The joy of toys

These girls are some of my favorite! They were soooooo appreciative for their gifts. They kept saying, "Please tell the people in the United States thank you for our toys, we love them!!" I love my job!!

44 people in our home!

We had our Christmas party tonight. It was so wonderful! I have never seen so many laughs and smiles and happiness! We had one family of 6 come for the first time, and we had another man come for the first time as well. We played games and sang songs, we listened to a short story from the Bible and Alex acted it out.

Then we got to do the fun part..... give out presents. It really was something awesome to see! If you have ever made up shoeboxes at Christmas time and wondered what it is like when the children open their presents, I am here to tell you, it is AWESOME!! I have never seen so many children smile and laugh and genuinely be thankful for what they have been given! If I died today, I would count myself as being one of the luckiest people on earth. I have seen a little piece of heaven today! Thank you Katie, Adele, Paula and Ed for making it possible for these children to receive these presents! It really was wonderful! This picture above is about half of the kids who received gifts. God bless you all!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We have had a very busy past few days. Greg's mom and our nephew, Clay are here visiting. We celebrated our Christmas with them. Christmas Eve was celebrated with 2 different families from our village. We all went to a church in another town and heard a message from Greg. We all enjoyed it! Afterward we all went out for a very festive dinner of tacos on the side of the road! ;o)

As you can see from the picture of Annie and her doll house, Santa did come and the kids said he did really good picking out presents this year. He was a little more creative this year. The doll house that he made was a true hit, with all 3 of them! ;o) We are having a wonderful time with Grandma and Clay and we are all excited about our party tomorrow night. ( Monday) We will play games tell the story of Jesus' birth, eat cake and they will all receive their shoeboxes filled with gifts. We are soooo excited about giving these gifts out. I will do my best to upload some pictures of this tomorrow. I am sorry I have been slack about writing on here, I have just been a little occupied with other things. I will do better! Love you all! Please pray that all goes well with our party and that we have enough gifts for all of the kids who come. Love you! Missy

Christmas for a child in Mexico

This is a picture of a Purepecha child as she helps her mom sell something like moss.

They use this with their nativity scenes. She was precious!

Annie and her new doll house

Santa was good to Annie!

Strange Christmas Day!

Hi all! I do hope you all had a fabulous Christmas Day! It was a great day for us although a little strange. It seemed weird to know that everyone was celebrating today and we even though we celebrated, it was without Santa or any presents. We are looking forward to another Christmas Eve tomorrow night and then another Christmas morning on Saturday.
Please pray for my mother-in-law and nephew as they travel to see us tomorrow. We are looking forward to a very fun-filled week!

Please also pray for our Monday night Christmas party. We will be giving out 35 shoeboxes filled with wonderful presents for all of the kids. We will try and post a picture of that as I know it will be a lot of fun! The kids have NO idea that they will receive presents! We were talking to one of the boys' friends, who is actually pretty well off, for here and we asked him if he ever gets presents at Christmas. He said, " NO, but last year I got $5.00 from the Wisemen." They don't do Santa here, they have the 3 Wisemen who come in January and bring them gifts. I actually think this is a better tradition, but.... I still like Santa! Anyway, he then said, he was pretty sure it was his parents and if they don't have money then he doesn't get anything. How sad is that? So, we are all looking forward to the kids getting fun gifts!

I hope you all had a very blessed day! Love you, Missy

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone! I love this day! Christmas eve was always one of my favorite days as a child. Maybe even better than Christmas day! As an adult and as a missionary our traditions have changed quite a bit. We were looking forward to going to a church tonight and "blending in." However, when Greg told the pastor we would be coming, Greg became the guest speaker. Poor guy, NEVER gets to hear a sermon, he always has to give it. Anyway, we are going to make the most of it and we look forward to taking some of our friends with us tonight.

My mother-in-law and nephew will be coming on Friday and we cannot wait for this! Because of the arrival of family, Santa has delayed his visit to San Lorenzo until Saturday morning. So our "true" Christmas eve won't be until Friday night. That is definitely one of the perks of living in another country! We can plan Christmas day to fit our schedule. (Christmas day here in the village, is really just another day) Annie is beside herself with excitement and cannot wait to see what Santa is going to bring her. This is the first year she has really caught on to the idea of Christmas. Of course I am not sure who she wants to see more, Santa or Grandma! I think Grandma!

I just want you all to know that we wish each of you the very Merriest Christmas!! You are all so precious to us and we feel truly blessed that we have people like you following our ministry, praying for our friends, praying for our family, giving financially and simply being our friends! We would like to thank the International Mission Board for the way they support us. Without the givings of the Southern Baptist Churches, without the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program, we wouldn't have all of the blessings we have. We wouldn't have good insurance, a good car, a nice home, toys under the tree, and many other wonderful blessings. They really do take care of us and this inables us to be able to reach our people group without having to worry about our next paycheck! So if you are a part of any of these givings, you are a part of keeping us on the field, and for that, we will forever be grateful! Thank you all for making this one of the very best Christmases we have ever had! We pray you will find yourselves equally blessed throughout this year and into next! God bless you all!

Long day!

Hello everyone! We started the day off at the funeral of "grandma." We arrived a little late, but it turned out to be for the best. We missed all of the strange rituals they do and got to pray with Barbara at the grave. Barbara was doing well and holding up incredibly considering she didn't sleep all night long. Her sisters ( she is one of 9 and has 1 brother) were all criticizing her and trying to provoke a fight. They are all mad at her because she has forgiven her uncle and they think that is wrong.
Her uncle was soooo sad. He was all alone. No one wanted to even get near him. Greg walked with him for almost a mile, just the two of them. They talked about God and His forgiveness and David (the uncle) told Greg he wanted to start coming to our meetings. He said he used to hang out with some "brothers" (meaning Christians) and he thought he would like to do that again. Please pray for him. He has a long road ahead of him. He has been a very strong alcoholic and for him to leave this behind will take a miracle! The custom here is to mourn the death of a loved one for 7 days. So... he will be faced with drinking for at least the next 7 days.

We had our meeting tonight and bless Barbara's heart, after not sleeping all last night and all day today, she still came tonight to tell everyone how God was working and to ask for prayer for her uncle. She is SO precious! I was so proud of her today, she thought of how God would view every one of her actions! I am sure He was proud of her too!
We had a great Christmas celebration tonight and our numbers continue to grow. God is moving! Please continue to pray for us! We love you!

Please Pray!

Barbara's grandma died yesterday. ( the one who had been beat by her son) The funeral is in a few minutes. Please pray there are no problems! There is a lot of hate toward the son because he ultimately caused her death. He has been very repentant, but we fear their will be a lot of problems. Please pray for Barbara, she feels Satan is attacking her from every corner. (she was the one who was recently baptized) More later!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I am sorry I haven't posted anything for a few days. I have been a little under the weather and really haven't had much to tell. But... I am doing much better and thought I should give all of you faithful readers, something to read! ;o)
Monday night went well. We are still praying for our friend and recovering alcoholic, Salvador. He has stopped coming to our meetings. His wife, Angelica said that he is finding it too hard to leave all of the customs of their people behind. At this time of year there are MANY customs that are against the Bible's teachings. Please pray for this family as they are struggling in many ways.
On the bright side, we are finding that many of our new believers have committed to leave behind these customs. This is an extremely hard thing for them to do and there is a lot of pressure from their family and friends to participate in these rituals. Please pray that God would bless them for leaving behind these different customs to follow Him.
We are trying to offer them other ways to celebrate during this holiday season. So we will be having a special night on December 29th in honor of the birth of Jesus.We are very excited about being able to give each one of the children who have been coming on Monday night, a shoebox filled with gifts. We have about 35 shoeboxes that we will distribute during this celebration! That is one of the perks of living in another country, we don't have to end the celebration on the 25. Please pray that we have enough shoeboxes for everyone and that they will see this as a celebration of the birth of Christ and not just another ritual. We thank you for your prayers! God bless all of you!

