Youth Christmas Party!

Our youth group finished our year with a Christmas bash!

Following Mexican Christmas tradition, we broke a piñata and drank hot fruit “ponche”.

Creating new traditions, we

played Christmas “Minute-to-Win-it” challenges- which had us all laughing hysterically.
 

We also introduced the group to the “White Elephant” gift exchange.  However, Paco and I marveled at these youth who really seem to love each other

too much to steal anyone´s gift from them (as the game rules stipulate).  Even the most envied gifts stayed with their original recipient, as the other youth did not want to steal their friends´ joy.  We really have a special group of youth kids J. 

Paco shared a message from Colossians 1, reminding us from God´s Word what our true New Year´s resolutions and goals should be.  May this new year bring new growth and commitment to the Lord in each of these young lives!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Church Christmas Celebration

Our church celebrated Christmas as one big family in Christ!!

We presented the biblical Christmas story narrated in poem and acted out by our children’s classes.  Between

each scene, the congregation sang a Christmas carol by candlelight.  Afterwards, our pastor shared the message of God’s love for us revealed through Christ’s birth. 

For our Christmas dinner, the church purchased a sheep! -

which we had slaughtered and cut.  We prepared it in chile sauce for “mixiotes” and cooked it over a fire the morning of the celebration. (I imagine very few American churches would purchase and slaughter an animal for their gatherings- but it is widely done in Mexico!).  We served

the mixiotes with rice, beans, and salsa, and “ponche”- a seasonal Mexican hot fruit beverage.  God multiplied our food for the brothers and many guests that arrived to celebrate with us!

Praise God for the gift of His

Son that united such a special group of people!

 

Middle-School Evangelism Miracle!

We never would have imagined that this season we would share the Christmas message of Jesus Christ at a public Mexican middle school- but we did! 

 

A lady from a Tlaxcala church that is participating in

“Operation Christmas Child” is a teacher and counselor at a public middle school, where she has seen the great need for Christ among her students (many come from problematic home situations and even cut themselves).  She gained permission from the school director to plan an “Operation

Christmas Child” event at the school for these “high risk” students.  And she invited our Samaritan’s Purse team to attend and assist!

100 middle-schoolers gathered for the event- which included worship, a video, and even a

testimony from one of the students who had recently accepted Christ into his life, along with Bible verses in a PowerPoint presentation he had created.  I marveled that a middle-school boy would stand before his peers and share his life transformation in Christ (an act that many adults would not

be brave enough to perform!). 

At the end, we reinforced the Christmas message (that Christ is our greatest gift of all!) and gave a Christmas shoebox and New Testament to every student.  They were thrilled!  May the Lord bring salvation,

hope, and transformation to the lives of each of these troubled youth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distributing Shoeboxes to Tlaxcala Churches

After unloading all the shoeboxes, we distribute the gifts to the participating churches around the state.  We call each church to come pick up their boxes for their Christmas evangelistic events.

This has definitely been my favorite part of our “Operation Christmas Child” participation yet!  I loved meeting the pastors and children’s teachers from around the state who came to pick up their shoeboxes and discipleship resources.  They seemed overjoyed and amazed

at the Lord’s provision for their ministries- and were all excitedly planning their children’s events. 

This truly is an amazing ministry that unites Christ’s body internationally.  So many volunteers make this ministry

possible: families in the US that buy the gifts, those that pack the boxes, those that ship, those that distribute, the churches that plan their events and share the Gospel… all around the world!  Paco and I are so blessed to be part of it!

 

 

    

Arrival of Trailer of Christmas Shoeboxes!!

This is the big day we have been waiting for since joining the Tlaxcala Samaritan’s Purse team: the arrival of the Christmas shoeboxes to our state!!

Each year, the shoeboxes are

collected around the United States and shipped to the border of each receiving country.  From the U.S.-Mexico border, the boxes are loaded onto Mexican trailers and taken to each Mexican state.  We never know the exact date of their arrival beforehand (due to changes in customs and shipping processes), but anxiously await the phone call that the trailer has arrived.

 

On December 16^th, we got the call, and our team (and other volunteers) immediately gathered to unload the 9,000 Christmas shoebox gifts!! Wow- that is a lot of boxes! And a lot of unloading!  Amazingly, we had the entire trailer unloaded in only a few hours.  Even with

all the sweat and sore muscles, it really was a joyful evening to see gifts arrive to Tlaxcala that would share the Gospel of Jesus with our children.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December Baptisms!!

Yes, our church held baptisms in December; and yes, the water was very (very!) cold. 

After finishing our new believers’ discipleship study in November, a few of the believers were anxious to obey

the Lord’s command to baptized and publically proclaim their new life in Him.  We thought, “Why wait any longer?  We won’t let a little cold weather stand in the way of obedience to the Lord!” 

The church rented a small

public pool for our Sunday morning gathering. The group was especially joyful- out in the sunshine and together celebrating our brothers in Christ.  We enjoyed poolside worship songs, Paco shared a biblical message about baptism, and 6 brothers were baptized (4 adults, 2 youth). 

 

We were especially joyful that Daniel, age 15, was baptized.  His father, Osbaldo, one of our church leaders, remains unjustly imprisoned. Though Dani wished his father could have been present at his baptism, it was his father’s faithfulness to the Lord in his

trial and imprisonment that encouraged him to commit his own life to the Lord publically. 

Afterwards (as Paco and the other wet brothers dried in the sun J) the church shared a picnic and play time in the connecting park.  The whole

event was a beautiful testimony of God’s love and goodness.