March Madness

That is such an appropriate title for this past month! But it seems that we have survived. We had visitors here every weekend in March. That can really take a toll on you, just in case you were wondering! But it was so wonderful for the church here to meet some special people in our lives and vice versa.
The weekend after Brad Taylor, Diana Davis, and the Solis family came into town, some very dear friends of ours came in to visit us. We first met Bill and Sarah Ramirez while we were in Costa Rica learning spanish. They were originally going to be missionaries in Venezuela, but we were so excited when their mission board decided to send them to Guadalajara instead. Bill works as an accountant for the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Unfortunately, because of his job, they are moving again, this time to Quito, Ecuador. They came in for one last weekend in Morelia and we had a great time singing together and reminiscing about all the fun we've had over the past four years. Here's a picture of the whole family taken in Guadalajara a few weeks ago.
Their three great kids (from L to R) are Belinda, Nathan, and Benjamin. Victoria and Sofía had such a great time playing with them for the few days that they were here. Friendships like these are why we look forward to heaven so much where time and space won't matter any more and we can all sing together for a few hundred years. :)
We were also blessed with a visit from Mike Washburn and Randy Scroggins this past weekend. Mike is a minister at Richland Hills church of Christ, our sponsoring congregation, and Randy is one of the elders. We are so thankful to have a sponsoring congregation that cares about us so much and loves to come visit! This was Mike's third visit and Randy's first, but they got to attend our Sunday celebration for the first time and got to meet some of the people that make up this church family that God is raising up. We were greatly encouraged by both Mike's and Randy's words on Sunday and I believe they received encouragement as well, although they had a harder time understanding everything that was going on. (Sam, however, did a great job translating for them, as he always does!)
As far as things in the church go, we are gearing up for an outreach event this coming Sunday. We are going to be showing the movie 'The Passion of the Christ' at 6 p.m. in the hall where we meet on Sunday mornings in preparation for the Easter/Holy Week season here. Please pray for the people who will come to this event. We are praying for new families who are thirsty for more of God in their lives. We want them to see the power of a risen Lord, not just one who is still hanging on a cross, helpless and powerless. Please join us in these prayers!
Summer and I are still praying about what to do about our cell group. Keep us in your prayers as we make a final decision this week.
Thanks again for all your prayers!

Something cool to read

Hey, all! My dad, Ron Holland, just updated his blog about his trip to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. I'm so proud of him! Check out what he wrote about the experience and tell him in the comments to write more about it. : )
Sara

No, we haven't dropped off the face of the earth!

Once again, I've waited over a month since my last post and I promise that I've been reprimanded by all my faithful readers (mainly my mom, my sister and Steven Wells!). I thought I didn’t have too much to post on, which is why I hadn’t updated, and then in the last two weeks things have gotten crazy around here!
We decided that the theme for March is visitors, visitors, and more visitors!! I would have to say that my favorite event in the past month has been my mom’s visit. Not only did she come, but she also brought two of her sisters with her! It was so neat to be able to show Donna and Brenda around Morelia and introduce them to my family here. The church is always encouraged by my mom’s visits. She is greatly loved here (just as she is loved in so many places around the world!!). We had a great week of sightseeing and hanging out together. Here’s the four of us in my house. Can you see the family resemblance? : )
This week we are blessed with the presence of two very dear friends, Diana Davis and Brad Taylor, as well as Ann Gonzalez’s parents and one of her uncles. They’ve already had a busy time here since their arrival over the weekend and it doesn’t look to slow down any! Some of them headed out this morning for a hike up one of the mountains outside of town. The rest of us will meet them for a late lunch. It’s really neat to be close enough to home that people can come and visit. You’re all invited!
Over the weekend, the church was immensely blessed through Raúl and Kim Solis. The Solises work in Toluca for the largest church of Christ in Mexico. They came into town to teach a class on evangelism. We really wanted some practical tools that we could give to the church on how to reach out to others and tell them about Jesus. Raúl and Kim did just that! They walked us through four lessons about the good news that God has for all mankind, giving us helpful hints and stories along the way to make it sink in even more. The people who came really enjoyed the lessons and look forward to being able to put them into practice. Raúl preached on evangelism on Sunday as well, encouraging all of us to stay focused on our main goal of saving lost souls.
That’s all I have time for right now, although I am going to include some prayer requests. Please be in prayer for Summer and my cell group at Blanca’s apartment. Blanca has been going through some major financial stress lately and as a result of that, had to take a job that won’t allow us to have cell group there. We are really at a loss as to what to do because we don’t have anyone else in those apartments that can offer their place but we also don’t want to lose all the connections we’ve made there over the past year and a half. Pray that the Lord will show us his wisdom in where we need to go from here.
Also pray for the church members who attended the seminar this weekend. Pray that they will be able to share these lessons with people they know and begin to see firsthand the blessing it is to share the good news with others.
Thank you so much for all your prayers on our behalf and on behalf of the church here in Morelia. You are our sustaining force!
Sara