Atalia

Last Tuesday while I was out running various errands I stopped at a little place to eat some lunch. The girl who took my order saw my white skin and was very excited to practice her English with me. I was immediately impressed with her level of fluency, and she confirmed my hunch that she is currently studying English in the university. She is studying tourism and is 6 months away from taking her English language proficiency exam. She was very friendly, and we had a good little conversation. When she learned that I do Bible studies with women and kids, she asked if I am a Christian. Her reaction to my confirmation of this fact was something like this, "Oh I know several people in this city who are Christians. Christians are always such nice people and such happy people!" I shared my phone number with her and invited her to call if she wanted to get together and practice English. If I don't hear from her, I will probably decide to eat there again in a few weeks and see if she is there. I am praying that God will provide an opportunity for us to have a deeper conversation and that she will come to understand that everything good she sees in Christians is a reflection of Christ.
BTW: I am so relieved that this is the impression she has been given by Christians! It hurts my heart to hear people talk about Christians being judgemental, click-ish, etc. Praise God for the good testimony of the Christians Atalia has met!

Leading Worship

Saturday I recived a text asking me to lead worship at church Sunday. While I'm fairly comfortable with singing in Spanish and with dealing with the technology to project song lyrics on the wall, the thought of speaking in Spanish between songs, etc. made me nervous. My fear was that I would make Spanish errors big enough to distract from worship. I enlisted the help of one of the men of the church to lead the part where people share praises and prayer requests and other people pray for them. God was faithful to guide me through the rest. Though not perfect, things went pretty smoothly. It was truly a blessing to have the experience. Though not easy, I've gained an appreciation for these experiences that stretch my comfort zones.

Pajama Party

Last Friday night I helped Robin host a pajama party for the women in the Wednesday afternoon Bible study. These women have never participated in a pajama party in their lives and had to ask Robin and I to explain what it entailed. Five of our six women who regularly attend were able to come! In addition, Claudia brought her mom and sister-in-law who have visited the study, and Lidia brought her daughter. Robin also invited another woman we work with a lot, making a total of 11 of us. Robin's husband Charlie opted to go spend the night in my house. I can't imagine why!
Robin arrived in their neighborhood to pick up the women at 8 pm and finally made it back to the house after 9. We started with a Bible study, so it was probably 10:30 before we ate dinner. After dinner I gave the women little squares of paper to write an encouragement or something they admire about each of the other women. They worked on these throughout the ensuing "spa" time.

After the spa was craft time! We put together the encouragement notes and pictures into a little memory book of the party.

The women played a few games and had a great time just laughing together.

At 5 am, we decided it was time to snuggle under blankets and watch the movie "Facing the Giants." A few dozed a bit during the movie, of course.

I left to take them all home at about 7:15 am, arriving back at my house aroun 8:30 a bit tired but content. I feel like the women grew a bit closer to each other, had a lot of fun that their lives don't always permit them to have, and learned a bit more about what it means to follow Christ. I continue to pray for each of these precious women: Bety, Luz, Julieta, Lidia, Deisy, Claudia, Dalia, & Maria Ofelia. I'm excited to see them at the study tomorrow and pray that the 3 visitors will come study with us.

Updates

Claudia is improving well. My IMB partner Robin, who was a physical therapist before coming to Mexico, is doing therapy with her daily, and Claudia has regained enough movement in her hand to return to work cutting hair. She was in church again Sunday, filled with thanksgiving to God. Her sons are planning to come to our youth group this Saturday.
This Saturday will be the second meeting of the youth at church to study English and the Bible. Several people have said they will come, so I am praying expectantly. Monica and I may decide to divide them into 2 groups because some already know quite a bit of English and just want the opportunity to practice it.
The neighborhood where I work with kids on Thursdays is very close to Monica's house, and her sister Alejandra has decided to join me in working there. I am praying that if God leads me to work somewhere else on Thursdays that Ale will be able to take over that group so that they can continue to learn about God.