El Seminario

José Luis and I are beginning to understand why being a youth minister is normally a full time 1. trabajo. We have so many 2. proyectos we want to do with the jovenes and so many of them that we want 3. visitar, but most semanas we´re lucky to have the tiempo just to carry out one of those planes. The past two weeks we have been visiting/studying with a young man named Jesús. Jesús has an interesting story; he had never attended church and was living a pretty wordly lifestyle, when supposedly he had a ¨calling¨ that he needed to go to church. The only reason he happened to pick ours is that he saw a sign on one of the main roads that says ¨Iglesia de Cristo; 100 4. metros.¨ He is about our edad, but, like many of the Mexican 20 somethings, he is already casado and has dos hijos. Last week Jesús told us that he never went to a single iglesia a single time last year, but so far this year he has already gone four times. We have been studying about 5. la autoridad of the Bible. So far he has been very open to our teachings and very eager to learn more. Please pray that he will keep coming to church and eventually make la decisión to be baptized.

I have also been studying with a girl named Marisol who got baptized a few months ago. Marisol is about my age with a husband and two kids, as well. She has been very constant in her attendance but still has many doubts that need to be resolved. Like Jesús, she had never been to church in her vida and dosn´t know much about 6. la Biblia. But her mother-in-law, who is Pentecostal, kept urging Marisol to go to church with her. Marisol agreed with her 7. suegra that it would do her good to start going to church, but luckily she chose ours over the Pentecostal one, only because it´s a closer walk from her casa. When I first started studying with her about a month ago, she felt pretty discouraged; her husband had been drinking a lot and sometimes even beating her, and she sometimes had a hard time walking to church in the dark or the cold with her two kids, ages 4 and 2. She told me that her 8. esposo knows much more about the Bible than she does and likes to read Christian 9. literatura and listen to musíca cristiana but that every time she invited him to church with her he made an excusa. She also felt discouraged that her family are devout Catholics who don´t want to listen to her, either. But 10. gracias a Dios, her esposo came to church with her for the first time last week, and then returned again this past Sunday! She tells me again and again how lucky I am to have been born into a Christian familia and raised in the church. This week she surprised me with two questions: Why don´t we pray kneeling down, and is it okay to fast? I have a feeling her Pentocostal in-laws have been trying to unravel her with their ideas. Please also pray that Marisol will remain faithful and that her husband will keep coming to church with her. José Luis and I decided that we like these kinds of Bible estudios much more than trying to talk about el bautismo with someone who´s not even 11. interesado.

Last Monday I celebrated my 25th birthday with José Luis and his family:

Lately I have also been busy preparing for my English class. Sofi (the computer teacher) and I have been working together to publicize for the two clases at the same time. It turns out that she was having the same problema I had, that most students came on Mondays, a few on Tuesdays, and hardly any on Thursdays. So we decided to offer each class for only three hours once a week, English on Mondays and Computer on Tuesdays. I´m hoping that once the students get used to the new 12. horario they will be more consistent in their 13. asistencia, especially those who will only have to pay taxi or bus fare once a week. Previously we offered the classes for all ages, but we also decided to change the age to 11 and up; Sofi had problems with the younger ones coming just to play 14. juegos on the computadora, and I had problems with them not being able to learn on the same level as the adultos. 15. Mañana we will have an introductory class to give the estudiantes información 16. basica and urge them to invite others. My 17. metodo the last time of posting fliers on telephone poles or in 18. negocios also did not work well as the fliers all got taken down within a few days, so this time I have been putting the fliers on people´s front doors—only in 19. las colonias closest to the school. I gave out more than 1,400 fliers, as well as making and posting this sign on the front of the school:

So if we still don´t have a good turnout this time, it won´t be because the people didn´t know about it!

I am still teaching English to the students who come on Saturdays, as well. Just to give you an idea of how diferente the indigenous cultura is here, I would like to share an experiencia I had with them a few weeks ago. We were learning to say what we like to do and don´t like to do. I gave them a questionnaire for them to fill out afterwards with various 20. activitidades on it, and for each activity they had to mark if they like it, love it, dislike it, hate it, or don´t know. Pretty much the only activities they marked that they like to do were sleeping, cooking, eating, and playing soccer. And for other activities that most other teenagers enjoy, like talking on the 21. teléfono, chatting on the internet, listening to music, or hanging out with friends they all marked as ¨hate¨or ¨don´t know.¨ I also thought it was funny when I asked each of the students ¨What do you not like to do?¨and one of the boys said, ¨I do not like cerdo (pork).¨

Last week the congregation also had the pleasure of three American 22. visitantes—Jerry and Margaret Humphries and Ricky ? from Florence, Alabama. Jerry Humphries taught a class last year for the preachers´students, and he decided to come back to give a church growth seminario, with 23. la ayuda of Ricky and his 24. esposa. The Humphries have been giving seminars all over 25. el mundo for the last 25 years! The seminar lasted for three days, and members from various congregaciones in Chiapas were able to attend. Chantel and I took turns translating for the womens´classes, while Roberto ?, from Texas, translated for the men. The men mostly talked about the role of elders and deacons and how to solve various problems with church 26. lideres, and in the joint sessions (with men and women together), we heard lots of good sermons about the need for every member to work and the importance of evangelismo. The womens´classes were also very enjoyable, covering many 27. topicos that will be beneficial to the women here, such as Bible class teaching and constructive criticism. In the last session, Margaret gave many ideas of ministries the women can get involved in and pointers on how to start them. Fortunately she mentioned some activities that I have already been trying to initiate here myself! So hopefully I won´t face so much resistance now that the other 28. damas can see that I´m not the only person who has those ideas! I also hope and pray that los miembros (in San Cristobal, especialmente), will take heart of the things that were said and actually DO those things, rather than just thinking about them. Then Jerry preached a gospel meeting the following three nights. We didn´t have any baptisms or restorations, but we did have a lot of visitors come. I always get a little boost anytime other Americanos come; they encourage me with their 29. palabras, understand my point-of-view, and appreciate my ideas. If only I could get that kind of encouragement every month (ha ha)! Here are pictures of the womens´class and everyone eating together afterwards:

30. ¡Hasta la proxima vez, y que Dios les bendiga!
Elizabeth

1. job

2. projects

3. to visit

4. meters

5. the authority

6. the Bible

7. mother-in-law

8. husband

9. literature

10. Thank God/Praise God

11. interested

12. schedule

13. attendance

14. games

15. tomorrow

16. basic

17. method

18. businesses

19. the neighborhoods

20. activities

21. telephone

22. visitors

23. the help

24. wife

25. the world

26. leaders

27. topics

28. ladies

29. words

30. Until the next time, and may God bless you