Día del Niño

Arriving home from furlough in April, we hit the ground running. Actually, it feels like we haven't stopped since!

The 30th of April in Mexico is "Día del Niño". We always celebrate with a children's party at the church -- piñata, cake, games, music. Iglesia Vida Nueva held their kids' party the first Saturday of May in the village of Tecomate, a suburb of Guasave.

This year, thanks to an amazing young lady in the US with a heart for children, we were able to give a baby doll to each little girl who attended the party. For the past year, families across the US have been sending baby dolls (new or gently used) to "Baby dolls for Mexico". We were even able to save some baby dolls for our planned Christmas outreach in the migrant camp! God is so good!

This little girl was so in love with her baby, she didn't put it down the whole day. I saw her a few days later and her grandma said she's been carrying her baby around all the time. What a joy!

We had a collection of wooden cars and trucks which another mission team had gifted us, so we were able to share with all the little boys who came. We're thinking, though, that maybe in addition to "Baby Dolls for Mexico", we might want to start "Hotwheels for Mexico". ;^)

Here are some more random shots of Kids' Day 2011 --

Hermana Eugenia leads the kids in a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the wonderful gifts He provided: the cake, the music, the sno-cones, the games, the clowns and of course the toys!

The ladies of the church really outdid themselves -- they even made sandwiches for each child!

We brought our handy-dandy sno-cone machine (a gift from a church in Tucson) with plans to make sno-cones for everyone. Arriving, we discovered that the power system (the church is powered by a car battery with a converter) wasn't strong enough to run the machine. So, we packed up the machine and buzzed over to the pastor's house where we were able to shave the ice and then cart it back over to the church. It was, most definitely, worth the effort!!!

Working with children here is totally rewarding! Yes, there are struggles -- just like in the US -- but the kids here are so ready to smile and they have such faith! Pray that God would be glorified in their lives and that He would care for them and provide for all their needs: physical as well as spiritual!

April Showers...or Not

Spring in Las Glorias brings foggy mornings, sunny afternoons, cool evenings and starry skies at night. Paradise.

Except for the fact that we always seem to be struggling to get water to the house.

Our drinking water isn't a problem, since we purchase water in 5 gallon jugs from the purification station. The "house water", though, arrives to us via PVC pipes from the village water tank, falls into our 5000 liter cistern and is then pumped to the tinaco on the roof as needed. Usually. But not lately.

Since we got home, we've been basically out of water. Luz and Jorge, the water people in our village, have been wonderful about sending water trucks over once in a while, but it's been a bit stressful. Ah, life on the beach!



One really nice thing about a water shortage (I can only think of one) is that the cistern is totally empty. What a great opportunity for some spring cleaning!!!

Seth volunteered to help with this project. Actually, I think he was pressed into service, but he did his job heartily, as unto the Lord!

I was reminded of why we don't drink our tap water as I watched the guys haul up bucket after bucket of sludge from the bottom of the tank. Yucky!!!



With the arrival of semana santa (Holy Week), we were prepared to finally receive water -- our nice clean tank waiting expectantly. Yesterday, Thursday, the water began to fall and we all cheered and sent up a prayer of thanksgiving.

Why are we so overjoyed at the sound of water falling into the cistern?

I guess hardship and struggle are just a part of life. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if they aren't the better part -- without hardship and struggle, how can we truly appreciate abundance and peace?

Thank you, Lord, for the lessons you teach us during those dry, difficult times!!!

Home from Spring Furlough

The original plan was to leave Arizona on Tuesday, but we were delayed and ended up heading south on Wednesday morning.


Our trip home was pretty good. We crossed the border with no problems, but got examined thoroughly at every place we could have. I gave out a lot of tracts.

After a good day of driving, we stopped in Ciudad Obregon for the night. The second day as we were coming through the last mountainous pass before Los Mochis, I threw my belt. It was a little scary since the steering and especially the brakes weren't too good without the power assist. Once again God gave us a great place to pull over. Good thing too because the heat skyrocketed almost instantly. The belt, although chewed up a little, was fine. The top idler pulley had lost its bearings and seized and kicked the belt off.

A couple of minutes after we pulled over, a patrol of federal officers stopped behind us. They we're extremely nice and helpful. After trying to help me rig it to limp along to Mochis (didn't work), they me drove to a junk yard twenty miles away where I found the part I needed for $10. Then they flagged down a bus to take me back to the van and my family. They even gave me their 18" inch screw driver to help get my belt back on. I offered to buy them a Coke, but the only thing they wanted was a thank you. I was really impressed. Where I come from, I don't think the police are allowed to help people in that way, even if they wanted to.

The bus driver dropped me off right on the highway where my van was and even gave me the water I needed to refill my radiator. We were able to witness to several people through the experience and from the time we broke down to the time we were on our way again was a only little under two hours.

As we pulled back onto the highway, we were reminded of how our God provides for us. We had been able to pull off the road almost immediately when the van began to overheat. That in itself is a miracle, since the highway has no shoulder and was very curvy and hilly. We rounded the next bend and once again praised God. The next several miles looked like this:

To God be the glory!
-- Doug

Fully Armored Kids

Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

That's the theme of the kids' class that Sarah and Caleb are doing for the kids of Iglesia Vida Nueva (New Life Church), in Tamazula. They started with a look at why and with whom we are at war and are now learning all about the various parts of our Christian armor.

While the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are at the church, all the kids are across the street at one of the church member's house. There have been some challenges. For instance the church doesn't have portable tables or chairs, so we had to transport the table from our house. The kids persevered, though, and the class has been a great blessing.

With the change in daylight saving time, we've had to adjust the class time to earlier in the day. The house where the kids meet doesn't have electricity, so Caleb sets up spotlights for game time and runs an extension cord across the street from the church. Not ideal, but it works!

The students do a craft project, listen to a story/lesson about the armor of God, play some games, sing songs and -- of course -- have a snack. The class has become such a success that even some of the neighbor kids whose parents don't attend the church have started coming. Sarah said that she doesn't want to exclude them, so as long as they're behaving well and not causing trouble, they're welcome. Great outreach, eh?!

Last week was supposed to be a lesson on the Belt of Truth, but a child in the village had a birthday. In Mexico, that means that every child in a 3 or 4 block radius, and everyone who is even remotely related by blood or marriage, is invited to celebrate. When the party ended, most of them came to the class, but they were so wired on sugar and red 40 that trying to rein them in for a Bible lesson seemed next to impossible. So, they just played some running games and sang songs. Flexibility is most definitely a key to children's ministry, no matter what country you live in!

Special thanks to the children of Saguaro Canyon Church in Tucson! They saved up to give an offering to our ministry. With it, we were able to purchase all the supplies necessary class: scissors, glue, paper, etc., as well as workbooks for each of the kids in the class. What a blessing!!!