EL RETO 2009--WEEK FIVE, FINAL WEEK

You will enjoy reading the report of the final week of EL RETO 2009. There is even a video showing a part of the exciting worship service. I'm proud of our student leaders for the fine job of organizing and executing the event. Thanks to Amber for her involvement as well.

Click here to read the report...you will like it!

Online Donations

The new Alternative Missions website has allowed donors to have a direct link to the missionary of their choice. Here is the new link to donate to the Silbermans. It is easy and safe.

EL RETO 2009--WEEK FOUR

Week four is posted on Amber's blog, click here. Is sounds pretty exciting!!

EL RETO 2009--WEEK THREE

The third week's report has been posted. Click here to read about it.

SEPTEMBER UPDATE

Greetings everyone! We are in Washington and we’ve been pretty busy. The weather is such a breath of fresh air compared to Cofradía right now—we’re happy about that! Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us, things are going very well.

Last month, we asked you to pray for…

• Visit to Washington We have been visiting a lot of people, churches, and even Rebecka’s classroom. The first couple of weeks we took some time to go camping and had a birthday party for Rebecka. Last week was Rebecka’s first week of school as she will be attending 2nd grade at Christ The King Academy in Poulsbo until we leave in late October. The great thing about that is that it’s the same curriculum we use for home school! We are staying at my parents’ house and enjoying our time with them. Rebecka and Emma both will be taking swimming lessons starting next week. You can see some of the things we’ve been doing—even our camping trips right here on our blog.
• RETO planning The RETO is in it’s third week and everything is going pretty smooth. The youth leaders and staff are doing a really good job. You can see reports of the first two weeks at Amber’s blog..
  
  • WEEK ONE.
  • WEEK TWO.

Vacationing in Mexico? We would love to see you as Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara are all 3 to 4 hours from here. If you are coming to any of those locations, let us know!! We would love to have you come and visit us in Cofradía to see first hand what God is doing and meet the people we get to spend time with!! We will be back in Cofradía by mid-November.

Links to something extra...
Facebook—if you’re on Facebook, I’d love to get in touch with you!.
Baptisms in Cofradía—four of our youth and our sister-in-law were baptized last Sunday. See the report and pictures at Amber’s blog here.

This month, would you please pray for...

• EL RETO Everyone is doing well. We have 8 teams and each team has a captain learning about life and leadership. The Student Leaders in charge are getting a taste of planning and executing events. Thank you for praying for the Lord’s guidance in their decision making and how they can apply the things all the students are learning to every day life as each circumstance points to Christ.
• Speaking We have been and will be speaking a lot. We give thanks that every weekend we’re going to be able to share what God is doing in Mexico. You can see an itinerary here:
• Rebecka’s schooling She is really good about making friends, but we pray that her experience is positive as she is exposed to the American system. She has a great class and so far is doing very well.
• Finances for House We would like to raise money for adding a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom on our house (upstairs). We will not start this until we have $10,000 saved so we can advance quickly. Total cost including some landscaping issues shouldn’t be more than $30,000 usdollars. We have visitors come to our house and we’d love to have a bedroom for them (where we are right now), and the girls’ room will be an extra room will be office space for Geña. We also have a student from another town living with us during the week so she can attend High School in Cofradía. If you can help with this, please do.

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.
See how to partner with us and donate here.

Blessings,

Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico
US Cell: 360-265-4545
SKYPE: “srsilberman”

Speaking Itinerary

Sept 18-20--Hansville Church Campout at Fort Flagler, WA

Sept 27--Fountain of Faith in Spokane, WA

Oct 4--Youth church at Canyon Hills in Bothell, WA

Oct 9--Hosana Asamblea in Bellevue, WA

Oct 10 and 11--we'll be with the Eilertsons in Lynwood and the Rowlands in Poulsbo

Oct 18pm--Living Waters in Bremerton, WA

EL RETO 2009--WEEK TWO

EL RETO week two's report is up on Amber's blog right here.

EL RETO 2009--WEEK ONE

EL RETO 2009 has begun. This year, the student leaders are in charge and are doing a great job. Check out the report from WEEK #1 here on Amber's blog.

Click here to see how you can donate towards the Student Ministry in Cofradía.

Eastern Washington Camping

We took off again; this time to Eastern Washington and we had a really good time. The first night we stayed at Diablo Lake which is on the North Cascades Highway and a beautiful place. We tried fishing and Geña got a couple nibbles, but that's all. We had a nice campfire, but it was cold!

The next day we headed towards Winthrop, and stayed at Pearrygen Lake State Park. As a kid, we used to stay there all the time and had lots of fun on the kids' toys and swimming out to the dock. Well, since the state bought the resort, they took all of that out. We ended up staying at the East Campground right on the water so that was nice. The girls got to go swimming in the cold water and we also did some fishing. We caught three the first day (Emma caught her first fish) and we caught 12 the next day (Rebecka and Emma both caught their first fish!). We also got to ride our bikes. A friend gave me a bike he was going to sell and I found a child seat on craigslist for $5; it works excellent.

We all had a great time...except for Pony--he was really cold and spent a lot of time in the tent.

