Yay God!

Sometimes the only thing we know to say is, "Yay God!!" On Thursday afternoon Greg and I went to our friend's house to check on Nana Keri. That is how you say grandma in Purepecha. So, that is what we have called her forever. She is the one I mentioned is dying of cancer. When we arrived she was curled up like a little child on the bed. No music, no TV, no nothing. Just laying there by herself waiting. Waiting for something to happen to her to make her all better. She was waiting to be cured. She explained to us that she didn't understand why she had received this punishment from God. Bless her heart. She really doesn't understand that her cancer was in no way a punishment. However, that is what many believe here in the village. Many people feel that someone here in the village can cast a spell on others and cause bad things to happen to them, so this was probably another thought she had, "Who put this spell on me?" We entered her room and told her we wanted to share something from the Bible. Something that Jesus promised us. She was eager to hear what Jesus had to say.



So, Greg started telling a story about a man who wanted to get to heaven and didn't know how to do it. He thought about different ways he could do it, going to church, giving money, helping others, and that didn't seem to be good enough. So the man tried studying religion and he couldn't seem to learn enough. So he tried being good to everyone he came in contact with. Again, that didn't seem like enough. So the man asked, "What do I need to do to make it to heaven when I die?" He said, " I feel like you are right here in front of me, Jesus and I don't know how to get to you." The response from Jesus was: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and OPENS the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20) At this point the man was astonished, to think it could be that simple. All I have to do is open the door to my heart and He will come in? Jesus responded, " I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." ( John 14:6) So the man chose to open the door to his heart and ask Jesus to come in. That is when the man was given eternal life. A life that would never end because he would be with Jesus forever, even when he left the earth.



Greg told this story and we of course gave many other Bible verses to back the truth up. We used as much of their language as we could and had Nana Keri's daughter-in-law translate and clean up parts that were not clear to them as they speak very little spanish. After they both listened to the story they asked a precious question, "How can we open the door to our hearts?" So we explained that it was an act of the heart, all you have to do is "...confess with your mouth ,"Jesus is Lord,"and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

So at that time they both prayed to receive Christ into their hearts. We explained to them that now, no matter how they die, the end result will be entering into the gates of heaven! They both thought that was a wonderful gift! So, the day ended on a great note! We are so thankful to all of you who pray for us! You are the reason God is moving among our people! Thank you!

Voting

I have posted a poll to see who most of you will be voting for. I will try to keep MY thoughts to myself until after the poll is over. This could be hard because right now I am fired up! You can try to figure out which way I am fired. :o) I have a feeling most of you know who I will choose but I really want to know who YOU will be choosing. So, vote honestly, it is anonymous! I will add more later! Have a great Thursday!

Monday Madness

Have I told you how much we love Mondays? WE LOVE Mondays! Tonight was a little different, usually we say to come at 6pm and they show up at 6:30, tonight however, some came at 7 and some at 8. The rain played a part in this as they all have to walk and it isn't very comfortable in the rain. So we understood and it really didn't effect much of the night. As usual we had a total of 25 people and as usual we had some old friends not come and had one new friend come!

Please pray for Salvador. He is a new believer who is also a recovering alcoholic. He has done so well with his fight against alcohol! However, now his problem is that his mom is dying of cancer. She is pictured with Annie on July 6th and again on the 10th. She is 80 years old and the doctors say she has had cancer for four years. However, she just started showing signs of being ill about a month ago. Salvador is having a very difficult time with the fact that God would allow this to happen to his mom. He usually comes every Monday night but tonight he did not come. His wife said he is losing his faith. Many of his family members are wanting to have a witch doctor come and try to heal her. We plan on meeting with Salvador and his mom on Wednesday and hopefully share with them about the healing power of THE Great Physician. It may not be in His will to heal her physically, but I know it IS His will to heal her spiritually. Please pray that somehow we can get across to him that bad things happen to good people. WE should know! :o) I say that with a smile!

I titled this Monday Madness because it is always crazy right up until the house is cleaned up and the kids are in bed. Monday nights bring a LOT of dirt into our home! Our roads are dirt roads, so it is all brought inside on Mondays! School is going great, but it does make for a really crazy Monday! I wanted to thank all of you for your continued interest in our lives. I hear from many of you who say you read this daily. I really hope I don't disappoint you with my boring entries! Love you all!

