The Smith Connection

Download the Word version of our prayer letter.

Download file

Download the PDF version of our prayer letter

Download file

Posted by Bryan at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you ever have an itchy lower lip, DO NOT try scratching it by sitting on the kitchen counter and leaning over to scratch it on the edge of that counter...

...Tara DID try this and ended up landing face first on the floor. Tara took her fall on Thursday evening. The damage didn't look too bad until about an hour later when we noticed her gums had turned black, and several of her front teeth were loose.

We took her to the dentist the following morning. The x-rays revealed the broken roots of two of her front teeth.

So last night we took her back to the dentist so that the dentist could take the damaged teeth out. Tara was brave and did a great job.

The dentist apparently did a great job too, because after being home only an hour, Tara was asking when she could go back to the dentist again!!! Maybe there was some mental damage as well! Ha - Ha! She is now very proud of the empty space in her mouth.

Posted by Lori at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Why are these chairs chained to the fence? Can you imagine keeping your place in line for a week so that your child might have a place in the public school? Read on...

We recently learned that two of our church families, Jesus & Monica and Mauricio & Jessica, had to keep their place in line for a whole week in order for their children to get into the public kindergarten. There were a total of 100 places in two different public kindergartens for over 200 kids that needed a place, so the parents started getting in line a week before the spots were to be given on a first-come-first-serve basis. During the week the parents took turns guarding their spots, but the night before the school handed out the placement papers, all the parents had to be in line all night to keep others from cutting in. Of course they are just thankful to have a place to send their kids to school. Some areas of the world don't have that. Sometimes I think we are not as thankful as we should be for all that the Lord has blessed us with, and how good we truly have things. We thank the Lord that both of our church families were able to get a place for their children.

Monica with her daughter, Daniela, in their line. Mauricio and Jessica with their two boys, Fabricio and Luciano.

The area where these two families live is just exploding in population, and there are insufficient schools to meet the population demands. We have a total of four families in our church who live in this area of Cerrito Colorado, and our plan, Lord willing, is to help start a new work in this area when we return from our home assignment. There is very little gospel presence in the area. PLEASE PRAY!

Part of Cerrito Colorado. Mauricio and Jessica live in the enclosed community pictured above.

Posted by Bryan at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CLICK BELOW FOR MORE PICTURES

*Click on the thumbnails for a larger image

FAMILY

Kendra, Tara, and Ben

Ben chasing pigeons

Kendra and Tara at a park

Ben with Dina from church

Bryan with Daryl and Jenn Martin at the Basilica in Mexico City

MINISTRY

Daryl and Jenn Martin were down from PA for the CAM Mexico Partnership Forum.
Here part of the group that came down is pictured with Mauricio and Bryan. They
had the opportunity to hear Mauricio's testimony and some future plans for our church.

Playing a game at our marriage supper on January 27. We praise the Lord for the 9 couples in attendance.

Youth activity on January 28. We praise God that good number of youth came.

Rodrigo teaching Sunday School for the first time. Fernando leading the chruch service. Dinorah and Karen teaching Sunday school. Jesus and Sergio counting the offering. We praise God that more of the believers are getting involved.

Posted by Bryan at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CLICK BELOW FOR SOME RECENT PRAYER ITEMS

"I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8 (NASB)

*IMPORTANT NOTE: We are beginning to set our calendar for our home assignment time. We plan to be based in PA from August 2006 through June 2007. Please contact us with any specific dates that you would like us to be with you or at your church so that we can put them on our calendar. We hope to see and visit with many of you during that time.

Dear Prayer Partner,

We need to continually set the Lord before us and our plans. With Him before us we cannot be shaken, whatever difficult times we might go through. Please continue to lift us up before the throne of grace:

PRAISES
1) We praise God for a great CAM Mexico Partnership Forum in January. We hosted Daryl and Jenn Martin from Christian Fellowship Church, New Holland, PA, for this time of seeing what CAM's ministry in Mexico is about and how to be involved. People from various US churches came down to Mexico for this forum, and we praise God that it went very well.
2) We praise God for the home assignment seminar we were able to attend here in Mexico in preparation for our time in the US on home assignment coming up later this year. It was a very helpful time of eye-opening and planning. We learned very much and got some goals and plans in place.
3) We praise God for more people getting involved here at the New Birth Bible Church. The transition seems to be going in the right direction for our departure.

PRAYER ITEMS
1) Please continue to pray for our transition for home assignment. Pray that our children would adjust and do well as we hope to put Kendra and Tara into the public school system for that year. Pray that our housing situation would be concreted in the Lord's timing. We praise God that we have a couple of possibilities now. Pray for the church here to continue to transition well.
2) Please pray for our time with family this month. We praise God that Bryan's sister, Rebecca, and her husband, Yoshioki, and their boys, will be here to visit us from Japan this coming week. We look forward to spending time with them and for the cousins to be together, along with Grandma and Grandpa Smith.
3) Please pray for the people and families that we continue to disciple, two families specifically: Margarita and her teen/adult children Mauricio, Mariana, and MaryCarmen, for unity as a family, and lives that reflect Christ's love. Isela and her children Ivan, Gaby, and Diana. Pray for Isela's husband, Oliver, to trust in Christ and be open to studying God's Word with his family. Pray that we would be able to finish out our discipleship opportunities well before we leave at the end of June.

As always, please visit our website for pictures and more news. Read and see how Tara lost her two front teeth, and find out why all those plastic chairs are chained to the fence: http://www.smithconnection.com/

Unshaken in God's Hands,
Bryan, Lori, Kendra, Tara, & Ben

Bryan & Lori Smith
Islas Griegas #120
Fracc. Loma Linda
Querétaro, QRO C.P. 76030
MÉXICO

Telephone:
From the U.S. 011-52-442-222-7799
From Mexico 01-442-222-7799

Email: bsmith@cam-mexico.org
Webpage: http://smithconnection.com

Posted by Bryan at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)