Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pondering...

Hmmn.....I'm sitting in bed, eyes a little weary, pondering the past couple of weeks and then thinking of the upcoming week to take place! Our first pastor's seminar ended yesterday, today we had a meeting as staff/directors to have a bit of an evaluation time on what we can improve, what we need to chance, and so on......all in all we had ALOT to be THANKFUL for and many things to PRAISE our heavenly Father for! After our meeting we prayed together, (Eric and Roxana Ericcson-our head teachers and many other things in between!-my mum and dad, and then myself) It has been so very cool to be apart of a team that just works together SO WELL! We all have very different gifts, but we just mesh and work so well together it's awesome! We are able to meet together in a place of love, openness, and honesty. We have been called together at this time, at this place, and at this ministry of GOD'S that he is orchestrating......sweet deal! I am extremely grateful on this Thanksgiving Day (American) for my family. It is a privilege to be on a team working along side my parents, something I never imagined would happen, but that is truly a blessing. Thank you Lord for family and for YOUR WORK going on here in Mexico!

One last thing as I sit here pondering.....my bag is packed and i am heading into the "unknown!" :) I am going on a trip with a group down into the Copper Canyon in the state over from us. Please pray for us as we head onto sketchy mountain roads and into drug cartel territory. We will be showing the "Jesus" film and passing out Bibles and making contacts with small local churches and helping other contacts they've met in previous years. There is more information on the itinerary of the trip on my friend Ryan Thiessen's blog, so check it out! http://ryanthiessen.blogspot.com/ And on this note I am getting quite tired thinking of the early morning i have coming! Thank you for your prayers.....we sure can feel the prayers of God's people helping us fight the Spiritual battle! Until next time! I will give you an update when I get back!

Monday, November 22, 2010

DAY 7



DAY 7

Yikes....my record of writing three days in a row isn't going any further at this point! But hey, i'm doing pretty good! :) (I have to stay positive so I keep writing!)

Ok, so I'm going to have to give a larger update because there are more days to fill you in on! The question is this.....do I remember? In a way this week has felt like a month.....amazing how much you can pack into a week's time! And then there's the language thing going on, I have been thinking in two languages all week, mostly Spanish though, so now writing in English is feeling a little weird! Thank goodness for spell check in both languages for those of us who just start typing and then realize we're in the wrong language! Oh man....

Right....update, I need to do that yet! Once again, positive, awesome, God-Inspired teaching has been going on here at CEC and everyone is being blessed. The teachers are being blessed not only by input from the Pastors/students, but also by each other as they sit in on other classes. There is openness among the pastors that we prayed for and that we can't help but praise God for. There has been sharing of some of the hardest, most painful things people have gone through, there have been tears, there has been affirmation of one another, and encouragement! There is a unity among our group that only comes from being in the same family of God, and sharing with one another! We have well educated pastors and we have pastors that come from very small villages that have no education by middle school! But they all have one thing in common....their love the the Lord, their dedication to the family of God, and their passion for ministry! WOW!

And so we have continued on after a couple day's break. It was decided that we needed some time of rest during the weekend, so Saturday after lunch was free until we started again this morning. And as many of the pastors are needing to get back to their homes, and they're getting overloaded with information, we have decided that our seminar will end on Wednesday instead of Friday! Our team of “directors” here is awesome and open to changes....as our family motto goes, “if you aren't flexible, you get bent out of shape!” And so with that in mind, we're always willing to change things here if it's for the best....we're learning so much! And with that I will leave you for today. I will however translate some comments by a couple of the pastors that had to leave already, but I will have that for you tomorrow. This is long as it is! Thank you for those of you who have been following along....and for all your prayers! We appreciate everyone who is apart of the work here in Mexico! God bless, until next time!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

DAY 3


DAY 3: Wow it's already Wednesday, I can't believe how fast these days have been flying! But here we are in day 3, and we couldn't be happier! Our group here continues to be closer and discussions are getting better with more participation from everyone! Every evening there is an open discussion time where certain subjects are addressed and other questions are brought up....tonight the question to start us off is, “What comes first, your family or your ministry?” and another topic that will be brought up is “marriage -time with your mate and time in your ministry.” These are just a small idea of the discussions they're having.

