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.

Scaffolding

As many of you will know Mexico has played a hugely significant part in our lives for a long time now. I think it was before we were engaged that we were first asked by our local church, Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh, to consider leading a team to work alongside Fidel with the street kids for a month back in 2001. It was during that visit that we felt called to return for a season to continue working with the street kid ministry. Three years later we were back in Mexico under the care and supervision of OMS International. For just over a year our main focus was the work God had called us back to - the newly named Proyecto MEFI. It was during that time that Alex and Paty were added to the team.

After a further year in N. Ireland where Tabitha was born, we were back in Mexico City having felt that God had more work for us to do in the ministry.

We have learned the analogy that missionaries should be like scaffolding - they support the national structure until it is ready to support itself. What we really wanted to see was a Mexican team: called, gifted and prepared to lead the ministry forward. Since the beginning of this year Andrew has felt that the 'building' might soon be ready to stand alone.

In Fidel, Juana, Alex and Paty we have some gifted, passionate and faithful workers. Over and over again we have been amazed as we have seen the selfless way they have loved the kids and the ministry and have seen kids come to know Christ and leave the streets as a result. They are based out of a fabulous, remodelled centre which is beginning to serve as a local church and have vision for the future of the ministry.

The ministry is by no means complete. Future plans could include a drug rehab facility, live-in accommodation, micro-enterprise development, more drop-in centres etc. etc. What is important is that though the work is still relatively small it is now ready to be lead by the current team. As the national church becomes more aware of the ministry and gets increasingly behind it financially and with personnel it may be able to grow in some of these areas. Currently the team is supervised by our pastor and national church president, Miguel Romero who visits the team weekly. We are happy that he is a wise and Godly person to have helping and encouraging the team.

So what about us, the scaffolding? Well Mexico is a big country with many needs. Since the start of the year Andrew has been asked to consider different ministry possibilities on the field. With prayerful consideration he hasn't felt that was the way God was leading him. When we went home a few weeks ago it was a good chance for us to have some time apart to pray and consider some more. There is no doubt that God has been closing and opening doors in an obvious way. We clearly feel that the door has been opened on the other side of the Atlantic, back in Scotland. We are excited about the opportunity of full-time ministry in what in many ways is a similar ministry just outside of Edinburgh.

Of course, this was not an easy decision to make. There are times when the ministry is difficult and we would gladly jump on the first airplane home. But when that reality begins to sink in we realise that there are so many things we have grown to love here in Mexico, not least it's people. Over the next few months I imagine that we may process some of those thoughts here on the blog.

So what is the timescale? Well, for the moment Andrew is still a necessary part of the MEFI team, particularly to help with effective communication between the members. He thinks the team will be ready to move forward themselves by autumn time and so we are looking at a return date before the end of the year.

You may have questions and we are more than happy to try and answer those if you write to us. We are so grateful for our experience here in Mexico and for how God has blessed us, led us and taught us so much. We are delighted to be able to continue to serve Him and as always our deepest desire is to see His name alone glorified and His kingdom extended all over the world.

He's free!

Here he is - the guy we've been praying for for months! Yesterday we went to a special thanksgiving/birthday celebration. You may remember that he turned 16 the day after he was imprisoned. It seems that he was beside a fight between two school groups. When the police turned up the guilty kids ran away and the innocent were punished.

Leroy gave a great message of encouragement to the family. Here he is reading a letter from one of our supporting churches who have been praying a lot for the family. It was so encouraging for the family to hear of their prayers. They seem to be good but I imagine events like this are quite overwhelming for them. It seems he won't be behind with school work. He will have some catching up to do but he will be able to do that while continuing on in the next level when school re-starts.

Thank you for your prayers and praise God for this wonderful positive answer.

VBS

What a week! We were hoping and praying for 150 kids and that is how many we had almost every day. We thought you might appreciate this scene that might not be out of place in N. Ireland but that you may not expect in one of the world's largest cities!

At the start and finish all of the kids were together. Apart from that they were separated for various activites. The theme was "Follow me!" and talked about various people who decided to follow Jesus.
This is a missions class where the kids are colouring flags from different countries.
This is the craft class. I was impressed that boys of this age were interested in doing this craft!
Food was a key part of each day. The team of helpers in the kitchen was fantastic. Aside from a lot of cooking there was a mountain of dishes to be washed. Juana was involved in the kitchen all week.
Andrew ran a music workshop where he taught the kids 5 new songs. He picked the music, invented the actions with the help of a couple of the girls from the church and wrote out all the words on huge lengths of material. It was an exhausting job dancing and singing all day but definitely worth it.

