Monday, Nov 24 Event

"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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" (Eph. 3:20)

Today was another amazing day! It was a mini Leadership Summit conference where Armando showed 3 messages (2 by Bill Hybels and 1 by John Ortberg) from Willowcreek's 2007 conference. About 40 leaders attended, one even drove 5 hours to attend! Apparently, everyone was glued to the screen and were like sponges trying to take in all they could...taking notes. By the way, thank you to those who donated small notebooks...they were used to the fullest!

After the first message was shown, they were supposed to break for lunch, but everyone unanimously wanted to hear more and decided to put off eating to listen to the second message. Today was the day lunch was provided. Again, thank you to those who donated some money...Armando says the money is being stretched like crazy for things like food today, help to pay for gas for those who traveled far to come, etc.

The pastor had told Armando about a few of the leaders that were very conservative and might not be open to the message of unity (the churches working together). But their hearts were open and they were very receptive and even excited about everything! Some of them have resources at their disposal and are already talking about doing this conference next year on a much bigger scale, bouncing off ideas of the logistics to make it happen. Unity has definitely started to happen!!

There was discussion and question/answer time at the end and even the people who said they could only stay till a certain time ended up staying. Some even ended up staying through dinner time and they all had bread and hot cocoa! (Acambaro is famous for their bread, very good by the way!)

Here's another really cool thing: one of the things Armando thought about before going was how cool it would be if down the line, we could somehow establish a bible institute where people/leaders can continue to develop their leadership abilities and have resourses to help them grow spiritually. Well, one of the couples who attended just happen to come up to Armando and said they have some land that they want to donate if there was ever a plan to build a bible institute. Just like that!!

Some things coming up and prayer requests Armando wanted me to pass on:
1) A 21-yr old girl named Karina is having a kidney transplant today (Tuesday) and her father, Hector is the donor, so pray for both of them.
2) One of the members in the Acambaro church, 21-yr old Marian was a former drug dealer who is now a Christian, has to leave Acambaro because she is being hunted down by the cartel. Pray for a shield of protection for her as she finds a new home somewhere.
3) Tuesday, Armando is conducting a talk on addictions (for the men only) so pray for open hearts and minds. Wednesday, they are visiting 2 churches in Michoacan, a city you don't really want to be in for very long as it is headquarters to one of the major cartels in Mexico and has had some violence lately.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. God is being glorified in this part of the world and I hope you are just as excited as I am to be "witnessing" His hand at work through these reports! Till next time...