Special Days

This week was special for our family in many ways. On Tuesday, Melissa finished her last class in high school. We went out to eat and celebrate! We also went to Imperial Beach to take pictures, some serious and some crazy.

On Saturday, June 28th Daniel celebrated his 20th birthday. He spent the day with family in Michigan at the CRC Conference grounds on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Saturday, Scott and Marcia also celebrated 22 years of marriage. Scott had to teach his class at the Bible Institute, so we went out for a late dinner.

First Day of Summer

We woke up at six this morning to a temperature of 84 degrees! Hello summer! Yesterday our thermometer read 104, and today at about 1:00 it read 99 (in the shade). The news has the temps between 105 and 115 today. This is unusually warm for us in June; we usually enjoy "June Gloom" which follows "May Gray" where we have fog in the early morning which keeps the temperatures down. Residents of Southern California and Baja California love the May and June weather, but visitors looking for sunny days at the beach are sometimes disappointed. The closer you are to the beach the longer it takes for the fog to burn off. Some days the coast is fogged in all day. But this year we have had several days of over 100 degree weather in both May and June. We are begining to wonder what August and September will be like!

Scott is teaching a course on Evangelism and Discipleship at the Bible Institute this month. His class starts at 4:00 and ends at 8:00pm. I got a call today, just before 4:00 from Scott asking me to please bring a fan for his classroom. I loaded up our big "Hurricane Force" fan and drove the block to the Emanuel Church where the institute is located. Very excited students came to help me unload, but they quickly noticed there was only one fan. "You don't have any more fans you could lend us for the other class room?" they asked. So I made one more trip with two smaller fans.

Scott really loves teaching this particular class, discipleship and evangelism are two of his passions. He is excited to have a part in training men and women to be lay leaders. Giving them practical experiences; like writing and sharing their testimony, and begining evangelistic home Bible studies with their family or neighbors, is an important part of this course. Please pray for the pastors and missionaries with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico as they teach at the Bible Institute. Pray also for the students, many wish to be lay leaders in their churches, or evangelists at new missions. The pastors and missionaries would like to set up a mentoring program to help the students get even more practical experience and hands on learning.

Two of the students will be attending the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in Mexico City this fall, to further their studies and prepare for full time service. Pray especially for these two young people, Diamandy and Tito.

Thanksgiving Service

We had special front row seats in the service.

Pastor Isaac preached about the missionary work of Paul

A final song and prayer for our family and minsitry.

A group shot of Prince of Peace

Sunday night, June 8th, the congregation of Prince of Peace surprised us with a special service to thank us for our eight years of ministry with them. Several families prapaired a special song or reading, and Pastor Isaac preached a sermon about Paul and his missionary service. They sang a final song "Misionero Que Va" (Missionary that Goes) and prayed for our new work at Agua Viva. It was a very special service! Afterwards there was food; including Chiles Rellenos, Marcia's favorite Mexican dish! We have been blessed during our years at Prince of Peace and continue to have special friendships there. Remember Prince of Peace in your prayers as they are working toward the goal of officially organizing as a church in a year or so.

Dedication Service

A group picture of those attending the dedication service.

A special prayer for the family.

Last Saturday evening, we attended a house dedication with the Emanuel Church. A family that attends the church lost their house to a fire on the 26th of February. They and 6 of their children and two grandchildren have been staying in two classrooms at the Emanuel Church since the fire. Pastor Adolfo was able to coordinate with Amor Ministries to have a new house built for them. The house is only rough framed, but the family wanted to have their new home dedicated before they began moving back in.



We have known this family for years, since we started the Emanuel Church. They have passed through many trials before, with cancer, a daughter almost died of a ruptured appendix, and others have suffered illnesses. They would attend regularly for a while, and then drift away. The family began attending church again several months before the fire, and have continued to attend and become more involved in the life of the church.



Please pray for this family, that they will be faithful to their promises, and that in this new home they will reflect God's love in their neighborhood.

Mexico Evaluation

Darrly Mortinson,Scott Geurink,Steve Brauning

Marcia Geurink, James Lee, Joshua Lee, Barbarita Lee

This past week, a team of 6 people from the CRC, not directly involved in Mexico, came to do an evaluation of our ministry here. They all met in Mexico City for two days to meet and talk to some of our partners. Then the team went two by two to visit some of the other ministries. Darryl Mortinson (with CRWRC) and Steve Brauning (CRWM Dominican Republic) flew with Scott to Tijuana to visit. They met with all the pastors of the RPC and some other missionaries and partners. They also went to visit many of the churches in the area. They also met with the Lee's and ourselves to learn about our ministries, new posibilities, and opportunities. We continue to pray that the observations and recomendations from this evaluation will help us to better spread the Gospel in Mexico.

Ordination of Elders and Deacon at "Emanuel"

Sunday, May 25th was also a very special day in the life of the "Emanuel" church. At a special service in the evening, they ordained two new elders and a new deacon. We are excited to see how God is working in these three men's lives, we are also encouraged by the growth we see in the Emanuel church.

