About this time 30 years ago...

...two young people getting ready for one of the most significant days of their lives. And on that very cold & snowy day in Steinbach, Manitoba, these two commited their lives together for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, 'til death do them part. Today, they are celebrating 30 years of marriage!

David & Lena Chapman - 1978

David, Lena, me & Elisabeth - 1985

David, Lena, Elisabeth, Joshua, me - 2008

Congratulations, Mom & Dad on 30 years! You have been such an example to us kids as to what a godly husband and a godly wife should look like. Thank you for that legacy.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This week at church we celebrated the majesty of God in His demonstration of love for us in sending His Son to Earth to live as we do in order to ultimately provide a way of salvation for us. However, this season of reflecting on God's love for us began a few weeks ago. Every two months, those of us from NTM who attend the church are in charge of the church service. We try to focus on God's heart for missions. This time we ended by giving every family a Christmas present - 31 Days of Praise by Ruth (& Warren) Myers - in Spanish of course. If you do not own this book, I highly recommend it. It has helped me keep my focus on the Lord & praise Him by meditating on truth when I do not feel like praising.

We had a wrapping party!

Then, last night was our special Christmas service at church. We praised the Lord for His sacrifice and humbling Himself to come to Earth as a baby through some of the traditional Christmas songs. And, there were a few specials.

We prepared a song to sing for the church. We sang part in English & part in Spanish. Hopefully there will be more participation from others in seeing us being willing to participate in the service. We're praying that others would be motivated to be involved also.

The kids had a fun song to sing with lots of jingle bells!

There were quite a few visitors who came for the first time last night. The pastor spoke on the salvation that Christ came to provide for us through His death on the cross. Pray that door were opened and that we might continue to have a witness to some of these people.

Merry Christmas!!

A Chance to Share

There are several of us "white" people who attend the Latin church here at the lake. One of those "white" ones is a local pastor who has a burden for the Latins in the community. Last week, he invited Rebekah Huffman (one of the students at the training center who also attends the church) and me to speak at his church this morning. One Sunday a month they have a missions emphasis, and he wanted each of us to share our "God story." It was a very friendly church, and it was fun to be able to share with them what God has done in my life & what He is teaching me.
It was a good day.
Thank you to those of you who pray for me. I appreciate your faithfulness.

His faithful love endures forever...

Friday morning after Thanksgiving, I woke up and began to read in the Psalms. Psalm 136 to be exact. I had been studying the Psalms of Ascent (120-134) and figured I'd just keep going!

It was a good reminder of who it is that we are thankful to this time of year.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
Give thanks to the God of gods.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles.
Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully.
Give thanks to him who placed the earth among the waters.
Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights - the sun to rule by day and the moon and stars to rule the night.
Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt.
He brought Israel out of Egypt.
He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm.
Give thanks to him who parted teh Red Sea.
He led Israel safely through, but he hurled Pharoah and his army into the Red Sea.
Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness.
Give thanks to him who struck down mighty kings.
He killed powerful kings - Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan.
God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance - a special possession to his servant Israel.
He remembered us in our weakness.
He saved us from our enemies.
He gives food to every living thing.
Give thanks to the God of heaven.

Thanksgiving

I was blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my "little" brother. We both traveled to our aunt & uncle's house in St. Louis & spent Thanksgiving with them, praising the Lord for His goodness to us this year.

It was fun to be together again. We haven't seen each other very much in the last 2.5 years, so it was fun just to hang out together.

Thanksgiving morning we ran the local 5K Turkey Trot. He ran beside me the whole way and helped to pace me. With his encouragement, we finished in a record time for me.

We also spent a little time in a cute old historic town & got a few pics by the old train bridge.

Josh is currently attending New Tribes Bible Institute. After that, he is hoping to pursue a degree in medicine to be able to serve the Lord overseas helping people's physical needs as well as spiritual.Josh snapped this one of me.

Pray for these men

There are two men who are regularly attending the Latin church here who are not believers yet. Please pray for them, that they would be open to the Holy Spirit working in their lives. Pray that they would see themselves as sinners, be convicted of their sin & realize the only remedy for that is Jesus Christ.

One's name is Hector. He & his family are from the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, just a few hours away from where I was living when I was there! His wife & girls are believers, so he's the only one in the family who has not chosen to believe yet. However, he's been pretty regular at the church services & evening prayer meetings the last few months.

The other man is Esteban. He's from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. His wife is a believer and she is from Honduras. They have two young children. He's had a real interest in coming to church & fellowshipping with believers but is not one yet himself.
Please pray that these men would trust in the Lord, realizing that they can do nothing to save themselves but that Jesus already paid their sin debt with His death on the cross.

