Dear Friends:
Christmas is right around the corner! All you sponsors, it is time to prepare your student Christmas presents! We will be taking as many as we can to Palomas on November 8, so please get them to us by Nov. 7, if you can! We know we will end up taking a lot of them in December, but it is much easier if we can get a large number of them to Palomas in November. We always have a hard time crossing the border with a lot of gifts. They want to charge us for bringing them into Mexico. The government wants its share of Christmas, I guess. Anyway, all who can get their gifts to us before Nov. 8, we greatly appreciate it!
Several churches and groups stepped up to provide gifts for younger siblings of our sponsored students! Thank you!
We can feel an excitement building amongst the Pastors and adult leaders in the churches as we get ready for our church Fiesta. Each church will make a presentation at the annual Fiesta on December 9, whether it will be a drama, a puppet show, or something else! We will have worship, prayer, and encouragement, and, of course, a lot of fun celebrating the birth of Jesus! The Catholic church in Palomas has taken on the job of preparing all of the food! We would love to have any of you sponsors come and participate! Many hands are needed to keep everything flowing smoothly! If you want to come in the Light church van, contact Emiliano (505) 795-3074 to be included in the group.
Also, our student meeting this month is on November 11. If you would like to come in the church van, please contact Emiliano. We encourage everyone to come on Friday night so we can spend time in fellowship and preparation for Saturday meetings. God is moving in our midst! Come see what He is doing in Palomas!
This month, our lesson will continue to focus on helping the kids to discover their purpose—why has God created them as a unique individual, different from all other people on the planet? Our over-all question this month is: Your Giftedness and your Calling. Your gifts and talents ultimately came from God, but is God getting any of their benefits?
We will start with talking about how much God loves us!
Eph 3:16-21 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
What kinds of power might God give us? Power to help someone who is really hurting. Power to bring joy where there is sorrow. Power to bring a sense of purpose to a person who thinks their life doesn’t mean anything valuable. Power to bring healing to people. Power to have all needs in life met. Power to overcome selfishness and other sins. Jesus’s power is as big as God himself, and so He can empower us with things that are not possible on our own.
These are wonderful and powerful reminders for all of us! God is for us! There is no limit to His power at work in us when we are fulfilling His purposes in our lives!
Paul talks about some specific gifts in Eph. 4 Verse 11-16: Some of us have been given special ability as apostles; to others he has given the gift of being able to preach well; some have special ability in winning people to Christ, helping them to trust him as their Savior; still others have a gift for caring for God's people as a shepherd does his sheep, leading and teaching them in the ways of God. 12 Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God's people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity; 13 until finally we all believe alike about our salvation and about our Savior, God's Son, and all become full-grown in the Lord-yes, to the point of being filled full with Christ. NLT
We can summarize all of this as: The more we focus our lives on bringing glory to God and expanding His kingdom, the more our talents and His gifts in us will be apparent. So we can ask ourselves: Am I a spectator in God’s Kingdom, or am I a participant? What godly fruit is evident in my life? Can I see any of God’s special gifts at work in my life? How am I becoming more like Jesus?
Your answers: ____________________________________________
We want to give a special shout out to all of you sponsors, as you help us to bring God’s Kingdom into these kids and their families!
May God pour out His Blessings upon you,
Jim and Pat