Overcoming Your Fears

Martin is one of our Student Leaders who for the past few years has put together a boys camp for the students. He has done this on his own; by that I mean no one has asked him to do it, NOR has he asked for help with ideas! He says the Lord gives him the ideas and he runs with it. I believe him, because what he is doing in the lives of the youth in his own town is amazing. They all look up to him; someone who before was made fun of, now is respected. God has done and continues to do some amazing things through Martin.

This year's theme was "Venciendo Tus Temores" ("Overcoming Your Fears") as the camp flag below reads with the verse Deuteronomy 28:5-8 cited on it.

Pastor Gollo and I went out on Saturday to see how things were going and I was again impressed with Martin's abilities. Some of the things Martin has put together may not seem very modern :), but it is definitely GENUINE and straight from his surroundings. There was someone else I've read about who used his surroundings to reach the people he was preaching to :).

Here is Martin sharing the rules to a game they were about to start...

This is the main section of the camp with their sleeping area in the middle...

Here's a look inside...

This year's kitchen has a serving area in front...

Here's a closer look inside the kitchen; notice the grill...

This is where the guys were washing dishes when we arrived, the tar papered shack in the back is what many bathrooms look like here, it was not a bathroom, but a changing area.

The bathroom was outside the camp in a distance...

This is where they all met for devotions, bible studies, and other meetings...

Notice the homemade pulpit Martin put together...

There's always time for volleyball...

Here's the group...

Again, Martin has done a great job reaching out to the guys in his community and in the youth group! You can click here to see last year's boys camp.

Martin is hoping to be able to go back to Oaxaca this September for the second year of Bible School. The past few years he's had a desire to go, but because of either finances or unavailable classes, he's not been able to. I've had him as one of our leaders for four years and he is a gem! If you would like to help Martin finish the Bible school, let me know how you would like to help by emailing me at steve@alternativemissions.com. He needs a total of $2,000 usdollars for the year.

Worship Workshop

This is the first time we had a Worship Workshop were there was teaching for the band and a special worship service to follow. Pastor Kevin from Cy-Fair came and shared some thoughts with the band on Thursday through Saturday and that evening we had a Worship Night. It was a great time and the band was blessed by Kevin's teaching as well as the congregation with the opportunity to praise the Lord in the new sanctuary.

Pastor Brad accompanied Kevin and was able to speak with the leaders of the church on Friday night. It is always a blessing to have Pastors from outside help make a difference in not only the lives of the brothers and sisters, but also those the church are trying to reach.

Horseback Riding

Beto and I became friends when I was leading the youth group here 13 years ago. He and his wife Monica (who was also part of the youth group), have two daughters the same ages as our daughters. While on a family bike ride a couple weeks ago, we ran into Beto as he was driving cattle from one pasture to another. He offered to take me out horseback riding sometime so Tuesday I took him up on it. I haven't ridden a horse in a while, but I've always loved it!

He took me out to where he had his cattle and we drove them from there to another place about a mile away (my first cattle drive!LOL). At one point, Beto had to run down the road to get some cattle who had veered off. Once my horse saw Beto running, it wanted to run as well. I was ok with that, but my hat flew off! As I tried to grab it, I lost control and pulled on the reins to stop the horse. Suddenly, he stopped and almost sent me to the ground. It was pretty funny. Too bad no one had a video camera for that one!

After we took the cattle to the other field, we rode around the large pond outside of town. I had never been on the other side before and it was beautiful. We stopped along the way to get some water out of a natural well and sat down to eat some green mangos with lime as we talked about life.

I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Cy-Fair Youth Team

For the seventh year in a row, the Cy-Fair youth have come down to build relationships with our students. It's always a blessing to have them here and this year the relationships continued to strengthen as other new ones were formed.

For the past four years, they have served us at an awards banquet for our students and this year's theme was "Pairs". Each student came paired up with one or more others dressed in various different costumes; here are a few...

Nurse and patients; this was one of the best!

Pastors Mike and Dave dressed up as...yes...Jesus and the Devil.

