Down to the Hot Springs

Cold day, hot springs!

On Saturday we spent the day with the church from Mactzul V celebrating the baptism of 9 people!  Eight of them are teens from the ABC program, which makes us proud and so happy for this church.  The ninth is an older woman whom they have been studying with and has decided to give her life to Christ.  Something we notice about this church is their sincere desire to reach everyone with the gospel.  They have teams who focus on visitation and evangelism of those outside the church, as well as a group who are dedicated to the youth and children's teaching.  They are always mindful of the changing face of their congregation and try to meet the needs that arise.  One thing that caught our attention was the fact that they chose to baptize in a pool this time rather than a flowing river.  There are some traditions in this area regarding baptism in a moving body of water.  There are no baptismals around these parts! But, this time they opted for the warm waters on a cold day and talked about the command of baptism, the faith that saves and the power of God that takes away our sins, rather than the current of the waters.  It was a beautiful day with family and friends.  On Sunday at Chijtinimit COC our lesson was on church growth--be it attracting new Christian families, converting our own children and converting the lost outside of the church, and how all three areas are important to the growth and health of the church.  Praise God for the work of his Spirit here and for letting us participate in it!

Getting ready for some pre-baptismal lunch with some of the families--beef with pepian sauce, rice, tamalitos and bottled cokes!

Sebastian and Sebastian waiting to get started

Ladies first--our new sister Tomasa first in line.  A sweet sister up top is encouraging her the whole time that it will be okay and not to be afraid.

Maynor listening to wise counsel before he takes the plunge.

Reborn!

Kemmel sharing words from Ephesians 3:14-21

Our new sisters and brothers

Fresh Starts

The New Year has brought us lots of patients in clinics as well as some changes to our work.  We are working on reorganizing some of our clinic routes to include some more weekly central clinics in the area.  Already we have two very interested communities that are centrally located on major routes into town, so this should be good for access.  Also we have had good starts to our regularly scheduled clinics and people have been happy to see us back--always a good thing!

On a somewhat sad note, we have had to temporarily say goodbye to Sheri as she goes back to the States to help with family responsibilities.  We are all hopeful that it will just be for a few months.  In the meantime we have put a lot of our education on hold and are focused on clinical care.  We miss you Sheri!

We had such a good time back home, enjoying the company of family and just relaxing, but it's been good to be back home and back to being productive again!  We have been busy already with church and youth events, and this Saturday we will get to witness 6 baptisms out in Mactzul V.  Be praying for our team as we work to lead people to Jesus and be examples of his compassion.

I'll end on a funny note:  we have a young neighbor named Elvis about 13 years old.  I always give him a hard time because he claims to have no idea who Elvis Presley is.  So this year I found an Elvis greatest hits CD at Big Lots for $5!  I got to give to him on Elvis Presley's birthday even--I hope he likes it!