STUDENT LEADERSHIP RETREAT REPORT

I cannot explain to you how pleased I am about how everything went on the retreat. Thank you so much for praying for the success and that God would be glorified and continue to be glorified in the students. Everything we did flowed very nicely.

We started out on Wednesday morning leaving for Mazatlán. In the van, we put the students to work right away having them answer the questions, “What are the problems I see in the world, country, town, church in general, local church, our youth group, and themselves?” This was to get them thinking along the lines that there are problems all over just like Nehemiah saw the problem with Jerusalem not having walls. Nehemiah didn’t just sit around; he did something about it (to make a long story short).

We went right in to the first study about Nehemiah’s devotional life once we got to the Hotel after breakfast. The first thing that Nehemiah did before he did anything, throughout the book, was pray. Our next study was about how he put his burden into action. We then had some activities on the beach and hiked up to what is now the highest functioning lighthouse in the world. We talked about the opposition that Nehemiah faced throughout his journey, even before he started and all the way to finishing the walls. The next day we talked about the completion of the walls and how Nehemiah did some follow-up as we see in the final chapters.

In the end, as we were tying everything together, we looked at how Nehemiah’s burden was really the people who had no wall around their city. Nehemiah saw a need, did something for the people, and then was able to speak into their lives. With that in mind, we have challenged these four students to put together a day camp for the new 7th grade students (about 10 of them) who will be entering the youth group this summer. As we were discussing this, I was really impressed to see that they understood the vision, saw the need, and got excited about it. There was a little bit of nervousness, but they are charging forward and it’s a lot of fun to see happen.

It was a great two days and we all wish we could do it again next week! We had absolutely no free time until we finished with our activities and studies on Thursday afternoon. Before heading back to Cofradía we spent a few hours at a big water park to have some fun.

Thanks again for your prayers; it was a great success because the hand of the Lord was upon us.

Here are some pictures of the retreat:

Planning time during a group activity.

Blindfolded, they had to make a square with the rope. This attracted the attention of people as they walked by. Some would stay for a few minutes and watch; vendors, tourists, etc.

Finished! Great job!

The World's highest functioning lighthouse. We hiked up the hill for our third study; Opposition.

Hiking up the hill. It was a great tangible experience of overcoming opposition!

At the top...finally!

The only picture of an actual study.

It's been a few days now since we've returned. It is amazing to me to see the difference in these students! They are really working hard on their project and are stepping up as strong leaders in the youth group. I've had a chance to talk with them individually and they all say that this is something they needed and it was time for them to take another step in their walk with God.

Praise God, to Him be the glory! This is so exciting!

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.

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

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.

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

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.

FAMILY PHOTO

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!

Forgiveness

In today's devotional from Neil Anderson, he talks about forgiveness and says this...
"Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person's sin. " WOW! Christ agreed to do this, are we willing to do it to forgive others?

Abundant LIFE

We had a good meeting last night at our Student Home Group. I asked one of our students to give the Bible study and he chose to speak about how we should respect our leaders. He did a VERY good job. It was organized, it thought-provoking, and it was complete. Please continue to pray for Julio as he grows in his gifting and continues to walk forward in the Lord.

Field Day

Thursday was a Feild Day for Rebecka's Kindergarden class. There were a number of events; footrace, bicycle race, soccer, shot put, etc. Rebecka participated in the first heat of the footrace which was the first event of the day. She didn't really know what was going on, in fact, when the called out "go" (spanish--"fuera"), the other three girls took off. Once she saw them running, she started to run. In spite of that, she made a photo-finish for third. I was proud of her because she did her best! I was really dissapointed that I kept pushing the button on the camera as they were running and NO pictures came out! I did get one while they were waiting to start though...

"Just Thinking"

Just Thinking is a radio broadcast by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and it has been a real blessing to me. I encourage you to check out the archives of messages. They are less than 13 minutes long and have lots of meat.
Blessings!

Prayer the Brings Revival by David Yonggi Cho

Our friend Hazel Doan-Reeh loaned this book to me. It has been one of the most, if not the most, inspiring books I’ve ever read (apart from the Bible). Ever since I was in High School I’ve had a desire for a life of prayer. I was able to experience a hint of that in college and I got to see God move in ways I had not seen before. In the past few years, I have had a prayer-life, but I have not been motivated to live a life of prayer. My deepest desire is to have communion with my Lord. I want a life of prayer, not just a prayer-life.

