Oaxaca...Day Three

We have been very busy and do not have much opportunity to get on the internet as we spend most of the day in San Juan Gelavia.  I will post a report as soon as I can of yesterday's activities.

Oaxaca...Day Two

“Torre Fuerte” is the church the Jeffrey and Sylvia attend in Oaxaca City.  The Pastor gave us the opportunity to share some testimonies and a little bit of why we want to reach out to the youth.  We showed the video of EL RETO from last year and I shared about why we chose the theme “Decide Your Destiny.”  The most important decision one can make in their life is who they will serve.  Just as Joshua challenged the Jews (Josh. 24:14) to decide who they will serve, we challenge the youth and congregation to decide who they will serve.  

In the evening, we went out to San Juan Gelavia where we will be reaching out to the youth of the town during the week to share at a home group that meets weekly.  San Juan Gelavia is an Indigenous town of the Zapotec people.  We have been told that there are three types of people that the townspeople despise:  Politicians, Drug Dealers, and Missionaries.

We got a taste of that reality after visiting someone’s home who is in need of construction help.  After getting into the van, a drunk man came up to Jeffrey with a rock in each hand and with a forceful voice said, “Can I help you with something!?!”  This man was not happy with us; Jeffrey calmly responded to his questions and helped him understand the situation.  After about five minutes, the man apologized for being wrong about us and said that he could see in Jeffrey’s eye’s that he comes with good intentions.  The night before I had just talked to our group in a short devotional about how Nehemiah received favor with the people because, “the hand of the Lord was upon him.”  The hand of the Lord was upon us today!

During the Home Group, Mili led a class for the children and Martin spoke to the adults and youth.  Martin's message hit "home" as he spoke about the two men who built their houses; one on a rock and one on sand.  There are a number of people who have been in the states and built themselves a very nice home.  However, there are some very poor people in the town as well and the government is supplying materials for them to build a small room.  The owner of the home is the Authority of the town which could be the equivalent to a Judge or Sheriff.  He has invited the church to help build these homes in the town.  He said that for many of them, this is their dream to be able to have a small room to live in that doesn't leak or flood when it rains.  Many of the people who come to Home Group are people who have been helped or are going to receive help.  After Martin had finished, they kept talking about their homes and the situation at hand.  It's interesting how God laid that message on Martin's heart to share; he hit "home."

Home Group...

Children's Class...

The fence of someone's property. 

A typical shack that many people live in.

Oaxaca...Day One

We made it after 25 hours of lots of driving, stopping, driving, resting, driving, eating, driving, and driving and driving, etc.....thank you for your prayers.

We rested a bit this afternoon after we got settled and had a great time getting to know the missionaries Jeffrey and Sylvia Simons over a very good "Mole Negro" for dinner.  

We're about to have a team meeting to orientate ourselves here and take a quick trip to the Center of town then off to bed!

We are excited to be here and know that the Hand of the Lord is upon us.

March Update

Greetings everyone!  Thank you for all of your prayers.

Last month, we asked you to pray for…

• A Visit from Pastor Rafael Gradilla of Hosana Asamblea in Bellevue, Washington.  This month, the church started out with a treat having Pastor Rafael here.  He spoke Saturday night and Sunday morning as he encouraged them to continue to grow in their faith.  We had baptisms on Sunday afternoon and PRAISE THE LORD! My brother-in-law took that step of obedience.  A number of others were baptized as well.  On Sunday evening, Pastor Rafael spoke at an open-air meeting in a neighboring town called Las Pilas.  Many people were prayed for and the town seems to be pretty receptive of the gospel when we go there.

Prayer over Hugo after baptism.

Preaching in the street in Las Pilas.

