To our loyal fans and readers!
In these last days before Christmas we write to you our last update letter concerning our trip to Mexico for my PRIME internship. It has been a wild ride! Before we left last Tuesday morning I prayed that God would help us have a safe and uneventful trip back to the states, and that if our journey was difficult God would help us to handle all situations as his disciples should—with love. Well, though it was a long and at times boring trip, we managed to jump through all the hoops without problems. Let me tell you how God blessed us! We left our apartment at 8:40ish and expected an hour and a half of traffic (or more!). But, it only took us about 40 minutes to get to the airport! We expected to wait in line for hours to check our bags, but we were the 5th couple in line! We thought we were going have problems with the customs department about our expired visas and would have to pay a 500+ paso fine, but the baggage check guy said nothing about it! None of our plans were delayed! U.S. customs was a breeze (and we expected that to be tough with all the stuff we had), and our connecting flight was on time! And, when we reached Cleveland Michelle and Audrey were waiting for us! All in all, we left our apartment at 8:40am and arrived at the in-laws house around 11:15pm…Like I said, long, boring, and uneventful. It was an answer to prayer!
Well, I can’t say that our trip was totally uneventful. While we were waiting in the Mexico City international airport for our flight we managed to find and get pictures with the Japanese version of Tom Hanks…or, the character that Tom played in the movie “The Terminal.” This guy is literally living in the airport, and has been for a few months now! Apparently, they can’t do anything about it because his visa doesn’t expire for a few months. Until then, they can’t kick him out! Dennis and I tried to approach him and speak with him. He was not very talkative; he did not engage us in conversation in either Spanish or English…But he did let us take a picture with him. Only after we tried to talk to him did we google how to say hello and a few other pleasantries in Japanese. We should have done that before hand; but, oh well...lesson learned.
Some of you may have heard me say that the smog is pretty bad in Mexico City, but I just cannot adequately describe in words how disgusting it looks, though I know some authors that could…Anyway, I have attached a picture of what I saw as our plain took off from the Mexico City airport; it was incredible! As we were ascending I was looking out the window and all of the sudden, I could see ten times further then I could just seconds before! We did not break through a cloud line, or fog; but the smog line from the city!! After having lived for 6 months in a place that gave me smog buggies just from talking a 20 minute walk I am SOOO thankful to live in a country with clean air policies—even as obnoxious as the E.P.A. and other green parties can be.
In closing I want to share with you a few other ways in which God has blessed us since we have been in Mexico. When we left we did not have the funds necessary for the duration of our trip, but we left in faith that God would provide. A month or so after we arrived a few unexpected donations came in that brought us up to and just over the amount we needed! To help matters, our host family in Cuernavaca (the place we lived for our first month while I was in language school) did not charge us any rent (though we were able to leave them with a gift). When we reached Mexico City we had some expenses that we had not anticipated, but God provided again as our Landlady charged us LESS THEN HALF of what he had budgeted for our rent, AND we did not have to pay water or electricity either!! BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! When we left for Mexico Nicolle’s car was on its last legs, and we were on a very limited budget for finding another car. But God saw fit to find us a sweet economy car through our friends and family (’93 Honda Accord, so cool!)! He practically dropped it in our lap! What an answer to prayer! Also, we had to leave our apartment in Huntington, which has since been rented out. But again, in an amazing answer to prayer, God helped us find a very economical apartment that will meet our needs beautifully through a dear friend of ours! We are so excited to return to H-town and set up our new pad!!! Lastly, Nicolle and I were both concerned about returning to quickly empting bank accounts and no jobs. In October I double checked the budget with our current spending habits and did not think we would have anything left over from our Mexico funds. However, the conversion rate took a dramatic turn in our favor around that same time—from about 10 USD to 1 Paso, to 13.8ish to 1! This doesn’t sound like much, but it slowed our cash flow enough that when we hit US soil we had a little over $700 bucks to help us transition as we look for jobs! God is sooooooooo good, providing above and beyond our needs!
Well, as I said this is the last up date, and I think there will only be one or two more extras and photo links put on the blog. But…Nicolle and I have enjoyed updating, and putting up pictures and such that we think we will continue the habit in the future. However, we are planning on starting a new blog that is not centered around our trip to Mexico. So, the very last message you will receive from us will be the info on the new blog, for those who are interested. I must say, it has been a pleasure sharing our stories with you all. We love you all very much and deeply thank you for all of your help and especially your prayers!

PS. Sorry the font is so small, I guess I had a lot to say…just zoom in! hahaha! Merry Christmas!

Please pray for: Jobs for when we return to Huntington; and safe travel from Ohio to Michigan, and to Indiana.
—Shalom.

