Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Basketball Shrinking and Expanding!

As we contemplate what is next in sports ministry, many ideas come in waves and at other times I flounder without ideas. One thought that has come multiple times is that we should be reaching out to the younger children, around 9 and up. By the time youth reach Jr. High, they are not interested in learning a different sport, and basketball is not very popular.
With that in mind, and a prayer, I decided to visit a school that we had visited in the past but had little interest shown by the leaders. Part of my motivation to get moving on this was that we have 4 volunteers coming soon, and we would love to take advantage of the extra help.
The principal was new. He invited me in to chat, unlike last time where we just talked through the fence. He was very interested as I talked about the club we had started in the secondary school, and what I would like to do in the future.
I was invited to pass by the Grade 4-6 classrooms to share the idea for a workshop and the regular practices that we have. I recognized several students that I already had been coaching, which was encouraging and neat. The students were very loud and excited even before I came in as there are so few days til Christmas. When the principal introduced me and talked about basketball, the majority of the students were very animated and interested, asking lots of questions. One classroom had a boy who kept asking about soccer, and I could tell that he would only come if we had a ball with hexagon panels on it and kicked it.
But as I left, there were many smiles, and my heart was light with joy as I anticipated the upcoming event. Pray with me as we prepare for Jan. 3-5th and as many youth as the Lord thinks we can handle!

Saturday, September 26, 2015

The Thiessen Talk'O - September 2015

The Thiessen Talk'O 

                     
                                             Sharing The Love of God in La Paz, BCS, Mexico

                  Missionaries To Mexico, Serving With TEAM & Associate Missionaries with EMC
"I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."
~Isa. 41:9-10
 Something Fun:
Here's a little Spanish glossary that might come in handy... :)

colonia = neighbourhood
fútbol = soccer
El Colegio Arbol De Vida = The Tree Of Life School
Transformados = Transformed
juegos de la mesa = table games
Muchas Gracias de Iglesia El Faro = Many Thanks From El Faro Church
El Faro = The Lighthouse
la sombra = the shade
Transformados en Acción = Transformed in Action 
TEAM TRANSFORMADOS!
We desire Transformados/Transformed to facilitate the transforming work of Christ in people's lives and to be a spiritual community where people can experience the love of Christ in action!
"Transformadas"/"Transformed" Sports Ministry Initiative (MI)

"...Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed..." - Rom. 12:2

As we shared in our last newsletter, our Sports MI "Transformadas/Transformed" is up and running! Here's what it looked like during the summer:

May 30th - Our official kick-off for our neighbourhood basketball club. We had a great turnout of youth, anywhere from 8-17 years old. We taught some basic basketball skills, ran some drills, had some relays, gave out a few prizes and then played a game. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we encouraged them to return for the weekly basketball classes throughout the summer.

June 1st - July 10th - Basketball club at the community court in our colonia from 8:30 - 10:30am every Monday and Wednesday.

June 15th - A sad day as we said good-bye to our teammates, The Eagers, who returned to the US for a 6 month home assignment.

July 13th - August 22nd - Basketball club every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, from 9-11am. What a blessing it has been to develop a relationship with the directors at the Jr. High School near our home. They have been warm, welcoming and supportive. They gave us permission to use their covered basketball court during the summer months and now that school is back in session we are still able to use it on Saturdays.

July 30th - Signed a one year contract to rent a storefront office right across from the entrance to the Jr. High School where we have been having our Basketball club every week. This school has over 1000 students and we are excited to set up a sports ministry office and youth drop in center. Our desire is to create a safe and inviting place where youth, in the community, want to come and hang out. In time, we hope to offer help with English homework, English classes, workshops/courses for students and parents, fellowship meals, movie/games/sports event nights and Bible studies. We've even dreamed of one day adding baking, arts/crafts and music. When God is involved, not even is the sky the limit! Our team's vision is to not only have an office for Transformados but also a presence in the community and an open door of hospitality, so that whoever walks in, will find a listening ear and experience the love of Christ and be transformed!

August 8th - Our basketball club's first game against another team from a local league. It was great to see how much our youth had improved from the beginning of the summer when doing lay-ups had been difficult for many of them. They played hard, didn't give up and only lost by 20 points. We expressed our excitement over what they had done and encouraged them to think about how far they had come in such a short while. We then celebrated with ice cream at DQ (which was a first for many of the youth).


August 15th - Our second basketball game. This time we only lost by 10 points!

August 24th - present - Once the new school year began, we moved the Basketball club to Saturdays from 9-11am. But the youth are asking for more practice times. Therefore, we are presently in dialogue with the directors of the school to work out times, during the week, when we can use their covered court to give more basketball classes. There has also been talk about starting a boy's basketball team at the school along with continuing to train our group of mixed age/gender players that is unofficially participating in an already formed basketball league. At this point, because there is only the 2 of us working at this ministry, we are going to hold off on starting something for the younger aged children in our colonia. We had a good number of them that came during the summer, which was great, but as the number of youth grew, it also grew harder to work with a large group of varying ages, genders and skill levels. Our hope is to expand into a club for younger children, once our teammates are back and our personnel number increases to 4!

September 19th - Our team's third basketball game. This time our youth were hoping to come away with a win. Unfortunately, we lost, but we tried to encourage them to focus on all the things they did well and to remember how far they have come.

September 20th - We hosted a night of table games in the sports ministry office and were excited that a good number of our basketballers came out and enjoyed an evening of fun and laughter. Team and relationship building at it's best! :)

October - The basketball club will take a 1 month break as we return to Canada to share and re-connect with churches, supporters, family and friends. (More about this later).

November - Basketball club starts again on Saturdays and hopefully 2 more times during the week. We want to get the office painted and furnished and start to have it open on a regular basis.

Update on the other 2 Transformados target areas:

In our last newsletter we told you about the 3 target areas we are trying to reach with Transformados - Our colonia (Puesta Del Sol), the colonia (Vistas De Guadalupe) where we did a mini-fútbol tournament and the colonia (Mira Mar) where Anthony is coaching fútbol. Presently, we are only able to work in 2 of the 3 target areas. When the Eagers return, we look forward to growing our connection with Vistas De Guadalupe through sports. Anthony's coaching in Mira Mar has been going well, however, the overseers of fútbol have recently changed the age categories and now the number of players on his team has dwindled. We realize that this recent change is the cause and in time new players will join. It was encouraging to have many players and parents express their sadness at having to move to the next team up because they have really appreciated Anthony, his coaching and his leadership. However, we also find ourselves at a crossroads in regard to this 3rd target area and would appreciate your prayers. We are wondering if Anthony's time and energy would be better spent in our colonia, working to expand the basketball club as well as having more time to be at the office to further grow our presence in the community and the hours that we have it open. It really comes down to a question of quantity versus quality - doing many good things but not all of them well for lack of personnel or energy or time or doing less good things but having the personnel and energy and time to do them well. Please pray for us as we seek God's direction.
 
 From Our Blog - "The Thiessen Times"

I am not very tech-savvy. I am pushed by keeping up with the youth around me by using facebook, twitter, and now WhatsApp. But I find myself seeing some positive uses and simple relationship connecting through them, so I keep trying by asking people how this or that works.