• Cy-Fair Missions Team We had a great week with the team here this year.  I have written about it here.
• Southside Missions Team They did a great job this week reaching out to the children.  They had games, a story with drama, and a craft for each day.  The final evening they made hot dogs for all the kids and rented some inflatable toys (jumping, etc.) and a mechanical bull for children.  In the mornings, they worked hard on a number of projects.  One big one that will speak to the whole town is cleaning up the dump area.  It was really, really bad, now it’s really, really good!
• Oaxaca Missions Trip Please continue to pray for this trip.  We have the roster completed with the right people and ALL of the financial needs have been met.  THANK YOU!

I joined Facebook this month and it has been great to be able to get reconnected with a number of different people.  If you have Facebook, it would be great to connect with you that way.

I have also started to blog about a meeting on Tuesdays at 5:30am with four guys from our youth group.  You can follow along our bible study at http://cafe0530.blogspot.com/

The invitation will always be available for those of you who would like to come down with a team or just for a visit and experience the Real Mexico.  It is nothing like the media-hyped crisis at the border.  It is very safe here...more safe than many places in the states.

Links to something extra...
Coffee Trip
Youth Night with Sandy

This month, would you please pray for...

• Oaxaca Missions Trip Twelve of us will be leaving Friday, April 3 at 12:30pm PST for a 17 hour drive to Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico.  We’ll be working with another missionary to help him start a youth ministry in an Indigenous village nearby.  Pray for…
  
  • Safety in travel.
  • Protection of the Holy Spirit.
  • That the hearts of the youth in Oaxaca will be open to the Gospel message.
  • For wisdom in our Student Leaders as they will be leading most everything on the trip (Sunday home group—children and adult bible study; Mon-Wed—morning leadership workshop and evening RETO event).
  • Anything else the Lord leads you in.
  • **The dates are April 3-10**

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.  
 
Blessings,
Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico 

OAXACA MISSIONS TEAM

Please be praying for us April 3 through April 10.  We'll be helping a missionary start a youth ministry in an Indigenous village about 30 minutes outside of Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico.  The drive is around 17 hours...through the night due to vehicle circulation laws in Mexico State and Mexico City.  We'll try to keep you updated on this blog as the week continues...

Blessings to Everyone!!!

Team members left to right:

(top) Rubén, Martín, Pastor Luís, Jesús, Abraham

(bottom) Sandy, Mily, Amber, Rebecka, Geña, Esteban, Emma.

Cy-Fair Team

March 14-21 we had some youth from Cy-Fair Christian Church in Houston here to work directly with our youth like they have done for the past few years (six, I think).  The past couple of years there has been an interesting dynamic forming as we see the two youth groups coming together as one.  It’s almost like they’re part of our youth group.  When they come (even the newbies), they fit right in and have been able to overcome the language barrier.  It’s amazing!  When they’re here, they’re here to spend time with our youth and build relationships.  They understand that it’s “not about them” and that they’re not coming down on a “vacation” with their friends from home.  It’s so refreshing to see a short-term missions team be able to do this as effectively and they’ve done it.  They don’t stay all together and form groups of Americans here and groups of Americans there, it’s not like that at all.  They’re all hanging out together; our youth and theirs.

One of the ways that has helped break down the language barrier is by introducing an “Amazing Race” event with clues in half Spanish half English.  It’s pretty fun!  Whether it was making tortilla’s two years ago or making a meal for a family last year, they all work together to gather the supplies they need that are scattered throughout the town and reach their goal.  This year, we did not originally plan this, so it came as a surprise not only for the Americans, but our youth and student leaders as well.  As soon as the Americans got here from the airport, they ate lunch, had an orientation time, and went over to the church to “hang out” with our youth at our youth group meeting and do some “get-to-know-you” games.  All of the sudden we started the race between two teams of guys and two teams of girls--mixed American/Mexican.  They went to three different towns and chose what kind of activity they would do in each town.  They finally returned to Cofradía to find out they were invited to “The Valley of Decision” (a rendition of Survivor’s Tribal Council mixed in with a pre-make of Judgement Day found in Joel 3) to vote on who would have to do chores.

