Christmas in Mexico

“ The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

John 1:9

Greetings from sunny Tijuana. This Christmas as in years past, our neighborhood is brightly lit with Christmas lights, but unfortunately the true “Light of Lights”, Christ the Savior has no place in many Mexican homes. Starting with the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12^th and continuing until Christmas, many people in Mexico have “posadas”. They dress up as Biblical figures, with a Mary and a Joseph, and walk the dark streets holding candles, knocking on doors looking for someone to offer them a place to stay. Each night they find an open door with a party waiting, but the sad truth in their lives is that they themselves have never opened the door of their hearts to Christ. They are still wandering in spiritual darkness.

The celebrations continue until January 6^th, “Día de los Reyes” (Day of the Kings) When they celebrate the arrival of the Magi to present gifts to the Christ child. They gather with family and friends to eat a “Rosca” (Sweet bread in the shape of a crown) which has small plastic dolls baked inside. The person who finds the “baby” in his piece of bread gets to help host the next celebration, in February. In the past, families traditionally exchanged gifts on January 6th and not on Christmas. Children wait anxiously to see what the “kings” brought them. Like many homes in North America, the focus becomes the gifts and not Jesus. There are however, people in Tijuana who like the wise men of old are searching for a light to guide them to the true King of Kings.

In this past year we have had the privilege of seeing many step out of the darkness and into Christ’s light. It is exciting to see the men, women, and children from the “Agua Viva” Mission grow in their new faith. We had a special worship service on Sunday, December 23 to celebrate Christmas. There were special musical presentations from the children, the youth, and the ladies. The children also had a dramatic presentation of the Christmas Story in the form of a slide show with pictures of the children dressed in Biblical costumes acting out the story. It was put to music with narration from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Afterward, we had a pot luck dinner with lots of great food and fellowship.

We continue to reach out to the community with evangelistic films, the ladies Bible Study, children’s classes, and Wednesday night Bible study where we are studying the Gospel of John to help the people discover who Jesus really is. We are looking forward to holding regular Sunday services in the near future.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and we wish you a blessed new year. Our family is doing well and we are enjoying a visit from Daniel and Scott’s parents.

We thank you for your partnership with us as we reflect His light in Tijuana.

In His service,

Scott and Marcia Geurink

Maximina and Guillermina

For five months Maximina has been studying the Bible in her home. She is a 62 year old widow who lives with her widowed mother, Guillermina. They live two blocks from the new mission "Agua Viva". Maximina felt drawn to the mission since the inauguration. She knew about the eye clinic but decided not to go, that night she says that without knowing why, she just ended up at the puppet show, and was touched. When the story of the Philippian jailer came up in her Bible study this week, she shared that it was the first story she had heard at our church, the one that touched her heart (the story was one of the puppet skits).

Guillermina, her mother, does not read at all and has studied in the past with Jehovah's Witnesses. Maximina has a second grade education and sometimes she doesn't understand some words in the Bible studies and has a hard time memorizing, but she does it! This past week during the study at her home on Wednesday, we invited her to join the Monday morning Ladies group that is studying the same book. Maximina was a chapter behind them but we told her not to worry, just come and be part of the group. To our surprise, on Monday she arrived with both lessons done, and both verses memorized! We are hoping she will join the group, and find encouragement in studying with others. She sometimes comes to the Wednesday night study at Agua Viva but finds it hard to leave her mother alone at night, especially as it gets dark so early now.

Each Wednesday at 4:30 Diamandy and Marcia, and sometimes Jane Crum, arrive at their home to give the Bible Study. Guillermina is usually outside on the porch watching for us. Maximina has juice or coffee waiting. At first Guillermina would just listen, but for the past month she has been entering into the conversation and asking questions. It seems that during the week there are heated discussions between the two of them over differences in beliefs. We keep pointing to the Bible as the ultimate authority for what we should believe.

We are encouraged by the growth we have seen in Maximina. She truly wants to learn and grow. Even her mother admits that she has changed since becoming a believer. They both laughingly described times when she wanted to quit because she thought she couldn't answer the questions in the study or memorize a verse. Maximina has found that prayer works and the Holy Spirit is always there to help her. She even admitted that one other time she began studying the Bible but after a few studies she would purposely not be home or even hide when they knocked at her door.

Pray for Guillermina, that she will understand that salvation is only in Christ. Since she does not read, she has accepted what she has been taught by the Jehovah's Witnesses for years. She willingly admits she can not explain why she believes what she does, perhaps it is only tradition. Pray that the scriptures she is hearing in the studies will show her the truth.

James and Barbarita Lee

We are excited that the Lee family; James, Barbarita, and Joshua, will soon be joining us in Tijuana. James graduated this spring from Calvin Seminary with a MA in Missions and was later ordained as a Ministry Associate in the Christian Reformed Church. He did his undergraduate studies at Kuiper College (formerly Reformed Bible College). He has many talents including singing and playing guitar. Barbarita also graduated from Kuiper College and later earned a nursing degree. She continues to work towards her licensure as a RN. Barbarita also has many artistic talents including singing and scrap booking. Together they are excited about working with the people of Tijuana. Their son Joshua will have his first birthday the 21st of December. He is a precious boy, very friendly and happy. Joshua is already learning Korean and English and soon will add Spanish.

The Lees were able to visit Tijuana for a few days in November to get a first hand look at the work here, and to see the 'lay of the land.' While they were here we visited many of the churches and missions, and they were even able to find a house to rent, not too far from us! They plan to arrive in Tijuana on the 7th of January.

The Lees are replacing John and Jerre DeYoung who served with World Missions for 36 years. The first year, the Lees will be finding their niche in the work here: helping out at one or more of the new missions, and perhaps teaching a course at the Bible Institute. James lived for several years while growing up in Argentina and speaks very good Spanish (with a singing accent). Barbarita learned her Spanish on STS, at College, and on the job as a nurse. She will probably spend some time the first year fine tuning her Spanish. She also hopes to finish some classes for her RN degree. Joshua's job will be to charm the neighbors!

If you would like to learn more about the Lees, check out their blogsite; there is a link to their site on the right hand side bar.