My View from the Canyon Edge

Rowerachi

2011-03-18T23:36:00.009-07:00

Last month Jose Luis went with some of the Christian men from San Luis Majimachi to visit the village of Rowerachi. The church in San Luis has committed to visiting the people of Rowerachi at least once a month for Bible study and fellowship. One of the mornings, the 2 teenagers who went with the group from San Luis decided to do a bit of rock climbing - just check out these photos!!

Musings

2011-02-04T23:24:00.003-07:00

I just don't know where the time goes - it seems like I just posted yesterday and not over 2 months ago! December was full of food (cooking for the Tarahumara Bible course as well as my family), fun (Christmas is always a great day), and fellowship (we were hardly ever alone). January followed with the promise of more opportunities to serve (also known as "work") beginning with the Bible course followed by the Discipleship Training School. However, I came down with a very yucky flu bug and was knocked out of my routine for over 2 weeks. Thankfully, after 8 injections of a very strong antibiotic (usually used to treat staph infections or bacterial pneumonia) and many days of rest, I recovered. I was so thankful to God that neither Jaynie nor Jose Luis came down with the same bug.
As we started the new year, I decided that I wanted to memorize the book of James from the Bible. I began in Jan. and have worked my way up to James 1:23 - I know, I have a long way to go! I am always amazed at how great it is to go over the verses at different times during the day - it always helps me with some problem or crisis. I have definitely calmed down during home school (which is a very good thing - all of my students would agree!). If you want info on the method I use, just send me a comment.
Well, I had better go put another log on the fire so that our house will stay warm tonight.

Oklahoma

2010-11-26T08:19:00.007-07:00

In early October we decided that we needed to take some time off from our work here with the Tarahumaras so that we could visit family, friends, supporters, churches (not necessarily in that order). We left Creel on Oct. 10 and began our journey which stretched to over 4500 miles in 31 days. We knew that the Lord was leading us to do this; however, we did not see how our costs would be covered. We planned our time to maximize the number of people we could visit, but our plans were not set in stone and we tried to keep a positive, flexible attitude.
We visited my niece, Ana, and her family. I loved holding and feeding her new baby girl (who was only 5 days old when we met).
After visiting Ana, we began the drive to Oklahoma via Tijeras, NM and Canyon, TX. We visited with new friends and old friends and we renewed acquaintances. Driving on to Oklahoma our first destination was Claremore, OK - but to get there we had to pass through Oklahoma City, my hometown, and I got us lost very easily. Amazing that after living there for the better part of 32 years, I forgot my way!
We spent 8 days in Claremore with our friends, the Crawfords. Ray & Cathy blessed us and pampered us. Their church replaced the tires on our truck as well as the clutch. They did so much to bless us - through their friendship and by spending time with us. Cathy took Jaynie and me for pedicures, a treat that I had not experienced in over 15 years and one that Jaynie had never known. Ray took Jose Luis skeet shooting with the men of his church. But aside from all of the things we did together, it was the time spent visiting that meant the most.

Skeet shooting

Jaynie's new hairdo - after suffering with straight hair, she decided she wanted to get a perm so that it would be curly. It was a bit harder than Jaynie imagined, but she was pleased with the results.

After leaving Claremore, we headed to Oklahoma City to spend a couple of days with my sister and her husband, as well as to visit my home church and a couple of dear friends who had recently returned from missions in other parts of the world. We also went to dinner with 2 friends from First Church who treated us to Mexican food at Tarahumara's Mexican Cafe. I had been craving spicy food and I got it there. Thank you, Brenda & Terri, for a great evening.

Our family enjoys visiting the OKC Zoo every time we are in the area, and this year was no exception.

Near the tiger area, there is a small bamboo forest perfect for getting a feel for life this way.

Somehow I did not download all of our photos onto the computer before Jose Luis erased them, so these are the best photos of the lot. However, we do have so many photos of animals at the OKC Zoo, the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, TX, and the Living Desert Museum/Zoo near Carlsbad, NM.

Texas & New Mexico

2010-11-26T07:30:00.011-07:00

After our time in Oklahoma, we travelled to Fort Worth to spend 3 days with our friends the Freemans. We really enjoy visiting with them - talking until late and then getting up the next day to hit thrift stores, Jo-Ann's, and this year Ardis took us to the Fort Worth Museum of science and history. We liked the Cattlemen's exhibit complete with long-horn cattle. We sat through a stampede and then tried to round up strays. I really liked the challenge of managing a ranch (budget and all).

Jaynie learning how to ride and round up stray cattle at the Fort Worth Musuem Science and History. She did better than either Jose Luis or me. We'll see if she wants to ride a real horse here in Creel!

We also went to the exhibit on Egypt. It was great - with pottery shards puzzles, pyramid blocks, a mummy, and a camel. Siam & Jaynie travelling through the Egyptian desert - looks pretty real, no?

We had so much fun with James, Ardis, and Siam - worship services, daughter dates, shopping, great food, and great conversation. Thank you all so much for everything!

From Fort Worth we drove down to the Rio Grande Valley to visit Fanny & Buddy Ross. When we served with Oklahoma VIM, Fanny became and great friend and support. Six years have passed since we last visited them, and we were glad that we could get down to Mercedes for a quick visit.

Leaving Mercedes, we drove across Texas and into New Mexico. We stopped at the Living Desert Museum to see more animals. I think our favorite place to stop anywhere we go is the local zoo. We don't get tired of seeing the different animals and we are always amazed at God's imagination and creation (sorry no photos of anything more than animals, plants, and trees).

