It’s usually kind of hard to know how to start these letters, kind of like in school staring at a blank sheet of paper. What should we lead off with? Where to begin? That’s a little like our past month here in Puebla. We’re very much starting out. We’re blessed to have many friends here and to know our way around pretty well, but we’re starting from scratch in terms of ministry. That means we have lots of little things to report, but nothing big. We’re kind of like an architect at the end of the day: lots of little lines but no building! But those “little lines” are really the most important part of the building, aren’t they? So here are a few lines to tell you about:

Team-building.
We spent a week with Eddie Ferguson, a young man from Indiana who completed language school in August and is interested in coming down to work with us and help in a variety of capacities. We have also spent a good deal of time with Bryan and Susan Nevin who have been planting a church outside of Mexico City. We’ve been able to talk about their working here in a few years. This coming Friday we’ll be attending a small group in Pueblo Nuevo. We met most of the members at their church on Sunday and things look very promising. They seemed very excited about reaching the neighborhood and seem like a sharp group of people. At the very least they’re very friendly. We spent an hour after church talking to them and they all told us how they normally hang out together until 12, 1, 2 AM after the Bible study! Additionally we have talked with numerous friends who are interested in working with us in some capacity either in the schools or in special projects. Friday Tim will attend a meeting of the association of churches to present our plans to the pastors. This team-building is probably the most critical aspect of our work right now. The ministry itself will be so much more effective (and enjoyable) if we have a team of people with the right gifts united in the same purpose.

Contacts in Pueblo Nuevo
Right now this is in the early stage of making contacts. We have an appointment with the principal of an elementary school on Wednesday. We hope to talk with the neighborhood president soon as well. It’s important however, for us to start work in the neighborhood alongside Mexican believers–which is why we’re so excited about the small group. By ourselves it would be entirely possible for us to get immediately pulled into “ministry” without having the capacity to handle growth and new opportunities.

Getting settled
We’ve been looking at houses in Pueblo Nuevo. We’re still waiting for the “right one”, if that’s how God chooses to provide (and if not, we trust for wisdom to make a good choice!). We have friends in the neighborhood on the lookout as well as a real estate agent, and we’ve been looking as well. So we trust that God will provide in his time…but it’s hard to wait! Pueblo Nuevo is not the normal place for foreigners to be looking for housing, so we’ve had some good opportunities to confuse the realtor, and to explain why we want to live there.

So that gives you an idea of where things are with us. We’ve also enjoyed reconnecting with old friends, seeing how our old church is doing (really pretty well), and catching up on our favorite foods (as some of our posts on Facebook demonstrate)! We spent Thanksgiving up with our EBM colleagues, the Nevins, outside of Mexico City. It was a great time. We have so much to be thankful for. God was so good on our trip down, and he has provided very good temporary housing for us here.

Help Wanted
We will keep you posted on the possible need for medical professionals for a clinic in Pueblo Nuevo in late March. This was one of the needs mentioned by the neighborhood president, and we may be able to partner with another ministry here to host one towards the end of March. So, if you are a doctor or nurse (or of a related profession) and would be interested, please stay tuned for details to come!