Family Fun

Hi!
Sorry, I took a few days off from the blog. We had a great time at the beach and enjoyed lots of family fun. We came home and started to get ready for Jerod's small birthday party. It is soooo different here! We just threw the party together. We told Jerod's friends we were having a party at 2:00 on Saturday and that was all we needed to do. He planned some games for them to do and had cake and nachos. VERY simple and so stress-free! There were no flashy presents and nothing really exciting about the party, but they still had fun! They had fun playing party games and then afterwards they just played with old toys, built forts with trash and just laughed a lot. After being here for about 6 hours, they all went home. Great day! Thank you for your birthday comments, he really enjoyed them. I have now sent out our monthly newsletter so if you requested to get it and did not, please let me know. Thanks! I will try to add a picture of his birthday party tomorrow. Have a great day!

Birthday fun!

We are having a great time and are doing whatever we want to whenever we want to! We have always felt it is better to spend our birthday money on memories as apposed to a bunch of gifts they we will never remember. Our kids have bought into this idea and we all feel it a much better way to spend our birthdays! We ate out last night at a hamburger place and as you can see the birthday boy was very happy. He has chosen to stay in tonight and order pizza and rent a movie. So, that is what we are doing! If you would like to leave comments for Jerod, I am sure he would like it! I am going to add a bunch of pictures that I have wanted to do for awhile, because we have super speedy internet. Scroll down so you enjoy all the pictures! They end with Annie making tortillas. Love you all!

Annie swimming

Dad and Annie

J, A and A

Three newly baptized

Starting School

A , A and J Christian Academy

A is for apple and Annie!

First week of school artwork!

Annie making tortillas

We love Mondays!

What a great night. Ya know sometimes I just look around my living room on Monday nights and I think, I can't believe this is really happening! We had our regular group of about 26 people. More men continue to come, some weeks some men don't come but God always brings someone else to fill in the gaps! We have had at least one new person every week. That is a HUGE answer to prayer. We continue to have more conversations each week and everyone is beginning to open up! All I can say is God is MOVING!! Please continue to pray for Mondays as I am sure Satan is NOT happy!

Please pray for us tomorrow as we will be traveling. Saturday is Jerod's birthday as well as my mother's ( so anyone who knows her can harass her as she will be turning......you can ask her! :o} ) and we are going on a two-day vacation to celebrate their birthdays! I figure since we can't have my mom here with us to celebrate at least we can make it really awesome for her! So we are headed to the beach. We should have internet there so I will try to keep you updated. Please pray that we can keep Annie well covered and that we have no more problems with the sun! Thanks so much for all of your prayers and I PROMISE the newsletter is coming!

Following Jesus and His example!

The Sun and the SON were shining today!!

What an AWESOME day! The weather was straight from heaven! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was HOT for most of the day! That really is a miracle because during the months of June- November it is usually in the low 60s. Not today! We had 27 people attend our baptism and everyone had a really great time. It was a little nerve racking at times because no one could swim. Have you ever been to a pool and been the ONLY ones who knew how to swim? NO lifegaurd, and 23 people wanting to play in the pool and NONE of them could swim. We had 2 scares where they slipped in the pool, panicked and didn't realize they could stand. It turned out fine, but it was a bit scary. I took life saving years ago, but had NO desire to use what I know!

There were so many times when I thought, I wish all of you could experience the day with us. We left pretty much on time, unusual, we arrived at 10:10 am, the park was supposed to open at 10am and at 10:30am the workers showed up and they opened. SOOO Mexico! Then we had the baptism and they all wanted to swim. In America everyone would go put their swimsuits on and start swimming. Here, they look at me and say what did you bring for me to wear. Luckily I am known for bringing everything except the kitchen sink. So, I had clothes for about 10 of them. They all chose something to wear and started to get in the pool. All of that seems normal except that they were all embarrassed because they had never seen eachother in shorts or tee shirts, let alone a bathing suit. If I wore my regular one piece bathing suit they might have fainted! It is very modest too! ;o) So, it was fun to watch them walk slowly out of the bathroom area, covering their legs and tops with whatever clothes they had in their hands. They finally relaxed and had a great time playing in the pool! We stayed until they closed and all piled into 2 trucks and 1 car. All 27 of us! There were a lot of things that were different about our day, but it made it a ton of fun!

There was one thing that happened that will take awhile to get over. Annie took her glove off halfway through the day. I didn't think much about it because she was swimming. I knew she had a ton of sunscreen on and it didn't bother me. The problem was that I forgot to make her put it on when she got out of the pool. So when we were leaving she came up to me with this horrible look and said, " Look Mommy, my hand is red again." I felt horrible! She said, "Mommy, red isn't good for skin, it is good for markers, but not for skin! I want my hand to be white again." They told us in Texas that she should never get her hand sun burnt because that skin is so sensitive that it would stain her skin forever. I pray they were exaggerating! I hope I haven't ruined her precious hand! Please pray it will turn white again, and it will happen SOON!