We continued on to Cloudcroft/High Rolls where we spent the weekend with the Kimball family. We went bowling (the second time ever for Jaynie and Jose Luis), sledding at White Sands, shopping at local thrift stores, but most of all we enjoyed visiting with Scott, Lynn, and their family as well as with old and new friends from the First Baptist Church of Cloudcroft. We hope to see them in the spring here in Creel!

We enjoyed the sun (and great cool weather) at the White Sands National Monument. We all went sledding down the dunes and then trudged back up to do it all over again.

Scott shows Jose Luis the cockpit of one of the drones used to test weapon systems. We've never been so close to a fighter jet - it was really cool!

We spent over 4 weeks in the States and the Lord blessed us so much with great friends, family, and church families. We were refreshed and now feel very pampered. Nevertheless, I was so happy to return home to Creel and to the work the Lord has entrusted us with - Thank you, God, for your love, care, and grace expressed through so many wonderful people throughout Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. I only pray that You, Lord, will use us to bless others.

We were on the road again!

2010-11-25T22:23:00.004-07:00

But now we are home. We spent a little more than 4 weeks on the road this fall. It was a great trip! We were able to meet new friends, visit with very dear friends, and spend time with family. We left Creel on October 10th and returned home on November 11th. As soon as I can get photos loaded, I will show you a bit of where we went, what we did, and who we visited.
Since our return, we helped with the monthly Bible course for Tarahumara Christians (Nov. 15-19), made a quick trip to Cuauhtemoc to pick up US passport cards (which we applied for back in August!), Jose Luis made several trips to help his mother with government applications and paperwork, and we began homeschool again (much to Jaynie's dismay).
This Saturday Jose Luis will be sharing at a thanksgiving celebration at a Tarahumara boarding school run by the Methodist Church of Mexico. Then he will be going to Samachike for a week of Bible translation work. Jaynie and I will hold the fort down and hopefully made great progress with her school.
On a sad note, my kitten Fluffy ran off while we were in the States. However, his mother Lulu is still here - we gave away all of her kittens from the 2nd litter last weekend. We are trying to keep her in and away from tomcats so that we can get her fixed. No more kittens for us!
Well, I will make every effort to upload the photos soon. I hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Day - what a way to spend in thankfulness for all that the Lord has done for us, no?

Lulu's 2nd Litter

2010-10-05T10:51:00.006-06:00

Well, our cat Lulu didn't waste any time giving us another litter of kittens. Her babies were born on September 17th and we hope that their new owners will come and get them around October 22nd. Then Lulu will have a nice outing to the veterinarian in Chihuahua so that there will be no more litters at our house!

DTS Workshop in Mazatlan, Mexico

2010-09-28T22:01:00.010-06:00

We went to Mazatlan last week for a 3-day workshop about Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We spent 6-8 hours each day in class, but we were also able to enjoy the beach in the evenings. Here are a few photos.

The YWAM Mazatlan base used to be a hotel. It is in a great location and the staff is active in reaching out to the surrounding neighbors with different activities. Keep them in your prayers as they continue to make payments on this property - it was not cheap. May the Lord bless this base, the staff, and the directors, Brent & Heather.

The view from our room - not bad for a YWAM base! We had our own little balcony complete with table and 2 chairs. Jose Luis enjoyed sitting outside hoping for a breeze. I stayed inside to hide from the mosquitos and the heat, while Jaynie moved back and forth.

Lunch time - Jaynie and I are on the left and Dwayne, who is on staff with us in Creel, is on the right (along with Daniel who serves at the Guadalajara base and was one of our teachers).

Can you see who is lurking in this tree just outside the classroom where we met?

An Iguana!!

The sand was really coarsely crushed seashells. Jaynie brought back so many seashells and I am just remembering that I need to wash them out and let them dry in the sun - not good considering that we left Mazatlan with the shells tightly wrapped up exactly 4 days ago!

Such beautiful sunset over the waters - although we were ready to leave the heat and humidity, we will miss this awesome display of God!

14 Years!

2010-09-26T23:48:00.002-06:00

On September 25th, Jose Luis and I celebrated our anniversary. It is amazing how fast the years go by. We were on the way back from a week-long course at the YWAM base in Mazatlan, Mexico. We spent the day in a train from Los Mochis to Creel - sleeping most of the morning and watching the scenery change as we left the tropics behind and returned to the cool, dry air of the mountains.

I praise God for my husband! It is not always easy being married, but it is always a blessing. I've learned so much over the years and I pray that the Lord will grant us many years to come.

August?

2010-09-16T15:32:00.003-06:00

This summer it has been difficult for me to keep up with the blog - how's that for stating the obvious? August came and went and I did not post a thing! So I'll list some of the highlights.
Jose Luis worked with the translation committee the first week of Aug. They continue to work in the New Testament. The next week we received a short-term mission team from Baja California - what a blessing to see that the Lord is raising up mission teams in Mexican churches. This group worked hard in the town of San Rafael. Of course, I was able to serve them by cooking meals.
On the homefront, Jaynie worked really hard with 5th grade homeschool and we finished on Aug. 17, the day before her birthday. Then she began 6th grade on Aug. 19 with the California Achievement Test. It seems impossible that Jaynie is now 11 years old. She stands 5 feet 3 inches tall and does not look her age. But she is beautiful. Jaynie has really developed a flair for drawing, coloring, and writing. She loves to read and to research subjects.
The 4th week of Aug. we spent a couple of days in El Paso - mailing school papers back to Christian Liberty Academy, getting everything in order so that we could renew Jaynie's US passport, and doing a little shopping. It was our first time out to the US since Memorial Day weekend. It provided us with a much needed break and some major family time. For most of July and the first half of Aug. Jose Luis went one direction and I went another. It is very difficult to keep a marriage healthy when you don't spend time together!
Reading through my list it doesn't seem too busy, but it sure felt crazy in the midst of it. I did not mention that I began homeschool classes with Carolina (now a Sr. in HS), Michael(Freshman in HS), and Yoshiah (1st grade) Kaemingk. It is such a privilege for me to participate in their education. I never imagined that God would use me to teach children - may He fill them with His wisdom each day!
As soon as I can locate photos from Jaynie's birthday, I will post them here.