Inaguration Serivce, Sunday May 25, 2008

The first Sunday Worship Service at "Agua Viva" was held on May 25, 2008 at 11:oo am. About 180 people attended the special service. The mother church "Cristo, Arca de Salvacion" came after their regular morning service. Their Pastor, Armando, gave the message from the book of Acts. The mother church also brought the food (carne Asada) and grilled it for the meal afterwards. The congregation "Dios Altisimo" also attended the service with us. There were also many new visitors from the community around the mission, and several regular attenders invited family members and friends.

Diamandy, with help from Jane, Melissa, and Karissa, had a lesson for the children. There were about 70 kids in one classroom! The kids learned about Noah's Ark, and at the end of the service recited their text for the adults.

The ministry team at "Agua Viva" is excited that the mission has taken this next step!

Dave, Israel, Scott

Jana and Jane, Elizabet holding Eliab, Marcia

Eliazar and Esteban, Diamandy, Karissa and Melissa

For more pictures, watch the slide show on the top right side, or click on the link to the Inaguration Agua Viva Album in the link section on the left hand side.

Getting Ready for the Big Day!

This past week we were busy getting everything ready for the Inauguration Sunday Service at the "Agua Viva" Mission. The bathrooms (outhouse style) had to be moved and renovated, electrical shorts had to be fixed, fill dirt had to be brought in and leveled, the cement patio had to be swept, the drywall on the front wall of the sanctuary had to be finished, the wall had to be painted, and the sanctuary had to be cleaned and the chairs and other furniture arranged.

Some of the projects were done during the week, and on Saturday we had a work day at the mission. Several families came to help us get the work done. We started at 8:00 am and finished after 1:00. The work was made more difficult with rain, the mud got tracked inside and we ended up mopping the floor in the santuary three times. One of the ladies who could not make it to work sent over chiles rellenos (chili peppers filled with cheese, dipped in egg, and fried) and Alma, who lives at the mission, made burritos.

We were all tired, but glad to have the mission looking good for Sunday!

Family Camp: Video of Singing Group

Family Camp 2008

Biting into a hot peppper.

Crawling through the water balloon and mud land mine.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico in Tijuana held a family camp May 9 - 11. We all (around 300 people) camped in tents at "El Rancho" in the town of Lomatova just east of Tecate, in a high desert plain. Since the camp included Mother's Day (always May 10th in Mexico) the men and youth did all of the cooking! Early (5:00 am) on Saturday morning, the youth serenaded all the mothers with two special Mother's Day songs. They also had a rally prepared which included 15 different stations and activities like eating a hot pepper, "shooting" an apple of the head of a teammate with tomatoes, crawling in the mud through an obsticle course, and much much more! After the rally, the participants initiated a water fight and gave each of the youth who helped with the rally a bucket of cold water over the head.

The theme of the camp was unity in the family. Several pastors gave devotionals and talks. Scott and Marcia showed a movie to the kids during the evening session, many did not make it very long before falling asleep! On Sunday morning we had a special worship service in the shade of several large trees, with a musical group made up of participants from five churches. Pastor Armando gave the message based on Malachi 4:1-6, turning a father's heart towards God and his family.

Our Sunday dinner included carnitas (pork fried in lard), Barbacoa (barbacued mutton) and birria de chivo (lamb stew). Each was served with tortillas and condiments of salsa, onion, cilantro, and lime.

Four families from the Agua viva mission accompanied us to the camp. They all enjoyed the weekend and were able to meet new friends from other churches.

Vacation in Mexico City

Melissa and Karissa in front of the Palacio Municipal in the Zocalo.

Scott and Marcia in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

We also spent three days in Mexico City so Melissa and Karissa could see some of the buildings, art, museums, and the metro. We stayed at the home of Dave Gifford, missionaries in Mexico City who are in Michigan on home service. Thanks for lending us your home! On Sunday we worshipped at the Getsemani Church in Coyoacan. We also saw the museum of anthropology. On Monday we took a tour bus in downtown Mexico City. On Turesday, with Alejandro Pimintel, new missionary to Mexico City, we returned to see Bellas Artes, the Palacio, and a few things we had missed. By that night we were ready to return home. We arrived in Tijuana at 11:30pm, but with the time change it felt like 1:30am. We had two days to unpack, wash clothes, pack and leave for the family retreat in Tecate this afternoon. All of the RPC churches in Tijuana are having a combined family camp at a ranch. Fortunately the water to the bathrooms was fixed today! Several families from the new mission are going to the retreat this weekend, pray that they would have a great time and that they will get to meet families from the other churches as well.

Vacation in Playa del Carmen/Cozumel

Our family took a week of vacation after the retreat. We drove from Merida to Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun. On the way we stopped at Ek Balam, a Mayan ruin with a pyramid taller than Chichen Itza. There are parts of the pyramid that still have the original white stucco, and some paintings on the walls. After climbing the pyramid, we went swimming in a cenote, an underground pool at the bottom of a sink hole. We then drove to Playa del Carmen where we spent three days at the hotel Alux. We went snorkeling on Cozumel, and visited friends that Marcia knew from 25 years ago! We also went to Xcaret, a water and Mexican History theme park just south of Playa. It is always amazing to see the clear blue water of the Caribbian.