Thank you all for praying! Without prayer, we wouldn't be here!

Pray for Sun tomorrow!

Hello! I doubt many of you will read this before tomorrow, (Sunday) however it can't hurt to ask any of you who do read this today, to pray for sun! It has been kinda cloudy today and it usually rains here everyday during this time of year. However we really need some warm weather and sun tomorrow. We are going to have a baptism at a nearby pool. There should be about 26 people in attendance and we are hoping for a really great celebration. There will be 3 people being baptized and hopefully many more the next time. Everything is going well here! I still haven't sent out our newsletter, I thought it would be better to wait until after the baptism. So, if you are interested in receiving this newsletter, please email me at pray4annie@gmail.com and I will add you to our email list. I will try to add more pictures tomorrow. Thanks for praying!

Another first day of school

Hi everyone,

We are starting school with the boys today. Annie isn't too excited about sharing her teacher, but we will see how it goes! I will be writing our monthly newsletter today, so you can be looking for it. I don't have a lot to share, but just wanted to ask you to pray for me today. I really stress about school, please just pray I don't screw up my kids. I know I shouldn't stress, but I can't seem to tell my head and heart to both believe it will be okay! Hope all of you have a GREAT DAY and that you receive many blessings!

Love you~

Great first day of school!

Meeting the teacher was very fun event for Annie! She had a great first day of school! We colored and read books, counted, and wrote her name many times. She loves to color! She was so excited to start the day! She picked out her favorite dress, her pink suit and even picked out special pink hairbows. Needless to say, she was definitely the prettiest girl in the class, hands down! ;o) After school we went to Wal-mart to buy her school supplies. She had so much fun picking out the perfect crayons and prettiest notebook. She is such a girl! However, when it came to picking out a lunch box to carry her snack in, she picked Sponge Bob over all of the pink, princess lunch boxes! You can tell she has 2 brothers! We both had a great day, I think I liked it just as much as she did! It is hard to believe that 3 years ago I said, " I will NEVER homeschool!" I guess sometimes God has to force us to do things or we would never know what we were missing!

We had a great time tonight!

Don't you just love surprises? Tonight as we expected we had a lot less people. It was about half of what we normally have, however we had one new man come. The man who we buy water from is Miguel. Last time we bought water from him Greg invited him to come to our Monday night meeting. He is probably around 65 and is a widower. He is very lonely and we thought this might be something he would enjoy. However last Monday he didn't come. In the back of our minds we weren't really sure if he would ever come but tonight he showed up right on time. ( not something that is common among the people here.) He was eager to hear our Bible story and after it was over he said he was encouraged. Please pray that Miguel will come again next Monday night.

Tomorrow is Annie's first day of school! (home school) She is SOOOO excited! We have tried to make it as much like a first day of school experience for her as is possible. We asked her if she was excited about meeting her teacher. She just laughs at us. Greg asked her if she thought her teacher would be nice, she said," Yes!" Then he said, "Do you think she will be pretty?" Her response was less enthusiastic and she thought a minute and responded," I think so." So, I guess I need to pluck the hairs on my chin, lose some weight and wear deodorant or I may lose my first Kindergarten student! ;o) The boys don't start until Thursday, so tomorrow should be a fun day for her as she will get ALL of my attention! I will let you know how her first day goes! Thanks for praying!

Oh and for all of you wanting to see the picture of Greg riding a bull, I will work on getting it posted as well! I may need some help from a friend named Don on that one!

Peaceful Night!

Hi everyone! Last night went great! We gave out about 90 cups of hot chocolate and coffee. We made a lot of new friends and had a lot of good conversations. One of the families that meets with us on Monday came by and spent the entire night with us. That was a huge blessing and we had a good time of fellowship with them. Although there were a ton of drunks roaming the streets, we didn't hear of any fights! So, that was a huge PRAISE! We are praying that the people who are supposed to come tonight will come. I will try and add more pictures soon. Silly internet only wants to add pictures when it feels like it! Thanks for praying! I will update you more tomorrow about how the night goes. Thanks for staying interested!



Oh, I have to tell you something cute that happened. Annie was playing the game Congo with Alex and Greg and her card said she needed to answer this question; " If you fell into a vat of food, what would you want your stomach to be full of?" I couldn't believe that was her question, but I asked her if she could have eaten anything before she fell into the mole, what would she have eaten. She smiled really big and said, "MOLE!" So all that time I wasted worrying about how she would act when she had to eat it again or even see it, and all along she was wishing she could have eaten before it was ruined! Go figure!?!? ;o)

Pray today!

