A week off

How fast a week goes by! We've been enjoying our time together and resting a little too. Christmas morning started early with the pitter patter of tiny feet at 6am! We had a lovely day and thoroughly enjoyed the company of our missionary friends and one of the Mexican pastors as well.

Please pray this week for the new breakfast club that will be starting on Saturday. It is about 2 hours drive south of here and Andrew and I are hoping to go along. The folks are expecting about 70 kids and it is an incredibly poor area with loads of potential for evangelism programs. We have now had a 2 week break from Mex-i-Kids at La Loma and will be organising a meeting with the leaders before re-starting. We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and direction as we plan the way ahead. We would love to see the number of kids growing but we also need to see more adults from the church getting involved.

It is likely that work will re-commence in the Drop-In Centre on Wednesday. It will start with a meeting to assess the progress until now and plan and make changes for the next few months. Please keep praying also that the major re-modelling work will be done soon. Unfortunately it wasn't completed (or even started) by Christmas and Andrew will be chasing up the engineer this week.

We were delighted to meet some of our neighbours with young kids yesterday at a piñata party held at a home on our street. Tabitha was a little scared to start with but was soon enjoying her first chance to hit the piñata. Pray for our neighbours and for development of good relationships for sharing the gospel. We have some lovely neighbours who are very friendly and aways offering to help in whatever way they can. One little girl on the street is exactly one month older than Tabitha and already they like to play together.

We hope you had a lovely Christmas and would like to wish you a very blessed and joyful New Year. We have begun to think about our time at home and while it will be short we will hopefully be in your area at least, if not in your church. When we have our deputation schedule organised we will post it on the blog. We are so looking forward to catching up with everyone and thanking you personally for the impact your support is making here.

Happy Christmas

We just want to wish you all a very happy Christmas. It seems to come around so fast each year. May none of us miss the opportunity to reflect at least for part of the day on the reason we celebrate and the reason Christ came.
This is our first Christmas in Mexico. Our first year here we returned home for a family wedding, the second we went home for a year just before Christmas and last year we came back to Mexico after Christmas. We're hoping the Skype lines will hold out and give us enough time to say hello to our families. We'll have the morning together just the 3 of us and then 5 of our wonderful missionary family are coming over for Christmas Dinner and fellowship. We will recount the Christmas Story together in word and song and just enjoy being together. Then we have a few days off when we hope to rest as much as possible and just enjoy time together as a family.

Thank you so much to those of you who have sent us greetings and reminded us you are praying. Thank you also to those who have sent financial gifts either to support the ministry or as personal gifts. You will hear from us personally in due course! Your support really does mean so much to us and without it we would not be able to be here doing what we do. You really bless us through your love and support and we pray that in return you will also be richly blessed. We are especially praying that this Christmas will be a special one for you.

Weekly Report

Not too much to report this week. It seems we are all back to good health again. Tabitha was back down to just needing one sleep again yesterday. There was one day this week where she had 3 naps - she could only last 2 hours awake at a time! She's still taking medicine for a cough but she's pretty much there. I've tried not to push her too hard this week and consequently have spent quite a bit of time in the house which has it's benefits and it's frustrations!

There was a Christmas party at the Drop-In Centre for the regular attenders on Monday. It was a fairly low key event. One of the kids was in tears as he told Andrew that he depended on the Drop-In Centre and he didn't care what people thought of him for going, he would always be there and needed it. He wasn't sure what he was going to do for 2 weeks without it. He also says that he loves the devotional times. It's difficult but the team really need the rest. Please pray for the kids who are still on the streets. Pray that continuity would not be lost with them and that they will realise the value of the Drop-In Centre and the message they are constantly hearing there. Pray too for the team. Pray that they will be able to have a good rest over Christmas and enjoy time with their families.

Andrew left on Wednesday night for Acapulco. Tabitha, who never usually wakes during the night, came into our room about 4 times before finally asking for 'cuzzles' (cuddles) and 'hog-waw' (jugo - juice) and eventually settling some time after midnight! Praise God all the cars arrived safely around 5.45am on Thursday morning. At time of writing they are on their way home. It seems to have been a really great time with a big spiritual impact. A couple of the kids are in our Sunday School group so hopefully it will lead to even more openness in the class. Pray that the impact of the weekend will remain and that people will act upon the things they learned and were challenged about. This was the first retreat for the youth of the church.

