EL RETO FULL REPORT OF WEEK #3 (scroll down to see week #1 and #2 reports)

SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 (Las Pilas—Basketball Court)

Another interesting week as the race in the challenge continues…

As we were preparing the event around noon, I found out that a few people might not be able to make it to help out on staff, so I scrambled for plans B and more. Finally, everything worked out and it was a fun evening with the youth.

We started where we ended last week giving the team leaders time to share some of the Word with their teammates and encourage them in continuing to do a great job. All of the leaders are doing really good with their teams.

Los Crucificados

Los Victoriosos

Los Sabios

La Vision

Los Convertidos

Los Perseguidos

When the sharing time was finished, we started the continuation of the race one team after another in the order in which they finished last week. Their first activity was to make a goal on Chuy (Student Leader-Staff) in the speed soccer court. The first team made it on their first try, but the other five teams spent over 20 minutes trying to make it in! It was a lot of fun to watch as the last place team caught up to the second place team in this event.


Once they made the goal, they hopped in a truck and searched for a balloon of the color of their team along side the road for their next clue.

That directed them to the river where they were to memorize a series of pictures.

Then cross the river to put them in the same order as they were on the post.

If they were unable to put them in the right order, a different member from their team had to try. Once the one member of the team was able to figure it out, they got their next clue which led them to the bridge on the road from Cofradía to Arrayanes. There, they were to find a rock with the name of their team on it that was sitting on an island of rocks in the middle of the river beneath the bridge. Some were amazingly able to get the rock right away.


From there they were dropped off at the baseball field in Arrayanes where they had to find their colored balloon with directions to their next challenge...at the Arrayanes Church. This is where they finished the race for the day.

It was Independence Day in Mexico so like last year, we had a water balloon-gladiators style game which was to be our big event for the day. We filled over 1200 water balloons in the morning in preparation for this!

We had four of these barrells full!

Once all the teams arrived, the excitement began. They would receive points for each person they hit with a water balloon. While one team tossed water balloons, the other teams, one by one, ran through an obstacle course that ended at the soccer court goal. This was a lot of fun to watch. Each team member had to make it through the goal before the song ended (the song was what is played twice in the video below).


Their final challenge for the day was in form of questions once again. This was to determine who would do the chores this week. The same two teams that ended up doing the chores last week got stuck doing them again this week. They had to wash all six trucks used in the race, and then I gave them extra points for washing a couple other things.

Outreach to Puerta Colorada

On September 19th, we went to the town of Puerta Colorada (about 40 minutes from Cofradia). This is where Pastor Gollo's wife, Mati, is from and where they began their married life together. I personally have never been there and it was great to have the opportunity to see just a small part.

The youth put together an evangelistic program much like the one's they did last month, and Pastor Gollo preached a great sermon (see the short clip below). It was a great time and we got to see many people prayed for.

Mexican Independance Day--September 16

As Mexico is celebrating their Independance Day, the schools are filled with festivities and the colors of the flag are seen everywhere...even on the students. Rebecka wore her colorful outfit to school yesterday as all the whole kindergarten class dressed up and celebrated by eating a meal at school.

Rebecka's cousin, Luis, won frist prize for best costume of the boys.

EL RETO FULL REPORT OF WEEK #2 (scroll down to see week #1's report)

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007 (Santa Fe Town Center)

We packed up the vehicles and headed out to Santa Fe to start week #2. Teams receive points for bringing new students, wearing a shirt of the color of their team, good attitudes, the place they sit at in church, and a coin collection. The coin collection is a “Change War”. Each piece of change has a value to it; from 5 cents to 10 pesos. As we gathered the teams together and finished role call, I gave each team leader a short bible study to share with their team at the beginning.

After about 15-20 minutes, we started the race once again with a record breaking 51 students! Each team was given a clue one minute apart in the order in which they finished the previous week. They were to go to a house of a lady who goes to our church and would have a balloon of each of the colors of the teams with a note in it. After running across town, the note directed them to the baseball field on the other side of town (this was to let me get to the baseball field to manage the first activity).

The first activity which was the second stop was to make an American Football Field Goal. No team member could repeat a try until all of them had tried. They started at 30 yards, and then went to 20 yards after five tries, then to 10 yards after another 5 tries.

