Saturday Sale

Every other Saturday we make and sell food to help with the church construction costs. This week we made and sold 125 plates of chiles rellenos (stuffed peppers) with rice, beans and salad.

Filling the plates...we filled these tables 3 times with plates!

The finished plates, waiting to be picked up.

The finished product!

Construction Pictures

As promised, here are the latest church construction pictures.

 

 Above is the last little section of missing roof.

 Here you can see the scaffolding where the brick is being built up to meet the roof. 

Here, you can see where the walls have been built up almost to the roof. The middle support columns need to be poured so that the last few rows of brick can be placed. Then the windows can be put in.

Baptisms and General Update

To start, thanks to those of you who commented on the youth camp photos. I'm glad you liked them!

Last Sunday we had 3 baptisms after the evening service. We have to use an inflatable pool as we haven't yet built a permanent baptistry. I do have pictures BUT the camera cable has gone AWOL...I will post them as soon as I can.

The church construction continues with some more wall building. The roof is a great blessing as the sun is pretty strong, even at 10am. 3 weeks ago we received 50 more chairs, and they are filled up!

El Calor had a surprising early exit from the playoffs (1st and 2nd rounds) and it was a huge disappointment. However, the ministry continues and we are in preseason training. Throughout the month tryouts are being held all over the country, and in June those chosen in the sessions will come here for the final selection process. Please be in prayer for our coaching staff, the returning players, and the new players who will come and be ministered to.

Youth Camp 2011 - Day 2 and 3

The morning obstacle course....

Team challenge: run across a wet, soapy tarp and score a goal...

Then, run across the tarp, pick up a toy (without stopping!) and drop it in the basket...without falling!!

 

 

Crafts - making papier mache masks.....

Morning devotional session...

Youth Camp 2011 - Day 1

Youth Camp 2011!!

Day 1...

Just a small part of the food needed for 150 people over 3 days....

Monday and Tuesday were spent cleaning the property and setting up the obstacle course....

String maze...

Preparing the mud pit portion of the obstacle course....

Racing down the street, Tuesday, 7:30 a.m...

Pulling teammates across the yard in a tire...

Wednesday evening church service...

More pictures to come!

Construction Update - Roof

About a month ago, this picture above was the new church roof...

Construction slowly advanced and all of the support structures were put into place about 2 weeks ago...


Once all the structural pieces were in place, we could start installing the insulation and sheet metal....

Here, some of the materials waiting to be used in the roof and remaining wall construction....

Now, the roof is 3/4 finished, and we have shade!

Soccer Update

El Calor Torreon (ECT) and El Calor San Pedro (ECSP) both won their games this weekend. ECT played in Torreon while ECSP traveled to ChihuahuaAbove, the waiting bus, very early on Saturday morning.Last minute checks, making sure everything is packed and ready to go.

Despite a problem with the clutch, the trip was fairly uneventful and ECSP won 2-0. They are in second place in their group and within 3 points of the top spot. ECT won 5-0 and are in 4th place in their group. Both teams are getting ready for the playoffs, which start at the end of April.

Construction Update

Things have been kind of low-key here in San Pedro - busy, but nothing out of the ordinary. The church construction is advancing this week, and tomorrow we will be putting the remaining 6 roof supports in place.



Today was spent assembling the pieces so that the placement will go quickly tomorrow.



Once the pieces are lifted into place, they are welded onto the support posts. After the supports are in place, we can put the laminate sheets on and have a roof!

Construction Update

After a short delay, construction has begun again on the new church building. Last week the first roof supports were welded together and put in place.

Stephen helping to supervise the placement of the first roof support beam.

Putting the first beam in place.

Welding the beam to its support pillars.

Stabilizing the roof beam while it's being welded.Repositioning the second beam in order to lift and join it to the first one.It took a while to accomplish.......and some help from the men of the church.

Church Growth & Soccer Update

The El Calor soccer season continued this past weekend with a local game for the Torreon team and a trip to Casas Grandes, near Cd. Juarez, for the San Pedro team. The Torreon team is still adjusting to some changes in the lineup and unfortunately lost 1-0. The San Pedro team finished the first half losing 1-0 but rallied and won the game 4-1. This week the Torreon team will be traveling to Juarez, and the San Pedro team will be playing here.

We are excited to see continued church growth in Templo Cristiano Libertad! The new church building is still in progress and we're waiting on the roof. This week we bought 40 new chairs because we have been standing-room only, and we have ordered 50 more because the 40 are already filled! Several of our cell groups have received new members and may have to be divided up soon.

Also, a note of thanks to everyone at Destiny Church for another great conference. We were blessed by the services, the fellowship, and the ministry during our time there and we appreciate all the effort and hard work that went into making the week a success.

Testimony

About three months ago a woman came to the church. She had just gone through a traumatic experience. This woman and her husband had had a terrible fight and her husband stabbed her in the throat, cutting her vocal chords and leaving her mute. When she was in the hospital, she says that she saw a man come into her room and tell her, "Something good is about to happen to you." She went through an operation to try and restore her voice but it was unsuccessful. A friend of hers took her to the church and Stephen and Marcela began to talk to her and counsel her. Marcela especially talked to her about forgiveness and gradually the woman accepted Christ was able to forgive her husband for what he had done to her. At this time her husband tried to commit suicide but was unsuccessful. He was admitted to hospital and his wife came and looked after him, despite of what he had done to her and despite the fact that she couldn't speak. After this the woman prayed and asked God to give her back her voice so she could worship him. The next day she woke up and was able to talk; God had given her a brand new voice. Last Sunday she brought her husband to church and he accepted Jesus into his life.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Building Update

Here are the latest pictures from the new church building. The walls are done and we are now working on the roof structure.

View from outside front doors

Working on the roof structure

Outside walls