Being back in Florida

We have 3 1/2 weeks left until we go to Peru. Since we've been back in Florida, we've been getting a lot accomplished. We have visas for Robin & myself, which is a huge blessing. We do not have them for the kids. So they will just be tourists! Ha! I'm not really sure what's going to happen with that. We might have to wait and get them in Peru. We are hoping that we won't have to leave the country to obtain them. But, we know it will all work out in the end.

We have gotten some opportunities to visit with some friends, go to our church for 2 Wed. nights, and some Bible studies. It is good to see everyone. They are all very excited for us. We also went to one church to share about Peru; Calvary Chapel Boca West. We have a couple others on the schedule, but not a lot. We kind of like it that way.

I am almost 100% better from being sick. Praise the Lord.

We found some really great books on Peru. It is really great to learn about the rich history of Peru and all the different places in the country. We also found a book that talks about Peruvian culture. What an amazing find!!

Our house is not sold yet. But, there are many looking at it. Let's just pray for that first offer. Also, we need to sell our van. We do not have a secured buyer yet.

It is good to take care of loose ends before we go. But, these weeks are difficult for us. Coming back from training school, our minds are totally on missions. We are ready. We feel a little depressed at times. I think it's a natural part of things. 5 weeks seems like an eternity right now. But, I know it's a silly thing. It's more like a breath than an eternity. We will be on the plane before we know it. (I am looking more forward to the plane ride being over than the actual ride itself, I always get pretty sick feeling from motion sickness!!)

Some pics...

Liam running around at Calvary Boca West.

Kilaine hanging out with Greg at home.

We tried to do ice cream Coldstone style at home. That was fun.


We got to see David Caplivski again before he moved to Tennessee.

Silliness

The end of our stay in Mexico

We finished our 3 week missions training school in Mexico. It was an awesome training school. We learned so much... Here's some of the moments I didn't share before and pics from our last week.

The taco stand... That's Paul. He & his family are going to Oaxaca, Mexico.

This is the neighborhood called La Granja. That means, "the farm." Can you see the pig in there? This is the neighborhood we did the English classes in. I don't know if you can tell or not, but the fence in this photo is made from old rusted tops of cars. And I'm pretty sure that people live in those shacks.

On Saturday, we went to downtown Tijuana for a cultural excursion. We had to go through the city and complete some tasks, like buying a kilo of cheese, finding out how much it costs to send an email, or locating the local hospital, things like that. Each group had a Mexican with us, so it wasn't too hard. This is the open air market.

Sunday there was a birthday party for Luke (he turned 9). So we hung up the pinata and took some swings at it. This is Osiris hanging out with Liam, watching the pinata get destroyed.

Liam striking a pose.

Daniel and Anita did all the cooking for us. They were awesome! And the food was great. I'm already craving some nice, fresh, hot tortillas... They have 2 kids; Osiris 13, and Isis 7. Their kids were there most of the time, when they weren't in school. It was great to have them around. It helped our kids to be exposed to the language barrier that they're going to have in the field.

Robin hanging up the clothes to dry.

This was our classroom.

Our last 2 nights, we stayed with a Mexican family for cultural immersion. It was good. Liam liked playing soccer in their little back patio area. Their backyard neighbor had a duck for a pet. Very interesting.

Thursday night we went with our Mexican family to church. It was my favorite place we went the whole 3 weeks. It is a small church plant in Santa Fe. It probably has about 20 people plus kids. Some of those are from the main church in Xochimilco, where we usually went to church. It was completely run by Mexicans.

Liam wanted to go and sit by the other kids during the worship time.

Hanging out on the doorstep at the church

This is Jorge. He is the pastor at the church in Santa Fe. He was with us a few times during our stay in Mexico, so we felt like we got to know him pretty well. It amazed me that he's only been a christian for 3 years and was the ripe old age of 22! Man, he's doing a lot more for the Lord than I was at 22. He lives in one room of the church. I didn't see any stove or anything. Just a microwave in the little kitchen area. He's engaged to get married in August. It was really great to see him serving in Santa fe.

This is Maria Louisa and her daughter, Azalia. They were with the kids most of the time during our 3 weeks. I think the kids learned a little spanish from them, since they didn't speak english. But, by the end, I heard Louisa speaking some English, so they all must have learned somewhat. They were a real blessing. I got a couple of chances to sit and talk with them for a while. We really began to love them by the end. And they loved our children, too.

