Better late than never!

WOW! A lot has happened in the past month in our lives. Here is a brief summary of these 5 weeks or so. We spent a week in the El Paso-Las Cruces area for Thanksgiving. What a blessing to spend the holiday with my sister Gayle and her family, especially because we are not sure when we will see them again. This photo shows my nephew Joe and Jose Luis in the back and my sister and I sitting in front. I do not have a photo of the whole family together. But here is a fun photo of Elijah, my niece Ana's little boy - he is such a sweet little guy!
After returning back home to Creel, we began to do some much-needed work on our house. Due to the impetus & help of another missionary, we stripped and painted our kitchen & bedroom. I have always been a fan of colors and am so blessed, thankful, and appreciative to have color on our walls and not the dull and dirty white of before (to be honest, we had not painted the house since we moved into it in August 1998). Thank you, Ester, Jasmine, & Allan, for your gift, your work, your encouragement, and your patience with us all. I really love my red kitchen wall and I pray for you all daily.

We received 2 short-term groups and took them to different communities so that they could share the gospel and give out food, candy, and toys. What makes this spiffy in my opinion is that these groups were Slavic-Americans who came to share Christ with the Tarahumara-Mexicans and were hosted by people from the USA & Mexico.

Finally, we were really blessed to have our friends Aaron & Sybil visit from BC, Canada. How special it was to share this time with them! Thank you both for making our home brighter, our bellies fuller, and for touching our hearts with your love.

Here is a photo of part of the desk & shelves that Aaron built for Jaynie's room - just in time for school to begin again after a few days off for Christmas (and due to Jaynie's cough). I just cannot express our gratitude with sufficient words - Aaron & Sybil do God's work & bless all who they encounter. We hope that the Lord will bless them as they have blessed us.

New tires!!

Praise God, we have new tires on the truck! Thanks to some very generous friends, we were able to buy 5 new tires (1 as a spare) AND replace both the interior & exterior terminals on the front passenger side. The truck drives like a dream. The roads around here are so very hard on vehicles. We thank those who made this possible!

No, donkey, no!

Many Tarahumara people value their animals above other things. One woman I know told me that her animals were more important to her than her own daughter because the animals helped her in many ways - fertilizer, barter for other things, sign of wealth. A little over 2 weeks ago, Dona Lola, who is 70 years old at the least, was giving salt to her donkeys. The donkeys were more than ready to eat salt and they knocked Lola down trying to get to the salt first. I probably should mention that Lola was putting the salt out on some rocks, and when she fell, she fell over the rocks and onto her left arm. It was not pretty! Jose Luis was in San Luis Majimachi at the time and he brought Lola and her son Mario out, and then they all went to the hospital in Samachike in Dwayne's big truck. On the way to the hospital (about 1-2 hours away), Lola began to joke about how onery the donkeys were and how they should take care of her and not the other way around! She was even laughing :) In Samachike, Dr. Mike set her arm and put in some pins. Jose Luis took her back to the hospital last Mon. for a check up. The pins will stay in her arm until the 1st of Dec., but she says that it hardly hurts any more. We pray that the Lord will use all of this to open Lola's heart to His love and truth.

Thank you, John Piper!

Living in the mountains of Mexico is a great experience. However, at times I miss good Biblical teaching in English (we do receive good Biblical teaching in Spanish). I have acquired the habit of downloading Nancy Leigh DeMoss' daily radio program called "Revive our Hearts." I also like to look at John Piper's website (www.desiringgod.org) regularly to read his sermons & articles. This week when I checked out his site for new items, I saw a blog mentioning that during the month of November the audiobook Desiring God could be downloaded for free. I checked out the site, and, after registering, I was able to download the entire unabridged audiobook free. If you would like to get it, go to http://christianaudio.com/desiringgod and just follow the steps listed. Let me know what you think after listening to it!

