Mucha gente

Hello again,

So many things have happened in the last week. Angel and Erwin (two of our readers) came to small group. They participated in the conversation and seemed to feel very comfortable and even stayed afterwards for quite a long time talking to us about many things.

We also had our VBS and it was a great success. About 30 children came from the local community. They learned about Jesus and the Bible as well as learned songs, made crafts, and watched part of "The Chronicles of Narnia." Everyone had a lot of fun, and many people from the local church came to help us.

On our last cultural excursion on Friday, Sean and Jeni took us on the Turibus (Tour Bus) around downtown. It was beautiful and very interesting. We also at at the original Sanborn's restaurant, and rode to the top of the Latin American Tower downtown. We could see for miles from the top. It reminded me just how many people here are hungry for God's word, and how much work there is for us left to do. Overall, it was a fantastic day.

Last night we hosted a party for our readers and other people we've met during the last five weeks here. We estimated that about 57 people came . We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, played games, talked a lot, gave out certificates of recognition to our readers and lit a few fireworks. They liked getting a taste of the fourth of July and many many people said that they had a great time and thanked us for coming and sharing Jesus with them and helping them with their English. Many of the people who came voiced that they would like to continue studying the Bible in a small group even after we go home! One of the ladies at the party did not know that she was supposed to unwrap the cheese before she ate her hamburger. After she bit into it, she realized her mistake and cracked up laughing. She was laughing so hard she almost fell over. :) We are having our last reading sessions this week and are starting to say goodbye to all of these wonderful people. We could not have imagined what wonderful things God had done with our summer, but it has been amazing to witness Him working here.

We will see you all very soon,
We love you,

Jeff

p.s.
the pics are:
1. after the party
2. party
3. and 4. VBS
5. in front of the Latin America Tower
6. from the top of the Tower

When the Light Turns On....

The most amazing thing happened today! I had the best reading session I have ever had and I had to get on and tell you about it myself. I have been reading with a woman named Teresa for 4 weeks now. She said at the first session that she had no religion and did not agree with her family that blindly followed the Catholic church. She was a curator in an inquisition Museum and has a strong distrust of all "religions". She has strong principles and believes in good conduct, but something is missing in her life. The word worship was in our lesson today and she had a hard time with the definition. I tried to explain by saying that worship was placing something or someone first in your life; it is your purpose for living. Teresa said that she didn't worship anything. So I made a list of all of my priorities in order, starting with God, Jeff, Noah, family, etc. and told her that whatever was at the top of the list was the thing that I worshiped. She decided to do the same and her list was her health, her family's health, her friends, travel, and her job. We then talked about how much time a week she spends on each thing and why the thing at the bottom of her list took up all of her time. I told her that my job also took up a lot of my week, but that I could serve God while I was teaching by showing my students that I love them, that God loves them and that they are special to Him. Thus, God has given purpose to my job. The key was to try to serve your first priority while doing all of the rest of your responsibilities. She just looked at me for a long time and finally said "This is so exciting...And embarrassing. I have gone my whole life and never thought about the reason that I do things. You are teaching much more than English, you are teaching a new way to live. If you had said that we were going to talk about religion I would have put up a wall around me and never listened. I now understand why my life is so empty and unhappy. I feel like a pirate ship, always sailing and looking for something but I don't know what. " I told her that it was interesting that she used that analogy because Jesus wants to be our anchor. She didn't need to look anymore. The bible says that we are empty jars of clay and that He can fill us with His love and joy. She said that she has been trying to fill her jar with many other things, like work, and has never been happy. Jeff and I are only here to plant seeds of faith and pray that they will take root. But praise God that sometimes, even though He doesn't have to, He lets you be there to see the light come on.

I will be reading with Teresa one more time next Wednesday. Please pray that God will continue to convict her heart and that she can finally find purpose in her life through Him.

Praise God!

Kristina

Be encouraged

Natalia did come to small group! Our Spanish teacher wants to go to church! Our readers are interested in spiritual things and conversations about Jesus! We are planning and are excited about our VBS for Saturday. We met some very strong Christians and missionaries this weekend. Billy and Belinda Moore began telling people in Mexico City about Jesus in 1987. They really encouraged us in our work and gave us an insight to their work in Mexico and what God is doing here. They are an inspiration to the Christians who know them. We also met some AIMers (Adventures in Missions) from Lubbock in church on Sunday. They started their project here about the same time we did. They are going to eat dinner with us tomorrow night and are going to help us out with our VBS. We went out last night to get coffee with our Spanish teacher and her husband and they showed interst in coming to the Church here with us next week. We can't believe that we only have two more weeks here. We have been really encouraged by everyone's emails, comments, and prayers. Thank you all so much for everything!