To our dear friends,
Well, I can hardly believe it but this is the last update that we will be sending from Mexico! Tomorrow, bright and early, Dennis Poulette (my PRIME mentor) will be swinging by the apartment to pick us up. We will be heading through an hour to an hour and a half of traffic to get to the airport four hours before our flight leaves, our first flight for about four and a half hours, which will take us to our one hour long layover…just before our second one a half hour flight…where we can then go through customs…….after that we can (thanks to my awesome in-laws) be driven the last hour and a half to Nicolle’s parents house………Either way you cut it, its going to be a long, long day. But, it will be well worth the stress to be back in the states to see friends and family for Christmas! To our loyal readers from Little Flock Fellowship Church, we shall see you next Sunday!
Some of you might be wondering what we have been up to in the week proceeding our departure. Well, to be honest, it has gone really fast. We tried to relax a bit when we could, but we didn’t really get the opportunity to do much loafing. We were invited to a few people’s houses for lunch or dinner; and in typical Mexico fashion, these affairs usually took the entire day. Also, there was the last meeting of our small group. For the most part, we spent our spare time cleaning and packing our things so that when we were invited somewhere we could accept. Our biggest adventure happened this last Saturday when we went down town with a few kids from our youth group. There is a big Christmas shin-dig in the Zocolo (see pictures from last weeks up date) that is always fun to go to. However, at one point on the way home, I almost died! You see, we were waiting on the platform for another metro train to come by….waiting and waiting….well, about 25 minutes later (about 23 minutes too long) one finally came. By this time there was well over a thousand people waiting to get on, and I knew it was going to be a mad dash for the doors. Well, luckily, the V.P. of Y.M.I. (Youth Ministry International, the world wide ministry organization that I am doing my internship through), Brent, was there. He is all of 6’2” and beefy. He plowed a way on for us and we made it. But that was only the beginning. You see, it wasn’t just that platform that was over crowded, but all of them up and down the line. So when we wanted to get off, we not only had to struggle to get to the door on the train, but to get off! I was the last one in our group trying to exit, and about the time I put one foot on the platform the buzzer started to ring, singling that the train was going to leave in less then 10 seconds. That was when it happened! The crowd of people that I was trying to beat my way through surged toward me in a mad struggle to get on the train! I was just starting to cut through them when I almost got pulled off my feet! You see, I had the camera around my neck, and through the strap I had hung my hooded sweatshirt. This combination hung down just past my knees, and it had gotten caught in the crowd moving in the opposite direction!!! It was all I could do to keep my hoodie from getting caught in the doors as they started to close. No one was holding on to them, it was just the pressure from being squeezed between the people as they piled onto the train! I was so surprised and scared! The whole time I kept thinking this was just the kind of stupidity and insanity that got that Wal-Mart employee killed…Oh, my………..
In other news, Nicolle and I made someone’s day! The youngest daughter of our Landlady, Liliana, has been wanting a computer for quite some time now. She has borrowed my laptop a few times since we have been here to do home work. Well, because Nicolle has a new/used lap top waiting for her in the states, and we are severely limited in the amount of stuff we can bring back with us (weight restrictions and such), we decided that it would be better just to give Nicolle’s old lap top to Liliana. She was soooooooo excited to get it and I’m sure she stayed up late playing around on it. Earlier today, I went upstairs to drop off some food and things that we would not need anymore and found that Lili, her brother and some friends were all up in her room goofing around on the internet with her lap top. Christmas came a little early for Lili this year, God be praised!

Please pray for: Jobs for when we return to Huntington; for a safe and stress free trip (especially in customs), for safety on the roads for Bryan and Michelle when they pick us up.
—Shalom.

The Recipe

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

My family never gets bored with what I serve for dinner, because I'm always trying new recipes. These chimichangas, though, are often requested especially by our teenage daughter.—Janice Lyons, Eagle River, Wisconsin

SERVINGS: 16

CATEGORY: Main Dish

METHOD:

TIME: Prep: 25 min. Cook: 20 min.
Ingredients:

* 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 medium green pepper, chopped
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 2 cans (16 ounces each) refried beans
* 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup taco sauce
* 16 flour tortillas (10 inches)
* Vegetable oil
* Toppings: shredded lettuce, sour cream, chopped ripe olives, chopped tomatoes, additional cheddar cheese

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook beef, onion, green pepper and garlic over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the beans, cheese and taco sauce. Cook and stir until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Spoon about 1/3 cup off-center on each tortilla. Fold up edge nearest filling; fold in both sides and roll up. Secure with a toothpick. In a large skillet, fry tortillas, folded side down, in oil for 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn; cook 2-3 minutes longer. Drain on paper towels. Serve with toppings of your choice. Yield: 16 chimichangas.



**** We took the left overs to Bible Study because even though I cut the recipe in half...the tortillas here are small and it made 18! They were a hit. I looked up the origin on Wikipedia...and it's pretty funny, apparently it's a Tex-mex dish...our Mexican friends had fun with the name :)

Taken from Taste of Home's website

chimichangas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just made chimichangas for dinner and they were sooooooooooooooooo good!!!! Mmmmmmm...fried food... haha!

Merry Christmas!

