Wednesday, December 05, 2007

December Update

We wish you and yours a blessed Christmas and New Year. We believe God has blessed us and moved among us in many ways since our last report. We want to mention a few things for your prayers and thanksgiving.

The Churches – A Kid’s Weekend in La Piedad – Planting Seeds

The fellowship of house churches seems to be doing well right now—each with stories of growth and trials. We pray for the churches in La Piedad, Jocotan, Cerro de Cuatro, Jardines del Valle and Mariano Otero—we pray that each of these groups will grow deeper and stronger in their discipleship—that each will discover opportunities for incarnational mission. We pray that God will open doors for the planting of new churches.

One of the best things about this month was getting to help the Camarena family in their mission in La Piedad, Michoacan. Each of the house churches around us look for ways to flesh out Jesus in their specific neighborhoods. Martin and Rosa have always recognized the many children that live around them and that are connected to their lives in some way or other. They believe their mission involves reaching out and loving these kids. Two weeks ago, we got to help them begin what they hope will be an ongoing mission effort to these kids—25 kids and 7 adults participated in this first weekend. If you want to read more about this weekend and see some photos, you can read this reflection that I wrote earlier. We are thankful for God’s work in the Camarena family. We pray that God will guide and bless them and the other churches as they all seek to live into God’s mission in their neighborhoods.

Missionary Retreat

We were blessed to participate in the Mexico Missionary Retreat in Zihuatanejo early last month. 91 missionaries from across Mexico shared in fellowship, conversation, prayer and fun. We are thankful to the missionary families in Tlalpan for organizing this event. We are also thankful to the Sunset Church of Christ for sending Jay and Sherry Jarboe to share teaching with the group. We pray for the mission works across central Mexico: Mexico City, Tlalpan, Cuernavaca, Toluca, Leon, Guadalajara, Morelia and Lazaro Cardenas.

Upcoming Partners’ Meeting

We want to remind you of the upcoming Guadalajara Multiple Church Planting Project Partners’ Meeting which will take place the weekend of February 8-11, 2008. We continue to pray that it will be a useful time to consider and celebrate our partnership in God’s mission.

You should have already received information regarding this weekend and how to reserve your place. Please remember the deadline for registration is January 15, 2008. Let me know if you have any questions.

Family News – Planning to be in Texas for Christmas

We are excited to spend this Christmas with our family in Texas. With Ceci’s adoption and operations, it has been three years since we were with our family at Christmas. We plan to be there December 23-January 3. Please pray for travel safety. Ceci has never seen snow—you know what she is praying!

I’ll stop for now. As always, we thank God for your partnership in our life and mission.