Presumably our friends who read our blog know that Mexico is a nation struggling with corruption and war. Not that this is news. It's been true for centuries with some pockets of time & places better than others.
Currently, there are some pockets of violence related to the war between the government and the drug lords and at the same time between drug lords themselves. These are troubling times. Throw in the upheaval on the USA side of the border and consider the pot stirred.
A week ago the men from our ministry team met with our mission's appointed point person for security issues here in Mexico. I don't think we learned anything that was surprising or news to us but we did come away with some important ideas for us to deal with as a team. We need to formulate a plan for evacuation and/or isolation should we find ourselves in an emergency situation regarding security.
One thing that struck me is our upcoming mission trip to Iowa to speak to kids about missions and share with them some important truths concerning the Great Commission. Last summer when I first suggested our willingness to come to Iowa to do this, I had in mind a drive through Dallas so we could pick up our school materials for the coming year. However, I did not foresee the increase in violence along the northern border areas on the eastern side of the country of Mexico. Most of this had been contained in the central and western portions of the northern regions last year. The violence continues to spread and while not as widespread as along the border, it appears to be getting closer. We're all watching this and taking notes.
That's pretty much the "Violencia" part of the title of this post. I presume you can figure out that the word means "violence" in English. "Vuelos" are flights. This comes as a result of the violence. Beth and I have decided and our team leader is in solid agreement that it would be wise to fly to Iowa rather than drive. There are a number of reasons why this is a better choice.
One reason is that we avoid the riskier drive through Mexico north of here. Another is we'll have a very long month-long home assignment late this summer that will no doubt be enough driving to wear us out all by itself. This drive to Iowa and back would be nearly 4,000 miles r/t in less than 2 weeks. That's tiring. Checking the various options, the best option is to fly to Chicago and rent a car. It's quite a bit more expensive to fly from here to Des Moines or anywhere else in that region. The upside to all that is we'll be traveling without the boys for about 11 days. We've never been away from the kids that long which may be a challenge but to have some time together will be special for us as well. We'll take a day or two and celebrate our 19th anniversary (coming up in early August when we'll be in the middle of a work team) by touring a bit of Chicago. Finally, we'll also have the opportunity to visit with Beth's sister in the Chicagoland area. We saw them last July and we didn't think we'd see them and their four kiddos until fall of next year. This will be nice too.
All-in-all, it's great to see the Lord work out our plans this way. We hadn't seen it coming. We're still preparing for the messages at the Iowa camp. We'd appreciate your prayers for this. I'm sure Beth's mom will appreciate your prayers too as she's been entrusted with watching the boys during our absence. We'll be flying out June 11 and flying back June 22.
Thanks!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The Way Things Go
Today was a good example of how simple plans are the best plans here in Mexico. The reason for that is many times nothing goes as planned so simple plans are more flexible and easier to change.
As you may know we have "church" in our home each Sunday. It's in English. The couple we're discipling, Jason and Kristin, come each week with their young son, Justin. I teach an informal lesson with J&K, and Beth teaches Justin and Dayton. Cameron sometimes joins my group but usually Beth's group.
A few weeks ago an American woman we met a couple years ago at Cameron's tennis classes came back into contact with us after over a year of having lost track of her. She's promised to come three different Sundays and has so far come once.
So back to the way things go...
On Friday I met Jason downtown after his work where he was doing some payday shopping and I drove him home. I needed to loan him my drill and extension cord so he could drill into the cinder blocks which make up part of the back of their little apartment. He needed to hang up a tarp so as to cover their washing machine and protect it from the coming rains of rainy season. It rained a few nights ago and they weren't quite ready for it. They also discovered some leaks coming through into their living room which required a couple of buckets to catch the drips. (I'm sure we all have some drips that we'd like to contain with a couple of buckets...but I digress.) So, on the way to his house I spotted a paint store and figured I'd buy him a liter of sealant so he could apply it to the leaky roof.
Upon arriving at and finally leaving his house I mentioned something about seeing them on Sunday for our Bible study and they replied that they had already told us they weren't able to come this week. Oh...I missed that. Sure enough. Beth knew.
Well, that changed some things for me. I had been trying to get on-task with coming up with this Sunday's message beginning in Romans 2 and now I was just given a free pass. I could focus on our upcoming mission trip to Iowa and the four messages that I need to get ready for there.
I came home and asked Beth to call Jenny to see if she was planning on coming. If she wasn't, then maybe we could make a family plan for the morning since we don't often have a Sunday morning free. Beth called and Jenny said she was coming. Oh. Well...that's great! We really want to keep building that relationship and to develop a better foundation for some spiritual input into this family.
Later that Friday evening, I hear voices in the dining room. Jenny was supposed to come over. I guess she did but she had already come and gone. These voices were of Carmen and her two teenagers. We had no idea they were coming but they wanted to talk about something. They finally got around to the point. They wanted to order some work shirts for her husband, Juan, from a website in the USA but needed someone with an American credit card who could purchase it and eventually bring it down. Oh...OK.
So, we pick out the 5 shirts and they decided that since there were a number of special deals on this site that they wanted a couple more things...two dresses, several t-shirts, a couple of hoodies, four flip flops...stuff like that. It ended up ringing up to a bit over $200 and 20 items. We're flying up to Chicago in less than 2 weeks and we'll need to find a way to get all this stuff into our luggage coming back. (They did pay me in pesos on the spot so that was all good, although I intentionally managed to short myself about $20. Hope that helps them out some.)
On their way out Carmen mentioned that Cristian (her teenage son who was here) needs to hone his English skills so he would be coming to our Sunday morning service to help with his English. Oh...OK. That's all good too.
So on Saturday, I get out last week's message and tweak it a bit to use for this week. That way whoever shows up for next week's service will be caught up through our conclusion of the first chapter of Romans.
Late Saturday evening the phone rang. It was for Beth's mom. Good. We've learned to cringe at Saturday night phone calls. I don't know why. Later we find out that there's a group of believers from Querétaro coming to the church across town today and we've just invited them to lunch in our home. How many people? It wasn't clear. Could be around a dozen guests. Yikes! OK, no need to panic; we'll buy chickens and tortillas and everyone will get something to eat.
