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!

on a walk...

Samuel, Rebeca and I took a walk around our new neighborhood back in late January. We walked down a ditch where there flows a small stream which could easily be crossed (not so, they say during rainy season which is between june and november - stay tuned for an accounting later about that...). We then continued up the hill and turned around to this view of Tenancingo. You can see Christ the King atop the hill overlooking town. Those houses closest to Samuel and Rebeca are in our neighborhood. Straight above Rebeca´s head and where the hill goes down in the far away distance is where their school is located. It takes a good ten minutes and nine different streets to get there.