Our kids weren't able to go every day so on the days I was there I was able to do some observing when I wasn't getting involved. It was obvious that the kids were loving the songs. They were singing amazing words but the style was appropriate and attractive. I also noticed this year that there were a lot more older kids. We think it is SO important to find music that the older kids will enjoy. If they are excited and involved then the younger kids will join in too. These kids are going away with lines like, 'teach me to love You more and more' and 'Your love is great' and 'God made me the way I am and He loves me that way' among others. Some of these kids may never have known that or experienced much love at home.
Here's a short video of some of the songs. You may spot Tabitha in the first part. She's been singing away at the songs in Spanish and loves doing the actions as well. I was also so impressed to see so many kids in the large group doing the actions.

On Saturday about 50 parents and grandparents came along to see the kids and heard the gospel presented. Please pray for the follow-up of these kids and their families. We're not sure how many kids trusted Christ but lives were definitely touched and some of the kids were out this morning. The church is hoping to organise visitation and Mex-i-Kids will be starting up again when school re-commences.

A few of the kids were asking me about people who had come out on teams. If you helped at a VBS in La Loma then know that these kids are still remembering you and asking for you. Teams have such a valuable role to play here. We LOVE teams!!

Many mums took invitations to MOPS which is this Thursday. We're hoping to have some new mums along as a result. Remember to pray for me as I finish my preparation and speak this week.

We appreciate your prayers also as we prepare for giving 3 workshops at the youth camp in a couple of weeks.

Aside from the VBS

Thursday was a long day for Andrew. He went straight from the VBS to La Raza to get ready for the service in the evening. It was an interesting night with a couple of new people. One of the great things that is happening is that people are talking a lot after the service and about things that really matter.

Andrew was on door duty inviting people on the street to go in. He saw some young people (early 20s) who seemed to have darker skin than most here. When he began to talk with them he realised they weren't from here. They turned out to be Haitian. One is a Christian who is looking for a church and the others aren't Christians yet. It's exciting as Colleen who works with us here on the field has also served in Haiti and the Christian girl had heard of OMS International. We're hoping Colleen will be able to go along on Thursday to meet these folk who really want to meet her. It will be nice for them to have someone they can talk with in their own language as they are still learning Spanish.

Isn't it a small world?!

We're praying that the church in La Raza may become a home for the girl who is a Christian and that it may prove to be the place where the guys find Christ.

Health-wise Oscar and Tabitha seem to be doing better. Tabitha has been enjoying playing with the next-door neighbours just about every day and seems to have much more energy. One day Oscar had 4 nappy/diaper changes before 9am so there is still some improvement needed there but hopefully having more of a routine this week and being around home more we will be able to control his diet better and the report will be better too!

A double appointment

This week we decided to make appointments with the doctor for both kids. Tabitha wasn't eating well and seemed quite lethargic and it also seemed like a good opportunity to have Oscar checked out as he has had diarrhoea for what seems like forever!

The outcome is that both kids were put on anti-parasitic medicine, Tabitha on a multi-vitamin and Oscar on another medicine to restore his intestinal flora. Both seem to be doing much better already. Perhaps it was all associated with that dirty tank we mentioned a few weeks ago.

VBS and MEFI news

Tomorrow (Monday) is the first day of summer holidays for kids across the city. It is also the first day of the Holiday Bible Club (VBS) at La Loma. The team are hoping for 150 kids. As usual there has been an incredible amount of time spent in making decorations for all of the rooms. Usually we have a team from the UK to help but this year there are no teams so it's a church effort. It always makes us laugh when during the announcements a list of ingredients is read out and people are asked to offer to take them in. We were chosen to take in 6 kilos of chicken breasts (thankfully they're a lot cheaper here than at home).

Please pray that many new contacts will be made with people in the community and that the holiday club will make a huge impact. Pray that God will use the people volunteering their time for His glory and that they will have the stamina and health need to see the week through.

Fidel and Juana will be helping at La Loma though Fidel may do some street work as well. Alex and Paty will be helping with the club at their church (Viveros which was in Santa Monica). On Monday though Paty will help at La Loma and Alex will be taking the guys from La Raza to a soccer tournament. The centre won't be open as usual for the week of course but continue to pray for the kids during the week.

One of the guys called Jonny indicated that he was ready to leave the streets on Friday. He went through his interview but there were complications with getting him to the rehab centre. Unfortunately he had to go back to the streets. We are hoping that he will have been able to get there yesterday but we're not sure what happened. This is a problem that we will have to resolve as it may not be the only time it could occur. Pray for Jonny as he begins the difficult process of leaving the streets and that he will first and foremost find true freedom in Christ.

PS We just heard that Jonny made it to rehab and is settling in.

Great News!!!!!

We are beyond delighted to tell you that the boy we mentioned last week from the church is out of prison!! It was around 1am on Friday morning and an hour later our missionary friends you may know from our other blog as Tio Leroy and Tia Kay were able to go a meet them for tacos.

