Christmas Blessings!...don't miss the video at the end...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is just a few days away and although I have spent aimless and unproductive days where I could have been writing Christmas cards these last couple months have been so busy that we have been overwhelmed.

As you may know Eddie is opening a ceramics studio in old downtown Mount Vernon. The building we purchased has been a challenge. We are fixing it up for not only a studio and show gallery, but also for us to live in. Our 5^th wheel “cabin” located in the Alger community called Whatcom Meadows will soon be our "weekend cabin" as we join the downtown community.

This will be our kitchen!

Micah putting in the floor in the loft

We have spent many a day, morning to night, working. After the loft is livable, the clay studio needs to be outfitted and Eddie needs to begin working on his art. We have two potter’s wheels but Eddie is currently focused on hand built pieces and developing new decorative techniques. A few family members, including myself are looking forward to getting our hands muddy and seeing where our creativity will take us.

So, you may wonder, are we going to Oaxaca this year? Well, yes and no.

On January 7^thI will be returning to the mission where we have worked for the past 6 years. I plan to stay at Roca Blanca for two months.

It will be difficult in many ways going without Eddie. I have spent several weeks there without him before, and quite honestly, I missed him terribly. Also, Eddie’s contribution to the clinic outreaches as well as what his humor and ability to build relationships brings to the experience of our visiting teams will be missed. But it is essential that he stay, work on the studio and begin what has been a longtime dream.

As I prepare to go I look forward to working with Laura and David Nelson, Drs. Mary Kay and Dave Ness, and our dear friend Bertha, as well as the Mexican clinic staff.

with Drs. Dave and Mary Kay at a Clinic family bbq

I will be returning to Roca Blanca after 10 months absence. There have been many babies born while we were away, I am eager to hold them and see their parents who are dear to us and are part of our Mexican family life.

There are new programs and groups this year, Medical missionary students from Elim Bible, the new language academy and others. When we return there is always some kind of change in staff and housing. It is always a little scary to know that I am going into a new situation.

distributing medications and giving administration directions with Inez who is interpreting Spanish to Mixtec

Still every year the Father proves His faithfulness. The new faces of the outreach teams, the open hearts, the longing to know God’s presence, the desire to serve, this is what outreach teams bring with them from the states. What they bring gives me life which I seek to return to them as I minister to them.

The faithful missionaries like the Nelsons and the Kershners at Roca Blanca, or PastorMiguel and Pastor Carmela in the Ixtayutla region, or dear Rebecca and Arnulfo in Nopala inspire and challenge me with their faith, constancy, and honesty dealing with real life and big challenges. Sometimes for me all I do is arrive and let God do His work.

Brrr...it's cold!

Unlike Mexico, it is cold here in Washington in December! Eddie and I did have a months respite from the cold when we made a visit south to Cofradia where our daughter lives.

We spent a few days with friends who have a schooner in Mazatlan with our family! Here is our granddaughter Elisabeth.

Kai kept us on our toes, he seemed to get a little seasick when we went sailing, he didn't say so, but he got real quiet and just wanted to sleep. But we did have a wonderful time...and saw the first whale of the season!

It was great joy to me to see my grandson helping with the rigging. Thank you Pat and Jeanne for your hospitality and kindness to our family. If anyone plans to be in Mazatlan check out the Schooner Patricia Belle for a wonderful diversion. www.patriciabelle.com/

A time for Thankfulness

This has been a difficult month for me physically. I am not used to the cold which creeps into my joints and makes everything an effort and saps my motivation. I find myself wanting to whine and complain.

But then I remember a sermon our youngest son Micah gave at Thanksgiving this year. The point was that we are so blessed (and Eddie and I are SO VERY blessed) and yet we complain when things are not perfect and in so doing we ignore what God HAS done for us and in so doing display our ingratitude for His goodness.

I have been so guilty of this.

Little neighbor Nathan with Sarah, Grace and Josh at the Christmas parade in Mount Vernon, we watched from outside of Riverclay Studio, our downtown studio location!

