Camp!

The other week, we had youth camp for ages 12 and up. I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical about having jr. high and high school AND young adults in the same camp. But it actually turned out REALLY well!

We had some huge snags in our plans on the first day (camp was thursday thru saturday) that had to do with the facility that we were renting... We weren't given our rooms when we arrived, there was a huge group of teens that should've left in the morning that was still there when we arrived, lunch was 2 hours late, etc. But, we went ahead with some activities that we could do on the lawn, like games and a devotional; and enough kids brought lots of snacks that we were able to stave off the hunger with Cokes and chips. Everyone had incredibly good attitudes despite plans not going, well, as planned.

Our camp theme this year was "My Identity In Christ." We had some great times of worship, some activities that related to "my view of me," and "God's view of me in Christ." We had two guest speakers (adults from Horizonte Church) and a few people from the young adults group share Scripture and experiences related to the theme, and encouraged students to think and pray about what actions or steps they need to take in their lives once they begin to discover an identity in Christ.

The worship group: Ruben, Alex, Job, and Chino is hidden behind Alex


Students participating in the worship time:

Some of the young adults sharing experiences and Scriptures:

Girls hanging out! (Ana, me, Aurea, Brisa, Lluvia, and Amayrani)

And we had some weird fun times... This was in a photo scavenger hunt in downtown Tequisquiapan (a town about 1 hour away from Queretaro), one of the things we had to take a picture of was our team with weird hair-do's. We had four teams for all the games and activities at camp, this was my team, the red team... They're awesome (Back: Alan and Abdiel. Front: MariJo, me, Amayrani, Mary, Dirce, and Justin was taking the picture.)

And a terrible picture of me and Ana after a game... We always seem to get our picture taken together at our worst!

The camp turned out very well, and the students wanted it to last longer! Maybe next year we'll shoot for 4 or 5 days... I feel like the students really learned more about their walk with the Lord, and they definitely built stronger relationships with each other as well!

Welcome to Our Humble Home

We are very blessed to have a nice little house to rent. It's very centrally located, and within walking distance of our church, several friends' houses, and two grocery stores. The lady that we rent the house from LOVES us, and even LOWERED our rent for a few months so we can continue to live here!

Jean Paul and I want our home to be a place of ministry. Of course we use it a lot as a place for the two of us, a place where we can relax and rest. But you can frequently find lots of things going on... We're a little low on furtiture... no couches or anything yet, but hey, it's less for me to clean!

Several evenings each month there are two or three college students sitting around out table studying with JP. He has one year left of his International Commerce studies, and works on several group projects at our house with his classmates. I make dinner and/or dessert for them and they usually stay until the wee hours of the morning (1, 2 am…) working on school stuff, laughing, and drinking too much Coke.

The young adults group from Horizonte Church has used our home on occasion for movies and snack... movies work great with the youth group's video projector, and the DVD being played from a laptop... Big screen in our house!

A couple weeks ago we had our first over-night guests in the house. Monica and Vilma from Merida (kind of by Cancun) came up for the Calvary Chapel pastors and leaders conference that was held just outside of Queretaro.

We love having other young couples over to eat, chat and play games too! Ricardo and Ana, and Javier and Yaneth are our "Monopoly" friends... We have a mexican version of Monopoly - the red squares have places from Queretaro! - and every now and then we play well into the night! Although Ricardo and Ana haven't played ever since Ricardo stood up, slapped his hand down on the table, and said "Jean Paul, you're being manipulative!" (te pasas de gandalla!) Because JP wouldn't sell him any properties! It was really funny though, and Ricardo wan't really upset... We appreciate these times with other Christian couples who encourage us so much!

We've also been able to have some non-Christian couples over for dinner - One of JP's teachers and wife, and a couple from work have come over, and we've been able to share our faith with them!

It's not all fun times in the house though. We've had some difficult situations as well. One night, JP's frind Jorge pulled up to the house around 11pm and asked to talk with JP. I fixed Jorge some dinner and left them to talk. Jorge had all his clothes and belongings that could fit in his car with him... he had just left his wife. He's not a Christian, but JP was able to share Biblical truths about marriage and relationships with him. A few hours later, Jorge had calmed down, and went back to his house and his wife. Their situation isn't perfect, but they're still together...

Carmelita is a girl who I've been discipling for a couple months now. She lives with extreme financial and family problems. I've had her at our table on occasion crying about her family situation, asking for prayer and wisdom... I feel totally unequipped to deal with her situation, but we both trust that God is in control...

All in all, we feel very blessed to have this house as a place of ministry for whatever circumstances come along. Please continue to pray for us as we share the message of salvation with those who still don't believe, and encourage young Christians in their faith!

Kids Stuf!

Well, it's been about 3 weeks now since we last had a Kids Stuf drama presentation for kids in Horizonte and the community. In fact, the next presentation is next week. But I just wanted to throw in some photos...

In June our presentation was about Gratitud. The elementary-aged kids at Horizonte Church learned about gratitude throughout the month of May, so at the end of their study of the "virtue of the month," we have Kids Stuf to further drive home the point of learning the virtue.

This was my last month participating, for a while at least, so I can focus more on young adult ministry and youth camp. And I was drafted (possibly out of lack of anyone else who can somewhat carry a tune??) to sing for the presentation. The singers usually participate in the correography as well, but the day before the program it was clear that I could either remember words to the songs, or the motions - not both! So that's me singing from the top bunk bed:
Roberto and Gaby (my little siblings here, since I lived with them for my first two years here) doing an excellent job portraying siblings in the funny drama...

Alma and Arturo presenting the mini-comedy show:

And some of the high school girls selling popsicles after Kids Stuf to raise money for youth camp that will be July 16-18.