Welcome! Nuestra Casa Es Su Casa ...Our house is your house

A glimpse into the life of Daniel and Jaynee Lockwood and their 12 precious blessings. Thank you for visiting; we pray that what we share here may always bring glory to our wonderful God and Saviour. May you praise the Lord with us for the great things He has done and continues to do as we serve Him sharing the gospel here in the little town of Cuidad Insurgentes, BCS Mexico. He alone is good and faithful!

Monday, May 05, 2008

Questions from Tracy

Tracy asked:
1. How did you get into missionary work in Mexico?
2. How long have you been doing missionary work?
3. How do your children adjust to the obvious economic differences between Mexico and the U.S.?
4. As fair and blond as your children are, they must stand out in Mexico. Is that a difficult adjustment for you and/or them?
5. Have other of your children been born in Mexico, or just sweet Elisio?


Answers:

1. My husband and I both have always had a desire to serve the Lord on the mission field from a very young age. My husband grew up dreaming of being flown into the deep dark jungles of South America to share the gospel with the natives while I dreamed of either marrying a missionary or serving the Lord in an orphanage or as a teacher somewhere in Africa.
I'm very glad that the Lord fulfilled my first dream of marrying a very handsome young missionary man and that I am able to be his wife and mommy to our 11 little missionaries in training :) The Lord had a lot of work to do in our hearts and lives those first years we were married and I'm so thankful for His mercy and grace toward us.
Daniel had worked with a missionary and studied at a Bible institute for two years in Mexico when he was 18 and 19 years old. He lived and worked with the people and learned Spanish. There, the Lord gave him not only an increased burden for missions, but a specific burden and love for the people in Mexico.
We rejoiced when the Lord clearly led us to serve Him here and are humbled that He chooses to use us to share His message of salvation with the Mexican people.

2. We moved to Mexico in March of 2004; we spent the first year working with a Mexican pastor near the US/Mexico border and then in February of 2005, we moved 800 miles south of the border to the area in which we are now working.

3. Most of our children only know Mexico as their home. When we moved here in 2004, Timothy (our oldest) was only 7. Only Elijah, Rebekah, and he have any real memories of living in the USA. Things that even seemed so different to Daniel and I now seem quite normal. Our children know that Americans have more money and more things than the Mexicans, but they also know that joy does not come from things but from relationships with others (first and foremost the Lord Jesus Christ!). They also know (because we have taught them) that while many Americans have big nice houses, cars, toys ect... many of them also have a lot of debt. The Mexicans may have a small house, but they own it. Needs are just that...food and clothing...they have no worries about paying debts owed.
When we visit the states, the children have made comments about things being big...buildings, light poles, roads ect... They have also mentioned how much they like carpet because it is so much softer than cement or tile. :)

4.Yes, our children do stand out...especially in the town where we are as there are no other white Americans living here and since we are one of the few towns on the penisula that is not a tourist town, Americans do not even stop here.

Our children are very used to all the attention they draw and don't really even think about it. When we go anywhere as a family, we literally stop traffic, have tons of people wanting to take our picture, the children have their blond heads rubbed constantly, the little ones have their cheeks kissed, the blue eyed ones are asked if they will give away their eyes ect... :)

If I don't take any of the children grocery shopping with me, I can get done in half the time...not because the they cause any trouble, but because when they are with me, everyone wants to stop to talk to us.

We are thankful for the warm reception we have here. It has given us many, many opportunities to share the gospel. Everyone in town either knows us or has seen us and we are able to talk easily to anybody.

The people who do know us well now just treat the children like one of theirs...with an occasional head rub :)

5. Of our 11 children, the first 7 were born in Redding, CA USA...and the last 4 born in Mexico...Noah was born in Rosarito, BC Mexico, and Susannah, Nehemiah, and Eliseo were born in Cd. Constitucion, BCS Mexico :)

10 comments:

  1. I love your blog, May i ask a question? Great. Are any of your children twins?
    Thanks Chris in Iowa

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  2. Anon,

    If you scroll down to the "Later Afternoon" post on Friday, May 2nd and then click on comments Jaynee posted a comment in there about ages of her children and NO twins! Amazing, huh!?!?!?

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  3. Jaynee, this might sound silly to you...

    (I don't comment much, but read about your precious family every time you post.)

    I'm just so proud of you. You are such a treasure - what a beautiful spirit and attitude you have. Thank you, to you and your husband, for being such an excellent testimony of what God can do through a family who is submitted to Him!

    Love, Holly
    (Mama of 8)

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  4. I've been checking in with you every day, and was thrilled to see you answered my questions! Thank you! I just wanted to tell you how wonderful I think your large family is. Such beautiful children! And what a marvelous sense of responsibility you are instilling in them. Thank you for sharing them with us.

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  5. First off, Samantha wants to tell Uncle Daniel Happy Birthday! And secondly, you all think she's so amazing, guess what? I get to be her baby sister. =0) I'm also her favorite sister. =0)

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  6. Hello Jaynee,

    I was wondering if one is able to send you a care package or is sending you a check better?

    What a wonderful ministry you and your family are doing. I have been to Mexico twice. Both times for a week in orphanages with my church.

    I pray for all of you.

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  7. Jacquee brings another question to the table (sorry if you've answered this one already). How many siblings do you (Jaynee) and how many does Daniel have? I'm also curious how many grandchildren there are on each side of the family. We are open to life and my husband's family is as well and my youngest was the 25th grandchild on my husband's side and there are 8 on my side (5 of which are mine! LOL!)

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  8. Michelle,
    I actually had to sit down and count to figure this one out :)
    I am the oldest of 5 (I have 3 sisters and 1 brother).
    Daniel is the oldest of 12 (he has 9 brothers and 2 sisters...no twins :)).
    My parents have 13 grandchildren so far.
    Daniel's parents have...this is where I had to count...29 grandchildren so far with 4 more due this year.
    And only 7 of the 12 siblings in my hubby's family are married. :) My hubby turned 35 today and his youngest brother is 15.
    If you look in the archives and check January's post "Pictures of our time in the USA for Christmas", you can see a picture of most of my hubby's family at a get together we had (I think everyone...that was born at the time...is in the picture except for my father in law and one of Daniel's brother/sis-n-law and their children.)

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  9. I could have answered that question if Jaynee wouldn't have beat me to it. =0) Daniel's brother that is my age puts it best. He tells Jaynee that he never remembers meeting her. It's like she was always there. Our families have known each other for a long time. There is a Lockwood kid for each Smith kid. We had a lot of fun together. I remember loving to go to their house with Jaynee when her and Daniel were just "friends". There was never a lack for someone to play with. I'm not sure that I would have known the exact number of grandkids on the Lockwood side, but I'm sure I would have been close. If you see that Jaynee said that my parents have 13 grankids, you have to realize that so far only Jaynee is doing her part. =0) I plan on catching her as soon as the Lord allows. =0) I love my big sis, and all my nieces and nephews!

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  10. This post is very encouraging to me. For a long time I have felt drawn to the Mexican people and have desired to be a missionary down there, but more so I want to be a wife and mother and raise a large family. So I never thought the two could go together, so I set aside my hope to work with the Mexicans. Reading about your life though and hearing how you are able to have both is so encouraging to me.

    That's neat one of your sons was born in Rosarito. I lived there for almost 5 months when my Mom was in a hospital down there.

    Blessings
    Danielle

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