Hungry

Okay, not me, well, me too but that is not who I am talking about. Tonight we had a wonderful discussion with our group about baptism. They asked a million questions and we were there for 3 hours discussing different aspects of it. They are sooo hungry to know what the Word of God says about everything. Even if it goes against what they have been taught all of their life. We have a baptism scheduled for November 14th. Before tonight we weren't sure how many we were going to have being baptized but we just scheduled it and hoped for the best. After our talk two women came forward and said they wanted to give their hearts to the Lord and be baptized. One of the women is blind so getting her into a pool with her native clothing on could prove to be a challenge. She isn't exactly healthy right now so please pray that she will be well on the 14th for the baptism. We are excited!

So, earlier I posted that when God closes one door He opens another one. Well, on the way home Greg decided to stop in another village to get a coke. He started talking to the owner of the store and found out he was a Christian. He is going to ask the leaders of his village if we could live there in his village. He also mentioned that his brother is a pastor in the US and has a home there that he was building but never finished. Hmmm.... he said he would ask his brother if he would be interested in renting us his home. So, the door wasn't shut very long before He opened another one. That is just like Him. I just fall in love with Him more and more everyday! I don't know if this door will end up shut as well, but I just love that He always gives us hope for tomorrow. So, for now we are praying about living in what we will call Saint Tommy. So we didn't "catch wind", maybe we will catch" Saint Tommy!" I know that sounds corny but it is late and we didn't get home from church until 10:30pm and I am slap happy and well.... just go with it! Hope you are as happy as I am! Love you! Missy

So the answer is "No"

Well... Greg drove to Icatchwind today and spoke to the leader of the village and he was sad to have to tell him that the other leaders didn't think it was a good idea to have foreigners living among them. We are disappointed but we know that where God closes one door, He always opens another. So we will just have to wait patiently and see what other village He may want us to move to. We know it is in that area that He is guiding us we just don't know exactly where. So, please pray for us that we will be given some guidance as to where and when this move will take place. Thanks!

Okay, so one of my favorite holidays growing up was Halloween. I loved dressing up in costumes. It is probably because I love drama and I loved becoming someone else for a night. My mother is very creative and she always helped my sister and me have the very best costumes on the block. So, when my kids were younger and we lived in the states I loved coming up with fun costumes and seeing if they could be the cutest kids on the block. Of course my challenge was always to do this with anything homemade and without being able to sew. We came up with some good ones too! Anyway, this time of year makes me a little sad because I am not in the US and can't celebrate like I used to with Jerod and Alex. Well, at least I didn't think I could. My friend, Jenell (another M who lives nearby in a larger city) and I were talking and decided we would have a Halloween party for our kids. This THRILLED Annie, actually I think it thrilled Jerod and Alex too. Oh, me too! :o) So I just spent 2 hours trying to make a wig for Jessie. That is who Annie is going to be. We decided to make her birthday party theme; Toy Story 3, as well and that way she could wear her costume for her birthday too! We are all about costumes. Did I mention that? Anyway, it turned out, okay, not great, but okay. She looks adorable anyway. I will make sure I post pictures of our Halloween experience here. The great thing about it is, the 31st just doesn't fit our schedule so we are doing it on November 3rd! Nothing like having flexibility!

Okay, so on the 4th we would like to ask for your prayers for Annie again. She has had a cyst on her lip since sometime in April or May. We took her to a "specialist" in the states and he said it was a wart and froze it off. It came back a week later. We brought her here and they said right away it was a Mucus cyst that had to be removed surgically. We made arrangements with one Dr. and he disappeared. So, we made another appt. with another Dr. and he agreed with the disappearing Dr. and they plan on removing it on Thursday. This will be outpatient surgery, but they will have to put her to sleep. He said this is very easy to do but because she is a child they have to put her to sleep to do the procedure. Hence the timing of the party! We wanted to make sure we could eat all the candy we wanted the day before! :o) So, I think that is all that is happening here. Miss all of my friends and family and wish I could give you all hugs! Instead I will just have to think about you, pray for you and look for you in my dreams! Love you! Missy

