Día de Niño (Kid's day)

Almost the whole Gang

We got to help out our church celebrate kid's day. Kids came both from Anahuác and a new outreach being started in Cuauhtémoc.

Chowing down

I was the chauffeur for the day. It was a lot of fun. They did a thing called 'Raining Balloons' (no description needed)

Up they went

Down they came!

We had about 50 kids. What fun!

Guadalajara

It feels like just yesterday we threw the idea out there to have our staff retreat in Guadalajara while combining it with a trip to check out our future home. Tomorrow is the day we fly there to spend the next 9 days. We are extremely excited to be spending the next week with our fellow missionaries here in Mexico, and also to see some of Guadalajara. We fly tomorrow evening at 9...thankfully a direct flight so not a long time...along with Dallas and Tara and their boys. Please pray that we will have safe travels and a great time down south at our retreat.

Goodbyes

God is so Good

Today we had our final kids' club in Vista Hermosa...it was hard for both us and the kids who are regulars. The young man who recently became a Christian cried and stayed around to help us clean the house and said over and over how much he was going to miss us. We got many hugs and lots of pictures were taken until our batteries died.

It was a party day to end things off so we sang favorite songs, played games outside (thankfully today there was no wind so it was possible), enjoyed pop, donuts and chips (our traditional kids' club party food), and of course handed out prizes for all their stickers which today also included candy bags and cards from us. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it, but didn't want it to end. We do hope in the future kids' club in this area can continue but the lady that was going to do it for us is on church discipline...which means she can't be involved fully by herself right now.

Exciting things are happening within the hearts of these kids. Today we saw the excitement of many of them as they were told about an Adolescent group at the Ebenezer church that gets together after the service. A few of these kids have gone to church the past 2 Sundays with a willing lady in their area. Last Sunday 3 kids had to be turned away due to lack of room in the vehicle (never knew that was possible in Mexico) so thankfully the pastor has arranged one other man will come by to pick up whoever wants to go. This all kinda makes me ask...why do we only get to see these extremely exciting things happen right when we have to leave? But then I also think...maybe I just wasn't seeing it before.
God is so Good!!!

Passports

We just received an answer to prayer once again and thank you to all who prayed for this. I just got a call that the girls' passports have arrived and we just need to go pick them up:) Now we have this peace of mind as we travel next week, and one less thing to think about.

Accepting Jesus

The last few days we have started slowing down our ministries in preparation to leaving in 5 1/2 weeks. Wow, the time has flown and we can't believe it's the time to be ending some things, starting to pack up in a couple of weeks, and move on to another adventure.  Friday I had my last study for one of my Bible Studies, and this coming Tuesday I will have the last of my other Bible study. I hope to visit these ladies still a few more times before the final good-bye, but I'll have a bit more time to focus on preparing my family for a big move both physically and mentally. Yesterday was our 2nd last kids' club...and LeRoy went alone due to myself and the girls both fighting some kind of bug and colds and due to the wind storm we were having and didn't want to mix that with the colds to make it all worse. It feels so weird to be finishing these things. Weird, sad, hard, and yet exciting to know what's ahead both in a few weeks and in fall with moving to Guadalajara.

LeRoy is preaching this morning in Santa Tomas once again for the final time. Because we're still fighting something, the kids and I, we stayed home. We've been having a great morning..cuddling, reading books, the girls painted, and now they are playing mommy and baby once again. And Nolan is happy in his jolly jumper:)

Yesterday when LeRoy went to kids' club we learned of such exciting news. One of the boys, 12 years old, who has been coming to club faithfully accepted Jesus as his Savior this past Monday with one of the local store owners who is also a Believer. We have been seeing this boy growing and hungry to learn so much more, and he has now made a decision to follow Jesus!! Praise the Lord!! We have also been seeing a few young girls around the same age paying so much more attention to the stories we've been teaching. We did hear that one woman who attends the Ebenezer church brought 3 of these girls to church with her last Sunday and we weren't suprised to hear which girls these were. Pray that these kids will continue to be hungry for the Word, and that someone will be teaching them and encouraging them day to day...Leaving kids' club is probably the hardest ministry here for us to leave as that's where we have seen the most growth, and we don't know this club will be able to continue. But we know that God is working and will continue to work long after we have said good-bye.