Pastor Cho has set such a good example of how one can have deep communion with God. Throughout the book, he uses scriptural truths to make important points and shares experiences of his life and others to show that when we take the Bible seriously, we will have results in our prayers. I do not know what else to say as for a review of this book except that I highly recommend it. It will not take long to read, I don’t care for reading much and I finished it in a time span of less than a day. It is full of meat and it definitely will motivate you to pray. My prayer is to have a deeper desire, strength, and discipline to pray more.

Ministry Resource

One of the things that I've really been noticing that is effective in our youth ministry is having discussions--we talk about a story or truth of the Bible and have some question and answer time. One of the things that I've noticed that really catches the youth's attention is video. Last year when I was talking about being responsable with our finances, I used a clip from "A Bug's Life" to make my second point of "saving money for times of need." I think they got it. I was directed to the website, The Source for Youth Ministry. I have found it to be very helpful, they have movie clip ideas and whole discussions about them. There's also sections on games, activities, events, etc. Maybe this can help you also if you're working with young people.

Dinner with the Staff

Tom Hackett, the director and founder of Alternative Missions, came to have dinner with our staff last night and I am very encouraged. Ever since I first met Tom in 1988 on a Short-Term Missions trip as a youth with my home church, I have always loved to hear him share his heart. When I first met him, I said to myself, “I want to work with him.” I first came down to Mexico as a “full-time” missionary in January of 1996 to serve here in Cofradía. Now, almost 20 years after meeting him for the first time, his enthusiasm and heart for missions and reaching the world impacts me even more today.

As he was sharing his heart, I was thinking of a chapter in a book I was reading in the morning. The book is called “Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel” by Ronald Allen and Gordon Borror. Chapter 2 is called, “Art and Heart in Worship.” It talks about how we are to combine Art and Heart in our worship to God. As we respond to God, which is what Worship is, we all have different talents, gifts, interests, and ways of life. All of those things would be our “Art.” But if we do those things without a Heart for God, that’s all it is…Art. On the other hand, some have discouraged others saying that being “artistic” is not “Christian” because it’s “weird” or we could get wrapped up in our art, losing sight and time of “serving” God. Here is a quote from the book,

“While it is not our purpose to judge heart motive, we can but wonder why one could not dedicate his art to the glory of God as an expression of worship. This is a fulfilling of the godly attribute of creativity. Art form need not dominate heart condition; it simply must come under the control of the Holy Spirit and support the heart in the praise of God.” (pp.22-23)

So, the point is to combine Art and Heart in Worship. Art without Heart is just Art. Heart without Art is doing away with the creativity God has placed in each one of us. Years ago, I used to think that art was drawing, painting, sculpting, etc. But it’s not just that, it’s the creativity that God has given each individual whether it be in any of those or music, song, dance, technology, service to others, helping the little old lady cross the street, etc.

Since Worship is not just a service we go to on Sundays but a way of life; how, then, can we reach our world in our Worship to God? Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (NIV). God is in control, not us. We live our life for Him the way He has made us and gifted us and He will be glorified. In John 15 Jesus says, “I am the vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful” (NIV). So, since Jesus, we are in a Vine Age. And this is what Tom was talking about last night at dinner.

Vine Age-or the Alternative Church- is a ministry of Alternative Missions that Tom and some others have started through a Think Tank called the Innovative Missions Group in order to reach the world through the internet. We live in a day that the internet is crucial (unless you live in a place like Cofradía) for many people. It’s the means of communication; emails, text messaging, etc. This is creative, this is using “Art” to worship God and reach the world. This has been Alternative Missions’ motto since it was founded; “Creative Ways to Reach the World.”

There are many things that VineAge/the Alternative Church has to offer you if you are a Christian, have a heart for God, a desire to reach the world for Him, and internet access. There is a lot more to this than what I have explained, you can go to the site for more information and I have added a link at the right. Let’s work together in our creativity to glorify God and reach the world for Jesus! What is your “Art”?

