Service Project

Hey, all! Sorry for the delay on the updates. I guess you should be getting used to it by now. : ) Yes, we arrived safely back from the missionary retreat last week. We had a great, relaxing time hanging out with other missionaries from all over the country. Including kids, I believe the final count was 58 people. Hope you enjoy the group picture. The works represented were Guadalajara, León, Morelia, Lázaro Cárdenas, and two places in Mexico City. The missionaries from Guadalajara have volunteered to host next year's retreat, so I'm sure it will be another good one.
As far as happenings with the church, we had our first ever official service project this past Saturday. Normally in December, we have another one of our convivios, which we use as an opportunity to have all of our cell groups get together and also to invite friends and family who may not feel comfortable coming to a cell group or to our times on Sundays. Well, this year we decided to focus more on how we could help others who may be in need during this holiday season. For the month of November, we asked church members to bring different food staples every week, such as beans and rice and boxed milk. With the food they provided, along with some more things we bought with the money we would normally have used for the convivio, we were able to put together 50 bags of food. In each bag, we also put in a New Testament, a brochure about who we are as a church and a personal note from one of our church members. On Saturday, we all loaded up on a bus and headed to a town about 45 minutes outside of town called Indaparapeo. Sam and Ann had been in contact with a lady out there and had gone out earlier in the week to let people know we would be there handing out the bags, or 'despensas' as they are called here. When we arrived around 11 am, there was already a crowd gathered there waiting for us, mainly made up of older women and children.
We started out with a get to know you game and then two of our youth did a sketch, which was directed by Summer. (That's Leo and Larisita in the picture with the crowd looking on) We followed that with some activities for the kids and then had a short word time to let the people know that we were there to share the love of God with them. We'd also charged our church members to go around and talk to people and get any prayer requests they may have, so that we could be in prayer for them. After that, we handed out the despensas and said a blessing or a prayer over each person who received a bag. We told them over and over again that we were doing this not to receive the glory, but to give God the glory for all that he had done for us. It was a really neat time and everyone was blessed.



Here are a couple of pictures of the despensas being handed out. The first one is Esmerandi, Rosa's daughter (in the white sweater), and Morelia handing one of the ladies a despensa, with Sam looking on. The second is Gerardo handing out a few items to the people who didn't get an entire bag. We had more people that we had bags, so we had to divide some of them up.
We followed up the event on Sunday by dividing up into prayer groups and praying for the requests that were given the day before. We were also able to have a meal together as a church family and thank the Lord once again for the amazing blessings he has given us. Overall, our first service project was a huge success and I think we all look forward to doing more things like this in the future.

Los Betanzo

I know, I know. It's been forever since my last post. And I don't even have a good excuse! But I wanted to post once more before Thanksgiving. For those of you who don't know, we (the team) will be out of pocket this week at the annual Mexican missionary retreat. This year, it is being planned by the missionaries in Mexico City and we are going back to Acapulco (I know, life as a missionary is tough, isn't it?). Anyway, we ask for your prayers for safe travel (Acapulco is 7 hours from Morelia) and a blessed time while we are there. Sam and Ann head out this afternoon (Tuesday, Nov. 22nd) and Summer and I leave in the morning. The Gonzos will come back on Saturday while Summer and I won't be back until Monday, just so you know. We are all really excited about getting away for a few days to relax and hang out with good friends. We're even going to have a Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey and stuffing made by the restaurant at the hotel where we are staying.

