Persisting

We have continued helping kids in San Jose with their homework on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Three new kids started coming in October, the youngest of whom is F, a fifth grade girl. On Tuesday this week I had a chance to talk with her and as I asked her about her mom and dad I found out that she lives with her grandmother, but her parents have both been in the USA since she was five years old (almost six years ago). I asked whether she missed them and the immediately replied "nah!" very stoically. This reminded me again of the importance of being there as role models, mentors and friends showing the love of Jesus to children. Please join me in prayer for F and her brother H as they continue to be raised by their grandmother in the absence of their parents.

This is the place where we meet. The window is for one of the three rooms we have at our disposal. Currently, due to low attendance (less than 10), we only use this room.

San José meeting place.

He smiled for the first time

Sunday all four of us got to spend some time with Omar and Vicki in San Jose. We sang songs and got to share some cookies with them. I had seen them on Thursday when I stopped by with a fellow worker who was visiting Tenancingo. That day we had fed them some sweet rolls and water and as we were interacting a bit more with them their mother Cristina arrived. We talked with her some and repeated our offer of assistance. I specifically said I could come with my guitar, play and spend a little bit of time with them. She said it would be fine for us to come and they would be there on Saturday or Sunday.

After church we headed home, changed, picked up the guitar and headed to San Jose. Cristina and her daughter Zuleima (11) were not there, but Omar and Vicki were in the outside area. Once we realized the lock was in place and we wouldn´t be able to go inside to be with them, I brought out the guitar and just started playing from outside. Vicki smiled. I told her to give me her hand through the upper area of the gate and to reach out and strum, which she did. Then Omar´s face lit up with this huge smile. I have never seen him smile before. We sang a few kids songs and I tried unsuccessfully to get him to strum. When I insited he walked towards Vicki and grabbed her hand as if saying "you do it!"   I then said some words of encouragement to Vicki and asked her whether she was sad, to which she replied "who told you?" I told her I could perceive it, but that God loves her.

The next highlight was when their younger sister Z. (who is 11 and just entered sixth grade) arrived. We hadn´t seen her in a few years and she is much taller than the cute nine year old we had seen back in the fall of 2009. We gave her a box of 20 plus small milk cartons and a few cookies. Cristina often sends Z to help tend to Omar and Vicki, so it was good to reconnect with her. Since she opened the big gate, I walked to the threshhold and played a bit more on the guitar. This time Vicki came over and strummed vigorously as I changed chords and we did a song. Then I played a little and she and Omar held hands as if in a simple dance.

It was a brief and limited interaction, but seems to be a new and encouraging beginning. Z even said her mom and her had wanted to invite us to her first communion celebration later this month. We are so thrilled by these breakthroughs and new opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. May He continue giving us wisdom as we share His love.

Guerrero trip report...

We had a great, safe trip. God gave us opportunity to show his love to many people. The night before leaving someone came and told me about all the violence in the area and suggested we postpone the trip. I let them know that we were very aware of the tension, but that we had a very specific purpose in mind and were trusting that God was going before us and He would take care of us. After spending four days in the area, had I not known there had been recent skirmishes, I would have had no idea the area was violent. God´s peace was in our hearts the whole time.

a 6 minute video summarizing the trip...

Our Tenancingo team spent time with kids. The first night it was just 7, but Friday was over 110, then Saturday over 50 and Sunday over 70. I´d figure perhaps close to 150 different children with whom we played, sang, shared the gospel (yellow, black, red, white, green fingered glove), laughed, did some fun dramas and shared a Samaritan´s Purse gift (this last one through the Mexican Baptist convention with whom we are affiliated). We used a multi-colored glove to share God´s gift of salvation as in the wordless book. Yellow - God has a plan for your life and it is good. Black - Sin keeps you from that plan.  Red - The blood of Jesus, takes care of your sin. White - Accepting Jesus´ gift makes our hearts clean. Green - We need to grow and learn more about God´s plan for us.

