Singing in Santa Elena

The following video footage was recorded during our time with the Santa Elena house church last Wednesday. You can read more about the wonderful time we had with the believers in this community here. We tried to upload this clip last week but our server wouldn't allow us to - we trust it will bless you to watch a little of the work.

Back safe and sound...

...well as sound as we've ever been! Our journey home was long and, with the exception of a couple of delays, uneventful. As a team we have been deeply challenged and richly blessed by our experiences in Mexico City. We hope in coming days to add a few more updates to our blog with content that we weren't able to post whilst in Mexico, along with some reflections now that we are home.

Once again, thank you for all of your interest, support and prayers. You have, each one of you, been a vital part of our team, and have impacted Mexico for eternity.

Homeward Bound

This morning (Friday) the team have been packing cases, brushing floors, and cleaning bathrooms (we'll not go into any more details!!), in anticipation of our departure this evening. It is hard for all of us to believe that two weeks have almost passed since we left home soil, and it is with a sense of gratitude to God and renewed spiritual resolve that we leave Mexico City. Thank you to everyone who has prayed so faithfully for us throughout each day, we have been so conscious of God's gracious hand of protection through the best and most difficult times as a team. Thank you also to everyone who has kept up to date with the blog; and to those who have left comments we owe a particular debt of gratitude.

Our flight leaves Mexico City tonight at 2035 Mexico time, 0235 UK time, and we hope to land in Dublin on Saturday evening at 1740 (UK time). Please keep us in your prayers as we travel, and we look forward to seeing many of you in the very near future. Muchos gracias, hasta luego, y Dios te bendiga!! (That's all of our Spanish exhausted)...

Marketing the Gospel

Our time in Mexico has found us caught between extremes: spending time with the comfortable and the destitute, the loved and accepted and the abandoned. The final day of work for the team served as a fair representation of this bittersweet experience. John shares his thoughts on the day's events:

Today (Thursday) the team went out for the last day working with OMS in Mexico. We had three tasks- the first two were with the Santa Monica church and the third was the weekly OMS staff meeting.

The Santa Monica church is in a wealthy area of the city, but this does not lessen the need. After a time of prayer we went onto the street door-to-door to give out invitations to an Alpha course starting on August 3rd in the church.

The above photo shows a mural from the Santa Monica church which portrays the mission statement of the fellowship. Roughly translated from Spanish the five purposes are: (1) To glorify the name of God (2) To love one another (3) To share the love of Christ with others (4) To be a united family in Christ and (5) To grow spiritually.

When we had finished lunch we had our second task, which was to hand out invitations in the market behind the church, as well as talking to the locals about God's love and giving them copies of John's Gospel. This was a hard time as there seemed to be a feeling of Satan's presence in this area, such a contrast from the street children and the poorer areas where people wanted to hear about God.

Then it was back to base for the OMS meeting and a time of praise and prayer, before saying good-bye to some of the missionaries who would not be here when we leave tomorrow (Friday).

Please remember to pray for the young churches, that the Holy Spirit would work to see souls won for Christ and that the Lord would raise up men of God to preach and teach, filled with the Holy Spirit.

A Warm Welcome

Yesterday the team enjoyed a rest day, and woke this morning (Wednesday) feeling refreshed and looking forward to the day ahead. Carolyn reports on the day's activities...

After a brief team time we were collected by Margaret and Robin to go to the Santa Elena two day club. As we travelled through the different areas of the city to Santa Elena we were struck by the usual mixture of sights and sounds.

The Santa Elena area consists of row upon row of identical housing built by the government and sold at an affordable price. There are 11,000 people living in these houses in this area. When we arrived the children were singing songs and we joined in enthusiastically. OMS are pioneering a venture known as Every Community for Christ (ECC) who are forming a network of house churches to reach this needy area. While the children were completing their crafts some of the team took part in a basketball competition against the mums of the children. Suffice to say - I think a few rules were broken!! But all enjoyed the craic and fun of a game that crossed the language barrier.

The rest of our time was spent helping with the activities, playing with the children, and chatting with them. At the end we had the opportunity to give each of the children a bookmark with a Bible verse on it. To draw our time to a climax Pastor Benito shared his testimony with us. It was such a blessing to hear of the way in which God saved and used this man to reach out to others. Please pray for him - the need is great, the labourers are few, yet with our God nothing is impossible. Pray that as each Christian reaches out to his neighbour that they will accept the Lord as their Saviour, and in turn witness to those around them.

