Weekend Pictures

Saturday chores...Isaiah and Josiah had to pull all the weeds in the front yard. They all sprung up after the rain last week and if left to grow, they end up with those horrible spiky things (we call them goat heads) and oouucchhh if you step on one!



Saturday afternoon soul winning...Daddy and Abigail lead the way.

Sunday, we had 2 more believers follow the Lord in baptism. Hna. Meche and a teen age boy named Chuy.

Here they are confessing before the church their faith in Jesus alone as their Savior!!

Tomorrow, we go back out to the village. So far, our trips have been as follows:
Trip 1: Daniel went with just Brother Macario and they were stopped on the way by the men who had found a dead body.
Trip 2: The family all went along...we made it about half way before the van broke down.
Trip 3: We made it and the gospel was preached.
Trip 4: We made it again and the gospel was preached to even more...we got a flat tire on the way home.
Last weeks trip: Canceled...the entire town was flooded
We covet your prayers for tomorrow. We have a small group of about 6 from our church wanting to go also. There are no Christians in Jesus Maria...Oh, that the Lord would save even one.

Beautiful muddy feet

Our internet has been down the past couple of days. The storm is over but it is unusually cool and cloudy with occasional sprinkling and no wind...therefore things are drying out very slowly. The government it pumping out sitting "dirty" water away from the houses into nearby fields to try to prevent disease.
Many from our church are still in areas where a car cannot get into. Most of the people work in the fields so are unable to go back to work and get paid until everything dries out. Yesterday morning, Daniel hiked out to see how they were fairing while the children and I baked dozens of cookies and fresh bread. We purchased some staples as well....beans, rice, oil, flour, sugar, pasta, tomato sauce, tuna ect... and loaded them up in the van.
We drove in as far as we could and then grabbed our bags and walked in the rest of the way. We just wanted to help out anyways we could, and had a blessed time delivering the food and visiting with 10 families from our church.
While the water entered the homes of most (up to 2 feet or so), they are still joyful and seem to be making the best of the situation. Our town was the only town devestaed by the storm, so all the emergency resources of the state are here...ambulances, the military, government officials handing out food and blankets ect...
The most wonderful part of this is that Daniel has been able to share the gospel with some whose hearts are now very tender in the aftermath of everything. Yesterday morning, he went to Hna. Rosa's house and was able to witness to her son and husband, both of whom say they have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior! PTL! They may be getting baptized this Sunday.
Our family is doing well. The water was within a few inches of entering our home when it began to subside. I have spent the past days cleaning mud, cooking, washing very dirty clothing, and trying to get it to dry...nothing is drying very well outside! :)
Brother Macario cleaned the mud out of the church building and Daniel says that our piano, which was sitting in about 5 inches of water, still plays fine :)
Please continue to pray for our town...pray for the people as they continue to clean up from the storm; pray that the Lord will continue to use this time to soften hearts toward Him.

The family hiking in toward Hna. Juanita's house (a widow lady in our church)


Oh what beautiful feet!

Poor Noah kept slipping as we walked...he didn't seem to mind too much though :)

Giving Hna. Juanita a bag of groceries

Pictures of Flood

For a look at some pictures of the flooding of our church and neighborhood click here

Flooded Church Building

Daniel called Brother Macario who lives at our church building to see how he was fairing. He said the water was in the building and continuing to rise. Daniel forged his way over there with the camera and a bag of food for Brother Macario as there was no food at the church. Here's what Daniel found:

Brother Macario at the front entrance at the church


The main auditorium

The back office

Another of the main room

The water continues to rise

The rains have stopped, but the water from the mountains continues to fill the desert floor. Daniel ventured out to the store at the end of our street...all our cloth diapers are dirty with no way to dry them, so he bought me some diapers for which I'm sooo thankful! :)
Here are some shots from our street...we are on the highest side of town...I can't imagine how it must be on the other side.
Keep our town in your prayers!

Daniel crossing over to the store


This is right in front of our house

Here I am at our street corner looking back towards our house (yellow)

The boys wanted to try to walk down to the store with Daddy....That's Daniel grabbing for Elijah who lost his footing...that big splash below Timothy is Eiljah...he's okay :)

Flooding

We were up most of the night as the rain fell. We have gotten more rain in the past 12 hours than we have in the entire 4 years we've lived here combined.
Our house is raised up with a cement foundation and while we can't leave due to the flooded roads, we are thankful to be safe and dry. But many of the people in our church live next to creek beds, have poor roofs and some still have dirt floors. Daniel just called Hna. Maria Flores and she said the water has been entering the house and they are having to scoop it out with 5 gal buckets.
Please pray for the safety of the people here, especially those in our church. We hardly ever get rain, but when we do, it floods so very quickly. We would love to go help or at least check on some people, but the creeks are overrunning their banks and the roads are flooded with 2 feet of water.
Thank you for your prayers.

