Cultural Perspectives on Modesty

It's not often that culture shock really hits me any more. Not that I am above culture shock, just that I continue to adapt to the Latin culture more and more. While I may have moments of confusion or discomfort, I generally feel fairly comfortable in most situations these days, or at least I can sort of figure out what's going on.

So it really caught me by surprise the other day when something happened that left me standing speechless, mouth hung open.

The kids and I went to a balneario (swimming pool) last Sunday with our neighbors and some of their friends.  I went to the locker room to change into my swimsuit.  I didn't see any changing rooms, so just changed in one of the toilet stalls.  When I came out, that's when I saw it. Women walking around, well, completely naked. No pena (shame). No attempts to even try to cover any part of themselves as they walked back and forth to the showers and toilet stalls.  I think I froze.  I hope I didn't stare!  Am I just a prude?

It's not like I'm not used to nudity...after all, the tribal group my parents worked with in Colombia didn't really use much clothing and it never really bothered or affected me because that's just the way they were and I accepted it.

But I guess this is one aspect of the Mexican culture that I had not yet been exposed to (no pun intended!), because it really caught me unaware.  I returned to where my friends were sitting and I debated whether or not to mention it, but then I realized it was a great opportunity to get some further insight into the culture here.

They laughed when I told them, and it did lead into an interesting conversation about cultural perspectives on modesty, etc.  Apparently, complete nudity is quite common here in women's locker rooms and steam baths and is nothing to be embarrassed about.

They were quite interested in the fact that the nudity would surprise me since they had the idea that everyone from the U.S. is quite liberal in all things.  I shared with them that not all Americans are frat-party, girls-gone-wild, Spring-Break-at-Panama-City-Beach sort of people like they might see on t.v.  That some of us are from staid, Bible-beltish Midwest region and we don't necessarily care to bare ourselves in front of other people at the drop of a hat.

Most locker rooms in the U.S. that I've seen have individual changing rooms and I would say that most people, well, women anyway (I don't think that I am qualified to comment on men's locker room habits), would avail themselves of the changing rooms instead of changing out in the open.  And most would probably use a towel or something to cover at least some part of their bodies in the locker room (of course, I could be out of touch with reality since I'm not that up on popular culture back in the U.S. these days).

We talked about other aspects of modesty, other differences.  In Mexico, many women feel very comfortable showing more cleavage than is normal in the U.S. (well, at least in many places in the states and among more conservative people).  It is more appropriate for women in the U.S. to cover up more of the chest area than here in Mexico.

On the other hand, most Mexican women cover up their legs much more than in the U.S.  My friends told me that until recently, most women still wore skirts in this part of the country.  While pants and blue jeans are now very common here, skirts are still worn by many older women, especially in the more rural areas.

Although it was interesting for me to notice that at the pool, there was a wide range of bathing suits, from quite revealing to rather modest.  I gather that in that particular setting, it is not inappropriate to wear even a very revealing suit. I did notice, however, that while not actually in the pool, most of the women preferred to wear some sort of cover over their suit. And there were quite a few older women who didn't even swim or get close to the pool, they were there just to accompany the family.

In comparison to the U.S., shorts are rarely worn in public here in Mexico except for specific events, such as for exercise and sports.  According to my friends, this is because the sight of skin on legs, especially above the knee, is more of a turn-on for Latin guys.  Pants and jeans are often very tight, but as long as skin is not showing it is considered modest.  My neighbor told me that in many cases of violence against a woman, she might be blamed for the violence by dressing provocatively, showing too much of her legs.

This is an interesting contrast because in the U.S. shorts and short skirts are very common and not necessarily considered immodest or inappropriate for public attire.  

So anyway, I've been thinking more about cultural differences and how much I have yet to learn about the Mexican culture.  There will most likely be some more surprises for me around the corner...

So when it came time to change back into our regular clothes, Gracia and I headed back to the locker room.  We thought about changing in the main room just like everyone else, but when push came to shove, we just couldn't do it...so it was back to the toilet stalls for us...maybe next time.

