Happy Christmas

We hope you enjoy this little video. We want to wish you a lovely Christmas wherever you are. It has been so exciting for us this year with Tabitha being much more aware of what is going on. She has been involved in so many school activities but the highlight had to be the Nativity play when she sang a solo verse of 'Away in a Manger'. It has been fun to really begin to explore the Christmas story together and along with all her Christmas songs she sings away at 'Happy Birthday'.

Like so many we can look back over a year of ups and downs, changes, sadness and excitement. We feel so overwhelmed and blessed by your support and feel totally lost as to how to adequately say thank you. May you tangibly feel God's blessing in your lives and truly see Him providing for all your needs, physical, emotional and spiritual as this year ends and a new one begins.

Into December

It's pretty busy with deputation meetings at the moment. We are so encouraged to meet many people who have been following the ministry and to share what God has done. Missionary work is most certainly teamwork and we are so aware that we have been privileged to be a small part of a very big team.

Our de-brief was a great opportunity to reflect once again on the big picture. The term 'closing a chapter' fills me with a measure of sadness. Looking back over photos of Mexico brings that same sense of sadness. It would be so much nicer if it wasn't so far away! It was fabulous this weekend to meet up with 3 other couples who have lived away from home and understand those feelings. It has been an exciting chapter but this is an exciting book and we are excited about jumping into the next chapter too.

There is still no movement to report on our house. We did have a couple of viewings this week and we continue to trust that it will sell in God's perfect time. Please pray with us as we try to remain patient and look forward to seeing how He works it all out.

Next ministry update

Andrew flew over to Edinburgh to meet with the church leaders at Carrubbers to talk through a little more of a job description for the new ministry in January. First he met with the pastoral team to talk about how to move forward in the church plant and then with the directors (elders) to give a form of strategy for the year ahead. Praise God that He is going ahead of us through the rest of the team there who are building the bridges into the community. We are of course excited that we will be working with George and Marie MacRaild who are Andrew's brother's inlaws and missionaries with Biblical Ministries Worldwide. It now looks as though we have a moving week of 19th to 23rd January to move to Scotland.

This week we are looking forward to a de-brief with the OMS homeland staff. We have been so grateful for all their support during our time with OMS International.

Can you help???

Would you love to be practically involved in missions?

Do you live in or around Coleraine N.I.?

Do you ever have time off during the day (morning or afternoon)?

Would you be interested in helping at the Project Mexico Charity Shop?

Since we got back Andrew has been helping out one morning a week at the shop. He loves the opportunity to serve practically and to chat with people who go into the shop. The charity shop gives so many people the opportunity to do something practical from donating unwanted belongings to ironing clothes, manning the shop and delivering furniture etc. It's a great way of raising financial support for various ministries in Mexico and has been instrumental in paying the MEFI team and keeping the La Raza building running. This in turn bears the kind of spiritual fruit that we have been reporting over the months and years. It's a worthy cause and there is always need for more people to get involved.

If you think you can help PLEASE contact us and we will be able to put you in touch with the appropriate people. You can practically bless the ministry through the sacrifice of your time and effort and see lives touched for eternity as result. Good payment in itself!!

Quick update

Thanks for checking in and for your continued interest and prayers. Praise God that we are all in good health. There is no fresh news on our house but we continue to trust that God is in control of that and pray that the house will sell at the right time.

Andrew heads back to Edinburgh for a couple of days this week again. He's on his own this time as I will stay with the kids. We appreciate your prayers as we continue to look to the next phase of ministry.

Wallyford

This past weekend Tabitha and Oscar had a little holiday with Andrew’s parents while we headed over to Edinburgh for a couple of nights. Without kids’ schedules to work around we were able to relive the hectic nature of life pre-kids. We caught up with lots of great friends, gave a short report as part of our missions prayer night, visited the ministry we will be involved with early next year, did some house-hunting and even found a few minutes to get to the shops.

It’s exciting how the doors are opening up for ministry in Wallyford. Please pray on Thursday this week for the group giving an introductory session to the bible club they will run in the school. There has been complete support for this group from the head teacher. This week they hope to do a treasure hunt and then start properly the following week. Pray that many kids will be attracted to the event and even venture along next week.

Wallyford, just outside Edinburgh, is an old mining town. House prices in Edinburgh are naturally quite pricy and so redevelopment in places like Wallyford is quite obvious as people choose to live further outside the city and commute to work. For 3 years now our home church in Edinburgh, Carrubbers Christian Centre, has been establishing links within the community and reaching out through mothers and toddlers groups, a youth ministry and other bits and pieces. The team has done an excellent job and are well known within the community. We are excited to be stepping into the team and to be looking at ways of developing the ministry further.

In some ways there will be many similarities to the ministries we were involved in in Mexico and in many ways there will be different challenges and opportunities. We are excited and looking forward to what lies ahead.

Our main prayer request is that we would sell our house in God’s perfect time. We would love to avoid another transition stage for the kids is possible i.e. sell our house here in N. Ireland soon so that we could buy in Scotland and move straight into the place that will be our home. Logistically it would seem much more simple rather than have to think about packing only the things we need for an indefinite period of time, finding a place to rent, living far from Tabitha’s school and our ministry and in transition again which could be hard on the kids. But we are confident that God knows our need and is concerned for our good and that He has never let us down so far. Pray with us as we wait on God for yet another miracle demonstrating His infinite love and grace.

