The men of the men's group decided to walk together in a suburb of Tecate. It is a newly developed area with more expensive houses. The roads are well maintained, so it was a good place to walk together. We walked for almost two and a half miles in an hour. Pretty slow but it gave us a chance to talk amongst each other. What do men talk about? Cars and houses. Carlos and I were out of our element when it came to these conversations. I have never bought a home or bought a new car. But this is the formation of friendship with men. You start with what you know. You begin with everyday conversations; as that builds, we can share more meaningful discussions. Over burritos, we all agreed to have at least a Psalm ready to share with the intent to memorize it. What a blessing to hear different Psalms and why they chose it. We are all at various places in our faith, yet we all need the encouragement of scripture to continue to walk out our faith. I believe this is the foundation for this local congregation to grow into a strong body of believers. The Lord is growing his body. 

I am co-pastor with Carlos Escobar at Truth and Life Church, which meets where we live in Tecate. It has been going well. We are enjoying new friendships in this local body of believers. I have the privilege to preach every other week in the Book of Acts. The men of the church have expressed wanting to meet together at least monthly. So last night was our second time meeting together after the summer months. 

Each time we meet, we are reading through a book about being the priest of the home. It has been very beneficial to have a place for men to meet together and openly discuss the difficulties we, as men, face. There is one gentleman named Fermin. He has been a part of the church for several years but has only recently desired to know scripture. He told his wife he wanted to start studying the scriptures together daily. I can only imagine his wife's thoughts on hearing her husband wanting to know the bible. He has come from a catholic background, so he has little to no knowledge of the bible for himself. He has said listening to sermons on Sunday morning, but much like he did when he was in the catholic mass, it didn't mean anything outside of the church building. How sweet it is to hear his heart in wanting to know more. It is such an excellent place to be because it says in Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." ESV 
What a blessing it is to be a witness, see someone grow in faith, and know who Jesus is. I am blessed to be a part of this group. May God continue to be glorified. 

Busy weekend.
Anna and Aletta are now working at a camp in California on Saturdays. They have to be there at 8:30 AM. So, part of life here is dealing with getting across the border. We get up at least by 6:30 to be out the door. The border for cars entering the US can be at least a 30-minute wait time of up to two or three hours on any Saturday. We get a taxi for about $5 to drop us off at the border crossing, where we cross on foot. This line during the weekend to walk across is 5-minute wait time. So we get across the border, then walk to where our car is parked. Anna has finally gotten her Mexican driver's license. She is the first of 5 at the right age to drive. (The driving age in Mexico is 18). So Anna is learning to drive the 45 minutes to the camp, which is all curves, uphill and downhill. It will be a few more tries before we let her drive without me. 

This time, we had to leave at 6:15 so I could make it to a men's breakfast at 8 AM. They asked me to share my testimony about what God is doing now with us. After breakfast, I spoke with a guy named Steve, who had only been a Christian for a year. He said he was really encouraged by what I shared and that he wanted to grow spiritually.  It was a blessing to hear about his life in Christ. After that, a few other men were talking to Rich. He is in his 70's. He had cancer but was in remission. Unfortunately, it had come back. It had shown up in three areas of his body. He was in a lot of pain, so much so that he went to the ER to help with the pain. We prayed for him. We prayed that God would heal his body and he would continue to know Jesus as his anchor in the darkness. What will be his story in the end? Will God heal him? Will God take him home for eternity? Either way, God is still sovereign. He is still victorious. He will still be king. 

It reminds me of when my dad passed away. His faith was so vital in those last 6 months. He talked more about God than he had in a long time. It was God preparing him to come home. My dad knew where he was going when he finally passed away. To be with Jesus in eternity. It is a privilege to know we will be with Jesus in paradise!

We are so blessed that Jessie's parents have come to stay with us for two months during winter. It is a big deal for your kids to grow up knowing their grandparents. This is especially true for our adopted kids who have never been to the United States. Their knowledge and understanding of our "American" culture is limited to what they have learned and experienced from us. Don't get me wrong, they have experienced some level of American culture being raised by gringos. But all around us, for many years, we were the only gringos. So, by having visitors in our home, our kids get different exposure to different cultures. All my kids will grow up with fond memories of their grandparents staying with us. I write this as an encouragement. We can all do better at giving family members attention. I know I can, especially to my nieces and nephews. What kind of impact will I have on them so they will want to know Jesus? What will they remember when they grow up? As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20.    "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."  Is this something that I do? My hope and prayer is yes.​

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A few months ago, a few of our kids as if we could go to a concert by a Christian Spanish Artist Alex Zurdo. I don't know his music real well. During covid we would do family exercises to his music. So we decided to make it happen. To have some of our older girls actually singing Christian music is a good thing. Now I know that Christian music can be an area of contention in some circles. Music is so important especially to young people. What they listen to is also important. For some of our kids, it is an area we have had to make some compromises. I grew up with only Christian music bands like DC talk and Petra were some of my favorites. But when you bring kids into your home, you can't change everything all at once. You can change all the outward stuff by setting rules but it doesn't change their heart. They will still be drawn to things they want to do. So music is an area, we have felt would change as each kid changed. We do often talk about what songs are talking about and how pernitrates your thoughts so naturally. 

