Thanksgiving 2012

It seems like just a few short weeks ago that we celebrated Thanksgiving 2011 and here we are again just having celebrated Thanksgiving 2012! Reading over my post about Thanksgiving 2011 was a blessing because it reminded me that even without an oven or friends to celebrate with, it is possible to be deeply grateful for God's blessings.

This year, however, I do have an oven and I made good use of it! In fact, I have found myself baking several times a week since we moved here...I am quite happy with my new stove!

But I digress...I wasn't sure exactly how Thanksgiving 2012 would go and we'd been so busy in the weeks before that I hadn't been able to think much about it. So it was a pleasant turn of events to be invited over to our friends' and fellow missionaries' house to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal together.  Bill and Debbie are the directors of a Mexican mission agency that partners with Pioneers and some other agencies to help Mexicans connect with missions worldwide.

Their coworker Misa also joined us, which was fun because he is a great favorite with the kids!

So we got together to plan the menu and then got to work...I put together some cornbread dressing, a relish tray, rolls, pumpkin and sweet potato pies and stuffed mushrooms. Gracia made some jello. Debbie baked the turkey, green bean casserole, gravy, and three kinds of bar cookies.

The kids were so excited about Thanksgiving, especially with a real turkey (we don't usually get a turkey when outside the U.S.-it's not that turkeys aren't available in Mexico, they are just kind of expensive!) that they were up early and quite anxious for it to be time to eat...I noticed that Jojo had even gotten dressed in 'church' clothes of his own accord for the special event! It was touching to see how much they were enjoying themselves this year.

I also made a Thanksgiving tree again, although I decided to do a bit of a different model than last year. We scouted out some good twigs to make the 'tree' and used scrapbook paper circles to record our thanks. I hung them on the tree with some fishing line. I grabbed a juice pitcher and wrapped it with some pretty paper and tied some matching ribbons around it. The tree made a nice centerpiece on the table, although we had to remove it once all the food was ready and besides, someone was in danger of getting their eye poked out or something...

There were quite a few 'entries' on the tree...it's good to see a physical reminder of everything for which we are thankful. My favorite, however, was this entry by Jojo...well, that one and the mushy one Miguel wrote about being thankful for me...

Jkaile really enjoyed the mashed potatoes and gravy, but was most excited by the dessert table! And what picture wouldn't be complete without the complimentary rabbit ears...

With all that wonderful food, of course we all felt just like Micah did here...ready to crash on the couch for a while to enjoy some American football!

Magdalena and Me

I was able to get the pictures of Magdalena and me. She is a special lady! I wish I could share all of her story here...maybe someday!  I am blessed to have a friend like her!

Practicing my story with Madgalena (I

am rather sunburned from our outing earlier in the day!)

 

Telling the story in the church service

She is an excellent translator!

In Magdalena's house

Yikes, almost been a month since I've posted!  I hadn't realized so much time had passed...we've had a busy month with several different activities, including a women's retreat, a quick trip to Mexico City to renew Jkaile's U.S. passport and Jojo's birthday!  I think the highlight of the last few weeks, however, was the trip we made to the towns of Ixtepec and Cuetzalan with the Sexton family.  The Sextons are appointees with Pioneers and were on their vision trip to scout out the different PI teams in Mexico to see where God might be leading them to work in the future.

Town of Ixtepec

And of course, they couldn't really get to know what our ministry is about unless they made a visit to some Totonacan communities in the mountains, which we were happy to show them! We chose to take them to visit Miguel and Magdalena and family in Ixtepec, where we spent two nights before spending the day at the Coffee Festival in the town of Cuetzalan.

We had so many experiences in those three short days, it would be hard to describe it all here in one post, but I will try to highlight the important parts...or at least the parts that I thought were most interesting!

Miguel had visited Ixtepec before, but this was my first time there.  I really hit it off with Magdalena and we ended up talking until late that first night we were there, as we shared our hearts with each other.  The conversation continued the next day as she showed us around town (the guys had all gone to Mr. Miguel's garden). I was honored that she was so open with me about her life experiences and I shared back with her about some of mine.

Magdalena preparing corn tortillas

Miguel and Magdalena with a Proclaimer

(audio Scripture device)...it has the New Testament

in their Totonacan dialect

The next day, we were invited to eat at another family's house and they served us each a large piece of fried pork with black beans and freshly made corn tortillas...which was humbling because their house is very small, has a dirt floor, and the walls are made out of 'carrizo', which are cornstalks woven together.

The next day, this family also bought us a bunch of cookies for our trip home! We had a great time at their house, Miguel shared some thoughts on Bible storytelling with the family, the kids chased chickens and saw their bunnies and Micah found a meteorite!

After lunch, we visited another family who lived a ways out of town where Jojo had an interesting experience in their outhouse...he had to go while we were there, but the outhouse was even more primitive than usual and just had a hole with nothing to sit on.  Once he figured out how to use it, we realized we had forgotten to bring the toilet paper with us from the van.  After some thought, the kids decided to give him some banana leaves!  Then Jkaile thought it would be fun to wipe with banana leaves as well, but to his great disappointment, he couldn't produce anything that needed wiping! Boys...

