The Thiessen Talk'O - Summer 2016

                       The Thiessen Talk'O                         Sharing The Love of God in La Paz, BCS, Mexico

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

 

Our Transformados Logo!!!

Our logo speaks to the transforming work of Christ in our lives. The cross symbolizes Him and the truth that He is pure and holy. As He transforms us, we become more like him, moving from dark to light, from sin to purity, as represented by the shade changes seen throughout the word 'Transformados.' Our key verse, Romans 12:2, is highlighted at the bottom of the logo. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." 

Transformados seeks to transform lives through utilizing sports and other community initiatives as powerfully effective evangelism and discipleship tools for extending the Kingdom of God in Mexico and beyond.

Transformados Summer Camps

Summer, in Mexico, has come and gone and with it, our first ever Transformados Sports Camps!!! In our inaugural summer, we ran 3 weeks of camp, 2 weeks of Basketball and 1 week of fútbol! A TON of work and a whole lot of time and planning went into these 3 weeks! To say we saw God at work, is an understatement! He is good and faithful and it was exciting to see how He brought everything and everyone together, to make these camps possible!

July 17th - Sports Camp Community kick-off (With help from SWCC, Texas)
July 19th - 22nd - Our 4 day basketball camp for ages 8-12 (With help from SWCC, Texas) - A total of 19 campers attended
July 26th - 29th - Our first ever fútbol camp for ages 8-12 (With help from Hope EFC, Illinois) - A total of 31 campers attended
August 2nd - 6th - Our 4 day basketball camp for ages 13-18 (With help from Cedarville University, Ohio) - A total of 22 campers attended

This summer also marked another first for Transformados! We were incredibly blessed to host 3 different short-term mission teams. Each team helped us with a different week of camp and it was amazing to see how God ordered the teams and equipped them to serve in ways that were perfectly suited to their specific week of camp! This overseas missions adventure was a first for every group and therefore, it was a learning experience for all of us. What a joy it was to serve and learn and grow together and to see God work in mighty ways! Precious moments were shared and one of the highlights, each week, was doing a prayer walk together around our community, stopping to pray at all the places where we presently minister. How wonderful it was to pray together, for God to use us in specific ways and places, throughout our community, to help bring Transformation! Our summer of ministry would not have been possible without the help we received from these 3 groups. They blessed us and encouraged us in so many ways! We look forward to their return and working together again someday!

On Sunday, July 17th, we hosted our sports camp kickoff at the local community basketball court, the same court where we stood 1.5 years ago and prayed for God to open doors and make the way for Transformados to reach our neighbourhood for Him! What an amazing experience to see God's hand bringing us full circle!

It was a night filled with fun and laughter! We had a pre-registration table for camp and actually had some people sign up in advance! Along with our snack table, we also had ones for face painting, playdough, lego and an artist paper wall where kids could be creative. Our competition booths consisted of a 'minute to win it', yard Yahtzee, bean bag toss, hula hoops, basketball shooting and a fun, improvised take on the all popular dunk tank. During all of this, we also had a local band called, "JazzSur" provide us with some awesome music that turned the heads of those passing by and drew curious people to the court where we were able to tell them about camp, hand out information flyers and invite them to partake in the fun! We couldn't have done this night without the help of our Southwest team and we were encouraged by the good turnout. The purpose of the kickoff was to make our presence known in our community, to share about Transformados and what we have to offer and to inform, those interested, about our summer camps! Mission accomplished!

Then began our 3 weeks of sports camps. Every morning we met together at the Transformados Centre, with the visiting team, for a time of prayer and then began hauling needed items to the court or to the soccer field in order to set up before campers arrived. It was heartwarming to see the short term teams dive in and get involved with camp prep, coaching teams, leading skill stations and having fun with their players! Even with the language barrier, the children and youth who attended the camps, knew that they were loved and felt encouraged through the enthusiasm and excitement displayed by the short term teams and our Transformados staff.

Each week, the campers where divided into teams and cycled through a series of stations where they learned basketball or fútbol skills depending which week of camp it was. Every day, during water break, one of the short term team members would either share their testimony or give a devotional talk. Campers got to hear about transformed lives, that God loves them, that Jesus died to save them, that they are never alone, that God can bring good out of bad and that they too, can trust Him with their lives. Seeds were planted and now we ask you to join us in praying that God will cause them to grow and that as we continue to reach out to this community and pour into these children, that their hearts and lives will be Transformed by the truth of God's amazing love! After the water break, the teams would play against each other until home time. Every day, they received an invitation to come to the Centre between 5-7 for a games night, ice cream night, craft night and coffeehouse/awards night.

