Feliz Navidad!

Wow...it's hard to believe that Christmas is here! For those of you who grew up with the usual snow on the ground and Boney M version of Feliz Navidad playing on the radio in the background, you would know what I mean! (Thankfully...) there is no snow on the ground! And well, no Boney M...I think I'll survive! But Christmas in Mexico will be exciting as well! Here's a look back on the last couple of weeks and what's been keeping us hopping here since our trip into the Copper Canyon:

Putting on a church roof...

Over the past two years a church in Guaymas, Iglesia de Dios has been tirelessly working at building a new church building. A church from Crystal City, MB helped purchase the bricks over a year ago and they have been busy ever since putting up the walls. This past November a good friend Jeremy and his wife Alana came down from this same church in Crystal City with the intent to construct a metal roof for this church, a fair sized undertaking considering it is about a 30' by 60' building. And over the past couple of weeks with the help of various teams we were able to get the roof done as well as the electrical wiring for the building. Praise God! We are pretty exciting in seeing this project come to a completion! This was probably one of the first churches that I remember visiting during my first year here. I remember it quite distinctly because it was a dark, dingy, small building built of wooden pallets nailed together with a tin roof. I know that God never puts much thought into where He "takes up residence" (especially considering that His first "earthly home" as a human was in a stable of all places!) But I remember when we visited as a team, we had to cram into that place to find a place to sit! If nothing else, a larger place of worship as definitely in order!

So, to see this project come together after the sacrifice of not only a number of teams but seeing the church itself pour hours of fund raising and hard work into it as well, has been a blessing! One evening, after the first pieces of tin were fastened on, we took part in a moving evening service with them where the pastor himself was in tears overwhelmed at seeing the project coming to a completion. An elderly man shared, through tears as well, how for years he had been praying he would live to see the day when a new church building could be built to replace the old shack they used to worship in, something worthy of the God they served!

Backpack Ministry

The San Carlos Community Church, a local body of English speaking believers takes on a ministry of giving out backpacks every Christmas season. This year well over 600 backpacks were packed and distributed to different local churches in the days leading up to Christmas. Each pack is filled with some school supplies, age appropriate toys and most importantly a Bible. We visited about five or six different churches having a bit of a program with the children and then handing out the backpacks.

One boy in particular sticks out in my mind, really bringing into perspective the whole idea of gift giving in this Christmas season. He was the son of a pastor whom I had gotten to know well over the past couple of years. After receiving his backpack he came to me super exciting over one of the things in particular that he had received. He shared, almost with tears in his eyes, how he had been praying for this exact thing. Any guesses as to what it might have been? How about this: a little LED flashlight...nothing special - something you could probably pick up at a dollar store, but this more than made his day! Kinda helps to put into perspective the whole idea of gift giving...or perhaps more so gift receiving! Also kinda neat to see how God takes care of us and even these smallest desires that we have! How much joy He must have had in answering this boy's prayer of faith?!

Looking ahead...

A couple of days after Christmas things are really going to start hopping as a youth group from Winkler, MB arrives. Along with them and the financial help from their church we will begin one of the bigger projects this winter: building a pastoral house. I look forward to keeping you posted not only on the project but also the stories along the way of how we see God moving!

Thanks so much for the prayers along the way! Feliz Navidad!