Baker Family in Leon

Anniversary Celebration

2012-01-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

The front of the building/house.

They meet under a tarp to shade from the sun and elements.

During the anniversary service.

Mexican potluck! Awesome food, fellowship.

The men of Iglesia de Cristo La Libertad, and Jose Palafox.

Jose speaking to the members and visitors from God's word.

This past Sunday was the 1 year anniversary of the all-Mexican church plant in the "La Libertad" neighborhood of Leon. After one year of hard work, meeting in their house every Sunday and Wednesday, Jesus has brought the Libertad congregation through the struggle of a young church. The area where they are meeting is outside of town, in an area that is known for hard working people, dirt roads, and gangs. We are excited to see new members of the congregation and also visitors who continue to return. They invited Jose Palafox (Omar's dad, a +20 year church planter and preacher who lives and works in Guadalajara, Jalisco) to preach and teach and share God's word with them. Jazmin and I were at Leon Sur on Sunday morning, however directly after services we, along with Braulio and Silvia (a couple whom we had a small group with for over a year) drove out to La Libertad to celebrate with them. When we got there, we were surprised to see the large patio/garage where they meet filled with people. We were greeted by everyone and told to sit down, and they served us lots of amazing food. We enjoyed the fellowship and are happy to see them thriving and continuing to serve God. I can't help but think about how Paul felt, going back to see a church he planted years ago, and see how God has transformed and changed things (I didn't help plant this church though, but it has been fun to watch!). We are continuing to pray for the Libertad church, and we ask that you keep them in your prayers. Jesus is continuing to build His church in Mexico, through people like the members of the Libertad congregation!

Committed

2012-01-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

Leon Sur is growing, maturing, changing. Most congregations are, because they are living organisms, and that's what living things do; they change. On Sunday, we saw many things happen and take place during worship which you wouldn't have seen 7 years ago, or even one year ago! Sermons have changed, songs have evolved, classes have become times of spiritual growth, and much more. What this shows is that a long period of time is needed for anything to "happen." I recently read this quote in a book that has challenged me: "We would get healthier if we committed to fewer things over longer periods of time. Churches ought to be steel when it comes to their mission and plastic when it comes to their methods and structures." We could probably apply that to many things, like our money, health, prayer, etc. But in the aspect of the Leon Sur church, it is still young, and we would like to see it last for as long as God has planned. But this takes commitment on many peoples parts; the missionaries, the church members, the people who support the work here, etc. And commitment seems to be the challenge; we want things to change yet at the first sign of failure we tend to change our minds. This May will mark my fifth year in Leon (minus the 9 month break I took before our wedding). It would be good to be here another 5 years, if that is what God's will is. We can dream many dreams of growth, discipleship, cell groups, a preaching school, a children's home, a church building, etc. But at the end of the day, God's will is what holds the key. Can we commit to the simple things like praying for His will?

There are a group of Christians living in a nearby community from Leon, called "La Libertad." The church's first anniversary is this coming Sunday; one year of meeting together and working hard. For many, one year seems like a long time. Will small house-churches be sustained over the long haul? Only time will tell. Church leadership books, church-planting techniques, will all fail eventually. Finding God in the desert, when things are hard, is what we should be looking for. Having an encounter with God and waiting for Him to provide that spring, that oasis, a replenishing source of water for the soul, a burst of life for a church community. Let's pray that we can all commit to seeing God in the hard times and the good ones too.

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

Brothers and Sisters, friends, visitors. Welcome to a new year in Christ! We pray that God blesses you as you continue to follow His lead in every aspect of your life. The holiday season here in Mexico, is quite different than the normal hustle and bustle of everyday city-life, as people take their vacation time and close their businesses, travel to the beach or other cities, and generally stay in their houses. This morning, the first day of 2012, the streets were silent, without movement, "dead" after last nights seemingly endless party. A small group of Christians met at Leon Sur, probably about half of what we usually are, but it made one thing clear: as Christians, we have a different view of reality and what we value. We enjoyed being in God's presence this morning, and I started the first sermon of the year speaking on how our purpose in the world is to bless others, to be like Jesus and be the light of the world. We will be looking at Jesus' interaction with others in the Gospel of John, and how we can also interact with the world in a way which will reveal God and the way He works in their lives. Mexico is such a spiritual place; the people here are not unbelievers, they have a very real faith. It is offensive for missionaries to come here with the mentality that people here aren't believers; it is ignorance on the missionaries part. In fact, in practice, many people here are more spiritual than many Christians, devoting their time, money, and effort to their faith. Religious practices, however, become man-made laws, and sadly many people have fallen into the mindset that if they perform these tasks which were mandated by other men, and not by God, they will receive salvation. And so we are here in Mexico, not to tell them how ungodly, nonspiritual, and how lost they are, but to shine Jesus' light on them that they may know how close they are to His grace. The light of Jesus reveals the sin in our lives but doesn't leave us without an option; in the light of Jesus we find grace and mercy to receive salvation and eternal life. There is much work to do here in Leon; we are praying that God raises up workers in the church who take being a blessing to the world seriously, to know that the Gospel is to save the people who have faith, and to bless the people who don't. Please pray for the Leon Sur church, the Palafox missionary family, our family and especially Shannon who we are expecting to arrive soon, pray for my year as preacher, and for all the other works taking place around Mexico, that the Holy Spirit would lead us to do great things in God's kingdom, by His grace.

Leon Sur 5th Ladies Day

2011-12-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was the fifth "Ladies Day" that we have had here at the Leon Sur congregation. The Ladie's Day in Leon has always been something that the women look forward to when December comes around, and there is always a lot of planning and preparation on their part. This year was a success, with over 130 women (I started counting and lost track at 110, and then the official count came in!) and 40 children who came from different parts of Mexico like Toluca, Mexico City, Celaya, San Miguel de Allende, and more. The auditorium of the church building was beyond packed, and we were using all of the chairs and benches that we could find.

The speaker this year was Juanita Rosas, the mother of Manolo Rosas, who attends Leon Sur. She lives and works in Texas with her husband who preaches and teaches, and she did an awesome job teaching about "inner health." She had great classes and she sparked the women's imaginations with her creative activities, such as having the women write on balloons something that they were thankful to God for, and then letting the balloons float "up to God." Jazmin says that the classes were really touching and thought-provoking, and that a lot of women mentioned how good they were. It was truly a blessing to have Juanita here to share with the women from her wealth of experience.

In all honesty, this year's Ladies Day was a long, difficult event to plan, because it was one of the first where it was planned and executed exclusively by church members and not by the missionaries. The women probably got a little taste of how hard it is to do large events, while at the same time growing closer through their struggles. At the end of the day, God used this even to create a bond between the women of Leon Sur, to teach them to work together and love each other while serving Him. Having the event go successfully has given the ladies of Leon Sur enough confidence to do more in the future! We are amazed and thankful for how God uses us in His kingdom!

A Christmas Story

2011-12-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

I know a while ago I said that I wanted to start writing more stories on the blog, and less "news reports," but I have kind of slacked on that. So here is a story to try and redeem myself! Every night from about 8:30-9:30 I take Bruno, our big 16 month old Boxer, out on a long walk. I usually walk from one end of the boulevard to another, and at the intersection of the "Tepeyac" boulevard and "Escobedo" boulevard, there is a young boy, probably 8 or 9 years old, who sells roses to the people stopped at the light. Bruno loves kids, for some reason, but most kids are scared of him because he has an intimidating look about him. But one night I was walking and this young boy came right up to Bruno and I and started petting Bruno, and he says "Tiene cachetes de marrana gorda!" which translated, would come out to something like "He has cheeks like a big fat pig!" I understood because Bruno has very low-hanging jowls, which gives him a sad look. Anyways, although the boy was selling roses, he never bothered me or asked me to buy one, which I thought was interesting (most kids or people who are selling things tend to bug you about it, try and get you to buy something from them). So over the past month or two I see this kid every night, and every night he stops to pet Bruno, I ask him how he is doing, what time he goes home (I'm not sure if he has parents, but he said he has to be home by 10:30pm, so I'm guessing that he walks home by himself), etc. I got to thinking, when I was 8 or 9 years old, I played outside, did homework, built forts, ate my mothers delicious food, and didn't worry about a thing. I definitely didn't have to worry about selling something to make some money for myself or my family. This kid, he doesn't know any different; he thinks that it's his responsibility to sell those roses, and take the money home to his family. Pretty amazing, if you think about it.

So I got to thinking (I am by no means a generous, or very "righteous" person, so this is not boasting), I should give this kid a present. I mean, he probably doesn't get to keep any of the money he earns, and I am pretty sure he has never gotten a Christmas present or anything like that. So a few nights ago I just tell him, "Hey, I have something for you. I didn't bring it with me, but I will bring it to you tomorrow night." I wanted him to have something to look forward to, and he asked if I could run home and get it. But I told him I would bring it to him tomorrow night, and he petted Bruno and I continued our walk.

So last night, I got Jazmin to accompany Bruno and I, and the three of us made our way to the corner of the boulevard where from a distance, I could see that my little friend was walking up to car windows, selling roses. When he saw us, he got kind of shy, because he could see that Jazmin had the wrapped present in her hands. He didn't say anything about it at first, just talked to Bruno and tugged his cheeks a bit. And then Jazmin handed him the present. He didn't open it at first, almost like he wanted to savor the moment. That and, some cars pulled up and he didn't waste the opportunity to offer the drivers some roses. After the light changed and the cars drove off, he sat down on the curb to open what very well might have been the first gift he had ever received in his life. I have to admit, it wasn't a very expensive or flashy present. I bought him a "trompo," a popular toy here in Mexico that is basically a spinning top that you can do tricks with. I also gave him a little Hot Wheels car that you pull back and it shoots forward, really simple. But he opened the present with fervor and kept thanking us, in fact he even said to Jazmin, "By way of thanks, you should take a rose." But we told him to keep the roses. Before he said anything about the present, he looked up at us and said, "My brother's birthday is tomorrow. I think I will give him one of these toys." And that floored us.

Probably the first present this boy had received, and instead of ripping the packaging off them, or going off on his own to play with them, or talk about how he would keep them to himself, he mentions that his brother's birthday was the next day. How is that possible? That after receiving what to him was obviously a meaningful gift, he seemingly without thought, selflessly chooses to not just share but give his brother one of those gifts? It made me want to cry (I didn't however, because I think my tear ducts are closed up or something). It brought me to a whole new understanding of Jesus' teaching that "the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Jazmin and I gave that young boy two toys that put together, cost us about $8 more or less, but what he gave to us was so much more valuable. He taught us about selflessness, sacrifice, grace, love, and a lot more. I could draw so many lessons out of our interaction with this sweet young boy, but I will leave this story at this, and let you do your own thinking. God bless.

Cañada del Real

2011-12-08T10:19:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday night we were blessed to be invited once again to Cañada del Real, where two members of Leon Sur, Manolo Rosas and Luis Rosas (brothers) are sharing Christ through social work. Omar and the AIMer's have been participating on Tuesday nights for the past few months, teaching values and principles through bible stories, songs, and crafts. God has opened many doors and many people are working hard to take advantage of the opportunity that there is to influence these kids and shine Christ's light out in Cañada del Real.

Tuesday we were able to sing some Christmas songs, make wreaths, play games, and the kids hit a piñata for candy. It is always good to see everyone participate, and it was fun to see all of the kids smiling, laughing, and enjoying themselves.

God is doing awesome things through humble people who are willing to work hard and spend time with others. Please pray that the fruits of the labor would be pleasing and glorifying to God.

Community Love

2011-11-27T19:41:00.001-08:00

Saturday night was Jazmin's baby shower, held by the ladies of the Leon Sur congregation. The building was decorated with beautiful pink baby decorations! Isaura and Tana Palafox organized the event with much success. The ladies participated in games, ate good food, and Jazmin was given many gifts. It was encouraging to see all of the love that was showered on Jazmin and Shannon, and we were really blessed by everyone.

It is an amazing thing, to be a part of a community. On December 3rd, 2007 I baptized Jazmin in the frigid waters of the Leon Sur baptistery. Now, nearly 4 years later, she has her first child's baby shower there. It really is a blessing to still be here in Leon, and we thank God for everyone who is making it possible for us to be here. Our supporters have stuck with us into this new chapter in our lives and ministry, and we are very thankful. Shannon gives thanks too!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T12:50:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving has always been a blessing on the mission field. Missionary friends are more like a family, and we get together to share food, laughter, and joy. There are more things to be thankful for than is possible to add to a list, but I wanted to share a few things unique to our life in Leon:

We are so thankful for having a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. His grace has strengthened us in more ways than we can count.
We are thankful for Shannon. It's amazing how close you can become to a little human being whom you've never seen before, in only 9 months! We can't wait for our baby to be born!
For the Leon Sur church, who have been a family to us for the past 3+ years. It must have been hard for them to see some bratty AIM kid who barely spoke Spanish, now preaching and teaching. They are humble, and full of grace, for letting me work with them.
We are thankful for the other missionaries, Omar and Tana Palafox, and their kids. Sometimes we feel kind of out of place. Not AIMers, and at the same time, not from the original mission team. But they always make us feel included, and we love them.
For our supporters. We can't understand how God gives us grace through so many people, and we don't deserve it. Lot's of people sacrifice their time and effort to earn a living, and then they share some of that with us, and we can't thank them enough for it.
My parents, who have taken such a big interest in Mexico that they are learning to speak Spanish, and bringing a mission group down every summer. I never thought that they would have a heart for Mexico, and I don't think they expected it either. Thanks God, for changing our lives in unexpected ways.
For my mother in law, Gloria. She has always been here for us when we needed her, and has grown a lot in her faith over the past year and a half as a sister in Christ. We love her so much and are blessed to live so close to her and Jazmin's brothers and sister.

There are so many more things, but we can't list them all. We are going to pass this Thanksgiving thinking of all of you and how God has worked in your lives.

Seniority and Humility

2011-11-18T11:56:00.001-08:00

Jazmin and I are blessed to work in Leon, not only by the church we work with but by the other missionaries. This morning we ate breakfast with Omar and Tana Palafox, the only remaining missionaries from the original mission team that came here to Leon more than 7 years ago! Omar was my coordinator in AIM (not originally, but our first coordinator and his family left the field early, leaving Omar to take the responsibility!) and I think the most important thing he taught me was to work hard, just like Jesus. To this day, no one has been more influential in my ministry than Omar. And we are blessed to be with them here and recognize their seniority as missionaries, however they are also humble workers, honest about their struggles, and willing to change. With all of the changes in a church plant over 7 years, they have learned a lot, and are gracious enough to pass that knowledge and experience down to us. What a blessing. We had good conversations and dreams today over coffee and food, and we are praying that God continue to allow us to work with them. If you know anyone looking to support some missionaries, or you want to send them some one-time support or monthly, please contact me and I can get you in touch with them. Praise God for the workers he places all over the globe to further his Holy purpose and divine Kingdom. God bless!

Prayers are ALWAYS answered!

2011-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Prayer is such a key part of the Christian walk. It is the most underestimated tool that we have as Christians, and I admit that in my personal spiritual life, prayer has been a struggle for me. Something that the missionaries in Leon have done for the past 7-8 years is pray together EVERY Wednesday morning. The location has changed, the time has changed, and some of the missionaries have even changed. We can prayed together in times of joy, but also in times of sorrow. With the members of Leon Sur and without them. Over the years we have seen that God always answers prayers.

