September 24^th marked Paco´s 30^th birthday!  Because Kike, our other youth leader, also turned 30 just a couple months back, our youth group prepared a surprise 30^th celebration for our beloved youth-leader-guys to show our appreciation for their lives.

The guys were completely surprised (which was tricky trying to plan a whole youth event without Paco noticing!), and laughed with all the youth at the wild party activities: we tested their old-man memories with a “Remember 30 things” game, reminded them of their youth with a race to drink from baby bottles, stretched their back flexibility with limbo, and prepared them for further old-age with “wheelchair races” in wheely-chairs propelled by mops. 

The evening was complete when the guys blew out their birthday candles and enjoyed cake and ice cream with the youth in their party hats.  The youth kids always enjoy a chance to have fun… and have ice cream! 

I cannot thank God enough for my amazing husband and for the new year of life He has given him!  His wild party with the youth reminded him that he is still young at heart, and that he is very loved!

        These next months, Paco and I will be traveling to visit different church ministries, as we pray for direction from God.  We are feeling lead to transition from orphanage ministry to specifically church ministry, which has been our passion these past years as we serve at Pan de Vida.  As we visit various missionaries/pastors in full-time church ministry, we hope to learn from their experiences as well as observe different areas of need around the country. 

This last weekend, we visited 3 missionary couples in Leon, Guanajuato (a little over 2 hours to the west of us here in Queretaro).  What a blessing!  We met Pepe and Veronica for a time of prayer and observed their established mid-city church.  It was awesome!- besides their regular Sunday worship service, they offer discipleship classes, sale of Christian literature, an after-school homework program for community kids, kids´ Bible classes, and a future café ministry.  We were encouraged to see such a developed church with so many ministries to the community!

Then, we visited Ramon and Katy´s family for a great afternoon of fellowship and question-answer about their church planting experience.  Their 2-year-old mission church is still growing and developing, with currently only about 20 members.  It is so genuine!’- their simple worship service in a converted garage was very heartfelt and welcoming, and we enjoyed meeting their devoted congregation who greeted us so warmly.

We also had the privilege to meet Rob and Cathy- a missionary couple that promotes church planting in Mexico.  We were surprised to hear that Leon is the state with the least percentage of Christianity in the whole country.  Their information gave us much on which to reflect and pray about God´s direction for our ministry. 

Mexico Independence Day, September 16^th, continues to be one of the most fun and celebrated holidays at Pan de Vida of the year.  As usual, the auditorium was transformed  with red, white and green decorations as a backdrop for a patriotic fair of games, food, and presentations.  Everyone, from the littlest children to the oldest adult church members, came dressed in their Mexican sombreros and national colors to celebrate their freedom!

It was an evening of fun!  The youth kids led game stalls, like dart-throw, ring-toss, bobbing-for-apples, and mini-golf (complete with prizes!), while the adults set up various food stands: pozole soup, tacos, sno- cones, tostadas, empanadas, fried buñuelos dessert.  Paco and his sisters led the “elote” stand of Mexican corn-on-the-cob covered in mayonnaise, cheese, chili and lime, which was popular with all the guests.  Different church members also participated with a traditional Mexican dance or song, and of course, the “independence yell” or “grito” to end the evening. 

Overall, we thank God not only for the freedom with which He has blessed this country, but also the special event enjoyed by all of Pan de Vida this year.

Pan de Vida Church has been established for 17 years!  That is a true reason to celebrate and give thanks to our Lord- so we did!

A special service of thanksgiving and remembrance was enjoyed the first Sunday of this month.  The worship team played songs that we had sung in past years, the director shared the beloved story of how the orphanage and church began and how God’s hand of faithfulness had sustained it, and different Sunday School classes participated with skits.   My class of 10/11 year-olds, with Ginger’s 8/9 year-olds, acted out a hilarious skit that had us clucking like chickens, karate chopping like martial arts experts, and dancing like ballerinas (I enjoyed myself as much as the kids did ). 

Some of the ladies of the church outdid themselves with decorations and the meal for the celebration.  The whole congregation enjoyed lunch together.  We love our church family- and praise God for His blessing of another year as an established church together!

     A lice outbreak spread through the littlest girls’ room at the orphanage this summer, and the staff ladies joined together to shampoo and treat all the little infected heads.  Because the kids arrive at the orphanage rescued from home situations of abuse and abandonment, it is not uncommon for them to arrive with lice or health problems.  One unnoticed lice unfortunately can quickly spread among all the other kids of the home.  But, after a couple treatments, hours of combing, and a couple haircuts, the infestation seems to finally have been conquered! 

