Nana Keri

Nana Keri is the word for Grandma in Purepecha. We have called 2 women Nana Keri. Barbara's grandma, who passed away a few months ago and Salvador's mom, Virginia, who passed away early this morning. Praise the Lord, both of them had given their heart to the Lord! Greg and I went to see the family as soon as we heard. Salvador and Angelica had gone to town to buy a casket and some other family members were at the home with her body. The custom here is to mourn together at the home with the corpse and bury the body the next day.

I am always amazed at the women here. They are such hard workers. While we were there Salvador and Angelica's 2 daughters-in-law were hauling water needed to make the food. They are 16 and 19 years old. They had their indigenous clothing on, high heals and they were carrying about 50 pound water jugs on their backs. Water is always a problem here. The spring has almost dried up because we haven't had rain in about 4 months. So not only were they all mourning the death of a loved one, they were trying to find water to make the food for the guests who will arrive tonight.

Please pray for this family. It has been feared that there will be a lot of fighting now, over her money. Nana Keri's husband is still alive, but the money will still be a problem. Salvador has 6 brothers and one sister and they are almost all greedy. Please pray for Salvador. Our fear is that he will start drinking and won't stop. He is a very violent drunk and we are fearful he is going to cause a lot of problems for his family.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

Thanks for praying!

This is the update I received from our friend, Tom. God is so good! Thanks for praying!

Thank you for praying. I heard that you have gotten an update, but I wanted to tell you directly. God clearly got me through those moments, and everything that has happened since as we have worked through it. Here is what happened.
I was on my motorcycle and a bus in front of me stopped without any apparent reason. Then the bus quickly backed over me. I was scrambling for a distance 32 feet under the bus avoiding wheels etc. while my motorcycle was next to me getting ground up between the bus axle and the road. Fortunately I had on a good helmet with full face protection. When I realized this guy wasn't stopping and was instead speeding up, I was sure it was all over. God permitted me to live.
As it turns out, it was the driver's second day as a bus driver, and he had suddenly decided to back up and take another route. He was going to back up about 100 yards!! There was a group of construction workers by the side of the road, and they yelled to him to stop. When he realized what was happening, he stopped a second, then he floored it and took off forward. Fortunately I still had my head down so the back bumper didn't take my head off as he shot off.
The construction workers threw rocks at the bus, then it got stuck in traffic two blocks away. The guy got out and ran, but the construction workers chased him down. He came back embarrassed saying he had been scared. We've have very friendly relations with him and his dad since.
They kept me in the hospital on IV pain killers last night, and I got some bruises and knots and scrapes, but mostly just some heavy duty neck and back pain, and weird nerve sensitivity in my leg. I think much of that happened as I twisted to jump from the bike as it was getting crunched, and the bus hit me and slammed me down. CAT scan says nothing is broken, SO it's all about waiting out the pain. It was pretty intense yesterday, but with various drugs it has been easing to the point that I am home, and walking around (a little like a zombie...but walking around).

God bless you!
Tom

Enjoying the sun!

As I took this picture you could hear their son singing a song he wrote for Jesus. It was precious music! This precious couple has been through many difficult times in their 80 something years together. They have been persecuted greatly for their beliefs in Jesus. Those times have passed and their village has come to accept their way of life. The village people still don't agree with them, however they allow them to live in peace among them. Please pray for their family as they have continued on with the church their son started many years ago.

As I was reading today I came across this verse and thought it applied to them.

Song of Solomon 2:11

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come.

Hope you all have a glorious day!!

Pray for our friend !

Please pray for our friend, Tom Dyson. He is a missionary friend of ours who lives in Oxaca, Mexico. Tom was on his way to seminary and was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle. The extent of his injuries are unknown as of now, but we know he needs prayer. I will update this when I know more. Thanks for praying!

Sunday lunch

Homemade tortillas, and beans nothing better!

Jerod at church

This was Jerod explaining to the church about the story they heard. As you can see Alex was making sure Annie was paying attention. Is he MY child? :0)

4 months left!

Hi everyone. Our weeks seem to be flying by. It seems like we were just saying "Happy New Year!" and now it is time to say,"Happy Valentine's Day!" We now only have about 4 months left here in Mexico before we return to the states for our stateside assignment. (furlough) We are now on full speed ahead. We have some kind of bible study planned for every night of the week except Saturday. Greg is determined to go out with a bang! We have been trying to visit many of the Baptist churches all around us. They are never close, they are usually about a 40 minute to an hour and a half drive away. Please pray for us as we are traveling in some areas where the roads aren't exactly fun to drive on. The boys need prayer as sometimes they get REALLY bored at some of these visits. If it was, go to church and leave, they would be fine. However it is usually a good 2 hours after church is over that we leave. Everyone wants to feed us. A nice gesture but the kids get tired of this pretty quick! This picture of Alex was taken yesterday after church. We were waiting on the food to be prepared and he was doing his best to entertain himself! Annie always has fun on these days. She is such a "village kid!" She likes wearing her Purepecha clothing and playing in the dirt and generally doing whatever the other kids like doing. That is a blessing! Not much else to report. We will be going to our Monday night group study in about an hour. We are praying that we will have a good group. Thanks for your prayers for us! Some days that is all that gets me through the day!