The next day we had our annual Award’s Banquet with a “Cowboy” theme this year chosen by our student leaders.  We all dressed up and over a very authentic barbecued beef/steak meal, we handed out some awards to our students...

• Chuy Orozco F. and Aidé Garzón V. received a Certificate of Achievement for completing a one year long discipleship class.
  
• Alfredo Garzón S. received the Spirit Award for his enthusiasm in the youth group.
  
• Guillermo Orozco F. received the New Generation Award (only for incoming 7th graders) for showing potential of leadership and responsibility.
  
• Abraham Águilar received the Servant Award for ALWAYS helping without even being asked.  This guy is going to be an awesome leader.
  
• Chuy Corrales F. received the Brave Heart Award for his incredible spiritual growth this past year.
  
• Also, we recognized our three Student Leaders who have helped us in a huge way this year accomplish what has been done.  They are a true blessing and we’re excited to have them in leadership:  Martin, Sandra, and Mily.

Every year the Cy-Fair youth serve us the meal and we all sit down and eat.  When it’s all done, they go back to the mission base to have their sack-lunch dinners.  This year, we decided to secretly flip the evening and as soon as we were done eating and handing out awards, our youth got up, cleaned the tables and we had them sit down and we served them.

It wasn’t complete without giving them awards.  This was the perfect opportunity because it wouldn’t work out any other year.  So, we decided to give...

• A Brave Heart Award to Pastor Brad Pembleton because he is no longer the youth pastor, but Group Life Pastor and will be planting a daughter church within a couple of years.  He is stepping out in faith as the Lord leads him and we appreciate his example.  Thanks Brad!
  
• We gave a Servant Award to Pastor Dave Chavez who is ALWAYS wanting to help out and serve people.  Especially when we have meetings at our house over a meal, he’s the first one to get up and wash the dishes...ALL THE TIME!  Thanks Dave!
  
• We gave a New Generation Award to Pastor Mike Skelton who is now the Youth Pastor and we appreciate him and welcome him as the new youth pastor.  Thanks for bringing the team Mike!
  

In the mornings during the week, the team had a number of different work projects to do and they completed everything from setting tile in the new youth room to taking out a beam and putting in another one of a ceiling that was already poured (cement).  They did a great job.

In the evenings, we had some organized team building games, we went to clean the a basketball court area and soccer field of a neighboring town, and we had a really great time the last evening walking out to the corn fields to see how they harvest corn here.  There is quite a bit of the growth and harvesting process that we can relate to our growth spiritually.

Cleaning the basketball court area and field in Las Pilas.

Walking through the corn fields.

It was a great week.

VIDA Abundante (Abundant LIFE) meeting.

Last night at youth group, Sandra, one of the Student Leaders, gave the Bible Study.  She did a great job sharing about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho relating the walking around the walls to things in our life that do not need to be there.  Maybe we need to “walk around that wall” and believe that God will tear it down.  God gave Jericho into the hands of Joshua and Joshua believed.

Great job Sandra!

Coffee Time 0530

A while back I posted about meeting with four of my students from the youth group on Tuesdays at 5:30am.  I started a blog about the meeting called "cafe 0530" and will post from time to time.  Here is a link to the blog...

http://cafe0530.blogspot.com/

FACEBOOK

I signed up on Facebook last week and I'm learning how it works little by little.  If you're on Facebook, let me know.

Coffee Field Trip

One of the neatest things about living in Mexico is that nothing really is guaranteed.  Not even what you buy at the store--they say you can bring it back when you buy it, but when that time comes it's either "No, we don't take things back" or you're given a credit.  Not all the time, but generally speaking--just like what happened today.

Not a big deal, but it was a little funny how things worked out today.  Our plan was to go up to the foothills in the mountains with my brother-in-law Hugo and his family to pick, toast, grind, and drink fresh coffee from the plant.  Once we got there, Hugo's friends had either gone to town for a political meeting or were in the hills working.  After a while, the guys that were working came home for lunch and we had some very good soup with some very good meatballs and some very good and spicy salsa!  Also, we had some very good pineapple as well.

