Charity Shop

You may know about the charity shop in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. The shop is just fantastic on many levels. It brings together Christians who are able to serve in many practical ways - donating goods to sell, volunteering time to iron clothes and work in the shop. There's a little cafe upstairs and people have come to know Christ through the witness there. It's also been a way of sharing about the ministry with people.

The use of the building was free, the overheads were extremely small and there were no rates (taxes) to pay so practically every penny has been donated to the ministry. The income is averaging about £1200 ($2400) dollars a month which is going toward the ongoing costs in the Drop-In Centre. As you can imagine this is a significant help here.

BUT...

The building was free as it was available for a limited time before being demolished. Though the team have been looking for alternatives it seems that nothing has become available. They have until this Saturday and then they have to clear everything out. They have managed to find somewhere to store the merchandise. Please pray that God will miraculously provide the perfect solution to this problem.

If you ever think of starting your own charity shop for the ministry (!) then get in touch and we will put you in touch with the lady who started the Coleraine project. She would no doubt have lots of helpful information to share.

We'll keep you posted as things develop.

The rest of the week

Andrew had a couple of meetings this week with pastors re. Social Ministries. One of the pastors is interested in starting a Mex-i-Kids breakfast Club in his church (Tultitlan). It looks like it will start by the end of October and it will be run by the folks in he church. The area is also extremely poor and could have a great impact in the area. The great thing is that we are able to share lessons learned so far through our experience in La Loma.

The other pastor was incredibly open. He has lots of different things going on in his church and we'll share more about that when we have more information.

Another great thing that happened this week was that on Wednesday Andrew did interviews with the kids in the Drop-In Centre. The information was basic and just to be able to help us keep track of progress (they will be performed every week or two) and how best we can be helping each of the kids. Perhaps this is where my counselling course will find it's outlet. It takes a long time to build trust with these kids and neither of us has been able to devote the time needed into these kids but we are a team and Alex and Paty have dedicated themselves to that task. As Andrew asked the questions he found the kids giving him a lot more respect and afterwards they were more than considerate to him. What's more exciting though is just how highly esteemed Alex and Paty are. This couple have truely been called by God and equipped by Him for the task. They have a firmness and directness accompanied by an immense love for these kids and they are seeing results for their labour. Of course it takes time and sacrifice and at times Alex and Paty are very tired. Praise God for tangible results of what He is doing through them and continue to pray for their stamina and encouragement in the ministry.

We ourselves were very tired this week and after almost 3 weeks without much time off we were able to take half of Thursday and Friday to recharge.

Yesterday we had the usual number at the breakfast club (about 30) and as there was no music rehearsal we were able to leave shortly afterwards. Tabitha had a good rest in preparation for a longer day today (rehearsal lasted about 2 hours) and we were able to do some work at home.

This week looks set to be fairly normal but who knows what will happen. Thanks for your prayers and your involvement in the ministry here.

Prayer would be greatly appreciated

I found out this week that the materials for my counselling course weren't automatically going to be sent by UPS. I had arranged for them to be sent to the seminary whereas most of our post is sent to a PO Box which is much more secure (and even then things don't always arrive).

I managed to find out before one of the parcels was sent and so it will come by UPS but the other parcel of 2 books was already in the post. Please pray that the books will arrive and that I'll get them in time for starting the course.

Continued training

It seems like it finished weeks ago but Monday and Tuesday were great days of team training. When we got home on Tuesday evening we thought back to when the team were reporting on Saturday and it seemed like we knew each other so much better by Tuesday and were so much closer and open. Many helpful things were identified and of particular interest were the ways we can help each other e.g. through encouragement (which is most effective when done in a way that's meaningful for each individual).

Dean and Gail Davies came down from the OMS International headquarters in Indiana to facilitate the training and were great. There's a lot of follow-up to be done over the next months as we look deeper into a subject that we really only scratched the surface of.

Hooray for the Carrubbers team!

Tabitha introduces us to the team in her own unique style!

Sandra and study

It's been a while since I mentioned Sandra and Beto. Sadly they seem to be cooling off a lot. They are still off the streets but have not been attending church and have not been looking for spiritual help. We've decided that change will only happen when they earnestly desire it and while we keep an eye on them we will wait and see what happens.

