A New Fire

This past month has been great for our congregation here. Tomorrow Ryan will wrap wrap up the Nooma preaching series. After much discussion between the members, we are all equally encouraged. There's a new spark among our members and a new energy to begin new things.

A fellow missionary here in the city, James Henderson, preached at the area-wide service two weeks ago in the center. He spoke about us being active Christians and not passive Christians. He posed some through-provoking questions to us all. Things like, "What is your deepest desire?" "When were you the happiest in your life?" These questions have been in on our hearts since, and we've had many a discussion. Last night in our leaders' group meeting, we had a brain-storming session about the direction of the Benito Juarez congregation. We have many plans on the horizon...new groups that will be starting, and new preaching series, and evangelistic events that will take place.

One of the most encouraging things that has happened lately was one of our fellow workers, Alejandro, stopped by to say good-bye. Yep, he just left for a month-long vacation to Europe...we feel REALLY sorry for him! Anyhoo, when he was over saying his good-byes, he blew us away. "I'm ready to do something more, something NEW!" he said. We were blown away and very inspired. Alejandro is a great leader within this congregation and has the gift of speaking. Whenever he preaches, people listen! Upon his return, we hope to help him start a new cell group in his mother's house. Please be prayerful of this!

Starting soon, as a congregation we will be reading "The Story". We are excited that we have found it here, in Spanish! We are hoping that this tool will provide a way to get all of us involved in reading our Bible on a daily basis.

Also in the works, is a fall festival. The Benito Juarez congregation hopes to use this event to reach out to the Del Valle community. Del Valle is where the Pink House is located. We are planning a Saturday for us to drop invites into mailboxes. Israel Campos and I will be working on the design of the invitation. We are looking forward to some members from the Monterey Church in Lubbock to come down and help us out.

That's all for now. Please pray for us and the fire that burns within us to grow the leadership within this congregation. We feel blessed to be members and co-workers among so many dedicated people. God is great!

Mexico Missionary Retreat

We are hopefully wrapping up the rainy season here and then starts the cooler weather. We're excited. We did get a break from the rain when we met with other Mexico missionaries for our annual Mexico Missionary Retreat. This year, Ryan and I took on the responsibility of planning the event. With the help and generosity of good friends, we were able to meet in Puerto Vallarta this year. There were 66 in total this year. We had a blast and enjoyed mornings of praise and devos. The AIMers even had a surprise visit from the directors of the AIM program. On our last morning together we were talking about next year and there are going to be news missionary faces that join us and then also some that won't be there. There will be several missionary families wrapping up their time in Mexico and also some taking a furlough. We're already looking forward to seeing what next year will bring.

Meagan Jarboe was our guest for the retreat. We had so much fun with her. She is in her second year of Med School, and boy did we admire he dedication to her studies during the retreat. Of course, if you have to study, study at the beach!

We also visited one of our favorite restaurants while in Puerto Vallarta. La Bodegita Del Medio is a Cuban restaurant that Ernest Hemingway use to visit. They have some in Mexico City, the best one by far is in P.V. Meagan and our good friend, Toby joined us. Jax got to play the drums with the band and Toby took Meagan for a spin!

Jax swam everyday and by mid-day HE was the one begging for a nap. Every night, the resort had a mini-disco for the kids. This was the highlight of Jax's day every night. He loved being up on stage dancing and showing off his moves. Jax had a great time with all the other kids and playing in the sand. Of course there are more pictures of him than anyone else, but can you blame us? He's too cute!

We were encouraged with the time spent with the other missionaries and are blessed by the success of the retreat. Please pray for all the various works taking place throughout Mexico. God is working mightily across this nation.

Visit from the Hendersons

This past month we had a visit from Jacob, Amanda, Adah, and Noah Henderson. It was so great to have them here. We had the chance to see them this summer, but it was just different having them here with the Benito Juarez congregation. We had a game night, a special dinner, and even a potluck while they were here. One of the biggest treats was our friend Alejandro treating Jacob, Amanda, and Ryan to a World Cup qualifying game between Mexico and Honduras. I sacrificed not going, to give Ryan a chance to " bond with the guys". This really was a sacrifice, because I am WAY more into Futbol than Ryan. The all came back to the house full of energy and soaked from the rain. This is definately something they will never forget.
Jax sure did enjoy playing with Adah and Noah. He woke every morning with a smile on his face ready to see Adah. Of course, how could he not love his Uncle Jacob and Aunt Amanda, when they bring him a HUGE lollipop. He couldn't get enough of it.
This time with the Henderson family was very special to us and we made good memories. Please keep them in your prayers.