Sunday morning, we usually see our attendees arrive around 10:30...sometimes as late as 11:00. I was determined to get going as soon as possible because I didn't want to see us concluding a late service with a large lunch party coming. 10:30...quiet. 10:45...no one yet. 11:00...Beth decides Jenny's not coming. Cristian? No, surely he wasn't coming. Beth pulled out the Bible survey for kids that we've been using with the boys and launches into their place in Numbers. Upon wrapping that up around 11:20, the doorbell rings. Someone coming now, nearly an hour late? Yup. Cristian...and his sister and his parents, Juan and Carmen. OK. But Juan and Carmen don't speak English; and sister speaks very little English. This is going to be interesting.
So, after 10 minutes of getting them to come in and to have a cup of coffee, we get started. The beauty of this lesson last week was that I had discovered some excellent video clips of the passage we were covering and the American pastor was much better at teaching it than I would ever be so we watched that via the projector. That works great for English-speakers but it became a chore to stop it every 30 seconds to a minute to try and translate/summarize-translate what was being said.
This also doesn't work well with Carmen present. She may be the most talkative woman we've ever met. She "could talk fleas off a dog" as we say in the South. So, our 28 minute video took about 2 hours to get through, between watching it, translating it, and then Carmen adding her own sermon comments to it, etc. It was quite an interesting experience. I noticed her teenagers had a habit of looking off in some other direction when their mother was in the middle of one her breathless "sermonettes." They looked a little annoyed but they did their best to not appear to be rude, after all the closing sin from the list of Romans 1 is "disobedience to parents." I'm sure they didn't want to get struck dead right there on the couch. They were trying hard. For my part, I just tried to listen faster. That woman can really tear up the track records for speed-talking.
BTW, Jenny never did show up.
In the end, we finished up just in time. I think everyone enjoyed the message, including me. I know Beth did. She never gets to join the adults so this was a special opportunity for her.
Juan really needed to get home so he could get some lunch and get ready to leave for his job which is several hours away by bus...actually it takes 3 buses to get there. He stays in the area of his job in a very small apartment during the week which he shares with another worker. He only comes home on weekends. They may move over to that region after the kids finish high school but that may be a couple years yet. I decided to drive them home.
In the meantime, our lunch guests have finished their church service across town and are ready to head to our house. Beth was going to go out and get the chicken and tortillas but I had unwittingly decided to drive Juan and Carmen and kids across town to their house. There wouldn't be room for Beth in the car too. So, she wasn't able to go out and buy the food. We'd work something out.
We ended up with just three adults and two kids as guests for lunch. Three other adults were invited elsewhere. I'm not sure where we got the idea there would be ten or more guests. I think there was another family or two who decided not to join this group coming from Querétaro. Lunch was great and we had a very sweet time of fellowship with a family I hadn't seen since 1999 at my father-in-law's memorial service.
Nothing went according to plan today, but it all worked out fine.
Would this bother you? It does take an American mindset a lot of adaptation to get used to this. We aren't anywhere near good at it, but we try to go with the flow and make the best of it. My ears are tired but maybe a good night's rest will solve that.
I hope the phone doesn't ring tonight. It just might. In ministry here in Mexico, that's pretty much the way things go...and that's OK.
As you may know we have "church" in our home each Sunday. It's in English. The couple we're discipling, Jason and Kristin, come each week with their young son, Justin. I teach an informal lesson with J&K, and Beth teaches Justin and Dayton. Cameron sometimes joins my group but usually Beth's group.
A few weeks ago an American woman we met a couple years ago at Cameron's tennis classes came back into contact with us after over a year of having lost track of her. She's promised to come three different Sundays and has so far come once.
So back to the way things go...
On Friday I met Jason downtown after his work where he was doing some payday shopping and I drove him home. I needed to loan him my drill and extension cord so he could drill into the cinder blocks which make up part of the back of their little apartment. He needed to hang up a tarp so as to cover their washing machine and protect it from the coming rains of rainy season. It rained a few nights ago and they weren't quite ready for it. They also discovered some leaks coming through into their living room which required a couple of buckets to catch the drips. (I'm sure we all have some drips that we'd like to contain with a couple of buckets...but I digress.) So, on the way to his house I spotted a paint store and figured I'd buy him a liter of sealant so he could apply it to the leaky roof.
Upon arriving at and finally leaving his house I mentioned something about seeing them on Sunday for our Bible study and they replied that they had already told us they weren't able to come this week. Oh...I missed that. Sure enough. Beth knew.
Well, that changed some things for me. I had been trying to get on-task with coming up with this Sunday's message beginning in Romans 2 and now I was just given a free pass. I could focus on our upcoming mission trip to Iowa and the four messages that I need to get ready for there.
I came home and asked Beth to call Jenny to see if she was planning on coming. If she wasn't, then maybe we could make a family plan for the morning since we don't often have a Sunday morning free. Beth called and Jenny said she was coming. Oh. Well...that's great! We really want to keep building that relationship and to develop a better foundation for some spiritual input into this family.
Later that Friday evening, I hear voices in the dining room. Jenny was supposed to come over. I guess she did but she had already come and gone. These voices were of Carmen and her two teenagers. We had no idea they were coming but they wanted to talk about something. They finally got around to the point. They wanted to order some work shirts for her husband, Juan, from a website in the USA but needed someone with an American credit card who could purchase it and eventually bring it down. Oh...OK.
So, we pick out the 5 shirts and they decided that since there were a number of special deals on this site that they wanted a couple more things...two dresses, several t-shirts, a couple of hoodies, four flip flops...stuff like that. It ended up ringing up to a bit over $200 and 20 items. We're flying up to Chicago in less than 2 weeks and we'll need to find a way to get all this stuff into our luggage coming back. (They did pay me in pesos on the spot so that was all good, although I intentionally managed to short myself about $20. Hope that helps them out some.)
On their way out Carmen mentioned that Cristian (her teenage son who was here) needs to hone his English skills so he would be coming to our Sunday morning service to help with his English. Oh...OK. That's all good too.
