Fiesta

Well we had a great fiesta to celebrate Mexico's independence Day! Of course there was lots of traditional Mexican food, music, mariachi and Kareoke. I think we all had a great time, connecting with new friends and just enjoying the opportunity to celebrate life together. Tonight is a very special night, it is our first night of alpha. We are all very excited it kind of feels like we have finally approached the big day of a wedding! There is so much emotion and excitement flying around our team. We also know that there are many people at home supporting us through different ways, Airdrie Alliance bought us our chairs we will be using! as well as the many of you who have supported us in giving us words of encouragement and just the fact that we know that you are standing in the gap with us. Here are some pictures of our Independence Day party.

Amazed

We just enjoyed another amazing Sunday with our new friends. It is so amazing to see how the Lord has been working in lives and bringing people together. Today we were 23 people but still small enough to feel like a family as we get to share a meal together each Sunday at La Conexion. We are so excited to be here! What a blessing it has been to week after week get to know more about our friends and meet their families as they come to visit La Conexion as well. This morning I (Sandra) shared my story always a little nerve racking but such an honour to share my life with new friends and my desire to invest in their lives and help them to experience the same transforming power in their lives.

Can't wait for the huge party we are having Tuesday for Mexico's Independence Day. We already have a Mariachi band booked and Karaoke lined up! We are expecting about 60 people, can't wait to post pictures.

The pictures are of the kids new teacher Monica!

A ladies night we had on friday

And putting up a Mexican flag for Independence Day before our party!

What A Great Weekend !

We just had the privilege of meeting a team of 19 from Airdrie Alliance. We had a great time getting to hear their experiences helping out at an Orphanage in Querretero and their impressions of Mexico City. We were so excited to have some of our Mexican friends come and meet this team as well and share the day with us yesterday. Its always so wonderful for us to be able to meet some of the support we have back home. We are praying that some of them will come and serve with us possibly as interns, short term teams, or even full time workers!!! Why not dream big! We have such an amazing job we get to love and get to know people through different venues. We are advertising for an Alpha course that we will be running Sept 24! Please pray that we will have a good turn out, that people will come with all of their questions and hearts open to hearing truth.

Are You a Dull Axe?

I was encouraged by Ecclesiastes 10:10 this morning, it says "If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success." It really made me think about what areas of my life am I feeling dull....its not hard to figure out that we are costing ourselves time, energy and success in whatever it is we are facing. Why do we insist on taking the hard way? on wasting our energy on doing things in our own strength and ability? Oh the amazing things we are kept from experiencing and seeing because we insist on chopping wood with a dull axe. Find out what sharpens you, doing everything you ever dreamed you couldn't do! You will be amazed how courageous you feel when you allow yourself to be sharpened, there is no tree too big! You can be used to create something beautiful out of something ordinary..or you can keep swinging that dull axe till you have completely mangled that piece of wood and what's left is only useful for throwing into a fire. The things that sharpen me are guarding my heart, my thoughts, being quick to say sorry (not too quickly Canadiense!) to keep a clear conscience and heart and to remember to rest and allow my creator to refresh me and inspire me with the beautiful creations he wants me to be apart of.

The picture is of two women that I love in Abbotsford Lori and Brenda, they both are women who sharpen me just by being with them :) Remember iron sharpens iron!!

love Me

So much to look forward to!

Its been a while since our last post :) thanks for bearing with our craziness. We just returned from Canada, it was a great time of reconnecting with family and friends and enjoying the opportunity to share our lives in Mexico. Its always a little harder for the kids to leave but they are doing good. We came home to great news that we have a teacher coming to teach the kids!!!! The girls also started Jazz classes today so we are thrilled that they will be able to meet some other kids in our area. We have so much to be thankful for! We missed our team and our Mexican friends while we were away. We are excited to be where our hearts are surrounded by new family and friends. We are also excited that our team members found an apartment right across the street what a great way to beat Mexico city traffic.

These pictures are of our last day in B.C. Julia enjoying White Rock, Nathan visiting at a BBQ and part of the Napoleone clan, we were lucky enough to enjoy home made pizza and a visit with family from Toronto, Winnipeg and B.C.

Girls Night In

We are continuing to be blessed with different ways to get to know our Mexican friends. They are so full of culture and love to have fun! Last weekend we had a girls night at our house there was 11 of us. It was just a great relaxing way to hang out, spend time together, and have fun, some of us even tried kareoke and learning the salsa :) Please pray that in whatever we do, whether, eating or resting our lives will have the essence of love and peace that will reflect our heart and the Lord's heart for Mexico.

VBS anyone?

Ok I can honestly say that I am a little overwhelmed as I usually would take almost a year to plan a VBS well ok drum roll please......We will be running our VBS or Campo de verano July 20-24. But as much as I hate to say this its an opportunity for me to be stretched :) We are planning on having it in a park near by, and advertising the two Sundays before all dressed up and giving out information about it.

1. please pray for Pati and Yvonne the two Mexican ladies who I am meeting with Saturday to hear their experience and suggestions.
2. Please pray that they would really get excited and take ownership :)
3. Pray that we would be able to have one of the other Alliance church help out as well such as Atizapan with music.
4. pray that we would become familiar faces in our community and connect with many families.
5. Pray that we would see connections from VBS come out to La Conexion and Alpha

I picked a soccer themed VBS thinking well we are in MEXICO CITY!! its called Training to Win Entrena para Ganar. Can't wait to post pictures of the event.

hey if you have any soccer themed ideas I would love to hear them, snacks, crafts......
Those pictures are of Carmela's 7th birthday party last friday.