A Refreshing US Break, and a Wonderful Mexican Return

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!!

"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! " Psalm 105:1-2

God is Good!

Its been quite awhile since our last update. I'll try to keep it short, but informative.

To start, God blessed us with a long and refreshing break back in Ohio over Christmas break. It was hard to get home (took a total of 31 hours with all the delays to get from Merida to Columbus), but when we finally got home, it was marvolus! It was so wonderful to spend time with both of our immediate and extended families, and to see all of our wonderful friends.

I was very sad to leave home, but suprisingly happy to get back to Mexico. It feels like home now for me and Tim- which is great! A few nights after our return we went out to dinner with Jeff, Angelica, Lupita and Wes. It was so great to see our wonderful friends again and to meet a new one in Wes (a newly arrived missionary from Florida).

We are back into the swing of things here in Mexico, and our schedule this stint is much fuller. Here's a quick look at our week:

Monday= school. After school Tim gives guitar lessons

Tuesday= School. Go to Hocoba 2:30- 8 (1 hour away) to go door to door whitnessing and then hold a new believers class that Tim and I are writing and leading.

Wednesday= School. Then Kari gives English tutoring, Tim piano lessons.

Thursday= School. Then bible study/home fellowship

Friday= School. Church

Saturday= Free

Sunday= Hocoba 9-3 to teach Sunday School. Church.

Busy Schedule, but awesome!!

So, as you saw on the schedule Tim and I are leading a New Believers bible study in the small Mayan village of Hocoba on Tuesdays. We actually start tomorrow. So please pray for guidance for us in leading this, and that people are opening and excited to join! We'll update you on how it goes!

This past weekend we went to Hocoba to teach sunday school. We did a craft that Tim's church had given us which was very fun and exciting for the kids since it was materials they've never had access to before. Also, thanks to the Haney family from my church all the kids got to pick out a Beanie Baby. They were thrilled even though they thought it was just to play with then... when they found out it was to take home there were even more squels and loud "gracias" being said!After Sunday School we went to one of our church members house to prepare for the lunch that we were supposed to have but never did due to time constraints. We snapped some interesting shots of a typical home in Hocoba:This is me looking at the giant ducks. They raise them for meat.
Their homes almost all consist of one room with lots of hammocks and places along the wall stacked with clothes. But the rest of their "house is outside." Including the bathroom, kitchen (picture below) and laundry area:
A precious little girl from my sunday school class showing us her puppy! This is a picture of their turkeys laying on their eggs:So, as I've mentioned in previous blogs, Tim and my phase for this whole Mexico experience is "You NEVER know (even when you think you do)". So, as I said, we were supposed to be going to someone's home for their birthday lunch that they'd invited us to. But last minute we found out it was also her brother-in-laws baptism. So we went to the service for that, but ended up leaving in the middle because the people we were with from Merida had to return. So, they filled up whatever they could find; plastic mayo bottles, a plastic sand bucket, and an old pot, with the chicken they'd prepared for us to take home with us. Here is us walking back to our car with our lunches in tow:
Needless to say, Tim and I love going to Hocoba. It is an eye-opening, perspective-changing, God-filled experience everytime we go. We are very excited to see how God is glorified through the study we are starting. Again, please pray that God leads people to the study and that he shows us how to lead it!

God bless you! Thanks for reading! Keep reading too, there are some fun random fact below:

Random Fun Facts:

1. We got a dog (Coeblence) and kitten (Cola). Not really got per say, but more like won their love. So the next door neighbors got a kitten, we named him Cola and he is very friendly - Tim loves to play with him. Two houses down they have a dog, all year we've been talking to it and trying to pet him, but he is afraid. But with time love one. Now, everyday when we leave for school they follow us down the street, and when we come home they greet us and beg to be pet. We we finally go inside, Cola stays at the door whining to get in! Its fun to have pets without really having them!