So on Saturday, I get out last week's message and tweak it a bit to use for this week. That way whoever shows up for next week's service will be caught up through our conclusion of the first chapter of Romans.
Late Saturday evening the phone rang. It was for Beth's mom. Good. We've learned to cringe at Saturday night phone calls. I don't know why. Later we find out that there's a group of believers from Querétaro coming to the church across town today and we've just invited them to lunch in our home. How many people? It wasn't clear. Could be around a dozen guests. Yikes! OK, no need to panic; we'll buy chickens and tortillas and everyone will get something to eat.
Sunday morning, we usually see our attendees arrive around 10:30...sometimes as late as 11:00. I was determined to get going as soon as possible because I didn't want to see us concluding a late service with a large lunch party coming. 10:30...quiet. 10:45...no one yet. 11:00...Beth decides Jenny's not coming. Cristian? No, surely he wasn't coming. Beth pulled out the Bible survey for kids that we've been using with the boys and launches into their place in Numbers. Upon wrapping that up around 11:20, the doorbell rings. Someone coming now, nearly an hour late? Yup. Cristian...and his sister and his parents, Juan and Carmen. OK. But Juan and Carmen don't speak English; and sister speaks very little English. This is going to be interesting.
So, after 10 minutes of getting them to come in and to have a cup of coffee, we get started. The beauty of this lesson last week was that I had discovered some excellent video clips of the passage we were covering and the American pastor was much better at teaching it than I would ever be so we watched that via the projector. That works great for English-speakers but it became a chore to stop it every 30 seconds to a minute to try and translate/summarize-translate what was being said.
This also doesn't work well with Carmen present. She may be the most talkative woman we've ever met. She "could talk fleas off a dog" as we say in the South. So, our 28 minute video took about 2 hours to get through, between watching it, translating it, and then Carmen adding her own sermon comments to it, etc. It was quite an interesting experience. I noticed her teenagers had a habit of looking off in some other direction when their mother was in the middle of one her breathless "sermonettes." They looked a little annoyed but they did their best to not appear to be rude, after all the closing sin from the list of Romans 1 is "disobedience to parents." I'm sure they didn't want to get struck dead right there on the couch. They were trying hard. For my part, I just tried to listen faster. That woman can really tear up the track records for speed-talking.
BTW, Jenny never did show up.
In the end, we finished up just in time. I think everyone enjoyed the message, including me. I know Beth did. She never gets to join the adults so this was a special opportunity for her.
Juan really needed to get home so he could get some lunch and get ready to leave for his job which is several hours away by bus...actually it takes 3 buses to get there. He stays in the area of his job in a very small apartment during the week which he shares with another worker. He only comes home on weekends. They may move over to that region after the kids finish high school but that may be a couple years yet. I decided to drive them home.
In the meantime, our lunch guests have finished their church service across town and are ready to head to our house. Beth was going to go out and get the chicken and tortillas but I had unwittingly decided to drive Juan and Carmen and kids across town to their house. There wouldn't be room for Beth in the car too. So, she wasn't able to go out and buy the food. We'd work something out.
We ended up with just three adults and two kids as guests for lunch. Three other adults were invited elsewhere. I'm not sure where we got the idea there would be ten or more guests. I think there was another family or two who decided not to join this group coming from Querétaro. Lunch was great and we had a very sweet time of fellowship with a family I hadn't seen since 1999 at my father-in-law's memorial service.
Nothing went according to plan today, but it all worked out fine.
Would this bother you? It does take an American mindset a lot of adaptation to get used to this. We aren't anywhere near good at it, but we try to go with the flow and make the best of it. My ears are tired but maybe a good night's rest will solve that.
I hope the phone doesn't ring tonight. It just might. In ministry here in Mexico, that's pretty much the way things go...and that's OK.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Science Camp 2010 Photos
There were way too many photos of last week's awesome science camp to post here so I uploaded them to Flickr. I hope you'll check them out here: MK Homeschool Science Camp 2010
360 Degree Panorama of Guanajuato, Mexico
I took this video on Friday, May 21, 2010 from the prominent overlook of the city just in front of the statue of the Mexican Revolution hero, El Pípila. Guanajuato is one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in all of Mexico and we can drive there in about 2 hours and 15 minutes from our home. It's an excellent day-trip and well worth the drive.
El Callejón del Beso - Guanajuato
Last Friday, we took our guests for a day trip to Guanajuato (pronounced "gw-on-uh-hwa-tow"). This is a famous location in this colonial city. There are various versions of the legend associated with this location. The following is my best reconstruction of what we've heard over the years.
Legend has it that a young couple still living at home were secretly dating. The father of the girl forbade her from ever seeing the boy and threatened to kill them both if he ever caught them together. They lived on opposite corners on the corner (rincón) of this alleyway ("callejón"). They were madly in love with each other and just couldn't resist seeing each other. Finally, the father of the girl caught them kissing while leaning over the balconies of their respective homes. In a rage, he killed them both. Now they say that to come to the corner and give your lover a kiss will prove that the power of love is forever and can never be thwarted, even by death.
Monday, May 24, 2010
A Strange Procession
We weren't really sure what the purpose was for this procession in Guanajuato last Friday. It was close to the Pentecost celebrations on Sunday (for the Catholic church), so we wondered if this was somehow connected to that. We should have asked someone but didn't think to. We just watched in wonder and were trying to process the images we were seeing as they proceeded down the street. It was an odd parade as far as we were concerned.
You're about to view some devils with whips, prostitutes, a cowboy, a cow, a farmer, the grim reaper and perhaps some other characters. The second representation was done by children. Imagine the proud parents boasting that their daughters were in the procession...as prostitutes! What a bizarre scene. Of course, the groups passing by are carrying their local totem to the Virgin Mary. I'm always saddened to see these events and this one was no exception. Sincerity of belief does not make that belief based on truth.
On the bright side, I was able to hand out over 50 World Cup tracts that day while strolling through the city. May God use the Gospel message on the back of those and the invitation to order a free Bible study bring some folks out of their spiritual darkness and into the light of Christ.
