Been Almost a Month

Hello. Sorry it has taken us a while to write. As you can probably tell by the lack of our blog-posting, we have had a busy month. We're settling well into our homework club ministry and see a regular morning attendence of 4 children and an afternoon attendence of 12-13 children. Needless to say, our afternoon class is quite a bit more chaotic.

We began working with World Vision again also, since our break from the new year and just committed ourselves to doing some English lessons with some of the youth that come on Saturday mornings. We are excited at the prospect of contributing more with World Vision and getting to know these youth better. We also see it as a great opportunity for ministry as our experience with WV has not been much on the ministry side.

This past Thursday we began our weekly English class at our church in Iztapalapa. Kevin is facilitating the program an excericise he enjoys and it helps relieve one of the other missionaries who on top of her work with the women also has 4 children that she cares for. This is also a great opportunity for Kevin as he is in the ordination process and is gaining practical experience in leading a ministry. We had almost 20 people come on Thursday. One of the great things that comes from this, though we hold the classes for cheap, the money that we charge goes to covering material costs and the extra will go straight into programs for the children that come to our church, including the Homework Club.

Leah also began to meet at the Women's Club at church a prospect she was really excited for when we came to Mexico City. It has finally materialized.

Language learning is still going on, little by little. We are accustomed more now to the city and are excited to be in a more regular routine.

Things to be praying for:
Many of the students that come in the afternoon have learning disabilities or have been passed along through the system without learning the basics. This is obviously detrimental to their ability to learn and their desire to do so. Our goal is that they would love to learn and grow in the basics while they are in our Homework Club.

Another prayer request regarding our homework club has to do with the vision of our pastors here. They want fifty children regularly attending church by June. Right now we have about 20. The interesting and opportunistic thing is that about 15 of our homework club students do not regularly come, so please pray that they will get involved in other activities in the church as well. This goes for their parents whom we are developing relationships with as well.

For the English class that we will see a good turnout and be able to continue to provide what the local community wants.

Regarding World Vision, that we would be able to show the love of God in the midst and help to communicate that the human rights come from God and that it is through God that we have the strength enough to excercise our rights. Please pray for connections with the youth as well, and for our boss.


Things up and coming:
We are excited for the Latin American Mission retreat. It is a mandatory retreat to meet up with all of the LAM missionaries in Mexico and to also learn more about cultural learning and share our experiences. This will be a fun time happening at the end of the month.

Lastly, sort of silly, we are routing for the Giants this year, known as the Gigantes, because we have a Mexican friend who is a huge Giants fan. Frankly since the 49ers didn't even come close this year, we're happy to share in another friends' joy.