To our dear friends,
This is going to be a shorty, sorry. We find ourselves with very little time left here, the days are going faster and faster. We are trying to spend time with our friends before we leave, fitting in packing and other necessaries when we can. I have one last little paper to write for school, kind of a wrap up summary of my internship. After that, we’re home free.
The schedule: Today, hung out with Dennis and Jenelle, Nathan and Ben. We went to the Zocolo for the big Christmas fest. They had a mini sledging hill, and a huge skating rink; even a place to build little snow men! Thursday, clean and pack, write the blasted paper, maybe hang out with Dennis; maybe lunch with Huberto. Friday, maybe more packing, hanging out with the Poulett’s for dinner. Saturday, there is a group of youth from the church and seminary going to the Zocolo for more of the Christmas celebrations. I managed to take a few pictures of the fun’ness when we went today and will have them in photo bucket shortly. Sunday is a special church service in a restaurant where we get to hang out, eat breakfast, and have the sermon right there. It will be our last Sunday here. In the afternoon we will be bequeathing the possessions that we acquired for daily living here in Mexico to a couple our age that we met here. They are to be married in about 6 months and could use some of our stuff for setting up house. On Monday, we finish the packing, and scrub the apartment down floor to ceiling (we try to leave things better then we found them) and then trying to get a good nights sleep because on Tuesday we need to lave by 8:00am in order to make it to the airport four hours early to catch our flight. While there, we hope to meet the guy from Japan (or China?) who has been living in the airport for the last few months. It’s like that movie, only real. Haha

Merry Christmas!


Please pray for: Jobs for when we return to Huntington; for our ministry with our core kids, that their faith is strengthened; that God would use us even as we are preparing to leave.
—Shalom.

I had heard that Sams club carries Root Beer here in Mexico, but I do not have a sams card, and I don't know anyone that does. However, at long last (six months to be exact), the dollar store down here had some Root Beer!!!! Oh, it was so good, soooooooo good! Nicolle and I made cheese burgers the other day, and I had a Root Beer with it. mmmmmmm

COOKIES!

So, Nicolle was feeling festive the other day and decided to make some Christmas cut out cookies! One day I came home to a wife covered in flour and a large lump of dough cooling in the fridge. Nicolle asked me to talk to our Landlady and see if she had a rolling pin that we could use. When I talked to her, she said that she had just thrown three of them away in the garbage earlier that day! I could not believe it! Well, Nicolle managed quite well with just patting the dough out with her hands. Because we didn't have any cookies cutters, she used an assortment of different sized cups to make circles for snow balls, ornaments, and snow men. The really fun part came when we went to frost the cookies. We didn't want to spend $2.50 on food coloring that we would only use once, so we decided to see what we could use to tint our otherwise white frosting. We got a lovely shade of purple/red using strawberry and grape jelly, a warm shade of brown using cinnamon, and light shade of yellow from honey, orange juice, and orange peal zest. In the end, the cookies were cute, and tasted delicious!!! Merry Christmas!

what a week!

Dear friends,
So many things have happened this week; I really don’t know where to start…So, to keep things simple, we will go chronologically. On Monday Nicolle and I played hooky. I have that day off from work at the church, and since Nicolle and I were short on sleep we decided to stay at home and relax. It was a well deserved break and greatly enjoyed. Tuesday was un-eventful, though I started finalizing my message for this Sunday. Wednesday was more of the same, to be honest; the real action didn’t start until Thursday. So, Thursday, THANKSGIVING! As I have mentioned in past updates, Nicolle and I were invited over to Dennis Poulette’s house for the celebration. It was so much fun! We were not the only people that got invited over, Dennis asked a few friends of his from Mexico to come over. They all seemed to really enjoy the food and talking about the tradition of Thanksgiving. Speaking of food, it was fantastic! Nicolle and I made deviled eggs and sweet potatoes (Thanks Michelle!), and Dennis and his wife made up a giant turkey, green beans, potatoes, gravy, homemade bread, corn and some scrumptious deserts: peanut butter pie (oh my goodness!), apple cake (wow!), and B.T.S.P. which was my favorite! It had crumbled nut crust, a layer of cream cheese, a layer of chocolate pudding, and a layer of freshly whipped cream (gaaaaaaaaaa!)! All in all, we had a fantastic time. Friday, I finished my preparations for my Sunday message and went home to try and relax. Well, Nicolle and I were in the middle of a movie when our landlady started banging on the door in a panic. It did not take us long to figure out what happened. Her 89 year old father who lives across the hall from us had passed away suddenly. She had gone upstairs to call a doctor and five minutes later, he was gone. His health had taken a sudden turn for the worse about three days earlier, but there is just no way to prepare for something like this. Well, this was a very late night for both of us. Being a leader in the church I was expected to attend to the family and help comfort them. And Nicolle did not get much sleep because most of all the family came from all over Mexico (and one or two from America) so the house was very very loud. At 2:30am we gave up and called my PRIME mentor/supervisor Dennis Poulette (a very good friend) and he and his wife were willing to take us into their home. We got way more sleep on their couches then we would have at our apartment, even with the 8:30 wake up call by 3 year old Nathan doing his impersonation of Jimmy Hendrix! We spent most of Saturday just hanging out with the Poulettes, decorating their Christmas tree, and relaxing. We finished off the night with pizza and coke with them and went home around 10:00 wondering where our day went. All of the sudden it was Sunday morning, and I was feeling slightly less then prepared for my message. After breakfast, and a calming time of prayer, I jotted down some notes and left for church dressed to kill! When I arrived I spent a few minutes getting my props prepared, and talking to Huberto about the skits that we were going to do (oh yes, we had a lot of fun. I had Huberto marry one of our volunteers and an older student in the youth group, and he impersonated Moses!). It was around this time that I discovered that the bulletin insert that I had made was not printed! Really, I was not too surprised; I am used to little setbacks and things getting overlooked. It turned out to not be a problem because my lovely, darling, serving, loving, wonderful wife went back the apartment to get my computer so I could print the handouts. Even though I had trouble with my Spanish, and got lost once, it went pretty well. The people seemed to understand what I was saying, and laughed and said amen at all the right times, so I am calling it a success. Leave it to the Holy Spirit to overcome my busted Spanish. Haha!
I believe we have entered into a transitional period of our time here. As of today, Nicolle is finished with her classes, and as of yesterday, I have completed all projected responsibilities at church. I am hoping that I will get to help with the planning of the next year, or get to teach for the youth group again, otherwise, I will have nothing to do for the next 14 days! We need time to get ready and packed, but not that long! Well, to all the guys out there, thanks for reading, and keep your stick on the ice.

