Jesús' (Chuy's) Testimony

English:

What I liked best.

God did great things in Oaxaca. One of them was that he attracted youth for the CHALLENGE, and I think that for God nothing is impossible. Another thing was that I saw how the people of San Juan Guelavía treated us with such love and respect. they never deceived, and they always supported us in all the activities of the CHALLENGE. They never got annoyed; on the contrary, they rejoiced over having us there. Those three days were so cool, not just in my life but also in the lives of the others. I think that God had a great impact on that town, and what God taught me is that it doesn’t matter if you win or lose but rather that you have fun and enjoy those moments that you are living. When I arrived at that town, I thought that there wouldn’t be enough youth to make the teams, but I prayed to God asking him to bring in more youth not just for my team but also for the other two. And the next day my team was the one with the most people. In that moment I thought “God is big and He can do anything,” and I think that God will continue to encourage all those friends we left there to continue walking with Him.

Español:

Lo que mas me gustó.

Dios hizo grandes cosas en Oaxaca; una de ellas fue que atrajo jóvenes para el reto y pienso que para Dios nada es imposible.  Otra fue con la gente del pueblo San Juan Guelavia vi como las personas nos trataban con tanto amor y respeto nunca se enojaban y siempre nos estaban apoyando en todas las actividades del reto.  Nunca se enfadaron al contrario se alegraban de tenernos allí.  Esos tres días fueron bien chidos no solo en mi vida, sino en las demas pienso que Dios hizo un gran impacto en ese pueblo.  Lo que a mi me enseñó Dios es que no importa si ganes o pierdas, sino es divertirte y gozar en ese momento que estás viviendo.  Cuando yo llegué a ese pueblo pensé que no habría suficientes jóvenes para hacer los equipos, pero oré a Dios diciéndole que atrayera mas jóvenes no solo en mi equipo sino en los otros dos.  Y al día siguiente mi equipo era el que tenía mas personas y en ese momento dije “Dios es grande y todo lo puede” y yo pienso que todos los amigos que dejamos en ese pueblo Dios los seguirá animando a estar con Él.

Martin's Testimony

English:

Hello. My name is José Martín Garzón Solís. I thank God for permitting me to go on this missions trip. It was a good opportunity to learn more of what God was teaching us. It was a time where God manifested Himself with His presence in the place where we were holding the activities. Also, God used me to serve others, give, and connect with this indigenous group, or at least with the youth. I thank God because one morning God told me, “Trust in me, and I will provide.” We have to be firm in Christ always and wait on how He wants to use us (Psalm 32:8).

I thank all of those who were praying and those who supported us in taking the gospel to this place. And may God bless you.

Your friend, José Martín Garzón Solís.

Español:

Hola.  Me llamo José Martín Garzón Solís.  Doy Gracias a Dios por permitir ir a ese viaje misionero.  Fue una buena oportunidad para aprender mas casas que Dios nos enseñó.

Fue un tiempo donde Dios se manifestó con su presencia en el lugar donde estabamos haciendo las actividades.  También Dios me usó para servir a otros--dar--y conectar con  los indigenas--o con los jóvenes.  Le Doy gracias a Dios porque en una mañana Dios me dijo, “Confía en mi y o proveeré.”  Tenemos que estar firme en Cristo siempre esperar como nos quiere usar.  Salmo 32:8

Doy Gracias a los que estuvieron orando, a los que apoyaron para lelvar el evangelio en otros lugares.  Que Dios les bendiga.  Su amigo...José Martín Garzón Solís.

Mily's Testimony

English:

During this time I realized some pretty big things; well, really God showed them to me. At the beginning, ever since we began this trip, I was so excited, and everything about this new adventure was fantastic! The truth is that I settled -- or really, I was “comfortable” -- with every thing that was going on. I think that I wasn’t giving everything that God was asking of me just so I could maintain that box or “comfort zone”. Little by little I began to be discouraged, but even so at the same time God was moving His hand and power over the group in general. At least, He did so with me.

At that point, I began to feel tired, irritable, stressed by everything going on around me. Sometimes it was because of the CHALLENGE planning, and at other times it was because of the preparations for the Leadership Workshop. I was never satisfied by any of the results. I was so centered on “me”, and I didn’t realized -- or I wasn’t remembering -- for whom I was doing all this.

