Fun Week!

We have been out of town for the past week. We went to another part of Mexico to spend time with some friends who work with our organization. We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving and spending time with our extended family. We also were able to celebrate Annie's 7th birthday with her "cousins" and "aunts and uncles." She had a wonderful day and was happy to be able to have her party with her Mexican family. We were so blessed to be able to have this time away to become energized once again. It was a much needed break and we were so blessed by our time there.

Annie, Mikayla,and Jessica decorating for Annie's big day... turning 7!

Annie with her new cousins Evie and Mylee.

She couldn't have had a better birthday! Thanks everyone!

Opening her presents!

She was one happy little Jessie!

Alex hitting the pinata!

Getting ready for our big Thanksgiving celebration!

Had fun seeing cousins! Our little Daphca is still PRECIOUS!

Extende -family reunion photo

Thanks team!

Another precious cousin.

After our great meal the men cleaned up. As you can see, Greg was working hard!

Now, that is something to be thankful for! Dishwashers!!

Annie enjoyed spending time with new friends!

After our great day of Thanksgiving, we ended it with a wonderful time of worship. Nothing better than seeing kids praising God!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and know how blessed you are! Love you! Missy

I once was blind but now I can see!

Okay, the baptism on Sunday was awesome however; the baptism last night was well....  AMAZING!
Alicia, who I thought had been blind for most of her life, actually only lost her vision 4 years ago due to diabetes. She is very unhealthy and was scared to death of being cold. (It is pretty cold here, especially at night.) So, last night she was determined to overcome her fear of being cold and enter into the water of baptism. We found a container to use that we covered in plastic and then we bought some water and heated it over a fire. The men carried buckets of water into our church until it was hot enough for her and then she was ready. She asked to wear some of my clothes because she had none that were appropriate.   I was searching for the right tee shirt when I found the PERFECT one! As you can see it says, "Formerly Blind" on it. I thought it was fitting! Anyway, she was so happy after she was baptized and we were doing everything we could to warm her up.

 I was drying her hair with my hair dryer and she said, "STOP!" She started throwing up. I felt horrible. I thought it was because she got too cold or something. She acted very calm, and said, "No, I do this everyday." She finished and then she said I could continue drying her hair. Bless her heart. I really had no idea just how sick she was. She said her kidneys are really bad and that is why she throws up all the time.
                                      

                                      

Anyway, once she was warm, and dry she was one happy lady and felt so proud of herself for following through with something she knew Jesus wanted her to do. She said, she kept thinking that if Jesus died on the cross for her, the least she could do for him was follow his example in baptism! Man, I was thinking, this woman walks about 20 minutes to get here 2 times a week on rocky, dirt roads, and she is blind, all to hear the Word of God. I can barely open my eyes in the morning to read His Word and I take my sight for granted! I should be ashamed of myself! Anyway, I just hope these pictures bless you like they have blessed me! Love you all! Missy

Baptisms are wonderful!

Today couldn't have been a more wonderful day! It was so precious! We had an excellent turn out, right around 50 people came to celebrate this event. There were 5 who were baptized! We had to change our plans for our one blind lady. The water was so cold and she is not the healthiest woman, so we decided to postpone her baptism for tomorrow night. We are going to try and come up with some way to baptize her here in our village with hot water. This could prove to be quite the experience since we really have no idea what we are going to use to put the water in. Greg is going to look for a blow up pool tomorrow. Ha, it is about 45 degrees outside and I doubt anyone is selling those right now, however he is going to try. We will see what we end up with. So, tonight I will upload our pictures of the great day. I am only going to upload some, I took about 100, and then on Tuesday, I will try to upload more when we are in town with high speed internet. Please pray for tomorrow night, we are just so excited about this group of people! God is so good!

I also want to thank some of you for adopting the shoe boxes! We now have our shoe boxes covered! Our village kids will receive shoe boxes with goodies in them, personal notes and pictures from some of you and your churches. We plan on having a Christmas party with pinatas, Christmas candy, cake and games. We can't wait! So, thank you for helping us make this Christmas special for the kids here!

 Love you all! Missy

                                         

This was our first candidate, Francisca.

                                           She was elated! Greg kinda lead our leaders in the first
                                              baptisms, as the assisted.

This is Lucas, he is extremely shy but was so happy to follow Jesus in baptism.

(I know, I know, Corona, huh? It is his soccer jersey, what do you do?)

Next it was Annie's turn. She wasn't scared, but she didn't like being in front of so many people.