This past week, one of the missionaries and elders here, Roberto Rubio, got very sick. He had to be taken to the hospital and have tests done, which showed that he has gallstones. Not only was his health a concern, but as most missionaries, the Rubios don't have insurance. Doctors bills can be pretty expensive, even down here in Mexico. I decided to just put a little status profile update on Facebook, asking for prayers for him and his family. The response was AWESOME! So many people mentioned that they were praying for him, and I know many more who were praying who didn't "confirm it" on FB.

Roberto is now out of the hospital. God answers prayers. He is feeling better. God answers prayers. They are doing okay financially. God answers prayers. I know all of you have stories like this, and I beg you to share them with me, with others, use them as a testimony to our God's awesome power!

Mexican Leadership

2011-11-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Leadership has been one of the biggest challenges in the Leon Sur church plant. Leaders, are they born or are they created? Well, God uses who He chooses, and there are necessary parts to develop a leadership in a congregation. This past weekend, Jose Palafox, Omar's dad, traveled to Leon with his wife Maria, from Guadalajara. They have been doing ministry there for more than 22 years, and have successfully planted more than 3 congregations in the area. They are a good model for the brothers and sisters of Leon Sur and other congregations that are still relatively "young."

At our Leadership Conference, which was on Friday and Saturday nights, there were people from Leon Sur congregation, the "La Libertad" congregation which is an offshoot from Leon Sur, and also from a new congregation in the nearby "pueblo" of Juventino Rosas. It was good to see many people, but at the same time it was sad to see many people that are thought of as leaders, that didn't show up.

The classes consisted of an idea that for leadership to work, we must follow biblical models. And this theme was taken from 1 Thessalonians, where Paul exhorts the brothers in Thessalonica to work, imitating him as he worked with them for a time, serving God by preaching Christ. We know that work will keep us faithful, and being lazy is not an option. It was well received by the members who attended the classes, and Jose also preached on Sunday a convicting message to the congregation.

What will be the future of the church of Christ in Mexico? Faithful members who desire to be more than spectators and observers. People who work hard and follow biblical models, sharing their experiences and becoming a part of Jesus' story, for the good of His body. Please pray or Leon Sur, La Libertad, Juventino Rosas, and the El Colli congregation in Guadalajara, as we all strive to become more Christ-like through church leadership and servant attitudes.

Great Conference, Great Sunday!

2011-10-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

I have two things that I want to write about in this blog: The Global Missions Conference that I was blessed to attend in Dallas this past week, and a great Sunday morning time of worship and fellowship with the Leon Sur congregation yesterday.

The Global Missions Conference was put on by Missions Resource Network (MRN) and was held at the Legacy church of Christ in North Richland Hills, Dallas. The theme this year was "Into the Heart of God." My parents had decided to go and they knew I was needing to get out of Mexico for a bit to renew my visa, so they graciously offered to put me up with them at the hotel. I went ahead and indulged their offer, since I knew it was probably "once in a lifetime." Let me just put this out there; I would not have been able to go without my parents. They paid for pretty much everything. So thanks, Mom and Dad.

The conference was awesome. So many people from so many places, but with the same focus, the mission of God. When you have a huge group of diverse Christians from different cultures, speaking different languages, you would think that unity might be at stake because of many differing views, but that is the great beauty of missions. When Christians truly focus on the task at hand, the Great Commission, there is no time or precedent for bickering and fighting about things less important. So each class and event was that much better, because of the unity that you could almost "feel in the air."

There were so many track classes that it was impossible to attend everything, so I kind of bounced between different tracks. Some of the titles of the classes I attended were "Where is Missions when the Whole Church goes Missional?", "Moving Beyond Mission Led Churches to Indigenous Led Churches," "To Him be Glory in the Church," and many more. So you can see the variety of themes in the topics. The classes were real eye-openers, and I'm sure that I will be pouring over the notes for the months to come, seeing what else God can teach me through them.

The keynote speakers were awesome too: Jim McGuiggan, Fred Asare, Howard Norton, Evertt Huffard, Dan Rodriguez, Randy Harris, and Shon Smith. All were challenging sermons on looking into the heart of God, and how we need to share His heart for people. It was truly a challenging conference and inspires me to keep working in Leon; there are many years left of work to do here, and to leave any time soon would be too early.

The other blessing was seeing the two AIM girls that come from Mexico (the ones that were with me in the picture in front of the Mexican flag). The one on the left is Sofia, from Guadalajara, and on the right is Andrea, who is from the Leon Sur congregation. Keep them in your prayers as they continue through their journey in the AIM program.

I left Saturday evening and got home later that night, and Sunday morning woke up to get ready for church with Leon Sur. It was a good reminder of being on the mission field, as we had no running water when we woke up. Anyways, what an encouragement it was to be with my Mexican brothers and sisters praising God!

Braulio led us in encouraging songs of praise and hymns, invoking us to reflect on the glory of our God. Omar preached by the Holy Spirit about how we should never stop working because we all have gifts to use in order to glorify Christ in His body. Nick, one of the AIMer's, helped us remember our Lord Jesus in the Lord's Supper and how He never stopped working, even on the Cross. Princeton taught my youth class on Revelation 9, and had everyone reading and commenting on the events that took place in that chapter. There are many families that have left, and there are still many "rough edges" to Leon Sur. But they are still a loving body of believers, called out of this world to be a light to it. Are they perfect? Not yet. But they are most definitely, by the grace of God, on their way.

Changes

2011-10-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

The past year has been a year of changes, good and bad. The "new" elders have almost a year under their belt, and their growth is apparent, the way they deal with the church members and their love for the congregation is obvious. Their humility is good to see for the congregation, and their servant leadership has taught many members what it means to serve and lead at the same time. Their job hasn't been without its hard points, bumps along the road, however they have done a good job being led by the Spirit.

Despite the work being done by the elders and through the members, there are hard times also. I would like to quote Omar Palafox's blog: "The church is about to lose three strong families. These are struggling with issues which are not even related to the church. In other words it is sin and struggles they have in the worlds which they interact. They have lied, robed, and other sins with those whom they work with, live with or go to school with. So their solution is to stop being in the church. Our three shepherds have done a remarkable role in assisting them, loving them, and keeping the rest of the church involved. I have read that it is more often amazing that the most attention and fussed over, are the members who might drop out faster than others."

One of these families is a family we have been meeting with in a small group for over a year. It hurts to know that for trivial reasons they are deciding not to congregate with Leon Sur anymore. Omar is right, their issues aren't even church related, it is almost as if they have a "separate life" apart from their interaction with the church. Which isn't a biblical concept. Their sin affects the whole body. And so we continue to pray for them, love them, meet with them, that they might see their sin and repent.

Please pray for the Leon Sur congregation. It is still relatively young, and many members are immature. Their faith needs strengthened, and their lives changed. Only by God's grace and Christ's blood will this be possible.

Woah, it's a boy!

2011-10-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Or so it seems! We had thought that it was a girl, based upon what the doctor had said last month. So we had been calling our baby "Shannon." However, today Jazmin had her 6month appointment and the doctor was sure that it's a boy, so we are calling him "Tristan" from now on, unless things change again! We are super excited, and can't wait for early February to come.

How has this affected our work in Leon? Not too much yet. We are still studying with people, going to cell groups, teaching classes, helping in places like Cañada del Real, etc. Jazmin gets tired faster, and needs more sleep, so we try to get naps in during the day if we know we will be out late. We realize that there is a real tendency for missionaries to be pressured to remain busy, while it is good to be involved and not have idle hands, being busy for the sake of having things to write in a blog, or fill a newsletter, or update a Facebook status is not worth it. So we take the time she needs to rest, and know that God is working through us in the moments that he gives us with people.

We appreciate our supporters and their willingness to partner with this work in Leon. It is much much bigger than Jazmin and I. The Palafox family, the AIMers, the elders, the church members are all a part of what God is doing in Leon. Please pray for everyone as we all have problems and need God's grace to continue to work here. We are so thankful to be used in a way that glorifies Him!

Tuesday Nights

2011-09-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about two people who Jazmin and I are spending time with lately, Gaby Pablo and Jazmin's younger brother Miguel Angel. On Tuesday night they were both over here at the house, studying James 1 with us. Gaby has been coming here on Tuesday nights for a while now, and Miguel has come for the past few weeks. Gaby has been a Christian for a little under a year, and is active in growing her faith and relationship with Jesus. As we meet every Tuesday night, we see how much she has grown in her faith and reliance on God, and how she continues to struggle with difficult things however, always counts her trials as blessings. She works as a teacher full time, and interacts with a lot of people who need to know who Jesus is.

Miguel Angel and I have grown a lot closer over the past year, and the Gospel seed has been planted in him. He has seen how his big sister's life has changed over the past 4 years, and in the past year and a half, how his own mother's life has been changed by Jesus. He continues to struggle with the same things I struggled with at his age, and I am thankful have his confidence and trust and that we can talk openly about a lot of things. There are always openings to talk about Jesus, and as he takes steps closer to Christ, I hope that someday he will come to have a relationship with Him.

Jazmin is a great example for Gaby and for her brother. Her answers are always thoughtful and honest, and her heart is sincere in showing Jesus' love. She challenges me daily to be more Christ-like, something that for her seems natural, when for me, it is such a struggle! It is such a blessing to be her teammate in this ministry in Mexico.

In our Tuesday night studies, we talk, laugh, and read God's word, and the humility we share in knowing that we aren't perfect, that we all struggle, and that we all need Jesus, helps to keep us grounded. Please pray for Gaby and Miguel as they live their daily lives.

Community

2011-09-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

It has been busy here since the last post, with many events and things going on. Last Saturday we were given the opportunity to help in "La Cañada del Real" apartment community, the same place where we went a few months ago with the Alaska mission group to help with some summer activities. This time helped with a family Olympics event, where each family would race through eight different courses to see who would be fastest. There were around 25 families who participated, and more than 100 people whom we got to interact with.

The Palafox family, the AIMers, and other members of Leon Sur were there to add the work force to the plan that Manolo and his brother Luis had. Working together in this community setting was a blessing for everyone, and it was neat to see the interaction and Christ-like service from those who participated from Leon Sur. There are a lot of broken families and people in this lower-income community, and love is the answer. We need to intentionally be Christ-like to them!

Also, on Sunday after church we had a surprise party for Jazmin Rubio at the church building. It used to be that if there would be any type of party or event, the missionaries would plan it, or think of it, or lead it. But the members are now comfortable and taking leadership and this spontaneous surprise party was Gaby Pablo's idea. There were a lot of people, a lot of food, and a lot of fellowship. It was a good time to see the community of Leon Sur come together to love each other and participate in this ministry of service. God is doing awesome things in the church and in Leon, but we need to be patient and allow Him to work through Us!

Please pray for the Palafox family, the AIMers, the Rubios, the elders families, the church members, and the lost in Leon! Also for us and little baby Shannon! Thanks, God bless.

Two great things!

2011-09-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

Many of you probably don't know that the Mexican Independence Day is the 16th of September, and not "Cinco de Mayo." Every 15th of September, around 11 o'clock pm more or less, the Mexican president will ring the bell at the National Palace in Mexico City, and then yell out the "grito," the Mexican cry of patriotism which ends with the famous "VIVA MEXICO!" three times. This "grito de Dolores" is to remember Miguel Hidalgo, the Catholic priest who held a mass on the morning of September 16, 1810, and officially called for there to be a revolution in Mexico. Dolores is the small town, only an hour or two away from Leon, where Hidalgo made his famous cry for freedom. It marked the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence, which lasted for over a decade, but eventually led to a free Mexico.

Last night we had a celebration at the church building to celebrate Mexico, to pray for Mexico, and to enjoy fellowship in Christ, and also evangelize to those there who weren't Christian. There were many Mexican elements involved, flags, the "Tri-Color" three colors of Mexico: Green, White, and Red. There was Mexican food - sopes, tamales, chiles, enchiladas, churros, etc. Mexican music - mariachi, "Cielito Lindo," and karaoke singing. There was the tradition of people "getting married" in a play like setting, with fake rings, etc. Also there was a traditional Mexican scene for people to take old-time photos. It was a great night to see Mexicans coming together to celebrate their culture, and even more importantly, to see Christians coming together to celebrate not only their countries freedom, but their new-found freedom in Christ! And this is what the true focus is on, freedom from sin for the Mexican people. This is why we are here.

Omar went to the trouble to make a ton of "I pray for Mexico, that Jesus may reign" bracelets, and passed them out to everyone. He spent a lot of money on those, but as he himself said "we believe that its worth it." So as I am sitting here today, writing this about a country that I love, praying for it while looking at my bracelet, and also saddened by the countries ignorance to Christ and violence against its own brothers and sisters because of drug wars, I beg you, please pray for Mexico!

The second thing that is great, is that Gaby Pablo wrote her testimony in the monthly Christian magazine, and it turned out great! We have been studying with Gaby for around 6 months now, every Tuesday night at our house. Right now we are going through the book of James, seeing how trials are a blessing from God because they perfect our faith in Christ! She has really grown a lot in her 8 months or so of being a Christian, and it is exciting to see her living her faith out, for example last night she brought her sister to the party at church, and many more things. Please pray for Gaby, and especially for her family members! We all really want them to come to know the love of Christ!

God bless - The Bakers

Christ-likeness

2011-09-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Things in Leon are going good, we are busy with lots of work to do and of course, getting ready for baby Shannon! That's right, as far as we know, we are having a little girl (it could change though, you know how those things go!). Anyways I wanted to take a little time to tell you all about a good friend and co-worker in Christ, Chris Reid.

Chris has been here in Leon for over a year now, probably around a year and a half I guess, and he loves the work here. He came with a team of AIMers, however he is in a little bit different position than they are. Chris is the only AIMer from his team who chose to work out at the newest church plant, La Libertad. That is a pretty significant decision, to willingly go alone and work in a place where there are no other English speakers, and no pre-planned ministries to jump into. Chris is pioneering, as far as AIM goes, in a new place, with new people, and new ministries. He gets to spend time with him teammates and coordinators, but the majority of time is spent with Mexicans, and that really is what it is all about.

I have to respect Chris, because he is doing something that I have not done. I had people help me find ministries to take part in. I had the help of working with my teammates and not being off on my own so often. But Chris is learning how to deal with these difficulties and it is growing him to be into a better worker in God's Kingdom.

I meet with Chris once a week to talk, read the Word, and pray. We get to share some of our victories, struggles, and discoveries, and it has been a good time to grow in our friendship. He has a heart for Jesus, and a love for missions, and is something he is seriously thinking about doing for the rest of his life. His plans are to continue furthering his Biblical education, and he seeks to return to Mexico to continue working with the church here.

I ask that you would please pray for Chris. He is not from a "Christian cradle" type of family, and he has not had an easy past. He needs your prayers and support, your love and encouragement. Mission work and encarnational living may be easy for some people, but for the majority of us, it is hard. Chris is continuing to grow in his walk with Christ, and he isn't the "future generation of missionaries." Chris already is a missionary, in a different context, a different place, with different people, than any of the Leon Sur workers. He is pioneering, and for that he needs specific prayers for strength, faith, and courage. Please join me in lifting him up to our Father in prayers.

