Tahdzibichen

In our first term of ministry, Jeff was able to help establish a youth fellowship with several local churches. They meet once a month or once every 6 weeks to discuss events and to plan upcoming activities. Typically, there are 5 churches represented and usually Jeff is the only "gringo" present! He has found that many times their idea of planning and our idea of planning is completely different! Nevertheless, each church has an opportunity to plan and host various events throughout the year for the youth in their churches and communities.

This past Saturday, we went to a pueblo named Tahdzibichen, which is located just outside of the city of Merida.

A Yucatecan pastor from the fellowship had planned the event with the purpose of getting the kids from our fellowship excited

about the upcoming camp this July. Although it was hot (very, VERY hot), we played games, sang songs, studied the Bible and of course...had food to eat. We had just under 60 present and the kids seemed to really enjoy their selves.

Jeff encouraged the kids to begin saving for camp and to place priority on things that matter. While a national pastor encouraged them not to waste the what little resources they have.


It is our prayer that we'll be able to take a good sized group of young people to camp this summer from Merida. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we aim to reach young people for Christ.

The Jeff Carney Family
Merida, Mexico
Yucatan

Tori Gets Baptized!

For those of you who were not aware, last year Victoria received God's gift of salvation. She has been asking for some time now to be baptized and after Jeff counseling her on various occasions, this month she was baptized! She was SO EXCITED! The week before she was to be baptized, it was ALL that she talked about. We are so thankful to be gifted with a little girl who loves God.

We've enclosed several pictures of the baptism service...enjoy them!

Easter-March 2008

This year it was odd that Easter fell in the month of March. Nevertheless, we tried to help the kids celebrate the holiday as "American" as possible. The Saturday before, we colored hard boiled eggs and then on Easter morning we had baskets waiting for them.

In our church we had a "sunrise" service. Actually, we didn't quite make sunrise....but we started shortly thereafter. There was a great crowd-especially for being so early in the morning. After the morning worship, we served breakfast. The people seemed to enjoy the service and many stayed to fellowship after the meal. In the evening, we met once more and were happily surprised with the faithful members who once more returned to celebrate Resurrection Sunday.

The church appears to have new life and we are consistently having new faces come to visit our services.

Please pray as we continue to look for a teen outreach building -it's desperately needed! Likewise, please pray for issue regarding our church property. We need more space for our people. Thank you and enjoy the Easter pictures.

P.S. The little girl in the bottom picture is named Paulina and YES, she IS as CUTE as she looks!

March 2008

This past March, Jeff and I celebrated 11 years of marriage! (It's hard to believe that it's been 11 years.) We had a nice, quite day thanks to Dad and Mom Carney keeping the children for us. With the babysitting in mind, we were wondering if it's possible to have an anniversary every month....

Also, this March, John, Jeff's younger brother, was able to come for a final visit before shipping off to Iraq . We had a great visit. John is always a lot of fun and of course, it's great to have family come for a visit. As you think of our family, please be sure to pray for John as he'll be deploying in just a few short weeks-sometime mid April. He will be gone for several months and we would appreciate you praying for his safety (physically and likewise spiritually) and also that he would be able to return home to the United States by Christmas time. We are proud of the sacrifice he is willing to make for our country and also our freedoms.

Thank you for your prayers and for your friendship,

The Jeff Carney family