Arrival

Uncle Wesley (my brother) was waiting for us at Newark airport and accompanied us for the last leg of the journey. It was a beautiful morning with the beautiful autumn colours I have always loved rising up above the low-lying mist. The weather has been kind to us but we are still enjoying the luxury of central heating!

I think the word ‘overwhelmed’ is appropriate for describing our re-entry. Besides needing a lot of rest and some minor medical attention we have been getting out and about. Tabitha went to see her school on Monday and stayed. She was able to go all five days and had a great time. I ventured out to the supermarket by myself. I had a list but at one stage I was wondering if I would be returning home with anything on it. I was easily sidetracked but I did have to go up and down the same aisles 3 or 4 times to find what I was looking for. Finding the item I then had to pick from one of several varieties of the same thing. I know I’ve not been away that long but it was a little overwhelming. I’ve no doubt I’ll soon be able to fly around like the others who would reach over me to get what they wanted and fly on while I stood on reading all the labels and figuring out my cheapest option! As I left I was reminded where I was as a gust of wind caught my crisps (chips) and blew them into the car park. After getting my trolley (cart) back I went to get into the wrong side of the car to drive off and once corrected I then looked for my gears on the wrong side. Perhaps this week I’ll look a little more natural!
This afternoon we had our first deputation service. The NI rep had organised a lunch and program for all the prayer group leaders. There was special music by an amazingly gifted group from Australia who are visiting the country for two weeks. As we were ministered to by the beautiful music I was aware of the love and support of so many amazing people at home and was once again overwhelmed. We gave a flying report of some of the amazing things God has been doing in Mexico and as I got to telling the group about how I had felt the effects of their prayers I found myself choking up. Those of you who know me know that I don’t often get emotional but I guess this is part of the transition process. We have met some amazing people and made some great friends through OMS. We are privileged to be a part of this wonderful organisation.

We’re looking forward to the next few months of reporting back. We have not done amazing things in Mexico – God has through the prayers and support of His people and we’ve been privileged to see some of it first hand. A part of our hearts will always be in Mexico. We hope to move to our next ministry assignment in the New Year but maybe I’ll blog about that next week…

Here we are arriving in Mexico back in 2004.

Exit

Our last few days in Mexico seem like a whirlwind. There were so many little things to do at the last minute and lots of people wanted to pop in to say goodbye. Goodbyes are never easy but when you know it may be unlikely you will ever see some of these people again and certainly not for extended periods like we have been used to it makes them even more difficult. Sunday was difficult as we said goodbye to many people in the church. In the afternoon we went out for a picnic with the MOPS girls and their families and those were some of the most difficult goodbyes for me.

In the middle of it all some of the young girls from church come around and I taught them to make cookies and banana bread. They want to raise money to come and visit. It would take a lot of cookies and bread to buy a ticket but it would be amazing if they could come. Some people talked about coming to visit so perhaps we will have the opportunity to make introductions.

The day before we left my temperature went up again. I quickly phoned the doctor to get the name of medicine that would bring it down and we got to praying that it would and that I would not be denied my place on the plane. I know many were praying for our journey perhaps without knowing the specifics but I was so aware of your prayers. All day I felt terrible and was in bed at the same time as the kids. In the morning my temperature was down and I was feeling much better. Since coming home I have been put on another antibiotic and with a lot of rest I am feeling a million times better.


On Wednesday morning we had a meeting with the wives of the pastors and as you can see from the picture Robin MacKinnon was in town. We were able to snatch some precious moments together and I feel blessed that God should have worked the circumstances for our reunion to be made possible.

Once again thank you for your prayers as we travelled. We have absolutely no doubt that we were carried by prayer. The kids, once again, were amazing. We had more incredibly tough goodbyes at the airport with Margaret and Robin. It was fantastic to travel with the Lindseys though we knew that meant even more difficult goodbyes ahead. There is no doubt that we really miss our amazing missionary family and wish we could have them all here with us. How long will it be until teletransportation is possible? Perhaps better to long for heaven where there are no more goodbyes!

MOPS

On Tuesday I had the privilege of sharing at the other MOPS group in Mexico. I didn't have to travel too far as the church is on the same land as the seminary where we are living! I love MOPS and I love how eager these girls are to do a great job in their privileged position of being mums of young kids.
On Thursday we had our meeting in La Loma and the topic was 'True Beauty' with an overview of some of Esther's great qualities. In both groups numbers have gone down since everything was closed because of the swine flu. We appreciate your prayers that God would bless both groups numerically and as a result that lives and families would be transformed by the power of the gospel and applicable teaching. It felt so good on Thursday to tell the girls that there are people interested in them and praying for them that they don't even know. These girls are constantly testifying to the change MOPS is making in their marriages and families. There is a depth of biblical wisdom in this area among older women in our churches at home that perhaps we take for granted. In a few years we hope to see even more long-term fruit for the labour of MOPS in Mexico City.
Downstairs the kids enjoyed popcorn and a movie...and comfy cushions made by friends at home. Thank you again Ann and the team! The leadership of the kids' work has changed hands. It's a little unstable and we'd appreciate prayer that God provides people every week to work with the kids. There has always been someone...but sometimes just one!!