So, may Eddie and I express our gratitude to God, and to you dear friends for your love this year. Look at what we have to be grateful for!

Eddie hold Damien, our newest grandbaby. How happy we are to be able to be close to them. We rarely say "no" when our kids ask us to babysit.

We celebrated Christmas early with Micah's kids as this year they are going to spend Christmas with Amanda's mom in Montana.

Joyous Christmas to you

So as our Christmas greeting to you, may you rejoice and be comforted by a grateful heart this year. As you look into the new year may you be held by the knowledge that God's faithfulness never fails. And may you care for those you love and hold them close.

Thank you for your prayers in 2009, for your love and kindnesses towards us and our children.

Love Eddie and Leeann

P.S. I would like to share a song that has ministered to me this Christmas

Gavilanes...one little Cora church

On November 11 we flew from Santiago to Gavilanes, a small, inaccessible Cora village perched up on a rugged mountain deep in the Sierra Madres in the Mexican state of Nayarit. We had been invited by Pascual the pastor of a small group of Cora believers.

Gavilanes is north of Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. It can be reached from the end of the road by 6 hours on a donkey, or by foot...or by plane in 25 minutes.

A phone call informed us that our host was transporting bags of cement on donkey train all day long and wouldn't be back until dark on the day we arrived. So we were left to find a place to wait.

The airstrip runs through the center of town. We were let out of the plane and the pilot said he would pick us up at 9 in the morning on the 13th. We talked to someone who said that Pascual lived "over by those trees" and so we headed off in that direction. When we got to where we thought the house might be one of the few people passing us said that Pascual wasn't there. So we sat down in front of a house, in the shade and waited.

It turns out the place where we found to rest was Pascual's house. It was right across the street from the Albergue, a boardinghouse for children who had to travel to Gavilanes to go to school.

Soon a giggly little girl appeared and told us that her daddy was Pascual. Soon her grandmother came out, greeted us, and led us just one house down and showed us simple rooms that had been prepared for us. We had been waiting on Pascual's doorstep. There were two rooms swept clean, with beds where we stretched out and fell asleep.

We woke starved, I was wishing that we had packed a lunch, as our host and hostess were not to return until later. They had not expected us until the next day. But their daughters Ester (9) and Delicia (12) made us some hot tortillas and served us water....and did that simple meal taste wonderful!

It got dark early it seemed and by 6:30 P.M. the Milky Way was bright in the sky. Lina arrived, and then Pascual and we ate some more tortillas and a little eggs with tuna and talked into the night.

A lonely Cora church
Earlier that day, as we sat in the car waiting for the plane to take us to Gavilanes, Jay outlined his purpose for our visit. He said we would be going to encourage Pascual and the church and also assessing how to support Pascual's ministry without creating dependency.

In Oaxaca we work with a Mixtec church that is well supported in many ways, with fellowship, leadership, plus physical and medical support. They know that they are not alone. But here on this mountain is a man called of God, and his extended family with very few other believers for miles around.

Pascual sharing his testimony and what it is like being the only Cora believers in their village. It is quite a remarkable story. His father's testimony is also remarkable. Make no mistake, God can make Himself known to the seeking heart without a missionary if need be.

Of course everyone hears about the believers who are out by themselves, alone, persecuted by those around them. But this was the first time I witnessed the hunger for fresh springs of living water from a visiting minister. Pascual quickly called together the church of about 10 adults and we had meetings at 10 AM and then again at 6 PM.

Jay preaching on the importance of using the gifts God gives us to serve the body.

Preaching to the Cora
To reach the heart of a people the gospel needs to be presented in the language of their heart. And so Jay and Faith have been working at learning Cora, studying and having biweekly sessions with their "maestro" in Mojocuautla, the Cora village nearest their home and mission base in Cofradia de Cuyatlan. Jay and Faith lived with their family in Mojocuautla last year to try and get closer to the culture.