Barbara being baptized

Baptism went great!

Hi everyone,

We had a great day yesterday! The baptism went great! It was a little different since the only place we could find to do it was about an hour and a half away. There are places here, but it is sooo cold that it would have been torture! So, we went on a day trip and had a blast. Barbara and Icho shared their hearts with us throughout the day and Icho mentioned that he too felt like he should be baptized but just wasn't ready. We are so thankful to all of you for your continued prayer support! It means the world to us! I will keep trying to upload a picture of the wonderful event!

If you are sending Christmas cards and are looking for our address somewhere, you won't find it. We have no mailing address. However, if you are interested in sending one you can send them to my mother-in-law's address and she can bring them to us when she comes in a few weeks. Just email me for the address and I will send it to you. Thanks again for your prayers! Missy and family

Baptism

Well, just like most things in our life, our plans for the baptism have been changed. Due to a conflict in schedules we had to change the day for the baptism. So... we are heading out tomorrow, Wednesday at 9 am for Barbara's baptism. Please pray everything goes well and we all have a great day. I will do my best to post some photos tomorrow night. Thanks for lifting us up! Missy

Great night!

Hi everyone,
I only have a second to write, but I wanted you all to have an update on our night last night. We are now averaging about 30-35 people each week. Last night we had three new visitors that we have been praying about. Our friends have been inviting many of their friends and family and some are beginning to come! That is a big PRAISE!!

Last night was the first night that we had about an hour where they all shared and talked about one verse in the Bible. There is one man, Prisiliano that has started to take over the role of leader. He is sharing scriptures and praying and even answering the door. God is truly answering our prayers about this because this man needs to be ready to take over in about 6 months. (at which time we will return to the States for 10 months) Please pray that God will equip Prisiliano with every skill needed to become a pastor. We have started our first outreach group! How great is that? Greg, Prisiliano and his wife Petra will be visiting people this week. They will be visiting friends or family members of our group who have either shown interest in coming or are sick and need prayer. We are very excited about this new addition to our Monday night meetings.

Thursday we will have a break from school. In the States the boys had snow days sometimes and here, well... we have baptism days! ;o) Thursday we will take Barbara, her husband, Icho and their 3 children to a town about an hour and a half away, (where it is still hot) where she will be baptized. We are so excited about this and can't wait to see what God is going to do with Barbara! Hope you all have a great day today!

Annie and Mommy

high speed internet and more pics, couldn't resist!

She really is the best present! Well, my 2 boys too, but that shirt would look stupid on them! :o)

2 more pictures

This is Annie at lunch and Alberto looking at us. That is all for now.:o) Thank you all for your prayers! ~Missy~

more pics

This at the bottom is picture is of Annie and her physical therapist, Jenny. She loves Jenny. The one above that one is of Megan who is also a physical therapist. They love Annie and they were the only thing Annie looked forward to all day. She colored them each a picture and was happy when she finally got to give the pictures to them. Last night Annie prayed at dinner, she said, " Dear God, thank you for Jenny, please help her not get tired when she helps all the kids." I was crying before dinner ever started. ;o}

I never told you where the boys were all day. Thankfully they stayed with some other missionaries here in Guadalajara and had a blast! They played all day, ate Krispy Kreme doughnuts and generally were spoiled all day. This is a picture of them with the other missionary kids! (Adrian, Bowden, and Landry)

Pictures of kids at the hospital

I couldn't take too many pictures because many of these people are very protective of their children, for good reason. I asked permission from a few people and took these few pictures of Annie with her friend, Alberto. He was so precious. He had a crush on Annie and said she had eyes like the heavens. He said, " I didn't have any luck, I just got plain old brown eyes." He helped Annie paint a craft. The other picture is of a little girl who had been burnt, but fortunately, like Annie nothing burnt her precious face. Then the last one is of Annie watching a puppet show with some other kids. As you can see, she definitely stands out in the crowd!

Long Day!

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 am. We took a number, #132 and waited. 8 hours later we were seen. 15 minutes later we were leaving. Needless to say Annie, Greg and I were very tired of being at the hospital. Although it was a long day, it was worth it. The Dr. said she looked great and he thought that in 3-6 months her scar which is still very red would turn skin color. She doesn't have to wear her pressure garments anymore, which is huge! I haven't mentioned her warts, but the way the dermotologist told us to take them off was causing way too much pain. This Dr. told us to use a razor and shave a little off each day and then wrap it in banana peel, so we will see if it works. ;o}

I have lots of pictures to upload and will do that tomorrow. Annie made lots of friends at the hospital and we heard so many heart breaking stories. We saw one little boy without any face. He had a little bit of a mouth, but that was it. Literally no face. Greg and I would just sit there looking at all of these 149 children all around us and couldn't stop thanking God that Annie wasn't hurt worse! We returned home and I had received the following email, prayer request from our friends in Africa. We heard many stories just like this one! Please pray for this family!

Friday morning a family of seven was brought into the hospital with severe burns. They were storing fuel in their home and it exploded when preparing to cook. The have burns anywhere from 15% to 55% of their bodies. Please pray for this family. It is very difficult to treat these types of wounds especially without water and electricity. The next few days will be critical in their chances of survival. Pray for healing and pray for wisdom for the staff as they treat him.

In His hands, The Pirkles

Thank you all for your prayers! Missy

82 and washing clothes

This is our neighbor, Aldolfo, who is around 82 years old. Now how many men do you know wash their own clothes? How many do you know wash them by hand? Poor thing washes his clothes by hand in freezing water every day! He is so precious! Pray for him as he has some health problems that are causing him so pain. Okay, that is all for now, I will try and upload some more tomorrow. ~Missy~

Couldn't resist!

Now, how many of you would wash your clothes with the water that the rooster was taking a bath in? Okay, I couldn't resist adding this one too!

Santa says, " JO JO JO!"

I tried to take a better picture of this but the Wal-mart COPS stopped me. So this will have to do. I thought this sign was funny. It says "Please don't touch me! JO JO JO" The Jo Jo Jo is what seems funny because it translates Ho Ho Ho but, when you read it, it still looks like he is saying Jo Jo Jo! What was even better is that the cops were more concerned about me taking the picture than they were about my kids touching the Santa!

Picture of "Grandma"

I am here at our hotel where we have high-speed internet. So I thought I would upload some photos. This is a picture of Grandma. Barbara and I brought her some food and it was like giving food to a starved animal. She ate and drank as if she had never eaten before. Continue to pray for her as she is very unhealthy.

Our 3 Christmas Angels

Annie's favorite Christmas ornament for the moment!

Alex ready to eat his Cap'n Crunch!

Captain Crunch

Hi everyone,



I wanted you all to know that I sent out our monthly newsletter today and if you didn't receive one and would like to, please email me and let me know and I will add you to our list. We have had a good few days. We go shopping one day a week and buy groceries. Going to the grocery store is a family affair and we all enjoy it together. We separate and Jerod and Annie always go with Greg and Alex always goes with me. If I ever need to find anything Alex can ALWAYS find it! His eyes are amazing! Anyway, each week we look to see if we can find any new items that have been sent from the States. As we were walking down the cereal isle which is usually pretty sad because they don't have much that we like, Alex comes a runnin' and says," Mama, Mama can you believe it?" He was holding up a box of Captain Crunch. You should have seen the look on his face. It was as if he had found gold! As we were leaving he said, " This has been the best day of my life!" So I am going to buy every box they have, wrap them up and wala, Christmas shopping done! I am trying without any luck to upload a priceless picture of him and his box of Captain Crunch! I will keep trying!

Tomorrow we leave for Guadalajara for Annie's Dr. appointment. Please pray it all goes well. She has started to have bad dreams again. I don't know if it has anything to do with this or not, but, please pray anyway! We should have internet at the hotel so I will give you an update on how WE did. Yes WE! I think I am more anxious than she is. Her appt. is at 8 am on Saturday, so if you think about it, please pray for us! Thank you all! We love you, Missy

God still answers prayer!