Recently, I was using the WhatsApp to keep our Jr. and Sr. High basketball team informed about what was happening that week for practice and playing times. They started to ask some basic questions, and then started teasing each other as invariably happens. Someone asked why we have such a strange name as Transformed, they had never heard such before. I know an open door when I see one, so at the next practice I had them sit down and talked to them about the importance of giving your live completely to God and how he will transform you. There were heads nodding and a serious silence as they listened, and I was blessed to be able to share what God laid on my heart.

We then walked over to the new office we are renting and they asked why we had this office. I explained that it was a mult-purpose office for basketball meetings and teaching, English tutoring and teaching on other topics. Several laughed when I asked how much they would pay for English classes and they said 5 pesos. They seemed serious about wanting some English help so it seems we may be going down the right trail. Karlene called as I was ready to say adios wanting to invite the team to our place to watch Team Mexico playing a live b-ball game that was at half time. Most of our team was up for it, so they came over, all sweaty and tired, and we watched Mexico win.

At this stage in our basketball ministry, we are investing in building strong relationships. Josiah has been invited to one home several times and we have had these two boys over as well. I have got to know the family. One girl comes to visit on Saturdays with Keyana after practice as well and her mom enjoys practicing English with us. We are seeing families and youth opening up to us, and we are praying that we can be a blessing in their lives with eternity in mind. We are blessed by the many that are praying for us, and partnering with us. We live in a time of great difficulty but great opportunity. As Jesus said many years ago, the fields are ripe, it is time for the harvest. I don't think that has changed. ~ Anthony
 Heading North into The Brrrrrrrr of Winter...

We have the awesome opportunity to return to Canada, for the month of October, in order to share about “Transformados/Transformed” as well as to re-connect with family/friends (some of whom we haven’t seen in 3 years or more) and to attend a family wedding. We are extremely excited about this opportunity and the chance to give an update about what God is doing in La Paz and the vision He has placed on our hearts for the “Transformados” sports ministry. We are very grateful to Brenda Matthews (our newest missionary addition to La Paz) who is going to house/pet sit for us while we are away. This gives us much needed peace and provides her with a place to stay while she looks for an apartment of her own.

We arrive in Calgary on October 1st and fly out on November 3rd. Because our time is short and because one of the Sunday's is taken up with a family wedding, we only have 4 Sundays available to share. Presently, all of our Sunday mornings are booked and even if we are not able to give an update at your home church, we want to warmly invite you to attend any of the service times and locations below to hear about what God is doing in La Paz! We would love to see you and have the chance to re-connect. We are also open to sharing during Sunday or weekday evening services, organizing personal coffee times or accepting meal invitations. If we receive any of the above, we will do our best to work them into our schedule. Our month home in Alberta, has a 3-fold purpose - 1. to re-connect with churches, supporters, family and friends, 2. to look after some personal items like paperwork, homeschooling materials, medical appointments etc. and 3. to rest and refresh. We are trusting God that all 3 will be able to happen successfully.

Our October schedule is as follows:

Sunday, Oct. 4th - 11:00 am - Nampa Gospel Fellowship Church
Sunday, Oct. 4th -   6:00 pm - Manning Family Worship Center (evening service)

              Oct. 5th - 10th - staying in the La Crete/Fort Vermilion area
Sat/Sun Oct. 10th - 11th - Thanksgiving with Anthony's family

 
Sunday, Oct. 11th - 10:30 am - High Level Christian Fellowship Church

Monday, Oct. 12th - Thanksgiving with Karlene's parents
               Oct. 12th - 17th - staying in the La Crete/Fort Vermilion area

Sunday, Oct. 18th - 10:30  am - La Crete Christian Fellowship Church (LCCF)

               Oct. 18th - 25th - staying in the La Crete/Fort Vermilion area

Sunday, Oct. 25th -  11:00  am - Faith Gospel Fellowship Church (Ft. Vermilion)

               Oct. 27th - Travel to Calgary
               Oct. 28th - 30th - Meeting with TEAM Canada,
                                         - Re-connecting with supporters, family and friends         
Sunday,   Nov. 1st - Family Wedding
Monday,  Nov. 2nd - Family reunion
Tuesday, Nov. 3rd - Fly back to La Paz
        
El Faro Building Update

We are excited to see the continued progress that is being made on the El Faro Church building! In our last newsletter we shared about our amazing experience with the short-term team from Nampa Gospel Fellowship, their financial donation toward the church building, their hard work and encouragement! We also told you that the El Faro Building had received a donation through the EMC Project Builders program! Through these two sources of help, other donations, local money raised and the continued hard work of members of the El Faro congregation, the church sanctuary has come a long way and we are now at the stage where the roof needs to be added.

Once again we want to express our thanks to Nampa Gospel Fellowship, EMC and all individuals who have given to the building fund! Please continue to pray for El Faro, it's people and it's vision. If God places it on your heart to assist in giving to the church building project, you can click on one of the links below. Thank you for your prayerful consideration!


El Faro Canadian Contribution

El Faro US Contribution
Update On Other Ministries

Men's group


One of the things that was suggested to me by the pastors of our church is that we need to think about the men in our church. I had already been considering mentoring some of the young adults, so decided to pursue this. I have 3 men from our church and a friend that meet to talk about discipleship every other week. It has been a blessing to grow with them in our walk with Jesus.
                                                            
Cell Group Bible Study

Our cell group continues to meet every Thursday in our home. We have another new person attending and the member that we were requesting prayer for is feeling better and has returned. We are grateful to Brenda for her willingness to continue hosting the cell group, in our home, while she house-sits. This enables the group to continue meeting while we are away. Pray for continued spiritual growth in us as individuals as well as in our community of faith.

                                                              ~ Anthony
Conference in San Jose del Cabo

On May 16th, I had the wonderful opportunity of driving our vehicle, full of ladies from El Faro, to San Jose Del Cabo for a conference on the prevention of Sexual Abuse. The conference was organized by Vicki Reyes (TEAM missionary in San Jose). It was a success and a tremendous help to all who attended. It also provided me with ample opportunity to practice my Spanish - 5 hours of driving and an all day conference in Spanish! Talk about immersion! ;) I was very grateful for my friend who sat in my passenger seat and had loads of patience for my attempts at conversation! I'm enjoying getting to know this wonderful group of ladies and I'm thankful for their friendship. Please join us in praying that the information shared at the conference will prove helpful to all who came.

So what's singing have to do with Evangelism Outreach?