The Days of the Dead

I've always been a little confused about what exactly is the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) here in Mexico and I assumed that it had something to do with the American celebration of Halloween.  I have learned a little bit more about this celebration, however, and have found out that the origin of Halloween is really All Hallows' Eve.  All Hallows' Eve is the night before All Saints' Day, which falls on November 1st.  And November 2nd is All Souls' Day.  

So while Halloween kind of has something to do with the Día de los Muertos, the American celebration of Halloween that I am familiar with and the Mexican celebration of the Día de los Muertos is a lot different (Mexicans do still participate in Halloween-like activities, such as dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating...yesterday I saw a little boy in a fringed cowboy costume made completely out of newspaper!).     Obviously, there is an entire history behind these celebrations and the customs will vary from place to place, but this year we have been doing our own culture study on this celebration and are learning from our neighbors and other sources here about their beliefs regarding the Día de los Muertos.

What we have learned is that these are days when families remember and honor their dead loved ones and it is traditionally a time to visit and decorate their graves.  While this reminds me of Memorial Day in the U.S., there is a lot more involved with the Día de los Muertos than merely remembering loved ones.

A Triqui woman pouring Coca-Cola on the grave

of a loved one, Baja California.

It is believed that once a year, the ánimas (souls) of dead loved ones come back from the dead to visit their relatives.  The souls of children and unmarried young people are believed to come on All Saints' Day and the souls of adults or married people are believed to come on All Souls' Day.  Ofrendas (offerings) are made on sometimes elaborate altars in homes or cemeteries to honor and receive the souls.  Candles are burned as it is believed that their light will guide the souls to the altars.  Brightly colored flowers with strong smells, such as marigolds are commonly used to also guide the souls to the offerings.  Incense, such as copal (tree resin incense) is also burned by some.

A trail of flower petals leading into a house.

A trail of flower petals leading to an ofrenda at a school.

Many different foods or other things can be included in the offering, such as pan de muerto (literally, the bread of the dead), whiskey and other drinks, tamales, cigarettes, mole (a traditional chile and chocolate dish), sugar skulls, toys and candy (for the younger souls), sugarcane, fruit and other items that may have been favorites of the dead loved ones.

Pan de muerto, topped with bone-like decorations.

While the Día de los Muertos isn't necessarily a state holiday, we have observed that the 1st and 2nd day of November are días festivos (festive days) and that schools are closed on November 2nd.  Many of our friends who are followers of Christ do not send their children to school around this time of year in order to avoid having their children participate in the celebrations they view as demonic and pagan.

The sign on the gate of the preschool next door to our house says: 

"Homework for everyone: bring a written skeleton for 

Monday and fruit for the offering.  Thank you."

An ofrenda at a town government office.

Another example of an ofrenda set up at a police station.

There is a sign on this ofrenda that says,

"Please don't take anything off of the offering."

An ofrenda set up inside a Catholic church.

Traditionally, on November 3rd families have parties where the offerings are eaten in honor of their dead loved ones.  It is believed that the essence or aromas and the colors of the food and flowers are 'eaten' or used by the dead and some would say that the food that is left has no nutritional value.  

I'm sure that there is a lot more to learn about the Día de los Muertos, but this has been an interesting glimpse into these traditions here in Puebla.  

Women's Retreat, October 2011

I've been pondering on what to write for a few days now...not that I haven't wanted to, but honestly I've been so busy since I got back from the retreat that I have had very little time for anything else much but the basics!  What happened is that Miguel hurt his back over the weekend and has spent about three days in bed, barely able to sit up in a chair for more than a few minutes at a time.  PTL, he seems to be slowly recovering, but in the meantime, I have been running double duty!  I've even ventured out to the pharmacy and to Walmart on my own in the van...somewhat nerve-wracking, but everything went okay...I'm glad I have a large vehicle that most other vehicles respect!

