Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Short Term Missions with Cy-Fair Youth

Cy-Fair Christian Church has sent down youth teams every spring break for almost a decade.  Our students have developed a great relationship with the students that come down and this year those relationships continued to grow strong.

For the past few years, we have worked together to reach our community.  While the team spends their time in the morning with construction projects, our students are in school.  This year, those projects included some who painted the second floor railings, the stairs, doors and windows while others set the tile in two children’s classrooms.






Each year, the Cy-Fair team serves our students a meal during our Student Ministry Awards Banquet.  This is a great time to reflect on the past year and recognize our leaders and the Award winners amongst the students.

There are four awards that we give out:

The Spirit Award-this student is enthusiastic when it comes to participating in events and games.   Not only does this person participate with a good attitude, but encourages others to participate as well.  This year’s winner is Jonathan Elias.

The New Generation Award-this student is a newcomer to the youth group who was in Elementary school the previous year.  They stand out with leadership potential and have a good attitude.  This year’s winner is Cecilio Rodriguez.

The Servant Award-this student stands out with a servant’s heart and helps to meet needs without being told.  Leadership is inevitable with this attitude.  This year’s winner is Jesús Orozco.

The Brave Heart Award-this student has grown in the Lord and their leadership skills in the past year.  This is the only category in which our Student Leaders have the opportunity to be nominated.  This year’s winner is Gregorio Hernández.

The team had four other nights of activities with our students.  Two of those activities will stand out as highlights.

The first was a community service project that we work together on.  This year, we painted the bridge that connects Cofradía to the rest of Mexico.  Some were scraping, some were sweeping, some were mixing cement, some were painting, and we even had flaggers to direct traffic. 

The Bridge from down under.
Scraping
Painting
Pastor Jeff adding reflectors
Finished!
The other activity was a Life Application Cultural experience as we took everyone out to visit a man who makes bricks.  As Pastor Luis interviewed him, he explained the process of how to make them.  He mixes clay-like dirt to mix with his dirt, manure, and water.  Then, he stomps on it to make a milky mud in order to place it in the forms.  He lets it sit for a day and a half to dry, then stacks them in preparation for the fire.  The bricks are in the fire for 8 hours, and then they’re ready. 
Mixing it all up.
Adding water

Pouring the mold

What an amazing teaching!  We met in small groups afterwards as we talked about how this applies to us.  We are like the bricks as God is forming us.  Those who are closer to the fire become stronger and can withhold more.  Every brick has a purpose—to be used and not forgotten or left alone; they are meant to be together.  Those are just a couple of many applications that we talked about.  I’m sure you could think of more.

In the end, the team did a great job in making connections again.  Our students really enjoy having them here.  Thank you for your prayers.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Hermano Magdaleno

Para los que hablan Español, Hermano Magdaleno es de Arrayanes y compuso esta canción.  La cantó en la inauguración de la nueva iglesia.  Está chistosa!  Espero que la disfruten.

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Centro Cristiano Cofradía Inauguration Day

We had a great time celebrating the Inauguration of the new Church facilities in Cofradia.  Thanks to so many of you who donated your time and resources to help this community have a church of their own.  You are well remembered by all those who make this their home church and the congregation is very, very thankful for the generosity of all who participated.  We celebrated by starting with a normal service of worship and a message by Pastor Gollo.  Everyone was fed and the birria was delicious!  In the afternoon, the congregation took part by sharing testimonies and songs and as you will be able to see, there is a variety of style!  The lady with the white shawl is a Huichol Indian and she's singing praises in her own language. Great stuff!  Great day!  To God be the Glory!!

Student Ministry

This is a typical Saturday evening at our Youth Group meeting with hang out time, organized games, worship, bible studies, and small group time for prayer and reflection.

Coffee Farmers

Here is a clip of a trip we took up to Puerta de Platanares near Ruiz, Nayarit to see the Coffee Farmers process the coffee just after it was picked off the plant and as they got it ready for drying.