Tuesday, May 29, 2007

LIFE NIGHT

Saturday night we had our monthly youth event, LIFE NIGHT. Each month we play a game called ¿Quién Quiere Quinientos? (Who Wants Five hundred?).
This is a take off of the famous “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” There are ten questions and they get harder and harder starting out with a value of one peso (10 cents), and doubling after every question (1 peso-2 pesos-4-8-16…) all the way to 500 pesos ($50usd)! We started the game this year to help encourage them to be reading their bibles (all questions come from the bible). No one had won anything until last night. The rule is pretty much the same as the television show, but if you get a question wrong, you lose everything, you don’t get the safety net. For example, if you have answered the 16 peso question correctly you can take that if you decide not to answer the next question, 32 pesos. If they get the 32 peso question wrong, no 16 pesos! It’s a lot of fun and the youth really enjoy it.

Saturday night, Pastor Goyo’s youngest son, Goyo, won the opportunity to play the game. He was able to answer all the questions through #8 (125 pesos-$12.50). He wasn’t sure of the answer of the next question and decided to take the money (which turned out to be wise). Congratulations to Goyo for being the first contestant to win money.

By the way, all the money goes as a deposit in their name into an Investment program called INVERSION VIDA or LIFE INVESTMENT that Geña and I started for the students. They can save money to go to camps, outings, or any kind of activity with the youth group and we’ll give them interest as a bonus for saving. Saving money is not a popular thing around here (not to mention in many parts of Mexico). People get money and they spend it right away. So, the students are learning to be prudent (like ants) and save their money. All the money they save has to be used for activities with the youth group (which is called LIFE, therefore, LIFE INVESTMENT) in order to have the benefit of the interest Geña and I give them (3% per month).

Student Leader

Sandra (see picture from previous post) did a great job sharing a Bible study last Friday night at our youth home group. She spoke about three different kinds of people; natural people, carnal people, and spiritual people. She asked the youth to identify themselves with one of those three. The natural person does not have an interest in the things of God; the carnal person has somewhat of an interest in the things of God, but does not live a life pleasing to the Lord (they like the milk of the Word); finally, the spiritual person has interest in God and is living the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (they are eating the meat of the Word). She challenged the youth who have been a part of the group for a while to let go of the bottle and start eating meat. It was very good and I thought that she had the right message for the group. Some of them need to take some steps of faith.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Student Leadership Retreat


Chuy

Jose Luis

Martin

Sandra

We’re excited to do something new this year! On June 6 and 7 we plan to take four of our older and mature youth on an overnight Leadership Retreat. This has been on my heart for about a year and it’s great to see it coming to life.

Each student is at least 20 years old and has been part of the youth group for a while. On this retreat, we’ll be looking at the life of Nehemiah and his leadership skills; specifically his devotional life, the actions he took towards his vision, how he confronted opposition, and we’ll also look at the completion of his vision.

Our plan is to leave early in the morning to have a time of teaching, reflection, and sharing from God’s Word. We’ll stay the night in a hotel and before we return the next evening, we’ll challenge these four students to put together a “day camp” in July for the new seventh graders that will be joining our youth group this summer. This will give an opportunity for the new students to feel welcome and get to know some of the older students as leaders. It should be an exciting time!

We’re really looking forward to this and we believe that this is where God is taking us as our ministry is growing more into training others to be leaders. Just like Nehemiah received a vision to do something for God’s Kingdom, the passion and burden I personally have for this event is incredible.

In order to fight off the enemy and their tactics, Nehemiah equipped half of the people with spears, shields, bows and armor while the other half did the work. We would ask you please join us in prayer for this retreat and be one of those people that are “standing guard”.

Pray for…
· Safety in traveling to and from Mazatlán and safety while we’re there.
· Clarity of mind for the staff who will be leading this retreat (Steve, Geña, and Amber).
· Open hearts and minds for the students (Sandra, Martín, José Luís, and Jesús).
· Passion in all of us for the cause of Christ.
· Fruit
· And pray for whatever else the Lord puts on your hearts.

Thank you so much for being part of what God is doing in Cofradía.