On that note, please pray for all of the AIMers. It is not easy to be an apprentice, and it is hard also to be in a foreign culture. Chris, Princeton, Nick, Dani, and Jeni have all done an awesome job contextualizing the Gospel and living our Christ's love to the members of Leon Sur, La Libertad, and all of Leon Mexico. They all struggle with different things, but what they have in common is their love for Christ. I am blessed to be able to work with and be influenced by such amazing brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Power of Prayer

2011-08-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

I don't tell a lot of stories on here, but I'm going to start with one today and see if I can get more into story-telling instead of just reporting news. Here goes.

Yesterday after church we went to Jazmin's grandparents house because her uncle Javier is leaving to go work in Monterrey. We got there a little late because it had started to rain and everyone knows, when the rain pours in Mexico, the people stay inside. For a little background on Javier, I baptized him a few years ago, and he and his family have started to attend church with us a few times, but have never really gone consistently.

Anyhow, we decided to go say goodbye to him, and to give him an "Alaska" shirt that had been laying in our house for a few months since we got back from our trip. As soon as I saw him, I could tell that he was sad to leave (he is normally a very funny, happy-go-lucky guy). Basically, he explained to me the situation: The company that he works for here in Leon isn't selling any houses here right now, so they need to send him to another city. They are sending him to Monterrey, which is one of the towns that is involved in a lot of the violent drug war shootouts. Because they are sending him for a 3-month trial period, he has to leave his wife and 3 kids here in Leon.

They had just bought a house here in Leon, and their kids are all in school, their oldest daughter about to study in the university, their son in high school, and their youngest daughter in middle school. For this reason also, it would make it hard for the whole family to move to Monterrey.

If after the 3 month trial period things continue to go well, it could become a permanent job for Javier, and so his family would have to move there. They don't really want to, since all of the rest of their families live in Leon, actually they grew up in the same neighborhood and they were neighbors, so their parents (and the kids grandparents) live just a block away.

We said our temporary goodbyes, but before we left, Javier asked me to pray for him and his journey, job, and family. I was hesitant to be honest. I had only ever prayed out loud at Jazmin's grandparents house one other time. Nervous and hesitant because it is a very, very, VERY Catholic household. I am talking rosary beads, Jesus statues, Jesus on the Cross, Murals of the Virgin Mary, Lottery candles, posters of the Pope, etc. Although I am now officially family, it is still looked down upon for a "Protestant" to be in the house of a Catholic, and it is worse for the Catholics to let a Protestant pray in their house.

So I agreed to. I hadn't noticed that Jazmin's grandmother had actually gotten down her book of Catholic prayers, and was fervently searching for a prayer to recite. However, she got up anyways and held hands with us to pray over Javier. She probably wasn't used to hearing a prayer that didn't mention the Virgin Mary, or the Saints.

After the prayer, we left quickly before the tears began to flow. While saying goodbye to Jazmin's grandmother, I hugged her and kissed her cheek, as usual, and she whispered into my ear, "Thank you Ben, for that beautiful prayer."

That really meant a lot to me. That a Catholic would allow a "Protestant" to pray in her household (she is the matriarch of the family), is pretty significant. Over the years, I have done a lot of things that could have not sat well in her eyes. I was the American boy who stole her granddaughter (they thought I would take her to the States and never come back!). I baptized her son and studied with her oldest daughter, Jazmin's mom (my dad baptized her last summer). Little things like that make me wonder what she really thinks of me, her being a devout Catholic, and me being a missionary. But it seems like God is working on her heart, and at the least, she is open to learning more.

Please pray that a door would be opened and that God would lay in store more good opportunities to love and show Jesus to Jazmin's grandparents.

Busy

2011-08-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks here in Leon, and apologize for not having written anything sooner! After the Alaska missions group left, things kicked into overdrive and have been non-stop since. I have been preaching the whole month and that has taken up a lot of my time, studying and preparing sermons. That is giving me good practice for next year, as I will be the preacher for 2012.

We have been keeping up with cells groups and Bible studies, and also teaching the youth class. I have also been spending a lot of time with my brother in law, Miguel, and he has grown closer to everyone in the church. He asks a lot of good questions about God, Christianity and faith, and it seems like he is becoming more interested. Please pray for him.

Jazmin is finishing school in a few months and is excited about the baby. She is now 4 months pregnant and barely starting to show, she is ready to have a big belly! We are going to be asking for some more support soon, so please keep that in your prayers. Babies needs are important! Also, I am applying for a visa which will allow me to stay here for a year without leaving the country, instead of two times a year, which is what I have been doing. Leaving twice a year gets expensive, and with the new visa we should be able to save some money by not buying plane tickets.

There will be a men's retreat for the men of Leon Sur congregation next weekend, which should come at a good time to encourage all of the men of the church. We will be getting away to a campsite and spending time talking, praying, and challenging eachother. It is something that has been needed for a long time and I am glad that we are taking the time to do it.

It is good to go through seasons of hard work and little rest, not for long periods of time (can easily cause burnout in a missionary), but to remind us that we have a purpose and goal here in Leon. It causes us to appreciate the times of rest of renewal even more, and causes to rely on our Heavenly Father even more. Although business doesn't equal fruitfulness, we are praying that God provides much fruit from the labor, not just our labor but the AIMers, the Palafox family, the elders, and the church members. He has been good to us here in Leon, and we continue to seek His will for us here. God bless - The Baker family

The Alaska missions group

2011-08-08T11:06:00.001-07:00

For the past week and a half we have had the pleasure of hosting my parents and Lisa and Kayla Sutton here in Leon. They visited from the Valley church of Christ in Wasilla, Alaska, and were the third group that has come down since 2009. This was my parents 5th trip down, but as for Lisa and Kayla, it was their first trip out of the United States!

The plan for the week was to create a balance of mission work and cultural sightseeing. It is hard to work with a certain people if you don't understand their environment, attitude, customs and traditions, etc. So we got to participate in many encouraging events and activities with the church and community, while at the same time seeing what Mexican culture is all about.

Some of the highlights of the trip were a journey to the nearby town of Guanajuato, a morning spent with kids at Canada del Real, a ladies class and craft time done by my mom and Lisa, a small group filled with good food and God's word, Wed. night church at the church plant in La Libertad, and much more.

My parents are veteran Mexican food eaters, but Lisa and Kayla had never been here before so we weren't sure how they would take to the spicy local cuisine. But they tried everything! Quesadillas, tacos, tortas, carnitas, burritos, etc. One night I got some tongue for everyone to try and everyone gave it a shot! Their willingness to open up to a new culture made the trip fun and exciting.

What was really exciting though, was seeing the Alaska group interact with the Mexican people. We didn't just hang out with "church folk," though. The morning at Canada del Real, the childrens home, Jazmin's grandparents' house - they all had the chance to interact with people who need Jesus. Although it was hard for them to communicate, their love showed through their actions and facial expressions. The time spent with brothers and sisters in Christ was just as encouraging, and it made for memorable experiences at the Sunday services and in members homes.

By the time their trip was over, we were sad to see them leave. But we know they will be back again someday, and with each trip, a stronger connection with made between the church in Leon and in other parts of the world. If you or anyone you know would like to come visit, please let us know! God bless

PS. click on the pictures to make them bigger!

Update on the 7th Anniversary of Leon Sur

2011-07-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

This morning was the big day! Many people came together to worship God this morning, to remember our Lord and Savior Jesus, and to celebrate 7 years of the church of Christ in Leon. The room was packed and the singing was loud, the sermon heartfelt and the fellowship was great also. Words can't describe how thankful Jazmin and I are to be here. So many people have helped the church in Leon, many people have come and visit, like my parents, Jay Tumlinson, various groups from Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas, and the list goes on. I would say more but, the pictures do it justice. We were blessed to see two young men put on Christ in baptism also. It was truly a great day in God's kingdom! Enjoy the pictures!

Leon Sur's 7 Year Anniversary!

2011-07-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

This coming Sunday, the Leon Sur congregation will be celebrating its 7th year of ministry. It is pretty amazing to see what God has done over the years, and there is much more in store! I got here in May of 2007, a little over 4 years ago. The church was meeting in a small building, with around 30-40 members. Over the past 4 years we have changed buildings and doubled in size. It has not been easy, and it continues to present daily struggles, however God continues to lead His people in Leon, and THAT is what matters!

Omar Palafox, Shawn Gary, and Chris Johnson came here 7 years ago with a plan and a dream. They worked hard, prayed often, and raised this congregation as if it were one of their children. They laid the foundation for all of the work in Leon. The AIMers, over the years, have built on that foundation, adding a brick here and a brick there. The members of the congregation and the elders also continue to build off of that foundation that the missionaries created. What will the future hold?

Hard to know. But on Sunday we are going to take the time to praise and thank God for the work He has done here, we will looking at the churches history in past, present and future, and we will fellowship together. It will be a time to look past the problems and disputes, and to come together to recognize God's love and sovereignty! Please continue to pray for this work that God started in Leon!

Leon Update and 2011 VBS!

2011-07-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

It seems like things got really busy all of a sudden! A week ago it seemed like things had calmed down quite a bit, like taking a break from small groups and not having preached in a while. However, on Sunday I was asked by the elders to teach the youth group for the next 6 months. I was taken by surprise, but said yes because I love the youth of Leon Sur and I also love teaching. Since it was all of a sudden, I don't have a theme or series planned yet, but its something I am working on (I start on Sunday!). Also, I will be preaching the full month of August and also November, which is good practice because I am taking Homiletics classes right now for Sunset. Good stuff.

This week we are wrapped up in VBS stuff! The AIMers are the masterminds behind this years VBS, they wanted to do it and so they picked a theme "The Life of Jesus," asked a guest speaker to come down (Lalo Rocha from Mexico City) and recruited the help of the Leon Sur youth group. Jazmin and I are really just helping out in whatever we can, watching the kids, playing the games with them, and helping clean/serve food. It is fun to see the kids learning about Jesus through stories and crafts, and really awesome to see the neighborhood kids there, whose parents will hopefully be evangelized through this! Things like VBS and kids events are important in ministry so that we can remember that everyone is important, especially the little ones!

Thanks for your help in us being here. We are really excited and optimistic about the work here. We are super excited to have a baby on the way, and can't wait for next February to come! Please continue to pray for the work here! God bless - The Bakers

Time

2011-07-01T07:49:00.001-07:00

Time is a funny thing, it seems to be one of those things which is key in ministry, however we want all things church or church-related to happen in an instant. But it just does not happen that way, first you have to plant a seed, then water and take care of it, and once it sprouts continue to water and nurture, and maybe eventually transplant, and continue to nurture until it is a more mature plant that has deep, strong roots. And that takes TIME!

Here in Leon it seems like we have been here for a while. Omar and the Palafox family have been here from the beginning, nearly 7 years ago (In June we are having the 7th anniversary of Leon Sur in Leon!). I have been here for over 4 years now. It would be easy to look at the fruits of our labor and think, "Why haven't we done more?" or "why is this taking so long?" But we tend to forget about the time aspect of things, and want immediate results. But we see people slowly changing, slowly becoming more Christ-like, elders who are slowly becoming better shepherds, and contacts who are slowly coming to Jesus. Maybe its not that we need to work faster or harder in order for more immediate results, maybe we just need some God-given patience!

One thing that has been hard to watch is the fact that our disciples haven't really made many disciples of their own! As missionaries we evangelize, disciple, and hope that the people we see converted and matured would do the same (we don't just hope, we teach them to do the same!). But in the Mexican culture it is hard to understand the importance of God's kingdom, and therefore kingdom activities by kingdom people are harder implemented. We need your prayers for the members of Leon Sur to start sharing their love for Jesus with others.

Jazmin and I are trying to enjoy her pregnancy and every little stage of it (even the hard ones, like morning sickness!). We are enjoying working with the small groups, studying one on one with a few people, and getting to teach on Sunday's, and have seen a lot of gradual change in the people we work with. We still have hopes and dreams of planting a new congregation in Silao or perhaps another part of Leon, but again, it takes time and patience. We will probably be asking for more support pretty soon because of doctors bills and other pregnancy-related costs, and ask that you would pray that God would provide for these needs through His generous people.

To quote Omar Palafox from his blog "The bottom line of what I am trying to report is that Leon Sur is maturing. We are all maturing. And it hurts. It is not a walk in the park. Our expectations and plans require one thing.....TIME. We can not do anything without "time" - And today I have to say I am guilty of trying to not believe this." So we pray that our friends, family, and supporters, that you would give us the time to be able to stay in Leon! And continue to love and work with these people. We love you all and keep you all in our prayers! God bless

community reaction

2011-06-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

The way a church reacts to different events or situations tells a lot about that congregation. I want to talk about the churches reaction towards a few different things that have happened lately.

For the past week Jazmin has been practicing a script that Tana gave her for a small skit that might be used later on this year at the Ladies Day in December. On Saturday afternoon the women were going to meet at the church building to watch the skit, talk and spend time together. Jazmin is excited about acting and Tana and the other people helping were putting in a lot of effort. However, only a few women (besides Jazmin, Tana and those helping) actually showed up, and I know a few people were disappointed about that. The reaction was underwhelming, we all expected more of the women. Most of them had reasons for not showing up, but it was still kind of sad. In the future we hope that they will be more serious about showing up for things like Saturday.

Sunday morning was Father's Day and the reaction of the church was awesome. Throughout the service the fathers were congratulated and even more so our Heavenly Father was praised in worship. The children had a song to sing to all of the fathers and after that, all of the fathers were encouraged to go to the front where they were given a picture of them and their sons/daughters in a nice frame (even I was included, my first Father's Day!). They ended it with an emotional Father's Day video and slideshow, that had a lot of people crying and hugging their dads. The reaction was awesome and it brought everyone together!

Lastly, Isabel had a baby a few months ago and asked that she be prayed for. Isabel has two other children, David and Maribel. My AIM teammates and I spent a lot of time with David, and the church in general has really tried to encourage and love his family, but throughout the years there have been problems and sin and forgiveness and for the past year or two, Isabel and her family stopped coming. So it was a surprise to see her at church again, and I was unsure of the reaction that the members would have towards her. But it was awesome and glorified God. The elders stood and prayed over Isabel and the little baby. The members hugged Isabel, held her child, and encouraged her. After such a warm and loving and Christ-like reaction, I pray that Isabel and her family would return to Leon Sur!

Sometimes our expectations clash our own reactions or the reactions of others. But we must continue to seek to be like Jesus and react as He did, in order to love others and serve them. Please continue to pray for Leon Sur and the work in Mexico! God bless.

Leon Updates!

2011-06-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I have written anything, after the retreat my computer crashed and it has been a long process bringing it back to life! But thankfully the problems are now under control and the laptop is running better than ever. So now that we are back online, let me update you on some of the things going on.

1. The retreat was a true mind-blowing experience. From Tuesday to Thursday I got to spend quality time with other missionaries here in Mexico who are going through a lot of the same things that I am. We shared about discipleship, how to be better at "soul training" for Christ-likeness, our struggles to contextualize the Gospel to the Mexican culture, and many other things. I was blessed to get to know the other men better and came back to Leon with a clearer picture of discipleship, a challenging new outlook on spiritual disciplines, and a greater desire to know God. Can't get much better than that! Thanks again to Chris Reid who paid for me to be able to go!