You're about to view some devils with whips, prostitutes, a cowboy, a cow, a farmer, the grim reaper and perhaps some other characters. The second representation was done by children. Imagine the proud parents boasting that their daughters were in the procession...as prostitutes! What a bizarre scene. Of course, the groups passing by are carrying their local totem to the Virgin Mary. I'm always saddened to see these events and this one was no exception. Sincerity of belief does not make that belief based on truth.
On the bright side, I was able to hand out over 50 World Cup tracts that day while strolling through the city. May God use the Gospel message on the back of those and the invitation to order a free Bible study bring some folks out of their spiritual darkness and into the light of Christ.
Late For One's Own Funeral?
We took our science camp teachers to Guanajuato for some shopping and to enjoy this lovely colonial city. Couldn't help but take this video of a National hearse having some problems with the casket inside. With a little help from my buddy Brock, we concluded that this hearse was a customized 1954 Chevrolet wagon or something like that.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Divorce Rate in San Juan del Rio Up 15% Annually
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldesanjuandelrio/notas/n1644585.htm (article in Spanish)
Not that the total number is all that high but an official divorce is rare in Mexico. No doubt the official divorce rate mirrors the marital/couple problems of the city. Apparently, it's expensive and difficult to get a divorce here. Most people never marry or never re-marry after separated and just live with the 2nd partner in a common-law type marriage (except since they're not divorced a common-law marriage would not even apply).
I have to wonder if we couldn't use a Christian, Spanish-speaking marriage counselor here at the community center. In fact, with several churches/missionaries starting community centers in the area (two in Queretaro and one here in San Juan del Rio), it would seem such a counselor could have an impact in at least two cities with a total of well over 2 million people. Surely, this could be used to not only heal broken marriages and lives but to bring broken hearts to Christ.
Anyone fit the job description and sense the Lord's call to this kind of ministry in Mexico? Let us know!
Not that the total number is all that high but an official divorce is rare in Mexico. No doubt the official divorce rate mirrors the marital/couple problems of the city. Apparently, it's expensive and difficult to get a divorce here. Most people never marry or never re-marry after separated and just live with the 2nd partner in a common-law type marriage (except since they're not divorced a common-law marriage would not even apply).
I have to wonder if we couldn't use a Christian, Spanish-speaking marriage counselor here at the community center. In fact, with several churches/missionaries starting community centers in the area (two in Queretaro and one here in San Juan del Rio), it would seem such a counselor could have an impact in at least two cities with a total of well over 2 million people. Surely, this could be used to not only heal broken marriages and lives but to bring broken hearts to Christ.
Anyone fit the job description and sense the Lord's call to this kind of ministry in Mexico? Let us know!
Please Pray for Jason
I'm working on our May email update but am taking a quick break from that to ask you to pray for Jason and his father.
It's a complicated story to explain and I don't quite understand it entirely. What I do understand is that in their ongoing effort to properly register the family's old pickup truck, they've gotten themselves into an awkward position of not having any license plates or documents for the truck, but needing to drive the truck a few hours away to another state to finish the process of getting them.
Somewhere in the process a family member (an aunt in another state) tried to get the plates in her state (Michoacan) but found it too difficult. The truck was brought back to San Juan del Rio to try to get the plates in this state (Queretaro). That effort failed and now the officials in Michoacan insist on seeing this truck in person tomorrow in Michoacan.
This leads to the current situation of someone needing to drive the truck (without plates) to that state in the middle of the night with hopes of not getting stopped by any number of varieties of police (local, state, federal) or by the military. Should they get to their destination, they're expecting to get the required sticker and plates on the vehicle tomorrow. It will be the first time in several years that the truck will have been properly documented. I asked Jason about the possibility of towing the truck over to Michoacan but it would cost far more than they could afford.
The problem for Jason is that he and his dad are the only ones in the family here who know how to drive. The truck actually belongs to Jason's dad but it's sort of a "community vehicle" for the family, since they're too poor to own more than this one old truck (about 15-20 years old). However, Jason's dad doesn't see well enough at night to drive. So, Jason needs to drive his dad over to Michoacan starting about 3 a.m. on Monday morning (just a few hours from now). Should they get stopped without their papers and plates, they will be in for some intense problems. At best, they'll have to pay a lot of money for the police to let them go. However, if it happens once, the police will often alert the police down the road and they'll likely get stopped multiple times. It would be a horrible situation for them.
Would you take a moment and pray that God will spare Jason and his dad from getting stopped by any officials as they take this truck to get the proper documentation?
Apparently, the aunt who lives in Michoacan (not a believer) caused this situation through not being truthful to the officials. As Jason pointed out, this is a "reap what you sow" situation, but unfortunately for him, he didn't sow the misdeed, his aunt did. It's possible that through needing to help his family with moving this truck, he may be the one to reap the consequence of that sin. Seems unfair but we live in a world of injustices.
As it is, even without any problems on this trip, he'll lose a day of work (which is risky and costly for a factory worker here) and his dad will also end up losing extra salary at his work, since he'll not only miss at least a half-day from work (best-case scenario), but he also receives a higher penalty because he's a supervisor.
What a mess. All we could do is pray for the best to come out of this and that they wouldn't be stopped along the way. Would you pray for that too? Thanks for reading this and for praying.
It's a complicated story to explain and I don't quite understand it entirely. What I do understand is that in their ongoing effort to properly register the family's old pickup truck, they've gotten themselves into an awkward position of not having any license plates or documents for the truck, but needing to drive the truck a few hours away to another state to finish the process of getting them.
Somewhere in the process a family member (an aunt in another state) tried to get the plates in her state (Michoacan) but found it too difficult. The truck was brought back to San Juan del Rio to try to get the plates in this state (Queretaro). That effort failed and now the officials in Michoacan insist on seeing this truck in person tomorrow in Michoacan.
This leads to the current situation of someone needing to drive the truck (without plates) to that state in the middle of the night with hopes of not getting stopped by any number of varieties of police (local, state, federal) or by the military. Should they get to their destination, they're expecting to get the required sticker and plates on the vehicle tomorrow. It will be the first time in several years that the truck will have been properly documented. I asked Jason about the possibility of towing the truck over to Michoacan but it would cost far more than they could afford.
