OREGON TRIP AND MORE…

A week after summer school ended, my girls and I drove out to California to spend time with the family for a week. When we came back to Mexico, I had all three of my kids with me. What a joy!

  I Got to take Adam for his favorite – SHRIMP COCKTAIL on the boardwalk in Ensenada. And then we all walked to a Thrifty ice cream shop. The great lil perk – Thrifty ice cream still exist in Mexico! Once the week was over, we started off on our trip to Oregon. We dropped off Adam and Monica since they were starting school soon after. But Becky, Pepe, and I were off on our road trip to Oregon. What a beautiful state! Green lush landscape, gracious and courteous people, new friends, and for Becky – 2 new grandma’s (Grandma Rose and Grandma Marian), and a handful of new friends. Not to mention she got to visit and hang out with her friend Kaylene whom she met out here in Mexico over the summer. Thanks Trina for the great Indian lunch in Salem! It was fun to hang out with you, the kids, and Maggie once again. And an especial thanks to my Spicy white Momma – Ms. Maggie! You don’t know how I value your friendship and the wisdom I draw from you. Thanks to Jaira for the wonderful reunion dinner at your amazing cabin home. What a blessing it was to fellowship with you and Jo Graham, and the Willis family. A great big thanks to Jeff & Cecilia Willis for their kind hospitality – Becky thanks you for your TV room as well – she soo enjoyed it  as well as movie nites in Granda Rose’s room! Lol I have fond memories of walking thru Scotts Mills to church on Sunday’s and enjoying a time in God’s word in this small quaint “Friends church.” The simplicity of the fellowship, praise, and worship there was refreshing. And while the main reason for the trip was Grandma Marians heart surgery, we were thankful to the Lord for all those we met and hung out with along the way. Becky and I got to meet Grandma Marian before her surgery and Grandma was ELATED to see her Pey-pey! She is now slowly recovering and the updates we receive have been positive. And I can’t forget our friends the Huber family in Dallas. What a precious family! Thanks to Missy who BLESSED me with a ticket to the Beth Moore Simulcast event. Wow, the Lord has been so good to us! Our trip ended with a 4 day drive down the Oregon coast. What an amazing sight that was. How majestic is His creation! That was our first – but definitely not our last trip to Oregon. Thanks to all who made this trip memorable. And Thanks to the Lord for His indescribable gifts!

Summer School at Mixteco Colony July 09

Wow its hard to believe that 2 months ago was the first day of summer school at the Mixteco church. This year’s donations were clearly less than previous years but the Lord worked it all out for his glory because there was plenty of everything needed. This year’s summer’s school theme verse was Galatians 5:22-23. And by the end of the summer program all the kids had not only memorized it but had learned what each fruit was, why we should use it, and how. Every day, I was amazed as I walked up and down the hill to each class to teach the Bible class (I was the roaming bible teacher) and as I would walk, I would ask the Lord to speak to the children and that the Holy Spirit would take over. And He would faithfully do just that every day! Sometimes as I would be speaking, I would be so amazed at how attentive and alert the kids would be. The kids voted bible class as their favorite class this summer. But I wonder how much my homework prizes had to do with that. I’m sure that there are real teachers out there who are against this kind of reward system but I got these kids to practice their writing and it was almost always about 90% of them who would do it all. As I would teach, if I mentioned a verse, they would have to write it down and write the whole verse or section as homework. Usually 5-8 verses.  And if they did them all and I checked them, they would receive their favorite candy – Mango-chile sucker or Watermelon-chile sucker.