Under she goes......

wait for it.......

wait for it....

Is that awesome, or what?

She was one happy camper!

This is Tata Icho. He has struggled with the decision to be baptized for about 2 years. He felt like he needed to be perfect before he could be baptized. We tried to explain that isn't what the Bible says but he had it in his head that he wasn't ready. Last night, he decided he just needed to do it, to be obedient and follow Jesus. We were so proud of him!

He was proud too, so proud, he decided to go for a swim afterward! Look...

This is Mariella. Mariella was the first person our leaders ever baptized by

themselves. It was a great day for her and for them!

I am not sure who was happier, me and Greg, the leaders, or the people who were baptized.

It was just such and awesome experience!

Thanks for sharing it with us! More tomorrow!

Long few days

So.... yesterday was a very long day. The funeral was, well.....so hard. It was hard for me because I am not one of them and I had been taking care of this man for about a month of more. When he had Shingles, I would put cream all over his body and give him medicine and feed him when no one else was here. I made sure he was warm and that he wasn't in pain. I loved him.

However, at his funeral all of a sudden everyone seemed to care for him. It was so strange to me. I wanted to get close, but since I am a foreigner, I wasn't given the same privilege as others were. I know if it were up to Mada I could have gone anywhere, however, she was a little preoccupied with her own sadness to worry about stupid old me! So, I stood off to the side and watched as everyone got close to the graveside and said their last good-byes. I think they found it strange that someone like me was crying. I mean, I am here to work, why would an old man's death affect me? These people who don't know me, just see me as a stranger living among them. They don't know that I have the ability to love them, to care for them, to become part of a family that is not my own. They don't understand it because they have never done that themselves. Anyway, it was so hard. I am glad it is over.

I did learn some things that I never knew before yesterday. I have been to many funerals here and I thought I knew most of the customs that they had. I was wrong! I have never stayed for the entire thing. Well, yesterday I was one of the very last people that was there. We watched as they filled in the dirt on top of the casket. A group of men took turns shoveling the dirt. When one would get tired another would take over. Two men at a time did this until every last bit of dirt was put back where it had come from. However, before they had filled the grave they put a bag in with the casket. I had never seen this done so I asked one of Adolfo's daughters what it was that was put in the grave. She told me that it was clothing, food and water. She said they always do this because it was believed they needed these things for their afterlife. Now I have read that they did this in Egypt for the mummies but I never knew that they believed that here. However, after asking other people I was assured that indeed that is what many still believe.

I also learned that they don't throw any trash away at the deceased's home for 9 days. The wife doesn't bathe for 17 days and the family isn't supposed to change their clothes, bathe, or look happy for the entire 9 days. They stick to some of these things, however they laugh about others. Adolfo's daughters were laughing as they said the people would criticize them if they changed their clothes so they said, we trick them, we put on pants under our skirts! :o) He has 4 sons and 3 of them live away from here and do as they please. Mada said she had to mess up her hair a little so the people would think she looked disheveled. She is so funny!

I have to tell you what she said and then I will shut up. I was sharing with her that Adolfo was in heaven and that when she died she could go and see him there and he would be healthy and young and he would greet her. She said, "I don't want him to greet me. I am mad at him." I asked her why and she said because he left her here. I said, "Well, Mada the way I see it is, Adolfo knew he could never live here on earth alone without you, but he knew you would be fine without him. That is why he had to go first," She laughed so hard and said, " You're right, that's true, he could NEVER live here without me! But.... I'll be fine without him. Heeheeheehee!" I bout wet my pants when she said this. It was the happiest I have seen her in a long time!

Okay, enough of that. Tomorrow we will have a happy day. We will have our baptism. We hope to have 5 people and could have as many as 8. Here, you never know, there are 3 that are still undecided and will decide at the last minute. Baptism for them is a HUGE decision and they don't take it lightly. So, we are hoping that we will have those other 3 but they aren't sure yet. Anyway, there is one person who is VERY sure and she can't wait! Her name is Annie! Annie learned a lot last year when she was in the US about having a relationship with Jesus and what that means. So she excepted him into her heart last year and when we started talking about having a baptism here she chimed right in and said she was ready for that too. We are so proud of her! There will be 3 other women and one other man who are committed to this as of now. It should be a great day of fun, fellowship and following the footsteps of Jesus! Thank you all for reading, following us and for your comments, they mean a lot! Love you, Missy

Learning the culture

Ya know I learn something knew everyday. I am always trying to remember the things I find interesting so I can write them down and tell them to you. Then after thinking about them I think, oh maybe that is boring information, maybe you won't find my new information interesting. However, I have decided that instead of my just thinking for you, I will give you the opportunity to decide for yourself if it is boring or not.