I'm excited to have the opportunity to use my love for singing to be part of an evangelism outreach on the malecon, today, Saturday, September 26th. The malecon is the name for the boardwalk that runs the length of the city and it's always full of people visiting, walking, biking, running...etc. It's the perfect place to set up some mics and start an impromptu mini concert followed by some other crowd drawing activities. The end result being the opportunity to share the gospel with those who have gathered, whether through drama or someone sharing their testimony or through individuals reaching out to people in the crowd who want to talk and learn more about salvation. Please pray that God will use this outreach to touch lives and draw hearts into relationship with Him. It is the hope of all involved to have this ministry become a monthly endeavor.
                                                                                ~ Karlene
  
 On The Homefront

Since our last newsletter, Josiah and Keyana have finished their first year at Arbol De Vida. We enjoyed a short summer break and even made it to the beach a couple of times. They started a new school year at Arbol De Vida on August 24th. Keyana is attending gr. 4 full-time and Josiah is taking gr. 5 part-time at the school and the other half of the morning is homeschooling with Dad. Josiah continues to enjoy playing fútbol and taking drum lessons. He's recovered from his broken toe and his tooth incident and is as active as ever. Keyana continues to enjoy ballet and art class, recently started piano lessons and celebrated her 9th birthday in June. We had a bit of a rough go with her health for almost 2 months but she seems to be better now and we are thankful for God's healing. This past week someone ran over Keyana's cat, 'Socks'. It's never easy to loose a family pet and it's hard to know how to help your child deal with loss. I feel like our kids have already had a lot of loss to deal with and now this. Please pray for her broken heart and for us to be able to help her grieve in a healthy way and to come to terms with her cat's death. I'm grateful that she has our return trip to Canada to be excited about and both her and Josiah, are looking forward to playing with friends, visiting family and are praying that they will get to play in the snow before we have to return to Mexico.
PRAYER
  • Please pray for our outreach on the Malecon today. Pray for the music, drama and puppet teams. Pray that God will use this outreach to touch lives and draw hearts into relationship with Him.
  • Pray for continued safety and protection. The drug war has made in roads into La Paz. Thankfully the violence has only involved members of waring cartels. However, we pray that we are never in the wrong place at the wrong time. We do not take our safety lightly. We trust God for his continued protection and thank you for your continued prayers.
  • Please pray for our family as we travel home to Alberta for the month of October. This is a short ministry leave to give us opportunity to speak in our supporting churches, sharing and raising awareness about our new sports ministry initiative called “Transformados.” Pray for health, safe travel, protection, blessed visits and reconnections, rest and renewal and excitement and positive responses to the “Transformados” ministry.
  • Pray for our missionary colleague, Brenda, as she house-sits our home. Pray for her safety and protection and that of our house as well. It's a common occurrence, here, for houses that are empty to be robbed, so we are very grateful to Brenda for being willing to take care of our home and our dog while we are away.
  • Pray for our basketball club. Our desire is to build relationships through sports and to use sports as a platform to share the love of Christ with the children and youth of La Paz. Pray for the youth that have faithfully been coming and with whom we are building relationships. Pray that after a 1 month break, they will be excited to return to the court and that even more youth will find there way to the club! Pray that the time we have already invested into these youth and the program will not be lost while we are on ministry leave for the month of October.
  • Pray for continued direction for Transformados/Transformed. Pray that God will use this ministry to greatly impact the city of La Paz and to build the local churches. Pray that our team will be a true spiritual community, united and ground in Christ, seeking Him first and foremost, listening to His voice and obeying His call for us as individuals and as a Ministry Initiative (MI).
  • Please pray for us as we seek God's direction in whether or not Anthony should continue coaching futból in Mira Mar.
  • Pray for the Eagers as they are back in the US on home assignment. Pray for healthy, safety and protection, a time of refreshing and for numerous opportunities to share about Transformados/Transformed. Pray for us as we continue the present work of Transformados/Transformed by ourselves, for a season. Pray for wisdom, strength, stamina, patience and positive relationship building.
  • Pray for our continued health and healing for some minor conditions we presently have. Pray that we will be able to see the doctors and get the checkups that we need during our time back in Alberta.
  • Pray for continued wisdom in regards to our children's education. Pray that we will make the right decisions in order to meet their individual learning needs and styles.
  • Pray for Josiah and Keyana as they continue attending Collegio Arbol De Vida. Pray for stamina in learning another language and adapting to another culture. Pray for continued friendship building.
  • Pray for our team and especially Susan Key and her family as they continue to grieve Brian's passing.
  • Pray for our cell group. Pray that people will continue to come and grow and that those they invite will attend. Pray for the group as they continue to meet in our home while we are away. Pray for Marco as he leads and for Brenda as she hosts the group while we are away.
  • Pray for continued opportunities for music ministry and that in all, God will be honored and glorified and hearts turned toward Him.
  • Pray for perseverance as we continue with our Spanish learning.
  • Pray for strength and endurance in times of discouragement.
  • Pray for the continued construction at El Faro. Pray that the permanent worship sanctuary will be a blessing to the entire congregation and that El Faro will continue to develop relationships that lead to outreach into our community.
  • Continue to pray for our friends, Jesús and Cesia, as they adjust to married life and as they plan to move to San Diego in January so that Jesús can attend college. Pray that they will daily grow in their love for one another and for God. 
  • Pray that we will be wise in keeping a balance between family and ministry.
  • Pray for safety for the Baja during this present hurricane season.
  • Please pray for Keyana in regards to the recent loss of her pet cat Socks. Pray for her broken heart and for us to be able to help her grieve in a healthy way and to come to terms with her cat's death.
  • Please join us in praying that the information shared at the Sexual Abuse Prevention conference will prove helpful to all who came.
 PRAISE
  • Praise that God has brought us and the Eagers together to form a sports ministry team. Praise for the direction and leading that He has given and continues to give as we get this ministry initiative (MI) up and running.
  • For the positive relationships we are building with the president, the directors of the schools and community members in our colonia and for their openness to our sports ministry efforts.
  • For the good turnout and a successful fun day to kick-start a summer of basketball classes here in our colonia.
  • For the great summer we had of working with many different children and youth in our basketball club. We are thankful for the relationships we are building with the youth in our community.
  • For the sports ministry office/drop-in centre space we are able to rent right across from the Jr. High School where we hold the basketball club.
  • For the opportunity we have to take a short ministry leave to return to Alberta in order to share about Tranformados/Transformed Sports Ministry and to re-connect with supporting churches, supporters, family and friends.
  • For the continued construction that is happening at El Faro and for safety at the worksite.
  • For the good friends our children are making.
  • For Jesús opportunity to attend college.
  • For continued safety, protection and health.
  • For increased music ministry opportunities.
  • For a safe government election in June.
  • For Susie's recovery and healing. Our team leader's wife was medevaced to Arizona in August with myocarditis. After many tests the doctors found the cause and were able to operate and Susie is recovering well. They hope to return to La Paz in November. Thank you to everyone who had been praying for them! We give praise for her life and for God's protection and for the wisdom He has given to the doctors who have been treating her.
  • For the successful Sexual Abuse Conference that was held in San Jose and for the many people who attended.
  • For Keyana's healing after 1.5 months of being sick with intestinal problems.

We want to thank you for your continued support and prayers and trust that you have enjoyed reading our latest update!

Until Our Next Talk'O Together,

The Thiessens :)
STAY CONNECTED
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EMAIL: giving@teamcanada.org
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             TEAM Ways to Give - Canada
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CALL: TEAM Canada 1-800-295-4160
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Thank you for considering this important role.