Kal Ho Naa Ho

"Tomorrow may never come" is a Bollywood movie that some friends of ours brought back from India. Our friends spent 6 months there investigating possibilities for going back as missionaries. They began learning the language and spent some time studying history, culture, etc. This movie is, I've been told, very typical of the Bollywood movies - over 3 hours long with several musical numbers thrown in for fun (and lots of energetic dancing). Although it has a couple of scenes that we skip when we watch it and it is in Hindi, it is an okay movie. I must admit that it is a tear-jerker. Watching it with Jaynie was a great opportunity to discuss some basic beliefs held by Hindus & Moslems (there are references to these beliefs in different parts of the movie). Also, it shows some of the differences between the people of the different regions or provinces of India. I must admit that I now want to watch more Bollywood movies as long as they have subtitles in English or Spanish (so I can understand the story!). And, this is a great way for us to remember our friends as they prepare to return to India next spring as missionaries.

Tarahumara discipleship

A couple of weeks ago, another pastor (Bro. Ernesto) who works in Creel and a couple of Tarahumara villages asked Jose Luis to share with some of the Tarahumara Christians and others interested in learning more about God. We spent Fri. evening through Sun. afternoon, Oct. 16-18, with about 13 Tarahumaras (10 adults) and the pastor, his wife, and 2 other Mexican missionaries who work with Bro. Ernesto. On Sat. morning, Jose Luis shared his testimony in Tarahumara and every single Tarahumara in the room was crying by the time Jose Luis finished. Following his testimony, Jose Luis shared the plan of salvation as presented in the book of Romans (the "Roman road") and 3 Tarahumaras accepted Christ as their Savior & Lord! (the others had already accepted the Lord). What a special time! Then on Sat. afternoon, the whole group went with us to Los Manzanos for Bible study. On Sun., we all went to San Luis Majimachi for church in Tarahumara (mostly!). We were privileged to participate in what the Lord is doing here - how awesome is that?
This photo shows part of the group at the Bible study in Los Manzanos (outside of Crucita's house).

Time to catch up!

Well, I have certainly not been very diligent at updating this blog and I apologize for that. There are no excuses. We have been busy, but no more than normal. We have gone through our share of health challenges, but also no worse than other people. So I will try to catch up over the next couple of days. Jaynie wanted me to post a photo of her new pet - Lulu May! We have had her for 1 week exactly and Jaynie really enjoys taking care of her kitten. Lulu has adjusted well and has survived being surrounded by the 3 dogs living at our base (Wishbone, our toothless wonder dog, can't do much more than scare her). My hope in getting Lulu is that she will grow up to be a great mouser. I don't like it when mice invade my home! Thankfully, we have not had any mice inside for a few months now.

Where to start?...

We began week 3 of homeschool today. Jaynie seems to be understanding her new books, classes; however, we had a bit of a setback last week in English. I tend to think it is my failure to explain the material well AND her lack of paying attention to the questions asked. It's a good thing that I have 4th grade English worksheets, and Jaynie is working on those for the next couple of days. She is doing really well in Saxon Math - it is very different from last year's Modern Curriculum Math.

As a bonus today, Henk's sister Ida came and taught us the basics of knitting. I took a class back when I was just a little girl, but haven't knitted much since. Then in March, when we were visiting Claremore, OK, Jaynie & I attended a 1-hour craft class and I learned knitting again. Well, with the first slipped stitch, I was stuck and didn't know what to do. So I took all of my stitches out, but I forgot how to start again. What a blessing that Ida took time to teach us! Ida makes beautiful sweaters - maybe next year we can graduate to knitting sweaters. But first, we will master the basics.
On a down note, while Jaynie and I were grocery shopping in Creel, someone lightened my load, so to speak. As I was getting ready to pay, I realized that my money bag (aka coin purse) was gone! Ooh, I do not like the feeling of being robbed! But, I am thankful that whoever took it, did not take my billfold with my important id's, etc. We are getting ready to go to El Paso for a few days next week, and we really couldn't afford to lose the $200 pesos and change, but I know that the Lord will provide what we need. I just need to keep my eyes on Him and not on my circumstances.

Finally, keep Jose Luis in your prayers. He leaves for Samachike bright and early in the morning for translation committee work. The committee has been translating the book of Acts last week, and they hope to continue that work this week. Jose Luis is also learning a new program by SIL on adapting a translation of the Bible into a variation of that language.