So yesterday afternoon, we got to the music venue, a bull ring on the coast of Tijuana. The ticket said three o'clock. We stood in one line to turn in our online tickets.  I didn't notice but we had preferred tickets not general admission. We were in the long line of maybe 200 people in front of us. After waiting for two hours to finally made it to the entrance they said we needed to be in the different line, which was another 500 people in it. There was a guy who saw us and said let me see what I can do. So we stood for another 10 minutes. He came back and then brought us through the line. We got bracelets for our tickets. Then they told us to follow this usher guy. Ok, so we did that. We walked all the way around and then down the venue to the main floor. So we ended up on the main floor about 4 rows back on the right side. We sat down and  then an usher lady came up and said we were in the wrong area but said we could stay. So we were in the VIP section. There were ushers all along the way checking our bracelets. No one ever stopped us. So the Lord knew where we would end up. The music started at about 5:30. 

Alex Zurdo was the main artist, he didn't start until 8:30pm. Three of my girls knew all of his songs. Seeing your kids singing songs  some of which are straight from scripture was amazing.  As a parent you can't force them to like a certain music. They were all jumping around and screaming as many people do in concerts. This was the first concert that many of them had ever been to. It was a joy to be apart of this memory that these kids now have. It was a joy to hear them all talk excitedly while we were leaving to go home. 

We are coming into a busy season of Christmas. It is a challenge every year to set aside time with the family to help us focus on the real reason for Christmas. Now I know that we are all faced with the same difficulties with many activities going on. We are right there with you. What is the priority? To get everyone a Christmas present they want? Is it to celebrate and have a "good time" in whatever definition that entails? After many years as a pastor, I would spend the month of December helping our church focus on Advent. This year, I am not doing that in the same way. I have no congregation to preach to per se, but with the arrival of two of my nephews visiting from Illinois, that would mean we are 14 in total. Is this not a group of people? Is a small group of believers considered a part of the body of Christ? Why yes, of course. I ask questions like this to help me remember that we are the church. I make excuses as to why I do or don't do something. The business of this season can be an excuse not to get to what matters and why we celebrate the coming of Jesus as a baby. We remember. We remember how God sent Jesus as a baby into the word that we might be saved through him. I need this reminder to continue looking at each opportunity we get to share and focus on how Jesus came and will come again one day.  

Levi and I were able to fly home to Minnesota from the 11th to the 20th of this month. It was the first time I had been home since my dad died three years ago. For Levi, it was nearly five years since returning to the US. Someone loaned us a car to use so I could cart my mom around doing errands, shopping, and a few medical appointments, which she cannot do since she does not drive.

When we got home, I was able to continue working on the storage room at our new home. It is only about 10'X9', but it will give us space for an office/school room/storage room. We have only a few details left to finish it, but Jessie started moving books and things in last night (Sunday evening). It is incredible how big a five-bedroom, two-bathroom home can become small. It is the 12 people you try to put into it. 

When you live in the interior of Mexico, drywall is not used as much because of the moisture and termites eating the wood studs. Our experience has been that anything wood was eventually eaten by termites. So construction is done with bricks and cement. The reality temperature change is not that extreme at least in Autlan, Jalisco. The coldest it ever got was in the high 40's on rare occasions. But during December and January the lows at night are in the mid 50's. Most days it would warm up to the mid 70's low 80's, so there was no need for heaters or a furnace. Moving north where we live now, the temps get into the 30's and has even snow on a rare occasion. But the houses do not have furnaces. So most houses are made similarly to the United States with wood, insulation and drywall.  The home where we now live is a 5 bedroom, two bathroom house. It is a decent size house but for a family of 12 it can feel squished. There is a storage room off the side of the house that was never finished on the inside. So after clearing it out, adding insulation, getting the electrical set up, we are starting to put up drywall. Jessie and I love to work on projects together. So getting this room done will mean we will have a school room/storage room. It will be nice to have a space for the school books and have the extra space for when we have visitors stay with us. I will post pictures once we get closer to finishing it. Just one of the many projects we are working on to get settled into our new home.  

Here I am sitting in my new office, at the border headquarters for Tecate Mission International. I have started to work as the assistant to the executive director of the mission.  

For whatever reason, I was reminded of this page. I thought to myself, maybe I should start blogging here again. It may be wishful thinking or maybe having a place to express what we are going through after being in Mexico for almost 16 years.

Wow 16 years. Where has the time gone? The Lord has been faithful in leading our family. It has been quite an adventure. We are are excited about this new chapter of ministry opportunities. To be honest, it is a different place to be in after being so comfortable living and working in Mexico. Now we are faced with the question of where would God have us in the local church? Having 10 kids and going to any Sunday morning service instantly adds a group of people to anywhere we attend. So that one thing we are seeking the Lord about. Where should we connect into a local body?