Snippets

A few glimpses into our day yesterday.

Daniel and I drove to church at 8:50 to unload the instruments, sound system and screen that had been loaded into the van the night before.

When I arrived, I purchased one of my favorite breakfast options for 10 pesos (about 80c), a torta de tamal, which is a spicy tamale with green sauce, packed into a bread roll.  A bit high carb.

Mayra and Cathy came with José, Adriana and Axel.

Allan played 5 songs on the drums, Daniel played two.

We welcomed two new families that had not previously attended church.

I directed the service and the music yesterday.  We read Psalms 23, 34, and 46 as a congregation.  And played some great music.

Samuel preached an awesome sermon from Nehemiah 12.

Iris and Chela, who were at a political meeting seeking a possible donation of land from the municipality arrived near the end of the service.

After the service, Mariana showed Mayra and me a horrendous, hurtful text she had received from her own mother.  The mother came shortly after and accused Mariana, in front of us, of neglecting her in favor of her new, church family.  Christ's words in Luke 14:26 became very clear to me.

Samuel decided to invite a bunch of people to our house to eat.  I checked with Mayra, and she said, "Sure!"  12 people (plus us) came home (initially) to eat meat on the grill (arrachera), plus some chicken wings I found in the freezer.  Darrol Prusia called about his trip over here tomorrow from Puebla.

Samuel, Alejandro and Ismael took the ice cream they bought back to the store, because it was made with vegetable cream instead of real ice cream.  While they were gone, Sofía, our one Mexican intern, and her parents and grandmother came.  Then we ate the good ice cream.

Tina and Myhiah joined the party.  Most of our other guests left.  Mayra went to buy things for a homework project for Cathy.

I played Settlers of Catan with Sofía, Tina and Myhiah.  It was like taking candy from children.

My dad called in the middle of the game.

Mayra returned, Fabian and Tiffany arrived.

I took Tina, Myhiah and Sofía home to Tina's place in JM around 9 p.m.  Fabian took Tiffany home.

Left to pick up the Cottrills around 11:40 p.m.

Arrived home after dropping off the Cottrills at 2:25 a.m.

A bit from this morning...we can't drive either vehicle.  The Astro because it's Monday and we can't drive Mondays.  The Journey because, well, the process continues.  So I walked up to the nearest taxi base and brought a taxi back home, so Mayra could take the kids to school, then to a prayer walk in Jesús María, then to a Bible study at 10 a.m.  In the meantime...I went back to bed for a while!!!  A bit of confession there!

Quote of the Day: Jesus calls all of us to surrender our whole lives to follow him. This is not a call into a career but into a kingdom. All citizens of Christ's kingdom are called to serve fully. No Christian is held to a higher level of accountability for his or her character than another. Jesus bled so that all of us could be holy and set apart, not just a few. Now it is true that leaders are held to a stricter accountability, but that is true whether they are paid to lead or not. And regardless of accountability, each of us is called to a holy life. None is called to a more holy life than another.
Neil Cole. Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are (p. 105).