Steve and Geña Silberman

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Ministry Update

Every month our staff puts together an update on different areas of our ministry here. This is our update from April...

Youth Update: Leadership

We are blessed to have leaders within the youth group. A couple of exciting things have happened recently that have brought to light how God is working in the students. Pastor Gollo’s third son, Julio, gave the bible study at our weekly Youth Home Group and did a very good job! He spoke on Respecting Leaders and it was thorough, thought-provoking, and complete. This was the first time he did an actual study and we were really impressed with how it was put together and presented.

Another exciting thing was at our monthly youth event. Martin, one of the older students who spent one year at a Bible school, has really done a great job of influencing the lives of the students in Arrayanes. He has been instrumental in bringing a number of youth to Christ, starting a rap band, and now he has put together a drama team. The eight participants did an excellent job with their skit. They portrayed four guys who were drug dealers and lived the party life, Martin came in to share the gospel and was rejected by the guys, but there were two girls that received the message. In the end, another “bad guy” came in and shot at everyone with at toy gun while another student was at the piano making gun-shot sounds. It was great! Martin shared the message of what happens when we reject God’s word and don’t live according to His will. It will be interesting to see what they come up with next!

Cofradía Church

Enjoy April’s update from Pastor Goyo!

“In family group we are arriving at the final stage of the Bondage Breakers study, and this past week we began with the seven steps to freedom. I had reviewed the material for the two previous weeks, and the content is very helpful for the individual and general growth of the church. My expectations were met the first day of study because when we began with the question of whether anyone had participated in activities that were not glorifying to God, it was suggested that we pray a prayer recognizing God as the only God that everyone knows, who is always present, and that we would depend on him and believe the truth that all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Christ, and that we would participate in that authority.

“It was also suggested that, with all the authority of Christ, we command Satan and every evil spirit, in order to have freedom to choose the will of God, like children of God. Upon reviewing the list of non-Christian spiritual control, I was surprised by how some of the group members responded and after reading the list, the ones that impacted the most were superstition, saint-worship, and television. But the most impact came from the two additional questions which had to do with listening to or feeling the presence of spirits in your home and nightmares. It made me think of the scripture in Romans 12:2: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing, and perfect will." In this way, once we surrender our lives to God, there will be a total change of the believer in a general way, and although the time will come for this moment, I know God will make it arrive for every one who decides to accept him as Lord of their lives. Thank you for your prayers and for all your support of this town. May the Lord bless the work of His hands.”

General Update: STM

We have had a very busy but successful Short-Term Missions (STM) season so far this year. We have had 7 groups come down since January, and we are awaiting two more in June! So far we’ve seen the following outreach activities: women’s ministry, youth ministry, VBS, a youth leadership conference, construction on our central church facility, and meeting dental needs. In June our two teams will be focusing on the Cora village of Mojocuautla as well as more evangelistic outreaches into towns where we do not yet have ministry! It has been a very exciting season of short-term groups. Each one has made it’s own impact for the kingdom of God in Mexico, and we know that He will continue to plan and harvest the fruits of their labors and investment!

We have recently opened up an online photo gallery. If you would like to see photo albums from our spring groups and church construction, please go to: www.cofradiamexico.com.

General Update: Radio Ministry

Our radio ministry is another area for which we are quite excited. The Lord opened up doors in January for Gollo, the pastor of the Cofradía church, to begin ministering by radio. Since the Mexican government does not allow religious groups to operate radio stations, we rent air time from the local station in Ruiz. Each Thursday at 11:30 in the morning, Gollo hosts a half-hour show called “Restaurando Relaciones” (Restoring Relationships). He wants to show that we all experience the impact of broken relationships in our lives and that it is the result of living a broken relationship with our Creator. However, our Creator desires to restore us to a right relationship with Him, and as a result He will begin to restore the other broken relationships in our lives. Gollo’s desire is to be able to extend the show to three times a week. However, we are in need of funds in order to be able to increase the frequency of the broadcast. If you are interested in partnering with us in this ministry, please contact us and let us know! We would love your partnership in reaching more of this area for Christ!