Monday, September 7, 2015

The Red Button


We have a TV but the power button hasn't seen much action this summer. Last week, when I had a rare moment to myself, I wandered over and pressed the red button and proceeded to channel surf. When I saw the word “Baloncesto,” on the guide, I was curious as to what type of basketball it would be and decided to check it out. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered Team Canada playing against Puerto Rico in the 2015 Fiba Amercias! Since then, we have enjoyed following Canada's progress and Mexico's as well. Both teams have been playing exceptionally well and can you guess who's going head to head tomorrow night? That's right, our home and native land goes up against our adopted home. Some would say this is “as fate would have it” but I believe this is the way God would have it, the way He's designed it in order to give us another way to use basketball to share the love of Christ.

Team Canada vs. Team Mexico = the perfect, God-ordained opportunity to use sports and hospitality to impact lives!

Tomorrow night we're expecting our house to be inundated with our basketball youth, the young people we've been working with throughout the summer, building relationships and teaching them the game we love in hopes of developing common ground, a way by which we are able to share about the One we love. The One who loves them with an everlasting love. The One who desires a personal relationship with each and every one of them.

So bring on the coke and pizza. Bring on the laughter and teasing. Bring on the cheering and the excitement! Bring on the crowded couches and the lack of floor space. Bring on the prayers! This is sports ministry in action!

I can't help but smile at the way God works.....an ordained tournament schedule and a little channel surfing.....who knew?

Obviously, He did.

And I'm glad He had me push the red button.

~ Karlene

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Transformed

I am not very tech-savvy. I am pushed by keeping up with the youth around me by using facebook, twitter, and now whatsapp. But I find myself seeing some positive uses and simple relationship connecting through them, so I keep working at it, and asking  people how this or that works.
Recently, I was using the WhatsApp to keep our Jr and Sr High basketball team informed about what was happening that week for practice and playing times. They started to ask some basic questions, and then started teasing each other as invariably happens. Someone then asked why we have such a strange name as Transformed, they had never heard such before.
I know an open door when I see one, so at the next practice I had them sit down and talked to them about the importance of giving your live completely to God and how he will transform you. There were heads nodding and a serious silence as they listened, and I was blessed to be able to share that little bit.
We then walked over to the new office we are renting and they asked why we had this office. I explained that it was a mult-purpose office for basketball meetings and teaching, English tutoring and teaching on other topics. Several laughed when I asked how much they would pay for English classes and they said 5 pesos. They seemed serious about wanting some English help so it seems we may be going down the right trail.
Karlene called as I was ready to say adios wanting to invite the team to our place to watch Team Mexico playing a live game that was at half time. Most of our team was up for it, so they came over, all sweaty and tired, and we watched Mexico win.
At this stage in our basketball ministry, we are investing in building strong relationships. Josiah has been invited to one home several times and we have these two boys over as well. I have got to know the family. One girl comes to visit on Saturdays with Keyana after practice as well and her mom enjoys practicing English with us. We are seeing families and youth opening up to us, and we are praying that we can be a blessing in their lives with eternity in mind. We are blessed by the many that are praying for us, and partnering with us. We live in a time of great difficulty but great opportunity. As Jesus said many years ago, the fields are ripe, it is time for the harvest. I don't think that has changed.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Back to the Grindstone

They say that you don't know how good you had it til it gets bad. They say that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence...or there are less bumps and holes on the other side of the road. They say that your kids grow up in a blink of an eye. You can't wait for them to leave, and then you can't believe they are gone already! Time is funny that way. It can seem to drag, or it can fly right by. The Proverbs of The Holy Bible are full of sayings too, but they are chalk full of wisdom and trustworthy sayings. One that is standing out to me at this time is the need to discipline.

Proverbs 3:11-12 My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
    and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
12 For the Lord corrects those he loves,
    just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

Discipline is never easy and is no easier for the one doing the disciplining. Yet if I delight in my child, I will discipline him or her. This discipline is not spanking, though you may use corporal punishment as a part of discipline, but instead it is guiding, teaching, correcting, sharing and loving. The Lord also corrects me when I do wrong. I have tendencies towards pride and anger. These two weaknesses have plagued me all my life, and when I think God is changing me completely, they seem to rise again. Recently I had the opportune to be a student again. Being corrected when I thought I was doing something just as I was supposed to didn't sit well with me, and ire rose when I felt slighted. I realized later that the issue was mine, and that I need to submit to authority as I hope my kids will submit to mine.
Back to the grindstone of homeschooling...well, in a way I never stopped but was using the summer holidays to try to get some extra catch-up with my child. The schedule has become overwhelmingly full, and I am struggling with finding the time and energy to fit it all in. This is where I am reminded that there is a source of wisdom and strength that never runs empty or dry.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.

And that is where I am, needing to trust in the Lord more, that is with all my heart with all that I am, not faltering or second guessing or using human wisdom if God is already speaking. In ALL I do, seek Him, his will, and he will show me the way to go. This will require time, faith and possibly determination. Drop some things that are good to continue others that are better. Do some things differently but with more prayer in everything. 
Happy to be coaching basketball and soccer, leading a men's discipleship group and a cell group. May God be glorified, and may I be more glad to home-school and spend time with my higher priority, my family. Thanks for your prayers in this continual journey, and may God guide you in yours!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Lost, once again, found! Again...

I have some bad habits. Shocker I know, but I just have to put that out there so that you are not taken off guard by this little story.
We had gone to San Jose del Cabo for a few nights of relaxation and concentrated family time. And to see the hurricanes face as it came in at the tip of the baja. Well, actually we almost fled home when we found out that the hurricane was predicted to hit while we were there, but we kept an eye on forecasts, and I was able to persuade Karlene that we would be safe in a tropical storm. And it came and went with strong winds, 18 foot waves crashing the beach and very light rain. Thankfully, it didn't do much harm.
The next day I was going to get changed to spend some time in the pool with our two little fish. I changed quickly and was about to leave when Karlene and the kids came in. We chatted briefly, and then as I was ready to leave again, I glanced around for the room key. I couldn't see it in the 2 places I was sure it should have been. Having misplaced it once before already, I knew that it could cost $65 if not found.
SO, I began to search other possible hiding places, all the while wondering how in such a short time of walking in, across the room, getting changed, and turning around, I had managed to misplace the key. I turned the room upside down. I wondered if I had left it in the door, or it had dropped in the hall. Nope. I turned the room upside down again...and again. My dear family watched with bemusement at times as I tore the bedding off, shook it, looked under all the furniture, began to mutter to myself, and finally I stopped, and frustratedly exclaimed to Karlene, "I don't understand how I can go from here," pointing at the door, "to there," flinging my arm to the table, "and lose the key!" I flung my arm back and forth again...and felt something odd in my shirt sleeve of my swim-shirt. I flung my arm again, and felt it again...something in there moved! In embarrassment I saw peeking out now from the end, the gray room key for which I had spent 20+ minutes scouring the room. I laughed in derision, but not near as hard as Karlene, who has seen this scene played out many times. One of my new years resolutions last year was to stop misplacing things. As you can see, I am still a work in progress! The Lord is teaching me to be patient, and I still have a thorn in my side that keeps me humble.:)

