to put it all in action.

This year we believe that we need to be renewed in God's vision. We want to focus on our commitment to our small groups, their growth and multiplication. During the past year we, the leadership, took large strides in achieving these goals on a congregational level. This focus led us to the multiplication of a new congregation, however our small groups' growth suffered. Our goal is to grow in all areas. Our plan for the new congregation in Ecatepec is going well and being blessed by God, and the small groups are all renewing their goals and vision. We are so excited about what God is going to do with us this year. We feel called to "return" to His vision. We want to dedicate ourselves to reaching out to others and to the growth of the church. As a family, we feel so blessed to be a part of such a strong core of leadership who truly desire to see their city become a "Christian" city.

Small Group News

Our small group is still meeting in the Pink House. We have a new sister named Crystal, and she has become a member of our group. She came to know Christ in the Ecatepec group, but because of the distance from where she lives she has started to meet with us. Amanda has started new Christian studies with her. She is a vibrant young Christian with a heart to study God's Word. It is so encouraging to see someone so dedicated to knowing God. Please keep Crystal in your prayers.

Please pray for our outreach where we live. Because it is an upper middle class neighborhood it is difficult to get to know our neighbors. However, we know many people who work around here. These relationships go back years with all those who have lived in this house. We pray that God can use us in reaching out to these people and are thankful that our relationship with them is growing. Sometimes it takes years to build trust in a city where trust is considered unwise, so please pray for our perseverance. Please pray that we can be good examples of Jesus Christ and his love to this area of the city.

Ecatepec Congregation

The new congregation in Ecatepec hosted our last areawide leadership meeting. It is exciting to see the energy that our brothers there have; it is contagious for all of us to be around them. God is growing them in many ways, and God is also using them to grow us all. We are entering into some new phases of growth with this congregation as they will soon be meeting independantly on a more regular basis. This part of the work is such an adventure! Please keep this new congregation in your prayers, specifically its leaders: Miguel and Tina Rocha, Israel Campos and Dr. Salomon Than.

Thanks for Friends

Two of our dear friends Marco Antonio Ponce de León and his wife Claudia were fairly recently immersed into Christ. We met them through Ivan Ponce de León a couple of years ago. They are the couple who rented us the last house we lived when they moved out of the city. Since their move God has been working on their hearts through many different people, and they finally decided to give their lives to Him. A few months after becoming Christians, they were in a car accident, and as a result Marco Antonio found out that he has a brain tumor. He is scheduled for brain surgery here in the city this week. It is amazing to see such a young Christian have such great faith when faced with this kind of trial. Marco Antonio has been a light to all of his family and to us since he found out about his sickness. He is completely dependant on God and His mighty power! Please keep his surgery and recovery in your prayers over the next few days. Also pray that he is soon able to sale his house here in the city. He has had an offer this week, so we are hopeful!



Family


Our family is doing well. We are glad to be back home in Mexico after our long trip to the States. We have all been battling through sickness, probably like most of you, but we are hopefully on the downhill side with just some coughing and headeaches left. Adah is doing great, and Noah is growing more every day with a big smile on his face. He has just learned how to clap and is working on a wave. These are fun times. Adah loves to dance and pretty much anything to do with princesses (go figure.) She is so spunky and sassy! We hope to post some pictures soon. For now, I hope just reading will do.

October News

The Day of the Dead

This month is marked by festivities surrounding the Day of the Dead which is actually celebrated on November 2nd. People create "altars" dedicated to their loved ones who have passed. These altars include the deceased's favorite foods, drinks, and other items that they once enjoyed. It is believed by some that these offerings pacify lost ones when they come to "share a meal" once a year on November 2nd. This would keep the souls peaceful for the rest of the year. Interesting, isn't it? Vast parties are held in cemetaries as these traditions are carried out. Feelings about death vary greatly across the world. I am so glad that our hope lies in God and his plan for us once we pass from this earth!

Ecatepec

We are excited to say that the first celebration in Ecatepec was a great success! Our congregation spent the weekend of October 27th and 28th with our family there. On Saturday, we handed out invitations to the Sunday celebration and also to an event that we had that evening. We entertained our guests with a singing group and a play for the kids who came. And of course, we ate all day long!! The family group there took great care of us. On Sunday we had various congregations in Mexico City come to celebrate with us. We were probably 100 people all together. It was a great time that encouraged us all.














