Mom and Dad

So, Mom and Dad have have been gone for about a week so it is probably about time to blog about their time here.

We had a great week and everything went fast. I picked them up at the airport on Friday and we made it back Jovenes crowd because the girls were all off doing their own Valentine's Day thing. We had fun and the kids really liked the pizza.

Sunday Rodrigo and Carmen came to visit. It was fun to have them around and to get to see them again. It has been about four years since they moved back to Mexico, but they seem to be doing really well.



Here are Mom, Dad, Rodrigo and Carmen and their daughter Sofia.

Sunday evening the Young Group came in to make cena and Dad even ate some of the salsa. Mom was kind enough to make Funny Cake for the crowd, so we all had a good laugh over the cake.



Here are Mom and Dad with the girls. They all had a good time trying to speak English or Spanish or some form of the two.

We climbed 'La Mula' a little mountain near Ixtlan on Monday and got thoroughly worn out. We had a great time and were able to relax a lot during the day. We also managed to get really sore and sunburnt, but the cokes we drank on the drive home really hit the spot.



Here we are climbling the mountain. I am kinda hiding, but you can see me there. It is a little dry around here. You don't notice it so much in town, but it's pretty dry.

The rest of the time we just spent in Ixtlan wandering in the plaza and spending time together. It was a great chance to show them what life is really like here.



Here are some lemons as big a my head we picked off on of Marshall's trees. They made some weird tasting juice actually.

Prayer:
1. Pray for the eye clinic that is just wrapping up. (Yeah, should have posted earlier about that) Pray for God's work in the lives of each one of the people that we were able to see and that the operations would be successful and that our lights could shine.

2. Pray for renewed energy for me and for the others down here. Visitor season is a little hard because your schedule gets thrown off. Pray that we can all stay energized and get things done. Pray for our continued strength and focus in the next month.

As I mentioned several posts ago, I am now in the 'feast' of the visitors here in Ixtlan. Starting it all off was Louis and Ruth Haerr and Dick and Jeanette Graham. They were here for a week and were a blast to have around. It is always fun to have people to eat breakfast with and they were always encouraging. They continued the work on the school and we have now made some significant progress with echo reduction and usability.


Here is a picture of us in front of the church. (Dick, Jeanette, me, Ruth, Louis)

They really showed me what true brotherly love is and how to trust in God no matter what the circumstances. Their lives show the faithfulness of our God. Thank you Haerrs and Grahams for sharing your example and love with the church here in Ixtlan.

Prayer:
1. Pray for energy during the time with a lot of visitors. I sometimes get worn out when every thing adds up. Pray too that I put the time into teaching that I need to and that I don't short-change my students.

2. Pray that the school continues forward and that we can find our places and fill the needs that there are. Pray that we would continue on in God's wisdom and not our own.

3. Pray for continued growth and understanding in the word and in my relationship with God. There seems to be so many lessons that are learned here. I am sometimes completely overwhelmed by it all, but it is good. Real good.

Patzcuaro

It's been too long since I posted already. Here is an update.

Jovenes: Here are some pictures of Jovenes. The kids made some granola-type snack food heads on sticks (granola, cereal, marshmallow, m & m). See the picture for a better description. Jovenes has been a little smaller lately, but that lets us get things rolling again and rethink what direction we are goin in.



Here are Matt and Jesus showing of some of the creations. Matt's little head is wearing a veil, I think.





Poncho is one of the funnest kids around. He and Jesus (and Freddy, nest to Maggie in the middle picture) are all brothers.

Sunday night supper: Here are more pictures of a supper on one Sunday night. The entertainmetn for the evening was arm wrestling. Nayeli dominated the girls division single-handedly (yes, pun intended).



Here Alvaro and I are having it out. It was honestly not a very even battle. I have a bit of an advantage being older, etc, but it was all good.



This is what the arm wrestling was really like. A lot of laughing and joking not much wrestling.



I have to be honest and say that when I say here on the blog that we cook supper together, this group is who I really mean. Notice who isn't in the picture...yes, yours truly.

Patzcuaro: Monday the 2nd was a government holiday. We didn't have class and neither did most the rest of the country. So we, the young group, went to Patzcuaro, a quaint town about two and half hours away. We spent the day enjoying beautiful weather and the sites in Patzcuaro. It was a very enjoyable, if not long, day.



This is the bag of chips that I force fed to everyone because I didn't want to carry it anymore. Everyone was very kind and kept eating until they were gone. You can see some of what the city is like in the background. It was really pretty neat.



Here is Maggie, Christy Stoller (studying in Guadalajara), and Alvaro (red hat) at the top of the statue on an island in the middle of the lake at Patzcuaro. The island/town is called Janitzio. You have to climb up a bunch of stairs and work your way through surprisingly cramped spaces to reach the top of the statue (the top being the upraised fist of Saint Peter) and then you have to squeeze your head out the little space there at the top to see around. You definitely wouldn't fall out of the statue. Inside it was a slightly different story, but we all made it up and down fine and then waited an extremely long time for quesadillas at what some might consider a 'sub-par' restaurant, but it was all part of the great adventure of the day.

Prayer: I will finish again with some requests.

1. Praise for God's help with the school and an extension on the deadline. Pray that we can still get all the work done and that we can proceed forward with the school and have classes next fall. Pray for teachers. We still need teachers, especailly primary teachers.

2. Pray for the many that are going to be traveling to Ixtlan to visit and to work in the next couple of months. Pray for safety and that God would use each person to change lives here in Ixtlan.

3. Pray for Freddy, Jesus, Poncho and their sisters. Pray that they would listen and respond to what they are hearing as they spend time with us. They have a rough life and desperately need to hope that they can have through Jesus Christ and the salvation that we have through Him. Pray that their hearts would be soft, even now, so that God can work in their lives and build their trust in Him.