Soccer players

Little girls

More little girls :)

Punk Rockers

Bikers

Oh, and us :)

This year Interns Luis and Chuy announced the awards winners. Since the theme was "Pairs", we decided to give two awards for each category. It worked out really well. Here are the winners...

SPIRIT AWARDS: These awards went to the two students that stand out in their enthusiasm and good attitudes.

Gregorio Hernández

Isaiah TenBrink

NEW GENERATION AWARDS: These awards went out to the two students coming out of elementary school who have shown the most potential as leaders and good examples in the youth group.

Jonothan Elias

Karolina Vázquez

SERVANT AWARDS: These awards went to the two students who stand out amongst others with a willingness to serve and help out, not waiting for someone to ask them.

Jazmín Adilene Galicia

Luis Alberto Aguilar

BRAVE HEART AWARDS: These awards went out to the two students who stand out in their growth in the Lord and as leaders. They have taken huge steps this year and were commended for their courageous attitude as well as their willingness to serve.

Jose Luís Gonzalez

Pedro Salaiza

This year we decided to share a drama with the team. After one week of rehearsals, they did a great job. You can click here to see the students perform the popular Lifehouse-Everything Human Video.

The next few days were spent building relationships with each other through a 1/2 day volleyball tournament, an evangelism and garbage clean-up in San Diego (a village about 7 miles towards the mountains), and a free day where the guys played soccer and the girls did manicures and pedicures.

Manicure/Pedicure Day

Soccer Day

The final day together, we went out towards Arrayanes (a village 3 miles north) where there are some ruins to explore as we divided up into four small groups and shared our testimonies with each other with the idea that "these are the ruins in my life, and God has made me a new creature." It was pretty nice.

These are some arches that extend across the creek. It may have been used in an attempt to dam the water in order to find special stones.

This tree raps around a pillar that was part of an old Catholic Church. A lot of the rocks have been taken, but you can still see how the church was laid out as well as an underground room; some say it was the place where they tortured the protestants...I do not know if that is true.

Each team the comes down has the opportunity to get their hands dirty in the mornings with a construction project. This team's project was to begin working on bending, tying, and laying out rebar for the second stories roof of the new church.

It was a great time of encouragement and building new relationships. Our students love it when this team comes down because of the relationships they've built. Thank you Cy-Fair.

Everything Video Cofradía

This video was taken on March 29 at the Mission Base. It was the third time the group had shared this. They shared it once again Satuday, April 10 at a special worship night in the new church. It was amazing! They've done a great job!

God/Jesus was played by Pedro

The girl was played by Mily

The boyfriend was played by Jose Luis

The girl with the money was played by Elizabeth

The drunk girl was played by Sandy

The fashion girl was played by Veronica

and the demon was played by Ruben

Parents in Cofradía

Having Mom and Dad here was a real treat. For 20 days, we had a lot of activity and enjoyed the coolness of the morning and the warm weather in the afternoon. At times the sun's beating down was pretty warm, but the house was nice a cool inside. Here are some pics of their time here...

Each morning we'd have a cup of coffee and sit outside as the sun rose; usually about 60 degrees.

Dad kept busy doing little jobs here and their like maintaining the little truck,

regluing the dining room chairs,

and cleaning the beans Pastor Gollo gave them. Rebecka and Emma helped.

Mom spent her time coloring with the girls and doing little crafts. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows in the back yard a couple of times as well.

We went to Tepic (Nayarit's capital) for a day to see the center and pick up a few things that were needed.

On the way, we took pictures of the family.

We went to the nearby water park one afternoon so the girls could go swimming.

Emma tried out the frog slide,

and so did Rebecka.

We had a great meal and conversation with Pastor Gollo and his wife Mati.

They had just harvested their corn and now it sits out to dry because of the humid winter.

On our way home, we stopped at Lucia's house to get some freshly baked bread.

Good stuff!

During their last Sunday, Dad was able to get in on the ministry time as he prayed for Pastor Gollo.