2. I (Kari) got a class pet - two fish, though one already died. The kids are thrilled. Dori and Nemo are their names.

3. Its been lovely weather. Between 70 and 80 for the high, breezy and cool nights!!!

4. I took my class ice skating for their behavior prize. It was hilarious and a blast!

5. We had our first encounter with the Mexican police: Tim left our house in a barrowed car to go to band practice before church tonight. He realized he forgot his music and therefore threw the car in reverse and drove 200meters back to our house in reverse. Well, the cops saw. So I'm at home and hear a knock on the door. It is our neighbors telling me to come translate for Tim. SO I get out there and see Tim and the neighbors talking to the cops. I come and translate for Tim. The deal is that the license plates are old, the papers for the car are incomplete and old, and Tim broke a law. So there is 1 ticket for driving back wards, 1 ticket for the plates, and 1 ticket for the documents. Our sweet neighbor explains to them we are missionaries borrowing the car for our mission in Hocoba. And flat out asks them to have mercy on us and not give us the tickets. They say no and that they will take the documents, licenses plate and Tim's license right then, and we'd have to go downtown tomorrow, pay all three tickets, pay for new plates and papers, before they give the license back. YIKES! However, our neighbor disappears into his house, returns, talks to the cops and 1 min later all is well and they drive away. Turns out he paid them off for us! It took only $10 usd to get out of all those problems and tickets. However, our neighbor took a risk for us, because you can get an extra ticket and taken in for questioning if you try bribing an honest cop. So we broke a law, then broke another with the pay-off to get out of the first law we broke!

God is Good!

God is good!!!

So this past week was a wonderful, God-filled, blessed, and very stretching for both Tim and I.

So, a quick summary to get you up to speed. This past week, a mission team of 40 high school seniors from Florida came to our church. They were split into 4 teams who rotated between the different mission sites our church has in the villages surronding the capital city of Merida. Tim and I were in charge of "facilitating" the groups when they went to Hocoba.
So Wednesday we ride in a 15 passanger van with a group of the seniors to Hocoba. We get there and the leader pulls me aside and tells me to decide what we should do and tell everyone where to go and what to do. They had come with nothing planned - and we were told they woudl have it planned and we'd just be there to help in anyway we could. So, we split into 3 groups, a group stayed in the main square and 2 groups went door to door telling people to come to the center to hang out and for music and to tell them about Jesus.
I lead one of the groups going door to door - seeing as I was one of the only 2 translaters. The 4 of us set out walking through the village streets. We never ended up knocking on any doors, when people saw 4 white gringos walking by they would come outside to see, or ask us where we were going and what we were doing. We talked to so many families inviting them to come hang out with us and sing. Also, we prayed for 4 families.

Then, we walked up to a house with 6 kids playing outside and started talking to them and offering them candy (sounds sketchy right) then a mom came out really quick and I thought, "oh man, she's going to yell at us for talking to her kids," but instead she turned around and yelled back at her neighbor's house "come see the gringos talking spanish"! lol So this lady and her neighbor came out and ended up talking to us for about 20 mins. We told her why we were there, and that we are Christians and that our main goal here is to tell people about Christ. The women we were talking to said they didnt' know anything about Jesus, but wanted to hear. I shared the Gospel with them and asked if they were interested in what I was saying or had any questions. They said they didn't know what questions to ask but wanted to know more. So we stayed and I talked to them more about Jesus and salvation. We ended up praying with the two comen and 5 of the 6 kids. They all accepted Christ for the first time. It was so wonderful to see God working through us to teach these people about him.

Later one of the girls with us was saying how amazing it is that those people went from not knowing anything about Jesus to believing and being saved after only 20 mins. But that is the difference between the message we bring and any other religion. The holy spirit was working in their hearts and showing those women that what we were saying is the truth, even if it is new or they dont understand everything about it.

Wednesday night while the group of seniors were loading the vans to leave, their leader called me over to a group of 6 teenagers to translate. She ended up sharing the Gospel with them and all 6 of them accepted Christ!

It was such a wonderful and stretching day going door-to-door for hours in the Mayan village of Hocoba. God used me to lead the high schoolers, and really used my Spanish to be the translator. It was a wonderful experience.
We went back on Thursday with the Sports group. Again we devided in groups and went around the town sharing about Jesus and inviting kids to come play with us in the central field. Word spread fast and more than 40 kids were playing soccer, football, basketball and frisbee with all of the Florida kids from 330pm to 730pm. (Here's a picture of some of them) It was a blast playing with the kids. And again it was an amazing experience being able to share my faith with so many people when we were going door-to-door in small groups.