King's Kids

2010-07-26T22:20:00.006-06:00

Jaynie attended her first ever summer camp this month. It was an interesting experience (have I said that already in another post?), but well worth the time and money we invested for her to be able to go. She worked really hard this past year in school, and Jose Luis and I wanted for her to have a different experience for the summer.

The camp was sponsored, organized, and directed by King's Kids, a ministry of the Youth With A Mission base in Guadalajara, Mexico (http://www.ywamguadalajara.org/in/es_hr.html). Each day was packed with activities - opportunities to learn, to serve, to fellowship, and to play. Jaynie had to get up around 6:30 am and breakfast started the day's activities at 7 am. Bed time and lights out were at 10 pm. Jaynie's favorite part of the day came at 9 am with the start of the classes. Although the classes were all in Spanish, Jaynie took great notes and even today can still explain to me about the messages that most touched her! She took great care to illustrate her notes as well.

In the afternoons, the camp divided into 3 smaller groups - drama, dance, and choir. Jaynie was placed in drama, and she mostly enjoyed it. She participated in one skit. After 8 days of intense classes and practice, the camp took their program on the road. They visited a local orphanage, a nursing home, and the main plaza of a neighboring town. Jaynie performed with her group the skit of the parable of the sower at the orphanage.She also went with the camp to the nursing home and enjoyed visiting with the residents there.I am thankful to God for providing in an unexpected way so that Jaynie and I were able to go to Guadalajara for almost 2 weeks! WOW, I never would have imagined that we would have been able to do this now. Thank you, Lord!

Graduation

2010-07-24T23:39:00.005-06:00

For students in Mexico, summer brings with it graduation ceremonies and celebrations here in the mountains. I realize this is not novel for many. However, in Mexico, there are many more opportunities for graduation ceremonies: from kindergarten, 6th grade, secondary school, and then preparatory school. This summer we attended 3 different graduation ceremonies. First, Yoshiah Kaemingk graduated from kindergarten. He participated in a song performed by his class and after the ceremony we enjoyed ice cream in the plaza in Creel.
On the same day that Yoshiah graduated, the children in San Luis Majimachi graduated from 6th grade. Jose Luis attended this ceremony and took many photos (this has become a tradition and many people in the community ask him to take photos of their children).

Finally, we attended the graduation of the granddaughter of the pastors in San Rafael from secondary school. This was a long ceremony with 70 students graduating. Mixed in with the receipt of diplomas were songs and dance numbers.Speaking of dance numbers, in both San Rafael and San Luis Majimachi, students performed a dance called "the old men" - so crazy and not really a dance as much as it is a drama or skit. But all in attendance absolutely love this act. After each graduation, students are sometimes given rings to commemorate the milestone - just imagine, 4 rings before you turn 20!

Where did June go?

2010-07-24T23:02:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure what happened to my blogging this summer, but it is obvious that is has been nonexistent. We managed to stay very, very busy during June with the Discipleship Training School and Bible translation, not to mention home school with Jaynie.

The DTS (the photo is of our students with a couple of their children) graduated on June 26 and by the next day the base was so very quiet. The students returned to their homes, but they left us plenty of work cleaning up after them to get the base into shape to receive short-term teams this summer. Thankfully, we had help cleaning up - Manuel and Adelaida came from San Luis Majimachi to lend us a hand. However, our first group did not arrive as planned and we later found out that they decided to stay in another town in the mountains. But, I was so thankful to have the base mostly ready to receive groups anyway.

As July began, we were actively seeking God and His will for our daughter. Although at the time I was very concerned with her solitude and loneliness - I have since come to realize that I was a lot like she is when I was her age. It is hard to believe that she is just 10 going on 11 when she looks older and acts (sometimes) a bit more mature. Now, I know if you were to look in her room, you would know for sure that she is just 10! What a mess - I am so sorry that I put my mother through such a challenge with my cleaning or lack of cleaning in my room growing up! I have to be more diligent in teaching her housekeeping skills.

I will continue with our summer recap soon. In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions or questions, please let me know. Take care and may the Lord bless you according to His perfect will for you this day.

Tarahumaras and birthdays

2010-05-20T15:50:00.004-06:00

When I was little, birthdays were a big deal in my family. I remember my parents would host parties for my sister and I in different places in Oklahoma City, like the zoo and various parks or pools. Then, when we were older, our parents would let us pick a restaurant to go to for our birthday dinner. It was always a very special day. Now, lest you think this is a BIG hint for a party or presents for my upcoming birthday, let me get to the point. In the Tarahumara culture, birthdays are non-existent. Many Tarahumaras do not know when they were born, not the year, the month, or the day. And birthday celebrations are just not done - it is not seen as a big deal - unless you were born on one of the big saint's days in the Catholic calendar. If you are a Juan, then you would have a big bang of a time on June 24th; not because of you in particular, but because this is the day when the rains usually come and the monsoon season begins. In many communities, they make tesguino and get drunk hoping to encourage the rains to begin. There are other important days, that are celebrated in a like manner.

