Day One

We're coming to the end of the first 12 hours with our new students, some having arrived already yesterday evening and the rest showing up this morning.  We have 7 students so far with another two possibly on the way hopefully within the next couple of days (pray that all would fall into place for them to make it here si Dios quiere, if God so desires!)  What a wonderful group of students so far!  I apologize for no pictures, they will be forthcoming soon!

Today was spent in orientation, laying down some of the structure of the schools, expectations, all those typical first day activities.  Later on in the afternoon as staff we took some time to share our stories, how we came to know Christ and also how we came to be serving at the school.  It's always hard to gauge things on the first day but by every indication that we see so far, we have an excellent group of students, whose hearts are clearly to serve the Lord and with a deep passion to learn.  One young couple comes from the southeast end of the country, close to Veracruz, having spent several days on bus to get out here.  They come with two young children, 2 years and less than 1 year, I believe.  A pastor has joined us from a church up in the mountains northeast of us, about 4 hours away.  Another young man has come who is from Honduras originally but has spent the last 10 years here in Mexico and the last year or so as a believer.  He has a tremendous testimony of how God rescued him from a past in drug addiction.  Another three young people come from a local church in Guaymas whom had been a part of the conferences that we had earlier this fall.  We are hoping that a pastor's wife from neighbouring Emplame as well as an older man who has regular services in his home in Hermosillo will be able to take care of some business concerns and show up in the next day or two.

As first days typically go, everyone was relatively reserved and quiet but everyone has come with a passion to serve the Lord and a desire to grow and learn to be able to be more effective in their ministries.  As a staff we are super excited to finally step out of planning mode into action.

Tomorrow is my debut in teaching a new course, Spiritual Disciplines.  God has been placing on my heart not just the material and focus for the course but in my life personally, this deep need we have to send our roots down deep into Him.  Our relationship with Him is so very important and vital, something that needs to be so central in our lives.  Reading through the Psalms or through some of Paul's writings one can hear these very things and it makes me realize how far I have yet to go!  Pray for me as I teach; I'm thankful that it's the Holy Spirit who is the actual present Teacher and I just pray that He would speak through those classes exactly what each of the students need to hear!

Thanks for your prayers!

A December Recap

Saludos, greetings from San Carlos! They say that somehow Christmas is just around the corner. It's kinda easy to lose track of things like that - there's no snow lying on the group, there's few Christmas lights strung up, but I have hauled out the hoodie and the pants for a number of evenings. I won't share the temperature we've been going down to because I'd be embarrassed to have the Manitoba crowd know at what temperature I'm sporting such "winter" clothing.

So, moving right along, I just want to give you a quick recap of things going on over the past little while and things coming up. Here's a quick summary:

CONFERENCE

The week I got back from MB (beginning of November) we had a week of conferences, one running Monday to Wednesday on the theme of Living An Authentic Christian Life and from Thursday to Saturday where the author of a curriculum we've made a lot of use of called Firm Foundations presented it to pastors and people involved in ministry in their churches. Between the two conferences we had about 50+ participants here all week and were blessed to be able to be a part of building up and encouraging men and women from the local churches.

TEAM FROM BC

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to host a team from a supporting church in British Columbia. I had the pleasure of getting to know a number of them two years ago, right at the beginning of my time here at CEC, when they last came down. They came down with just over 20 people and got an incredible amount of work done, painting, building cabinets, various welding projects, and did some major work in landscaping a little garden with a fire pit with a wonderful ambiance to chat with someone or spend some time with the Lord. Thanks a tonne to the incredible group of people who came down and not only got so much done but were a huge encouragement to us!

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR

Just last week we got together as the full-time staff to hash through plans for the coming school year. We are looking forward to about a dozen or so students who are interested at this point, some already more or less confirmed. This is a huge blessing as often in the past at this time we have even wondered whether there would more than a handful of students! We as a staff are excited for what God has in store. We are encouraged as team and sensing a real unity as we approach this year. Keep us as well as the students in your prayers as we continue to lay out the groundwork for this coming school year.