     The Pan de Vida kids experienced a final vacation fling before starting school next week: a trip to the local amusement park!  The outing was a surprise blessing straight from the Lord: on a random Wednesday this month, representatives from the park arrived at the orphanage to give free entrance passes to everyone!  Evidently, they had heard about the ministry from someone and surprised us with their visit and gift!

     The kids were thrilled and had the time of their lives on the rides and in the pools! We separated the park days so the boys attended on Thursday and the girls on Friday (more for the sake of the volunteer staff than anything- because it is exhausting caring for and keeping track of 35 kids in an amusement/water park, and much more so if all 70 go at the same time!)  I enjoyed the carousel, bumper cars, and kiddie pool while caring for the littlest boys, and Paco had a blast with the middle-aged boys on the roller coaster and rapid-river rides.

     Unfortunately, the fun outing was dampened when little Michelle’s foot was caught against the moving train and badly injured. She was sent to the hospital and stitched up, but we are still praying for her complete recovery. 

      After another three months of Sunday school lessons, Pan de Vida Church held its 4^th Trimester Sunday School Quiz!  With each competition, the kids seem more comfortable up on the stage, and more excited to answer the questions!  It is always very rewarding to see the results of weeks of classes- with the memorized Bible verses and understood Biblical truth!

      After the quiz, I celebrated the success of my four top students with a TACO NIGHT!  We drove out to the nearest town for authentic Mexican tacos from the street-side stands – a favorite treat among all teens.  It was a fun time of fellowship and food!

      This 4^th trimester quiz marks the end of our first year in the “Growing in Christ” lesson plans!  Now, with the start of the new Sunday School year, we have changes.  I will now be the 10/11 year-old teacher, which means big changes in my lesson plans after my experience with the teenager group.  I am excited to work with my younger students and find new ways to make God’s truth understandable to them!      

The youth of Pan de Vida survived 4 days as “Soldiers of the Spirit” at our summer youth camp based on Romans 8 in the mountains of Michoacán.  It was intense- both physically and spiritually! 

We converted the event into an authentic boot-camp: with early morning runs, exhaustive physical conditioning, construction and camouflage of forts, target practice with slingshots, late- night mountain hikes, an obstacle course (complete with crawling through mud and climbing over ropes) and more!  We maintained the military atmosphere by referring to all the youth as “soldiers” divided into separate “squads”, while the youth leaders were the respected “drill sergeants”.  Of course, each squad was sanctioned with push-ups for every soldier that arrived late J. 

The main message of the camp was that the youth are more than conquerors in Christ (Rom 8:37), and that, like soldiers fighting a war, the suffering they experience in their daily obedience to the Lord is more than worth the glory of the victory to come.  Our army received “instructions from the General” (God) through regular prayer times and morning devotionals, daily conferences by the youth leaders, and regular recitations of Romans 8. 

In a word, the camp was MEMORABLE! The Lord blessed us with the most gorgeous campgrounds, awesome weather, protection from harm, tons of laughs, and amazing fellowship. But, boy, were we all tired by the end of it! Both youth and leaders laughingly complained that every part of our body hurt!  But, each returned treasuring tons of memorable experiences!  

After the first month or so, summer vacation tends to stretch into long, boring hours with nothing to do for the kids at Pan de Vida.  But local employees from GE arrived just in time to add learning and fun to those empty summer afternoons!  These volunteers taught a week of short courses in various subjects: origami, cooking, modern dance, Hawaiian dance, metalwork, science experiments, math challenges, and more.  They were a blast!  Even I joined in to the Zumba class and danced as much as anyone!  

The kids were thrilled with their different courses, and would come running to greet their teachers each afternoon.  As the orphanage staff organizer of these courses, I got to enjoy all of their excited comments: “Look at the cool metal keychain I made!”, “I never would have thought I would enjoy a math class!”, “Come watch my Hawaiian dance!”, “You should have seen the super-huge sandwich we made in cooking class!”, and more!

The courses ended with a closing ceremony presenting the different projects each class had prepared and rewarding each child with a certificate of participation.  Thank the Lord for the love of these local employees for our Pan de Vida kids!

What a show!  The Pan de Vida girls did a “Fashion Runway” at their summer sleepover last week, and it was a blast!

Each of the girls acted as both a “stylist”(who styled the hair, makeup, and outfit of another of the girls) and “model” (who presented the completed ensemble on the “runway”).  Four of the adults, including myself, had the difficult task of judging the competition- ranking the models on their hair, makeup, accessories, clothing, and overall appearance.    

What a flurry of hairpins, skirts, and mascara before the competition!  And then during the show, the girls had us all laughing at their attempts to imitate professional models J.  The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winning pairs of models and stylists won a trip to the movie theater later in the week (a definite prize!). 

The party did not end on the runway, but the sleepover continued throughout the night with movies and snacks.