My group came to a house with a grandma and her 3 small grandkids. We told her we were here to invite her kids to play and to talk about Jesus. She said "just a minute" and went inside. She came back with 2 chairs and sat down just wanting to talk to us. Again we were able to share the Gospel and she gave her life to Jesus for the first time and was saved. It was so awesome, when I was praying for her she was crying and just so overwhelmed with joy and emotion. That night before we left to go back to Merida I brought Tim with me to introduce him to her and to say goodbye. We went back to see her when we went on Friday too.

Friday was another great day in Hocoba. The last group did dramas and had songs to teach the kids. Again I took a group going door-to-door and met alot of wonderful people. About 40 adults and kids came to watch the dramas. Afterwards Angelica talked to a group of teenagers guys 6 of whom committed their lives to Christ for the first time.
In 3 days in Hocoba, as a group we saw more than 30 people committ their lives to Christ and accept the free gift of salvation. It was such an amazing, inspiring and God filled time.

The kids were so sad to see us go on Friday - a big group of them sat watching us get on the bus and kept waving... here are some of the kids saying goodbye to us:

Then Saturday morning, Tim and I got to church around 10am to help set up for the big activity Saturday afternoon. We helped organize the mission team to set up the food, make goodie bags, set up for the music and go out door-to-door and invited people to the picnic with free food, clowns, music, and dramas. I was the leader/translator for one of the groups going out inviting. Tim stayed at church helping set up everything. The event from 1230-530 was a huge sucess. There were about 300 people who came for the event! It was so much fun and perfect windy cool weather (86 degrees).

That night Tim and I went home tired from the busy week, but so excited and revived! It was so nice to do something different than our normal school schedule! And it was so amazing to see how God really used both of us for his glory. Tim did a great job translating and communicating with the people in Hocoba as he stayed in the center playing music the first day and playing sports with the kids the other day.

God is Good!

A Mexican Thanksgiving

Tim and I have been experiencing a continous outpouring of God's love, protection, and blessings in our time here in Mexico. Since the last time I've written we have both been growing in faith and fellowship. A couple weekends ago, Tim went to a men's retreat with our church. It was 3 days and 2 nights jam-packed with fellowship, and teachings. Tim is getting sooo much better at Spanish and was able to follow some of the conferences - and during the others, he read about a third of the Bible. He came back so excited and so re-energized about his faith and learning about the Bible and being a man-of-God. He really got to know alot of the men from church and feels much more connected.

When I was home alone for that weekend while Tim was at the men's conference, I too got more connected, with the women of our church. One night I went to Damaris's baby shower. It was nice to just relax and talk to some women of the church I'd never met. Then the next day I spent 4 hours with Angelica and Lupita - they invited me to dinner after church and we ended up just sitting on Angelica's bed talking for hours. It was wonderful! It made me feel so much closer to both of them - they are wonderful women-of-God and I am excited to start being so much closer to them. I know that God made that opportunity to spend time together because that morning I'd talked to my parents on the phone and was getting very sad thinking about how much I miss my family and girl friends from home and how I really dont' have any close friends here. Then it was so calming and such a blessing to have time to really connect with those two wonderful ladies! It felt like college again just sitting on a bed till late talking about anything and everything. I am thankful for Angelica and Lupita in my life!

The blessings continue to pour out on us. Tim and I have truly been growing in our relationship together! We've recently made a point to go on more dates and make and effort to have quality time together. Its been so much fun! Tim suprised me and took me to a movie, we went out for pina coladas once, and we have been having fun talking together and doing a couples devotional. God is certainly blessing our marriage - we are both so in love and very happy!

This week was Thanksgiving. It was so much fun! On Thursday, we had a half-day at school and the whole time we spent playing games, make indian or pilgram outfits, coloring, painting, and eating. It was really nice to just have a fun day to enjoy time with out kids instead of having to be teaching them and keeping them under control. Here's a short video clip of my kids trying to eat donuts off a string http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMai9J1VOi0 Thursday night, we had a Thanksgiving potluck with the English service at church. With everyone inculding kids there was abotu 25 people there. We had delicious food and great fellowship for the whole night. At the end of the evening, all of the adults sat around a table and we each talked about what we are thankful for and praised God for all the blessings in our lives. Tim and I certainly have so much to be thankful for: for our new and wonderful love and marriage, for the opportunity to be here in Mexico and the experience we are having, for the ability to be teacher and the learning experience that is for us, for our health and happiness, for our families and friends, and for the love that everyone at our church here has shown us. These are only a few of the millions of blessings we are thankful for in our life!