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

New Plaid Shorts and Dedication

I was playing soccer with the boys on Monday. I was wearing the snazzy new plaid shorts my dear wife had bought me as I had been saying I needed some more shorts with pockets so that I could keep my phone and wallet with me while coaching. A ball was passing over my head so I tried reaching it with a leg high up in the air when I heard the horrifying tearing sound of, not my thigh muscle, but my brand new shorts. The tear was long, like really long, like Mississippi River long! In fact the one leg of the shorts was just about flapping in the wind from crotch to the bottom of the shorts. Not knowing what else to do, I started to laugh in embarrassment and cover up with my hands. The boys all came running to look as good boys are wont to do. I was thinking I should get on the motorbike and go home, but the other coach laughed and said it wasn't a big deal. I had a t-shirt that was long and almost covered the underwear showing. I was still very uncomfortable and kept one hand holding my t-shirt stretched downward, until I decided to look in the storage under the bleachers for some help. A-ha, I found a sweater that had been left by a player, so I tied that around my waist, reminiscent of the breech-cloths used by certain Native American tribes, and was ready for business once again. I spent the rest of the practice (40 min) with this new fashion statement and listening to a steady stream of snickering from the boys. Surely they will respect their coaches dedication after this!

Friday, May 29, 2015

The Thiessen Talk'O - My 2015

                              Sharing The Love of God in La Paz, BCS, Mexico

       Missionaries To Mexico, Serving With TEAM & Associate Missionaries with EMC

"I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."
~Isa. 41:9-10

A lot has been happening since our last newsletter...so let's take some time and catch you up on the latest in our lives...
 
Something Fun:
Here's a little Spanish glossary that might come in handy... :)

colonia = neighbourhood
fútbol = soccer
un equipo de fútbol = a soccer team
El Colegio Arbol De Vida = The Tree Of Life School
cajón = box drum
Transformados = Transformed
El Día de los niños = The Day of Children
Arroyo = stream
maya sombra = fabric sun shade
 
 December 2014 = Internship Completed! Yay!

The month of December saw us complete our year of internship!!! What a great feeling to reach this milestone! After language school, the purpose of the 1 year internship is for missionaries to plug into service that is already happening in order to get their feet wet but not overwhelm them to the point that their required and continued language and cultural learning is hampered. We still have far to go in our Spanish and cultural knowledge but we are improving and for this, we are grateful. We still continue to attend Spanish classes 2x's/week and realize that language acquisition is going to be a life long process.

The internship also serves as a time for missionaries and ministry initiatives (MI's) to discover the best possible fit for all involved. This past year we have served at the ministry initiative (MI) El Faro, a church plant, here in La Paz. It has been a year of growth for us personally and we have been challenged and stretched in many ways. We have built numerous relationships with the people of El Faro and have enjoyed serving alongside them in different capacities. Their warmth, welcome and friendship has been one of the highlights of our year. As our year of internship has come to an end we have transitioned out of youth work in El Faro and into sports ministry (more about this later). We plan to continue attending El Faro and serving through teaching youth Sunday School and Bible Studies (Anthony), singing/playing on the worship team (Karlene, Keyana & Josiah), helping to plan various events and outreaches, practicing hospitality as we host a cell group in our home every Thursday and helping El Faro discover and discern how it can use sports to share the love of Christ with the people of La Paz. We are blessed to be a part of this church family and we anticipate the great things God is going to do in and among us and through us to impact this city for Him.
 
So, What's Next?

As we shared in our last newsletter...
Sports Ministry is a great tool to reach demographics that otherwise may never listen to the gospel. It is our desire to begin a dynamic and far-reaching ministry that involves the local churches and invites many youth and children into the environment of sports. The ultimate goal is to develop relationships where evangelism and discipleship can occur.

In the beginning of the new year, we filled out the necessary paperwork to have this venture recognized as another TEAM Ministry Initiative (MI) in La Paz and are excited to announce that it as been approved!

Since December, we have been more focused on designing this MI. We are blessed to be partnering with Phil and Pattie Eager, fellow TEAM missionaries who have been serving in Mexico for 10 years. It's exciting to see how God has been moving and working in order to bring us together to work on this new ministry! At the time that our internship was coming to a close, Phil and Pattie were also in transition and as we talked about our interests and passions, it became apparent that we shared a mutual desire to use sports to share the love of Christ. Ever since experiencing the power that sports and coaching had to make a difference in the lives of youth in Zambia, Anthony has wanted to purse this type of ministry. TEAM's willingness to use numerous avenues of ministry, like sports, to aid in church planting is one of the things that drew us to serve with this organization. Sports ministry is also something that has been on Phil's heart for the past 10 years, but up until now, it didn't seem that God had opened the door for him to pursue it fully. Now He has and we are recognizing, once again, that God's timing is perfect and we are excited to be partnering with the Eagers at such a time as this!

Over the past 7 months, Phil, Anthony and I have been taking the Global School of Sports Ministry course which is helping us to think through how to design and implement a successful sports ministry initiative. We've begun to meet weekly as couples to pray and talk and brainstorm. We are reading through the book "Pursuing God's Will Together" and were blessed through a team building workshop facilitated by our member care couple, the Sensenigs, in the latter part of April. Last week, we had a sports ministry retreat to focus our efforts on laying the needed ground work, ideas, design, roles, responsibilities etc. for this ministry. Our earnest desire is to keep God at the forefront, to be bathing this ministry in prayer and to be unified as a spiritual community as we venture into this opportunity that God has placed before us. One of the exciting things that came out of our retreat is that we now have a name for our MI - "Transformados" (In Spanish) and "Transformed" (in English). We want to transform youth into better athletes through sports but our even greater desire is for God to use this sports ministry to spiritually transform the lives of children and youth throughout La Paz and beyond.

"...Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed..." - Rom. 12:2

This next year will be one of exploration as we seek God together, as we discern His will, as we ask Him to show us what He wants this MI to look like, as we finish our course, as we start to get our feet wet with different outreaches, venues, projects etc. and as our teammates, Phil and Pattie Eager return to the US for a 6 month home assignment. We 'eagerly' anticipate their return and the official kick-off of Transformados/Transformed in January of 2016!

In the meantime, we have begun a couple of trial runs to explore what methods will work in our context. At this time, we are targeting 3 areas of the city. Each of these 3 areas has either a Bible study or a church that we can connect people to who are searching and/or who come to accept Christ as their Saviour through the outreach of "Transformados". In one colonia, Anthony has begun coaching "un equipo de fútbol" of 36 boys. Many of these boys come from un-churched or broken families. Anthony is using fútbol to build their character, to teach life, moral and spiritual lessons. Already the boys are learning the importance of being on time, showing up for practice, listening and paying attention, the value of hard work and perseverance, that "El Profe" won't stand for them using curse words during practices or games and that the purpose of their lives is to glorify God, even when playing sports. As relationships are built, Anthony wants to begin an optional 1/2hr Bible study after practice, on Friday, for boys and/or parents that are interested in attending. Our plug-in for this community is El Faro which is fairly close as well as one of the El Faro Cell groups that meets in a nearby colonia.