Please pray: that we would be productive and useful to the church in our remaining days; praises for Nicolle’s classes and her having finished her finals with flying colors; that I would have an impact on the kids in the church and the colonia that would move them closer to God.
—Shalom.

more pictures...

Thanksgiving Week Newsletter

To our dear friends,
Ladies and gentlemen we can hardly contain our excitement! God has answered our prayers and led us to a totally awesome apartment in the Huntington area! Here is the story. For the last month, Nicolle has been stalking the ads in the Huntington newspaper. She would go on everyday and keep track of which apartments had come and gone, and where the good deals were. All this time, some friends and I had been praying that God would provide us with an apartment that we could afford, one that would meet our needs. Well, the pickings were slim, and going quick, we held on to hope that God would provide. As November rolled around, I began to call a few of the landlords to ask some questions. A few of our choices got knocked off right away when we found out more information. However, we were left with about a dozen apartments to look at. This is where our dear friend Lynette Miller came into play. She is a friend and co-worker at Coffee D’Vine with Nicolle. Lynette was nice enough to drive to the apartments that we were interested in and take some pictures. We then used these pics to determine if these apartments would work out. Well, we stayed up to 2:00am last Saturday because she sent us a new batch. When we saw the large kitchen, the large living room, and all the storage nooks and crannies (Not to mention an attic that we can use!!!) we just had to jump on it. We called the next day and made a deal with the landlord, who is willing to hold it for us until we return. PRAISE GOD!!! We are just so excited to get back and move in! We are looking forward to setting up the place and making it a home.
In other news, Nicolle and I got to baby-sit for our friends the Poulettes this past Saturday night. It was a rather relaxing evening for us even though little Ben was very cranky and fussy. I got to play with Nathan and fly him around the house. He is fun because he weighs like 35 lb. wet, so I enjoy flipping him around and picking him up by the ankle and spinning him around my head, and other such shenanigans (just kidding about the spinning part Dennis haha). I gather from his squeals, giggles, laughter and big smile that he enjoys it too! Hahaha!!
This coming Thursday Nicolle and I are really pumped about going over to the Poulette’s for Thanksgiving dinner! I hear that Dennis has already bought the bird, and Janell is planning on making all the trimmings. Nicolle and I will be contributing deviled eggs and sweet potato fluff (thanks to my dearest, sweet, thoughtful, kind, wonderful, warm, gentle, loving, fantastic mother-in-law’s latest care package which included two cans of sweet potatoes!!!). Our social calendar has another date for this coming Sunday. Right after church Nicolle and I are going to a friend’s house where we will be having a MOVIE NIGHT with four or five friends from the church. We are both really excited about it. I am excited and looking forward to this as a good way to relax after preaching…in big church…in Spanish…possibly without help…
We can hardly believe how fast the weeks are slipping by. In a mere three weeks we will be headed for home to see our long lost friends and family. We are both really excited to be back and see everyone. 22 days!
The last newsworthy note has to do with my homework. It is all finished, and I sent it today. Over 70 some pages of papers, case studies, and journals, pictures, teaching sessions, and more. That is such a relief!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Please pray for: My preparation for preaching next week; for our ministry with our core kids, that their faith is strengthened; for our continued relationships and outreach with the youth of our colonia.
—Shalom.