So anyway, the retreat...wow, what can I say?  I believe that I witnessed God showing up in a pretty incredible way and I am so very humbled and grateful to have been a small part of that.  For one thing, the other Becky (Becky B. we called her) and I got along famously, and like I said in my previous post, we have a lot in common...but then we found out that we have even more in common than we had thought!  Which is really cool.  Here we are at church on Sunday morning...Becky B. is a singer and graced us with some awesome worship times, both at the retreat and at church here in Puebla.  

And what the two of shared and how it really complemented each other is a testimony to the work of the Holy Spirit, seeing as we did not communicate about our sessions beforehand!  But I have to admit that as I listened to Becky B. during her two sessions, I was very thankful that I went first...she would have been a hard act to follow!  She is an accomplished singer and speaker, very used to being in front of the microphone and her Spanish is simply amazing...she really is quite dynamic and had us laughing in many places, while at the same time thinking deeply about our relationship with God.  

The craft session went well, but it was hard to teach 51 ladies how to make boxes all at the same time, so we allowed for another box-making session on Saturday and I think most of the ladies who wanted to learn was able to go home with at least one pretty box plus their model box.  Here are some of the crafts I made from the boxes to show the ladies...including picture frames, Christmas tree ornaments and decorated gift boxes.  The one little box I decorated with some tiny silk flowers and some scraps of ribbon.  They all turned out pretty cute!

As far as my speaking session went, I decided to be very open and transparent in an effort to encourage others to also be more open and transparent.  Speaking about roots, I took the ladies back to how our 'roots' are formed...exploring what the external influences are that are that form the 'soil' in which we grow in this life.  Our family, our culture, our spiritual experiences, our life experiences, etc. are all external influences that form thoughts and beliefs about ourselves, others and God.  These thoughts and beliefs about ourselves, others and God are hidden in the deepest places of our hearts and out of them come our emotions, our motives, our tendencies, our desires...and out of those emotions, motives, tendencies, desires, etc. come our fruit, the external evidence of what is in our hearts at both levels.  

Oftentimes, however, those thoughts and beliefs have been formed subconsciously and we do not recognize what might be driving our hearts and therefore our fruit.  The beauty of salvation is that God transplants us to a new soil, one that is firm and fertile for our new little spiritual life of a tree to grow.  God wants to give us this new environment so that we'll have new thoughts about ourselves, others and God, and new fruit-the fruit of the Spirit...but what can happen sometimes?  We continue to revert to and act on the old thoughts and beliefs about ourselves, others and God...thoughts and beliefs that don't line up with what God's Word says about us and as a result, our new little tree does not thrive and grow...we do not develop a strong spiritual root system.    

In a nutshell, that's what happened to me...for most of my life, I have operated on thoughts and beliefs about myself, others and God that were damaging and hurtful to me.  I did not see myself as having worth, as deserving of God's goodness...I did not ever feel as if I was enough or as if God were pleased with me on any given day.  I had carried those beliefs deep down inside me, never realizing that those beliefs were blocking my spiritual life...my spiritual roots could not thrive and grow deep and strong because I was operating based on the wrong 'soil', not the truth of God's Word...I was not deeply rooted in Christ's love and the knowledge of His Word.  It was as if my heart was like the seed that was thrown among the thorns...the seeds sprouted and grew, but the thorns (the worries of this life) grew up faster and higher and choked out the truth of God's Word.  

I worked very hard at the upper heart level and the fruit level to see change in my life, but it left me empty and dry and weak because I was trusting in man, trusting in myself to somehow make myself better (Jeremiah 17:5-6).  God brought me to the end of myself...a place where I had nowhere else to turn (why do some of us seem to need a harder knock on the head to see God?  Take Paul, for example...not that I equate myself with Paul, but just that some of us seem to just have a harder time finding God), a place where I was led to look deeper down inside me to peer into the depths of my innermost thoughts and beliefs...what I found didn't really surprise me because I knew those hurts were there.  What did surprise me is to find out just how much they had affected me without me realizing it.  What I had done was to deny their effects on me...everybody say it with me, de-NI-al!...and we all know that denying that something doesn't exist doesn't make it go away (try denying gravity by jumping off the roof of your house sometime...it won't be pleasant...).  

