They Smell Like Sheep by Dr. Lynn Anderson

They Smell Like Sheep by Dr. Lynn Anderson is one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.  I think it's a must read for Pastors, Elders, Deacons, any Leaders in the church.


He focuses on the simplicity of what it means to mentor someone, what it means to pastor someone, and ends with the authority that a Pastor has (or doesn't have) amongst the sheep.


It's an easy read and very interesting.  I highly recommend it!

June Update

Greetings Everyone from Cofradía Mexico!  We had a great time last weekend (May 27-30) in Sinaloa.  Our family went to Mazatlan on Friday and we stayed the night at a hotel as we had promised the girls a trip to the beach since last April.  Well, they were more excited about the pool than the beach...we only saw the beach, didn’t even touch the sand!  They loved their time there!  The next day we went to the wedding of one of our students who married a girl from Mazatlan.  We are very proud of them for setting a good example.  You can see their picture here.  Sunday I spoke in the two services of Cosecha Final La Cruz church with my friend, Pastor Héctor Robles.  It was a great blessing to be part of their services and see what God is doing there.  Soon, our students will be attending camp there at the end of July.  Monday, we headed back home.

Last month we asked for your prayers concerning...

• Alternative Missions Staff “as we work through a transitional period.”  Dave and Kathy Elias have been in Mexico for over 20 years with most of their time here in Cofradía.  They have felt a call to return to their home in Canada.  Dave is the Area Director of Alternative Missions Cofradía and both of them have a big influence in many areas.  To fill their shoes is a huge task and something that our whole Missionary Staff and the Church body will need to work together in order to step up and take over responsibilities.  I have already been appointed as the new Area Director and we are moving forward in a positive way with this transition.  We are excited about what God can do through this, yet sad that the Elias’ will be leaving.  July 20 is their departure date.
• Pastor Gollo “for wisdom as he guides the church, it’s leaders, and the home groups that meet during the week.”  I was at a leadership meeting that Pastor Gollo held last night and the energy for being positive, strong leaders was very present.  He is doing an excellent job, the home groups are going well, and the Cofradía church is moving forward.  We have some quality people!
• Sandy Garzon will be joining our staff on June 23.  She has written a support letter that you can see here.  We are so excited about this new addition to our staff as she will be working with Short-Term Mission teams, helping with the administration of the church, and living on the Mission Base as a caretaker.
• Our Personal Support We have not received a response since last month’s update concerning our monthly support.  Here is what we wrote about it, “A few months ago we were seeking to raise our support $600 a month and asked you to give towards our immediate need of Health Insurance.  Many of you have given and others have started to faithfully donate each month and we thank you very much for that.  We are still short of our goal by around $200 of monthly pledges.  My home church, Gateway Fellowship, has generously made a commitment to match $1 for every $2 of pledges to help us finish reaching our goal.  Please let us know by responding to this email about how you can help us reach our goal.”
  

Follow these links for more...
TenBrink Update— The TenBrinks are fellow Missionaries in Cofradía and have done a great job of bringing things up to date.  
April Video Update
Most Viewed YouTube video of ours (New Church Inauguration)
Facebook—if you’re on Facebook, I’d love to get in touch with you!

This month, would you please pray for...

• Transition Please continue to keep our staff and church in your prayers as we adjust to the change.
• Sandy Garzon for support as she will be joining our Missionary Staff.
• Our Personal Support as I’ve mentioned above.
• Mily Garzon who will be working as an intern in San Martin Peras, Oaxaca for two months with a mission called “La Embajada.”  She leaves on June 26, here is her letter explaining her trip.
• Short-Term Missions teams Canyon Hills from Bothel, WA will be here June 25-July 4 and Gateway Fellowship from Poulsbo, WA will be here July 5-July 14.  Pray for their safety and influence amongst the locals and everyone they come in contact with.
  

Thank you very much for partnering with us through your prayers and financial support.
Click here to donate.

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

Sandy Garzon's First Newsletter

Luis & Rakel

Luis Aguilar and Rakel Melendrez were married on Saturday afternoon in Mazatlán.  We are very proud of them both and excited for them.  Luis has been part of our Student Ministry for a few years and occasionally helps lead worship for us.  His twin sister, Veronica, was married two months ago.  Rakel lived in Mazatlán where her dad pastors a church in the Colonial Flores Magón.  Congratulations Luis and Rakel...Felicidades!!!

TenBrink Update

Here is an update from Cofradía Missionaries, Jay and Faith TenBrink.  Jay's done a great job bringing things up to date.

Mily Garzon to Oaxaca

Mily has been serving as a Student Leader for the past four years and is taking steps forward towards her desire to be a missionary.  She will be heading to San Martin Peras, Oaxaca for a two-month internship (July and August) with a ministry called "La Embajada."  Here is a translated letter explaining what she'll be doing and her needs (click to enlarge):

Sandy will join the staff in June.

Sandy Garzon who has been part of our Student Leadership Team for 5 years, will be joining our missionary staff on June 23.  We are extremely excited about this and so is she.  She will be a huge help with Short-Term Mission teams and the over-all Church Ministry.