Meanwhile I have enrolled in a counseling course by distance learning. I'll take it a module at a time to see how it goes but I have realised my need for some training in this area and I hope to share that with others on the team here. It's also something I've wanted to do for a while and I'm excited that it's worked out for now anyway. I start next week and it's a 14 week course. Then I'll take a break for the arrival of baby and hopefully continue in June. The first course is called 'Dynamics of biblical change'

Please pray that the materials ordered will arrive this week and that this course will not only be of benefit to me personally but also to the Proyecto MEFI team and many of the kids coming off the streets.

Kids on the team

A big desire of ours is that as the kids come off the streets and their lives are turned around by Christ some of them would be able to help in the Proyecto MEFI team to see other street kids changed in the same way. The process of coming off the streets can be long and difficult and we have already lived through that with a few. We are developing appropriate discipleship courses using available materials and are hoping that we can involve more church members in that process with the kids. It's exciting to show a couple of photos of kids here.

This is Mark from the Carrubbers team giving his testimony in English on the streets. Andrew is not translating - it's one of the kids from that group! He lived in the US for a while and though he isn't a Christian himself yet here he is helping his own group to understand something of God's love through the translation fo Mark's testimony.
Here is Alex with another kid who has been off the streets for a while. I posted his testimony back in May and called him Hector (not his real name). This kid is unique. He works hard though he has always wanted to work alongside the team in the Drop-In Centre and we help him by paying rent etc. When missionary teams are here he will go with them on the prayer walk and give his testimony. I've always wondered about seminary training in the future for him. Imagine our excitement on Saturday when we went for our training with the other missionaries and there he was sitting in class with Alex and Paty (who study every Saturday)! Please pray for this guy. He still has his struggles but he is a different kid and God can use him to do amazing things for Him. Perhaps this will be the first ex-street kid to work for Proyecto MEFI!

Breakfast Club and Training

As a missionary team we are excited about some training and team-building we are doing together. The couple who organised our cross-training in Indiana in January are down to facilitate the process which started on Saturday and continues through tomorrow and Tuesday. Part of the course involves looking at our personal spiritual gifts and how those fit into the team. It was on Saturday that I realised how my different role has released me to be able to work more within my area of giftedness (see the post 'The music group' below). We're looking at areas in with we are strong and areas where we need each other and will also look at personality differences and be using tools to help us understand each other better and work more effectively as a team. I would say that we have a great team and we feel so well supported here. This training is a great opportunity to further develop what is already for us a great team to work in. Pray for continued unity in our team and that this training will be fruitful not only in our own lives but ultimately in seeing God's purposes fulfilled in us and His name glorified here in Mexico.

Because we were in training on Saturday we weren't able to be at the breakfast club. Thanks again for your prayers. It sounds like it went well with about 35 kids and 14 helpers. Now that different people have taken responsibility in different areas we want to maintain the momentum and continue to help develop them to be effective leaders. Our desire is to take less and less responsibility so that the club is eventually run by the members of the church and we can move on to help develop other ministries in La Loma or other UNIFAM churches. Pray for good leaders with a passion for the kids in the area and especially for people who can lead the club that we can train.

Carrubbers

We took the Carrubbers team out to the airport on Friday night and said the dreaded goodbyes. It was hard but we are so thankful for their visit. While they were here we spent as much time as we could together and our kind missionary family even helped by babysitting on occasion. We are tired but we have been so refreshed by their visit and feel renewed in our passion for the ministry God has entrusted to us. Somehow saying good bye makes home seem a long way away yet less than 24 hours after they left we were speaking with some and seeing them over Skype! Sometimes we feel like it would be lovely to be able to 'pop up the road' to see friends and family and then get back to work here in Mexico again. We're grateful for the happy memories of the team's visit and our prayer is that each one will continue to allow God to speak to them and change them as a result of their experience here.