Last night, we had Fernando (our caving/cenote going buddy) over for dinner. He was here for about 4 hours. We shared dinner together, then sat on the couch talking - it was great to have a relaxed evening with him just catching up on life!

So as you can tell, we are happy, healthy, and blessed beyond belief! Praise be to God!

Mom and Dad visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mommy and daddy came to visit!!!

Tim and I drove the churche's 1970's bug to the airport and picked them up Thursday night. We were both excitedly waiting till they rounded the corner and we finally got to see them! Thursday we got home late, chatted for a couple hours and hit the sack.

Friday morning we were all up bright and early and got ready for school:
My kids had each made one letter in the welcome banner to give Richard and Cheryl a proper welcome to Mexico:

Each of my kids came up to them, gave them a handshake and introduced themselves. Each kid also taught them a Spanish word. Then Cheryl did her lesson on seasons with the kids. She was great! She brought different type of seeds and leaves with a picture of the tree they came from, explained each and passed them around. Then the fun part came - the SNOW!! None of my 38 kids has ever seen snow. My mom brought this chemical stuff that when you add water truly looks and feels like snow and is even cold. The kids were SOOO excited!! Here they are playing in the snow:Richard prepared a lesson of English slang to teach the kids. We did a bit of it but didn't have time to finish because it was a half day. I'm going to finish the lesson sometime this week. After a great day meeting both Tim and my classes, and all of our fellow teachers and directors, school was out and we headed in bus to downtown Merida:In "El Centro" we walked around the main plazas and historical center of Merida, ate traditional Yucatecan food for lunch, and bouhgt some soveniers. It was a beautiful sunny day and not too hot - around 96 that day. Here we are in the Plaza Grande:Friday night after getting back from downtown, we changed clothes, covered ourselves with mosquito repellent and headed back to school/church. Friday night was one of our school's biggest parties/fundraisers. It was the same night as Day of The Dead and is designed to give people and alternative means of entertainment instead of participating in the Day of the Dead celebrations. More than 300 people from our school and church came to the party. There was food, bouncies, and games for kids. Each teacher was responsible for setting up a game. Tim and I choose to do a Relay Race. It was a huge success - everyone gathered around to watch the kids crab-walk, hope, wheel-barrow, etc. It was a very fun night and was wonderful to be able to introduce my parents to the people from our church and see our students in a different setting. Here we are eating: Saturday morning we headed off on a full-day adventure with Fernando. On the 1 1/2 hr drive to the caves, we stopped on the highest "mountain" (which is actually more like a hill) and looked at the view. Here we are at the look-out. Richard and Kari are showing off their new Mexico souveniers:
We arrived at our first stop of our adventure- the Caves of Calcehtok- the biggest cave in the Yucatan. Richard kept marveling at the fact that even though these beautiful, extensive caves are the biggest in the Yucatan, it is very underdeveloped and little-used. It is by no means a tourist trap. For the 2 hrs we were there, we were the only people in these caves in which you can go in for more than 8 hours without hitting a dead-end. For 5 of us, we paid 20 pesos, or about $1.50 to enter. Good deal I'd say. The cave is very open with a high ceiling in the places we explored and is filled with interesting natural formations as well as Mayan artifacts such as pottery. Here is Fernando, Richard and Cheryl sporting their hands-free lights before entering the cave:After caving for a couple hours, we headed to the Mayan Ruin of Oxkintok. Here 3 of us are at the main pyramid of this ancient city:

This was the favorite stop of the day for both Richard and Cheryl. All 5 of us kept marveling at the amazing fact that all these structures were made between 300 and 500 AD. It is incredible to think of the time and manuel labor it took to create such large impressive structures with no machinery. We entered and conquered the maze within on of the pyramids! As we continued, we made our way to these awesome statues: Saturday after the caves and the Mayan Ruins we headed to Cheryl and Richard's first cenote in Chochola. It is a very small, but very beautiful lake inside a cave. At places it is a mere 2 feet deep, and in others drops dramatically to 150 feet to the underground river system below. After our adventures, we came home and made fajitas, ate together, and crashed after a long but wonderful day.

