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.