"Profound" Thoughts Inspired by Our 4 Year Old

Yesterday, we took the youth group to the beach for an impromptu youth activity. As we were leaving, Micah was walking with me back to the car as he had on the way out. However, this time, I was carrying Luke so I could not hold his hand like when we came. He kept walking behind me instead of beside me like before when I we arrived. So I asked him to come up and walk beside me. He replied, "But I want to step in your prints." As we got to a stretch of sand where people often park their cars, the sand was more packed down and he was frustrated because he could no longer see my prints in order to follow and complained about it. When we got to deeper sand again, he was very happy to be able to walk in my prints again. This got me thinking about life and how often we follow where God is leading but sometimes, it is hard to see His "prints" but I can trust Him that He is there even when I can't see His "prints"! Micah's comment also made me stop and think about being a mom or dad and the huge responsibiltiy it is. My children are following in my steps and learning from me and will be shaped by me...the good and the bad. How important my example is to them and my need to live moment by moment for His glory so that my children have good footprints to follow!

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3

New Family Picture

Here is a new picture taken by our co-worker yesterday with the whole Eager family. Hope you enjoy!

Cell Group Commissioning & Family Fun

Earlier this week, during our Sunday service, we had a commissioning for those involved in the new cell group outreach of Iglesia Emanuel. They will be starting up this week and all the groups will be meeting on Friday evenings. As mentioned previously, each person of the 7-8 member team for each cell group has a responsibilty within the group (ie: leader, assistant leader, worship, children, etc.). They will also be required to invite at least one non-Christian a week. Each team will be meeting on Tuesday evenings for a brief planning meeting for the cell group as well as to pray for those unbelievers who each member has or will be inviting to the Friday study. We covet your prayers as we initiate this new ministry in an effort to assist our members to be more active in using their gifts as well as evangelism.

Please pray for Pattie as she will be seeking out several of our youth girls in order to begin a new ministry of discipleship with them. With the addition of Luke and her other family and ministry responsibilities, she has had to step back from her regular involvement in Sat. evening youth group, however she will be able to spend some time with several of the girls throughout the week in order to disciple them. She is excited to be starting this new aspect of her ministry. Her main goal is to encrouage the girls to be in the Word and applying it to their lives. As this happens, her prayer is that their lives will be transformed for His glory.

On a family note....Luke continues to grow and is awake more often. We look forward to seeing how his personality develops. The others have adjusted very well to a new little brother and often want to be Mommy and Daddy's helpers which is a blessing. Sometimes our kids come up with some funny and interesting ideas and we thought we would share a few of their recent ones that made us laugh....The other morning in church as we were getting ready for the offering time, I was explaining again to Micah that the coins I was giving him were not for him but to put into the offering bag...that they were for God. He turned to me with a very serious look on his face and asked, "so, what do they do with it then....do they just throw it up there to Him?" Needless to say, we all had a good chuckle. We have been reading in Genesis for school these past few weeks and last week when we were reading about Jacob returning home after his exile, we asked the kids why Jacob was worried to be going home....why his brother Esau was mad at him. Well, Abby replied, "because he (Jacob) stole his (Esau's) beer-right." Now, what do you say to that?!

Youth Retreat 2008

Top Left:  Luis enjoying his ride on one of the horses.

Top Right:  Meeting time for the youth.

Bottom: Some of our youth showing off their projects.

Bits from the Baja Email update 3/28/2008

The following is a copy of our most recent email update.

WE'VE GOT OUR VISAS!!!
Thank you so much for praying for us as we traveled to Mexico City for our visa appointment. We were really blessed that a friend from Moody and her husband (Aubrey and Marco Murillo) were able to help us during our time there. They not only picked us up at the airport, they hosted us and drove us to the appointment. Considering the traffic there and trying to maneuver in an unfamiliar and HUGE city with 4 children, we are so grateful for their help. We will now be able to be more public than before without fear of problems with the immigration office here which tends to be a little more antagonistic than in other areas. We will also no longer need to leave the country every 6 months which was disruptive to our ministry as well as family. We will miss the extra opportunities we had to connect with our supporters and family in CA and AZ but welcome anyone who would like to come down and see first hand what the Lord is doing here.
 
SEMANA SANTA (HOLY/EASTER WEEK) YOUTH RETREAT
Phil had the privilege to take a group of 15 youth to a retreat organized by our friend in La Paz, Alejandra, who attended the seminary part of our language school in TX. It is wonderful to see the Lord using her in ministry and we look forward to watching her continue to grow and possibly one day be a missionary in a difficult access country somewhere in Asia or the Middle East. The theme for the retreat was Transformers and the youth were encouraged to "be transformed" (Romans 12:1-2). We are praising the Lord for 10 who made professions of faith (two of which were visitors with our group) as well as other commitments made to follow Christ more closely. Phil and our youth came back home tired but excited. We are also happy to report that one of the young men who came with our group as a visitor who accepted Christ (Luis) came to our Wed. evening Bible Study this past week and plans to start attending our youth group regularly.
 
IGLESIA EMANUEL to START CELL GROUPS 
After much prayer, our missionary team as well as the church leadership feel that this is the direction God would have us take and will be starting this new ministry the week of April 14th. Our church plant has a problem many churches do, it has become ingrown with a few who are maturing and serving but many who are only attending. In an effort to encourage evangelism, involve more people in serving and see people put their faith into action, we are implementing a new cell group ministry.  The model we will implementing is based on a model used in Korea that has proved very effective in other parts of Mexico. A main component of the group is evangelism and accountability as every member is asked to invite one new person every week and will be held accountable by the group. There will be 4 groups strategically located in different neighborhoods. Phil will be leading our group along with an assistant leader in whose home we will be meeting. I will be helping as well in the leadership of the group, possibly helping lead the worship time. We would appreciate your prayers as this new ministry begins, that the Lord would use it for His glory and to grow His kingdom. 
 
SPECIAL REQUEST 
A critical need on our hearts a lot right now involves one of our youth and her family. Please pray for this family as she is 14 and going through a period of rebellion against her parents and the Lord. There has been some indication that there may even be some involvement with the occult. We are reminded that this is not a physical but a very spiritual battle and are enlisting as many as possible to join in the battle through their prayers on her behalf as well as for her parents-that they would have wisdom to know what boundaries to put into place. 
 
FAMILY NEWS
Several have asked us about our housing situation. Unfortunately, not much has changed. We have set up several meetings to discuss building on with our landlords but our landlord has yet to show up. In the meantime, we have decided to keep looking into other options but have not had much success. We try not to let it discourage us, but really feel the need for more space, especially with Luke sleeping in our living room and Abby really needing a separate room from her brothers. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for this need. It is not a dire situation by any stretch, but having a bit more space would eliminate some frustrations.
Luke is doing really well. He has been gaining weight and growing long. The other kids continue to be excited about their new baby brother and are great little helpers too which has been a blessing. 
In order to be better connected with you and to keep you more informed, we have started a blog online we hope to update on a weekly basis with news and pictures of both our ministry and family. If you are interested, you can visit it at www.eagersteps.blogspot.com. It currently has more basic information, but as time goes on, we plan to add more. 
 
Thank you for being a part of our team and what the Lord is doing in Mexico. If you are interested or a group in your church is interested in coming down to see the ministry and take part in a missions trip here, we would love to have you! 
The Eager Family