never. .. . .

tonight i was shocked.

i really shouldn't have been. i have heard it a thousand times.

after a rousing game of "chicken foot" here in mexico i pulled open my computer. immediately some pictures came up. alejandro was looking over my shoulder. he started talking in spanish. quickly he called for the others to gather around. "look there are pictures of us!" (or at least, thats what i understood him to say :)). after showing the ones from this past week, i dug through folders on my computer and pulled up an album marked "mexico spring 2008", exactly a year ago.
over the years i have taken off photos of things, knowing i could put them on my external hard-drive and never look at them again. however, mexico pictures have a special place in my heart. and the ones from spring of last year even more so. that was the trip i met for the first time the guys from sandia. a little village high in the mountains. master adobe builders. the poorest people i know. the hardest workers i know. that week, i learned a TON working alongside alejandro, sammy, and victor. spanish phrases i still remember and how to put the adobe on just right. getting in the car to go home after that week i remember telling my dad that next time we came, in october, i wanted to go to sandia and do a dental clinic there.
october came and went. we worked in hualahuises all that week. i was disappointed. what about going to the mountains? i realized my spirit of discontentment. God wanted us at the DIF that week. joe shared the gospel as danny translated and about 30 people heard a clear concise message given by my 15-year-old brother. God knew what He was doing.

i started flipping through those pictures in that old album. immediately, the guys started calling out names, "scott! he es my friend" . . . "mira! sammy y pablo esta en lodo!" . . . . "jesse, kelsey, scott, ryan" . . . . "reece, nathan" . . . .
i was shocked. they remembered. it has been a whole year. they still remember names, conversations, and . . . they heard the gospel for the first time that week. during lunch one day a testimony was given and a question was asked. all three men responded. yes, they wanted Jesus in their life. a few weeks later they returned and brought 5 more men with them. they too received Jesus as their Savior.

i have been to mexico more times than i can count. i was in argentina last summer. sometimes i find my self wondering if its worth it. i look at my bank account when i get back and its always quite a bit lower. i missed out on fresh powder on the mountain or finished projects still at home. does it even make i difference if i go on a missions trip? aren't there people that live in my city i could minister too?

they remember. they know. when a life reaches out and touches a life, it makes a difference.
i don't know where you are at right now. maybe God has turned your life in a different direction. thats great. where God wants you is the BEST place to be. i know i have resisted many times going and talking to someone or complained about the cost of a missions trip. but would it be worth it if even 1 person were saved from eternity in hell?

if you had a hose and every time you turned it on it cost you $700 would you turn it on to put out a fire on a person right in front of you? or would you hold onto the hose and keep it off, letting that person burn to death in front of you.

"he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." - jim elliot

think about going on a missions trip this year. if you let God work you have the power to change at least 1 life (your own) and you are sensitive to God's spirit maybe 2.

is that worth it?

It's still raining

It rained a little more on Thursday. We had Spanish class again in the morning...and Mona got really sick. Mona is Kriss' puppy. The vet came and took her away, and it is not looking very good. Please pray for Kriss. She is feeling pretty sad at having to say goodbye to her pet.

Brrr! The weather has turned cold. The guys from Sandia are bundled up, and we are all in sweaters and wrapping up in blankets here at the house. Jamie made us all hot chai to drink...although it is definitely NOT as cold as Washington, it is definitely not as warm as I remember Mexico to be. Still, our hearts are warmed by the fellowship and we are anticipating the team coming tomorrow, and the work to begin next week.

Nos Vemos!!

Vista Hermosa

Wednesday...

The air was kind of heavy, the weather clouding up. Mr. De Hoyos had some meetings in the morning, so Jamie and I sat out on the porch and read to each other, in Spanish, out of a book of sermon illustrations by D. L. Moody. We also practiced our Spanish vocabulary words…this time things around the house, kitchen, clothing, and more verbs.

In the afternoon, Kriss asked us to take more pictures of her house.



Alejandro, Samy (Samuel), Pancho "Franky" (Francisco), Victor, y Guero (Magdaleno)


The evening we went to church in Vista Hermosa. It was a beautiful time. The spirit there is wonderful, and it was neat to see all the participation from the church members.



All of the members of the church were learning the order of the books of the Bible. Here is little "Mago" (that's his nickname) reciting all of them from Genesis to Apocolypses.



Zelina and Marcela taught the children. Zelina is explaining the craft: a little necklace with nails.



Little Mago putting the curtain rod back up. Every time the De Hoyos come for church, he races them down the street with the key. He usually wins. =)

It started to rain as we drove home from Vista Hermosa. It has cooled everything and the air is fresh and clean. The Lord sends his blessing like rain, and we are so grateful for His eternal and immense love for us.

Mas Y Mas

Today was a good day. We listened as our good professor gave an overview of Mexican history. Did you know that Cinco de Mayo is a United States invention, created to detract attention from a battle in Mexico city that happened on September 13th, 3 days away from the actual date that Mexico declared independence from Spain? I'm really enjoying these lessons. =) As another part of our classes today, Mr. De Hoyos read from a book of short stories or essays, and had us listen and see if we could pick out the content of what was being read. It took us a couple of times to get it, but it was a great opportunity to "tune in" our ears to the language. Our homework is to pick out 150 more words than the ones we already had, and memorize them before tomorrow morning. We did pretty well on our 150 word test today.


At lunch, Dickmar brought home a pack of "Phase 10" cards. It made me think of you, Leslie! <3 Zelina taught us all how to play, and we've been playing it throughout the rest of today. It's rather catchy!!