Here is Chuy. He was always at the base, watering the plants. I didn't really get to talk to him very much. Then, we saw him at the church in Santa Fe. It was so cool. He was teaching the little kids. It was mother's day (they celebrated it on Thursday in Mexico), and after service, he brought some of the older boys out and they read something aloud. I have no idea what they said, my brain was turning off at that point... that happens a lot when you are learning a language.

Here's half of the school. It's not actually the part we used most of the time, but it looks cool, and it has the sign (don't you just love my rambling explanations???)

And our stay in Mexico ended. It was good. Very good. Thank you Lord for allowing us to go to it. If you want to go to full time missions, go to this school. Check it out: www.Shepsstaff.org

Now we are back in Florida for 5 weeks. We have a lot to do and will be visiting some churches in the south Florida area. Our departure date for Peru is June 19.

MTS

Here are pictures of the people that were at the Missions Training School in Mexico. If it is on your heart, pray for these people. We are going all over the world to make His name known.

Of course, us: Robin, Kilaine (5), Tracy & Liam (3) Shelley. We're going to Lima, Peru June 19 to work along side of a pastor for 2 years. Then, ultimately we feel called to church plant in other areas of Peru.

Paul, Elena (2), Kelci, Lola (6 mo.), Luke (9), Isa (7), and Lydia (6) Mattfeld. They are going to Oaxaca, Mexico to work alongside Paul's brother and to reach an unreached people group among the indians in the mountains. They are heading there directly after the training school ends and will arrive around May 19.

Kelli Sorensen. She is staying in Rosarito, Mexico, for 4 weeks for additional training. Then, around July, she is going to Nairobi, Kenya for about 6 months to work with a church plant and to see if she is called long term. Ultimately, she is praying about going as a full time missionary to Uganda.

James, Katie, Jerrah (1) Askrens, (also Josh-6, & Celeste-11 who didn't come to the school.) They are going to Thailand to work in an orphanage. They do not have an exact date of departure, but are praying for sometime in June.

Graham Wathen. He is going to Sri Lanka with another couple to establish a bible college. He is planning on going around the beginning of August.

Here's everybody. Ron Clipp (far left) was the director. Next was Strelize, she's the missionary that lives on the base and takes care of everything there. Bottom left is Azalia and Luisa. They watched the kids for us most of the time (some other ladies helped out too). On the right is Anita, and her kids Isis and Osiris. Anita and her husband Daniel cooked awesome mexican food for us the whole time. At the end of 3 weeks, we were all family.

Yes, I said at the end. Today we all said our goodbyes and left for our next step. But, I haven't told all the story yet. I'll post more on the last week of our trip next. Stay tuned!!!

ESL

We are at the 2 week mark here in Mexico. Tiredness is starting to really kick in. I think I've successfully gotten several people sick here from my cold (sorry guys!). It's inevitable living together all the time.

Here's some pictures of what we see traveling from place to place.

As you can see, they make fences out of just about anything here.
including the tops of old cars. We even saw some old bed springs as parts of fences. We went to this little place in the farming community to do ESL (English as a second language) a couple of times this week. Some of the people's homes seem pretty poor. A few of the houses look like they are made out of garbage. It's pretty crazy.

Here's the church where we did the ESL classes. The basic idea is to use it as a means to build relationships with the people. And it works, too.
When we got there the first time, they were having church. Afterwards we did the class. I did some translating with the pastor to figure out how we were going to do it. That was exciting.


This is Graham. We were teaching them body parts. It was pretty funny.

I was looking around for Liam afterwards, and there he was, the Mexican girls were holding him and playing with him. He is a missionary at heart. He warms up to everybody and everybody loves him.
During the week, every morning, we have devotions. The guys all take turns teaching. This is the downstairs living area that we meet in. We meet at 7am. Which doesn't seem that early, until you add 1/2 hour for shower time before, 1/2 hour to get the kids up and dressed before, and 1/2 hour for my own devotion time... that gets me up pretty early. And so the day begins. But, let me tell you, it's awesome. If I've learned anything at all at this training school, it's the importance of our own devotion time with the Lord. (which I already knew, but it sure is good to be reminded).

The roads are unbelievably bumpy at times. They were pretending they were on a roller coaster. One day, I stayed home from ESL because I've been pretty sick & I needed to rest a little to try and get better. Anyways, that day they got stuck in some mud coming home from ESL. They were thinking about getting out and pushing, but I guess they used the other vehicle to get them out. It was a good thing, too. I heard later that the mud wasn't just mud, it was sort of sewage mud. Yuck!