Emma Rose-One Year Old

Today was Emma's Birthday. Gena made a great cake and Emma was able to stick her hands in it; she still doesn't have down the traditional face-in-cake bite they have here in Mexico, so Rebecka demonstrated for her as she nibbled the side of the cake. Emma is taking steps now and has her two bottom teeth coming in. The top ones are barely breaking the surface. She hasn't said much that we can really understand yet, but she sure is trying.

If you look real close, you'll be able to see her bottom teeth.

Emma and her birthday cake (consider the heat and humidity, we had to take the picture before the frosting melted).

Rebecka's demonstration.

Abundant Life Meeting

Last night was our weekly youth meeting in our house. I decided to put on the movie The Passion of the Christ and have some discussion time afterward. The discussion time was goood; I would have liked to hear from more students, sometimes it's really hard to get them to share. After the discussion time we had communion and sang a song. Please pray for these students to have PASSION to serve Christ. This is something that has been on my heart the past few weeks and it troubles me. On the other hand, there are a few students who "get it" and that is very encouraging. Thank you for your prayers.

Just To Let You Know

We're still here. I find it hard to write about things sometimes when things are pretty much the same and don't change. We're all doing well, we have another team here from Washington and they're working in the morning at the church and in the afternoons they have a VBS with the children. The weather is starting to get warm...the sun seems to be getting hotter and hotter each day. Blessings to everyone who reads this. We love you!

Spring Parade

The Kindergarten class had a Spring Parade yesterday. Geña and Norma (sister-in-law) dressed up our little pickup that Rebecka and Luis rode in as King and Queen of the Butterflies. There were 9 trucks and they all had Kings and Queens in them. Something very elaborate and it makes me wonder what the kids will expect in elementary school and beyond??

Rebecka really enjoyed herself throwing kisses and candy to the onlookers. At the end of the parade, everyone met at the center of town to watch the presentations of the Kings and Queens.

Mazatlan with the Reeh's

We had a great time with our friends Roger and Hazel once again. This time we went to visit them in Mazatlan before they take off to Washington next week. It was a good time to relax and rest, however I still feel a little tired. We walked the beach on Monday night and it was a lot of fun. Rebecka had the time of her life. She was able to swim in the pool during the day and in the evening she ran along the beach splashing in the waves and picking up seashells as she went. Thank you Roger and Hazel for great company and a great couple of nights.

STM Update

Last week we had Cy-Fair Christian Church here to work specifically with our youth and they did a great job! There were 16 youth and 6 adults. In the mornings, they worked on the new church building FINISHING the sanctuary floor/basketball court.

On Sunday evening there were "get-to-know-you" games and we split them up into four different groups; americans and mexicans mixed. That was there group for the whole week so the next night, Monday, we did team building games which included a popular life-size Sudoku game drawn out on the speed soccer court in Arrayanes. Each team had to work together to finish the puzzle and their finish time would determine what time they would start their "Race" the next day. It was popular because many of the students were frustrated because they couldn't figure out the puzzle or couldn't figure out how to work as a team. The two teams that finished quickly worked together as a team. It was definately a challenge becuase it's more of an individual game, but they figured out how to work together. This was a huge growing experience for the americans. It was all new to the mexicans.

The next night, they had a race; much like the Amazing Race. Their goal was to make tortillas together as a team. Each team was divided into four groups at one point and they had to communicate amongst themselves to figure out what the half-spanish/half-english notes said. It was a lot of fun to watch and many of them said they really enjoyed it. This point was to continue to work as a team, brake the language barriers of communication and have first hand experience at what a body looks like as it functions. As they divided themselves up into four groups, they had to decide amongst themselves who would get water, who would get the firewood, who would get the gridle, and who would get the flour. Once each group finished their task, they were to take their item to the pastor's house where they were to make tortillas together. It was interesting. It was funny. It was a very good learning experience.

We as a body need to work together in unity. When the body of Christ is not unified, it's deformed, it's not working properly. This was very evident throughout the week and both americans and mexicans said they learned that it's important to be unified and work together as a team. All the teams finished by eating the tortillas they had made in a relay race.

