JANUARY MINISTRY UPDATE

Greetings everyone! Thank you for all of your prayers this last month. At the beginning of the year, we asked you to pray for…

* Jesús Hernández (Chuy) Chuy is back in Oaxaca and I had the opportunity to talk with him on the phone this past week. He said that the Lord has been blessing him even though it’s been a real challenge for him. They are constantly busy and are submersed in the Word. “It’s a lot of work, but I’m being blessed” were his words. Thank you for keeping him in prayer.
* New Church Construction The rafters are up! And everyone was kept safe. I posted some pictures on our blog here and here. Dave, as well, wrote a report about the three days it took to lift up and set the 11 rafters. You will find it very interesting coming from Dave first hand; he does a great job of making you feel like you were there, hoping no one falls off of the scaffolding! Read it here.
* Cy-Fair Ladies short term mission’s team came down to spend a week with the ladies of our church. They have done a great job connecting with the women here and it’s a group that they all look forward to every year.

There were a few other events that took place this month that are worth mentioning. Especially the Quinceañera that I was involved in and asked prayer for in the middle of the month. Many of you responded and said you would be praying and would continue to pray for that family. My intentions were to use this opportunity as an open door to reach out to this family and I believe that is still happening. As Christians, we believe that what they are involved in is demonic activity. They have left the church and started to attend wholeheartedly a meeting where they do not use the Bible because it’s considered a legendary book instead of the Inspired Word of God. They are wrong. Instead, they get their teachings from an actual spirit that shows up at their meetings called “father jesus” who teaches to them in parables things that are not found in the Bible. If you would like to know more about this, I would be glad to share with you. In the meantime, please keep praying for a spiritual breakthrough for this family. I had the opportunity yesterday of talking with Juan Abel (the birthday girl’s dad) about what he believes and tried to shed light on some of the false doctrine he now has. I really, really appreciate your prayers over me and others as we attended/officiated this event. A lady in the congregation who was at the event said she realized how powerful God is and the significance of the special opportunity it was to hear the Word of God at the event as she saw a bright white glow right where I was standing while I was speaking—she did not know that so many people were praying until after she shared her testimony at church and I had a chance to talk with her. Thank you!

Also, Geña and I and the girls, as well as the youth and student leaders along with a few students are going to Oaxaca City on a Missions trip! This is our first Short-term missions trip as a youth group and we are really excited about it. We are still in the planning stage, but the purpose will be to help a Missionary who lives in Oaxaca City start a youth group with a “Young Life” or “Youth for Christ” flavor; there is no church in the village where he wants to do this. This is an exciting opportunity for us and the youth! Oaxaca City is about 17 hours south of here.
Finally, there is a team here from His Place church in Mount Vernon, Washington working on smooth-walling all of the classrooms and there are a couple of people helping Dave weld the cross-beams on the roof. They are doing an excellent job as they always do when they come.

This month, would you please pray for…

* Student Leadership Conference Every year the youth pastors of Cy-Fair Church in Houston come down to share with our students on a specific area of leadership. This year they will be focusing on what motivates service using Mark 10:45 as a text. This is always a great time! Please pray for open hearts in our youth, clear understanding through the Interpreters and that the students would “get it.” (Feb 5-8)
* Family Conference Doug and Jan Taylor will be sharing with Couples, Youth, and the congregation. They will be talking to the youth about purity, so this should be very good! Pray again for open hearts in the church body and clear understanding through the Interpreters. (Feb 13-15)
* Winnipeg Team There will be a team of electricians here to accomplish quite a bit in the classrooms and putting street lights up outside the church. Pray for safety. (Feb 12-19)
* Juan Abel and his family Please continue to pray for this family. They have allowed America (the birthday girl) to come to church; she has been attending ever since the party. Specifically agree with me that the Holy Spirit will disrupt their meetings and not allow the “father jesus spirit” to have anything to do with them anymore. Let’s pray for their rescue!
* Oaxaca Missions Trip Pray for…
-- Safety in travel.
-- That the right people will go.
-- Protection of the Holy Spirit.
-- That the hearts of the youth in Oaxaca will be open to the Gospel message.
-- For finances—each team member needs to come up with +/- $120 usdollars. Geña and I will need $360 to $400 for this trip, click here to see how you can help.
-- For finances—in general, we will need around $1,200 usdollars for extra expenses: ministry projects, construction projects, emergency, etc. Click here to donate to “Cofradía Youth Missions”.
-- Anything else the Lord leads you in.
-- **The dates are April 3-10**

Thank you very much for your prayers and continued support.

Blessings,
Steve, Geña, Rebecka and Emma Rose Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico

PS-Amber Crafton, a missionary with us, has a blog as well and I recently noticed that she posted about our Christmas Dinner with the Student Leadership. She has some great pictures and does a great job in sharing about the evening (I think it’s the only picture we got of our Christmas tree this year!).