For me healing was about surrender and faith...recognizing the reality of those beliefs, surrendering them to God and believing by faith the truths from God's Word about who I am in Christ.  Change didn't happen immediately, from one moment to the next, but as I clung to God's promises and made daily choices to believe, things started to happen and my roots began sinking deeply into the soil that God had prepared for me from the beginning of time as His blessed child.  And just like Abraham, God counted my faith as righteousness (Check out Romans 4).  Those negative, damaging thoughts and beliefs were changed to ones of love and peace and joy.  And I didn't even have to work to produce it...they flowed out of a heart that was grateful for God's gift of new life in Christ.

One day I realized that my depression and insecurity were gone...I looked back and realized how far I had come...I realized that I was becoming more and more resilient as I tapped into a new source of strength and power, becoming more and more secure in my identity in Christ.  There was no more working to please God, just resting in Christ knowing that I already please Him just by existing...He delights in me just because I am...because He made me...that I am enough in Him because He is enough in me...glory be to God!  I had found my joy...the joy of the Lord is my strength...I found my life transformed into a tree planted by the water, sending out my roots to the stream...bearing fruit and having no fear of the drought or the heat (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

So that's pretty much a summary of what I shared, although with more details about some of my life experiences, some of which I've share on this blog...as I shared, I was pleased to notice that I wasn't that nervous (this from someone who used to have trouble even looking people in the eyes out of a sense of insecurity and shame!) and in fact, I rather enjoyed myself.  It felt like I was stepping into a place where I was using my gifts and abilities and while I'm sure there were things I could have done better (this was pretty much my first time sharing at a retreat/conference, so I'm sure I have much to learn), I sense this is perhaps something that God will be calling me to do more of in the future.

I will cautiously say that I believe God used what I shared in the lives of many of the ladies...several ladies shared with me the impact that my openness and transparency had on them, tears streaming down their faces as they recalled hurts from their childhood that they recognized needed healing.  I say 'cautiously', however, because sometimes it's hard to gauge the feedback here in Mexico, they could just be demonstrating politeness and appreciation at my efforts...while in reality my efforts may have been feeble!  And perhaps some of them were merely expressing that politeness, but others did seem to be quite sincere and deeply moved by what I shared.  At any rate, my speaking session was a gift to God for Him to use however He sees fit...I have chosen to focus on that truth and not obsess about whether I did a 'good job' or not.

I will leave you with some more photos of the vacation center where we spent the retreat...it was such a beautiful place and I already want to go back as a family to spend more time there.  It used to be a textile factory, which makes the architecture of the place very interesting.  My favorite picture is the one I took of the volcano Popocatepetl between the two chimneys...I wish I had taken my big camera to have gotten a better shot!  Oh well, next time...

 

The Rest of the Journey

So...after camp in Prescott, we spent a week in southern Arizona visiting friends and resting up from our week of camp.  A friend loaned us their trailer house as they were out of town, and it was a fairly peaceful week except for me getting sick with a bad flu and us finding out we had misplaced our van title.  :(  At first we thought that we wouldn't be able to cross the border into Mexico without the title, but then we found out we could use our vehicle registration...whew!!!!  Our leaving was delayed by me getting sick, but then we finally got on our way and headed south for the border.

Gracia, Jkaile and Jojo enjoying our hammock

We had a good border crossing and trip down and by evening we were in Chihuahua City.  We spent nearly two weeks there visiting friends and catching up with the news from El Cordero, our former church.  We stayed a few days with one family and then moved over to a different house for our last few days there...it was a good time, even though we weren't able to see everyone we would have liked to see.

Our trip from Chihuahua to Puebla was very interesting and I really enjoyed my first glimpses of the central part of Mexico.  It took one day to get to Saltillo, where we spent the night in a hotel, and then we traveled on to San Juan del Río, Querétaro on the second day.  The scenery began to change from dry, desert to more lush green and I found myself snapping pictures all along the way!

I think these are called 'yucca' plants, but we'd never

seen them grow as trees!  

Another fascinating sight were all the herds of goats

or other animals all along the four lane highway...the traffic didn't

seem to bother them a bit!