Overall the team had a really fulfilling day. The warm, affectionate welcome we received from the children was overwhelming, and we really enjoyed the privilege of getting to know them. Please pray for these little ones whose hearts are so open to the gospel and yet there are so many temptations around them.
















PS - it was our anniversary today, and what a special day!! Thanks to all the team for their pressies, and to the Agnews for a tasty anniversary cake. Andrew could also recommend Margaret and Robin's flower courier service, who delivered a beautiful bouquet at his request!!

The Word on the Street

Following on from 'Spying Out the Land' on Friday, getting to see the environment in which the street kids live, today the team experienced the frontline ministry of reaching these people for Christ. It was a challenging, heartbreaking, and inspiring time. Heather and Maggie share their reflections on a crucial day for the team.

Andrew Agnew arrived at the seminary at 10am to give us some information about the street children's ministry, and go through the "street rules". We then divided into two teams before heading to the drop-in centre.

The first team were brought to a group of around 10 street children on the edge of an affluent part of the city. As Andrew parked the car they came over to us, obviously happy to see the team. I was surprised by their openness and warm welcome. They greeted us all with a hand-shake and were interested in learning all our names.

Initially we felt very inadequate because of the language barrier and a bit uncomfortable when they crowded around us. This feeling quickly disappeared as we started to play football with them. After the games John Humphries gave his testimony.

It was very humbling to witness how open the street children were to God's Word. They asked some challenging questions. Despite many of them openly taking drugs, there was a real desire from three specific children to learn more about God. During this time there was a definite sense of the Lord's presence and peace enabling us to share His Word.

The second team met Alex and Paty at the drop-in centre and, while the men went to buy some food for the children, the girls sorted some bags of clothing, including the football shirts from home. We then walked the short distance to the group of children we were to visit. A game of football started between the Mexicans and the Armagh team. Two of the kids joined in and some of us got more enthusiastic as the game went on! The kids attempted to play though one continued to use solvents as we played. It was very obvious that this lad's motor skills were badly affected by drug abuse.

When the game finished we followed Alex as he called the kids to gather under a tree. Andrew Black gave his testimony while Christian MacKinnon (a missionary) translated. We were amazed as they listened really intently and when Andrew mentioned John ch 3 v 16 one of the kids quoted the whole verse. They all really knew the Gospel. Alex spoke to them from God's Word and again they listened. Alex led a time of praise and they all sang along and seemed to enjoy it.

We had brought some food for the kids and helped Paty serve it out. They were all willing to share with each other and did enjoy the food. Today was a real eye-opener to how these kids survive on the streets.

Burgers for Breakfast?!

The team spent Saturday with the La Loma church which is located in one of the poorest areas of the city. Alison Hewitt reports...

It was an early start-Breakfast at 7am!!! We were collected by Andrew, Carol, Tabitha, Hannah and Gary and headed on our journey to La Loma.

We were working at the La Loma Church helping them to run their Breakfast Club Fun Day. Over 800 invitations had been given out around La Loma and the shanty town nearby. During the Breakfast Club there were many different activties going on including: face painting, trampolining, a clown, bouncy castle, parachute games and many more. I ended up face painting!!!! What an experience, I don't think any of the animals resembled those the kids asked for from the book!

There were children of all ages there; from babies in arms to young teenagers. Many of the parents also came along. Each of the team had various activties to help supervise, even helping to make and cook the hamburgers in the kitchen! The kids seemed to be enjoying themselves and even with limited Spanish we made attempts to talk with them. I found this difficult as even kids of 2 years old had more Spanish than I did! But we tried our best and it was surprising how much we could communicate using made up sign language!!

After the clown arrived Andrew Agnew sang with the children and then Carol told them the gospel. There were over 120 children and adults at the club and many listened to what God was saying through Carol. Please continue to pray for the work that the La Loma Church is doing for the people of that area where many families go without.

We cleared up after the children left and then we were asked to help with the preparations for their Holiday Bible Club in a few weeks time. They needed us to paint a shepherd (David), a lion, a bear and a castle. Everyone in the team worked together and soon what they had asked for was completed as best we could. We travelled back to the Seminary, had a quick cup of tea and a piece of toast to keep us going as we were attending a kids musical (organised by Robin and Margaret) in the Campanario Church. It was very enjoyable and at stages they had to compete with the heavy rain on the tin roof!

After the muscial we came back to the apartment and Colleen had prepared our tea. It was rice, veg and San Fransico chicken-just what everyone wanted and needed! We heard then from Colleen how God had called her to serve Him with OMS in many different parts of the world.

Everyone was glad to get into bed after a long day and be rested for church the next day.