We’ve been praying for this tribal work before we even moved to Mexico.  The summer before our move to Mexico we took a week and visited the country and saw where we would be living.  While there, we stayed at the guest house in Chihuahua along with Tim and Janet Roberts (top left).  Tim and Janet talked often of their work with the Tarahumara Indians.  Since our time working at the guest house here in El Paso we’ve gotten to know Tim and Janet’s partners, Ted and Sharon Wingo.  The following is an excerpt from Ted and Sharon’s most recent update:

“The best news first…. On April 2, Casimiro, his wife Maria Luisa and their daughter Marcela trusted Jesus as Savior! What better time to begin a new life in Christ than at Easter?! And what better news could a missionary hear?! We marvel, along with the angels in Heaven, at the wonder of our salvation!

New Believers

And then Easter Sunday…. Twenty-eight were at the believers’ meeting. The worship time included showing part of the “Jesus” film in Tarahumara so the believers could more readily visualize what Jesus suffered for us…and then the JOY at His resurrection. We also shared a fellowship meal together.”

As our partners in ministry you have reached far into the mountains of Mexico to this group of Tarahumara believers.  Glory to God!

A few weeks ago John Oliver flew in to train myself and the office team in Mexcio on the system.  The system has been in place for a while now, but the Mexico team using it is somewhat new.  John was in Mexico for the entire week going over things and he came up to El Paso for one afternoon to give me my training.  I knew it was going to be interesting when he told me he was going to try to condense eight hours of material into four.

Naturally there were more interruptions to our household than normal.  The both neighbors stopping by, missionaries at the guest house coming by to grab something, and another little kid who wanted to play with Turin.  At one point in the training I might have said, “And after this we are going to fly to the moon!”  I think I was the only one laughing.

I did come out ahead.  I found out that I was using the system the way it was intended, saving time for myself, <yeah!>.  I also learned what all those numbers are that I see when I enter things, and yes, there was a quiz!  I discovered that there is a budgeting tool in there that looked a bit intimidating to me, but my co-worker, Ron Davis, was kind of excited to set it up for me.  Go Ron!

Interesting fact:  John Oliver and his wife Paula both went to our church before they were married.  I was in fifth or sixth grade in the church’s Awana program and Paula was a leader in there.  I remember the day she announced she was engaged.

Normally my job is kind of predicable, I like it like that, but as I learned a while ago, you never stop learning.

John Oliver, myself, and Ron Davis

King Cake - Mexican style

Tamales

Embedded in the rosca are little plastic babies.  Depending on the size of the rosca depends on how many babies are in it.  Each person receives a slice of this cake.  If the serving holds a little plastic baby, then he or she has to make tamales for everyone at the party on February 2nd, Candelaria Day. Hence, another party ensues!  Let’s just keep it goin’!  We’ve been through two Christmas’ in Mexico without having rosca.  It took moving to El Paso to experience this tradition.  Our neighbors invited us over for cake and champurrado, a hot chocolate type drink.  You can read a recipe here.

Champurrado

It was all teasing and games as Torre cut the first three pieces for our family.

Torre begins slicing our pieces.

Then he cut mine.  This American has never made tamales in her life and there, in my piece, was a plastic baby with the word, “Tamales” under it.  Everyone thought it was hilarious that the girl who has zero experience gets to make them.  All in good fun, they will be teaching me if they want edible tamales.

So many of you have prayed for us, supported financially, or through packages, or in words.  We’ve been with New Tribes Mission for four and a half years and here in this guest house ministry for one.  We could NOT be here where He has us if it were not for you.  We truly believe we are serving Him WITH you.

Before - well the starting stages of distruction.

It all started with a dripping faucet.  I reported to Torre that room #110 had a dripping faucet, one that could not be tightened.  No problem!  Right?  WRONG!  After two hours of installing the new faucet Torre was back home informing me that we needed to go to the store to pick out a new vanity and sink.  What?!?!  So there we are, the kids running up and down the plumbing aisle, Torre speaking Chinese to me about the process (not really, but I was so not following), and me trying to figure out what is the best “look” for the bathroom and the best price and get home so we can eat dinner.  We had less than 24 hours to do all this, as the room was to be occupied the next day.  I’d just like to give God credit for providing a slightly damaged, already marked down vanity so we could get the sink top we really wanted, and an amazingly talented Torre to install it!  Ta-da!  All in a day’s work.  Literally.

Done.

After - removed the never used medicine cabinet and flipped the mirror.

The child has discovered how to cool off....yes that is the dog bowl.

So it’s been a little hot.  Like a LOT of hot.  100 deg temps for most of August.  I’m trying not to complain.  I’m trying to compare it to winters in Michigan when it’s April and it’s not quite spring yet, and you’re so tired of being cold for the past five months you wonder if it will EVER warm up.  So it’s been hot for the past four months and I’m wondering if it will EVER cool off!  Well, this morning we woke up to THIS:

Clouds!!!

That my friends is cloud cover.  Meaning, limited amount of sun.  Combined with temps in the 90′s, this means….it’s cooler out!!!  MEANING, fall WILL arrive!

Her cry came from Turin’s room, the kind of cry that told me she was hurt.  Turin yelled, “Mommy, hurry, hurry!”  I ran in to find her on her back on the floor with Turin on his bed.  It was obvious they were both on the bed and she had fallen off backwards onto the floor.  She was crying and as I picked her up she just stopped.  Stopped crying, stopped breathing, stopped moving.  I blew in her face, yelled her name, and kind of bounced her, all things that would snap Turin out of it.  Nothing.  I went running through the house to find Torre in the garage running a table saw (yes, terrible timing for all of this to happen).  As I rounded the corner Lydia slowly brought her head up.  To Torre she looked fine and he wondered why I was yelling.  It was the most terrifying moment yet for me as a mom.  Lydia is fine.  Once I stopped shaking I was fine.

All of this reminded me how amazingly fragile and fast life is.  How moments like this aren’t out of God’s hands, we are IN His hands.  I can’t prevent everything, I’m not supposed to.  Folks ask us how we could have lived in Mexico, weren’t we scared?  God protects His children everywhere.  He will care for us in Mexico and He will care for us in the USA.  Bad things can happen to us in Mexico and bad things can happen to us in the States.

Often we pray for our future, and for the future of our family.  We know many of you pray for us as well.  It was during a day like this that I felt His people praying for His children.

This is....

...and this...

...and so is this.

Teaching?  No.  But it’s important to my Lord, none the less.  New Tribes refers to this site as “My Ministry Website”.  I had a hard time knowing what to post, things just didn’t seem that “exciting”.  Until I realized that my ministry is where God has me.  He has me here for this time in my life, and I’m going to share about it.