Time to pray.....

Hi friends,

Please pray for my friend's 7 year old daughter who is having multiple seizures and they don't know why. They are hoping to know more today, but this poor little girl is suffering terribly and so are her parents. Please pray they would get the results today, that it would be from an infection and they could treat it quickly and life could return to normal soon.

Number 2. Yesterday some friends of ours decided to make bread and sell it in a nearby village. So, they took the bread that they had made and were driving it around to the small stores all over this other village. You have to understand that in the villages, you could have 2-5 stores on one block alone so they were just driving their truck slowly and someone would hop out, sell the bread and they would keep going. Well... the someone who was driving was their 13 year old son. In America, this is extremely abnormal, here, very common. If you can reach the pedals, you can start to drive, drink, smoke, marry, just about anything. Anyway...as they were moving ahead a little 5 year old darted out in front of their truck and not knowing what to do very well, the 13 year old didn't stop soon enough and once he did he had already hit the little boy and done damage to his head. HORRIBLE stuff. Now the custom here is that whoever does the crime has to be held in the jail until it is proven they will pay and not try and escape the situation. So the dad was held in jail until 3:30 am when they called.... you know who. Poor exhausted husband who can't think straight past 11:00pm had to make plans at 3:30 am to help out in this situation. So at 6:30 this morning he drove the father of the 13 year old to the hospital where the little 5 year old is. Two hours away and they are going to try and figure out how to help this family. Please pray that this little boy's injuries aren't as bad as they sound and that he can have a complete recovery from this and above all... that God will get all the glory in this situation.

Thank you all for keeping up with us and praying for us and for generally holding us up through prayer. Some days just simply staying above water can be hard here, other days finding water to stay above can be hard b/c there is none, then other days are just simply glorious! Right now with our move just 8 days away, 2 church services to go, a wedding to attend, two more trips to our new village still to be made, curtains to be MADE, a washing machine to purchase, a yard sale to have, school to finish, and a house to pack..... I am a little stressed. So..... pray whenever, however and about whatever and you will be covering something of importance to us!! Love you all!! Missy

Baptismal Blessings!

Today was one of those days that makes every single sacrifice worthwhile. I think God gave me a perfect Mother's Day!The baptism went so well, it was a beautiful day and we had 51 of our people come to join us in this celebration. This was the first baptism where Greg just guided them from outside of the pool. Our leaders did everything. They gave a short teaching on baptism, they got in the water and they did all of the baptisms in their language. It was awesome!

There were a lot of people there who have only been coming for a few months and this was the first water baptism they had ever experienced. One of them just happened to be Lafira, Eto's mom. (I mentioned her a few posts ago) Lafira had some questions about salvation and baptism and was really seeking out the truth about what the Bible had to say on both. So it was explained to her in her language what the Bible says about baptism and salvation. She said she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior and did so right there. One boy.....I get teary eyed thinking about it. Just a boy asking his mama to come to church and now..... she wants to be baptized too. Cuz....you know why? that is what Jesus did. This made me cry; Greg said he was explaining to her that God had a plan for her and he could use her. She said, "But, I can't even write." Bless her precious heart, she thought she had to be able to write for the creator of our universe to use her. Greg explained that they had just lead her to Christ without using any book or writing anything. All she has to do now is tell people how Jesus changed her life and she will be used. Please pray for her. Her husband is not in agreement with her attending our group and he may cause problems for her. Please just pray for her. I will upload some pictures tomorrow. I love you all! Missy

Happy Mother's Day!

Hi friends! I hope this finds you all celebrating your mamas! For some this day can be sad if your mama has passed away like my grandmothers have, and for some it is sad if your child has passed away like I know some of my friends have experienced. For others it may be sad because you long to be a mama and have not been able to experience that wonderful relationship. However, whoever you are and wherever your emotions may take you today, I do pray God will bless you with a most wonderful day! I am a very fortunate lady in that I still have my wonderful mother as does Greg and I have 3 wonderful children to celebrate with. However..... for me.... IT WON'T be done TODAY! ;o)