If they made a field goal, they got their next clue and were off to Las Pilas (a town about 3 miles west of Cofradía).

Arriving in Las Pilas they had to find their next clue in a fountain at the park.

The clue told them to find another new player from Las Pilas and buy them something from the store.

As soon as they were able to get their new member to eat some chips or drink a coke, they got their next clue which led them to the nearby lake.

At the lake, they were to send one team member into the water to get a floating balloon (tied to a string with a rock at the bottom of the lake) which would have the instructions to their next activity.

One by one as a team they would run down to the edge of the lake, fill up a two liter plastic cup, run back to put the water in a bucket, then pass the cup to the next team member.


Once the team filled the bucket, they got their next clue sending them to the basketball court.

At the basketball court, two members were to carry another across the court where another member would fill their mouth with coke. They needed to carry them back and while another member held up a glass coke bottle, the one being carried had to pass as much coke as they could in the bottle. The team that filled up the bottle the most was immune of having to do chores the next day. Check out the video...

The Final Challenge of the day was a Q & A time. The first four teams to get four answers right did not have to do chores. All of the questions had to do with the sermon on Sunday. Los Victoriosos and La Visión had to do chores this week which was to machete and clean the church grounds in Arrayanes.


Staff person, Rebecka, is helping the purple team :)

EL RETO FULL REPORT OF WEEK #1

This is a FULL report for those of you who are really interested (I know some are).


SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 (Centro Cristiano Cofradía)

The Staff: This year we purchased t-shirts for the staff so they will stand out amongst others. Black and yellow with a fiery orange are the colors we’ve been using for the RETO so we decided to go with black shirts and yellow writing. Below is a picture of the design on the back. It is a road pointing to the cross. On the road it says, "Siguelo" which means, "Follow Him." Underneath the design is the beginning of Philippians 3:14, "I press on toward the goal..."

We divided the 29 students who showed up into six different teams. After orientating them about the rules of this game/outreach, they were to choose a name from a Bible Story and decorate their flag.

The teams:

Martin is the leader of Los Crucificados (The Crucified). This name comes from the story of Abraham as he takes his son Isaac up the hill to be crucified. Just as God provided a lamb to take Isaac’s place, Christ took our place as well. As we give our lives to Christ and accept his gift to us, we become crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us.

Mili is the leader of Los Sabios (The Wisemen). This name comes from the story of King Solomon when he has a dream and God tells him to ask for whatever he would like. Instead of asking for fame and fortune, he asks for wisdom.

Julio is the leader of Los Convertidos (The Converted). This name comes from the story of Saul’s conversion on the Damascus road. Saul was converted from a persecutor of the church to a preacher in the church.

Ruben is the leader of Los Victoriosos (The Victorious). This name comes from Deuteronomy when God tells them if they obey His commands, they will be victorious.

Gollito is the leader of Los Perseguidos (The Persecuted). This name comes from the story of when the Israelites were chased by the Pharaoh and his army as they were leaving Egypt.

Pedro is the leader of La Visión (The Vision). This name comes from the story of when God promises Abraham a son in a vision. It would be through that son (Isaac) that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars.

As soon as each team had finished sharing their names and the story they represented. We told them to go back to the area where they were painting together and they would find something for their team (an envelope with a balloon of the color of their team attached to it.) In the envelope was an announcement that a race had begun and they were to go to a certain location in Cofradía (each team different) in order to find their next clue. This is a lot like The Amazing Race, but ideas come from Survivor and Fear Factor as well. The students love it!

There was a staff person waiting at the location each team was directed to. They had with them 9 pieces of different colored foamy paper and had to put them in order according to the directions they were given.

Would you like to try it? The fastest time for the students was 5 minutes.

The colors are: Brown, Orange, Black, Blue, Purple, White, Red, Yellow, and Green. They were to put them into a square grid of 3 lines by 3 columns (this was in an activity on Survivor once).

Here are the directions:
1) Green is in the same column as black and blue.
2) Yellow is to the left of green and directly above orange.
3) White is to the right of red and directly above yellow.
4) Orange is to the left of blue and in the same row as brown.

Let me know how you do…:). The answer will be at the end of this report in a picture of a team that completed it.