Hi! I am so excited right now! Greg just got home from taking cookies to Barbara. I felt bad for her and thought some good ole chocolate cookies might make her feel better.
I have been praying on and off all day for grandma and the whole situation and felt so helpless. But, if I am praying to the creator of the world, why do I feel helpless? The answer is because I am a peon of a person and have very little faith. I mean, I'd like to say I prayed and expected everything to turn out perfectly, but in all actuality I prayed and thought, I HOPE it all works out okay.
Well, Greg got to her house and he said she was literally beaming. He said she went to see her grandma today and was met by her uncle. This is the man that has been beating his mother and wanted her dead. Barbara said she met a new man today. It wasn't the old, mean, hate filled man, it was a kind, sweet, remorseful man. She said she couldn't believe at how he had changed, it truly happened overnight! She said he started crying and said he was going to start attending AA and asked her to forgive him and asked his mom to forgive him too! Barbara explained to him that we had been praying and that she had asked God to change his heart! HA!! Well, who says miracles don't happen anymore? Needless to say, Barbara's faith has just increased a ton! I can't tell you what this does for us! So, thank you for praying and for reading and for caring! It really is working! Love you all so much!! Missy

A different kind of Monday

Helllllooooo everyone. Sometimes I feel sorry for all of you because you are reading my boring old entries! So, I will try and make our life seem more interesting! Last night we had about the same amount of people as usual except we had 6 visitors from other villages. This was a first for us. We have never had believers from other places come and join us, but it was awesome! The meeting lasted longer because they all wanted to talk about different things that are happening around them. The story we heard was about the demon possessed man. They started talking about different people they know who are possessed. Ha, shows you how well I know our people. This was the first time I had ever heard anything like that! The meeting went well and we all learned a lot!

We are seeing our friends really take on the role of followers of Jesus. They are all using Bible stories to encourage their friends or family when they have a problem. Last night Barbara was crying so hard. Her grandma, who I have always just called grandma, is soooo bad off. I don't think I have ever mentioned her on this site, but she can't walk, has no food or water and her son beats her. He wants her dead so he can have her house. The police here won't do anything about it. So, she doesn't know how to help her grandma. It is extremely sad and we want to help but don't know how either. SO, please pray for grandma and Barbara too. After she made the decision to get baptized many things have gone wrong. No money, illness, no medicine, and now this with her grandma. Satan just won't let up! I will try and post a picture of grandma! Thanks for all of your prayers!

Annie goes to the Dr.

Hi guys! We had a great weekend! We went to our first real Mexican fair! It was so fun! It was a lot like a fair in the U.S. but with a lot more people and a lot cheaper! We always laugh at some of the things you see that would never happen in the U.S. because of safety reasons! They had a circus that was fun, but I kept waiting for one of the people to seriously get hurt. They do all of these things like you would see on a flying trapeze, without safety nets or harnesses or anything. I couldn't enjoy it, because I was praying the whole time! I tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out too well. Anyway, we took our whole Monday night group with us and had a lot of fun with them all! It was a good way to get out of town and enjoy some family fun!

Please pray 4 Annie! We leave this Friday to got to Guadalajara to see the Drs. from Galveston. They make several trips here to Mexico since the majority of their patients live here. We have been talking about seeing the Drs. again and she seems okay with it. She starts talking about things that happened and things she remembers seeing. She is more worried about seeing all of the other patients again. She keeps talking about one boy who had his hand burned off and that really scares her. So, I guess if you could pray first that the Drs. would say she is doing very well and second that it doesn't cause old emotions to surface and cause her problems. Thanks so much! Love and hugs! Missy

Get ready to laugh!

Hi! We had a great Thanksgiving and I hope you all did as well. We just heard this story about one of the pastors at a Baptist Church (yes, there are a few) nearby and I had to tell you! One day about 2 weeks ago, this pastor Jacob was eating something and got choked. The custom here is that when you are choking you are supposed to eat a banana and the banana will push the other piece of food on down. (very strange!) Anyway, so immediately Jacob's wife gives him the piece of banana and they see that it did not work. Jacob is now turning blue. They decide to put him in the back of someone's pickup truck and rush him to the nearest clinic. They really didn't know if they had time. So off they went racing down the street. When suddenly out of nowhere another truck is leaving a gas station and runs right into the side of them. This force threw Jacob flying across the back of the truck, slamming his face against the side of the truck, almost breaking his jaw. That is when out comes the banana and the other piece of food flying through the air! He had a swollen jaw, and a banged up truck, but he is fine! So we have now termed that, the Mexican Heimlich! ;o) It could have turned tragic, but God obviously knew that He had to intervene or Jacob wouldn't make it to the hospital! Okay, sorry we were laughing a ton at this story, hope you got at least a little chuckle out of it! Love you all! Missy

Happy Thanksgiving!!

When we first felt called into the mission field, I cried a lot about this decision! I was not one of those who felt called early in life and looked forward to it. It took me about 6-8 months to finally come around and answer God's calling. However, once I did answer that call, that is when I started to think about all of the things I would be giving up. One of which was holidays with family.

Just like everything else, God had a plan. He wanted to help me through the holidays, and He has done so by providing me with a lot of American friends here in Mexico. Now generally when you see a stranger in the store you don't just walk up to them and start a conversation. However, when you are out of the country, if you see an American it is very hard not to start up a conversation. So, each year God has brought someone new into our path and our American friend bank has increased! Today we will celebrate Thanksgiving with 3 other American families and we will eat an enormous amount of food. If I told you just how much food, you would probably all laugh out loud. Okay, I can't resist. Here is the menu. ( It really is funny!)

Turkey
stuffing
a different recipe of stuffing
gravy
cranberry salad
carnberry sauce out of a can
rolls/butter
sweet potato casserole
mased potatoes and gravy
green bean casserole
regular green salad
corn
broccoli salad
broccoli/ rice casserole
pumpkin pie
pecan pie
chocolate pie
cherry pie
apple pie ( yes that means more than one pie per family)
Coke
Diet Coke
Sweet tea

for a few hours later
white bread
chips
tostitos
Mexican layered dip
cookies

We all have to have one or two different things and that adds up.;o) That is just for 8 adults 2 teenagers and 4 children. ( one is still on a bottle)
I really don't think we will go hungry, do you? It is funny, though right? So, when I say God takes care of even the little details, He really does! If you live out of the country, it is sometimes impossible to find certain ingredients to make certain things. For example there are no ready made pie crusts, french fried onions, sweet potatoes,etc... We just substitute for other things and it all seems to taste the same. That is a miracle in itself! I have seen cranberry sauce in a can one time since living here and I still had one can for this Thanksgiving. I knew that would not be enough, so I prayed. I said, "Lord, you know how much we love cranberry sauce, and I know this is a stupid request when there are more important things to deal with. If you think about it, could you bless us with cranberry sauce?" I went to the store and couldn't find any. The next week I went back and in a store that never has cranberry sauce, there were about 50 cans! YAY!! God really does care about even the little details in our lives! For that......I am thankful!

I am also thankful for all of you! Without your sweet comments and prayers, living out here in a village could seem kinda lonely. However, I know all of you are out there and that really blesses my/our soul. I am praying today that God will bless each one of you and all of your family and you will really have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving Day!!! Love to you all! Missy

God is Goooood!

Here is the email answer to prayer I received today!


Dearest Prayer Warriors,
]
I Just talked to Vance and Susan. Thank You Lord..God is so good. All nine trunks arrived safely today. They went through five of them but did not remove anything. Vance has already opened all luggage and all the 21,500 dollars was still there. They have already purchased seed corn to distribute to pastors of bush churches so they can give it to the church members to plant. They have also found a source to purchase bags of mealee to buy and give to the pastor and members. Mealee is what they make sodsa with. This is what they eat for every meal if they have the mealee to make it. Many do not. Vance and Susan said to thank you all for your faithfulness in lifting them up to our Father. Please continue to pray for them as the conditions there are desperate. Please pray that they will be able to accomplish all that God wants them to do in the five weeks they will be there. I will keep you updated if and when I hear from them again. With Love Because of Jesus, Cindy (Susan's Mom)

So, now you can pray for those precious souls in Africa as well as our precious ones here! Love you! Missy

Annie loves Polly Pockets!

