Poblanos

Usually we use this term for a type of pepper that originated from (or is thought to have originate from) the state of Puebla in central southeastern Mexico. However, it can also refer to the people of that state of Mexico.

I mention this because if you haven’t heard yet, our family will soon become poblanos. We are moving to the state and capital city of the same name, Puebla. We hadn’t expected this move, although we’ve always been open to moving wherever and whenever the Lord should move us next.

After our return from the summer home assignment, we assumed we’d pick up our ministries where we left off and continue with the house church discipleship and the MK Education ministry. The latter ministry has been shrinking for years and the downward trend from ministering to as many as 75 MKs to 30 to 25 to 20 to 15 to around 10 to really just a few with only a small interaction focused on only 1 final student (and teaching that student is by Skype rather than in-person). The attrition of missionaries from this region has been dramatic over the past 12 years that we’ve lived and ministered here.

It finally became clear that the house church not being the best fit for our skills and training, and my Spanish really has never developed to the depth that is needed for this type of ministry. We both felt the Lord telling us in recent weeks that San Juan del Río is not the right place for us any longer. He has other plans for us.

We’re still seeking to understand his will in all of this, but the next step that we do understand is that we’ll be moving to the city of Puebla (with an official population over 6,000,000), helping with the outreach and education of Puebla Christian School as well as the Biblical Seminary of Puebla (both are institutions founded and still led by our mission) will be our primary focus to start. We’ll go from there and see how the Lord develops our ministry.

This week we’re traveling to Puebla to house/apartment search. There are many variables and considerations involved and what we’re considering ideal for us is not a housing situation easily found in the area around the seminary and school. So, we’d appreciate our prayers as we look and may the Lord use this trip to answer many of our questions and may he be pleased to open up just the right housing option at just the right place and time. We know he is pleased to do that, but let’s still ask him to do it! He is pleased by our asking.

I trust we’ll have more information and developments to share in the coming weeks.

Thanks for praying for us as we continue this journey of following Jesus.

(Google Maps Street View of SBP/Puebla Biblical Seminary)

 

(Google Maps Street View of PCS/Puebla Christian School)