I wanted to introduce you to another family in the church so that you could be praying for them. They are the Betanzos. They joined us around the beginning of this year. In the picture, from left to right, is: Lorena, Gerardo, Diego, Lucila and Leo.
Some of you may remember back in February when all five of them were baptized at the same time. They had been involved in a few churches back in Mexico City, where they are from, and when they moved here, they started looking for a place where they could be used by God. Lucila at that time worked with Blanca, so Blanca invited her to one of our activities. Shortly there after, Sam and Ann started studying with the whole family and they all decided that they wanted to dedicate their lives to God, specifically as a family. It was so great watching them all commit themselves to the Lord on the same day. Sam baptized Gerardo and then Gerardo baptized each of his family members in turn.
As is often the case here, they'd had some difficult financial struggles. They moved to Morelia to be closer to Lucila's parents, but since arriving haven't been able to get settled financially. Lucila has worked in sales off and on and Gerardo worked for an insurance company, I believe, until he lost his job. They started selling food out of their house at night, which went well for a while, but then went downhill. They've been so low on money that often they couldn't come to cell group during the week because they didn't have the cash to get all five of them there on public transportation. Well, it looks like things are turning around for them! Gerardo signed a contract last week with the Nestle company. This new job will require him to travel quite a bit, most likely, but they will be able to stay in Morelia, which is good news. From what I understand, he will be going around to the different Nestle plants in this area as an inspector.
As far as prayer requests go, pray that this new job will give the entire family the stability they have been lacking. Also pray that it will free up some of their time to be able to dedicate themselves more to the church. Lucila has been working two or three jobs for the past few months and Leo (14) has also been working to help cover expenses. That has made it hard for them to consistently attend cell group or other activities that we've had. Also, pray for more families like the Betanzos who are ready to give themselves wholly, as a family, to God!

Well, I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading and praying for the work here. I'll try and do a better job of keeping you updated, I promise! Hang in there with me. : ) Happy Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for each and every one of you.

Aldo and Sandy

Since yesterday was Sandy's birthday, I thought I would pick them as the next people to tell you about. Aldo and his wife, Sandy, have been around since pretty close to the very beginning of our work here in Morelia. They are both from Mexico City and moved to Morelia about four years ago. They have been Christians for about ten years or so. They even were involved in ministry at their church in Mexico City, but through a series of events that would take too much time to explain here, they got burned and came to Morelia looking for new opportunities, both spiritually and financially.
Steven Wells was the first one to come in contact with Aldo. At the time, he was working at his brother's hardware shop. Steven invited him to the cell group that was meeting at Steve and Corina Filler's house close by. Aldo blew him off a few times, but then finally decided to check it out. They've been with us ever since! Sandy is a massage therapist (and an excellent on at that!), which is a necessary addition to any missionary work. : )
Aldo and Sandy both bring so much to this church. Aldo has an amazing heart for worship and praise and has helped in that on many occasions. Probably about 25-30% of the songs that we sing are songs he has taught us. He and Sandy are also leading a cell group on Thursday nights. Sandy is one of the most spiritually in tune people I've ever met. She is a prayer warrior in the truest sense of the word and so often understands a situation before anyone says a word. The Lord speaks through her.
Like everyone, they have their struggles. Right now, their biggest struggle is financial. Aldo is working as a security guard, which means lots of hours and not very much money. Sandy had to close her shop because they didn't have enough money to pay the rent. They are both looking for work. PLEASE pray that the Lord brings them work here in Morelia. They have a job opportunity outside of Mexico City for both of them, but we don't want them to go anywhere! We see so many amazing ways that the Lord can use them here and want to have many years with them in the future.
If I asked them, they would probably also ask for prayers for their cell group. They are currently trying to figure out when and where is the best place to meet so that all the members can come. That cell group has been through many changes over the years and has had high times and low times. Currently, attendance wise, they are passing through a low time. Pray that the Lord brings back those who have been there in the past and also that he brings new people who are thirsty to hear about him.
I have one more prayer request for them. For many years, they have wanted to have children but haven't been able to. As you pray to Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals, pray that he heals whatever it is that is keeping them from conceiving and that he gives them the desire of their hearts.
Thanks so much for your time and your prayers!! Aldo and Sandy are direct answers to prayers that you have prayerd through the years for national leaders. You are shaping this work through the time you spend on your knees.