PREPARING CLASS MATERIAL

This has been my major focus over the past couple of weeks as I've got two classes I'm focussing on at this point, one I taught last year - Music Ministry and a new one (for me) that I have the privilege of taking on this year, Spiritual Disciplines. It has been a humbling and inspiring walk through a number of the spiritual disciplines. I think I'm pretty lucky to be able to just spend these days studying, spending time with God, and getting a sense for what He wants to speak through these classes. As is often the case, He seems to have things to say to me first, before I even think about what to share in the class. Actually, over the past year or more I've been sensing His call to a much deeper relationship with Him, something that requires an investment of our time, our focus. But God meets us powerfully when we open ourselves up to Him and that's really the essence of the spiritual disciplines, isn't it? I'm excited to be able to share that with the students and pray that they will hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with the Lord. Pray for me as I continue to study and prepare!

BMC GROUP COMING!

I'm excited for my church, the Blumenort Mennonite Church to be sending a team out arriving here shortly after Christmas and spending just over a week down here. We're putting together the schedule, finding places for them to serve and to get to know not just the ministry but some of the students who have come through school, so that can get a feel for what God is doing here in Mexico through this ministry. I am very much looking forward to seeing them here! Pray for this time, that they would be encouraged, and that God would lead us to all the places where we can be His hands, His feet, His voice, and whatever He needs!

That's about it for now. Time is cruising by and between the preparation, the group coming, and whatever else lies between, the school year will be here before we know it. We covet your prayers in all of this! ¡Dios les bendiga!

A Day At School/Moving In!

Wish you could have been there! The purpose was to communicate the vision of our school to the local churches in the area, San Carlos, Guaymas, and Empalme. However I think we as a staff (perhaps I should just speak for myself!) came away as encouraged as the pastors if not more so!

The event took place last week Monday here at the school and Jorge, one of our teachers has been working the phones and paying visits to many different local churches, getting more acquainted with the pastors and local church leaders. It has been difficult at times to build bridges with local churches as many churches are hesitant to get involved with those outside of their denomination. When doctrinal differences get thrown in the mix and the question of "what could a school not part of our denomination possibly be teaching that we don't agree with..." can inadvertently build up walls. (I know the same issues and questions have built the same walls in Canada and the US but praise God that in many places those walls are falling down!) With that said, it has been difficult at times to overcome those superficial boundaries here in this area in the first years as a school but God is bringing down those walls.

Through a lot of legwork, Jorge was able to "confirm" around 60 local pastors and leaders interested in coming out and hearing about the school. As is often the case here in Mexico, you never know how many will show up until, well, they show up! As the time came to begin, there were about a dozen or so with people slowly trickling in. But taking a count about half an hour into the event, I counted up to 80 people, not including any of us. Wow! What a blessing to see such a great response from our local church community. We spent the afternoon with each of the different in-house teachers sharing what their respective courses were about, emphasizing a couple of things: one being the desire for transformation and not merely information; another being the Biblical-Christ centred teaching, meaning the important things are not the things that often divide us but rather knowing Christ and preaching Him to those who don't.

The pastors/local church leaders hearing about CEC

We sensed a real positive response from the pastors and even have some new student prospects from connections made. Not only that but since then we are seeing a much higher response than we have seen in the past for two conferences coming up the beginning of November to the point where we have been throwing around the idea of what to do if we run out of space with our current facilities. What a great problem to have! But personally what was probably more encouraging was not only hearing the other teachers share but also from the four past students who shared from their experiences of their time here at CEC. It was so encouraging to hear how God powerfully used their time here in CEC to seriously change them and use them in their places of ministry. And I don't write this to say, "how amazing we are as a school" but rather "how amazing God is, how He brings change to people's lives and what a privilege that we can be a part of it!"

So yeah, I wish you could have at least been a fly on the wall but I suppose reading this blog post will have to do for now!

MOVING IN

On another front, this past week I was able to move into a new place after having lived in a (albeit clean, dry and cool - when the AC was turned on!) camper for the better part of seven years. As I had mentioned earlier, we sold the camper I was staying in to be able to build this little house. A number of you helped as well, for which I am very grateful, and finally this past week I was able to pull out all of my stuff from storage and move in. It's situated on the same lot as the Dining Hall and has already been a huge blessing, having a place that is a little bit more fijo, more permanent in nature, and some more space to enjoy. A huge thanks to all who were involved in making this happen!

The house while it is still under construction