I was encouraged by the believers we met. Adiel Pineda who is a missionary pastor in the state of Morelos (two hours east of Tenancingo) has relatives in many of the small towns in the area. And has been leading many to the Lord Jesus in the last year and a half, some of whom he´s just met within that timeframe.

I was also encouraged and blessed to see Baptists and Pentecostals and others come together with the purpose of worshiping the Lord in a public place and proclaiming the good news. After some division and bickering in the past year, this was a good step in the right direction. There was a lot of talk about unity as Jesus prayed in John 17 so that the world may know. Some of this bickering was between relatives who were in leadership of two different pentecostal churches. Non-believers were aware of the bad testimony and I pray this is something they noticed as different.

Our team was healthy even with abundant mosquito bites and being fed beef all three days for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They killed a cow to honor us as their guests with healthy, good food. Almost reminded me of Forrest Gump and the variety of ways to eat shrimp. I can asure you we didn´t eat the horns, eyes, brains or hoofs, but most everything else. 

We definitely felt the love and prayers of so many. It was a blessing to be the goers. While there, we often remembered the senders, our Tenancingo church and so many others from many parts of the globe who covered our time in prayer. We want to continue joining Adiel in future trips - he goes once a month!   He requested help for purchasing an overhead projector which he uses to show movies as he shares the gospel and disciples new believers. His home church has one which he has used off and on, but each time he does, it leaves them without their own. If interested in helping Adiel with this specific need, please let me know.

Year end update

Judging by the frequency of our posts for the last six months one could conclude that either there is not much to report or so much going on there has not been time to report it. The latter is true as June through December has held many full adventures for us. Here's a brief summary:

Summer Campaign - we had a team of 30 from two Chicago area churches come for a bit over a week in late July to hold a basketball clinic, kids club and english class for people in Tenancingo, specifically in Agua Bendita and San Jose. It was refreshing to have much energy and excitement and a hectic change of pace. Both Lina and Matthew were heavily involved in coordinating details related to the campaign.

School - Samuel started 3rd grade and Rebeca 1st grade at the same public school where Samuel has been. Matthew got elected to the Parents Association as treasurer and has spent many hours getting to know the school structure, happenings and "ways of doing things." We have made good relationship with a number of families, some of whom have asked us whether we can help couples with counseling.

Church - We have continued our involvement with worship on a regular rotation with Lina on keyboard and Matthew singing, playing guitar and occasionally leading. This fall we also underwent some training for marital counseling with our teammate Steve Peterson. Though the program called Prepare/Enrich, we took a marriage inventory and were able to go through an evaluation of areas of strength and opportunity. It was refreshing and encouraging for both of us and we are now meeting weekly with a newly married couple and working through the followup with them. During the upcoming year we will continue to debrief with more couples both in the church and broader community.

San Jose - This past fall Matthew led a team of 5-8 mentors who spend time with elementary students helping them work through their homework. Because we have limited volunteers, we have only been able to offer help on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During October and November, our friend Carolyn Preston volunteered her time to teach English every Monday and Wednesday. She has since returned to the US, so our plan starting in January is to have homework help from Monday through Thursday. Additionally, we have had a few activities for women, teaching them crafts they can use for home business initiatives. We have started to think and pray about the possibility of moving to this neighborhood in future years so that we can spend more time investing in the people of the community.

That's the last few months in a nutshell. We appreciate the love, kindness, prayers, encouragement and support from so many. This year has been a bit difficult financially, although God has graciously allowed us to end each month in the black. We have gained a few supporting families, but lost more. We trust God will add others to our team of regular donors who will invest in our lives as we invest in the kingdom here.

Sept to Dec 2009...

Samuel and Rebeca

September came and went... October is gone... November also is behind us.... If this blog were a true measure of our lives and activities, you´d think we´ve been hibernating. Truth is we have kept ourselves so full with life and activities that we have not been intentional to share what has been going on. For those of you who check on our monthly happenings, here´s a summary from September to now...

September - full swing with school, both Lina and Matthew on PTA board for Rebeca´s kindergarden. Began kids club in two locations - four sessions on the story of Christmas. Began "Firepfroof" marriage series every Wednesday evening. Our neighbors decided to attend! Samuel and Rebeca began swimming lessons.

