Teaching Teachers

At the beginning of May, we were able to host a missionary from Tennessee whose job in the states is training children's ministry workers.  What a blessing it was to have Lacynda Biggers stay with us for a few days and hold a training seminar for the children's ministry workers of the Vida Nueva churches.

Students were given 30 minutes to put together a 1 hour children's lesson.  Great practice -- especially that's often all the advance notice a teacher gets (sometimes less!).  The object of the training course was to give the students some tools and guidelines for building a successful Bible lesson.

In this photo Luz demonstrates a very important teacher skill: the ability to write upside down. ;^)

I think Evie had more fun that it looks like she was having in this photo!!!

After working together as a team to build the lesson, the groups then shared their lesson with the rest of the class.

We learned that the most important part of the lesson -- the part we want the children to take home with them and guard in their heart -- is the Bible truth, not the Bible story.  Evie's group used the story of the firey furnace to illustrate the truth of "God Takes Care of Me".

In addition to a class on how to build a successful Bible lesson, Lacynda also shared about the importance of capturing a child's heart...

...and we did some role playing of dealing with discipline issues in the classroom.  In this photo, Hermana Blanca and Hermana Irma make trouble for Teacher Ana.  We definitely had fun and learned a lot during this all-too-short class!

In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we've invited Hermana Lacynda back this weekend for a second class!  This class will be held at Iglesia Betesda in Guasave.  We're hoping that many leaders from many churches will be able to attend!  Pray for a good turn-out!

Samaritan's Purse 2012

One of our main functions here as missionaries is to just "help". Isn't that really everyone's calling? Colossians 3:23 says "Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men."

As part of the Body of Christ, we should look for opportunities to serve and help and encourage the other parts of the body. If you're really looking, it won't take long to find something that needs doing!

The Vida Nueva Children's Christmas party was a great example of the body working together to achieve great things! The church was able to participate in Samaritan's Purse Shoebox Gifts this year. We were very excited to be able to see first-hand how the shoe boxes, packed in the U.S., impact little ones in other parts of the world.

One requirement of Samaritan's Purse is that all the congregations in the area strive to have their "Festiniños" (Kids' Party) on the same day. There are lots of reasons why this is a good idea, but it does make it interesting for pastors who have congregations in several villages or for leadership teams who are accustomed to sharing resources (like sound systems, instruments, even Crayons) with other congregations. This is where having a large family comes in really handy!

Rather than trying to be in 3 places at once, the leadership teams for the churches in Tamazula, Tecomate and Alamito decided to divide the youth into three groups. Yadira quickly snatched Caleb to work with Alamito and Eugenia just as quickly grabbed Sarah. The Petits were claimed for Tecomate and the only thing left to figure out was how to get three groups to three different villages at the same time with only two vehicles. Caleb solved our problem by choosing Andrew to be his only helper -- they rode Andrew's motorcycle to Alamito.

Singing time!

My God is so BIG!

Love God! Love your neighbor! Ya! Ya! Ya!
(Some songs just don't translate to English very well!)

Game time!

Golf ball races

Golf ball relays

More golf ball races...

That's using your head!

Races involving citrus fruit

More races involving citrus fruit --
we missionaries are really good at using what we have on hand!

Story time!

Sarah shared the parable of the talents. The kids were tickled that they got to keep the U.S. pennies that she gave out as visual aids.

Caleb shared the story of Jonah -- complete with rain and thunder
(see the spray bottle in his hand?)

A whole bunch of good listeners!

Gift time!

We were blessed to be able to have boxes for every single child who attended the parties in all three locations. Praise God!

While we realize that the shoe box gifts aren't the most important part of the Festiniños, we also realize that they definitely attract the children. Thank you to everyone in the US who participated in Operation Christmas Child this year. And praise God that we have something to share with these precious little ones that will last longer than a plastic toy!


Psalm 136:1 -- Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
His steadfast love endures forever!

Día del Niño

Arriving home from furlough in April, we hit the ground running. Actually, it feels like we haven't stopped since!

The 30th of April in Mexico is "Día del Niño". We always celebrate with a children's party at the church -- piñata, cake, games, music. Iglesia Vida Nueva held their kids' party the first Saturday of May in the village of Tecomate, a suburb of Guasave.

This year, thanks to an amazing young lady in the US with a heart for children, we were able to give a baby doll to each little girl who attended the party. For the past year, families across the US have been sending baby dolls (new or gently used) to "Baby dolls for Mexico". We were even able to save some baby dolls for our planned Christmas outreach in the migrant camp! God is so good!

This little girl was so in love with her baby, she didn't put it down the whole day. I saw her a few days later and her grandma said she's been carrying her baby around all the time. What a joy!

We had a collection of wooden cars and trucks which another mission team had gifted us, so we were able to share with all the little boys who came. We're thinking, though, that maybe in addition to "Baby Dolls for Mexico", we might want to start "Hotwheels for Mexico". ;^)

Here are some more random shots of Kids' Day 2011 --

Hermana Eugenia leads the kids in a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the wonderful gifts He provided: the cake, the music, the sno-cones, the games, the clowns and of course the toys!

