The Beans of Life - Frijoles De Vida

Hey guys,

So we took 5 days and went to guadalajara for a vision trip for a couple people (paul, eric, and lindsey) to show them the city where darren and justin will be planting a church next year. It was a couple of amazing days in this city. We stayed with a couple pastors of a church Rey de Reyes (king of kings) on the outskirts of guadalajara. They were really hospitable, thankfully, and we were able to spend all day seeing the city, the downtown, and also able to spend some time on a couple university campuses there talking with students.

The trip was an eye opening one. Darren and I stayed with the head pastor of rey de reyes, kenton, while the other guys stayed at the english service pastor's house, ray. We were able to chat with kenton a bit who was raised in mexico as a missionary kid then had to leave when he was 14 (both his parents died in an airplane accident). He came back to mexico, however, a while ago and spent 10 years in acapulco pastoring a church and has been in guadalajara for about the same.

I remember one thing specifically he asked us "what do you think the main difference is between roman catholicism and christianity?" The answer was a simple one and one many would have guessed, "catholicism values tradition more than scripture, for the most part". I hadn't actually thought that through or studied that for terribly long, yet it was striking. Catholics here have a respect for the Bible sure, however, it is unfortunately true that many will discount the scripture for the sake of following tradition. That is just how it is here, after a long time of tradition it is just so infused within the psyche here people will take it over scripture saying the opposite.

A thought on evangelism toward roman catholics: Darren actually taught a bible study while we were in guadalajara and he brought up some good points about evangelizing to roman catholics. namely, it is important to reach common ground. for example, instead of pointing out that we don't worship the virgin mary we should talk about that we agree we worship jesus and he is the source of salvation.

Hey friends and family,
So, I haven't been blogging as much as in the past and it has occurred to me that I really should be doing my best to keep you all informed so that you are able to pray for us down here; in addition, so that you yourselves can see God's faithfulness to my team and our contacts down here.

With that- I am back in D.F. (distrito federal, a.k.a. mexico city) and have been off and on for the last couple months. I say off and on because I have taken some impromptu trips to Guadalajara where Justin and Darren Hurst (the guys leading my team) are planting a church there the next year or so. Also, I came back to the states for a couple of weeks due a death in the family. My grandma, my mom's mom, had been diagnosed with cancer in an advanced stage and shortly after passed away. My family and I were shocked by the quickness of her passing only because we expected it to happen- but much later. The time home afforded me the opportunity to talk with a few members of my family about God a little, I am not sure how much of it came through but I hope some of it did. Also the pastor doing the eulogy had several strikingly decisive things to say about death and the afterlife about my grandma's conviction concerning Jesus's salvation. For that, I was very grateful. If you are able I know that my family is still feeling her loss a bit and could use prayer for strength; as well as direction in taking opportunities to share with my extended family.

Another quick family prayer, request is that my grandpa, dad's dad, is now in the hospital! haha, I was like "seriously" now grandpa!? However, fortunately it seems that God is giving him a second chance so to say. He has been immobile for a while and now it appears he might have some hope for walking and recuperating a bit. I gave him a pedicure last time I was over at his house a couple weeks ago and after that service we had the closest conversation than we had ever had about Jesus. So, hopefully things will begin to open up more with him due to his hospitalization, mom says she is amazed at his openness now to things- so pray for him if you would, his name is Len.

Thank you all for your support this year, who ever has been following this blog and/or praying for me I really appreciate it alot and I hope you have been encouraged.