Once they finished that brain teaser, they were to go back to the church where a staff member was waiting for them. There, they had to put in order the books of the bible with only using a list of the books in alphabetical order. Can you do that?

When they finished, they were directed to the baseball field where a truck and driver was waiting for them. They were to get in and not get off until the truck stopped…in Santa Fe (about 3 miles east of here).

They got off their truck, went to “a store on December 12th street.” There they received another clue that told them to find someone (a youth) in Santa Fe to join their team, they would participate in the Final Challenge of the day.

Once they found their new member, they took them to the town center where we blindfolded the new member and they tossed water balloons to the rest of the team as they tried to catch them in a small tub.


The three teams to catch the least amount of water were sentenced to do chores the next day. Their job was to clean the very dirty, moldy, muddy tents from camp (one month earlier). They would loose points for each member not present.

First RETO lesson: As one of the teams headed out after receiving their first clue, they ended up finding the trucks at the baseball field (the third stop). They were supposed to be on the other side of town to find their clue! They lost a lot of time, but were able to recuperate a little. The lesson is from Proverbs 14:12, “there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.” What this team learned from experience is that in life, we may be going down a road that seems like it’s the right one, but when we get to the end, we find out that we were absolutely wrong. As the verse says, “it leads to death.” This team did not reach death or anything close, but they did reach disappointment knowing that another team was already two clues ahead of them. They kept their heads up and made it to the last stop that day (in last place). Many people search for answers in life; many people are deceived by a lie that looks very much like the truth. Just like Adam and Eve in the garden were deceived; we can be deceived as well. Thus, we have a world full of different religions. Many of them look like the real thing, but there’s just enough falsehood in them to make it absolutely wrong.

In the end, each team found a member from Santa Fe to join their team, making the final tally 35 students in week one! The three teams—Los Sabios, Los Convertidos, and Los Perseguidos ended up cleaning the tents the next day after church.

Answer to the brain teaser..

Busy

I mentioned I would share some more about last Saturday, but it's been pretty busy. I haven't been able to sit down and report some of the things the youth have lived. Our second meeting will be tomorrow, we start in the afternoon with each team leader giving a short devotional to their team and right away, we'll continue the race. This time to a different town. Please continue to pray that the students who don't know Christ will have open hearts to recieve His message.

EL RETO (THE CHALLENGE) 2007!

EL RETO 2007 has begun once again. This is the third year for this event and it's sure to be the best one so far. Last year we started with almost 20 students and ended with 40 after the five weekends were done. Last night we started with 29 students and after choosing names for their teams, we sent them out on a race right away. The evening ended in another town just east of here called Santa Fe. There, they had to find a student from that town to join their team and that student played a major role in their final challenge of the evening. With the addition of the Santa Fe students, we already have 35 students to start only the second week! We expect many more next week.

The video above is the theme song for this year, "Siguelo," which means "Follow Him." Our theme verse is Philippians 3:14. The video starts out with the six team leaders and goes on with pictures of last year. Every time the participants hear this song, it's a sign that they need to form themselves together and listen to instructions.

Please pray for the new students that this event will reach out to and that God would touch their lives through the different challenges they will be facing...just like our Christian life! Last night in Santa Fe there were at least 50 students hanging out to watch in the center of town. As the week goes on, I'll give more reports of what happened this weekend. Right now it's Sunday morning and the band is getting set up for the service.

Hope you enjoy the short one minute video!

LIFE NIGHT AUG. 07

LIFE NIGHT AUG. 07
“Back to School”

What a night. This month’s LIFE NIGHT had the theme of “Back to School.” The youth leaders did a great job in everything they were responsible for during the service. I get more and more excited every time we get to do something together because they are stepping out in confidence and not afraid of new challenges. It was great to see Martin begin everything and make everyone feel welcome, especially the first time visitors, Sandra led a raffle give-away of a number of different school items, Chuy did the announcements, and Jose Luis led the “Quien Quiere Quinientos” game (a run-off of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” A part from that, they all four led a couple other ice-breaker games at the beginning. Mili and the rest of the youth band did a great job in leading worship and I did a great job in stretching a 10 minute message into almost an hour! (oops!). That didn’t stop just about every student coming forward for prayer. It’s amazing to me that each time we have one of these services, the youth flood the altars and are experiencing God! What was really neat about that was seeing youth praying for youth!