While Andrew was away I was busy at home with various things to get done before Christmas and I was blessed with the company of our missionary family, especially Margaret and Robin. I think Tabitha enjoyed the variety of interaction as much as I did and I certainly appreciated the adult conversation! We are so blessed to be on such a great team. May God keep us united. We certainly feel like part of a family here.

Youth Trip

This Wednesday night Andrew is helping to drive some of the youth from La Loma to Acapulco for a couple of days. It will be their first trip away together and they have been saving for months. They will be staying in one of the Acapulco churches.

Please pray for safety in travel. It's a long drive and they plan to leave at midnight to avoid the City traffic and travel through the night. Pray that Andrew will be able to get some good rest during the day before he leaves and for Miguel, Gary and he as they drive.

Pray too that the time will be profitable spiritually for the kids who go. Tabitha and I will be staying in the City as we thought the journey wold be just too hard on Tabitha with little recovery time down there and a full schedule planned. The group hopes to get back to the City around 10pm on Saturday.

On Sunday the church service will be held in the evening and there will be a special Christmas meal. It also happens to be our 7th wedding anniversary! Then 2 days later it's Christmas Day and we hope to have some of the missionaries over for dinner in our house. We are so grateful to Paul Weeks from Canada who fitted our oven this week. We've been here since February and only now have a decent oven! The owners of the house agreed to pay for it and so we finally got it just in time for roasting the turkey!

Mobile Clinic

There have now been several meetings about the mobile clinic. It is still all very theoretical and void of funding but it's exciting nevertheless. Andrew and the Pollocks met with a doctor last week who is a Christian and is prepared to let foreigners practice under his license number! He is also happy to let some of us see a mobile clinic in operation.

His big caution was that we would be prepared for how God would work through it. He talked about the people who came to know Christ as a direct result of one campaign. Andrew and Jonny were unsure whether he said it was 500 or 50 (slightly different!) but the church where the new believers went wasn't prepared for the influx and sadly wasn't able to keep them.

Whether 5 or 5000 come to know Christ through such a campaign we will rejoice with the angels in heaven and we will be as ready as we can possibly be!

Continue to pray that God will open doors for this project is His time. Praise God for the health professionals who are willing to give their time and expertise. The idea would be to have consultations going on simultaneously with an evangelism program, perhaps one-on-one conversations or a kids' program or open-air type event. We'll wait on God's timing and guidance for each step.

Mex-i-Kids

Today was the last club of 2007. It was back in the church and there were about 25 kids. Being nurse and mummy today I wasn't able to go but it is encouraging that there was a good team of helpers there.

Last week we were also out in the community. Tabitha was sick in the car on the way there and Andrew and I felt awful and there wasn't so much help which was discouraging but we had a good time. Here are the kids enjoying a parachute game...
...and some home-made pizza.
Most importantly they listened really well to a simple gospel presentation.

Pray that the regular leaders will benefit from the rest and be charged up in the New Year. Pray too that they will be joined by others and that with fresh vision and excitement they will be on fire for reaching kids and families around the church. We really need to be able to take a lesser role with baby 2 due mid-February.

one of the new breakfast clubs is due to start further south in the City in the New year as well. Pray for preparation of hearts, both kids and leaders. We will not be as involved in what happens there, which is probably a good thing! Praise God for the potential of a breakfast to provide the first point of contact that can lead a family to Christ!

Remodelling

Well, we now have detailed plans of the current layout of the Drop-In Centre. The architect and engineer spent 2 1/2 hours last Saturday measuring out the building (during which time Andrew lay on the little couch in the counselling room. He was really suffering with the head cold that day!). The work still hasn't started though but we are confident that these guys will keep their word and that it will be done! Keep praying!

José

José (not his real name) is another one who needs our prayers. He is carrying an awful lot on his shoulders as a result of past experiences which are extremely traumatic.