Marco, Dayra, Cynthia, Yolanda - our neighbors...

October - helped organize a catered dinner for young adults with special speaker. Continued with kids clubs. Matthew ran a 10K in Mexico City. We coordinated the purchase of 140 mariachi costumes for all the kids in Samuel´s grade (second grade - 3 classrooms)

Catered dinner for young adults at church.

November - More kids clubs. Neighbors still attended faithfully. Delivered the costumes. Electrical installation for our Bible institute classroom. Lina tried a few more recipes (mmmm!). Samuel and Rebeca participated in special swimming presentation.

Kids in San Jose reenacting the nativity scene.

We´re gearing up for the end of the year, with a reader´s theatre and special song. In January we´ll have a church retreat. And we´re already starting to plan on next summer´s campaign...

... we´re trusting God for year two!

La Casa de mi Padre

Well, VBS is finished now, and we are grateful for that. The last three weeks were absolutely draining in many ways. But I would not have changed it for the world! Our team was pretty commited to the vision and our kids were excited to be part of it. They do see how we, as a family, have a calling to tell others about Jesus. Samuel got to do puppets and, to be honest, he is pretty good at it. The kids laughed at what he said which was an encouragement. Rebeca, on the other hand, enjoyed more sitting with the rest of the kids, helping them with their crafts and mostly, setting a good example of behaviour. We are so blessed.

I will never be able to do justice to Matthew´s wonderful organization skills. He planned, organized, encouraged, challenged and had fun with the team. He did an excellent job leading us in this project. Thank You, my love.

The theme we used was "La casa de mi Padre" (My Father's house). We talked about creation, Noah, the life of Jesus, us being the salt and light of the world; and finally our home in heaven. We had a theme song, which goes like this, more or less:

My Father's house I want to know,

My Father's house, will be a safe place.

My Father's house, in there I will live.

My Father's house, forever with Him!

I think all of us, adults and kids, liked this song and its tune. Ironically, though, we had a tough reminder that this Earth is full of sin and imperfect. We all should be looking forward to being with Jesus for ever.

One of the VBS locations, was the street. Matthew rented a large tent to protect us from the rain. We set up things in a way that we were facing a house that belongs to a church family. On the other side of the street, live two "kids" all by themselves. Well, they are 25 and 23. They have been locked in the "house" for decades. They are victims of abuse since they were very young. Neighbors say that they used to go to Kindergarten, but all of a sudden, they were locked in the house, tied to their beds and never went outside again. They lived with their father, who died. Then their mother came in the picture but didn't stay with them. To this date she sees them every other day, gives them some food and leaves again, locking the house from the outside. If you saw them, they are so skinny and have not developed mentally. The first day we had VBS, they came out to their little yard and started clapping to the songs. Later, their mother came and locked them inside of the only room they have. We didn't see them again.

The words of the theme song were painful to sing, yet hopeful. We know that today, their house is nothing but the horrible place where they are victims of an abuse I could never imagine would exist. But one day, those kids will have a safe place to live for ever, when they are called to His presence to live in Our Father's House. May that be very soon.

Warmer weather, new opportunities

For eighteen days this month, we have been adding significant mileage to our van. Our trip to South Carolina and Georgia has been a blessing to us as we have been able to spend time with both family, which we had not seen for almost a year, and friends, some of whom we had not seen for much longer. We have counted nine different beds where we have slept. The kids have been so flexible and excited about the next day's adventures. We are so thankful for their adaptability when out of their regular context. On a number of nights we have still been able to read a Bible story. In the picture, Samuel is reading an Old Testament story out loud while Rebeca tunes in.

The main purpose of our journey to the south has been to share about our vision for ministry in Mexico so people can better understand what we will be doing and how they can support with both prayer and finances. We have also initiated some form of contact with three different churches where our friends/family attend. As we continue sharing about Tenancingo, our hearts continue to be encouraged as others get excited about this opportunity God has opened up for us.

