May in Mexico
These past two weeks have once again been a change in gears for me. I really like having things to do and keeping busy throughout the day, but recently I’ve needed to be creative in order to make the best of my day.
When I’m in language school, working with English camps, medical caravans or traveling, there are always tons of things to do and I don’t need anything else to fill out the day. Right now I’m in the midst of a 3 week period where none of the above things are occurring. 
I set a goal two weeks ago to start getting up at 6:15 and start my day with exercise, shower and devotions. I make a schedule for each day which can include any combination of the following things: cleaning, visiting people, inviting people over for dinner, English lessons, odd jobs in other people’s homes, Bible study, activities at Cristo Victorioso and other various things. I’m a goal oriented person. If I don’t write down personal goals to complete for the day, I probably won’t redeem the time nearly as well as I should. Nor will I be able to enjoy the times of rest and diversion when they come. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I make plans for the day, the night before, work hard to complete them and really don’t get upset when they change (because things here change a lot).
Things will start picking up soon. We have a three day session of group training outside of Puebla and two English camps before I return to Pennsylvania in June for my brother’s wedding.
CEFC Team
I got some great news from Len Noble that the CEFC team has been filled. That really makes me happy because I love working with teams, especially with my brothers and sisters in Christ from Elverson. I’m really looking forward to the two weeks with them in July. (The picture seen here is of last year's group) 
LGT Groups
The Wednesday night Bible study that we have has been growing rapidly. One of my neighbors (Alberto the police officer… I think there’s a picture of him in the “archives” section of the blog), came for the first time last week and would like to continue coming. Another one of my neighbors, Philipe, attended this past Wednesday as well. Praise God for how he continues to grow our men’s group!
I’m not sure if I have explained to you all what we do with our Wednesday night Bible studies. Actually, we call them LGT Groups (Life Transformation Groups.) We choose a Book of the Bible to read throughout the week, with the goal being to read 4 chapters a day. We meet, and go through a series of 7 accountability questions that are geared toward spiritual growth and focus on the week’s reading. The whole point is to get people reading the Word, discuss it and be accountable to one another. It’s a really simple concept, and we’ve seen the Lord use it to bring many new people in to the Word, and back to Him.
One of the Mexican men in our LGT group was saved about a year ago and since that time has seen his wife come to Christ and a complete turnaround in his family. Breaking away from flawed traditions, opening up his Bible, and seeing for himself the truth of Scripture has been a long process. Yet he is already showing fruit, taking leadership responsibilities in the group and seeking to walk with the Lord according to Scripture… not tradition.
Mexican Catholic Tradition
In Mexico many Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary (In Mexico known as the Virgin of Guadalupe) and the saints are legitimate co-intercessors between man and God. In other words, praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe is as good as praying to God himself, which can’t be done by regular people, according to their beliefs.
The Virgin of Guadalupe
According to tradition, in the mid 1500’s, an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to a poor peasant named Juan Diego in the northern foothills of present day Mexico City as he was walking to mass. The apparition asked him to go to the Bishop to request that a shrine be built where she would intercede for those who prayed to her. Diego brought the request to the Bishop who rejected his request, saying that he wanted more proof than just the word of a poor peasant. The next time that Diego passed the hill where he had previously seen the apparition, she appeared again and requested the same thing, that a shrine be built for her so that she could mercifully grant the requests of those who called on her name. She told him to climb a nearby hill and pick some flowers that were miraculously blooming out of season, wrap them in his tilda (a tilda is a type of large outer cloak that the Indians wore at that time) and take them to the Bishop as proof that the miracle really happened. He traveled back to the Bishop and presented the flowers to him. As Diego was pouring the flowers out of his tilda, the Bishop was stunned… not because of the flowers, but because there was a full size image of the Virgin Mary imprinted on Juan Diego’s tilda. The event was declared a miracle and a chapel was eventually built on the sight where the apparition took place. Juan Diego spent the rest of his days guarding the tilda, caring for the building and testifying to pilgrims and visitors who came from all parts of the land to see the “miraculous image.” 
Ever since the time that the apparition supposedly occurred, Mexican Catholics have sympathized with Diego and accepted the Virgin of Guadalupe as an intercessor between them and God. Countless copies of the apparition are in circulation all over Mexico. You almost can’t enter a home, store, taxi or bus without seeing a picture or figurine of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
All that being said, it begs the question: Did the apparition really happen? I really don’t know. I wasn’t there. What if it did happen? It still doesn’t change what is required for us by God through his Word for salvation. Whether or not the miracle happened does not discount the error that the Catholic church has made by 1) elevating the Virgin of Guadalupe to the status of deity and 2) claiming that she has the power to intercede between God and man. This goes in direct contrast to 1 Timothy 2:5 which says that, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.”
When people come to Christ here, the images are often present somewhere in their home. We don’t immediately tell them that they must take down their images of the Virgin or the other saints. As we gently present the truth to them, and as they study Scripture, the Holy Spirit reveals to them the truth about idol worship, which includes praying to anyone other than the triune God. In time, the images eventually do come down.
After my Mexican brother, who I mentioned above regarding the LGT group, accepted Christ, the Virgin of Guadalupe remained hanging by their front door and in other parts of the house up until the time that his wife accepted Christ as well. Both of them being saved, and seeing that it would not be inviting conflict, he made up his mind to remove the pictures. That night he returned home from work and saw that there was a big chunk of plaster missing from the front of his house, where the framed print of the Virgin had been glued to the wall by the front door. At first he thought that his wife had taken the picture down, but on closer examination, the plaster behind the picture came loose, sending the picture crashing to the ground. He quickly gathered up all the other pictures of Mary in the house and took them off the walls. He knew that God was showing him something and he wanted to get the rest of the apparitions off the walls before they fell down too!
Right now he is working with me in an LGT group, sharing the love of Christ to his fellow Mexicans and directing them to the truth in Scripture that can’t be counterfeited.
Prayer Requests
1. For the group that will be coming down from CEFC in July. I’m really looking forward to seeing them.
2. For the Wednesday night LGT Group that continues to grow.
3. To continue to have opportunities to share my faith with people.
Praises
1. Last night the Lord gave me an opportunity to share Christ with a man who was visiting one of my neighbors. He even wanted a Bible when I offered it to him so he could read it and have the peace that he recognized I had.
2. The growth of the LGT group. All the new guys are my neighbors and they’re interested in coming back.
3. I was sick about two weeks ago, but since then I’ve felt much better and have been exercising regularly which has made a big difference in my energy level throughout the day.
4. It’s finally raining here! We’ve had about 5 rainstorms pass through Puebla in the past 10 days. It’s so nice to see some green again and have the air start to clear up.