Saying Good-bye to New Friends

One of the missionary families that we have met since we came is returning to the states. They will be leaving sometime next week. We will miss them but have faith that God will direct their path as the begin another new phase in their lives. Last night, we had a going away dessert for them here at our house. We had brownie sundaes which were really good. It was awesome to have a number of the people over from EV.

Pat, Sandy and Luke - we will miss you.

The ladies visited on one side of the room and...

the men visited on the other.

Blessings From the States

This past week we had a group here from Wisconsin. They really touched Jim's and my heart. It was a team that had never been here nor had their church ever sent out a missions team anywhere. The team was so unified and had a great attitude all week. We were so blessed by them. I am posting some pictures from the week. Hopefully I don't repeat any I've put on already but if so, you can enjoy them again.

Here is a picture of the team. Erin liked the fact that there were some younger girls on the team.


It was awesome to see the team touched by the Lord during their visit, to see lives that you know won't be the same again. How do I know they won't be the same again? Because I remember the feeling myself. This team had several youth that were touched by the Holy Spirit. I personally heard reports from a dad that shared about how he saw his kids touched. One girl, Brittany (14 years old), wanted to sponsor a child on her own. She has a job at home and even if her family decided to support a child, she wanted to support a certain little girl on her own.

Here is a picture of Brittany with Jessica, her newly sponsored child.


Ed was touched by the Lord during this trip too. He said he came to help the group that way with the work projects. He's not a teacher like some of the others in the group are, but I think the kids really got to him. From what he said, he plans on returning.

Here is a picture of Ed counting leaves in Spanish with one of the kids.


One day the team was making balloon animals and swords. Eleazer had them make a sword and then he ran to get his Bible.


The teams theme was "The Fingerprint of God" from the song by that title by Steven Curtis Chapman. They translated the chorus into Spanish and it was amazing to hear the kids catch on to the song. Even little Evelyn could sing the chorus without any help by the end of the week. They made cards for the kids to be able to follow and learn the words.






This is a picture I forgot to put on early of Augustín putting the wiggly eyes on himself.


Of course I need to have a couple of pictures on here of my own kids so here are a couple that I thought were cute.

Here is a precious picture of Erin carrying Evelyn, the youngest of the children here.


Jonathan is tickling Mario here.

More From Mexico

It is a beautiful morning here in Mexico. The sun is shining and there is a cool breeze flowing through the house. The birds are chirping, including Tweeter and the church bells are ringing in the distance. It sounds like the start of a wonderful day.

Yesterday I was gone most of the day taking pictures for the new mission team that is here. They are from Wisconsin and have been a delight to get to know. They have two Spanish speakers on their team which is great. It's not necessary to have Spanish speakers on a team that come here but it is helpful. If a team does not have anyone who speaks Spanish, then translators are provided for them. Their theme is "The Fingerprint of God." They made name tags with fingerprint animals and sock puppets. It was really neat and the kids really enjoyed it.

This is one of the little girls looking out the window at the group doing their work project. They put a new canvas top on one of the school room tents.

Just playing with some of the yarn.
Erin and Maribel
Playing on the playground.
So precious.
Jonathan and Josiah (one of the other missionary kids).
Mario made his puppet and named him "Mario."
Busy making a sock puppet.
Kevin enjoyed this project.

Last night we had the Despedida (Farewell) for the Morning Star team. They were the team that went to Oaxaca to minister in the village. We had a dinner of chicken in mole sauce, rice and beans. Yummm! After dinner we had a special dessert. I don't remember the name of it but it was like a custard. It was very yummy. Next we prayed for the team and then they prayed for us. They formed what they called "the tunnel of fire" and we went through having them pray for us. There were about twelve of them and they all prayed for each person. It was an incredible time. The Morning Star group is heading back home today. They blessed us here at EV immensely.
That's about all for now. Blessings to all of you, our family and friends. Thank you for your prayers and support.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños a Jonathan!

It is hard to believe, but Jonathan is 14 years old today. Where did the years go? I used to have this tiny baby in my arms and now I have a young man beside me. We are thrilled with the man he is becoming and thank God for giving him to us.

We had a birthday party for Jonathan and Erin (since Erin didn't really get a birthday party this year). Both Jonathan and Erin were allowed to invite two friends from Esperanza Viva to come over and we also had two other missionary families come. Everyone had a great time. We had pizza, chips, soda, cake and ice cream. Jonathan was feeling well enough to have all of it without any medications today at all. Praise the Lord!

The kids had a great time playing the Game Cube.
Here is Jonathan with his friend Kevin. It's hard to believe but Kevin is 13.
Jonathan opening up his cards.
Jonathan with his two friends, Kevin and Mario. Mario is nine.
Here's Mario playing in our back yard with a balloon.
The girls ended up doing other things and here are the boys, still playing the Game Cube.
Jonathan, Kevin, Mario, Rosa, Maribel, and Erin.
Silly boys.
Silly girls.

Update on Jonathan #3 and More

Praise the Lord! Jonathan was able to eat one waffle and half of a fried egg today. That is more solid food than he has eaten in the past three days. He says he is feeling really good. His throat is totally back to normal and his gums are looking better also. God is good, all the time!

On our way to church last night it began to down pour so hard that Jim said if Erin hadn't offered to watch one of the babies, we would have just turned around and gone home. I said that with this kind 0f rain that would keep people from coming, it will probably be an awesome service. I was right, we had awesome worship and then the short term mission team that went to Oaxaca to minister in the villages gave testimonies of what God did while they were there. Then we had more worship time. The worship went on and on with people dancing and giving glory to God. Every time Fernando tried to close down, he started up again. Our service that normally goes until about 8:45 went until about 9:30. God is so good! It was the first service I have been able to go to in about a week and a half to two weeks because of Jonathan being sick. It was a great way to begin again.

One of the songs we sang is one that we sang in the states in English It is the cry of our hearts as we raise the next generation for Him.

Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours

I see the king of glory
Coming down the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes
I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing, the people sing

Chorus
Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

Verse 2
I see a generation
Rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith
I see a new revival
Staring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees, we're on our knees

Bridge
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what is yours
Everything I am for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Hosanna

Thank you to all of you who have so faithfully prayed for our family through this time. We know and can feel the prayers as it has kept our focus where it should be - on the King of kings.