Here are some of the team with Andrew buying decorations in the centre of town for the special event at the Drop-In Centre.
One of the groups they visited was one we visited back in 2001 when we were first here. The kid in the middle of the front row with the stripey jumper did a video interview for us back then. He has expressed a desire to leave the streets. Six years later he looks very different (though still recognisable) and his lifestyle has taken it's toll. Praise God he is still alive and pray that his life will be turned around before it's too late.
Of course the group saw a little of the culture here. On Tuesday they went to the pyramids outside the city (largest stepped pyramids in the world). The vendors weren't going to miss the opportunity of prying some money from these Scots! Here you can see them surrounded! Andrew is in the red t-shirt on the left.
A group photo. Our own little piece of Carrubbers here in Mexico!

The music group

Having the Carrubbers team at church last week meant that we were able to get this rare picture of the two of us in ministry together. Andrew is singing on the extreme right and I am on keyboard to the extreme left.
We enjoy being in the music group but making rehearsals is tough due to other commitments and it's also hard on Tabitha to be around church all day when she doesn't sleep well there. It's been decided to change the rehearsal time to Sundays after church. We'll give it a go and see how Tabitha does. It will mean a shorter time in the church on Saturdays for her which should hopefully help her get through Sundays a little better. It's hard at times to say no but we realise our responsibility as parents and we need to be prayerfully choosing our involvement in different ministries. We want Tabitha to know that she comes first and so even from now we need to get into the habit of considering her needs and doing the right thing. Pray that we will be wise as parents and as ministers in another country seeking to reach the lost for Christ.

My personal view is that Tabitha is a big part of my ministry. This week she learned a new song, "He made the stars to shine" and had all the actions learned in a couple of days. She's just a little sponge and it gives me such joy to see her so receptive and learning about God's love for her. We ask her who loves Tabitha and she responds, "Jesus!" and she can also say that in Spanish! If Tabitha is a priority in ministry then I have to make sacrifices in other areas. There are things that I would love to do but can't but there are other things that I can do and just this weekend I made an interesting discovery about how being 'forced' to be around home has actually put me in a position of being able to minister in ways that are much more suited to the strengths and gifts God has given me. So without wanted to ramble on too much I would ask you to pray for Tabitha and for our wisdom as parents as we make decisions and seek to do God's will and 'train up our child in the way she should go.'

The translator!

When teams come we have a great translation set that was donated by a team. The translator (me in this case!) has a little microphone...
...and the team have headsets so they can hear the translation clearly without having to distract too many people. It's tiring work but praise God when we are able to understand what is going on we can feel part of the worldwide family of God.

Event in the Drop-In Centre

Thank you for your prayers for this event. It seems it was profitable. About 25 kids went along and had a great time. There were games, a drama, a talk and songs, food and some gifts. There were lots of smiles. We have these events to further establish trust relationships with the kids and this event certainly achieved that. Kids were mainly from 2 groups. It's just great to be able to use the Drop-In Centre but as you can see from the photos there is still much work to be done. We have a contact for an engineer and hopefully he will visit the Centre this week. Pray that this will work out and that we will quickly have plans for the rest of the remodeling work that can be submitted and passed my the government. There is a team coming down in October so we don't have much time and we would appreciate your prayers for a miracle in terms of a quick proposal accompanied by a rapid and uncomplicated government approval. There are things the team can do but we would love them to be able to do some of the big jobs like building bathrooms, knocking down walls etc.

Here the Carrubbers team get to planning Monday night's event.
Mark and Sarah do a sketch using masks.
Some of the kids listen and watch intently.
Traditional food (pozole) to finish.

Answer to prayer

It's so encouraging to see God at work in a practical and visible way. We know that so many enjoy keeping up to date with what we're doing here and that's great. What's even more encouraging for us is that we know many are also using the news we share in order to pray more intelligently for the ministry. It does take time to keep the blog up to date but it is a great joy to see how God is answering specific prayer as a result. We want to be able to keep you updated on the answers as well as the requests.

Last week I mentioned our dilemma over where we should have our second baby. On Monday Margaret, one of our fellow missionaries, went with a close Mexican friend of hers to check out a clinic. She was impressed with the facility and the doctor and came to tell us about it. I got the number the next day and though it was nearly 6.30pm when I phoned I was able to get an appointment for Wednesday. We also liked the doctor and found the clinic to be very clean and busy. It's at least half the price of anywhere else we have looked at and the doctor's appointments are also considerably cheaper. We checked out the rooms as well and everything seems great.