Jay and Faith found that the language of the Cora in Gavilanes was clearer and more precise than what they are trying to learn. However, although there are those who do not understand Spanish, almost all of the people, especially the children, speak Spanish. This is very different from the areas we serve in Oaxaca where only the men seem to speak Spanish.

Jay with his "Proclaimer" the New Testament in Cora. The battery is rechargeable by plugin, crank and solar power.



The Cora Church in Gavilanes


Lina and Pascual sing a duet.



The Cora people in this village are very different than the Mixtec we work with in Oaxaca. They are open and friendly, the little girls giggling as they walked by us. They responded with "buenos dias" as we greeted them. Eddie and I were used to suspicious looks and avoidance in regard to strangers such as ourselves and were impressed with the difference.


Pascual and Lina's children, Ester 9, Delicia 12, Eliezar 1 and Josue 4. They have two teenagers in a school in Durango.

Eddie and I have made more trips up into the mountains and eaten more indian prepared tortillas than we can count, but we have rarely had this kind of reception. The kind where you are given the best beds, and when you eat you know that the people can barely spare what they are giving you.

Breakfast, yes, that's a blue tortilla!

The most trying part of the trip was the bathroom situation. Simply, almost no one has bathrooms. When we asked Delicia where to go she looked at us blankly and gestured toward the hillside that drained downward toward the canyon. There is a boarding home for the school which serves other villages in the area and on three occasions Faith and I asked permission to use their bucket flush toilets (oh, ah, heaven!)

The bathroom area, not the shack. Actually, it didn't smell, and the pigs seemed to keep it pretty clean.

But at night we had to walk out to the hillside to the communal toilet area turn off our flashlight and squat in the dark. Gratefully most people experience convenient constipation in these situations.
We toured the Central Salud, a clinic manned by one doctor and aide which serves at least 5 Cora villages in the region.

Merchandise and supplies are brought in either by plane or donkeys.

There is always a little celebration when you return to toilets and civilization. We celebrated by going to SUBWAY!

One last word, please keep Jay and Faith and their children in your prayers as they seek how they are to fulfill their call of "church planting" among the unreached Cora people.

Fear of Flying

This blog has turned into two, just because once I started writing it got too long. Ever since I watched Julia and Julie I have been self-conscious about blogs that are all about me, but here goes.

When I arrived in Jay and Faith's village we began to discuss the trip to the Cora village, Gavilanes. I found that as Jay described the area as one that had been evangelized by Hermana Fe and her husband as early as 1964, I became more and more anxious about the impending small plane ride up into the mountains.

It so happens that Hermana Fe was widowed the first time when her pilot husband crashed, and then widowed again when her second pilot husband crashed as well. It didn't help that the mechanic that worked on our car told me of a trip he made in the same area by plane. The next time his pilot went up, he flew into the mountainside and died.

When I realized that I was becoming depressed I wrote a few letters to some praying friends who I knew would hold me up in prayer. How wonderful are those faithful women.

I was calm when we arrived at the airstrip. Then, as the pilot and Jay discussed the cost of the flight, it was determined that we could not afford to take the plane that would hold all of us (four adults) and our gear. So the pilot began asking our weights, and determined that it should be okay for us all to take the smaller plane. We left about a third of our gear in the car, loaded the rest in the back of the plane, and climbed in.


I was so grateful to be the "Señora". The pilot gave me the only available seat. The others had to pile in and sit on our luggage on the floor of the plane. Hmmm, I had been comforting myself with the expectation that the pilots who had crashed their planes were in old planes without the modern equipment and instruments....yeah right!



There in front of me was nothing that remotely resembled "state of the art." the radio appeared to be ripped out, replaced by an ill-fitting unit attached to headphones that were lying on the dash the whole time during the trip.