This is a view of the mountains with a rainbow that Jose Luis took on his way to Choguita of Norogachi to pick up another member of the translation committee.

Purpose & Party

At first it seemed hard to believe that over 2 weeks have passed since I last posted something, then I remembered what happened from Sept. 6-11. We hosted a team that worked with another ministry in Creel, but they stayed at our base and Edith & I cooked 3 meals a day for them. It was such a good time - a little opportunity for me to remember why I am here. This was and is a lesson that God has been teaching me for the past 11 years. I am here to serve Him however and whenever the opportunity arises. In other words, every day I pray to glorify God in all I do and say. I must admit that I do not always succeed - I say something that is not very uplifting, or I lose my patience, or I chose to ignore someone - but I strive to be better and the Lord, in His mercy, patiently corrects and encourages me.

Then last Sat., we celebrated the birthdays of 2 of Crucita's children in Los Manzanos; Jose and Maribel both have birthdays on Sept. 15. I made a chocolate sheet cake (from my mother's recipe) and we took a large bottle of soda. Now, I was thinking that we would just have a bit of cake and then continue with our study. Little did I know that Crucita had called on her mother and one of her sisters to help get ready for the party. They killed and butchered some chickens and made chicken soup with fresh tortillas and beans. Crucita said that it was the first time that they had celebrated the birthdays of any of her children and her husband David said that he was very happy that we came to join in the festivities. It is so awesome to be a part of what the Lord is doing in the hearts of this family!

Let it snow!

Last winter was very mild with very little snow, and now we are feeling or seeing the effects of that mildness. We are inundated with caterpillars of every size and color. We saw some huge, hot-dog size caterpillars near our grape vines. However, we have seen many orange ones.

As a result, Jaynie has a new hobby - picking the caterpillars off of plants and giving them to the chickens for dinner.

A-OK

I got news earlier this week that the thing that was removed from my back/shoulder was benign. Praise God! This was great news! However, it was tempered by the term the doctor used to describe the growth...barnacle (for those who prefer the sophistic medical version...seborrheic keratosis). Now, when I hear the word "barnacle", I think of old ships that have been at sea a long time. I feel like that ship that went to sea over 46 years ago! Better to cling to the good news that I do NOT have a malignant growth.

Sites from around here:

Jose Luis has been taking photos and I think he does a great job. From San Luis Majimachi (above) to the Piedra Volada (below) to the cable car construction aiming to install cables to carry a car across the canyon (bottom photo). What do you think?

An Italian company is installing the cables. Nevertheless, I think it would be safer and prettier to just hike into the canyon or go off-road in our truck! Could be that my fear of bridges just expanded to include hanging cable cars?

Finally!

Doesn't Jaynie's room look great - or at least her bed? She really amazed me this weekend. I told her weeks ago that we would get her a fish or little turtle IF she cleaned her room good and kept it clean for good. So last Friday, our base was full. We had a group of 31 people from Mexico as well as 3 translators visiting. The group stayed in all of our dorm rooms; the translators stayed in the Kaemingk's guest room, Dwayne's guest room, and Jaynie's room. Well, in less than 1 hour Jaynie's room was so very neat and orderly. She admitted that she hid some of her toys, but it still looked great! She has to keep it that way for a couple of weeks before we will go out to Chihuahua or El Paso to see about getting the fish or turtle. I got busy on Saturday and finished the afghan I started for her about 3 years ago. I am so thankful to finish one project, now on to the rag quilt I pieced together that just needs to be snipped.

How does your garden grow?

Thanks to the Lord providing rain and sunshine, our gardens are flourishing along with the weeds. And as pretty as our sweet corn looks, we have yet to see more than 1 ear of corn. I pray that God will work wonders and that we will harvest plenty of corn to share with others.

Jaynie took these photos - she is learning and I think she has a great eye for flowers!

WOW! Jaynie is 10!

It is so hard to believe that my baby is now 10 years old - it seems like just yesterday I was learning to nurse and change diapers on the run. Enjoy these photos from the small birthday dinner we had for Ruth Jaynelle.

Flowers, hospital, and blessings!

