Funny thing happened today

A funny thing happened to us today. We were getting ready for church when Jessie and I both agreed that we were going to get to church early for a change. It is a bit difficult to get to church with 3 little girls who all have to have their faces washed, hair brushed and clean clothes on. We also try to get the house cleaned up from Saturday night choir practice, which is at our house. So, today we decided to get going earlier. We made it to church at 10:50 AM, 11:00 is when church starts. Our church is still small at this point, maybe 8 to 10 people, so when someone is not there, you notice. Mexican culture is such, that people arrive somewhere in between 11:00 and 12:00 to church. John, Elizabeth, Jessie and I decided to start service with the four of us at 11:15, so people would start getting the idea that we were trying to start church at 11. We finished singing about 11:45 AM or so and still no one had shown up. We all were confused, because this had not happened before where no one came to church. We decided to talk about the up coming conference next week that our mission is doing here for us. (Some of the main leaders of Tecate our coming down for it). At 12:10, Carlos and Norma come walking in. They informed us that it was only 11 AM. We had no idea that daylight savings time happened last night. Not more than 5 minutes later, the other members of our church arrived as well. We all had a good laugh about it. We did get to go over the music before anyone had gotten there. Unless someone would have told us, we would have left and gone home wondering why no one came to church today.

Our house video & update

We have posted a guided tour of our house on http://www.clarkcreation.blogspot.com
if you want to see it.

During Christmas time, there are a lot of events happening. Our church is putting together a choir to sing in the center of town. We are very excited about this. Two and a half years after John and Elizabeth did a choir event, they still get comments about how nice it was and how they would love to see it again. Music is a great way for us to reach out in to the community. They love music here. The church is still really small and having a way to interact outside of Sunday service is good way to get people connected.

One couple that came to our church is Carlos & Norma. They have a one year old daughter named Acady. They told us some of their story of becoming Christians. When they decided to step out of the Catholic church, the church erased their marriage records, as well as their whole family not supporting them in their decision. Often times, the whole family will push new Christians out of the family. They feel the pressure from their family continually not agreeing with them about not attending the Catholic church. That is where our church can meet some of their needs. The body of Christ is not just going to church on Sunday mornings, it has to be more. They need the body of Christ, they need the fellowship. Often new believers will give in and go back to the Catholic church, where everyone in their family attends.

Lady of Guadalupe

Here are some pictures of when I went up the mountain where the Mary altar is in Autlan.
The first is from just outside of our house. You can see it anywhere you are in the city.






They have mass once a month, as well as a festival each year, where people will crawl on their hands and knees for penitence. It is a sad to see so many people who don't know the truth.




There are candles burning all the time. The walls are completely black, as you can see, from all the candles that have been burned.



This is inside the doors. They will leave flowers for a few of the different saints. The picture is of the Lady of Guadalupe, which is why the whole place was built.