Usually when I wake up in the morning, it is VERY difficult to drag myself into a sitting position so that I can make my eyelids remain open, so that I can do my bible study/quiet time. For me the word quiet time is not good because if it is too quiet I find myself drifting off to sleep. :o) I am such a good "M!" I know God is smiling down on me right now as He is thinking,"Oh what was I thinking when I put her in the middle of a village of lost people? Hmm?" I do try my best and most of the time I do stay awake during this time of studying the bible! Yesterday, when I was in this state of dragging myself to the sitting position I heard a loud moaning/crying noise coming from outside my window. (Our windows are not insulated, you can hear everything outside) I then jumped up ran to the window and instantly knew what had happened. My Adolfo had died. I quickly got dressed and went outside in the frigid weather and found our landlord, Adolfo's son by himself. He told me that Adolfo had indeed passed away. So I went to see Mada. (Adolfo's wife)

Now you have to understand a little about the way we live her to fully understand this story. We live in a home that was built in the middle of Mada and Adolfo's property. They have their bedrooms; which are 2 concrete rooms on the left side of our home, and they have three wooden rooms which are used as a kitchen and storage,on the right side of our home.  There is a wall built around all of their property, kinda like a compound.

So, I walked over to the wooden rooms where Adolfo and Mada had been sleeping for the past few months and found about 20 or so people sitting on benches. These were all people who were distant relatives, many of whom I have never seen. I found Mada sitting on a stoop in the room where Adolfo's body was. He was on a table with a white sheet over him. His daughter was fiercely dusting the room, his sister was sitting with Mada and I was rocking Mada as she silently cried. Now I haven't been around that many dead people in my life, but since living here, I have been around a lot more. It is strange how things don't bother you the way they once may have. I was sitting right next to a corpse and I never once thought anything of it. I sat there with Mada for awhile. Then her son, (our landlord) came in and had a ball of string in his hand. I thought to myself, "Oh he is going to hang something, maybe I can help him." Then I see him take the string and place one end of it at Adolfo's head and then he started to unravel the ball of string and handed to another man. The other man took the string and pulled it tightly so it was at Adolfo's feet. They shook their heads as if to agree and then tied a knot a few inches past his feet and wala, that is how long the casket needed to be. :o) See, told you I learned something new everyday!

So, I told Mada I would come back later and she said okay. I went back home and was trying to do school with Annie when we hear the horrible moaning sound. Not a human moaning an animal moaning. Annie asked what it was and I said I didn't know but it was coming from our backyard. So, we got up and looked out the back window. What to our wondering eyes did we see? But a bull being slaughtered! Oh my, oh my! "Mommy, what are they doing?" "Umm... fixing dinner." "Oh, I don't want any!"  "I don't either!" 

Later on I find our dog, which is really Mada's dog in the backyard with something in his mouth. I ask, "What does Louie have in his mouth?" " Oh that is the bull's tail." Oh the memories we are making here are so interesting! I hope I haven't totally bored you! I have a ton more to tell, but I know you aren't ready to read all of my adventures today! I will try and save some for later! Love you! Missy

My sweet Nana Mada and Tata Adolfo

This is the photo I said I took a few days ago while Adolfo was trying to get warm in the sun. I told you it was priceless! I just got home from sitting with Nana Mada. (That is her pictured with him) Bless her heart, this is so hard on her. They were married for almost 67 years. Please pray for her. I love her and it is breaking my heart to see her so sad. When I first moved here, she was a thorn in my side. Oh, she really made me mad. Now, she couldn't be sweeter to me. She is loving and kind and treats me like I am a daughter. I have learned a lot from her. Tomorrow, or I guess later today, (it is 3am) will be extremely hard on her. Please pray she will have the strength to endure it! Love you all! Missy

Adolfo has passed

It is a sad day for us here. Tata Adolfo who was very precious to me has now passed away. He died early this morning. I am sad but happy. I am so happy he no longer has to shiver in the cold nights and endure the pain that he had. I am sad because now sweet Mada is now alone to endure all life's trials by herself. She is a rock. She has cried but not like many here do. She just cried a few silent tears and said, " All he wanted was for his children to come and visit him." Yesterday when he was sitting out in the sun, trying to warm up, he saw a plane and said he hoped some of his kids were on it. He has 7 children and only about 3 of them came to see him regularly. Anyway, please pray for his family as they are all mourning the loss of their father, grandfather and so on. The next 9 days will be somewhat sad around here. They mourn for 9 days. 