Still I was calm. And as I looked at the fuel gauges in front of my nose I saw that they were bouncing on EMPTY. Hmmm, I nonchalantly motioned to the gauges and the pilot who had been chatting loudly the whole flight, pointing out the landscape and towns, laughed and said those where the auxiliary tanks. Then he pointed to other gauges that we bouncing just below the FULL level.



And as he continued to talk, he had learned to fly in Sacramento, California, I leaned my head against the window peering down at the lush mountains, rugged canyons and winding riverbeds. I was calm the whole time with that strange kind of peace that I hope you understand. The kind that says, "hmmm, where would be a good place to land in a pinch...or crash, hmmm" and almost lulls you to sleep. That is the peace that passes understanding.



Later the others said it was bumpy, the pilot said we were fighting a headwind, but I was singing to myself...

"He is no fool, if he would chose
to give the things he cannot keep to buy
what he can never lose.
To see a treasure in one soul
that far outshines the brightest gold.
He is no fool, he is no fool"--Twila Paris

Gavilanes


The trip back was great, a quick 25 minutes...such beautiful scenery.

In January I will be flying from Seattle to Houston on a big jet, then taking a smaller jet (the kind with one seat on one side of the aisle and two on the other) the rest of the way to Oaxaca. As I get older I am finding that flying is harder the more I do it rather than easier. But I do believe it is a choice to believe and trust when the flight is out of obedience to the call.

The song I sang flying back to Santiago was...

Come and join the reapers, all the kingdom seekers
laying down their lives to find them in the end.
Come and share the harvest, help to light the darkness
for the Lord is calling Faithful men. --Twila Paris

Oh that I would be found faithful.

Thank for the prayers!

What is happening!?!

What is Eddie doing?


So as you know it is time for us to be packing ourselves off to Oaxaca....but not so. Instead every morning for the last month Eddie has been getting up early and driving down to Mount Vernon and putting on a tool belt.

Quickly stated, it has been Eddie's dream to get back to working in clay. Many, many years ago he earned a Bachelor's of arts in Religion AND art, more specifically, ceramics. Over the 37 years of our marriage a collection of dry clay, kiln supplies and a potter's wheel has followed us wherever we went...or rather was kept in storage.

At the beginning of this year the urgency to get a pottery started increased and so we both have been praying for that opportunity. And suddenly, in September the best of all possible opportunities revealed itself. So Eddie and his brother-in-law Paul have been devoting day after day to getting things done.

Our grandson Isaiah has been up from Mexico to go deer-hunting with his other grandfather and the plan has been for us to drive him back to his parents on our way back to Oaxaca. But as Eddie is not going back to Oaxaca this year, we are making a relatively short trip down to where Faith's family lives to return her son...and to celebrate an early Christmas.

I certainly will have a lot to tell you about that trip when we return. It promises to be an adventure as we plan to fly up to an indigenous church comprised of Cora believers, and maybe even visit with an old friend who is in Mazatlan with his 85 foot schooner!

Eddie and I plan to be back here before December so we can finish up the work on the studio and apartment that we will live in upstairs. Then on January 6th I have a ticket to fly to Oaxaca where I alone will work for a couple months. Eddie will start working in the Studio.

This is quite the change for us, but we do not doubt that God is leading. And He is suggesting much more than this as we look to the future...and Mexico continues to be calling.


Isaiah chipping plaster to reveal the 100 year old used brick underneath.


The current exterior is interesting as Eddie once was a very popular shoe repairman here in Mount Vernon. I cannot wait to get that awning down, and reveal the windows underneath.

Our neighbor across the street, The Tattered Page...used books and fresh espresso. We are on the Old Downtown strip. It is a great place and all of our neighbors are excited that we are coming to join them!


Just a taste of what it looked like to start.




Eddie's current interest is in handbuilding and art.


However we will have a couple potter's wheel in the studio...which will be a place where people can see art taking place! I am praying that the right potters come to us to sell their art on commission.

