A visit from our family....

We have been so blessed this Christmas season with a wonderful visit from Christian's mom and dad and his sister and her husband..... For us, being so far from family is the greatest sacrifice in missionary life. Yet, we are so thankful for the wonderful blessing of having friends and family visit us. The time spent this Christmas with family was precious and we will always remember the special times we had!

Amanda, Christian's sister, with Amelia after Amelia had just
enjoyed a green Christmas cookie!

Mimi and Maddie

Grandpa and Ethan

Rudy, our brother in law and Joshua in the process of decorating Christmas cookies.

No more parties, ok?

That was a recent request by Ethan, our 3 year old. Indeed, we have been to our share of Christmas celebrations this week..... Here are some photos of the latest ones!

Our church leadership (the people in charge of coordinating each of the ministries) gathered for dinner and games on Monday night. It was an excellent time of fellowship although the party did not start until 8:30 and ended around 11:30 at night! Then the next morning at 9:00 am the boys had their school Christmas celebration. Pictured below are their class mates as they sang three lovely Christmas songs.
The week prior to the party the boys were excited to tell us about their adventures in making a pinata by hand at school...but they enjoyed hitting it even more!
Then Tuesday evening all of our Pastors, church planting workers and the missionaries gathered together for an awesome celebration. There is such an incredible spirit of unity amongst everyone....and it was so evident at this celebration. We played some incredible games (led by Andrew and Carol), ate dinner and enjoyed each others company.
Towards the end of the evening Christian played "Santa" as gifts were handed out to each of the families as a thank you for their tireless efforts. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to work with such an incredible group of people!

Tis the Season....

For lots and lots of celebrating! Here are a few of the latest happenings here in Mexico City....
Our MOPS group partnered with the Women in Growth Ministry at the Campanario Church to have a Christmas breakfast....It was a wonderful time of singing, games, wonderful food and an awesome message based on Isaiah 9:6. We praise God for the way He is working in the lives of the women here.

Below is a photo of some of our MOPS coordinators enjoying their breakfast!

Our missionary family got together last night for the traditional Christmas gift exchange.... We had a wonderful time.....here are a few pictures from our time together...

The missionary ladies together...

All of the kids together...

Joshua and Ethan both got one of these awesome airplanes from Aunt Kay and Uncle Leroy! They were so excited!

Stay tuned for more photos of holiday celebrations....This week we have an event almost every day!

A blast from the past....and present!

We were so incredibly blessed this past week to have our dear friends Gary and Karyl visit us from Indianapolis. Gary and Karyl have been mentors to us for over 10 years now. They led our young marrieds group at our church in Greenwood for several years, Karyl was the mentor mom for Robin's MOPS group in Greenwood, Gary served on the school board for STAR Academy when Christian taught there... and the list of sweet connections between us and Gary and Karyl goes on and on... including the fact that they have been faithful supporters of our work here in Mexico.
They spent 5 days with us this past week and it was one of the sweetest most wonderful times for us. What a joy to talk with them, laugh with them, show them our life here in Mexico and to have a taste of home!
We praise God for Gary and Karyl and for the way they have willingly invested themselves in the lives of others. They are an amazing Godly example for us and for many, many others! Thank you Gary and Karyl for your time and your encouragement! Come back soon!

Maddie and Karyl....

.....Gary taking a swing at Piñata!

DEPI

We've shared that the 18th of November was a monumental day.  One of the things we wanted to share was about the new Department of Evangelism and Church Planting or DEPI.  The reason that this new department is so significant is that UNIFAM has decided that evangelism and church planting has to be "theirs" and not a foreign owned entity.  In other words Mexicans are taking their new mantle of leadership very seriously.  

Even though we will cease to use ECC as a 'name' in Mexico the vision and goals will remain the same with DEPI.  We still want to reach Mexico for Christ but it won't be the missionaries leading the way, but rather the Mexicans.  They have "Mexicanized" what OMS has been doing for over 100 years around the world.....and that was the goal from the beginning.  We praise God!

In one area the growth in house churches has increased from 3 to 17 new house churches since mid September!