Church retreat

It is always so amazing to see God work among you. It's something so unexplainable but so real and vibrant! We had one of those times this weekend. There ended up being exactly 50 people by Sunday and we are excited and blessed to tell you that two of them put on Christ in baptism this morning! Marta, a lady who has come for quite some time and actually only showed up Sunday morning because she had to work the rest of the weekend, and Marco, the adolescent son of Ofelia and Angel, a family Sam has been visiting, along with other members of the church, for a couple of months now, both decided to dedicate their lives to Christ and receive the hope of heaven. I know you are all rejoicing with the angels and with us on that one!
We had a great weekend overall. The weather Friday night was a bit damp and cold, but Saturday turned into a beautiful day and Sunday followed suit. The church was greatly uplifted by Walter Leonard's talks on what is means to live in Christian community. He challenged us to really discover what Christ-centered community means and how it looks different from the world’s view of community. We had several people in attendance that have just recently started getting to know us as a church family. Lalo and Esther and two kids first came to the convivio in September and also came to Friend's Day. They are friends of Miguel and Morelia, for those of you who know them. Arturo and Elsa were also there, who are neighbors of Sam and Ann and have been attending cell group for the past few months. Actually, they've been around for a while (they attended our first ever convivio two years ago) but have really been seeking the Lord more in the past few months. Even though Marta couldn't attend the entire retreat, her 26-year-old daughter, Karla, was there, along with her boyfriend, Lázaro. His first exposure to us was also Friend's Day a couple of weeks ago. Ofelia, Marco's mom, arrived on Saturday and stayed through Sunday, as did Guillermo, Adriana, Abdiel, and Adisara (she is the same school as Victoria). We had lots of really great praise times together and also played some fun games on Saturday and enjoyed a campfire Saturday night. The highlight for the kids was a toss up between the pool and the trampoline. I’m going to put some pictures up, just to give you an idea of all that went on while we were there. Enjoy!

L to R: Karla, Lázaro, Blanquita and Blanca eating breakfast

Top: Esther and Lalo; Bottom: Morelia, Miguel, Ann, Walter Leonard, Sam

One of the praise times on Saturday

The kids helping with praise time

Getting ready for games

Wheelbarrow races (L to R: Sam, Leo, Karla, and Lázaro)

Water balloon toss

Adriana & Summer teaching the kids during one of the sessions

Sam baptizing Marta

Marco getting baptized

PRAYER REQUEST

This weekend we are having our second annual church retreat and we would really appreciate and cherish your prayers. It starts around 7 p.m. (Central) on Friday night and ends Sunday around 1 in the afternoon. When we first booked the retreat center,which is about 10 minutes outside of town, we were planning for around 25-35 people. The owners gave us a price based on that number and said we needed at least 25, including kids, or they would have to charge us more. After the first two weeks of sign ups, we only had about 15 people confirmed and we were starting to get a little worried. But we decided to go forward on faith and stick with the plan. Well, Ann counted up all the people that have told us they are planning on coming and if they all come, we'll have around 60 people!! I'm a little overwhelmed by that. : )
We have a special speaker, Walter Leonard, who is flying in from California to talk about Building Christian Community. Thankfully, he speaks spanish so we won't have to be translating for him the entire time. We are also planning on making a special invitation on Sunday for those wishing to be baptized. Please pray specifically for those people who have been on the fence for a while. Pray that the Lord will touch their hearts in a special way and that they will take the opportunity placed before them to dedicate their lives fully and completing to him.
Most of all, pray for the presence of the Lord to move among us all in a mighty way. We want him to mold this group of people into his church, his body and to help us understand more fully what it means to live in community together. Pray that he will guide and direct our praise times, Walter's talks, even our game and recreation time, and that we will all leave having felt his hand upon our hearts and knowing that we are closer to him because we are closer to his people that he loves.
Thanks for the prayers!
In Him,
Sara