Last of the Leaves

There is a state park just a few miles away from the campus here in Missouri. I like to go & hike around a bit. Sometimes I take others with me to enjoy the outdoors. Here's what it looked like a few weeks ago.

This trip I went with two students - Julie & Lisa. One of the things that I really enjoy about being here is the opportunity to interact with the students one-on-one or a few at a time. Many times I get to share my experiences in Mexico, how God led me there, how He led me back, what God is teaching me now... I live in an apartment on campus right in the middle of all the student apartments, so I get to visit with students all the time. That's one of the things that I enjoy most about being here.

I went back to the state park last week, and this is what it looks like now:

Very barren, but still beautiful in its own way.

Kids are Hard Work!

The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work with the kids here on campus. There are 4 classes - nursery, 1 year olds, 2 year olds, and pre-school. The childcare is for children of the students studying to be missionaries. Each room has regular staff women who work everyday with the kids, but moms have to work also to fill the ratio of childcare worker/children. So, every time I work, it enables a mom to go to class with her husband and get the training. Women are just as much missionaries as their husbands - half of the tribal people we hope to reach are women!! So, it is very important that the women get to hear the training also!

I thank the Lord when I am able to work and let moms go to class. I enjoy working in all the classes - I get to rotate around & know all the kids. Its so fun when they see me out of class & run to hug me or shout out "Hi, Miss Rachel!" They are darlings!

My 2nd Race

Bass Pro had a fitness weekend with several races - 5K, 10K, Half-Marathon & the Marathon. A few students & I went down to Springfield to run in them. On Saturday, the girls (top row - Faith Stokes, Sharon Bruce, Keri Patterson, Kathryn Kreiger, Jenna Currey) & Jenna's dad ran the 5K, and Sam ran the 10K.
Then, I stayed the night & ran the Half-Marathon the next day. My Uncle Gerry & Aunt Marge came from St. Louis to cheer me on! Thanks so much guys - that was SO special!

Almost ready to start...

Finished at last!

It was pretty hard race. It was very long. I had run 10 miles in training, but never the full 13.1 Those last 3 miles were brutal. But, by God's grace, He enabled me to finish. I was able to get out & run on Friday and this morning also, and am feeling great!

Camping with the Youth from Church

One of the blessings/ great opportunities I have here at the mission training in Missouri is to be involved with the local Spanish church. I had attended when I was here as a student, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of the church again when I found out I was moving back here to work on staff.
Several students from training and another staff go to the Spanish church also, and are quite involved. So, this past weekend, despite the dropping temperatures, we went camping with the youth. It was a wonderful time to get to know them more, and introduce them to camping. It was just an intro, because we were camping in a backyard. Next time we'll go real camping!
So, the boys set up the tents as the sun was going down.

We girls were inside cutting up veggies for making hobo dinners (tin foil dinners) in the fire.
Here is everyone minus myself, as I am the photographer.
Those hobo dinners were good! On to seconds!

This is the only picture I'm in, as one of the girls grabbed my camera & snapped a pic of me with some of the others.

We ate, played some games, had smores... sang together, prayed together & John shared from the Word.
Yes, we did go to bed - and most of us slept well. However, in the morning, as we were breaking down our (girls') tent, we found this INSIDE the tent!
A large wolf spider! And it was right where one of the girls slept! She was a little freaked. :) But, she wants to camp again!

Please pray for the youth of the Latin church here, that they would grow in their relationship with Him. And that they would be bold witnesses for Christ.

changes...

Hello my friends, family, and faithful supporters,

Thank you for your love, your prayer, and your support. You have been an encouragement to me these last months. Thank you. The main thing that has been on my heart this year is a partner. I’ve been praying for the Lord to bring the right person along, and I know many of you have as well. Thank you for praying with me.

So far, it hasn’t happened yet, and since I need a partner to be able to work & live in a remote tribal area, the leadership here in Mexico, my family, myself, and my churches have prayed, sought the Lord and have considered other options. At this point, we feel it would be best to relocate to a place where there are more opportunities to meet people who would be open to partnership – specifically NTM’s training center, where all the new single missionaries are finishing up training & looking to the Lord as to where they should serve.

It is not yet finalized, the people at the training center are talking out logistics, etc, and they’ll get back to me in the near future. I’ll let you know what they decide!! But, would you please pray for the Lord’s will to be done in this matter. Please pray for me in this new transition, as I leave Mexico behind to go find a partner. And please pray for a partner or partners. I believe the Lord has some great things in store in this next year, and I’m excited to see what this next year will bring.

