Introducing... My Team

God has opened the doors for me to work with the people of Las Moras in Mexico. There is no Gospel witness there - no believers - no Bible - no truth. Lord willing, we will be able to present God's truth to these people in a few years when we know their language & culture.
So, let me introduce you to those with whom I will be working:

My Team - My Co-workers - My Partners

Dan & Sarah Alkire - Josiah - Dan & Sarah are both children of missionaries. Actually, Sarah's family was in Panama with us & the two of us were in a dorm together at the boarding school! I've known them for a long time & it is cool that now God has brought us together to serve Him on the same team.
Ron & Tasha Davis - Ben, Emma, Josh, Nathaniel - I met Ron & Tasha when they went to Mexico in September 06. I was the newest on the field, but acted as their "host" kinda. How ironic! They were the only missionary family within walking distance of my house. I hope they enjoyed my spontaneous visits! :) They had been serving in another country, but moved to Mexico when it was no longer possible for them to be where they were.
Katie Moore will be homeschooling the Alkire & Davis children. This will free up Sarah & Tasha to have more time to dedicate to learning the language & culture of the Las Moras people.
Tom & Teresa Elkins began to have a ministry in the Las Moras area about 10 years ago. Despite many setbacks, they are continuing to do community development projects and will be supporting us as we live in the village.

This summer, the whole team is taking a "summer furlough" visiting churches and family before the move into the tribe. Lord-willing, we'll all be back in Mexico in August and then get ready to build houses in the tribe & move in.

More details to follow... :)

Memorial Day a la Mexicana

Arriving late, like a good Latin, although, perhaps this time it was a little too late, but I had to come from an hour & a half away and I didn't find out about the party until after I was supposed to be there! :)
Friends from Chile & Nicaragua
Sebastian playing a little for the kids.
Gerardo, the pastor of the Latin church, hosted the get-together.
Mmmm.... Grilled chicken, beef, sausage... watermelon, warm homemade tortillas, beans, rice. What more could you want?
A feast shared with friends. A great way to spend a holiday.

I'm a Survivor!!

11 kids - 4 hours a day - 5 days a week - whew!

This is the reason for all the work everyday. My job made it possible for these people to be trained for cross-cultural ministry. Some of them are now heading out to different countries around the world to expand the reach of the Gospel. Others have another semester before they head out. Please pray for them as they embark on this new stage of life's journey, that they would be faithful.

Another camping trip

We try to do fun things periodically with the Latin youth group. Last semester we camped outside for a night, in the yard of one of the Latin families who lives out of town. We had the fun things about camping but with some modern ammenities - bathroom & kitchen to help prepare food. It was such a hit that we decided to replicate it this semester, but go a little more primitive.
One of the families from the American church I attend has some property out in the country and offered to let us use it to camp. So, we took them up on it. Praise the LORD for the gorgeous weather we had both Friday & Saturday.
There were a few non-normal camping apparatus that we enjoyed.
Despite the means of cooking with gas in the background, we chose to make our dinners over the fire.
Going with the model "Don't fix what ain't broke" and since TFD's (tin foil dinners, aka hobo dinners) worked so well the first camping trip, we had them again.
After a walk and a few games, we had a time of getting real at the campfire. It was a time of honestly sharing before the Lord and others some of our struggles. It was good to hear the kids open up & to see how they're doing & with what they are struggling.
I also had the opportunity to share some of the things I've learned over this past year, especially about who God is and how knowing Him and His character affects my behaviour and what my response to Him should be. I especially appreciated the opportunity to share because I only have a short time left with the youth before I'm planning to head back to Mexico.
This was the girls tent. Although, 2 of us slept outside. I slept out in the open under the stars, and another girl slept in her hammock. Right before we loaded up the cars to head back to "civilization," we took a group picture. Although we did not realize that just a second before, two of the girls had run off to see something. We took the picture, loaded up the cars with the two of them who had returned and blended into the group. We didn't realize that we were missing the girls in the picture until we were looking at the pictures later on the computer.
But anyway, here we are...all but two. :)

10K race

I had the opportunity to run a 10K race this weekend with 7 other friends from NTM. 2 others ran the 5K race at the same time. It was fun to do it as a group - seeing your friends at different stages of the race as you pass each other on the parts that you backtrack. And, we had a cheering section, too! That was fun.The first 3 miles, Danielle & I ran together. It was fun to have someone with whom to run - to comment about what we were seeing and to pace each other.
Here's 8 of us at the end of the race. 2 others had already left.