I just love this time of year here in the canyons/mountains. This is our equivalent of spring. It is when the wildflowers are blooming after the rains have come in June and July.

It has been one busy week, but we have been blessed in many ways this week. Jaynie keeps working away on 4th grade - just 4 weeks to go! She only has 5 subjects left so we can move quicker and cover more material each day. But we took Mon. off to go to the mission hospital in Samachique. Last week I became concerned by this thing that grew very quickly on my back/shoulder. I went to the hospital to have it checked out. Dr. Mike cut it out and sent it off for pathology. I am trying to keep my thoughts under control and only think about the things that I KNOW are true (Philippians 4:8). We should know the results in about 10 days.

We were visited by a couple from Indiana via Oklahoma. We had never met before but we know some of the same people back in Oklahoma. We enjoyed getting to know them and showing them parts of the Copper Canyon and parts of our ministry. It is always neat to see our world through the eyes of others. We pray that the Lord will bless and guide Chase & Leisa as they continue their travels.

We also received our only group from the USA to come this summer. What a privilege to serve our Lord together with our friends from Coronado BC - El Paso. The team did work around our base on Wed., went out to a Tarahumara community on Thur., and then on Fri. went down to the mission hospital. We were able to can plum jam, whole plums, and wild cherry jelly. The group and especially our friend Lynn brought us a great supply of sugar (brown, powdered, and refined) - I am ready to get serious about baking now.

Distributions & More

This week saw the Parra family pretty busy. Jose Luis took a group with another mission organization (Black Buffalo) out to Wajurana and Los Manzanos for distributions. The mission leader asked us to find a couple of Tarahumara communities where the team could give out food, blankets, clothes, etc. and where they could share their testimonies. First up was Wajurana on Monday - and with less than a day's notice, approx. 160 people came! Then on Wed. they went to Los Manzanos and also had a very good turnout.

One of the neat connections we have with Black Buffalo - he brought the first Christian team down to ever enter San Luis Majimachi in 1985. At that time the team gave out "Card Talk" record players with messages recorded on lp's. Jose Luis received one of these and some lp's along with a New Testament in Spanish and the Gospel of John in Tarahumara Alta & Spanish. What a privilege to serve together with another team from Black Buffalo's organization. We pray that the seeds that were sown will take root and bear fruit.

Rainy days

Some days are just hard days. Last week it rained every day - it was dreary and so very wet! Jaynie and I stayed in doing lots of school. I finally planned out the rest of 4th grade and we will finish by Sept. 11 if we do school 5 days a week beginning today. This is not as doable as it sounds. We will be receiving 2 groups during that time and we will be a bit occupied with the teams. I will be responsible for the planning/purchasing/cooking for the groups. Jaynie is such a great helper in the kitchen. She does a good job washing dishes and she likes to help me chop vegetables. Last Sat. she made a batch of chocolate chip cookies all by herself! I am so blessed by her. So, back to the rainy, dreary week we had last week. In the midst of this time God granted me a view into our purpose for serving here.

This is Maria Elena and Juanita. Aren't they precious? They, along with their mother, came to Bible study for the first time last Sat. in Los Manzanos. Maria Elena enjoyed laughing with me. I pray that she and her family will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Then, as Maria Elena and I were having a laughing contest, I looked around outside Crucita's house. And there in the midst of the drizzle was proof of hope - hope that one day soon the sun will come out and shine like never before.

I realize that a photo of blankets that are washed and left to dry on any surface available does not always inspire hope. But to me, in the middle of rainy season, it is a great example of hope and expectancy - waiting for the sun to come out from behind the clouds to dry things up.

A Faith that Saves

If you listened to Rachel Barkey's testimony, you know how very well she articulated some important points of the Christian faith. Go to http://www.deathisnotdying.com/ to download the audio or video of her talk if you haven't heard/seen it yet.
Rachel died on July 2, 2009 but her witness still lives on. Thank you, God, for allowing me to hear Rachel's testimony and thank you that she knew you so intimately.