I say all of that to share with you a photo from the birthday party for Isaac, Jaime & Lupe's youngest son, who turned 1 year old on April 22 (sorry that this post is so very late!). We had a great celebration with good food, sodas, and cake. I pray that this helped Jaime & Lupe recognize the precious gift God gave them in Isaac and that all of us will thank God each day for our children.

Challenging Week

2010-05-07T22:38:00.004-06:00

Wooo! I am so glad that it is Friday! It seems like this week was so very long, mainly because it was filled with so many challenges. I had become accustomed to our routine - Bible study in Los Manzanos, church in San Luis Majimachi or Pitorreal, Bible translation once or twice a month, and back-translation of the God's Story script when I have the chance. Of course, we worked home school around these things. But for the past several months (since Jan.), helping with the DTS has changed our routine quite a bit. I know that this is a good thing, but I am not good friends with change. And now, on Sunday, I will go a bit more away from my comfort zone - Jose Luis and I have been asked to participate in a wedding in Creel. We will be giving the couple a new Bible and encouraging them to establish their new life in God's Word. Nothing like getting up in front of a crowd - I would much rather sit on the back row and pray for the couple.

In other news, Lulu's babies continue to grow bigger every day. They started to open their eyes yesterday. I don't know who we will give the 6 babies to once they are old enough to leave their mother, BUT I am determined to give them away. Jaynie keeps trying to convince me to keep one. I am such a tough cookie, that I will not buckle under to her pressure. Here are a couple of photos we snapped today: the gray kitten is Jaynie's favorite, and I just love the second kitten's preferred sleep position!

Lulu

2010-04-23T21:44:00.003-06:00

Lulu gave birth to a still-undetermined number of kittens this evening. The young mother is currently resting comfortably on top of my only black sweater. Jaynie was able to experience the miracle of new life up close and personal. How great is our God!

Hard to describe...

2010-04-15T21:58:00.002-06:00

As you may or may not have heard, 1 month ago today the violence raging in certain parts of MX came close to us once again. You know, I never ever thought that living outside of a peaceful little town in the Sierra Tarahumara I would learn to recognize automatic weapon fire. BUT, I can now tell the difference between firecrackers and machine gun fire. A friend sent me the following link that shows the highlights of the most recent violence here. The accompanying article is not accurate with regards to the number of people killed, who they were, and where they were killed. Nevertheless, the video is astounding - it really was to me at least! Keep in mind that on the rocks (about 50 yds from my kitchen window) you can see the security camera that recorded these events. How great is our God and how wonderful it is to know, and I mean know with all certainty, that our lives are in His hands!
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/04/video-of-massacre-in-creel.html

It's a Boy!

2010-03-15T12:11:00.004-07:00

Sunday night Rosa gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby boy! He was born at the Birth Center of the Tarahumara mission hospital in Samachike. We are so very thankful for the thoughtful and careful attention of Shelley, the midwife, and her family. New life is such a miracle!

Rowerachi

2010-03-14T15:42:00.002-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, after the Bible study in San Luis Majimachi, Jose Luis and a group of men went to the remote village of Rowerachi to visit. It was a very quick trip, but Jose Luis said that it was good that they went. They took coats and knitted hats that were donated for the Tarahumaras. Rowerachi is off of the more-travelled roads and therefore the people there are always very appreciative of anything they get. There are about 100 people who live there and it has its own kindergarten-elementary school. And although I call it remote, it is not really that far from Creel - 21 miles - but the road is horrendous and it takes close to 4 hours to drive those 21 miles! What makes this trip so special to me is that the Christians in San Luis Majimachi see Rowerachi as their mission field. The Christians would like their friends and families to experience the life-changing love of Jesus.

Don Santiago

2010-03-14T13:51:00.003-07:00

Yesterday as we arrived in the village of San Luis Majimachi (SLM), we saw Don Santiago working in his field. What a great example to show how the Tarahumara, at least in our neck of the woods, work in their fields - plowing, planting, weeding, etc. Jose Luis' uncles and mother us donkeys or horses instead of bulls. But I could not resist this opportunity.
Don Santiago has been a Christian for a couple of years now. He had cataract surgery at the mission hospital in Samachike before that and the Lord touched Santiago's heart through the ministry of the eye surgeons, hospital staff, Christians in SLM, and Jose Luis. So Santiago invited the Christians to his house to teach both him and his wife from the Bible. Please pray that both Santiago & Felicita will continue to grow in their faith. Also pray that they have a really great harvest this year (physically & spiritually).

A finger, hatchet, & socialized medicine

2010-03-09T21:30:00.005-07:00

I know that health care is such a big issue in the USA these days. After living for the past 14 years in Mexico without health insurance, I have come to appreciate socialized medicine. Now, sometimes it can be very frustrating to wait 4 hours to see a doctor at the government clinic in Creel. I must admit that many times I use the advice of Where There Is No Doctor: a village health care handbook instead of going to the clinic. However, after my experience yesterday, I have a new appreciation for the government clinic in Creel.

