Youth Guys' Movie Marathon

After the youth girls’ sleepover last month, the youth boys planned their own guys’ night this month. 

 

 

Paco and the guys made a “pact” to stay awake and watch movies all night long,

threatening to spray with water any traitor to their promise!  The guys had a blast: eating popcorn and sandwiches, laughing at movies, and spraying each other to stay awake. 

 

Paco and I continue to thank God for such a united group of youth at our church, who, even with their wide range of ages (12-23 years of age!) really love and care for each other.  It may have been a long night for Paco, but was definitely a special time of fellowship with  12 of the

youth boys. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Training for Discipleship Program: "The Greatest Journey"

As a continuation of our children’s discipleship training, Tlaxcala church ministers gathered to exemplify their understanding and teaching of “The Greatest Journey” discipleship material, provided through Samaritan’s Purse.  The Lord has certainly blessed

Tlaxcala with some creative children’s ministers!  We all were enriched through the participation and example-classes of other churches!

 

May the Lord continue to bless each children’s minister in

Tlaxcala this new year as their start “The Greatest Journey” at their churches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First-Fruits Festival: Day of Thanks

Though Mexico does not celebrate “Thanksgiving” as a national holiday, at our church we set aside a day of thanks to our Great God for His goodness to us this past year.  We call the celebration the “First-fruits Festival”- based on the biblical celebration when God’s people would bring the first fruits of their harvest as a thanks offering to the Lord. 

During the service, each family stood

and gave testimony to God’s faithfulness during the previous year and brought a thanks-offering of canned goods as evidence of God’s provision (we laughingly commented that we “harvest” our offerings at the grocery store!).  There were many teary eyes during our time of

testimonies- remembering all that the Lord had done for each family in the past months.  One visitor even commented to me afterwards: “You sure are a weepy group! But seem to be one big family J”  We then enjoyed a big potluck meal together afterwards- much like a

Mexican Thanksgiving meal!

All the groceries collected were then distributed among families in need in and around our congregation.  Paco and I had the joy of delivering these gifts, and witnessing how the families would marvel at God’s

love and provision for them (through the church- Christ’s body). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday School Teachers' Dinner

The Sunday School program at our church is blessed with 9 CHILDREN’S TEACHERS!!  (I know many churches struggle to recruit children’s ministers, but the Lord has blessed us with abundance!).  These teachers have been faithful serving all of 2014 ever since the growth of

our program after “Operation Christmas Child” (Samaritan’s Purse Evangelistic Event) last January.

To express our thankfulness for their ministry, we held a celebration dinner for our Sunday School teachers.  Not only did we enjoy good food and companionship, we discussed new ways to improve both the program and our teaching methods to be even more effective in discipling our children.

End of Study: New Believers' Discipleship

The last 4 months, we joint led a NEW BELIEVERS’  DISCIPLESHIP  STUDY every Sunday afternoon. 

Nine new believers participated in the study-not only attending our Sunday session, but reading Bible chapters, memorizing a Bible verse, answering

homework questions, and learning the books of the Bible each week. 

Wow- there are too many testimonies to describe all that God did in the lives of each participant during this study.  It was truly a joy to witness their discovery of Christ’s Word and their effort to apply it to their

lives.  I was so blessed to study and learn with them. 

Just a few of the testimonies:

-Jose Luis (28yrs old) accepted Christ the day of our first study.  After two months, he shared that the church had

become his family and Christ had become his life.  He had never felt so loved before.

-Silvia, Leandro and family were new to our church when we started the study.  I cannot believe the transformation in their lives!  Silvia reads a chapter of the Bible every

evening, most times out loud to her husband (who cannot read).  She asks for prayer every week to be more loving to her husband and children.  She even counseled her sister last week to trust and obey the Lord in her problems!

Leandro, her husband, who had resisted the faith for years,

now looks for ways to bless his church family- receiving us in his home and bringing food to share on Sundays. 

-Carmen taught every memory verse each week to her two young daughters, as she memorized the verses herself. 

She and Alma (another member of the study) are so desirous to obey God that they now want to marry their husbands (instead of living in free union) and be baptized.

-Angi and Evelin have walked with Christ for years, but never read the Bible on their own.  They joined this study to reaffirm their faith and discipline their lives in regular Bible reading.  We rejoiced with them with each book of the Bible they finished reading.

At the end of our 4 month study, our group (students, teachers, and families) gathered to celebrate with a fellowship meal.  May the Lord continue to work in the lives of each of His disciples!!

Training Teachers to Disciple Children

Through Samaritan’s Purse, we equip churches in Tlaxcala to not only evangelize children in their communities with the Gospel but also disciple them in the truth of the Bible.

This Saturday, children’s

teachers from Tlaxcala churches gathered to study together the discipleship program “The Greatest Journey” and learn how to use the material to guide their children toward a knowledge of and obedience to Christ. 

Our Tlaxcala team presented the children’s manual, the teacher’s manual, an example class, and even instructions on how to prepare their own children’s Bible lessons.

The event was very blessed-

with over 200 people in attendance, all with a passion to teach God’s truth to children.  May the Lord bless the work of each person and church that many children would start a journey of following Christ that would last the rest of eternity! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evangelism at Tlaxcala State Fair

The annual Tlaxcala State Fair was the perfect outing for our youth group- not only for a time of fellowship and fun, but also to put into practice what we have been learning in our weekly evangelism course: sharing our faith in Jesus Christ with others!

We ate hot-dogs, watched a puppet show, admired the exhibition farm animals, and browsed through the fair stands before dividing into pairs to pass out tracts and start conversations about life after death with some of the thousands of Saturday fair-goers.   

 

I marveled at the Lord’s work in our youth!  For many of them, just giving an evangelistic tract to a stranger took a lot of nerves, but most of them even went a step further starting a conversation about life after death and faith in Jesus Christ.  Even some of the most timid

youth talked to at least one or two people!  Most of the people at the fair were receptive to the tracts and message: two people actually thanked the youth for sharing with them, and expressed that they would share the message with their families!  The youth pumped by the experience,

and spent the whole ride home sharing stories of people they had shared with and their responses.

 

Some of the youth have already started to evangelize outside youth outings! Daniel (15-years-old) overheard his

friends at school talking about the Day of the Dead (popular Mexican holiday), and jumped in to ask them what happens after death, and shared with them the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ!  We pray that all of our youth were be faithful to present the Gospel where they are as well!