Clausons in Monterrey

Life is so busy with two young boys!  Busy, filled with laughter and many challenges (like trying to get our two year old son Matías to drink his milk and eat his veggies or our six month old Lucas to take regular naps)!  So, sorry it’s been so long since we’ve sent out an update.  God is good and is blessings us in many ways.  Here are some of the exciting things he has done and is doing in Mexico.

God richly blessed all of us that participated in the pastor’s retreat!  Thank you so much for your prayers, and now we ask you to continue to pray for the pastors who are back serving in their local communities.  We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue the process of healing and reconciliation that He began among many of them at the retreat.  A few highlights of the event:

Service of Reconciliation:

The last night a special service was held to minister to the pastors and their spouses.  Entering the service each person was handed a piece of broken tile was throughout the evening were asked to reflect on one thing that they still needed to hand over to Christ.  At any time during the singing, praying or silence each person came forward and placed their broken tile on a wooden cross.  The next morning during our closing service, a beautiful cross decorated with broken tiles was placed in the front of the room as we worshipped our risen Lord together!

Marge and Evie:

Also during the closing ceremony we heard from Marge Ramgren and Evie Swanson.  They shared about how their father had been highly involved in a work with Oaxacan Mexicans that had migrated to South Texas to work.  They then returned to Oaxaca and planted Covenant churches throughout the region.  Through their father’s ministry together with Andy and Marie Rojas and many other faithful people, the Covenant Church in Mexico was born!  It was a special time for the current pastors of the Mexican Covenant Church to hear about their rich history.

Click here to see some photos of the retreat.

Last week we received a special visit from a work group representing two churches in Illinios: Hillcrest Covenant in Dekalb and Elim Covenant in Moline.

In two long days they helped us complete a number of projects and activities at the Foundation, including:

•Install a drop ceiling in one of the classrooms.

•Paint the bathrooms in the church in the basement.

•Finish a cabinet for the office.

•Give some much needed maintenance and repairs to the chairs.

•Host a festival for the children in the two communities we have been working with.

•Have a cooking exchange where some women of the community taught the visitors how to cook tamales and women from the U.S. gave a workshop on how to make cheese cake and other desserts.  We all enjoyed the fruits of this labor as we celebrated that evening together with community members, work group members and Foundation staff all that God had done!

Thank You Hillcrest and Elim for your partnership in advancing God’s Kingdom in Monterrey!

Click here to see more photos

We are also very blessed to have a young lady from the Hillcrest group stay with us for the next month to help us with childcare and to get a feel for mission work.  Please pray for Stefanie and her time with the kids and with us at the Foundation.

Please pray for the Foundation’s annual planning retreat at the end of this week; may God guide us in a process of discerning future direction and focus.

We praise God that after 3 months of looking and lots of frustration, we have found a new home and will be moving in July!  God has blessed us beyond our hopes and expectations and reminded us of his faithfulness and care.

We are in the midst of planning for our home assignment this summer/fall.  We will be in Chicago and Minneapolis areas this August through October looking to form new partnerships with churches interested in the ministry of the Foundation.  Please pray for God´s direction and blessing on this time.  Hope to see some of you then!

Blessings,

Nils & Erika

Matías & Lucas

Click here to see some random photos of our family over the past few months.