young love

Hi friends,

For some reason I never have time until now, which is midnight to do anything. Of course I had some time earlier and we had no internet. Then when I have no more energy left, oh yay, internet is up again. Sometimes this life just wears on a person! Oh, but I am not complaining. My life is just cherries compared to most. We came back from church tonight and we heard of two young couples who are having trouble. One couple is separated right now because the girl's parents walked in on her husband beating her up.  The other couple is having problems and they have only been together for a few weeks she has already had 2 black eyes. In this culture it is just normal for this to happen, but oh how it makes me angry. I just want to beat some little kiddos bottoms. I mean, these aren't grown ups, they are still kids. Some of the men are 18 or 20 but the girls are 15 or 16. So you can imagine how mad this makes us. Anyway, please pray for these couples. Their parents come to us for help. "Please help us with our kids, they need to change." They want help with their children but they allowed them to get married so young just because it is cultural. That is where I just have to shake my head and wonder what they are thinking.

Adolfo....We showed up to visit him tonight and they said he was talking to Greg and I last night. Of course we weren't there last night. I think..."Oh he is starting to hallucinate" Greg says, "There were many times when God spoke to people through visions. See, 20 hours later, here we are." I love my husband, we think so differently and that is why I love him. He makes me soooo much better!  Okay, I am muy tired so I am gonna go to sleep now. Love to you all! Missy

time for pictures!

 I had to come into town to have high speed internet so I could upload some pictures for you. We went to a village yesterday and think we may know where God is leading us for our next journey. It looks like our next village may be a place we will call  Icatchwind. It isn't really pronounced that way or spelled that way but that is what we will call it. Anyway, we are excited and will find out next week if the village leaders will allow us to live there. We are praying that if that is where He wants us than that is where we will be. We have a lead on a house to live in and I took some pictures of it. It still needs some work, but I was excited about it, it is MUCH smaller than our home now, but we will make do. Please join us in prayer about this next adventure in our lives! I am not going to explain all the photos because I need to get home, but.... enjoy them! Love you! Missy

The house from the back.  That is a little room upstairs.

The front of the house with the two beautiful trees!

The side view of the porch.

Icatchwind.

Meat eater. This is raw meat! Yum!

This is Salvador, you may remember him, he is really changing for the better!

Oh, Adolfo is still holding on, but he is in a lot of pain, please pray for him.

Hamburgers

Hi friends! Okay, very quick update. Adolfo has lasted a lot longer than I had expected, however he is in a lot of pain. His family is taking him back to the hospital today to see what they can do for him. Please pray.

Now, we are doing a survey for health in homeschool. We are asking everyone we can think of how many hamburgers they eat in a week. We need to know your age, sex and how many hamburgers you eat at home and how many are from a restaurant. You must be honest! Thanks for your help! I will post our worldwide results once the facts are all in! Love you! Missy

Barbie baptism

Hmmm... are you curious by my title? Well, tonight at church Greg was going to do his best at describing what the Bible says about baptism. So he decided he would bring a Barbie and a plastic container filled with water to explain how immersion is done. Many of them had no idea what this would look like so he thought this would help them to have a better understanding. He had all of the props ready and was well prepared. Of course when he has props this makes everyone very attentive to see what he is going to do. All eyes were focused on Greg as he had the container in front of him filled with water. He was explaining how it all worked and pulled out the Barbie and off came her clothes. Poor Barbie was completely naked in front of the entire church. Of course they all burst out laughing and the moment was changed instantly. Once everything calmed down he did a fine job of explaining how and why this is done this way. It was quite comical and so I thought it would give you a good laugh too!