We are so happy that he is home. He is officially on parole so he will have to go to the prison every week to sign. We're not sure what the days ahead will hold for the family. There are people well qualified within the church movement to be able to offer counselling etc. As God places it on your heart I know that this boy and his family will continue to appreciate your prayers as they readjust and process all that has happened. We pray that though it may be difficult to understand, this situation will somehow be used for God's glory.

Thank you again for your prayers.

Pray hard

Back in March we asked for urgent prayer for a young guy from one of the UNIFAM churches who was mistakenly put in prison. This case has gone on and on and unfortunately we aren't yet seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Just this week he had a hearing where he wasn't released. He will be sentenced but he may be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence outside. That decision is in the hands of the police who put him in!

Please pray now for this 16-year old boy. He has suffered in prison but he admits that God has taught him and his family a lot and he even said he was glad for that. Put a note in your diary to remind you to pray for a miracle on Wednesday.

This week in view

I was so encouraged this week at MOPS. We had new mums but what was most wonderful was that some had been invited by others who are obviously enjoying the ministry. The schedule is a little crazy at the moment and so we now have 3 weeks before the next meeting. That's the one I am speaking at so I am busily reading and preparing for that when I have time and energy!

We are also involved in the speaking schedule at the youth camp for the national churches at the end of this month. The up side is that it is a little further along the coast from Acapulco. The down side is that we really aren't sure what is expected of us yet. Hopefully we'll get that sorted soon and then we'll be focused on preparation for that as well. We appreciate your prayers for us in that but also for the youth who will go along. Camp is always a time when amazing things can happen and that is exactly what we want to see for God's glory. There are other people speaking as well so it's exciting to be part of a team.

La Raza had more new people to their service on Thursday night. Others came back again too. Pray for us as we visit during the week and give out literature on the street. This week starts the implementation of praying over and selecting a few of the kids who already come to the day program for extra discipleship and trying to involve them more in the life of the church during the week. "Man looks at the outward appearance but the LORD looks at the heart."

Inspiration

Recently I have been encouraged, challenged and inspired and wanted to share some of the resources with you.

I came across the name Travis Cottrell in a Beth Moore study we missionary ladies have been doing together. I looked him up on itunes and ended up buying one of his albums. It was an utterly fabulous investment. The words are mind blowing and so challenging. Here's an example and perhaps, like me, you'll be downloading and enjoying the blessing of this ministry.

I am a stranger in this place
This world is not my home
I want more than it can give
I am a desert needing rain
I'm thirsty for your voice
The very reason that I live

You are the Word, my one desire
An all consuming living fire
The very breath that I am longing for
My heart is desperate for Your ways
Refine me in Your holy blaze
If that is what it takes to know you more
You are the truth that sets me free
Your word is life to me

Then this week I learned through a fantastic blog I check in on from time to time about a lady who gives her testimony in front of a large audience of ladies knowing that she is weeks away from meeting her Lord. It is just full of deeply profound thoughts from an incredible woman who believes the 4 most important things in the world are 1. To know God, 2. To know yourself, 3. To know the gospel and 4. To know your purpose. I highly recommend that you take one little hour out of the 168 hours you have this week to let your heart be stirred and reminded of your priorities in life as you too seek to grow more like Him.

Graduation

After naps today it was a privilege to go up to be at the graduation of 6 students from our seminary here in Mexico - SEMBIMEX. Here are our Tio Leroy and Tia Kay wearing funny hats!
It was a great service and well attended for these six people who are heavily involved in their churches and beyond.
Continue to pray for the work in the seminary. We want to see it full of people ready to go out into ministry in this vast city which is ripe to harvest. Margaret updates the Mexico field prayer blog weekly with news of ministries, like the seminary, in which we are not directly involved. If you are interested in what goes on here outside of the Agnew world then check it out by clicking here or on the link at the right hand side of this page.

MOPS

The planned start time of MOPS is 10am. I was a little concerned when our first person arrived at 10.15am but we know so well that that is fairly typical here. Anyway, I continued to pray that people would come. The speaker had put a lot of effort into her presentation and I knew it was going to be incredibly beneficial.

It was wonderful to eventually have about 20 there. We continue to get mothers and grandmothers which is great as grandmothers are often very heavily involved in the upbringing of their grandchildren.


It was a very practical morning with lots of examples of things we can do with our kids under different categories e.g. fine motor skills, gross motor skills, mathematics, language. This Thursday we have the second part. Our prayer is that those who were there will go out and encourage their friends to come along. There isn't a direct gospel message in this subject but it is profitable in many ways e.g. interaction of the mothers with their kids, holistic care of the families and trust building.

A visitor

The rainy season is upon us here in Mexico. As it settles we can have rain at any point in the day or night. It lasts for about an hour and apart form that it is still lovely and warm. Soon it will be pretty normal for the rain to come late afternoon every day.

