So I haven’t really written a lot lately.  Frankly, I’ve been recovering from our trip to Canada.  The recovery hasn’t been going as well as hoped, but I’m getting there.  I was up and down the first week, in bed all day Monday, better but shaky yesterday, and more or less back to "normal" today.

But that’s not to say it’s been dull around here.  So here are a few things that have been going on.

Getting back

It’s amazing the things you have to do after getting back from a short trip.  There were paperwork issues, catching up on all the things you didn’t do while you were gone, kids catching up on school, paying bills – and boy can a house get dirty quickly this time of year (dry hot season)!  And of course when it’s "clean the house day", there’s no running water…

Some other activities

There have been a lot of practical matters to take care of.  We still have work to do toward our visas, we had paperwork to do on our vehicle, and lots of other fun stuff.

But there has also been stuff that was really fun.  Teaching Tuesday night Bible studies, for example.  We’ve been focusing on what Jesus did on the cross, but we usually get into other topics as well!

We had a really good service on Sunday.  I enjoyed leading the music, and we heard lots of stories about how God has been faithful, and Ishmael preached.  We finished off the book of Nehemiah.

I’m very excited to be speaking next week – we’re starting on the book of Philippians.  How cool is that?  I think it should be a fun Sunday.

And coming up…

And coming up – there’s a LOT coming up!  The "internship season" is just beginning, which means we have visitors from – get this – Canada, the USA, and Mexico!  Oh, and a whole team coming from Ohio (to be exact, from Leroy Community Chapel).  They’re short term missionaries who will be putting their energy into the work here in Ixtapaluca and beyond.

They’ll be especially working in Santa Barbara and Jesús María.

What will they be doing?

Some planned June activities include…

• Coffee Shop Ministry:  Hey, Tina’s even planning some special promotions, and even "English practice" times – gotta go there for that! 😉
• English classes
• Basketball
• Guitar class
• Baking class – hey, that’s Shari!  I hear she’s planning to make cake pops!
• Tree planting
• Constructing benches for the community
• Craft times
• Movie nights
• Soccer!
• Break dance outreach!  Break dance outreach?!
• English song competition at a local public junior high school
• Wheel chair distribution

And that’s not all!  There are other events coming up – and this doesn’t include all the involvement in normal Bible studies, prayer meetings and services.  Did I mention there’s a baptismal service coming up (see the countdown to the right on our blog)?  WOW!

We’re also planning a Walk Thru the Bible Seminar to end off the series of studies we’ve been doing and reinforce what we’ve taught – in this case, Walk Thru the Old Testament.

Oh, and Samuel made this cool graphic to use in our outreach for the next little while.  It says If you want to change Mexico, be born again then of course, Ixtapaluca, Mexico Summer 2012.  Although the term "born again" may be considered a worn-out term in the English parts of North America, here it’s much less known, so it should be a great conversation starter!

It’s also playing on the big event this summer in Mexico – our national election.  Does real change come from electing a new president?  I think not…

And did I mention what’s coming up in July?!  Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.