Baptisms and end of year activities

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Sprit."

Matthew 28:19

One Friday before Holy week/Spring break, two kids (Jenny and Julian) from church invited me to their sports day at school. This time I was with Jenny's group. They played "cachi-bol", better know as a version of volleyball. In this version you don't hit the ball, you catch it, hence the "cachi". Julian's 3rd grade team won their section of soccer!! Yay! 

Days like these are so fun. The kids all shout my name and give me big hugs. Jenny told one of her classmates, "Hey! Alicia is here with me!" This interaction at the school helps me meet parents and be more involved in the community.  

During the Holy week vacations we spent 4 days in Guadalajara. Two of those days were spent at training for camp this summer. We played games, did team building activities, talked about counseling and several other things for camp. It was so much fun to spend time with old and new friends. After the meetings one of my friends invited me to hang out with her and another friend. We ate ice cream and talked, what a BLESSING it was to be with them. 

 After much anticipation and with great joy we attended the wedding of Francisco and Maribel. Francisco is a friend and leader at church. It was a privilege to be part of their special day. They asked me to be the "Madrina de la Biblia"; which means I gifted them a bible and presented it to them at the wedding. I encouraged them to study their bible daily and to continue to grow in their relationship with God, the only one who can make their marriage work. 

 Praise the Lord for our youth group!! These people are such a blessing to me. They are faithful and know how to have fun together. During Spring Break we had a fun night at the beach and then a movie and very little sleep at Frank and Rebecca's house in Vallarta. It was a great opportunity to get to know them all better. 

Easter Sunday we had a grill out in the park by the church. It was a special way to celebrate our risen LORD! 

The following Sunday we headed to the beach where several people from church took a step of obedience and were baptized. We celebrated with a lunch and time of fellowship together. God is so good! 

The weekend of Mother's day we had a breakfast for all the ladies in the church. We invited other ladies from the community as well. Rebecca shared the gospel and encouraged us to have a heart like Christ's. 

This past Friday we ended our women's bible study for the year. We shared what we had learned and encouraged each other one last time. Rebecca and Karissa will be heading back to the United States for a furlough and Karissa will be starting college in the fall, we celebrated their ministry and thanked them for their friendships on Friday too. They will be greatly missed. (Rebecca will be back in early 2020 and for camp this summer) 

 On Saturday we had our last AWANA day in the park for the school year. Several kids graduated to their new class and others graduated to Youth group! This ministry is growing and the kids love learning their verses. We will miss them in this break but have several fun things planned for them during summer vacation! 

Youth group: we welcomed the new youth from AWANA to our group with games, and at the same time said "see you later" to Karissa. She has been such a leader and key player in getting this group started. Each of us told her how much we are going to miss her and thanked her for being an example of Christ to us. This summer the youth will start having english classes as an outreach, do service in the neighborhood, practice dramas for VBS and enjoy a week at camp. Lot of exciting things happening. 

Prayer request: Please pray with us in this season of transition. We are going to miss Frank, Rebecca and Karissa very much. We know they will be back and that God is always with us. May the church grow and may we be faithful and a good testimony in all that we do for the Kingdom. 

Thank you for standing with us. 

Blessings,

Alicia 

awhitmore@fim.org

Fellowship International Mission

555 S 24th St

Allentown, PA 18104