New Church Construction Update

New Church Electricity on its way!

The new church construction is going well. We are presently focusing on getting the sanctuary walls to the 28 feet mark so that they will be ready to receive the roof. We are still hoping to start construction of the roof this coming winter, the Lord willing.

Good news! We have been working on the installation of electricity to the new church property since January. As it turns out we are outside the service area, which means that we are financially responsible for the extension of service area (posts, cable, and transformer) plus the hook-up to the church itself. We applied for a quote from the Federal Electric Commission, the only place one is available, and were told it would cost 28,480.03 pesos, which is about $2,7000 USD. Well, that seemed like a lot to us; however, in short order the Electric Commission offered to give us, free of charge, the transformer that would be required. This dropped the quote down to 15,361.14 pesos or about $1,450 USD. At the same time it was suggested that we should consider applying for assistance with the Municipal Government because the extension of service will be of benefit to the entire community. We took this advice and applied for assistance. Glory to God, an engineer from the Municipal Government stopped by this week and handed us a check for 10,000 pesos, which is about what we spend in two weeks in the construction of the sanctuary walls. Hallelujah, two weeks of free work!

This week we will go to the city to apply and pay for this extension of service and the new church electricity hook-up. Soon we will have electricity!!

But the story does not stop there. The Lord is definitely opening doors for us in this area. When the engineer came by to drop off the check, he mentioned that the Municipal President told him to say “hi” to us and ask if we could do other projects together. We talked about the possibility of building a re-habilitation house here in Cofradía or other similar projects. They very openly invited us to continue to involve them in community-related projects. Go figure!! Only God could get even the government working on His plans.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

MAY NEWSLETTER

MAY 2007

The Silbermans
Home: 9403 Tracyton Blvd.. NW *Bremerton, WA 98311 * USA * 360-692-2054
Field: APDO #19 * Tuxpan, NAY 63201 * MEXICO * 011-52-319-232-5172
Support: Steven & Efigenia Silberman * Alternative Missions * PO Box 5835 * Goodyear, AZ 85338 * USA

¡SALUDOS!
Greetings everyone! We pray that this letter finds you in good health and passionate about Jesus! We are excited for what God is doing here in our family, the church, short-term missions, and in the youth.

FAMILY NEWS
Lots has happened lately in the lives of Rebecka and Emma.
Rebecka and her cousin Luis were King and Queen of the Butterflies for the Kindergarden’s Spring Parade in March. They got to dress up along with the other seven Kindergarden King’s and Queens. As we drove around Cofradía with them in the back of the truck, crowds came out of their homes to receive the candy the kids were throwing. They had a great time. In April, Rebecka participated in a “field day” running a 50-yard dash. She did a great job!

Emma Rose turned one year old on April 10th! WOW! Time is flying. She has started to walk all over the place. She keeps us busy and is loads of fun!
We also had the wonderful privilege of having some of my cousins take time out of their vacation in Puerto Vallarta and stay with us in Cofradía for a night. That was one of the biggest blessings we could receive, have family and friends come visit us! Please let us know if you’re going to be in the area (Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, or Guadalajara) sometime so we can see you when you’re visiting Mexico. We are always honored to have you!

MINISTRY
The local church here has been growing a lot. We continue to have a number of Family Groups that meet weekly and various other activites that people are involved in, in order to build community and have fellowship. The local Pastor, Gollo Hernández, started to preach on the radio in January once a week for ½ an hour. This radio program can be listened to all over the world through the internet. Locally, the vision is to be able to use it to reach the Indian villages high up in the mountains where we don’t have regular contact.

We have had a number of short-term mission teams come down to help us with the mission these past few months. In February, a team came down to work specifically on the new church facility and they were able to finish a couple rooms and the platform. The next team came in March to work specifically with our youth and did a great job. We had a one-day Amazing Race for them to work together with our students figuring out the notes that were written in a mixture of Spanish and English…that was lots of fun! For their work project they started and finished the sanctuary/basketball court floor. Another team came to work with the Children and it was the first time that Rebecka was able to participate, she had loads of fun. For their work project, they were able to start the foundations of many of the classrooms and pour the floor for the library. We are excited for the progress. If you feel led to help by bringing a team or sending donations, contact us.