Today, Sunday, is the biggest day of the year in the lives of our friends. It is the day they celebrate Saint Lorenzo. There will be lots and lots and lots of drinking and lots and lots of processions in our streets. Processions are where a group of people walk down the street carrying these large platforms that have statues of saints on them. They will burn candles, and incense and walk in honor of these dead "saints." All of this is done to gain favor with God. They believe this is what He would want them to do. Of course then they have these huge parties afterward and MANY get drunk. Some of the "fun" is quite harmless, they like to dress up in their best clothing, eat traditional food, watch fireworks and see old friends. Tomorrow night there will also be a bull riding contest. So not all of the traditions are bad. However, there has been talk of 2 groups of people within the community fighting tonight. There has been talk of guns and shootings. You mix, drinking, guns, and a strife between 2 groups of men together, and you have TROUBLE! Please pray that today, tonight and tomorrow night will be calm and there will be no fights. Pray that this "celebration" would pass without any harm coming to the people.

Last year we tried something new during this " fiesta." We wrote Bible verses on cups and gave away free hot chocolate in front of our home. (it gets cold here at night during these months) We had nothing but positive responses from this. So, tonight we will do the same thing. We will be out of harms way, sitting in front of our home, ( I put that in there for my parent's sake!) giving out hot chocolate and coffee. We will have a bon fire on the street, (I know that sounds strange, but it is quite normal) and sit back and enjoy the company of our friends who choose to come by and visit. So,please do pray for all of our safety (fire still freaks me out!) and pray that the people will see God through us. I have always liked the saying, "You may be the only Bible they ever read." So, I pray we can be a good example for Christ!

Although we are not expecting a huge turnout tomorrow night, we will still be meeting with our new group. Pray it would go well too! Have a great week! I will let you know everything goes!

What do we like more about Mexico than the United States?

I know it is hard to believe that we could ever like things in another country better than in the U.S. but there are some benefits! When I asked the boys and Annie what they like better about living here, they had many responses. They said they like it because you can wear whatever you want and nobody cares what you look like. Example: holes in your pants are common and if you don't match, you are actually more normal than not. You get to play in the streets and cars aren't a problem. You get to play things outside like soccer and marbles. You get to play at the farm and get really dirty. It is a lot more relaxing here than in the States. People don't judge you for what you have or don't have. (I am not so sure about the first part.) They love the weather here because it isn't too cold or too hot, it is always just right. You can buy a lot of things that only cost 10 cents. If you don't have a car, you can always take the bus or taxi. The best thing of all is that we are always together as a family. We don't have to wait until 6:00 at night to see our dad! That was a biggie! Annie said she likes Mexico better because she gets to start school this year! Little does she know. Remember she only lived in the States for the first year and a half of her life. So she doesn't know much else. However, she does remember the "comfy couch house" in Galveston! I think that may be her favorite memory of the States!

Things we miss about the United States

Okay, to be fair, I felt I needed to let you know that there are many things we miss about the U.S.! The first response to this question was, "RESTAURANTS!" Chick-fil-a needs to open up in Mexico so we won't gain so much weight while we are on vacation in the States! We miss grass, there isn't much of that around here. We miss drinking the water, flushing our toilet paper, our family and our friends, our church, going to a store and not having the prices rise the minute they see us and the quietness of a neighborhood. (it is really noisy here all the time) That is a start. We obviously miss a lot of things about America but we have come to love many things about Mexico. It really is a beautiful country. There are mountains EVERYWHERE! I never would have thought that, I thought it was all dry, dusty, desert. I will be honest, I haven't seen much of that since I have been here. I am trying to upload some more pictures, it is just taking awhile. Sorry! I will add them little by little!

Samuel is doing much better. His fever has gone down to just a low grade fever and they are keeping him in the hospital for a few more days for observation. Thank you all for your prayers for him!

I guess that is all for now, I will write more later!

Keep praying for Samuel

Hi everyone,

Samuel is still in the hospital and he is doing better, but really needs your prayers. He is still fighting his fever. It is a low grade fever now, but he still has a fever at times. They are unsure exactly what they are treating. After running many different tests on him, they are still confused about what exactly is causing the fevers. Little Tiana has been with us since yesterday. We will take her back to see her mom and dad tomorrow. Annie has had a great time babysitting! I will add more pictures soon. My problem with the pictures is our computer/ internet. So, it isn't as easy as one may think. Anyway, I will do my best to add more pics soon and to answer the poll question. Love you all!

