Rejoicing in Suffering

The kids have been sick all week long. Jonathan has had a fever every day since last Sunday and Erin has also run a fever this week although not every day. Once the fever went away for Erin, she had a sore red throat with what looked like pimples on the back it. Jonathan now has a sore throat also with white patches on the back. We really feel like we are being attacked by the enemy. He doesn't want us here, he doesn't want us following through because he knows that God has a plan for us here. God has called us here. Have we been discouraged? Yes! But, even the kids are praying and recognizing it for what it is and praying for us not to be discouraged. They see Satan trying to get us to pack up and leave.

Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perserverance; perserverance , character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Having your kids sick everyday for a parent is certainly suffering, but we know that God uses that to produce perserverance, character and hope in us that might not otherwise come. Is it hard? Oh yes, I have felt very unuseful this week but I know that God is building something bigger in me - a determination to continue on in spite of adversity. I can't imagine this week without all the prayers that I know have been raised on our behalf. Thank you so much for those prayers. They are needed every day.

This next week, we have another group coming which presents more challenges. If the kids are still sick, I really need to be with them but I also have jobs that need to be done with the groups. So, I will do what I can with the groups, and seek help from others for the things that I can't do. We will get through this.

Romans 8:37 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Wonderful Testimony from a Recent Group

Recently, Word of Grace Community Church from Wisconsin came to Esperanza Viva as a short term mission group. We had a wonderful time with this group and today we received a link to their church's website.

Click here to go to their webist and then click on Mexico Recap. On that page you can click on the link to watch the recap of their trip. It is an amazing testimony of their time here.

Please Pray for us and Jonathan

At 5:00 this morning Jonathan came into our room saying he didn't feel good. This was quite a bummer because he was finally feeling better. Sure enough, he had a 102.6 temperature. He said his body ached all over, so here we go again. His comment about it was that he was bummed because he was really looking forward to going to the home today and playing with the kids which he hasn't been able to do much in the past couple of weeks. It is getting pretty discouraging but we are praying against whatever Satan is trying to do with this. Please join us in prayer against sickness and other things.

Today we all have to take another parasite pill. We took one last week and it made Jim, Jonathan and Erin sick. but Jonathan was the sickest from it with stomach pains after he ate and a headache. Everyone at the home does these treatments once every six months. We haven't been here six months yet, but because lot of the kids and staff at the home are also getting sick, they decided to do the treatment on all of us. We were told that the second pill, which we take today, would not make us as sick. They also said that if you have a parasite, you would get sicker and it would take longer to get over it after the first pill. That kind of fits Jonathan, but this fever is different - not the same kind of sick. You don't get a fever with the parasite treatment - at least I don't think you do. So, the kids are a bit leary of taking the next pill today but we are going to take them anyway.

This past week has been a bit emotional with missing our family and friends from home. Bill Keiselhorst, one of the leaders on our mission leadership team at our church, told us to expect to hit a down time and the timing fits perfect. We have been here in Mexico almost three months but away from Oregon almost four months. We are very grateful for the words prior to leaving which prepared us for knowing what this is. Susy warned us also, down here, that we would hit the "wall" at some point. I think after a very busy week and having almost all the Americans missionaries gone it is harder and we have come to that point. They are all in the states for their two week vacations.

I realized recently that I haven't been blogging as much. I sometimes think that I need to have pictures in order to blog but that is not the case. The pictures are nice but I think it is good for everyone to know what is going on even if there are no pictures. So, I will try to blog more often here in the future.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Pictures and Thoughts from This Week

This has been a very long and hard week for us on several accounts. We had a team here and it was my first time doing the shopping and activities for groups. It proved to be a good experience but a bit time consuming. This week was also the week that many of the Americans left to go to the states so we are the only full American family here. We still have Molly, one of the single supervisors and Kate who is married to Rene, who is a national. We are thankful for that.

We are approaching three months here in Mexico but four months away from friends and family in Oregon. We knew ahead of time that we would approach a time when it would get very hard emotionally and I believe we are hitting it. Ever since Jim's 50th birthday it has been harder. I think the fact that if we had been at home, we would have had a big party for him with lots of friends and family made it harder. The kids are going through some adjustments also. Attitudes are arising and we are trying to see them for what they could be, which is more adjusting to everything. Please keep us in your prayers as we go through these adjustments.

The team that we here this week took these pictures of Jim and me. We haven't had any taken of just the two of us in a while.

The team that was here made scrapbooks with the kids. Here are some pictures of the kids making their scrapbooks.


This picture is priceless! I love the eyes.

This is the book of one of the teen girls.

Stickers don't just belong in books, do they?
The group got Erin to participate in their song. One of the girls on the team is 12 and the other is almost 14. Erin got along very well with both of them.



I like the way Chichu cut out his picture.
Maribel made sure she got one of our pictures so I took a picture of her with it.
Kevin wanted a picture with it also.


Jonathan got out there and played a little basket ball with the boys.
He made a basket too!
The group did their song and dance one last time before they left.
Erin and Evelyn eating oranges with chili lemon powder on them.

Interesting Design

This is a building that we see on our way to church. It amazes all of us and we all say how we would not want to be in it during an earthquake. This is not the best picture but as you can see it appears that there is not much holding it up. They keep building higher and higher. Amazing!