Totonacs and MK Homeschoolers

Last week we hosted a missionary family heading to the state of Puebla to begin working in an outreach to the Totonac indigenous tribe in the Sierra (mountains).  The Aguirre family are working under the mission agency Pioneers and will be about 7.5 hours drive from us.

There are roughly 200,000 Totonacs and very few have ever heard the Gospel and even fewer have become believers.  However, there is a village with a Mexican couple from one of our CAM-related Bible churches in Puebla (Iglesia Biblica El Camino) that have been laboring for some years there and now there is a small group of believers who have matured into disciple-makers themselves. This is a great start.  The Mexican couple is older and they don't think they have many years of ministry left so the timing is good for the arrival of the Aguirre family to begin ministry among this people group.

So, we enjoyed meeting the Aguirres and learning more about their ministry and family.  The Aguirres have four children from age 10 down to age 4.  They homeschool and this is a relatively new experience for them.  Of course, that's where our educational ministry comes into the picture.  Beth had a long talk with Becky (the mom) about homeschooling and they perused the library and checked out a few bags of books!

Funny thing.  I noticed that Miguel (the dad) had a shoe size that looked the same as mine.  I was right.   I discovered he only had one pair of good shoes and an old pair of tennis shoes that have been patched up a time or two over the past 4 years, so I was glad to tell him that I have a closet of 11 4Es that are in good shape but that I can't wear anymore.  I have a few leg and ankle problems that require me to switch out my shoes after about 6 months of solid use.  The midsoles wear thin and I can barely walk at that point, so I have to keep new pairs ready to wear.  I discovered 5 used pairs that I can't wear anymore, and to him, they felt great!  They were good New Balance shoes so it was great that he not only wanted them, he was wearing a pair when they left!  Mexicans don't often have such large feet.  I've never found anyone who could wear them (without stuffing rags in them which some would do).

So...with shoes on their feet and books in their hands...we sent them off!  :-)  We really enjoyed getting to know them and blessing them on their way.

Knowing that we're helping a family heading out to reach an unreached or lesser reached people group like the Totonacs is a thrill for us.  We're helping them in the education of their kids, which in turn is helping them stay on the field to reach the Totonacs!  And that's help worth giving!  That's part of why we're here and part of how we serve Jesus in Mexico.

Thanks for having a part in our ministry through your prayers and support.  Remember the Aguirres today in prayer as they spend a couple months in the city of Puebla getting to know the church there and making final preparations for ministering in a remote location in the mountains.

To get to know this family more, read Becky's blog, This and That.

Becky's blog post here in February tells more of how they've come to ministry among the Totonac in the state of Puebla with Pioneers.

Co-Op 2011

Co-Op is off and running.  Beth is teaching science with our younger kids (Astronomy), Michelle O. is teaching a reading/lit class (starting off with the book Homer Price), and Heather H. is teaching art!  We're glad to see the participation of those two families plus Jenny (from our Sunday house church) is bringing her three kids.  The two older boys, Cameron and Ivan, are joining in with the art class.

Some pics from the last session:

I Hope This Isn't Your Local Church Experience

Some Harvest Thoughts

I found this photo above while weeding through our large collection of digital photos we've taken these past few years.  (pun intended of course)  Bethie took this one while at a women's retreat at a rustic Bible church camp over in Michoacán a couple years ago.  Maybe to you it's just a photo of some corn at sunset.  However, as I ponder the image, I see much more than that.  I see a lot of what God is doing here in us and in the ministry He's brought us to and brought to us.

For example, this evening we enjoyed a brief (about an hour) time with Emanuel and Mari Cruz in their home for our weekly Bible study.

The words I just wrote really don't describe for you the scene and situation.  Allow me to sketch out some images of this setting:

This young couple has gone through the most difficult time in their lives these past two months, but since the darkest of dark moments, they've seen God reach into their hearts and change everything.