Our second target area involves a connection to a local government agency that has invited us into this colonia to host mini sports tournaments/sports camps throughout the year to keep the youth out of trouble and off the streets. In early December, Phil and Anthony organized a one day mini fútbol tournament for youth of various ages. They had a good turn out and a lot of fun was had by all who came. There was a speaker scheduled to come and share about the danger of drugs, however, they didn't show up and this enabled Phil to be able to encourage the boys against using drugs and Anthony was given time to share his testimony! The government representative for this agency has invited us to come back to this community to hold more tournaments/camps in the future. He's very open to us sharing our faith with the youth and even more exciting is the fact that on the street behind the court, is one of the most active and spiritually growing cell groups in El Faro church! In our last baptism day, almost all of the people were from this group. Our hope is to make connections between members of this group and the youth that we work with during these mini tournaments/camps so that the youth have a place to go in their colonia where they can learn more about Jesus, where they can fellowship and where they can grow spiritually.

Our third target area is the colonia that we live in. Just 1 block from our home is a community basketball court that doesn't see as much use as it could. Across the street from the court is a jr/sr high school with over 1000 pupils attending and a couple streets over is an elementary school. Phil and Anthony have had numerous meetings with the directors of the schools and with our community president. All have been positive and have resulted in them being introduced to numerous community members which helps in making needed and important connections. These meetings have also enabled us to receive permission to use the school court to host a fun morning of basketball, this coming Saturday, as a kick off to the basketball classes we want to offer to children in our colonia. There has also been an offer extended to help coach their high school basketball teams. During this time of inquiry, we came to realize that there is a large, unreached people group present at this school and throughout La Paz. They are the afternoon pupils who attend classes from 3pm -8pm. The majority of organized sports in the city happen Monday - Friday between these hours. Therefore, the ability for afternoon students to enjoy sports is extremely limited. Out of this realization has come a desire to offer afternoon pupils an opportunity to be involved in a organized sport. Starting next week, we will begin holding Basketball classes Monday and Wednesday from 8:30-10:00am at our community court. We will probably expand the classes to include Friday morning as well, once summer holidays start. Our hope is that through these classes, we will be able to build relationships with children, youth and their families in our community and that out of these relationships we will have the opportunity to share the love of Christ. Our spiritual connection in this colonia, is us, our home and specifically our cell group bible study that meets every Thursday evening.

Our long term dream, for Transformados/Transformed, would be to have our own facility in the city with a shaded court that can be used for multiple sports, a building with an office and classrooms where we can offer ESL classes, parenting seminars, educational/spiritual workshops and/or a drop in place for children/youth to come and hang out. We desire Transformados/Transformed to facilitate the transforming work of Christ in people's lives and to be a spiritual community where people can experience the love of Christ in action!
 
Encouragement Through Picks And Shovels...

When living away from what was once home, apart from family and friends and the familiar, in a different culture with a different language...sometimes encouragement comes in unique and interesting ways! That's what happened for us during the week of February 16th - 24th, 2015. We were incredibly blessed to host our first short-term missions work team from one of our supporting churches! Nampa Gospel Fellowship Church in Nampa, Alberta, Canada voted unanimously to send a work team to help with the construction of the El Faro church building along with a very generous financial gift to facilitate the construction! 5 members of the work team arrived via plane and the other couples arrived via motorcycles! We were somewhat nervous about hosting our first ever, short-term team, but with the advice and help of other veteran missionaries, we were able to do a good job of preparing. Of course, there's always things that you can't prepare for or last minute changes that are beyond your control....such is life in a different country. However, the group of men and women from Nampa was amazing! We were incredibly blessed by their hard work, good attitude, sensitivity to the culture, sense of humor, friendliness and camaraderie, especially with their Mexican co-workers at the job site. It was great to witness the laughing, joking and teasing that went on even with the language barrier! I guess smiles and laughter translate easily in any language!

We were encouraged by the team's easy going nature, their ability to go with the flow when changes occurred, their patience with different ways of doing construction and their willingness to jump in and learn and be taught from their Mexican co-workers. The sensitivity that they showed, for our schedule and daily family life demands and the leadership that Pastor Dan gave the group, was greatly appreciated. Their interest in El Faro and our service there, their willingness to meet Phil and Pattie Eager, our sports ministry partners and the opportunities we had to visit and share about the joys and challenges of our lives, were all blessings. It's normal for missionaries to encounter times, during their years of service, when they feel far away from family, friends and churches, disconnected and sometimes forgotten. Having the work team from Nampa here with us for over a week, experiencing life with us, listening to us, laughing with us and working alongside of us was a tremendous, tremendous encouragement! When we showed up at the worksite the first day and realized that dirt was going to have to be moved with picks and shovels, I thought, "Oh no! After hard, manual labour like this, they are never going to want to return." You can imagine how good it felt to hear comments from the group in the days to follow about the next time they came or when they send the next group! Heart warming words for sure! On Sunday, the entire team stood in front of the congregation of El Faro and sang a song. Pastor Dan greeted everyone present on behalf of his entire congregation and shared that God is indeed the One who can bring good out of bad situations. The burning of El Faro's roof, over a year ago, was the catalyst that started Nampa Gospel Fellowship down the road of praying and considering how they could help El Faro rebuild. In the end, God lead them to not only support the building of a permanent worship area at El Faro, but to also send a group of their members to help in the physical construction work! God is Good! Pastor Dan shared that this was a huge step of faith for the Nampa congregation and also the first time that they had done a missions service project this far from home. All of this and more blessed us, and the congregaton of El Faro, beyond measure! What an amazing experience! We are truly grateful for Nampa Gospel Fellowship's continued support and look forward to hosting them again, here in La Paz!

Another blessing that has come our way is to have El Faro accepted as one of the EMC Project Builders projects!

"Project Builders was organized in 1973 for the purpose of supporting EMC and affiliated mission agencies. Approximately 1.5 million dollars has been raised by the membership in support of mission projects throughout the world...The purpose of Project Builders is to make Christ known to the global community through the provision of material support for projects or programs administered by the EMC Board of Missions or its Associates."

For more about Project Builders you can follow the link below:
http://www.projectbuilders.ca/index.html

The money from Project Builders will enable the construction work, that began with the Nampa work team and that has carried on since they left, to continue towards the completion of a permanent worship sanctuary at El Faro. God is good!

Please continue to pray for El Faro, it's people and it's vision. If God places it on your heart to assist in giving to the church building project, you can click on one of the links below. Thank you for your prayerful consideration!


