Dancing Through Life's Adventures

God Is Faithful January 27, 2011

God has been so faithful. I don’t think there was one prayer I prayed that he didn’t answer, and I hear of His faithfulness from people around the world who are striving to share His life and His love. I am more and more amazed by His dedication and love for me.

Anyway, one of my many dreams growing up has been to ride a motorcycle. That might seem funny but it’s true. Well, here I am. It was a blast. I wish I had one of my own:)

This last week has been kind of stressful, mostly Nicole who had to say goodbye to the churches and many friends, clean rooms, provide food for the next 6wks they will be gone, and the list goes on. God was faithful though and we were able to get most all of it done. We did a lot of cleaning Tuesday and the government had two truck loads of school books, clothes, and food for Jason and Nicole to give to the churches and along with the people staying at the village. That was a great relief for Nicole who was worried about there not being enough food.

John took us to a mountain where we could see all the surrounding villages on Sunday before church. We got some really neat pictures and got to see some breathtaking landscapes of Mexico. 

This next part is kind of long. For those who have been concerned and praying for Julia here is the update. Then Tuesday night we thought Julia had gone into labor, so Nicole, Erasmo, and I jumped in the truck and drove through a thick fog to the hospital only to get turned down and told she wasn’t in labor. So we drove 40min to another hospital which was governmental owned and not as poor as the other. Julia’s water was yellowish because of an infection she has had and after little sleep and hours in the waiting room, she was finely was finely accepted. But her water was still in tact and we drove home dissappointed not to see a baby before we left. It was all in God’s plan though. The baby is still very small so everyday is like gold. Please continue to pray.

Saying goodbye was very difficult. We managed to part though after much crying  and heartache. It was a beautiful day in Mexico city and around 2pm we climbed one of the pyramids known as the sun pyramid. It was incredible. A real piece of art.

Right now we are staying at a hotel, hanging out, and eating pizza. Tomorrow I fly out at 9:05am and Nichole and Elisabeth fly out at 3pm. Jason and Nicole will be staying one more night and then traveling into the states friday. This will probably be my last post for a while at least. Thank you all for your encouragement, support, and prayers during the time I have been here. I feel so blessed to have had the privelege of staying and working alongside Jason and Nicole. It has truly been some of the best 7 weeks of my life.

At Everett’s January 20, 2011

This last friday Elisabeth, Rachael, Nichole, and I stayed at a couple named Everett and his wife Retinsea’s house. Nicole dropped us off there right after breakfast that morning. It was a foggy, dreary kind of day. Less than 10min after we had arrived, we went to visit a family in the house next door. They were all eating and of course invited us to do the same. We accepted knowing it was rude to not and found out the next day it was the death meal for one of the woman whose mother had just died. She was older (about 30 or so) and only had one other brother who was single as well. Her father had passed away a few months earlier so she was now pretty much all alone. 

After what seemed like hours but was probably only one, we  proceeded to go for a hike down the mountainside about 2-3 miles down. It was absolutely breath taking, although the path was quite muddy and you would sink  5inches deep in mud every time you took a step. I fortunately managed to hop from side to side and keep out of it, for the most part:). I love hiking, so I was having the time of my life but Nichole on the other hand got dizzy and Elisabeth felt sick because it is rather steep. After resting several times we finally managed to get back to their house. Since it wasn’t dark yet we proceeded to go visit an old sick woman and pray for her. She can’t walk because she had really bad arthritis. Her family pretty much disowned her and her husband is a drunk. So we talked to her a while and prayed for her and all the while I felt completely helpless.

These people’s stories are so incredibly sad and yet they push past the pain and fight to live hoping for a better tomorrow. I don’t feel I will ever be able to live the same again. If we can push past our feelings of discomfort and stop for a minute to see the corruption and sin that increases daily in the world, we begin to realize that a good person can’t just sit there and do nothing. What that looks like is different for everyone and I don’t even fully feel I understand what that means for me except taking one day, one person at a time and trying to love them the way Christ would. It was all one more conviction for me.

Thank you all who have chosen to follow Christ and walk the walk. He is worthy of every breath we take. May He continue to move in our hearts and by His grace we will be His hands and feet, spreading His word and His life in every dark corner we find.

A pretty smooth week January 12, 2011

We have had a pretty smooth week. For those who have come here before, up where the water tanks are they smoothed out all that ground and are putting a green house up there. Supposedly 90% of this area makes a living off of selling plants and trees and flowers. There are little flower bushes, nut trees, and fruit trees that just grow wild up or down the mountainside. You would love it, Dad. It really is beautiful. They also smoothed out all the ground on the other side of the pavilion where the playground used to be and are making it a gravel drive way. I’ll post pictures if I get a chance before we leave.

