I trust that you all had a very good and blessed Christmas season. I had the opportunity of spending it with most of my family and a group of 37 extra people whom they decided to bring along with them! My parents lead a team of 37 people from their church in Winkler, MB to spend just over a week here in San Carlos on a missions trip. 37 people is a lot of people to keep busy but they came ready to work hard and also ready to be a blessing to the people here! They came with backpacks and pillows to give away, suitcases and boxes full of clothes, a program for the children, and also plans to give out hotdogs and a Coke to the people in the different places we visited. On four different occassions we set out for different locations in Guaymas and the surrounding area, working together with some local contacts, different pastors and people who are involved in ministry. Early afternoon the entourage would roll in and we would set up for several hours of a carnival for the children with different areas including games, facepainting, songs, a Bible verse, balloon blowing, and things like that to interact with the children. In the meantime a trailer was opened up and the adults would pass through and take home items of clothing for themselves and for their family. As the afternoon wore on, the BBQ's came out and the hotdogs were thrown on the grill. We fed anywhere from a couple of hundred people to as many as probably 500 in one of the villages. As the sun would begin to set, a screen and projector were setup and a movie about the life of Jesus was shown. The evening concluded with one of the local pastors or ministry leaders presenting the Gospel message and giving people an opportunity to respond. Apart from this the team would spend the mornings in work projects from painting to helping a local ministry out in a construction project and things like that.
I'm exhausted just writing about it! But it was a wonderful way to spend Christmas as a family, and it's always neat to see how God uses experiences like this not just in the lives of the people who the team came to serve here in Mexico but how He uses them to touch the hearts of those who come to serve. Thanks to all of you from Bethel who gave of yourselves so selflessly! You were a blessing to those whose lives you touched and an encouragement to me as well!
A NEW YEAR
That brings us to a new school term which is already underway. In this culture, it's always an uncertainty planning ahead! Probably a week before the classes were supposed to start we had three confirmed students who had their application and references already sent it, and then of course a fairly long list of "possibilities!" Well, Sunday evening rolled around and we were up to 10 students, the same number we had last year, and there's actually one more who is supposed to show up later on today. As Howard our director has mentioned, we have been praying for these students ever since the last ones left, back in April, and we trust that God has brought these particular people here for His purposes.
As in past years, there is a great variety in the age and backgrounds of these students. The youngest is a 19 year old young woman who comes from a small, isolated fishing village about an hour northwest of San Carlos. She comes having been quite involved in her church's ministry and with a desire to learn more. Not far down the road from her comes a pastor who is probably in his late 50's or early 60's. He has been in the ministry for a number of years already, pastoring a small church in a small agricultural village and comes with a desire to study the Word of God in a deeper way than he has had the opportunity to do so through any type of "formal education". It's a wonderful mix of young people who are just figuring out how they fit into God's plan and older, more mature people who have already been serving for years in different ministry capacities. One man shared yesterday of his intense struggles with drugs and alcohol and how the Lord saved him from that lifestyle, taking away the tremendous weight that that lifestyle left on his shoulders. He shared with us yesterday his hunger to learn and his desire to just share with those who don't know how the Lord set him free.
Over the course of the next months you'll come to know a little more about these students as I hope to share with you how God works in their lives through the course of this school term. The goal, as we've been sharing with the students, I think is best put by one of our teachers: it's not about the information as much as it is about formation. Of course as one studies the Word of God there is lots of information that one can and should take in, especially as we study the background, the history, even the geography, etc. surround any given passage. But much more important than that is how the Word forms and shapes our character, the internal formation that takes place!
So I'd invite you to pray for us as we enter a new semester! Here's some ways that you can be praying for us as we being:
- Pray for our students, that they would desire this same transformation in their lives.
- Pray for the range in backgrounds, some perhaps having more knowledge and experience than others; pray especialy for those with a very basic understanding, that they wouldn't feel "left behind".
- Pray for us as staff, that we would be the servant-leaders we need to be to help encourage and to demonstrate the kind of life that we see Christ calling us to.
- Pray for the unity in our leadership team as we are excited to have three new people join our team this year.
Thanks for your tremendous support and prayers! ¡Dios les bendiga!
