A Very Sonny Saturday!

We rolled into the Dallas area late last night and stayed with Rachel's brother Sonny. We all adore Uncle Sonny and loved the time we got to spend with him. He downloaded tons of stuff for us to watch on our computer so we'll never lack for entertainment. He also took us out to eat at one of his favorite pizza joints. We all had a great time.

Then it was back to the "Miracle Mobile" for several more hours of driving. We did take one small detour to show the kids the campus of our Alma-mater CFNI (Christ For the Nations Institute). Boy, what a flood of memories! That's where Rachel and I met and fell in love and had our first son Smith.

We just made it into San Antonio and checked into a pleasant hotel. All I care about when I'm looking at hotels is, what's for breakfast? All the kids care about is, where's the pool? This place has a great breakfast which I'm looking forward to and an outdoor pool that the kids are looking forward to. Can you believe it's already hot enough to swim outdoors here?

The guy that I haggled with at the front desk is from Southern India. He couldn't believe that I had spent time close to where he is from. He taught me an important lesson: everything is negotiable...especially the price of a hotel room. I got him to knock the price down by 30% compared to the couple just ahead of me. Wow!

So...tomorrow we'll have lunch with Rachel's oldest brother Matt and hopefully have time to show the kids the River Walk and possibly the Alamo. Then we'll head down to Harlingen, TX where we will meet up with Grandpa Jim and stay the night at a bed-n-breakfast some of his friends own.

Monday, we'll make the final descent into Mexico. Wow! Is this really happening or is this another one of my dreams? Will someone please pinch me? It's all quite surreal at this point.

Prayer Points:

The continued health of the "Miracle Mobile."

Unity for Team Nagel

An Uneventful Border Crossing

And We're Off!

Everything we own is now stuffed in and on our van!

As of today, the Nagels are officially mobile. We spent all day yesterday and today packing every square inch of our sweet new van, and cleaning our house. At 5pm this evening we hit the road.
When we moved to Colorado Springs eight years ago, the very first exit we took was Uintah. Interestingly enough, we found ourselves getting onto the interstate tonight from the Uintah on-ramp.
The Lord is soooo good. I still need to tell the story how we came to own the, "Miracle Mobile" but that will have to wait for another day. We rolled on down the road and made it to Dalhart, TX. It's going on 1am now and all the kids are sound asleep in this cozy little hotel room.
A few weeks ago during one of my prayer times I felt the Lord tell me that the things I was praying about were taken care of. ie. the van, and the house. He sure took care of the van, so we know He has a great plan for the house.
This evening, just 2 1/2 hours into our trip, our realtor called to let us know we had an offer come in. Wow! When God makes a promise, He sure knows how to deliver.
Well, it's off to bed for me now so I can rest my weary bones. Much love to you all and we'll try to update at every available wi-fi spot we come to.

Simple Miracles

Tonight as I was putting the kids to bed the bulb in their night-light flickered and then burned out...as night-light bulbs tend to do. To help calm them and get them to sleep I told them a story of a boy and his mom. They were driving home from church one Sunday when they ran out of gas. They were in the middle of nowhere and all they had was a jug of water.
Just that morning in Sunday School, the little boy had heard the story of Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding. He said, "Mom, why don't we pour that water in the gas tank and ask the Lord to turn it into gas?" The mom was not happy about the idea, but after quite a while decided to give it a try. They prayed and the car started right up.
Rachel and I often tell our children that there is absolutely nothing impossible with God! At the end of my story, I stood up and said goodnight. That's when Smith said, "Dad, we should pray for that night-light." I thought to myself, "Crap! Now I have to put my money where my mouth is."
I prayed for it as I flicked the on/off switch back-and-forth. Nothing happened, and I was ready to leave the room. Smith said, "Dad, we should each take a turn praying for it." So...Zaisy prayed as I flicked the on/off switch back-and-forth. Nothing happened.
As Smith is praying, I see the bulb flicker and then burst back to life. I stood there in awe and the kids eyes were as big as saucers.
We serve a big God! Nothing is impossible for Him!

Praise God!

Some of our friends donated a sweet Ford E150 Conversion van to us for our ministry. We are beyond ourselves with excitement. We'll post pictures of it and the full story soon.
The Lord is so faithful and good!

