December Newsletter

Welcome to the Christmas season! Being in a bigger city this year, we notice much more in the way of Christmas decorations. We have even seen some stores selling live Christmas trees - of course - we haven't seen anyone actually buy a tree!! Customs and traditions are much different here - especially in the Christian church. Christians tend to shy away from putting up any type of decoration at all. We are enjoying learning more about the Oaxacan culture every day.

Speaking of Christmas, we are thrilled that we will be able to spend Christmas with our family and friends in Bradenton. We should arrive in FL by the 13th. We hope to see as many of you as we can while in FL. We have an nine minute slide presentation with many photos of our ministry here. If your family or your group would enjoy seeing it and hearing more about our ministry here, please email us at lacyalia@yahoo.com and let us know. We would love to come and share with you!

We will also be having a Oaxacan Mercado. If you'll be in Bradenton, come visit and get some Christmas shopping done. We'll have a lot of handmade jewlery, toys, clothing and accessories. Come see the beautiful artesania from Oaxaca! The mercado will be at The Bridge Church on 75th Street West on the evening of Monday, December 15th. We hope to see you!

We had our Celebration with our two Kid's Clubs. We had a total of about 35 people present. The children of our church presented two plays. Lisa presented the Gospel, using a balloon and the colors of salvation wordless book. We enjoyed refreshments before sitting down for an outdoor movie. All had a good time and the weather cooperated and it wasn't too cold! The evening ended with drawings for toys - always a hit!! Below are pictures from the celebration.

Once again, we want to thank all of you, our faithful supporters. Your prayers, financial support, and encouragement mean so much to us! We hope you all have a Very Blessed Christmas!!

For His Glory,

Carl, Lisa, Lacy, Alia, Noah, and Molly

November Newsletter

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures." Psalm 118:1

The Lord has shown His goodness to us this month. We have started our English classes back up after our trip to Texas. We are working with one family in particular; Lisa teaches the children and Carl teaches their father who is studying for his doctorate degree. After having them come to our English classes, we invited them to our new Kid's Club that we started at our home. They arrived 30 minutes early and were very excited to be part of the club. They have been eagerly inviting others to come the club, as well.

Game time at our new Saturday morning Kid's Club

Our new Kid's Club is a 6-week program. We are learning that Jesus wants us to "Be a Good Friend," "Be Brave," "Be Gentle," "Be Happy," and "Be Kind." We are studying the scriptures, playing games, and making crafts. So far, we have had 8 kids come. This Saturday will be our third week. We are hoping to have the children from the church we are attending come and perform a play for our Kid's Club. Recently, Lacy, Alia and Noah have been involved in dramas at church. The first play was "Who is Jesus Christ?" and the second was about "Finding Joy in the Lord."

Game time at our Saturday pm Kid's Club-
had to change the water in the game to packing
peanuts for this club!

Gracia and Molly were on clean-up duty!

We are making plans to visit Florida in December. We will be attending a training/orientation with CTEN in Kerrville, TX on Dec. 9-11th and then driving to Florida. We are looking forward to seeing many of you and are already choosing what pictures we want to bring home to show you!!

Also, we are excited to be bringing home artesania from Oaxaca to display and sell in our very own "Oaxacan Mercado" to raise money for our ministries here. Details will be coming! Please plan on visiting our mercado to get a taste of Oaxacan culture and do some Christmas shopping at the same time!

Wishing you all a very Blessed Thanksgiving!!

For His Glory,
Carl, Lisa, Lacy, Alia, Noah, and Molly