It was a real fun night and the message I gave had to do with God doing NEW THINGS in our youth group this next year and in our lives. I’m excited to see what God will do and the surprises he has for us. The next time we have a LIFE NIGHT will be at the end of October and the four student leaders will be organizing everything…I can’t wait to see what happens!

YOUTH EVANGELISM

I do not have words to express the excitement and amazement I feel and have for this group of students. Their growth in the Lord is becoming more and more evident in their lives; they are not the same group they were a year ago! Not to mention a few months ago! We are definitely blessed to have the privilege of working with them. My vision for the youth ministry from the beginning was for me to eventually oversee the ministry while the youth take charge in leading, planning, and following through. We are not to this point, but we are very close and headed in the right direction. That is one of the things which makes me really excited, to see the vision unfolding. PRAISE THE LORD!

This week our youth went to three different villages around Cofradía to hang out with the youth of those towns and do an evangelistic program with choreographies, dramas, worship, testimonies, and the rap band even did a song. They did most everything on their own and we were there to oversee it in order to answer their questions if they had any. I am very proud of what they were to accomplish. Thank you for your prayers!

On Tuesday, they took their program to Agua Aceda, an Indigenous village Cora and Huichol Indians. Ten years ago I did weekly bible studies in this village for about a year. It was great once again to see some familiar faces and meet some more of the children I used to play with who are now the youth in the town. One of those youth is named Colorado, he was only five years old when I used to walk the streets tickling him and his two brothers. Whenever I arrived, the three would point at me and say, “Gringo! Gringo!” I would point back at them and say, “Mexicano! Mexicano!” They loved it and Colorado’s delightful smile that extends from ear to ear has not changed. I got to talk with him a little and he mentioned that he is studying High School in Tepic (the capital of the State of Nayarit) along with his two brothers and a sister who lives there now. He told me that they are Christians and they take him to church when he’s there. What a blessing to hear! He has yet to make a decision for the Lord, but I believe he will very soon.

As for the youth’s program in Agua Aceda, it wasn’t without problems. They divided themselves into groups to go invite people and came back to play games while we set up the sound system and musical instruments. As they were playing games with music in the background, the two small speakers that were not working well to begin with, burned out. I drove back to Cofradía to get a different speaker, hooked it up and we were good to go. They soon began their program and as one of the students was giving his testimony, the power went out. They finished their program with a bullhorn we brought for “just in case.” Afterward, they hung out for a while playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, etc. What a site to see everyone having fun together!

The next day they went to Santa Fe, the village that’s just beyond Cofradía towards the mountains. At this time, we have one Family Group that meets there and a truck that goes to pick them up on Sunday mornings. There weren’t as many youth to come out, but the students were able to pray with most of them that came. This was something that really impressed me. When we told them to go around and pray for them, they didn’t hesitate, they did it! What an opportunity. A few reported that they prayed with some to receive Christ into their hearts for the first time! This is something that our youth will remember and it will strengthen their faith, helping them to be a good witness wherever they are.

Thursday was the final day and the program was held in Las Pilas, the town that you go through just before getting to Cofradía. It’s been a couple years since we’ve been to this town to do an outreach. Our goal was not primarily to preach the word, although we did, but it was to build relationships with the people. This town was the town that most of our students commented on the most during our debriefing time at the end of the three days. Lots of students and lots of adults came into the fenced basketball/speed soccer court to see the program. This place by far was the most open and it was amazing to see our youth again go out and pray with people. A number of people mentioned they would like to go to church on Sunday in Cofradía and have been anxiously awaiting a visit from us. I was greeted by a man that I met who I visited the last time we went; he was excited to see us. As the students went out to pray with the people after the program, Geña took the opportunity to talk with two ladies (a mother and daughter—adults) who were standing with her during the program. She prayed with both of them to receive the Lord and they even opened up their home for bible studies. What an opportunity! There is a church in Las Pilas!

Thanks again for praying for this time. The youth are taking ownership more and more of their group. The Lord is working in their lives, blessing them so they can be a blessing to others. They are definitely a blessing to us!

"Mucha Lucha" a choreography to the story of David and Goliath.

Pedro testifying of how God has been a part of his life.

