idol on wheels

"You see my cow?"


"Sol" beer samples


A funny thing happened the other day. Upon driving through the city we found our car caught in the middle of a parade. Sorry, actually that is not at all uncommon in Mexico. This particular parade, however, was celebrating the patron saint of our city. You see in Mexico, every city has a saint that is believed to watch over that particular city. If your saint is a powerful one, then your city will be well protected and prosper.
This particular celebration of the saint of Tlaxiaco was the most elaborate we'd seen yet. Lots of throwing candy and processions of flowers and framed saint pictures. There were many livestock trucks with cows being showcased. One driver that passed our window wanted to use his English and said, "You see my cow?" He was a proud bovine chauffeur.

Groovy Guys

Doctors Paul and Ken after finishing their mission



A couple of guys came down from the States to do a medical outreach to the villages around Tlaxiaco. Both of them eye specialists, they came to give exams and prescribe and distribute glasses to the people in the villages who otherwise would go without. They encountered a problem getting their cases containing 3,000 pairs of eyeglasses through customs. Down at GFM, we prayed and called on the power of God to overcome the opinions of the governing officials at the Mexican customs department in the Oaxaca City airport. Three days of being told, "No way, Jose" (actually it was Dan), and they suddenly released the glasses without reason. The two doctors were able to spend the remaining days of their trip meeting the needs of the village people in a practical way. We were told there was no way the government would let them get those glasses into the country. But as we all know, nothing is impossible for God. Nothing.

ps. please be praying for all of us here at GFM as we deal with immigration and try to get our long-term work Visas approved. Thank you!

Evangiball


Playing D
Sideliners

Chava’s cousin lives across the street from the carpentry shop where we work. He is renovating his home and we do a lot of work in his house. By Mexican standards he is quite wealthy and relationally he’s been a hard nut to crack.
This last weekend I convinced Chava to come and watch our gringo team play soccer. We tried to convince Chava to play on our team, but he would not. However, when we got to the field, his cousin was standing there watching. We asked if he would like to play on our team. Believe me any Mexican blood on your soccer team changes the whole dynamic. I was thrilled when he agreed and sent one of his sons home to get his gear.
As soon as I saw his bright yellow soccer shoes, I knew he was going to be good. And he was. He played defense with me and I found out that he does speak a little bit of English.
The highlight of my weekend was when he asked if he can play with us full-time. Praise God! Please pray for Chava and his cousin as we continue to build relationship with them.


Through the Eyes of a Carpenter

Catching some precious zzzzzz's with my two little bears.
I’m so behind on all the blogs that I’ve been meaning to write. I thought about trying to write a blog to catch you all up on everything, however, there are a couple problems with that idea. #1. It would be so long that no one would read the whole thing. #2. Every time I try to sit down and write this “catch-up blog”, there are at least ten other things vying for my time.
So I came up with an idea yesterday that I will just start blogging again and act like you have been with me every step of the way already. You may not like this idea…but you will just have to get over it!
MTS (Missionary Training School) has been incredible. Between all the reading, language learning, class time, and ministry time, it does prove to be a demanding schedule. In all my “free time” I like to squeeze in some sleep. Sleep is good. I could use some more right now. One of the most important things I’ve learned in MTS is that without training…missionaries will get eaten alive…sometimes, quite literally.
My favorite part of life right now is working with Chava in his carpentry shop. He’s helping to teach me Spanish as well as how to build furniture from the rough lumber available here in Mexico. On that note, we don’t have Home Depots or Lowes here…amazingly enough. When we go to the lumber yard to buy supplies, it’s always a crap shoot. For example, before we can even began building a table, we will spend hours cutting the wood down into 4X4’s, 2X4’s, and other common sizes that you can easily walk in and buy off the shelf in the States. Everything here is harder and more time-consuming.
As I work with the wood and watch the rough lumber become usable and then turn into a beautiful piece of furniture, I often think about what Jesus was thinking as he worked in the carpentry shop. Everything we do down here is in the hope that we can build solid relationships. In a society such as this, real change only comes about through relationship. That’s why I play on a soccer team, work in a carpentry shop, shop at the same fruit market every week, and eat every single funky thing set before me. Including the bowl of fried grasshoppers that was set before me night before last. It’s all about relationship.
On first appearance, many of the people here seem unapproachable. They sound different, look different, and often smell different. (Different is the P.C. way of saying “funny.”) Because of these differences, it’s easy to outright reject them as un-usable. But the more I learn to see through the eyes of Jesus, the more I began to judge them and accept them not for the rough lumber that they are, but the fine furniture that they will be.

Thank the Lord for Canada!

Yummy!



On Monday we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with our north bordering neighbors--south of the border. We got to enjoy pumkin pie, mashed potatoes, yams, Nanimo bars,and all our favourite Canadian holiday foods. The tables at the base were decorated with seasonal flare so much so that you could forget where you were for a few moments. As much as we tease all our Canadian friends, we learned that we owe Canada a great deal for giving us great stars like William Shatner and Mike Meyers. We followed it up by going out to the soccer field and playing a little American/Canadian football.

Can you spot the white kids?

Sunday school outside

Playing a game


Davis wadered off after a while

We have been attending a local church for the past few Sundays. Being a very small building, and not having a nursery, I spend all but the first ten minutes outside with the two little boys. Last week, I got smart and brought snacks and books to read. This Sunday, I was walking around the car when I saw Smith and Zaisy's sunday school class go out into a field to play a game and sing some songs. I decided to follow at a distance with my camera. I watched my kids play along and make the other kids laugh (and the teacher). I was impressed at how different they obviously are, and yet they did a marvelous job of interacting and being a part of the group. Granted Smith goofed around so much that I think the teacher gave up on one game entirely, but wouldn't that have been the case anyway in a class at our own home church? He didn't act like the other shy, sheepish mexican children, but he didn't act hugely different. He was just himself. That's good missions right there.

Sorry Blog



Apparently I didn't know that Jon had already posted a birthday blog for Ax. I was enjoying some online catching up while Jon was gone camping last week. I checked email, did some facebooking, and apparently posted a superfluous blog. Sorry, dear readers.




But... while I was preparing for Jon's coming back, I found this moocher in my nice, clean, warm mop bucket water. He was totally enjoying himself.