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river, we can have peace

that overcomes obstacles

and that is overflowing and

nourishing to others. It

was difficult having to relyso much on

my notes, but

exciting to

hear that eve-

ryone was

able to clearly

understand

the message.

Praise God for

the work He

is doingthrough us as

we continue

to prepare to preach and

teach in Spanish!

Learning Spanish has been

a daunting task and it is

nice to have some land-

marks by which to measure

our progress. During thelast month,

Patrick, Re-

cardo, and I

were all given

the opportu-

nity to preach

a sermon in

Spanish before

a congregation

of native

Spanish-speakers. It

was a reward-

ing experience to be able to

communicate a portion of

Gods Word in a clear man-

ner in the heart-language

of the hearers. My lesson

was entitled Tengo Paz

Como un Ro (Ive Got

Peace Like a River). I was

able to share that like a

The last few months have

been busy! Our

team hosted a tradi-

tional Thanksgiving

dinner for the

church and we had

about 80 people in

attendance. Noah,

Juliana, and Isaiah

also all participated

in their schools

Christmas pageants.

And, we brought in the New

Year praising God with

the Christians here. It

was a late night but we all

had fun! Our New Years

resolution is to read our

Bibles more faithfully this

year. If you dont have a

reading plan yet, we

found good ones on

www.youversion.com. We

hope youll join us!

Preaching in Spanish!

U p c o m i n gD a t e s

Visiting Mis-

sionaries in

Mexico City

Late

January A Season of Celebration

J e f f & K r i s t i n a S i m sC a l l e A j u s c o # 9 C a s a2 0 , C o l . B u e n a V i s t a ,C u e r n a v a c a , M o r e l o s ,6 2 1 3 0 , M e x i c o

( 9 0 3 ) 3 3 1 - 0 5 5 0

Followthe Sims

O c t - D e c 2 0 1 0S p e c i a lPrayer

R equ ests

For the Congregation

weve been working

with. They are going

through a tough

transition right now.

For good physical

and spiritual health

for our family and

our team.

For our upcoming

trips to visit mission-aries and to survey

Aguascalientes.

Juliana said that every time

she smiled, her nose fell off.

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P a g e 2

Changing Gears

Da de Los Muertos

Feeling BetterThe first several months

we lived in Mexico our

family was

surpris-

ingly

healthy.

But, over

the last few

months, we

have fre-

quented

the Hospi-

tals and

Doctors offices of Cuer-

navaca. First, Isaiah was

very sick for several

weeks and we were

forced to hospitalize him.

He was there for three

days but, we are very

pleased with our Pedia-

trician and with the care

he received at the hospi-

tal. Then Noah injured

his mouth and head after

a fall and we took him to

the Red Cross to get

stitches. We found their

service to be very fast

and affordable. On top of

that, we have been pass-

ing around several vi-

ruses, but right now we

are all feeling much bet-

ter, Praise God! Please

pray for our family and

for our team; that we can

continue to work effec-

tively without illnesses.

gether to pray for, honor,

and remember those who

have died. There are many

ofrendas (offerings) given

to the dead often with toys

for children, alcohol for

adults, and foods that the

deceased enjoyed. Many

believe that the souls of the

dead actually return

(attracted by orange mari-

golds) to hear the prayers

One of the biggest cul-

tural differences be-

tween the United States

and Mexico lies in Mex-

icos observance of the

Day of the Dead.

Unlike Halloween

(which also has very

dark tones in Mexico),

the Day of the Dead is a

chance for families and

friends to gather to-

and partake in the meals.

The families then eat the

ofrendas, but believe it now

lacks any nutritional value.

All of the public schools

and government offices

have an ofrenda on display

as this tradition is seen as

very important to the Mexi-

can heritage and can be

traced back to its indige-

nous roots.

missionaries , and decid-

ing on our target loca-

tion. Our team is already

planning to make several

trips to gather as much

information as possible

from successful mission-

aries in Central Mexico.

We soon plan to visit

Mexico City, Toluca, and

Leon to find out what has

worked well in these lo-

cations. In February, we

will all be traveling to

Aguascalientes to survey

the city together and to

meet with the Christians

there. Our first year is

flying by and we are all

excited to be proficient

enough in Spanish to be-

gin this next phase of the

work. We feel very fortu-

nate to have had this year

to focus on these things,

and we have made great

progress towards our

goals already!

As our formal

language learn-

ing in school is

coming to an

end, we will

soon be giving

more attention

to our remain-

ing first-years

goals: preparing several

lessons and sermons in

Spanish, conducting cul-

tural interviews with

Mexicans, visiting

followthesims@blogspot.comfollowthesims@gmail.com

ammate Patrick Garcia with Mexico

y missionary Lalo Rocha.