Please continue to pray that Brooklyn and Emma's passports will arrive this week. It would give us a huge peace of mind as we are planning on flying next Monday to Guadalajara for our staff retreat. We are so excited for this retreat. To reunite with our fellow missionaries for 8-9 days, fellowship together, relax together, dream about our future there, and have a first impression of our future home. And of course it will be a nice change to the busyness of packing up and prepping to leave.

Very relaxed

This weekend was a relaxing weekend with a full house:) My uncle Ken...aka EMC Foreign secretary...was down here for some meetings to explain to the conference why we are moving down south...and some other things to address. These meetings also involved LeRoy and Dallas some so Dallas, Tara, and boys joined us this weekend as well. It's always fun having a full house with great people. Between meetings we were able to visit about lots of different things which included some things that have been on our minds a lot and making us feel stressed. Now it feels that we are less stressed as we were able to bounce these ideas off of those we work with face to face and get feedback.

One of our thoughts taking up space in our minds was with when exactly and how we would move all our stuff to Guadalajara, since we're going to Canada in between...and where to store it in the meantime. Now it's looking like we have a perfect solution, and we're praying it works out. Our co-workers John and Connie Reimer who are in GDL already, are putting an offer into a house to rent for themselves tomorrow. We are praying they get this for themselves so they can stop thinking about this factor, and at the same time it would benefit us. They have offered that we can move all of our stuff directly to their house. While we are in Canada they can make use of our stuff so we don't have to try storing it somewhere expensive, and they don't have to rush finding furniture and things they'll need:) Win win situation...pray with us this can all work out.

House is a mess

I am feeling like our house is a mess, but today mostly our hallway and Nolan's room. We are getting ready to have a garage sale this coming week so I'm going through every room...as long as the kids let me that is. Today the girls helped go through a bit of their toys...every little bit helps. It is heavily on our minds these days all the details involved with moving. Pack up the house, wean out some stuff, and move it all down south. Our furlough begins in just over 1 1/2 months...which means we need to know where we're going to keep it all and when we're going to move it all down. I think it's safe to say we are stressed with not knowing for sure yet...and we look forward to that decision being made.

Please pray for our paperwork of our FM3's as well, that we'll know what we need/should do. We are only allowed to start our renewal process of our FM3's 1 month before they expire, which means we can start on April 26. Initially we were told once we apply it only takes 3-4 days because it's only a renewal. We found out yesterday that it actually takes a minimum of 3-4 WEEKS!!!! Well by the time we are allowed to start the process until we want/need to leave is only 3 weeks. So that adds another stress factor, especially on my dear husband as he is taking over this "job" so I don't have to think of it much.

We realized a few days ago, that there is so many things to think about, including daily life still, that we need to split some things up so we don't both think about everything. So that's what we have tried to do, and I think it's helping. Some things LeRoy takes more charge of and other things I take charge of. Otherwise we're both stressing and thinking about everything....and that can get ugly.

Yes, it's a busy season of our lives right now, and we know it will all work out because we have God on our side...but sometimes it would just be nice to have all the answers right away, and be able to look into the future...even if for just a few weeks.

Praise the Lord

It's a week now since one of the men LeRoy has Bible study with accepted Christ as his Savior. We are so excited to see this change in this man's life. His wife has been a Christian for many years, and has been praying for this although never thought it would happen. Please pray for P as he continues to grow in his relationship with God. Pray that he'll learn what is in the Bible despite the fact of not being able to read.

This week feels like it's been a long one, with lots of thinking, forgetting, decision making, etc. On Monday we realized we forgot to renew the girls' passports which expire on May 1. Tuesday morning we went to a local lady who does this for us and thankfully we had all we needed, the notary public guy was in his office, and we were able to finish our end of that process. We were planning a trip to El Paso for this weekend, but now had to cancel that. We have flights booked on April 18 to fly to Guadalajara for 1 1/2 weeks. Please pray with us that these 2 passports get back here in time so we don't have to cancel those flights and drive the 2 days there and 2 days back. Passports take anywhere from 3-7 weeks to get back here to Mexico, and we have 4 1/2 weeks until we fly.