Mari Cruz has come back to a faith she once held to in her youth in a place not too far from where the photo above was taken.  Emanuel came to faith and is discovering, much like his older brother, Jason has discovered, that what he once thought about God was not the truth of who God really is.

Each week we've enjoyed wading through an introductory study of Romans with this couple.  We drive downtown to a cross street that has high curbs (curbs high enough at some points that to jump off them one could literally break a leg!), narrow sidewalks, and masonry covered homes and buildings that are contiguous.  There are no spaces between each building.  The front doors are right there, right up to the sidewalk.

Having a modest salary, they live inside a small compound of rooms.  The large metal, black gate at the entrance to this compound has a door set inside it, and this door has been open every time I've ever passed by it.  Inside, there is a long narrow patio with "apartments" wrapping all the way to the back and and lining both sides.  Simple metal doors that lead to one or two small rooms.  Emanuel and Mari Cruz live in one of these small 2-room apartments.  There are no carpets.  Not even tile.  Just cement floors.  There are no bathrooms inside these apartments.  There is one bathroom near the middle of the compound with a shower and toilet.  This is the bathroom that all the tenants share.  There are over 25 apartments.

The first few weeks when we came to study, they pulled out the two plastic chairs that they use as dining room chairs and Beth and I sat on those while they sat on their bed.  Last week I noticed that they put up a rope with a sheer curtain to divide the larger room (about 15 feet by 10 feet) into half with their bed on one side and a couch on the other side.  I was surprised that they had gone out and purchased a couch.  We found out later that they were embarrassed that they didn't have seats for all of us when we come to study the Bible with them, so they bought the couch so that we'd have something nice to sit on.  They use the plastic chairs, and Beth and I sit on the couch.  There's not enough room to sit across from each other, so we form sort of a "T" shape in the small space.

It's warm and humid most weeks during this time of year.  They turn on a fan and always ask if that's OK.  YES!  It's OK!  I hold my loose pages together and enjoy the air movement while the sweat under my shirt runs a lot slower than before the advent of the fan.  The spasmodic flies, which liven up the room, at times, retreat from the blowing air.

Their toddler, Luis David, plays out in the patio with the neighboring kids.  He runs around and through the apartment's open metal door which is guarded by another sheer curtain, I usually can see that he's out there and still playing.  He comes to the doorway from time-to-time and grunts and points (he's not quite talking yet).  A neighbor comes home from work and passes through the patio.  Another neighbor passes the other direction, a towel wrapped around her head.  The community shower is open and available again.

Please don't get me wrong.  I am not writing this for anyone to feel pity for anyone.  Nor am I writing this to glorify anything we're doing.  I'm honestly just trying to give you a picture of grace.  What God has done in their lives is so sweet.  I can honestly say, I've never known anyone else who ever bought a couch so that I could study the Bible with them.  When we come to study, they're dressed in their best and are sitting in the little patio area with their Bibles in hand (with their neighbors walking in and out, heading in and out of the bathroom, kids running and riding around the little area) and just waiting for us to arrive.  I don't really know if our visit with them is the highlight of their week, but I sure get that feeling every time we come.  Of course, it's not us.  It's Him.  It's God and He has made all things new and all things worthwhile.  His Word truly is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

There is a harvest around us and around you too.  The sun is setting.  The Son is coming.  Oh that we'll be ready when He returns.  Oh that we'll be found faithfully tending His harvest when He returns.  Will we be?  Are we ready now?

The next three days we'll be joining our teammates for some time to get away from our routine, enjoy our families, read, rest, pray, and think.  I have no agenda and don't know what, if any, agenda there may be planned for us.  I know I'll be thinking about what God has been doing here and what He is doing.  I'll be praying about what is yet to be done and what part in it God would have us take.  He's all that we have; and we are His.  I am looking forward to whatever it is He says in these brief days ahead.  I'll be praying for His harvest...and for His harvesters.  I'll be praying some for you.  I hope you'll pray for us too.

Thanks.