Yay, finally a photo uploaded! I will try more later!

A story from our friends

Hi everyone,
Our friends, the Pirkles were missionaries in Africa for 3 years. Vance was my Dr. and delivered Annie. They have been back in the States for a year and have felt called back to their hospital in Zimbabwe for a little more than a month. They sent out this message right before they left on Sunday.


November 23, 2008

Dear Friends and Family,
Just wanted to share an amazing story and a specific request before we head to the airport in about an hour.

The Story:
The food at Sanyati Baptist Hospital has run out and people are literally beginning to starve. Dr. Mark Byler orders 12 tons of corn at a cost of $6,000 plus transportation with no money on hand and no idea of where the money will come from. 10,000 miles away, God burdens the hearts of the people at Bethel Baptist Church to not only meet this need, but give so that seed corn could be purchased for local farmers who currently have no corn to plant. Also, we will be able to start a large garden and buy some cattle to sustain the hospital into the future. The final total was $21,500! Vance’s brother and his family delivered this to us yesterday. We truly serve an amazing God!

The Request:
We have packed fourteen pieces of luggage with this money as well as medicines and medical supplies hidden throughout. We will be landing in Harare, Zimbabwe between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. (your time) on Monday afternoon. Any or all of these things could be confiscated by customs agents if discovered. Please pray that we will be able to move through customs without any problems and get these things to the people who desperately need them.

Thanks for partnering with us through prayer!Vance, Susan, Elizabeth, Rebekah, Sarah, Caleb, and Phillip Pirkle

I received this update today.

Dear Friends and Family;

Just recieved email from Susan. They arrived safely in Harare but nine pieces of their luggage did not make it. Another plane is due in tomorrow. (which was early this morning, I think) Please pray that the rest of the luggage will arrive safely then, with all the contents. Most importantly the money and medical supplies. Thank you for your prayers, love and care for our family.. With Love because of Jesus Susan's Mom(Cindy)

Please pray that the other 9 suitcases arrive with all of their money and medical supplies! Thank you!

Just a quick update on last night! Annie had a great birthday, although she is a little under the weather and didn't have much energy. Our meeting went great and we had 33 people. We had one new visitor and our first offering collected just about $10.00! We felt very good about that considering that is how much one of our friends makes in a week! PTL!! Plus, against our wishes, Annie received a gift from almost every family. (They were all around a dollar each, but that is huge for them!) I will try and upload pictures, but I have tried many times a day for the past week and have had no luck! I will try again! Love, Missy

Happy Birthday ANNIE!

Just had to let you all know that my little girl is turning 5 years old today! It is just too hard to believe! If you want to say something to her, please leave a comment and I will read them all to her! Love you all!

Thanks for praying!

We went to the Dr. yesterday and she said that what Annie had were a bunch of planters warts on her hand. Which is what I thought. She said it would be way to painful for her to have them burned/frozen off. She gave us a get that we have to put on them every night for 2 weeks. This gel slowy burns them off. We are hoping/praying that this works because if not, she will have to have them burned/frozen off. Unfortunately, I have the same thing on my hand and will probably have to have mine frozen off. So, now you can pray for both of us! ;o}

Thank you all for praying for Barbara and Cesilia. We talked over the baptism issue with Barbara's husband, Icho yesterday. He said he would support her in this decision. This was a huge answer to prayer! I will update you when this is going to happen. (hopefully soon)

Cesilia and her girls are all doing much better and they are going to church with us in another village tomorrow. This will be a good get away for them and a great way to receive the Word in Purepecha. Love you all! Missy

Pray for Annie

Hi everyone, this is a picture of Annie and another mk named, Amber. I am asking for prayer for Annie today as she will be going to the doctor. Before she was burned, she had a tiny wart on her finger. I guess that when she was burned this wart opened up a little and has now spread, covering one finger and is now spreading to another finger. We have tried everything the pediatrician recommended so today we are going to a dermatologist and they may burn it off today. Now, if she hears the word, burn, you know what she will be thinking. Please pray that they can remove these warts without any pain and that Annie will not be traumatized! Thanks for praying for her! love to all! Missy

A VERY long day!

Have you ever had one of those days where you counted down the hours until it was over? Well.... today was that day for me. The first part of the day went well and then I had to go to the funeral of my friend Cesilia's husband. Barbara, ( my other friend) went with me and all I could think about was how much I wanted to acurately describe the things that happened. So, if you are up for a short story, read on, if not, close this page out!

Okay, so have you ever been the only white person in a group of oh, say 1000? Well, let me tell you it is an interesting feeling. I did not go to the mass at the church, I joined them afterward when they carry the casket to the cemetary. It is about a 1/2 mile walk. Talk about some burning muscles. So, here we all are walking the 1/2 mile on a dusty dirt road and all I could think about was how Jesus had to walk a long dusty dirt road as well. I hadn't seen my friends yet, but I was praying for them with my whole heart on this walk to the cemetary. Once we arrived at the cemetary, I spotted Cesilia and Lupita sitting on a tombstone quite some distance from where the casket was. I walked up and hugged them and that is when it all started.

It was as if a wall of emotion fell away and poor, little , 13 year old, Lupita fell into my arms and WHALED! She cried and cried and said many things about her grandparents that she probably shouldn't have said, and at the time I had no idea why she was saying these things. I later found out that her grandparents, her dad's parents had not let any of Cesilia's family get near the casket. As if they were protecting him from them. I just sat there and tried to hug them and pray quietly with them while the rest of the 1,000 people were singing sad songs around the casket. I noticed they all had bottles of rubbing alcohol and couldn't figure out why. They were rubbing it on their skin. ( very strange) Anyway, Lupita stands up and asks me to go and say good-bye with her. I am thinking, "Oh great, now I have to get up in front of the 1,000 people." However, I went and as soon as they saw her coming, they all lifted the casket and carried it to the grave. (it was under a little shelter for a few minutes) So Lupita and Cesilia tried to push their way through the crowd so that they could reach the casket. That is when I thought I was going to lose it with these people. The family of Juan made a wall about 5 people deep all around the grave so that they couldn't see anything. They never got to even touch the casket. Then before you knew it they had lowered the casket into the ground and more whaling started. Some women came and took Lupita from me and escorted her out of the cemetary as she continued to WHALE!!! I was helping Cesilia when I see Lupita go completely limp. Hmmm.... now I know what all those bottles of alcohol are for. So we carried her over to the side of the road and I started slapping her. Okay, get this picture in your head, the only white women is now slapping the poor 13 year old who just lost her father. Really good picture huh? God has to laugh at some of the predicaments I get myself into! Anyway, they begin to throw alcohol at her face and on her clothes and they were putting their arms that had been soaked in alcohol under her nose now. She finally comes around and starting screaming at the top of her lungs that she was not going to stop crying, and no one loved her mom, and why were they all telling her it would be okay? They said something that I didn't understand and she got up and started walking down the street with the rest of them.

As we followed the thousands of people down the street, I asked Cesila where we were going. She said, " Well, all of them are going to the house that used to be mine and are going to eat, but we are not allowed to go." Mama Missy kicked in and said, "Well, we will just go to my house." So WE did. I thought WE was Lupita, Annie and Cesilia. NOPE.....about 30 people entered my house and that is when God showed up! Many of the people from our Monday night meeting came and they all started to pray. We prayed and they gave Godly counsel and I fixed popcorn (the only thing I had) and after about an hour and a half, they all left.

