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
~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... :)
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.
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.
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!
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.
'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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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 :)
Until Our Next Talk'O Together,
The Thiessens :)
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