Rosa

I promised when I started this blog that I would fill you in a little more on some of the people who attend the Río de Vida church, so I thought I would make good on that promise and start by telling you about Rosa. Doesn't she have one of the greatest smiles you've ever seen?!
We first made contact with Rosa around May or so of last year. For a short time, we were running a 30 second spot on a Christian radio program here in town saying something along the lines of, "If you need someone to talk to about your problems or you want to learn more about what the Bible has to say, call this number." She was going through a really hard time because of the death of her husband and was really struggling with depression, so she called the number and Sam answered. He invited her to cell group and she came that same week, along with one of her sons, Pablo Julio. You could see the pain in her face. They prayed over her that night and you could sense some of the burdens being lifted. She continued to come every week, asking for prayer for her family and soaking in the Word. Shortly after that, Summer and I began studying with her in her home and got to see first hand the changes that the Lord was bringing about in her. She was filled with such joy and a yearning for more and more. She would get so excited whenever she got a question right or captured an idea. It was definitely the highlight of our week. When we got to the end of the study, we talked about baptism. She said she was willing, but had some personal thoughts and ideas to work through first. We decided to let the Lord bring her to that decision, which he did back in March of this year. Larisa, whom I’ve mentioned earlier, was baptized and afterwards we asked if anyone else was ready to make the decision to put on Christ in baptism. She stepped forward and said, “Let’s do it!” There was much rejoicing that day!
She continues to grow in her walk with the Lord. There is now a cell group that meets in her house every Wednesday night, led by Adriana and José Luis. She has so many friends who live close by that she has been waiting anxiously to invite to a cell at her house. And because they have seen the change in her, they come and they come expecting. We are all convinced that the Lord is going to use her reputation and her zeal to bring about amazing things in the neighborhood of Prados Verdes.
If you were to ask Rosa what her prayer requests are, most of them would most likely be for her kids. Three of the five (including Pablo Julio) live in the US and she hasn't gotten to see them in years. She is encouraging them to seek out the Lord where they are, which they assure her they are doing. The other two live in Morelia. Enrique lives next door with his wife, Lupe, and their three kids. Esmerandi lives in Rosa's house, along with her husband, Christian, and four month old baby boy, Steven. Rosa struggles with how to be a good influence, especially for Enrique and Christian, who are probably the furthest from the Lord right now. She would ask you to pray that all of her kids come to know the Savior that has changed her life.
I hope you've enjoyed this look into the life of Rosa. I wish you could all meet her face to face. It is such a blessing to be in her life and to see first hand the way God is changing and molding her. There are so many more stories about her and I'm sure there are many more to come in the future. I would ask that you also pray for her health. She still struggles some with depression and also gets sick fairly regularly and the doctors don't really seem to know why. We want her to be with us for many years to come! And with a smile like that, can you blame us?

Friend's Day

Hey, all! I just wanted to give you a quick update on this past Sunday, our first ever Friend's Day. It was definitely a huge success! We had 49 people, including kids, and at least 14 of those were first time visitors. We had coffee and donuts before hand and then had a good time singing and worshipping together. Sam started a series on life after death, focusing mainly on the fact that this life is not the end, but merely a preparation for what is to come. Many people stayed around afterwards and talked for quite some time. We also had Larisa in attendance for the first time in quite some time. She is doing well, feeling stronger every day. We continue to pray for her complete healing and ask that you join us in that!
Summer and I officially have the kitchen unpacked and the dining room painted. We decided to tackle one room at a time. Next is the entry way and then on to the living room and then we'll see where we go from there. The most exciting thing that happened today was that the cable guy came by and we are up and running again with full internet access. It was a hard four days! I was going through major withdrawal. Thankfully, Summer and I were able to take a break from moving and painting and we went to Mexico City Friday and Saturday. It was a much needed get-away!
I need to head to bed, so I'll let you go. Have a great day!
Sara

Moving Day

Hey, all! Just wanted to let you know that Summer and I are heading into internet-free land for a couple of days, unfortunately. The movers come today at 1 and in order to get cable in the new house, I have to go to the cable office, cancel the current contract, sign a new one and then wait for them to come turn it on at the new place. And since today is Wednesday and Friday is a holiday, I would guess that the earliest we will have e-mail up would be Monday. Anyway, pray for the move today! It's going to be a long and overwhelming day, if I had to guess. Probably tomorrow and Friday will be as well. Gotta love moving! I've gotta shut down my computer and box it up, so I'll sign off. Bye!
Sara

News from the Gonzo house

There are two major pieces of news from the Gonzalezes these days. First, as you can see in the picture, Victoria lost her first tooth!! She was pretty excited about it and is especially excited because the one right beside it is wiggling quite a bit and holds the promise of a few more pesos in her piggy bank. Isn't it amazing how quickly kids grow ?! (like I really know since I don't actually have any of my own, I'm just an aunt to more kids than I can count)
The second announcement is best told by Sofía. As she told her grandmother on the phone, "My mommy has a baby in her tummy!" That's right, Sam and Ann are expecting a third little Gonzo. Looks like he or she will be joining us around the beginning of May. Sam's really hoping and praying for a boy, so you can feel free to join him in that. : ) Ann is doing well, although she is fighting off a cold. Pray for health for her and the baby.
Summer and I are doing well, although definitely on the tired side. We've been busy painting, packing and moving what we can since Thursday and we still have SO MUCH to do! As I may have mentioned before, almost every other wall in the new house is Mexican blue, along with the borders, which we have to cover in primer before we can paint it the actual color. To make the job even more exciting, every wall also has really thick texturing so it soaks up paint more than you can even imagine. We are planning to officially move on Wednesday. Please pray for strength and energies for both of us!! It's going to be a long week.
Also, while you're praying, this coming Sunday is our first ever Friend's Day. We are challenging and encouraging everyone to bring a friend with them to church for a new series that Sam is starting on what happens after death. We chose this time because everyone here is gearing up for Day of the Dead on Nov. 2, which is a big traditional holiday, especially in the state of Michoacán, and it's a time when many people wonder about what really does happen. Pray that the Lord brings seekers and even some who don't even consider themselves seekers and that he touches their hearts with his truth.
Thanks for the prayers!
Sara Holland