What a privilege it is to witness all of these new changes and to see the Mexicans lead the way!  Please pray for revival as both OMS missionaries and UNIFAM workers continue to preach the good news.  Pray also for Christian as he continues to co-lead this effort.

Vision Casting and Sharing the Plan from the D.R.

Never in our wildest imagination could we have imagined how the Lord would bring so many people together who were fired up about multiplication, evangelism, and church planting. Today was the climax of 4 months of direct planning in casting the vision for church multiplication for Mexico & the result of over 2 years of training leaders. Christian shared that he'd never witnessed a group of people so close to being like the early church.

So what was the big deal? The work here in Mexico has taken new life, a new challenge, and a new focus to win this country for Christ. What was a few embers of a hand full of committed Christians who wanted to see rapid growth in the church has turned into a wild fire much like the book of Acts. Almost 60 people met today to learn about their role in spreading the gospel and planting churches in homes. They left excited and enthused with their new roles.

We as missionaries have always believed that Mexico will be won by Mexicans. And so we set out almost 2 decades ago to train them how to win their own for Christ. Now we are seeing the fruit of that labor. We believe that the growth could be exponential in the next 5 years. Our goal is to reach 600 new believers of which 30 of them would want to open their own home with the intention of reproducing themselves. Please pray for this work! We believe that we could see over a quarter of a million new believers by 2013 with over 13,000 new churches in homes. With God all things are possible.

Dominican Republic Results

Christian and 4 pastors got back from the D.R. at about 2 in the morning on 6th of November. Even though they were tired from the journey there was much excitement. We really believe that God is moving mightily in Mexico through UNIFAM. Christian commented that the unity amongst the pastors and missionaries is growing in a way that only the Holy Spirit could be guiding. We believe that planting 150 churches during this upcoming year is very possible.

Here are some photos of the group at the ECC Training. All of the activities led up to a plan that will be implemented this month here in Mexico.

UNIFAM Pastors making plansAn activity that got us all thinking about priorities in church planting
Brazil, Haiti, Columbia, Mexico, Equador, and the United States were all represented -
One of the fascinating aspects of the conference was how we were all able to worship in 4 different languages! Here the Haitians lead us in worship.

Dominican Republic...

Christian, along with 4 pastors from our the national committee of UNIFAM (the denomination we work with here) are in the Dominican Republic for 9 days of training and meetings regarding church multiplication!
Please pray for them as they seek to form a unified vision.
We ask for prayer for their safety and rest as well.

A team from CCG

It is a blessing to have a team here this week from the Community Church of Greenwood in Indiana. It is an all woman team of six ladies and it has been such a blessing to have them minister here in Mexico. I wanted to share with you a few photos with you.Maggie, age 14, played her harp at Ethan's school. (Notice Amelia sitting on the far right?) She thinks she is a big kid! Maggie played Amazing Grace and Jesus Loves Me. It was wonderful!
These next two photos are from our MOPS meeting on Tuesday. Notice how we are growing! Amy Jones spoke to our MOPS group and her message was outstanding. We had a time of questions afterwards and the women stayed way over to keep asking questions of Amy. One lady broke down and shared how the Lord touched her heart and convicted her during Amy's talk. She confessed that she had been abusing her 5 year old son. God was working mightily!
I wanted to include this photo from MOPS as well. These are the women who will lead the new MOPS group starting at the church in LaLoma. What a privilege to pray over them during our MOPS meeting! Please pray for Carol, an amazing Godly missionary mom, who will have the responsibility of coordinating this new MOPS program.

Watch OUT!

When you ask God to give you opportunities to serve Him, to place people in your path who need Him WATCH OUT! Get ready! He will answer. We have been blown away by the people and opportunities God has placed in our path in the past few weeks. For example, some dear friends of ours called and asked Christian if he would be willing to visit their aunt's new store (she is opening a small grocery type store) to bless it. While we know full well that the aunt or our friends themselves could simply pray over the store (we ALL have equal access to God!) Christian felt led to go and he prepared himself to share the gospel. What a joy to hear that he was able to share about Jesus and that the uncle accepted Christ into his heart. He had previously been very anti- Christian!

A photo of the store being set up....