Sandy will come on board as an Intern for three months with continuing to stay on staff in mind after her internship is over.  Please consider how you could help her out in the next few months.  Donations can be made online here.  Select Ministry Location Cofradia and write "Sandy Garzon" in the note section.  Or, you can send a check to Alternative Missions / PO Box 5835 / Goodyear, AZ 85338 with a separate note indicating that it's for "Cofradía: Sandy Garzon".

New Staff Member: Sandy Garzón

Sandy Garzón has been one of our Student Leaders since we started the Leadership program.  She is an incredible young lady and we would like to bring her on as a Missionary Staff member at Alternative Missions Cofradía.  Here is a letter of interest.  Please email me here for more information.  Thank you!

MAY UPDATE

Greetings Everyone from Cofradía Mexico!  This is what’s happening...

Last month in our video update we asked for your prayers concerning...

• Student Ministry Missions Trip to Puerta Colorada.  We mentioned that our plans were to go for three days.  In our scouting trips, we noticed that the Lord had not opened the door for us to be there and stay the night, so we changed it an evening of Missions Preparation and we spent the whole next day in Puerta Colorada serving the town, families, and children.  We cleaned yards, removed a wall, cleaned a kitchen, put a roof on a bathroom, cleaned the streets, set up inflatable games for the children, shared a story with the children, held an open air evangelistic meeting and the best part was watching our students scattered througout the plaza praying and ministering to the people.  Here is a 3 minute video report.  
• Student Leaders Some of our leaders are struggling with either personal issues or decisions they need to make that have the potential of affecting their future.  Please continue to lift them up in your prayers.
  

Follow these links for more..
New Staff Member—We are looking forward to adding another member to our Alternative Missions Staff.  Sandy Garzon has been working as a Student Leader for a number of years and senses a calling to come on Staff.  We are very excited about the potential of having her joining our team as she would be a huge asset to us.  Here is a letter explaining her needs, please consider how to help.
April Video Update
Inauguration Video
Facebook—if you’re on Facebook, I’d love to get in touch with you!

This month, would you please pray for...

• Alternative Missions Staff as we work through a transitional period.
• Pastor Gollo for wisdom as he guides the church, it’s leaders, and the home groups that meet during the week.
• Sandy Garzon for support interest as we hope to add her to our Missionary Staff.
• Our Personal Support A few months ago we were seeking to raise our support $600 a month and asked you to give towards our immediate need of Health Insurance.  Many of you have given and others have started to faithfully donate each month and we thank you very much for that.  We are still short of our goal by around $200 of monthly pledges.  My home church, Gateway Fellowship, has generously made a commitment to match $1 for every $2 of pledges to help us finish reaching our goal.  Please let us know by responding to this email about how you can help us reach our goal.
  

Thank you very much for partnering with us through your prayers and financial support.
Click here to donate.

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

Puerta Colorada 2011

Here is a three minute video report of our Student Ministry's one-day missions trip last week to Puerta Colorada, a town about 1/2 hour south of here.

April Video Update

Greetings Everyone!  I made another video for the events in March.  I hope you’re able to view it:   


Follow these links for more..
March Video Update
Inauguration
Coffee Farmers
Facebook—if you’re on Facebook, I’d love to get in touch with you!

Thank you very much for partnering with us through your prayers and financial support.
Click here to donate

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

Short Term Missions with Cy-Fair Youth

Cy-Fair Christian Church has sent down youth teams every spring break for almost a decade.  Our students have developed a great relationship with the students that come down and this year those relationships continued to grow strong.

For the past few years, we have worked together to reach our community.  While the team spends their time in the morning with construction projects, our students are in school.  This year, those projects included some who painted the second floor railings, the stairs, doors and windows while others set the tile in two children’s classrooms.

Each year, the Cy-Fair team serves our students a meal during our Student Ministry Awards Banquet.  This is a great time to reflect on the past year and recognize our leaders and the Award winners amongst the students.

There are four awards that we give out:

The Spirit Award-this student is enthusiastic when it comes to participating in events and games.   Not only does this person participate with a good attitude, but encourages others to participate as well.  This year’s winner is Jonathan Elias.

The New Generation Award-this student is a newcomer to the youth group who was in Elementary school the previous year.  They stand out with leadership potential and have a good attitude.  This year’s winner is Cecilio Rodriguez.

The Servant Award-this student stands out with a servant’s heart and helps to meet needs without being told.  Leadership is inevitable with this attitude.  This year’s winner is Jesús Orozco.

The Brave Heart Award-this student has grown in the Lord and their leadership skills in the past year.  This is the only category in which our Student Leaders have the opportunity to be nominated.  This year’s winner is Gregorio Hernández.

The team had four other nights of activities with our students.  Two of those activities will stand out as highlights.

The first was a community service project that we work together on.  This year, we painted the bridge that connects Cofradía to the rest of Mexico.  Some were scraping, some were sweeping, some were mixing cement, some were painting, and we even had flaggers to direct traffic. 