Fun and Games

To my dearest friends and family,
Yes, this update is very, very late. Better late then never! There is a simple reason for this: HOMEWORK! This is the last time I will be able to use that excuse however, because I AM FINISHED WITH ALL OF MY ASSIGNMENTS!!!!! Thank you all so much for your prayers concerning this, and my health. It was tough coming into the last weeks with projects due and feeling under the weather. But, by God’s grace I am better, and the projects are done. Yesterday I printed 70 some pages of papers and projects that I have been working on over the course of my time here. All of this, plus pictures, and a DVD of me teaching must be sent no later then Saturday so that all of the materials make it to my teacher in time. It feels really good to put on the finishing touches, burn a few CD’s, and get all the stuff packaged up! Again, thank you for your prayers.
Not that it has been all work and no play. Last Sunday afternoon I was blessed with the opportunity to spend some time with friends and a few students from our youth group and a neighboring church. We gathered at the local seminary to play games. I got some really great shots of my friends playing soccer, and other games; I also got to play basket ball with them, but I don’t think there are any pictures of that. If you get a chance and want to see the new stuff, go to my blog and click on the photo link entitled “Fun and Games”.
Things to look forward to: Thanks giving dinner with our friends the Poulette’s. I am making sweet potato fluff, and I am trying to talk Nicolle into making chocolate cheese cake!!! Next, I am preaching in “big church” the Sunday after next; and for the youth group the following Sunday. Nicolle and I are really excited about the plans that are being hatched for a home-made-pizza-and-movie-night adventure with some friends of ours at the church. That should be going down in 2ish weeks. Lastly, WE ARE COMING HOME IN 27 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yah, just a little excited about that haha!



Please pray for: a change in the attitudes of the kids in our colonia regarding church (its not scary, boring, bad, un cool, etc.); rejoicing with me that my homework is done! Also, please pray for my preaching preparations; for our ministry with our core kids and strengthening their faith; for our continued relationships and opportunity to reach out to the youth in our colonia; and please pray that we would find a cheep apartment in Huntington that will meet our needs, and jobs to pay for it.
—Shalom.

Eggs

BIG eggs!!! Double yokes, wow!

Today is my brothers birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Chris, happy Birthday! What does it feel like to be 27 year old???

wow...

I would not have believed it if someone told me, but I saw them with you own eyes. These glorified paint sticks have verses written on them such as the proverb "spare the rod, spoil the child" and other such verses. Yes, these "biblical" spanking sticks are sold at my church. I'm taking orders if anyone wants one. hahaha

To my dearest friends and family,
Your prayers are greatly appreciated in the following areas. I am sick, again. I had a head cold, it almost went away, and then I got an infection in one of my saliva glands in my cheek. This in turn spread to my beloved tonsils, which brought back the head cold, which has recently moved to my chest…On top of that, I am going to be preaching three to four times before I go home and I need the Holy Spirit’s guidance on subjects and words, and help with Spanish. Lastly, for my homework load. I’m almost finished, but there is still much to be done.
Not much news to tell besides home work and preparing to preach. There is not really a lot of extra time for adventures. However, this last week, Nicolle and I had the opportunity to baby sit for my PRIME mentor’s two kids. We told Dennis and his wife that if they ever wanted to go out on a hot date, Nicolle and I would be HAPPY to come over, watch his kids, watch there cable TV, and eat all there food (haha). So, he and his wife went out for an evening with friends, I got to play with Nathan (about three or four years old I think) and his play-do, and Nicolle sat and read with Ben on her lap (a few months). It was a fun night!
If you have a chance to go check out our Blog you can see some of the shenanigans we have been up too in the kitchen!
Nicolle and I are looking forward to coming back to the Motherland in 35 days. We are currently looking for an apartment in the Huntington area, but finding this search to be a bit difficult. It seems that none of the landlords we talk to can hold an apartment for our return without rent, even if we put down the deposit. The problem is, we cannot afford to pay for a place that we are not staying in. This is also something we would like prayer on.
Speaking of renting apartments, our landlady actually showed our apartment tonight to some perspective renters for when we leave. It was kind of funny to have people walking through our house, which was a wreak because she just dropped by and said “I’m bring some people by to look at the place in about an hour and a half.” Ha, ha!


Please pray for: a change in the attitudes of the kids in our colonia regarding church (its not scary, boring, bad, un cool, etc.); my school load, for getting homework done; for our ministry with our core kids and strengthening their faith; for our continued relationships and out reach with the youth or our colonia; for my homework load; and for finding an apartment in the states.
—Shalom.

I LOVE PB+J!

Recently Nicolle and I received a care package from Michelle, Nicolle's mom. Why? Because we are spoiled rotten! In said care package there 3 jars of peanut butter, ALL FOR NICOLLE! Now, this can make for interesting debates between the two of us because we both LOVE peanut butter! Well, I love my wife, so I did the thing any dutiful husband would do and let her have all the jars uncontested. Then I gave my PRIME mentor 40 pesos to pick me up a jar from Costco the next time he goes. Unlike most places in Mexico, Costco has real peanut butter, and at a reasonable price. Now we're both happy, and loaded with peanut butter!!!

Cooking Madness!