The problem for Jason is that he and his dad are the only ones in the family here who know how to drive. The truck actually belongs to Jason's dad but it's sort of a "community vehicle" for the family, since they're too poor to own more than this one old truck (about 15-20 years old). However, Jason's dad doesn't see well enough at night to drive. So, Jason needs to drive his dad over to Michoacan starting about 3 a.m. on Monday morning (just a few hours from now). Should they get stopped without their papers and plates, they will be in for some intense problems. At best, they'll have to pay a lot of money for the police to let them go. However, if it happens once, the police will often alert the police down the road and they'll likely get stopped multiple times. It would be a horrible situation for them.
Would you take a moment and pray that God will spare Jason and his dad from getting stopped by any officials as they take this truck to get the proper documentation?
Apparently, the aunt who lives in Michoacan (not a believer) caused this situation through not being truthful to the officials. As Jason pointed out, this is a "reap what you sow" situation, but unfortunately for him, he didn't sow the misdeed, his aunt did. It's possible that through needing to help his family with moving this truck, he may be the one to reap the consequence of that sin. Seems unfair but we live in a world of injustices.
As it is, even without any problems on this trip, he'll lose a day of work (which is risky and costly for a factory worker here) and his dad will also end up losing extra salary at his work, since he'll not only miss at least a half-day from work (best-case scenario), but he also receives a higher penalty because he's a supervisor.
What a mess. All we could do is pray for the best to come out of this and that they wouldn't be stopped along the way. Would you pray for that too? Thanks for reading this and for praying.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Microscope Grub - Science Camp 2010
Ever wonder what a grub looks like under a microscope? They found out.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Time-Out!
I don't want anyone to think we aren't going to keep up our blog posts, but I'm not really ready yet to post stuff for this week. We continue working on several important projects and I guess I'll call "time-out!" right here and now to fill you in a little on what's happening.
Last Saturday and Sunday we welcomed two ladies from the Dallas area who arrived to put on a "science camp" for our junior and senior high level MK homeschoolers. One lady is a microbiologist, Laura Phipps, and the other lady is a chemist, Anne Griffin. For the past few months we've been working with them to bring into Mexico lots of science supplies and equipment, including microscopes, dissecting tools, chemicals, a shark, frogs, fish, chemistry measurement tools, etc. Praise God we were able to get it all down here with a lot of help from missionaries traveling down over the past couple months. Laura and Anne brought a good bit with them as well.
They are teaching each day with about 20 kids up at Camp Koinonia doing a variety of lab experiments as well as some talks on some hot topics. We took them up to camp on Monday morning to set up, kids started arriving that afternoon and they had their first session in the evening. Beth stayed with the kids and Laura and Anne at the camp since Monday night and I've been home with the boys.
Today, I took the boys back up there as the elementary kids were invited to join in on the shark, frog and fish dissections and to look into the microscopes at some of the slides the older kids have been working. They retrieved some water from the pond that they sometimes use for tubing. I doubt any of these kids will want to get into the pond again after what they saw under the microscope!
Beth has taken a lot of photos and a video clip or two. I'm anxious to post them but I won't have access to them until after she gets back. I go back to pick-up Beth, Laura and Anne tomorrow after lunch.
We plan to take Laura and Anne to see the pyramids, Teotihuacan (i.e. the Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, etc) on Friday and then to downtown Queretaro on Saturday before putting them on a bus that takes them directly to the airport.
On another topic, last Sunday morning we welcomed Jenny, Ivan, Chloe and Isaac to our home Bible study. I don't think the kids have ever really been in a church before and probably don't know much about the Bible at all. Jenny grew up in a Methodist church and she seemed to be taking in the lesson I gave. She later told Beth that she learned a lot and was anxious to come back. She hopes she can convince her husband to come too.
That was a little surprising because we were covering Romans 1:18 on the wrath of God and I wondered how she might respond to this lesson. She spoke up at the end and read a couple of commentary notes from a Bible she picked up off our coffee table to better follow along with one of the two versions I used throughout the lesson. She said that she used to always wonder how it was fair for God to "send people to hell when they had never heard the Gospel." After the lesson and with the notes she read, she realized that it was because all people have been given at least a little bit of God's truth and that even those who have never heard about Jesus Christ have rejected the little bit of truth they have been given. Therefore, God is just in holding them accountable to the truth they've rejected.
That's a pretty difficult truth for most people to grasp and it seemed to make sense to her. I take this as a positive step. We're not sure where she is at spiritually but we pray for the salvation of the entire family. Pray for them. I have never met her husband. If I recall correctly, his name is Javier. (I'll let you know if this is correct. Beth should remember.) Pray too for this study in Romans. I'm quite challenged by it and it takes many hours to prepare for it. I love doing it but with lots of other ministry and events going on, it requires plenty of discipline. Thanks for praying!
Last Saturday and Sunday we welcomed two ladies from the Dallas area who arrived to put on a "science camp" for our junior and senior high level MK homeschoolers. One lady is a microbiologist, Laura Phipps, and the other lady is a chemist, Anne Griffin. For the past few months we've been working with them to bring into Mexico lots of science supplies and equipment, including microscopes, dissecting tools, chemicals, a shark, frogs, fish, chemistry measurement tools, etc. Praise God we were able to get it all down here with a lot of help from missionaries traveling down over the past couple months. Laura and Anne brought a good bit with them as well.
They are teaching each day with about 20 kids up at Camp Koinonia doing a variety of lab experiments as well as some talks on some hot topics. We took them up to camp on Monday morning to set up, kids started arriving that afternoon and they had their first session in the evening. Beth stayed with the kids and Laura and Anne at the camp since Monday night and I've been home with the boys.
Today, I took the boys back up there as the elementary kids were invited to join in on the shark, frog and fish dissections and to look into the microscopes at some of the slides the older kids have been working. They retrieved some water from the pond that they sometimes use for tubing. I doubt any of these kids will want to get into the pond again after what they saw under the microscope!