You might want to proof read before reading out loud to your children. The other night a  little girl was raped and killed right down the road from us. She was the middle child of 3 in a catholic family. Only 9yrs old, she was sent out to pick grass for their cow and when she didn’t return, the father got a search party together and searched all night. They didn’t find her until the next morning laying next to a tree with her throat cut. It was pretty devastating, but that happens quite a bit here in Mexico and with war breaking out it  is only getting worse.

Sorry to end on a sad note. I am enjoying Nicole, Elizabeth, and Rachel’ s company. Rachel is a girl who flew down Sunday from St. Louis. She is 18 yrs old and has always dreamed of being a missionary. Oh, I wanted to thank everyone who sent letters with Nichole. It totally caught me off guard. They were all very encouraging and sweet. Thank you again very much.

Mas Tarda:)

Demons and Witchcraft January 6, 2011

 The other night,  Manwell and his grandmother left. For the past couple weeks Jason and Nicole have been telling Manwell if he keeps running away they will make him leave. What happens is he gets mad, leaves, and then comes back and acts like he wants to be all good, ect. He just isn’t and the grandmother is continually standing up for him so he doesn’t have to pay the consequence for anything he does wrong. To make a long story short, when we got back from Vera Cruz (brother David’s) we heard Manwell had run away again and his grandmother was praying to demons. That was all Jason needed to hear and that night they were gone. Some of you might not believe in witchcraft or demons or any of that but it is a pretty big thing here. Anyway, Manwell’s grandmother slept in the girls dorm and after she left that same night all the girls said they heard a loud evil snoring and when one of the girls turned on her flashlight to the empty bed in which the grandmother slept they all saw a large black cat jump off. They were not the only ones though. Bertha, whose room is the next one over, said she couldn’t sleep because she heard loud evil snoring most of the night as well. These stories were told to Nicole at complete different times and all the girls believed the grandmother had left her ghost and a curse.

 That is not the only thing that happened. John and Bertha are a couple who have moved in for a while. John is the Bishop alongside Jason. Sorry I don’t have a picture. I’ll work on that. Well,the same night John woke up and felt a demon on him and he couldn’t breathe, so he woke Bertha and she began to pray. Then suddenly Bertha felt demons grab her feet and pull her half way off the bed. So Nicole went around and anointed all the doors and bedposts. Creepy, huh?

 We also have had two deaths this week. Pablo’s mom( Pablo is Karla’s husband), and a man whose family worshiped idols and was completely demon possessed. The men from our village left early and were gone until dark, digging a grave for Pablo’s mom, doing the ceremony, and then of course burying her. As far as for the man, before he died one of the brothers told the family to burn all their idols and the man wouldn’t go to hell and they did. Thankfully they took it well and were grateful their grandfather didn’t go to hell. Some families don’t take that stuff very well. 

Besides all that  we did have a party for Melissa yesterday. She turned 3 and is absolutely the  sweetest little girl.It was short but sweet. Melissa couldn’t understand that she was now 3 and not 2 anymore.

By the way, I’m praying for you Suzie. I heard about your accident. I’m so sorry. I hope you are not in too much pain and you heal quickly. I love and miss you:)

The Turnout January 2, 2011

Most people know how I like the stars and how I like to star gaze up on the roof of our house. Well, Thursday night was completely amazing. The stars were so clear and bright and there was so many. I haven’t  seen anything like it in a really long time. I was almost hypnotized but brought to reality rather quickly when I thought of my two little girls. I ran to get them and tried to show them the little dipper and big dipper and so on, but I still struggle speaking Spanish and only could get “Estrella Benita” out, which means beautiful star.

Normally people start to get homesick after being away from home for a while. I’m dance sick. So the other morning I thought I would try my luck. It was 6am and still dark outside and everyone was in the kitchen, or so I thought, drinking coffee and listening to worship songs in Spanish, so I snuck out under the pavilion (just about the only somewhat flat place around) and started dancing for the first time since I left. Within 5min I was interrupted by a flashlight flickering on and then off again in my direction and soon found it to be crazy Manwell. Dassi has blogged all about him and if you haven’t seen a picture I got one just for this. So much for dancing:) That is my luck.

And about the New Year’s Campaign. It was great! We started the day off killing 45 chickens.

