NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

Here is our latest update...


¡SALUDOS!
Greetings everyone! We pray that this letter finds you in good health and passionate about Jesus! We’re excited about the weather change here; it’s been nice and cool for a week now. No more hot and humid days and nights for a while.

FAMILY NEWS

From November 28 to December 11 we will be in Tucson, Arizona to renew visas and spend those two weeks with my parents who drove down from Washington to spend that time with us. We have all battled colds in the past couple of weeks; Rebecka is pretty much over it, and Emma is still coughing, but getting better. One of Emma’s new things is clapping while Rebecka sings. It’s very cute! Rebecka was also involved in her first parade. On November 20 (Mexican Revolution Day), she got to march around town along with her kindergarden classmates.

MINISTRY
It has been a very exciting time here in the past few months, especially with the youth. Since July, we have seen a number of students grow stronger in the Lord and new students respond to God’s call. Here are a few of the activities that we’ve had…

El RETO (The CHALLENGE).


This, by far, has been the biggest event we’ve had for the youth. It is hard to put into words the experience we had. Originally, we started this game last year because some of the youth were growing “tired” of bible study after bible study. Some even quit going to church and never really made it a priority. Last year was a fun, successful time of bringing back in the “tired” ones. This year, we did it again because of the fun we had last year and we added a few more things so it would be a great learning experience for everyone. Our primary goal was outreach; we wanted to reach out to more youth in the area, include the new students coming into Jr. High, and involve the fringe youth. We were so pleased on how this year turned out. We had 14 adults helping out with details, leading games, and serving the youth. The team leaders (students) had more exposure as leaders and more freedom to lead their teams. This was our secondary purpose…to give the student leaders experience in leading groups. It was great! They ALL did a great job and we gave them certificates of appreciation at the end. It was also great to see some of the students who weren’t designated leaders step up and be great encouragers and strengthen their teammates when times when discouragement set in. This brought together the students; they made friends and they learned how to work together. Each week we gave a devotional from Philippians and encouraged them to apply the devotionals to the challenges of that week. The team leaders had time to spend with their team talking about the devotions and encouraging their team. It was a great success and the students are already looking forward to next year. I posted a more detailed report on this event in October. You can read more or watch the video online.


VIDA Abundante (Abundant Life)
At the same time we started a Friday night Youth Meeting in our home. This is a time that we study God’s Word and are able to have a time of Worship. Many of the new students who participated in EL RETO have started to come to this meeting and it has been a wonderful fellowship time.

CRUZ AGUA (A Waterpark in La Cruz, Sinaloa)
One weekend in November we took 16 students and 3 leaders in our 15 passenger ministry van 5 hours north to a Youth Conference at a waterpark with another chruch. This was an amazing time for the students who were taught about “Living Under God’s Authority.” You can read a report about it online.

I could go on and on about what God is doing. This is a very exciting time and we are blessed to have partners like you who have joined us to be part of His work.

Please continue to pray.

SUPPORT ADDRESS
Thank you for continuing to be part of our team and supporting our ministry. If you haven’t yet joined our team of supporters, please consider joining.

· Send to:
Alternative Missions
PO Box 5835
Goodyear, AZ 85338
· Checks made out to ALTERNATIVE MISSIONS
· Send a note on a separate piece of paper indicating that it is for Cofradía Staff Members: Steve and Efigenia Silberman.
· Or, another option is sending online at:
https://www.egivingsystems.org/support/42705/
This page is found at http://www.alternativemissions.com/ under the “Donate Online” tag as you place the mouse over the “staff” heading.
· Thanks again for being part of our team!

†MANNA†
I’ve just finished reading a book in spanish called, "Seamos Personas de Influencia" by John Maxwell and Jim Dornan. I think the title in English is, "How to be an Influencial Person". In the book, I came across a quote by author and conference speaker, Richard Exley. This is what he has to say about friendship.

(translated)..."A true friend is someone who listens and understands when you express your deepest feelings. He supports you when you struggle; He corrects you, gently and with love, when you're wrong; and he forgives you when you fail. A true friend impels you to personal growth, he stretches you so you can reach your full potential. And what's most surprising is that he celebrates your successes with you as if they were his own."

May the Lord bless you all,

Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico
Alternative Missions

Update

Thank you so much for your prayers. Emma is doing a lot better. It's Saturday night and we're half-way done with the weekend. Friday night went well; the Bible study was short because of my voice, but I think it was understandable. We talked about "Finishing the Race". We had 17 students crammed into our living room and had fun in the end with a rendition of Pictionary with everyone. Tonight's Youth Event went well also. There is a HUGE party on the other side of town with very loud music, a dance, bull-riding, and who knows what else. Only a few students showed up, but it was a very good meeting. Missionary Dave Elias preached on the story of Martha and Mary when Jesus went to visit them. In the end, everyone was prayed for. It's been nice to have a few new faces in these past couple of meetings. We're going to have an organized soccer tournament after Christmas and the guys have been practicing quite a bit out in Arrayanes; we have a speed soccer court on the church property out there. A number of new guys have been starting to come to the youth meetings as a result of the soccer tournament and it hasn't even started yet.