Play time

This is the little space outside the classrooms at La Loma a few months ago...

Ezekiel, in the blue t-shirt below, has worked so hard along with some others in the past few weeks to completely transform the look. Here he is adding the finishing touches with his daughter. Tabitha was keen to get in on the action too of course!
The next day Andrew went out to build the equipment...
and the next day, Thursday, it was put to the test at MOPS.
The mums were in their meeting of course but here one of the Dads shows his daughter what to do.
The boys have fun...and are versatile.
It's a huge hit. The kids love it and so do the adults. Thank you SOOOOOOO much to those who made it possible. There is still some softer flooring to go down but our biggest prayer is that this excellent play area will attract kids and their parents, bringing them to church where they will hear the gospel. Of course the prayer continues as we hope for their salvation! It will be used whenever kids are in the building...a lot!

Who turned up the speed?

It seems so hard to believe that in less than a week we will be back in N. Ireland. It's hard to imagine exchanging our t-shirts for sweaters, not sitting in horrendous traffic or speaking in Spanish. More importantly, it's hard to imagine that we are saying final goodbyes to so many people we love so much. I think we are still in denial about that. Tania (above) has been our friend ever since we came back in 2004. She is a fabulous Spanish teacher but it wasn't long before we established a friendship outside of the classroom. We have invited so many people to come and see us but we definitely hope that Tania will be able to come... and maybe you will get to meet her!
This is our view most mornings. In the distance there are two peaks - a pointy one and a more gradual one just to the left of it. They are the volcanoes just outside the city. Once the sun gets up they disappear from sight because of the pollution...but we aren't sleeping the best so we usually get plenty of time to see them. Below is the view out the back.
Since the last time we posted we have been flying around visiting people. We have managed to close 6 of the 9 cases.

Andrew felt achy all over and had a pretty constant headache for a week. He had no fever thankfully and though the tiredness hasn't lifted the rest of the symptoms seem to be a thing of history. We appreciate your prayers for him as he is susceptible to severe headaches. But we know prayer works!

I developed a heavy cold but avoided going to the doctor. Until last Thursday. I had twisted a muscle in my back but continued doing the things I had planned and by the evening it was quite angry. My temperature went up and so I succumbed to the inevitable. I was diagnosed with bronchitis and given a pile of medicine. It's the first time since coming to Mexico that I have had asthma-like symptoms even though I had it bad as a kid. Anyway, time heals as they say and things are looking up.

The kids have been great healthwise. They are tired though and so after tomorrow we are hoping they will be able to get the rest they need before the big journey. Tabitha has struggled with all the changes and is expressing it in anger. We went out with our old neighbours this morning and it was lovely to see our happy, singing daughter again. I should imagine things will settle down once we finally get on the promised airplane and she sees family that she has been desperate to see for ages. She has no idea of the painful consequences of our leaving but she has so much to look forward to.

God willing we fly out around 9.o0am local time (3.00pm in Britain) on Thursday. We should arrive in N. Ireland (with 15 layers of clothing each!!) at 9am local time Friday (3am Mexican time) It's almost 24 hours when you consider the drives to and from the airports. We continue to appreciate your prayer as we say our final goodbyes (the hardest are last!) and for a safe journey (with kids who sleep!).

Marching through chapters

It seems time is going much faster than normal! The novelty of living in a new place has worn off for Tabitha who asked several times yesterday if she could go home. She is obviously fully aware of the changes around her and keeps asking if we can go in the aeroplane.

Andrew finished formal work this week. We were both invited to La Raza on Thursday evening for a special meal with the team and a kind of formal goodbye before the church service. Andrew spoke and it was a good time, though difficult emotionally. It was a foretaste of the difficult goodbyes still ahead and yet we are looking forward to being reunited with friends and family.



We mentioned last week that we have our house on the market and were looking for a car. Well praise God we now have a car and it seems there are a couple of viewers interested in the house. Hopefully something will come of that. We patiently wait for God's timing and continue to be amazed at how He blesses.

It was fun this week to go a pick out some games equipment for the new play area at La Loma. We have arranged that the first group to use it will be MOPS in a couple of weeks. We are so excited about how this simple addition will facilitate in the children's work and see families added to the church and to the family of Christ.

This week we will largely be focussing on packing and goodbyes and appreciate your prayers for our health and stamina. Pray too for the MEFI team as they start this new chapter of working together. Pray that they will continue to be unified and experience God's blessing in numerical and spiritual growth.

In Jesus' arms

We are in a state of shock and sadness having just heard that Miguel's grandson passed away this morning. Miguel is our pastor, the supervisor of the MEFI team and the president of our church movement (UNIFAM).

A couple of weeks ago we were told that little Jocsan was sick and last Friday he was admitted to hospital. He was just 16 months old. It seems that had pneumonia.