Serve - Give - Connect. Key words that helped me put into practice what God began to show me:

§     Learn to trust in Him, knowing that we depend solely on Him (Prov. 3:5-6)

§     Whatever we do will fail unless we are doing it for HIS glory.

§     God is a God of love, and his promises never fail. If he has said it, He will do it.

Well, now in this moment I am very content giving my all in order to put into practice what He taught me on this trip and praying fervently never to let my guard down. I brought with me the pleasant memory of all the wonderful people that God put in that town, but above all the sweetest memory is this: We cannot depend on others or on ourselves; we need to learn to recognize our limitations and that we will always be like children that depend on their Father. No matter how big we get, we do not have authority over ourselves: WE BLONG TO HIM.

Well, this is what the Lord did with me; it’s just a question of letting Him in, and He will do the rest!

Español:

Durante este tiempo me di cuenta de grandes cosas; mas bien Dios me las mostró.  Pués al principio desde que emprendimos el viaje yo estaba tan emocionada y toda esta nueva ventura era fantástico!  La verdad es que yo estaba conforme, o mejor dicho “cómoda” con cada cosa que pasara.  Sentía que no estaba dando todo lo que Dios me estaba diciendo, todo por tener ese cuadro de “comodidad,” poco a poco comencé a desanimarme, pero también así al mismo ritmo Dios movía su mano y su poder sobre el grupo en general, por lo menos lo hacía conmigo.

A este paso me comenzaba a sentir cansada, irritada, estresada por todo lo que pasara a mi alrededor.  A veces por lo del RETO y otras por la preparación para lo del taller de liderazgo, pero nunca me sentía satisfecha con los resultados, estaba tan centrada en el “yo” que no me daba cuenta o no recordaba para quién lo estaba haciendo.  

Servir-Dar-Conectar

Palabras clave que me ayudaron a poner en práctica lo que Dios me comenzó a mostrar:

*Aprender a confiar en Él, saber que dependemos solo de Él (Prov. 3:5,6).

*Nada de lo que hagamos, sino lo hacemos para su gloria sencillamente no resultara.

Dios es un Dios de amor y nunca falta a sus promesas, si Él lo ha dicho Él lo hará.

Pués ahora en este momento estoy muy contenta echándole todas las ganas para poner en práctica lo que me enseñó en este viaje y orando fervientemente para no bajar la guardia.  Traje conmigo un grato recuerdo de todas las personas tan maravillosas que Dios puso en ese pueblo pero sobre todo el más grato recuerdo:

No podemos depender de otros ni de nosotros mimsos, necesitamos aprender a reconocer nuestros limites y que siempre seremos como niños que dependen de su padre, por mas que crezcamos no tenemos autoridad sobre nosotros:  le pertenecemos.

Pués esto es lo que el Señor hizo conmigo y solo es cuestión que lo dejemos entrar y Él hará el resto.

Ruben's Testimony

English:

Hello. I am Rubén. First of all, I thank all the people that supported this trip to Oaxaca. I had a lot of fun, but besides that what I learned is that when we follow the Lord’s paths everything comes out well. I also met people that were nice and grateful. The youth were so enthusiastic to learn about God. I thank God for what is taking place right now in my youth, being able to be a missionary to reach other youth.

It was the last day to hang out with them, and we were all praying when all of a sudden God spoke to me and said: “Tell this young man this: that there are people in this world that are going to tell you “you’re no good for anything”, but it is a lie from the devil to keep you from walking in God’s truth.”

I went up to him and I told him what the Lord told me to say, and he responded. He told me that was going through just that. I told him that God has a purpose, a plan for his life. I reached out and hugged him. He went away content.

There is so much more, but I’d have to write a longer report. Thank you to all the people who supported us. May God bless you. 

Español:

Hola, Soy Rubén.  Primeramente doy gracias a las personas que apoyaron para esta salida a Oaxaca.  Me divertí mucho pero apesar de esto lo que aprendí camino de Dios todo sale bien.  También conocí personas que eran amable, agradecida como los jóvenes que tienen entusiasmo por aprender de Dios.  Doy gracias a Dios por lo que está haciendo ahorita en mi juventud a ser un misionero para alcanzar a jóvenes.

