Jon in Mexico

Youth from Cristo Victorioso

What strange phenomenon can close schools and workplaces across Mexico and capture the attention of nearly every person around? A natural disaster? Well, probably. The Pope visiting? Ok, that too. Mexican Idol? I hope not. Ok, here’s a hint. It happens every 4 years and right now it is happening in Germany. You got it! The World Cup.
Two weeks ago Mexico’s first game was versus Iran, scheduled for a broadcast time smack dab in the middle of the church service at Cristo Victorioso. I took advantage of the opportunity to borrow a television, tape the game during the service and invite all the youth over for spaghetti and soccer afterwards. It was a lot of fun. Over 20 people came and filled my tiny living room to the brink. Mexico won. Everyone in Mexico was happy. They proceeded to tie their next game and loose their third game. Nevertheless, they passed to the second round of play. This past Saturday they lost a thriller against Argentina 2-1 and were eliminated from World cup contention. Oh well, there’s always next y… wait… ok, there’s always “4 years from now.”

The Wedding

This past week I was in Pennsylvania for my brother Ben’s wedding. It was so nice to be home and see family and friends again. I spent some time working at Ben’s house, helping him with some drywall and electrical work, watched some soccer games, visited a lot of people and went to the wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, and although it looked like it might rain, the Lord had mercy on us and held off the weather. The week flew by. I think the biggest blessing for me during that whole trip was that I was received by family, friends, and people from the church like I had never left. It truly was a blessing.

CEFC Puebla Team

I had a chance to spend some time with the CEFC team while I was home. I’m really looking forward to seeing them down here and working along side of them. The group will be painting, building walls and installing lots of tile in two bathrooms. They’ll have plenty of work and I’m certain that they’ll go back to Pennsylvania good and tired.
There will be a Vacation Bible School held at Cristo Victorioso during the second week. Although the members of the church will be running it, there will be 4 CEFC team members who will be working along side of them, helping in a variety of different ways. Please keep the team in your prayers over the next two weeks.

Life in Los Heroes

Amidst English teams, work teams and weddings we’ve been continuing with regular ministry activities as well. I believe I’ve written a little about the men’s group that meets at my house on Wednesdays. Well, Wednesday evening rolled around this week. With me still in unpacking and preparing for the Elverson team I did not leave myself enough time to call the guys in the group and tell them I was home to make sure some of them could make it. At 8:30pm I was still unpacking stuff and getting my house organized, thinking to myself, “Well, whoever shows up… shows up.” To my amazement, the guys had called one another while I was gone, and made sure they knew they were going to meet at my house. I had nothing to do with it. It was wonderful to see the men in that group taking on roles and responsibilities and making it happen without me making one phone call. This may sound a bit trite, but it’s a great leap of progress for our group. It’s wonderful to see the men wanting to take an active role and my hope is that some day they will be leading small groups of their own.

Prayer:

1. Please keep our Puebla team in prayer. We’ve been experiencing many spiritual battles lately.
2. For the Elverson team. That each one of them would grow closer in their walk with the Lord during their time here.
3. I love having a lot to do. These next 5 weeks will be incredibly packed with things to do. Please pray that I would not let my personal time with the Lord slip because I have so much to do.

“I lift my eyes up to the hills- Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. – Psalm 121: 1-2

May the Lord be your help as you daily seek to walk with Him.

-Jon

Posted by Jon at 06:03 PM | Permalink

The Harer Family and Cuernavaca

About three weeks ago I went to Cuernavaca to help the Harers, a new missionary family from West Virginia, get settled in a home to the point where they can begin language studies. Cuernavaca is a small city about 2 hours south of Mexico City, and 3 hours southwest of Puebla. It’s called “La tierra de la perpetua primavera”, or “Land of eternal spring.” It’s a beautiful city, lush with vegetation, built on the side of a mountain.
Such a nice place that Hernan Cortez, the Capitan of the Spanish conquering force that overthrew the Aztec Indians of nearby Mexico City, decided to build his palace there. In a pure display of power and control over the region, he dismantled an entire pyramid and used every stone to build his personal palace.
Anyway, back to the point, I spent four days there helping with everything from finding furnarture and a refrigerator, to getting a phone line, electricity and a cell phone. We were busy just about every day I was there with something or another. They’re a family of 2 girls and one boy and a teacher who will be homeschooling the kids for a year or so until the parents finished language school and come to join or team here in Puebla. If you are interested in learning more about their family, go to www.kneelingwetriumph.com where Ken has his own blog. This will give you more information about their family and ways that you can pray for them as well.



English Camps

Last week we had a team here for another English camp in Los Heroes. The team of 15 was from Liberty University in Virginia. They stayed in Puebla for about 10 days, working with us to make the week long English camp happen. In previous English camps, I taught kids classes in the afternoons and adult classes in the evenings. In this English camp I was designated to be a “floater”, or someone who just is there to help in any way possible. That changed in a hurry when we found out that we had over 70 children on the first day of classes! On Tuesday I was placed with a class of 12 beginner kids and worked with them for the rest of the week. The majority were between 8 and 10 years old, with a 5 year old and a 4 year old who both snuck in under the radar. Let me tell you, if I didn’t have Paula (a Mexican believer who has been working with her husband Jose Manuel with our team) there to help me with crowd control, I would not have survived. (SEE PICTURE) It turned out to be a wonderful camp, with 99 children attending on our peak day. The team was great, worked wonderfully with us and loved the kids and adults with whom they worked. They built relationships during that week based in the love of Christ that we as a team here in Puebla will to follow up on and Lord willing, lead people to Him.

Flower Boy

Over a month ago, I wrote in an update that I had the opportunity to be the “Padrino de las flores” for a wedding at Cristo Victorioso. (Translation: I was the one who had to get the flowers for the wedding.) I have no idea why they asked me to do it, but it went better than I expected, with lots of help from the guys at church, of course. One thing that I didn’t mention was that I was also the chauffeur for the bride and groom. When I accepted this seemingly effortless job, I wasn’t told that my car would need to be decorated and loaded with flowers. Oh well, you learn as you go here. But the best thing was that the couple chose my car over any of the other 6 cars and trucks that were available from people at the church. Why? Because it was the prettiest, and they liked blue. Nice choice, I thought.

LTG Group (Life Transformation)

Our men’s group is still meeting regularly and at the point of needing to multiply again. The whole purpose of the group is to get men into the word regularly, pray together, and be accountable to one another. Please keep our group in your prayers. I’ll write a little more about the group in my next update.

Prayer:
1. Team Changing: Gary and Kim Lidstone and Pete, Dee and Danny Campbell both left Puebla within the past two weeks. Gary and Kim were here on a 4 month assignment to study Spanish, which recently ended. Pete and Dee are returning to Philadelphia to take a 6 month furlough. Please keep our team, the Campbells and the Lidstones in prayer. A missionary’s life is one of constant change. People come and go, but it still doesn’t ever get easy to say goodbye.
2. Elverson Group: I’m really excited about the CEFC Elverson team that will be coming down on July 2nd. Please keep the team in your prayers. If you know anyone on that team, please make consider contacting one of them and commit to praying for them each day they’re in Mexico and for a time before and after the trip as well. Prayer is the most crucial factor in any short term trip being a success.
3. Travel home: I have the wonderful privilege of coming home this June 19th for my brother’s wedding. I would appreciate your prayers that the transition back and forth would go well.

I’m sure there’s a lot more I could write, being that it’s been almost a month since the last time I wrote, but I’ll save more for later. May the Lord bless you all and feel free to write whenever you think of it.

In Him,
Jon

Posted by Jon at 03:14 PM | Permalink