Here is a taste of what our loft apartment will look like. It is smaller than your average apartment, but twice the size of our 5th wheel living space. We are looking forward to living in town, it is a really pleasant place to be and hang out. Our annual Tulip Festival attracts millions of tourists yearly. We have a Farmers' Market half a block away, and not a few great restaurants, coffee bars and of course, the Skagit Valley Co-op and Deli which is OUR favorite hangout.

More later.

Lovewhitewater and YD Adventures Summer Staff Training

July 6 2009

LOVEWHITEWATER

That's my man! So we have been married over 36 years. Every now and then I realize how wonderful it is to be in love with this man. It has not always been fun for either of us, but we praise the God who gave us the power, worked the miracles...and gave us the gumption and vision to hang on.

It feels like we are living the rewards!

So not only do we head off to Oaxaca every year to work with an amazing group of brothers and sisters at Roca Blanca, but He has given us a great church AND an unbelievable bunch of crazy outdoorsy people to share life with as well. That crazy bunch is our Youth Dynamics Adventures family.

Eddie's email address is lovewhitewater@hotmail.com. Mine is lvlvwhitewater @hotmail.com..... do you get it? (I love lovewhitewater!)

At 62 1/2 years he has become one good lookin' guy!


In May we had a group from our church, the Gathering, join us on the river for the YDA Annual Fundraiser.

Eddie's crew

For Eddie to show you a good time you have to paddle hard. Wimps don't get to do the fun stuff, it just wouldn't be prudent...or safe!

Summer Staff Raft Training


Eddie and I went over to Stonewater Ranch the from the 6th to the 15th of June to help out with training the new summer staff on the river. Eddie brought his experience, and ability to don two wetsuits and stay in freezing water. I brought my ability to drive a van and trailer, my ability to tan well and The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill.

Staff was trained in all that they need to know and do to run the river, from inflating and rigging boats (we use electric blowers, and top the boats up with the hand pumps)...to keeping your clients safe, and giving the clients a fun time... as well as opportunity to reflect on the revelation of God experienced by the beauty of His creation and the ways of the river.


At the put in I do little things, like filling water bottles and helping collect stuff for rigging (cam straps, carbiners, paddles, etc).

On client days I help hand out equipment (wetsuits, splash jackets, PFD's), I also shuttle the drivers down to the take out, go and pick-up the lunch from Safeway and set up lunch. I follow the float down the river stopping at various places to watch them pass. I stay available with my cellphone for safety. I meet them at the take out and help with all the equipment.

We leave for the river at 7:30 AM and get back around 6:00 PM, and I do all the driving, I don't know why I get so tired.

Sizing up a client and giving him or her right size wetsuit...now that is a challenge. After they get off the river we wash the wetsuits....do you know how much work it is to wash and hang 40 soaking wetsuits?


I love working with these feminine, mighty women of God!


Shane was in charge of training

Rafts do capsize from time to time, and the guide has to know how to right the boat. Eddie must have been in the water for an hour here in a eddy helping the new guides practice flipping boats, climbing on to boats and unflipping them. This is not an easy task....just getting up on the upside down raft from the water is hard, hard work, especially for women. We do not have the upper body strength the guys do.


And then they had to be able to do it in the rapids...the most likely place where their boats would flip.


And of course, they need to know all about getting their clients back in the boat. This is called throw bag practice.


Can you say "recirculating"? It takes power to get out of some situations, and skill!

The Wenatchee River is all about skills.....reading the river, avoiding danger, keeping your clients safe....

and screaming like a girl!!!!!!!!!!!



oh, and getting wet


and bonding through challenging adventures!





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It is quite a privilege that God has given us to be out in the wilds with kids challenging them with life and knowing God. It is an amazing thing how God touches them. It takes "camping ministry" to a whole new level.

Now it is July and I am back home working....and Eddie has just headed back to the other side of the mountains to join an extended trip on the Lower Salmon River in Idaho. You might find a little about what he can expect to experience if you check our archives.

I on will be working, and also volunteering at some migrant camps with a local clinic. I look forward to being with Mexicans again!