Right around the time we had to leave, Hugo mentioned to his friend that we'd like to take some coffee.  They had four gunny sacks full of coffee--around 100lbs each.  So, since harvest time is over, we weren't able to pick.  Instead, we got to see the next phase--his friend pulled out an electric grinder that takes off the shell from the bean.  After a loud 30 minutes we got maybe one pound of coffee beans.  Still we needed to sift through the garbage just like they do with the beans you eat.  We brought some home and they gave us a bunch more that still has the shell.  That was pretty awesome!

Something even better was that he took us up to his fields on a big hill where he has a little fruit called "nanchi."  I don't really care for them, but Geña and the girls LOVE them!  They were the biggest one's I've ever seen!  After picking a few nanchi's, he took us up to his pineapple plantation.  That was pretty cool too.  There aren't many ready yet, maybe a couple more weeks and there will be a few ripe ones.

In the end it was a pretty good day.  Even though it wasn't what I expected, it turned out to be very adventurous and there were some pretty neat things to learn.  So, with that, I'm going to start toasting some coffee!!!

Beans still in the shell.

Putting the beans in the grinder to take off the shell.

Sifting the garbage from the beans.

Coffee plant trunks that have been cleaned and varnished.  They make these and supply them to a Florist in town.

Nanchies that are not ready.

Ripe Nanchies.

Pineapple plantation...lots of pineapple!

A young pineapple sprouting from the plant.

We had some VERY GOOD Pineapple!

Quick News

The Cy-Fair Houston youth group has been here since Saturday and they are doing a great job in the construction and building relationships with our youth.  We had a mini-RETO on Saturday, an Awards Banquet on Sunday, and it's been construction in the mornings and relationship building events in the afternoons.  It's really nice to see a team come down and interact so well with the locals.  It speaks volumes to the people here.

I finally got hooked up to the internet with the Mac.  I just need to transfer a few more things and I'll be able to hand the PC to Gena.  She will be getting her own email soon, so we'll keep you posted about that.

Please continue to pray for our trip to Oaxaca.  We're all getting more and more excited.  We still need nearly $1000 usdollars to reach our outreach goal.  Thank you.

March Newsletter

Here is a link in order for you to download our latest newsletter.
http://rapidshare.com/files/206523854/Newsletter.pdf

FEBRUARY UPDATE

Greetings everyone! Thank you for all of your prayers. Last month, we asked you to pray for…

* Student Leadership Conference As usual, this was a great time for our leaders to hear some great teaching from some great pastors. The focus was on what motivates us to serve and we did a great deal of talking about expectations; those we perceive from others including God and those we have on others...including God. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life up for others (Mark 10:45).
* Family Conference This was a great weekend with not just the youth, but the whole church in general. On Friday night, the Taylors spoke to couples, on Saturday morning they spoke to the youth about purity—a pretty intense and very appropriate subject for our youth. On Saturday evening, our youth put together a Date Night for the married couples in the church. We had 25 couples attend and they were served a dinner, had some entertaining games, and the Taylors wrapped it up with some more great teaching. I have posted a short report of the Date Night with pictures here.
* Winnipeg Team Almost all of the electrical work is done in the new church building. We have electricity in our youth room and bathroom now which is really great! These guys did a great job and accomplished A LOT.
* Juan Abel and his family America had been attending church regularly since the Quinceañera. After my conversation with her dad about a month ago where he asked me some pointed questions and I disagreed with his doctrine, he banned her from going to church with us. She was able to come one last time and I was able to speak with her, pray with her, and try to encourage her to maintain faithful to the Lord. She knows her dad is wrong, but is respecting his decision to not let her attend with us.
* Oaxaca Missions Trip We are still in the process of preparing for the trip as we’ll be helping another missionary start a youth ministry. We still need $1000 usdollars for the ministry and construction projects we’ll be doing. One of the most amazing things right now is to see our youth (even the ones not going) coming together and working so hard to raise the money. We’ve had two carwashes and we’ve gone out to the fields to pick weeds with mean stickers amongst the bean plants. On average, each fund raiser brings in about $20 us dollars. That is nothing compared to what we need, but it’s a ton considering what kind of unity its bringing in the youth group. Click here to see one of our Car Washes.