Convivio

Thank you so much for your prayers! We had a great day yesterday at our convivio. The theme for the day was Mexican Independence Day (which was the 16th) and we decided to do a small carnival with easy games, like ring toss and loteria (the Mexican version of bingo). It did end up raining a little bit, but it didn't ruin the mood or anything. Everyone seemed to have great fun playing the games. We then played one group game and had others planned, but everyone was too hungry, so we ate pozole, a hominy and pork soup very typical to this area of Mexico. Afterwards, the torito (little bull) arrived for everyone to dance with. We ended up having close to 90 people there, including quite a few visitors. It was a great day! Here are some pictures.

We had costumes for people to dress up in and we took their picture. This is Enrique, Rosa's son, and his family. They live next door to Rosa and we are really praying for them to start attending the new cell in her house.

People playing loteria

Summer did a great job painting a clown face for people to throw balls into. This is Adisara, one of Victoria Gonzalez's classmates, taking her turn. (I think they let her get a little too close, don't you?)

The group game after the carnival games. Everyone had a balloon tied to their ankle and they had to try and pop everyone elses balloons without getting theirs' popped. Great fun!

The torito dancing around

Back in the grind

Well, I officially made it back to Morelia after about a week and a half in the States. I was able to see quite a few people and spread the word a little about this blog, so hopefully we'll get a few more hits. : ) Props to Summer for updating the blog while I was gone. She even included pictures and everything! I got to experience three of the greatest feelings in the world while I was home, which were (in no particular order):
1. having my 18 month old nephew, Jeremiah, start saying my name and choose me over his dad
2. eating cheese pizza in the cafeteria with my 5 year old nephew, Samuel, who started kindergarten about a month ago
3. speeding up to get on the freeway in my dad's Mazda Miata (gotta love roadsters!!)
Things have been fast and furious since I got home, mainly with plans for the convivio on Saturday. Please pray!! We are praying and planning for 100 people, including kids. Here are some prayer requests for that:
1. Lift up the people who have been invited to the convivio. Pray that the Lord will change their schedules and plans around so that there will be no obstacles to them coming on Saturday.
2. Pray for the presence of the Lord there among us while we are playing games and eating and getting to know one another. Pray that the visitors who are there will see what real Christian community should look like.
3. Pray for NO RAIN!! We are in the middle of rainy season, but have planned a outdoor/indoor event. We would really like to use the outside space where we will be for games and that sort of thing.
Evidently, I'm in list mode today. Anyway, that's all for now. I don't have any more pictures to post from here because I haven't taken any since I got back. I'll definitely post some on Saturday or Sunday of the convivio. Thanks for your prayers!!!
Sara

Gearing up for Independence Day

Mexican Independence Day is right around the corner, and the Rio de Vida church is preparing to celebrate with what we call a "convivio." This is kind of like a family barbeque or any kind of large get together where people hang out and eat lots and lots of food! We typically host four convivios a year as an evangelism tool. It is an opportunity for church members to invite their friends and family to get to know the church a little better in a fun, non-threatening environment. This particular one will be on September 17th, the day after Independence Day (that's right Cinco de May is NOT Independence Day!), and will be carnival or state-fair style with ring toss games, raffles, and lots of pozole (hominy and shredded pork soup) and taquitos!