Please pray for this family. They are devastated as you can imagine. Pray particularly for Jocsan's parents - Isabel and Eliseo. Isabel is expecting their second child.

La Raza

Day by day we are seeing great things. On Monday we had one of our street kids from years ago come back. He needed to talk and is worried about the accommodation that he is one of the leaders of. It is a street home called 'Casa Cuauhtémoc'. The founder is a psychologist who just lost his mother last weekend. The kids fear that he will close the centre down. Andrew talked to the founder on the phone to express our sympathies on behalf of the team and Alex and Paty will be trying to meet up with him to see if we can encourage and also start a house church there. Pray for an open door and a time to minister to him. This man has done many wonderful things for street kids over the years.

In the evening we had 60 adults and 9 children to the Independance day party. 15 from our sister church about 10 minutes drive north of La Raza, and the rest La Raza regulars and locals. What an answer to prayer. Many of the regulars to Thursday night bible study brought friends and kids from the holiday bible club came with their families.

7 Haitains came again on Monday and again on Thursday night this week. we have spoken to our wonderful Spanish teacher Tania, who many have been praying for to be saved and she is going to give Paty and crash course in how to teach Spanish to the Haitians this Thursday morning. They are very keen to get help to learn.

Street kid work was very exciting too. Monday saw 5 kids saved through discipleship and on Tuesday the team sat to talk about motivation and discipline resulting in some good deeper conversations. Please pray for one young man from the La Raza group who speaks excellent English and to whom the teams from Oklahoma 'visited with' every time they came to work on the centre. He has had a rollercoaster time since the last time we had contact but is coming everyday again and we pray that we will finally watch God work in his life.

And so Andrew begins his last week in La Raza as part of the staff. Pray for him as he shares with the kids for the last time and preaches on Thursday night. Pray that he will share the Gospel filled with the Holy Spirit.

On the move

It's been a busy week! We've done a lot of sorting, packing and lifting and that's all before Friday when the movers came and took all our furniture into storage. It will stay there to be used by new missionaries coming to the field in the next few months.

Margaret and Andrew headed off with the guys to reload the furniture and boxes she and Robin had in storage which gave Robin and I a little bit of time to try and clean the empty space.

By Friday evening we were installed in our new accommodation for the next 3 and a bit weeks before we leave. We are in the seminary building in the apartment used by teams when they come here. It is an excellent facility and the kids seem to have transitioned well. They think we are on holiday as we are all sleeping in the same room so they are quite excited. With the extra dormitories we have extra space to spread out our stuff for packing. Though most of the sorting has been done we still have a bit of work to do to reduce what we want to transport home into nine suitcases that fit the weight and size requirements!!!!!

Our idea is to have that done as soon as possible so we can spend the last couple of weeks with dear friends.

This is Andrew's last working week. He finishes on Thursday evening preaching at the service in La Raza. It's really beginning to feel real now and time will fly by.

As we finish here we are also planning for our transition back to the UK. Our house in Coleraine is on the market and we are looking for a car. We appreciate your prayers as we trust God to work out all the details. Obviously we can't really start looking to buy in Scotland until we have sold our house in N. Ireland.

Our new ministry assignment is getting more and more exciting as God continues to move pieces and open doors before we even get there. We'll post more details about that later.

It's a strange time for us. Mexico has a piece of us and it will be difficult to say goodbye to people (permanently in many cases). We are also excited about what is ahead. By the changing circumstances the kids now know something is going on but they are doing well. Tabitha remembers some of the highlights from our trip home in April and is looking forward to reliving them. Apart from seeing everyone again she is looking forward to getting her Snow White dress from her cousins, new welly boots, a school bag and lunch box and visiting the farm!

What's happening at La Raza these days?

Glad you asked. We had a good week last week ending up with 19 kids on Wednesday. This is hard to handle and 4 of the kids had to be removed for bad behaviour. After that everything was good. We had a team visit us for the day on Monday from Kentucky and 2 kids started their discipleship with Alex. We have had another look at how to use the time with the kids and decided that everyone should be in Discipleship two days of the week apart from the teaching times everyday. We may go for more as we see how the groups respond to time with their mentors.

Thursday night was wonderful. 7 street kids turned up, 7 Haitians and then others from the community adding to a total of 27 people. We are so encouraged. Monday night is a 'Noche Mexicana' (Mexican night) to celebrate Mexican Independance from Spain and so we are teaming up with another UNIFAM church that started out a year before us. They are coming to us on Monday. It will be wonderful to share time with them and eat some the typical foods of the occasion.

So for prayer? We can only ask that you pray for powerful times with the kids in their discipleship times. Pray that Alex, Fidel and Paty will be filled with the Spirit and redeem the time.

MOPS

This is our MOPS team with some of our kids - between us we have 9!

We started on Thursday. There were about 9 mums and I finally gave that talk I had planned from ages ago. It was a good time and we're hopeful that the word that we have started again will get around quickly.

Work is advancing quickly on the little waste area that we are converting into a playground thanks to the gifts from home. We can't wait to see it finished. Please pray with us that we will find good prices for the play equipment and that this new facility will be a means to bring many people into the church and more importantly to Christ.