The offer of the Christian Psychologist to help the ministry which we mentioned earlier was immediately called upon and José had his first session last week. It seemed to go well and José is keen to continue to see the psychologist.

José is afraid. Afraid of his thoughts and emotions but more importantly he is afraid of really giving his energy to improvement for it to fail. Obviously we know that he is believing a lie from the defeated foe and with our God nothing is impossible. Pray that in the power of the Holy Spirit José's life will be turned around and be a real trophy. Andrew has spent quite a bit of time with José and his 1/2 sister (who are expecting a baby together in January/February) and believes he has a lot of potential to be an effective leader in the ministry if God really gets a hold of his life.

Hector

Of course Hector is not his real name but it is what we have called him on this blog in order to protect his real name. We have talked of many encouragements in the ministry lately and Hector was a real encouragement to us. He has been attending Seminary classes on Saturdays with Alex and Paty and we have been giving him a small allowance and paying his bills for him as he has been working for Proyecto MEFI.

Unfortunately we have bad news and Hector needs your prayers more than ever. Somehow he and another ex-street kids got involved with a mafia type gang in the area where they have been living and ran up some debt. We're not sure how much but they have had to run from the City for fear of their lives. Please pray for the boys' safety and that they will not forget the things they have learned in their time with Proyecto MEFI. Pray that God will work this situation for good somehow and that these boys will realise they are not playing a game.

Roll on Christmas!

In just over a week we'll be taking a break! I think our bodies are wondering if the promised rest is ever coming! I didn't manage to avoid the cold as I had hoped which is why the blog didn't get updated. Thankfully Andrew and I are well over the worst of it now and just getting back to full strength again. Unfortunately though it is Tabitha who is now suffering.

We had asked for an ear thermometer for Christmas following several disasters with a forehead and conventional thermometer. Christmas time provides the perfect opportunity to ask for such a luxury. Julie Pollock's parents who arrived in the early hours yesterday morning brought it out for us. I was up at their house to collect it this morning having been up every couple of hours through the night with Tabitha and it confirmed that she had a temperature of 102.4. So today she has been very sleepy and cuddly. Hopefully it will pass in a couple of days and we'll all look forward to being together, healthy for Christmas!

Thanks for your prayers. We so appreciate them.

Apologies

Once again we are behind on the blog posts. Andrew and I have both been fighting colds. It seems that there are quite a few like us. We stayed in this morning but heard that numbers were considerably lower in church. Andrew will probably have to take tomorrow off as well. I don't seem to have it quite so bad thankfully. No 'Lemsips' for me! I'll aim to update the blog tomorrow (Monday).

Mex-i-Kids

Last week our numbers were small again. There were only about 15 kids which is a discouragingly small number. We also realised that most of our helpers now are teenagers and were beginning to wonder what God's plan is in this.
Yesterday we went out into the community and had the breakfast club in the home of one of the church members. The family had invited kids from the area by word of mouth. It was another exciting morning for us. About 30 kids came along. There was a basketball court just below the house where we played some games and then we ran a short program in the patio of the house. Andrew did a mime and I followed it up with an explanatory story. The kids listened incredibly well and seemed to have a great time. There was a Christmas theme and so as is traditional here we had a piñata!
Sweets and fruit for the fittest!
Next week and the week after we will be in different homes. Pray for the involvement of more adults from the church and that God will clearly direct for the New Year. There are advantages to having the club in the church but it is exciting to be out. We saw some kids who haven't attended for a while and other kids were attracted by the activity. Perhaps we need to go out and about more often. It certainly seems that the people in the area need frequent reminders and invitations.

Our health

We continue to keep good health. Thanks for your prayers. Last Friday I went to see an allergy doctor with Tabitha. She has some sort of reaction that brings her up in hives. When we took her off the antihistamines the hives came back. Apart from making her look bad they didn't seem to affect her any other way. They didn't itch and they didn't seem to annoy her.