Looking into our yard about 8 am this morning.


The property next to us is flooded and running into our neighbors yard behind us.

A Good Day

Have you ever had one of those mornings when you woke up and just thought, "Oh, this isn't going to be a good day"? That's what I thought this morning. For one, I woke up over an hour late. Nehemiah sometimes gets a hold of my clock and pushes buttons unbeknown to me. So the alarm didn't go off, and usually I wake up on time on my own, but today I didn't. Daniel was happy because he always encourages me to rest more, and I appreciate that and should have just thanked the Lord for that extra rest. But I was upset that I wouldn't have that quiet hour alone with the Lord. The boys were already dressed and starting their chores and it was time to wake up the younger ones.
I felt badly as I prepared breakfast and saw Daniel and the children each in their own spots with their Bibles and notebooks and how quick I fell into self pity...thoughts of "Oh, I wish I could get up later and still have time to have my quiet time". I knew then that if I continued letting my mind think such things, it really wouldn't be a good day. So as I chopped mangos and bananas, I asked the Lord to forgive my selfish and angry spirit, to help me be joyful and sweet, and to lovingly serve Him as I serve my family.
And you know what, it was a really good day! :) First, I was able to spend some time with the Lord on my own while the older ones practiced their music and the little ones napped. I told Benjamin we'd just do his piano lesson next week and he could read or work on a project instead. Secondly, I moved my alarm to the other side of my nightstand so Nehemiah can't reach it :)
This morning, Hna. Meche came over. She comes over once a week to do our ironing and teach the girls and I another authentic Mexican meal. Today we had chicken with beans and rice while she gave us another lesson in tortillas. I'm still trying to learn how to roll them out round!! She got the ironing done early today too and so sweetly hung all my clothes out to dry. She's getting baptized next Sunday too!
After the children go up from naps, we went over to the church building for the rest of the day to help with some projects. The boys found a big scorpion in the main room (it was mostly dead) and added it to their bug collection. The girls and I made a couple of floral arrangements for the front of the church and the piano.
Tonight, after the children finish their showers, we will have Bible time with Daddy, and then the Hna. Josefina will come over for an hour to watch the sleeping children while Daniel takes me out for a taco and to visit one of the ladies in our church.
Thank you Lord for each day! Thank you Lord for today.

Daniel wanted a turn at rolling out the tortillas....I love Noah's look in this picture...He's getting down there to make sure Daddy's doing it just right :)




















Hna. Meche and the girls making Tortillas



















Look what I found Mommy!!!



















Here's a closer look :)

Yesterday morning....

Some hung up clothes...




Others wrote letters....

There were important phone calls to make of course....

and the joyful smiles were the highlight of it all!

Seven Came and heard

What a busy yet exciting past few days! Daniel and the boys got home on Saturday afternoon from camp where they had a great time together. Lourdes, a lady in our church who we saw saved and baptized a couple of years ago, brought her daughter Katia to camp. Saturday evening, Katia put her faith and trust in Jesus as her Savior!
Today, we loaded up the van once more to go out to Jesus Maria. This time, they were ready and waiting for us to arrive...4 men and 3 ladies came and listened to Daniel share the gospel again. Afterwards, the men again gathered around Daniel for about an hour asking questions. One of the men got pretty upset and began yelling curses and hitting Daniel with a hymn book. Daniel continued to patiently share verses from God's Word and the children and I and Brother Macario silently prayed. It was getting late and Daniel said we had to get going, but if they wanted, he would come back next week. And they all said yes...they wanted us to return. While we were driving home, we saw the roads that lead in to the other villages on that side of the desert. We were talking about going to another one on a different day of the week and wondering if we'd have an open door there as well.
Rebekah asked me, "Mommy, was that man mocking Daddy?" I told her, "No Rebekah, he's mocking Jesus. But Jesus still loves him so very much and we will just keep praying for him." His name is Antonio. Will you all please pray for him too? He has a wife and a 6 year old boy and everyone told us that he spends all their money on alcohol. Oh, how he needs the Savior!
On our way back home, suddenly Daniel began having a hard time keeping the van on the road. We pulled off and.....a flat very flat tire! We did have a spare, but no jack. So again, we all waited in the desert for someone to come along who could help. Daniel said, "The devil sure wants to discourage us". Finally, a pickup came in sight and when they saw us, they pulled off as well. The driver's name was Guadalupe and he was happy to help us. As we talked, we found out that Guadalupe was born and raised in one of the other villages we had just been talking about. Daniel asked him about the possibility of preaching there, and he said to please come!
On the way home, Daniel said, "The first time we broke down and coudln't get out to Jesus Maria to preah...that was the Devil. This time, it was the Lord....He wanted us to meet Guadalupe and I believe we have an open door to go in and preach there as well."