I luckily got out of it not having to touch them in any way by simply being the camera lady:)It was a pretty busy day preparing food, setting up chairs and tables, and a whole set of lights under the pavilion.In the middle of all this going on, a man named Miguel and his wife Reina ,who has the same name as me, asked Jason to baptize them.Miguel has wanted to be baptized for a while but had to remain faithful in some things first and after doing so, Jason felt he was ready. Here are some pics. So the campaign sarted at 8pm and about 250 people showed up. We sang for a while (band and all sorry you can’t see them. They were way up front) and then in shifts of about 50, ate plates of beans, fried rice, chicken with moli(a special sauce and favorite among the Indians-tastes spicy and a little sweet at the same time), tortillas, which are served with everything, and fruit punch. We sang some more and at 12am everyone shakes your hand saying “Feliz Ano Nuevo”- Happy New Year and we served coffee and sweet bread. Then prayed for a while and continued to sing  into the night. The last people left around 5am.  It was a beautiful night  and Nicole said it was a great turnout. Hope everyone at home had a great time as well.

Feliz Ano Nuevo.

A Crazy Week December 30, 2010

I’m very sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. We haven’t had much time due internet. The weather here has been getting colder and rainier, but today surprisingly I prayed for a hot day and we got it. Amazing!

For the past week I have become a dorm mom of two adorable girls Aida and Anne.Anne is the girl I talked about in my last blog. We just got Aida about a week and a half ago because Nicole rushed her mother to the hospital due to a severe stomach tumor and ruptured intestines. The doctor who did surgery on her said had she come 5min later she probably would have died. It was a miracle and they are looking into releasing her probably in the next couple weeks.

We had a group of 12 or 15 people who came to stay with us last night on short notice, so the men stayed up pretty late building two more rooms. We barely got one finished in time. There was two couples, 3 women, and two single guys. They were all very sweet, but didn’t stay long because they had a church service they had to return to for New Years.  We are going to have 200-400 people come to pray and worship until midnight here at the village. Then Jason, Nicole, Sed, Jasmine, and I are taking off at 4am and driving down to some part of southern mexico (can’t remember the name) to stay with some dear friends of theirs, Brother David and his wife Debra. From there, Jason and Nicole will head into the states to get a tune up on their truck along with a camper leaving  Sed, Jas, and I to stay at Brother David’s. Then we will all travel back the early the 6th in order to pick Nichole and Elizabeth up at the airport on the 7th. Just a little crazy.

 If you are wondering what to pray for; please pray Julia doesn’t go into labor until the end of January, that there would be leaders among the people here that come up and bear responsibility along with Jason and Nicole, and of course, that Jason and Nicole would hear God and have the grace to do His work here in Mexico.

Thank you all who are thinking about us and praying. I’m very grateful for the texts I have been getting. They are extremely encouraging you have know idea:)

More later. Adios

An Answered Prayer December 20, 2010

After posting that last post about preparing for Mexico, realized how selfrighteous it probably sounded. I’m very sorry I don’t mean to come across that way. Dassi did a great job at preparing people for coming here. I guess I just had several things swirling through my head and I wasn’t thinking straight. Also, I didn’t have time to finish the last blog about the pictures so I’ve updated both of my last two blogs before this.

Also, bear with me. I know I have a quite a bit of spelling and grammar errors. I don’t have time to re-read or edit my posts until the next time I blog.

Now that I’ve given all my disclaimers, I wanted to say how grateful I am for everything God has been giving me, showing me, teaching me, and all He is doing throughout the world. I prayed sometime after we got here (not exactly sure when) that I would be able to see Anne, the girl Dassi blogged about. Well, to make a long story short on Thursday we went to a church service and I got to see her. She sat with me and then asked if she could come home with us. Her uncle told Nichole she could stay until Saturday. During the next two days, Anne for some reason only God knows why, took a liking to me, followed me around, and even fell asleep in my arms. I felt humbled and honored. God had gone beyond my prayer and not only let me see Anne but also let me hold her, laugh with her, do her hair, play with her. Who am I that God, King of the heavens and the earth, would hear my prayer and give me more than I asked for so I could know how much He truly loves me and cares.

By the way, all who prayed for Julia (the girl who went into early labor and the doctors said the baby would die if she had it) I just wanted to let you know her labor stopped and she is permitted to come home as long as she is on bed rest until she has the baby. She is due at the end of January.

Thanks for your prayers. They are what God uses to move mountains and turn deathly situations into miracles. I have seen a couple already. Hope everything is going well in Rose Creek, Memphis gatehouse, and California. May His Kingdom come and His will be done in every people, tribe, and nation.

