These have been extra busy weeks! Here's some of what's been going on:

Holy Week: 4 "Noches de Gloria" Monday to Thursday evenings in Chiconautla. These services had great times of worship and teaching with great attendance, and the Lord's presence among us was felt in special ways--so much so that many people didn't want to go home. Praise God for the work He did in so many hearts, minds and souls those 4 nights!

Good Friday: A combined outing of the Tizayuca "Church in the Park" and the "Uno Más en Cristo" church plant in Heroes Tecamac. Pastor Domingo and John Pieters both led worship and Manuel delivered the message. Domingo baptized 4 from Tizayuca and John baptized 11 from Heroes! Praise God for the growth occurring in these young congregations!

Joint Outing of Tizayuca & Heroes churches with baptisms, April 18, 2014

Easter Sunday: A time of rejoicing that Christ is risen, celebrating with a potluck after each of our usual 3 Sunday services. Traditional religion in Mexico leads people to celebrate Christ's death on Good Friday, but His resurrection is sadly overlooked by most of the population. What joy it is for us to worship the risen Savior with those who have come to know the power of His resurrection personally! Praise God for those who have begun a personal relationship with Christ and are learning to walk with Him daily!

Kids Day: April 30th is "Día del Niño" in Mexico. Our staff and many church members put together a play and full program to celebrate kids and share the Good News in 2 areas of Chiconautla. Our son Caleb acted in the play, both events were well attended, and many kids and parents heard the message clearly presented.

Christian Homeschool Conference: 2 days of inspiring and encouraging teaching sessions (1 hour north of us) on raising children in the fear of the Lord. Although I (Laura) was only able to attend 1 of the 2 days due to other commitments, I returned home inspired, not only to be a better homeschool parent, but to do all I can to encourage the many moms we work with to grow in godly parenting skills. (I'll be speaking to the women's group this Friday on related topics.) I was also thankful to be able to take a young mother of 3 from the Chiconautla church to the conference, and she is anxious to put into practice all we heard there.

Praise God for these wonderful church leaders!

Leaders' Meeting: A monthly gathering of all the full-time staff and lay leaders from the Chiconautla church. This time it was our turn to host the meeting, so we all had fun grilling and baking to feed 25 Saturday evening. We're so grateful for these committed leaders who have followed God's call into ministry, using whatever time and skills they have available, so we are glad to bless them whenever possible.

In the midst of all this we also kept up with school at home (except for Holy Week), celebrated Laura's birthday, and had 2 extended family gatherings (1 to welcome a nephew's new baby and 1 to enjoy Manuel's mother's yummy Oaxacan tamales). God is good, and we are honored to be in such fulfilling work!

A tow truck, special meetings, new office, and Puebla kids

Two weekends ago we enjoyed the annual LAM/UWM Mexico retreat in Cuernavaca, 90 miles south of Chiconautla. It was a refreshing time of fellowship with other missionary families, worship in English, and enjoying God’s beautiful creation. The kids had a wonderful time creating memories with other missionary kids from around Mexico. When the retreat was over on Sunday afternoon, we drove around the block from the hotel to get some burgers before the 2 ½-hour drive home, and ended up not being able to drive any further. Something was seriously wrong with the van, and it wasn’t going to get us back up to Mexico City (long, curvy climb).

It was HOT in Cuernavaca, so we’re SO thankful we were stranded at a McDonalds with air conditioning, and not on the highway! Four hours later the kids and I were on our way home with 2 Chiconautla church members who drove all the way there to pick us up, and shortly after that a tow truck picked up the van and Manuel. A few hundred dollars later we have the van back in service. We continue to pray for a new van to replace this one that has served us for so many years, and appreciate your prayers and special donations for this need.

After enjoying the retreat and getting home much later than expected, we had special ministry activities Monday and Tuesday, both hosted by the Chiconautla church. The first was an all-day leadership workshop, taught by fellow LAM/UWM missionary Mike Palumbo, and attended by leaders from our network of churches as well as several area Baptist churches. The second was an interdenominational, early-morning prayer meeting for the churches on the Chiconautla hillside. We had 71 people from 7 churches praying from 6 to 8am before getting on with the day’s normal activities.

A big answer to prayer that we’d like to share is that our regional Baptist Convention has a new office in Mexico City. The Convention had been given several weeks to find a new “home”, and the Lord has provided a house for the office at an excellent location, right near a subway stop (easily accessible to all). Our church had been praying and praying about this, and it’s neat to see how prayers were answered before the deadline.

Agapito and Elsa Osorio, Chiconauta’s missionaries to the Mixtec region of Puebla, now have a Kids’ Club with about 20 kids meeting weekly! Kids in the area have been so excited that one of them offered his home for the Club to meet in. Praise God for this open door, and pray that many kids—and their parents—will come to faith in Christ through this outreach.

Thank you for partnering with us through your prayers and support!

Easter, baptisms, Kids Day, and more

A tow truck, special meetings, new office, and Puebla kids

"Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." --Acts 5:42