2. The women at church are starting to prepare for the annual Ladies Reunion Day here in Leon, and they are off to a good start. Yesterday during class at church they met in their groups to organize and pray for the event, which shows their wisdom in planning and spirituality in praying. God is being glorified by the women of Leon Sur and we are excited to see what the future holds!

3. We are going to the doctors today for Jazmin's first appointment, so please keep her pregnancy in your prayers! We are pretty excited for this huge blessing, and are ready to have another member on the Baker family missions team! Bruno is starting to get excited to! By the way, a big CONGRATULATIONS to James and Andrea Smith from our congregation in Alaska, who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Lydia Grace on June 11 (Andrea had the baby, her husband James delivered it!!). God is good!

Jazmin is Pregnant!

2011-06-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well, most of you have probably heard the news already, but Jazmin is almost a month pregnant! We have only been trying for the past two months and so we were a little surprised that it happened this fast, but it is a huge blessing also! Our 2-year wedding anniversary is tomorrow, and so we feel like this is a good time to start growing our little family (Bruno is excited to have a human brother or sister!). There are a lot of people who will tell you to wait, or to have kids right away, and we took a little bit of advice from everyone but mainly we prayed and talked with eachother, and we are content with this blessing of a new life that God is going to give us!

This morning I had the opportunity to anounce Jazmin's pregnancy to the Leon Sur congregation. It was a special time for me, and I explained to them, that this congregation is where God taught me how to have a love for babies and for children. Before coming to Leon Sur, I had NEVER even held a baby before, and honestly was not that interested in children. But after working with children and seeing all of the newborn babies, over the past 4 years God has worked on my heart and I LOVE KIDS!!! That is what I shared with my brothers and sisters in Leon Sur, and thanked them and their children for allowing God to use them to teach me in my life.

We aren't exactly sure of what to expect just yet. I leave tomorrow for the men's missionary retreat at the beach, and will be back on Friday morning. When I get back, Jazmin and I will go to the doctors to start her appointments, and we will start looking at our budget and support to see if we will need to ask for more (however, I think I have our budget worked out to where we can stay at the same monthly level!). What we really ask for are prayers! We have been so blessed to work in Mexico, be married to eachother, and now to have our first "MK" (missionary kid!) on the field. I really have to hand it to our supporters, they are the most loving, caring, and honest hard-working people that I know! We love you all and God bless!

Blessed by AIM

2011-06-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

AIM is a program that has a lot of connection in Leon, since the first team came here in 2006 and there have been a few teams since then. The AIMers have evangelized, discipled, served, and been a part of Leon and the work in Mexico from the beginning, and even many of the missionaries in Mexico are ex-AIM students! So it comes as no surprise that there are many blessings which come from the AIM program and its students.

Next Tuesday through Thursday there will be a men's missionary retreat in Puerto Vallarta, many missionary men from throughout Mexico will be there to learn in classes about the spiritual disciplines and discipleship in Mexico. As much as I have wanted to go, we just haven't had the extra money lately to be able to afford it, and also we are saving up to be able to go to the 2011 Mexico Missionaries retreat, which is for all of the missionary families, later this year.

After AIM it is harder to get support. First off, there is no program with a good reputation to tell people about. You have to share your vision and dream with many congregations and pray that they will partner with you in that work. Also, after AIM many congregations look for further education that will help in mission work. Although I am going through Sunset online, even that is not enough for many congregations these days. Thanks to God, we have been blessed by the congregations in Wasilla AK, McEwen and Maryville TN, and Damascus VA to be able to continue the work here in Leon along with the other missionaries here. We haven't suffered really much at all in a money sense, because these congregations share that mission dream with us about Mexico. We are blessed!

But needless to say, many AIMers get more money a month than missionary families starting out. I know many single AIMers who are recieving thousands of dollars a month when there are young missionary families who are just starting out struggling to reach a thousand dollar support minimum. In that sense, AIMers are set up to bless others. When I was in AIM, I had so much extra support that I was able to bless others without sacrificing much if anything! I was able to help my teammates who didn't have as much support, and I was able to help church members who lacked money and food. So AIMers have a unique opportunity because of their situation.

That is where Chris Reid comes in. Chris is an AIMer here in Leon who is from my congregation in Alaska. We started meeting together during his senior year of highschool, and not long after he decided to go to AIM that fall. He was assigned to go to Leon, Mexico and that came as an even bigger surprise that I had nothing to do with! He came here with plenty of support (don't get me wrong though, he is not rich beyond belief!) and because of his Christ-like attitude, he has been helping people down here since the day he got off of the plane. That is just how Chris is - you ask for a drink of water and he brings you a 3 liter Coke. He doesn't need to be asked to give - he just does! AIM does a good job of turning young Christian men and women into servants, but Chris, in my opinion, is a natural servant.

Omar, the other missionary here, is teaching at the retreat, and he really wanted me to be able to go. As much as I wanted to, I had to say no. So when Chris heard this, he immediately offered to pay my way to the retreat! I accepted his offer and next Monday night we will be leaving late at night to get to the beach in the early morning. I have been really challenged by Chris and his gift of giving, and as his friend I am thankful that he is willing to help me out in this way. It reminds me that we have been given so much and we should be more than willing to help eachother out when times are tough, or anytime at all!

Blessed Sunday

2011-05-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Today we had a blessed Sunday in Leon. Worship was encouraging, the Gospel message was preached by Omar through Proverbs, and I got to talk about the Lord's Supper. The Leon Sur church is changing, but change is good and we are seeing more and more people wanting to participate in our community of believers. A video was shown that was sent by Beto Rubio, who has finished his 2nd year of three at the preaching school in Quito, Ecuador. For class, the annual ladies reunion was planned by the elders and some deacons, encouraging the women to take part and step up.

After church, we invited the Rosas family and Braulio and Silvia (the families who took part in our old small group) to our house to make tostadas and spend time in fellowship. Since we left our old small group to form a new one earlier this year, we have missed our time with these families, and it was great to be together in our house after church, eating, talking, laughing, and being together again. We have seen all of them grow so much in Christ, and they have seen us mature also, and it is a huge blessing to continue to work together.

We praise God for opportunities to commune with His people and with Him, not just on Sunday's but every day!

Tuesday Study

2011-05-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Jazmin with our good friend Gaby Pablo. She was baptized in December of last year and we started meeting on Tuesday nights at our house in March. Discipleship is just as important as evangelism, and Gaby has shown the desire to grow in her faith from the beginning.
Over the past few months we have answered questions, talking about the nature of God, sin, and other things. Tonight we talked about Romans 14 and the importance of conviction and how to act upon it. She is really devoted to Jesus and is making big sacrifices to participate in the church and the studies, because her family is not Christian.
We are excited and blessed to get to spend time with her every week, she always greets us with a smile and we are encouraged by her eagerness to learn from God's word. Please pray for Gaby as she continues to grow in her faith and relationship with God!

Ladie's Retreat and more

2011-05-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

This past Friday and Saturday there was a ladies retreat for the Leon Sur women. They were blessed to get out of town and take some time for themselves to focus on Jesus and their relationships with God. Jazmin attended but she couldn't stay for Saturday because she had to be at school all day. But on Friday night she gave the welcome and opening prayer... She is a good pray-er, her prayers are always heartfelt and honest!

The women were blessed to listen to Maria Palafox, Omar's mom, speak to them, and also a sister from the Guanajuato congregation, Ilse. They did activities, listened to classes, and just fellowshipped together. It is important for the women to get the opportunity to do things like that, and the awesome part is that it was totally natural - no pushing or influencing by the missionaries, just Mexican women who saw the need for a ladies retreat! Praise God for the women of Leon Sur.

This past week I haven't updated the blog because there isn't a whole lot of news... I have a lot of assignments for my Sunset classes that I need to finish before they are up! Right now I am writing a commentary on the book of Jude, and God has been blessing me immensely through that, I recommend that anyone who doesn't understand a book of the Bible, write a commentary on it!

Right now we are still meeting with small groups, discipleship studies with Gaby Pablo, surveying a church plant in Silao, finishing our schooling, preaching and teaching on Sundays, evangelizing Jazmin's family and others, and feeding ourselves on God's word. We are blessed to be here and be part of something so much bigger than us; sometimes I look at the past 4 years and it brings tears to my eyes... God is so GOOD to His people! Thanks for sharing this work with us!

Silao Survey trip #2

2011-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today we got up early to go to Silao. We had originally planned to go yesterday but a meeting came up, and even today it was hard to communicate between everyone who was going and how everyone would get there. But in the end, God provided a way for everyone to serve Him! The first trip we just went to see what Silao was like - get the flavor of the city, see where the cultural gathering places were, etc. But today we went with a larger purpose - to ask questions and investigate. Omar did the kindness of writing up a questionnare and printing them off, and so we spent a few hours in the downtown square talking to people about faith, Jesus, church, and the Bible. It was a good time to hear what people had to say and see what their reactions would be. The questions asked were:

1. Of the people you know in Silao, are many of them interested in learning more about God?
2. What influence does Jesus of the Bible have on the people of Silao?
3. What is the Bible for you?
4. When was the last time that someone told you "Jesus loves you"?

These were pretty open ended questions, and the response was good from some, and less from others. This is the feeling we get about Silao - very religious, very Jesus focused, very Catholic, not very interested in knowing God better, and not Bible literate whatsoever. People were proud to be Catholic and proud to say they went to the Mass/ Misa every Sunday, but the majority of them had NEVER read the Bible! So that tells us a lot of things!

It was encouraging for a few people to open up and really want to talk with us; there are receptive people in Silao, it is just a matter of finding them! So we ask that you would continue to pray for the Silao project, which is steadily becoming more and more a part of our lives. If you want more in-depth information, check out the blog that Omar is writing here: http://silaoproject.blogspot.com/

We want to see people meeting Jesus in Silao!

Our trip to Alaska

2011-05-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

We are back on the net! We have been in Alaska visiting with my family and with the church for the past 3 weeks and it has been a great trip. I want to share some of the highlights with you.

1. This was Jazmin's first trip to Alaska! So she got to try a lot of new things, like seeing snow, riding four-wheelers, and shooting guns. She is a great wife; she tried everything with eagerness and without fear! She fit right in up there.

2. Spending time with my family. We stayed at my parents house the whole time, in the house that I grew up in as a boy. It was fun getting up early every day and drinking coffee, and ending the night the same way. We spent a lot of time with Mollie, my sister's two year old, and with my sister and her husband Stu. It was a great time to grow closer to eachother.

3. Spending time with the church. Another one of the main reasons we went up to Alaska is to present the work in Leon to the Valley church of Christ, which is our "home church" and among many congregations who help support us. It was a blessing to be around such a vibrant, loving, and mature spiritual family. They had a true interest for the work we are doing and for our well-being, and we left feeling much closer to them and hopefully vice-versa.

We definately want to go back to Alaska, to visit and if it is God's will, to work with the church. But for now we are here in Mexico to work hard, live, and show others Jesus. We want to thank all of our supporters and the churches that helped us to make this trip! God bless you all.

Sunday in Guanajuato

2011-04-04T12:21:00.001-07:00

About a month ago, Roberto Rubio told me that Raciel, the missionary in the nearby city of Guanajuato, had invited us on the first Sunday of April to preach and teach. I was excited to have the opportunity to go and teach, and to fellowship and see how the congregation in GTO was doing. It was an interesting Sunday, because of the time change (1-hour forward) so we left a little tired but encouraged all the same. Up until a few months ago, the church had been meeting in Raciel's house, but they finally moved into a building. It is basically two large rooms, but it a good place for the growing congregation to meet in. They had the class before the worship service, so I got to go first. We talked about how it is important to have a good biblical view of grace, and how because of grace the body of Christ is able to use its talents to further the Kingdom. The worship service was full of encouraging singing, and the simplicity was also very nice. The songs were led one right after the other, and no songbooks so the members were all looking forward with their heads up, instead of noses buried in a book and the flipping of pages. A good sermon was preached by Roberto on how important grace is in order to evangelize the lost. The most surprising thing about the whole service was the leadership of the men in the congregation. Most of them are pretty recently baptized, but they were all willing to serve. After church we went to one of the sisters' house to eat pozole and fellowship. She had a very typical Mexican style ranch house and it was a good time to eat and laugh together. We finally arrived back in Leon at about 6pm after a long but blessed day. We really enjoyed the opportunity and as always, were blessed beyond what we could imagine. Please pray for Raciel and Ilse, who are ministering to God's body in GTO.

Also, I just want to say that my wife is awesome. She is an awesome server, who uses the gift of mercy-showing to love everyone. I am overwhelmed by how much God has taught me through her, and can't wait for us to be blessed with a child someday. And she is beautiful! Thanks Jazmin.

Silao church plant and other news from Leon!

2011-03-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

Today was our first survey trip to the nearby town of Silao, where we are hoping to be planting a church in the next year or two. Silao lies about 20 minutes to the Southeast of Leon. We went with Omar Palafox and Bill Calderon, who are the other missionaries in the core group, and also took along Princeton and Nick, two of the AIMers. We decided to go and get the lay of the land, find out where the schools, churches, and other important places were. We went to the downtown and looked around, and made it to the local Catholic temple. When we got there, the service had just ended, and so we got to see just how many people go to church on a Monday, and we were surprised (usually Sunday mass is the most attended, and the rest of the week is pretty scarce!). There were a lot of people there, and they were serious Catholics. The church itself was pretty impressive for a small town, with vaulted ceilings and decorated ornately. One of the other things we saw was a new tower for the "Luz del Mundo" (Light of the World) religion. They are a Pentecostal group, who have their "Prophet" and everything that comes with that. This tower is supposed to be a place of worship and an attraction to potential converts. So there are two main religions that are going head to head in Silao, which makes it an interesting place to work. It is a laid back, relaxed lifestyle, more like a ranch town than a city, like Leon. We are praying for the work in Silao, and in the coming months with become more involved with meeting people and seeing places. Please pray for God's will to be done in Silao!

In other news, I am done preaching the month of March from Proverbs! I have a new found respect for preachers, and among the other things we do during the week, it makes preparing a sermon pretty hard! But I loved it and thank God and the Leon Sur elders for the opportunity to grow. Omar will now be taking the sermons.

Sunday afternoon the whole church was invited over to Gloria's house, our sister who was robbed only a few months ago (and robbed of EVERYTHING!). We enjoyed the time of food, laughing, games, and fellowship. It is a new era of the church in Leon, and we are seeing it become "Mexican-ized" which is good. God is using more than the missionaries to do His will here, which means that we will begin to focus less on Leon Sur and more on the "next step." Please pray for all of the work and workers in Leon!

Ministry in Leon

2011-03-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, we have been busy the past few weeks and we will be busy for a while! We are planning on going to Alaska in mid-April, and staying for a few weeks. So right now we are trying to get as much done as we can! We have continued our small groups and bible studies, and also I have started preaching the book of Proverbs. Last night we went to Alfonso and Carmen's house, the family who has planted the congregation in La Libertad. It was good to eat, fellowship, and they even let me lead their small group discussion. The church Leon Sur is doing good, on Sunday there was high attendance, despite members leaving, visitors not returning, and many members going to help at the La Libertad plant. God is good to give the growth in people who are seeking Him, and we have seen Gustavo and others return in order to grow closer to God. The baby is Carol, one of Jazmin's friends daughter. Jazmin has been spending time with Edna and hopefully the Gospel seed will be sown. Even though we are exciting about visiting Alaska, we are not losing focus on what we are doing day-to-day. He is good!

