Update: El Calor registration and new season

Stephen is back in San Pedro after a 2-day trip to Mexico City that lasted 10 days. He went to register the team and submit all the paperwork needed for 2^nd Division, which has turned out to be much different than 3^rd Division. In the service tonight Stephen told us how for the first time we have encountered discrimination from the soccer federation because El Calor is a Christian team. One of the many letters that he submitted among the paperwork was signed “Dios les bendiga” (God bless you), which is a common greeting here in Mexico among Christians, but when the lawyer in charge of the paperwork saw this, he became extremely angry and said that he wouldn’t accept our papers and that we were kicked out of 2^nd Division because Christianity and sports don’t mix. Many things happened after this; our paperwork was “lost”, the lawyer refused to see Stephen (one night Stephen stayed until 12:30 a.m. waiting for the lawyer, who refused to leave his office in order to avoid talking to Stephen), and it seemed to be an impossible situation. God was working through all of the difficulties, however, and people started calling from other organizations and teams from 1^st Division, telling the officials of 2^nd Division to approve our registration. Stephen finally received the information he was waiting for late on Friday night but when we entered the information to begin the online registration process, a notice came up that our registration time period had expired. There is still a struggle ahead, and Stephen will be heading back to Mexico City later this week to try and finish the registration process. Thank you for your prayers, for those of you who always pray for the team and the El Calor ministry, and those of you who may have started praying in response to one of these posts. Please keep Stephen in prayer as he travels and is at the soccer federation headquarters, please pray that we will find favour with the officials and won’t have to struggle through the season, and pray that the registration process will go smoothly and that the funds needed for it and for the season will be provided.

The season starts on Sept. 2, and you can follow news here or through the El Calor Twitter feed (@CalorDeSanPedro)

Update re. Soccer Registration

This is just a quick update on how the registration process is going for the team. Stephen is still in Mexico City waiting for some paperwork to arrive and waiting for the soccer federation to check everything and approve it. They had given us a short extension for the payment deadline, but I haven't heard any further details. The need I mentioned in the previous post still exists, and we are waiting on God's provision in order to carry on the El Calor ministry. I want to say thanks to those of you who have been praying for us, who have written to us, and who have given toward this need. If you feel that God is directing you to give financially, you can use the PayPal button on the top left of this page, or go through one of our snail mail addresses on the lower left of the page. Please keep remembering this ministry in prayer and ask God for his provision in everything, in finances, in resources, in safety, and in victory. We are expecting God to do great things this season!

Urgent Prayer Request

I have been talking to Stephen and Marcela today and we are up against an important deadline for the El Calor soccer ministry. Overall, we need $40,000 for the upcoming soccer season. Our main sponsor in Mexico has been sold and is putting its support on hold, and several deals that were in the works have fallen through. Tomorrow we have to pay the inscription fee for the team, which is $20,000. Please be in prayer today and throughout the next few days for this specific need. If we aren't able to make the payment then there will not be a team. It is an important ministry and we have already been seeing results this year; last week a coach from one of the 3rd Division teams that played against us contacted Stephen, saying that he wanted to become a Christian and asking if he could be discipled. Thanks to everyone who prays regularly for this ministry. I'll be keeping you posted this week as I hear news.

Paperwork

This past week Stephen was in Mexico City submitting the paperwork required for El Calor's entrance to 2nd Division....sadly, many trees were harmed in the making of this paperwork, but I'm happy to report that everything was accepted the first time it was submitted, which Stephen says is very, very rare (it never happens). The soccer federation also extended the deadline to pay the inscription and registration fees, so please pray with us that the money will come in this month (if you would like to give toward this ministry, you can use the PayPal button on the top left of this page). Thanks for keeping this ministry in prayer, and pray for Stephen as he returns to Mexico City this week for a planning meeting. The team played another practice game yesterday and won 7-2 against a team that is heading off to play in Argentina (and it must be noted that the 2 goals against us were scored against our second string of players!). There is about a month left before the start of the season, and we have 6 players staying with us from out of the area. Please be in prayer for them as well, as several of them aren't Christians and are just learning about God, and two others are still new Christians.

Videos

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/23517020

This is a link to an interview done before the final game of the season. Marcela, Stephen, and several players are interviewed (in Spanish).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5qiGFN_PuQ&feature=plcp

This is the link to the video from the church dedication.

Dedication of Templo Cristiano Libertad

This past Saturday and Sunday we held special dedication services for the new church building. We had visitors from all over Mexico as well as from the U.S., and we enjoyed special music, presentations and fellowship. Here are a few pictures of the Sunday evening service; hopefully I will have some more pictures to post later in the week.

Stephen and Brother Walt before the service

Ribbon to be cut...

Stephen speaking to the congregation before the ribbon-cutting.

One ribbon down thanks to Stephen and Marcela....

The second, thanks to Brother Walt and Sister Vicky

The congregation entering after the ribbons have been cut

Tambourines, flags and musicians during the worship service

Choir

Prayer of dedication

A full church during the service

video link El Calor semifinal win

Here´s a link to a video made by a local cable station after Saturday´s win:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TjKLcAounw&feature=autoshare

El Calor won their semifinal round yesterday and will play in the finals this Wednesday and Saturday. Later today we will find out where we will be traveling to. With this win El Calor moves up from Division 3 to Division 2. There are two levels of Division 2 soccer, 2A (Premier) and 2B (Talentos). The winner of the final goes up to 2A; the loser to 2B. Here's a (small) diagram to help visualize the organization of Mexican soccer:

• 1st Division (comparable to the English Premiership, NHL, NFL, NBA etc.)
• Division 1A 
• Division 2A
• Division 2B
• 3rd Division

It's possible for a team to climb the ranks and arrive at 1st Division, and El Calor has now taken the first step. Thank you for your prayers throughout the season and the playoffs, but keep praying this week for the games that we will play and that we will be victorious this week. Today the national newspapers carried the story of El Calor's victory yesterday and all of them said: To God Be The Glory. The greatest goal of El Calor has always been this and to have it recognized throughout the country, and now it is coming true! Here are some links to videos from the game yesterday:

Goals yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2D2quYz6Q
End of game celebration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uG47f9YJgE
Yahoo! news story (in Spanish): http://es-us.deportes.yahoo.com/noticias/san-pedro-finalista-liguilla-divisi%C3%B3n-005800319--spt.html

Twitter

Some of you may remember that about a year ago we opened a Twitter account (@SHMSanPedro) and the updates have been posted to this page - well, they are supposed to be. This is just to make you aware that we have been posting to Twitter recently and you can follow us if you're interested!

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.