I have been wanting to tell you about a certain visitor I had recently. Her name is Lupita. She and her mom came to my home looking for some wise counsel. I know some of you are probably thinking, "Why did she come to you?" I know, I know, I thought the same thing, but I guess I am wise in comparison to some. Very few, but some! :o) So anyway, they began to tell me about how Lupita had changed over the past 3 months and was always mad or sad. Lupita explained to me that she even told God she didn't think he had the power to help her. That is some tough stuff to hear. Lupita explained that she felt miserable most of the time and hated her life. I asked her if she had felt like Satan was attacking her. She got these really big eyes and said, " That is exactly how I feel. I feel like Satan and God are both pulling me and I don't know which way to go." I asked her why she came to me. She said, " Well, we had an appointment with the witch doctor and my dad said, if we were going to follow Jesus, why not seek help from those who follow Jesus instead of those who follow the devil." You see, this family has been attending our church group on and off for years now. However they never can quite commit with their whole heart. So, I asked her who she wanted to follow and she said, " I really want to follow Jesus. I want to learn more about him and live how He wants me to live." She then bowed her head and gave her whole life to Him. It was precious. The amazing part is how this has affected her family. They are now committed. They have come every time that it was possible and have really been trying to change their ways. Please pray for this family. They always seem to have problems in their home and they say they know this is Satan's strategy. We are praying that they will see God's hand in their lives like never before. Thanks for praying! Love you!

Good Weekend

Hi friends! We have started to go into town once a week for physical education. Greg teaches them tennis sometimes and other sports other days. Annie and I like to swing, go on the slides, or play hop-scotch. This has been good for our family and we can see a difference in our kids after we do this. This past Thursday we went into town for this very reason and also had the privledge of spending time with our boss. He has been here twice to visit us and encourage us and this has been a blessing!

So, as we were leaving the city to come home, we noticed a lot of cars backed up in traffic. We found out that there was a group of people who were making their feelings known to the government because they had been kicked off of their land. So they decided to block the main road into town. You couldn't leave or enter into town.They were all just sitting in the middle of the road and had a truck and a bus parked sideways. We still don't understand how the police can allow this to happen. We heard they stayed there for 3 nights from around 4 pm until 1am. We ended up having to go WAY out of our way to get home and it took us an hour and a half instead of 20 minutes. It was interesting to see how my kids reacted. They all just took it as normal; it didn't even phase them. They know this culture so well and just understand that this is the way the people let their feelings be known. I won't tell you about how Greg let his feelings be known! :o) Needless to say for a guy who is a planner, this did not sit well!

This weekend we spent our time visiting people. We visited a man who was extremely ill. Bless his heart he lives so poorly. He lived in a small shack that looked similar to a chicken coop. It had holes all in the wood slats that made up the walls and it was freezing cold in there. Now, when I say freezing, it wasn't 32 degrees, however; it felt like it. At night here, it is probably in the low 50s. If you are sleeping outdoors, it feels like freezing. This poor guy had a dirt floor and one blanket over him. He did have a mattress but I think the floor was probably cleaner. When we arrived he told us how sick he was and showed us his leg. His right leg was completely swollen and from the knee down it was as red as a radish. It was totally infected. Then he raises his shirt and showed us his stomach which was all swollen as well. He said he had 6 children and none of them came to see how he was doing or offered to get him help. He said he wanted to die. He wanted God to take him away from his misery. I understood why he would feel that way. We located a doctor that makes house calls and this Dr. visited him today. Greg got him the medicine the doctor prescribed and we are going to try and get him into town for the tests he needs to have done. The doctor thought he possibly had cirrhosis of the liver but without further testing he could not be sure. Anyway, if you think about it, please pray for this man. His name is Pancho.

So, we had a good weekend. There was a lot more to it than I just described but I don't want to bore you anymore. I did write our newsletter so if you want to receive that and didn't, please let me know. Love you all! Missy

Loving a Mexican's honesty!

