Acapulco

Thanks for your prayers. We had a lovely time in Acapulco and both journeys went incredibly well. The kids didn't sleep that well while we were away but they did ok and are now settling back into their normal routine again.
Acapulco is divided by a mountain range. On one side is the beach front that the tourists see but behind the mountain the scenery is different. We were excited to be able to attend one of the 3 churches in Acapulco on Sunday morning. Here are a couple of shots from along the way.
Chicken for lunch anyone? This is a common site in the City as well, we've just never taken a picture.
One of the churches sits in a huge housing estate. There must be thousands of people right on the doorstep of the church. This is the view from in front of the church.
This is the church...and inside too. It was another new experience for us. First of all it was incredibly hot so we sat as close as we could to a fan! The pastor is quite a character. He plays the keyboard and his young son plays the drums. It was a fairly lively service and we enjoyed the message. People were incredibly friendly. This is the church where the next Mex-i-Kids breakfast club will start and we had a meeting with the pastor and his wife to hand over resources and chat a little about that.
One thing that struck me was how basic the church is. The pastor's desk is at the front of the sanctuary to the left of the lectern where he preaches from. His 'pulpit' (the front of the church) is also his study. But what hit me the hardest was the nursery. I guess as a mother of kids whom the nursery serves this hits home a little harder but I took a picture to show that it's not just emotion. Apart from what you see in the picture there were a couple of cupboards and a table. Our hearts are burdened for the ministries in Acapulco. This church is working hard just to meet financial needs. They make food to sell each Thursday and have various fundraising events planned. The pastor is looking for a part time job to allow him to better support his family and as well as pastoring this church he is overseeing another that is without a pastor until the new year. He is also a husband and a father of 2 boys.
Please pray for the work in Acapulco. Pray for a pastor for the vacant church. Pray for Mario who pastors the church we visited. Pray that the church will have a significant impact in that huge area. Pray for the Mex-i-Kids starting. When we asked how we could help the pastor asked us to pray. So we pass that request on to you as well. He also mentioned the need for training of the kids workers. We're trying to figure out if and how we can help with that. We saw first hand the need for that ourselves.

Acapulco is a huge city with huge needs. I don't feel it is co-incidence that we met a couple in the hotel who pastor a church in Mexico City. They were in Acapulco visiting relatives who have contacts with some street kids in Acapulco and want to formalise a work with them. They say there are many street kids there with little being done among them. The couple we met live quite close to the Drop-In Centre and hope to visit at some point soon.

So we had a break but we were also fired up to pray and do what we can to help our sister churches so far away. We'll keep you posted.