Tilaco: Issue 3

Tilaco is located in the Mexico state of Queretero. The back road to this remote village is sparsely populated and winds through the Sierra Gorda mountians. While traveling, we found steep climbs through rocky valleys.
In the 1750's, Father Junípero Serra, known as the future apostle of California, ventured with his fellow Franciscans into the rugged Sierra Gorda area of eastern Querétaro state. They set out to evangelize the semi-nomadic Indian tribes who lived there, and gather them into mission towns. Within a few years, their efforts formed five new missions in the grassy valleys of the region. These churches are famous for their elaborate, "folk baroque" facades of painted and sculpted stucco, recently restored to their original, multi-colored condition.
South of Landa, a side road through a green valley to the village of Tilaco, where rustic walls, gateways, and corner chapels frame the pleasant hillside mission of San Francisco. Founded by Father Serra's companion Fray Juan Crespí, Tilaco is the happiest of the five missions, tinted in hues of blue, white and yellowish-brown, and has a neat and slender three stage tower. Its cheerful facade is the most intimate of all the churches, busy with figures of cherubs, mermaids, and angels - some playing instruments, others clutching grapevines or holding tasseled stone draperies, and a few just smiling joyfully.
It was an incredible place to visit, and we feel lucky to have been able to see this small part of Mexico history. I hope you enjoy some of my favorite pictures from the visit.

A Little This, A Little That

We have now been home for a week and boy oh boy are we glad to not only be home but to be together and be here!
Here in Mexico its the "Temporada de lluvia", or The Rainy Season. It's staying in the 70's everyday and we welcome the rain. Everything here is so green. Jaxon loves playing outside in the yard with his new toys. He got a slide and lawn mower for his birthday and has been a busy boy. Jax's re-adjustment to being here has been interesting. For the first few day he was very clingy and would freak out if Ryan and I were not BOTH in the same room. He's been sleeping a lot which we are sure is due to the high altitude of the City. Jax is quickly remembering his favorite people here...his Tia Vero, Betty from the fruit stand (she gives him free mini bananas) and Chutney, one of the AIMers that works in the south. Jaxon is "bien travioso" or very mischievous. He's always up to something and is full of faces. We've dubbed him The Godfather since every now and then he feels the need to walk around the room and have everyone kiss his hand. Oh, we are sooo buying him a signet ring for Christmas! HA!
The work here is going so well. Before Ryan came back to Lubbock to get us, he planned the preaching series here. Various men in the congregation are taking turns showing numerous NOOMA videos. Each one does something different. One man may show clips of the video and then preach, others show the entire video and then have open discussion. The church here has been so excited for us and is asking that we find the rest of the NOOMA videos to add to the church's library. We are so thankful for these tools.
Israel Campos is our designated "song leader" here in the Benito Juarez congregation. He loves translating the latest Contemporary Christian songs and then teaching them to us all. For his birthday, we bought him two song books from the NOW series. I know he was excited to have them, but Israel...you do know that you have a lot of work on your hands?! HA We are enjoying watching so many people step up and take on more roles and responsibilities within the church here. God is good!
The new Children's classroom is stocked! With us we brought a new television and Veggie Tale videos in Spanish for the kids to watch. We are thankful for the space this house provides and that we have the room for a separate kid's room during services. If you have been to this house, you know how it echoes.
Ryan and I have been busy with planning various upcoming events. With the help of other missionaries in Guadalajara, Mexico we are planning the 2009 Mexico Missionary Retreat. We are excited to have over 40 adults and 20 kids signed up to go. This time together with fellow workers throughout Mexico is always encouraging. Please pray for this retreat and all of those involved. You know how I love to throw a party, so I'm super excited!
We're hoping to have some visitors this fall. We should be hearing soon if they are coming and then we will be planning service projects with Pedro's help.
Our small group continues to grow spiritually. We are low in number but BIG is our faith and growing as a Christian family. Please pray for us. The area that we live in can be difficult to reach out to.
Monday night was our game night and we had a great turn-out. Every 2 weeks we all get together for some food and fun. Now we have people joining us outside of the Benito Juarez congregation on a regular basis. Another way we spend some down time together is having movie nights. We have a big SHOUT OUT to Roland Gagnon who blessed the Benito Juarez congregation here with his gift of a projector. It is now used EVERY Sunday and then also for our movie nights. Roland, you should see the faces of the guys here when they watch an action movie on the BIG SCREEN with the use of the projector. You will now always be tied to the church here, for we think of you everytime we use the projector. Thanks!
I hope this finds everyone doing well. Above you will see Pedro showing Jax his new Vespa. It was a hit. Below I have a prayer list. Please join us in praying for these people that are so dear to us! Much love to you all!

• For all the small groups that meet throughout the city
• For the Thornton Family and the new baby that will join them in September.
• For the Brednich Family and as Carolyn carries the fourth boy. He's due in November!
• For the Wiist family as they wait for there second child...she's due any day now!
• For our open hearts and minds as we serve God and the Church here
• For Vero's father...he's getting older and his health is getting worse
• For the Young Family and changes taking place in their household
• For my parents and my mom's health and healing

Cool Dude

Just a quick note to say; Jax had to eat his breakfast this morning with his sunglasses on. Silly!

