La Librería

After a community center meeting this morning I stopped off at our local Christian librería (bookstore). If you’ve followed our updates long enough, you might recall that this bookstore is called “Jornada Espiritual” (Spiritual Journey). Beth’s mom works in the office there, although not actually working for the bookstore but for a Spanish Christian resource website called ObreroFiel (Faithful Worker). The site is located at http://www.obrerofiel.com.

OK…I guess I got in my advertisements…so like I was saying, I stopped off at the bookstore in order to look for a Bible study to begin with Jason tomorrow. Jason really likes to read, unlike his wife, Kristin who has been doing Bible studies with Bethie but who hates to read (Kristin, that is…not Bethie!).

Funny thing is that I really am not much of a reader either. Just give me the summary and let’s move on…or if there’s a good movie about the book, let’s start there. 🙂 It’s one of life’s ironies that my mother was a career librarian and voracious reader and my wife reads books constantly, but I prefer something with pictures. I know there’s lots of guys out there who can relate.

So, after looking through a number of options, here’s what I picked up:

2 copies of “El Mensaje de Dios para el Hombre” (“God’s Message for Man”)…these are “homemade” and only 4 pesos apiece! (about 30 cents!)

2 copies of “6 Conversiones” (“Six Conversions”) which is a study based on the book of Acts and are also the “homemade” type and cost 30 cents apiece as well.

3 copies of Más Que un Carpintero (More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell). These were under $2 apiece, and I just thought I’d get a few since they were sitting there looking unassuming amid the larger books on the shelf. (However, I knew that this was more than a small, average book. *duh!*) Jason would like one and I gave one to our neighborhood guard named Poli, an older, portly fellow who likes to read. Poli is actually short for Apolonio or Appoloosa or Neopolitan or something like that…I have trouble with Spanish names as you can tell. What’s important about this is not his name but that he happily received this book as my unexpected gift. Pray for Poli’s salvation…this is the 2nd evangelistic book I’ve given him.

2 copies of Como Nadie es Perfecto ¿Cuán Bueno es Suficiente Bueno? (How Good is Good Enough? by Andy Stanley). I didn’t realize that Jason already has this book in English (he’s bilingual) so I’ll save these for another time, another face. This is the book I gave to Poli a few months ago and which he immediately read…I know because I saw him reading it intently shortly after I gave it to him. I’m sure I’ll find a couple of good recipients. I might even read it myself…I hope there’s pictures.

1 Bible…I realized Jason wouldn’t have a Bible to read and if he did, it would likely be a Watchtower (Jehovah’s Witnesses) version…which is no Bible at all. So…avoiding the Bibles which were too modern to be as accurate as they should be but not so formal to include the “vosotros” voice which Jason probably wouldn’t be familiar with (Spain uses vosotros among some other places I’m sure…but Mexico doesn’t really use it), I ended up with the Spanish version of the NIV (the “NVI”). (Don’t worry…they don’t make God out to be feminine in the Spanish version.)

I found out later that this is the version that Bethie had given to Kristin months ago so this turned out to be the best choice in order to avoid having to explain translation differences right off the bat. My bilingual Bible has NVI and NIV so this was another good reason to choose NVI.

2 copies of a book and corresponding work book El Forastero En El Camino a Emaús or The Stranger on the Way to Emmaus. Beth told me our co-worker and good friend in Dallas, Brian Masters, uses this one a lot. I knew that…really, I did. I just didn’t remember that. This is the study I will begin tomorrow with Jason. It’s a doozie too. Looks like it will take months of Saturday studies to work our way through it. However, it should be thorough, interesting and with enough references to Scripture to call it a Bible study. Best of all, it uniquely and especially weaves the message of the Bible and the message of the Gospel that is perfect for someone who really doesn’t know the Bible at all.

I’m excited about starting this and hope I can get through the Spanish. Good thing Jason knows English so he can help me when I get stuck!

OK…so $43 and “one” Bible study later, I left Jornada Espiritual. Ready for my own spiritual journey. Well, not so much mine, but Jason’s. He may not know he’s on a journey, but he certainly is. And tomorrow we’re going to embark on a new and important segment of it together. Please pray for Jason’s salvation.

Oh…I just wanted to say that the reason I mention the cost of the books is two-fold.

One is that there are some amazingly inexpensive resources at Jornada Espiritual. A bookstore started by our co-worker, Scott Yingling, but now owned and operated by my mother-in-law’s best friend, Ivonne Ruíz. I am always amazed that she and her family survive and that the bookstore remains open. I don’t think they’ve ever made a profit. They always keep prices low so that people can afford them. Such a journey of pursuing faith over making profits. Reminds me of Zondervans…NOT!

Secondly, I wanted to express thanks to our small army of supporters who are financially partnering with us to live, work, and minister here in Mexico. Your generous gifts provide us with the funds that today ended up staying with and supporting Jornada Espiritual but giving me the opportunity to have the resources I need in order to work with Jason.

I didn’t have to think twice about buying these valuable materials and I didn’t have to forgo any meals to be able to afford it. Thanks! I like my meals! (a little too much but that’s another issue…and I promise not to blog about it!)

Have a great weekend! Thanks for praying!

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