Time flies!

2011-03-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it is already March! The year is moving by quickly, and there is no rest for the weary (well, we aren't weary, just a little tired!) but God gives us the strength to keep pushing on. After my parents left, it seemed as though we were flooded with things to do! Jazmin continues to teach the kids class, and she is starting English classes with Silvia this week. Not to mention her schoolwork! I am preaching for the next 3 or 4 Sundays, and today I taught the adult class, which I am co-teaching Omar (who is an awesome teacher and really pushes me to do better!). We are studying with Gaby and Shantal on Tuesdays and have our small group on Thursdays, where we will be going through the book of Hebrews. And that is just some of the stuff!
The man on my right and Felipes left is named Gustavo. He isvery interested in giving his life to God at this point and we are hopeful that he chooses to follow Jesus very soon. He has some problems that he is struggling with, be he knows that Jesus is bigger than his problems!
This is the picture of the day that Gaby Pablo was baptized a few months ago. We met with her for the first time this past week and had a great time getting to know her better, and also we all have questions that we want to be answered but maybe are too embarassed or scared to ask on Sundays, and so we wrote down a list of questions that we will be looking at the Biblical answers to. Shantal, who was baptized last year, will be studying with us also! We are proud of Gaby and Shantal for their desire to continue growing in their faith in order to glorify God!
This last picture is from last Sunday, spending time with a bunch of people who we had over to our house. In this picture I am talking with Jazmin's aunt and uncle, Lily and Javier. I had baptized Javier a few years ago, but they never really connected with the congregation. But last Sunday, randomly, their visit with us intersected with a visit from a bunch of people from church. They talked with a lot of the members, and said "You know what, we really liked the feeling we had with the people from your church." And so they came to church this morning, and after church they even invited us and Nick, one of the AIMers that they connected with, over for lunch. They want to connect and starting going to Leon Sur. We are proud of them and are glad they have decided to spend more time with the church!

Parents trip

2011-02-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

As some of you may have known, my parents came down here for the past week. The first time they had visited Leon was almost in March of 2008 (just them and my sister), and since then they have brought down a mission group from their congregation in Alaska. So they decided it was time to come visit us without the group, and it was a blast! We got to spend time relaxing at our house, going to the church events and the cell groups, eat and joke with Jazmin's family, and see the sights of nearby town Dolores Hidalgo. It was awesome to have them here in our house the whole time instead of in a hotel all the way downtown! The best parts were spent drinking coffee together in the mornings, and also seeing them interact with my good friends and family in Christ down here. Praise to Him! We are trying to go to Alaska in April to make one last presentation of the work at the Valley church of Christ and also to see my parents and the rest of the family there.

In other news, my good friend and teammate Bill Calderon's grandfather passed away suddenly last week, and even though Bill just got back here to start working, his family wanted him to be there in Texas. So please pray for Bill and his desire to work in Leon, there are many things to be done and we must continue to push on despite the setbacks and difficult situations!

The cell groups are going good. There are between 6-8 cells going on throughout the week, some new and some old. Instead of starting a new cell, for the moment we will be working with the Thurs. night cell at Felipe and Blanca's house. Please pray that we may be mission minded and continue to grow the participants! Other cell leaders are stepping up and doing a great job. It is hard to get all of the cells focused on one common theme or material, but we will be trying in the next few months to do so.

The church plant by some of the Leon Sur members in their home neighborhood of La Libertad seems to be going great. Omar has helped them with some chairs, and they need more because they are growing steadily. Jazmin and I haven't been out there yet, but we would like to go soon in order to see the work and to encourage our good friends. Chris Reid, one of the AIMer's who I meet with weekly, is the only American working with the church in La Libertad, and he has done an awesome job of stepping back and letting the Mexican men lead, and also serving where he is needed.

And last, but not least, we are hoping to get working on the Silao church plant. We are all praying, there are others interested such as Bill and Omar, but we need to really start to get to work by making contacts, visiting, and more. It is hard since there is still much work to do at Leon Sur, preaching and teaching. Please pray for God's will to be done in the lives of all the missionaries in Leon.

We miss you Janis!

2011-02-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

This has been a different kind of week, my parents are coming to visit and they get here tomorrow, so we have been getting ready to spent some time with them. During the craziness of getting everything ready, our 1 1/2 year old chihuahua Janis escaped yesterday while we were gone. The door that leads to the patio where the dogs are was accidently left cracked, and she was able to get through that one. And the front gate is just bars so she slipped through them. Most likely somebody grabbed her and took her home; hopefully they are taking good care of her! It has been hard seeing Bruno, our 6 mo. old American Bulldog (we used to think he was a Boxer!) sad, bored, and confused that Janis isnt here. Please pray that someone brings Janis back, if that is God's will.

On a more positive, eternal note, Leti was baptized today! Leti is Bill Calderon's fiance, and you might be thinking "hasn't she been a Christian ever since the beginning?" Leti comes from a Baptist background, and baptism has always been something she had thought about. After 2 years of studying, talking, and waiting on the Lord, Leti decided to be baptized today! We are all happy to see such a good friend become a sister in Christ! Please pray for her growth and walk with our Father.

Despite the hard things, we have hope in Jesus of eternal life! I am trying to work on living a joyous life, and remain joyful in trials and tough times. Please keep me in your prayers also. God bless

God is Good!

2011-02-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day in Christ! We worshipped together and enjoyed eachothers presence, despite our differences and shortcomings. There was a very serious prayer request by one of our sisters, Gloria, who was recently baptized. Last night, she arrived home and was tied up, had guns held to her head, and was robbed of everything that was of value that she owned. Her truck, her cell phones, jewelry, bank acct. numbers, etc, were all taken. She was encouraged by her brother to come to church this morning, even though she was pretty shaken up about last nights events. It was hard to watch her cry, however SHE is the one that told US that God is Good! It was encouraging to see a young sister in Christ be so faithful and content in God, despite her circumstances. Please pray for her and thank God that she is okay.

This past week we helped Leti have a surprise birthday for Bill, my old AIM teammate. We pulled it off succesfully, and it was good to spend time with her family. God uses times like that to evangelize, edify, and also to glorify Him. Please pray for Bill and Leti, their future marriage, and work in Mexico.

Also, Omar is back from India! It was good to see him at church today, and he was happy to be back with his wife and kids. We enjoyed the time we got to talk with him and will continue working with the Palafox family for as long as God has planned.

God is being glorified in Leon, even using broken, clay vessels like us! Continue to pray for our marriage, ministry, and relationship with God. We love you all!

2011-02-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

I know I have posted for the past few weeks pictures of the smalls groups that I am substitute-leading. This group is at the Rosa's house, and it is a cell that we started in the beginning of 2010. The Rosas are a humble, hardworking family that have graciously opened their house for over a year in order to meet with spiritual-family members every week. Pedro and Rocio are the newest members of the church in Leon, and they have become more involved since they have started coming to the small group. This is our last week of "substituting" as the cells leaders. But this means that our plan worked. We originally started this group with the intention of "passing it on" to someone else, in order to multiply. So coming back for a few weeks and seeing the growth is encouraging, and that the leaders who are now in place are willing push on and continue meeting. This means that maturity and growth has taken place.

The other news is that my parents will be coming down for a little over a week. They will get here on the 19th and stay for two Sundays. They have a love for Mexico almost as big as my own, and it has shown, as they have made 3 trips (this will be their 4th) in the past 4 years, and two of those they brought other Christians from the congregation in Alaska in order to work down here with the church. This time, they will be coming just to visit and fellowship with us and others, and later on this summer they will bring a mission group from Alaska. We are excited about spending time with them, and will surely update the blog when they get here.

2011-01-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

The time has been going by fast! We have had times of rest and times of business, and try to glorify God in all of it! Jazmin has been busy with ladies breakfasts, teaching on Sunday mornings, and just this week she starts her social service to finish her high school. She needs 120 hours of social work, so she is teaching computer lab at the neighborhood elementary school. I am working on Sunset, teaching adult class on Sundays, leading 2 small groups, and various studies and accountability groups throughout the week. As well as working with the new elders, there is much to be done.

After church on Sunday we went to Susana's family's ranch to eat lunch and fellowship. It was a great time to see brothers and sisters in Christ having conversations, laughing, and enjoying time together. We pray for more moments like these.

We are continuing to meet with two small groups throughout the week while the family who is leading them is resting for medical reasons. We are able to encourage others, share food, and share Jesus.

God is working in Leon, in many ways and through many people. WE are so glad to be here, in order to do God's will and see what happens next! Thanks

Small group substitute

2011-01-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

A year ago we started a small group in the house of the Rosas family on Tuesday nights, and we enjoyed our year fellowshipping and getting to know them and another family we met with every week. However, after a year, we decided to part ways with our small group in order to let them continue to grow, and for us to start a new one in our house. We havent started ours yet for a few reasons, but on Sunday I was asked by the man who had been leading the small group, Braulio, if I would take charge of his small groups for the next 3 weeks (they have another small group in Blanca and Felipe's house on Thursdays). Now a few months ago a couple stumbled upon our congregation and started going, and they have really wanted to get connected to the small groups. Turns our they live just a block away from the Rosas house, so it worked out perfectly for them to come on Tuesday! Pablo is from Spain, and his wife Rocio is from the nearby town of Salamanca. They just recently moved to Mexico and we had a great time sharing our stories of how we became Christians. He is still getting accustomed to the Mexican culture and lifestyle, which is tremendously different than the culture of Spain. But all in all, it was a great time to encourage this new couple. Please pray for their continued growth in Christ and their participation with Leon Sur.

natural community!

2011-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

Another great week here in Leon Mexico. We are ever seeking community, and what we seek we find! God is allowing the church here to grow in ways that are inspiring to all of us. Community is happening not by force, but by nature! This Sunday after an awesome time of worship and listening to God through prayer and study, many were invited over to Susana's house to enjoy food and fellowship. It was a totally random, sporadic time of community, which resulted in edification and even evangelism (Susana's husband is not a Christian but he was there eating and talking with us)! We love times like these, where God uses all of us for His purpose.

The new elders are doing great. They have been loving and serving with open hearts and minds since the beginning of this year, and are starting to really get the hang of their responsiblity. We have met every Monday so far, and it has served to keep them accountable as the spiritual leaders of this congregation. Please pray for them and their continued ministry here.

Jazmin has really enjoyed teaching her kids class with Pao, one of the other young women here at Leon Sur. The kids love their time of crafts, singing, and reading the Bible. I have also been enjoying teaching the adult class on the subject of "Respect". We have looked at the Hebrew and Greek words for respect in order to get a Biblical concept of respect, instead of settling for a worldly concept of respect. Now that we are starting to understand God's original intention for the word, we can start to focus on our relationships and how respect plays a huge part in them.

Jazmin and I have left our old small groups in order to start a new one later this year, however I have been asked to help lead two of the "old ones" for the next 3 weeks while one of the leaders recovers at home from a medical situation. It will be a good time of community and it is great to see the groups that we "discipled" on their own.

Continue to pray for God's will as we push on towards the next step here in Mexico- whether it be Silao or somewhere else!

Great times

2011-01-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

This past week was a blessing. We spent a lot of time with brothers and sisters in Christ, but also with non-Christians. On Monday the women had their first ladies breakfast of the year. They spent the time thinking and planning how they can glorify God more. Jazmin is going to be teaching on Sunday's and also she is in charge of where the ladies breakfasts will be held each week. During their breakfast, I had my first meeting with the new elders, and let me tell you, it was super encouraging! It is nerve racking, knowing that you are now at the command of other men as far as your church ministries go, and I did not know what to expect. But to be honest, it was one of the best meetings I had been to ever. The men are still getting used to the importance of their new role, but their humility and willingness to cooperate with eachother is very encouraging. Please pray for them as they continue to work with Leon Sur.

During the week, Jazmin hung out with Jeni and they made a really good meal for us! And they enjoyed the fellowship and girl talk. I had my discipleship time with Chris before he went off on his trip to Europe for the next 2 weeks, and we talked about being spiritually ready to go on a trip. It was a great time for reflection and growth. We love the AIMers and their willingness to learn and get their "hands dirty".

Today we had an awesome time at church in the morning and with the church after. Today was Jazmin's first day teaching, and she loved it. I even got to hear one of the little boys recite his memory verse after class, which was cute and really neat. Since Omar is in India, I have the chance to teach the adults for the next 4 weeks. We started on the topic of "respect" by studying the Hebrew words used in the OT to get a biblical concept of the idea. I love teaching and it makes a world of difference when you have students who are willing to learn and not afraid of making comments! After services we came back to our house and invited the Rubios, some of the AIMers, and Tana and her kids over. We ate tostadas and had cake since it is Esperanza's birthday soon, and a good time was had by all.

Thanks again for your love and support. We are enjoying this year so far and the opportunities that God has provided us.

2011-01-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

This morning we were blessed to hear our brother Beto Rubio preach a great sermon on change from the book of Job. Beto was sent off by the Leon Sur congregation to the 3-year school of preaching in Quito, Ecuador, quite a ways away from Mexico. He is about half way done, and has grown a lot in his preaching abilities and knowledge of the word of God. We are super proud of him and know that God is going to continue to use him to further the kingdom and disciple others.

After church we spent a few hours at Beto's parents house. Beto's father Roberto is one of the new elders, and has worked with the missionaries for a few years now growing the church in Leon. They are a hospitable and warm family and we were glad to fellowship with them and others from the congregation.

The Palafox family was there and it is always a blessing to spend time with them. Please pray for Omar as he leaves for a 4-week trip to India, to do mission work and teach others. Also pray for his wife Tana as she remains here in Mexico with the kids!

Only two weeks until our members plant the church in La Libertad, a neighborhood not from outside of Leon. Some of the AIMers will be working with them, and we will be assisting from time to time. We are proud and excited that WE are not working directly with that work, meaning, it is a Mexican church plant, not Americans planting a church in Mexico! Amen!

Jazmin will be helping teach a kids class starting next Sunday, the 3-5 year olds! She is excited to teach with another girl from the church here, and they will do a great job. Expect a post from her soon!

It is looking like I might be teaching the adult Bible class with Omar for the next few months, but I still need to hear from the elders. Please pray for my ministry here as I step back from many of the things I had been doing in order for others to take up leadership.

2011 is sure to be a blessed year; we continue to ask for your love and support and in turn pray for you all. We love you and thank you for your generosity and heart for Christ. God bless

New Year!

2011-01-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, back to blogging! We hope you all had a great holiday season and time spent with family and friends! The break was nice but now we are motivated to once again start a new year with new ministries and activities. We spent the holidays here in Leon with Jazmin's family and of course with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and now we are quite settled into our new house. We have been blessed with a good location and therefore we have had quite a few people over from the congregation and also from around the neighborhood.

We started off the first Sunday of 2011 with a low attendance, as always, but it was a blessing to see the people who did show up. They were ready to worship our Father and that is always encouraging. I was asked to preach and so I spoke about having mercy on others in 2011, with the story of the good Samaritan (which is really a story about Jesus) as the text. We were blessed to see Ivan and Isaura (who are recent parents to little Josue) step up and become the new leaders of the youth group. After church we had them over for coffee and enjoyed visiting with them.

