I just read a brief report from fellow CAM missionaries the Buhlers.  The report was all about the summer missionary program here in Mexico, that encourages Christian youth to reach out around Mexico using kids’ clubs.  Every year thousands of children hear about the Lord Jesus in these clubs.

The training took place in July in Mexico City this year.  23 youth took the training – they represented 15 different churches and 8 states of Mexico!

Again many children heard the Gospel, and many made confessions of faith.  The Buhlers ask for prayer for these children, as follow-up and discipleship continue in various parts of Mexico.

You can see a picture of the summer missionaries on the Buhler’s blog in their report on the training time here.

Swing on over to The Poulette Family blog to read my guest post, entitled Ping Pong Discipleship.

Dennis and Janell and their two kidlets serve the Lord in Mexico City with Youth Ministry International.  We met Dennis and Janell through their blog, and have enjoyed a little (too little) time with them in person.  Thanks to Dennis for letting me take over a little of his space for today!

Read the post here…

There’s nothing like hand made tortillas, fresh and hot!  Well, that and something in them – a little meat, chilli, onion, lime…. but I digress.

Our friends the McManus family took a video of some ladies making tortillas at a wedding.  It’s a very familiar sight, so I thought I’d share the video with you here.

The McManus family lives waaaaay up north in San Juan del Rio, Mexico.  Their blog is called Knowing Your ABCDs.

At La Ciudadela

So here’s the story.  Waaaay back in 2006, before we moved to Mexico, we saw a video of the Mexico City zoo (Chapultepec Zoo) on the blog of a family (the Poulette family) who lived in Mexico City.  I attempted my own video when we went to the Calgary Zoo.  Ever since we saw the Poulette’s video, we started talking about the zoo in Mexico City, and how we should go there someday.

This year the kids got some gift money from their Uncle Jeff, Aunt Tracy, and cousins Jevon and Ashlyn.  So we decided to use it for a trip there (the zoo is actually free, but there’s gas, parking, and paying for some exhibits) (thanks guys!).  So, we started making plans.

I thought it would be appropriate if we could actually go with the Poulette family.  They’re about our age, and have a boy named Nathan about a year younger than Nathanael.  We had never met them, only read their blog, but there’s always a first time!

So, Dennis Poulette and I arranged it via email.

We went to Mexico City on Friday, and hung around downtown.  We went to a market (La Ciudadela) for some Christmas shopping, visited a park, and ate at Pizza Hut. 

Nathan, Nathanael and Hannah

The next day we headed over to the Chapultepec Zoo, which is also downtown.  We met up with Dennis, Janell and Nathan, and had a great time.

The zoo is definitly world-class, boasting over 2000 animals and beautiful exhibits.  It’s famous for its pandas, but there’s lots more to see.

I put some photos in our Photo Gallery, so check them out (right now they’re in our Recent shots… album).  I have some video too, but haven’t gotten it online.

Anyway, thanks to the Poulette family for hanging out with us!  It was great to get to know them in the "real world", though, as you can imagine, it’s hard to talk too much when you’re chasing kids the whole time.  But maybe we can do it again sometime!

Dennis and Janell work with Youth Ministry International in Mexico City.  They have a passion to train trainers – who can train youth workers in Mexico!  Check out their blog – The Poulette Family, and their video blog, Mexico Movies.  Here’s their post about the event.

I’m just stopping by to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving (which is today in Canada)!

We are especially thankful for the news we got from La Villa Castilla today.  You can read more at their blog here, but the short story is that he didn’t need bypass surgery, but just had minor surgery and will be released tomorrow.  The doctors are still concerned – wondering why these blockages keep happening.  So, there are questions to be answered, but so far so good.

We didn’t do a lot to celebrate Thanksgiving today, except eat leftovers.  We did have friends over for Thanksgiving, David and Lety and their one year old daughter Giselle.  We’re thankful for them too!

Here’s Giselle with some silly clown hair from our kids’ dressups.  Hannah came out dressed as a clown earlier, and Giselle was just captivated.   Hannah never had such a good audience!

Anyway, we have a lot to be thankful for.  Sometimes I think God drops Thanksgiving right down into more difficult times in our lives, to remind us that there’s still so much good.

Good from a good God!

Those of you who get our email update have heard us ask for prayer for our friend Toby, who is our supervisor here in Cuernavaca.  He’s had some problems with his heart over the last little while.

Toby went for a scheduled doctor’s appointment on the 27th of September in Mexico City.  The doctor was concerned about what he saw in the stress test, so Toby and his wife Marilyn decided to go to Houston, Texas for a second opinion.

On the afternoon of October 2nd they saw a cardiologist.  This doctor wasn’t pleased with what he saw either.