Here are a couple more pictures for you guys.

1. noah asleep in spanish class...he's never going to learn at this rate!
2. noah after his first biscuit
3. church on Sunday
4. our team
5. billy and belinda moore
6. we had let noah chew on a small chocolate bar on the way back from lunch and when we got back there was a hole in the wrapper and 1/2 of the candy was melted...all over him. :)

until next time,


Jeff

Making progress...all of us

Buenas tardes,

We took our first Spanish test this week. It went well, but Kristina and I had to study a lot beforehand. Our reading sessions are still going well and today Angel said "I like learning with this method. I get to learn two things that I want to learn...English and about the Bible." Tonight we have small group and we will see how many of our readers will come. At small group everything is in Spanish and last week I understood almost everything and even responded to some of the questions in Spanish. I can definitely tell that I am making progress.

Today we saw Noah pull himself up into a standing position for the first time. I also saw him catch himself from falling on his head. Tile floors make for quick lessons.

We are all doing great and are making a lot of new friends. We are enjoying telling others about Jesus. On Wednesday our Spanish teacher said "I am on the path to becoming a Christian."

Looking around makes me realize just how blessed I am. The second picture above is a house that is right around the corner from where we are staying. I thought it was abandoned the first week we were here.

I'll let you know how small group goes later,

until then,

Jeff

Hear the Good News

Today I read with Natalia. She had attended a church in the past with a friend but has not been back in about a year. She has questions about how a person can be saved and she wants to know as much as she can about becoming a Christian. I invited her to small group on Thursday and she seemed very exited! She is coming again tomorrow and our reading sessions have turned into Bible studies. It's awsome to see God working in her and in me!

This weekend we traveled again to Cuernavaca and met with missionaries Doug and Sandy Holcomb again. They are like parents to the local Christians and Missionaries. They are awsome people! They made dinner for us and we had a lot of fun together.

Also, Sean has been studying with a woman and her children from the local church and they have said that they want to be baptized! Wonderful things are happening here...

I hope all is well where you are too,
In Christ,

Jeff

Pants and Pinatas

Last night I met with Marcela. Her english is very broken, but with her english and my spanish we are making our way through the beginner book together. At our first meeting she found out I was a Christian and that the lessons would be from the Bible and she got very excited. She said she wants to learn more about the Bible and about being a Christian for her and for her son. Last night we were working on phrases like "how many sisters do you have?" and "I have two sisters." When I asked her how many cats she had, she said none, so I told her to ask me. She said "how many pants do you have? Pants?! I said? Not pants...Cats! I'm not telling you how many pants I have, but I do have one cat. We both laughed for a long time about that. Before she left she said she had been reading the Bible with her Dentist and that he was a Christian too. I'm going to see if she and her son would like to join Sean's small group. Lacy has already invited several of her readers to come to small group. The members of the church here are fantastic and I know whoever comes will feel welcomed by them.

When we were hanging up posters ftoday or the VBS, I ducked to avoid some balloons on the sidewalk and accidentally knocked over a huge pinata. It was a gigantic sloth like the one from "Ice Age" and it ended up on my back with me carrying it around trying not to drop it. I told the store owner I was sorry and she just laughed at me and showed me where I could rehang it. While we were hanging up posters a lady and her son walked up and thanked us for helping with the VBS. We have no idea how many people to expect, but the reaction has been great so far.

The picture above is of another reader. He is also very excited about learning english and reading the Bible. So much so that he studied before he came and memorized the entire lesson! He recited Luke 2:1-7 with the book closed. He is a very happy man and wants to learn as much as possible. He skipped instead of walked to class the other day. :)

Tomorrow we go back to Cuernavaca to meet with some other missionaries and work on our spanish some more with a personal instructor for the day. Pray for receptive brains...and energy!

Until next week,

Jeff

Keep your eyes open

As part of our Spanish lessons, our teacher (Marcia) had us all write about ourselves. We wrote things like our age, occupation, etc... and also included that we were all Christians. Our teacher then mentioned that her husband was also a Christian. This morning after class she told Kristina and I that her husband was excited that her students (us) were Christian. Kristina began a conversation by showing her our teammate,s Bible that is in English and Spanish. Kristina told her that we were teaching English using the book of Luke. Marcia said that she was going to go home and read Luke. She said she now wanted to go to church which her husband who has been asking her to go for ten years. God can do anything!