The Bridge from down under.

Scraping

Painting

Pastor Jeff adding reflectors

Finished!

The other activity was a Life Application Cultural experience as we took everyone out to visit a man who makes bricks.  As Pastor Luis interviewed him, he explained the process of how to make them.  He mixes clay-like dirt to mix with his dirt, manure, and water.  Then, he stomps on it to make a milky mud in order to place it in the forms.  He lets it sit for a day and a half to dry, then stacks them in preparation for the fire.  The bricks are in the fire for 8 hours, and then they’re ready. 

Mixing it all up.

Adding water

Pouring the mold

What an amazing teaching!  We met in small groups afterwards as we talked about how this applies to us.  We are like the bricks as God is forming us.  Those who are closer to the fire become stronger and can withhold more.  Every brick has a purpose—to be used and not forgotten or left alone; they are meant to be together.  Those are just a couple of many applications that we talked about.  I’m sure you could think of more.

In the end, the team did a great job in making connections again.  Our students really enjoy having them here.  Thank you for your prayers.

Hermano Magdaleno

Para los que hablan Español, Hermano Magdaleno es de Arrayanes y compuso esta canción.  La cantó en la inauguración de la nueva iglesia.  Está chistosa!  Espero que la disfruten.

March Update by Video

Centro Cristiano Cofradía Inauguration Day

We had a great time celebrating the Inauguration of the new Church facilities in Cofradia.  Thanks to so many of you who donated your time and resources to help this community have a church of their own.  You are well remembered by all those who make this their home church and the congregation is very, very thankful for the generosity of all who participated.  We celebrated by starting with a normal service of worship and a message by Pastor Gollo.  Everyone was fed and the birria was delicious!  In the afternoon, the congregation took part by sharing testimonies and songs and as you will be able to see, there is a variety of style!  The lady with the white shawl is a Huichol Indian and she's singing praises in her own language. Great stuff!  Great day!  To God be the Glory!!

Student Ministry

This is a typical Saturday evening at our Youth Group meeting with hang out time, organized games, worship, bible studies, and small group time for prayer and reflection.

Coffee Farmers

Here is a clip of a trip we took up to Puerta de Platanares near Ruiz, Nayarit to see the Coffee Farmers process the coffee just after it was picked off the plant and as they got it ready for drying.

Final Church Service at Mission Base in Cofradía (37 sec.)

This is a short clip of our final church service at the Mission Base in Cofradía. It's been nearly 20 years since the mission started. Finally, we are moving the church to their own building. The Inauguration of the new facilities is this Sunday, February 27.

Coming Soon!!

FEBRUARY UPDATE

Greetings Everyone!  We are back in Cofradía!  We drove slow and we were able to visit some friends and family along the way and the time in Washington was productive and...cold.  Thank you so much for your prayers as we travelled.  It is great to get back into a familiar routine and we are so excited about what’s going on with the Youth, Worship, and New Church Grand Opening coming up!

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

• Health Insurance The underwriters did not accept my knee condition.  We do have Health coverage now, but with an exclusionary rider on my left knee.  It by-passes “pre-existing condition” and goes straight to “excluded” meaning it will never ever be covered.  I’m disappointed with that, but to my knowledge I cannot do anything about it.  I know that some day, I’ll need an MRI to see if everything really is ok as it still bothers me sometimes.  Thanks for you prayers.
• Monthly Support Thank you to all of you who have responded to our request of 30 commitments of $20/month.  There are 22 commitments filled and we are on our way to covering the expenses of our Life Insurance and Health Coverage.
• House We are still saving money so we can get this started.
• New Church Facility We received a couple donations that have helped continue with tying up some loose ends as we have a number of people working on this project right now getting it ready for the Grand Opening on February 27.
• Geña’s citizenship  Praise the Lord!  Geña is now a gringa!  She was able to go in and take the Naturalization Oath on January 11 and everything went really smooth.  Thank you so much for your prayers in this as it will make travelling a lot easier.
• Our Return to Mexico Thanks for your prayers; we arrived February 4 and are getting settled.
  

Follow these links for more..
Newsletter Brochure—Page One; Page Two
Inauguration—On February 27, 2011, we will be inaugurating the new church and beginning our weekly services there:  Page One;  Page Two
Facebook—if you’re on Facebook, let's get in touch!

This month, would you please pray for...

• Monthly Support We still need $160 more a month: 8 commitments of $20/month; or 4 commitments of $40/month.
• House We are continuing to raise money for the construction of two rooms in our house in Cofradía.  Pray for the funds to come in.
• New Church Facility Continue to pray for the remaining funds to come in, in order to finish the project.  Also, for the church to see this as an opportunity to take another step towards ownership.
• Inauguration We are looking forward to this long-awaited Grand Opening of the New Church.  Please pray for wisdom as we plan the details and safety over those who will be travelling here to be part of this great historical event!  (Feb. 27)
  

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.
As you give, you are investing in the Kingdom of God.  This is an opportunity for you to further His Kingdom, thank you so much!  Click here to donate


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