Some of you might have heard how crazy spaghetti sauce is here. I'm not joking, sauce is upwards of $3.00 a jar! Because we love pasta, but can't stand to pay for it, we decided to can our own! After conferring with my mom for the How-To part, we bought some fresh produce and started cooking! We washed everything is soapy bleach water, chopped all the ingredients, boiled everything, and canned it. The next day we tried some, and it was fantastic! Not only that, the price is around to $1.20 a jar!

Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos)

To my dearest friends and family,
I hope everyone got out there to vote!!! I received my absentee ballot this last week, and got it sent on Wednesday. I really hope it made it in time.
On to more exciting things! Nicolle and I really enjoy pasta; and I mean, REALLY REALLY! But, there is just one problem, spaghetti sauce is around $2.25 to $3.00 a jar. No Joke! So, in the spirit of American ingenuity, we are going to can our own spaghetti sauce this next week, and we are really excited about it!
In other news, today is not only the presidential election for the United States of America, it also marks the six week date for our return to the good old U.S.A.! We have enjoyed our time here, I have learned so much and know that I am much more prepared for my future ministry in both the U.S. and in a Latin country, but we are both really excited to come home. We cannot wait to see our friends and family, and celebrate Christmas at home. Speaking of celebrations, some have been wondering what we will be doing for thanksgiving. Well, my PRIME mentor and his wife, both of whom are from the U.S., always have a big dinner for thanksgiving, and they have invited us over to join them. I’m pretty pumped about it, especially because the last care package that we got from my mother in law had cans of sweet potato’s for making the best sweet potato fluff casserole that you have ever had! Mmmmmmm….I am drooling just thinking about it!
The locals just finished celebrating The Day of The Dead. This is more then just the Mexican version of Halloween, it is a combination of ancient native Mayan traditions and other traditions from the Catholic church. As I promised, I took a gazillion pictures when I went down town to see the festivities, over 170. So, if you want a taste of Mexican culture, please go to my Blog and take a look at the pictures! What is the day of the dead you ask? The idea is that one day a year spirits are allowed to travel back to earth and visit family. So, people build shrines for loved ones that have died. These shrines are decorated with bright yellow and purple flowers that are supposed to attract the spirits, and packed with food and drink. The aroma of the food is supposed to feed the spirits, and honor them, and the drink is supposed to quench their thirst from their long journey. After the celebration, the family members consume the food to the honor of their lost loved ones. While we were down town checking out the festivities I was interviewed three times by Mexican high school students who had to practice their English with native English speakers. It was really fun, and even Dennis got to do an interview! We also checked out the Mexico City post office. Dennis asked me if I had ever been to the post office, and sense I had not, we stopped by. It is a beautiful building, solid marble and brass on the inside, very old school, like the post office in Washington D.C. While we were there we were treated to a free concert by an authentic Mariachi band from Veracruz. They were so good! You can also see a video of them playing by going to my Blog.
I think some of the most exciting news I have to tell is from this last Sunday. I had the opportunity to teach for the youth group again. Huberto and I thought it would be a good idea to teach on ghosts, death, the after life, and spirits. The kids were so interested, and asked so many questions, that we ran out of time and are going to continue the teaching discussion next week! I am so excited about the kids and all of their interest and questions. We are talking about some pretty heavy stuff, and they are not only keeping up, they are asking for more. Who says teens don’t like theology?
Well, for the first time ever in my life, all of my Christmas shopping is finished before thanksgiving! I have never done that before. I accredit it to my super organized wife and her shopping skills at the local artesian market, and my mother in-law for giving me a really good idea. That’s all for now, thanks for reading.

Pease pray for: a change in the attitudes of the kids in our colonia regarding church (its not scary, boring, bad, uncool, etc.); my school load, for getting homework done; for our ministry with our core kids and strengthening their faith; for our continued relationships and out reach with the youth or our colonia.
—Shalom.

only 8 weeks?!?!? WHAT?

To my loyal readers,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads this letter, prays for us, and sends us notes. You folks have made this adventure possible, this pivotal part of my education a reality, and I thank you. Why all the introspection? Well, it has come to my attention that Nicolle and I have but eight weeks left here in Mexico; it seems as a single grain in the sands of time.
I’m sorry to say that this newsletter will be a shorty as I am currently feeling a bit under the weather. Honestly, I am not surprised that I am sick, only that it took so long for me to fall ill. This month has been a toughy! I have been reorganizing the ministry with Huberto, had a visit from one of my professors at Huntington University, and cramming crazy amounts of homework in every spare second. Needless to say, my egg is fried.
Our food supply plan has been working so smoothly as of late. Nicolle and I had lunch at a church family’s house yesterday and we had lamb, and it tasted like roast beef…kind of. It was good! We also received another invitation for lunch after church for next Sunday as well. If we keep this up we may not have to go shopping again!
In other news, I preached to the youth group this last Sunday, and yes, it was in Spanish. Well, needless to say, I learned some things that I already new. One, I need more practice preaching. Two, I need to study more Spanish. And three, Mexican church services go long…really long. I preached for 45 minutes (fully double what I have done in the past in the states) and still finished almost a half hour earlier than the adult service. So, Huberto came up and helped me stretch out the wrap up. He’s a good man.