En Oaxaca fue interesante lo que viví:

Era el último día en convivir con ellos.  Todos estabamos orando cuando de repente Dios me habló y me dijo, “a ese joven dile esto: ‘que la gente en este mundo que te van a decir “no sirves para nada” pero eso es mentira del diablo para que no camines en la verdad de Dios.’”

Fuí a acercarme y le dije lo que Dios me dijo y respondió.  Me dijo que él estaba pasando por eso.  Mas yo le dije que Dios tiene un propósito, un plan para su vida.  Le estreché la mano y lo abrazé y él se quedo contento.

Hubo mucha mas, pero para no hacerlo muy largo...doy gracias a las personas que apoyaron y que Dios les bendiga.

Sandy's Testimony

English:

This was my first missions trip, and it has had a great impact on my life. I no longer feel the same. Really this mission was, is, and will continue being a great blessing for my life. During the time in Oaxaca, God changed my way of seeing people; He made me understand that what really matters is the spirit, the feelings, the attitudes within them and not their appearance, culture, beliefs, or religion, especially since Jesus, when He died on the cross, He did so for everyone despite all of that stuff and without any exceptions (Luke 6:37).

I want to tell you that even though in the town where we were we faced opposition in some ways, Christ was always showing us His love and favor. He made me remember what it says in His Word. John 14:1 says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” And in trusting Him we find our reward! In my case, it was allowing me to get to know the people with whom I spent time in Oaxaca, especially the youth and their life stories. I was so involved with them…as much interpersonally as spiritually…that when it was time to return home, the deepest part of me wanted to stay there. But I had the hope of returning if it’s God’s will.

Now that I’m back at home, I continue to give thanks to God for the life of each person that was involved in this trip through prayer and financial support.  

Español:

Este ha sido mi primer viaje misionero y ha tenido un gran impacto en mi vida, ya no me siento la misma y no soy la misma.  Realmente esta misión fué, y seguirá siendo una gran bendición para mi vida.  En ese tiempo allá en Oaxaca, Dios cambió mi forma de ver a las personas, me hizo entender que lo que realmente importa es el Espíritu, los sentimientos y atitudes de si mismos y no su físico, cultura, creencias o religión, y a que Jesús cuando murió por nosotros lo hizo para todos sin importar nada de eso y sin esepción alguna (Lucas 6:37).

Quiero decirles que aunque en el pueblo en donde estuvimos había opocición en algunas maneras mínimas, Cristo estuvo siempre mostrándonos su amor y su favor.  El me hizo recordar lo que dice en su Palabra Juan 14:1 “No se angustien, confían en Dios y confíen también en mi dice Jesús.  Y después de eso (de confiar en Él) viene la recompensa!  que en mi caso fué permitirme conocer a las personas con quienes conviví, especialmente los jovenes y sus historias de vida.  Tanto me involucré con ellos...tanto física como espiritualmente, que cuando era el tiempo de regresar a casa, lo más profundo de mi ser quería seguir en ese lugar, pero tengo la esperanza de regresar si es la Voluntad de Dios.  

Hoy que estoy en casa sigo dando gracias a Dios por la vida de cada persona que estuvo involucrada en este viaje en oración y apoyo financiero.

Emma's Birthday

Yesterday, we celebrated Emma's third birthday (Friday the 10th).  I tried to upload a short video but it was too much for my connection.  Here are some photos...

Oaxaca Update...

It is after 1:00am in Oaxaca and we're really tired, but very fulfilled!  We had an awesome time with the youth in San Juan Guelavia and our youth did a great job!  The morning leadership workshops went really well and the evening RETO was a lot of fun.  Our goal was to Serve, Give, and Connect.  It worked.  Many of the townspeople are very closed to Christians and do not want anything to do with us.  The major support we had in town was the main Authority.  He's not the Mayor, but he's close to second in command...kinda like a Judge.  We did everything on his property and his two teenagers were part of the events.  We had probably around 10-12 students from the town participate which is a pretty good turnout.  Durning the morning workshop, some of the guys went out to work on someone's home; Wednesday we all went out there to pour a floor at the home as "putting into practice" their service of leadership.  Everything went really well.  We had our debrief time that just ended about an hour ago and as always, it was the best part of the trip!  One of our students was impacted that "we came to serve, but we were served."  I love our kids!

Please pray for us as we'll be driving all day Friday and into the wee hours of Saturday morning.  

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