Tilaco: Issue 2

Ok, just to catch everyone up; back in April I started writing about our trip to Tilaco, Mexico with our good friend Vero and her sons. That was posted back then, so you can refresh your memory by reading the old post and then here I will continue as if nothing has happened these past few months.



The 8 hour bus-ride to Tilcao turned into 10. Our driver was more than willing (grrr) to stop and pick up people in order to pocket the bus fares. Well, hey pretty smart on his part, but frustrating for us. You'll see the pictures from our bus trip. A sleeping Jorge, Jax taking a snooze and even walking up and down greeting everyone on the ride. (Truely his father's son.) It was soooo hot that when we made a pit-stop, Jax walked around in a shirt and diaper...he was still a hit among the other travelers.

Once we arrived in Tilaco, we had to take another taxi ride just to get to Vero's home. Seriously, out in the middle of NOWHERE! We were greeted by four of Vero's sisters, her father, and her two brothers. (There are 11 children in total.) They had cooked us up a great meal, and I couldn't help but snap a few shots of the kitchen. This kitchen was amazing! It was seperate from the main house (which wasn't a house at all, just some rooms.) The kitchen was open air. You wouldn't find any modern conveniences in the Marquez kitchen. There were no stove or oven. You wouldn't see a refrigerator, coffee pot, or microwave. Everything was cooked over an open flame. In fact, the chicken you see in the pictures above, laid her eggs in the kitchen and Vero would then scramble them up for Jax. Everything that we ate besides the rice, came from the ranch. The meat, vegetables, fruit. and bread came from their ranch. You'll see Ryan eating a turkey heart. (Insert gagging sounds here.) They even had a wonderful lemon tree which amazed me, since lemons are hard to come by in Mexico.

Vero tried to explain to me that by going to Tilaco it would be like stepping back 100 years. At first site of the Marquez ranch, I was quickly becoming a believer in Vero's words. Did you know that electricity didn't make its way to Tilaco until 1968. This was the same year that the first vehicle made an appearance in Tilaco. The delivery truck was actually carried into Tilaco because there were no roads. They then built roads in order to use the truck to deliver products around the village. Craziness.

Jaxon's Birthday Blast Off!

So for Jax's 2nd birthday we threw him a Robot party. The pictures will tell it all. Thank you to everyone who came and to my family for helping out with everything. Jax is a lucky boy to have so many people who love and care about him!

"Change of Plans"

Recently my dear friend Angie reminded me that the words "change of plans" seemed to have been used quite frequently in our family of three. Well Angie, I have to agree...and now perhaps I will be more leery of "making plans".

We had everything set to go. Good news from the doc, clearance to go home, finished with a great birthday party for Jax (that blog to come soon), and the car was loaded. We decided to spend a few days with Jacob and Amanda Henderson. We had a gift from the Benito Juarez congregation to deliver and we couldn't think of a better way to end things here. We also thought that this would work out perfectly because we could drive into the city on a Sunday where there is lighter traffic and such.

So we pulled into Childress Wednesday afternoon, had dinner with the Henderson clan, and even worshipped with the Church there. That evening a terrible storm came through (insert tornado scene music from Wizard of Oz here). With 102 mile winds...the entire top half of Jacob and Amanda's sycamore tree landed on our van.

Altough unquestionably frustrated, we can laugh about it now. When Jacob looked out the window and then looked at us and relayed the news that there was a tree on our car, we for sure thought he was joking. However, just like a scene from a movie, we were looking out the window, a crash of thunder and then a bolt of lightning lit up the sky and there we saw our 6 month old van, covered in branches and leaves. It wasn't ten minutes later when Jacob hollered again that there was more tree over the van.

It was undeniably something. So, what could we do? Nothing. We stayed up late laughing and saying, "What are the odds?". Definitely some memory making going ont that night. We woke the next morning, took some pictures and filed the claim online.

Progressive Insurance is amazing so far. They called us within the hour of filing the claim and got everything set up. So, since our car can't go into the shop until tomorrow (Monday) morning, Jacob and Ryan taped up the hole in the windshield and we left Childress and went to the H5 farm. H5 (Henderson Farm) served us well and took our minds off of everything. The fact that not only are we going back to Lubbock, but we will be here longer, AND have to unpack the van.

We enjoyed our time there. Spent time onthe four-wheelers, the kids played in the river, and Jax even fed some cows. Just some time to escape and make some more memories with our beloved friends.

So, that's the latest...Packing, loading, and driving to Childress. Visiting, eating, and worshipping in Childress. Thundering, lightning, and trees coming down in Childress. Scratching, breaking, and shattering of our van. Taping, mending, and driving back to Lubbock. Waiting, waiting, and waiting in Lubbock.

To be continued...