Diablo Lake--fishing

Diablo Lake--Colonial Creek Campground Campsite

Bike riding

Diablo Lake--breakfast (Rebecka made pancakes)

Pearrygen Lake--fishing

Pearrygen Lake--East Campground Campsite

Kopachuck State Park

For some time now we have all been dying to go camping. It was a highlight for me as I grew up and wanted to be able to take the girls camping during the summer before school started. We spent three days at Kopachuck, just outside of Gig Harbor, WA along the water and we had a great time. Rebecka made a friend and had a great time with her at the beach, the playground, and running into her every once in a while at the campground. It's a small campground surrounded by huge Evergreens and it's nice a quiet. We had a VERY RELAXING time! Can't wait to do that again!

Rebecka and Emma at the end of the trail.

Kenneth and Rebecka on the way to the beach.

Madelyn, Rebecka, Kenneth

Mom & Dad coming up from the beach.

Pony...freezing!

Campsite

Goin' for a walk.

mmmm good.

Rebecka and her new friend with her brother.

See more pics on Facebook.

Rebecka's Birthday

Rebecka turned 7 years old on Aug. 13th. We invited some little girls she has known in the past to come over and also had some of the CMC short term missions' team come from this summer come over. It was a great time of fellowship and destroying a piñata! Felicidades Rebecka!

Final Stop--Silverdale, WA (Dad & Mom's)

After 15 days and 3,040 miles, we are glad to be home with my Dad and Mom!

Seventh Stop--Gaston, OR (The Meeuwsen's)

It was great to see Roxanne (college friend) again and meet her husband and family. What a blessing they all are! We had a great time chatting with them and checkin' out the farm! Thank you guys for your hospitality!

Sixth Stop--Lincoln, CA (The Gonzlez')

On Friday, we arrived at Geña's sister's place. She and her daughters work at Panera's and they brought home a doughnut cake, put candles on it, and sang happy birthday to me. We had a nice three days with them.

Sunday I shared a little at the spanish service of Harvest Time Church just down the road and we left on Monday morning...16 hours to Portland.

We didn't get a picture of them! :(

Underage Driving!

I got a little tired so I let Pony take the wheel on I-5!

Fifth Stop--Tracy, CA (the Diaz's)

We spent Thursday night with Geña's brother Luis' family. They had to leave early the next morning for a church function, but let us stay and rest until taking off for Lincoln in the afternoon.

Fourth Stop--Oxnard, CA (the Jimenez's)

Francisco and Teresa Jimenez are always a blessing to us. We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday nights and I shared at their church "La Casa Del Alarero" (The Potter's House). We had a great time with them.

Third Stop--Perris, CA (the Rivera's)

We spent Friday-Monday nights with Geña's sister, Julia and her four daughters. Running around, shopping, spending time with Abuela Rufina (Geña and Julia's mom) and speaking at Julia's church on Sunday. It was a good time!

JULY UPDATE

Greetings everyone! July was HOT/HUMID and busy! We pray that all are doing well wherever you may be this month! Thank you for your prayers. God is moving in the hearts of many!

Last month, we asked you to pray for…

• Short-term Missions...Christ Memorial Church from Poulsbo, Washington was with us at the beginning of the month and their ministry time was divided into two phases: a youth volleyball tournament and a children’s VBS in a nearby town. We had a great time with the team and they were a real blessing to us. One of the neatest times came when the Holy Spirit’s presence was felt in the Sunday Service as the team prayed over people and we were able to pray over a team member with Leukemia. Click here to read about it.
• Student Leadership Retreat Thank you sooo much for your prayers during our Leadership Retreat. This is where we start to build in the youth group. We focused on edifying one another learned that as we humble ourselves, we’ll be able to work together as we look out for one another. Here is a report on how the time went.
• Speed Soccer Tournament Opportunity Time! This year’s summer tournament turned into a time of great opportunities for developing leadership skills and making new friends. It was a fun three days and the Lord was glorified! Here is a report about the tournament.
• Youth Summer Camp What an awesome time! Geña and I were not there for the whole thing, but we’ve heard some great reports that the students returned fired up and ready to be Warriors for Jesus! Here is a picture of the first night’s service.
• Visit to Washington We are on our way to Washington and will be there until late October. If we are in your area, give us a call: 360-265-4545—we’ll have a cell phone while we’re in the states. You can see a basic itinerary for the three months here. Also, you can see where we are currently as we are traveling. Again, let us know if we can see you! Here is our travel itinerary.

Vacationing in Mexico? We would love to see you as Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara are all 3 to 4 hours from here. If you are coming to any of those locations, let us know!! We would love to have you come and visit us in Cofradía to see first hand what God is doing and meet the people we get to spend time with!!

Links to something extra...
Facebook; if you’re on Facebook, I’d love to get in touch with you!

This month, would you please pray for...

• Visit to Washington Please continue to pray for us as we travel to Washington. Also, we’ll be doing some traveling while we’re there and speaking in different places. If you would like us to speak at your church, small group, Sunday School class, or gather some friends for a barbecue we’d love to share with you God’s goodness in Cofradía.
• RETO planning We’ve been planning for the past couple of months our biggest youth event of the year. This year, Geña and I are leaving everything in the hands of the Student Leaders and Youth Staff. It should be a great time of stepping out and learning. Please pray for clarity in the teachings and well thought-out organization in the games/events (starts August 29 and continues every Saturday in September). If you could help with donating towards this event we would really appreciate it. We need $2000 usdollars to fund it. Here is a flyer sharing a little more about the event.

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.
See how to partner with us and donate here.

Blessings,
Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico
US Cell: 360-265-4545
SKYPE: “srsilberman”

EL RETO 2009

Click on this link to see details of the biggest youth event of the year in Cofradía. You will click on "Free User" and then "Download."

Pray for the event and consider how you may give.