Dear praying friends,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Raul and I hope that you all had a wonderful time celebrating our Saviour’s birth and the blessing of starting a new year.

Thank you for your prayers and support through the Christmas season. It was a really busy time, and we have to admit, a bit stressful. We helped to organize the school, youth and Las Jaguitas Christmas parties along with a Christmas skit for the kids from church. With a baby on the way, it was a little draining.

However, despite the craziness, we were able to delight in the Saviour’s birth. We were also encouraged by the presence of a handful of youth during the church Christmas festivities. Some of them finished a 12 week discipleship program right before Christmas and as we look back over the past year we can see how those youth have grown in their walk with God. They have even made regular church attendance a priority. This may not seem like a big feat to many, but these youth are 14-16 years old and whose families don’t come to church. It takes a lot of commitment at that age to wake oneself up and go to church while the rest of one’s family is sleeping.

Please continue praying for these youth. We have seen so many youth come and go from our church and we pray that these who are showing signs of growth will continue strong and that others would join them.

These youth had their spiritual interest sparked last year at camp and made it through the year walking with Christ. As camp comes up again, pray that those who are walking strong would come away even more encouraged and that other youth would catch the same interest in a lasting way. We are excited because our church from Canada will be sending a team to camp right over the week that our youth will be there. So they will get to have a part in encouraging these them on their spiritual journey!

In Him,

Raúl and Jessenia

First picture- the youth Christmas party
Second picture- the youth and leaders who were part of the discipleship course.