El Faro Canadian Contribution

El Faro US Contribution
 
 Update On Other Ministries

'Juan', the young man I have been discipling, has been growing and becoming stronger in his faith. He has moved to the mainland and stays in touch through skype, phone calls and facebook. It is impossible to mentor someone from a distance like this, but I hope to continue to encourage and support him. He is going through some hard times with personal relationships (breakup with a fiancee) and finding work. He is also looking at entering into a seminary for further training for ministry. Please pray for him with these things in mind. ~ Anthony

Our cell group continues to meet every Thursday in our home. We are still small in number but one of the ladies, who attends regularly, shared that she has been a Christian for 9 years and yet feels she is learning more in this bible study then she had before in the past. Our usual leader has had to take a month off to focus on his work and Anthony has been filling in, in his place. It is good practice for his Spanish. :) Please pray for one of our members to return. This person had started coming regularly but has been unwell for sometime now. They are now better and we hope to encourage their return. Pray for continued spiritual growth in us as individuals as well as in our community of faith.
 
 Wedding Bells

On Valentine's Day, we were privileged to take part in the wedding of our dear friends, Jesús and Cesia. Thank you for your prayers as we facilitated marriage counseling with this couple. It was a new experience for us but God blessed all of us in the process. We felt very honored to be asked to be their Maid of Honor and Best Man. Their wedding was beautiful and God honoring and we enjoyed celebrating the day with them. We organized a photographer to capture special memories and we also lead a couple of games at the reception. Laughter and fun was had by all. We continue to stay connected with them and greatly appreciate their friendship. Please continue to pray for them and their marriage, that they will daily grow in their love for one another and for God.
 
 Easter Camp

We are praising the Lord for answered prayer in many areas after a great Easter youth camp held at Rancho El Camino, a TEAM ministry in La Paz. I was asked to be in charge of the sports, and I was praying for cooler weather than last year. It was much cooler! And for that we are grateful. I was able to organize the games and events in ways that worked more smoothly, and we were blessed to have help from a short term team from the USA. They jumped in whenever I had a need for leaders or setup. We prayed that we would have a good turnout, and we did, better than we had hoped for. Many youth brought friends who were not churched, and they were able to hear the gospel message preached clearly by a pastor from a neighbouring city. The planning had a lot of ups and downs, but in the end we had some people step up and help out in key areas. We pray that God will continue to raise up Mexican believers to lead or support the camp ministries. We also pray and trust that God will produce wonderful fruit in all those that were involved. Thanks for your prayers!
~ Anthony
 
 Music Ministry

As many of you know, I love singing and music. Recently, God has used a couple of situations to get my attention and to impress upon my heart that He wants me to use this gift more. Stepping out and doing so comes with some doubts and feelings of inadequacy, however, being willing to do so has seen God bring numerous opportunities my way, of recent, to be able to use my love for music to hopefully honor Him and bless others. Along with continuing to sing on the worship team at El Faro, I was blessed to be a part of both worship teams at our TEAM Mexico annual conference in January. Just prior to this, I was very excited to be asked to part of a worship team for a Pastoral Leadership Conference here in La Paz. I teamed up with a group from another local church and we practiced together in preparation for the conference. All of the songs were in Spanish and it was a challenge for me but also an incredible experience! I was honored to lead the worship time at Brian's memorial which was held here in La Paz in April as well as at our TEAM day of prayer in Los Barilles on May 2nd. I also enjoyed being a part of the worship team for Easter camp and since then I have also helped lead a worship time, in Spanish for a group of believers in Los Barilles as well as filled in for the worship leader at Crossroads English Church here in La Paz. All of these have been amazing experiences and have stretched me out of my comfort zone by adding piano playing to my singing. And just this past Sunday I was asked if I would consider leading music at the ladies Bible study on Tuesday mornings in El Faro. I continue to learn that God can do amazing things through us even when we feel very inadequate and unprepared. He has also used these situations to show me that it's okay to want to do more with music and I'm excited to see what opportunities for music ministry He is going to bring my way in the future.
 
Sadness and Celebration

On March 28th, we were devastated to learn the terrible news that our fellow friend and missionary colleague, Brian Key, passed away from a heart attack while on a hike in the hills near La Paz. Brian and his wife Susan had just arrived in La Paz, in January, to serve as TEAM missionaries. They had sold their house of 25+ years and were excited to finally be able to re-locate to La Paz. It came as a complete shock to everyone and grief has covered our entire team. We were blessed to be able to come together, as a team of missionaries, some days after his passing, to have a memorial for Brian and to celebrate his life. He was an amazing man who lived life out loud. He impacted countless people with his vibrancy, his smile and laughter, his amazing ability to tell stories, his realness and sincerity, his zest for life, his simple faith and his Godly example which drew many people to Christ. Please continue to pray for our team as we grieve his passing and especially for Susan and her family. Please pray for God's daily strength, comfort and healing.
 
 Family News

We are always blessed to have family and friends visit. It is encouragement to our hearts! My Mom and Dad were able to spend some weeks with us at Christmas and we enjoyed making memories together, one of the highlights being swimming with Whale Sharks! In February, when the work team from Nampa came, we were blessed to reconnect with friends from Riverside Bible Camp as well as friends we have gotten to know through our connection with Nampa Gospel Fellowship. Later in February, Anthony's sister and her husband and son visited us in La Paz for 7 days. Some of those days we spent together in Los Barilles having a short family vacation together. We also enjoyed a visit over coffee, with a couple from our home town who was passing through La Paz as part of a tour group. We only had a short time together but we appreciated the fact that they looked us up and got in touch. Mom and Dad returned to spend 2 weeks with us during Easter and together we managed to keep it a secret from the kids. When I got home from the airport I told Josiah and Keyana that there were 2 gifts in the toyota for them. We managed to get their surprised and joyful reactions on video! What a fun memory! Mom and Dad's purpose in coming was to help take care of their grandkids while Anthony and I were busying helping at the Easter Church Camp. It was a wonderful blessing to have them here and to know our children were in good hands. When we returned to Los Cabos, so Mom and Dad could fly home, we were also blessed to be able to spend a day with Anthony's other sister and her husband who had been in Cabo for a vacation. We love having friends and family visit, so please feel welcome to come on down! If we don't have enough room to host you in our home, we know of some nice and affordable places to stay!
 
Josiah and Keyana are doing well. They are learning, understanding and speaking more Spanish. In December, Keyana received the award for being in top place in her class for that term. That's with all of her classes, except for English, being in Spanish! There are numerous times when I get stuck and she helps me with a word or even translates something for me when I don't understand what another person is saying. We are really thankful for her progress. She continues to attend El Colegio Arbol De Vida full time and has made many friends there as well as in MK circles. She took a break from swimming and diving, because the water is incredibly cold during winter months, and has started ballet. She is enjoying her classes and is excited for their grand performance the beginning of July. It's going to be held in the City Theatre and will include costumes! Their class will have 2 performances along with those of students from other ballet schools in the city. It's neat for her to be able to have this opportunity since she missed her grand performance in Guadalajara when we got stuck in Canada for 3 months with visa issues the summer of 2013. Keyana recently started a horsemanship class every Monday. She has attended for 3 weeks and is learning to care for horses as well as how to ride them. Her love for horses and this class, has her smiling and eager to learn all she can. Keyana has also joined the worship team at church and enjoys singing alongside of her mom. She continues to like drawing, crafting and creating. Her birthday is in June, she will be turning 9 years old and is excited to celebrate with friends.