The elders have done a good job so far but please continue to pray for them. They are struggling with organizing the sermons and classes for 2011 and are still getting used to being in a leadership position. They are great men who will do good work for the Lord, and truly have a love for the Leon Sur congregation.

Our plans for 2011 are mainly to focus on evangelism, discipleship, our education, and visiting Alaska before Jazmin's visa is up on July. We are still working with the Leon Sur congregation but at the same time have started to hand over many ministries to the members and so we wont be working so much in "the spotlight" as much as "behind the scenes". We are praying that God gives us guidance about where we might be able to plant the next congregation (Silao, etc).

We are also asking for any one-time support we can get in order to make the final trip to Alaska. In Alaska is the only supporting congregation that we havent yet visited as a couple, and we are hoping to be able to go there and report on the work here.

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support! It means more than you all know! We pray for blessings in your year, and that you continue to show Jesus to everyone! God bless and we will be in contact!

Sunday

2010-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. But let me start with last night. Last night we had a "Christmas party" for the youth, but Christmas was rarely mentioned, it was more of a "birth-of-Jesus" party. There was a 4 part skit, consiting of Prophesy, Anouncement, Pilgrimage, and Birth. After that, the youth talked with the Gary family over Skype. Ivan led us in some Christmas songs and I was able to give a short message about the coming of our Lord. It was a great time to remember the point of the Holiday season! And so this morning, we had our worship service. Encouraging singing, I was able to preach my last sermon of the year on passion from Nehemiah, one of the women who was baptized last week gave a heartfelt thanksgiving to the congregation, and we sent off 2 families who are going to plant a church starting in their house. Now that is a good Sunday! It is a good way to end the year, and we are blessed to be here.

Putting the "Christ" back in Christmas!

2010-12-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the goings on as of late...

baptisms

cakes

smiles

fellowship

warm hearts....

GOD is good!

Huge blessing!

2010-12-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

Today we were blessed greatly by some of our supporters and friends and family! We got two things in the mail; first, a packet of cards that the members of the Valley church of Christ wrote us, second, a package from the Laurel Ave. church of Christ in Virginia which contained craft supplies and books for the kids! The cards were super encouraging, and made us feel appreciated. We love hearing from our friends and family in the states and knowing that they think about us and pray for us! The package from the church in Virginia was just awesome, they sent so many things that we have needed, and they tell us that there will be more coming our way! Their sacrifice has been our blessing, and we cant wait to see the kids at church when they see all the neat things they will be able to use and enjoy! It will honestly be like Christmas for them! I think the most important thing out of all of this is not what our brothers and sisters have given, but the fact that they give. We truly know God when we give, because God first gave. We truly know God when we love, because he loved us first. And so by their works, we know our brothers and sisters are growing and sharing their blessings with us. And that pleases us, but more importantly, our heavenly Father! Thanks!

Celula and GTO breakfast

2010-12-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

The other day I was looking through some pictures and I realized that we started our small group on January 16 of the beginning of this year, which means we have been meeting with the same families on every Tuesday night for almost a whole year! It is amazing how much you really get to know someone "outside of church", what I mean is apart from the Sunday morning church service. It has become obvious that cell groups are vital to the church body, just like cells are vital to any living organism. And as we see one of our members cells actually become a new church plant in Leon, we give the glory to God. He has truly blessed us this past year with the cells and we hope to continue meeting in homes for as long as we are here.

Yesterday morning, Omar and Tana picked us up early at our house to go to eat breakfast with the missionaries in Guanajuato, Raciel and Ilse. They planted the church in Guanajuato 5 or 6 years ago and have seen much fruit but at the same time many struggles. One of the main things they are dealing with right now are people who are not yet married but have already become Christians. So we had a good discussion about how a missionary should deal with that, and of course enjoyed the food and other topics of discussion. It was encouraging to see their growth and it was fun to see their youngest son Samuel already talking and interacting at 2 years old. Please pray for their ministry and work in GTO.

2010-12-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

Here is the picture I was looking for of my mother in law helping with the reception and signing everyone up. She really did a good job serving.

The Ladies Day

2010-12-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, women from all over the Republic of Mexico gathered at the Leon Sur church building to enjoy a day of fellowship, teaching, and prayer. For the past 6 years, the women have done the Ladies Day on the first Saturday in December. This year however, it seemed like all of the women played a big role in preparing for and serving on this special day, instead of just a few of the missionaries or a few of the members. Everyone had their responsibilities and everyone did awesome in serving and participating. It was even more special to see Jazmin's mom serving and helping, since she was just baptized this last summer. She is growing in her faith and desire to please God, and it is showing in her participation in the womens ministry. The classes were done by Kim, and American women who married a Mexican (who she metin AIM!) and stayed here to work with the church. She taught on having a "Mary heart in a Martha world" and the message was well recieved by the women. As Omar Palafox said in his blog "It takes years and much money to see a church be willing to serve others the way Leon Sur did yesterday." We are glad to see the fruits of the labor. And a huge thanks has to go to Barb Gary, who set an awesome example and left a good legacy for the women here. Please continue to pray for the women, their ministry, and their lives.

Also, yesterday at church was very encouraging. Princeton, whom I mentioned in my last blog, led us in our thoughts during the Lords supper, and did a great job. His Spanish is very good, and really the Spanish of all of the AIM team is really good, as Chris Reid did the Lord's Supper the week before. The church is blessed to have them serving here. After potluck, we invited the members of our small group over to the new house, along with Omar and Tana and Jazmin's family. It was a good time to drink coffee, tell stories, play instruments, laugh, and encourage eachother. Praise God for Christian family and for servant hearts.

Preparing for the Ladies Day, and elders

2010-12-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

This morning we spent some time preparing the church building for the annual Ladies Day here at Leon Sur that will take place on Saturday. There will be women coming from all over the Republic of Mexico to fellowship, learn, and share this special time just for God's daughters. Therefore we wanted to do a good job cleaning, fixing, and decorating so that it would glorify Him and please the women. As it has been said before, many dont think that mission work is cleaning, decorating, or fixing things, but that is where they are wrong, because Jesus tells us that we must serve and not be served, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first in the kingdom. So we are happy to help when we can. I got the chance to hang sheets from the wall with one of the AIMer's, Princeton, who is from India but is serving here in Leon. He is a great guy and a big encouragement to me, and it is awesome to see young people serving God with passion, and who really love Jesus. Please pray for the Ladies Day to be a sweet smelling sacrifice to God, and that His will be done.

Also, included is a picture of the new elders and their wives. From L-R they are: Arturo and Marta Franco, Martin and Patricia Galvan, and Roberto and Esperanza Rubio. Right now they are spending time together, getting to know eachother better, meeting, and planning the 2011 calendar. Please pray for their ministry and their love for God and the church.

Birthday

2010-11-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post some pics of a birthday we went to Sunday after church. Ana Solache turned 16 on Monday so Sunday we went to her house and ate burritos, and Roberto Rubio and I went out and bought two cakes for the party. It was a fun time to eat, talk, celebrate, and there was even some dancing! Some of the AIMers went along and got to see and taste some new things (super super hot salsa!) and Chris Reid even got up and danced! It was a fun time had by all and its amazing when you really think about it how God connects all of us through Christ. Otherwise, none of us would know eachother, or be friends! Only by His grace! The other picture is from the same party but it is me and Roberto and Esperanza Rubio, the Mexican missionaries who we work with down here. Roberto just became one of the first elders in the congregation Leon Sur. They are from a ranch town outside of Leon and went through Sunset at the extension school in Toluca. They are hard workers, amazing evangelists, and super humble. WE are super blessed to work with them and are excited about the future.

Still no internet!

2010-11-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

So, I am writing this blog from our local Starbucks, which thankfully is only a 5 minute walk from out new house. We have been really good, and the work is going great. Lately we have been winding down with cell groups, finishing up the Ezra and Nehemiah sermon series, and doing a lot of discipleship. Jazmin is finishing up this school year, and I am still working on my Sunset classes. This weekend, I will be going to Morelia, Michoacan with Omar, the AIMers and some of the youth from church to a youth rally. It should be a good time to visit another congregation and encourage their youth. Also, I have been meeting weekly with Chris Reid, one of the AIMers who is from my congregation in Alaska. Chris and I really got to know eachother the last time I lived in the states (Sept 2008-May 2009) when I was working with the Valley church of Christ. He was a senior in highschool and I was working as an intern at the church. God gave me the opportunity to disciple Chris and we shared a Paul-Timothy relationship for a while, and Chris eventually went into the AIM program in Texas. By God's decision, Chris was again placed in my path and sent down here to Leon. We havent spent as much time together as we had liked, but now we are meeting once a week to have a small Life Transformation Group (we talk about our struggles, read the Bible, and pray for eachother). It has been a great time of growth for me and for Chris, and hopefully we can continue to meet. Jazmin is going to start watching her friend's baby girl starting this afternoon for a few days out of the week, she is a year and a half old and her name is Karlita. Jazmin loves kids and hopefully this will give us a chance to prepare ourselves for parenthood in the next year or two. We thank you all for your love and support, you are all in our prayers and we ask for continued prayers for our work in God's mission here in Mexico. God bless

PS. the girl in the picture with Jazmin is her friends newborn baby. We will be watching her big sister.

The house and other happenings

2010-11-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

Life is almost back to normal! We are fully moved into our "new" house and it has already been a huge blessing. We enjoy being closer to the work and being able to walk places more frequently. We are closer to Jazmin's family (which is a double blessing because we can visit more with them and at the same time evangelize!) and we are closer to the church building. Now the invitation to come is open for EVERYONE! If you ever have wanted to do short term mission work, come stay with us! We will find something for you to do, and you can stay at our house for free! Thanks to our supporters who have made this move possible because of the money they graciously give us! And to God who gives all blessings from His hands.

The womens ministry has always been strong in Leon and they have been doing a lot lately, even outside of Leon. They recently took a 5 hour trip to Toluca, Mexico to the National Womens Reunion and more than 20 women from the congregation went. Jazmin's mom, Gloria, who was baptized this summer while the Alaska group was here, also went. It was her first time to go to a ladies retreat and her first time leaving Leon in years. She thoroughly enjoyed the trip and was blessed to grow spiritually in her faith. Please continue to pray for the ladies, who will go to another retreat in San Miguel de Allende this next weekend and then have a retreat in Leon in December.

The elders are now in charge of planning 2011, and will start making plans for the spiritual direction of the congregation. It is a time of change, but they wont make big changes for a while in order to let the changes be gradual and natural. They are excited about their new responsibility but at the same time nervous, as it is a big responsibility. Please pray for them in their new ministry. We are blessed to have Godly men leading in Leon.

The rest of the year will be a good time to fast, pray, read God's word, and rest. Please pray for the new plans and next step in our mission work in Mexico.

Update with Big News!

2010-11-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

First off, Leon Sur now has elders! After months of preaching and teaching from Ezra and Nehemiah about Godly leadership, after years of prayer from missionaries, church members, supporters, etc, the congregation in Leon has 3 Godly men, full of the Holy Spirit, who will lead the congregation in the year 2011. Please pray for these men and their families, as they will be doing something totally new and different. In Mexico, elders, are very rare in the church. Because of the culture and the political environment, it is difficult for a plural leadership like elders, and so very often it is only one person in front of everyone, the PASTOR, the head of the church. This is unbiblical, and something we do not want to see in Leon Sur, except for looking to Jesus as our Head. This is exciting, and God will do amazing things through these 3 men and their willingness to serve and not be served!

Second, we are moving! We have been married for almost a year and a half, and for that time have had a great season of living "apart" from everyone else. Basically, we live outside of town and away from where most of the work is done (even though we show Jesus wherever we are!). We found this house which is much larger (4 bedrooms) for only $200 pesos more a month. So we are taking advantage of this size and location in order to glorify God. We can now have larger groups come and stay without them having to pay for a hotel, have more visitors, hold cell groups more often, and be more effective with our time. It is truly a blessing, and we have waited for a while. There is a lot of work to be done on the house, but we hope to be moved in this week. Please pray that we would use this to glorify God.

Lastly, we are glad and encouraged about the Mexico Missionary Retreat that took place last week. We weren't able to go this year because of money and the move, but we have been in the past and hope to go next year, because we know it is a huge encouragement to everyone who attends and it glorifies God. It is awesome to meet and see other fellow missionaries who go through the same things that you do, and the prayer and time in the word of God is powerful. Please pray for all of the Mexico missionaries.

This has been a great year and we are hoping to finish it strongly by continuing to preach, teach, share in small groups, study, and seek to be like Jesus. Things are changing and the dynamic of the work is changing, but it is all to glorify HIM. To all of our family, friends and supporters, we love you and thank you for graciously allowing us to be here, by God's will. God bless

Missions Sunday

2010-10-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

A month ago, we passed out cans to all of the church members to save their change every day. After a month of saving, everyone brought their cans to the service this morning, and the church raised over $600 dollars! They decided to send that money to a childrens home here in Leon where some of the members work, called Lluvia Temprana. We love seeing the church members here in Leon have a heart for missions, and want to help others come to see Jesus in the world. There are two of the church members in the AIM program, both serving in Scotland, and also a young man who is in the 3-year preaching school in Quito, Ecuador. It is exciting, since Leon Sur is still a "mission work", being a congregation planted only 6 years ago. We are praising God for his generosity and kindness, and hope that the church continues to think mission-mindedly.

Kids class during sermon

2010-10-25T11:47:00.001-07:00

For the past two weeks, Jazmin has been teaching the kids class during the sermon. She does a great job preparing lessons and interacting with the kids. Sometimes it can be easy to just "occupy the time" instead of actually teaching, but we look for any opportunity we can to talk about God. Jazmin has a gift of working with kids, and we look forward to having our own in the next few years! I praise God every day for my awesome wife, who challenges me to be a better Christian and better husband daily!

Autmun update

2010-10-17T15:35:00.001-07:00

Wow, sorry I have taken so long to update the blog, lately we have been busy and when we aren't busy, we have been relaxing trying to take advantage of our breaks! After the big youth reunion we had, we took it easy and just went to small groups and had Bible studies instead of "extra" events and things we dont normally do. It was a good time to get ready for our move later this month, hopefully by the end of October we will be in our new house! On Thursday we went with Bill and Leti to Dolores Hidalgo, a town about 2 hours away to relax and just explore for the day. We had fun laughing and sharing time with them. Pray for Bill as he goes back to Florida for a few months to raise support and work, and also for Leti who is going with him to meet all of his family and to get to know the U.S. for the first time! They are hard workers who love Jesus and people. Today I was blessed with the opportunity to teach at adult Bible class, since Omar and Tana Palafox are in Texas for the AIM presentation to get a new AIM team here in Leon. I taught on "Humility as an elder and as a member" and had a great response from the adults. God has greatly blessed the congregation in Leon with truth-seekers as members and humble men who will be elders. Our plans for the rest of the year are finish with cells, keep preaching and teaching, keep working on Sunset and Jazmin's school, keep studying with Abraham, and keep loving people down here. Thanks for your support and help, without you we couldnt be here! God bless

Quoting Omar Palafox

2010-10-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

**************Here is a quote from Omar Palafox, the only remaining member of the original church plant team here in Leon! This is from his own blog, www.familiapalafox.blogspot.com.