Lots is on our minds these days as we look ahead to coming home on furlough and for moving to Guadalajara immediately after furlough. How will we move all our stuff, where will we keep it all in the meantime, what do we sell, what do we keep, when and where are we reporting while on furlough,  etc....lots. Thankfully thoughts on some of this are getting clearer, and we are able to mark a couple things of the list of decisions needing to be made. Our church in Steinbach has been able to find us an apartment on the SBC campus for while we'll be home. That's a huge blessing. Also we have decided on a school for Brooklyn in Guadalajara for next year. Thanks to our fellow missionaries that are already down there, they scouted a couple of schools out, and right now Lincoln School looked like the best option. It's a Private Christian school that teaches both English and Spanish. This will be made a special project through EMC once again to cover the costs of her schooing, so you will be hearing more about this in the future. And speaking of special projects...Brooklyn's schooling for this year has yet to be covered, so if you would like to support us in this way donations can be made through EMC to be directed to that.

Right now my mind is with LeRoy as he called and said he can't get the van started, and not knowing what the problem is. Please pray he can figure it out, and that he has help with that. Brooklyn needs to be picked up from school in 1 1/2 hours...

Prayer Letter

We mailed out our latest prayer letter on Friday. If you did not receive it but would like...please let us know. Or if you would rather not receive our letters anymore...we are not hurt...but please just let us know.

Thank You

Thank you to all for praying for us. A decision has been made for our future placement...but we're going to keep you in suspense for a bit. haha We are hoping to have our next prayer letter out within the week and we want to fill you in more in there. So you'll have to keep waiting to hear the news of where God is calling us next. Or if you really can't handle the suspense send us an email.

Our Future

Today and tomorrow the EMC Board of Missions is having meetings. Tomorrow they will be discussing our future placement, to where we will move after our furlough. Please pray along with us for our Board of Missions as they make this decision. Pray that they will hear God leading them to where God wants us to be. This week has been very hard to concentrate on much here as we really just want to hear which city we will be moving to. It's something we have been waiting a long time to hear and now finally we expect to hear an answer at the beginning of next week.

Steinreich Bibelschule

Yesterday was the last day of my parents visit. We spent the majority of the time together with our church family in Anáhuac. They decided to have a potluck lunch, because they wanted to show "LeRoy and Faith's parents that they were being taken care of".

We were extremely blessed to have a group of students from the Steinreich Bible School come and share and minister to the congregation. Diedrich Harms preached on the story of Lazarus and the students presented a drama, a kid's story, a testimony and sang. It was mostly done in Spanish, with a little bit of singing in English and Low German. It was really interesting because the Low German song they sang I recognized as King of Majesty by Hillsong.

The Bible School has students from Canada, USA, Bolivia, Belize, as well as various Mexican states.

John and Lorna Wall, who we work together with, are currently teaching at the Bible School, and we were able to go and visit with them on Saturday. While I was there I recognized one of the students, Jeff, from Belize, who had come to Mexico with Project Mac a year ago with Jake and Myrna Bartsch as leaders. That was a nice surprise.

The Bible School runs for three months a year, taught mostly in Low German, but now recently there has been more serious talk about opening a Spanish wing as well. Pray for wisdom as this dream gets brought before the Lord. There is always a need for ongoing, feasible, biblical training for the leaders of the evangelical churches.

Preaching..

This morning LeRoy is heading to Santo Tomas church to share the message...something he will be doing every 3 weeks until May. The church there had pastors that needed to be put on discipline due to some issues, and that was done last weekend through the conference here. As a first step to helping the situation heal they have decided to have others come in and preach for the next few months at least. So we have offered to help in this way as we have now stepped down from most responsibility in Anahuac. The kids and I were going to go along with LeRoy but Nolan woke up with a much worse cough and Emma had a rough night...so we'll go next time. I wish I could go along to support LeRoy, but we'll be praying for him from here.

I know there are some other updates I should be mentioning but I'm so tired from being up with Emma last night I really can't think of any.

Just because it's Mexico, doesn't mean we live on the beach

Well, the snow is falling outside, the wind is blowing, and school is canceled. I called Brooklyn's school, and they said the pipes were frozen, and couldn't get the heat to work. Faith says she will have to do some baking, just to warm up the house.

Faith is talking to her dad, apparently it's colder here in Cuauhtémoc than in Steinbach, MB. So no, we don't live on the beach, where it's constantly 30 degrees, and my tan isn't really getting worked on. Haha

I have bible study this morning at 10, but I really don't feel like leaving the house, knowing the house where we have study is ''congelada'' or frozen. But I know it's worth going, because the two men who are studying God's word keep coming every week for almost a year now. Praise the Lord!