My story really begins on Sunday afternoon. I was chopping firewood trying to get some smaller strips of wood cut to use to start the fire in our wood-burning stove (our only source of heat in our house). Winters in the mountains of northern Mexico can be very cold and even now in early March the temperature drops below freezing at night outside. So, anyway, I was chopping wood using our hatchet. Jose Luis always tells me to use leather gloves when I do anything with the firewood, and on Sunday I actually remembered to put the gloves on. I was just about finished with my chopping, but decided to chop up 1 more log into smaller strips to have extra for this week (Jose Luis is in Samachike working on Bible translation this week). Then I did something really stupid - I held the log with my left hand while I chopped with the hatchet in my right hand. YES, I missed the log and got one of my fingers! I am so very thankful for the leather gloves - but the hatchet slashed the first finger of my left hand. I went to the neighbors' house to ask them to check out the cut to see if they thought I should go to the clinic. They said that it didn't look very deep. So I went home washed the gash with hydrogen peroxide, wrapped my finger in a wet cloth, and put ice on it for about an hour. It kept bleeding, so I wrapped it tight with a band aid and tried to keep it elevated. Jose Luis had gone to visit the Tarahumara pastor in San Luis Majimachi when all of this occurred. When he got home, he was not very happy with me (to say the least)!

On Monday morn it was still bleeding and I was getting a bit worried. Jose Luis took me to the gov't clinic and I walked into the emergency room. Jose Luis was still not very happy with me and said that hopefully I would get a BIG shot. When I mentioned to the nurse in the ER that I had cut myself with the hatchet, I was immediately taken into the exam room. The dr. checked it out and said that it had already started to heal - I should not cover it with a band aid. The nurse put a couple of strips of tape to hold the gash together and said that they should stay on for 2 or better 3 days. The strips lasted about 24 hours and now the gash is looking very purple with a bit of red ooze. The dr. gave me antibiotics and sent me for a tetanus shot. Jose Luis would get his wish, I thought. But, I went to the other part of the clinic for the shot and discovered that I was due for 3 other shots - Hepatitis B, H1N1, and seasonal flu! So, I had 2 shots in each arm to go along with my cut finger - yikes! And, I have to go back in a month for 2 more shots.

The cost for all of this (including the antibiotics) was $68 pesos or about $5.50 US dollars. Not bad for a morning spent in the ER & gov't clinic, huh?

YWAM & DTS

2010-02-16T11:18:00.004-07:00

I have been a part of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for over 11 years. I must admit that when I met Jose Luis, I had never heard of YWAM before. However, since 1998 when we moved back to Creel to work with Jose Luis' pastor, Henk Kaemingk, at the local YWAM base, I have learned much about YWAM and now can whole-heartedly support this organization. Here is some information from the YWAM website (http://www.ywam.org/):

Youth With A Mission is an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures, and Christian traditions dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced "WHY-wham"), our purpose is simply to know God and to make Him known. When YWAM began in 1960, our main focus was giving young people opportunities to demonstrate the love of Jesus to the whole world, according to His command in Mark 16:15. Today, we still focus on youth, but we have members (known as "YWAMers") of almost every age and many of our short-term efforts have grown into long-term endeavors that have impacted lives and nations. YWAM has a decentralized structure that encourages new vision and the exploration of new ways to change lives through training, to convey the message of the gospel, and to care for those in need. We are currently operating in more than 1,000 locations in over 150 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000.

The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is designed to help you understand God more deeply, live more like Jesus, and identify your unique gifts and purpose to use in missions. DTS is an intensive, residential training course which begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase, followed by an 8-12 week outreach. DTS emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and global awareness, preparing students to answer the call to "go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19. The DTS is a requirement for applying as YWAM staff, and serves as a prerequisite to all other training programs. The DTS is offered at YWAM locations all over the world. Some schools have a special focus on particular areas of ministry or nations.

If you would like MORE information, please comment on this post or send me an e-mail. Have a great week!

School is on!

2010-02-05T14:12:00.002-07:00

We have reached the end of week 4 of the Discipleship Training School - a big sigh of relief! Jose Luis, Jaynie, and I are all still adjusting to the change in our responsibilities and schedule. This explains the lack of posts during the past month.

To catch up briefly - our DTS began on Jan. 11 with 11 students. We are serving as staff for the school while Henk & Edith Kaemingk are the school's directors. As staff, we have some specific responsibilities (leading praise & worship 1 week a month at 6:30 am, Jose Luis attends all of the classes, I am responsible for the kitchen - menu, food purchase, etc, and we help with the discipleship of some of the students). Our day begins with praise & worship at 6:30 am and ends with the evening meal at 6:30 pm. Saturdays and Sundays are a bit different but still busy. We are so thankful for this opportunity to serve God in this way.

Jaynie decided to try to make her hair curly a few weeks ago. The result was one comb tangled in the hair on the top of her head! I could not get the comb loose and had to cut it out. Jaynie now looks a little like the punks of old, but I think that she is beautiful.

India is more than Bollywood!

2010-01-04T21:44:00.003-07:00

I have to confess that I have really gotten hooked on watching Bollywood movies. We watch them in Hindi with English subtitles. I have begun to want to learn Hindi. For whatever reason, I feel this need or desire to be able to communicate in Hindi. Pretty crazy since I live among the Tarahumara people in Mexico (not a hotbed of Hindi for sure!).
Each month, our mission organization, Youth With A Mission, holds a day of prayer on the first Thursday of the month. As I was looking at the resources for this day in December (http://www.prayerday.org/), lo and behold I discovered a couple of articles about India - very interesting! Then, I went to the international website for YWAM, and there found an article about a ministry in Pune City, India (http://www.ywam.org/articles/article.asp?AID=756). This ministry, Vanitashray, seeks to practically serve women and children in this area. In reading the information on their website (http://www.vanitashray.org/), I have committed to praying for them daily during 2010. I would like to invite you to join me in this effort.