Early on Thursday morning we had very heavy rain. Around 3am I was conscious of a pitter patter. As I became more aware I realised that it wasn't Tabitha coming in for a cuddle. It sounded more like the rain...but it sounded like it was inside. Then it felt like it was on the bed. I flicked my hand over the top of the bedspread. The pitter patter continued and Andrew woke up as I lifted the whole duvet and gave it a shake. When he asked what was wrong I said, "I think there's something running over our bed." I turned on the light and this is what was looking at us...



It's a Jerusalem cricket called a 'cara de niño' here. Though no-one we know has ever been bitten by one everyone has instilled a healthy fear of these nasty little creatures who apparently give a very painful bite.

Needless to say we were both out of the bed pretty quickly and the cara de niño had lost a dimension on the floor. How grateful am I to not be nursing a bite and that the visitor came to our room and not to Oscar or Tabitha's! We continue to praise God for health and safety even in the small and interesting episodes!

La Raza

We have started to 'tighten the belt' on the kids who come. It is always good to reaffirm who is in charge and shake up the routine and everyone was glad of time to go to different places in the centre to do different tasks. Please pray for Paty especially as she is teaching the discipleship class at the moment using special materials that they use in the house churches to train new leaders.

We also have started to take the kids for individual time during the week. Paty and Alex interview on Tuesdays and Fidel and Juanita on Wednesdays. It is our chance to get more involved and challenge those who come to think more deeply about their lives. Please pray with for those times and for the kids. More are leaving the streets but maintaining contact with us.

Work on church is developing well. We have made good contact with some in the area and are planning to meet with them during the week. They may form part of our house church's growth.

We will be holding a Holiday Bible Club (VBS) in August and we are excited to plan to make contact with more in the area. We have even found some other Christians from other UNIFAM churches who have family around the corner from the centre. They want to help us to contact their families. So as we continue to pray, God leads us to those who can help. Thank-you for praying for us and we pray that it will lead to much fruit.

One post week

We're giving you a week to catch up on old posts this week! We're just going to write one post with the week's summary.

The highlights from La Raza...

Early in the week the MEFI team had a big sit down meeting with the supervisory pastor. Unity in the team has always been a fragile subject and it was time to get a lot of misassumptions and bad feeling out on the table this week. In a difficult ministry like this it is inevitable that the enemy will attack on some level and team unity seems to be the weak point at the moment. It is currently the biggest hindrance to handing the ministry over to the church to be completely Mexican-run.

The supervisory pastor (Miguel) did a fantastic job of facilitating with the end result that everyone was able to say what they needed to say and has been able to move forward again. Please pray particularly for Andrew and the part he has to play week by week in keeping the team moving towards that official handover.

Another highlight this week was that some neighbours from the community came into the Thursday evening service. Thanks for your prayers for that. There were some good conversations and we continue to pray that the community around will be impacted with the gospel message.

Other events...

The MOPS team decided that they want to run on an extra few weeks to make up for the loss of time during the flu crisis. That means that I will be giving a talk in a few weeks and would appreciate your prayers for my preparation. Pray with us that mums from the church who haven't made it out yet would get along and benefit from this great program.

We were involved this week in listening to and to some measure counselling several individuals who are passing through tough times. We appreciate your prayers for biblical wisdom in our responses and ability in our Spanish.

La Raza update...(formerly known as 'The Drop in Centre")

This week saw kids from Niños Heroes coming for the first time and they will be regulars. Andrew even saw a kid that he met back in 2001 and hasn't seen since.
The team went round to where the La Raza group lives for a very exciting afternoon. The group there had painted a large mural of 'Saint Death' (or the Grim Reaper to you and me) some time ago but had bought paint and wanted to spruce up the place. The first thing they wanted to do was paint over the mural while asking questions about the Day of the Dead offerings and whether they should or not. It seems that they are putting two and two together and beginning to want to do the godly thing first. We would ask you to pray that soon this would spill over into all areas of their lives. We have been urging them to read the bible together in the evenings too. Praise God for a great atmosphere in the day centre now.
It looks as though more kids are ready to ditch street life so pray for us to be able to maintain the contact through the day program or the Thursday night church services. Andrew had another preach in Spanish on Thursday and a long time to witness to a neighbour at La Raza. He was so interested but didn't want to pray for salvation. He is very eager to come back through. We haven't been able to make the breakthrough that we want yet with the neighbours so please keep praying.

MOPS

We were down in number this week. There were just about ten of us but we had a great morning. You may have heard us talk about Cesar and Irma from Escuadron where Andrew goes once a month. They also ran the Mex-i-Kids group in Chalco. We think they are both wonderful and love spending time with them. Irma spoke on discipline from the life of Hagar and used plenty of real life examples. It was very refreshing and challenging. Her main points were:

Decide what you want for your kid e.g. do you want them to be the top of their class or do you want them to be Godly

Love them and be there for them

Lead them to Christ and pray for them from before they are born.

