More Treats, Than Tricks!

Wow…the month of October has been full of excitement! We’ve had a lot of dreaming, a baptism, I was able to go to a women’s retreat, and we closed the month with a successful Halloween party.

Leadership Growth
Many of you know that we have small groups that meet throughout the city during the week; well we also have a leaders group. This is a time where the leaders of these small groups can get together and share the things that are taking place in their individual groups. We are meeting on Friday evenings and as leaders, we’ve decided to use our time together differently.
As a church we are going through The Story. If you haven’t heard of or read this, I highly recommend it. Now with a new cover and refined storyline, The Story reveals the unfolding, grand narrative of the Scriptures. Using the clear, accessible text of Today’s New International Version, this rendering of the Bible allows its stories, poems, and teachings to come together in a single, compelling read. We are reading this together and spending the first half of our Friday evenings going over how being in the Word of God has impacted us that week.

During the second half of Leaders’ Group, we spend time in prayer, planning, and dreaming. This is where we share the things on our hearts as far as vision for the congregation, for groups, and ways that we can reach out to the community. This is an exciting time for us and a time where we know we can throw any idea out there and then as a group, bring it before the congregation to get some feedback. Please continue to pray for our leaders. God is using them in great ways. There is a fire within each of them that excites us and spurs us on to work harder.

News from La Viga
We have great news from the central eastside of the city. La Viga is the home to Vero Marquez and her three sons. It has also been a meeting place for a small group that meets in her home on Wednesday evenings. Raul has been a long-time friend of the Marquez family and has played a huge role in the three young men’s lives. Ryan and I remember working with The Marquez family when Raul was a constant presence in the group. He would come to group every week. However, he would simply sit there. Participation was not something he was interested in. The participation he would have would be at the end of group saying, “The Bible says wonderful things, but it’s not for me.”
Well loved ones, it goes to show that God’s power and love is mighty. On October 15th, the Benito Juarez congregation met together to witness Raul be baptized into Christ. Oh how I wish you all could have known him before and then see him now. There is no doubt that God changes people. Raul, who was once a man who kept to himself and really never greeted anyone, is now giving out hugs freely. He often shares of his struggles with his daughter and how he longs to set a Christ-like example for her.
After Raul’s baptism, we returned to the house and celebrated with a meal. There is nothing like celebrating a new life in Christ. We concluded by sharing the Lord’s Supper together…Raul’s first as a Christian man. Please pray for Raul and his new walk in God. The La Viga group continues to minister to him. He is also asking for prayers that his work situation will change so that he can join us on Sunday mornings.

Women Of The Harvest
From October 18 – 21, I was privileged enough to attend an all women’s retreat in Cancun, Mexico. This retreat was organized by The Women of The Harvest. Thanks to supporters from Monterey Church, I was able to attend this retreat. After the year I’ve had with health scares and readjusting here, this was a great time for me to get refocused. I was reminded what my role is as a woman here on the mission field. It was also a great opportunity for me to meet some other woman missionaries within the city. It doesn’t get lonely from time to time, so now I have connections with some other women. God is good and always provides refreshment and encouragement. Thank you Monterey Missions, for sending me to wonderful retreat!

Halloween Fun!

David and Marilyn Burnett from the Monterey Church in Lubbock just left this morning. Their mission while they were here was to help the Benito Juarez Church a successful Halloween party. Well, mission accomplished! It started with careful planning and list making. There was no problem with getting the church excited. However we had a different plan this year. Instead of it simply being an event that was spread by word-of-mouth, we decided to target the Del Valle area. Del Valle in the colonia where the Pink House resides. This area tends to be very difficult to reach out to. People are more closed and tend to stick to themselves and in their homes.
With much prayer, we spent one Saturday morning dropping invites into the mailboxes of our neighbors. Our party was intended to focus on a family outing and something fun for the children. The Children’s Mission Ministry of Monterey church sent down Halloween crafts for our visitors to make. The children spent the evening making photo frames and door hangers. We snapped pictures of the families as they came in and then printed pictures for them as souvenirs of their evening. We ended the evening with the children taking turns at smashing the piñata! It was a great success. We had just under 80 people in attendance. More than half of that number was children and about 70% of the attendees stopped by due to receiving invites. I would also like to thank the Brednich and Henderson families for coming up and helping us out. We’re do glad you could join us. This is so exciting for all of us. Now for Ryan and I, since we live in this neighborhood, it opens up a lot of opportunities to connect with our neighbors as we are out and about daily. Please pray for the area of Del Valle. A change is coming with this fall season. We are excited and prayerful!

Falling Into Step
As a family we are quickly coming to the point of completely our first year back. We are in the groove and falling into step with our routine and family here. Although we miss our families back in the States, we are convinced more than ever, that Mexico City is where God wants us to be at this point in our lives. It is hard to doubt when there are so many positive things taking place. With so many great things happening we remind mindful that Satan is lurking and ready to attack. We ask that you keep Benito Juarez and all of her members in prayer. We are starting to talk, plan, and set goals for the coming year. Please pray for hard workers and open hearts. We know as a Church, we got our work cut out for us…but then again…it’s God who is doing it all. Praise his name!