Second stop....Temixco

Temixco is a town outside of Cuernavaca.

I thought we were growing a lot during our lecture phase, but compared to the first week and a half of outreach phase it feels like we are completely different people!


God is really working in each of our lives in deep ways. The culture and food are so much different here in Southern Mexico compared to the North. We went through another culture shock when we arrived.


We have been staying in the parsonage at the church which we have been working with this week. It has been a lit bit slower than we have been used to because of the holidays. The pastor at the church is very mission orientated and last Saturday we went to a place where he started a mission church about a year ago. It's sort of like a little village in the city because about 20 families live in old boxcars. It was amazing to see because all of the children have been attending which have inspired their parents to attend. The kids broke our hearts because right as we got out of our cars they chased after us and gave a a huge hug. We noticed some of the kids were deaf and blind and afterwards the pastor shared that the families don't have enough money for Tylenol so they suffer mental problems. They were so excited that we came. We put on a little Christmas program, did dramas, dances, games, had a pinata and had a short message for them. We handed out food and cake at the end. We plan on going the next few Saturdays.


Thursday we went to the downtown market when a pastor has bought a space for a mission church. It was really cool and have a good feeling that God is going to do some awesome things there. Levi preached for the first time that night and it was a really good night.



Today we went to a camp with Ministerios de Amor and worked with 250 orphans of all ages. We even were able to talk to the women who started this orphanage, she is really gifted and it was a huge blessing for our team. It was such an amazing time. The kids are so fun to work with and very respectful. We are excited to work with them tomorrow again!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Homesickness during the seasons
• Upcoming plans with starting the Cuernavaca base
• Health and well being for our team during outreach phase
• Our marriage to stay healthy and strong

first stop....Valle de Bravo!

We made it safely from Monterrey to Valle de Bravo which is 2 hours west of Mexico city and 3 hours from Cuernavaca. We are staying with a very anointed veteran missionary couple. They have such a cute and cozy home and have been very welcoming to our whole team. They have done tons of ministry work, and have been working in Mexcio for 30 years now.
The first night we arrived a director of a movie called "Dreams and Visions" was visiting them. It was such a coincidence because the week prior we just had learned about the muslim faith and how God has been working through peoples dreams and receiving Christ through them. Chrisabol Krusen was the director of that film and he was very interesting to listen to and our whole group learned so much from him. What a blessing!
The next day we went to a village where only a few people had accepted Christ. We showed a film about the power of pray in cities and how God can change the hearts of the whole city through prayer. Although hardly anyone showed up, one man accepted Christ, and a young 14 year old girl also. God really put it in my heart that the seeds that we are planting will harvest many.
Tuesday, in the morning we went to see the monarch butterflies that swarm to one part in Mexico. It was absolutely amazing to see! It's something that everyone needs to see because pictures can't capture it! In the evening we did dramas and dances with the kids at a different village similar to the first but they were more accepting of us. Kelly was able to share her testimony with them and we had a pinata for the children.

Today was the most intense so far. We went to the city prison to put on a little christmas program. We served about 200 inmates. At first I was very very scared as a young American blonde haired women but I was surpirsed at how respectful most of them were. It really felt like a movie being in there with the wires on top of the high walls, and the guards with machine guns. We did three programs first the inmates that were sentenced, then those that were waiting trial, and the third were the women. Levi shared his testimony to the men while Kelly shared hers with the women. We were very blessed by all of them, and we will never be the same.
Tonight, we went with a youth group and had a bonfire. We had worhship and Kelly shared a message about having a heart of a worshipper. It was her first time preaching and was not prepared to share but really felt God was working through her. She played one of her songs she had written at the end and one girl was very touched. She came up to her afterwards and just held onto her for several minutes, it was a very sweet moment. We also taught them a drama to share with their church. God was doing a lot tonight. Before outreach Levi felt like we were going to meet a girl named Sarah, and we we did meet a Sarah tonight. It turned out she had a lot of problems and Levi really spoke into her life. Very cool!
I know this was a long blog, but we have been doing so much! This outreach is off to a good start and we hope God keeps leading us to where His spirit is. Keep checking for updates, thank you for all your prayers!!

Last Lecture Week

To sum this week up in one word it would be OVERWHELMED!

We had 25 memory verses to recite on Friday, we need to have two 15 minute sermons ready before outreach, and had a spanish final on Wednesday.

But who cares! On Sunday early morning at 4am we leave for outreach to Cuernavaca and Mexico City! It is going to be a small team. Ron and Sandra plus another male student (Casey) and ourselves. So we are going to be taking on a lot more weight but I know if we just keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will have strength beyond understanding. We are going to try our best keeping you all updated throughout these next six weeks.

Today is our first day of outreach and we spent it with "Ministeros de Amor", which is an all girls orphanage here in Monterrey and all over Mexico. We had a fun time at their big Christmas event, and helped wherever they needed. Helped hand out clothes, sound system, and picked up alot of trash.

• Please pray for us as and our team as we take off. We appreciate all of you and wish you a very merry Chirstmas.

Cosmovision

This week we are learning about the different worldviews that people have, and how to effectively evangelize to different religions and the secular world. It was very very interesting and we both learned a ton. On Wednesday our group went to a park to pray over the city and asked God what stronghold Monterrey had. I believe God put it on my heart for the prostitutes and drug users and if we reached out to these people the city would change. Later, we heard that prostitution rates nearly tripled this year in Monterrey! It gives us a renewed excitement to start these Celebrate Recoveries in Mexico, and know it will greatly change people's lives, like it has for us.

On Friday our classroom went to a church service, that worships the Virgin Guadalupe. It is believed by the Mexican culture that she appeared to a young boy in a field hundreds of years ago, and is now worshipped as the Virgin Mary. It is to be believed that Mary's birthday is on Dec. 13th so this week they are celebrating. At the church, people in fancy colorful costumes danced through the streets and up to the church doors with feathered hats and maracas, while people followed with big banners with the pictures of Guadalupe. They had a shrine using all sorts of flowers and golden chains to decorate it. It felt almost like a mix between Native American Indians and the Aztec culture in Mexico. It was very interesting to watch but I felt bad for the people worshipping this god.

Next week our teaching is on missions and hearing different missionaries testimonies.

Back to Normal

We are still recooping from our two very busy weeks in Tepic.

This week we are learning about Relationships. I think God totally ordained this week to happen because relationships are key in the mission field. The #1 reason missionaries leave the mission field is because of damaged relationships with people.

God is really really stetching us in this area of our christian walk. He really is sharpening us to be strong in relationshsips and handeling frusterating and hard situations. God has put it on our hearts to read 1 Peter and it has been our daily devotional this week.

In a few weeks we are heading out to start our outreach phase. We will be working in Cuernavaca and we are very excited.