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March 12
Greetings
& Saludos from Castaños. We had a great trip down to Castaños yesterday. We
picked up Susie at the border, after crossing the bridge, and we discovered how
overpacked the van was. With Susie's help, we had green lights all the way through the
border and easy passage through immigration. We stopped for lunch in Piedras
Negras at the Belen Mission and the ladies of the church were selling tamales as
a fundraiser for an overhead projector, so we had delicious tamales. We stopped
at Agapita Flores' cousin's hamburger stand in Sabinas for a Coca Cola in glass
bottles made with sugar cane syrup instead of Corn syrup.
On the next leg of our trip we began to see
mountains in the distance. We arrived in Monclova about 6 pm and stopped for dinner at a
very nice restaurant called La Campanera (the belfry) and there
was a bell over the doorway that you ring as you leave if you like the food. But
we were forwarned that recently when Juvenal went there for dinner he rang the
bell a little too hard and it came crashing down just in front of his face.
Dinner was great and spicier than we’re used to. Roberto Medina and Juvenal
joined us breifely for dinner from their Noreste Presbytery meeting.
After a
stop for a few items at the busy supermercado, we headed to Castaños, passing
the steel mill on the way in. We arrived at the manse at about 8:30 where we
were welcomed with open arms by some of the local members, we shared prayers in
English and Spanish, after we unloaded the van. We had a devotional lead by
Daniel to discuss the cross and its powerful message and how we may use the
cross to minister to others. We learned
a short song in Spanish, Alabare, and also sang one in English. And then we were
ready to retire for the evening since we had to get up to go to church in Monclova at the
closing service for the Presbytery meeting, which was a wonderful service.
In His service (Su servidor),
Jon Royston
March
13
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We were at church this morning from 10
am to almost 2 pm, but that included a lunch
with all the Presbytery meeting folks. There's a picture as we're standing next to the manse waiting to leave and if
you look in the background behind the trash dumpster, you can see the mountains
in the distance. Also, you can see the living room in the manse when we were
meeting for our devotional. Then, the remainder of the photos, I believe are at
the church in Monclova, called Sinai Presbterian Church, including a picture of
the front, the pastor delivering the sermon, all of us in a circle around the
inside of the church as we closed, and lunch following the service.
The sermon was delivered in a very dramatic
tones and gestures and was based on Acts chapter 2: 41 - 47 and the 4
characteristics of the early church, 1. it's foundation in the teaching of the
good news, 2. the love and communion of the believers with each
other, (temporarily forgot the 3rd point) and 4. the growth of the community by
taking the word to others and bringing them into the community to be saved. The
challenge (reto) for the representatives and members of all the churches in the
noreste presbytery is for each member to bring in another person this year. The
long term goal of the General Assembly of Mexico according to Esau (el
predicador de hoy) was to grow the Mexican church from its current 1.8 million
to 5 million by the year 2020. I think we could learn something from this
challenge.
One interesting difference in the service is the way the offering was
collected for the Presbytery. Each church was called upon and then a
representative of that church went forward to give his church's offering.
There was also an offering for the Presbyterian seminary in Mexico city, which
is having difficulty making payroll. The profs at the seminary make only $1500
pesos per month, about $150, which is clearly not enough to live on. So seminary
profs must work 2 jobs to support themselves. There's also a great shortage of
ministers, they could use another 1500 ministers to fill all the positions that
are open. So, there are a lot of lay leaders, such as is the case in Castaños.
Su servidor,
Jon
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