Beth has taken a lot of photos and a video clip or two. I'm anxious to post them but I won't have access to them until after she gets back. I go back to pick-up Beth, Laura and Anne tomorrow after lunch.
We plan to take Laura and Anne to see the pyramids, Teotihuacan (i.e. the Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, etc) on Friday and then to downtown Queretaro on Saturday before putting them on a bus that takes them directly to the airport.
On another topic, last Sunday morning we welcomed Jenny, Ivan, Chloe and Isaac to our home Bible study. I don't think the kids have ever really been in a church before and probably don't know much about the Bible at all. Jenny grew up in a Methodist church and she seemed to be taking in the lesson I gave. She later told Beth that she learned a lot and was anxious to come back. She hopes she can convince her husband to come too.
That was a little surprising because we were covering Romans 1:18 on the wrath of God and I wondered how she might respond to this lesson. She spoke up at the end and read a couple of commentary notes from a Bible she picked up off our coffee table to better follow along with one of the two versions I used throughout the lesson. She said that she used to always wonder how it was fair for God to "send people to hell when they had never heard the Gospel." After the lesson and with the notes she read, she realized that it was because all people have been given at least a little bit of God's truth and that even those who have never heard about Jesus Christ have rejected the little bit of truth they have been given. Therefore, God is just in holding them accountable to the truth they've rejected.
That's a pretty difficult truth for most people to grasp and it seemed to make sense to her. I take this as a positive step. We're not sure where she is at spiritually but we pray for the salvation of the entire family. Pray for them. I have never met her husband. If I recall correctly, his name is Javier. (I'll let you know if this is correct. Beth should remember.) Pray too for this study in Romans. I'm quite challenged by it and it takes many hours to prepare for it. I love doing it but with lots of other ministry and events going on, it requires plenty of discipline. Thanks for praying!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Soccer+MKs=Fun
I don't think I'd call this real "fútbol" here in Mexico but the kids had fun. I shot this late during our hour of time on the field and the younger kids were mostly wore out, hot, and pretty much done with soccer.
Samuel O. was a notable except. He wasn't in our co-op this year (big sister Kathryn was), but we let him play and just told him to "run to the ball and kick it no matter where it is." I've never seen a more tenacious five-year old playing a sport like Samuel. He just turned five too...in fact, his birthday party is today! So, watch out World Cup. I think we have a future soccer star here.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Final Day of Co-Op
Today we held our final co-op of the semester. For the high school kids, they worked hard on their speech class because they need to continue with another class session. However, the elementary students enjoyed a fun final day of literature (played some fun educational games), PE (played soccer), and science (had a party complete with marine animal-shaped cakes.
I didn't get any photos of the cakes but Beth's mother took some photos and posted them on her blog found here. I did get some photos and a short video of our PE soccer fun. We rented the mini-soccer field for about $20 for an hour of play (the kids have been begging to play in there all semester). It was a LOT of fun. We combined our two elementary groups so we had some big and little kids to split between the teams. The last 30 minutes the younger ones were mostly retreating to the shade (it was hot), but we all got some exercise and had a blast.
We actually attracted a small crowd to watch. Well, just three of our parents and a Mexican man who seemed to find the "game" very entertaining. I'm sure it was a version of soccer he'd never witnessed before!
I didn't get any photos of the cakes but Beth's mother took some photos and posted them on her blog found here. I did get some photos and a short video of our PE soccer fun. We rented the mini-soccer field for about $20 for an hour of play (the kids have been begging to play in there all semester). It was a LOT of fun. We combined our two elementary groups so we had some big and little kids to split between the teams. The last 30 minutes the younger ones were mostly retreating to the shade (it was hot), but we all got some exercise and had a blast.
We actually attracted a small crowd to watch. Well, just three of our parents and a Mexican man who seemed to find the "game" very entertaining. I'm sure it was a version of soccer he'd never witnessed before!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Our Little Guest
I'm thinking we should probably give him a bath before we hand him over.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
This Is Just a Test (seriously)
Just want to test a feature for emailing a set of recipients for this blog post. Please ignore this. Thanks!
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Community Center Graduation
May 1st marked the end of this semester's classes at the community center here in San Juan del Rio. I had a small part in it this semester as I taught a Saturday ESL/Conversational English class. I had difficulty deciding whether the title of conversational English really fit the class or not. I ended up teaching a lot more grammar than conversation. I'm self-evaluating the classes and thinking about how to improve this for next semester. Due to our September home assignment in western USA, I'll be looking at resuming a class in October some time if that works out. I definitely need to make some changes but am not sure what the approach will be.
One thing we REALLY lack here in this region is someone with any ESL/TESOL proficiency who could direct our ESL efforts. We're making something happen but I think we could do this with greater effectiveness and impact with someone who could direct and guide our efforts. Feel free to pray for God to provide someone who would be the right fit in that capacity. I've given it some thought myself to study this content but it would likely take a minimum of one year of study and I'm not sure we're really in a good position to take such a leave for that purpose right now. Our primary ministry is still necessary and we know God is using us in our educational ministry. So...we'll pray. I hope you'll pray too.
This semester there were basic computation classes which had a number of children as students, guitar classes, musical voice classes, and four different English classes. Tim (who is directing the programs) is probably going to introduce a basketball class soon. There look to be about 8 work teams coming this summer. I don't recall us ever having more than about 4 or 5 in one summer. We'll be very busy here in San Juan del Rio. There won't be much time for courses of any kind but some of our teams will be teaching some kids' English classes or perhaps for adults too. I'm not sure of all the plans and ideas.
One thing we REALLY lack here in this region is someone with any ESL/TESOL proficiency who could direct our ESL efforts. We're making something happen but I think we could do this with greater effectiveness and impact with someone who could direct and guide our efforts. Feel free to pray for God to provide someone who would be the right fit in that capacity. I've given it some thought myself to study this content but it would likely take a minimum of one year of study and I'm not sure we're really in a good position to take such a leave for that purpose right now. Our primary ministry is still necessary and we know God is using us in our educational ministry. So...we'll pray. I hope you'll pray too.
