Double Quinceanera

Double Quinceanera:

A Mexican quinceanera (fifteenth) is quite the event. We had the priviledge to participate in a special one recently. It was given for two young ladies, Rebeca and Karla, two friends in Pastor John Perez' church in Hermosillo. Rebeca is the daughter of our friend, Mexican missionary Alfredo Ortiz, and both girls are friends of our Abigail.

A quinceanera is a celebration of the fifteenth birthday, and what a celebration it is! For the dedicated christian it is in reality a wedding dedication and is just as elaborate. The ceremony involves the beautiful dresses, the flowers, the "bridesmaids", the invitations, the full reception following the ceremony and much much more. The focus is the young persons vow of purity till marriage and includes a Bible given to commemorate that vow of purity and a ring to identify that the vow that has been made.

This was a beautiful ceremony not just because it was so elaborate but because it was sincere. It is a beautiful thing to watch young people be raised up to be dedicated to the Lord and to see that dedication confirmed personally in the lives of those young ones. God bless you Rebeca and Karla. Stay faithful to God for life.

A Day of First

The First Fellowship - We had our first fellowship after church last night. The menu was nachos and fellowship. God has given us a new family but they had never been to the same services as our other family until yesterday morning. I solicited a commitment from both parties to be there for the evening service and then announced our planned fellowship. I preached on the importance of fellowship both with the Person of God and the People of God.

The First Hurdle Passed - We were finally able to jump the old hurdle of 13, we had 14! That is actually bigger news than it seems in that I have succeeded in running off one dyed-in-the-wool charismatic and Ezra is now living in Ohio. The fellowship was the big plan, surpassing 13 was icing on the cake!

The First Visitors Invited by Our People - We have had visitors all along but last night we had a family come from the efforts of our new family. That is exciting, it speaks of growth not just in numbers but in spiritual life. I know that our other families have invited others that have not come but with success will come excitement and more success.

The First Shouting Message - After the service Peggy informed me that I had "yelled" in my message. Actually I even pounded my fist on my makeshift pulpit. I do not attempt to change who I am other than bringing all things under Christ but it is much more difficult to preach with the same freedom I can enjoy in English while stumbling in Spanish. The ability to get excited in the message shows a growth in my Spanish ability. One of our men commented last night after the service that he enjoyed preaching that "had unction of the Holy Spirit".

Visitors From Near and Far

This past week we were honored to have the Washburn family visit us from Lubbock, Texas. We had never met this family before but through our mutual friendship with the Nelson Dorr family they were able to arrange a visit with us for a week here in Magdalena. Please pray with us for Brother and Sister Washburn as they seek the Lord's will in their life about the possibility of coming to Mexico as missionaries!

We were also blessed in the work to have several new visitors these past two weeks. Ventura Garcia is in one of these pictures with myself, Brother Washburn and our faithful man Juan Orosco. Another young couple have also been attending with zeal and interest these past few weeks, Leonicio and Martha Pino. Please pray for an invitation I also have to meet with a man named Pablo at his house. We are excited about the men that God is allowing us to meet and influence.

Happy Birthday, Abigail (and Sarah)

Abigail turned 16 on April 7th! (Sarah turned 24 on the 9th!) Sarah had her own party with family and friends there in Ohio and here in Magdalena we celebrated for Abigail. Thank you to all those who faithfully remember our children's birthdays. It is always special to them to be remembered by those they have met through the years. Now if our oldest is 24 and one of the last two at home is now 16 - How old am I? That is just a rhetorical question, you do not need to answer. Just remember to pray for us.

Go Fly A Kite

A street vendor came by the other day with kites for sale. Anna chose a pink one and Abigail chose a black bird. A few days latter we had a few free minutes in the afternoon and headed up by the cemetery to keep away from the many low hanging high power electric lines in town to try out the kites. It was quite a blustery day as you can tell - Anna's kite took off and stayed up most of the time (we let out about 200 yards of string), Abigail's kite was unbalanced and was much more difficult to fly. It eventually snapped the main crossbow. I cut a new one out of a desert bush put it still proved difficult to fly. Remember to keep us held up in prayer no matter what type of weather blows!

Felicidades (Congratulations) to Freddy and Enereida

It was our honor and privilege to be part of Freddy's and Enereida's wedding this past Friday. Freddy and Enereida are part of the work of the ministry in Hermosillo. They have both dedicated themselves to serve the Lord and the Lord has brought them together. They have a wonderful testimony for the Lord and their wedding in turn was a tremendous testimony of how God works in lives dedicated to Him and just how wonderful and beautiful Godly love is. Our congratulations to them. They plan to continue in the work in Hermosillo and will be a tremendous asset to Pastor Perez and their church.

Instituto Biblica de Sonora Building Update

This past weekend we traveled through Hermosillo and stopped by to say "Hi" to Pastor Perez and to make a few arrangements for some other things. We were on our way to Navojoa for a Mission's Conference and Anniversary Service but more about that later this week.