A man on horseback buying 'tunas' (prickly pears)...I 

think the colt was interested in eating some, too!

San Juan del Río is a small town that was a delight to see...it was a little like stepping back in time to a more colonial era.  We really enjoyed our time there sightseeing and also getting to know the McManus family, whose ministry is supporting homeschooling families.  They have a beautiful home and even more awesome, an entire library (literally)!  Our kids thought they were in heaven!

There are even more books down in the basement!

  

So when we left the McManus household, we were carrying even more stuff, several stacks of books that we checked out from their library!  I'm not quite sure how we fit it in, but we did...from there, it was only a few hours to Puebla.  After basically of month of traveling, we were all more than ready to arrive at our final destination...the scenery along the road continued to change to be more and more green and fertile farmland.

Fields of 'nopales', prickly pear cactus.  

Such beauty made me catch my breath a little...some because these scenes remind me of Colombia, where I've left a piece of my heart, but mostly because this is our new home and I was loving what I saw.  It felt a bit like coming home...

Turning Point

Looking back over the last few months, I feel a deep sense of gratefulness at how God works to carry me through hard times...God is good.  We've done a lot of grieving in our time of ministry, come to think of it!  When we went to Venezuela way back when, we were entirely committed to living and working there with NTM for the rest of our lives and well, things didn't work out that way.  We took a huge hit when, barely two years later, we were facing the decision of leaving to go work somewhere else.  We arrived in Mexico hopeful that perhaps God was leading us to stay there, although Miguel still sensed a strong desire to return to his home country, understandable certainly, but was it God's calling or just a human desire?  We weren't certain...and then sure enough, two years into our time in Mexico, there we were, packing up another household of stuff and stepping out in blind faith. 

At the time, I was rather terrified of stepping out like that because it meant facing a future that I wasn't at all sure that I was willing to face, but if I hadn't been able to let go of our ministry in Mexico with NTM, God wouldn't have been able to lead us to the ministry that He has had waiting for us.  It is interesting how God writes our stories, brings opportunities to our door and then allows them to step away for a time if we are not ready to open that door.  He is faithful to work and then bring these opportunities back another time when we're more ready to answer the call.

We have known for years that our sending church has been greatly involved in a church planting partnership with a local church in Puebla, Mexico for several years now...Miguel has, in fact, gone on three different short-term mission trips as a translator to this ministry site, but we hadn't had much thought about it other than acknowledging that it existed.  Three years ago, Miguel brought up the idea of going to live and work there, but since it implied leaving NTM and I was not ready to face that choice yet, we declined that opportunity, stayed with NTM and went to Chihuahua instead. 

When we left Mexico last August, we went through a strong grieving process because not only did we grieve leaving Mexico, which we have come to love, we grieved the loss of friends both in and out of the mission community.  We had many good friends within NTM and had connected so strongly to the community of believers in our local church that it was like leaving family, a truly painful process that was difficult to recover from.  But it was a necessary step as God directed our path and moved us towards His plan.

2010 was an interesting year for us because it marks a turning point, a time of real growth and change in Miguel and I, both personally and in our ministry.  In many ways, I think we finally 'grew up', if you will, emotionally as we began dealing with some deep hurts of our past and in our marriage.  And this healing seemed to open the door to some true growth in our ministry and we found ourselves disatisfied with the 'status quo' of the mission world we found ourselves in and yet not really sure we were able to make a decision that would mean some radical change.  God used those experiences to sharpen our vision for ministry, define how we desire to work and to help us know what to look for in our next ministry. 

And then something pretty amazing happened and God showed us very clearly that our time with NTM had come to its end.  It was a painful process, weaning always has its moments of distress as we break some of the strings of dependency that might have formed with such a partnership.  A friend describes the relationship between a mission agency and its members as a 'marriage' and he noted that when that relationship breaks down, it can be compared to a 'divorce'.  Such a 'divorce' between an agency and a member can produce some pretty strong emotions and feelings of loss and grief and abandonment, true, but sometimes is necessary as the member seeks to follow God's plan for their lives.  We learned that our identity needs to be solidly placed in Christ and not in a membership in a mission agency or church or in anything other than Christ, really.  And we have certainly learned that God is sufficient for us at all times and in every circumstance.  All in all, I think we're handling things pretty well, even though we have had some ugly moments in the middle of it...we are very thankful for having had this place of rest and retreat and are thankful that God knows what we need even when we don't have a clue. 

