Puebla Mexico 2009 (& a little Fargo Flooding)

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 1:9



Wow... it is hard to know where to start...

First, sorry for the delay of this note. It seems like our return from Puebla was a whirlwind of activity and in all reality... it was. When we landed in Fargo, the Red River was on its way to a record crest level and we went right to work filling and placing sandbags to stave off the rising waters.

On the flood front we seem to have pass through the waters relatively unscathed! Praise the Lord! There is some damage and home loss in our region but not nearly what it COULD have been. For that we are grateful. I know many have been asking about the flooding so THANK YOU for your prayers!

ok... ON TO MEXICO!

As many of you know this was my 6th time to Puebla Mexico and the 4th time I have been able to participate in an English Camp. Some of the highlights:

• We had a number of students in our classes who participated in our camp LAST year so the relationships continued to be built. (Pray for Chucho, Maximo, & Sami)
• We has the privilege of seeing the 800th person come through one of the English Camps. 800 different individuals have participated in one of the 12 English Camps so far. Pray that many would continue to be curious about the Scriptures seek to learn more!
• We had a class of 8-10 women that met in the morning and 6 of them expressed interest in being a part of a Bible Study with some of the Missionaries and Mexican believers in the coming weeks. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to a relationship with Christ!
• We were an encouragement (we hope) to the Mission team on the field and were able to see fruit of past teams' work with over 40 people in the house fellowship in Los Heroes! Pray they would multiply to reach others in their neighborhood for the sake of Christ Jesus!

A few things to continue to pray for:

• The missions team is still in transition. Some families reaching the 2-year anniversary of being on the field. Pray for strength for their families. Pray for clarity as the Lord continues to lead and guide. Pray for continued opportunities to live and share their faith in Christ Jesus with their neighbors around them.
• Pray for Neil and Cheryl Prentice as they give leadership to the team of Americans in Los Heroes. For wisdom, humility, and courage.
• Pray for the house fellowship (house church) that they would continue to seek the face of God to reach their neighborhood. Pray they would clearly hear how to multiply well so that others will hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ loud and clear in Los Heroes!

Personally:

First, thanks for your prayer for Amy, Nat, & Ben while I was away. They had some good family time and some good friends from church even helped out on a couple of things (Thanks Mark!) so thanks for your prayers for my family as well.

I have two things:

• Pray that I would not slide into "been there, done that" attitude as I return to "normal" here at home. I had some refreshing and clarifying time in the Word and journaled about some of those things. I want to continue that deep time and I see how quickly I give that up for "urgent" things. I want to adjust to a new "normal" and I want to continue to be shaped by the things the Spirit of God was speaking to me while I was in Mexico.
• Pray that I might be an encouragement to a young man in Los Heroes named Lalo. This young man is a great guy and is striving to know and follow hard after Christ. I don't know what that looks like from Fargo to Puebla but with facebook and a number of other things I want to encourage and challenge this brother of mine and so would you pray for him and his family and for ways in which I might be able to stay more connected to him!

Thanks again for all your prayers! We are considering a Mexican food night here in Fargo in the coming weeks to share some photos and stories for those who might be around here and able to come. We'll keep you posted! Thanks again for your prayers! If you want to hear more just hit me up. As you know... just about any excuse for a cup of coffee!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Jake