Van’s ready

We sent our 2000 van to the shop before we left for California because its transmission had gotten so bad that it no longer wanted to go into reverse.  Well, we just got word on our trip that the work was done.  Today I’ll have to take a look at how it’s working.  Pray that we gather the funds we need to pay off the mechanic.

Too Much Stuff

We arrived to our home in Mexico without any problems and actually got there with all of our luggage (that’s not always been true.)  We were exhausted by getting up at 3 a.m. and then getting in the afternoon.  So, we just dumped the luggage in the living room, ate and called it a day.  Of course we had to check if we had… gas to cook with, water to bathe with, and electricity to turn the lights on with.  Everything was a GO!

Messy

I met with my cousins who pastor a church in Southern California.  They shared about their family and how the church family has changed.  There was a lot of talk of hurt in the past, but anticipation for the future.  I remember my pastor once telling me that church can be messy because people are messy.

Faking it

We got to watch a stunt show during our time away from Mexico.  It was amazing all the falls, hits and misses that the stunt actors took.  While we want to teach people how to be real, I don’t doubt that we all deal with “faking it” every so often.

Guitar-size

I had to put myself next to this huge instrument just to remember that it’s what I love doing, playing guitar that is.  On our trip to California, we want to thank Frank for hearing our request for a keyboard.  I had anticipated finding a used one at a yard sale, but Frank insisted in “lending” us a new one.  Imagine how many students we can teach with an added keyboard.

Hard at Work

I don’t often pose for photos, but being at Universal Studios I took advantage of some of their backdrops.  While my work doesn’t entail the hard work that this represents, I enjoyed putting myself in the scene.  Actually in our real work, we try to put others in the limelight. 

U.S. Airways

This was our early morning trip to the airport at 4 a.m. to hop a flight back home.

Alamo

We ran down to the car rental place to drop off our rented vehicle after getting some much needed items to take back to Mexico.

INDOnesian Store

Kiana and I braved some purchases at an Indonesian store where the people were only speaking Indonesian.  but when they found out that my parents are Indonesian, they spoke to us in English and were very helpful.  We bought "shrimp" chips to take back to Mexico.

The Magic of Movies

As a family we headed down to Universal Studios to see how movies are done. It's been many years since I first visited this place, and it was a pleasure to share it with my daughters and my wife for the first time.  While it's not considered one of the big theme parks in the area, it has some unique features that Hollywood is known for, namely making you believe that you're a part of the action when in fact you are just a bystander.  Amazing!

Family Time

We have enjoyed visiting my mom on this trip, and look forward to seeing her a few more times before leaving the area.  She looks great and we're glad that she's in good health.

Approved!

We just got word that we've been approved for our long-range stay in Mexico, if we desire to do so. When we get back, we'll put on the finishing touch on the paper work. God is amazing!

On a short "spring" break

We're so blessed to have friends put us up in their home where we have the run of the place. We came up to do some work on our visa, but it's worked out to be a mini vacation. God is just too good to us!

Where’s the beef?

On Wednesday, we had a barbecue at our rented church house.  Folks brought stuff to make burgers and hotdogs.  We had more people than we anticipated, but enjoyed just talking, singing and the kids played table games.  When I left, people were still mulling around talking and eating.

Where did the time go?

On Tuesday, we had a prayer vigil from 5-10 p.m.  It was mostly a worship time with music and some prayers.  We had lots of different activities to help us pray for families, for the lost and for the world.  It was great to have 5 different worship teams lead the service (obvious with overlapping musicians because we’re a small church.)  It was over too quickly!

Sunday morning service

Our congregation got together with the founding congregation in a park to celebrate Resurrection Sunday.  Along with a time change, we had a service in an amphitheater and then spread out into the park to have an early meal.  It was a good time to catch up with friends from the mother church as well as spend good time with our own members.  Usually after a service, we don’t socialize much, but this day we had all afternoon.

Youth Crossing

Our youth group joined up with our sister church’s youth group in Tizayuca to attend a camp organized by their leaders in “Hueypoxtla.”  While it was short, it was a good time to listen to a talk on making good decisions and a time to renew our friendships with the young people we’ve come to know and love.  Thanks Jonathan and family for putting this all together.

Lessons on Leadership

Monday’s staff meeting was light due to Sunday’s sunrise resurrection service.  We watched “Hoosiers” without popcorn, but were able to veg a bit as we watched Gene Hackman display his basketball leadership qualities.

A Time to Plan

The “new location” team got together for lunch to talk about planning, participation and propaganda.  We ate, dreamed, and pushed each other to commit to this new endeavor and adventure to reach a new neighborhood.  We’re excited, but we just need to get more organized.

Welcome!

On Sunday we had a visitor show up to our short worship time after our music classes in the morning.  She expressed a desire and hope to find a place to invite her daughters to attend.  I told her, “If you’re looking for a small place to serve, you’ve come to the right place, but if you’re looking for a big church, well, you’d be better off looking somewhere else.”  She headed home for a few minutes and joined us as our sermon was ending.  Thank God for visitors.

Connected!

It’s about finding options!  Here I thought that we’d have to suffer with a building we’re renting, but with no electrical power for our keyboards.  So on Sunday, I settled in with that assumption.  While setting up, I didn’t even bother to connect the borrowed keyboard.

Well, to my surprise, one of our men hit the electrical box and jury-rigged an extension cord from the fuse panel to the area where we were giving music classes.  So when the new students showed up, we had a new guitar student and two new keyboard students, we could get to work right away.

I had one of the kids, a 6^th grader, start teaching the new ones about notes and chords.  I told him, “If you’re here, you’ve come to work.  Get teaching the new ones!”  It’s great to see each member of the team contributing to the work.

KikoMar

The girls each got a chance to serve and help at KikoMar as a team of Canadian builders came down to finish the dinning hall at the Christian camp.  We're so proud of Diana and Mirna who have dedicated their time to serve God by building up and inviting people to use the facilities.  We’ve used the camp several times for our youth retreats and look forward to using it again for our church retreat in May.