As we contemplated our resignation from NTM, however, we weren't really sure where God was leading even though Miguel still had a strong desire to return either to Venezuela or the Amazon region.  So we explored some of those ideas and continued to pray and ask for wisdom.  And then our home church brought back the Puebla ministry to our attention again and I remembered something...I remembered that back in July when Miguel had last gone to Puebla, he came back energized and excited and interested and I had wondered at that point whether God was leading in that direction.  I remembered having privately surrendered to God in that moment...having said to God "I'll go!" if he asked us to go.  And isn't that where God wants us anyway?  Willing and surrendered? 

Miguel wasn't visibly responding as quickly as I was, though, so I stayed quiet, watching and waiting and praying and resting in God's will.  Besides, I wasn't at all sure that God was leading us to Puebla, it could have just been me and I didn't want to influence Miguel's decision, I wanted God to confirm this in a big way for both of us.  And I'm learning that my husband doesn't make decisions as quickly as I do, he likes to take time to think these important things through rather thoroughly before committing, but soon enough, there we were, entirely in agreement and with a peace about pursuing this ministry.  I was a little surprised because I knew that Miguel is still so attracted to hot and humid tropical places with rivers and fish and outboard motors, and yet he, too, is willing and surrendered to God's will. 

So here we are, preparing to return to Mexico sometime in the next few months, so excited we can hardly stand it!  In fact, if it weren't for some boring details such as joining another mission agency (NTM doesn't work in this area) and raising more prayer and financial support, we'd be leaving, like, tomorrow!  We feel so blessed at how God has been so faithful to work in us and through us and we can't wait to serve Him back.  We find in interesting how God has brought us full circle back to Mexico, a country we both love.  Our new place of ministry is not very tropical, being in the mountains of Puebla with a cool, temperate climate and really no navigable rivers to speak of...but it IS green and humid! 

So here's the scoop...there is a church in the city of Puebla called El Camino Bible Church that wants to plant churches.  They are ambitious, they desire to have a church planting ministry in every state of Mexico!  Anyway, a few years ago, they were able to send a missionary couple from their church up to the mountains of the state of Puebla (about four hours northeast of the city of Puebla) to live and work in a small, remote community with the intention of starting a church planting movement among the Totonac people group. 

Our sending church has come alongside El Camino to help and facilitate in any way that El Camino feels they need help and it's been neat to see our sending church take a helping role and not a leading role in this partnership.  Our sending church sends teams down to Puebla three times a year to help with community outreaches, medical outreaches, children's ministries and construction projects.

Totonac man in traditional dress

The Totonacs are an ancient people group who co-existed alongside the Mayans and the Aztecs.  They have their own language that is not related to other language groups in the area.  They were actually enemies of the Aztecs and joined Hernan Cortés in the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs back in the 1500s.  The Totonacs were incorporated into the Spanish regime, but since they traditionally lived in remote mountainous regions, they have maintained a lot of their traditional customs and culture.  There are roughly 200,000 or more Totonac people in this region with several dialects.  Along with many other indigenous groups in the Americas, they have adopted folk-Catholic religious beliefs while retaining animistic beliefs alongside.  There are very few evangelical churches or believers among the Totonac.

Totonac women in traditional dress



Franco and Barbara, missionaries to the Totonac, have had a successful ministry and now have several believers who are even beginning to teach their own people.  They do work in Spanish with bilingual men, who teach their own people using a New Testament that was translated by Wycliffe years ago.  There is a church building in the town where Franco and Barbara live, but they are seeing that churches could be planted in other towns and that the believers need more discipling.  Franco and Barbara are also getting up in years and are thinking about retiring in a couple of years and they are naturally concerned about continuing the work. 