I had the pleasure the past couple of days, along with my secretarial duties, to be in charge of childcare. Lucky for me the two children that have been here are seriously SO AWESOME and really well behaved! As I work at my desk they sit at a little table and read, color, and just chill! They belong to Pastor David who pastors the church behind our house here in San Carlos. They are a great family and set an awesome example here! ANYWAYS, a bit to my dismay but also good, we have some childcare help today and possibly the rest of the time.....it's good so that I can focus more on the work I have, but I kinda miss those two little ones!

Yikes, this is getting kind of long now, I suppose I'll close for the day. Hope you're have a wonderful Wednesday.....until next time! (tomorrow?)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

DAY 2

DAY 2: And so it has officially begun! We are now in our second day of classes with 11 pastors, 3 pastor's wives, and another 2 pastors on the way! We are extremely grateful to the Lord for bringing these specific people here and they are already encouraged with the new information that they're receiving! As you can probably tell, we're pretty excited around here and just really enjoying this time. Please continue to pray for us here, we can't do this on our own and need your continual prayers against the forces of darkness!

Pray specifically for the teachers, that they will be Spirit led.

Pray for the pastors/pastor's wives as well, that they will be able to soak up this information, allow God to work and change them if necessary, and be able to apply it to their lives.

Pray for unity.....that there will be an openness among everyone here, a vulnerability and trustworthiness. We want to be able to lay everything out on the table and have a support group for all these pastors. THANK YOU for praying! If you ever have any questions about ANYTHING, please feel free to write me at cec_mexico@hotmail.com That's all for now folks!

Monday, November 15, 2010

DAY 1

Katie's Thoughts

First Pastor's Retreat


Day 1: Officially we were supposed to start class this morning at 9AM, but due to late arrivals we've postponed our first class until 3PM. It is 8:24 and we have three pastors with more on the way! These times always remind me to think about this being GOD'S plan and design, not mine in any way! HE is going to bring the right people here and there will be no stopping HIM. It is out of our control, but IN HIS. :) Good thing, hey? So as secretary I have everything ready, as cook, my mum has everything ready, as teachers, Pastor Rich, Eric, and Fred have everything ready, as director/organizer/everything, my dad, has everything ready......that's all we can do and let GOD do the rest! So here we are....waiting and resting IN HIM. May the fun begin! Stay tuned for more daily updates as CEC's first pastor's retreat continues!

Pastor's Retreat

It's been WAY TOO LONG since I created this blog and posted the first post! I will be honest, keeping in touch is not my strong point! (I LOVE catching up face to face, but once I can't see you anymore I tend to be really bad at writing....but I'm going to work on changing that!)

I am currently sitting at my desk in my office at CENTRO EDUCATIVO CRISTIANO, otherwise known as "CEC," preparing my registry of pastors that will be attending our FIRST EVER "Pastor's Retreat!" Oh, have i mentioned I'm full-time secretary now? Slash promo person....and a few other things....but I'm not putting on my apron anymore....kinda sad, but good because i have my hands super full with what I'm doing! Ok....back to the Pastor's Retreat. We've invited pastor's from all over Mexico to come and be "renewed, refreshed, and to get refocused." We know that so many time they GIVE AND GIVE AND GIVE and never really receive. We have awesome teachers that are coming out and we're going to teach, counsel, and encourage these pastors! We as a team are really excited and we hope that you'll keep us all in your prayers as we head into these unknown waters. I will try to post often about how things are going over here....keep in touch!

So, if you're ready, keep your hands, feet, and arms in and HOLD ON because it's going to be a crazy ride! I'll keep you posted!