I asked Cesilia what she wanted to do, and she said, "I guess I will go home." "Do you have anything to eat?" " Not really." Then I got really sad and realized she hadn't worked this week and had no money for food. So we went to the meat market, bought some food and they returned to their home with smiles on their faces. This poor woman has a very tough life and I am not asking, but begging you to please pray that God will bless her in ways we can't even imagine!

Sorry it was so long, but I had to share this with you. I asked for prayer for Barbara too, and we never got to meet with them today, we are going to try again tomorrow. Until then!

Pray for Cesilia and Barbara

Hi everyone, today is the day. Cesilia's husband, Juan (or rather his body) arrived yesterday. They went to the visitation and didn't have any problems, that was a huge answer to prayer! Today is that actual funeral at around 5:oo pm EST. Please pray that all will go well and the in-laws will not cause a scene. Pray also for Cesilia's daughters Annie and Lupita, today is sure to be hard on them as they say goodbye to the father they will never know. I will post an update tonight letting you all know how it went.

Pray for Barbara too. Barbara is my friend who wants to be baptized but is scared to tell her husband. We have plans to go over to her home this morning ( kids will have to do school work alone, another prayer request) and explain to her husband the decision she has made. She has asked us to do this with her so he will have a better understanding of her decision. Please pray that he would be accepting of her decision and that this would not cause any marital problems! Thank you!

Annie

Please keep praying for Annie. She really is doing great however, she is complaining more often of pain. She still has a part on her leg that is 3 1/2 inches long and and inch wide and another that is 2 inches long and 1/2 an inch wide. That probably doesn't sound that bad, and in comparison to what she had, it isn't, however it still causes her problems. So, I am asking you to continue to pray for her. We will be seeing the Dr. again on December 7th. We are hoping they will say that this part will eventually go away. Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

Jerod's Class

If you look really hard you can see part of Jerod sitting at a table at the front of the line. He has really impressed us with his ability to teach children. He has come up with a system of letting them dance for the first 5 minutes to get their energy out. Which has been a problem some days. He has also come up with prizes if they can recite a Bible verse or if they behave while he is sharing the story for that night. So, this is a picture of him giving out prizes for reciting the Bible verse for the night. All of this sounds really great, but remember he is doing this in Spanish! He does a really great job, last night he had 14 kids in his class! ;o)

We had 31!

Hi all, okay so it wasn't 37 like last week, but we did have 31! That was exciting. What is neat is that each week we have someone new come. Last night we had 2 newcomers. One of them is a lady who we have been praying for since we arrived here. She has always been one of those people I had to pray for often because she challenges my niceness. ;o) If you know what I mean?!?! So, last night she came, sat and listened to the whole story. She was incredibly nice to everyone, (answer to prayer) and even said she would come back next week. She is 82 and very set in her ways, so we are praying God will move in her life. Please pray that with us!

We actually felt like last night was a turning point night for our group. They opened up to eachother, shared many requests in Purepecha, (some were even crying) and even talked about giving an offering each week. That was a shock to Greg and I since they aren't real giving people. (plus it was ALL their idea) They all agreed that next week they would start that action. So, we are well on our way to being a true church! PTL! I will try and upload more photos today. Hope you all have a great Tuesday! Love you!

It's a Monday!

Please pray for us today and into the night as we will have our time of fellowship again tonight. After having 37 people (as pictured above) show up last week, it makes us hope for that to happen again tonight. It could have been a one time experience but I am asking you all to pray that tonight we will experience another great night! I will let you know tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for Cesilia and her girls. They are all hearing many mean things said about them. Things that just aren't true. It might get worse before it gets better. Pray that we will have wisdom to know how or what we should do to help her situation. Thanks!

pic of the boys

Soccer fun!

Today Greg took the boys and two of our friends to a soccer game in a city about 2 hours away. They had a great time enjoying the game and the culture. There is nothing like going to a soccer game in another country. Even though the Monarcas lost, they all had a great time. Annie and I stayed behind, watched Barbie movies and played with Barbies and Polly Pockets most of the day. We had a lot of fun too! I tried to upload a picture of the boys and our friends tailgating before the game but so far, no luck. :o( I will keep trying!

A game of Jenga

This is a picture of Cesilia and her 2 girls. We invited them over for lunch today. She has had a rough week with a lot of criticism being given to her. I guess the culture here is that when someone dies they always have to blame someone or something. In this case since her husband left her 7 years ago they are blaming her for his death. It is her fault that he was an alcoholic, it is her fault that he left for the States and ultimately it is her fault he died. This always bothers me when they try to find someone or something to blame. So, she came over to our home to try and have some fun. After we ate, we played Jenga. Have you ever played the game Jenga with someone for the first time? The game itself is fun, but the expressions on their faces were priceless! They laughed and played and just had a great time. Her daughter's name is Annie too and the 2 Annies had a great time playing together. Of course they were both COVERED in dirt after they were done playing, but they had a great time!

Cesilia's in-laws are playing dirty with Cesilia and won't tell her when the body is going to arrive and said they would beat her up if she came to see his body. It is a very big mess and I am looking forward to all of it being over! I believe Cesilia is too. If you think about it, please keep her in your prayers. She is so sweet and just wants everyone to see Jesus in her. However, these are the type of people that bring out the worst in someone. After calling the funeral home we now know that the body is supposed to arrive on Wednesday. So please pray until at least Friday. We believe they will actually bury him on Thursday. When they were leaving they seemed much happier and we all knew that God would take care of every little detail. Okay, that is all for now! I am going to try and add more pics since it seems to be working now!

Update :o)

Okay, I am going to try to add my pictures again today. I have tried everyday this week multiple times and still have no pics. Maybe today! I just wanted to give you a quick update, I woke up this morning and sure enough the 2x4 mark is still there! ;o)

Tonight we went to one of the small groups that are meeting in a nearby village. Whenever we go they always treat us like royalty. So it didn't surprise me when they pull out a special chair as soon as I walked in. They had about 5 rows of 2x4s laid across some bricks which made pews. So, I came in and sat down on the 2x4 pew with Annie on my lap and J and A beside me. Greg always sits in a different spot because he is always expected to preach. (of course his seat was comfy!)The women all looked at me and said, " Why don't you sit there in the chair?" I simply said, that seat is special and I am not, so it would be better to save it for someone who needs the chair more than I do." (If I had come in and sat down in the chair all I would have heard in my head would have been my mother saying, "How rude!")They just laughed and gave it to an elderly lady, which made me feel better. After sitting on the 2x4 for over an hour with Annie on my lap, I was ready to pick sweet little grandma up out of the sit and tell her she could have the bench now! Know what, I wouldn't have cared if my mom thought that was rude or not, my bottom was NOT happy! These are the times when I think I hope I am earning some really cool jewels in my crown in heaven! ;o) That is probably a really non-missionary comment!

Anyway, as Greg started to tell a parable the village announcements started. (they announce that there is fresh bread being sold or tacos for sale or whatever is going on that needs to be annouced)That is when I would do anything to have my video camera. He was telling the story in a very loud voice for him, and the announcements got louder. When I say announcements, imagine your preacher with Ty Pennington from Extreme Home Makeover yelling through his megaphone right beside your preacher. That is how the "announcements" sound. So it is all I can do not to fall off of my comfy 2x4 from laughter. The louder the announcements got, the louder he got. Then all of a sudden they would stop and my soft spoken husband is now screaming the story. It really makes for a great scene. It is one of those moments when you think to yourself, if my friends could see me now! So, since you couldn't be there, I had to let you know just how funny it was. However, it is probably one of those, "You had to be there" moments and you are all shaking your heads thinking, hmmm.... I better check the laundry, because this is a waste of my time! So, go check your laundry and I will try and think of something really great to share with you tomorrow! Love to you all!

God really is good!