Surrender

2010-01-04T21:23:00.004-07:00

We have been getting ready for the next Discipleship Training School to begin on Monday, Jan. 11th. The theme for this year's school is "Surrender" as described in Philippians 2:5-8.
"Have this mind among yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
This is such a challenging portion of Scripture for me personally - all about dying to self, not holding on to my stuff, my rights, my expectations. Oh, how I need God's grace daily!

Here is the photo which I used in the cover I designed for the notebooks (for some reason I could not post the cover in its final form):

Please keep the Kaemingks, the Heislers, Dwayne, and us in your prayers as we begin this school with the students next week. We are expecting at least 6 students and maybe as many as 12-14 students (we never know until the day the school begins).

Better late than never!

2009-12-27T22:37:00.007-07:00

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!!

2009-11-19T02:59:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-11-18T18:48:00.006-07:00

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!

2009-11-07T14:41:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-05T15:34:00.004-07:00

"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

2009-10-29T11:41:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-10-28T19:29:00.005-07:00

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?...

2009-09-28T22:12:00.008-06:00

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

2009-09-17T19:37:00.005-06:00

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!

2009-09-03T20:42:00.006-06:00

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

2009-08-28T18:34:00.002-06:00

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:

2009-08-24T22:45:00.009-06:00

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!

2009-08-24T14:14:00.002-06:00

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?

2009-08-20T22:04:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-08-20T21:53:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-08-15T10:21:00.006-06:00

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

2009-08-07T23:07:00.005-06:00

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

2009-08-03T18:56:00.005-06:00

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

2009-07-15T19:50:00.004-06:00

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

2009-07-14T13:27:00.006-06:00

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

2009-07-14T12:00:00.002-06:00

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

2009-07-05T23:37:00.005-06:00

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

2009-07-01T14:41:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-06-30T12:37:00.008-06:00

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

2009-04-29T19:32:00.004-06:00

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

2009-04-24T03:56:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-04-11T10:50:00.001-06:00

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!

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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

2009-04-11T10:03:00.003-06:00

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

2009-04-11T09:40:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-04-11T09:37:00.002-06:00

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.

Locks of Love

2009-04-11T09:27:00.002-06:00

Jaynie and I cut our hair off and sent our braids to the organization "Locks of Love" who make wigs for children with cancer. Jose Luis was a bit surprised to see us without our long hair, but we were all blessed to be able to donate our hair for others to use. If you would like more information, please check out the website: locksoflove.org

On the road again!

2009-03-05T21:34:00.003-07:00

We are 2 weeks into our 5 week journey in the USA and we have been so blessed in so many ways! So far we have visited friends, both old and new, in: El Paso, Texas; Las Cruces, New Mexico; Cloudcroft, New Mexico; Gallup, New Mexico; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Claremore, Oklahoma. Along the way we have met many special people - like the pastor from Belen, New Mexico, who performed emergency surgery on our truck on I-25. We also have been able to spend more time with a couple of people we met in Creel during short-term missions from their churches or ministries. We have been awed by how great the body of Christ is and by how our sovereign Lord has our lives in His hands. And, although we miss our friends and family in the mountains of Mexico, we look forward to what God has planned for the coming days. :)

Precious time

2009-02-14T22:04:00.002-07:00

Last week, when we went to the city of Chihuahua to take Jaynie to the doctor, we spent the night at the house of a pastor we know there. The pastor and his wife had to leave in the evening for a meeting, and we spent the better part of 3 hours just visiting with each other and playing with Jaynie's bear, Esther. We had a good time of reading the Bible and talking about what we read and about what we are facing with Jaynie's treatment. Then, after the pastor and his wife returned home at about 10 pm, I helped prepare dinner! In Creel, we are used to eating the evening meal (dinner or supper) at 6:30 pm, but our hosts are accustomed to eating the dinner at 10:30 pm. I like this photo of Jaynie - she is a precious daughter and a bunch of fun to hang out with. However, I like this photo also because of what is in the background - the piano that I learned to play on, the piano that was in our house growing up. It was a blessing to see, hear, and know that it is being used to God's glory by the eldest son of the pastor. But, one thing I don't like about the photo is how I look! Where did all of that gray hair come from?

Doctor visit & family photo

2009-02-12T11:14:00.003-07:00

Another week is almost over and Jaynie and I have finally gotten into a regular rhythm for her school! She is doing pretty good and I am definitely feeling more rested and more in control. That said, we had to take Monday & Tuesday off from school to take Jaynie to see a dermatologist in Chihuahua City. My sweet daughter has started getting big white patches on her skin. The doctor called it "vitiligo" in Spanish and said that it is hard to determine what causes it. We loaded up on medicines for Jaynie and will start her treatment today. Oh, how I miss the days of co-pays and reduced-cost prescriptions! I pray that the treatment will work and Jaynie's skin will return to that beautiful milk and coffee color.

Here is our family's latest photo - we took it to print up some prayer cards to take with us when we go to the USA next week. We were standing behind Brother Miguel's house in San Luis Majimachi before church last Sunday. It looks so sunny but a cold front was blowing in and by the afternoon we had about an inch of snow! It was the first snowfall of the season. Jaynie even managed to make some snowballs!