Changing gears, passing the baton

A lot of things have happened in the last month or so. A while back we started looking and praying for someone who would be interested and willing in taking up some of the ministries in Vista Hermosa. It seems that the Lord has provided. God is good, all the time.

We found out over Christmas that a lady that has helped us out in the past, when we couldn't make it, or during VBS, was interested in becoming more involved. She has helped out in the kids ministry for a number of years, also working alongside of Alvira Friesen. When she found out that her church might not be able to continue the ministry that has been going on because of a lack of volunteers, among other things, she felt moved to become more involved. We met with her the other day, and she was really excited to get re-involved.She believes that this is where her heart for ministry is at, and we believe it. We have also seen how she handles these kids (sometimes it can be a bit of a rougher crowd), and how she has a gift for working with them.

As you think of this young lady, please pray for her as she tries to balance her  university schedule with this ministry. We are so THANKFUL to be able to count on her support. We hope that adequate help will be found for her in the long when we come on furlough in May. We have another believer in mind, (a male) who has shown recent interest in becoming involved in ministry who I hope to make more direct contact with in the near future. God has really been touching his heart lately, and we would love to have him work alongside of us, but we need to leave that in the Lord's wise hands. Our wisdom is often very short-sighted, and besides, all of our plans are in vain if it is outside of God's leading.

There is such a need for God in the community of Vista Hermosa, and yet such spiritual blindness. We thank God for those called to serve in their own communities, and we pray for more willing hearts to help spread the Good News.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The last time I blogged I shared with you what we were all busy with in a week's time. I figured now that it's the New Year I should update you a bit on all that. LeRoy's message last Sunday went very well. He may not admit it but I think he's getting more relaxed every time. Tomorrow we head Jehovah Nissi Church in Chihuahua so he can preach there as well. We had our Christmas program in Vista Hermosa, which was both encouraging and discouraging. I'll start with the sadder part first. It was discouraging for the fact that only 1 parent came..no other community came out. It was encouraging because we had about 25 kids come out. They sang a couple songs and shared a verse. The most encouraging part came from our church in Anahuac. After they heard we didn't have any help from the Ebenezer church, they jumped at the opportunity to support us. Almost the whole church came out to see where exactly where we were working. They helped us serve cookies and hot chocolate to the kids (and themselves) and we felt extremely supported. Some have even shown interest in helping us in other ways if needed, and I know we'll try to make use of any help we're offered.

Christmas flew by and it's already 2011. We see big changes ahead for us this year, which we are excited about. One change will be coming home on furlough, and an even bigger change will be a new location which is yet to be determined. Already knowing what lies ahead makes it harder to continue on here knowing it's coming to an end.

We pray that God will show Himself even more this coming year to us all than He already has in the past. He is Almighty, Powerful, and All-knowing. His Love is unconditional and for always.

English Carols...

At this time of year, while shopping for groceries, I almost forget I am in Mexico...until I realize I am the only one in the store quietly singing along with the Christmas music being played:) Because for some reason, at Christmas time (and certain stores or restaurants all year round) English music is played. I don't know if this is because there isn't much for this season's music in Spanish, but I have rather enjoyed it:) I say it's a bit of home being brought to me while I shop.

I have wanted to blog all week, but this has been one crazy week, so I have taken advantage of all the free time to get ready for Christmas here and prepare for company. But it is high time to give you all an update of what's going on here. This week has included the following:

1. Message preparation...LeRoy that is, not me. He preaches on the 26th in our church, and then on January 2 in Chihuahua.

2. Kids' Club prep...Today we had a bit of a Christmas party/prize day/program prep for tomorrow, and now will take the next 2 Saturdays as a break with school break and those days falling on Christmas day and New Years.

3. Bible Studies...LeRoy prepped and led 1, I prepped and led 2, which makes for a full week all on their own.

4. Christmas program...Tomorrow we are putting on a Christmas program in Vista Hermosa. We are nervous about it, but also extremely excited now after seeing our kids at club practicing. The kids will be singing 2 songs and saying one verse, LeRoy will be doing a short skit involving turning a tree into a cross (can't find a live Christmas tree like you're supposed to use so he's improvising), LeRoy and 2 others will be leading some Christmas carols, our pastor will be leading a devotional, and I with several ladies will be handing out hot chocolate and cookies:). A busy 1 1/2 hours it will be, and I do really hope to get lots of pictures somehow taken too. I'm thankful that a few people from church are coming to support us, so at least Nolan will be off my hands during that time:)

5. Visitation...We tried to do some visitation and connecting with different people, including having our former neighbor and her sons over for an afternoon, and enjoying lunch together.

