Wednesday, July 18, 2018

La Mision

"The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need."
Psalm 23:1

¡HOLA from Puerto Vallarta Mexico! The past 23 days have been a blessing and a little bit crazy! I arrived in Vallarta on June 26th to partner with Frank and Rebecca Arellanes. Took the first few days to settle in and prepare for my time here. We met people, set up my apartment and made plans for the summer course we are currently doing in La Mision. La Mision is where the Arellanes have a church plant and do most of their ministry. I chose to live here in the apartment above the church. This way I can be closer to the people and interact with them on a daily basis. 

July 3rd Sarah (a young gal who is here for 6 months to serve) and I started a summer course for the kids of La Mision. We have classes 4 days a week from 11-2. We average about 25 kids each day. Our classes are sports, english, crafts and music. We also give the kids a little snack during our time together. The verse above and the little sheep are a few of the things the kids have learned. Yes, they learned a verse in english and most of them can say it from memory.  Below are a few pictures of the kids during class. 
Music class with Sarah and Francisco (a leader from church)
Crafts with Alicia
 English class with Alicia (they love the game in the picture on the left)
 More crafts with Alicia, the two little ones in the picture on the left come back to play/help us when class is over.
Please pray for these little souls, they are so precious to us and to our Heavenly father. We have been blessed to get to share with them that God is our good shepherd and cares for us always! 

On our days off Sarah and I have been taking in beach time to beat the heat. The only down side is that the water here isn't as cold as we hoped it would be! None the less we have a goal to visit beaches on all our days off! God's creations is so beautiful and so is the friendship we share. 

 This week we will end our Summer course and then use next week to prepare for Vacation Bible School the following week, July 30-August 2. The Arellanes, Sarah, a few other visitors and I will be helping the church in La Mision put this on for the kids here. We are excited to share with the kids what it means to be an Agent of the Truth and who the Truth is! Please pray for us as we gear up to share the love of Christ with these kids. 

There are so many other great things happening here and stories I already have of how God is working. I'm excited to see what other awesome things He has in store for me during my time here. 

Thank you for praying with me for this transition and new ministry. 

Blessings! 
Alicia 
awhitmore@fim.org 

Fellowship International Mission 
555 S 24th St 
Allentown, PA 18104