FELIZ DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIAS

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It is hard to believe a year has passed by already.

We have much to be thankful for after a very challenging year! First off we are thankful for you, your prayers, and support! We would not be here without you! As we thank God for our old friends we also thank him for all the wonderful new friends we´ve made who are part of our lives, and that today we will share our holiday tradition with many of them. Josh is preparing a turkey, Jennifer is cookind pumpkin rolls and we are expecting a full apartment tonight.

Many times we focus on the difficulties we are facing and we neglect to give God praise for the victories and joys in our lives. And there are many. More than usual we are thankful for the food we have to eat, the jobs we have, and that we always have enough. We are thankful that we have each other in the good times and in the bad times, and we are thankful for the way God has grown us this year.

¡FELIZ DIA DE ACCION Y GRACIAS!

May you have a wonderful holiday praising God for who he is and what he´s done in your life! Hugs from Mexico.


Josh and Jennifer


Prayer Requests:
-That God´s love and grace would grow in our small group and among our friends

-That all of our friends would experience the transforming work of Christ in their lives

-That THIS WEEK Jennifer would finish her class preparations and have a good class in Irapuato this weekend. She is teaching world religions and sects.

-That God would give us good health, rest, and encouragement

-That we would have peace about our future

"The Hot Air Balloon Festival is coming up in two weeks," said our friend, "We should all go and camp at the park." It sounded like a great idea. Nearly everyone in our group was willing and able to go to the park and camp out for a night to see the famous Festival de los Globos in the Metropolitan Park here in León. This type of group activity and the desire to do things together is exactly what we have been wanting to see from the members of our group and it was very exciting to see that they were coming up with things to do as a group by themselves. Saturday morning several of our friends helped us out by setting up the campsite and getting things arranged for us, because we were busy all afternoon in a meeting in Irapuato. When we returned we realized that most of our friends in the group were upset with one another. Each one of us had done something that had upset the other.
The idea behind our group is that we not only are centered on the gospel word but we are also centered upon the gospel community. The end result that we are striving for is that we are not only hearers of the Word but doers of the Word and that theology and praxis are united. We are realizing that uniting a diverse group of people in one Spirit is not something that we are able to do. We have tried to model love, grace, and community. We have done the best job we can of proclaiming the good news of Jesus to those in our group. Yet, we are still very slow to make the jump from head knowledge to heart living. We are realizing that uniting these wonderful friends of ours in one Spirit is not something that we are ultimately able to do, rather, the unity comes from the Holy Spirit herself. We are also realizing that ministry is a path filled with highs and lows as we see ourselves and our friends making great strides in maturity and understanding and as we see each other fail to live out the grace and love of God we have received. We want nothing more than to see our friends become the body of Christ to one another and to this city. We are certain that this is the desire of God and we are waiting upon him to move among us in this way. We must be faithful and persevere and be careful not to rely on ourselves or our abilities to accomplish His purposes.

Annual Conference in Saltillo

Once a year the missionaries of the Mexico field with WGM get together to have a two-day annual conference in addition to several other meetings they hold during the year. The purpose of annual conference is to talk about the past year and plan for the upcoming one. Usually it is held on the border in McAllen where WGM has a private school and guest house, but this year it was held in Saltillo, Mexico. We started off on our 8 hour trip on Friday with our field directors and returned Monday afternoon.

In Saltillo we were joined by the few WGM missionaries of this field which include those who work on the border, and by some of our prayer partners who live in Kentucky, plus our missionary pastors who came down to visit with all of us one-on-one. We spent several hours in meetings and disscussing important matters pertaining to the field. On Saturday we talked about whether or not we would be returning to Mexico with WGM, and we announced that we have not yet made that descision. We of course are going to finish our term here, and we do feel called to live and work in Mexico. Currently, we have not decided whether God is leading us to return with WGM. Please pray for us as we seek God and make wise decisions for our future.

The highlight of our trip was making a visit to the Casa de Paz (House of Peace) in a very humble neighborhood in Saltillo. We had the priveledge of being there in April and meeting Annette at the annual pastoral conference, but this brief visit last weekend was extra special. Annette is a very dear woman who is part of on of WGM's congregations in Saltillo, and because she lost her house she had to move to a little neighborhood called Nueva Esperanza (New Hope). The name is ironic because when you look around you don't see many signs of hope, but Annette along with the help of a few other women, and now one of WGM's missionaries, is making that name a reality. In front of her little house made out of cardboard, scrap metal, and wood, Annette is teaching the kids in her neihgborhood about God and his love. The ministry has grown from merely giving the children a breakfast and a short lesson on Saturdays, to serving breakfast and offering lessons several times a week. The Casa de Paz also has a women's group now as well to reach the mothers and teach them about who God is and how he can change their lives. The last thing Annette said to our group after explaining her passion for the families of her neighborhood was ask all of us to pray. To pray that God would touch the lives of those they are working with, that God would give them strength to be good leaders, and that God would continue to provide what they need. Our hearts were full of joy as we saw the face of Jesus in the eyes of Annette, as we thought about the fact that she was turning her proverty into an oppertunity, and because whether she new it or not, we all left challenged. Shouldn't we all have a House of Peace?


Pictures:
Jennifer and Annette
Our prayer partners the Conleys
Sights of surrounding the Casa de la Paz in Nueva Esperanza
The sign in front of the house
Our current missionary team