I didn't get any pictures during that visit because I was busy practicing the Bible story that I was to present in the Miguel and Magdalena's church that night. The people consider us to be something like pastors, even though we've tried to avoid having that image, so when they heard we were coming, they asked if we would speak at their church (they are without a full-time pastor right now). We agreed, but decided to present the teaching in a Bible story format with Miguel presenting part of it and me the other.

My part was to share the story of the birth and life of John the Baptist and I was having trouble remembering all of it, particularly the parts that contained prophecy about Jesus. I also struggle a bit to remember the stories when I present them in Spanish, which obviously is my second language.  So I was practicing the story when Magdalena informed me that they would be translating it to Totonacan during the service...I didn't know that, so I asked her to help me practice it with a 'live' translation. She did that for me and then she told me that since she liked the story so much, she wanted to translate for me in church that night, even though she wasn't the 'designated' translator!  I was pleased because I had enjoyed working with her and I think we make a great team.

It seemed like the people enjoyed the story that we presented.  We're just beginning to learn more about oral communication principles and how to put them in practice. These concepts are definitely new for the Totonacans.  Traditionally, they are an oral culture, but oral communication principles have not been used much in church settings. We're in the process of exploring how oral communication principles could be used in evangelization and discipleship in the Totonacan context and we're excited about the possibilities because so far, they are responding positively. But that is a whole other topic for another day...

It was hard to say goodbye to Miguel and Magdalena the next day, but we hope to go back to visit soon!  The town of Cuetzalan is not too far from Ixtepec, but the roads were quite twisty and sure enough, some of us were getting a bit carsick! At one point, Jojo threw up quite violently and we had to pull over to get him cleaned up (I even had to wash his hair!). Fortunately, we quickly found a place where someone had built a small tank to hold the water being piped down the hill.  It was there, basically out in the boonies, that we met a man who spoke English because he had lived in New York for many years!  You just never know who you will run into!

We finally got to Cuetzalan, where we planned to enjoy the last day of the Coffee Festival (and yes, I bought some coffee, about 3 pounds of whole beans).  The sights were quite enjoyable as there were many traditional Totonacan dancers there from many different towns participating in the traditional ceremonies and rituals.

 Totonacan 'voladores' (flyers) performing

in front of the Catholic church

Colorful dancers

Religious procession taking saints 

and other images into the church

Lots of Totonacans in traditional dress

Cool shops

We liked Cuetzalan a lot and we felt like we didn't get enough time to really explore as we'd have liked...there are some caves, waterfalls and ruins in the area that we'd like to go see sometime.  Every time we go to the mountains, it seems like it's getting harder and harder to come home...I think we'd like to make one of these mountain communities our home!

The town of Nanacatlán

On the way home, we caught a glimpse of Orizaba at sunset, truly a breathtaking sight!  Orizaba is the highest peak in all of Mexico and is often covered in clouds, so we were thrilled to catch these pictures.

*Other links from this trip...Gracia writes about the animals we saw and Jkaile is impressed by the pig.

Family Camp

What started as an online friendship with the ABCDs has developed into a real-life friendship now that we're living in central Mexico.  Besides enjoying their friendship, we've also enjoyed their library plus their invitation to join them at what was termed MK Family Spiritual Emphasis Camp 2012 by our fearless director.

Basically, we thought of it as family camp since we went as a family and there were several other families there as well.  It was also a nice family 'vacation' for us, even though we kinda "worked" (didn't feel much like work, though) and were in different cabins.  We were able to take the puppy also and he really enjoyed spending some time in the great outdoors (sadly, the snail and the turtle had to stay behind).


Miguel and I had the opportunity to teach the older youth during their chapel times and we covered four stories about the Israelites found in Numbers 11-15 as a way of illustrating and exploring some Bible storying concepts.  Miguel was the counselor for the older boys and we helped out a bit in the kitchen and with crafts.  


It was a lot colder at camp than here in Puebla, so we were glad that we went prepared for the colder weather!  During the day, it was very nice, but as soon as the sun went down the temps really dropped...there was a significant altitude difference, which is why the weather was cooler there.  


Here are few pictures of our adventure at camp...for more pictures, go here or here or here! 

We enjoyed the scenery on the way to camp...that's

really red dirt there!  

The view from the front of my cabin...the 

kitchen/auditorium area

is down beyond those vehicles and the bathrooms

are in the building on the right of the picture.  The

cabins were very comfortable, but it sure

was hard to get out of my nice warm bed

at 3 a.m. to trek all the way over there to go potty!  

We had some great worship times led

by another missionary.  I think Miguel was 

making a J for J-O-Y although

it looks like everyone else had 

already moved on to Y!  

Jkaile with a buñuelo, similar to a funnel cake.

Meals were delicious!

I think the snack shop was our kids' favorite 

'activity' at camp!  

Their not-so-favorite thing...dishes!

On our way back from camp, we stopped by a little

town known for selling clay pots and other decorative items.

Apparently jack-o-lanterns are in high demand, 

they were everywhere! 