Busy, busy, busy

We have had many things going on in the past 2 weeks. Jaynie continues with homeschool (we are over 2/3 done with 4th grade!) and Jose Luis has been going to help different people with different things. Today, he went to his mother's farm to help weed the corn fields. When he is home, he has continued to revise the script translation for God's Story and is so very close to finishing. We have been working in the gardens - our base has a greenhouse with tomatoes, chiles, cabbage, cactus, swiss chard, and squash. Outside, we have strawberries, lettuce, summer squash, green beans, and sweet corn. Near our house, we have planted snow peas, sweet corn, and "Tecomari" beans (huge mostly purple beans that look like big cockroaches or waterbugs when they are cooked!).

This past weekend the Christians in San Luis Majimachi held a party/revival and invited the people from Rowerachi (the photo above is from Rowerachi looking into the canyon) to attend. This involved several trips to Rowerachi on a horrible road (to invite the village, to pick up the people, and to take them back home). We had been told that only 10 or so would come - the or so turned out to be 30 more for a total of 40! At the service on Sunday morning, there were over 100 Tarahumara people and we had a great time of praise, worship, and sharing of God's Word.

Also, for almost 2 weeks I have been sick with what was diagnosed last Wed. as pleurisy (the second time in 6 months!). The antibiotics are working and I am finally feeling better.

Snapshots from the Revival party in San Luis Majimachi

Here are some photos from last Sunday, July 12th:

I am playing and singing with the children who attended the service.

The ladies are taking the meat off of the bones for the beef soup that was served to all who attended the service.

What a great smile!

These ladies are looking at pine needles that one woman brought to sell. The Tarahumara women are famous for their woven baskets made with pine needles.

Rainy season

Living in the Sierra Tarahumara has its advantages. One of the most pleasant aspects is the weather. Although we are further south than the USA, we live at almost 8,000 feet above sea level. We do not have all of the seasons as are experienced in the States. Winter is pretty much the same, except that we begin to have freezing temperatures in September and will continue to dip down below freezing at night well into May. This said April & May are our hottest months (even into June) with temperatures rising into the 90's F. This is when the oak trees lose their leaves and forest fires are common because of the dry weather. In early June, we had a forest fire begin quite close to our base. Jose Luis took a photo of it. Praise God that the rains came at the right time to put it out.
However, once the rains come in June, we will cool off with highs in the low 80s in the morning and dropping into the 60s in the afternoon with the rain and into the low 50s at night. This year the rains began in mid-June which is great. Now, though, the weeds are winning the battle in most corn fields. So the Tarahumara people make their home-made corn beer, invite the neighbors to come drink and help them weed their fields. Just imagine a group of drunk people using hoes or just their hands to weed the fields - it is amazing that they don't pull up the corn with the weeds. The following photo is from the group of neighbors (you can barely see them in front of the pine tree in the middle) who came to help my mother-in-law with her field after they first imbibed quite liberally of the corn beer she made.

New links

I have added links to 3 websites. I would recommend that you check them out. The testimony of Rachel Barkey is very challenging and encouraging - I hope that you will at least listen to the audio of her testimony found at http://www.deathisnotdying.com/.

Impossible!

I can't believe that 2 months have passed since my last post - so much has happened and it will take a lot of space to cover it. So, here is a summary and highlight photos. May passed with lots of work - Jose Luis working with the translation committee on Bible translation, Jaynie working on homeschool after 6 weeks off, and I seemed to keep busy working in the kitchen of our YWAM base, trying to keep up with housework, helping/teaching Jaynie in homeschool, and supporting Jose Luis as we visit San Luis de Majimachi and Los Manzanos. We also hosted a reunion of DTS graduates at our base - it was so good to spend time with some of our very dear friends (who are Mexican missionaries oversees) and to share testimonies of what the Lord has done in us since our DTS.

At the end of May we went to help translate for Mary Jean Powers as she taught at different locations in the state of Chihuahua for 2 weeks. During this time, Jose Luis was able to make great advances to translating and revising the Tarahumara script for the film "God's Story".

We returned home to Creel for the last 2 weeks of the DTS, which ended last Saturday, June 27th, with the graduation ceremony. We had about 120 people in attendance and the YWAM director for Mexico gave the message. We have also worked in the gardens around our house. Jose Luis planted 2 rosebushes and 3 mums for my birthday!