Thanks for your prayers for Fabiola. She has found a job and the wonderful part is that she was able to choose a morning shift or an evening shift and has chosen the latter so she can continue to be involved in MOPS. I'm sure she still needs our prayers as she goes through this difficult time.

This week's style award...

It's been a week! Let me lay some background here. Tabitha in her innocence has been coming out with some great words this week. Like, "Mummy, do you remember when Jesus was here last morning (which means this morning)?". I take the opportunity to say, "Sweetie, Jesus is always here. We can't see Him but we can talk to Him and He always hears us." And I'm thinking, 'and He sees and hears everything we do and say.'

Then on Tuesday morning we go to a MOPS group close to home. There are 3 stations - one to teach how to style hair (and excited Tabitha gets beautiful hair for the day), one to teach how to cut hair (where I think she spent the rest of her time) and one to teach how to make pretty hair clips (my parking spot for the morning).

Now almost a year ago I went to the hairdressers with Tabitha to get her hair cut (of course). With the words, 'Don't get a fringe cut in!' ringing in my ears we come back and Tabitha has...a fringe. I know, I'm pretty weak really. So for a year now we've been growing down 'that fringe'.

So this Friday I bravely get out the scissors for my first nervous attempt at haircutting. I'm relieved that it hasn't been a complete disaster and that Tabitha's 'fringe' is almost the same length now as the rest of her hair.

Saturday is a new day. Morning activities draw to a close and Mummy goes to the kitchen to make lunch. I return to the living room to get the kids and find Tabitha on the floor, scissors in hand not quite so nervously snip, snip, snipping at her precious hair. Now remember, Jesus is watching and listening....

In my head I think, 'sure everyone does this at some point'. I mean Tabitha's defender of the peace (my mum) even reminds me that I did it myself once. I go straight to Google to calm my frustration by looking for images of other kids who have done the same thing. But even though there are kids crying (obviously after some disciplinary measures) there don't appear to be any that made such a drastic mess as Tabitha (in my view).

Everything calms down, Tabitha has her lunch and both kids go down for a nap. When she wakes up she comes down and says "Look Mummy, I didn't cut my hair!"

"I'm afraid you did sweetie. Let's go and look in the mirror."

"Oh, I look horrible with that hair. We need to get new hair."

Well, we know it will grow... eventually. And as I reminded Tabitha in another teaching moment this week, being a princess is more about what's in the inside than the outside. Let's just say, she's pretty clear that cutting hair is best left to someone else (even be that for a dodgy mummy cut!).

Spring Cleaning

Some missionary friends recently ran a bath and were surprised to find little worms in the water. Subsequently they found out that the water tanks should be cleaned at least once a year. Hmmm... we have lived in our house for over 2 years now and have never cleaned our tank... who knows how long before that it was last cleaned. So we felt it was high time to get it done.

I picked up Juan, a man brave enough and crazy enough to take on the task. He found the water tank (no clue had we of it's location) and opened the lid. His look said it all - we really needed this done! So we got to work emptying the tank. Not a small job as you can see from the depth...
... we could have a group of street kids living down in there!
So I watered the incredibly thirsty lawns and then thought about handing the hose over to our neighbours to water their lawn but instead the house got a clean down with the power hose Juan brought with him. One tank clean it was time to go to the roof and look into the cistern. Dirty too... and were those eggs in the water?!
This tank's not quite so big but thanks to Juan we have clean water...and a clean house. Now we're taking the de-bugging pills and hopefully we'll soon be fighting fit again.

Jumping back in

MOPs didn't restart while we were away. We will have a planning meeting this week with a view to starting again the following week. Please pray that mums will come back, that it will continue to be a blessing and that people will be saved for His glory.

Things are almost back to normal in La Raza. Two of the kids in the most recent wave have already returned home and have been warmly received back into their families. Pray that as the days go by they will be able to resolve the problems that led to their leaving home in the first instance. Services have started on a Thursday night. The kids attending the centre have been advertising to many people in the area. When the MEFI team went out to publicise there were many who had already heard. So far it is only street kids and ex-street kids who have been attending. There were 8 there last week. Please continue to pray that these kids will find Christ and that people from the area would begin to attend as well.

We're back

It's hard to believe we've been back for nearly a week. We left on Monday morning. It was a relief to know that it would just be one flight that day. We had a one night lay-over in Newark. Some great friends from our Scotland days now live not far from Newark and we were more than excited to be able to see them again. We only wish we could have hung out for at least another couple of weeks!