The ladies of the church really outdid themselves -- they even made sandwiches for each child!

We brought our handy-dandy sno-cone machine (a gift from a church in Tucson) with plans to make sno-cones for everyone. Arriving, we discovered that the power system (the church is powered by a car battery with a converter) wasn't strong enough to run the machine. So, we packed up the machine and buzzed over to the pastor's house where we were able to shave the ice and then cart it back over to the church. It was, most definitely, worth the effort!!!

Working with children here is totally rewarding! Yes, there are struggles -- just like in the US -- but the kids here are so ready to smile and they have such faith! Pray that God would be glorified in their lives and that He would care for them and provide for all their needs: physical as well as spiritual!

Fully Armored Kids

Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

That's the theme of the kids' class that Sarah and Caleb are doing for the kids of Iglesia Vida Nueva (New Life Church), in Tamazula. They started with a look at why and with whom we are at war and are now learning all about the various parts of our Christian armor.

While the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are at the church, all the kids are across the street at one of the church member's house. There have been some challenges. For instance the church doesn't have portable tables or chairs, so we had to transport the table from our house. The kids persevered, though, and the class has been a great blessing.

With the change in daylight saving time, we've had to adjust the class time to earlier in the day. The house where the kids meet doesn't have electricity, so Caleb sets up spotlights for game time and runs an extension cord across the street from the church. Not ideal, but it works!

The students do a craft project, listen to a story/lesson about the armor of God, play some games, sing songs and -- of course -- have a snack. The class has become such a success that even some of the neighbor kids whose parents don't attend the church have started coming. Sarah said that she doesn't want to exclude them, so as long as they're behaving well and not causing trouble, they're welcome. Great outreach, eh?!

Last week was supposed to be a lesson on the Belt of Truth, but a child in the village had a birthday. In Mexico, that means that every child in a 3 or 4 block radius, and everyone who is even remotely related by blood or marriage, is invited to celebrate. When the party ended, most of them came to the class, but they were so wired on sugar and red 40 that trying to rein them in for a Bible lesson seemed next to impossible. So, they just played some running games and sang songs. Flexibility is most definitely a key to children's ministry, no matter what country you live in!

Special thanks to the children of Saguaro Canyon Church in Tucson! They saved up to give an offering to our ministry. With it, we were able to purchase all the supplies necessary class: scissors, glue, paper, etc., as well as workbooks for each of the kids in the class. What a blessing!!!

Doing Hard Things: 2010

On January 3, 2010, a team of young adults came down on what we hope will become the "first annual Do Hard Things mission trip". Although this trip was not sponsored by the organization, the team was comprised of members of The Rebelution: a group which encourages young adults to rebel against the low expectations which our society has of them and to step out and do hard things for God. That was their goal and, in our opinion, they more than surpassed it!!!

I could write several pages about how this mission team came together. I'm not going to. It was just a God thing. God put the idea in the heart and mind of a couple of young people to travel down here and put a roof on the upstairs of our house. Then He laid it on the heart of several people to give toward that project. Along the way, He raised up a couple of young ladies who have a heart for children and who wanted to do something special for the kids down here. They put together duffel bags full of toys and candy for the children and sent them down with the team. It was amazing, and it was something that no person could have orchestrated. It was simply a God thing.

Youth from 6 different states met in Tucson to travel down by bus. Doug and Sarah traveled up to Tucson to meet them. After a long-and-not-terribly-comfy 16 hour bus ride from Tucson, the gang arrived at our house mid-day. This is what they saw:

We told them that we had planned to take it easy the first day so that they could get rested up, but they wanted none of that. They rolled up their sleeves (actually, I think most of them put on T-shirts!) and dove in!

The girls, not to be outdone, jumped in with as much enthusiasm.

Lest you think that all they did for a week was haul concrete...there was much planning to be done...

And one must eat!

And clothes must be washed...

...and gift bags made for the children's outreach...

and cookies!!! We really must have cookies!!! Lots of cookies!!!!!

God worked it out so that not only was the team able to take gifts to the 25 or so kids at the migrant camp, but they were also able to be present for Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas Child at the church in Boca. What a blessing!!! One of the young ladies is from Nebraska and was sitting next to a little girl whose shoebox was from...Lincoln!!! Wow! She was able to take a picture of the little girl and send it to the church who sent the box. Unexpected blessings!!!

Did I mention that we had to eat? Yes, we ate a lot.

At the migrant camp, the team shared a drama which Sarah taught them.

Jesus is the Key to Eternal Life!

At church, they shared their hearts and sang Amazing Grace...in 8 part harmony. Wow.
And on their last day, everyone mounted the ladder to stand on the roof to say..

By the power of God, we did hard things for Christ!!!!!

And then they left. And that was a really hard thing.

The Coult Family, The Powell Family and our Hard Things Family