hearts for Mexico: Almost ready to leave, but we have to pack!

We have just a few more days before we leave, and do much to do. I try not to stress. Tomorrow they come for the modem and router for the Internet so I have to get this done tonight.

We have been spending time with our children and our grandchildren. We have also been enjoying the adventure of joining a new church.

Some of you may know that our youngest son, Micah, co founded a church called The Gathering about 8 years ago. The Gathering is located in downtown Mount Vernon. Their building is a beautiful old stone structure with stained glass windows.

Joshua, our oldest, has just taken the position of Senior Pastor of the Gathering, where Micah has been Worship Pastor for several years. It is exciting to have them working together in this way. It has always been difficult having our sons serving at two different churches, especially when Micah was preaching at the Gathering. Now we all attend the same church!

We are already enjoying new relationships. The Gathering started as a ministry to what has been called "the post-moderns" or others call "Gen-X". So we have a lot of young families, interspersed with grandmas and grandpas like us. We have always believed in multi-generational worship and ministry, so we are very happy to be there.

Already Josh has preached four sermons, and it appears to me that he is finding a place where he can express who God is calling him to be. There will be many challenges as he grows into this position, and we are all so very grateful for the years of experience and learning he has had at His Place Community Church. Pastor Bruce Wersen has been very supportive in Josh's move in many ways.

The church council meeting was held and our membership was approved, as was the Gathering's willingness to send us out as missionaries. They will also be able to give tax-deductible receipts for support sent to us.

Thursday is our home group night and we will be having a Mexican dinner (Tortilla Soup and quesadillas). I am very excited that we have a group of people excited about our ministry, and eager to learn about what we are doing and ready to hold us up in prayer.

As we prepare to leave, I need to wrap Christmas gifts and birthday presents that will be left behind to be given during our SIX MONTH ABSENCE! We have three little granddaughters here in Mount Vernon. Josh and Marilyn have Grace (4 1/2) and Sarah (almost 3), plus Laura (16, who is Marilyn's sister, and lives with them). Micah and Amanda have little Kaityn Rose, who just turned one year old.

You can imagine how difficult it is to leave the babies, knowing that we will miss 6 months of their growing. It helps a little realizing that we have survived much of the growing years of our daughter Faith's children. God has been gracious in binding our hearts to our grandchildren, and theirs to us. And, well, as always with grandchildren, it is about being grateful for the times you have together, making the most of those times, and trying to be ever-present in their lives with pictures letters, telephone calls, and prayer.

It is an issue of faith, and obedience. And the Lord has really been faithful in caring for our children and their families. And so we continue to trust. (Oh, by the way, I was whining a little to the Lord this summer about missing Christmas, birthdays, Easter, etc, with the kids. He kind of spoke to my heart and said,"aren't you glad you get to spend 6 months with them every year." That shut me up fast!) A grateful heart does not complain as it knows that all things are gifts!
Oops, something is missing here....there are the other grandchildren in Mexico! I will have more to tell you about Jay and Faith's ministry, and their plans to move up into the mountains to live among the Cora, but right now I just want to show you my babies!

There are Elisabeth (10 years) and Isaiah (12 years) when they came to stay the night with Grandma and Grandpa. And below is the baby, Malachi. We call him Kai (born July 2nd). It is our hope to meet with them in Phoenix around the 13th and drive back down to where they live in Cofradia, Nayarit Mexico. From there we head south.

As we close we want to ask for your prayers. Because we do not drive through the night, it takes us seven days to drive to Mision Victoria on the coast of Oaxaca. We plan to spend a couple nights in the historic old city of Morelia, Michoacan this year, and hopefully see Lake Patzacuaro. Please pray for our safety, and that our Toyota SR5 4x4 will have no problems.

Also in your prayers remember our health. I have been battling plantar fasciitis in my right foot and am finally experiencing a decrease in pain. Still, I haven't gone more than a day without some pain. I would really like to be free of that, so I am praying that the Lord would heal it. thank you Herm for the use of your ultrasound machine, and Connie for the massage demonstrations....and I am doing my exercises regularly.

We are speaking Spanish to each other often. I am reading the scriptures in Spanish. Going back to the Spanish speaking world is always a challenge. People ask if we are fluent. Oh, gosh no! I am functional, but still have so much to learn.

As we do every year, we work in Mexico without income. This is strange to many of my friends at work in the states. It is a choice we have made. We try to reduce our expenses and Eddie works at the stock market to make up what we need to live when I am not working for pay. We pay a monthly room and board at Mision Victoria, and the ministry pays for our fuel when we make the outreach trips into the mountains. If you would like more information on our finances please let us know.

Well, we still have to pack our clothes, collection of toiletries and vitamins. We have to winterize the 5th wheel, our "cabin" where we have been living. The truck is scheduled for a checkup on Friday. We have been meeting with friends. This last weekend my girlfriends (Diane, Connie and Carol) and I had our annual retreat, which we agreed to do twice a year from now on.

Yesterday we went to the Mexican Consulate for 180 day visas. We met Connie and Lynn Erickson at Pike Street in Seattle for Cioppino at the Pink Door. We celebrate Eddie's and Josh's birthday on Sunday, and then we are off.