Wow! I am really getting lazy about updating this blog. Sorry! We have been rather busy, however.
The work in Hermosillo continues to go well, although we’ve had some disappointments. One of our partners told us that in their experience, October is one of the worst months for ministry. The days are getting shorter, the kids have been back to school for a month, the long hot summer is still hanging on…..it seems like everyone is just in a rotten mood. We’ve experienced that in October. We’ve seen some apathy and some just general exasperation on the part of our people. Hopefully, it won’t last long.
Sunday before last, we arrived at the site of our Sunday services only to find that a neighbor had hired a very loud band to play ranchero music in the street. It was the final part of the “Quinceañera” celebration for their 15 year old daughter. There was cake and balloons, and although I couldn’t see it from my vantage point, probably beer flowing freely. At any rate, the band was blasting at about 100 decibels and you could hear it from 1/2 mile away. We stood around discussing what to do about church and couldn’t even hear each other. Finally some of the brethren showed up at the last minute and we moved our meeting to a home about 6 blocks away. Our attendance was way down, but God’s hand was evident. We had a very good Bible study with several new attenders. God is good.
Last Sunday we returned to our usual site and all was back to normal. We had nearly 50 in attendance including my adult Sunday School class of 16. We had a very good Bible study entitled “Living in the Spirit” and discussed the initial and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of non-beleivers and believers. We had very good participation and it’s so gratifying to see people sorting out their own beliefs to come into agreement with Scripture.
A couple of weeks ago we headed out to Tijuana to visit our colleagues there. Just recently our newest team members, the T. family joined us there. It was good to see them and the L. family and spend some time with them.
We got our flu shots recently and I think both of us reacted to the shots with a bit of fever and strong headaches. It lasted a couple of days. Hopefully, we won’t get the flu!
November is shaping up to be a busy month for us. We had expected one volunteer team to come in November and had inquiries from a second, but alas, both have cancelled. As we say here, “Ni modo”. Life and ministry goes on. We are planning a youth retreat on Saturday, November 7 and later in the month (a date TBA) we’ll screen the FIREPROOF movie and begin some Bible studies focused on marriages. Our church is already planning for a Christmas event in the community, which will probably happen sometime between the 25th and Jan. 6th. (January 6 is the traditional day for gift giving in Mexico. Google it to find out more!)
Keep praying for us and for the work in Hermosillo!