The first night, we only had one camper come out but with each passing day and week, more campers came as did more of their family members until we had a packed centre the last night for our coffeehouse and awards evenings! It was exciting to watch the campers receive their certificates and medals and to have their family members there to celebrate with them! We were able to share about Transformados and how we are here to help the community. Great conversations were had, information was given, questions were asked and connections were made! This was our goal when planning these events and now we look forward to pursuing these connections. It was wonderful to have one of the Grandmothers remark, "Oh, this is good! We need something like this in our community!!" Our prayer is that God will use Transformados to transform our neighbourhood and our city!

Another exciting thing, to witness this summer, was the involvement of our own Transformados youth. These youth, whom we've been working with for the past year, stepped into leadership roles and helped to either lead skill stations or coach teams during the first two weeks of camp! They did an amazing job! It was truly rewarding to witness youth that we've been pouring into, turn around and pour into others! Seeing them embrace an opportunity to serve their community was priceless! So was hearing them say, at the end of the summer, that it had been a lot of fun, that they were looking forward to next year already and that Transformados had become family!

So what's next? Today started another year of basketball clubs and Saturday youth nights in the Centre. ESL class will begin again this coming week and we've talked about starting a weekly chess club, at the Centre. A number of Transformados youth have expressed interest in studying the Bible so we hope to start an exploratory study in September with a leadership/discipleship component for those youth interested in helping to lead at next year's summer camps. Because of the prayer walks, community kickoff, sports camps and community outreach events in the Centre, we have managed to make a number of contacts and a few of these have expressed interest in attending a Bible study. So we wondering whether to add them to our cell group or start a community study at the Centre. We hope to continue our partnership with the Christian Life Coach who works with trouble teens and we also want to start visiting the families of our basketball club kids, on a more regular basis. There is much we can be doing. We need prayer and wisdom to do exactly what God wants us to so that we can do it well. We continue to be excited to see what He has in store for the future of Transformados!

Coming home...

We are excited to be able to return to Canada on August 18th. We have medical appointments, a family wedding and the need to purchase school supplies/curriculum since our children will be full-time homeschooling this year. If we are in our home province on September 1st, we can sign up under a homeschool program and receive the added benefit of financial help from our provincial government. This will be a huge blessing! We do not have an exact date of return to Mexico since we need to keep things open to make sure that we can complete our medical appointments. At this time it looks like we will be home, in Alberta, for 3-4 weeks. If this enables us to share in some of our supporting churches, we definitely will take the opportunity! We would also love to get together over coffee to share about what God is doing through Transformados! We look forward to re-connecting with as many of you as is possible, during this short time.

 On The Homefront

The month of June was crazy busy but full of celebration! Keyana turned 10, had her first piano recital at the State Music School auditorium, her 2nd ballet festival performance at the City Theatre, wrote her grade 4 exams and passed, received another certificate for the highest semester grade average in her class, as well as the certificate for finishing the year at the top of her class. She missed getting the certificate for student with the highest marks in the entire school by .1 of a mark. She ended the year very well and has worked hard at everything she was involved in. She's sad that she won't be able to see her friends everyday at school, this coming year, but at the same time, she is super excited to be homeschooling this fall. Her Spanish is great and many of our Mexican friends comment on the fact that she speaks without a foreign accent. We don't want her Spanish to suffer, so we will make an effort to organize activities with her Mexican friends and once a week she will be attending a conversational Spanish class to continue to help her grow and advance. She's already told me that now she wants to learn French and sign language! She will continue with basketball club, ballet and piano this year, but wishes she could take baseball and horsemanship classes too. She really enjoyed her week of basketball camp, bonded well with her coaches and was excited when her team won the mini tournament which meant she received a gold medal!

June saw Josiah finish grade 5, perform his second drum recital and receive a brand new fútbol uniform which he proudly sports around the house. We are blessed to have found a teacher who is going to take on all his schooling next year and although he's sad to not see his friends every day, we think eventually he will be excited to see how much faster he can progress in a one on one situation. He likes being part of the basketball club and really enjoyed all 3 weeks of our Transformados camps. His basketball team came in 2nd and his fútbol team came in 3rd, making him excited to receive silver and bronze medals. He also had a blast connecting with the youth on the short-term teams, some who ended up taking him under their wings and playing the role of older siblings, during their time here. It was really neat to see them bond and helped to make up for the void we feel not having family members close by. After almost 3 years of playing fútbol, Josiah is looking forward to taking a break and trying his hand (no pun intended) at karate. His love for music is growing and so he will continue with drum lessons this coming year. He's made some really good Mexican friends and we will work hard to keep those relationships going. His Spanish is coming along nicely and he has no problem communicating with his buddies! It's great to hear him conversing and laughing and having a good time in Spanish.