We really do appreciate your prayers and financial support. We would love to have you come down and visit so you can see first hand what God is doing. Pictures and letters sometimes don’t do justice; it really is amazing to see what it is like here. Come down with your family or form a team and come with them.

Lately, we’ve been enjoying a free phone calling service called “SKYPE”. It enables you to chat, talk, and even see each other (given you have a camera hooked up to your computer) online with anyone else who has signed up. Skype to Skype is cost free and it even works with the dial-up internet service we have in my office. I have been able to communicate with my family more frequently…and for free! It’s great! If you have Skype as well, please let us know; we would love to say hello. Our Skype id is “srsilberman”. If you do not have Skype, we recommend it especially if you have friends and/or family in other parts of the world who are missionaries or overseas for other reasons. It’s a great way to keep in contact.

Links to something extra:
Emma on Friday morning, March 20
Bean processing from the pods, March 20
An early meeting with four students, Tuesdays 5:30am

This month, would you please pray for…
* A Visit from Pastor Rafael Gradilla of Hosana Asamblea in Bellevue, Washington. He visits us regularly here and is loved greatly by the people. He will be speaking on Saturday night, Sunday morning and at an open-air evangelistic outreach in Las Pilas (the town before Cofradía) on Sunday evening. It will be a great time, please pray for open hearts. (March 7,8)
* Cy-Fair Missions Team Each year this youth group comes down on a mission’s trip to work with our youth. And that is what it has turned into…they work WITH our youth. It is no long them to us, it’s them and us to others. It’s an amazing time every year and we have some great things to look forward to for this year. Please pray for relationship building of the team amongst our new generation of youth. This is a team that encourages our youth quite a bit. (March 14-21)
* Southside Missions Team This team will be working to reach out to the children. They are a BIG team and there is potential for burnout in all of us, not to mention that we leave for our Oaxaca trip the day they leave Cofradía. Please pray for strength in our staff and that the team would be dedicated to what God wants to accomplish through them. (March 28 – April 3)
* Oaxaca Missions Trip Pray for…
-Safety in travel.
-That the right people will go.
-Protection of the Holy Spirit.
-That the hearts of the youth in Oaxaca will be open to the Gospel message.
-For finances—each team member needs to come up with +/- $120 usdollars.
-For finances—in general, we will still need around $1,000 usdollars for extra expenses: ministry projects, construction projects, emergency, etc. Click here to donate to “Cofradía Youth Missions”.
-Anything else the Lord leads you in.
-**The dates are April 3-10**

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.

Blessings,
Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico

Car Wash!

Sunday, our youth held a Car Wash in the middle of the street as you arrive into Santa Fe from Cofradia. This was a fundraiser for our Youth Missions Trip to Oaxaca. It was a really fun time of team building and many more students came out to help. We washed a whopping total of eight cars, and made a grand total of just over $13usdollars. It was a blast and we have plans to do it again in the weeks to come.

If you would like to take part in the Youth Missions Trip to Oaxaca; you can donate online or see here for other options. Please indicate that it is for "Cofradia Youth Missions to Oaxaca" and it will get sent to the right place. We still need just over a $1000usdollars to reach our goal. THANK YOU!

The Missions Trip will take place on April 3-10. We will be helping a fellow Alternative Missions Missionary start a youth ministry in an Indian Village about 30 minutes out of Oaxaca City. Please keep us in your prayers.