My precious husband decided to plan a baptism today. He scheduled this baptism about a month ago and in his defense neither of us even thought about what day it was when he mentioned the date. So... instead of celebrating Mother's Day today we are going to celebrate something even more precious.... 3 people following Jesus in the waters of baptism. We are very excited and hope to have a great day. Please pray all goes well and we have no injuries or problems. I always get a little nervous when we have a lot of people around a pool that don't know how to swim. It will be hot today and I think most of them will be getting into the pool after the baptism. So all of your prayers would be appreciated! I have a house full of guests and our good computers are in the rooms where they are, so all I had was old pictures to put on here of our mamas. But... out mamas are pretty all the time so it doesn't matter when the picture was taken. Now Greg and I could be a different story. I love you all and hope you all have a great day! I will celebrate the Mexican way on Tuesday and we will eat somewhere special. I will let you know how everything goes! Love to you all!! Missy

Me and my parents at the airport in October of 2008

Greg and his mama at the airport in Jan of 2009

Pictures

This was Easter Sunday coloring with the kids.

Wearing our Easter best! ;o)

We did not come prepared to teach the kids, there is usually someone else who teaches them. However, she wasn't there so they asked me to do it. Annie had a coloring book and crayons and we used that to pass the time. The service was 2 and a half hours long so I was glad we had something to keep their attention.

I am so proud of him! Not too many 14 year olds would be willing to help tell a Bible story to the kids and then color with them too.

Proud of him too! He just goes with the flow! Whatever we need him to do, he does! Love my kids!

This is  a precious woman! I would say she is in her 90s and she just lost her husband a few weeks ago. Her bed is pictured below and she is still all smiles. I can only hope to be more like her; praising Him no matter what!

This is her bed/ bedroom, it is partially outdoors, all it has over it is a leaky roof, and it has 3 walls around it. (one of which is mainly cardboard) 

So I am embarrassed to show you pictures of my beautiful kitchen! I am in love with it!

This is the den/living room.

We have been moving some things over slowly but surely. This is the school room/ play room.

This house has been a true blessing but I know Greg will be glad when the building part is all over. We are still waiting on a few last minute things before we can move in completely. It has been a true headache but I do think it will be a blessing once it is all over. Please pray for a smooth transition for all of us. Moving, making new friends, starting new works, finding friends for the kids, all of that can be quite the challenge. Please pray! Love you all! Missy

Proud Day

There are days on the job when you think you have failed in every area. Then there are days that just make you feel so good to be a part of what God is doing around the globe. Today was one of those days for me. I have been meeting with a group of women every Wednesday for several months now to pray. At first it was just me who would pray. Then one other woman started to join in. We usually have 5 women in all gathered for prayer and we have really gotten close through this time. Today I arrived late b/c I had been at our new home cleaning with Greg and didn't get home in time. So when I did arrive I walked in and was pleasingly surprised by what I saw. Two of our regular prayer partners were sharing from their hearts how God had changed their lives to a new comer.

Now, I must back up a little, this new comer is only coming b/c of one reason...... her son. When we returned from the states almost a year ago my kids got to know a boy named Eto. (pictured below at Alex's birthday party bowling) They really liked him and asked him to come to our study. (that is what we call church) So he started to come by himself every Monday and Friday. He hardly ever missed a day. He loved hearing Bible stories. One night about a month ago, a woman whom we had never met showed up at our study. We were excited to have a new visitor and Greg and I both went to welcome her. Well that is when we found out that it was Eto's mother. She said her son had been asking her to come and she finally decided to give it a try. She hasn't missed a night since. So today she joined our prayer group. It brings tears to my eyes to see how it all works. One boy brings his Mama who hopefully will bring her husband and little by little our village can be reached. One boy.

Okay, back to prayer group. So they were sharing with her about how to accept Jesus as her Savior and how they felt after they were baptized and what a joy it was to meet and pray together. Lafira ( this new comer) listened and was so interested in it all. So it came time to pray and I usually ask who is going to pray so there isn't an uncomfortable silence. To my excitement all 5 of us prayed today. When we were done Lafira said, " I was so scared to do that, I couldn't get the words out. I was just so overcome with love for Jesus." She cried through her entire prayer. It was precious. All of the women then started laughing and said, we were the same way. But.. little by little you get less scared and then you just want to pray. It was just... neat. I left there with a smile on my face that I don't think anyone could wipe off!

Really love these people. I mean..... my heart belongs to these people. I would do just about anything to help them find the peace that I have found. I hope you all have found that same peace. Because it just is too awesome to live without it!

love you all!! Missy

Happy Easter!