And that's where we come in...this is exactly what we've been trained for, cross-cultural tribal church planting!  And Miguel's gifts lie in teaching and discipling, as well as in community development.  We are also good language learners and I suspect that we'll be moving beyond working in Spanish to learning and working in the Totonac language eventually.  Miguel has already seen and experienced the work first hand and is well-liked and respected there, not just by Franco and Barbara, but also by the tribal people and El Camino.  Our sending church and we, too, think it's a good 'fit' for us and we're pretty excited about getting there and getting to work! 

L-R: Miguel, Hiram (pastor of El Camino),

Franco (missionary to Totonac in Puebla)

and Jordan (Missions admin. assistant

from our sending church here in AR)

There is so much more I could write about this ministry and the Totonac, but this is getting long, so I'll save it for upcoming posts.  I will write some of our objectives for the next few months, though, things we need to do and accomplish...

1. Join a mission agency...we have it narrowed down to two and are applying to both, waiting for God's direction there...
2. Raise needed prayer and financial support...we already have a pretty good base of support in both areas, but are just working to expand it...
3. Obtain a vehicle, preferably some sort of SUV that can handle mountain roads, but isn't so new or nice as to call a lot of attention to it.
4. We're praying about possibly fitting in a visit to Venezuela this year, but not sure that's going to happen...
5. Spend time in Puebla getting to know El Camino and allowing them to get to know their new missionaries.
6. Find a place to live in the mountains...we will most likely be living in a small town close to Franco and Barbara.

Small town in the mountains

There are still some unknowns and a lot of questions to answer, but we'll get there and God will provide.  The important thing is that we're on the move and have a goal that we're working towards...in a sense it is a dream come true, an answer to something we've prayed about for a very long time! 

So thanks for being excited with us!  And plan on coming to visit us soon!

My First Scrapbook Project

I know, I know...only my first scrapbook project? I've admired scrapbooking for years, but up until now, had never dipped my toes into that vast ocean of craftiness. Interestingly, my first scrapbook project isn't even for myself, it's for our mission's representation department! (Does that mean I can say I'm scrapbooking for Jesus? lol)

I didn't really have a place here in the house where I could work without having to pack everything up each time I worked on the project, so I (literally!) carved some space out for a temporary "office" in my bedroom. It means we can barely open our closet doors, but it works for now. If you look closely, you will notice my "shelving" is made out of cardboard packing materials....

This scrapbook, which highlights our mission's work in Mexico, will not only be used for the representation work, but also as an example for our students in missionary training of a resource they could make to highlight their own ministries...therefore, the style of my album will be more simple and straightforward. I am also trying to use materials that could easily be bought here in Mexico.

A few of my supplies, only the basics, really...notice the handmade

"stamps" (using pieces of styrofoam trays) with a southwest style.
I basically just trace out the design on pieces of styrofoam
with a pen or pencil. The lines need to be fairly deep and
it's important to remember that once the design is
stamped, it will be backwards. Typically, a brayer and ink
is used for styrofoam block printing,
but I am just using regular ink pads in black or brown.

A sampling of pages I've made so far...I will
add pictures (and text) once they are developed.

I'm learning as I go along and having a lot of fun!

Praying for a Friend

This last Sunday night, a Mexican friend of ours from church accidentally hit a lady with his car...unfortunately, the car behind him hit her as well as it was swerving to avoid rear ending Isaac! As is the law in Mexico, Isaac (and the other driver, too, I imagine) is now in jail waiting for the whole thing to get sorted out. He might possibly even be moved to a maximum security prison! Sounds a bit harsh, but that's the way it is...

The latest news is actually in his favor, though, because it turns out that 1) the accident victim was drunk, 2) at the time of the accident, she had suddenly run out into the street during an argument, and 3) the accident victim did not die and is not in critical condition.

All of this a very good reminder to be so very careful while driving here in Mexico! Like Miguel said, if we see him driving slowly, we should not be annoyed, it's for our own good!