This week Robin had the chance to invite one of our new neighbors to MOPS. She is a young mom with a four month old little boy. It was amazing to see her respond to her time at MOPS... upon returning home she shared with Robin that she had once been a Christian and had walked away from the Lord. Her hearts desire is to return! She also shared her burden for her brother in law and sister in law (who also live next door) who are practicing witches. They regularly participate in witch craft, live sacrifices and worship of satanic idols. Robin assured her that Jesus is more powerful than anything evil and they prayed for her safety, her family and salvation for her husband and brother and sister in law.
Jesus is working! Are you joining Him? One of our favorite Bible studies is "Experiencing God" and it teaches that we should look for places where God is working and join Him! Ask God today to show you where He wants YOU (yes, YOU) to join into His work - Ask Him to send people your way that need to hear about Him.... and then get ready! God will surely place in your path opportunities to shine for Him.

5-5-5...

To say that we are excited about the way God is moving here in Mexico would be an understatement..... Wonderful things are happening and we are so thankful to be a small part of the work here. We are so very aware that we would NOT be here without your support and prayers. THANK YOU for partnering with us in reaching Mexico for Christ!

5 weeks ago our pastor challenged us to pray 5-5-5 meaning 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Our prayers were specifically to be targeted at praying for the salvation of others around us and to pray for us to be ready to share the Good News of Jesus! We have been blown away by the response! In just the past two weeks at our church 5 house churches (daughter churches that meet in homes) have begun.... Just this week alone the Lord allowed Christian to lead two people to Christ and we have three different couples who have expressed to us this week that they would like to start a house church!

The Lord promises us that if we seek His face and turn from our sins that He will hear us and He will heal our land! How we are praying for revival to spread fast and wide in Mexico and that we will be willing servants to do our part in reaching Mexicans for Jesus.
(The above photo is one of two 555 banners hanging in our church to remind us to be praying!)

Field Council

"I have never been to a field council like this one!" declared visiting missionary Bonnie Shrode. I smiled as I thought about about the previous two days - filled with games, teamwork sessions, planning, laughter and friendship. It was certainly not the typical business meeting - yet we accomplished much in this yearly strategic planning session. It was so exciting to hear about the direction each ministry will take in the upcoming year and the plans that Jesus has laid upon the hearts of each missionary. There is so much to do - so many people in need of Jesus - and it was wonderful to plan out how we would spend our time as we serve Jesus in Mexico.
In addition to planning we were sure to play a little with our own OMS Mexico Olympic games.... We strongly believe that Jesus will greatly use a group that is unified in spirit and that is Biblical in their approach to team... so spending time growing together is always top on our priority list!

Robin gives instructions for the first Olympic game...

Tower building using straws and marshmallows....

The bucket brigade contest....

The winning team with their medals...

A game for all - this one had us laughing and laughing!

A new MOPS group!

We praise God for a wonderful first meeting with women at the LaLoma UNIFAM church. We met to discuss starting a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group in the church and the women were excited and receptive. It is a blessing to see how MOPS is reaching women for Jesus here in Mexico!
If you would like to participate in some special MOPS projects please let us know... We currently have three projects in need of funding:
1. A car seat for every child.... we are wanting to buy car seats and sell them very cheaply to the women in MOPS so that those with vehicles can have car seats. Earlier this summer one of our MOPS moms and her 3 year old were in a serious car accident which resulted in the little boy being hospitalized for almost two weeks - all of which could have been prevented with a car seat. Our financial need here is $2000 dollars.
2. A new playground at the Campanario church.... you can see in the photo below the playground at our church is awful - and dangerous - pictures large chunks of concrete protruding through the ground. Swings made of metal with hard pointed edges, slides with a huge drop off at the end.... The MOPS moms are wanting to work to replace the equipment. We would like to raise half of the cost from donations from other MOPS or donor from the states. Our need here is $2500 dollars.
3. A new play area at LaLoma. With the start of a new MOPS in LaLoma we would like to fix up a small 12x12 area with some outdoor carpeting, some outdoor little-tykes type equipment so this area can be used by the children during MOPS and during Sunday school. The cost here is $1500 dollars.
If the Lord lays it upon your heart (or on your MOPS group, Sunday school class, etc.) to help with any of these projects please email us and let us know!

