For those interested in knowing where I am, you can check the link here.
Though I am not really a church planter, these nice church planting people let me into their club for the week. Of course, you have to be a certain kind of person to be a real church planter; I could probably not survive the boot camp.
But this is where my desire to do church in a completely different kind of way can be stoked.

Dorothy Pearce is another Jesus-follower that inspires me. Valerie and I met her a few years ago while visiting with Tony and Mary in Haiti. She runs Faith Hope Love Infant Rescue in Port Au Prince, Haiti. This is how her blog describes her work:

A Christian children’s home in Port au Prince Haiti, sometimes called an orphanage but really more of a last hope for poor families. We take malnourished infants into our home, nurse them back to health and return them to their families. We help families learn how to parent better and provide food and medical care for our staff, children and their families. We strive to serve and honor God in all that we do, obeying His commands to love and share with others. Jesus is Lord!

Valerie and I had the opportunity to be with the children there at the time, and it has left a lasting impact on our hearts. Thanks to email updates, we are aware of the joys and challenges that continue for her in her work there, and the opportunities and needs that we can pray about. Check out her blog and, if you feel so led, and are able, please support this effort in any way you can – our prayers are important! Allow Jesus to use your heart and your hands to bless Dorothy and the children!

Hola, there is a young boy living with us who’s name is Luis Batez. He is 14 years old and has been given an amazing opportunity to go to school. The government has offered him a scholarship in which they will pay for half of the cost of his school. The only problem is his family cannot afford the other half. His little brother was in and out of the hospital and his family was already struggling to feed themselves, that is why he moved in with us. To get a job in Mexico that can provide for your family, having an education is crucial. The factories will not hire anybody unless they have the equivalent of a high school diploma. The total cost that is left after the scholarship is 100$ for the whole year plus school supplies. Because I know Luis personally and have seen his desire to learn in school but also his passion to learn more about God and continually read the bible, I would love for us as a community to be able to give him the opportunity to go to school. I hope that you will prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you do with your tithes and donations and consider helping sending him to school.

There are many more kids like Luis here in our community and any amount donated will be a huge blessing. We as the Tapias family living here in Mexico have already sent one boy to school and he started his first day of school. However we have only paid for his school. He still needs a uniform by the end of the week or he will be sent home. If there is one that you would specifically like to help you can let me know. These are pictures of both boys. I hope that you prayerfully consider helping these kids go to school. Please contact me at tsennema@hotmail.com.

God Bless, Tim

We got word yesterday, Tim is coming home! Next week Saturday, August 29th. We are so looking forward to seeing him again! Lots of things to pray about still, work and school and transportation and adjusting to life back in Canada and… but he’s coming home!

Hola
Hello from Juarez. This week we had the opportunity to go down to the Sierra Mountains. It is in the southern part of the state. It is pretty much unsettled except by the Tarahumara Indians which is exactly who we were going to visit. God was incredibly evident throughout the whole trip even leaving Juarez. Because of all the drug violence they have been very picky about who they let past the 30 kilometer border, especially Americans. We were pulled over and searched but let through, then we also got pulled over at the military checkpoint and they let us pass no questions asked.

After about 7 hours of driving we pulled of the highway and onto a dirt road. It had rained heavily before we got there and about 30 minutes down the road we had to cross a flooded river. Some people passed by and said there was no way we could cross ahead or even the river without 4 wheel drive. But we braved the river anyways at one point the river was above our lights on the van but praise the Lord we made it across. We only blew one tire before we reached the valley where they lived.

When we got there they were overjoyed to see us, mostly because we brought 15 Tarahumaras with us. We got there and had a service with them, it was amazing to hear the persecution they go through for the Lord. Being dragged out of there homes in the middle of the night, having their land stolen, and their stuff broken and vandalized by there own people. It made me understand more how little we actually sacrifice for God and how blessed we are to live in the countries we live in. They still don’t have a bible translated in their language so we all shared verses the touched us somehow and then had it translated from English to Spanish to Tarahumara. It took a long time but they have no concept of time and were just overjoyed to hear more of what the bible says. The service lasted almost 5 hours but nobody noticed. I also noticed how blessed we are and how sad it is that we take the bible for granted and listening to its powerful and God inspired words has become a chore for some people.

We also helped with work. We helped them pull weeds in there corn fields and transport things from one side of the valley to the other which was so much easier with the vans. God also made himself evident on the way out because we couldnt leave the valley if it rained because the roads would have been way to muddy and impossible for anybody to drive on. That night the darkest clouds I’ve seen in a long time came and we prayed hard that they wouldnt rain and it rained everywhere around us but not where we were. On the way back we only got stuck once and had one more flat tire but we made it home alive. Our vans took a beating but God allowed us to get home.

In the end we were all touched and in awe of Gods amazing power. We also learned so much about where our relationships with God were lacking. We were humbled and amazed. Thank you for your prayer support we couldnt have done anything without prayer and your support
God Bless, Tim

Our son Tim is working with Life Challenge in Juarez, Mexico

Hola, just a quick update on how things are going down here in Juarez, Mexico.

These past 2 weeks have been interesting in dealing with a specific situation. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a married couple who are 18 and 19 years old, the girl Carolina already has 3 kids with 3 different men. They come here looking for food because neither can get work because their parents wont give them their papers. Right now we are dealing with how we can help them get on their feet but also not only give them the food that will make them hungry again but the spiritual food that will fill them for life.

We also just finished building a house for a family who’s mother has cancer and daughter has special needs. We took them out of a pallet house and built them a 24 by 24 house which for Mexico is a BIG house. Continue reading update from Tim

Hey everyone, thanks for checking in.
The last two days have been very busy, lots of walking, exploring and fun-having.
Sorry about not posting pictures these last few days, you will have to come on Sunday to see and hear more.
Today was a great day at the Six Flags America park.
We hope to leave at 7am tomorrow morning.
So off to bed I go, a good night sleep before the long and winding road.
Please pray – thanks for a great week, ongoing impact in the lives of all of us, especially the youth, and for safe travels home.

The last day of dcla.
We got an early start – 9am – for our last small groups and the last big session.
We talked about being, loving and serving – today was about serving.
Starfield led the worship session – it was loud and awesome, the floor was shaking.
You could sense the presence of God, and we didn’t want it to end.
After lunch, we practiced our drimes (drama + mime).
Then we broke into small groups to practice what we learned. Continue reading dcla day 5

Today was much like yesterday.
We started with the Labs (small groups) from 10-12, then did lunch on the lawn outside of the center.
While we did lunch, we practiced the street play (same one that Senior Wave did at church).
While we were doing do, it got a double ace approval from an observer with mental health issues, who excitedly recognized God as the helper, and wanted to take out the man (Jesse) who was chasing the lead person.
By the way, we are eating packed lunches, saving money!
Afternoon sessions followed, though we’re getting information overload. Continue reading dcla day 4

Starting to get tired, these are long days!!!
Back at 11:45, then sharing highs and lows.
We arrived at the center for 10am, where we broke up into Labs, our assigned small groups for the weekend.
They are led by student leaders, which is neat, though a number of our youth found their groups too quiet, not much personal sharing.
We ate lunch on the lawn of the Museum of American History (they took our picture for their newsletter, we’re now a part of American history!) Continue reading dcla day 3