Pictionary at Abundant LIFE Youth Home Group

Dave preaching at the LIFE Night Youth Event

Thanks again for praying.

Emma's Progress

Thank you for your continued prayers. Emma continues with her little battle. She had a mild fever last night, but was able to sleep most of the night. Today she has had times of being alert and looking like she's getting a lot better, yet she's also had time like just about an hour ago that she looks miserable inside. We believe that it's nothing real serious, just a cold and cough that has hit her pretty hard.

Rebecka is still doing a lot better. She's pretty much over whatever she had last week.

As for myself, I've had a sore throat for a couple of days and we're coming up on a very busy weekend. I lead a Bible study tonight, tomorrow morning we have worship practice, in the afternoon we have drama practice, in the evening we have a youth event that I'll be leading worship at, but not preaching (thank you Jesus!). Then, on Sunday I'll be leading worship in both services. So, I should be pretty warn out for our trip on Monday morning. Please keep my health in prayer as well as Gena. She hasn't had any signs of being sick, pray that it stays that way.

Thank you once again for your prayers.

Update on Emma

Emma is doing much better. Last night she continued to have a high fever until 2am. Finally, it went down and she was able to rest. There were scary moments that she looked kinda delerious and didn't have any strength at all. Her crying was faint, yet she was still taking in water and had a really wet diaper in the morning. When she woke up she was alert and sitting up, even clapping to Rebecka's singing. At the moment, she is sound asleep and does not have a fever. Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray for full recovery.

Please Pray for Emma

Emma Rose isn't doing well. Last week Rebecka had a cold and a bad cough. We were able to get some medicine for her and now she's a lot better. Now Emma has it, but worse. She has had a fever off and on all day. Gena took her to the doctor this morning while I was in a staff meeting and the doctor gave her some meds. This afternoon she had a fever of over 102 degrees. After bathing her, she's doing a little better. But please pray for her that she will recover quickly. We'll be travelling next week to the border to renew visas and travelling while you're sick isn't the funnest. Thank you!

I'll keep you posted on her progress.

November 20

November 20 is the Day of the Revolution here in Mexico. No one goes to work, no one goes to school, it's a holiday. This is the first time I've actually been interested in the morning parade. Rebecka was in it. She and her classmates marched around the town with their little trinkets. Half of the mothers were with the kindergardeners, so we didn't get a real good picture of Rebecka. But it was fun to watch her. Here are a few pics...

Ministry in Cofradia

Recently an article about the ministry in Cofradia was posted on the Alternative Missions website. It gives you some general insight of the overall ministry, a youth ministry report, a report about the indigenous work in Mojocuautla, a report of how the church in Arrayanes is doing, and an update on our new staff. Take a look...
http://www.alternativemissions.com/News/From%20the%20Field.ashx?212_na=225&p=79

The Weekend in La Cruz

We left Friday as soon as the students were let out of school and arrived in La Cruz at CRUZ AGUA (water park) in time to set up tents and get ready for the evening service. On Saturday the youth were able to play in the pool and they had a time of organized games. It was a really good time. Amber Crafton, a missionary who has just joined our staff, went with us and wrote this about the weekend...

"Friday night the speaker taught on authority and submission and the importance of submitting ourselves to the authority of anointed leaders that are over us and making sure that we are living under the covering that the Lord has provided for us both in Himself but also in the leaders he has put over us. Saturday night he spoke about the hunger that we as humans have and the importance of making sure that we satisfy our hunger in the Lord rather than in the world because to satisfy our hunger with what the world offers is to throw the inheritance that the Lord offers us in Him right into the trash, and to live a life that never finds satisfaction! The weekend ended with a time of prayer both for the pastors that were present but also for the youth that they would choose the inheritance the Lord has for them and choose to submit themselves to the authority over them so as to walk in all the promises that God has for them."

It was a great time!!

Off to La Cruz, Sinaloa

I'm off to La Cruz this morning with the youth group. We'll be taking the ministry van that many of you gave donations for and we'll have 15 or 16 youth going with 3 adults...it will be loaded and we'll pull a little utility trailer for luggage. Many times the students from La Cruz have come for youth events here in Cofradia and now they have invited us. They are renting a water park for us to take over and we'll be sleeping in tents at the water park tonight. It should be a lot of fun and the youth are excited. The theme of the preaching time will be "Submission to Authority." It should be really good. We'll be back late Saturday night. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Day of the Dead

Yesterday, November 2, was the Day of the Dead here in Mexico. Much like Memorial Day in the states, people go and take flowers to their loved one's grave. Some people go even further with the tradition of praying for their loved ones and taking food to them. When I was in High School, we learned that some people believed that the dead returned that night to come and eat what they had given. I'm not sure if that's really what the people here believe, but I'm sure some birds had a good meal.

We went with Hugo (brother-in-law) and his wife Norma to the grave of my father-in-law to clean it and put some flowers on it. When we got there, it was already cleaned probably by other relatives. Leonardo Diaz died of prostate cancer in May of 1999, 1 1/2 years before Gena and I got married. I remember him as being a neat guy. Before I came to Cofradia more than ten years ago, he helped a lot with the construction of the mission base where we currently hold our Sunday services.