Praise Update:
This past month, three new Tarahumara believers were added to the Church!! Toribio, Candelario, & Matara! Praise the Lord!! Others are interested in learning about God from the testimony of other believers. After long years of seemingless fruitless ministry, the Lord is working to build His Church!!
Here's Toribio - You can see the joy and peace on his face. The weight of sin is gone!

Candelario & Matara - I love the joy that just bubbles up out of them! You can SEE it!!

May the Lord bless you & keep you,
Rachel

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

God is Good. He blesses us above & beyond what we can imagine!

I am not worthy of His blessing, yet in His kindness and grace, He chooses to bless me anyway. His unconditional love is so humbling.

The Lord provided tickets through a family friend for my sister & I to visit our parents & Josh for his graduation in Papua New Guinea!! We are so excited to be able to visit them, share this memory with them, see where they live, and experience the PNG culture!!

So, here I am with tickets in hand (yes, the old-fashioned paper kind!) ready to go!! Only a few more days. Thank you Lord!

Please pray for Elisabeth & I on the trip.

-Pray that our flights might be okay so we can join up and fly together

-Pray for the long trip - over 30 hours - that we might be alert & awake when we need to (changing flights), but also sleep well on the plane.

Thank you

Honoring Teachers

In Mexico, people and relationships are very important. As a result, people are honored. May 15th was Teacher's Day. We had a wonderful time all gathered together - most of the students (a few were sick) were there to honor & thank their Spanish teachers for the great job that they do.
In the US, thanks to Hallmark, it is quite appropriate to send a card. It conveys our love, our respect, and our thoughfulness - that we took the time to pick a card, write in it, and mail it.
Here in Mexico, sending a card like that would be an offense. Because it shows you don't care enough about the person and the relationship to go and spend time with them to tell them in person how you appreciate them. We could learn from this, don't you think?At our Teacher's Party, each student prepared a bit in Spanish expressing their thankfulness to God for bring the teachers into their lives, for the valuable input the teachers have had, for their friendship outside the classroom as well as their patience and perserverance inside the classroom. It was great to hear how much everyone has progressed in the last few months. It was a very encouraging time!
Yoshi Castillo has been helping 3 of the women with Spanish & Mexican culture. She's trusting the Lord to be able to enter NTM's missionary training here in Mexico in the fall.
Dany, on the left, is a great teacher, who is ready at the blink of an eye to help with whatever needs done. He never says no! He's been a wonderful part of the Spanish Program for the last 1.5 years. He's currently looking for an English as a Second Language teaching job in Texas. We'd love to keep him around, but know he would be good at this, also.
Edwin, on the left, is planning to enter NTM's missionary training with his wife this fall.
Steve & Katrina Marti, center, wrote a song put to a traditional Mexican melody, and delighted us all!! I wish I'd recorded it...
Caleb & Rosario have been a great part of the program. Rosario has been finishing Bible School this last semester. Caleb was ahead of her, so he was already done. But, he'd accompany her and a few days would come upstairs to the Spanish department to help different students with Spanish. And, every Friday, he would teach a Bible class in Spanish so the students could practice their "spritual" words! He's a great teacher. They are trusting the Lord, also, to be able to enter NTM's training in the fall.

America, left, filled in different times and days when she was needed. She's very flexible and has been a great help being able to teach some of the mom's in their houses. She's heading to NTM's missionary training with her husband, Edwin, above. Arehmi, right, is a member of NTM, and has been teaching Spanish for the last year. She's hoping to work with one of the tribes in Baja California when the team is able to move in.

Bible Study

We had a few months break (we had a topical study for all the older youth in the church for a few months) from the Firm Foundations Bible study a friend and I teach to some of college girls from the church. They are new believers coming out of a background of a predominant religion here in Mexico.

We began with a review of the Old Testament & the promises that God had given Adam, Abraham, and David concerning the Promised One. I think I get as much or more out of it that they do. No matter that we are not worthy of deliverance, God is faithful to complete what He has promised.

Sarai - the other leader of the study.

Alejandra, Sarahi, & Lili - some girls come and go. But, Sarahi & Lili have been there from the beginning. We're all ready for the Birth of Christ this week & all the prophecies that His birth fulfills! I'm excited!
Sometimes we have some fellowship time, too. This last week, some were hungry, so we made a run to Wendy's to make use of their "Dollar Menu."

Please be praying that the girls would be faithful to attend and that they might give the study priority over other things that clamour for their time. They are all in university. We have the study on Friday nights, so that there are no tests or homework for the next day, but still sometimes they choose not to attend.