Progressive Dinner

Here are a few pics from our Youth Group's Progressive Dinner

Puppy Love

Here is Nicole and our puppy, Cinnamon.

To God be the Glory!!

Yesterday we had a great afternoon and evening with our friends.  Joel and Tere, the couple to the right of Sam and me, invited all of us missionaries (Cindy Castillo, David and Johann Hyde, and Bob and Terri Metze) over for a day of appreciation.  Joel and Tere gave thanks for the hours of time invested  by all us missionaries in their lives.  It has been amazing to see how God transforms lives for His Purpose and Glory.  We had fun sharing photos and stories.  The food was out of this world.  Of course you'd have to live here to appreciate some of it like, cactus and real pork rines fried ever so carefully to stay crispy when smoothered in guacamole!  Makes my mouth water to reflect back on it again!

25th Wedding Anniversary Celebration of Pedro and Rebeca

What a joy to participate in the 25th Wedding Anniversary Celebration of Pedro and Rebeca's.  Sam and I have known this couple for more than 14 years.  Our boys enjoyed  growing up together at Maranatha.  Even to this day they remain good friends.  This past Sunday evening we were privileged to be the padrinos of the lazo as well as sing a duet at the special ceremony.  The lazo is a symbol of remaining together for life.  What a blessing to see all that God has done in this couple.  Praise God!  This July Sam and I will also celebrate 25 years.  We are so ever grateful to our Lord.  We never would have made it this long without His Word to guide us in decision making and problem solving.

UPDATE

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. It is for good reasons. The ministry at Nueva Vida en Cristo has really kicked into another gear! We are starting our own Institute Classes on Sundays before our church service starts. Sam is co-teaching, The Christian Home and we have two other men co-teaching, Fundamentals of Faith. These are our two basic discipling courses that we encourage all of our folk to take. We have 25 newer folks to our church that are taking these classes! Also on Sunday we are starting our kids club called, Cre-Cri (Creciendo en Cristo or Growing in Christ). I enjoyed starting this similar thing at Maranatha years ago. The basic idea is to teach Christlike character qualities to the kids. They will learn songs and verses that accompany the character quality. Plus we have crafts and games. We are expecting 20 kids to start out! Pray with us as we take this next step of growth.

We've also ramped up our youth ministry. We had an activity almost two weeks ago and our son Nathaniel did the teaching. He did an excellent job. We have parents anxiously awaiting Nathaniel's next lesson as they have heard good stuff from their kids. This Saturday we are having our first ever Progressive Dinner for the youth. This is a new concept. I'll let you know how it went over.

We are also preparing for our Youth Retreat in April. We are still awaiting whether we can use the property that we rent on Sundays for the Retreat. Nathaniel will again do the teaching and much of the leadership during the Retreat. This is great prep for him for future ministries he will need to organize and lead.

We've had a couple of sad situations in our church. Sam, just took last night, one of our youth to a Drug Rehab. We are hoping that Omar will listen to God's Word and make the changes necessary to end his drug addiction. We also had a young family give birth to a son at 29 weeks into the pregnancy. Please pray that Paco and Sonya will grow in their relationship to God during this difficult time. Also pray for their little son, Juanito. He has a long road ahead of him. He is still in the hospital and will be for quite some time. God is at work in both of these situations. We know that God has allowed these trials to draw them to Himself.

Thanks for all your prayers!