Last Saturday, we all gathered at the office for a work day to put together the games. One of the church families, the Betanzos, have had experience in putting together fair games before, so they have been particularly helpful in designing the booths and planning the food. Adriana and José Luís, Miguel and Morelia, Rosita and Esmerandi, Phyllis, and the kids all pitched in with the work. We painted a Clown's head to throw balls through, made rings to toss onto empty coke bottles, a toro (bull) for the kids to use in a dance typcial to Mexico, posters for taking photos, and a dart game to pop balloons. I watched (and tried unsuccessfully!) as people made beautiful paper flowers to cover the bull in red, white and green tissue paper. We ended the workday with pizza- the pepperoni was good, but I'm not sure if I can consider chorizo sausage, frijoles, and corn true pizza toppings! (Sidenote: the Americans and Mexicans are constantly laughing at one another for what we consider appropiate toppings and dipping sauces on pizza. For the Americans, of course, it's parmesan cheese, marinara sauce or maybe ranch dressings. For the Mexicans it's catsup, worchestire sauce, thousand island dressing and mayo.)

We have rented a salon de fiestas (an events hall) that has beautiful outdoor space and enough roof, just in case it rains. Rainy season won't end for another month here. The church is praying for over 100 people to come, so please join with us in prayer as we continue to reach out to the community of Morelia. Pray that they can know, not just physical independence, but complete spiritual independence and freedom in Jesus Christ.

In other news for this week, we began a new cell group in an area of town called Prados Verdes (Green Pastures) that is completely lead by Mexican members of the church. Rosa is so excited to open her home every Thursday night to reach her friends and neighbors for Jesus. Adriana and José Luís, who have been with us since we started the very first cell group, are leading the group. They have a lot of family in this area, and really have hearts and giftings in evangelism. Praise God for this new opportunity to grow and multiply his Kingdom. Also, Larisa, who had to go to Mexico City for a complicated back surgery about three weeks ago, returned home to Morelia last night. The surgery was very successful, and the doctors say she will regain 70 percent of her motion. Praise God that she is back here with her two daughters and church family, and pray that the Lord will astound the doctors and restore her not only 70 percent, but 100 percent!

We found a house!!

That's right! Summer and I signed a rent contract today on our new house. Praise the Lord! We really didn't expect to find any thing this quickly, but the Lord provided, as he always does. Thanks for the prayers! One of the things we like best about this place is it's location (and, as my dad says, the three things to look for in a house are 'location, location, location'!!). It's just a few blocks away from a whole new group of people that Summer and I have been getting to know through the owner of the gym that we both go to, along with Ann Gonzalez. We're excited to be able to hang out with them and say, 'Why don't you all come over to our place. It's really close by!' The other thing we like is that there is more room for people to hang out than there is in our current house. There is actually what some would call a back yard (Americans probably wouldn't, but by Mexican standards, it's huge!!). We are also gaining an office, which means the guest room can actually be a guest room. Unfortunately, we're going to have to paint the whole thing. The downstairs right now is this really strong blue that you see a lot in Mexico. Unfortunately, it doesn't match any of our furniture. Thankfully, the owners have agreed to give us the house 10 days early, so we'll have that time to paint and get things ready for moving day. We've already had several offers to help from different people, but I still think my arms are going to be sore for a month afterwards!

New leaders

There are some days on the mission field that are red letter days because they involve a lot of people and happen after a whole bunch of work on the part of everyone. Those days are special because you can see how the Lord is forming a community in his church and you just feel good when you get home, mainly because you're worn out. : ) But then there are other days that not everyone sees, but are even more special. We had two of those days this weekend.

First off, Friday night was our regularly scheduled monthly prayer night. We normally have a good turnout for these events and are able to spend time in prayer for the needs of the church and also have fellowship time afterwards. Well, for one reason or another, only four nationals showed up: Aldo, Sandy, José Luis, and Adriana. Incidentally, these are four of our new cell leaders that I'll be telling you about later. It's hard to put into words all that happened Friday night, but I can say that the Lord was present in a mighty way. At one point, I opened my eyes to see everyone on their knees crying out and praying for the lost in this city. It was an awesome sight! I don't know why but I always so amazed when I see the Lord molding people in ways I didn't think imaginable. Why is it that we always underestimate him?