"During the last weeks we have been very much surrounded by people. The church is growing, changing, and molding to a new vision. There is no more mission team which leads the church. In the next months until November 7th the church will continue to work as it did for six years. But three men will step up from Leon to lead us all to what they see as our goal.
It is not easy to see the amount of money, time, effort, and more placed in this work. And to see what was built by Jesus be left alone is hard to watch. So me and my family are the center of the vacuum with one hundred members, ten cells, classes, evangelism, ladies, youth, administration, legalities, interns, students, and more. It is the vortex of the spiritual entropy. In other words, we are face to face daily looking at what the Lord is doing with the planted church. It is so complicated, that many missionaries leave the mission field with an assumption that all will be fine. But in more cases than you know, it does not end well.
This week-end we had the blessing of seeing our family from Tlalpan. Israel and Nelly have worked in the capital of Mexico for almost a decade. And they are a living example of persistence, love, and service. And when we talked, we discussed what God is doing in our work. Sadly, we are seeing the same unwillingness of many people to do what they are gifted to do. There are millions of people dying without hope. And the leaders, missionaries, and teachers are worried about secular needs. It cannot be this way, if we are truly restoring New Testament Christianity.
The vision has always been to be able to model, equip, watch and then leave - making us outside leaders from the core of the group. In other words, "as the Inside Leader grows/matures, the Outside Leader’s visibility diminishes to the point of being unseen." The basic foundation of the missionary is to leave what was planted. And in my opinion many leave the church too early. And even more others way too early. The work, effort, and money, are not seen with the fruits of the Spirit. So they never see Jesus.
Tonight I sit here at my desk with too many things to think about, too little ways of expressing emotion, and drained from all ability to be an inside leader. Although it is hard, I see Jesus. He is at work with the work as well as he was thousands of years ago.

The youth rally was a blessing. Worship on Sunday was lead to God's praises. And most of the time was spent with people.
Here is where you see him. "

********************** Omar is an awesome missionary and a great friend, and even though I was not here to plant the congregation here in Leon, I kind of understand his point. We want to be here for as long as God wants us to... help us to stay here! Thanks for your support and love. God bless

Youth Reunion 2010 "Breaking the Chains"

2010-10-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the biggest "event" that Iglesia de Cristo Leon Sur does all year, it was the annual Youth Reunion. As a congregation, we are not really about "attracting" people into our presence with big events or flashy equipment or buildings, but we are about getting huge groups of Christians and non-Christians together in one place! This was the first year without Shawn Gary, who had been the unofficial youth minister here in Leon for 6 years. Shawn did an awesome job guiding and leading the youth, and if it werent for him, the group and the leadership would not be where it is today. But it is pretty awesome to see a group of Mexican youth making decisions and working together and glorifying God together. They chose "Rompiendo Cadenas" or "Breaking the Chains" as the theme for this years reunion, with the principal verse being Galatians 5:1. One of the best things was our guest speaker, Israel Molina, who drove 6 hours from Mexico City with his wife (their kids stayed with the granparents) to teach as the main speaker on Saturday and preach today. They are awesome people with missionary hearts who love Jesus and want others to know about Him, and Israel did an outstanding job teaching. Bill and I got to teach about the liberties and responsibilities we have as Christians, and that is always fun and enlightening! There were other great teachers also such as Omar, Fabiola Rubio (she taught a girls class), Ivan Manzanares, and Ramiro and Jedda (AIMers). To have so many people volunteer to help and serve was overwhelming and really marks a huge new step in the youth group here in Leon, not to mention there were over 140 youth who attended from all over Mexico! Jazmin had exams yesterday for school and she was in charge of the front booth, and she did an awesome job of coming back and forth from school to the church building. All in all, it was a great day and God was glorified! Thanks for your prayers and support, God is doing great things in Mexico because of you! God bless

Shantal's baptism

2010-10-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday

2010-10-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day! It was a "convivio" Sunday, where everyone brings food and instead of having classes we have our normal worship and then fellowship afterwards. I got to preach and wrap up our sermon series on the "Renewed Church" out of Ezra, and we had an awesome time seeing the church members share their food and lives together. After church, we brought Jazmin's little sister Carolina home with us so that she could play with the dogs, and then we left the house again to go to our last youth comittee meeting before the big youth rally this Saturday! Please pray especially for this weekend, as 130 or more youth will be coming from all over Mexico to listen to different teachers speak about "Breaking the Chains". We are so blessed to live and work here in Leon. Thanks and God bless!

Abraham study

2010-09-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today Abraham and I started a study to follow up his recent baptism. Now that the congregation is going to have elders (I will write a post about that next time), it will give us a chance to do more one-on-one discipleship with people. So we are doing a study called "Mis primeras cuarenta dias" or "My first 40 days". "40 days" because that is how long Jesus was in the desert directly after his baptism. The study focuses on Bible readings, reflexion questions, and prayer. Today we talked about why we were baptized, what it will mean to us in the future, and about the changes that we need to make in ours lives(we read Colossians 3:1-17). Abraham is a great student and always has new questions, which makes studying with him a good time. He has a true interest in knowing God's word, which is rare. Please continue to pray for his discipleship and for the long road he has ahead of him. Thanks, God bless

Awesome Sunday

2010-09-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a good Sunday for a lot of reasons...

Abraham was at church!

The youth put on a play for the kids...

Omar preached a good sermon on repentance from Ezra 10...

Jazmin got to hold Josue, Ivan and Isaura's 3 week old baby boy...

And we enjoyed eating lunch with Ivan and Isa and some of the AIMers... God is good and working to grow HIS church in Leon!

Video of Abraham's baptism

2010-09-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

Great News!

2010-09-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Our Jehovah's Witness friend Abraham, who we have been studying with for years now, gave his life to Christ this morning and put Him on in baptism. The study with Abraham has been long, hard, discouraging, and at times seemed hopeless. But God is faithful and love never fails, and so we see a new child in Christ this morning. Thank you all for your prayers and keep Abraham in yours as he will continue to grow and face challenges. Thanks and God bless!

Ladies Retreat 2010

2010-09-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

This past Friday and Saturday the ladies gathered at the church building for their annual ladies retreat. This year there were more than 30 women there, and many who arent even Christians! The ladies spent time in prayer, worship, making crafts, listening to classes, and enjoying their fellowship together. The women really enjoyed the lessons by their guest speaker Carla, about the roots of the Mexican culture and how Christ can transform us. They stayed the night on Friday night and were up early Saturday morning to continue the activities. Jazmin was really encouraged by the event and it is always great to see God working through our women!

Congregational Profile - McEwen church of Christ

2010-09-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

The last congregation we visited was the McEwen church of Christ in McEwen, Tennessee. This is where my mom grew up, and her mom before her. It is another small town, but the congregation is around 200 members, give or take a few. I always remember visiting while I was a kid and going to church with my grandparents on Sunday mornings. The congregation in McEwen has supported me since I was in the AIM program, and they have continued to support Jazmin and I during our work in Leon. While we were there in McEwen, I was allowed to give a Sunday-night presentation. After the presenation, Jazmin and I were encouraged by many people, and that was really great to hear. They really showed interest in the work going on in Leon, and their prayers mean so much to us. We are excited about being able to go back eventually and visit some more with our brothers and sisters there. We are eternally greatful for their love and support.

Congregational Profile - Maryville church of Christ

2010-09-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

For my second "congregational profile" I will be writing a little bit about the second supporting congregation that we visited while in the U.S., which was the church of Christ in Maryville, Tennessee. My connection with them comes from way back, when I was just a baby. My parents had moved to Maryville because my dad got a job there as a federal investigator, and we began attending at Maryville coC. It was either 88' or 89' when we started going and we stayed there until I was 6 years old, in 94'. It was at Maryville where I first heard of "missionaries". My dad was the deacon of missions and so whenever a missionary was in town, we would have them over for Sunday lunch, usually a pot-roast! I always looked up to them and enjoyed hearing the stories from the mission field, whether it be Africa, South America, or some other place. That was a treasure that I buried a way for a while, but God uncovered a while after. Anyways, Maryville is a larger congregation of at least 500 members, and is a loving body which is involved in many ministries. We had the chance to meet with the elders and mission commitee and it was a very inspiring, passionate time. It was very encouraging to hear the work that they are supporting in Albania and just being around other Christians who know about missions and what missionaries go through was very encouraging to Jazmin and I. It was a blessing being able to present the work in Leon, talk with old friends, and meet new people. We are so happy to be partnered through Christ with the congregation in Maryville and look forward to what the future has in store, for them and for us!

Congregational Profile - Laurel Ave church of Christ

2010-09-10T10:18:00.001-07:00

This is the first of my "congregational profiles" that I am doing on the 3 congregations that support us in the South of the U.S. I will start with the first church that we visited, the Laurel Ave. congregation in Damascus Virginia. We have a connection with the church in Damascus because my grandfather (my dad's dad) has been the preacher in the congregation for around 30 years. I remember going to visit them as a kid and going to church with them, and through the years it has been neat to go back and see all of the old friends. The congregation is small, but what they lack in numbers they make up for in love and hospitality. They are very evangelistic, holding Bible studies throughout the week with people from the community. The town of Damascus is really small, with a population of 981 in the 2000 census. It is a hiker/mountain bikers dream town (the Appalachian trail runs right through town), and so the members of the church use that as an evangelistic tool towards tourists and hikers that come in from all parts of the world. We have been blessed by their support and enjoyed the time we spent there, worshipping, speaking (they let me speak on a Sunday night), eating pizza, and celebrating Jazmin's birthday. They are a congregation full of love, and God continues to do amazing things through them. Thanks to Laurel Ave. church of Christ and praise to God!

Thanks

2010-09-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally home. The last week and a half was an amazing trip, God allowed us to visit the United States together for the first time, and we were immensely blessed. We were finally able to get a new camera (after our's broke in April) and so we have pictures of the whole journey. We were able to visit my grandparents whom I had not seen in 5 years, meet old friends of the family, and the whole time travelling around with my parents. Later on I want to write an in-depth blog on each of the congregations we visited, but for right now I will just list them off. We have three supporting congregations in the states of Tennessee and Virginia. The two in Tennessee are Maryville church of Christ and McEwen church of Christ. In Virginia, Laurel Avenue church of Christ support us. We got to make presentations at each of those congregations and it was a huge blessing to share the work in Leon with our partners in those churches. It it exciting to be partnered with churches who are excited about missions and are seeking God's kingdom first! I will write more later. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible, and always thanks to God. Praise Him!

Sunday

2010-08-22T22:02:00.001-07:00

Today was a great day to be with God's people here in Leon. They are wonderful people and we are blessed to fellowship with them. We are continuing on the topic of the "Renewed church" as our sermon series, and Omar did an awesome job preaching on Ezra 3 and 4 today. After the service, we were able to give out a certificate and gift to each of the kids that participated in the "Children of faith" VBS that we have done for the past 2 weeks. The coolest part was that all of their parents came and stayed for the worship, and half of the kids are not from our congregations so there was a huge evangelistic opportunity that God gave us. It was a packed house and all of the chairs were in use today, which is always a blessing. It means that the members are evangelizing and inviting more people. Our goal has always been to make disciples that make disciples, and God is making that goal a reality. Last night was our mens meeting, and although it was long and there were the typical tensions that these types of meetings hold, it was good to see men wanting to step up and serve. The months ahead are sure to be full of change, good change. Please pray for this group of believers, they are young and are still facing many of the challenges that a young church goes through. You are all in our prayers also. God bless - Ben

Letter

2010-08-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Recently We had a family visit us, after leaving this is what they had to say to some congregations that support us:
“ Omar and Tana have been working for six years. They are now in their 2nd 5 year contract with us. This will see them through the year 2014. Omar and Tana are now the only remaining couple out of the original three couples. * One family left 2 years ago after the completion of their commitment. *And the second family has just left after six years. It is my belief that in each of those two cases these were basically American families ready to return to their home country.* Interestingly, these two families will be missed, but there are already in place others that are willing to assume the leadership in this mission effort. One *family is a missionary family from Toluca Mexico already in place there. They are supported from a congregation out of Dallas. Also a former aimer in Leon, has married a girl from Leon, and they are making their home there and assisting in the church work. This family* is being supported from their home congregation in Alaska. In addition to these, a new missionary* family is in place in Guanajuato, and is planting a congregation there now with the assistance of the Leon men. We in fact worshiped with that congregation a week ago Sunday.
As all these changes happen and the families departed, there has been extra burden on the leaders left. This is a time when Omar would prefer to be planting more churches. But both of the above mentioned Leon men are capable of sharing that burden as time goes on. So, Omar continues in his desire to
plant more churches. He does have after all a huge energy source at his
disposal with 2 AIM teams now in place.
With the vision these men have to plant more churches, everyone will be
needed to assist in these efforts. Yet, Omar in all his humility is in need of all our support and more. Our collaboration of small congregations (including yours) and individuals here in Texas make up about 75% (more or less) of Omar’s stated budget goals. Moreover, it is my understanding that the funding is probably just adequate for them to get by. This is sad, because who wants to just get by? And just getting by can be disheartening/discouraging...we need to encourage not discourage.
There in Leon are the building blocks for a great work throughout Mexico. These men have a special gift for evangelism. They want to see more and more souls won for Christ, and not just in that single congregation. But in congregations that plant other congregations that plant other congregations.
These are rare individuals, especially Omar Palafox. Much needs to be done to keep them in that field. There must be encouragement to everyone to stay committed to this valuable effort. Please consider these points, and thank you for the opportunity to partner together in this effort for our Master.
In closing, on this recent trip, I recalled a trip that my daughter and I made the year before Omar and Tana arrived In Leon. We were on an AIM trip to Mexico City, and while there she and I caught a bus and traveled to Leon. When we arrived Omar's parents met us and gave us a whirlwind tour of the city (we only had about 4 hours). From that trip, we decided to begin our partnership with this remarkable family. Now, some 7 or 8 years later, there are over 100 souls worshipping the Lord in Leon. There are young congregations in the cities of Tequila, Tepic, Tepatitlan, and Guanajuato. There have been over 25 Aimers that have served in Leon. There are now 2 former Aimers interning in Leon. The congregation has now sent a young man from their own to preaching school in Ecuador. And finally there are two Aimers that came from the Leon congregation just now on the field in Scotland. None of this could have been possible without the support of congregations assisting.
Please, let us do all we can and more to assist and support this wonderful effort in the city of Leon, Mexico.”
Best regards, ***
** Names have been taken out and changed for privacy***

This is a letter sent from one of Omar and Tana Palafox' main supporters to various congregations that support them. It gives a good description of the work that is being done in Leon and what has happened in the past. The Palafoxes are an amazing missionary family and we are blessed to be working with them here in Leon. Please pray for all of the missionarys who are here in Leon trying to show Jesus to Mexico. God bless

AIM!!!