All means...

Once a month Andrew and the MEFI team join the other church planters for training. This week they learned how to make anti-bacterial hand gel among other things. So if you need your hands disinfecting Andrew's your man!

Actually it's an evangelistic tool. Since the outbreak of Swine Flu people have become a lot more concerned about personal hygiene and the idea is that by teaching people how to make the gel they will be able to establish contacts that may lead to people coming to know Christ.

In and Out

Robin and Margaret have been staying with us for about 3 weeks since they got back from HMA (deputation) in the US. They have been busy looking for a house in that time and we are delighted that they finally found one... ours!!! Our owner reduced the rent and so they have found a great place to stay.

Here we are at work. As I take our stuff out of the cupboards Robin is filling them up again with their stuff!!
One thing we are really excited about is that they will have ongoing contact with our neighbours. We have built up such great friendships with some of them over almost 3 years.

Our plan is to move all of our furniture out at the end of this week and move up to the seminary where there is an apartment we can live in. We'll also be able to repack our suitcases as we seem to be running a little over our allowed weight - no surprise there!! We appreciate your prayers in transition time, especially for Tabitha. She seems to be doing well so far and is excited about seeing her relatives in Northern Ireland.

Flood

It's raining outside. It was raining outside when we wrote the blog last week as well. Just after we finished the electricity went off. It didn't come back on until 17 hours later!

It was later on Monday evening that we got a couple of calls from friends asking if we were ok. We decided it was time we looked at the news and found that there has been some severe flooding about 5 minutes down the road from us.

I don't think we have ever been this close to such flooding before. A sewage pipe burst and many people have lost varying amounts of their possessions. We do have friends who live there but thankfully they weren't the hardest hit. We have heard some sad stories of people who had to swim out of their houses and over roofs to get to safety.

As we pray for those affected we give thanks for all the effort, local and international, to try and help these people. We are also so grateful once again for our protection.

We're not sure why we have all this rain. It's pretty cold and quite overcast a lot of the time which is unusual for here but perhaps it is a good way of breaking us into the weather we are about to travel to in a few short weeks!

Here are some photos from the flooding...

La Raza

A great bunch of kids coming to the centre are enjoying their time, talks, and play. Members of the team were commenting on how much easier this bunch are, but it will be sure that the team are more used to the set up, so the kids find a much more experienced team who are better equipped to cope with the problems that the kids throw at them.

We went through the statistics of the last wave, so here they are for your prayers and praise.

We had 76 kids come through the door since the end of March. Of those 33 came once, maybe twice to check us out or get some free clothes. 24 came 4 or 5 times and 4 came for 2 weeks in a row. So we had 15 steady attenders. Wonderfully 16 kids prayed to accept Jesus as their Saviour and 9 left the streets 3 of whom returned after a few months. We have no contact with the others except that they come and visit.

So are you as encouraged as the team is? We hope so. Praise God that He is molding the team and as they sat down this week to think about the next 'year' ahead there was a wonderful unity of purpose and determination to keep working and praying for fruit. This week, apart form ministry of course the team will be refining the day program and weeks activities to maximize their time.

Thursday night had 19 people come two of whom were kids. Praise God that even though we had to cancel the service for the general assembly, we still had our regulars and others come for the teaching time. Can we still count the 3 Haitians who came just as Fidel was finishing the sermon? They came in and stayed for coffee and a chat.

Escuadron 201

Today we were down in the south of the city. Andrew was preaching. What a privilege to be able to communicate with such dear people. We were also asked to lead the worship at the start. Andrew sang of course and I played the almost four octave casio keyboard with no sustain pedal. It crossed my mind that it would be funny to hear what more accomplished musicians than me would sound like if placed in a similar situation. I would love to see the video...

Over the last couple of years Andrew has had regular meetings with the pastor, Cesar. We just love his family. His mother-in-law was recently admitted to hospital. She was released but later suffered four mini-strokes at home. Thankfully we heard today that she seems to be doing much better. She is finding it hard to walk but will start rehabilitation this weekend. Pray for Cesar and Irma in particular at this time. They are keeping Irma's mum in their house. They really have a full plate with lots of services and ministry during the week. We are thankful that this lady is a Christian and hope that she will quickly regain her strength.

Ministry @ home

A few months ago we were blessed with the visit of a ladies' ministry team from the US. It was a particular privilege for Robin MacKinnon and I to sneak some time with a MOPS mentor mum. Amidst all the great advice she talked about the blessing as mums of being able to minster from our kitchen table. Admittedly it is difficult at times to get too involved in ministry outside the home. The work seems unending never mind fitting in with different sleep routines and over here the time it takes to get anywhere.

Well, Saturday was definitely a home ministry day. We started off with the MOPS La Loma leadership team. Between the four mums we had 9 kids. While the kids played I gave a pizza class. We hope that the girls will be able to raise some money to help support MOPS after we leave. The pastor has also told them that the church will be able to help financially.

The pizza passed the first test - our kids. Now we need buy-in from a few others...

