September

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may OVERFLOW with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

He is our hope!  And He does not disappoint.  Xau & I continue waiting expectantly on Him to fulfill His purpose in us - step by step.

Along with the pastors and youth from this church "Jesus Christ King of Judah," we reached out to their community. Saturday morning we took flyers, baloons, music and prizes to the park, and kids and their parents started to trickle in.  

It may have not been a huge crowd, but this little girl below, (left) Ale, brought mom.  Her mom had gotten a flyer the night before and thought it was some political party propaganda event.  But Ale insisted on coming.  Afterward, as I talked to mom, she shared that this was a critical moment for her.  Their marriage is about to fall apart. This was the first time she and Ale really encountered the Good News.   Pray for this family to press into the God of hope!

Later that day, we got to hang out with these teens.  A church in the same area had invited us to share with them about DATING.  :) Always a fun topic with teens.  While breaking the ice can be tough, it really was a good time together sharing part of our story - but above all- the Word.  

Another exciting happening this month was the start of our video blog!  For a long time Xaume has had in his heart the desire to reach more people through the media.  Of course this is just a start.  It is designed not only to make children's ministry volunteers and teachers laugh but also to challenge them in excellence - for Him!

Filming takes about a day, and editing...well about a week since we're working around other projects. But the plan is to post once a month.  And of course it's in Spanish for now, but if you're curious anyway, here's the link:

Youtube channel link - Video blog 1

Liam.  He's the best.  

He's sitting up on his own now and starting to babble mama and papa...!

A friend invited us to share a lesson at his kids' school.  What we didn't know was that this group was made up mostly of high schoolers!  So we arrived with a kids' lesson and adapted it as best we could!  

In the end, the Holy Spirit really did minister to them, and the principal expressed her sincere gratitude. Even though it's a Christian school, some of the teens haven't made the decision to follow Christ yet.  Pray that they would know the God of hope!

All day last Saturday we gave an intensive training session for the children's leaders at our church, Rhema!  They have lots of new teachers and were very receptive of the tools and training we could encourage them with.

And, right now, Xaume is in Oaxaca - a state 300 miles south.  He's been teaching a children's ministry class all week at an Assembly's of God institute where the students come from all over the country. 

But of course they want to keep Xau busy :) So he's also been preaching, giving children's ministry trainings and yesterday he had an awesome opportunity, along with some of the students, to share at a public elementary school.  They did the lesson we call "Choose Life" which focuses on Deuteronomy 30:19 - "I've placed before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Choose life so that you and your family may live."  

Even though they couldn't talk directly about Jesus or the Bible, but they planted the seed of Truth in over 600 kids. This is especially significant because the teachers in Oaxaca, and at this specific school are known for their radicalism and government protest.*  Pray for these teachers and students to come to know the One who gives everlasting hope!

(*The government wants to pass education reform laws that would make it mandatory for teachers to pass a standardized exam...which they don't want.)

Xau gets back on Monday, so please keep him in your prayers as well as upcoming outreaches for the Day of the Dead, and above all, for God to move the hearts of the Mexican people towards Him- the God of hope!