2010-08-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

Since the congregation was planted in Leon many years ago, AIM students have been involved almost since the beginning. My team of AIMers was the second to be here in Leon, and we are now on our 4th team. The new class of AIM students started their time in Lubbock only a week ago, and it is time for the mission field co-ordinators to decide whether or not they will ask for a team to come from this years AIM class. Omar Palafox is an amazing missionary, and has done a great job of being a coordinator to the AIM teams that have came to Leon. It was looking like we werent going to ask for anymore AIMers, but he has decided (after much prayer and fasting) that it would be good to have one last, final AIM team for the Leon Sur church plant. The future could hold in store another AIM team for Leon, but would most likely be for a different church plant or coordinator. AIM has always blessed missionaries around the world, and we are excited to continue working with young people who have hearts for JESUS. Please pray for the 2010 AIM class and their future mission fields! God bless

Preaching

2010-08-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

Being a light!

2010-08-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Friday night we began a lock-in for the youth that lasted until this morning. The theme was "Being a light" and we enjoyed the time spent together. Everyone took a test to see how "bright" their light was, and then based on their anwers they were divided into 3 groups. Bill, Ramiro and I taught the classes and the best part was seeing how much the group opened up. We also enjoyed singing, prayer, games, food, and just general good times. There were around 30 youth that showed up, and we had quite a few visitors. The group is taking on a new direction and the leadership is really starting to step up. Please pray for them to continue to shine Jesus' light on the city of millions of people.

Abraham

2010-08-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Bill Calderon and I have been spending time with and studying the Bible with our old friend Abraham, who was a Jehovah's Witness up until recently. Since then, he has been passing time with us and it has been good to see him grow. The cool thing is he has also been spending a lot of time with the AIMers, the missionary apprentices that are working here in Leon for a while. They are doing a good job of encouraging him and showing him how Christians interact with eachother. Please continue to pray for his journey and his salvation.

PS - in the picture, Abraham is with John McCoy's father and brothers who came to visit and also two of the guy AIMers. John is one of the AIMers who is working with us down here in Leon.

Last day of summer!

2010-08-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, not literally but it was our last day for the Summer classes out at Cañada Del Real. We focused on the same topics (Respect, Trust, and no-Violence) but used different stories and games to show the points. My group taught the story of Jesus calms the storm, and had the children make boats out of popsicle sticks (check out the video). Everyone worked really hard, including AIMers, interns, missionaries, and even John McCoy's family who was only here visiting! We are blessed to be able to show Jesus to the kids and people out there, and it is time well spent and worth the effort. Please pray for them that they continue to be ministered to by God's messengers. Thanks.

Youth meeting

2010-08-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, a group of 7 of us met at Omar's house to meet about the youth group, discuss ideas, and make plans. We have been called "The Committee", but we are more like a group of friends. It is hard planning events and voting on different issues, but God is always glorified and everything works out in the end. There are some big events coming up, such as a lock-in this weekend and a national youth weekend in October. Please pray for the youth of Leon Sur and that they would be a light to their family and friends.

Cañada Del Real, where people meet Jesus!

2010-07-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today Jesus was shown at Cañada Del Real. Not by religious people. Not even by good people. Just a group of missionaries and AIMer's, and even an ex-Jehovah's Witness (our friend Abraham, who we are still studying with, went!). We spent some time with a group of around 60 kids, teaching them on different topics such as trust and being non-violent. We had fun see them smile, laugh, and play. They are kids from an area of town that isn't very nice, and many of the kids dont have the benefits that most kids have. We have been working with this community for a while now and it's always good to see their faces. Next week we will go back to continue teaching and sharing with them. Please pray for them and their lives, that through these simple summer classes their hearts can be touched by God.

Great News!

2010-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

God is good! Yesterday, Jazmin's tourist visa was approved by the American Consulate in Guadalajara Mexico. It was a long journey. We left the house at 1a.m. and dropped the truck off at a parking area, and then got a taxi to the bus station. We got on board the bus at 2:30 a.m. and left for Guadalajara. We arrived there at 5:40 and spent about an hour resting and eating at the bus station, and then caught a cab over to the Embassy. We arrived there at about 7:30 and Jazmin got into the huge line to get inside (her appointment was for 9a.m.). I waited and waited and finally, a man came out and said "Are you Benjamin" in Spanish. He continued to tell me that they gave Jazmin the visa but she didnt have any money on her to pay for mailing it back to Leon. So I gave her the money and we were done! Jazmin now has 1 full year to travel to the U.S. and back as many times as she wants, and then after that we can choose to re-new her visa or apply for a different kind of visa if we wish. We got back on the bus and left at 12:15 p.m. and got back here to Leon that afternoon at about 4. It was a fast trip but God blessed us. Thank you all for your prayers and especially praise God for His greatness!

Here we go again!

2010-07-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight we were eating tacos at Jazmin's grandparents house (her uncle has a taco stand in front of their house and they sell on Fri-Sat-Sun) and one of her uncles asked me "How long have you and Jazmin known eachother?" We have known eachother over 3 years, and will have been in a relationship for 3 in October. Anyways, on Tuesday morning we have an appointment in Guadalajara to get Jazmin's visitors visa so that we can start visiting our supporters and family in the United States. It is an important step in our relationship, as she has never been to where I am from or met anyone in my family except for my immediate family (and an aunt and uncle!). For some people it has been easy; for us, it has been a long and hard road. Her original visa, which was for us to live in the U.S., was pushed so far back that it would have separated us for almost another year. The second time, when we tried to get her first visitor's visa, she was denied a visa because she didnt "have enough reason to stay in Mexico". This is our third time around, and after close to $1000 dollars spent over the years on visa applications, travel, etc, we are praying that the third time is a charm. However, God's will be done, not ours. Many people use their missionary time in Mexico as a "stepping stone", in order to make their resume look better. Not us. We are legitamately connected to Mexico, and want to work here the rest of our lives (in whatever capacity God wants that to be). Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to work and live for God.

P.S. Whenever we find our the result of this visa appointment, our next step will be getting my visa to become a resident. Pray for that also, please. God bless

Abraham's story (the Mexican, not the Patriarch)

2010-07-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

This is more of a story-post than a "news post". Let me take you back to 2007, when my teammates and I first met a young Jehovah's Witness man by the name of Abraham. We first starting hanging out by shooting pool together downtown, and after a while Tyler, my teammate, started to study with him. After a while, Donovan (my other teammate) and I started to study with Tyler and Abraham also. Our friendship with him grew, but the studies seemed to go nowhere. We even went back to the New Testament Greek but it was very hard and frustrating and the studies went full circle, until we eventually offended him pretty bad (well, it was actually Christ who offended him; we just carried the message). We continued to meet with Abraham the rest of our AIM time, and after my wedding, I saw Abraham a few times by accident but we did not stay in touch. Fast forward to a month ago, when the Alaska mission group was here. Again, by God's grace, we came into contact with Abraham. We were passing out flyers downtown and randomly ran across Abraham. Except this was not the Abraham that I always knew, something seemed different. He explained to me some of the sin in his life and some of the problems he had been having. I told him he needed to start studying with me and go to church with us, and we exchanged contact info. I didnt really see him for another month until Sunday morning. It was a busy morning. Omar was gone, I was going to preach, and things were running behind. I was up at the pulpit setting the Powerpoint up, when one of the church members said "Ben, someone is looking for you." I went outside and there was Abraham, looking dirty, scared, and tired. He started crying and mentioned that it had been 4 days that he had been sleeping in the streets, and 2 days since he had ate. I gave him some money to go get some food and he stayed for the church service. After church we talked a while and he explained to me that because of his situation (from a while back) the Jehovahs Witnesses kicked him out of the religion and because his dad is a devout J.W, he was also kicked out of his house. So we continued to talk and decided the best thing would be to meet Monday morning and study. So this morning Bill and I met with Abraham and studied, prayed, and thought about what the next step might be. Basically, we are going to meet with Abraham every Monday as a sort of accountability - support group type of thing. Every week he has a few goals and we will try and help him accomplish those goals. The main goal is for him is his salvation. Please pray for the long path that he has ahead of him. God bless.

nice surprise!

2010-07-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

An article appeared in the Leon newspaper today reading "Regalan abrazos" or "Giving hugs". It was an article written about the Sunset coC mission group that came here for a week and their act of hugging people in the downtown area of the city. The newspaper is a secular news outlet, and it shows a group of people who want to show Jesus to a lost city. God is using many to do His will here in Mexico and all over the world. Please pray with us for the lost of this city and the world, that His love in us can reach to them and that they may know Him! God bless.

Baptism!!!

2010-07-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

We all have a new sister in Christ! Her name is Gina, and she has been coming to our congregation for a while. She is friends with Emma, who works at a childrens home that the AIMer's go to. Emma studied a little with Gina, and so did Omar a while back. She has been wanting to get baptized for a while and now she is a new person, a child of God. Please pray for her during this time that she continues to grow in her relationship with Him, continues to grow in faith, and that she would be safe from Satan's attacks. Praise God! God bless.

Work Day with the Sunset group

2010-07-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today we met together with the Sunset group at the church building to have a work day. They did an awesome job cleaning, organizing my classroom (which serves as the church storage and material room *la bodega*), scraping paint, and painting. I have seen nothing but smiles and good attitudes from this group and that is very encouraging. God blesses everyone mutually with these mission groups and we really enjoy having them here. Please continue to pray for their trip and their journey home. God bless

The Gary's

2010-07-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today we honored and said good-bye to a great missionary family here in Leon, The Gary's. Shawn Gary and his family were 1/3 of the original church planting team that came to Leon 6 years ago with a dream. Shawn has been the "youth minister" (however, he does everything else too, and is one of my all-time favorite preachers), and Barb has really done an amazing job with the ladies ministry. Their kids (oldest to youngest) are Mason, Madison, and Kayson. They are some of the sweetest kids you will ever meet, and are themselves some of the best missionarys in the world. We have all been blessed to have had them in our lives and God will continue to bless whoever is around them, wherever they go. Please pray for this big transition in their lives, and also for the interviews they will have as they are continuing to look for a congregation to work with. God bless.

Sunset group

2010-07-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

There is a group from Sunset church of Christ, in Lubbock Texas, that will be arriving today in the evening. There should be about 25+ people, so it is a fairly large group. They will be doing skits and dramas in the downtown area teaching about Jesus, "abrazos gratis" or "free hugs", and various other service type projects. We are excited to get to work with them and share our lives with them. Please pray for their safety while they are travelling and down here. God bless

great Sunday

2010-07-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good day spent with the people of Christ's body here in Leon. It was a rainy Sunday, and so there were a lot of people missing, but the one's who made it praised Him with all of their hearts. I was able to preach on our Christian behavior outside of the church, and we got to see Bill award diplomas to his Bible school students. After church, a big group of us went to eat pizza and say goodbye to Renato, one of the AIMer's who has finished his time here in Leon and is heading back to his home country of Brazil. It was a good time for fellowship and fun. Please continue to pray for the growth of this congregation and for the people who are starting to realize their ministries. God bless.

Leadership

2010-07-01T21:01:00.001-07:00

Tonight, Omar and Tana Palafox had Jazmin and I, the Rubios, the Galvans, and Ramiro over to eat dinner and talk about the leadership. More than anything, we wanted to honor them for showing that they are leaders, and to encourage them to continue on in their God-led leadership in this congregation. Omar talked a little bit about elders and their responsibilities, and there were a lot of laughs. There were no awkward moments, and they definately are already working as a team. God has blessed this congregation with leaders. Please pray for the progression of the body of Christ here in Leon. God bless.

Trees!!!

2010-06-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

This morning, I dropped Jazmin off at school at 7a.m. and headed over to the church building where a large group of us met at 8a.m. to go plant trees at Cañada del Real, a place where Grupo Floper is building huge towers as apartment buildings for lower income families. There are not many trees in the area, so Manolo Rosas, who works for Grupo Floper and attends the Leon Sur congregation, asked for our help to plant over 30 new trees in the area. Omar, Bill, Beto Rubio, Tony Hughes and the AIM guys all went, and were a HUGE help to the whole project. I heard no complaining whatsoever, and saw a lot of interaction with the families who live in the towers. Manual labor is always hard, but we are blessed by God for the little things like this that we do with people who aren't yet Christians. It is important to remember that we are also the incarnation, we are Jesus to people who dont know Him, and so we must become a part of their lives. God bless.

2010-06-21T21:27:00.001-07:00

We are struggling without having a camera (pictures are motivation to blog!), but we want everyone to be up to date on what we are doing. We have been buckling down with out studies, Jazmin is finishing highschool and getting good grades, and I am still studying at Sunset Bible Institute online. Even though it takes us away a bit from the work, it is important to continue studying and learning so that we can do a better job at what we love. At church, we have continued to teach the 11-14 year olds, and they are an awesome group. They have enjoyed learning about the heroes of the Old Testament. At the moment I have been restructuring the cell groups so that it follows along with the sermons. And there are always women's events going on that Jazmin is a part of. A big thing we are working on right now is discipling Jazmin's mom, Gloria, who was just baptized a few weeks ago. We have already seen her being evangelistic, giving, thankful, fellowshipping, and many other things that long time disciples have not shown. Please keep praying for her new relationship with God. Thanks for your support and love, because of you WE are still here! God bless!

Christian Chronicle blog

2010-06-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

My dad sent me an e-mail today notifying me that a blog article was written here:

http://www.christianchronicle.org/blog/2010/06/mission-from-alaska-to-mexico/

about their trip down here a few weeks ago. It is always good for more people to get a look at what God is doing, and we are grateful that the Chronicle has taken interest. The Christian Chronicle has been the "official news" of the churces of Christ for a long time, and I remember reading about missionaries in the Chronicle when I was a kid! A thanks goes out to Erik Tryggestad and his excellent writing, and my dad who has taken such a big interesting in the work here. And of course, to our Father in heaven who allows us to be a part of His ministry of reconciliation! God bless.

birthdays

2010-06-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Things are back to normal here in Leon. Whatever "normal" is! This has been a week of birthday parties, with a surprise party for the Rubio's middle daughter Fabiola, and for Mariana Rosas, the daughter of Manolo and Adriana (where we have our small group). Meeting in peoples houses, for whatever occasion, is so important for the body of Christ. Without this kind of fellowship, we are just a club that gets together on Sunday mornings. With this kind of fellowship, we are a family that lives, learns, and loves together throughout their days. Please pray for the continued fellowship of God's people here in Leon.

the Alaska group - recap

2010-06-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

The past week and a half we have hosted a missions group from the Valley church of Christ, in Wasilla Alaska. They were a small group, only 5 people! My parents (two people who fell in love with Mexican culture and people and decided to connect the church in Leon to Alaska), Loren Hollingsworth (a 30+ year missionary in Thailand), Marti Taylor (special education instructor and mother of many adopted children) and Celestia Bowlus (a Spanish fluent college student). We enjoyed a lot of time spent in the houses of members, good Bible studies (Loren spoke on the beattitudes and Revelation), the baptism of my mother in law Gloria, and other ministry experiences. Jazmin had a great time practicing her English (she did great!) and won everyone over with her Godly attitude and sweet smile (she is my better half!!). We are excited to be working down here, and visits like this make it worth the time and effort. We love to know that there are brothers and sisters in the U.S. that are interested in what God is doing here. Thanks for your continual prayers. God bless.

great day

2010-06-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I watched my dad baptize my mother in law, Gloria. We have been studying for a while and she had decided to be baptized, and so she wanted my dad to do it while they were here visiting. We had a relaxing day at the water park Comanjilla yesterday, and there were a lot of people there to witness her birth. It was a great time and Jazmin is really happy to have her mom now her sister in Christ.