I got a kick out of these pots

drying on top of this building.  They

are all so perfectly lined up!

We stopped at several of the different shops...it was

hard to choose what to buy!  So many pretty things...

I loved this one!  We bought several of these,

but unpainted.  

I really loved these iguanas painted

in the talavera style...maybe next time!  

It was also interesting to see many Otomí people

in traditional dress...there are many communities

of Otomí in this area.  

We are already looking forward to camp next year!  

First Christmas in Puebla

We weren't sure what to expect our first Christmas in Puebla, but God blessed us with a very special experience with our friends Juan Carlos and Monica.  We've spent a bit of time with our new friends in the last month and have enjoyed getting to know them.

Juan Carlos, Monica, Carlos and Alonso

Just about when we'd decided we'd be spending our first Christmas here alone (and without an oven! yikes.), Juan Carlos and Monica dropped by our house one night last week to invite us to eat Christmas dinner with them.  We were thrilled (and not just because they were planning to have turkey...honest)!  Christmas is about spending time with family and friends...with no family close, spending it with friends like Juan Carlos and Monica is just as special for us.

In Mexico, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th and Christmas dinner is usually eaten sometime during the evening, usually late.  So we spent Saturday preparing the food for dinner that night...I made Venezuelan pan de jamón (ham bread) and Grandma Ople's Applie Pie (you can go here to see pictures of the process).

Pan de jamón

Monica and I with the pies.

Once the food was ready, we went to their church for a Christmas Eve service.  It was kinda hard to leave all that yummy food behind for a while, but we consoled ourselves with a little snack and the anticipation of the feast to come.

Finally, we headed back home and it was time to eat!  And being that we are in Mexico, of course we had to have some rajas (jalapeño strips, carrots and onion in vinegar sauce) to accompany our meal!

After supper, all the kids went out to light their giant sparklers, apparently also a Christmas tradition in Mexico.  We bought ours at a stoplight on our way to church and saw many people selling them at each intersection we went through.

After a brisk round of Manzanas Con Manzanas (Apples to Apples in Spanish!), we came home...it was 1:30 a.m. by the time we got everyone to bed.  Then Miguel and I had to finish wrapping presents and preparing the stockings, so it was even later (or was that earlier?) by the time we got to sleep.

Naturally, the kids were wide awake by 7 a.m. ready to open their presents!  Miguel refused to come down until at least 8:30, however, so I retold the Christmas story while we waited.  Finally, he came down and our gift-giving began.  We like to open the presents slowly, taking our time to enjoy each gift and this year, we had each gift-giver say something meaningful to the gift-receiver.  At first it was a bit awkward for the kids, but by the end, they were enjoying it!

The kids with their stockings.

I made the kids some pillows...they loved them!

Miguel gave me a new cooking pot and I gave him some headphones, which he started using right away!

Love those Razorback pjs, Miguel!

We tried to go to church on Sunday, but didn't last very long since the kids were falling asleep in their seats...so we came on home and rested for most of the afternoon.  Then we went back to Juan Carlos and Monica's house and had round two with the leftovers!

God is good to give us what we desire...fun and fellowship during our first Christmas here in Puebla.

First Days in Puebla

We spent the first few weeks in Puebla staying with Hiram and Cati, the pastor of our partner church, El Camino.  I think a hurricane affected the weather, because it seemed like it rained for days on end during the first week or so here!  We even had hailstorms, something we didn't really expect to see in Puebla, but apparently not all that uncommon...we've had plenty of sunshine since, though, which has been pleasant.  The days spent with Hiram and Cati's family was great, we had time to rest from our trip (we were way more tired than we thought!) and of course, staying with a Mexican family was very good for us to begin adjusting back to Spanish and the Mexican culture.  It has been so cute to hear the kids begin speaking more and more Spanish!

The Monday after we got here, another missionary from our church in Arkansas, Caroline, arrived together with her mom and Miguel went to Mexico City to help them catch a bus back to Puebla.  Caroline will be working with El Camino church for a year or so, helping develop their children's program.  Caroline's mom spent a week here and we took every opportunity we could to get out and about on the days it wasn't raining.  We spent a couple of days exploring the Cholula fair (we actually live in Cholula, a town on the outskirts of Puebla City).

Here we are with Caroline at the fair.

We also got to go and meet Franco and Barby, the missionaries who live and work up in the mountains...Barby was recovering from a surgery, so we were actually able to go visit them several times before they went back home.

Here I am with Barby...I hope we become great friends!

One of the most impressive sights around town is the volcano, Popocatepetl (we're still trying to figure out how to pronounce that word, mostly we just say "Popo").  Popo is an active volcano, about 17,000+ feet high and actually has a snow-covered peak...most days, however, it's covered in clouds.  The best time to take a picture of Popo is on a clear, sunny morning like this one.

Another interesting sight is this church that is built on top of an ancient pyramid...you can see the church and some ruins behind Miguel and I in this picture...

Every once in a while, I can spot this church from different locations in Puebla, it's pretty cool!  One day we climbed up to the top and had a look around, but that is a story for another day...