Our internet has been horrible here and some days we have none. This is the first time we have had it in awhile. So, I will try to post a picture I took of the Mada and Adolfo two days ago. It is priceless. Really priceless. Some days I am so thankful for the little things I am able to offer these people, like electric blankets and lasting memories. Until later.....

Baby it's cold outside!

Hi friends! For some reason people always think that it never gets cold in Mexico. Well I am here to tell you it is cold here! I am sitting in my bed, with flannel sheets on, long very furry pjs on and socks and I am still cold! I would say it is about 50 degrees in our house. We don't have central heat here, and with tile floors and concrete walls it feels like an ice box. I am only setting this up so you will understand how my neighbors must feel.

Adolfo, who is still hangin' in there; is all bones. He truly looks like someone from a concentration camp. He is always in his bed and just doesn't want to eat. But he is always cold. They live in a wooden home with concrete floors and some of the cealing is open so the air comes in pretty easily. It literally hurts me to think about. So tonight I brought over an electric blanket. You would have thought I brought over a million dollars. It was so fun to watch as they touched it and saw that it actually got warm. So after about 15 minutes he stopped shivering and went to sleep. I felt so much better just knowing he would sleep a little better. Please pray for them. There are so many just like them that are cold. Really cold. The kind of cold that you can't make stop. We don't know how good we have it. I complain when I am cold and I at least have tons of blankets, pjs, a mattress, a space heater and plenty of ways to get warm. They have nothing.

Thanks for praying!

Door has swung open! ;o)

Well friends, next stop, Saint Tommy! We went to talk to our "person of peace" today and found him at home with his family. He took us to meet the  town leader and Greg explained that we wanted to live among them. He said he saw no reason why we couldn't do that. Which left us feeling very excited.

We then called our "person of peace's" brother, who lives in the US and asked if we could rent his home. This home is about 75% finished and still needs a lot of work before we could live in it. However, his brother was very excited and agreed to allow us to live there. Now we are going to try and fix it up over the next 6-7 months so we could move in sometime next summer. I will post pictures of our future home ASAP. We are sooo excited about this home and this village. We are very happy and know God has planned this all out for us. He is in control of our every move. Yay God!   Thanks for praying!

Off to get answers

Hi friends! Thank you all for praying for Annie. She is healing well. We went back to the Dr. yesterday and he said it would be more traumatic to give her more stitches. He said she looked good so we are just taking it easy and eating soft foods.

She is LOVING all of the attention! I need make a correction of sorts from my earlier post. I commented on how Alex was taking good care of Annie, mainly because that was the picture I had and I was commenting on that. However, Jerod also took very good care of Annie. Those fake nails she has on her fingers were painstakingly put on by none other than, Jerod! So, I wanted you all to know that although I don't have a picture to prove it; Jerod was loving on his sister too!

We are off today to "Saint Tommy" to find out if they will allow us to live in their village. If you read this, please pray. We are REALLY  hoping that this would be the answer to our prayers and we would be able to live in this village and maybe in the home that Greg was shown last week. We will find out today if the door is wide open or slammed shut. Thanks for your prayers. Love to you all! Missy

2 stitches busted

We were on our way to the car when blood started pouring out of Annie's mouth. We turned around and headed back to her room. She had 2 stitches that had come loose. We waited for the bleeding to stop and the Dr. said we could wait until tomorrow to see if they would restitch it or if we could let it heal on it's own. She is nervous to move her mouth. Right now we are cuddling in bed watching the movie, Elf. Please pray her mouth heals quickly! Thanks! Missy

Halloween pictures

Halloween on November 3, 2010! Jessie has come to town!

                                        So this is Jessie, Ken, and Slash from Guns -N-Roses

Since the elections have already taken place, this is Nancy Pelosi, crying. Beside her it says, Liberals Unite.  Then beside her is the Biggest Loser, which we could say they were both the Biggest Loser pumpkins! :o)

Tiana, Cheyenne, Annie, Jenell, and Sammy

We had a great night! Please pray for Annie, she has her outpatient surgery tomorrow. I will post more tomorrow. Love to all! Missy