After listening to an excellent message by John Piper, I was pondering the concept of life being like a river. All of life, he says, is like being swept downstream in a current, and the headwaters are abiding in Christ. If you aren't moving towards it, you're moving away from the true life of abiding. Pastor Piper claims that God has put a lot of encouragers in his life because he is more needy for that. It made me think. Who is God wanting me to encourage around me? Who do I turn to when I'm feeling tired and about to be swept away? Not if I lose ground, but when. The reality of life is the constant struggle. Yet, He has already given the grace to be victorious!!


Lord, give me strength to keep swimming, and to help encourage other weary swimmers along the way. Thank you for being my lifeline. Amen

Spanish Intensive -- Day One, or Primer Dia

Today was our first day of Spanish Lessons! We learned so much, my head is swimming! We can now name the seasons, know the articles, letters of the alphabet and their sounds, seasons, and money, we can count to a thousand, and can tell you a bunch of opposite words besides. Whew! Not to mention the whole lesson was given IN SPANISH, so we really had to keep on our toes. This is my first step towards the eventual goal of being bilingual, so Hispanic world, here I come!

The weather continues to be gorgeous. We went orange picking. =) We were actually looking for limes and found none, settling for oranges instead.



We went for a run when the wind started to pick up again, making it cool enough. I tell you, nice problem to have!


These pics are of the construction of Kriss' house, which is making excellent progress.

Dominoes and Driving

The guys from Sandia are here working on Kriss’ house. They work hard during the day, but always have time for games at night. We got to play dominoes with them, and it was a blast! =D


Sunday was church, but before that we had the most amazing tamales!! Yum!!! The message was good, as was the singing time. The sermon was on building a person…you need two columns…the training and experience column, but also the character and spirituality column. Both must balance. Plus, there were a lot of good points along the way, from what I could make out. It was completely in Spanish. I guess we’ll be getting a lot of that this week…so I’d better get used to it!!

We were all excited to go to Cadareyta to a bull fight Sunday evening, but we found out when we were almost there that we had the wrong time! The bullfight started at 4 and we were aiming for 6! Whoops! Oh well, we had a nice dinner with Alejandra, and Alejandra’s brother Ysrael and his wife.


While we were hanging out in Cadareyta, we saw some amazing dancers in the plaza.


This one's for you, Vince!

Day Two -- So far ;)

Sleep felt soooo so good! I (Dena) had a great day running errands with Kriss. Pretty much I didn’t see Jamie all day, so I’ll let her give her account.

First, Kriss and I went to the salon, which was a super-nice air-conditioned building in downtown Linares. I sat on a cushy chair, and we chit-chatted. Next, we went shopping for gifts for a girl who was getting adopted out of the Orphanage where Kriss goes to help at. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get anyone on the phone at the Orphanage, and we managed to miss saying goodbye to the girl. I think her name was Juliet?

Lunch was real authentic Mexican at this place called La Maya. Lalo, who works at the orphanage, recommended it, and ended up eating lunch with us because he had some errands to run in town.

Kriss also needed to look for a new cell phone, so we stopped at the place and saw all the fun new models that are coming out.

After we got grocery list from Zelina, we proceeded to take Soriana by storm! :P Well, not really. Then, after searching in vain for the tamale shop, we finally asked directions from a guy who was directing traffic. He finally informed us that the shop had moved. So we got our tamales for the men’s group Sunday morning!

Spring Trip -- Dena & Jamie Day One

On the way down!

So, we made it to Mexico without TOO much trouble! ;) Just a brief scare with Turimex…well, we’ll get to that part. Let’s just say that God is good. It’s just so amazing to be able to trust God, and see what He does. =) Thanks everyone for praying for us, and family, I can’t wait until you get here! The orange trees give the air a perfumed smell, and the breeze is the perfect mix of cool and warm, making me forget I was ever living in our blustery, wintery Washington weather.

We left Portland without much ado…completely bypassing the check-in counter. That was a new experience! We new we’d have a tight connection to make the bus in San Antonio, so we went totally with carry-on. No troubles and an on-time boarding, bringing us into Denver 15 minutes early. Having woken up at 3:30am, I slept most of both flights. It was nice. =)

Our friend Aaron arrived just in time in his brother’s souped-up car (for you Star Wars fans, think Millennium Falcon) to shuttle us to the Turimex bus station in downtown San Antonio. The outside of the bus company building looked a little sketch, so Aaron stayed with us. When Jamie came out after attempting to buy tickets, she looked a little dismayed. “The lady said there’s only one seat on the bus to Laredo.” Oh dear! Well, could we share a seat? The luggage man overheard our deliberations and broke in, “No check with the lady, No! You go to the operator! He give you two seats, not one, TWO!” We smiled, relieved. Someone was taking up our case! He went inside and miraculously, when I checked with the lady again, she agreed to give us two tickets! Yay God!

We were so happy to get a spot on the bus!!

We said goodbye to Aaron and boarded the bus for Laredo. We didn’t make any stops, and were there within 3 hours.

In Laredo...in front of the Turimex building

Waiting for Dickmar

Dickmar was caught in traffic on the bridge, so we did a bit of shopping at HEB. Only a quick 4 hour drive and we’d be in Hualahuises! We were anxious to get there, and only stopped for permits and dinner. On the way down, we discovered that the De Hoyos family wouldn’t be making it back that night. They had gone to McAllen, TX on some errands, and weren’t able to leave in time. We ended up making it to the De Hoyo’s house at about 11:30. Kriss was there to greet us, and we very shortly made our way to bed, happy but very tired from the trip. Praise the Lord, He is SO good!


Filling out our visas...making it official