There are some friends from whom you can be separated and when you meet up again it's like as if you had never been apart. Getting together with Jodi and Trevor was just like that. The biggest evidence of the time passed since we were last together was the increased number of kids - they have doubled in number!

The kids got on like they had known each other for ever and we had a lovely time catching up and enjoying the love and support of true friends.

The next day it was back to the airport for two flights to Mexico. Andrew had tried to reserve our places online the night before but for some reason it didn't work and we arrived to find that we were on standby for both flights! We got on the first but were separated. For the second we waited patiently to see if anyone would accept the offer of a free hotel and a travel voucher to free up space for us to get the flight. Thankfully someone did and we arrived into Mexico City and to the welcoming faces of Margaret and Robin on Tuesday evening.

The kids were fantastic on the plane. We got several comments from fellow passengers as to how well they had done. It's always a huge relief. Thank you for your prayers. Tabitha still keeps saying, "This is our house!" She seems happy to be back and has been playing with her neighbour friends. She even went into a class at church today. She has a memory verse to learn for next week...in Spanish! Perhaps we'll get a video of that.

They are adjusting well to the time difference though they have been tired. On Friday Oscar impressively reminded us of old times (both kids had horrible reflux) by puking all over me and the floor of Costco! I think the tiredness was just catching up on him but he's in fine form again now.

We are so grateful for the chance we have had to rest and reflect. My health has definitely benefited and I feel much more normal again!

Here are some photos of our journey taken from the plane. The first is Greenland. What an incredible country!
Somewhere between Greenland and New York...
The volcanoes outside Mexico City and the outskirts in the foreground

On our way

A quick note to say we would appreciate your prayers as we start out on the long journey back to Mexico tomorrow (Monday). We leave in the morning and will stay in Newark tomorrow night. We are delighted to be able to meet up with some great friends who we haven't seen since Tabitha was a little baby.

On Tuesday we fly on to Mexico via Houston. We know that in the past we have been carried by prayer. Pray that the kids will be able to sleep when they need it and for health and stamina for mummy and daddy too.

Refresh

We tried to book tickets back to Mexico for last Tuesday. We found out that there were no tickets for the route we normally take until June 1st! The best we could do was book a flight to Newark on the 25th and travel on to Mexico the following day with an extra stop in Houston. It seems crazy but I guess God knows why we need to be here that extra time.

On the positive side I have now enjoyed 3 nausea free days! It has been delightful. We're still not sure what is going on but that's ok.

With our time here being longer than we expected and now that things are returning to normal in Mexico we have agreed to take some holiday time. The people who have been covering the mortgage costs in our little house are moving out and so this week will be spent arranging it for a potential sale in a few months. We are also looking forward to meeting up with a few friends and enjoying the extra help with the kids etc.

These last few weeks have been refreshing and just what we needed at this time. God knew!

We've been keeping in touch with our friends in Mexico. It seems there is still an element of fear around. Church programs are starting up again and we would appreciate your prayers that people would quickly return to those. Pray for the MOPS team at La Loma as they contact the girls who have been attending and restart either this Thursday or next. Pray too for the MEFI team as they invite the kids back to La Raza. Pray that they will quickly get back to the level of trust they had built towards with the kids. There have been a few relational issues that will need to be addressed when we get back and we would apreciate prayers for continued unity on the team.

Update

Thank you once again for your prayers. We are just about caught up on the sleep lost and the time difference here. It is lovely to be home and being an unplanned trip we are able to spend most of our time with family. This week will be business week - looking into finances, health, planning etc.

Of course our thoughts are with our friends in Mexico and we have been calling them. Fidel is desperate to get back into the work. Those with kids say it is incredibly difficult to keep them entertained and closed into their houses. We're so delighted that Alex and Paty are able to use our house. They live in a tiny two roomed house and so they have been able to spread out and have their kids and families with them.

We're not sure when we will be travelling back. We're waiting to see how the news goes this week and we will be in contact with our international headquarters.

Please continue to pray for our dear friends, for their health and financial situations, for rest, for encouragement. Pray for the wisdom for the people making decisions both in the country and in OMS. We appreciate your continued prayers for us for rest and recuperation. We will keep you posted as to how things develop.

What a difference a day makes

Cousins

Well certainly a few days ago we didn't think we would soon be posting photos like these on the blog. You can tell the kids are happy with the result of their long day in planes and airports. The journey was fine. There were a few long queues to frustrate the kids but they did well. Both were overly friendly to all in the airport and won over many hearts. Tabitha was telling everyone she was going to see her grandparents and cousins. She always comes alive when she has the opportunity to talk and be understood in English. Oscar has started to say a very loud and enthusiastic 'Hiii-eeee' with a big smile to anyone he meets so he melted hearts around him too!