CRWM Mexico Field Retreat in Merida

From the 24th of April to the 29th, the CRC missionaries in Mexico had their annual spiritual retreat. This year it was held at the Hacienda San Pedro Nophat, on the outskirts of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. The hotel is a converted henequen hacienda, with several pools, lots of plants and flowers, and a wall around the perimeter. It was a great place to stay, and the kids had fun exploring and swimming. Jan VanEe led the sessions, using Ray Vanderlaan's "In The Dust of the Master" series. Jan added personal insights and extra information from his studies in Israel. Thanks to the Merida team for all of the work they did to make this a great retreat.

Church Transformation for Integral Missions

This past week Scott and four other missionaries from Mexico attended a conference in Nicaragua. The conference was for CRWM and CRWRC missionaries in Latin America who are involved in church planting and developing. The conference focused on the indicators of a healthy church and how to help churches move towards being more healthy. One day the group divided into 6 smaller groups to visit and analyze local churches, Christian schools, and other Christian agencies. There was also a seminar by Jim Palmer describing a Christian people movement on the Coco River. Jim also identified four key missiological principles to start a church planting movement.

Agua Viva plans to start Sunday Services in May!

The team of leaders at Agua Viva has a target date of May 25, 2008 for the inagural worship service at the mission. Please pray with us for the planning of this event, and that many new people of the community will attend. Several families have stopped by showing interest in Sunday services, because of work schedules they can not attend during the week.

We also hope to have the new Santuary ready for this event. The construction has continued: Dave Crum (OPC missionary) had a work team help to install the insulation and drywall. The Rodriguez brothers are applying the cement stucco on the ourside of the building. There is still lots to be done, and we have two teams planned this summer who will help with the finish work.

As a team; Israel Ponce (Elder at the "Arca" church) and family, The Crum family, and ourselves will be working out the details of worship style, music, materials, children's classes etc. in the next six weeks. Please pray for wisdom in making these decisions.

Update at the rehab center.

Paulino Luna and the men from the rehab center have continued to work on the foundation for their new building. They poured the rest of the foundation and the floor! The holes are all covered up, only the rebar columns sticking up show where they were. Just like in our lives, the foundation is critical even though it remains hidden. Thanks again to our friends from Calvary CRC of Holland, MI, for your help with this big project!

John and Jerre De Young visit Tijuana

John and Jerre De Young retired last summer after many years of service with CRWM in Tijuana. They are now living in Zeeland, MI. They drove out for a visit (through a major hail storm) the first week of April. We were excited to see them, our girls grew up with Uncle John and Aunt Jerre! Their many friends here were also glad to get the chance to visit with them again. The De Youngs were encouraged to see that the work in Terrazas and Dios Altisimo continues to grow. Continue to pray for their trip, they plan to see family in California, and friends in Washington before returning home. Pray also for their health.

Semana Santa

Semana Santa or Holy Week is a busy time in Mexico. School children get the week before and the week after Easter for vacation. Most factories give some time off during the week, and on Friday almost all stores are closed. On Good Friday there are processions with people carrying large crosses, and special services. In some places people are actually crucified on crosses for several hours.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church also has special services during this week. Several of our churches invited their communities to see an evangelistic movie during the week. On Friday the Prince of Peace church had a special service of "7 Palabras" or the 7 last sayings of Christ from the cross. Seven men from the church each took a turn giving a devotional about one of the phrases.

On Saturday we went to the beach halfway between Rosarito and Ensenada. Yes, it was great beach weather here, about 80 and sunny! We met at church at 6:30 am and returned at about 5:00 pm.

Sunday morning we had our traditional sunrise service at 6:00 am. Because the women were the first to hear of Jesus' resurrection, the ladies are in charge of this special service. They all come dressed in white and lead worship, participate with special music, recite memorized verses, and give the devotional. Marcia gave a children's message at the end of the service using resurrection eggs. Then the men serve breakfast! This year we enjoyed "flautas", (deep fried chicken tacitos) beans, and boiled eggs.

At 9:00 we had our regular worship service. The day was a blessing, and a celebration that Christ Lives!

Friday, and it is all done!

Friday the team worked on finishing up the shingling and the electrical. The roof crew finished first and took a trip to Downtown Tijuana for shopping. The electrical crew stayed behind to get the rest of the building wired. It is an impressive site, to see a church building go up in only five days! Pastor Armando Ponce, from Cristo Arca de Salvacion church came by to see the building, and was impressed with the work. He had to try out the view from the pulpit.

Saturday morning the whole crew made it across the border and to IHOP for breakfast. Pray for safe travels as there are predictions for snow in the mountains!

Thursday

Thursday was a busy day. The two main projects were the wiring and the roof.

A trench had to be dug from the electrical pole at the road to each of the buildings to lay the main cable. The new santuary as well had to be wired for lights, outlets, fans, and speaker wire.

The roof was another big job. The plywood had to be nailed on, then the tar paper and shingles. Bird block and facia boards had to be cut and nailed up as well. By the end of the day, one side was shingled and some of the plywood was up on the other side.

Everyone returned "home" to Pancho Villa tired. The pingpong table had only a few takers.