The doctor has recommended that we do a blood test for the most common allergens here in Mexico. If that shows nothing then he recommends that we just keep giving the antihistamine medicine and hope the the problem corrects itself. He says that when the cause of the allergy is not obvious it is only found through further testing in about 15% of cases and would probably be a waste of money for us, especially as it doesn't seem to be affecting her physically.

Interestingly she hasn't had medicine since Friday and the spots haven't reappeared so we'll see what happens this week. Perhaps she won't need the tests at this point after all.

Andrew and I have also been well. I did take the cold but unlike Andrew and Tabitha I didn't have the weakness and exhaustion (in Andrew's case) or a high temperature (in Tabitha's case) afterwards. We praise God for our health and thank you again for your prayers.

Could this be?

You are looking at a piece of land about an hours drive north of the City. Andrew, Fidel and a couple of other guys went to have a look at various properties with the vision of the next stage of the ministry in mind - a rehabilitation centre/farm/school etc.

Once again this was a complete step of faith. There is no budget for such a venture but what is obvious is that it is necessary not only in the ministry to street kids, but also across the churches. It seems there are people struggling with addictions of some sort in most if not all of the churches. There are places that we take kids to at the moment but the situation is not ideal.

Andrew came back from his field trip excited and completely overwhelmed. The land seemed amazing - trees, plenty of water (one lake and potentially another with some excavation and better care of the land), fertile (if badly cared for), near enough to the City yet also far enough out etc. But is this our plan or God's? It is overwhelming to think of the money needed to purchase the land never mind put buildings on it...and the work that that will take and then to think of staff to work there and materials to sustain the work there. Yet in our missionary meeting Leroy Lindsay shared what God had laid on his heart - God is able to do above and beyond what we can think or imagine... For now we just ask you to pray that God would make His will clear and that we would continue to be able to trust Him with every detail. There are other land options to look at and those will be explored too but once again we are just quietly trusting in God's perfect will and timing.

Part of a family

In the last post I mentioned Christian, the burden he has for discipleship and how God can use that in the ministry with the street-kids. This past couple of weeks we have been blown away by the people God is bringing to us who He can use not only in Proyecto MEFI but in all of Social Ministries.

We had an appointment a couple of weeks ago with a dentist from one of the UNIFAM churches. She feels God has blessed her so much that she just wants to be able to use her gifts and experience to give something back to Him. Until now she has been pushing doors but nothing was opening. She even has her own charitable status and has a clinic quite close to the Drop-In Centre. There will be more meetings in the future with this wonderful lady but from the initial meeting she is more than happy to help out with the kids who are committed to the Drop-In Centre and potentially to help more broadly in the UNIFAM churches too.

We went straight from that meeting to a meeting with Dr. Joel Millar (a Free Methodist missionary from the USA), Jonny and Julie Pollock. One of the UNIFAM pastors had planted the idea in Andrew's head that it would be great to explore the idea of a mobile health clinic. Dr. Joel practices here, Jonny and Julie are qualified nurses (Jonny was a nursing manager) and within the UNIFAM church there is a trained doctor who has run clinics from the La Loma church in the past. Perhaps it is no co-incidence that all of these qualified people are able to get together at this point and put dreams and plans into action potentially. Of course this idea is just that - there is currently no money for such a project but our God is able and will provide in His perfect time. The current thought is that a mobile clinic would be based out of the Drop-In Centre and would be able to travel to different locations offering medical, dental, emotional care etc. Another idea is that while people wait to be treated we could run evangelistic programs alongside e.g. we could have people do a kids' program or tract distribution or chatting one-on-one with people as they wait. It's exciting to think of the potential for reaching many for Christ.

On Friday Andrew met with a psychologist. It became obvious during the course of the appointment that this was not an avenue that would be explored further. The counsellor had actually rejected the New Testament and had some strange and erroneous ideas about Christianity. That was a little more discouraging until he went in the evening to see a work with ladies at risk running in one of the UNIFAM churches. There is a trained Christian Psychologist and his wife who specialises in sexual abuse cases. He spent 2 years training a team of ladies in the church who receive phonecalls from ladies in the community each Friday evening. Together as a group they have grown and they are seeing God work in an amazing way changing the lives of ladies in the community and integrated into the church. This psychologist and his wife are both interested in helping further in Proyecto MEFI but please pray for the ministry in the Cualtitlan Izcalli church. It is called Women in Crisis. Andrew has another meeting this week with the pastor of the church.