Thanks to so many for communicating your support of our decision. It was not an easy one to make so your notes and calls have meant a lot to us. Alex and Paty will be living in our house while we are away. When we phoned our pastor's wife she told us they were not leaving the house for anything except to buy food. They will be calling around the church members to encourage them. The MEFI team will have at least one week off work and MOPS and breakfast clubs have been cancelled for this week as well. All our neighbours that we are close to on our street have left the City to visit relatives or go to their second homes.

Please continue to pray for our friends we have left in Mexico. Pray particularly for our friends the MacKinnons who are saying final goodbyes to Mexico and friends as they return to the US for good. It is incredibly difficult under the circumstances for them. Pray for rest for our Mexican colleagues and of course for protection for their health. We will be keeping in touch and will continue to update our blog as appropriate.

Unexpected trip

In light of their ongoing research our leadership has decided that the field does not need to be evacuated yet and are allowing each individual family to make their own decision on whether they want to stay or leave.

The Agnew family has decided to book airline tickets to return to N. Ireland. We have made this decision for a number of reasons. This is a stressful position to be in for us (with bags packed and ready for an potential evacuation announcement) and our extended family and we want to respect their desire for us to be with them.

We also feel that it will be beneficial to all of us to have some time to rest in light of the illness we have been experiencing over the past few weeks. I was at the doctor this week and my blood pressure is still low and I am getting over an eye and throat infection. Andrew had more stomach trouble this week as well so hopefully a couple of weeks of rest will do us a lot of good.

There are some practical and financial affairs that we need to sort in N. Ireland and it would be a huge advantage to be able to do those things ourselves.

We are all able to travel home for less than the cost of one ticket when we returned for deputation last year as flight prices have gone down. The flights out of Mexico are booking up fast and so we were glad to get a flight for tomorrow (Tuesday) which is fully refundable. So our options are still open but for the reasons listed above we feel that we have made the right decision to be with our families for a little while.

We appreciate all the emails and support. We feel so blessed to have such a faithful group of supporters and hope that you understand and support the decision we have made.

Swine Flu

So are we affected? Well, the short answer is yes. Not directly but there is a definite air of fear all around us. People are not going out as much and the majority of those who are are wearing face masks to try and protect themselves. It is the dominant conversation topic for sure.

The Mexican President has just made an announcement banning religious meetings for tomorrow and the national committee of our churches is making a joint decision about what to do in the coming days. So we will not be at church tomorrow and potentially ministry outside the home will be very much reduced.

Thankfully we haven't heard of anyone we know personally who has been affected but of course it is important to take precautions. We appreciate your prayers of protection for our health and that of the people we know and love. We will keep you informed of significant events.

Breakthrough

La Raza was just open for 2 days this week - Monday and Friday. On Monday Andrew and Alex counselled one of the girls for salvation. When Andrew asked why she wanted to be saved she simply said. "I need help!" That seems an excellent response. Pray for her in the days ahead that she will grow in her new found faith.

On Friday the team showed the film 'Facing the Giants'. It has been shown here at various groups and there is always an open response. This time was no exception. After the film the speaker at the retreat who went to visit the ministry gave an invitation. Four kids responded. It was incredible. What a week! Praise God! There will be a very different dynamic at the Centre this week. We need to surround these kids with our prayers especially in the early days.

On Friday Andrew had a meeting with the area manager for 14 Starbucks stores. They want to donate any left over food to the ministry from all 14 stores. They also want to run a 2 week campaign collecting whatever the team feel appropriate e.g. blankets, clothes, toys etc. This too is an incredible provision and we are overwhelmed by how God is moving.

This week the team will be going out into the community around La Raza to assess the needs and invite neighbours to a talk about the ministry. This will be like a first service...or second after the drama presentation a couple of weeks ago. Please pray for a good response and for continued good relationships in the community.

So how have we been?

Well, the retreat was just great. Thank you for your prayers for the kids. They did really well. They were tired but they slept when they needed to and the difference between this year and last year was like night and day. As a result we were able to enjoy time playing with them and chatting to others. The main focus of the teaching sessions was evangelism. Our prayer is that the pastors and church workers will return to their work fired up about reaching out to the many people around them with the gospel.

On Friday Oscar's temperature went up. He seems to be through the worst of it now. We're not sure what caused it but the rash has not come back and he is off the medicine for that now. Yesterday and this morning I was out of action feeling tired and weak. Not sure what that was about either, perhaps the blood pressure again. We continue to appreciate your prayers for our health.

Happy Easter!

I always love Easter Sunday in Mexico. The service starts at 7am and all the ladies are encouraged to dress in white. The tone of the service is always very exciting and this year was no exception. We had a joined service with the Santa Monica congregation and a choir made up of members from both churches. The church was buzzing. People were still arriving 2 hours after we started (the service lasted over 3 hours!). There wasn't much room left for more seats. It was amazing. At the end of the service there were 25 baptisms (some were people converted through the house churches). God is working here and moving in families and communities. A grandmother was baptised with 2 of her grandchildren and a husband a wife were baptised. Our prayer is that some MOPS mums will be baptised at the next opportunity!

