March Update

We trust you and yours are well. Wow! Time is flying lately. The winter coolness has passed and we are in full spring in Guadalajara. Much has happened since our last report. We want to mention a few things for your thanksgiving and prayers.

Family News

Ceci has recovered well from the surgery in December. God has really blessed us with excellent physical therapy. One of our coworkers, Kim Rush was driving a friend home in a rather poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city back in January when she unexpectedly came upon a large physical therapy complex. Juntos por un Caminar offers several types of therapy (horse, swimming, conductive, etc). The therapists and doctors are extremely competent—and they are great with Ceci. Her progress has been excellent over the past two months. We thank God for her continued growth and healthiness.

The girls are ready for the Holy Week break in a couple of weeks (2 weeks of break from school). Though we didn’t get to see family over the holidays, we were blessed with a visit from Jason and Kara Schroeder (and the cousins!) in February. The girls took several days off of school—lots of fun!

Churches

There is much to be excited about among the churches. In early January, three more were baptized into Christ from the Mariano Otero church and the church in Jocotán. There are exciting things going on in each of the groups—along with challenges of course. Please pray for the ongoing transformation in the lives of Omar, Gerardo and Adriana. Pray for God’s power and direction for each of the churches—pray that we would all follow Jesus.

One of the highlights for us lately has been the growing fellowship between the Mexican leaders of the various house churches. Since October, the emerging leadership of six different groups has been coming together on a Sunday evening each month for fellowship, prayer and study. Next weekend, one of the churches will host an all-church retreat at a site outside of the city. We are praying that it will be a great time for fellowship and unity. We plan to focus our study and conversation on “The New Testament and the Formation of Healthy Families of Jesus.” Please pray for this time together—pray especially for the monthly fellowship of leaders, for their growth and for the communities of faith they care for.

Mexico

President Felipe Calderon completed his “First 100 Days” of office this past week. You may remember that his margin of victory was razor thin…that he came into office amid chaos and uncertainty on several fronts. Many analysts are pleasantly surprised with his leadership and strong show of force in confronting organized crime—yet they point out that many challenges continue to confront his administration and the Mexican people. We are praying for Mexican leaders. We are praying for healthy change in Mexico.

As always, we thank God for our partnership with you. May God bless us all to know and obey him more fully. May God’s Kingdom come with more fullness and power!

Praying to the Lord of the Harvest,

Chadd, Nancy, Morgan, Natali and Ceci Schroeder