There has been a few students “stepping to the plate” lately in our Student Ministry. They have been involved in Bible studies, skits, musical bands, and preaching. One of the neatest things I get to experience is the one-on-one time with some of the students. We’ve started to pair off at our Friday night meetings for prayer at the end and it’s a great chance to get to know the students more and hear their needs. Also, a number of them come to my office for “mentor time.” I’m encouraged by what God has been doing in their lives!

Please continue to look at our blog from time to time, we try to update it weekly. Sometimes I’ll post testimonies of students and write in more detail of how God is impacting their lives.

AND PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY.

May the Lord bless you all,

Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico
Alternative Missions

SUPPORT ADDRESS
Thank you for continuing to be part of our team and supporting our ministry. If you haven’t yet joined our team of supporters, please consider joining.

· Send to:
Alternative MissionsPO Box 5835Goodyear, AZ 85338
· Checks made out to ALTERNATIVE MISSIONS
· Send a note on a separate piece of paper indicating that it is for Cofradía Staff Members: Steve and Efigenia Silberman.
· You can also donate online by clicking on "Donate to the Silbermans" to the right of this message.
· Thanks again for being part of our team!

EMAIL
steve@alternativemissions.com
JOURNAL
http://thesilbermans.blogspot.com/
WEBSITE
http://www.alternativemissions.com/

†MANNA†
In Prayer that brings Revival by David Yonggi Cho, he says something that really helped me about hearing the voice of God. “It’s not that God is not speaking to us, it’s that we’re not listening to Him.” WOW! I hope this encourages you too!

Written: May 10, 2007

Friday, May 11, 2007

Radio Show

Since January of this year, Pastor Gollo has been on the radio. Since the Mexican government does not allow religious groups to operate radio stations we rent air time for the local station in Ruiz. Each Thursday at 11:30 in the morning he hosts a half hour show called Restaurando Relaciones (Restoring Relationships). He wants to show that we all experience the impact of broken relationships in our lives, and that is the result of living a broken relationship with our Creator. However, our Creator desires to restore us to a right relationship with Him and as a result He will begin to restore the other broken relationships in our lives. His desire is to be able to extend the show to three times a week. You can listen online here. Click where it says, "XESK La Costeñita de Ruiz Nayarit en VIVO". You will need Winamp to listen. In order download that, click where it says, "Descargar Winamp."


Photo Gallery

One of the missionaries has set up a photo gallery of the short-term mission teams and the construction of the new church here.

Friday, May 04, 2007

MUD!!



If any of you knew me as a kid, you know who Emma takes after:).

LEADERSHIP AMONGST THE YOUTH

As I mentioned in my last post, Julio gave the bible study on Friday night. Another exciting thing was at our monthly youth event on Saturday. Martin, one of the older students who spent one year at a Bible school, has really done a great job of influencing the lives of the students in Arrayanes. He has been instrumental in bringing a number of youth to Christ, starting a rap band, and now he has put together a drama team. The eight participants did an excellent job with their skit. They portrayed four guys who were drug dealers and lived the party life, Martin came in to share the gospel and was rejected by the guys, but there were two girls that received the message. In the end, another “bad guy” came in and shot at everyone with at toy gun while another student was at the piano making gun-shot sounds. It was great! Martin shared the message of what happens when we reject God’s word and don’t live according to His will. It will be interesting to see what they come up with next!

The Silbermans in Mexico!


I was so excited to see my cousins in Mexico! Bill, his wife Christie, Doug, and his wife Carol. I haven't seen them in a long time and it was such a blast to be able to chat a while. Doug and Carol were able to come out and visit us in Cofradia on Wednesday and we barbacued some Tuna they caught the day before. We walked around as I showed them the town and the next day I took them to see the church and town of Arrayanes. We then had grilled beaf for lunch and a scenic trip along the water back to Puerto Vallarta. It was so much fun and I can't wait until we can do this again. For all of you who haven't been able to come and see us, we're still here and we would love for you to come! Thanks, cousins, for your visit!