After lunch we had a big planning session. We plan to start this Thursday and I will be giving the talk I didn't give last term. Of course we would appreciate your prayers if God brings it to your mind. I will be helping to organise the speakers up until Christmas. There is a huge need for help with MOPPETS, the kids' group. The girl who leads at the moment is involved in church planting and may have a house church opening up on Thursday mornings. In any case we really need a team of people to help there. Please pray.

On Saturday evening it was a lot of fun to have Joe and his host family come over for dinner. Margaret and Robin have also been staying with us while they look for a house. As the house empties of furniture, toys and nick-naks it is great to fill it up with friends and laughter.

Alcohólicos Anónimos

Guess what that means?

Alcoholics Anonymous. Social Ministries has been helping to fund a group in the north of the city. Today it was such a blessing to attend a special service in the Coacalco church for the group we have been supporting and the parent group. Members of the church and the pastor regularly visit both groups where they have been invited to to bible studies and devotionals.

Pastor Mario from Acapulco travelled through the night to be the visiting speaker. It was an amazing service but especially at the end when many responded to the gospel invitation. It was quite noisy between the music, the tears, the prayers of the pastor and the church members who prayed over those who had gone forward. Without doubt God was there and the atmosphere was electric.

We were called up and thanked but really we were once again just the faces of a much larger team of people who support Social Ministries and made financial giving possible. Thank you for your giving and praying which is being used to change lives and families here in Mexico.

General Assembly

Three long days of giving reports on the years work in each of the churches and ministries, discussing dates of events for the year and finally voting for new members of the committees led to a very satisfying general assembly. Praise God for a calm and unified time with some excellent teaching on 'Walking together' in the year ahead. Such a desire to be united as the denomination reaches out to Mexico.
Andrew got the chance to give out DVDs made by Carol's Aunt and Uncle, Irene and John Barfoot of Emmanuel Studios who make these resources for children. Each church received copies of the teaching in Spanish to use in their mother churches, daughter churches and house churches. Everyone was excited to learn about how they could use them in their ministries. Pray that these would be used to teach kids in Mexico about the love of our Lord Jesus. Thank-you Irene and John once again for your ministry. How wonderful that we were able to make your hard work available to the UNIFAM churches here.

La Raza update

An up and down week for MEFI work. Some older faces came back from over a year ago who had left the streets but 1 was banned after not respecting the rules. Always sad but necessary when it happens. On a more positive note we have had some very positive responses from those who want to continue on with discipleship next week. Andrew has the lists of kids to go through and get some statistics. Sorry we don't have them for this week.

At the church service we had 21 people including the team itself. What a joy to have 4 parents of kids from the bible club, 5 kids themselves that Paty and Andrew looked after and another new person invited by a regular. The team are very encouraged and are planning for the next 'year'. They are more determined than ever that "The ministry has a church and the church has a ministry". What they mean by that is they can more than ever have a place for street kids to go to that will welcome them and love them and provide the family of God for them that they need. Apart from that they can involve more and more from the church in the ministry as it grows. The team sees the two works going hand in hand. Also it helps the team to use the church services as another point of contact with the kids during the week. There will be two days with the kids this week as the team will have to attend the UNIFAM national assembly on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

General Assembly

This week all the church leaders get together for their annual meetings. Various decisions will be made but probably one of the most important items on the agenda is the re-election of the national board. Even the president will have to be re-elected.

Andrew will be at those meetings along with a few of the other missionaries.

If God burdens your heart then we would appreciate prayer for unity and vision as many decisions and plans are made. Also that God's will would be clearly seen and followed and that as a result our churches would continue to grow in number and depth as people find Christ and grow in Him.

Transition

What a week!! In order to prevent last minute craziness and at our neighbours' request we have been sorting out things that we don't need. The first stage of the process is to figure out what we can take. That is not a pleasant experience. We put what we would love to take home into our bedroom and began to pack cases. It quickly became obvious that sacrifices would have to be made. Our baggage allowance is 7 cases and some friends (you may remember Gary who worked with MEFI) who are visiting confirmed that they could take another bag for us.

It may sound like a lot but it's surprising how little fits in a suitcase, especially when you have a lot of books to transport. In the middle of all the turmoil I was speaking with my parents who were wondering if it would be helpful to have mum meet us at Newark airport. Well now that was attractive. Lifting 7 bags from one belt and placing them onto another and then crossing the airport with 3 pieces of hand luggage, a car seat, a stroller and 2 small kids isn't something we were relishing.

Then on Tuesday our missionary friends Leroy and Kay mentioned that they were planning to travel up to Newark the day before. Well, to end this long story it now happens that Leroy and Kay will be travelling with us and my brother will meet us at Newark airport. We are so overwhelmed at people's generosity and how God has worked it all out so amazingly. Not only do we get some extra luggage allowance as a result but we also have travelling companions which is going to be a lot more fun. God once again has shown us how He loves to bless us and has taught us not to be concerned, He knows what we need.

By the end of the week Oscar was also moved into our bedroom and his bedroom has been converted into a second hand shop. As well as getting rid of stuff to people who will be able to use it, it has been lovely to be able to spend some more time with friends and neighbours. We've had a busy house for a few days!