The other neat experience took place on Saturday morning. It was our first meeting of our newest or soon to be cell leaders. (The pic is from that meeting. Don't you love the orange wall in our office?!) We will be having these meetings every two weeks just to talk about what is going on in the different cells, how we all see the Lord working, and what areas we need to be praying about. This week, we had Aldo, Sandy, José Luis, Adriana and Blanca there. Aldo and Sandy are the new leaders of the Thursday cell. Adriana and José Luis will be opening a new cell in a couple of weeks in the north east part of town. Blanca is in the Tuesday cell and is Summer and my apprentice in that cell. Since this was the first one, I must admit that I expected the four 'gringos' to do most of the talking and planning with some agreement from the Mexicans. Of course, the Lord surprised me again! We wanted to hear their ideas on a couple of things we've been thinking about and they were more than willing to throw in their thoughts and opinions on everything. We also challenged them, along with each of us, to be in the Word and to read, at least once, 1 and 2 Peter over the next two weeks. They readily accepted the challenge and were excited about it all! I almost teared up (those of you who know me will realize that isn't too odd for me) sitting there listening to them feeding off of one another. This is how the Lord raises up leaders for his harvest! And it was happening before my very eyes! May His name be praised always and everywhere.

On another note, Summer and I are officially in house hunting mode. The rent on our current house goes up every year when we re-sign the contract and we can't afford the next raise, so we're looking at houses. We saw a couple of possibilities today. We would really appreciate your prayers through this whole process. We want the Lord to show us where he wants us to be for the next few years. Thanks! Also, I hope to see some of you over the next couple of weeks. I'm heading to Texas on the 1st for my grandmother's birthday party. I'm really looking forward to spending time with my family for a few days!
Well, that's all for now. Have a great day!
Sara

Typical Saturday in Morelia

Actually, that title is a misnomer. Yesterday was not one of our typical days, but it was a good day, none the less. I started out by heading to the market to buy some churros (basically long strips of batter that have been fried to perfection, making them highly addictive!). The market I went to is basically the Sam's Club of markets. Most everything there is available in 100 kilos bags or some other highly large amount. This place is HUGE! It's street after street after street of tomatoes, chiles (peppers), bananas, onions, soft drinks, potatoes, etc. I took my camera with me to take some pictures of it because it's kind of hard to explain, but I have this weird thing about not feeling like a tourist and I was already standing out because of my light skin. I did get one picture, which I will post.
The entire adventure was really interesting. Just so you know, we don't usually have to go to the market to buy most things. Here in Morelia, we actually have a Sam's Club, a Costco, a Wal-mart and several other grocery stores. This was actually the first time I've ever gone to this particular market.
The reason I had to get the churros was because we were having a youth gathering in the afternoon. First of all, you need to know that the term 'youth' here in Mexico can be very broad. It basically extends from 13 to 30 or so, if you are still single. We have a few teenagers that have been coming to church for a while and we wanted to have an opportunity for them to hang out and get to know each other better. We told them to get to Sam and Ann's house around 1 for pizza and games and a movie. We ended up having six people show up, plus the four of us, and we had a great time! Of course, I meant to take pictures, but I forgot. We started out the time with a card game called 99. Great fun! It was a huge hit with everyone. By the time we finished that, the pizza had arrived, so we grabbed our food and sat down to watch 'October Sky.' We stopped about halfway through to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jennifer, one of the girls who was there, and enjoyed a very yummy cake that Ann had made. Everyone ended up leaving around 6. For our first youth event, I would say it was a huge success!
Summer and I sent the rest of the evening with our friend, Montse, and her boyfriend, Carlos. They had both come for the youth time and then we headed downtown to have some coffee and watch the lighting of the cathedral. This is something the city does every Saturday at around 8:45 p.m. They close down the street in front of the cathedral, shoot off fireworks and slowing turn on the lights. We had a great time just hanging out. Below is a picture of Carlos, Montse and Summer that I took after they finished lighting the cathedral. I'm also putting in a picture I found online of the cathedral at night. It's quite a sight!

Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it! Oh, an update on Larisa. She is being released from the hospital on Monday, I believe, but she still has a long road ahead of her. Please continue to pray for her! Her daughter Amy is heading back to Morelia this weekend so that she can start school next week. It's going to be hard for them to be apart, so pray for that as well. Thanks for thinking of us and lifting us up before the Father!
Sara

Cell groups

I thought I would give you all a little more info on what our cell groups are like. Last night, Summer and I had our weekly cell group at Blanca's apartment. Blanca was the first person in our church to decide to be baptized. The Lord has done some amazing things in her life, but that story is for another time. She is a single mom with two kids and lives in an apartment on the north side of town. We've been meeting in her place for almost a year now. The area that she lives in is FULL of hurting people who need a personal relationship with a personal God. But they are hard people to reach. What we've ended up having is a cell group of mainly kids, which is fine with us!
Anyway, a typical cell starts out with the welcome (bienvenida), which is a question for everyone to answer (something simple, like "If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?" or "Here's a piece of paper. Draw the animal that most resembles your personality.") The purpose of this is to help us all get to know each other a little better. After that, we have some praise time (alabanza) to help us focus on why we are there. After that, the kids go to their class and the adults start their time in the Word (Palabra). This is generally a discussion time where we can apply the Bible to our daily lives. So many people here think of the Bible as this really big book that sits on the shelf and collects dust and is passed down for generations but it never read. They don't understand that it is full of life and spirit! That is our focus during the word time. How does this affect me? After this, we have fellowship time. We always have snacks afterwards and sit around and talk and live in community for 30-45 minutes. The kids come back for that (like you can keep kids in any country away from cake or cookies!). Our night usually concludes with taking someone back to their house on our way home.
As I mentioned earlier, we have three cells meeting right now. Our cell is on Tuesday night at 7:30, the Gonzos (as we like to call them) have their cell at their house on Wednesday nights, also at 7:30, and the third group currently meets at our offices on Thursday nights at 6, with Aldo and Sandy as the leaders (I'll tell you more about them some other day). The group that will start in September will be meeting at Rosa's house (she is one of our older Christians) with Adriana and José Luis (also Mexicans) as the leaders. We don't know yet what day of the week they will choose to meet.
I thought I would also include some pictures from our cell last night. Yesterday was Blanca's birthday, so we had pozole, a typical Mexican soup with hominy and chicken, and cake. Sam González stopped by to celebrate with us. We also had some friends in town from Tennessee, so they came to cell. Enjoy the photos!
Sara

(L to R) Summer, Mari (cell member), Blanca

(L to R) Polo (Blanca's fiance), Mike and Carol Dotson (our friends from the States), and Rosa (the new cell will be at her house)

¡Hola de Morelia!

Hello, friends!
Well, I'm going to try this whole blogging thing and see if I can be more consistent with this than I have been about sending out e-mail updates. I plan to post prayer requests, news about recent events here and maybe even profiles about some of our members here so you can put faces with names when you are praying for them, so check back often to keep updated (but not too often so that you get frustrated because I'm not updating every day!).
For those of you who don't know anything about who we are or what we are doing, let me give you an overview. My name is Sara Holland and I am a member of a team of missionaries working in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico. My fellow team members are:
Sam and Ann González and their two girls, Victoria (6) and Sofía (3)

Summer Powell
(Summer is on the left and I'm standing next to her. The other two girls are friends of ours, Deysy (pronounced Daisy) and Mandy, who's from Chicago and was just visiting for a couple of days)
We've been here for almost three years now and have watched as God has started the Iglesia de Cristo Río de Vida (River of Life church of Christ) before our very eyes. We currently have three cells groups meeting in homes across the city, with another one starting the beginning of September. Our goal/dream is to have between six and eight cell groups by the end of the year. We would greatly appreciate your prayers towards that goal. We are keenly aware that the real battle is done on our knees and the more people that we have battling with us, the better. The Lord is moving in some amazing ways around us and we are just along for the ride!
The latest news is an update on one of our members, Larisa.
She is the one with the neck brace on. This is a picture from when her daughter's boyfriend, Norberto, was baptized a couple of months ago. Anyway, she was in a car accident about a year ago and severely damaged her spinal cord. She's been waiting for an operation for about that long that will hopefully allow her to move freely again without needing the neck brace or the wrist brace she sometimes wears. It's been a VERY long process, but she finally had her surgery today in Mexico City! Praise the Lord! We got a call from her oldest daughter, Amy (far left in the picture), that she had made it through the surgery well and was recovering. The doctors were very optimistic about everything that happened. Please continue to pray for her quick and miraculous recovery and that she can be back here again soon praising Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals.
Well, I think that's enough for my first post. Thanks for the time and the prayers and thoughts! Next time you're in Morelia, look us up. We love visitors!
Sara Holland
on behalf of Team Mexico