Then, to top everything off the night before they left, we had armadillo.

Some know Feliciano as the Armadillo man.

We had a great time, we'll miss them, and cannot wait until they come again. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking the time to come down. Blessings to you both!

Dad and Mom

Dad and Mom are here for three weeks. The girls are real happy and it's great to see them again.

Variety Group

We had a group come down from many different places and churches so we called them our "Variety Group." They spent their time here serving in the construction of the new church building and they were able to accomplish a lot! To name three huge projects, they painted all of the classrooms of the first floor, they painted all the sports lines in the sanctuary (three volleyball courts, basketball, and speed soccer court), and they were able to build the stairway to the upstairs classrooms. They did a great job and were a huge blessing to have here!

The stairway is excellent!

The lines look good!

Here's a pic from up top looking down on the volleyball players. There are games being played every day in the new facilities.

La Güera

My mother-in-law, Rufina--by many known as "La Güera" (the white girl), spends most of her time in the Los Angeles area working as a maid for a couple in the Moreno Valley. She comes down from time to time in respect for the limited time on her visa to be in the states. Last month she came down for the multi-wedding on Valentines' Day because Hugo and Norma were getting married. It was great to have her here again and her grandchildren absolutely love her. She left last week.

March Hardcopy Newsletter

Here is a link to our quarterly hardcopy newsletter.

Blessings!

March Update

Greating Everyone! We are excited to be able to share with you once again what God is doing in Cofradía. The weather is still at comfortable 55-60 degrees at night and 80 degrees during the day. The church continues to be strengthened and we’ve had a number of visitors down to help with different areas of ministry...

Last month, we asked for your prayers concerning...

• Student Leadership Conference. We had a great time with Pastors Dave and Mike from Cy-Fair Christian Church in Houston as they shared from there hearts with our students about not only who we are, but whose we are.
• Weddings in Cofradía. Amazing! We had a wedding ceremony for thirteen couples on Valentine’s Day. It was Amazing! Read here for the exciting report and pictures of each couple.
• House Build. A team from Seattle came down to build a house for a needy family in the church. Despite rain, they were able to get a lot done and Lauro and Lucy now have a place to live. Click here to see the report
• Worship Ministry. Things are going great. The past few Sundays have flowed nicely and we are making progress. Thank you so much for your prayers over this ministry, it is very important.
  

Are you going to be visiting in Mexico? If you have plans to come to either Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, or Guadalajara, let us know. We are within 4 hours of all three of those cities with Mazatlán being the closest (3 hours). We’d love to show you around Cofradía so you can get a taste of this Mexican countryside!

Follow these links for more..
Latest Hardcopy Newsletter (December)
Facebook—if you’re on Facebook, I’d love to get in touch with you!

This month, would you please pray for...

• Construction Team. There is a team here this week doing a number of jobs at the new church. The main job to be finished is the painting of all the classrooms. Thank you for your prayers over the team. (Current – March 6)
• Parent’s Visit. My parents will be here visiting us for the first time in over 5 years. We are looking forward to this time and our two girls are really excited. Please pray for safe travel, good health, and cool weather. (March 11-31)
• Cy-Fair Youth Team. Some students from Houston will be coming down to work with our students in reaching out to the community here in Cofradía and other parts. This is always a fun time for our youth group, they really enjoy this team and have made some great friends with them. Things that we have planned are: An annual awards banquet, Volleyball Tournament, and a work project/evangelism in another town. Thank you for praying over this time. (March 13-20)
• Southside Youth Team. This team comes down each year to do a Kid’s Club with our children. The end of the week is open to everyone with a carnival-type event in the center of town to finish off the week. (March 27-April 3)
• An Encounter. Our pastor is going to lead an encounter open to the church for the purpose of deepening our relationships with God. This should be a very good time; please pray for the guidance of the Spirit and that God would really touch people’s lives. (April 3)
  

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.
We need more partners to join our monthly support team. Would you consider being part of our ministry this way? Click here to find out how.

Blessings,
Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico
SKYPE: “srsilberman”