Creepy Crawlies

Living in Mexico we're learning more about creepy crawly critters than we may have cared to. Within the last 2 weeks, Roberto (our neighbor) has brought home 2 snakes that had been run over, the second still being alive for a brief time after arriving to our homestead. The first he skinned and is going to hang on his wall (I'm sure his wife will be very happy about that); the second he sold. Fortunately neither of them made it to our table! However, we did learn several important lessons :

• rattlesnakes curl up as seen below when about to strike
  
• if you want to kill it you should come from the front, because they always strike behind them (as do scorpions).

Other random facts we have observed about the wildlife here is that daddy-long-legs like to hide in yellow gingham curtains and that flies are their food of choice!

Mi Rancho es Su Rancho

(For those of you who don't speak Spanish, that's an invitation to come to our house! It literally means 'my ranch is your ranch.')

Last week Nick spent 4 days working with our neighbors Roberto and Don Josue to make our house a bit more rain proof and to add a large front porch onto it. We invited both families to join us for an 'inauguration' meal on Thursday to thank them for their work and to try out the 14 person table that Nick built.

We hung our double hammock between the two post of the porch where we can lay in it and look at the stars at night or enjoy the sound of the rain.

We hope our peaceful lifestyle and comfy accommodations (anyone want to sleep in a hammock overnight?) will entice many of you to come down and visit us!

shared meals with our neighbors are becoming
quite a common occurrence

An Inside Job

God continues to open our eyes to the blessings He surrounded us with when He led us to live as a part of this little familial community in the picturesque pine forest at the edge of town. The heart of our work down here is to extend the message and lifestyle of Jesus Christ to the surrounding villages where there currently is no Christian witness. Our strategy is to raise up local leaders here in town, where people are generally more open to learning about God and His Word, and train them to follow Christ and take His love back to their native villages. Don Josue and his family are an example of God working in this way.

Don Josue moved into this peaceful spot many years ago partly as a means to escape the persecution he faced in his village. Members of his home community burned Bibles, spoke death threats, jailed, and even forcibly expelled from the village Don Josue and other local Christians. I thought that with that kind of history, his wife and he would be reluctant to even talking about reaching out to their village. But the God at work in His heart is bigger and better than that. Now we're really starting to sense that God wants to use this family to share the love and freedom they enjoy in God with those back home.

A few nights ago, we went to visit Don Josue and his wife. We were hoping to ask them about their prayer life and possibly decide on a time when we could get together for prayer. Shortly after we arrived, he asked if we could pray. I told Don Josue that I'd like to pray for their village with them. At the mention of his village he launched into what at first seemed like the usual spiel about the people being too hard-hearted and how there was no hope that they'd change. Instead he testified to a hope and a grace that persevered under trial and gained the victory. He shared the experiences of his uncle, who was kicked out of the village for his efforts to share God's Word with others in their village. Despite this rejection, his uncle continued to pray for his community. Today, Don Josue told us, the people of the village are less hard, and many of the youth especially have begun to follow God. His eyes moistening with tears, he fixed his gaze on me, and concluded, "Thank you for praying for my village."

Down here, people usually all pray at the same time. In many prayer meetings I've been to it seems like a lot of people spend half the time with their eyes open, staring around at the walls, waiting for the others to stop and say "Amen" so they can all leave (I know this because I am so spiritual, not because I too spend half the time with my eyes open, staring around at the walls). :) Don Josue prays until he's good and done, regardless of what the rest of the group is doing. And when he's done, he usually has tears in his eyes. The guy might not know a lot of theology, but he knows how to talk to his God. And I think that is what will make all the difference as God leads us to pray for and minister to the people of his village.

sowing the seed (literally and spiritually)

What do you think of when you hear the words "church planting"? Ever think of the body of Christ coming together to plant corn? I didn't, at least not until last Friday.

This past week we joined our good friends Geraldo and Susana and their children in sowing corn and squash seeds in their fields. This family, like so many others here on the outskirts of town and in the surrounding villages, have a few modest sized fields around their house where they plant in hopes of harvesting a crop of corn, squash, and beans that will sustain them for all or most of the year.

This wasn't our first time helping this family with their fields. We've been a part of two harvests and now two plantings. Geraldo and Susana already had an interest in God and His Word when we befriended them a year and a half ago, and it's been a blessing to watch God's kingdom take root and grow in their lives. The agrarian lifestyle has provided us ample opportunity to share the truths that Christ himself hid in stories of soils, sowers, and seeds. As we labor alongside of them in the hopes of a great corn harvest, we think about all that we and others have sown into their lives, and we rejoice that the Spirit of God is at work in their lives and pray that God will lead them to work in His abundant harvest for eternal life.

Weekend Getaway

Lots of people get married in the States and honeymoon in Mexico - so we figured we'd give it a try as well (we'd already honeymooned in San Francisco and Tahoe, but we liked it so much we thought we'd do it again (go on a second, or third depending on how you count). Actually, we made the plans for the getaway during a time of intense spiritual growth and seeking. We decided we would want some quiet time afterwards to focus on each other and God to see how He might lead us next.
Our destination was a tiny mountain community (located about 5 hours from our town in the direction of the Pacific Ocean). Nick had tried to save up money from his pizza business last fall in hopes of taking Sarah there after they returned to Mexico as a married couple but ended up squandering what he'd set aside on things like sheet rock and cement so we'd have a place to live instead of just a hotel room for a few nights.
We enjoyed the luxuries of our cabin, which seemed to us a 5 star resort: hot showers 24/7 (any shower for that matter would be a luxury), indoor bathroom with plumbing, drinking water from the tap (don't worry, it's fresh spring water- we didn't get any amoebas or anything drinking it), queen sized bed, and a fireplace. (Sounds a bit like our parents' homes- funny how perspective changes). The weekend away provided us time to hike, relax, pray and worship God together, and eat breakfast in bed.