Wednesday was a free hang-out day where the girls made some picture frames and the guys had a mini-speed soccer tournament. Then the final night, the big night, Thursday night was "Oscar Night." We handed out awards to the students who shined this last year. It was definatley hard to choose who would get what, but as a staff we came up with who we though was most deserving in Hospitality, Most-Improved Band Member, Spirit, Braveheart, and Servant.

The Most-Improved Band Member went to two students because of their improvement in the band. They have grown a lot in the past year.

Jose Luis

Jose Angel

The Spirit Award went Claudia for having a smile on her face all the time. She never complains and is always committed to what's going on.

The Braveheart Award went to Sandra becuase she has taken the biggest steps in her Christian walk this past year. Mostly, these past couple of months she has been willing to do whatever for God and is allowing Him to mold her.

The Servant Award went to Martin becuase of his great leadership. Last year at this time he was in Oaxaca at a Bible School and he came back CHANGED. He has shown so much growth in his leadership ability and it seems that whatever Martin sets out to do, he succeeds. He has definately become an extraordinary preacher as well.

The Cy-Fair youth have impacted our youth in a big way. The relationships they have developed are relationships that I know the students will never forget and they cannot wait until they come back again next year.

Short-Term Missions

We have a short-term missions team here from Texas right now. They always do such a good job a focusing on a specific age group and making relationships with them. They are working with the youth this week and their pastor and myself are working side-by-side for a successful week. Last night we had a number of ice-breaker games and then we split up into small groups. Each group (4) has an interpreter. It was a good time and tonight we have more team-building games for the four groups. I forgot our camera again, so no pictures of last night (unless I can get some from another staff person). Thank you for your prayers for this week, it's always interesting to see the relationships built durning times like this and the lives that are impacted, Mexicans and Americans.

High School

I went to a town meeting last week at the Junior High that was to be about a new High School they want to put here in Cofradia. High School here in Mexico is a prep school and it's our equivilant to grades 10-12. They will start this August with 10th grade, then the next year they will continue on to graduate as the "first generation." No buildings, they will use the Junior High until the government supplies enough for a building. However, they are talking about a dormitory for the students that would come from different towns to stay in. There are 9 towns close to Cofradia here that would be included as the Cofradia High School.

This is really exciting to me because many students here don't have the opportunity to continue their education because of their lack of resources. With the High School here in town, they will be saving lots of money in travel expenses. Inscription for the whole year will cost a wopping $14!! Books will cost $40. That's way less than half of what they're paying in other towns. This is a huge blessing for the town.

VIDA Abundante (Abundant LIFE)

Last night’s meeting with the youth was a lot of fun. They arrived at 5:30 and are really getting into playing catch with an American Football. I wasn’t playing with them this week because of a sore back, but they developed their own fun game of “keep-away.” It was neat to see all the girls getting involved too. At around 6pm, we had everyone come in and we started the evening’s message. We’re looking at the book, Chazown. It has to do with having vision in your life, or purpose. We focused on the beginning of the first chapter as a review because they’ve heard some of it already. It starts out talking about when we are in our last chapter of life, what will we be doing on our death bed? What will we be thinking about? Will we have no regrets? Some regrets? Or will we be full of regrets? We focused on the verse of Matthew 9:36 where Jesus had a compassion on the people because they were lost and “like sheep without a shepherd.” When we don’t have vision, or a sense of purpose, in our life, we are just like lost sheep without a shepherd. We just “exist” and get from one day to the next. Some of us may not even realize we’re lost.

We finished the evening with a video from Alex Campos. It’s a testimony of a young boy attending a military camp who makes some really good friends. One day while listening to a Veteran of War talk about the opportunity of having a Heavenly Father, he’s reminded of his own father who was very mean, disinterested in his life, and in a fight, killed his mom in front of him. So, he hated his father, “the last thing I want is another father!” Just about everyone received the invitation of having Jesus enter their lives except him. After they graduated, his friends went one direction and he another and felt abandoned once again. He hit rock bottom, looking for freedom and happiness. One day he received a note in the mail calling him to the front lines of the war. As he went met up with the soldiers, there were his two friends that he had made, it was a really special time for him. They shared with him about Jesus, but he never wanted anything to do with him. One day, out on the battle field, one of his friends stepped in front of him guarding his back from enemy fire and took a bullet in the chest, saving his life. He then realized what they always had talked about—the love of Jesus. Just like his friend taking the bullet in his place, Jesus died in our place. He then accepted Christ as his personal savior and was transformed. In the end, he went back to his invalid father and forgave him.