Sunday, we headed to Calvary Chapel's mission site in the small Mayan town of Hocoba. We snapped a picture of people on their way to the cemetary to celebrate day of the dead. Notice the ladies with towels covering their heads. We learned that this is coustum stemming back to the days of the Spanish conquest when they were told to cover their heads before entering the church. The older ladies of smaller towns still follow this tradition:

We arrived at the mission trip abotu 1 and 1/2 hours later. Here we are with the pastor, and his wife and kids outside the sanctuary made from sticks held together by wire, and a tar paper roof:

Normally Tim and I have about 19 or 20 kids ranging from ages 1 to 12 in our Sunday School, but this week we only had 8 because may were absent because their families were celebrating Day of the Dead at the cemetaries. Tim brough his guitar and with the help of Richard and Cheryl taught the kids two new praise songs in Spanish. Then, I did the Sunday School lesson in Spanish while everyone else did crowd control and made sure the kids were listening! Big help! Then we used the fancy new markers that Cheryl had brought to color pictures. Richard and Cheryl were great with the kids and got right in there and colored with them: At the end of the 2 hour Sunday School, we gave each kid and orange for their snack and sent them out to play on the playground equipment.
Both before and after Sunday School we got a chance to sit down with the adult members of this tiny church and talk to them about their town, their country and their lives. Richard did a great job of engaging them in great conversation and asked interesting questions. We learned that this town was built and once prosperous due to the henequen plantations - a plant from which hemp and ropes are made. But once nylon was invented and replaced the need for help, the plantation and therefore town started to dry up. Now days the majority of the people are employed in Merida, which is an hour and half away. We took an hour or so to drive though Hocoaba, a town of poverty and disrepair. What we saw was very humbling: As we were driving around Hocoba we saw a small tortilla machine in front of someones home. We were interested so we stopped to talk to the people and see the process. Very interesting, and only abotu 50cents for 2.2lbs of fresh hot tortillas:Sunday after the mission at Hocoba, we got back to town and ate at Kari and Tim's favorite resturant called SuperSalads before heading to church. We dropped Tim off so he could practice with the band and then we went to church an hour later for the English service at 5. After church got out at 7 we chatted with everyone and went home, relaxed and went to bed.

Monday was another great and full day. We went to the very small remote town of Cuzama to take the truc - or horse-drawn mini-railroad cart - to the 3 gorgeous centoes. Here we are on our truc:

Cheryl and Richard were as impressed and in awe of these beautiful underground lakes as Tim and I were the first time we went. It was absolutely gorgeous and the first one we went to we were the first ones there so the water was completely still and transparent. Here we are in the 3rd cenote. (disclaimer: Richard and Cheryl only used lifevests at the last one so they could just float around using the goggles instead of swimming):

Here they are being brave swimming in the 150 feet lake in a cave and looking mighty cute doing it!

Richard and Cheryl were both a bit hesitant Sunday night at the idea of driving another 1 1/2hrs to go to the cenotes, after having such a packed weekend, but at the end of the visit they both agreed that it was their favorite thing that we got to do. It was so interesting driving past so many tiny Mexican towns on the way, and the truc itself is such a unique, one-in-a-lifetime experience, as are the cenotes! After the truc we stopped at a brand-new resturant right by the enterance to the trucs. It had only been open three weeks and is the only resturant not out of someones front room in thier house in the whole town. It was a gorgous unique resturant which we think could really bring more tourism and money to the very tiny poor town.

On our drive back to Merida, we stopped in a small town and Richard bought coconut home-made ice cream off the streets from these guys:

Tim and I both had a WONDERFUL time with my parents here! The visit was fun, and busy, but we never felt rushed and had plenty of time to just sit and talk and enjoy eachother company. It is such a blessing that my parents wanted and were able to come share in Tim and my new life here in Mexico. It means so much to both of us that they can now truly picture and relate to our lives here. What a great trip! It made us both miss home, family and friends so much more, and made us happy we are only this far away temporarily! Though we miss our friends, and families, we are both very happy here and know that it was the right decision and where God wants us. Being just the two of us for the first year is such a great way to start our marriage and we are learning how to depend on eachother compeltely. We are happy and in love!

Thanks mom and dad for coming! It made us both SOOOOOOOOOOO happy and thankful! We love you!

Everyone else, family and friends, we have an extra bed and AC.... please come visit! We would be more than happy for anyone to come visit whenver and however long you want!!

Please keep praying for the mission of Hocoba, that it will grow and that financial support will be found to continue the bulindg of the new cinder-block sanctuary.