Oh the Drama.... Please pray for Annie!

So... First let me say it has been a tough week. I was sick all last week. Then Annie and I ate some bad chicken and we were sick together. Today was our first good day of feeling fine. We were so thankful and ready for a 'normal' week. Ha! Well, we were watching television... The Biggest Loser if you must know, and we hear a scream from the school room where Annie and Alex were watching a cartoon. We run in there to find out what happened and find Annie on the floor with a very ugly, bloody toe. Her toenail was almost all the way off, however I couldn't quite get it off myself. So.... off to a Dr. friend who lives just 10 minutes down the road.

So this is what it looked like when we found her, but worse. I placed the toenail in the right position to cover it until we got to the Dr.'s house.

That is her toenail in the tweezers.

Our brave little Annie waiting for this thing to be over.

She was a little unsure about what he was going to do to her. But it is two of her best friends in the world's father so she trusted he wasn't going to hurt her. Of course he loves her as does his 19 and 21 year old daughters. (Those are the best friends!) 

This is what it looked like afterward! We had to decorate her toe to make it look fun!

Resting at home after our rush to the Dr.'s house.

The culprit. How did it happen? Well, Annie was trying to get a blanket that was in a corner of the room. I use this blanket to lie on when I am working out. Underneath that blanket was this 10 lb. weight. When she pulled the blanked down, off rolled the weight. Annie suggests that we now leave the weight on the floor, I agree! Blessings.... NO broken toe/foot! A Dr. friend who is a Christian man and would do anything for Annie. He didn't even want to charge us. He gave us medicine and everything we needed to fix up her toe and we gave him about $8. We are blessed! Annie is now sleeping peacefully and can't wait to watch her new toenail grow! We will just have to work this into homeschool and figure out just how a nail grows and how long it takes and all of that good stuff. It could be fun! Please pray she has no infection and that she will feel fine tomorrow as well. Love to all! Missy

First Day of School

Well we are back into the swing of things again. We all awoke with a little excitement to begin our new year. Annie was soooo excited. She cracks me up. She made hearts and had them coming out of my room leading down the stairs and into the school room. On each heart there was a letter and each letter together spelled,  I love you, I love you, I love you. How sweet is she? It was too precious for words.

She waited patiently outside the school room to meet her teacher. Finally the time came to meet her new teacher, Mrs. Wood and she seemed nice. Annie seemed excited to meet her and went in the classroom without a single tear or even waving good-bye to me. I was a little sad. ;o)

Then the boys went to meet their teacher. Senora Madera, wasn't quite as friendly as Annie's teacher. She greeted them at the door with a very stern look and a bat. I guess they are in for a tough year. They didn't seem to care. They too went into their classroom without any hesitation and had a great day. By the time I went to pick them all up, the teachers both looked a little run down and ready for a nap and the kids looked like they were ready for some good play time. All in all it was a great first day back!

Love to you all! Missy

What can happen in a week.....

Well friends, one week ago we went to our old village to spend time with them with our team. It was a great time of celebration and laughs and lots of encouragement.

Our team spent a lot of time a house of a lady named Cesilia. She has been one of our friends for years and we have seen her family through lots of difficult times. About 5 years ago her daughter (Lupita) got married to a 14 year old boy. That was when Lupita was 12 years old. We prayed them through that and the marriage was terminated and she returned home.  Last year when our team was here we spent time with them and Rachael (one of the team members who is Lupita's age) formed a real friendship with Lupita. Last week when we returned Lupita and Rachael picked up their friendship where they left off a year ago. They  exchanged many gifts, one of which was a backpack for Lupita because she was getting ready to leave to live in the city to go to high school. Lupita was so excited about going to school and studying so that one day she could get a good job and have a good life.

Rachael giving the backpack to Lupita

Lupita dressing Rachael in her clothes.

Rachael with the gifts that she received from Lupita.

HOWEVER.... one week has passed and we returned to see them today. There was one thing missing.....Lupita. One day after we left, she got married. Yep.... good-bye school, good-bye better life and job opportunities. She met a guy 2 weeks ago and she left with him on Saturday to his home. In this culture, that means they are married. She has only known him for 15 days. Her mother was extremely shocked and had no clue why she would choose to do this. She said that on Saturday they had purchased all of the necessary materials for her to start school. Uniform, toiletries, everything so that she could live in the city (it is a little like boarding school) and go to school. Cesilia said she was so excited about starting school and then that night this "guy" came by and they ran off together. So sad. Now there is a little bit of hope and Cesilia has asked me to ask all of you to pray. Please pray that Lupita will come to her senses soon. VERY SOON. She has a small window where she could still leave this situation. It is very small, however she can still leave him and return home if she can decide to do that soon. Please pray she will realize what a big mistake she has made and return home and go back to studying. 