A photo of the outside of the LaLoma church where our new MOPS group will start in January.

A meeting of the women in LaLoma to discuss MOPS and to invite them to join the leadership team.

Spending time together...

On Tuesday of this week we gathered as missionaries to eat together and to hang out - for some reason we didn't have to rush off after dinner which resulted in a relaxing wonderful time together. Please continue to pray for our team as missionaries. There is such a sweet spirit of unity and friendship right now amongst our group and we are asking the Lord to protect that especially as we grow and add new members to our team!

Mexico Independance Celebration

Yesterday our church celebrated Mexico's Independence with a special church service (the focus of the message was how you can have TRUE independence if you are a follower of Christ) followed by a party complete with food , games and a mariachi band! Here are some pictures from the day....Church service (pictured above)

Here are our kids decked our in Mexican costumes....

Rich and Anita Yoder are here for a visit from OMS headquarters and they joined in the fun!

Maddie and Amelia enjoyed the Mariachi band.

Our MOPS group had a booth that sold fried bananas..... YUM!Here are three of the women on our MOPS leadership team.... it was a lot of fun cooking together.

Acapulco

Last week Christian traveled with the President (Miguel) and the Vice President (Daniel) of UNIFAM (this is the denomination we work with here in Mexico) to Acapulco. We are sure images of palm trees and ocean waves are dancing in your heads....unfortunately there was no time on the playas (Spanish for beaches). The purpose of the trip was to meet with the pastors of the UNIFAM churches in Acalpulco in order to encourage them in their work and to do some strategic planning with them for the future. It was a successful trip! We praise God for the way He used this trip to bring reconciliation among some lay leaders in the churches in Acapulco. Please join us in prayer for our pastors and churches in Acapulco.

Pictured below are Daniel, Miguel, and Carlos. Carlos pastors one of our Acapulco churches. Christian has been blessed to work very closely with Daniel and Miguel in UNIFAM leadership. We covet your prayers for these men.... For their protection and care.

Santa Muerte (Saint Death)

We pulled this story off of CNN's headlines on their web-page today. It is an awesome reminder of the voodoo that exists in Mexico and the tremendous spiritual battle that exists for the souls of the millions that live here.

CNN - MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Investigators said the heads of 11 decapitated bodies discovered in southern Mexico may have been burned in a ritual.

The Public Safety Department said police found an altar to the skeletal figure of the "Santa Muerte" in the home of two men arrested in connection with the slayings. They also found several scorched spots in a nearby clearing.

A statement sent late Sunday said police suspected the heads were burned in the clearing, though it did not say why.

The Santa Muerte is one of several unofficial folk saints worshiped in Mexico.
Wikipedia provides the following description of "Santa Muerte":
One resource indicates that the cult of Saint Death originated from ancient witchcraft in the state of Veracruz; however, other research inclines one to question if Saint Death is in reality much older. Saint Death may have his/her roots in pre-Christian beliefs of the Aztec Native Americans who worshiped a similar figure by the name of Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death, along with his wife, Mictecacihuatl. Saint Death statues are made in red, white, green and black – for love, luck, financial success and protection. Offerings to Saint Death include roses and tequila. Public shrines to Saint Death are adorned with red roses, cigars, and bottles of tequila, and Saint Death candles burn in his/her honor.

Will you join us in praying for Mexico and the salvation of the millions who are lost and searching?

Kick-Off Breakfast

On Saturday our church held a "kick-off" breakfast to start the new year of MOPS (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) and our "Women in Growth" group. I praise God for this awesome event. We had over 120 women in attendance - and well, I will let the following pictures tell the rest of the story...
Above a photo of the women in attendance at the breakfast. Below, notice all of the empty seats? That is because women who prayed to accept Jesus for the first time during the breakfast were asked to get up and meet in some of the classrooms! More than half of those in attendance gave their lives to Jesus! It was AWESOME!

Above is a photo of this years MOPS leadership team. Please pray for us as we seek to reach more women and share with them how they can live an abundant life with Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

Training

Alexis and Christian are at OMS Headquarters receiving some great training on church planting movements.  Please pray for our National Church and Missionaries as we implement the principles of multiplication in Mexico.  We have the sense that the we may be on the edge of explosion and revival!!  Pray that we will have a plentiful harvest as we train trainers in the upcoming year.  The new plan for multiplication will be implemented as soon as next month!  

