Church Update

A few people have been asking me for updates about the church.  I didn't realize that I haven't posted much about it lately.  I wish I had some pictures to go along with this post, but unfotunately I don't.  You see, everytime we're at the church, I have Sammy and Emma to take care of and they keep me so busy, I never remember to take pictures.  I even put my camera in my purse last week so that I'd remember to take pictures, but I didn't get into my purse, so I totally forgot.  Next Sunday I'll put the camera in one of the diaper bags, and I'm sure I'll see it that way. 
Ok, enough excuses... here's the update.
We are having Sunday church services at 10:30am.  We start with everyone in the church for Praise and Worship (singing).  And after about 4 or 5 songs, the kids go next door to the house for Sunday School.  Esther (Checo's mom) is teaching the kids right now- she's the only teacher we have as of right now.  Eventually I will be able to teach also, but right now I'm in the main service with Sammy and Emma.  So we'd appreciate your prayers for people that could help with the Sunday School classes.  There are about 8-12 kids coming each Sunday that range in age from 5-14 years old.  They are all in the same class, but when we have more help we'll be able to split them up according to age.  We also have a room for a nursery for babies through toddlers, but we need to get the room a little bit more "baby proof" first.  I'm looking forward to when that room is ready because it's hard to keep Sammy in the church service.  Luckily Checo's dad entertains him most of the time.  So while the kids are in their class, we sing a couple more songs, and then Checo gives the sermon.  After the sermon, we sing 1 or 2 more songs.  The whole service from start to finish lasts about 1-1/2 hours.  This is uncommon for churches in Mexico.  Most church services here go for at least 3 hours!!!  After the service, we have a fellowship time.  The kids come back to the main church area and we have coffee, pastries, juice, and milk as we chat with eachother. 
Checo is also doing a Tuesday night Discipleship and Prayer meeting that lasts about 1 hour.  For the first 30 minutes or so he teaches about the basics of Christianity and what it means to be a "disciple" of Jesus.  And the next 30 minutes is a time of prayer for the church, the people in the neighborhood, and for individual needs.
The neighborhood that the church is in is pretty poor.  There are a lot of people with a lot of financial, physical and spiritual needs. There are 2 girls that come to the church and their dad does not have a job right now. He works in construction, so Checo has been hiring him to do some work on the house. So far he's re-tiled the bathroom and he is currently working on the side of the house. It is just bare cement and it's really uneven. So he is putting stucco over the cement and evening it out and then he'll paint it. He and his wife are very thankful that we're hiring him to do some work. 
Maybe that last bit sounded a bit random...my mind is being flooded with hundreds of things I could tell you about the church, but I can't narrow it down.  I keep starting sentences and then I delete them.  I can't focus my thoughts right now. 
We really appreciate your prayers.  Starting the church is a lot of work, and can get discouraging at times.  But just when we are feeling discouraged, God reminds us that He is in control of everything and that He is the One starting the church, not us!  About a week ago, we got a message on our new answering machine (yes, we finally have one!  so if you call and we aren't home, you can now leave a message!) from a lady in Milwaukee, WI saying something about how God answered her prayers by finding out about our church.  She left her name (Laurel) and phone number and before we could even call her back, she called us again a couple days later.  To make a long story short, Laurel goes to a Calvary Chapel in Milwaukee, WI.  She has a friend (Minerva) that also goes to her church who has been a nanny in Milwaukee for some time now.  Minerva is originally from Monterrey and she will be returning to live here in about a month.  Laurel and Minerva had been praying for about 3 months that Minerva would have a Bible teaching church to go to when she moved back here.  So Laurel started calling around to see if anyone knew of any good churches in Monterrey.  She called churches in San Diego, and other cities in CA and no one knew of any in Monterrey.  She finally started calling churches in Texas and she got a hold of a pastor (Eduardo) at a Calvary Chapel in McAllen, TX.  Eduardo is friends with Pastor Juan from San Antonio, who came to help us with the church in August.  So Juan had told Eduardo and Eduardo told Laurel and Laurel told Minerva about our church!!!  I hope you followed that.  When Laurel was explaining all of this to me, she just kept telling me how thankful she was for us and how faithful God is.  Checo and I were reminded of how God is in control and he will bring the people to our church that He wants to be there (even all the way from Wisconsin).  We are looking forward to meeting Minerva sometime in October.
That's all for tonight!