Pics of our trip December 17, 2010

It is so hard to capture the beauty here. I thought I would just post some pics from our trip. Hope you enjoy:)

Going shopping. Quite  adventurous. I guess everything is here though:)Pablo and I, Karla’s second son.This is Karla, the 15 year old with two kids. I have really grown fond of her and I’m not looking forward to leaving her. Doing laundry.Asher outworking all the guys:) Not exactly but for his age that is pretty accurate. Special moments:)Esther hit it off with the younger boys pretty quick.Receiving a few donated clothes.The handy man, fix it guy.Standing in the doorway of our room.The beautiful nature of Mexico.

The guys on there way to go evangelizing.Here are a few pics of children’s church, which we do every Saturday.There were about 60 kids that showed up.

A Few Tips December 17, 2010

Mrs Mala and Dassi have been blogging so I have been trying not to give so many details and make it completely painful to read. We don’t get to blog everyday so when we do go to the cafe’ I have a million things on my mind and end up blogging about something completely different then I planned.

I wanted to say something about Mrs Hadassah. I’m not sure if I sent a link to Jeremiah or not but I wanted to say Mrs Hadassah is a trooper. She is the oldest one here and being here can be definetely inconvenient. She sleeps on a hard bed that is too small for her, eats food she doesn’t like, takes showers in a dirty place (thankgoodness you can heat the water up), and works hard even when she doesn’t feel good. She has been a heroe to me in a lot of ways and I’m really grateful I get to go with her.

By the way, Papa Asher is doing amazing as well. Thank you Mrs Gannah for letting him come with us:) He has really helped Jason a ton and works very hard.

Thank you for all your prayers. Dossie and Mala went to bed early the other night because they were feeling sick. Thankfully they both feel better today. The boys (Joel, Daniel, and Sed) went evangelizing for 3-4 days. That is they go visit a few churches Sed started. He checks up on the leaders, preaches from the bible, prays for them, sometimes sleeps  there, and then goes to the next church.

One thing if you are thinking about coming. It would be a good idea to learn the language. Of course, it really helps to be in it and around people who speak it all the time, but it also can be very weighing on Jason and Nichole to continually have to answer questions, translate, and explain things continually everyday. Also, you learn to not care about being clean let me tell you. Just to name a few inconveniences: It is cold during this time and there is no heat,  no hot water for washing dishes unless it is hot and sunny outside, you have to hand wash your clothes and hang them on the line (which they sometimes take days to dry with it always raining), and if one little kid get a cough it quickly spreads around until everybody is coughing or sniffling. Don’t get me wrong. I love it here and would love to come back and stay for a couple of years.  Like I said before, Jason and Nichole have chosen a very sacrificial lifestyle. They have touched so many people here and are respected almost everywhere they go.  It is missionary work and the call of a true disciple, and that is what Jason and Nichole do. They sacrifice their time together, their money, there children, their personal space, you name it, they lay down there lives continually every second of everyday. It has really convicted me to watch and be here with them.

I absolutely love the culture and people here. Not to mention the beautiful, astounding, breathtaking, scenery. I could go on and on. Wish we could stay longer. Thank you all who are thinking about us and keeping us in prayer before God. May God lead us and guide us as we devote ourselves into His hands.

God bless you. Hope you are enjoying Christmas time:) Sorry all who have emailed me and I was not able to respond. Thank you for the emails though. Very encouraging.

All for now more later:)

Adios

The Next Two Days December 15, 2010

As some already know, Papa Asher decided we should take the bus, so we all got to work downsizing our stuff into only what we could carry across the bridge about a 1/2 mile or so.

 While we were in this crazy process, some random guy walked up and asked Joel for cigerettes. When he shook his head no the man started yelling and cussing, leaving and coming back, and yelling and cussing some more at least 4 or 5 times. It was quite a scene.

We finally arrived in the village monday morning at around 7:30am. It was a really cold and rainy day. The Mexican people are generally short so I expected that some what, but what I didn’t realize is that I’m actually considered tall. Never thought I would live to see the day. The people are so beautiful here. It is hard sometimes not to stare, even though most of the time they are staring right back. Ialmost instantly fell in love with the children. One in paticular is a little boy named Carlos who is about 2 years old. I was holding him and feeding him oatmeal when quite suddenly my skirt started steaming. I wasn’t sure if it was just our body heat or something because it was so cold outside and soon found out he doesn’t where diapers. I’ll leave the rest for you to conclude. His mother Karla is 15 and has two boys Carlo and Pablo who is 1 years old and absolutely adorable. Karla has had a pretty rough life. Most of the girls here have. Jason and Nichole have really chosen a lifestyle and people to give to that is completely sacrificial. They are always giving, always working. Nichole is like a mother to all these girls. It is really sweet to watch.

Well, all for today.