“Operation Christmas Child” Events in Tlaxcala Churches

 

As part of the Samaritan´s Purse state team in Tlaxcala, Paco and I have the joyful task of visiting the different “Operation Christmas Child” events held in churches around Tlaxcala.  We never tire of seeing churches serving, families hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ, and children opening their shoebox gifts with delight!

 

The churches are in the state are varied: some large and experienced, others tiny and new (even in houses).  We never know what to expect when we go visit the churches, but always come ready to witness the power of the Holy Spirit and serve as we can! 

 

 

At one event, Paco shared the Gospel with a group of adolescent boys hanging around after the party had finished- one of who very obviously recognized he needed a Savior! At another, as he talked to one of the mothers about Jesus her eyes suddenly filled with tears as she recognized she had fallen away from her faith in the Lord. 

Another event was at a very new home church, with very little experience in children´s ministry.  The elderly pastor and his wife had been praying for help for their event, when Paco and I arrived. They were so excited to see us, and immediately asked me to give the Gospel message to the children and to lead the activities. We were so blessed to serve alongside their new ministry!

 

 

May the Lord bless each church participating in “Operation Christmas Child” this year, and each family who heard the Gospel message of salvation in Jesus Christ!

 

 

Gospel and Fun! Children´s Event at our church



Our church, Horizonte Tlaxcala, held our “Operation Christmas Child” event this month, and 70 children from our community arrived to hear the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ!

 

 

The whole congregation worked to make the event possible.  Families set up game stations around the auditorium to receive the children with fun as they arrived (Bingo station, sack races, bowling, beanbag toss, face painting…). 

 

 

Then, both adults and youth participated in the program: group games, children´s worship with dancing, and an evangelistic clown sketch. 

 

 

By the grace of God, the children were attentive to every word of the Gospel message- of Jesus´ love, sacrifice, and resurrection as punishment for our sins- and almost every child prayed to ask God´s forgiveness and Jesus´ salvation. 

 

The Samaritan´s Purse shoebox gifts were the perfect complement to the message of the free gift of salvation in Jesus- each child´s face shone with delight!

 

We are already witnessing fruit of the Lord´s work at this event!:

-5 year-old Kelly (from a non-Christian home) asked her father to read her the Gospel booklet she had received, because she wants him to know Jesus too! Then, her mother found her sitting in her room with her eyes closed; Kelly explained that she was praying to Jesus like they had taught her at the event.

 

-Marco Antonio (10) and Diego (8) are suffering a difficult family situation: their mother just left their father, taking their 3 sisters with her, and leaving their father to work and care for the boys alone. However, their whole demeanor brightened at the event, and their shyness faded away. Marco told Paco that he had never heard of Jesus before. Now we have the opportunity to continue to visit and minister to this family in need.

 

-Aleidys (9) and Carlita (14) arrived with their mother, Carla, who had never been to the church before. As I chatted with her about her family, her eyes filled with tears, and a large, purple bruise was visible covering her right cheek.  She obviously has serious family problems. But, she and the girls must have been attracted to the love and truth of Jesus at the event because they returned for Sunday worship service, along with her husband! May it be the start of the Lord´s work in their lives!

“Preaching the Word” Conference in Puebla

 

Paco and other members of our local congregation attended a conference in Puebla this month on “Preaching the Word”, which highlighted the importance of expositive preaching directly from the Bible, instead of other sources. 

 

Solid teaching!  We are so blessed that members of our church could learn at this event- especially this year when our church focus is to train both adults and youth to teach the Bible (we have multiple men rotating to preach on Sundays, and Paco has been discipling some of the youth to teach during our youth studies).

 

Apart from the benefit for our own church, we rejoice that other churches in our area have the opportunity to grow in expositive preaching of the Bible.  Many of the conference attendees were interested in finding churches that focus on Bible teaching, or learning more about teaching the Bible verse-by-verse. 

 

May the Lord fill all of Tlaxcala and Puebla with a knowledge of His Word!

Samaritan´s Purse Trailer Arrives!

In mid-January, the long-awaited Samaritan´s Purse trailer arrived in the state of Tlaxcala, full of shoebox gifts and “Operation Christmas Child” materials!  (Though the shoeboxes arrived after Christmas in Tlaxcala this year, the children will still be equally excited to receive gifts and hear about Jesus.)

 

Though tiring, the experience of unloading all the boxes of shoebox gifts and Gospel booklets (all 9500 of them approximately!) is very exciting, as we imagine each one of them being delivered into the hands of a Mexican child who will hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.

 

After hours of unloading, all the boxes

are counted, sorted by age, and distributed to the participating churches in the state of Tlaxcala, where each will be given to a child in their evangelistic event. We love this ministry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Youth Group Quinceañera Party for Anita

Traditionally, when a Mexican girl turns 15 years old, she is celebrated with a huge party- similar in scale to a wedding celebration.  However, when Anita, one of our youth girls, turned 15 this month, she insisted that her parents not spend the money on the traditional, elaborate festivities.

 

But our youth group could not let Anita go uncelebrated on her special day! We planned a surprise “quiceañera”- and all the youth participated to make the event extra special. Some topped the cupcakes, others decorated the house, some led games, others directed the “waltz” (their own wacky impression of a very serious 15-yr-old waltz), and everyone filmed a celebration video of our congratulations. 

 

Anita was not the only one touched by their efforts: Paco and I were so impressed at the youth´s planning and service to make Anita feel loved.  May it be the love and service of Christ being formed in their hearts!