Basically our doctor's appointments will cost £10 ($20) each and the delivery (without complications) will cost £550 ($1100). That's a total price including doctors and paediatricians (who must be there and do all the post-birth 'stuff' with the baby. It's a one-night stay and though Tabitha will not be allowed to visit (Mexico regulation!) Andrew will have a bed in the ward (private) to be able to stay over. Of course we have our wonderful missionary family who are already volunteering to look after Tabitha.

So praise God. An answer to prayer and we feel confident that He had this place planned for us. We have had such difficulty until now finding a doctor or making appointments...perhaps now we know why. So all being well it looks like we will be planning to return to the UK around April 2008 and will look forward to seeing some of you then.

We also had an ultrasound done which determined that we are at about 18 weeks and we have been given the 21st February as a tentative date (Tabitha's birthday is the 20th!). We were told the sex of the baby but as yet we have not decided whether to publicly announce. If you really want to know just drop us a note and we'll be happy to tell! Praise God everything looks to be fine so far.

A Mostly Mexican Evening

We just love the way the Mexicans work with balloons! We organised for the lady who does all the balloons from the La Loma church to help us out and what a fantastic job she did! There were over 400 balloons in each arch!
There were also 3 mean looking cacti! Thanks to a guy who has a bus we were able to take the columns and the cacti out to church so this fellow met us at the top of the stairs as we went in!
We all got dressed up for the occasion. Tabitha and I waved the Mexican flag with our traditional outfits and Andrew joined the guys on the team and donned his kilt.
We weren't the only ones to dress up. This is our fine looking missionary family and there were many others with fantastic costumes. It was all very festive.
At one point the music took a definite shift in direction. Suddenly we heard a lone piper play the classic hymn "Amazing Grace". The crowd gathered around and our group showed the Mexicans a couple of traditional Scottish dances. Then it was their turn to stand back as the music returned to what it had been and a group of Mexicans did one of their traditional dances.
Finally there was some singing which was all very nice but just check out this pose. Now that's singing with passion! A classic Mariachi singer with a fantastic set of lungs!
It was a late night for Tabitha but we had a great time and with the great turnout we're hopeful that many more will be interested in what the seminary has to offer. We so desperately need to have people not just come to know Christ but to be trained to be able to spread the word further. Praise God for the influence the seminary is having in the lives of the street kids. Alex and Paty along with another member of the Santa Monica church who has attended the Proyecto MEFI prayer meetings since they started study there all day Saturday in order to be better equipped for the ministry. Our desire is that one day one of more of the kids themselves will be able to attend the seminary and join the Proyecto MEFI team.

Too vast to describe!

Saturday was a remarkably clear day so we took the team to a high spot for a view over at least part of the city. There is nowhere from where you can see the whole city but this view is impressive! Who knows what the actual statistics are - they say 30 million now. What need! What a challenge! Please keep praying not only for us but all missionaries who are working for God's glory in this huge city. (Double click the picture to get a better view. It is a composite of 3 pictures and the joins are quite obvious)
Here's one of them - our little smiler!

Mexican Independence

So tonight (Saturday) we have the denomination wide party at the seminary. Hopefully there will be lots of funds raised for this amazing place. Tabitha and I have matching Mexican outfits and Andrew will join the Scottish guys in wearing his kilt. We'll post photos tomorrow or Monday.

On Monday evening we will celebrate with the street kids in the Drop-In Centre. Please pray that many kids will come along, that relationships will be strengthened and it will be a great time. There will be games, food, chat etc. but most importantly someone will share from God's word and there will probably be a testimony or two and some songs. Pray that this event will be a turning point for some.

A party

On Thursday it was Rachel's 18th birthday. Tabitha and I went to buy bits and pieces to have the accommodation decorated for the team returning from their activities. Tabitha wasn't too sure whether she liked the idea of party hats!