So, that was the first stop we made tonight. The next news we were given was that another woman in our church got "married" this week as well. She got married when she was younger and her husband left her with a little boy. So she has been a single mom for about 3 years now. This one man showed interest in her recently and she jumped at the chance to have a spouse again. However, she is legally still married and he has 2 other wives and more than 4 children. One of his wives lives here in Mexico and has some children by him and doesn't want anything to do with him. The other wife is in the US and has the 4 kids. Now our dear friend who is about 23 years old is now living with this man. So the week did not prove to be very good for the women in our church. Please pray God will work in both of their lives. 

This sweet lady in the middle is Juanie and her son is Ricardo, she is pictured here with her mother. 

She is the other lady who got "married" this week. Her mama is very sad too! 

Please pray for us as we try to figure out how to reach them with His Word when they will no longer be able to hear it. 

Love you all! Missy

What one team member has to say....

Hi this is Pam. I am one of the team members that just spent a week in Mexico with the Wood family. I wanted to share with you what I learned throughout my week there.  I first learned that God can do amazing work in us when we obey Him. (the Great commission for ex.) I also learned some Spanish words and a great deal of the Mexican culture.  I learned the importance of connecting with people. Relating to one another with open hearts, with humility and vulnerability leads to healing and personal growth and growth of those we connect with. In connecting with some of the people in Mexico, I learned some of the people's hopes and of those who have no hope. What shocked me was that God was able to use me to touch others lives both within the team and with the Mexican people. My misconceptions were that I wouldn't have any fun and wouldn't enjoy the food. However,  I loved most all of the food and had the most amazing experience of my life.  Seeing God work in my life and the lives of our teammates and the work He does thru Missy and Greg was a most fulfilling experience. I fell in love with the people in Mexico and made some new friends including Greg and Missy!! and their children.                         This is Pam receiving some gifts from some of her new friends.                                This Pam eating some new food with another team member, Jamie Throughout the week He changed me, I fell in love with Jesus again!!! Connecting with my team members and the people in Mexico was part of what has led to my falling in love with Jesus again!!! and for having a renewed passion for sharing the Gospel!! Also, I really opened up my heart to Jesus and repented of some sins and received such mercy, grace and compassion from Him that I will never be the same!! It is my goal to share the Gospel with at least one person every day!!! Thanks Missy and Greg for allowing me to come and stay in your home and interact with you and your family.. What a blessing!! I pray if God leads; my family and I will be able to return in His time!!. Luv u. Pamela. This is Pam connecting with a sweet girl who just lost her husband.

Indiana Team Connecting

Hi friends! Man what a week. I got about 25 hours of sleep since Monday. That averages to about 5 hours each night and it may have been a little less than that. BUT.... I loved it! It was like slumber parties every night, talking to my new friends until 2 or 3 in the morning. We cleaned a river, had an entire day of VBS, had dinner and Bible study with a family, visited with a neighbor and saw how pottery was made, visited the 14th largest Catholic church in the world, made lots of new friends, took more than a 1000 pictures, ate a ton of food, laughed until we wet ourselves, (which wasn't hard with one bathroom) visited our old village and shared with a lot of people the love of Jesus.

I can't tell you how blessed I am to know these people. They never once complained about anything, they smiled and laughed and were just joyful to be here with our people. Our people knew that they were happy to be here too. They all made many new friends here and I do hope they won't forget them. I am going to have some of them post over the next few days and that way you can see how this experience has  effected their lives.  I heard many times from them how they thought they had nothing to offer these people, however after their first day, they realized they were wrong. They had the love of Jesus.

For some reason I have not had any luck uploading pictures on my blog today. However if any of you are on FB and would like to see the pictures on there, just invite me to be your friend and I will except. I just uploaded about 30 or so photos on there. I am going to save the stories for our team to tell you and I am going to take a nap! ;o) They are all on their way home now, please pray they all have safe and uneventful travels! Love, Missy

Our day at VBS!

Singing songs

Greg and Jamie doing the motions 

The Zacchaeus drama. 

Zacchaeus, you come down! 

I am going to your house today!

Zacchaeus telling him he will give back 4 times the money he has taken from the people.

