Baptisms

Today after the afternoon service we had 7 baptisms. 6 of these were young people and of them, 3 were players from El Calor. We had planned to have the baptisms right after youth camp finished on Friday (more on that in the next post!) but ran out of time. Here are some pictures!

Luis from El Calor

Giovani from El Calor (he thought the water was too cold!)

Oscar from El Calor

Willi from the church youth group

Altar Construction

We have had the pleasure of hosting a group of workers since last Tuesday, sent by ANM to build the altar. After an interesting experience in Houston thanks to some unsettled weather, they arrived on Tuesday and got to work....kind of, because we still had to get the wood and other material for the construction. By Wednesday afternoon, this is what they had accomplished:

In under 24 hours the base and the top layer of plywood were in place.

Finishing the top of the platform.

The platform is about 3/4 the width of the church building.

Thursday before the evening service.

Taking advantage of the extra help, we were also able to get the ends of the roof covered with leftover laminate strips. 

We borrowed a ladder from the fire department!

A huge thank you goes out to the team and to ANM for all your time, effort and generosity. May God repay you many times over what you have given to us!

Kermés (Fair!)

On Sunday we held a special fundraising fair at the church to help with our ongoing construction costs. The format was similar to our September 16th party with different booths selling many types of food and beverages as well as games and activities. There was a contest for best booth and best costume as well as karaoke (where there were some pleasant surprises! There were also some other types of surprises....but everyone had fun!). We are planning more activities in the future in order to draw people from the community to the church and make it an accessible place for everyone.

Selling fruit-flavoured water

Bottle toss activity organized by some of our youth

Ping-pong tournament!

Selling banderillas (hot dogs wrapped in tortillas and fried)

A new ministry, banderas (flags)

Construction Update

The roof is finished! Mostly.....we just have to fill in some of the edges and get the rest of the pigeons out (they aren't happy about it!). On Saturday we sent for the missing sections of laminate and on Monday a group of men from the church worked all morning and most of the afternoon to install them. Everything was going really well until it was time for the workers to come down from the roof - since the hole had been covered, they didn't have any way to get down! So we called the fire department and they came to rescue the stranded men (along with the police and the ambulance!)

Inside view of church from front to back, with completed roof section at the back.

One of the remaining pigeons, left, with the soccer ball used to evict the others, right.

Baptisms

On Sunday we had a number of baptisms at the end of the afternoon service. We don't have a baptistry yet and the canals are dry, so out came the inflatable pool! The person doing the baptisms is one of our church leaders, Luis.

Street Ministry

Praise and worship with assistant pastor Jacob and youth leaders Carlos and Elisa

 This afternoon the youth of Templo Cristiano did some street ministry in a rougher part of San Pedro. We arrived at a small park in the middle of the neighbourhood which isn't used much any more. It used to be used heavily by children and young people but drug dealers started "recruiting" (kidnapping) people to help with their business, and so the space is now mostly deserted, especially after dark. We began with a praise song and then our drama team performed several skits.

 Our audience was small at first but it grew and included a fair number of children.

Getting a better view!

TCL Youth waiting to start the outreach

Prayer

 We were there about 2 and a half hours, during which time the temperature dropped about 10 degrees! At the end of the outreach we had prayer for everyone who was there, but especially for the children who came.

2 audience members with David, one of our youth leaders

Enthusiastic despite the cold!

September 16 Celebration

In Mexico, Independence Day is celebrated on Sept. 16. This year we held a special event/fundraiser for Templo Cristiano Libertad. We formed groups within the congregation and each group was responsible for a booth with an activity or food for sale. Everyone dressed up in traditional Mexican clothing and participated in the evening, which went for almost 4 hours. There were prizes for the best costume, best booth, best activity, etc. We were able to raise a good amount of money to go towards construction expenses as well as reach out to the neighbourhood.

Note: We still don't have electricity in the church so most of the pictures are a bit dark.

 We had a time of worship before the fellowship.

 One of the food booths.

 A games booth.

 Another games booth.

 The drinks booth (lime water, horchata (rice and cinnamon) water, and jamaica (hibiscus) water).

 Thirsty party-goers!

 Another food booth, selling enchiladas and chilaquiles (fried corn tortillas with salsa and cheese).

 More food!

 Basketball contest.

 Selling tamales.

The drinks booth again, which won the prize for best booth as well as most money earned.