This semester there were basic computation classes which had a number of children as students, guitar classes, musical voice classes, and four different English classes. Tim (who is directing the programs) is probably going to introduce a basketball class soon. There look to be about 8 work teams coming this summer. I don't recall us ever having more than about 4 or 5 in one summer. We'll be very busy here in San Juan del Rio. There won't be much time for courses of any kind but some of our teams will be teaching some kids' English classes or perhaps for adults too. I'm not sure of all the plans and ideas.
Stringing Up a Party for Ben
Recently, our ministry team, 21 OHMS (formerly known as 20 OHMS), held a long-overdue birthday party for Ben S. Poor kid had his birthday celebration dragged out for about a month due to schedule conflicts, illnesses, and a few other reasons that I've since forgotten. This was the final necessity to make his birthday celebration complete. I was beginning to wonder if we'd end up celebrating this year's birthday sometime after next year's birthday celebration!
Anyway...we had a fun get together and if you're wondering what the highlight was...well...I'm not sure but we can't have a birthday party in Mexico without a piñata. With just a bunch of gringos, the action was relatively controlled and the appearance of safety was high on the list of priorities.
Kathryn O. (below) was one of the first to get some whacks. It took me a couple minutes to remember to get my camera and take some photos so I missed the littlest ones. If you look at the guy in the middle of the photo, you can see the reason why we changed our names from 20 OHMS to 21 OHMS. It appears that it will take many more years before the 8 adults will finally outnumber the kiddos. That's fine with us. We love having so many kids on our team. It makes for some great fun and lots of learning moments together.
I'm not sure why my buddy Brock has the big grin on his face while looking at me with that nice little knot in his hand, but maybe it's time I consider not calling him "my buddy" anymore. Hmmmm....
Anyway...we had a fun get together and if you're wondering what the highlight was...well...I'm not sure but we can't have a birthday party in Mexico without a piñata. With just a bunch of gringos, the action was relatively controlled and the appearance of safety was high on the list of priorities.
Kathryn O. (below) was one of the first to get some whacks. It took me a couple minutes to remember to get my camera and take some photos so I missed the littlest ones. If you look at the guy in the middle of the photo, you can see the reason why we changed our names from 20 OHMS to 21 OHMS. It appears that it will take many more years before the 8 adults will finally outnumber the kiddos. That's fine with us. We love having so many kids on our team. It makes for some great fun and lots of learning moments together.
Here is Dayton getting his whacks in on the star piñata.
Cameron even got some whacks in...he pretty much destroyed it which drew no complaints from the the candy collectors (as you can see).
I'm not sure why my buddy Brock has the big grin on his face while looking at me with that nice little knot in his hand, but maybe it's time I consider not calling him "my buddy" anymore. Hmmmm....
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
A Quickie Update
Not that anything I write is ever quick...but here goes.
We're attending a CAM-sponsored "mini-Quest" at Camp Koinonia for 3 days. It began today. We're not staying at that camp overnight like most everyone else who is attending and the boys are staying home and doing school under Grandma's supervision. That works well for us. I tend to get a bit of altitude sickness after about 24-36 hours up there at over 8,500 feet. I prefer to make the bone rattling round-trip drive. If you ever want to know what it's like to nearly miss a pothole at 80 mph on a two-lane highway, come visit. We'll give it a shot. (* the potholes are fairly shallow and I think we're skimming them at these speeds...ha-ha...actually, I don't think I topped 70 mph today)
We covered some great topics today with marriage and family life and our homes as a base for our lives. It was very practical and we had the chance to spend some time alone together discussing a lot of issues and areas that need some repairs. We are human and we sure blow it a lot. Pray for us that we'll make some much needed improvements in both our marriage and our family life. Thanks!
Don't have time to tell you about a re-connect with a "gringa" who lives here and is married to a Mexican. No, not Jason and Kristin...another couple. It could amount to nothing but there's a chance that she'll bring her three kids with her to our Sunday morning Bible studies when her husband is away on his work travel (which is quite often). They don't know the Lord and this may be a good opportunity. She has a very liberal religious background. Not sure how she'll respond, but that's God's area of expertise...not mine. We're currently studying Romans 1 and going to be moving toward Romans 3 in the coming few weeks. This could be a very opportune time for a spiritual challenge in her life. Her kids would be joining Justin and Dayton and that could be a good opportunity for them to hear the Gospel as well. At this point, I'd like to see them actually come once. I have no expectations but am praying. Pray for Jenny (husband Javier, and the kids, Ivan, Isaac, and Chloe).
OK...gotta run. Not much sleep lately and need to get moving to that end. Thanks for your prayers.
We're attending a CAM-sponsored "mini-Quest" at Camp Koinonia for 3 days. It began today. We're not staying at that camp overnight like most everyone else who is attending and the boys are staying home and doing school under Grandma's supervision. That works well for us. I tend to get a bit of altitude sickness after about 24-36 hours up there at over 8,500 feet. I prefer to make the bone rattling round-trip drive. If you ever want to know what it's like to nearly miss a pothole at 80 mph on a two-lane highway, come visit. We'll give it a shot. (* the potholes are fairly shallow and I think we're skimming them at these speeds...ha-ha...actually, I don't think I topped 70 mph today)
We covered some great topics today with marriage and family life and our homes as a base for our lives. It was very practical and we had the chance to spend some time alone together discussing a lot of issues and areas that need some repairs. We are human and we sure blow it a lot. Pray for us that we'll make some much needed improvements in both our marriage and our family life. Thanks!
Don't have time to tell you about a re-connect with a "gringa" who lives here and is married to a Mexican. No, not Jason and Kristin...another couple. It could amount to nothing but there's a chance that she'll bring her three kids with her to our Sunday morning Bible studies when her husband is away on his work travel (which is quite often). They don't know the Lord and this may be a good opportunity. She has a very liberal religious background. Not sure how she'll respond, but that's God's area of expertise...not mine. We're currently studying Romans 1 and going to be moving toward Romans 3 in the coming few weeks. This could be a very opportune time for a spiritual challenge in her life. Her kids would be joining Justin and Dayton and that could be a good opportunity for them to hear the Gospel as well. At this point, I'd like to see them actually come once. I have no expectations but am praying. Pray for Jenny (husband Javier, and the kids, Ivan, Isaac, and Chloe).