Well folks, just as I promised, short, sweet, and too the point. One last thing before I go, I need to say this so that it gets done. There WILL be pictures on my blog from my birthday adventures THIS WEEK. I am sorry that it has taken so long to get them up…stuff…youth ministry conference…preaching…homework…sicky-head…there you go.

Much love from me to allllllllll of you!


Please pray for: a change in the attitudes of the kids in our colonia regarding church (its not scary, boring, bad, uncool, etc.); my school load, for getting homework done; for our ministry with our core kids and strengthening their faith; for our continued relationships and outreach with the youth or our colonia, and for the men's retreat that we are planning.
—Shalom.

Birthday times two!

Friends and Family,
This week was a bumper crop of birthdays in the church! Seriously, there was like six of them, including mine, Patty (the music director) and the pastor. So, after church on Sunday there was a big potluck dinner for all in celebration of Pastor Sergio’s B-day. What can I say about that? The food was good, the people were fun, and Nicolle and I discovered how we are going to get back under budget with our food bill. Seriously, we were invited to have lunch after church with three or four different families inside of fifteen minutes. Seriously, if we keep this up, we may never need to cook again!
Some of you may be wondering what I did for my birthday. Well, Nicolle surprised me with a picnic in the park, exploring, and led me home to a surprise birthday party. There you have it! See the blog for more details.
In other news, I just found out that Pastor Sergio is actually the pastor of two churches! It is not really a secret, he has the permission of the elders, but conducts himself in such a way that people would not know that he is dividing his time between two churches. What can I say, he is very devoted to both and manages time well. Well, to make a long story boring, I was invited by Pastor Sergio to visit this other mission that he was involved in. When we got to this church I realized that he was going to preach, guest preach I thought. But half way through his sermon a friend of mine told me that he does this every week (that is to say, preach at the church I am involved in, eat lunch, drive an hour, and preach in the evening at this other church)! Apparently this Church started as a small group that the pastor was involved in. Well, it grew…a lot! They are searching for a full time pastor at this time and I hope for Sergio’s sake that they find one soon, because I think he is feeling the strain. So, I got to enjoy two potluck dinners and cake at two churches!
One last thing; when I first arrived I noticed that the bass guitar they had was pretty nice and I let the pastor know my thoughts on the matter. He asked me if I wanted to play it and I said yes, thinking that after the service I would get a chance to play it by myself. Well, that was not what Pastor Sergio was thinking because as he was wrapping up his sermon he asked the music director if they were going to play one last song. When he answered in the affirmative, Pastor Sergio asked if I could play with them! At this point the whole Church started clapping and getting all excited about the visiting white guy playing bass, so, I didn’t really think that I could turn them down. Well, let me put it this way, they are all really good musicians and play without music, which was not exactly good for me because I didn’t know the song! Also, I was standing right next to the drums and couldn’t hear a thing, so, needless to say, it was not the cleanest I have ever played, but it was a lot of fun to help lead worship in an impromptu manner. Praise God!
Oh, yeah, I forgot to say that one of the people that lives in the same apartment complex as me gave me a birthday present from him and his wife. My very own MAN-bag! I have never had one before, never thought I was quite trendy enough (Nicolle still doesn’t think I am). Well, I like it, and apparently his wife made it! Super cool!

Please pray for: My school load, for getting home work done; for our ministry with our core kids and our plans to change the direction of our ministry, for our continued relationships and out reach with the youth or our colonia, and for the men’s retreat that we are planning.
—Shalom.

My birthday awesomeness!

I’m telling you, one of the best parts of being married is having birthdays! Why? Because I have the best wife ever who spoils me rotten! Ok, here it is; the birthday run down.

We woke up at the usual time. My darling wife got up two hours early to finish preparing some things and make me homemade pancakes! So, after getting woke up by a hug and a kiss and a gourmet breakfast, and a huge happy birthday sign, we headed of for Nicolle’s classes. While there, I studied in the library and reflected on how many birthdays I have had in the past where I have had exams and such to take. In the last eight years there have only been three years (this year included) that I have not had to fill in the bubble or write something. Homework, I can deal with, but... well, I digress…

After Nicolle’s class got out, we headed for the first part of our adventure! I didn’t know she had been planning some things for a month, and first on the list was a picnic in Mexico City's equivalent of central park. She had everything needed packed in her backpack for our lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, salads, juice, and triple chocolate cheese cake (yah, best wife ever, she made it!). After that, we walked around and explored the grounds which were quite interesting, considering Chapultepec Park has a castle in the middle of it! The park was quite pretty with many large rocks, grassy areas, reflecting ponds with fountains, and tons of monuments. These all provided a myriad of places for photo shots, which is one of our favorite pastimes on hot dates, especially because Nicolle got a new sun dress to surprise me!