Hi friends! Well, I must say Easter here takes on a whole different feel than it does in the US. I remember last year as we enjoyed all the spring flowers and got our spring clothes on for Easter service. We enjoyed celebrating that Jesus had risen from the grave and loved singing the familiar hymns. Of course we also loved eating the goodies that the Easter Bunny brought. I was just looking at a picture I took in Target last year on the candy isle. I couldn't believe how much candy there was for Easter, I mean there were at least 4 or 5 isles filled with different types of Easter candy. Not to mention all of the Easter egg hunts that were advertised at all of the parks and churches and schools. It was just fun, fun, fun.

Well, one good thing about living here is that if you don't see those things advertised, you don't know you should be missing them. Or at least if you are 7 you don't know. Annie has no idea that tomorrow is the day when the Easter Bunny is supposed to come. She hasn't seen one plastic egg, one jelly bean or chocolate bunny . Those just aren't important here and so it hasn't been something she has missed. Which is a huge blessing! I on the other hand have missed the jelly beans! ;o)

It is nice having Easter be about our Savior and not about colored eggs and a bunny. I must say that is where they get it right here. My dad asked me what they did to celebrate here and I told him they have parades with statues of Mary and Jesus and they go up to the statues and pray to them. They wear crowns of thorns on their heads and many may even walk on their knees for awhile to show that they are willing to physically suffer for Him. Now of course it breaks my heart to see them doing this because this isn't what Jesus would want them to be doing. My dad said, " Well at least they are doing it in the name of Jesus." That got me thinking. He is right. I don't agree with what they do here as they are worshipping idols and that is contrary to His teachings. However; is hunting for colored eggs and sitting on an Easter bunny's lap for pictures or putting a lot of focus on all of the things we put our focus on at Easter much different? Really when it comes to Easter I would bet that the church service we attend is about an hour, (in the US) how much time do we spend on all those other things? I am not preaching to all of you, I am pretty much preaching to myself. I haven't spent that much time on those things here in Mexico, but I did when I was in the US.

I read other blogs. Not many but some and I always think, " Man I bet the few people who read my blog get so bored with what I have to write." I am not a biblical scholar. That was actually one of the reasons I thought I couldn't do what I am doing. But then I look at Moses, he said he was awkward with his words and God used him. I never really say much that is life changing or anything, nothing too deep comin' out of this here mouth. But... I do hope I can at least make myself think a little and that is what this post has made me do, THINK. It hurts too! :o)

Anyway, one thing we did on Friday to celebrate was we showed the Jesus film in their language. Greg was a little worried b/c once we had it all set up and lots of chairs put out there were only 3 adults there and it was time to start. (There are always a lot of kids, at that time there were about 10.) So we sang a few songs and sure enough by the end of our singing the place was starting to look full. We started the movie and they kept coming and coming and coming. People we have never seen before filled our place of worship up! It was enough to make me want to cry. People on the streets were hearing this movie in their language and they just came in to see it. It was just awesome. By the end of it, I think we had around 65 people. Many of our regular attendees weren't there but lots of visitors were. We have been asked to do the same thing in another village on Thursday night. So, please pray that Thursday we will see the same effect on another village! Thanks for reading and praying and thanks for not thinking I am a peon! Happy Easter! Love, Missy

Fun times!

Fun times! These are just a few of the pictures I have been meaning to upload. I will try to get more on here, it just takes a loooong time to do so. I will try though! I need to go now because are heading to church for the Lord's Supper and a lesson on Christ's last days. This is always a tough time around here for the people  in our church because there are so many things that are traditional here but are directly related to idol worship. That poses a big conflict for many of them and some continue in their traditional ways of idol worship. This makes us sad, but only HE can change this. Please pray for them throughout this week! Love to you all! Missy

Racing, blindfolded to change a babydoll. It was a hoot!

This was at the baby shower. The women were drawing pictures of what they thought the baby would look like on plates which were on top of their heads.

We were the first people there which was nice, that is a blessing about being here! This was a picture of the boys teaching their friends how to bowl.

Annie was just enjoying the celebration part of the party!

This is Eto, he was loving this!

The boys with their friends at the bowling alley.

This is little baby ? she was born the day after the baby shower. They still haven't named her yet!

Little Alex with Max, the sweetest dog ever!