Hello Everyone,
When we came down to Mexico, we made a three month commitment that ends at the end of September. We have been praying about it and feel like we are not receiving direction from God to change our circumstances at the moment, so we are planning to stay longer than originally intended. We are currently planning to extend our stay in Mexico till at least December maybe till spring depending on God’s direction and funding. Please pray with us that we will listen closely to hear what God is saying and that he will provide what we need to remain here as long as he wants. John and I are both really happy about this extension since we feel as if we just arrived and have so much more learn from and give to this place. Learning Spanish is also an important goal of ours and the extra months here will help a lot, now that we have some of the basics down.
Amazing things have been happening at the mission in San Ignacio. Our small group of attendees continues to grow, and there are more kids and adults every time we meet. Last Saturday, we had over 40 kids and 20 adults. The town we are in is very small, probably less than 2000 people according to a local. To have such consistent attendance of this many people is unusual in this area. The LDS and JW groups are very popular here as well as a cult called Light of the World. Evangelical churches are surprisingly rare. So much so, that the leader of the local Light of the World has been known to spy on the San Ignacio mission meetings.
A class for the younger kids
The two couples who are leading the mission are very faithful and hardworking. They have a huge passion to build relationships with the local people and to see the Holy Spirit move in their lives. We are privileged to work with them.
Sweeping upstairs
Washing chairs and cleaning the bathroom
Sweeping, wiping tables, planting trees, and pulling weeds
This Tuesday, instead of mission, we did Kilo x Kilo which is a work for food program run by La Fuente. Basically, people from the community (mostly women) who need financial assistance come and work for a couple hours around their neighborhood, cleaning, pulling weeds, and planting trees. In exchange for 2 hours of work, each person receives a bag of food which usually includes corn meal, vegetable oil, fresh tomatoes, some canned goods, rice, etc. Since it is the rainy season, plants grow very quickly (think greenhouse), so the San Ignacio mission was pretty overgrown and needed some attention. That is where we worked. Many of the women who attend our meetings regularly were there as well some new people we hadn’t seen before. When the work was done, one of the mission leaders gave a short devotional, and we handed out food. It is important at the missions for people to take ownership of the church and invest in it. These work days and taking tithes and offerings are meant to help the people feel invested in the mission. What they give is small, but for many of them it is all they have.
Handing out food
I was just interrupted by one of the ladies in the church who wanted to tell me some good news. She just got a job at a bilingual school today after searching for a job for 1 1/2 years. She is so excited she is practically jumping up and down. I know that they have been struggling financially and praying desperately for work. Her daughter is in university and they have another teenage son at home. The daughter was saved two years ago, and because of her, the rest of her family is serving God. They are wonderful, exuberant people. It is a huge blessing to see that God is providing even though this is the low season and this part of Mexico has been hit hard by the economic downturn.
Mixing cement and lifting it onto the roof
John Mark is still helping with the main construction project for La Fuente Riviera. They have finished moving rock and concrete on to the roof for now and are now tiling the roof to help seal it. Though it is still humid, it has been cooler that last few days, for which we are grateful.
Work has been a little slower for me recently, but yesterday, I was given the job of coordinating the English service 9-14 year old Sunday School class. I have been writing curriculum for them for a month and a half’s worth of classes till the curriculum arrives (via someone coming from the states). During the low season, we might have 0-3 kids in that class, but during high season it can have as many as 14 kids. We want to have the classes planned out before things become busy around here. I will be overseeing about 5 teachers who rotate the job of teaching each week. It is a pretty administrative position, so I think I will like it.
I also discovered yesterday that we need to have a month of classes planned for San Ignacio at a time. I will be working on planning the classes and distributing materials to the other teachers at the mission. I have been planning the classes week by week and giving the supplies to one of the Spanish speakers to teach. I use my small amount of Spanish and hand signals to indicate what I had planned. It surprisingly works fairly well. The teenage Mexican girls who help with the teaching do a great job – much better than I could do on my own.
The kids at San Ignacio are often riveted when the teacher is telling a story. We use a flannel graph. That’s it. When we do coloring, it is almost silent. The kids have so little creative outlets that anything colorful or creative is fascinating.
Doing an activity in San Ignacio
Please pray for my body. It has been giving me a little bit of trouble. My back went out on Tuesday, but I got prayed for at church and it felt much better afterwards. No pain since. Thank you, God. I also have had some stomach problems for about 24 hours. I took a charcoal pill and have been feeling better since then. These small complaints have thankfully been the worst of our stay here. Please pray that my body will be strong and function properly. Please also continue to pray that we will learn Spanish and be able to communicate with people here.
We are still praying that the governor of our state will give La Fuente Riviera some land in San Vicente for a church. There are many people there who need Jesus and who would welcome a church there if there was one. On Monday, La Fuente handed out blankets, sheets, towels, and pillows to a community who lives in cardboard shanties in San Vicente. La Fuente has been developing a relationship with those living in that community, and we are excited to see what God does there.
Thank you for your prayer,
Moorea
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