It was an amazing 18 minutes. Silence in the room. And I know that many of these students could relate to the guy in the video and his relationship with his father. We had a very good discussion in the end and had a time of separate guy’s prayer and girl's prayer. It was a great evening!

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

FEBRUARY 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! Geña and I were just talking and it seems like just yesterday that we wrote you last. However, it was in November that we sent out our last newsletter, we are long overdue to tell you what God is doing here.

FAMILY NEWS
We are all doing generally well. We’ve had a few colds come through, but we’ve been able to manage. Our trip to Arizona to renew immigration papers was a lot of fun for all of us because my parents drove down from Seattle to Tucson to spend a couple weeks with us. My niece, Trisha also flew in for a week and we had an early family Christmas. Rebecka and Emma really enjoyed themselves with their grandparents and cousin. Then, during the actual day of Christmas we had another treat as our friends Roger and Hazel Reeh came to spend a couple days with us. What a blessing!

MINISTRY
In December, five teams with five guys on each team played against each other for five days. Our first organized sports tournament was a great success in bringing the two towns of Cofradía and Arrayanes together. Each team had members from both towns and many of them made new friends and others strengthened old acquaintances, it was a lot of fun to watch and be a part of.

The Speed-Soccer Tournament started on Tuesday, the day after Christmas and each team played two games a day. Saturday was the Championship game, we had barbecued hot dogs and went inside the church for the service. One of the students has started a Rap Music band called “Fishers of Youth.” They started the service with a couple of songs and they did pretty good. We then had a time of worship and we talked about being part of the “winning team”--God’s team. Many students came forward for prayer, either to receive Christ into their hearts for the first time, to renew their commitments to Him, or for a refreshing of the Spirit of God in their life. In the end we handed out the awards; certificates for the three best goalies and the three best scorers, we gave a brand new soccer ball to the one who scored the most, and we gave out trophies to each member of the winning team. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and not only were the students able to have fun and make new friends, but there were young people involved who had never been to church before that the leaders got to meet. This has created an open door for further witnessing! Great stuff!

In January, I was flown up to Houston, Texas to be the “special guest” at an indoor youth retreat called Disciple-Now or D-NOW. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. One of the purposes for going was to see if we could do something similar in Cofradía. It may not be exactly the same because of the culture, but it would be nice to implement the ideas developing a greater sense of community within the group.


In February, the same pastors I went to visit in Houston came down to speak at our second annual Student Leadership conference. It was a great time of getting the students to open up and think about their faith. The theme was “Authority.” What is it? What does it look like? It was interesting to see the students’ opinions of authority being a bad thing, but when you realize that we live under God’s authority, that means he loves us, he protects us, and he is always taking care of us. Many were able to see the difference and have a new viewpoint of Authority.

VIDA Abundante (Abundant Life) This Friday night youth meeting has been going very well. It meets in our home and we try to make it a place where everyone is comfortable to be able to share what’s on their heart. We worship, give testimonies, study the Bible, do activities, and have a time of prayer in the end.

Noche de VIDA (LIFE Night) This is our once a month youth event. This event is becoming more of a facilitating role for me rather than leading everything. It’s exciting to see the growth of the youth in their leadership of worship and preaching. We are also getting the adult sponsors more involved in the planning. This is a lot of fun for me because I get to see other people having an opportunity to do what I love doing and it’s great to see their growth.

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. There is a link to the right of this page that says, "Donate to the Silbermans online."
· Thanks again for being part of our team!

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

†MANNA†
“It’s truth that sets you free, not the knowledge of error.”
Neil Anderson

Written: February 21, 2007

Student Leadership Conference

The Student Leadership Conference was GREAT! We started on Thursday night with an introduction meeting over really good tamales. We had 21 youth and 9 adults in our house! A lot more came than we were expecting, but it was a really good time. Pastors Brad and Dave talked about “Authority.” They did a great job of getting the students involved and bringing to light the way the world views authority and contrasting it with God’s authority. They asked the question “Why?” Why do we have authority? And the bottom line is LOVE! We have rules and guidelines we set for our children to live under because we love them. The same way with God, he has given us some guidelines to live by to keep us on the right path.