No flu here

What a week! As you probably know, the nation of Mexico is in the midst of a swine flu outbreak. I am so thankful that this disease has not been found in our area. We see the photos of people in Mexico City wearing masks and avoiding crowds. We live in such a different place! Although, Jaynie was all for participating in the nation-wide school closures until May 6th, I told her that it did not apply to our school. Today, I went into Creel to run some errands with Jaynie. Now mind you, Creel only has about 7,000 inhabitants – it is a small town surrounded by hills, valleys, forests, and mountains. Here is a view of Creel from the cliffs at our base (this is basically the view from my kitchen window). It shows the southeastern side of town.

So, on our trip to Creel, we went to the one and only bank in town, the post office, and 2 grocery stores. We stood in line at the bank (very normal) and no one wore a mask or avoided greeting each other. Then, we went to the post office; the manager of the office (it is a one-man office) was wearing a mask. He is always super-precautious. That was the only one we saw during our trip to Creel. At the grocery stores, there were many people, but no signs of illnesses or panic.

I just wanted to let you know that we are well. Please join us in praying for all of those who have been affected by the swine flu in Mexico and in other parts of the world.

Middle of the Night Musings

Well, I cannot really say that I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but I did finally log onto to the internet and can post an update. It is crazy that I have to get up in the middle of the night to do so, but sleep is optional. We are all doing okay - fighting a cold or the flu or something. The city of Mexico is closing all schools on Friday because of a flu outbreak, but I don't think that affects us in northern Mexico. This week Jose Luis has been working with the translation committee in Samachique. They have been translating the panoramic Bible book. He should return home on Friday afternoon, then will go back to Samachique next week for more translation work. Next week, the committee plans to continue their translation of the book of Acts from the New Testament. Jaynie and I are plugging away at homeschool. Jaynie occasionally throws some really yucky attitudes and we are discussing if homeschool is really the best for her. I know that it is, but I cannot see that she is so convinced of this! Also, this week I translated for another missionary who taught a basic class of how to help women in pregnancy and child-birth. It was very interesting and informative! Thank you, Susie and Timothy! I will leave you with another photo of our time in the States. Hopefully, next week I can post some photos of my garden (Ardis has inspired me!). Until then, may God bless you as only He can with His grace and peace.

The sight of ice-damaged trees resonates within me - there is a lesson here for us. What do you think?

We're back!

Whew! We are finally back home for a bit and I have pretty much unpacked everything - just one more box to go. Our time in the USA was filled with so many blessings and we met some really neat people. I am posting some photos of our time in New Mexico, Arizona (even though we only spent a couple of hours there), Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. The last photo shows Jaynie & I with our "locks of love" braids.

I tried to update my blog on Monday; however, the internet at our base has been very slow this week and I have not been able to do much. It is good to be home, but it does take some time to return to living in another country (I don't know if it would be considered third world or second world?).

How great it is to know that Sunday is on the way! Today, Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, always makes me realize how special Christ's sacrifice and resurrection is - because if the story stopped on Saturday, there would be no hope, no eternal life, no purpose for living, nothing. The good news is that Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave and rose again to a victorious life forever!

________________________________________________

This first picture is of Jose Luis at his first attempt at target practice. Our friends in Cloudcroft took him out for a very interesting afternoon of guns, guns, and more guns (all of them legal). Jaynie even tried her hand at shooting and did pretty good for a 9-year-old girl. Thanks to Scott, Lynn, and everyone!

Window Rock, AZ

Thanks to Kevin and Carrie, we learned more about the Navajo people, their culture, and beliefs. We ate Navajo tacos and played Jenga and had a great time in Gallup, New Mexico. We were blessed to meet many people and got to know Kevin and Carrie better - they were such good hosts!

Claremore, OK

This was Jaynie's first time to successfully fly a kite - Pastor Ray took time from his busy schedule to take us to the lake to spend a couple of hours playing with the kite and looking for arrowheads.

Here comes the sun!

A beautiful sunrise near Harrison, Arkansas - What a relaxing and enjoyable time we had in Arkansas catching up on dear friends and seeing new vistas.