OK...gotta run. Not much sleep lately and need to get moving to that end. Thanks for your prayers.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Good For Another Year
Glad to be back home after a Thursday/Friday trip to Mexico City to meet with our immigration lawyer and finalize the renewal of our missionary visas. What a relief to see our U.S. passports again and to receive our brand new visas (they're usually good for 5 years). There has been some sort of change going on with these visas and apparently the new system starts officially today. According to our lawyer, this was a great thing that we got ours just in time. The new system is a total mess and isn't even working at this point. Total confusion. Whew! We hope that by next year the changes will be sorted out and we'll not have to go through what folks are going through starting today. It sounds awful at this point in time.
Due to the difficulty of arriving early enough for our Friday morning appointment at the immigration office, we left on Thursday and made a little family trip out of it. We took a bus from San Juan del Rio directly to the bus station on the north side of Mexico City. It normally takes about 2 1/2 hours. Due to construction and traffic it took about 3 hours going in and about 4 hours coming out. Even though both trips were on the same exact bus, we took two totally different routes which was interesting. I guess the drivers either have some discretion as to which roads they take or there is just some flexibility due to the construction and consideration for the time of day.
We took the Metro (subway) three different times. Dayton was thrilled. We had to stop him from dancing with delight every time the train started or stopped or jerked unexpectedly. So much for not attracting attention. We avoided riding it at the worst of times and did fine with minimal scrunching or squishing (which word is correct? maybe both) when it was a bit crowded. Friday morning there were extra train cars for only women and children (this is normal during peak hours). We didn't need to use them but we were standing on the edge of that portion of the platform just in case she needed to move down a car or two. You have to get on in a hurry though. The train stops and starts again in about 10 seconds. It's interesting to watch the mad rush to exchange the people getting off with those trying to get on. Obviously, this is routine for anyone living there but we haven't been to Mexico City in nearly 2 years. With the driving restrictions in place there for cars from out of the area, plus the never ending "game" of dealing with the countless police on the streets, I don't drive into Mexico City anymore unless it's an emergency. I certainly wouldn't do it without proper documentation on my person. We didn't have any since the lawyer had all our papers.
We walked miles around the area where we were staying, and the kids were happy to enjoy Papa John's pizza and Dairy Queen cones. We hoped to visit the castle in Chapultepec Park but we arrived too late not realizing the ticket booth closed just after 4 p.m. Bummer...but the long walk good for us. A main entrance to the park was closed for construction so we found ourselves walking around in areas one would not expect to see "tourists" walking around as we tried to figure out how to get in (it's free but gated all around this massive park). We finally made it inside. It was fun just to explore (and I'll throw in that not getting mugged was a happy plus!) :-) We're not really city folk so we always feel a little bit uneasy in what may be the largest metropolitan area in the world.
I didn't take any pictures. We only took a backpack and an extra bag for some shopping at "La Ciudadela" which is a huge touristy, artisan shopping area. I didn't have room for the camera and didn't want to have it with us on the Metro anyway. The fewer things that can get lost or stolen the better. I should get a smaller, cheaper camera for such trips.
We must have walked 5 or 6 miles in our short time in Mexico City (which sits at an elevation around 7,500 feet). We're pretty tired today and a bit sore. I love walking so not complaining a bit. Praise God for a safe trip and a great time with the family.
Due to the difficulty of arriving early enough for our Friday morning appointment at the immigration office, we left on Thursday and made a little family trip out of it. We took a bus from San Juan del Rio directly to the bus station on the north side of Mexico City. It normally takes about 2 1/2 hours. Due to construction and traffic it took about 3 hours going in and about 4 hours coming out. Even though both trips were on the same exact bus, we took two totally different routes which was interesting. I guess the drivers either have some discretion as to which roads they take or there is just some flexibility due to the construction and consideration for the time of day.
We took the Metro (subway) three different times. Dayton was thrilled. We had to stop him from dancing with delight every time the train started or stopped or jerked unexpectedly. So much for not attracting attention. We avoided riding it at the worst of times and did fine with minimal scrunching or squishing (which word is correct? maybe both) when it was a bit crowded. Friday morning there were extra train cars for only women and children (this is normal during peak hours). We didn't need to use them but we were standing on the edge of that portion of the platform just in case she needed to move down a car or two. You have to get on in a hurry though. The train stops and starts again in about 10 seconds. It's interesting to watch the mad rush to exchange the people getting off with those trying to get on. Obviously, this is routine for anyone living there but we haven't been to Mexico City in nearly 2 years. With the driving restrictions in place there for cars from out of the area, plus the never ending "game" of dealing with the countless police on the streets, I don't drive into Mexico City anymore unless it's an emergency. I certainly wouldn't do it without proper documentation on my person. We didn't have any since the lawyer had all our papers.
We walked miles around the area where we were staying, and the kids were happy to enjoy Papa John's pizza and Dairy Queen cones. We hoped to visit the castle in Chapultepec Park but we arrived too late not realizing the ticket booth closed just after 4 p.m. Bummer...but the long walk good for us. A main entrance to the park was closed for construction so we found ourselves walking around in areas one would not expect to see "tourists" walking around as we tried to figure out how to get in (it's free but gated all around this massive park). We finally made it inside. It was fun just to explore (and I'll throw in that not getting mugged was a happy plus!) :-) We're not really city folk so we always feel a little bit uneasy in what may be the largest metropolitan area in the world.
I didn't take any pictures. We only took a backpack and an extra bag for some shopping at "La Ciudadela" which is a huge touristy, artisan shopping area. I didn't have room for the camera and didn't want to have it with us on the Metro anyway. The fewer things that can get lost or stolen the better. I should get a smaller, cheaper camera for such trips.
We must have walked 5 or 6 miles in our short time in Mexico City (which sits at an elevation around 7,500 feet). We're pretty tired today and a bit sore. I love walking so not complaining a bit. Praise God for a safe trip and a great time with the family.
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