6. While all that was being done prep for our own Christmas was being done like baking, cleaning, wrapping, shopping, and prepping for my brother and his fiancee.

Yes, it was a very busy week.

Quote of the day

''Quien teme preguntar se avergüenza de aprender''

Many of the restaurants around here give you usher mints after your meal. They are Brooklyn's favorites. I really like them because I'm always trying to figure out the cool sayings and quotes.

The translation of the one I got yesterday is ''He who is scared to ask/question is ashamed to learn''

I think this applies very much to our everyday attitude, and my attitude makes a world of a difference in my willingness and speed of learning. When it comes to language learning, I find I'm at a point where I don't want to ask more questions, because I feel dumb, thinking, ''man, I should know that already, shouldn't I?''

Life is full of learning. Our spiritual journey should also have times of questions. I'm not talking about the valleys of doubt we all certainly go through, but the times we're questioning the status of our relationship with God and others. ASK, LEARN, GROW.

Coffee, Coffee, or Tea?

Where's the ground coffee? Wait a minute, this is all instant coffee!

As the temperatures drop, both inside and out, I find myself drinking more and more hot liquids. Those of you that know me, know I love my coffee. Good coffee. I like to make it myself, grind the beans, a good brewed coffee, or with a French Press, sometimes with foamed milk. It's a bit of an art, I say.

Well, Mexicans are very gracious. If you're invited into their homes, they will most likely offer you coffee, or on hot day, coke. But it's the instant variety. Not that I'm going to slam instant coffee. I mean, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, if you know what I mean.

When I walk into a grocery store, or even a convenience store for that matter, I'm amazed at the selection of coffee. 95% instant, 5% ground, 0.5% whole bean, if you're lucky. I know, my math there is slipping a little bit! Ask anyone for a synonym for the word coffee, and you'll most likely hear, ''Nescafé, or Combate'', the 2 most popular brands. When you think of it, having a coffee perk, is a little bit of an affluence thing. Not everyone can or wants to spend their spare change on a specialty kitchen appliance or 2, when a kettle and a can of instant does the trick.

As you get used to a culture, you also adapt to their customs. Year's ago, I basically refused to drink instant coffee. The truth is, I didn't know how to do it! I'd put a heaping teaspoon in for one cup! But now that I have had some practice, not that it really takes much, it's not that bad. If we have company I still like to use the perk, it's a bit of a specialty, but if I'm offered a cup of Nescafé, you'll be hard-pressed to see me refuse.

WOW!!

I went to L's house for our 5:30 study together on the book The Power of the Praying Wife. She had invited a few other ladies, one other one had shown up 2 weeks ago and that's it. But this time D came as well, the lady that was the least expected to come. D's husband left her 3 years ago, and since then she has become a Christian. Her husband is still not a Believer and is with another woman. No actual divorce has happened but still separation. Throughout our conversation we answered questions on the chapters we were studying this week, and then D felt the need to share with us something that gave me goosebumps all over. She shared that she has had this book for a few weeks, but every time she picked it up she found it too hard. The first chapter is definitely the hardest to read as it asks you to admit some things of yourself and commit to some changes. D went on to share that over this past weekend she would pick the book up to read it, and immediately put it down, going through this process several times. Finally Sunday afternoon, after church, she made herself read it. She decided that she was going to commit to this book, and with that commit herself to pray for her husband. That afternoon she prayed for her husband. That evening her husband called her and their 3 kids, for the first time in 4 months.

It's stories and times like these that show me the need out there. When first contemplating this bible study with Christian ladies, I wasn't sure if I should do this because they have their own churches, but nothing in the area where they are living. After I decided to do it, and knew that some ladies wanted a topic regarding being Christian and having non-believing husbands, I had no idea what book to use as reference or anything. Tara borrowed me the book The Power of the Praying Wife (I had read it years ago) and several others of you mentioned that it could be a good book to use. I checked out a few other books, but felt this was the one I should do. Yes, I have had my doubts, but this week I felt like maybe I am there, with this book, to even just be an encouragement to ladies like D, to help her continue to pray for her husband, who has shown little to no interest. That maybe to really pray for him with a faithful heart, maybe they can slowly build a friendship again, and from there God knows what could happen.