We probably have one more month here in our house before we move up to the seminary for the last few weeks when we hope to be able to have plenty of time to adequately say goodbye to our friends here. Transition is never easy and I expect we shall get tired of it all pretty soon. We appreciate your prayers particularly for the kids who aren't completely aware of what is going on. The move is still a long way away for them but the changes are already very obvious.

Street Kids ministry update

The team are coming to the end of the first 6 months of ministry since re-opening the doors. They have had many kids through the door, some have stayed and some have just 'checked us out' so to speak. They had some kids outside smoking drugs a couple of weeks ago who were regulars and since Fidel and Andrew stood at the window and watched them, they had to lay down the law and ban them for a week. Some have not come back. Those who came at the beginning are in their last week now. We have been very clear with them that if we don't see them trying their best to listen in the teaching times under Fidel, nor obeying the rules of the program then their time runs out and they have a 6 month break until another wave have passed through.

This week the team would ask you to pray with them as they go to different groups to invite kids in for a new wave. There has been some fruit from the first wave. Andrew will try to get numbers for the blog next week, those who have come, how many off the streets and decisions for salvation. Till then, pray this week for those who are and will be discipled. The team is very aware of your prayers and teamwork in the ministry.

Kids @ La Raza

Thanks for your prayers this week. We really didn't know what to expect on Wednesday. There is probably a great deal of uncertainty if not suspicion in the community about what the building in La Raza is there for. That would make it difficult for parents to leave there kids at a club they know nothing about.

The club started with 9 kids from the community and 3 related to the team members. They had a fantastic time and didn't want to leave. On Thursday there were 14 kids from the community and on Friday there were 19. By the end of the week several mums also stayed around and had a great time chatting. Of course they wanted the team do to more for the kids and were delighted with the program.

So praise God for a new challenge - how to introduce kids' work. What we are thinking is that this week we will try and get decent stairs up to the roof (which is flat), put a fence up for safety and a couple of tarpaulins and the kids can have a meeting up there during the Thursday night service while their parents meet below. Pray with us that this will be well received and will encourage more people to come on Thursday evenings. We praise God too for the obvious increase in trust as the numbers increased each day. This week the team will be visiting the kids and their families to give them another craft that they made. Pray with us that it opens doors.

Below are some photos of the club.




The team still worked with street kids at the beginning of the week and had the regular service on Thursday evening. It was good to have 4 of the Haitian guys come along. They really enjoyed the music especially. We continue to hope to build bridges with that group and to see them come to know Christ. So there were 15, including Fidel, Alex, Juanita and Paty there on Thursday night. Some asking about a Sunday morning service. Please pray that God will give the team a clear vision for how they move forward in that. As a team, we will be working on guidance for what God wants us to do in the next year, starting in September, and setting it down in a plan to give to UNIFAM and OMS.

Unknown territory

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we will be running a Holiday Bible Club (VBS) at La Raza. We really have no idea what will happen but we appreciate your prayers for the team as they finish preparation and do the club. We hope to be joined by others who can help.

Pray that a good number of kids will come along and that this event will open doors into the community. One of the Haitian guys turned up to the service on Thursday night which was an encouragement to the team. There are still plenty of empty seats that could be filled!

You can always fill the time!

Well this week has been quieter in terms of ministry. Andrew has had several responsibilities to fulfill but on the whole he has been around a lot more much to the kids' (and wife's!) enjoyment.

We have enjoyed some family time together but have been cracking on with the sorting of all our stuff and some admin bits and pieces. It's crazy how stuff accumulates especially with little kids around...and how little fits into a suitcase! Don't misunderstand - we still have our heads here, we're just making the most of each opportunity to do a little at a time and avoid as much stress as possible later.

Our leaving date is now confirmed as the 15th of October...which will soon come around. We have started booking our deputation (HMA) services. If you're interested in hearing about the work first hand (and you are in NI or Scotland) please don't hesitate to contact us or Donald Coulter, the NI rep for OMS International.

Joe

Joe is the tall guy in the black t-shirt. He has been staying with us and we took him to camp last weekend. He's here for a year from Australia on a program called 'Extreme Walk'. On that program he lives with a Mexican family while he studies Spanish full-time. At some point he will transition from language studies to ministry.

On Tuesday evening we took him to his host family. This family have been friends of ours for many years now. They have hosted various teams and if you know them it will be no surprise that they had a super welcome planned. Besides the sign and the flag the national anthem was playing in the background and there was a huge meal. This is one of the most hospitable families we know and Joe will be well looked after. Which is nice - he's a great guy!

Pray that he will be able to pick up the language quickly and that he will greatly benefit from his time here.

On an emotional note our trip with Joe was after our weekly missionary meeting. During our prayer time Tabitha piped up after mummy with her first public prayer. After giving thanks for everyone in the group she said, "Amen!" and then proudly announced that she had prayed. Needless to say our prayer time finished at that point. It would have been a hard act to follow!