Galatians 6:9-10 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Amen.

No Pink Allowed Party

I should follow-up the last blog post about Dayton's 10th birthday with some photos from his party on Friday/Saturday.  The 5 boys who joined us were well-behaved and had a great time.  We finally were able to channel Cameron's bossy tendencies toward his brother and let him be the "rules police" for the games and general behavior throughout.  That was definitely a win-win for Dad and Mom.  :-)

We had to move both boys' dressers out into the hallway to fit all 6 boys in the bedroom for the night...and leave the door open in order to make it work and to keep the room from becoming permanently fragrant-impaired.  Cameron slept on the living room couch and swatted mosquitos all night long.

The kids played "Minute to Win-It!" games, smacked the piñata open (with and without blindfolds), played Wii games, ate cake and ice cream, pancakes for breakfast, and hopefully enjoyed themselves enough to want to go home after it was all over.  We told them they could stay up as late as they wanted as long as they didn't make so much noise that it kept awake anyone who wanted to sleep, including the nearby adults.  I didn't hear anything.  Word has it that a couple of boys stayed up to at least midnight.  Given how most of them couldn't walk or talk straight in the morning, I figure they went home and slept pretty well on Saturday night.

Big D Turns the Big 10...1-0...TEN...X...iiiiiiiiii

Dayton, a.k.a  Big D, Doo-Boy, D-Boy, Baby-D, and probably a few more names that are more descriptive of his true nature (e.g. Monkey) celebrated a decade of life on Thursday.

His party has had to wait until Friday evening when we could scrounge up some buddies to enjoy a sleepover with him.  Dayton has 5 other MK boys planning on enjoying an evening and night of ten-year old rowdiness and silliness and near-ADD experiences.

The older brother will spend said evening and night trying to maintain some distance from the cloud of dust, while two parents will be alternating between contentment through observing the glee of a boy full of life and joy of friends to remembering that we're not the party animals that we never were and will be resisting the urge to count down the hours until they all go home again...but not being entirely successful in our futile attempts to do so.

Ah well...sometimes you just gotta let your hair down (until you remember there isn't enough hair left to "let down"), let the kids be kids, and figure out how to recover at a later time.  :-)

We love our stinker-pot and hope his next 10 years will be even better than the first 10...and those were pretty good ones.

His birthday presents have consisted of small plastic toys that he constructs into things, then destroys, then scatters the parts around the house, and then constructs them again with all the parts that he's able to recover.  He was pretty happy about receiving them.  He also received a small oil painting set to which he commented, "Maybe I won't be able to do that."  Nothing like a positive spirit.

His cake is a "Ben 10" theme.  If you don't know what "Ben 10" is, you're luckier than I am.  :-)  It's a cartoon and character who has a two-toned button on his shirt and when he touches it and maybe says something, the boy, Ben, turns into one of 10 different creatures so that he can fight the "bad guys."

I'm not sure why he chose the "Ben 10" theme.  I haven't noticed him watching this show much over the past year, if at all.  However, the abundance of piñatas in the market gave us the choices of Barbie, Sponge-Bob, Cinderella, Barney (and who wouldn't like to beat the snot...ummm...I mean candy...out of Barney?!), and similar offerings, mostly feminine;  thus, Ben-10 was the best option available and the cake should match the piñata, right?

Nonetheless, I can see why the Ben-10 theme is attractive to Dayton, although I've never known him to require such a button to turn into one of a variety of creatures.  He's pretty good himself at transforming into different characters with little apparent effort.  We even like some of them.  Speaking of which...if I don't post these photos now and get to bed (since it's now well after midnight), I just might turn into a creature of sorts myself...probably will do so by morning wake-up time.  Buenos nachos and good night!

Enjoy the pics...

D-Boy today and his cake for the party on Friday are above...

...and a quick walk through the past 10 years (in case two pics just aren't enough!)

...now wasn't that fun?!?

Happy Birthday Big D!