The last time we ate together as missionaries Jonny made a loaf of garlic bread. He had no end of complaints as one loaf of his gorgeous garlic bread was simply not enough. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice - this time we had 15 loaves between about 20 of us!
As the cooking continues Jonny asks the birthday girl if she will swap her digital camera for his red balloon so he can be in the cool kids' club!
Plenty of cake is always a good thing but it was hard to find space for the candles.
Rachel takes her first 'mordida' - a standard Mexican tradition where the birthday person has to take the first bite out of the cake. What she didn't know is that there is usually someone on hand to make sure it's a decent sized bite...and a memorable experience. Andrew did the honours on this occassion!

The Carrubbers Team

What a blessing it has been to have the team from Carrubbers here. It's like having a little piece of home here in Mexico. How are we going to say goodbye?! For now we are excited to have them here, to show them what we do and to enjoy fellowship as much as is possible. They've had a varied week with an overview of the ministry on Monday in the form of the prayer walk. On Tuesday they had their first trip to a street group. On Wednesday they went get first hand experience of the church planting work. On Thursday they went to one of the huge markets to buy decorations for a special event in the Drop-In Centre on Monday and on Friday they helped to set up the area for the Mexican Independence Day party in the Seminary.
We were overwhelmed by how many gifts they had brought out. It almost made us homesick looking at all the treats! Couldn't resist taking a picture of the Haribo sweets! We truly feel spoiled (and loved!)
Here we all are on Tuesday night enjoying a typical Mexican meal thanks to Guille (our pastor's wife). Chicken in a chili sauce with traditional Mexican rice.

Another treat!

God is really blessing us so abundantly. Yesterday evening our treasurer Colleen came and babysat Tabitha so that we were both able to go out and pick up the team from Carrubbers (our home church in Scotland). It was my first time to drive to the airport as we had to go in two cars and we drove through some torrential rain and thunder and lightening!

We've excitedly anticipated this visit for a long time and it was so wonderful to see them all again. There are all sorts of things planned for them this week starting with the prayer walk day when they will get a great overview of the ministry, involvement on the streets, a visit to the church planting work and this Saturday there is a denomination wide celebration of Mexican Independence Day to raise awareness and funds for the seminary. There will be Mexican food, games etc. and the team will be wearing their kilts!

Please pray for their health and safety while they are here. It is a huge encouragement for us to have them here but we don't want to be selfish - we want God to use this experience in their own Christian growth and for this trip to be life-changing for each one.

A great meeting

Andrew had his first follow-up meeting with one of the UNIFAM pastors on Friday to discuss how Social Ministries could help his church reach more people in the area. It was a great meeting. Andrew couldn't say yes to all of the ideas but he was able to help the pastor come up with even more efficient ways to reach the community. For example one of the original ideas was that the church receive £25/$50 a month to allow one child to go to the daily kindergarten free of charge. That very day the church had to lay off one of their teachers due to falling numbers of kids. Andrew asked how much a newspaper advertisement would cost. The answer was £12.50/$25 for a month. We also have contacts for making banners and Andrew suggested that we could design a new advertisement to place the tiny cloth, hand-painted banner with a bigger, bright, plastic one which would attract more attention.

This kind of conversation gets Andrew really excited and the pastor of course was getting excited as well. His comment to Andrew was, "I'm so surprised - I thought you were going to come here and say there was really nothing you could do!"

Andrew came home buzzing. Please pray for the church in Tultitlan and for the pastor Jonathan and his wife Cleide. They are a great, energetic and enthusiastic couple with a passion to reach the lost and a particular passion for kids (which strikes a chord with our passion). Pray that the kindergarten would grow and be instrumental in seeing kids and their families incorporated into the church. They are also keen to start a Mex-i-Kids. It was a good opportunity for Andrew to share some of the frustrations and things we have learned through our experiences in La Loma. Our suggestion has been that the club start with a prayer meeting for a month or two to determine how many dedicated people there are and then to plan based on that number of available and committed people.

A special treat!

On Friday night we were truly blessed with a lovely evening with missionary friends. Jonny and Julie babysat Tabitha and the MacKinnon's kids (Christian and Robin are sitting in the middle) and Joel and Janette came up from the south. They are missionaries with a different organisation working in the south of the city in church planting and medical work. Last Wednesday Joel and a group from their church went to visit the drop-in centre. Pray for them as they consider further involvement in the ministry with street kids.

