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.