Hi all, I have just returned from the hospital where I had taken my friend, Rosa. She took her husband and her mom with her and they all spoke with the Dr. about her situation. We were all relieved to find out there were no other signs of cancerous cells in other areas. I fully expected them to leave the Dr.'s office and get another opinion. Instead, her mom left his office and said, "We are ignorant. I am glad my daughter has you to look out for her." They then said they wanted her to have the surgery today and unlike the U.S. she had the surgery and left within the hour. So she is now at home resting and we all feel a lot better about her health! So, thank you for your prayers and please keep praying for Cesilia.

Another day......

Hi everyone! I have been trying to post something for the past few days and our internet just would not allow it. So.... today I will try again! Thank you all for your prayers for our friends. I am still trying to post pictures so you can see who you are praying for. Our friend, Cesilia could have one of the toughest weekends of her life coming up. There is a lot of STRONG dislike between her family and her husband's family. Without prayer there are sure to be lots of problems this weekend. Please pray that there are none!

I am taking our friend, Rosa and ALL of her family to the Dr. today. They are talking about getting a second opinion, (my frustration is high right now!) before she receives the laser surgery. So, who knows what will come of today's visit to the Dr. Please pray it all goes well and I remain patient through this whole process. I am finding out that helping people sometimes is tougher than I thought. :o)

On a good note, one of our friends came over to our home and wanted to talk. Her name is Barbara and I mentioned her a few weeks ago. She is the one I said felt like she didn't want to come to our home anymore. She felt like Satan was attacking her. Anyway, she came over and said she had made a very big decision in her life. She said she knew it would change her life in a big way. I was afraid she was going to say that she was going to stop coming on Monday nights. However, she said, I have been praying and I really feel like God is telling me now is the time for me to be baptized. HUGE answer to prayer! She asked us to pray for her husband, Icho because she wasn't sure if he would be in agreement with this decision. So....please pray for Icho and Barbara! We are very excited about this news!

Okay, I have made up for a few days now. Lots to pray about and we couldn't do this job without all of your prayers! I really appreciate all of you who pray for us and who have interest in this blog! You are all precious to us!! I don't know all of you personally, but I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know there are people in this world who care about what we are doing! So... hugs to you all!

And then there were.....37!

Don't cha just love it when God moves? This past week has been a little rough. Our friend finding out she has pre-cancer, then our other friend's husband dies and there are other little things that Satan loves to throw our way. However, God loves to give us all big hugs during these times. Tonight we got together for our weekly meeting and expected to have our normal 20-25 people show up. But NOOOOOO! God brought to our home 37 people! Can you believe that? We were so excited. Not only because of the number, but because our friends were the ones who did the inviting. So please PRAISE God for us! Cuz He is GOOOOOOOD! :o) Okay, so I am in a good mood! I took a picture and I will try to add it tomorrow. For some reason it just won't upload right now. So.... tomorrow.

Please keep praying for our friend, Cesilia, she is really struggling with many things right now. They plan on bringing her husband's body back here sometime this week. It could get really tough on her! Please pray! Love you all!

Our friend Cesilia

The first person interested in hearing Bible stories was our friend Cesilia. She accepted Christ a little more than a year ago. Since then she has tried so hard to live her life the way God would want her to. Her husband's name is Juan. He left her with 2 small children 7 years ago. (2 girls who were ages 6 and 6 months) He left promising to go to the United States and make money so that she could have a bigger home and nicer things. He sent her money about a month after he left and that was it. He never called or even let her know that he was alive.

Since the day she accepted Jesus, she has been praying that he would come back home and support his family. Each week she would ask us to pray for Juan. She said she had forgiven him for the way he used to beat her. She said he had a problem with alcohol and she had forgiven him for choosing alcohol over them. Cesilia truly believed that one day he would return to them and her life would be perfect.

Last night we decided to have all of our friends over to watch the movie "Facing the Giants." We had a great time and everyone loved the movie. Cesilia said, it really is true that nothing is impossible with God, isn't it? I assured her that yes, it really is true. As I got ready to take Cesilia and her daughters home they asked me to take them by a relative's house for a second. So I agreed to do so and took them. When we arrived at the relative's house they had just gotten word from Juan's cousin (who is in the U.S. too) that Juan had died. We wanted to make sure this was true so I contacted the hospital in Los Angelas. They gave us the bad news that yes, he did die.

Please pray for Cesilia, Lupita and Annie as they are mourning the loss of the husband and father that they had hoped would one day return to them. Please pray that their faith will stay strong and they would find strength in Jesus. Cesilia is so poor and is always struggling to put clothes on her girls and food in their mouths. She sells candy at the elementary school and probably makes about $10 a week. Pray that God will provide for her every need and she will not feel as if He has abandoned her.
Thank you for your prayers!!

J and A in front of the aqueducts

This was taken at the end of the aqueduct, right before the water would have gone underground.

Field trip pictures

This is Jerod, Alex, and Annie in front of the aqueducts in city near us here in Mexico.

Field Trip!

One of the great things about what we do is that we ALL are together ALL the time. Many people would probably see that as a nightmare, but thankfully, we really like being together! Today we took a field trip to a city that is about 2 hours away. We have been studying aqueducts that were used in Rome in the 1800's, and they built one in this city around that time too. So, we took a trip to see how they worked and the structure of them and what not. Next week we will be building our own aqueduct, I will let you know how that goes, it should be fun!
I will try and post some pictures I took today while there.

I was struck by many thoughts today. As we traveled the 2 hour trip, Annie went on her own trip. She went on a trip down memory lane. She was talking about her nurses. She now wants to be a nurse and thinks they are great people. (which I agree with) Ya know after the trauma she experienced I am really kinda shocked she has any good memories, but she does. I still have some sense of panic when we talk about or even think about that time in our lives. However, thankfully Annie has been given a gift from heaven, the gift of good memories! She was reliving every moment as if it were yesterday. She remembered each nurse and the things they said such as, "ouchies." She just kept on and on about different things and then said, " That was so fun." Okay, call me crazy, but if you look at the pictures, she doesn't look like someone who was having fun. ;o} That is when it hit me that when I look back and remember the pain, she remembers all the ways that God was blessing her. He blessed her through GREAT doctors and nurses. They are the people who she remembers and of course we will ALL remember the comfy couch house! That gave us more comfort and safety from the storm we were in than anything else. It is quite fitting that the comfy couch house didn't experience any damage during hurricane Ike! I just had to share this with you! So.... if you are in the middle of a storm in you life, just remember that with God's help, we can see that storm through rose colored glasses and one day that storm will pass and you will only remember how He helped you through it. Our God really is big!!

Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

Picture of Rosa and Missy

This is a picture of Rosa, please pray for her. I am very concerned.

Please pray for Rosa

Hi everyone, I wanted to update you on my visit to the doctor on Tuesday. This visit we actually did get to see the Dr. and he was really great with my friends. Many times our friends are the victims of prejudice. Some Mexicans look at them as dumb or just as lesser people because for one they don't speak Spanish very well and for two, they aren't considered "Mexicans" they are Indians. So, prejudice is everywhere!! Anyway I took my 18 year old friend, Rosa to see this Dr. She has been married for 4 years had a baby about 3 and a half years ago and that baby died at 8 months old. She has had a few problems since then and has been to her Dr. about 6 or 7 times. Each time her Dr. would do a "woman's test" and find everything was normal. Well, her pain persisted and she told me of her symptoms. I am not a Dr. but immediately knew something was wrong. So, my Dr. had to give her the news on Tuesday that this wasn't just an "infection" but it was pre-cancer. If she waited much longer it would be an aggressive cancer. So.... we are going back today and next week she is going to have surgery. Luckily she can still have children. I am very sad for her and she is of course is a little sad and scared too, but please pray that they don't find anything else to worry about in her check-up today. Thanks for your prayers!

Go Vote!

I wanted to find a great picture to put on here and couldn't find one. Well, all I can say is .....GO VOTE!! I know I put the poll on here a while back, and we know who one that. I won't get too political on here, but I hope that poll was accurate! :o) Our kids are voting today. They don't vote for the person because we know they would vote for who we would vote for. Instead we have laid out Plan A and Plan B and they vote for the plan. They then vote for the person, Person A and Person B which describes what the person believes, they put those together and they decide who they want to vote for. After all of that they find out who they voted for. We shall see who wins the J, A and A Christian Academy voting.