  In the first week, all the students planted seeds in a small planter and throughout the school watched it grow. This was very applicable in teaching the fruits because if they didn’t feed it daily, it would not grow or it would dry out. The pomegranate trees just outside of the class also helped aid in teaching why a lemon would not grow from that trees just as bad fruit cannot grow from a tree that is being taken care of and nourished. Of course, there were the days when I would hear one of the kids waiting in line for lunch yell, “who will give me patience” when he was trying to say who will grant me a space in the front of the line. Those were the days I wondered if they had heard me correctly. Ha! The younger classes also learned of the fruits and drew pictures of what that fruit being applied would look like. Needless to say, we all learned the fruits of the spirit this summer. Apart from bible class, the kids also practiced their reading and writing, had a really fun tall and bald Physical Fitness instructor from Salem, OR (Tony) whom the kids would call “hay Chihuahua” bc that seemed to be his favorite thing to say aside from “Vamo-namo-nos!” (which meant lets go!)

This years new thing was also having the local librarian from San Antonio de las Minas (the town just below the Mixteco colony). Alma was such a breath of fresh air! She and her daughters and assistant Yolanda taught the kids about History of Mexico and the solar system in very fun and animated ways. She arranged for 2 outings during school – 1 was a performance at a museum in Ensenada to which they rode in the most elegant bus I had ever seen! and the other was a solar system talk also in Ensenada at the local universityThe kids just loved her! One day the girls were sporting ribbon-laced braids made out of yarn while the boys wore their cowboy hats while learning of the Revolution.  My favorite was when she would line up the losers of a competition on the wall of the basketball courts and blast them with water balloons and then have a massive water fight. It was my favorite probably because it cooled us all off! Other teachers that blessed these kids with their talents were Freddy the Art teacher, Lucy who cooked up the kids favorite lunches (Nachos & Soup were voted their fav’s), Daniel and Jose who taught the older class, Trina and Amy taught 1-3rd, and Jaira whose love and devotion for the mixteco kids shows through her diligent assistance and administration of the summer school.  What would we do without her? Monica and Becky also became part of the staff. Monica was the teacher’s assistant in the Kindergarden class with Maggie (from Silverton, OR) and Luz Edit (from the colony). And Becky was Vicenta’s assistant along with Lisa (from CA) in the pre-school class. I am so proud of both of my girls. They excelled in their positions and not once complained about anything such as long hot days, crying babies, etc. They had a blast and I am thankful to the Lord for allowing them to experience this time. Evenings at the Alvarez home was like grand central station – always someone coming or going, laughing, playing chess, spoons, trampoline play, or just great fellowship with one another. I am in awe of all that Andy and Monica do to get summer school off and running and maintaining it til the end. By the end of summer school, a team from Fresno came to help with summer school and retaining wall of the church, a team from CC Mt. View of Utah came and bless the church with a septic tank for bathrooms (YEAY!!), the refrigerator died, more people came and went, and well…..we survived another summer school. Whew! I was asked to write what summer school meant to me and while I didn’t get a chance to really put it into words by the deadline (sorry, Jaira!), I will attempt it now. What the Lord showed me this summer school season is how He is in every little detail; How the Lord will speak into a child’s heart and mind through a willing vessel who doesn’t consider herself a teacher;  How you don’t need to speak Spanish, or Mixteco, but speak the language of Love that is Christ Jesus and the message comes through loud and clear; That a smile and laughter of a child of the colony is worth all the hard work and long days;  That this IS the body of Christ working together; and How awfully gracious the Lord is to allow us front row seats to experience His glory in it all!

Prayer Requests: for Adam and Monica who now live with their dad in California – that the Lord will protect them from the whiles of the enemy and that they would be a light to their father towards salvation. For Becky and me as we charter new territory in the world of homeschooling. For daily wisdom on this journey as a gypsy for Christ.