At this point, it looks like Toby will be having heart bypass surgery on Monday at 6am Houston time.

Toby and Marilyn will be keeping us updated on their blog, La Villa Castilla.  They’re optimistic at this point (read their post on Toby’s upcoming surgery), but obviously it’s a big deal and they would appreciate your prayers.

You can pray for wisdom for the doctors as they make decisions, for Toby’s health before, after and during the surgery, and peace and rest for Toby and Marilyn both.  Thanks!

Right now Amy is in London, England.  On the 1st of July she’ll be heading to Nairobi, Kenya, to be involved in some meetings to discuss the beginnings of some new health care work in southern Sudan.  Then she’ll be going through some orientation, and she’ll need to buy some more supplies for her hut in Sudan.

We just have to praise the Lord for providing for Amy – for providing for her as she took her training in child nursing, and then providing for her to be able to go to Sudan.

Amy doesn’t know yet when she’ll actually be heading to Sudan, but when she arrives she’ll be working with the Memorial Health Care Center and Training School.  You can click the link to learn more, but the hope is to provide health care and train more local people to provide health care.  I’m sure Amy would appreciate your prayers as she travels!

Travel with Amy - If you have Google Earth, you can download a file and see Amy’s travels from Canada to England to Kenya to Sudan (not every stop, just the main locations!).  Just click on the map below.  Once in Google Earth, click on Tools, then Play Tour.

We are strongly encouraged by our mission leadership to keep the "big picture" in mind.  That is, we shouldn’t only focus on what God is doing in our own neighbourhood or country, but all around the world.  I believe that we are individually responsible to think about all the nations of the world, and of course we as a worldwide Church are also responsible.

One thing I’ve done to keep the big picture in view is develop Missionary-Blogs.com.  This is a website that keeps an eye on missionary bloggers all over the world.  Currently, the site watches over 350 active blogs – these are missionaries from all over the world to the nations.  (One disclaimer – here I use the term "missionary" to refer to believers who are involved in sharing God’s Word work in another culture.  This isn’t a theological definition (which is a whole other topic), just a use of the word for the purpose of the website.)

I started the site in March 2005 kind of as a way to "give back" after the success of another site I put together.  Today, the site is easily in the top 1% of most visited sites on the internet.  In the month of May, thousands of people visited from countries such as Mexico, Netherlands, Canada, Japan, Australia, Germany, the Czech Republic, USA, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa, Singapore, Italy, Poland, and many more.

I wanted a place where people could find missionaries and really get to know them – maybe pray for them, support them – or go themselves.  And it is slowly accomplishing that – people are connecting with missionaries and expressing interest in serving in another culture.

But there has been an unexpected bonus.  I’ve found that the missionaries themselves appreciate the site because it helps them network with others, both in their country and beyond.  Sometimes this may mean new friends, or practical give an take, or maybe it’s just good to know that someone else is going through what you are!

Go and check it out.  Some highlights – on the main page you can see random recent posts from all the blogs.  There are lists of a few of the blogs, based on when they were started (I’m a veteran, can you believe that?).  There are an increasing number of pages featuring specific countries, such as Thailand, Japan, and Cambodia.  The site covers themes, such as missionaries working with children, and some favourite Scripture passages of missionaries.  You can even read the post humus blog of a famous Christian missionary.  Finally, read the latest from the world of missionary blogs at Missionary Blog Watch.

Missionary-Blogs.com is gradually being noticed.  Recently it was mentioned in an article of Lausanne World Pulse.  The June 2007 issue was all about communication.  Steve Knight, international communication coordinator for SIM wrote an article entitled A Call to Kingdom Journalism: Rediscovering the Integral Role of Communication in Mission.  It’s worth reading his article if you’re a missionary – and you’ll see the site mentioned toward the end.

Our daughter Hannah holding new friend Bethany

There are a lot of interesting things happening around Mexico these days, some that affect us more than others.  There was some excitement here last weekend, for example, when some friends of ours welcomed a new baby girl into their family!  Our Mex-Bol-Erican missionary friends (they’re kinda multi-national, you figure it out) have their own blog, so you can read about Bethany’s birth story… for yourself.  We were over to visit and all of us except Nathanael had a chance to hold the little gem.

I also wanted to point out to you that there are exciting things happening with the short termers that are here in Mexico with CAM.  You may have been reading about this in the CAMex blog feed, but you can check out the coordinator’s blog here to read a little about what has been happening.  Some of the short termers also have blogs of their own; I know about this one and this one too.

These guys are in our prayers as they explore what God is doing in Mexico and play a strategic role.

Well, there’s lots going on in my own house too, so I’d better run.  We’re trying to get a little caught up with some things before I head back to classes next week.  Talk to you later!