Looking Ahead

As 2014 draws to a close and 2015 is brand new, it is very exciting to be making plans for a medical clinic to the island region.  You can read about our first trip to this area by clicking here.  This will be a collaborative effort of the missionaries currently church planting on the island, our church here in Huayapam, and a local group of doctors that often do mountain medical clinics as part of their ministry.  You can also read our latest prayer letter by clicking here.

Church Planters!

We had the privilege of being a part of something very similar in March of 2014, that you can read about by clicking here.  The trip will help the missionaries and their church on the island reach out to their community.  “We are the bait that the fisherman use,” as one of the doctors likes to put it. It will be exciting for the church members here having the opportunity to be a part missions, we are praying they catch a vision and passion for missions and reaching the state of Oaxaca.  There is much planning, coordinating, and prayer that needs to go into this trip.  We invite you to begin praying with us on this.  

Translators!

How about you, what mission trips or Global Adventures ,as my BIL likes to call them, are you planning on going on this year?

March 2013 Recap

Meme took the girls to a cooking class.  Where we got to go on a market tour and learn about traditional Oaxacan food.

March 2013 Recap

Oaxacan Coffee and Cup Giveaway

Oaxacan Coffee Giveaway (my first blog giveaway)! 

Update:  Giveaway over, find out who won here.

I promise to continue with the 2013 Ministry Recap very soon...think Thursday.  But today we wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a little about our area and offer you a chance to sample some of the amazing coffee they grow here in Oaxaca.


When visiting Oaxaca, you don't want to miss one of the little pueblas just outside the city.  It is an easy cab ride.  Just tell your driver you want to go to San Andres Huayapam, or even just Huayapam (wy-yah'-pam).  He will know where you want to go and will probably ask if you are going to be trying the tejate (tay-ha-tay).  This is a cool, chocolaty drink made using flowers from a special tree we are told grows only in Huayapam.

Ministry Monday Week #5: 2013 Recap

I'm so excited to be blogging again and I'm really enjoying the Ministry Monday idea.  I'm looking forward to sharing some of the new ministries we are involved in this year and updates on old ministries, but first I wanted to share a recap of last year.  So buckle your seat belts, we certainly lived up to the "wandering" part of our name.  I hope it was "purposeful" also.  

January
I started 2013 sleeping through the fireworks in a small, remote town sandwiched between the Caribbean Sea and the Honduran jungle.  Yep!  You read that right.  January of last year I had the opportunity to work with an OB/GYN at a remote mission hospital on the coast of Honduras.  I would like to think I was a help.  It was an amazing opportunity and experience and I did get invited back.  That has to be a good sign.  Thank you to all the staff at Hospital Loma de Luz for all the compassionate work you are doing to shine the light and love of Jesus.

Ministry Monday Week #4: Celebration!

Celebration!

Jumping up and down!  Hands in the air!  (Come on everybody now!)  Wave them everywhere!  Backflip! Backflip!  OK, maybe not a backflip, but we are so very excited we really almost could!  In our house we are doing a very unbaptist celebration dance.  We received our "temporary resident" visas permitting us to live and work in a ministering capacity legally in Mexico! 

Jump for joy with us!

"Passport Country"

Passport country, Third Culture Kids, Culture Shock, Reverse Culture Shock...these are terms I was very unfamiliar with and very unprepared to deal with 4 years ago.  I still feel unprepared to deal with them, but deal with them we must, for starting tomorrow it's "U.S. or bust!"  The U.S. is my kids "passport country", but it is not a place they fully understand how to deal with, it is in many ways a foreign culture to them.  They think it's fun and novel and if you ask them if they miss it, they will tell you they miss FAMILY, not the U.S.  

Honk! Honk!

The kids built a car town.  It looks a little like Oaxaca traffic.

You're getting the raw version before I have time to do a lot of processing.  Traffic is beyond crazy in Oaxaca city.  Last night when we were out there was a very busy intersection with a traffic light out, no traffic cop in sight.  Sam had to force his way through the intersection.  Minutes later we saw a motor cycle zip through lines of stopped cars on a busy three lane road only to be hit by a truck pulling into traffic.  He walk away from that one, but his bike was another story.  It didn't look so good.  Several hours later, on the way home, same traffic light, same story. Only more horn honking this time.  I was glad I was not driving.  Have I made my point.  Traffic is crazy.  People routinely run red lights, large buses jump lanes with no signal, taxis cut here and there.

No Internet

We have not had internet for about a week and posting from my phone is difficult. I will try to post a new blog soon. I have some adventures from Mexico I still want to post, some food stuff, some crafty stuff (yes, I am crafty sometimes) and some travel stuff to post. So keep checking back. I think we have now driven over 5700 miles, so we will be well over 6000 miles by the time we get to Rogers later this week!

Deputation

Dep`u*ta"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. députation. See Depute.]

1. The act of deputing, or of appointing or commissioning a deputy or representative; office of a deputy or delegate; vicegerency.

2. The person or persons deputed or commissioned by another person, party, or public body to act in his or its behalf; delegation; as, the general sent a deputation to the enemy to propose a truce. By deputation, or In deputation, by delegated authority; as substitute; through the medium of a deputy. [Obs.]

“…..they are the messengers of the church…..” 2 Corinthians 8:23

Lord willing, Sam and I hope to be permanently in Mexico sometime early next year (2010). The first year or two in Mexico we will be working with already established missionaries, helping with their church plant and children’s home. Our goals for the first year are to learn Spanish, learn the culture, gain wisdom in church planting on a foreign field and relieve the Benedicts at the children’s home some.
We would love to turn the truck south and head to Mexico today, but before we can go we need to raise some support. We call this deputation. Part of gaining support is to visit churches and present our ministry. We have been doing this since mid-March. So far all the churches have been fairly close. We can go and come back in one weekend.
Yesterday (07.16.09) we began to venture out further. We left about 4:30 pm and made good time all the way to OKC. After dinner we headed towards Amarillo, TX and stopped about 2:00 am at a really cool rest stop. The kids were excited to wake up in TX. We had breakfast and were back on the road….