Musicals, sledding, birthdays

We are already in the middle of December and have enjoyed a number of exciting activities. Samuel turned 6 on the 14th. We had a few friends and family over and had a great time enjoying pizza, cake, some gifts and running around the house playing hit-daddy-with-the-balloons, and other random games. A week before, we had to say goodbye to grandma Margarita who went back to Mexico. It was sad, but we also have the joy of knowing we will see her in the not-too-distant future when we go to Mexico for good. Since it had snowed a few days before, we decided that on the way back from the airport, we would go sledding. We did and the kids had great fun. After getting sprayed in the face with snow a few times, Rebeca preferred going down facing uphill with her head in daddy's chest. Meanwhile, Samuel was braving the descent solo and only fell out of the plastic blue saucer once. As far as Lina goes, it was her first time going downhill sledding and she had a few bumpy moments.

Our church put on a musical called "The Innkeeper's Tale," written by a young lady who is a member. Matthew participated in the choir and a few extra "fill-in" parts. There's a high-energy gospel-like song at the beginning called "Sing the wonders of His love" and after the first presentation on Friday night, Samuel and Rebeca requested to hear it in the van over an over the next few days. They also went to the Saturday night presentation and that was all they needed to learn the choreographed motions to the song. It's neat how something special like this really impacts them. Last year Samuel was involved as the little boy in a musical called "One Bethlehem Night." So this year, he called the musical "One Bethlehem Night 2: The Inkeeper's Tale."

Beautiful kids

Two great reasons to put a smile on your face. This is the way they looked on a Sunday afternoon in late September of 2007...

Goodbye Futon!

This journey we are making as a family to Mexico has a definite impact on each of us. Recently, we realized how much it is touching our son Samuel's life. As a way to gradually get rid of furniture and things, we have begun posting some furniture items for sale. One of the first items was a futon which was actually given to us a few years ago. For the last few months, the kids have enjoyed climbing all over the futon, as well as laying on the top of the back side as they watched TV. Although both Lina and I had been talking about this plan, we had not looped the kids into the matter.

We found an interested buyer who ended up coming to take the futon while I was at work. Upon my return, Lina informed me that Samuel had been upset by the futon going out of the home. He was sad and even began to cry as he realized what was going on. My heart was touched as she shared with me how Samuel had reacted. I realized how the decisions we are making with our lives are having a big (and will have an even bigger) impression on our kids. We took this as an opportunity to remind Samuel how everything we have has been given to us by God and that "He gives and takes a way" but we will always "bless His name." (see Job in the Old Testament).

Even though we can't always exactly anticipate them, we expect situations like this will become more and more frequent. What a blessing to have real life situations through which to instruct and teach our children about the things that matter most. Please be remembering them in prayer as you think about it.

I'm so happy, o so happy!

Where should I begin? Matthew has done an excellent job at summarizing how our lives have been in the last couple of weeks. We are glad that we can say we have a routine back... a pretty busy one, but it's nice to have one.
I am still helping lead the moms group in our church which I love doing. Work is going great. I am so priviledged to have a good boss, nice co-workers and a good christian friend in my team. Thankfully I am still focused when I am at work. However, the sense of realization that we only have about 3 more months before our goal date to leave to México is amazing. Time is going by so fast.
I keep thinking more and more how much our lives are going to change once we get there. I am grateful that the leadership of the church in Tenancingo have been graceful enough to allow us to spend the first months without a specific responsibility but instead, allowing us some time to process the transition. This is wonderful, especially because of the kids. They both will start school right away and we want to be sensitive to their needs and be available to get to know the school, teachers, other parents, the system... and the list can keep going and going.
We know it is so uncertain what is coming up and how our lives will be when we get there. We don't know what the future will bring and what trials may come our way. There is one thing we know for sure: Our Lord has our family in His precious and powerful hands and He, of course, does know our future. We can have no greater comfort than this.
Last night, as we were driving from church to go home, we were listening a song the kids just love. They cannot get enough of it. It is "I'm so happy" by The Second Chapter of Acts. As we all were singing the chorus I was reflecting how truly happy I am.

Lina