God is so amazing. We sometimes feel out of our depth and certainly under-trained but once again we are reminded that this is God's work, not ours and that He has His people, as part of a body, equipped and called to do the works He has planned in advance for them (and us).

The Drop-In Centre

There is so much going on at the Drop-In Centre. More kids are coming along from different groups and in fact the team are finding that with over 20 kids attending they aren't able to give the kind of attention that these kids need. Before the Drop-In Centre opened there was an idea that each day a different group of kids would be invited. It has become obvious that while that might scratch the surface for a bigger number of kids there would be more lasting fruit from having fewer kids more consistently. So every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 11am and 3pm there have been about 10 kids attending consistently mainly from one group nearby the Centre. Over the course of 2 or 3 months the difference in their attitudes has been phenomenal. It doesn't mean that at times they aren't quite a handful but we have seen kids come to know Christ, some have come off the streets and some have returned home. It's quite convincing evidence that the consistency and focus on a smaller group pays off in the long run. Of course the idea is that groups pass through and that eventually these kids will become well integrated in society and no longer have need of the Drop-In Centre which would then be used by another group of kids.

The process of discipleship is long and time-consuming and just last might we were chatting about it with Alex and Paty. There are so many kids needing discipleship and the Proyecto MEFI team is already stretched to worrying limits with what they have on their plate at the moment. Pray with us that God will raise up mature believers with a burden for these kids who would be willing to 'adopt' a kid and begin discipling and counselling them. we're so grateful for Christian MacKinnon and his passion in this area. He has been researching suitable discipleship materials and we are hoping to have some people lined up that he can train when he returns from his trip to the USA in the New Year. So far there are two potential men.

Over the next few days and weeks the rules in the Drop-In Centre will get a little stricter in order to maintain order and maximise the usefulness of the time there. Basically there are 3 rules:
Arrive on time
No swearing, inuendo etc.
Respect the property (e.g. no drugs, damage etc.)
A breach of the rules merits expulsion from the Centre and the length of exclusion depends on the severity of the breach or the frequency with which the offender has broken the rules in the past. It may seem harsh but Alex and Paty were just saying how they have actually found friendships with the kids to develop as they have been disciplined in love. One kid who had been excluded for a week or so came to the Drop-In Centre to invite them to his parents house. His dad was going to kill a sheep to prepare a meal and they wanted to invite Alex and Paty as they had been so instrumental in the change in his life!

We are excited at the progress being made with the engineer. There was a question as to whether the drainage system would need to be replaced to cope with the number of showers, toilets etc. we required. It is obvious that it will need replaced but it's maybe not such a bad thing. Andrew was horrified when he lifted one of the covers to find cockroaches and worms etc. having a party down there! The fantastic news is that the work will potentially be started this week and it also seems like the tubing for the bathroom and washing facilities will be complete before the next work team arrives from Ardmore, USA in January. Thank you for your prayers for all of tat and keep praying that the work will be completed.

Welcome to new readers!

There is so much going on at the moment it's hard to know where to start to report back. It's probably best just to give an overview of where things are at at the moment. We're also aware that with our most recent prayer letter going out this week there are some people checking in to the blog for the first time. Welcome to our blog and thank you for your interest.

We try to update the blog weekly. It has many benefits. We are seeing God answer prayer in specific ways as we describe the needs here and we are so encouraged and blessed to know that it is because we are part of a team and not out here on our own. By updating you so regularly you are living through the ups and downs with us. On the blog you live our excitement and discouragement with us and get more than a look back over three or four months when everything can be looked at through 'rose-coloured spectacles'.

Thank you for being part of the team. We pray that you are encouraged as you check in and see directly how God is answering your prayers. He can do above and beyond what we can ask or think and that has been clear especially in the last couple of weeks and is a truth that we are leaning on in faith for the future.