Here’s a quick snapshot of what turned into a busy day:
• Blueberry panckes!
• Church at Comunidad Bíblica
• Tacos al Pastor!
• Prep for medical team meeting
• Pick up people for the meeting
• The meeting. We had about 20 people at the house, talked through the organization of the clinic and our personnel needs, then had a good prayer time. Things are coming togther.
• Mexico vs Costa Rica!
• Team meeting to plan the next few days.

A busy day, but some good steps forward.

Well, in the interest of my newest pledge, today was pretty busy:
• American football. We had 6 kids come, which was fine. They’re all kids I’ve had in computer class, and some of them are on Drew’s soccer team. None of them had played before, so it was cool to see them all throwing prettty good spirals by the end of the day. Just another step in relationship building. A big thanks to Mike C (and his son, Matt) for his help with equipment and time and expertise. And to Caleb and Ethan. Teamwork is awesome.
• We met the doctor organizing the medical outreach and made a water run.
• Caleb, Ethan and Eddie got the PVC cut up for the partitions for doctors (again thanks to Mike: his saw).
• I spent an hour or so on correspondence for the clinic…
•…before we rushed off to get Drew from a climbing excursion, a graduation party and…
• …picking up Hannah from the airport. She’s our nurse for the clinic!

Two things from today: whew, we’re tired! And we’re thankful for teammates and partners. So much more can be done!

Writing on the bus again, going up to get Caleb and Ethan, BBC students who will be working with us for a few weeks. We’re excited about the things we’ve got planned: football training tomorrow, times in the school, outdoor adventure training, and…the medical outreach clinic. It’s been a whirlwind of activity.

This morning Fiona and I went to the elementary school to invite kids to football tomorrow, put up flyers for the medical clinic, and invite teachers to an English class in July. We’re starting to see a good relationship with the teachers and the administration. Patient relationship building is the goal.

I want to start putting up posts that describe what we’re doing, the daily work, the ups, the downs, the progress toward our goals. That’s a bit ambitious, maybe, considering that we’ll finish up with small group at around 12:30 AM, but since we can even be writing on buses, maybe we’ll get it done!

I’m on the bus from Mexco City to Puebla, bringing our newest teammate, Eddie Ferguson, to Puebla. We are excited (although Gavin and Fiona and Drew more so even) about working with Eddie. He’s coming to work with us in Pueblo Nuevo, to help with the ministry there. Eddie is a 2009 Moody graduate who spent last year learning Spanish in Costa Rica. We are thrilled how the Lord seems to be pulling a team together and opening opportunities for ministry here. A lot more could be said, but for now we’ll enjoy the bus ride over a 12,000 foot mountain pass looking at the 17,000 foot volcanoes!

Welcome, Eddie!

Last week on Children’s Day, April 30th, here in Mexico, Gavin and Fiona prayed to accept Jesus as their Savior. It was a really special moment, and the culmination of a process which has lasted a month or so (or years, depending on your view of educating your children in the ways of the Lord; and, yes, which never ends, until we’re in the presence of the Lord, truly sanctified. But I think we can set aside theological fine points at the moment). The process really began as Barbara-Lee was listening to a Steve Green song, “He Holds the Keys”, with Gavin and Fiona, whose little minds began to ask questions: what’s this song about? Included in the song were hell and death. So then our four-year-olds began asking about hell. What is hell like? Who is in hell? How do you go to hell? Needless to say, it left an impression and over the following weeks they returned to the subject often.

One interesting factor in the story is that we are reading through Matthew’s Gospel together at lunch, about 10-20 verses at a time and it’s interesting how many times Jesus brings up the subject (e.g. Matthew 8:10-12). In fact, you could say that almost all Fiona’s and Gavin’s information after that initial conversation came straight from Jesus, via Matthew. They will tell you that in hell people “cry and grind their teeth” (among other things). It struck me as interesting and maybe slightly ironic in light of the recent prominent book on “Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived” that somehow Jesus’ teaching could come across so clearly to four-year-olds.* Yes, Jesus loves us, and maybe because of that when you study hell in the Bible one of your primary sources is going to be Jesus himself. Love and preaching hell do not seem to be incompatible.