Photos of Jaynie

2009-02-06T21:12:00.002-07:00

I thought to post a couple of recent photos of Jaynie. Our baby girl is growing so fast - it is hard to believe that she is 9 years old and in 4th grade! The first photo is at the Valley of the Monks and was taken about a week ago.The second photo is at Los Manzanos and in it Jaynie is playing with Jose, who is 10 years old. One of the things that has been difficult for Jaynie to learn is how the Tarahumara children play. Usually, they play very rough and tumble; the children are very physical and love to throw things at you!

Rest

2009-02-01T20:44:00.002-07:00

Okay, so you know that I have not taken much time to rest lately, right? I have been working pretty much all the time doing things (in ministry, in home school, in our home and mostly in that order!). God is so good and merciful to me – we just finished a week of teaching in the DTS. The class was Get The Word Out and it was taught by Mary Jean Powers. On Thursday evening, she spoke to the staff of our base and any students who wanted to attend as well as the staff of a visiting YWAM team from Quebec, Canada, and any of their students who wanted to attend. Well, she talked about REST as God intended for it to be. We all know the verses in Matthew where Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are tired and burdened and I will give you rest…” This always makes me think of softness or when I just can’t handle something. I have the tendency to work until I drop, or until my sciatic nerve acts up and I have to go to bed for a couple of days. But, I never tied this verse into what God says in Exodus 20:9 – Remember the Sabbath (or day of rest) and keep it holy! This is a command from the Lord. We have to do this. We must follow His example by working 6 days and resting 1 day each and every week. Mary Jean challenged us to look at all Jesus did during His 3 years of ministry. Do you know that the Bible never says that Jesus ran or that He overextended Himself or that He worked nonstop during those 3 years. I am going to study to see how many times the Bible says that “Jesus walked”. What a good word for me this was! I say all of this to encourage you to also look at your life and see if you are resting one day each week. I can honestly say that I am not doing that. I confess that I need to return to God’s way and plan for my life before I wear myself out “working” for Him. I need to stop seeing God as my employer and return to seeing Him as my Savior, Redeemer, Prince of Peace, and Friend.

Here is a photo of our Discipleship Training School students with Mary Jean Powers (far left) near the Valley of the Monks (which is located close to Creel). It is a great place to climb on the rocks and to rappel, if you have the gear for it.

I hope you all have a great week – remember to set aside 1 day for rest! And, please, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know either by leaving a comment below or by sending me an e-mail. I really would really appreciate your input!

Whew! - a little school, a clean room, and photos

2009-01-26T04:40:00.001-07:00

What a crazy week we had! I did a little better with Jaynie's school last week - 1 full day of classes. The other 4 days we did part of her school work, but I still need to figure out how to organize myself better. I did manage to clean part of our house this week. I am sure that Jose Luis was happy to see that! Last Monday, I asked Jaynie to help me by cleaning her room or more specifically to get everything out from underneath her bed. When I came back from the base kitchen to see if she was ready for breakfast, her room was an even bigger mess. She had decided to rearrange her room - we finally got everything arranged nicely and in order yesterday.

Here are some photos of a couple of Tarahumaras with whom we work. This photo was taken at the Christmas party the Christians in San Luis de Majimachi organized on December 24th. This is Refugia; she has been coming to church for over a year now since she prayed to accept Christ as her Savior.

This photo is of Chuy, Crucita's youngest son in Los Manzanos. When we first started going to her house last year, Chuy would run and hide behind his mother's skirt whenever I would talk to him. He would cry and not talk or play with us. Now, he loves to play tag and he talks and talks. Of course, we cannot understand everything he says because he combines Spanish and Tarahumara with his own language (2-year-old's).

How Time Flies!

2009-01-18T20:34:00.003-07:00

Wow! I can't believe that so much time has passed since I last posted an update here. I hope that you all had a great holiday season and are enjoying a new year filled with many blessings.

Here at the YWAM base we are very busy. We began a new Discipleship Training School on Jan. 12 with 6 students. The Heislers are the directors of the school, but I am in charge of the kitchen. This means that besides teaching Jaynie all of her school subjects, teaching Carolina and Michael Kaemingk one subject each, I cook lunch every day during the week and some of the breakfasts as well. Last week, I did not manage my schedule very well and Jaynie's school work suffered. Praise God that we begin a new week tomorrow and I can try again to do all that needs to be done on time!

Tomorrow Jose Luis goes to Samachique (about 2 hours away by truck or 45 miles one way) for Bible translation work. The translation committee is working on 1 Chronicles. I pray that he will be filled with God's wisdom during this week and that the committee will be led of God to translate His Word perfectly.

A couple of weeks ago in Los Manzanos we built a gingerbread house. Everyone there really enjoyed making it and eating it. What a bunch of fun! Crucita's youngest son, Chuy, loved to eat the candies off of the house.

Well, I had better close and help my husband pack for the week. I will try be better at updating this blog. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions I could answer - I appreciate your input and comments. Have a great Monday and a week filled with the wonder of Christ's love for you.