Full of Beans

Last Friday I went out to Pastor Gollo's bean fields to take a couple pictures and some video. Before I knew it I was helping them as they were "desgranando"--taking the beans out of the pods. I thought it was a very interesting process so I stayed to help. Once they pick the dried up plants, they put them in piles so they will dry some more. Later, they put a big tarp on the ground and through all the piles of bean plants onto the tarp. Then, a tractor drives over them opening up the dried pods. After that, they whisk the flattened plants, sift out the plants and leave the beans on the tarp. From there they fill up buckets and pour beans back and forth between two buckets in order to get most of the garbage out. Pastor Gollo left with 11 gunny sacks full of beans that evening.

Little Helper

Last Friday morning, Emma hopped up on a little stool, looked at the sink and saw all the dirty dishes and said, "WOW, (cute-cute-cute-cute-cute,etc.)" and pulled up her sleeves and said, "Mommy, that"--pointing to the sponge. She didn't really say "cute, cute, cute". We don't know what she said, but it was cute!

Date Night

On Valentine's Day, our youth put together a Date Night for the couples of the church. This was a great opportunity for those who's spouses don't come to church to have them come, be part of a great event, and hear a message from the Word.

The youth decorated the new church, made and served a meal, and we even had couple games for entertainment. All of this took place in the midst of a weekend Family Conference with former Cofradia Staff members Doug and Jan Taylor as the guest speakers. It was an evening to remember!

One of the greatest things as a result is that there have been two couples since then go to the county seat to get married legally. It's very common here to just shack up and start a family and never really get around to actually getting married for whatever reason.

Amber has posted a great report about it on her blog with a lot more pictures. Click here to read more.

Just Interesting

For about a month and a half now, I've been meeting with four guys in our youth group on Tuesdays at 5:30am in my office to study the book of Mark together. It's been a real good time. The plan was to meet at 6am, but I told them if they wanted coffee to come at 5:30am...they came at 5:30am! So, I've been making them mochas with our tired espresso machine.

This week as I was meditating on Chapter one (we are only to verse 21!); I noticed something kind of interesting...

Chapter one seems to be all about Preparation. Preparation FOR Jesus, Preparation OF Jesus, and Preparation BY Jesus.

• There was Preparation FOR Jesus by John the Baptist (1-8).
• There was Preparation OF Jesus by his Baptism and the Temptation in the Wilderness (9-13).
• There was Preparation BY Jesus by establishing his ministry. Here are a few things he established: His Message (14,15); His Core Friends (16-20); His Authority and Power in three ways--1) Mentally (teaching), 2) Spiritually (casting out evil spirits), and Physically (healing) (21-34); His Purpose (35-39); and indirectly His Place in Society (40-45).

Just some interesting thoughts that came to mind this week. What kind of perspectives do you get from reading Mark 1? And what does this mean for us today? Those are things we've been talking about.

SKYPE

I've recently joined skype. It's great to be able to talk to my parents and others for FREE! I don't have a camera on my computer so it's just audio. Let me know if you are signed up for skype as well.
srsilberman

JANUARY MINISTRY UPDATE

Greetings everyone! Thank you for all of your prayers this last month. At the beginning of the year, we asked you to pray for…

* Jesús Hernández (Chuy) Chuy is back in Oaxaca and I had the opportunity to talk with him on the phone this past week. He said that the Lord has been blessing him even though it’s been a real challenge for him. They are constantly busy and are submersed in the Word. “It’s a lot of work, but I’m being blessed” were his words. Thank you for keeping him in prayer.
* New Church Construction The rafters are up! And everyone was kept safe. I posted some pictures on our blog here and here. Dave, as well, wrote a report about the three days it took to lift up and set the 11 rafters. You will find it very interesting coming from Dave first hand; he does a great job of making you feel like you were there, hoping no one falls off of the scaffolding! Read it here.
* Cy-Fair Ladies short term mission’s team came down to spend a week with the ladies of our church. They have done a great job connecting with the women here and it’s a group that they all look forward to every year.

