Los Llanos Medical Clinic

God continues to do great things as His people strive to be Jesus incarnate!!! What a privilege to be His eyes, hands, feet, mouth and heart!!! The Southern Hills church in Abilene, Texas sent a great team to meet the medical needs of 250+ people who live in an impoverished area in the state of Guerrero. This is the third medical mission that La Comunidad de Cristo has joined working hands with Southern Hills. People have come to expect our appearance every six months or so. We are coming to know many of our "regular" patients.
Southern Hills supplied us with Bobby and Gail Lawson, our excellent Dr./Nurse team, as well as two other nurses, a pharmacist, and several other helpers. This team included a special treat for us all--a team chef!!! John, who lovingly became know as "Juancito" (little John) makes the best salmon you have ever eaten. We enjoyed the evenings of gathering together, enjoying John's armadillo eggs (stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon..hummmmm), and mulling over God's marvels of the day of which we were privileged to witness. Jack Walker, of Southern Hills, has been instrumental in putting the clinics and teams together. God continues to develop this outreach, we hope, to the point that Los Llanos could very well be our first church plant from La Comunidad de Cristo. We are sowing seeds of helping others physically so that we may be put in a position to help them, more importantly, spiritually. Bernard and I again had the opportunity to pray with some of our patients, as well as guide some with godly counsel from God's Word. It's always a joy to sit and chat with the patients in the waiting area. Logan helped package the vitamins when he was not busy at play with the neighbours behind the clinic. The girls were tickled that Logan was back again to play with them. AND THIS TIME he was able to speak almost as well as they can!! We were glad to again have contact with Colleen, an American who lives in Los Llanos who has been instrumental in first getting the medical clinics coming, as well as arranging our housing and making appointments with the patients. What a gift she is to us!!! La Comunidad de Cristo was pleased to provide one of the two doctors. Dr. Carmi, who began attending with us about two months ago, dusted off her stethoscope and took on the challenge of working with us the four days. It was an excellent experience for her, as well as a sharp learning curve as she has not been practicing for fourteen years!! She did a great job of caring for her patients. Enjoy a few of the photos from the clinic.
Until next blog,
Bernard, Alicia and Logan Krosgsgaard

Colleen's organizational skills help the clinic run smoothly.

Little Aseret entertains the patients while Mommy makes all the appointments.










Nurses Alice and Monica, along with helpers Jitti and Jordan, check blood pressures and measure weight and height.

Logan, Nedia, and Roger help dispense the medicines and vitamins.





Bern chats with our two doctors.




Nedia translated for the nurses and loved on the patients.








Pharmacist Heath chats with Bernard about the finer points of something...

Nurse Gail gets in her finer points, too, while she gets a breath of fresh air between patients.





John makes a mean fajita!!!

Our day ends around a common table. Good food, good conversation.

Faces Of Our Lives In Mexico

Our bags are packed and we look forward to our week in Los Llanos with our medical mission. The medical team from Abilene arrived yesterday. We met for our Sunday Celebration today (breaking our record with 103-105 in attendance). We head off tomorrow bright and early.
One of our faithful blog readers commented that she enjoys seeing the pictures of those we have come to love because their faces/smiles just shine. I spent some time organizing my photos and thought about Robin's comment. I wanted to share some of these happy faces with you. I hope you enjoy them. I won't be near our computer this week, but I'll give a full report of the medical mission on the next blog.
Logan moves up to yellow belt in Karate-Do

Logan's neighbourhood crowd










Precious Socorro


Teaching my neighbour to read









Tuesday cell group

Rising leaders









Wed cell
Georgina y Salvador









Bibles from Sharon Fox














Fun with Blanca










Sweet Perla









Dear Dear Friends
Coral and Deysy











Our team


God's work








Until next blog,
Bernard, Alicia and Logan

Being Transformed

Can you imagine how shocked God's people were when Moses came down from "God's mountain" and he was glowing from being in the presence of God's glory? What a concrete visual that is for us as we too, continue to "glow" and "shine" as the Holy Spirit transforms us. I love it when I see this transformation taking place in the lives of those who make up the baby church in Lazaro. It is a testimony to God's great power!! Three of the new Christians have made the decision to completely stop their consumption of alcohol by this time next year. In a culture where alcohol is abundant, THIS is a huge commitment!! Their decision has not come as a result of "holy fingers" being shaken in their faces, but by the conviction that God has done so much for them and has called them to lead a holy life.
These three decisions convict our team even deeper that we are called to walk shoulder to shoulder with those whom Christ brings to us. We take people where they are and invite them to walk along with us as we imitate the actions and attitudes of our Saviour. We have heard that many of the evangelical churches here in Lazaro impose hard-nosed rules and regulations. Our fellowship of love and relationship is a breath of fresh air for those who have been stifled by the religious legalism set up by man. In fact, the contrast between the two paradigms is so stark that we have had "long-time Christians"who have visited us to be "a bit concerned" because people were not in coats and ties, or the neighbour who was known to "drink too much" was participating in our times of celebration. "La Comunidad de Cristo just doesn't seem to be following in the holy steps of Christianity as they should be." (Ummmm, reminds me of several stories about Jesus doing the same--eating with sinners and the such!!!)
Man-made rules and regulations did not bring our three brothers and sister to their decision to leave the way of their former life; rather the Holy Spirit has convicted them of a better way, a holy calling to which they have committed. We are keeping them in constant prayer, as well as accountability as we all continue to travel this road together. Old habits are hard to break, but He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world!!! Would you, too, bring Oni, Rigo, and Jesi before THE THRONE as they fight the temptations of the enemy?