So, it has been too long since I have received a back-handed compliment. So... today was the day! :o) I had a doctors appt. today, it was just a check up for my Shingles. I have been taking Lyrica for the past 3 months and I have gained a little more than 10 pounds. So, I just stopped taking it and was set on telling this man I was NOT going to take it anymore. I went in and told him the only problem I still had was the itching. He tells me I need to continue on with this medication for 3 more months. Hmmmm.....that would be 20 pounds in 6 months. No thank you! I told him I had gained weight and he said, "Well, stop eating so much." Okay, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. I told him I had started Weight Watchers and was trying to lose the weight. He then says, " Well, lets weigh you." Also not what I needed to hear. I wanted to say, "Look bud, the only thing wrong with me is I itch! Plus the fact that YOU put me on a medicine that made me gain weight." Instead, I smiled looked at the scale as if it would eat me and stepped on it ever so lightly as if that would make me weigh less! Sure enough it said what I already knew. He smiled really big and using his STUPID English says, " FAT LADY!"  Me: "Ugggg.... keep smiling, don't knee him," then he grinned again and said, " FAT PRETTY LADY." Knee goes up, and Greg starts talking about my medication. Oh how lucky that man is! Anyway, so now I know, I am a fat, pretty, lady. Somehow, that doesn't make me feel good. Doesn't that man know anything? His wife is probably anorexic or maybe she left him for a fat man. :o) I must say, sometimes this culture just about does me in! Anyway, I am not taking the medicine even though he thinks it is a good idea. Hope this has given you a few laughs! I am laughing now as I sit here and think about the doughnuts in the kitchen. Love you! The Fat Gringa

church

Hi everyone. I only have a second because I am helping Alex with Spelling and Annie with Bible. However, I do have a second. Last night at church I really just wanted to take pictures of everything to show you just how things can go on any given night here. When I arrived I realized that we had 2 special guests. They are from another church in a nearby village and they came to visit. Now it is customary that if there is a guest Pastor visiting, you allow him to preach. I know that in America this would never fly. So, one of these men was expecting to preach.

I was a little bummed because Greg had worked on a special message about baptism all day long. He was well prepared and was going to do his best not to offend anyone; but just make it known what the Bible says about baptism. We are preparing to have a baptism in the next few months and he wanted everyone to be well informed about what it was we were doing. Anyway, when I saw he wouldn't be preaching I was sad for him. However, he didn't seem bothered at all, he said it was God's plan. We think so differently! I sat down and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. 10 minutes passed, nobody, 20 minutes, 2 more people, We went ahead and started with about 8 adults and 5 kids. 45 minutes after we arrived, there were about 25 adults and 15 kids. The strange part was that almost all of our regular group was missing, they were all new. There was a room filled with new people who had come for the first time. That is when I grinned and thought to myself, " When will I learn? He IS in control!" I was happy then that there was a guest speaker! I am not sure how Greg's message would have gone over with first timers!

Okay, now to give you a visual for some laughter. Imagine a room with brick walls and plastic outdoor chairs lining the walls. Okay, all of these seats are filled and they have added a few benches as well. I am sitting there singing our songs with all my heart, making sure to pronounce all of the Spanish words correctly. I notice that everyone is looking up. I thought, "Oh how wonderful, they are singing to God. They are praising Him and looking up to Him." Then I hear some snickering... "hmm.. wonder what is so funny." I then notice what they are laughing at, there was a mouse running back and forth along the rafters. These ain't HIGH rafters either. Jerod later tells me that this mouse had been running above my head the entire time. Everyone knows how much I hate mice, and that made it even funnier. So, that is how church went last night! Wish you could have been there!

Love ya!

General update

Hi friends! I had a tiny bit of time before we start our Friday night meeting and I wanted to get you updated on some things. First let me say I had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed lots of food, family and fellowship. (Even if the family was spread all over the world, it was still nice.) Thanks again for all of your sweet comments! I am now officially over the hill. Oh well.