The MacKinnons and the Millers have 4 kids each! We've some catching up to do! It was a great fun evening and certainly much anticipated and enjoyed by all.

I meet with Robin as often as our schedules allow and I feel so blessed to have another missionary mum and a great friend close by. Tabitha regularly goes over the kids names and it breaks her heart to have to say goodbye to them! We are so grateful to be part of a great missionary team, especially at times when the going is tough.

Pregnancy and a big decision

Here we are with our missionary family (or part of it) enjoying some tacos in honour of one of our group who just celebrated her birthday.
It was my first day to wear proper maternity clothes and I can't believe it but I think I'm starting to look pregnant (I am for those who didn't know yet!). We've lost count of the weeks now but we think we're around 18. We tried phoning for a doctor this week but when we finally got the secretary (after 2 days) we found the doctor was fully booked for next week. The positive side of that is that she must be good! So we've still only had one appointment, no blood tests and no due date (although it's some time in February). Certainly we're a lot more relaxed second time around! We're hoping we can get an appointment soon but we really need you to pray with us about where we have the baby.

Our decision is between time and expense. Our medical insurance only covers us for emergencies. Normal delivery is not considered an emergency therefore it is not covered. We could return home and the delivery wouldn't cost us anything but it will cost us to deliver here. Flight costs aren't really the issue as our choice is to fly home in 3 months time or in 7 months time but in any case we will be flying home at some point...but of course the longer it takes to make a decision, the more expensive the flights are likely to be.

If we go home for the delivery we would have to fly in December (so as not to risk an emergency delivery at 30,000 feet (but I wonder would our insurance cover that?)) and that would mean a lot less time for our families with new baby before we have to return to Mexico again. If we have baby here we would wait for the papers to be sorted out and fly home when baby is about 2 months old.

So what should we do? It's a difficult decision for us and we feel totally up in the air at the moment over which way to go. Please pray that God will guide us to know what to do and for my continued health and that of the baby. I'm finding I still get nauseous if I push myself too hard (which of course I have the tendency to do) and I also had a fall yesterday at club (which was very surreal - when do you ever fall?!) but thankfully it was my arm that took the impact (but unfortunately for my poor arm!).

We understand that it's a nice dilemma to be in but we will be happy when we have decided and the flights are booked etc.

Tabitha is doing really well. She's a constant 'chatterer' and at the moment she loves to go over the names of all the people we know. She already connects people by family groups or who live or work together etc. Today on our way to church she was going over the names of all the people she knows there. She often stops on the street or in shops to wave at complete strangers and the old man across the street who usually sits outside his gate reading his newspaper always gets a wave as we leave or go into our house. Yesterday I laughed to see her with a little girl (about 3 years old). Tabitha had a crayon and as she scribbled on a piece of paper she was saying, "Asi!" (or "like that!") to the little girl. Do we have a teacher in the making? Last Monday she climbed onto our bed and as she bounced up and down she was saying, "Brinca! Brinca! Brinca!" or "Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!" My guess is that's something she's picked up at crèche on Sundays! With her blond hair and blue eyes she gets lots of attention and opens doors for many conversations. We're just loving this stage with her (though the screaming when she doesn't get her way is something we've had to be working on!) and are so blessed. Thank you for your prayers for her. She seems to be keeping good health (despite the fact that the only way we can get her to eat fruit and vegetables is to liquidise them so they seem more like juice!), sleeps incredibly well and is generally pretty flexible about her timetable. She adores music and performing (where could she have got that from?) and is picking up words and actions to songs in English and Spanish. Please continue to pray for her health and safety and above all that we as parents would be faithful to our responsibilities as parents and that her love for God would develop as she continues to grow.

