Family

Rocky Mountain Visit

We are on our first of several visits out west, and are looking forward to being back "home".  After spending 15 years in Denver church planting among Hispanics, we do have a piece of our heart in Denver.  We drove into town with excitement and butterflies in our stomachs.

We enjoyed a great Sunday of worship with 5 Hispanic churches in the Park last Sunday.  Dan was thrilled to preach again in Spanish.  We enjoyed watching 5 people baptized.  One was just a little tyke when we left.  God gave us a refreshing day for our hearts.

Ministry, Family

The time has come...

We are officially HAMsters, Home Assignment Missionaries.

We have begun our year of time visiting churches, supporters, friends and family.  Most of them we have not seen for 6 years.  We are excited and ready for a different pace of life.  We will be traveling from one coast to the other.  Pray for endurance for the boys as they will travel with us and the girls as they study in College.  Car school will be the name of the game.

Family

New addition to the family-

Praising God for the new addition to the family.  Having a six year old brings excitement and energy.  Keeping up with him is a family affair!  We are blessed.

Ministry

Pastor of Factor Fe

Please pray with us for Pastor Israel his wife Nohemi and their 2 daughters as God gives them wisdom and courage in their roles at Factor Fe.

Ministry

Bitter Sweet

At the end of May, 2012, we had the sweetest time in saying goodbye to Factor Fe.  Sweet because it was a time of thankfulness to God for His faithfulness and blessings over the last 6 years.  What a joy to look over the 200+ people that were there to enjoy a time of food, fun and remembrance. 

We were showered with love and encouragement from those who we had gotten to know over the course of the past 5 years, and we were blessed to hear how God had moved in lives to bring them to a personal relationship with Christ.

We were blessed with an in house Mariachi band and folkloric dance.

We have been blessed with a great family at Factor Fe and it has been a joy to be a part of it.

Thanks for the ride, Factor Fe, and for the imprint you have left in our hearts.

Fire in Guadalajara

Late Friday 4/20/12 a fire was started in a National Forest less than 10 miles form our house.  We are now at  five days since the start and it is still burning.  We can see it from the roof patio of our house.  We have heard reports that over half of the forest has burned.  We are starting to feel the effects of the smoke in our eyes and throats. The smoke has been blowing in the direction of the city for 2 days and we are smelling and feeling it.  Schools have been closed till Tuesday from the smog/smoke effect and many are wearing mask.  This is such a loss and a hardship for the city of Guadalajara.

We are not exempt but protected

We praise God for his protection over Adrian's life.  While on a bus with a buddy they were confronted and told to hand over their phones.  Adrian saw them coming and hid his earbuds in his shirt that were connected to his ipod, hoping  and praying they would not notice it.  No such luck.  After handing over their phones the guys patted them down and found the ipod!  They took them and ran off the bus as it was leaving the stop.  They were both shook up and sad for their losses but not harmed.  We praise God for that.  We try not to have him take the buses very often for that reason but it happened.  Please continue to pray for our safety and alertness to our surroundings.

Resolution for Woman

As with the men the women had their turn for a conference and signing of a resolution.  We gave a conference off the book, The Resolution of the Woman.  43 attended, ranging in ages from 18 to 80 years old.   The woman of Factor Fe were blessed, encouraged and challenged to 13 resolutions that come from God's word to make them stronger as a person, as a mother, as a wife and as a follower of Christ.

Men of Courage

Two Saturdays ago we showed the film Courageous at church.  The movie includes in it a call to men to step up and fulfill the roles God has for them.  At the end of the movie we gave an invitation to any men who wanted sign a resolution committing to be godly men to come back the following Saturday.  Last Saturday 30 men came and sat through a 3 hour conference where we went through each of the twelve commitments in the resolution.  We then had a signing ceremony an hour later where they came back all dressed up with their families to sign their resolutions.  Sunday all the men came back and stood in front of the church and read their resolutions out loud.  More than one of the men were not able to hold back their emotions as they committed to being godly men, husbands, and fathers.  At the end Israel gave an invitation to any other men who wanted to sign the pledge and about another 12 men came forward.  Please pray for these men as they step up to be the men God has called them to be.

Our Third Anniversary

In January we celebrated our 3rd anniversary at Factor Fe.  To celebrate everyone we had a "carne asada" (grilled meat with tortillas) at a nearby camp.  About 100 people came out to play soccer and volleyball, swim, and eat some great food.

Christmas on the Beach

We don't dream of white Christmases in Mexico.  Christmas is the time people head to the beach.  With Diana visiting from Liberty University we decided to take a three day trip to the beach.   We found a secluded beach with only about 10 to 20 people on it each day.  It was a great opportunity to spend time together and to get started on our 2012 tans.

A Turkey story

So it is getting close to Thanksgiving and we're trying to figure out how to celebrate.  Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday it isn't celebrated in Mexico, and the traditional foods we eat on Thanksgiving are hard to find.  Dan decided that this year it was important that we have turkey for our Thanksgiving meal.  He called up a friend   who lives on a farm close to Guadalajara and lined up a visit to his ranch to pick out a turkey.

Dan and Adrian drove out two days before Thanksgiving and were able to pick out what felt like a nice plump fat turkey.

The price was a little steep (about US$40) but Dan was determined that we have a traditional turkey meal.  His friend had his workers kill and pluck the turkey for us.  As we watched the turkey being plucked it got smaller and smaller.  We brought it home and MeLinda got it ready for cooking and while we watched it in the oven it continued to shrink.  When we took it out of the oven it looked so small and dried out that we decided we better buy a ham to go with it.  We finally decided to weigh it and after all that work we found out that we'd bought a  . . . 4 POUND TURKEY!

The next day while at the suppermarket MeLinda found them selling 10 pound turkeys for just under US$30. But hey, at least ours was organic.

Did you really eat it?

One of the things that make things interesting on the mission field is the opportunities to try new foods.  The hostess of our Thursday night Bible study likes to surprise us with new tastes every once in a while.  Here are pictures of two plates which we were served.  Try and guess what they are before looking at the bottom.

Answers:  Grasshoppers and a pig's tail

Did we eat them?  Here's the proof we're good missionaries!

Peace is Possible!

In October we helped coordinate a concert for the city of Guadalajara.  Trying to capture the energy generated by the Panamerican games we invited 5 christian groups to come perform in one of the main squares of the city.  Our message is that, in the midst of all the insecurity that Mexico is encountering, it is possible to find peace through a personal relationship with God. Along with the music group we had high level athletes come and share their testimonies.  Around 2,000 people attended the 5 hour long concert and we had almost 300 people make professions of faith.

Chaplains for the Panamerican Games

In October and November, Guadalajara hosted the Panamerican and Para Panamerican Games.  7000 athletes from countries in this hemisphere competed in this olympic style competition.  Dan was asked to coordinate the chaplaincy ministry.  For three weeks we were able to minister to these world class athletes; praying with them, counseling them, leading them in times of worship, and as opportunities presented themselves to share the gospel.  We had 30 chaplains taken from our pastors here in Guadalajara and from some other Latin American countries working alongside chaplains from Athletes in Action.  The highlight of each day was the evening worship time.

Here Dan is with a bronze and silver medalists in Judo who competed in the Para Panamerican games.

Summer events

50 years of Marriage!  


We were able to attend the festivities together with MeLinda's family in July.  What a joy to see everyone and to see God's faithfulness in MeLinda's parents' lives.

It was quite a miracle to have the whole family together for the event.  It was a special time for MeLinda to reconnect with her sisters and their families after 4 years.














24 years of Marriage


It was also fun to be able to celebrate our 24 years of marriage with family.  How time flies!