Next... the puppies. When we returned from our week out of the village we found the mama extremely skinny with only one puppy left. The other 5 had died while we were away. Sadly this is just part of life here in the village.

We arrived home and had some house guest the next day. Some friends of ours from Mexico City came to spend a few days with us and learn a little more about our people group. They have started to work with some of our people who have moved to Mexico City to sell furniture. We were happy to have them all here with us to love on our people.

They left and the next day my two precious friends from a nearby city came to the village to kidnap me. They took me by surprise and we went to our favorite restaurant and ate a delicious meal. We then went to my friend's home to watch a movie without any children around! It was a great birthday surprise!

I am now trying to catch up on emails, write my newsletter, and talk to you! In the background I am listening to Annie playing with 2 friends and talking and laughing all in Spanish. Her Spanish is really good now and she just loves to have her friends over. So, thank you again for praying for her Spanish. It has worked!

Adolfo, (our landlord's father who was sick with Shingles) now only has a few days left on this earth from what I can tell. He is precious and loves for me to come and rub his head and face as he just lies in bed. I guess because my hands are a lot softer than anyone else around here. Clear sign I work a lot less!  I have checked the hospice website for signs the end is near and he is definitely showing those signs. I am so sad for Mada, his wife. She said, well, all of my family is here now (They have come from a city on the border of Mexico and from California) but soon I will be here all by myself like a little fly. She has 8 kids and only sees 3 of them regularly. Anyway, please pray for all of them. They are fixing up Mada's home preparing for lots of people to come after he dies. They know it will be soon. Oh, it isn't from the Shingles that he is dying, but from prostate problems. However the only pain he seems to have is from his Shingles. Please pray.

Now, about Shingles..... I think that should be a 4 letter word. It has now been about 3 and a half months since I got Shingles and I still have some pain and itching. The itching seems worse than the pain but it is very frustrating. I have this huge, ugly red spot on my forehead from the bumps. Not pretty. Definitely not what you want to have when you are turning 40! Anyway, I know one day the itching will stop, but I don't think the red blotch will ever go away. I guess I just need to accept that and move on. Okay, enough about that.

SO, you now have been officially updated on most everything. Church is going well and we continue to grow. We are having a fun day at the farm on Sunday so I will try to post some pictures after that day. We always love these days. I must go now as our meeting will be starting soon. Love to you all! Missy

Pyramids

Yesterday I had a wonderful birthday and wanted to thank all of you for the precious comments, emails and e-cards. I was happy to have my honey back home and be able to enjoy a day with the family back together. 

We spent most of yesterday with the Conners and had a great time with them. We love our team, even though they are so very far away from us.

We  visited a popular pyramid today. It was amazing. Really amazing. We enjoyed seeing what life was like way back many many years ago. We got a LOT of exercise and a lot of sun. We enjoyed everybit of it! Hope you enjoy the pictures. Love you! Missy

My birthday cake.

me wearing my cake! Love Mexico traditions!

Me, Jerod, Alex and Annie with the Conners. 

The Conners with their 2 man team.

Volcano PoPo.

Us visiting the pyramids at Teotihuacan near Mexico City.

Greg, Jerod, Alex, and Annie on top of the pyramid.

At the top of the mountain there is a spot that many believe when you touch it you can receive healing powers. This woman was touching the spot.

This is the Pyramid of the Moon. This picture was taken from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

Me and Annie on top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

Resting.

Greg and the boys in front of the Pyramid of the Moon.

That little red shirted spot is Greg on top of that pyramid. (with the boys)

The view from afar. The Pyramid of the Moon is straight ahead and the Pyramid of the Sun is on the right.

A very tired vender. Click to enlarge.

So far I'm a diggin' 40!

Hi friends! Today has been a great day and I really wanted to let you all know how happy I was to receive you messages. You have made my day! I will upload some photos so you can see how I spent it. Love you! Missy