Enough on politics, I am getting kinda tired of it anyway. Please pray for us today as I take my friends back to the doctor. Another hour there and another hour back an hour of waiting and an hour of being seen. Can't wait! :o) I am just hoping they can be seen and that they don't have anything serious. Thanks for praying!

Annie swinging

This is a picture of Annie and one of her best friends, Lupita. They love to swing together! All you need is a tree, a rope and a shirt, wala....you have a swing!

Taco fun!

Greg, Jerod and Alex eating their favorite tacos.
I know these pics are out of order, but the internet is going fast and the pics are actually uploading, so I figured I would do as many as I could. :o)

Annie and I at the Taco Stand

Greg took this picture as we were enjoying our favorite food, TACOS! This is a typical mexican taco stand set up outside of someone's home. We try and eat at this one at least once a month, because they are AWESOME and cheap too! Each taco is about 35 cents.

Picture of grave

This is a picture of a grave where someone left food for the spirit to eat. Notice the candle in the shape of a skull, quite interesting. They are sadly confused!

Day of the Dead

Well, yesterday was the day that they celebrate the "Day of the Dead" here in Mexico. In our village they had mass at the cemetary yesterday in the morning and then last night they returned to the cemetary to meet with the spirit of the loved one that has passed on. They brought food and waited for the spirit to return and eat with them. It is very sad for us to see how many people really believe this. One of our friends was telling us how her mom was asking to borrow money so she could buy fruit to put on the grave of her father. She doesn't have money to buy herself food and yet she somehow feels she is obligated to give her dead husband fruit. Please pray for the people in our village. Pray also for this woman, our friend said she was going to try and bring her to our meeting tonight.

The JOYS of living in Mexico!

The joys of living in another country are sometimes as great as the frustrations! Halloween came and went last night without much thought. We had plans to visit a church last night so we told the kids we would do "Halloween" today. So, we will let them dress up today and do a scavenger hunt for candy around the house, bob for apples in our kitchen and then say, "Happy Halloween!" One year Greg's mom was coming near Christmas time so we changed when we would have Christmas, since no one here celebrates like we do, it is easy to change the day to accomodate our plans. That is the JOY of living here!

I have been trying to upload some pictures but our internet does not want to do that! Sometimes it is faster than other times. So, I will keep trying to upload it throughout the day. It is a picture that will give you a good example of how dark this time really is around here.

Today is the first "Day of the Dead" in our village. I have learned more about this day through our maid. She is 18 and has been married for four years. She had a baby that died when it was about 8 months old of bronchitis. This happened about 3 years ago. The custom is to go to the grave at night and place food on the grave so that the spirit of the dead person will come back and visit with you. They will eat and enjoy fellowship with you. Tonight is the night for those who died as infants. Tomorrow they will have Mass for those who died as adults and they will ask forgiveness for the sins of those who have died. She asked me what I thought about visiting the spirit of her dead baby today. (she is a new Christian and really wants to do the right thing) I asked her if she believed her baby would come back and eat the food and visit with her. She said she didn't believe that but was confused. We talked about how after a person dies it is too late to ask forgiveness for their sins. She said the people here don't believe that babies sin very much and that is why they don't need to have a mass for children. She said she believes the spirit of her baby was in heaven. I assured her that the spirit of her baby wasn't hungry and didn't need to come here to eat! I told her I like to imagine my grandma rocking her baby in Heaven. She said she liked that idea too! So, she said she would go and pray for herself but she didn't think she needed to bring food or pray for her baby. Please pray for Rosa and Chavo today as I am sure they will be pressured to do many things that they no longer believe is necessary.

My life

Ya know, there is one thing about living in Mexico, it is NEVER dull! Two of our friends have needed to go to the doctor for awhile and didn't have the money to do so. It has now gotten to the point we felt it was time we intervened for the sake of their health. So I (Missy) made appointments for them and told them I would take them today. We had to leave about an hour and fifteen minutes early so we could arrive on time. Everything went well on the trip into town and we did some language learning on the trip. We finally arrived at the Dr.'s office and the receptionist says, "Oh, I was just trying to call you, the Dr. had to leave for a little while, can you come back in an hour?" I said, "Sure, why not?" So, we left and went to a store similar to a Wal-mart and were looking around and about ready to return to the Dr. when the receptionist calls me again. "Sorry Mrs. Wood the Dr. will not be returning today, can we reschedule?" I wanted to scream! Actually I wanted to say," Look lady, I just drove an hour to see a Dr. who wasn't even there and now I have waited another hour for you to tell me HE'S just not coming back?"How fair is that? So, we made the most of our time together and God used that time to build these relationships. I would have preferred to not have had that happen, but as the president of our company says, "That is the cost of the call!" So, we will be returning on Tuesday to try again. Please pray that this time, we will actually see the Dr!

Monday went great!

Sorry, I haven't updated you about Monday night's fellowship. It went great! I don't have the picture I took on my computer yet, but I will try and get one up soon. Jerod had complained a few weeks ago about not having many kids to do "kids church" with. We told him it wasn't about numbers but about reaching the few who did come. Usually we only have about 2 or 3. Bless his sweet heart, he does a craft with them and tells a Bible story in Spanish. He does a great job. Well, God rewarded him for this, we had a record breaking number of kids this week.... 11! He was so excited. They memorized the verse, Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I thought that was quite fitting.

Please pray for my sweet boys as they are trying to find their own ministry here in Mexico. I wanted to update you all on Anna Kate, the 18 month old who they thought had diabetes. Praise God, she does not! Continue to pray for her as they still aren't sure what if anything she does have. I love you guys! Missy

Toto we aren't in Kasas anymore!

I took this picture in front of our house. I just thought you would enjoy it. This is definitely when you hear yourself thinking, "Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore!" Have a great day!

Starting the morning off!

This is Jesus. Not the same Jesus you and I think of, but he is a good friend and neighbor. Greg has been having him translate Bible stories for the last year and a half. He has asked many questions and seems to be seeking truth. I caught a glimpse of him across the street doing what appeared to be, reading his Bible. Now, I can only tell you that the book he read had a black cover and red rimmed pages. ( thanks to my zoom lens on our video camera) Please pray with us that Jesus really is seeking the truth and is indeed reading the Bible.

Barbara and Icho

This is a picture of the woman I talked about that said she wasn't going to come back to our home after Annie's accident. So glad she did. She is one of my very good friends here!

One of our best Monday nights!

We gathered together again this past Monday night for our time of worship. It is always interesting to see who will come and who won't after not meeting for about a month. Well, there were a few missing, but they all had good reasons and the majority of the group was there. We heard the story about the gold, statue of a cow that was built to worship. I wasn't too familiar with this story and found it interesting to learn more about it. The jist of the story is that some followers of God, were waiting on Moses to return from the mountain after he received the 10 commandments, and got tired of waiting. They decided to take all of the women's earrings and mold them into the form of a cow. Then they worshipped the cow instead of God. When Moses returned he fussed at them and told them they were all sinning against God. He then melted the statue. This really hit home with our friends because many of them have different statues in their home. The question was asked if it was okay to have statues if they didn't worship them. We of course said a statue isn't a bad thing, it is what you do with it that makes it bad. So we felt that many of them left with a new understanding of worshipping idols.

Below is a story of how Satan's plan was revealed, but it's kinda long....so you can read it, or not.....I just wanted to warn you!