Christmas in the canyon

2008-12-23T19:56:00.002-07:00

It is hard to believe that the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jaynie and I have been busy baking cookies and making candy for our Christmas dinner. We could have anywhere from 9 (our family and the Kaemingks) to 30 for our celebration this year. I had hoped to post a picture of all of the goodies we have made, but I haven't had the camera the last couple of days. Jose Luis has been helping out the Christians in San Luis Majimachi get ready for their special service and meal. They are planning to make a beef soup/stew and menudo. This morning Jose Luis, Jaynie, and I went shopping to buy the food necessary to make these things. Can you just imagine buying 10 kilos (or 22.5 lbs.) of menudo (roughly cow's stomach or intestines, I am not sure!) and 10 kilos of beef. We spent about $100 dollars for the supplies. But, the neat thing is that the members of our church have been collecting money for this and they purchased all of the food. It is hard to say how many people will come tomorrow - we will be there all day. You can rest assured that I will do all in my power to stay away from the menudo. We are praying for a great turnout and that the Lord will bless the effort of the Christians who desire to share the joy and truth of Jesus Christ with their neighbors and families. Well, I had better close so that I can braid Jaynie's hair before she goes to bed.
I pray that you all take time this week to meditate on exactly what Christmas is - the King of kings humbling Himself to take on the form of man - the Lord of lords being obedient to the Father, obedient to death and death on the cross. It is impossible to separate Easter (or Christ's resurrection) from Christmas (Jesus' birth).

Camper or Topper?

2008-12-12T09:57:00.003-07:00

In October, we bought a 1995 Nissan King-Cab pickup truck. What a blessing that little truck is! We were able to buy it because of some generous gifts by some very special people. Our truck is 4-wheel-drive with a manual transmission. We have had to do some major maintenance work on it (including the new radiator we had to install this week); however, it is running good now. The one thing that Jose Luis wanted to get for it was a camper (as they say in Spanish). There has been some confusion over exactly what this is, so I am adding a photo of our truck with its campler:

2008-11-29T13:26:00.004-07:00

It seems like we have been travelling for the past 10 days or, to be more precise, we have been out of our home for 8 of the past 10 days! Now, I am trying to do all of our laundry so that I can pack again. We will be going up to El Paso on Mon. and will be returning to Creel on Thur. What a blessing it is to have a truck that can make the journey to the USA!

We helped another missionary couple with translation for a guest teacher they brought to Mexico from the USA. I did the translating for classes on "Get the Word Out" taught by Mary Jean Powers. I would encourage all who have the opportunity to take this course to do so. Jose Luis and Jaynie also attended all of the classes and learned a lot from them.

After we returned to Creel, I went to apply for a Mexican driver's license. We had to go to another town about 18 miles from Creel (or approx. 30 minutes). The license costs $578 pesos or about $50 US dollars. I had to have a medical exam and then they sent me to the police department. The officer informed me that I would have to take a driving course in order to be approved for a license - even though I have been driving for almost 30 years, 13 of which I have done so in Mexico! Finally, he let me pay for the course and he gave me some booklets to study. Then we returned to the government office for the photo followed by signing on an electronic tablet. The tablet -like where you sign to use your debit card at a store - was not working correctly and my signature looks like a seismograph! Oh, well - praise God that now I have a Mexican driver's license.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was good - there were 29 of us for the meal. We only had 1 HUGE turkey and 2 hams plus lots of extras and goodies! We are still eating left-overs. We had a great day of fellowship and memories of all that the Lord has blessed us with during the past year. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well!

What a dog!

2008-11-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

I would like to introduce you to our family's pet - Wishbone. We adopted him in May 2006 when he was just a puppy. His mother was a goat-herding dog for Marcela, my mother-in-law. He was the cutest little puppy and Jaynie loved him from Day 1. Then in August 2006, Wishbone disappeared. We do not know if he was taken or just wandered away; however, we looked for him around this area and never found him. Jaynie prayed and prayed, and finally told me that she just didn't think that God listened to her. We talked about how God's timing is not our timing and how we needed to pray that God would protect Wishbone wherever he was. Fast forward to February 2007, Wishbone wandered back to our base looking scraggly, dirty, flea-infested, and half-starved. He became the best guard dog for our house once we cleaned him up and fattened him up. He would always bark at any stranger who tried to get close to our front door. Everyone would ask me if he bites, and I always answered in the affirmative.

Then we noticed that his tongue seemed to hang out of his mouth almost all of the time. Marcela said that he was sick and would soon die. We kept feeding him and watching for any signs of sickness. Then, in April of this year, someone pointed out to us that Wishbone has very few teeth. This explains why his tongue hangs out - he has no front teeth to hold it in! Wishbone is very diligent at keeping stray cows, horses, donkeys, and pigs out of the base's property. We think that he was kicked by a cow or a horse several times for him to lose so many teeth. Even without teeth, Jaynie loves Wishbone and says that he is a beautiful dog. I call him our toothless wonder!

Welcome!

2008-11-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Sierra Tarahumara! or as they say here, "Kuira!"
As you can see this is a work in progress - so please bear with me as I learn how to blog and how to improve my blog.
Life here just outside of Creel is usually very quiet. I live on a YWAM base which is essentially a small farm. There are 2 horses, 3 dogs, and 1 cat on our base. We used to have several hens and a rooster until the coyotes decided they were easy pickings! So now our hen house sits empty. There are 2 cabins to the west of our base; however, they are not occupied year-round, just when they are rented by tourists. There are 2 other families who live on the base - the Kaemingks and the Heislers - as well as 2 single men. We are so thankful for the opportunity that the Lord has given us to serve Him here among the Tarahumara people. I will share more about life here in future posts.
We are preparing for winter - making plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as getting ready to can some apples (thanks to our dear friends Jack & Marie). Hauling firewood for our wood-burning stove to heat our house is a time-consuming task for Jose Luis; the good thing is that he enjoys it! Jaynie and I have less than 3 weeks left in her school year. She will finish up 3rd grade by the end of November - praise God! I will give her most of December off, and then we will begin 4th grade in January. Speaking of school, I had better close and begin classes with Jaynie. Have a happy Tuesday!