In June, I auditioned for a choir and made it! Since then we've practiced twice a week and are presently learning songs in English, Spanish and Swahili. I am super excited to have this opportunity to do something that I am passionate about! I'm impressed with the director and her husband and am slowly getting to know the other members. We just had our first social event a couple Saturdays ago. It looks like we might have a small concert in October with a bigger event happening in December. They envision becoming a close knit chorale that one day might even tour and attend choir festivals in other parts of Mexico! It's exciting to dream and I look forward to using this opportunity to share the love of Christ with this wonderful group of people I am blessed to sing with and get to know.

Anthony has been bothered by a bump on the back of his heel for almost 3 years now. He's been living with the pain, told by doctors that with time, it will go away. Through a course of events, he happened upon a local orthopedic specialist here in La Paz. After x-ray, ultra-sound and consultation, he had the lump removed on August 4th. Having thought that the lump was fat build-up, the doctor was surprised when it wasn't so he removed extra flesh around the tumor and sent it to be examined by a pathologist. Although we weren't overly worried, it was still a relief to get the results saying it was benign. He's hopeful that the constant burning and pain he had with activity, will now be gone with the removal of this lump. He's looking forward to being active again, pain free!

PRAYER

• Pray for all of the children and youth who attended the summer camps. Pray that the testimonies, devotions and love they were shown will continue to touch their hearts and that their desire to know Jesus as their personal Saviour, will grow.
• Pray for all of the people we met this summer and the contacts made. Pray that we will know how to move forward in reaching out and strengthening these relationships, especially with the families of the children and youth that attend our basketball clubs.
• Pray for our basketball clubs. Pray that those who came to camp will start/continue to attend our clubs. 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 been faithfully coming and with whom we are building relationships. Pray that the time we have already invested into these youth will begin to provide further opportunities to share about the transforming work of Christ!
• Pray for continued direction for Transformados.  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 grounded 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)
• Pray that the Transformados centre will be a welcoming, safe place where children, youth and families will want to come. May it be a place where they will experience the love of Christ!
• Pray for continued safety and protection. We do not take our safety lightly. We trust God for His protection and thank you for your prayers.
• Pray for healing for my Dad.
• Pray for Ben, our first Transformados intern. Pray that he will continue to find joy in God's call on his life as he discovers all that God has for him during this season.
• Pray for continued health, stamina, energy and joy.
• Pray for wisdom in regards to our children's education and choosing what curriculum/online options to use. Pray that we will make the right decisions in order to meet their individual learning needs and styles.
• Pray for continued opportunities for music ministry and that God will be honored and glorified in it.
• 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 God will provide the money needed to complete the cement roof over the new worship sanctuary. Pray that El Faro will continue to develop a hunger for God and a desire to serve the surrounding community.
• Pray that we will be wise in keeping a balance between family and ministry and that we will be able to create some margins in our lives.
• Pray for safe travels as we return to Canada this month for various reasons. Pray that our time home will be refreshing and for opportunities to re-connect with family, friends, supporters and churches.
• Pray that Karlene will be able to find some help, relief, healing, from some health issues she's facing.
• Pray for energy and wisdom in parenting. Pray that we can be the parents our children need us to be. Pray that we will rely more on the Holy Spirit's strength to understand, guide, correct, direct, teach, care and love our kids in the ways that they need.
• Pray for our marriage. Pray that despite the stresses and pressures around us, we will take time for each other.  

PRAISE

• For an amazing, 3 weeks of camp and for every student who attend and for the seeds that were planted in their hearts and minds.
• For the 3 awesome short term teams that helped us this summer!
• For the many new people and family members we connected with, over the summer, who live in our community.
• For the Transformados youth who helped in leading the 2 weeks of camp for younger aged kids.
• For the positive relationships we have built with the president, the directors of the schools and community members in our colonia and for their openness to our sports ministry efforts.
• For continued safety, protection and health.
• For a great end to the school year for Josiah and Keyana.
• For the choir opportunity that God has given Karlene.
• For successful removal of the lump on Anthony's foot and that it was benign!

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 :)