Mystery Object

Miguel came home today with a gift from some friends...it was a mystery object to me at first. I should have known what it was, but I just couldn't put two and two together...let's see if you are more with it than I am today! lol

What Happened to the Neighborhood?

One day last week, we woke up to no Internet connection. And of course, everything I wanted to do was on the Internet! Like checking email, reading the news, finding a recipe, etc...after a couple of hours, we realized the problem was with the phone lines when we tried to make a call only to hear a horrible noise coming over the lines! So Miguel went to the office and called the phone company. Later in the afternoon, the technicians came and got to work...turned out that someone had cut the phone lines across the corner from our house! Huge chunk missing! This seems to be a common ocurrence here and the stolen lines are sold for the metal? Not sure...but anyway, it took a couple of hours and a few technicians to get our service back.

Another strange thing that happened last week was a car that mysteriously appeared outside our gate. We noticed it because it was parked in such a position as to be in the way when we parked the van outside...at first we thought it belonged to one of the guys that work next door at the carpentry shop. They don't usually leave their vehicles out on the street overnight, however, so we quickly realized that it didn't belong to them. Miguel called the police, who assured him that they would come by to check it out. A couple of days later, when the police still hadn't checked it out, one of the guys that work next door found a telephone bill in the car and was able to contact the owner of the car. He came that same day to get his car...he said that it had been stolen, along with some money that he'd had in a small case inside. Since the thieves were able to get some easy money, they probably decided just to ditch the car instead of selling it or breaking it up for parts. What bothers me is that they left it right outside our house!

Another friend mentioned that her mother's car was stolen and found in this neighborhood as well. Good reminders to keep our eyes open and the gates locked! And continue to trust God for our safety...

Influenza

I'm sure that many of you have heard on the news about the influenza outbreak here in Mexico that is spreading to other countries as well. News stories are conflicting and we're getting a lot of different information from different sources. It's hard to know what is sensationalism and what is truth. Regardless of that, however, whatever this flu seems pretty serious and is scaring a lot of people. Up until today, only Mexico City and a few other places were affected by school closings, etc. but today the government shut down schools and all public gatherings across the country. This means that our mission school will also be closed for two weeks and we have canceled all mission meetings. Our church has canceled all mid-week meetings and may cancel their services on Sunday as well, depending on the situation at that time.

As you can imagine, the kids are excited to get two weeks of "vacation" even though they will continue to do their work here at home. I don't think that they can really fathom the seriousness of the situation and like all good MKs, just think a change from the ordinary is loads of fun! :)

So we appreciate your prayers as we face this new situation on top of the increased organized crime and drug violence here...my heart goes out to those who will and are being affected by these things. Many people may just not have the resources to get the medical care that they need if they get sick...Mexico as a country will definitely suffer in many ways by these recent events.

Construction Project

It's been exciting to see our construction project move along this week! The Bible Institute (that own this property) is investing in a picnic area for the students. There really is no common area, such as a lounge, for the singles to mix, so this will hopefully meet that need. They do love to hang out together! :) First of all, the ground was leveled and a load of gravel dumped on a plastic sheet.

While the gravel was being spread out, the patio bricks arrived.

Then the guys began leveling the gravel and placing the bricks. While I was taking the pictures, I noticed a spider on the

wall right next to me.

He was pretty big for a regular spider!

He (she?) seems to live in that hole.

It was neat to see the piles of bricks getting smaller

as the patio area grew larger.

Then more gravel was dumped on top of the bricks

and swept around to fill in the cracks.

This morning, Miguel and the guys went out north of town

to bring back a load of rocks for the grill...

...which hopefully will turn out something

like this one...except they'd like the side table

extend out a bit further.

Then Miguel and Zack put together the two picnic

tables...still some work to do, but it's coming along!

This will be such a blessing to have now that

the warmer weather is coming...

I think it would be really awesome if we could also

build a "ramada" ("rama" = branch) over this area and

plant vines or something for shade.

Not to mention the hanging of the hammocks...

Spring!

A few cloudy days...

Garden fever!

New growth (nopal cactus)

Flowers!

...and more flowers!

Baseball