We forgot to take our camera so this shot taken with Andrew's phone just doesn't do it justice but it gives an idea.
We hope you had a great weekend remembering the sacrifice made on you behalf in order that you could know eternal life. When explaining the wonder of Easter to Tabitha and comparing it with Christmas she said, "I love baby Jesus!" We do too. Do you?

Retreat

From Tuesday to Thursday this week we will be away with the other missionaries, pastors, church planters and their families. It is a great time to be with the team and to build on friendships and learn together in sessions led by an invited speaker from the US.

We would really appreciate your prayers for the kids. Last year they were very unsettled and it was difficult for all of us. Please pray that they will travel well and sleep well when they need to for the few days.

Pray that this will be a good time for building on the unity of all our workers - national and missionary and that God will move. Pray for fresh vision and energy for the year ahead.

Special event

On Wednesday afternoon the Santa Monica youth group were down at La Raza and did an excellent set of mimes. Unfortunately there were no visitors from the neighbourhood but plenty of the street kids attended and seemed to have a great time. It was interesting to see them chatting among themselves in response to what they were seeing in the performance. No doubt there will be follow up in the days ahead. The gospel message was very clear. Please continue to pray for this seed sown, that it would grow and bear fruit. Continue to pray for the contacts with neighbours and for openness
The actors with some of the street kids.

Medical Week

It's been quite the week. We have all been at the doctor! I was first with low blood pressure which hopefully some medicine will sort out. Andrew had another of his horrendous headaches on Monday night. Yesterday he was with the doctor for his follow-up appointment after the car crash and thankfully all is well there.

On Friday Oscar developed a rash and was very grumpy. It looked very like the rash Tabitha got a couple of times when she was little. We took him to the Doctor yesterday and got some anithistamine medicine which seems to be helping a lot. We think it might be due to a flowering bush in our garden which is just finishing. While we were at the clinic Tabitha also got a couple of routine vaccinations.

Here are a couple of pictures of poor Oscar but he really looks much better already.


So now that we've got all that sorted we're ready for action again! Thanks for your continued prayers for us personally as well as for the ministry.

La Raza

There is a core of about 14 kids coming along each morning to La Raza with others coming along at times. We would appreciate your prayers for the team. Everyone is really tired because the mornings, though profitable and enjoyable, are full and exhausting. The daily plan is changing accordingly. There is a lot of pressure to open the centre as a church and soon services will start on a Thursday evening. Instead of going to the streets every afternoon the team have decided to spend the afternoons visiting neighbours in the area and build up contacts. This Wednesday the youth from the Santa Monica church will perform a play and the people in the area are invited. Please pray for that event.

The MEFI team then will probably spend one day visiting the streets. There are people from different churches who have expressed an interest in volunteering. Pray with us that they will keep their word and be able to help the team out to relieve some of the pressure they are under.

We praise God for those kids who are already showing an interest in learning from the Word. Once again we were reminded of the urgency of the task as another well-known guy from Indios Verdes was knocked down by a car and killed this week. These kids live dangerous, lost lives and time is short.

MOPS - week 2

Praise God for another good week at MOPS. Most mums came back from the first time and we had a few new ones join us. The icebreaker was really interesting as some mums said they had enjoyed the first meeting so they came back. One said she wanted her kids to grow up knowing about God, others said they themselves wanted to know about God. There are definitely more unchurched than churched mums coming along.
This week our pastor's wife, Guille, gave her testimony. She has an incredible story of God's saving power from a background of abuse and addiction from her early childhood and into her married life. During our planning meeting the girls were saying that her story is too common here in Mexico. According to them if ladies are not living with abuse then the likelihood is that someone in their family is. There were certainly a lot of tears on Thursday. A couple of older ladies came along as they are living through similar circumstances. One lady whose kids are grown but is looking after a young granddaughter told me that her husband just walked out on her a couple of weeks ago. She says she feels free after years of physical abuse and not being allowed to leave home. It is heartbreaking. After her talk we didn't have enough time for the discussion we had planned so I had a little time to fill. I have no doubt God gave me the words to say as I gave a simple gospel explanation. People here are searching and finding the answers to their questions. Next week we will have 25 baptisms in our church. Please continue to pray for our dear MOPS ladies. Pray that they will quickly build friendships with the other mums in the group, that the Holy Spirit will continue to move and many will come to know Him.
The MOPPETS seemed to have a great time again. We gave out teddies made by home-schoolers in the US. Unfortunately the battery in my camera ran out before I got a clear shot of them but they were very popular!