Some photos from our first anniversary

November 15 marked the first anniversary of RenovArte Cafe. Wow, what a ride!!

God has done amazing things over this past year and all the glory and praise is for Him.

This is just a sneak peek at the celebrations.

The new sign

We are about to complete our second week in the NEW RenovArte Cafe space - God is great!!

One of our urgent needs after the initial fit out of the local was for a new sign. There was an existing sign for the restaurant that was in the local before us that advertised tortas, hamburgers and tacos, but we really needed to have RenovArte Cafe to let people know that we are there. Several times this week people have come in asking for tortas and the other day someone asked Sandy what flavours of hamburgers we had!

We were looking at various options and I called a Cheistian friend who has a design and signwriting business asking him for a quote. He asked me the size and then said "send me the design, it's been paid for!"

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed.

"The One who provides for you has paid for it!"

God always provides.

On Wednesday they installed our new sign and it's fantastic. We were able to make use of the structure and illumination of the existing sign and put a new covering on it.

Now people don't ask us for hamburgers and tortas, they go straight to RenovArte Cafe.

RenovArte Renovation Special

God is moving and so is RenovArte Cafe!

Phil, God has given us the opportunity to move RenovArte Cafe to a larger premises with better exposure to the student community.

Why the change?
The RenovArte Cafe ministry is growing and we are excited about making more connections with university students and developing the relationships and activities we have started. We have also started hosting a weekly outreach Bible study called Connexion Vertical each Thursday in conjunction with another developing student ministry - last week 13 students attended and three made a decision to accept Christ. The new bigger premises will give us the opportunity to continue growing these outreach events and better develop the ministry.

What is the plan?


Whilst we have been praying for some time, the opportunity to move came up very quickly and we needed to act fast. We have secured the new premises which was previously a small restaurant and we are currently cleaning, repairing, painting and fitting it out in true RenovArte style. This involves quite a lot of work (see photos below) as the restaurant was in very dirty condition and had not had adequate maintenance. We continue open to the public in the present premises whilst the renovations are underway. We hope to complete the renovations this week to be able to move this weekend (15-16 October) and open on Monday in the new space.

What is the need?
Most importantly, we need your prayers. Please pray for the following:

1. Strength and endurance for Phil, Sandy and Romi as a family and all those that are helping us


2. For the volunteers that are lending a hand


3. For wisdom in decision making around fit-out decisions and negotiations with the building owners


4. The new ministry opportunities that this move will provide


5. For financial provision for the additional expenses of renovation, moving and ongoing rental

We also need additional financial resources to meet the needs of the fit-out and rental. We pray that this new premises will be a huge blessing - the students that regularly come to the cafe are excited about the change and are even volunteering to help us. This is a sign of God's grace and what He is doing through this ministry.

God bless,
Phil and Sandy

Aussies in Mexico

I'm starting to get my Aussie slang back, bit by bit. I said that our pastor lives in "woop, woop" yesterday. It catches you by surprise, but it's moments like these that I remember that I'm still an Aussie.
We currently have Janice Collins and Adam and Naomi Jones visiting with us from Sydney Australia.
We are having a really fun time sharing with them what God is doing in the cafe and also showing them some of the sights of Queretaro. I think it's all worth it when Adam starts smiling and giggling like a kid about how good the latest Mexican meal was and how he didn't like Mexican food until he arrived here.

It's been a full on week with some unexpected occurences that have pulled us in all directions but God is faithful and He is sustaining us moment by moment.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... do I hear an...
Oi Oi Oi!??

A couple of days rest in the sun

Missionary life is busy. This year we have felt the weight of serving many hours in the cafe and trusting God to work through us. We love what God has called us to do and it's a joy to go to the cafe each day and see what He will do through us in the lives of young people.

Sometimes though, we do need to take a break and recharge our batteries. This week Romi went to a Christian kids camp. It's her first time at camp and we are praying that she will really enjoy it and learn lots. Sandy and I escaped to the beach for a couple of days to RELAX and rest.

It was great!

We can't tell you how much these few days away have refreshed us ready for the next semester of ministry. We slept a lot, ate a lot and had some quality time as a couple.

We are currently on the bus on our way back to Queretaro and the responsibilities that await us there, but we are ready to take good grasp of what lies ahead and serve diligently.

Thanks Lord for a great break and new strength for what lies ahead.

The RenovArte experience

A quick update on life at RenovArte.

The Market

A couple of times a week we go to the market for supplies for the cafe, our home and bits and pieces. This week we have been to three different markets for various supplies.

The Cruz on Monday for trays for the cafe and a yummy breakfast of tamales. The Tepe on Thursday for mangos for the cafe, some fruit for our family and a breakfast of freshly prepared fruit juice. We have also found cheap second hand clothes in the Tepe that costs about $2.50 per piece so Sandy was able to get some new jeans and a blouse.
The big banger was Friday in the abastos (supplies) market. This is the biggest Market in Queretaro and is the source of wholesale trade. We were able to buy 5kg of strawberries for just $6.50 and 5kg of blackberries for $11.50. These are our main ingredients for our natural fruit smoothies.

Here are a couple of photos from the Tepe.

The view from the back of the bus

I just thought you might be interested in the diversity of people here in Queretaro. I'm in the bus and just snapped a quick pic.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

Random.

RenovArte News 4 April 2011

Colombian conference

We are just on our way back to Mexico after the iT Latin American conference. We had a great time getting refreshed, encouraged and sharing with others. God is doing great things in this region and we are humbled to be a part if His work.

