Virtual Prayer Walking

The past several months we have discovered the joy of taking a stroll and praying for people in our neighborhood and other parts of Puebla. We have encountered people during these walks that we have been able to pray with and share the Gospel. These times have been some of the most enjoyable for us. We have seen God transform us through ministering to others. We would like to give you the same opportunity as well. We have posted a link from Google Maps that shows our house with our blue van in front. You can virtually walk our streets and pray for us and our friends in our neighborhood. You can also catch a glimpse of what our area looks like. We hope you enjoy, and God bless you.


View Larger Map

Also, below is a link to pictures of when we went on a tour of historic Puebla:

City Tour

Field Trip

A week ago we were able to accompany the girls on their first school field trip to Parque Loro (Parrot Park). If this sounds familiar it is because we visited this park with friends about 3 months ago. However this time was with teachers, parents and kiddos from the girl's classes. We had beautiful weather and a wonderful time getting to know some of the other parents in their classes. From this outing Gabrielle was invited to attend breakfast with about 6 of the other mothers on a different day. We are thankful for the many opportunities that God has given us for language acquisition. Thank you for the many prayers that are prayed on a regular basis for the city of Puebla.

Field Trip

New Work

The last couple of months we have been meeting regularly as a team. The Bennetts, some Mexicans and us have been talking about and implementing various projects to reach the city of Puebla. Prayer walking is the base that we have decided to work from in our team ministry. We have been prayer walking in Los Heroes, a neighborhood of 15,000 homes that look all the same! If you took the average number of 4 in each home and multiplied it by 15,000 homes it would equal 60,000 people living in this area; most of whom are lost! As we prayer walk up and down the streets we see many idols of Mary in front of some of the houses. This has broken our hearts, realizing that Jesus is the only mediator between us and God (1 Tim 2:5). We hope that God spurs up a passion in you as well for the great amount of lostness in our city. For that reason we have a few pictures of the area in the link following this post. As you look at these pictures please take a moment to pick out a house and pray for that family. We can call this a "virtual" prayer walk!

We have also been prayer walking in our neighborhood (colonia), which is called La Colonia Vicente Guerrero. Please pray for a "person of peace" that we will encounter. This is a person whom Jesus in Luke 10 commands his disciples to find who will open their home up as a place for the disciple to stay, while having the intention of sharing God's Word in that community. In regard to that, this week Gabrielle decided to open our garage door and sit outside with an empty chair hoping to develop relationships with people of our colonia. She held small conversations with 4-5 different women who were on their way to the market, and was able to witness to a couple ladies as well. Gabrielle is hoping to do this a couple times a week so that God will open doors to minister to women in our neighborhood.

Another team effort that is very exciting for us is the work that God is doing in the church that we have been involved with since we have lived in Puebla. The church is called Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva (New Life Baptist Church). The pastor of this church is moving to another State in Mexico, and the Bennetts and us have been talking with a local church to help us in transitioning Vida Nueva to a cell church. Pastor Eustorgio, from Iglesia Bautista Hananeel, will be helping in this transition by providing leaders and allowing Vida Nueva to attend his church for celebration and fellowship. Please pray that God would bless our efforts of establishing a cell church model for Puebla and our future team ministry.

Much of our vision for cell church occurred when Aaron and the Bennetts went to Tijuana to observe a cell church that the Larner family planted. During his time in Tijuana he ended up in the hospital. He was diagnosed with an obstructed intestine, which caused him extreme pain. We now see that God used this time to bring him closer in his dependence on the Lord. Staying in the hospital gave him time to reflect on what God is doing through cell groups in Tijuana and to talk with Tommy Larner, cell church founder in Tijuana. We also saw God's amazing provision in that when Aaron returned to Puebla we were able to find an excellent doctor who prescribed meds to treat his parasites and infection. He was healed in 2 days. We found out that the obstruction had been caused by the infection. God is definitely our Provider, and we believe that He will minister to our every need; in health and ministry.

Finally, we have also been keeping up with our language and cultural training through the Kaleidoscope program. One of the assignments was to attend a theater performance. We went as a family to see Dora La Exploradora, and the girls loved it! We were even able to find and enjoy some Cotton Candy! Find these pictures and many more in the link below. Have a great day in the Lord!

Prayer Walking

A New School

Well the summer was finished up with one more VBS that we attended. I say "we" because while the girls were in their VBS class I attended a woman's cooking class that they had for the mothers. I was able to taste all different kinds of Mexican foods. Some looked pretty normal like one day we had a Mediterranean Salad with lettuce, raisins, different fruit and a sweet vinaigrette dressing. Another day we had seasoned chicken tortillas which was very good. Then we had a Cactus tamale which was a little harder to eat but the winner of the week of the strangest new food that I ate was the boiled chicken feet. Not chicken legs but the actual chicken foot. I am so sad that I didn't get a picture for you. But it was pretty funny to the Mexicans when I was trying to eat them. They had a great time teaching me how. The way you eat them is pretty much just pop the little toe in your mouth then eat off all the skin and meat then spit the bone back out. It actually didn't taste bad but it was the thought of what you were eating that made it "different". It reminds me of when Jesus sent out seventy of His followers, in Luke 10:8, when He said to them "whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you." However when asked if I would like more I very nicely replied that it was sufficient.

A week later the girls started their first day of school. They are attending Alfred Binet, a bilingual school. They have Spanish 3 hours a day and then English 2 hours of day for a total of a 5 hour school day. They both really like their teachers and look forward to going everyday. The biggest difference we have seen was their definition of "lunch". They told us to pack them a lunch. So we did: sandwich, chips, fruit, dessert and drink; only to be told that it is too much. But they were eating it all so we were very confused. So when we went to the Open house we learned that their "lunch" is a snack. The Mexican custom is that the biggest meal of the day is eaten at 2-3pm in the afternoon. So the teachers are expecting the children to eat when they get home with their families. Little by little we learn all these cultural differences that when we embrace them we begin to fit in a little better each day. Below is the link to the pictures of the VBS and their new school.