This event marked the beginning of the new church plant in Ecatepec; and as we mentioned before, they are the first group to reach the 3rd generation of multiplication as it is planted from the Benito Juarez congregation. We are so proud of what God is doing in Ecatepec and in the lives of his people there. Please keep this endeavor in your prayers, and we will keep you informed as this new congregation progresses in its plans.

The Vision Marches On!

Well, we have decided to give the world of blogging a shot. We hope that in this new way we can get more continuous stories about the work here out to everyone. Please let us know what you think. We are excited about the many amazing things God is doing in Mexico City and in our lives, and we look forward to sharing these things with you. We consider ourselves extremely blessed by the work here and by our family around the world!

Fulfilling Dreams

For some time now our dream has been that the Lord make this city a Christian City. We hope to work for this by planting congregations throughout the city. We dream of congregations in all of the sixteen delegations of Mexico City and in the satellite cities around Mexico City. The amazing thing about God is that we put plans before Him, and He turns them all around to do His will, and in that way we know the plans are His.

We currently are the only full time missionaries in the Benito Juárez congregation, and as a congregation we have discussed how and where the next congregation could be planted. God has made it obvious that He is in control. We have been watching the way our group has been growing in Ecatepec, Estado de Mexico. It is a satellite city in the state of Mexico that is home to 6 million. It is the largest of the satellite cities and two hours from where we meet in Benito Juárez. The growth that this group has been experiencing is so encouraging, and we are excited to say that we are in a process of planting the next congregation there. We are especially proud of the congregation plant for many reasons, but two in particular. It is the first multiplication of a new congregation from Benito Juárez (3rd generation). And it is coming from a group of members of the congregation where no full time missionaries are actively involved! We (the entire Benito Juárez congregation) are going to be very involved in the process, but we are so proud of our Ecatepec members for their faith and desire to plant this new congregation. Please pray for these members and this project.

We are doing our first event for the new church plant on the 27 and 28th of this month. We are planning an evangelistic event on Saturday and a combined celebration on Sunday in Ecatepec. We pray that all goes well and God is glorified. We are confident that this next step places us in a new phase of the congregation and work that has made us so proud and excited. We look forward to sharing with you what happens next.

Mes de la Patria

As many of you know, September is the patriotic month in Mexico. It is highlighted by a celebration of the Independence Day on the 15th and 16th. We have made it a tradition here in Benito Juárez to throw a big party on the 15th in celebration of this holiday. We all prepare our favorite Mexican antojito, and this year we spent some time singing all of our favorite Mariachi songs. We feasted on pozole, flautas, pambazos, tostadas, mole, elotes and esquites. For those of you who have been here and sampled some of these foods, you know that we enjoyed quite a treat! It is such a wonderful thing when those around you are excellent cooks! It makes life so enjoyable. We also have some great singers in our congregation, and there is nothing like a Mariachi sing-along to give you a real taste of Mexican parties! You can just imagine how much Adah enjoyed this part of the party as she also entertained us with spirited dancing! Needless to say, we had a great time together. Our congregation really shares the gift of hospitality.

Leadership Growth

Since the departure of all of the full time missionaries in this area our leadership has grown in leaps and bounds. We are all taking on our own roles and trying our best to glorify God using our gifts. We are so proud of the church and how we have all stepped up to the calling God has made for us. We are taking the vision and making it our own. It is an awesome and powerful experience for our family and the church. Please keep us in your prayers.

Family News

We are growing accustomed to life as the caretakers of the Pink House. We actually enjoy the constant presence of people in our home. Adah's Spanish is really flourishing now. Noah is 3 1/2 months old now, and he is growing tons. He officially has his dual citizenship. Let me tell you, you haven't experienced gathering paperwork until you have had a child in a foreign country and have to spend days getting all the requirements figured out: making copies, taking pictures, standing in lines, filling out applications, filling out physical presence tests, waiting in lines, making more copies, requesting documents, waiting, making payments, standing in line, taking more pictures, making yet more copies, etc, etc, etc. If you are ever feeling down about getting these things done, just call Jacob... he is an expert!

We hope to visit the US around Thanksgiving and look forward to introducing Noah to many of you. We plan on staying through the Christmas holidays, so hopefully we can see you.