I miss Stan.
Many knew Stan as a brilliant scientist. Some knew him as friend. I had the unique perspective of knowing Stan as my father-in-law.
Being who he was to me was frightening enough in and of itself. Stan was one of those rare people that actually took the time to think about what he was going to say before it came out of his mouth. That simply added to the level of fear and respect I had for him. Sometimes I would ask him a question, and then after several moments of silence I would begin to wonder if he had heard me. He always did…and if I was patient, he would often share of his great wealth of wisdom.
For some reason, still beyond my explanation, Stan always believed in me. Getting married as young as we did, we had many friends and family members that were not too happy about it. At one point we were close to calling the wedding off and postponing it until an indefinite date. He called me on the phone on Easter Sunday and said he saw no reason for us to wait and encouraged me to push ahead with the plans. Wow! What a boost of confidence that was.
I had the pleasure of knowing Stan personally for about 3 years before his life was stolen away by a cruel cancer. It seems like such a short time, however, to this day, I draw on some of the great advice that he gave me.
One time he was scheduled to be the main speaker at a health conference in Brazil. He asked me to get up early and drive him to the airport. We both had underestimated the morning traffic and he ended up missing his flight. I felt terrible. It was then that he looked at me and said, “Jon, a long time ago, I learned that you just have to roll with the punches.” He always said so much by saying so little.
Oh, how I long to pick up the phone and hear his voice. I would love to share with him all of my big plans and big dreams. I know he would be so excited. I know he would still believe in me. And I know exactly what he would say, "Stop worrying about tomorrow and just roll with the punches!"
I miss Stan.

Mini-missionaries

Sometimes I wonder if we're doing the best thing in bringing our kids on the mission field. I wonder if they will have problems adjusting, or be a hindrance in accomplishing our ministry. I wonder why God called us to the mission field now, in our lives, when we have these four little kids. I mean, is this really a good idea?

For some odd reason, every time we go out to eat lately, we get Mexican food. Our last few meals in America, and we can't stay north of the boarder. Last night, upon reccomendation, we sought out an "authentic" mexican restaraunt. Sure enough it was right on. Bright yellow paint, out of date calanders with maps of Mexico on the walls, and staff that spoke no English. I tried to make out some Spanish in ordering our food and got nothing from the two young, teenage men but blank looks. Both Jon and I tried to laugh and smile to communicate nonverbally, but these guys didn't budge. We had only Davis and Ax with us, so we let Davis sit on the counter so he could get to tell the man his order himself.

Suddenly, the young men came alive! They smiled and laughed at Davis' attempt at ordering. They spoke to each other in Spanish and enjoyed watching everything else Davis did. One of the guys even blew up a balloon and we all laughed together when it popped unexpectedly in his face. We left smiling and waving and all because of Davis.

In a culture where children are innocent and enjoyed, I realize that our children are missionaries too. In fact, they might just be the key to places that Jon and I could never get to on our own.

This is the Body

Tonight our family attended the first official Saturday night service of a church in our community. I knew we would see a certain number of our friends there, but in actuality, I could see only a few people we hadn't met yet. It was great! In a way, it's going to be sad to know what we'll be missing every Saturday night in our home town. You see, everybody wants to belong. It's important for people to feel like a part of something bigger than themselves. To know that if they don't show, people will miss them and wonder where they are.

Our friends are neat people. Most of them are not all that wealthy. A lot of them work for local ministries or are themselves ministers. One of our friends came up to us tonight and asked, "Besides your house selling and a car, do you have any other needs." I thought for a minute about this friend. I knew he was saying, "Is there something I have that you need?"

I love that about the body of Christ. You don't have to have tons of money to do ministry. Or a huge church to preach to. You don't have to do everything. Just do what you can. Sometimes I find myself not helping at all because I feel like what I have to give just isn't enough. But God does not ask me to use what I do not have. This friend took our family out to eat at a local fast food restaraunt tonight. We hung out as families and they told us the funny stories of how they met. It was really great. They met a real need in our lives of food and fellowship.

It's just like the Cheers song, "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came." That's the body of Christ.