Part of the Family

Some months ago we thrilled the blogging community with the virtual tour of our 120 sq ft home, now we thought we'd take you all a little bit bigger picture and let you meet the neighbors. We consider ourselves blessed by our living arrangements for a number of reasons. First, we live a ways out of town in a pine forest at the foot of the hilly range that surrounds our city. Second, we live in a friendly little community, made up of three houses and four families, all but one of which (us) are related. The little gray house is ours (Roberto built the frame while we were in the States last summer and then we all came to the decision that we would finish the project and live there after being married) and the green one on the right belongs to our good friends Roberto and Vero (parents of the Marshmallow Girl, Yami). Vero's parents and her sister and brother-in-law live up the hill (their house is situated behind the trees in the middle of the picture).

We enjoy good relations and friendly exchanges with our neighbors in this secluded spot and joked with them some months ago about nearly composing our own village. Sarah and Vero often indulge in their mutual habit of generosity, usually expressed through food with Sarah taking them a loaf of banana bread or other American favorite that they normally wouldn't get to experience and Vero reciprocating with hot, fresh, home-made tortillas, a treat we never turn down.

Last week we had Roberto, Vero, and Yami over for dinner and a very special dessert - campfire roasted s'mores (we felt very acculturated as we burned a broken, upholstered kitchen chair for fuel). As we sat around the fire, we thanked them for all the generosity and hospitality they've shown us and stated that we almost felt like family. "We are a family," responded Vero, and I think we all agreed.


Vero's parents have also blessed us in many ways. They always invite us to eat with them whenever their family gets together to celebrate birthdays or holidays and helped us stucco our house. Sarah has used her nursing countless times to bring healing and comfort to various members of our "family" and we both enjoy participating in the responsibilities of living in community (such as cleaning out the well - which can be seen covered with planks in the bottom right corner of the top picture). We look forward to how God will use this humble, generous extended family to extend His kingdom and we are grateful to Him for providing us with such a great place to live.

Things you learn from a child

If you want to learn cultural norms and expectations, just hang out with the children, because they parrot anything they see or hear. Our neighbor girl, Yami (the “Marshmallow Girl” from March 6 post), is a good example of this. Whenever we go over to their house, her first words to us are, “Pasales; sientense” (“come in; sit down”).

The past few days she has been coming over to our house more frequently- just to play. Friday she came over just after Nick and I got home from town and knocked on our door. She didn’t really seem to want or need anything, so I asked her if she wanted to read a book. We read one, then she went to her house and brought back a stack of her own. After reading “El Patito Feo” (The Ugly Duckling), she invited me over to her house so she could show me all of her preschool projects. She then got out all her stuffed animals to play with. After entertaining her for a while, I excused myself to go up to the clinic to get some medications for our neighbor who was waiting for them. She asked me when I was going to come back and play with her.

The next day she again came over, laden with her books. After reading two she got up and said, “Ya tengo que irme; va a llover” (I have to go now; it’s going to rain). She showed back up a little while later, came in and sat down again. She asked me if she could have a pear. As she was eating that, she asked for a glass of milk. Once she was done, she again repeated, “Ya tengo que irme; va a llover.”

Yami and her mom, Vero

“It’s going to rain,” “it’s raining,” and “it was raining” are all frequently used excuses during the rainy season (which is just beginning here). Not showing up for something because of rain may seem crazy in the States, but when walking (often on dirt paths) is a common mode of transportation, rain and mud do make it more difficult to get around. I’m not sure how valid the excuse was for Yami, however, as it was sunny and clear skies!

It is also very culturally expected to give someone food when the come to visit, no matter how short the visit. It can range from a glass of Coke or piece of fruit to an entire meal, depending on the time of day. It is rare that we visit someone that we are not offered something. Refusing is not an option. They will insist until you take it, or at least take it home with you.

We are learning much about generosity living here. Some families hardly have enough money to put food on the table for their own family, yet when we show up they run out and buy a 2 liter of Coke or give us a portion of the food prepared for their family. It’s humbling and challenges us to be more giving as well.

English teachers for a week

Being a native English speaker doesn't qualify you to be an English teacher... or does it?

Our coworkers are certified in TESL and were just finishing registration for classes when they had some medical problems for which they decided to go back to the States for a while. Our team now had 2 groups of students signed up for classes to begin that next week and no teachers to teach them. So, speaking English being basically our only qualification for teaching English, we agreed to step in and teach in their absence. We had a day and a half to prepare, in which we looked over a teaching manual on TPR (total physical response- a fun and effective way of teaching a language), looked over Pam's lesson plans and began classes.

Classes actually went well, and we had more students sign up throughout the week. They seemed to be learning and enjoying themselves. After mastering commands such as "touch your nose" and "pick up the square" we moved on to "touch your right ear with your left hand" and "put your square in front of your triangle and put the circle in between." That proved a bit more difficult, but the students were excited to be able to rather quickly pick up on these more complex commands as well.

A week later, our other 'teacher' moved up her return date to the States to the following week, and it still looks like several weeks before our coworkers return. We had already spent some time praying about our long-term involvement in English classes here and felt that it wasn't something we were supposed to focus on more than just filling in on occasion. So, we, along with our leader Chris, decided to take advantage of the swine flu craze that has shut down all the schools in the entire republic of Mexico and has half the town wearing bright blue surgical masks, and cancel classes.

It was fun while it lasted, but we are a bit relieved to be done. We also hope that the classes opened some doors to some deeper relationships with some of the students. Nick is currently meeting with one of them, a chemist, to do some one-on-one English discussions with him, which we would love to see progress into talking more about the Lord.