So we kept discussing this with Gavin and Fiona for a month or so. They’ve understood for a long time that 1. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and 2. Jesus is alive (“Jesús está viiiiivooooooo!“). Only with the realization that there is a hell, and that their sin is real did they start moving toward salvation. And Mom and Dad were not pushy; several times we asked if they wanted to ask Jesus to be their Savior, but their four-year-old attention span bounced around a bit. But after breakfast on Children’s Day they both expressed a desire for and understanding of the Gospel. And there they prayed to accept Jesus. He’s the one who made hell clear to them, and He’s the One who saved them from it. We can’t see into the heart of anyone, even our children, but we trust that God is faithful, and He has given them a new heart and will continue drawing them to Himself, even as they seek to follow him.

So good news from Pueblo Nuevo!

* I wouldn’t want to imply that the author of said book is less intelligent than four-year-olds, nor that the issue he addressed doesn’t have nuances and difficulties. It was just the contrast that struck me between little kids and big thinkers.

We wrote it in March, we sent it out later, in April, and now even later we’re getting it up on the website.

But at least here it is!

March 2011

Today we went to the Instituto Nacional de Migración for the second of (hopefully) three stages for our FM-3 visa. The FM-3 is the visa that allows us to live and work in Mexico as missionaries. I confess that government forms and paperwork leave me knock-kneed and nervous. We’ve always just gone with a lawyer in Mexico City, but now we’re told that the paperwork can be done in the Immigration offices here. So to save $300 or so we decided we could do it ourselves.

With the president of our church religious association here who knows the system, Tim traveled up to Mexico City to start the process by leaving a letter from the association to the government asking for our approval. That government agency then gives us a letter of approval for the Immigration agency. We then take that letter to Immigration with other documentation (today’s work) and then in a couple of weeks they should issue our visa cards.

That sounds a bit complicated, but it’s really pretty simple, and it bears mentioning that in the Mexico City office and today at Immigration the workers were incredibly friendly and helpful. They answered questions, steered us straight and even laughed at our, ok, Tim’s, jokes. I must say that THAT was against all expectations, and I’m quite sure it’s totally counter to anything you’d find at US Immigration offices! Hats off to the Mexican Government!

Well, how time flies. We’re moving tomorrow and don’t know how long we’ll be without Internet access at home, so we’re getting the latest one out quickly. Read it here. Thanks for your prayers!

Drew was assigned the topic of “Volcanoes” in his geography class, which, when you think about it, is a pretty exciting topic. So he conspired with Barbara-Lee to make a volcano and set it off as part of the presentation. It’s semi-difficult to dig information out of Drew about “how did your day go”, so when he wanted us to come, well, that’s a no-brainer.

He had a poster board with information, compiled by him (I dunno, maybe Mom helped with some internet searches) and written in his own words and then he made a volcano from home-made play-dough. Read more…

After a day with kids and without wife I’m uploading a video to YouTube and answering emails, and I stumbled on an interesting take on the pro-democracy uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East.

Here’s what John MacArthur says.

Here’s the interview, again, and a response.

Here’s an open letter to MacArthur from an Egyptian-American.

I think this strikes a chord with me, because for a few years I’ve wondered what I would have done as an American colonist back in 1776, in light of Romans 13:1-7, and other passages. I think the tension between obeying Caesar and calling Caesar to account for injustice can be tough. I’m not sure MacArthur really gets it right, and I’m not completely satisfied with the critics either, even granted that you have to throw out most of the comments. I think MacArthur touches on the fact that 1. People’s ultimate need is Christ and 2. Rebellion leading to anarchy is a dangerous thing, with no guarantees of a happy ending. In fact, the non-intuitive reality (in one country’s case as seen over and over and over in Mexican history) is that armed rebellion against authority will have as a byproduct or a final result very nasty consequences.

But, there’s no question that in all justice, men like Mubarak or Qaddafi (although I’m not convinced Mubarak is ultimately in Qaddafi’s league) are featured in Psalm 109:8 (forget the rotten “prayer” for Obama making the rounds), and Proverbs 1:11-14. At what point are people right to rise up against evil men? I’m inclined to think: right now is just fine.

My inclination is that the consciences of good people will lead them differently–and it’s always hard to say what I would do until I’m in that position.

And that it’s way too late to be thinking such deep thoughts.