Proyecto MEFI

We are so encouraged in many aspects of the work with the street kids at the moment. The team are working so well together. All have been busy in the drop-in centre making things they can sell. Fidel's wife Juana has been teaching the kids how to do 'popotillo' - making pictures using fine coloured straws. They are also making pictures and other bits and pieces. We'll try and get a picture. Of course, they are hoping that the folks on the team which is here at the moment will buy lots of what they are making as souvenirs! The Proyecto MEFI team work alongside the kids and it gives plenty of time to chat and build relationships with the kids.

Some of the kids who are making use of the drop-in centre at the moment are among the most difficult Andrew says he has seen on the streets. Alex decided to trust one of the guys with a business proposal. He gave him a bunch of necklaces to sell on the buses (buses here stop anywhere, not necessarily in designated stops and frequently folk jump on, sell things like sweets, jewelery, snacks etc and then jump off when they're done). Alex said he would charge the street kid 8 pesos (about 40p/80 cents) for each necklace and the kid could pocket the profit depending on what he sold the necklaces. Alex wasn't sure he would see either the necklaces or any money again but sure enough, the kids returned with the necklaces he didn't sell and the money for the ones he did. He paid for the ones he sold and gave Alex some of the profit saying, "Keep that for me to help with rent for when I leave the streets." We are amazed but praise God!

There are 3 new kids, including this kid who want the leave the streets. Please pray hard as the team work with these kids through the transition and that the kids will have the strength to see the difficult process through.

Perhaps you remember the story of Victor and Julia. Sadly Julia isn't doing so well. She was beaten up recently and turned up at the drop-in centre. Julie (a nurse) was there that day and was able to treat her wounds. Last week she said she though she might be pregnant but she was worried as she had been unfaithful to her boyfriend. We can't even imagine how these kids live or the hurt they carry. One guy has started to open up with Alex and Paty and they just sit in tears as they hear his horrendous story. This is such a battle and the fact that kids are leaving that life behind is a miracle and a huge and significant thing for them. Praise God for our team - Fidel and Juana, Alex and Paty and so many who volunteer in other ways. Praise Him for the relationships they are building up with the kids and the differences they are seeing God make through them in the lives of these kids. Pray that it would continue - this is not normal - it is God and we need to keep praying for them and for the kids.

Mex - i - Kids

We tried a new format on Saturday. It seemed very labour intensive for us and it will take some time to get right but the kids seemed to have a good time. We started with games, then divided the kids into 2 groups - older and younger and ran more games and a craft simultaneously. Then we had songs and Andrew gave a lesson before breakfast.

There are some discipline issues which we are working through. We'll try the same method next week but maybe change the order a little to see if it helps. Once again the kids were mostly those who don't attend church on Sundays. Praise God and continue to pray that this club will be used by God to met needs in the community and see people come to know Him.

Here are some of the younger kids making Mexican flags out of cocktail sticks which they are colouring.
...and up close...

National Assembly

Thank you for your prayers. According to some this year's assembly was the most united and free events that the denomination has had. There were reports of what is going on in the churches and decisions were made for the future.

I just went for the first day. They were 3 long days and besides having a headache from Tuesday evening until Friday morning which required I rest and take lots of liquids I felt it was better for Tabitha that I didn't go every day.

Andrew's report seemed well received and he was unanimously voted in as the Social Ministries Director for UNIFAM (the National Church Denomination). Over the next weeks he will have follow-up meetings with the different pastors. He handed out a questionnaire to help them think about the needs in their church areas and how Social Ministries can help. Pray for wisdom to know how to put feet to our promises. Our desire is that people in Mexico will know that God cares for them because we as a church care for them and are interested in meeting their needs.

Yesterday evening Fidel and Juana, Alex and Paty came over to our place and we had a great evening together. Thank you for your prayers - we are really encouraged by the unity in the team at the moment.

It's back to our regular routine tomorrow. On Saturday a team of 8 people from our home church in Scotland, Carrubbers Christian Centre, arrives for two weeks. We are so looking forward to their visit!

It arrived!

Well our suite finally arrived on Tuesday evening. It was still not what we had ordered but it was clean and here Tabitha is enjoying it. We didn't get away with not paying the delivery but we are glad to have something to sit on. Pray that our home would be a place where people feel welcome and would feel God's presence. Pray too that it would serve as a place to retreat from the busyness of the day and where we could rest effectively.