Drama and Christmas in Autlan

Here is a few pictures of our drama we did downtown that I have been meaning to post.
Never knew Jesus could be bald did you?

This one is of us in our little choir. Jessie even had a solo during one of the songs. It was a really good experience for us. We had over 200 people watching us. John shared a message after we finished the drama about how sin can get in the way of us coming to God. Several people have said they were touched by the drama. You can see the back of my head in the little group of guys on the right side. Jessie is in the middle group. You can see only the top of her head.

This is a picture several days after we did the drama.
I wanted to show a little bit how decorated the park is during this Christmas season.



This is the gazibo in the middle of the park. It is a full nativity scene.



This is to the right and the left of the gazibo.

As you can see they spray everything down with white stuff that makes it look like snow. Most people in Autlan have never seen snow. My personal favorite is the palm tree with Christmas lights almost to the top of the tree.

This picture was a little bit disturbing. It is a new addition this year. There were more people looking at this part than any other part. When we asked a few Mexicans as to why they had put this in the nativity scene they did not know. There are three devils who seem to be dancing in hell. It is located directly behind Mary and Joseph. It is a reminder to us that we are in a battle all the time.

English class Christmas Party

Jessie and Sandra making a Mexican punch called Ponche.

One our students Jesus playing Mexican love songs after we sang some Christmas Carols.



Lillian is up way past her bedtime.



All kinds of Mexican food for the party.



Some students of Jessie's level 3 class.



Level four and five students playing games and eating.

Decorations and three pinatas helped change the class room into a party room.

Church

Here I am at church lighting our advent candle. I read John 14:1-6 about Jesus being the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Thanksgiving update

OK, it has been a little while since I last posted. With this time of year things are pretty busy as they are back home.

Thanksgiving. It was over a week ago now. We had our thanksgiving meal at the Bruggemans. They have the most room as they live at the Regional training center. We started our first meal at 2:30 PM with just us Americans. We didn't have to worry about speaking Spanish which is a nice change. After the meal we watched a Christmas movie "The miracle of Mr. Tummey" or something like that. After that Elizabeth's English class level 4 came to have another meal. We were so stuffed by the end of the night. Jessie made a great pumpkin cheese cake among other things.

One thing that was really good was that two of the guys that came were the guys John and I have really been getting to know. Their names are Ivan and Daniel. They have continued to come to a Bible study on Friday nights for the last two months. We have been challenging them to make a decision to follow Christ but they seem to take a long time to make this decision. I would ask for your prayers for both of these guys. They are best friends and have a lot of influence on each other. They both have given up drinking for various reasons and with out God's help I fear they will turn back to it. John and I are amazed that they continue to come every week to learn more about the Bible.

Choir update, We are going to be on stage downtown on the 19 of Dec. It will be very exciting for us to be out there. Last night I drove by downtown and there were dancers dancing on the stage. There were many people sitting in chairs & standing around watching. It will be great for us to share with people hope for their lives.

Other people God is working on are Roberto and his wife. Roberto is a level 3 student in Jessie's class. Jessie has said that he always wants to know more about the Bible in class. He came into La Roca a couple of weeks ago and talked with John for an hour and a half about the Bible. One of the things that is really a challenge for him and his wife is that they see that the prayers they are praying over and over have no value to them. John and I got to share with them on Friday night again. They are searching for truth. John gave them a book that was written by an ex-priest from the catholic church who shares his testimony, as well as some of the false teaching that Mexican catholics believe. Roberto came to church on Sunday to check out our small little church. We didn't get a chance to talk with him before he left, as he had somewhere else to be right away, but I am sure that he will let us know on Wednesday what he thought. Here is a picture of him with John on Sunday before church started.

I am very excited to tell you that my brother Ben is coming for Christmas. He is going to a youth conference 12 hours away from us, but is flying into Guadalajara and staying with us for three day before it starts. This will be our first visitor here in Mexico. I am also excited to share with him what it is we do here, not just by phone or pictures. I can't wait to see him.

The women's Bible study

The women's Bible study at our house on Friday night.
There were a few ladies who were not there as well.