We are stopped over in Miami and quite tired so we are going to gave a snooze. More later.

Rock in RenovArte

Since opening the cafe, one of our goals has been to connect with the arts and music students from the university in particular. We want the cafe to be a place where they feel at home, can be themselves and through forming a genuine friendship with them, we can show them what Jesus is like.

On Friday night we got RenovArte rocking with two bands from the fine arts faculty in the UAQ. Wolf Season opened with some alternative rock and Buffalo followed with fast, melodic rock. It was loud, it was fun and we made a significant connection with a bunch of students. They even got me up on stage to play a song with Buffalo on the drums.

We are seeking to share Jesus in relevant and real ways to these young people and I think it was cool for them to feel the vibe of the cafe and see how one of their gigs can rock without alcohol.

We are excited to see how live music develops in the life of RenovArte Cafe and we already have more events planned.

Watch this space!

Valentines Day at RenovArte Cafe

Valentines Day at RenovArte was full of surprises!

God always invites us to trust in Him and sometimes puts our faith to the test. We had put a lot of time and effort into preparing something special to celebrate the 14th of February, known here as the day of love and friendship. We got up extra early and went for more supplies followed by arriving at the cafe and decorating.
We enlisted the help of Denise to cut out hearts as Phil didn't pass cutting out classes in kinder.

We were all ready but we lacked one vital thing.

People!

We had been praying for this day that God would allow us to share and celebrate His love as well as the love shared by friends and family on this day. But we had very few customers come in during the morning and early afternoon. We were also a bit anxious because we had invested in the decorations and financially we needed to sell some coffees to keep things ticking along.

Phil went down to give our flyers.

To make things even worse, our friend who we had booked to sing romantic songs live pulled out on us.

By 6pm, we were all a bit tired and ready to shut early. But God had other plans.

The cafe began to fill up with young people.

First two of them arrived, then another, and another until we had rearranged the furniture to make room for them all.

We also had a few couples come in for a romantic coffee.

We were able to serve those that came with a smile, a good chat and encourage them. We also had a strong day in sales which in practical terms for the ministry really helps. God once again caught us by surprise and reassured us of His protection, provision and calling in the ministry.

This morning I arrived and there were some friends from Student Life waiting for me to open. God is good.

Please keep praying for us and the ministry and we we hope that this Valentines Day you remembered the source of all love - God. God is love!

-Phil

A day in the life of RenovArte Café

6:35am. Alarm sounds. Snooze. Wake up. Out of bed. Getting ready. Car. Romi to school. First visit to RenovArte – turn on the espresso machine. Home. Shower. Supermarket. Supplies. 10:00am. Arrive at RenovArte. Open doors. Tables. Pray. Clean. Devotion time. Ready…

This is how a normal day starts in our ministry at RenovArte Café, making disciples of Jesus Christ amongst uni students.

On an average day, Denise comes in for her cappuccino at around 10:30am and if she’s sleepy, it comes with a double shot of espresso. Normally, Denise stays around for a while to chat with us or sits down and talks with Sandy until her next class. Conversations range from last night’s dreams and design projects to personal problems and family stories. We have had the opportunity to share our stories with Denise including how Jesus has changed our lives. Just yesterday Denise wrote us a message in facebook saying thanking us for our friendship and saying she can’t face the day without us. God is at work.

Later, Toño comes in with his friends Sajid, Victor and Hugo. These guys study Psychology here at the uni of Queretaro. We always sit and chat for a while about all that is going on. On the first day he visited the café, Toño asked me why I came to Mexico. I told him that God had changed my life and that I have a new life and a new hope in Jesus Christ. I shared with him that this was such good news that I wanted to share it with everyone and that my heart beats for young people to know Jesus – not in a religious way, but a personal, relevant and organic way. It seems that every time he and his friends visit, they ask me more about why I’m here, why I chose to be a missionary and why all missionaries play musical instruments!!! (Yesterday Toño told me that he has several Christian friends and they all play instruments or sing. I told him that it’s a prerequisite. Joking.)

Marissa and Ere pass by in the afternoon before their first class at 4pm. Sandy takes a few minutes to talk with Marissa and listen to what’s going on in her life. Ere helps us out preparing coffee and we eat together.

In the afternoon, Ramses arrives, a few minutes late, but bursting with energy. He puts on his apron and asks “what do you need me to do?” Once a week we take a decent time out from work to chat about what’s going on in our lives and dive into the word of God, exploring what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

This is RenovArte. RenovArte is all about seeing young lives transformed by faith in Jesus Christ and helping them grow as disciples that impact their world. There are many more stories to share and new stories that start every day. Journey with us to see God at work in the lives of young adults in Mexico.

Friends in student ministries

We are excited about what God is doing in RenovArte! Over the past few weeks we have been able to connect with other student ministries in the universities located close to the cafe.
We have welcomed both Compa (IFES) and Vida Estudiantil (campus crusade) into the life of the cafe. The other day I was chatting to one of the VE leaders about our ministry and the cafe and he said "well you're doing well because the students invited us here."

It was great to hear this encouragement and know that by God's grace we are on the right track.

We had the guys from Compa here last night chatting with students about evangelism and growth in the word of God.

Compa

Vida Estudiantil

Australia Day

We celebrated Australia Day in RenovArte Cafe inviting visitors to try Vegemite toast and Lemon, Lime and Bitters. It was lots of fun and we had a great time with a bunch of young people today. God is good!

Happy Australia Day!!