So many of you sent sweet birthday greetings to Logan. He had a wonderful 8th birthday on June 5. Eight of us packed our pizza, pastel, pinata, and presents and headed for the water slide park. A great time was had by all. Logan enjoyed most of the day until his fateful catapult off the water slide and onto the cement. It was a scary moment for us all, but he has mended well and is now showing off his "war wounds" with valour. He has decided that being eight doesn't feel much different that being seven--how disappointing! Perhaps he'll think differently as he heads into his more difficult grade three school work in the Fall. Logan ended his grade two year well. He finished with high A's in every class except one of his Math classes (Singapore, which is on a much higher level than the Alpha Omega Math) in which we received an 89. He still continues to finish the year at Mexican school (when they have class, which isn't very often-tongue in cheek). He spends lots of time outside playing with the many children on our street. Spinning tops are the latest craze so he spends lots of time perfecting his throw. Next Monday is his first Karate-Do test, of which he is feeling confident. Perhaps he'll exchange his white belt for a yellow one.
Until next blog,
Alicia for the Krogsgaards

Logan designed his water slide cake.



Coming down is a "rush"
















The pinata

The customary
face in the cake


Got a card
from Ashley!

Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to the chair store we go...

There are so many things I love about the Mexican culture:
**There's always time for friends.
**Friends claim a high importance in each other's lives.
**Family, especially each precious child, is of great importance.
**Need help??? Ask a Mexican. They live to be of help to others.
Put all these qualities together and plan a special Sunday Celebration complete with a drama, refreshments, and special music---And what do you get??? Ninety-five people to sit in eighty chairs!!! Oh ye of little faith... The baby Christians here understand the great gift God has given them; and they have no problem in sharing their excitement with their friends, family and co-workers.
What an amazing Sunday we had!!...And all the more wonderful because if anything could go wrong, it did that morning--computer problems, powerpoint mix ups, running to the store for cups, sugar, more water, one of the drama actors suddenly fell sick. But through it all, Jesus shined!!! The Lighthouse Everything Drama was amazingly powerful as the drama troupe depicted the spiritual battle between the love of Jesus and the snares of Satan. The Lord's Supper was so very special as Socorro led us into the comparison of the Passover blood with the precious blood of Jesus, our sacrificial lamb. The music team led us into worship with powerful victory songs. Bern finished with the I Peter passage that our redemption has not come through worldly treasures, but through the precious blood of Jesus, who was planned by God BEFORE the creation of the world. Surely heaven will be just like that Sunday (without the pressure of details).
Please continue to pray for the baby Christians here in Lazaro. They teach us so much about living a contagiously joyful and "vocal" Christian life. We ask for your prayers for those who have not yet made Jesus their Lord and Saviour. Many are attending our Sunday Celebrations and weekly growth groups. We are beginning to think of the multiplying process. Bern and I will begin a Monday night group next week to mentor three rising couples to facilitate the groups while the missionary families, in varying integrals, leave the country this summer. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that we will be missed, but growth will continue under the leadership of the Mexican Christians in our family!!! We look forward to "working ourselves out of a job" here in Lazaro. There are twenty Pacific Coast cities awaiting a future church planting. We look forward to training Mexican Nationals and Anglo church planters for the God-sized task!!!
Blessings as you continue to grow in the knowledge, grace and confidence of our great God!! Enjoy the photos of this Sunday's Celebration. Logan had to be the official photographer since I had to take the place of the "drunk" (acted out by our actor who got sick).
Until the next blog...
Bernard, Alicia and Logan

PS. It's Logan's birthday on Friday, June 5. He would be so thrilled to get some birthday wishes from you in BlogLandia.


The seats were filling up quickly...








By 11:00 there was standing room only. We invited the children to their class because the drama was not appropriate for little impressionable eyes (use of alcohol, drugs, guns, etc). This gave our family and guests more seats. The children were content on the floor of their class. (The teachers were a bit overwhelmed with the many children they had in class--ready or not, here they come!)


Jesus dances with his creation. He provides all that is needed...but soon the creation is distracted by the enemy.






Creation is soon overwhelmed, confused, and disillusioned by the "dance" of the enemy. Jesus is always there pursuing his beloved creation. Also pursuing are Satan's demons. The fight is fast and furious, but Jesus enters into the fight and takes the punishment for His creation. Creation is liberated from the grip of Death. Again, creation can enjoy the beautiful dance with The Creator.


Socorro gives us a bit of her testimony and reminds us that the blood of the sacrificial lamb guards our "doors" so that death passes over us, just as the blood on the doors of the Israelites caused the angel of death to pass over their homes in Egypt.





Bernard shares the plan of Jesus' death as a plan that was put into action even before the creation of the world!!! (This photo was actually of the week before.)

La Comunidad de Cristo shares in vibrant celebration.