Now this story is really neat, but it is even more special when you realize that the little boy who was acting it out was a deaf mute. 

 Jamie holding a precious little boy.

 Rachael playing with the kids.

 This little boy would not smile at first and whew, that is all it takes to make me go to work. By the end of the day, we were friends!

Robin with the famous little boy who Jamie was with.

I had to post this pic, b/c it is priceless. She was in a relay and just happy, happy, happy. I don't know why it is so big, but I am going to leave it that way b/c it is sooo good! 

Jeff ready to eat.

The kids watching the Zacchaeus drama.

Pam and Rachael serving drinks to the kids.

Alex playing with the kids.

Waving good-bye after the first half of the day. We came back a few hours later for part two. I have to run or I would post more pics. Hope you all have a great day and are blessed by these pics!

Team Indiana and VBS

Hi everyone we had a great day today! A very long day once again. One of the team members, Jamie is going to write a post now. Here is what he has to say:

To say it was an amazing day serving alongside the Wood Family would be an understatment.  The privilege to meet about 50 kids in a nearby village today and some of their families was truly humbling.  We started about mid-morning and finished tonight about 9:00 PM.  However, we did have a three hour break inbetween activities.  From games to puppet shows, to music to just hanging out, it was a memorable time for our team.  I'm confident the time today was fruitful for the kingdom. 

For me I was excited to see the joy the kids expressed as we interacted with them and played games.  The hospitality the adults showed us was above and beyond the call of duty.  One instance was a make-shift bench they made us to sit on and view the puppet show.  One older gentlemen noticed the seat was wet so he proceeded to take newspaper and cover our seats.  Just one example of hospitality.

I can honestly say the week has been personally refreshing and encouraging.  The Wood's are serving with distinction and it is a pleasure to be called their friend and co-laborer.

I look forward to the next couple days.  It is sure to be memorable.

Jamie Woodyard

As Jamie mentioned it was an amazing day and if I wasn't sooo tired you might get to see some pictures. However, you will just have to wait until tomorrow. It is now almost 11 and I am pooped! I will post more tomorrow!
Love you all! Missy

This team is AWESOME!!!

Our team from Indiana arrived on Monday and we were so happy to see them! 2 of them came last year and 2 of them are spouses of the men who came on their team last year and one of them is completely new!

Our community service project today was to clean the river where the women wash their clothes. It was filled with trash and will filled 20 bag loads of trash in 3 hours.  We all worked hard and were blessed by the end result! 

This was a woman who we saw as we were leaving, she was curious as to what we were doing, but stopped looking as soon as she saw us looking at her.

This was after our hard work.

Resting.

This is Jeff, he came ready to work, he will leave a changed man. He has made an huge impact on all those he has met. 

This is Pam and I almost knee deep in the water cleaning all the junk out. It was fun!

Here is a really neat story!! This woman pictured on the right was in the street when we were trying to find our way to the river. Greg got out to ask her for directions and she openly shared with him that her 23 year old husband had just died. He was on a tractor and it turned over on him and killed him. She was heart broken and said he was a good man and a good father. We stopped right then on the way to the river and prayed with her. She told us we could park at her home. We met the family who were there grieving and her 4 year old son. We offered to buy him some of the things he would need to start pre-school. She was very happy! So on the way back to our truck after we were done with our job, we helped clean up her yard as well (when someone dies it is customary to mourn for 9 days after they die and tomorrow completes the 9th day) b/c there was a lot of trash from the company they had. She hugged us and invited us back anytime. I think we have a new friend in our village. All b/c this team came and we went to clean up a river. He always has a plan!!

This little kids were playing beside the home where they were mourning. 

Rachael hard at work

The dirty team.

This little fella was just hangin out in a tree and wanted his picture taken.

These women were crossing the river and Jeff got this picture of them, isn't it great?

Here is Pam with Maria, the widow with her son.

Jeff eating tamales at our Bible study tonight. 

Jerod was enjoying his tamales too!

Alex was busy playing with his friends.

As was Annie.

How precious are they? Tonight they asked for prayer b/c she can't hear and he can't see. Please pray for them.

Pam and I enjoyed getting to know this sweet lady better. She was so happy we were all there. I think we encouraged a lot of people today. We have VBS in a small village in the morning and then again tomorrow night. I will do my best to post some pics earlier in the day, but we are running a mile a minute. It is 1:15 am and I am just now getting this done. ;o) Pray my eyes will open in the morning! We are having a great time and are just loving this team more than they will ever know! What a blessing!! Pray they all stay healthy!!