Josiah's Spanish is coming along great. Just the other day, when he was arguing with his sister about who was the best fútbol player in the world, his frustration caused him to start arguing in Spanish in hopes that his point would be made with even more strength! He attends Colegio Arbol De Vida half time and the other half of the morning is homeschooling with Anthony. He's made some great friends at school as well as in MK circles. He took a break from his first fútbol team (which was made up of boys 2yrs older) to play on a team with his age mates. This is the same team that Anthony is coaching and Josiah is enjoying getting to make new friends. However, his fútbol career took a back burner for 1 month when he cracked his toe playing fútbol on the beach. Thankfully, it appears to have healed well and he's been able to return to the field. We attended a friend's birthday party at the waterpark near San Jose a few weeks ago and while there, Josiah fell and had his front tooth knocked out, root and all. Thankfully, Anthony found the tooth in the pool and we rushed him to San Jose. Our friend and fellow missionary who lives there was on the phone trying to locate a dentist who would work on what was Labour Day. She finally found one who was willing to help us out and come in on his day off. He told us to put the tooth in milk until he could meet us at his office. He proceeded to freeze Josiah's gum and re-inserted the tooth. He glued it in place, fixed the chip is his other front tooth and then bridge the two front teeth together so that it couldn't be moved during the reattachment process. He was fairly optimistic that because the tooth and root had been in good shape, because we had gotten to him in a short time and because Josiah was young that the tooth should re-attach well. So far the tooth looks good and hasn't turned grey so we are trusting God that it has worked. We saw a dentist this week to have it checked and she says he needs a root canal. We are a bit leery about having one done and are praying for wisdom in making this decision. We are very grateful to God for how He provided everything that was needed in this situation and continue to trust that it has and will continue to heal as it should. The following day after loosing his tooth and then getting it back again, we were out in the water with friends and Josiah was stung numerous times by a jellyfish. Needless to say, the poor kid has been through a lot in the last little while. But he continues to smile and laugh and through it all, he's been courageous and brave. It's also given us a number of things to pray about and we trust it's teaching Josiah that God is in control and that He cares about all aspects of his life. Josiah has also joined the worship team at church and is using his gift of rhythm to play the cajón and I'm excited to be able to enjoy music with my children. Josiah continues to like creating with lego, playing with friends and using his imagination. His birthday was this month and he enjoyed celebrating, 11 years of life, with his friends.
 
As a family, we have started helping a local orphanage with their monthly beach outing by organizing fun group games and sports for the children. Josiah and Keyana join in and Anthony and I prep and lead the games. We are hoping in the future to guide Josiah and Keyana into preparing for and leading some of the games themselves. It's a fun opportunity for us and a ministry that we can do together. After fun in the water and sand, we cross the street to a local restaurant who feeds all of us lunch and there we get to enjoy hanging out with the children, their caregivers, the event organizer and restaurant owners.
 
PRAYER
  • Pray for continued safety and protection. The drug war has made in roads into La Paz. Thankfully the violence has only involved members of waring cartels. However, we pray that we are never in the wrong place at the wrong time. We do not take our safety lightly. We trust God for his continued protection and thank you for your continued prayers.
  • Pray for our basketball outreach tomorrow in our colonia. Pray that we will have a good, but manageable turnout. We are hoping to use this day as a kick off for our weekly basketball classes. Our desire is to build relationships through sports and to use sports as a platform to share the love of Christ with the children and youth of La Paz.
  • Pray for continued direction for Transformados/Transformed. Pray that God will use this ministry to greatly impact the city of La Paz and to build the local churches. Pray that our team will be a true spiritual community, united and ground in Christ, seeking Him first and foremost, listening to His voice and obeying His call for us as individuals and as a ministry initiative.
  • Pray for the Eagers as they return to the US for home assignment. Pray for healthy, safety and protection, a time of refreshing and for numerous opportunities to share about Transformados/Transformed. Pray for us as we continue the present work of Transformados/Transformed by ourselves, for a season. Pray for wisdom, strength, stamina, patience and positive relationship building.
  • Pray for safety and a positive outcome for the elections that will be held in BCS on June 7th, 2015.
  • Pray for our continued health and healing for some minor conditions we presently have.
  • Pray for continued wisdom in regards to our children's education. Pray that we will make the right decisions in order to meet their individual learning needs and styles.
  • Pray for Josiah and Keyana as they continue attending Collegio Arbol De Vida. Pray for stamina in learning another language and adapting to another culture. Pray for continued friendship building.
  • Pray for our team and especially Susan Key and her family as they continue to grieve Brian's passing.
  • Pray for our cell group. Pray that people will continue to come and grow and that those they invite will attend. Pray for the health and healing of one of the attendees and that they will feel better and able to return soon. Pray for our leader couple and that our group will care for one another and draw others to Christ.
  • Pray for Juan's spiritual growth and for Anthony has he tried to disciple him from afar.
  • Pray for continued opportunities for music ministry and that in all, God will be honored and glorified and hearts turned toward Him.
  • Pray for perseverance as we continue with our Spanish learning.
  • Pray for strength and endurance in times of discouragement.
  • Pray for the youth at El Faro and for all who attended Easter Camp. Pray that their hearts will be drawn into life changing relationships with Jesus.
  • Pray for the continued construction at El Faro. Pray that the permanent worship sanctuary will be a blessing to the entire congregation and that El Faro will continue to develop relationships that lead to outreach into our community.
  • Continue to pray for our friends, Jesús and Cesia, as they adjust to newly married life! Pray that they will daily grow in their love for one another and for God. 
  • Pray that we will be wise in keeping a balance between family and ministry.
  • Pray for safety for the Baja during this next hurricane season.
 PRAISE
  • That Transformado/Transformed has been accepted as a Ministry Initiative (MI). Praise that God has brought us and the Eagers together to form a sports ministry team and has lead us to some great resources for team building. Praise for the direction and leading that He has given and continues to give as we get this MI up and running and for a great team building and vision casting retreat.
  • For the positive relationships we are building with the president, the directors of the schools and community members in our colonia and for their openness to our sports ministry efforts.
  • For the work team from Nampa Gospel Fellowship, their financial support and for all they were able to accomplish during their time of service at El Faro.
  • For El Faro being accepted as on of the EMC Project Builder Projects.
  • For the continued construction that is happening at El Faro and for the safety at the worksite.
  • That Josiah's toe has healed and he's been able to return to fútbol.
  • That Josiah's accident at the water park wasn't worse then it was, that we were able to find his tooth and that our friend found a dentist who was willing to come in on his day off to re-insert it.
  • For the good friends our children are making.
  • For Jesús and Cesia's beautiful wedding.
  • For continued safety, protection and health.
  • For all the youth who came out to Easter Camp and for the short term team from the US who came to help with staffing.
  • For increased music ministry opportunities.
  • For the opportunity to have a ministry with the local orphanage that we can do together as a family.
We want to thank you for your continued support and prayers and trust that you have enjoyed reading our latest update!

Until Our Next Talk'O Together,

The Thiessens :)