After the park and the picnic and the exploring we jumped on the subway for the trek home. I thought we would spend the remainder of the evening relaxing and maybe watching a movie or something, but there were other plans… So, shortly after we arrived home Nicolle sent me up stairs to our land lady's house for an “errand.” I didn’t think anyone was home because the lights were all off, and there were blankets hanging in the window…but, being the dutiful husband that I am, I knocked anyway. I was answered by my land lady shouting SURPRISE!!!! That’s right, there was a surprise birthday party with Huberto, friends from our church, and some kids from the youth group! It was sooooo much fun. There was pizza, pop, and cake, and lots of pictures!

God has truly blessed me with good friends and a wonderful wife! And yes, I am a quarter of a century old. Haha! =)

Computer surgery

Computer surgeon? Why not?!

So Nicolle and I were chilling the other night, goofing off and what not. One thing led to another (no, this is not going where you think it is, this web sit is PG), and she started tickling, and I retaliated by pinching her…lets just say in a place that caused an involuntary kick…that knocked her lap top off of the bed!

Ok, ok, I know what your thinking; but honestly, it would have been a good thing. Our laptops are insured, so if such a catastrophic situation as this would have happened, the computer would have been replaced by a bran-spank’in-new one! The only thing that keeps me from drop-kicking her busted pile of …lap top is that, well, I just can’t bring myself to commit insurance fraud. That, and it still serves us well, all be it, slower than molasses in January. Like I said, would have been a good thing. The computer is pretty much fine because our NON REPLACEABLE $40.00 Magic Jack USB phone port took the full brunt of the fall. It wasn’t pretty.

So there we were, wondering if we could afford a new one, and find a way to get it to Mexico! Well, to make a long story boring, we figured, it’s already broken, I can’t make it any worse no matter what I do! So, I borrowed a soldering iron from a friend, grabbed my old USB flash drive (which has served me well for six years mind you…and Nicolle wondered why I wanted to play taps), took them both apart, and made like Dr. Frankenstein! The best part of this story is, when we finished, we plugged it in and heard a dial tone. IT’S ALLLIIIVE!!!!!!!!

My professor's visit

Dear friends,
It’s October!!!!!!! Seriously, October already; man time flies. Not to honk my own horn, but my birthday is in TWO days! Yah, I am a little excited about it because Nicolle has plans, secrety plans, and I love surprises! Funny thing, my PRIME supervisor Dennis Poulette has the same birthday as I do, so we are going to get together this Thursday for a little fiesta. Yea!!!!
In other news, one of my ministry professors from Huntington University just came down to visit me! This was sort of a check up to see how my internship is going, its all part of the PRIME package (really, I’m not in trouble or anything…to their knowledge!). While Dr. Jones was here she interviewed Huberto and Dennis to get their take on my progress while here as a minister and intern. She also looked at the lesson plans I developed and gave me some helpful advice. I am really glad that Dr. Jones was able to come, and had a wonderful time with her while she was here. Though I wish a few things would have gone smoother. While she was here she was supposed to observe me teaching, which I thought would be a snap because I teach youth group on Saturdays. However, when 4:00pm rolled around there were no kids…there were also no kids at 5:00…or at 6:00pm for English classes. It was a little frustrating that no one showed up the whole night, not even the volunteers! Fortunately, Dr. Jones has had prior experience with Latin American culture and knows how things like this happen and cannot really be anticipated. Also, Dr. Jones and I went out for a light dinner to talk my time here and we ended up getting caught in a torrential down pore! We were both soaked to the bone and joked about what stories she would tell when she returned. I am glad that she has a good sense of humor! The last day she was here she got to experience the Sunday morning worship service. She learned of how our Church has taken care of us in the last few months and told us that from what she saw, we are VERY blessed to be at this Church. This we knew, we love our Church family here! The last thing we did was go out to dinner on Sunday afternoon to Toks. It is a very nice restaurant similar in class to Cheddars. Not only did Dr. Jones spring for our food (for me, tasty green enchiladas!!!), but also desert! Good times ;)
Our last story this evening comes straight from the Campus of FEC Acetlan, where my lovely, beautiful, gracious, always smiling wife attends classes. As some of you may know, I play piano. I really like to play piano…a lot! However, I have not had the opportunity to play a piano in quite some months. Granted, the church has a keyboard that I occasionally play for worship, but, as all of you piano snobs out there like me know, it’s just not the same. Now, sense I started taking Nicolle to her Spanish classes at FEC Acetlan I have occasionally heard piano music playing, a few stray notes carried to my ears on the wine; but could never tell which building it was coming from. I hoped to fine out so that I could practice a few scales and some things from memory to build up my muscle tone, coordination, and speed before returning to Huntington. How knows, maybe even start a new piece! Well, after two weeks of searching I found the place! I was able to talk to the instructor and the head of the department, but unfortunately, they could not lend the use of their one and only piano to a non-student. Turns out they have 28 students for one piano, and this teacher instructs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00am to 8:00pm! Sad news, but life goes on.

Pease pray for: My school load, for getting home work done; with only 2 months left, I need help with focusing on the time I have left, and doing my besting this ministry for Gods glory; for Nicolle and her classes, and for our ministry hear with the kids.
—Shalom.