The next night they elaborated a little more on the whole idea of God’s authority and what that looks like to us, for us and through us. Saturday morning they had a time with the leaders of the church, and in the evening we had a worship experience Monk style. Something called Lectio Divina. This is a reading of the scriptures over and over, meditating on the words or phrases that jump out at you, asking God questions about those words and listening for His input in our life. It was a really neat time that some of the students were able to capture and learn from. The verse that was used was Zephaniah 3:17.

What a great time of speaking into the lives of students and it has given us more open doors to follow up and help the students in their walk with God.

Next Weekend...

We look forward to this weekend having Brad Pembleton and Dave Chavez from Houston to lead us in a Student Leadership Conference. This is the second year we’ve done it and it’s been a great motivator for the youth. The meetings will be Thursday and Friday nights, most of the day Saturday and Brad will preach on Sunday. Please pray for openness and attentiveness with the youth. I’m concerned that many of them don’t really have a “relationship” with Christ. They say they’re Christians, and have accepted Christ into their hearts, but I think back to the last two weeks of our youth home group studies where we’ve talked about the cost of following Christ in Luke 9:57-62 and how they've listened and/or responded (or the lack thereof). Someone once said salvation is free, discipleship is costly. Pray that the youth would cross the line into being a disciple of Christ instead of being saved “by the skin of their teeth” (if that’s possible??). Thank you Lord for your GRACE and MERCY! It's refreshing to know that God looks at our hearts.

Weekend in Review

We’ve had a few late nights this week. Starting with Thursday Night/Friday morning, we gathered about 10 of the youth to serenade one of the youth girls just after mid-night. The next evening after the youth home group, we went to her birthday party and we got to bed a little earlier, but still late. Then on Saturday there were over 20 of us who went to La Fuente in Tepic to a concert. It was really neat at the end when a couple of our youth went forward; one especially whose name is Beto. I went to pray with him and he said it was the first time he has taken a step towards Christ. He has had some identity problems due to being wounded emotionally and I was proud of him for going forward to pray. We got home around 12:30am. I was pretty tired for the Sunday services; Sunday is always a long day for me doing two worship services. Needless to say, I crashed on Sunday night and finally, unwillingly got up this morning around 7:30.

Noche de VIDA (LIFE Night)

I haven't posted about our Saturday night meeting because I was waiting for some pictures. Here's the report...

Our once-a-month youth event was a lot of fun on Saturday night. We had over 40 students who were there and stayed. Amber put together a video of the Soccer Tournament we had during Christmas time (they always love to see themselves on the big screen); The youth band led worship and did a great job, they even did some new songs that are really hard to do! I was really proud of them. We also had a game called “¿Quién Quiere Quinientos?” or “Who wants five hundred?” Pesos that is. It’s a run-off of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” We had questions about the Bible and ONE participant. As they answered questions, the peso value doubled. We started with one peso and the poor guy that played only got to question #3 and lost everything. He normally doesn’t go to church, but everyone who wanted to play put their name in a hat and Rebecka pulled the name out to see who would play. We gave him a prize for participating though. One of the Americans who is on a construction team here right now brought down a bunch of prizes so we gave those away as well. It was a lot of fun and we’ll probably continue to do that game in the future. The money they win will go to a savings account called LIFE Investment where the youth can individually save up for retreats, camps, and other youth functions. We had another one of our youth, Martin, preach for us. It was the first time we’ve had one of our own youth preach at a LIFE Night. He did a really good job and the youth seemed to pay attention to his message of ”Making Decisions.” During our prayer time, many students came forward with petitions like; “I want Christ to live in me” or “I would like it if God took away my desire to drink (alcohol)”. We even had some students praying for one-another. It was a great evening.

To finish off the night, Ruben and Martin’s Rap band called Fishers of Youth did a couple of songs. It’s hard to understand what they’re saying, but it’s very encouraging to see them stepping out and reaching youth for Jesus. Half of the band is made up of students who have just been going to church for a short time…since our game THE CHALLENGE, the Soccer Tournament, and Martin’s return from Bible school in Oaxaca. Great things are happening and the youth did a great job on Saturday.