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.


Daniel preaching and answering questions yesterday. The man in the cowboy hat is Antonio.



The little boy is Anotnio's son Juan Israel. He and Isaiah had so much fun together playing with the animals. They have turkeys, chickens, cows, and goats there on the ranch.

Daniel looking at the flat tire

Guadalupe helping Daniel take off the spare.

While the men are away....

...the girls will work!! Of course, we have some special fun things planned too (a tea party, getting an icecream, eating corn flakes for supper :) , doing mommy's hair "all pretty") But sometimes you can get a lot extra things done without the men folk underfoot :) Besides, if we keep busy, we won't miss them as much!

Brother Juan, a Spanish pastor in La Paz (about 3 hours south), asked Daniel if he would come and preach for the family camp his church was having. So this morning, we girls (and babies...Nehemiah and Eliseo are here too) said good bye to the boys as they all loaded up the van and pulled out. Daniel thought it would be a good opportunity to open up to the people of our church as well. Since the van is the only vehicle we have to transport people, we are limited as to how many can go based on how many fit in the van. So the girls and I will stay here so more from the church can go. Besides Daniel and the boys, 10 others will be going. Hna. Tola, one of the first ladies we saw saved and baptized here, is bringing her sister who, as Tol says, "Is so close to coming to the Lord". Daniel will be preaching the gospel in every message he brings and we are praying that she and any others who have yet to come the Savior, will come to know Him this week.They all left around 8 am this morning and should be home Saturday afternoon. Please pray for their safety as they travel and mostly that the Lord will draw more to Him!

Daniel and his 6 oldest boys...we miss them already!

Loading up and heading out!

Three came and heard

Praise the Lord, we finally made it! We were able to arrive in the village of Jesus Maria around 4 pm Monday afternoon. We pulled up to the first house and a couple of men were working with their cattle. Daniel explained why he had come and asked if they would be willing to listen to God's Word for a little while. They didn't seem overly enthusiastic, but came. We sat in the shade of one of the men's home; his wife sat down with us.
We sang a couple of hymns and then Daniel began to share the gospel. The men began to ask questions and before we knew it, two hours had gone by. Daniel said he would return next week and asked them to spread the word around the other homes inviting anyone else who would like to come.
I don't remember the name of the couple...I played with thier boy and little girl for a while (8 year old Jose and 2 year old Julisia). The other man's name is Heracilo. Please continue to pray for these people.


Little Julisia with the doll that Rebekah brought for her


Eliseo's bottom 2 teeth just broke through last week...he's all smiles and drool :)

He fell asleep in his bouncy seat yesterday. I tried to remove his hat so he wouldn't get too hot, but he put his hand up and grabbed it and held on :)

When we woke up yesterday, one of our bananna trees had fallen over due to the weight of the fruit. They are still pretty green, but I have them inside and we're waiting to see if they'll ripen.

Day by Day

UPDATE 2: I removed the link to our schedule. Someone brought to our attention that some inappropriate ads came up on the site where it could be downloaded. We apologize for that!!

Those who are interested in the schedule can email us and we'll send it to you.

Isn't is wonderful that we can walk with our Lord day by day? His mercies are new every morning and we can begin each day in the presence of our God and Savior! How good He is to us! I was reading this morning in Ecclesiates how even eating and drinking and enjoying the good of our labor is a gift from God (Ecc. 3:13).
Each day the Lord has given us is a gift from Him; another day to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords together! Some days are hard and long, and others are so joyful that they seem to fly by. In all the work that we do, we remind ourselves and teach our children daily whom it is we serve! And oh the joy in serving Jesus!!!
I only have a few minutes here as we'll be heading out the the village of Jesus Maria again (praying that we'll get there this time!). But we've received many comments/emails asking about our daily schedule.
With any family, especially one our size, things tend towards disorder and chaos if there is not a plan in place. About 5 or 6 years ago, I was introduced to the book Managers of Their Homes by Steve and Teri Maxwell. It was a tremendous blessing to me and I have patterened much of our daily schedule after the things the Lord taught me through that book.

If you would like a copy of our schedule, just email us (address on the bottom of the right side bar) and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Pray as we go to the village today! We just can't get the burden of these lost souls off of our hearts. We want to tell them about Jesus!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday (Sunday):



Katia (a 11 year old girl) helping teach the books of the Bible in Sunday School


Noah and Susannah helping to set the table for lunch. :) Susannah has the forks in her pocket :)

Our lunch from yesterday- Super easy and yummy! It took me about 20 minutes in the morning to put together, it cooked during church, and when we got home, a hot meal was served about 20 minutes later :)

Abigail working on a project she and Rebekah are making for a friend