This was the last day we did the class. There were a lot of kids that day. It was fun. We definitely made some relationships. That's really the point in missions. We are to make disciples. The way that Jesus did that was to live with them, teaching them by example. It was really through relationships. I'm getting really excited to get to Peru. I've learned a lot about ministering cross culturally. It's changed my thinking a lot. Gloria a Dios.

Psalm 33:13-15

"The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works" Psalm 33:13-15

This verse reminds me that the Lord sees all the men in all the world. It's even more than that. He doesn't just "see" all the men, but He "looks" on them. That seems like seeing with intent. That seems like a continuous sort of thing. And it's definitely inclusive of all the nations. Well, all the inhabitants of the earth, anyways. I guess if you have a P.O. box somewhere other than earth, then it doesn't include you. He is considering you and me. And the guy out in the middle of the jungle in Brazil, or the one in the bush in South Africa. It's also comforting to know that He fashioned their hearts individually. Their hearts have His fingerprints on them. So, there must be those who are seeking Him. Our calling to the mission field is only to be used as vessels. He is going to do the work. I pray that He leads us to the ripened harvest.

1 week in Mexico

So we've been at the training school for 1 week now. Here's some of what we've been doing.

This is the van that the school has. Pretty handy, when it doesn't break down (which was only once so far). Always good to be flexible in the mission field. (Robin just said, "you know they got it fixed already." Praise the Lord!) The kids like it when we go somewhere. One day when we were driving Kilaine said to me, "mommy, the roads are bumpy in Mexico!" Yes, they are.
Our first Sunday and Wednesday we went to Calvary Chapel Xochimilo. We sat through the service and then rushed back to the base to have more classes on Sunday. On Wednesday we went again, but we didn't have to rush out quite so quickly.
This is across the street from the church. A big pile of trash. That black figure in the middle is a little girl digging around and playing in the trash. Last week we went to Colina de Luz, an orphanage in the area. We met with a missionary who is running it for some classes there. The kids enjoyed having a playground for a little while. Liam fell asleep on the picnic table. This is Maria Luisa with him. She is one of the people that watch the kids for us while we have our classes. It's really awesome, because the kids are forced to learn some spanish, since the workers don't speak english. They are getting along great.
This is the best shot I could get of the school from the road. It's pretty bumpy.

A beautiful sunset.
Thursday we had some time of worship at night with a bonfire. That was nice. Jeff Jackson was here that night.

Mexico has these murals around occasionally. Some of them are pretty amazing. It's characteristic of Mexico. It's just about the only thing I've seen that isn't covered in graffiti. I wish I could get a better picture of them. Most of my pics are taken while driving... I took this picture on our day off. We went to Rosarito to see the beach and walk around the market. We also went to have chili mangoes. They were pretty tasty.
Luke will have his birthday here next Sunday, so we bought a pinata and a ton of candy during our day out. And I mean, a ton of candy. There's always something about being in another country that makes us feel like we have liberty to eat a lot of candy. You know, there's just so many new kinds... no, but really, don't think we are blowing all our support money on candy! This was everybody's combined. I promise...

Last Sunday, we went to Calvary Chapel Rosarito, which is about 20 minutes away. The pastor gave me all their worship songs and the chords. That was a blessing.

This was a dove in the concrete at the Rosarito church. I thought it was cool.

That day we went to the taco stand. Liam liked taking pictures over by the mural. The food was pretty good, but was nothing compared to the tacos we ate on Saturday. That was our free day when we went to Rosarito. We ate at a little stand on the side of the road. Dangerous, I know, being in Mexico. But very delicioso!!!

A cool plant

Sunday afternoon, our ESL (English as a Second Language) class was cancelled. So we went to a quincenera at the local church. That's a pretty big deal. It's a celebration for when a young girl turns 15. She is turning into a woman. She dresses up in almost like a wedding gown and they have a fancy ceremony. The youth worship band from Calvary Rosarito came and played some worship songs. They were amazing. There was just 4 of them. It was good to see their excitement. (And I knew some of the songs!)

Just about everyday I homeschool Kilaine. We have a break from our classes from around 4 to dinner at 5:30. So, we go upstairs and do some lessons. That's usually when I get my clothes off the line and fold them, too. Just a little taste of our typical day in Mexico.