Pinned

It was quite a surprise to us last week at meeting to have our last five years recounted and to be presented with pins for 5 years of service with OMS International.
Has it really been 5 years? In some ways it feels like we have been here forever and in other ways the time has flown by. We first came pre-kids of course and it's hard to even remember those days! We have been truly blessed to be a part of the OMS family. It's a great organisation and we have been well looked after. We have experienced so many things in those five years. Some incredibly wonderful, others incredibly difficult but all used by God to teach us and continue to develop us. We have met some amazing people and I'm probably talking about you as one of our supporters as well as others who have come on teams. Then there are our fantastic Mexican colleagues and friends who are so dear.

A lot can happen in five years. I wonder what we will be saying 5 years from now if God spares us...

Up the mountain

Camp finished on Sunday after lunch. We were excited about the possibility of staying on a few hours and heading up into the mountain to the little church Andrew and a team from America had helped to construct. The kids seemed great and it is easier to travel at night with them as they sleep in the car anyway.

The team had been able to lay the floor and pour the concrete pillars (a lot of hard labour!) Since we were there the roof and half wall have been added. Behind the wall there are goats, pigs and chickens. There are times I am glad people don't understand English as as Tabitha loudly exclaimed, "It stinks!!" it was one of those occasions! She did love seeing all the animals afterward though.
This is just the adult group. In the background you may make out the kids' group. There were just as many of them meeting in the house.
They had their own special program after the singing.
The people so appreciate all that the team did to help them. The little church has grown since the structure has been built. One new couple dedicated their baby on Sunday. We thought you might appreciate a little video of the singing and a view of the area. No hymnbooks, no projector and the singing went on like this for a while...

Camp

Praise God! We had a fantastic time at camp. The kids travelled really well. It was incredibly hot and humid so they spent quite a bit of time in the room with the air-conditioning. They did well with the lack of routine and had a great time.

Here are the campers in one of their sessions. There were about 150 altogether.
Here are the main leaders of the camp. The guy on the right in the yellow t-shirt is one of the UNIFAM pastors. What a fabulous job they did.
This was our classroom! Actually it looks out over the ocean as well!
This is one of our classes. We taught 3 workshops and if you know us well then it will come as no surprise that we used quite a bit of drama. The camp was all about being a conqueror - first and foremost having our lives conquered by Christ and then conquering failure in different areas and by different means.
There were 4 groups so we weren't the only ones giving workshops. There was also a visiting speaker and there were counsellors assigned to small groups of about 15 kids. When we weren't preparing or giving a class we were free to do as we liked. There was plenty of help and so it was actually refreshing for us to be able to spend some time together. We were often glad not to be running around doing the activities the kids were in the incredible heat. It was also a nice chance to catch up with a couple of the pastors' wives who were around as well.

Here are the groups that responded to the invitation in the final session. The kids on the right indicated that they felt God was calling them to be missionaries at home or abroad. The group on the left indicated that they were asking God to give them direction and a vision for their lives. In the testimony time the evening before some of those who had been invited to the camp by friends who go to church shared that they had trusted Christ for salvation. One guy from La Loma shared that he had decided he was giving up drugs once and for all.
These are exciting stories. Please pray that the impact of this time will stay with the kids as they return to their homes and normal life.

Are the weeks getting shorter?

This has flown by. On Tuesday Andrew and I were both feeling off. I know, never ending story. I think I was served a cup of tea made with tap water (!) and Andrew was suffering for having cleaned the guys toilets at La Raza... Anyway, we're both feeling better again. It only took me a day or so which is good as we had MOPS on Thursday.

As it turns out there were only 3 people besides the leadership team so we decided to postpone my talk until we restart in September. It seems that the school holidays have a profound effect on attendance and so we are responding accordingly. Over the next month we will be working on converting a disused area of the church into a play area for the little kids at church. It will be useful for MOPS principally but also for Mex-i-Kids and Sunday School. Thanks to a generous gift from the UK we should be able to totally transform this space.
The church has agreed to do the building work ie. raise the walls, put down a floor and some sort of roof and we will be able to do the rest. As you can see there are three classrooms that have doors leading to the play area. Our prayer is that it will serve to help the teachers and enhance the kids' experience of church. When the kids are happy their mums will be more eager to attend and I think this will be a big attraction. Diana who directs the work with the kids at MOPS does a great job with limited resources. She is so committed to making sure these kids are hearing the gospel and having a great time. Please pray that there would be more in the church able and willing to help her. Sometimes it's only her and one or two others and up to 30 young kids!

It was an interesting week at La Raza as well. On Tuesday Paty suddenly had a terrible headache as she walked in to do her session with the street kids. She asked if they had been making a pact with Saint Death. One of the boys ran out of the room and was sick, the others were crying as Paty in no uncertain terms told them that God was not to be messed with. We were reminded once again that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood and that we need to be on our knees completely depending on God's power. Please pray for the MEFI team, for their protection, health and stamina in this frontline and difficult ministry.

There were very few out at the service on Thursday evening as well. Sadly the Haitian group didn't show up though they had stopped by the centre earlier in the week.

On Wednesday we will be heading down to Acapulco for the youth camp. We appreciate your prayers as we finish preparing for the workshops we will be giving. Then we would love you to pray for a safe journey and for the kids as they travel and adjust to a different (no) routine and place. We probably won't have access to internet until we get back so there will be no posts next week.