Oh, how I love the autumn reprieve from the heat of the strongest summer sunshine. September, when the days are still warm, but cool evenings remind us of cozy things to come. September, when we settle into new school books and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils is in the air. September, a month of new beginnings, when we return to predictability from the bustling, sporadic summer schedule. September!

    September has been so busy!

    We started off strong, in a familiar and comforting way, with our new homeschool year beginning on the first. Chloe started 5th grade, Aubri is in 1st grade, and Evelynn (4) asks every day to do some kind of preschool work. I love the change back to organization, order, and routine.

    The end of the first week, on the 5th and 6th, were the Plenarias. A set of conferences and planning meetings within our local chapter of the Baptist Convention of which La Huerta is a part. This year it was our church families turn to host. Adam spent those two days driving all over town buying water bottles, paper goods for the meals, coffee, and cookies, shuttling people here and there, collecting food from the church members that had prepared it, running for more toilet paper when they ran out, locating people that were lost in town, buying more paper goods… you get the idea. Adam was gone more than he was there, and his work was indispensable to the participation of Pastor Candelario, and the conference going smoothly in general. I had the blessing of cooking for the lunches (7 lbs of beans on Friday, and 64 cups of instant mashed potato flakes on Saturday, for anyone interested) and serving food at every meal. We ladies had a nice time chatting together as we heated tortillas, and prepared everything to be served before the meals. I love the fellowship and camaraderie that come with serving the Lord within the body of Christ! We also had a two of ladies from a church in Saltillo spend the night with us on Friday. Our kiddos were excited for the “sleepover” they had in the school room so that our new friends had real beds to sleep in.

The following day, we had our Sunday school rally!  For the past two years, I’ve been teaching children’s Sunday school classes at La Huerta. In just the last four months, Misael, our Sunday school superintendent, has changed the format of classes, and the kiddos (and teachers) love it! Every study unit is 4-5 weeks long. Then, after every unit is finished, we take a Sunday and review the entire unit all at once, in super fun ways. We’ve done skits, pantomime, played games, eaten snacks, run obstacle courses, and made crafts! With everything being at least loosely (we’re looking at you, Women at the Well water balloon fight) reviewing the Bible lessons they’ve learned. On the 7th, was our rally over the “Magnified!” VBS lessons we’d been using as Sunday school curriculum. My station, which was to review Jesus Calming the Storm, played a review game from my Child Evangelism Fellowship days called Zonk! The kiddos LOVED it!

    During that first week of September, Adam got a call from Pastor Candelario saying that a small group of believers about an hour north of town really needed food, as they were caring for a disabled relative and could no longer work. So, on Monday the 8th, Adam took one of our girls to the grocery store, and they loaded a shopping cart with food to give away. Other people from church had also donated various things, which were then loaded into the big 16-passenger van. Adam drove out to Estacion Madero along with Pastor Candelario, his wife, hermana Carmen, and another couple from church. While they were there, they were able to pray for, minister to, and share the gospel with those in need. Four families were depending on those groceries. Out of all of them, two ladies were our sisters in Christ. But after the good news of Jesus was shared, four others made a profession of faith, praise God!

    Tuesday, the 8th, Pastor Candelario and hermana Carmen came to breakfast! Scrambled eggs, rice, re-fried beans, tortillas, and hot coffee were on the menu. Then they got in our truck, and Adam drove them (are you seeing a theme here?) to a pastor’s meeting in Saltillo, to run a few errands, and ultimately a wedding of some dear friends. They were gone from 9am until after 10:30pm.

    While they were gone, we were doing school work, scrambling to tidy the house and our yard, and preparing meatloaf and veggies to eat with leftover mashed potatoes, because I had the privilege of hosting the women’s fellowship meeting! We had a very enjoyable time looking at why it’s important to study our Bibles, singing, memorizing scripture, eating, having fellowship together, and playing games.

    Wednesday morning, 2/3 of our family woke up sick. That put other ministry plans on hold until they were feeling better. Praise Jesus, it was very short-lived!

    Sunday the 14th, we had Sunday school in the morning, our kiddos took a siesta, and when they awoke we left for a fiesta! Mexican Independence Day is September 15th and 16th, so we as a church celebrated the 14th. Adam, Chloe, and I spent the early afternoon making beef and potato empanadas. They turned out so yummy! Then after the kids awoke from their naps, we went to Pastor’s home to help set up and decorate for the party. They were already almost done when we arrived, but we did get to help set up a few things, and greatly enjoyed the fellowship! About 6:15 pm, we had a church service, Pastor spoke about how true freedom can be found only in Jesus. Then we ate supper and played a lot of games! It was a very good time as a church family!

We’ve been trying to expand our Pastoral Ministry, and have gotten to know another pastor, hermano Luis and his family over this last year. On Tuesday, the 16th, they invited us to their home for their church prayer meeting and Independence Day supper. It was wonderful to spend a bit of time with them again!

Speaking of Pastoral Ministry, we also *finally* had Pastor Candelario and his family over again a couple of days ago! We love spending time with them, and typically do so on a weekly basis, having them come for supper and playing a game together, so that they have time to just relax and be “off work” ministry-wise. But due to the busyness of the beginning of September, and illness in our family, we were unable to get together just our family and theirs for just over three weeks. Sunday night they came and we had a simple meal, played Mexican Train Dominoes, and ate chocolate pudding. It was wonderful!

That’s about it for the update, other than normal weekly things. We still host the Men’s Prayer Meeting on Monday nights for the brothers in Christ from La Huerta, as well as hermano Luis, who comes when he can. Adam is currently teaching through Romans chapter eleven, they go through about five verses each week. He is also teaching a discipleship class for new believers during the Sunday school hour at La Huerta on Sundays. Tuesday is Women’s Fellowship Meeting, the hostess changes from week to week, with the occasional service project thrown in. I teach the kids at church every Sunday on a rotation with four other teachers (this week I taught all three age groups their Bible verse, next week, Lord willing, I’ll be teaching the middle and high schoolers their Bible lesson, and helping with crafts). We love ministry. There is always more work to do!

We do have other things coming up, even this week, so stay tuned for more updates!