Pray for the fruition of II Timothy 2:2, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."

A real sense of unity...

We praise God for three days of awesome meetings for the national church here in Mexico (called UNIFAM). The annual meeting serves to bring together members from each church, pastors, and church planting workers in an effort to discuss the upcoming year, to vote on pending issues and to report on ministry from the previous year. Several people who have participated for many years said they believe this was the best meeting ever as there was an incredible sense of unity! We praise God for the way He is working to create real synergy amongst those involved in ministry here.

Preaching

Last Sunday Christian preached at Tultitlan Church.  We find it very hard to prepare for a teaching or a sermon because it takes so much time and effort.  Sunday's effort was worth it though.   Read  Christian's blog to find out what happened.

National Church Meetings

Tonight...continuing through the rest of the week begins the annual national meeting of all of our church pastors, church planters, and other national workers. Please pray that God would work mightily in the hearts of all and that there would be a great sense of unity. Christian has been so encouraged and excited by the planning meetings that have taken place for this event and He is eager to watch how the Lord will direct the planning for the upcoming year. Specifically the churches will be talking about church multiplication and how everyone can join in planting churches throughout Mexico. There is an awesome sense of the Lord in the midst of all that is happening right now in Mexico..... We will post updates on how the meetings are progressing.

Welcome Back Agnews!

The mission field often feels like a revolving door - there are constantly missionaries coming and going.....We prefer the coming.....and yesterday we welcomed back the Agnew family who were in Northern Ireland for the last three months. We don't have many details about their time at home because our kids monopolized every moment with them and we barely got a word in! But we are so thankful for their safe arrival and for their refreshing wonderful time back home in N. Ireland with family and friends. Please hold them in your prayers as they hit the ground running with ministry in the next few weeks.

When are Mr. Jonny and Mrs. Julie coming back?

This is the question that has permeated our home since our dear friends, Jonny and Julie, returned to Northern Ireland on Monday. It may sound trite but it is definitely true that your fellow missionaries become family - and right now our kids are missing their Mr. Jonny and Mrs. Julie. When you serve together in a foreign country and walk through intense situations together the intense-ness (is that a word?) of your relationship is heightened - and deep bonds quickly form. We can testify that this is true for us - and for our kids. We miss Mr. Jonny and Mrs. Julie....and look forward to their return next year. Jonny and Julie will be funding during the next few months in Northern Ireland so that they can return to Mexico for a two year term in early 2009. Please lift them up in prayer as they are on homeland missionary assignment. Also, if you are looking for some incredible missionaries to support financially - look no further.... If you are interested in supporting Jonny and Julie monthly please send us an email and we will give you the necessary information.

Womens Retreat

This past weekend our church, Campanario, held its first ever women's retreat! It was an amazing success! We had 54 women attend..... 4 accepted Jesus as their Savior for the first time, many recommitted their lives to the Lord - it was a humbling, incredible experience. For me (Robin) it was one of the most powerful experiences with Jesus that I have had in my life! Jesus is working mightily here in Mexico! Thank you for praying and for partnering with us in the work that is happening here!

Above is a picture of the women gathered together for a time of worship.

I had the privilege of being the speaker for the retreat.... The Lord clearly impressed upon me a message for the women that revolved around Proverbs 3:5&6.....He guided me so clearly and gave me the ability to easily communicate everything He laid upon my heart in Spanish. I felt so carried by the Holy Spirit..... it was incredible!
After each session the women had a time of reflection and journaling...( I am a HUGE fan of journaling) and then they met in small groups to share. I had planned for each small group to meet for 3o minutes but each time the women refused to stop meeting and sacrificed "free time" to keep sharing, praying, and growing together. The small group sessions lasted up to two hours! Jesus was working and it was so evident!

In the evenings we enjoyed gathering around a bonfire and singing and sharing.... (we roasted marsh-mellows as well!)
There was also lots of time for fun! Above the ladies are participating in a mixer....This photo captures the women in a game of American football using a watermelon in the pool.....I can not remember the last time I laughed so hard! It was a blast!