Dear friends,

On July 22, I posted a picture of our friend's little boy, Samuel. He has been such a big blessing to them! However, he was admitted to the hospital yesterday with high fevers. They are unsure what is causing them and they are running tests to see what could be the problem. Please pray that his fevers would go away and that they could get little Samuel back to being PERFECT! Pray also for his mom and dad ( Josh and Jennell) as I am sure they are gripped with worry. It is difficult having your child in a hospital where they speak a different language. Even when you understand 90% of what they are saying, there is 10% that is unclear. Please pray that they would have the peace that only God can give them. Thank you!

25 people~holding steady!

Hi everyone,

I love publishing a post on Monday nights! So far our Monday nights have been nothing but success! It is almost scarey to say it, but I really think we may have the start of a really awesome church here. Everyone is excited about coming. They are inviting others to come and they all participate in our conversations. We have even had 3 families bring the food the last 2 weeks. Jerod and Alex have been really great as they have taken on the role of children's ministry. They have been telling a small version of the story the adults hear and then they do a craft with the kids. I will add a picture later! So, we have been very blessed by the attendance and have had new people come every week. Please pray for a man named Icho. He is a great guy, new believer, but really shy. His wife and kids come every week but he just doesn't want to be around a lot of people. So, please pray for him that he could get over his fear of being with people and will join us soon!

I must tell you about Rosa's husband, Chavo. Rosa was one of the girls in the picture with me that accepted Christ last week. They both came over today for lunch and Chavo listened to Greg's testimony (his story of how he accepted Christ as his Savior) and then decided that he too wanted a relationship with Christ. He was very happy when he left and they both felt as if this was turning point in their marriage. They are only 20 years old and 18 years old, so this could really change the course of their lives for the better. We are praying that they will start coming on Mondays as well! Thanks so much for all of your prayers! You really are a part of this journey we are on, when you pray for us!

I will be answering the question: "What do we like about Mexico more than the United States?" tomorrow. I will also put up a new poll soon. What questions would you like to see on the poll? I may end up answering all of the questions eventually! We love you!

Random act of kindness

Have you ever heard of a random act of kindness? (RAK) At Biltmore Baptist Church, (where we attended church when we lived in Asheville) they taught us how to show random acts of kindness to people in the name of Jesus. Or you could call it showing unconditional love to people, because that is what Jesus did for us. For example, if you are going through a drive-thru you could order something extra like an apple pie or something and have the worker give it to the person next in line. Then you can ask them to tell the person this is what you are learning at Biltmore Baptist Church. Or whatever church you attend. This not only makes the person's day, it is a little plug for your church and for Jesus! Another example is to cut your nextdoor neighbor's grass just to be nice, there are a ton of things we can do to show God's love to the world.

Well all of that to say, Friday I woke up and thought, I need to do a RAK. Our family was going to head into town to play at a park and do our weekly shopping. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but knew I needed to do something. So many people blessed us when Annie was hurt that I just thought I might die if I couldn't show someone else that same love. Well, when Annie was hurt, a Sunday School class at our church, along with some family members bought her everything she needed, including a stroller because she couldn't walk very well. This stroller was a life saver for the first month! However, as she got better, we no longer needed this stroller. We thought about giving it to someone her in the village, but they don't use strollers, so we weren't sure what to do with it. Until Friday! We put it in the back of our truck, and prayed God would show us exactly who needed this stroller. We found one lady with a baby but she graciously told us she already had a stroller but thanked us. Then we drove down the street and we saw a family of five, much like our own. Dad, Mom, 2 boys, and a baby girl. Greg pulled over and I got out to ask them if they had a stroller. She shook her head, and said "No." Then I got to do the most fun thing and asked her if she would like one. She said she would LOVE one! These are people who walk everywhere. They don't have a car, so imagine having a stroller dropped in your lap. I ran to the truck to get the stroller and she raised her hands to God and said, " Thank You!" I told her I had been praying for the right person to receive this blessing and that God chose to bless her. We told her about Annie and how a Baptist church in the States along with some family members, had blessed us with the stroller and how God had healed Annie and she no longer needed the stroller. She asked if we had a relationship with Christ and we said, "Yes." She said she did too and told us about her church. That may not seem miraculous to you, but to find people who have a relationship with Christ here, isn't very common. She kept saying, "Glory to God, Glory to God!" Then we said our goodbyes, took this picture, ( not the best picture, but you have a face with the story) and left. They continued on the walk to the grocery store with big smiles. So, we want to thank our church at home for teaching us how to be more like Christ and less like ourselves! We also want to thank our family for the way they supported us through this difficult time in our lives! We love you all!

I had to include this picture of our 3 just to show you how He has blessed us! This was taken at the park right before we gave away the stroller. Two months ago I would never have imagined that Annie would be swinging with her brothers as if she didn't have a care in the world! God really is GOOD!!