After the story was over and we were eating, we sat around talking. This was the first time that they weren't in a hurry to leave. There were 5 women who were talking about witchcraft. They explained how real it is and how many people don't understand what they are doing when they put their faith in witchcraft. For those of you who don't understand this culture, it is hard to really grasp what I am talking about. Witchcraft isn't just someone saying they are a witch, it isn't someone on a broomstick or wearing a black hat. Not that any of you unless you are under the age of 13, actually thought that, but.... it doesn't hurt to say it. The witches here have sold their soul to the devil and work for him. They cast spells on the people and believe they have the power to ruin or save lives, whichever they choose to do. It was quite a long conversation, and I heard of MANY instances where they had seen people directly involved in witchcraft and had seen people put their faith in it. I was so happy to hear one of the women say," They don't understand that they are putting their faith in the Devil. You can't put your faith in God and Satan at the same time." They all talked about how dangerous witchcraft was.

I told them of how many people told us about the "evil eye." The evil eye is when someone can cast a spell on you and make you sick or make bad things happen to you. I told them that when we first arrived and Annie was sick from different foods that many said it was because some of the people had put the evil eye on her. I told them I didn't believe that for one minute, but many people may have seen her sick and thought their spells had worked. They then talked about Annie's accident. I can talk about this now without feeling sick. They said many people were saying how wrong it was for others to have put the evil eye on us when we were trying to help the people here. MANY felt (maybe our friends included) that Annie's accident was caused by Satan. I almost said, " No it wasn't" but then said, "I think they are right. I don't think it was because someone in the street put a spell on us, but if Satan doesn't like us here, he will do whatever he can to make us leave."

After Annie's accident, I knew Satan didn't want us to return and unfortunately for him that made me want to return even more. While in Texas we had many people praying for our friends as we knew they may have been struggling with their beliefs. I never knew just how much until this conversation with these women. One of the strongest women said, "After that happened, I said I would never go back to your house again. I said if that is what happens would good people follow Jesus, I don't want any part of it." I asked her what made her change her mind and she didn't know. I told her that there were many people praying for them and that was the reason. She just smiled. I guess when we go through tough times we "know" Satan is at work but not until much later do we find out exactly how or why he was at work. He really did want to destroy what God had started among our people. I sure am glad he didn't succeed in his efforts! Please keep praying for us. Knowing that he doesn't want us here makes it a little more difficult to go about our lives as if there is nothing keeping us from the task at hand.

I know I got winded, but just wanted you to have a better understanding of our people. Love you all!

Life's crazy and LOUD!

Just thought I would share what life is like in my house. It is CRAZY!! The noise level is always very high, no carpet, we have tile floors, cement walls, and 3 kids. That equals a very loud house. They aren't doing anything wrong, laughing, singing, talking, and yes arguing, but it can make it seem like there is no place to go that is quiet. Then of course there is the life outside of our home that enters in as well. There are 2 homes on the corner and both have loud juke boxes that they play until about 2-3 in the morning. They play it all day long as well. There are people who make announcements throughout the day on extremely loud speakers. Announcements such as: Lupita has hot bread for sale, or Barbara is selling hamburgers, Juan from California says hello to everyone. These announcements go on all day and night as well. So..... my "quiet time" has taken on a whole new meaning. I have been trying to get up early every morning and read the Bible while it is somewhat quiet. I really struggle with this because I am NOT an early bird. However, that is something I am trying to do better. I really take for granted that we live in a place where we are free to do such a thing. I have been reading a book that is about a prisoner of war. I can't imagine going through what these people go through. Not to be able to read my Bible for any reason would seem like torture. However, I still find it difficult to do that each morning. This prisoner of war tries so hard to remember everything he ever read in the Bible to bring him comfort. It scares me to think of what I would remember if I were in that situation.



I need prayer for discipline. I want to make sure that if for any reason I cannot read my Bible, that I will have a lot of it already firmly implanted in my memory. I really can't live without having His words written across my heart. It really is the life manual that I need in order to make it through this life. So..... please pray that as I get up each morning that I will be more disciplined so that I can download God's word into this tiny part of my body called my brain!



Sorry for rambling, I just thought I would share with each of you a little part of my struggles in this life! Please also pray for those precious people who are putting their life on the line for us as they protect our freedom while serving in the military. Thanks for praying!

Back to school!

Well, we are back to school, something I think only Annie was excited about. We had a good day yesterday but it was hard! We have been to see two of our families and had a welcome home celebration! They have all been so good to us as we try and get re-settled. Our alcoholic friend, Salvador, did great while we were gone and didn't have any drinking spells. We are praising God for that! Everything else seems just about the same as when we left. We will start our Monday night worship again on this Monday coming up. Don't know the date, but please pray it goes well.

During our travels we received news about our supervisor's daughter, Anna Kate. (they live in Puebla, Mexico) She was found one morning in her bed very lethargic with her temperature 95 degrees, so her mom, Jennifer, took her to the hospital. They have been running many tests on her and still do not know what is causing her problems. They are checking her for diabetes. They have had conflicting reports about this and still do not know what is wrong. I feel badly that I haven't put this on here before now, but please pray for little Anna Kate. She is 16 months old and PRECIOUS!!! She is having to undergo many pricks and has her glucose checked several times a day which is traumatic for her, to say the least. Please pray for the whole family as I know they are all worried. Pray that the tests would show that Anna Kate is perfectly healthy and for life to return to normal very soon! We thank you all for praying!

There is no place like home!

Home...... "Mommy, when will we be home?" That was the question we heard oh, about 1,000 times over the past 3 weeks. To Annie, home is where you will be sleeping. Hotel, friend's home, Grandma's home, Aunt's home, it didn't matter where, it was still home to her. I guess that is the life of an MK. She is soooo flexible and after traveling a total of about 65 hours in a car or on a plane over the past 3 weeks I would say she is very happy to say, "WE'RE HOME!!!" Our kids are great travelers and it is a good thing! We had a great time while in the States! We saw a lot of people we had not seen in a long while. We saw old friends and a lot of family! If we didn't get to visit with you, we will do our best to do that next year while we are on Stateside assignment, or furlough. ( We should be back in the States in July 2009)

Ya know as much fun as we had and as much as we love the U.S. it is funny that coming home really is Mexico. I was a little worried about the kids because they did have a great time and I thought they would dread returning to our home here in Mexico. NOPE, they were sad leaving their grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins, but happy to return to our people here in the village. Please pray that as we try to find our routine again, that the kids would enjoy being home as much as they enjoyed being away. I will add some more pics soon, it just takes some time. That is one thing I don't have right now, as I am still unpacking. Love you all! Missy

Time Flies!

We are heading home. We are all kinda sad, but ready to go home at the same time. We had a great three weeks and saw lots of family and friends. We got great news that the comfy couch house in Texas was unharmed by Ike! Praise GOD! Please pray for us all as we will be flying all day today. We are tired and haven't even started our trip. Love you all, I will write more soon!

Back with my parents in Rock Hill, SC

Hi everyone,
We are now back home in Rock Hill visiting my parents for these last few days before we head back to Mexico. We had a great time with Greg's family and got to visit some old friends from Asheville on our way here as well. We have packed a ton of fun in the past 2 weeks and are excited about the rest of this week too!

We are going to see the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua tomorrow and hope to play at the park and eat more Chick-fil-a! Thanks for praying for our travels, we have had a wonderful time going from Rock Hill, SC to Asheville, NC to Anderson, IN to Asheville, and back to Rock Hill. That is a lot of miles! Thanks for praying!

More pics soon!

More Pics

Our neighbors in Asheville, visiting with us at church.

Our friend made traditional clothing for this Barbie and was trying to sell them for money. This little girl, Haley, wanted to buy the Barbie and then she wanted us to give it back to the little girl so her mom could could make the money and she could still have her Barbie to play with. How sweet is that?

These are our friends the Twiddys who we stayed with while in Asheville.

This is Annie's new friend Kelly who she got to know quite well!

The BP man

Only in America will the BP man pose for a picture. He would have done anything for us to come back to visit his BP! That's America!

Fun at the fair

The following pictures are of Jerod and Alex eating a cheeseburger on a stick, and jumping on a bungee - trampoline at a local fair. We are having a blast, did I mention that?