Dental Outreach Team in Mexico

We arrived in San Antonio de las Minas on Sunday just as church had started. And since we were traveling with the new Mexican citizen "Lucas" our dog, we had to decide whether to hang out in the car or drag the dog up the hill to the church. Needless to say, Lucas spent the morning in the children's sunday school roaming up and down and around all the kids. He was in heaven! Now the hard part, finding Lucas a good home. Praise the Lord, Lucas is now living his new Mexican life at a Christian Men's Rehab Ranch "Rancho Limonero" where he is roaming free in a ranch with many of the men there who constantly love on him. I know he will make their lives at the ranch very entertaining. We will miss him but know that he is in the best place he can be. perhaps his purpose was to be a therapeutic dog! Monica has been hanging out with Amy and the gang. One of our friends got poison ivy while trying to jump off a rock into the creek. It's pretty gruesome looking! Although it has been very entertaining making fun of him. lol! On Monday I joined Monica and Andy on a dental outreach in the ejido Carmen Serdan. This dental team is amazing. I am in awe of their hearts for Jesus and display of that love through their pratical dental ministry. They have been coming down to Mexico for over 20 years and this was the first year they had been to Carmen Serdan. The past 3 days have been filled with traveling down 1 hour away and spending the whole day with the team and people of the town. When we are not translating, we are building relationships with the kids in the school (where the clinic is held), and most importantly sharing Christ with them. In the last 3 days we have seen about 10 people accept Christ and gave out many bibles. Some kids and adults had never heard of Jesus (amazing!) and thankfully we were able to share with them. Tomorrow will be our last day there and I know it will be hard bc we have become very fond of the people of this town - especially the kids. They are very generous and live very tranquil lives in this beautiful wine country valley. My most biggest RESPECT for all the doctors, hygienist, & assistants on this trip. Though the days are tiring, it's a good tired. And tomorrow we will do it all over again. The plan is to return back to the states on Monday morning --we shall see...

2 more weeks in Utah!

It's hard to believe that this transition was just a thought in November, a prayer started in December, and today it is more than obvious that it is all apart of God's divine ways as things have just clicked into place. The house is rented, items are being sold at amazing speeds. Now if I can only get the burb sold we'd be in business! But I know the Lord already knows the plans for that as well. As I sit here taking a breather from all the packing, storing, wrapping, trashing, etc. and watching my girls put together a song and dance routine, I am so thankful to the Lord for all things good and bad that have been a part of our lives. Through the good we have experienced God's goodness and grace and through the bad we have been stretched & grown from them. Today we are in this transitional period where we are mourning our departure from great friends and church family but hopeful to what the Lord will reveal to us in Mexico and how He will use us. So for now...we continue in the cleaning & packing and counting the days til we are in Cali for 3 weeks before heading south. Monica is mostly looking forward to Magic Mountain to hang out with Amy, Josiah, and Adam....I too am looking forward to it!

Journey to the next phase of Life - April 2009

Isaiah 42:6-9
"I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.
See the former things have taken place, & new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."

Well as most of you might already know, my girls & I will be leaving Utah in June. This decision came after months of much prayer, seeking the Lord's direction, being revealed so much confirmation & trials/test that come along the way. Even today, I continue to just check in with my Abba on this decision - to be sure we are still on His path.
This truly is a sacrifice as we love living in Utah. The biggest thing we will miss is our home church, Calvary Mt. View Church. Monica is a part of the youth ministry and will miss it something terrible. Both Monica and Rebecca enjoy their schools and their friends. I myself am leaving a really good employment position (Central Bank - one of the best places to work in all of Utah!) with much future potential and job security - which these days are hard to come by. All this to say, I recognize that the Lord is truly leading us in a new direction though I don't quite know what it looks like. It definitely is a sacrifice & yet that in itself reminds me that as a child of God, I simply chose to trust & believe in His Way & not my ways.
The Lord has instilled in me a mission's heart & I now am being allowed to be poured out for His Kingdom in Mexico for the summer. We will be serving in the Mixteco Christian Fellowship's Summer School in San Antonio de las Minas, just north of Ensenada, Mexico. This will be for the month of July and after that.....only the Lord above knows.
We ask for your prayers for guidance, provision, and protection on our new journey as gypsies for Christ (Gitanas para Cristo).