The rap band "Fishers of Youth" performing in Santa Fe.

Jose Luis and Riki to Mazatlan

Jose Luis and Riki received their official acceptance letter today to YWAM in Mazatlan. They still are short $1500 US dollars each and do not have the resources like others who attend YWAM DTS's such as writing letters to friends and relatives, or having their home church as well as others support them financially. Even though the church in Cofradia is helping to a certain extent, we cannot cover their costs. Please consider how you can help. Click at this link for more information on their testimonies: http://thesilbermans.blogspot.com/2007/06/youth-scholarship-fund.html and click here to donate to them; please specify “Cofradía Youth Scholarship Fund: Jose Luis and Ricardo”: https://www.egivingsystems.org/support/42705/

Rebecka's Birthday

Monday was Rebecka’s fifth birthday. She was so excited to turn five years old that for the past few months she would consistently ask if she was five yet in order to have her birthday party. There were around 15 kids and 10 adults over for barbecued hot dogs, cake, and a piñata. Hugo and Norma loaned us their trampoline which was the life of the party and all the kids had a shot at the piñata…even Emma! It was a fun night.

Julio and Mili

Julio (bottom row; second L to R)
Mili (top row; first L to R)

Last Saturday as we were finishing our short time in Mazatlán, we went up to La Cruz where Julio and Mili were finishing a five week Bible School. They had a graduation ceremony on Saturday night and we left the next morning for Cofradía.

Their time in La Cruz was unforgettable for them. I can testify to the change in their lives as Julio came out of his shell with strangers just like he did in the youth group last year. He made some really good friends and did not want to go home. What a change from when he arrived; alone, quiet, and separating himself from the group. The leaders of the school said that at the beginning, you couldn’t get him to talk, but after a few days, you couldn’t get him to be quiet…even at night!

Mili made friends right away and the change in her was more passionate. Whatever she does, she does it with passion and conviction. Listening to her pray is amazing! While we were at camp, she was on the winning team. Each year the winning team receives $5000 pesos to be divided amongst the team members. This year, the leadership suggested to have them donate the money to a little one year old girl that has leukemia and little hope if she doesn’t get to a doctor. As they were donating the money, Mili prayed over the little girl in front of the 100 plus students, all the staff, and the businesses from La Cruz who sponsor the camp. She did a great job!

As for their general activities, they were both part of dramas, sharing testimonies, leading worship, and preaching. I’m really proud of them and the leadership roles they are already taking in the youth group.

Mazatlán

Last week we spent a few days in Mazatlán together for some family time. It was definitely a needed time and we enjoyed ourselves. We had planned this a while back and didn’t realize that hotels were so expensive at this time of year still. All the cheaper ones were full, this is the time of year that the nationals come from all over to vacation. So, we gringoed it the first night and first thing the next morning we went hotel hunting. We found one we had stayed at before and ended up getting one night free for going to one of those time-share thingy’s. It was long, but worth a free night! We were also treated as nationals at the place we went. They had a separate “deal” for the internationals and even a separate building to talk with them in. Either way, even being part of the national program, we were offered what would be equivalent of a new car! I couldn’t believe it! When I told them no, they insisted that we needed itJ. What surprised me even more was that they lowered the price more than three times of what they offered us at first. Still, we had and have no interest. To finish off the day as a national, we went down to the strip where guys jump off a rock into the ocean and ate dinner along side the road where all the vendors were. Between all of us we shared a hot dog, a pancake, a fried banana, chips, rice water, and corn in a cup for dinner.

We got to play in the pool which Rebecka and Emma loved; we played on the beach which Rebecka really loved; spend time together and eat out a couple of times which we all loved; and we even got to see some friends that I had made 18 years ago the first time I came to Mexico on a youth group missions trip! That was really neat! Noé and Martha Espinoza are pastors in Mazatlán and we haven’t seen each other for seven years. They are planting their third church and doing very well. I was a real blessing to see them and eat lunch together.

Here are a few pictures…

Rebecka (showing a shell she found) and Emma posing on the boardwalk.

Family pic at sunset

Dinner: the Hot Dog

Dinner: In front of the corn in the cup place, and Rebecka with her chips

Mommy and a very proud Rebecka with their sandcastle.