There were a few other events that took place this month that are worth mentioning. Especially the Quinceañera that I was involved in and asked prayer for in the middle of the month. Many of you responded and said you would be praying and would continue to pray for that family. My intentions were to use this opportunity as an open door to reach out to this family and I believe that is still happening. As Christians, we believe that what they are involved in is demonic activity. They have left the church and started to attend wholeheartedly a meeting where they do not use the Bible because it’s considered a legendary book instead of the Inspired Word of God. They are wrong. Instead, they get their teachings from an actual spirit that shows up at their meetings called “father jesus” who teaches to them in parables things that are not found in the Bible. If you would like to know more about this, I would be glad to share with you. In the meantime, please keep praying for a spiritual breakthrough for this family. I had the opportunity yesterday of talking with Juan Abel (the birthday girl’s dad) about what he believes and tried to shed light on some of the false doctrine he now has. I really, really appreciate your prayers over me and others as we attended/officiated this event. A lady in the congregation who was at the event said she realized how powerful God is and the significance of the special opportunity it was to hear the Word of God at the event as she saw a bright white glow right where I was standing while I was speaking—she did not know that so many people were praying until after she shared her testimony at church and I had a chance to talk with her. Thank you!

Also, Geña and I and the girls, as well as the youth and student leaders along with a few students are going to Oaxaca City on a Missions trip! This is our first Short-term missions trip as a youth group and we are really excited about it. We are still in the planning stage, but the purpose will be to help a Missionary who lives in Oaxaca City start a youth group with a “Young Life” or “Youth for Christ” flavor; there is no church in the village where he wants to do this. This is an exciting opportunity for us and the youth! Oaxaca City is about 17 hours south of here.
Finally, there is a team here from His Place church in Mount Vernon, Washington working on smooth-walling all of the classrooms and there are a couple of people helping Dave weld the cross-beams on the roof. They are doing an excellent job as they always do when they come.

This month, would you please pray for…

* Student Leadership Conference Every year the youth pastors of Cy-Fair Church in Houston come down to share with our students on a specific area of leadership. This year they will be focusing on what motivates service using Mark 10:45 as a text. This is always a great time! Please pray for open hearts in our youth, clear understanding through the Interpreters and that the students would “get it.” (Feb 5-8)
* Family Conference Doug and Jan Taylor will be sharing with Couples, Youth, and the congregation. They will be talking to the youth about purity, so this should be very good! Pray again for open hearts in the church body and clear understanding through the Interpreters. (Feb 13-15)
* Winnipeg Team There will be a team of electricians here to accomplish quite a bit in the classrooms and putting street lights up outside the church. Pray for safety. (Feb 12-19)
* Juan Abel and his family Please continue to pray for this family. They have allowed America (the birthday girl) to come to church; she has been attending ever since the party. Specifically agree with me that the Holy Spirit will disrupt their meetings and not allow the “father jesus spirit” to have anything to do with them anymore. Let’s pray for their rescue!
* Oaxaca Missions Trip Pray for…
-- Safety in travel.
-- That the right people will go.
-- Protection of the Holy Spirit.
-- That the hearts of the youth in Oaxaca will be open to the Gospel message.
-- For finances—each team member needs to come up with +/- $120 usdollars. Geña and I will need $360 to $400 for this trip, click here to see how you can help.
-- For finances—in general, we will need around $1,200 usdollars for extra expenses: ministry projects, construction projects, emergency, etc. Click here to donate to “Cofradía Youth Missions”.
-- Anything else the Lord leads you in.
-- **The dates are April 3-10**

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.

Blessings,
Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico

PS-Amber Crafton, a missionary with us, has a blog as well and I recently noticed that she posted about our Christmas Dinner with the Student Leadership. She has some great pictures and does a great job in sharing about the evening (I think it’s the only picture we got of our Christmas tree this year!).