New School

Our First Prayer Retreat

A few weeks ago we attended our first prayer retreat for the missionaries of Mexico's urban centers. It was held at La Muralla in Queretero, Mexico, which is about 5 hours from Puebla. It started with dinner on Thursday and ended Monday after lunch. This was a wonderful time of praisin', prayin', and preachin'! It was also a very valuable trip for us because we were able to sit and talk with missionaries who have been on the field for 15-20 years with a lot more field experience than we have. We gained many valuable ministry tools. Another thing that we were able to experience was the compassion, love, and support from the other missionaries here in Mexico. They have all experienced a first term on the field and know what it is like to miss friends and family in the States. They know what it is like to worship in a different language and not be spiritually fed in a church service, and what it's like to learn to live in a whole new country. Why are we telling you all of this? Not because we are complaining or saying we don't like it here, but because this gives you a glimpse at how difficult it can be and helps you know better how to pray for us. It truly is your prayers and encouraging emails that help lift us up while here in Puebla. Would it be much easier to throw in the towel and head home? Yes it would, but there would still be people out there searching for hope and love that only Jesus can give them. If we are not here who will tell them? In Luke 10 Jesus commands His disciples to beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. Since being here we have recognized tremendous lostness. Please be praying with us that national believers (new and old) would join us in bringing in the harvest, and that Satan would have no hold on us or this city of Puebla. His lies are so appealing...we know and have been refuting them. With daily prayer we know who will always win!!! Thank you so much for joining us in the battle.

Click on the link below to see some fun pics and videos from the retreat! See you next time.

Prayer Retreat

What a week!

Last week was a very busy week! We started it off by attending church at a church in our area, Hananeel Baptist Church. We attended this church because a volunteer mission team was in town preparing to do Vacation Bible Schools at about 8 different sites all over the city of Puebla. Monday night we were asked to speak at a dinner the mission team attended about our call and the work in Puebla that we are involved in. From that night they asked us to come and visit one of the sites the next day where they would be having the VBS. So the girls and I went along. Aaron was already involved in another VBS with another local church here in Puebla. So he went there and we went with the mission team. What a wonderful day we had! I ended up translating a game for the team which was very different and a little difficult. This was my first experience translating. The girls had the chance to be involved in the crafts, Bible story, and games. After we left this site we went back to the church for lunch and then the girls headed back out with the team to a different site while I stayed behind to learn about a new ministry that the mission team brought with them. It is called a Prayer Shawl Ministry. The main idea is where we all make Crocheted shawls and then pray over them for the person who will receive them whether we know or not who will receive each one. The ladies at the church decided they wanted to continue to meet and Crochet twice a week every other week. I am very excited about this time that God has blessed me with to make some new friends and hopefully develop my Spanish a bit by having conversations in Spanish. Please be in prayer for this ministry that people will be blessed not only with a shawl but the name of Jesus possibly spoken to them for the first time.

Click on the link below for pictures from the VBS and the first Prayer Shawl meeting. Stay tuned for pictures taken at our Prayer Retreat this past weekend.

VBS

Mexican Baptist National Convention

Last week we returned from our trip to the Mexican Baptist National Convention in Guadalajara. Our teammates Scott and Sherry Bennett went with us. All in all the trip went well with only a few mishaps that God led us through every step of the way. We planned to leave Puebla at 7:30am in the morning to arrive to Guadalajara no later than 3pm. However between Puebla and Mexico City one of our tires blew out. I guess we had had too many curb checks in Puebla. Aaron and Scott got out to change it, but when they pulled out the spare they found that it was flat also. So we had to call our supervisor who lives in Mexico City to come and help us out. We drove around with him while Aaron stayed at the van. We finally found a repair shop where the spare could be patched since the other tire was beyond repair. We returned to the van, they put it on and off we went through Mexico City to find some new tires. We found a Sam's and figured they had a tire center. Nope they only sell the tires. So we found a Goodyear, to find out they only put the tires on. So we then found a Costco who had the tires and put them on but remembered that we had left the other tire at Goodyear. So we bought the tires, found our way back to the Goodyear just before they closed. We were set to head out of Mexico City by 5:30pm which put us arriving in Guadalajara at 11:30pm. Wow that was exhausting typing that I think it was worse living it! But we were safe the whole time and saw God's hand (and his funny side) throughout the day.

The Convention was very interesting. They started the week with an evening service where a band made up of police men played the national anthem, while some others carried the flag in. It was a very respectful presentation. The following day the meetings started which were pretty heated while discussing some of the topics to be voted on. By Wednesday morning they found themselves voting on each board member whether to keep them or let them go. One of the members read his letter of resignation before this happened. They voted to dismiss the Comisario (Commissioner/Superintendent) and the Executive Director. The next session they nominated two new members and continued on with business in a whole new atmosphere. It really was a great experience, and we feel blessed to have been a part of it. We were able to meet several Mexican pastors and missionaries, and many people got to see that we were interested in Mexican Baptists. Lord willing we will return next year because of the relationships that were started this time. We made contacts with folks from different parts of Mexico, which told us to stop by if we should pass through their area. We saw many doors being opened.

We ended our trip by almost running out of gas. On the toll roads there are very few places to stop and we got caught in the longest stretch. Our gas light came on and the GPS was saying 20 miles until the next gas station. We then started praying and made it just in time. It was a definite test of faith. Thank you for praying us through. Click on the picture below to see some pics of the trip. Have a great week!

Trip to Guadalajara