Retro: A Brief Visit to Canada
In 2012 we had a very quick visit to Canada – and here’s why.
During our visit, we were able to visit some grandparents! One stop was in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan… 10 years ago this very day.
Hannah
My Kids Are (and were) Awesome.
There’s a bit of a light debate in cross-cultural missions regarding the status of young children growing up on the field. We all want to consider the whole family “missionaries”. But of course children are where their parents are because of a family choice. And they would have had varying degrees of input into that choice (depending on age and so on).
2010Many children grow up and choose to go into cross-cultural missionary work themselves. Others go on to serve the Lord in other ways. Sadly, some reject the faith.
The other day Shari and I were going through some boxes of old textbooks and notebooks, mostly from school. And I was reminded of two things.
First, there were some major challenges for our kids in school. I’m not talking about being cross-cultural, or learning a second language, or the work load (although that last one was a killer at times!). And in the case of our children, Mexican schools were the only schools they knew – they hadn’t been old enough to attend school in Canada.
The challenges I’m talking about are simply the challenges of going to a “secular” school. A school that sometimes promotes anti-Christian views.
“Oh, you have no idea what it’s like now, for my kids”, you may say, if you have young kids in elementary school now. Well, I’m a little more removed from that phase of childhood now, but I do know some of what’s going on. And your point is well taken – things have progressed significantly, and generally in the wrong direction. I would venture the opinion that school is a lot more harmful for children now than it was.
But much of what is so common now was already in the schools back then, in Mexico as well as in other countries.
So I’m proud of my kids for going through what they did. They faced a lot of challenges in elementary school.
Second, I am thankful for children who were (and are still!) involved in service to the Lord. Yes, they often helped with events and served in the local church. But they also reached out on their own, using their creativity and energy to share Christ in their own way. And without going into personal details, there were things in the boxes of books and paper that reminded me of that too.
So I’m thankful for my children, and proud of them. For what they did back then, and what they’re doing now. Way to go!
Retro: Hockey and Spinning Tops (video)
10 years ago this month (the first video is from the 14th of March, the second is the 4th), I took some random video of Hannah and Nathanael playing with some other kids. The first segment has both Hannah and Nathanael playing street hockey (no, not at all common here!). The second segment much more Mexican, as Nathanael plays spinning tops (called trompos) with some friends.
Celebrations of Hope
We’ve had some very busy, very “social” days lately. But it’s been good to have some times of prayer and celebrations of hope.
Last Friday we went to a church planting workshop put on by our mission agency. It was a blessing to get together with coworkers from around the country, talking about how to move forward in ministry.
Sunday was certainly a celebration of hope. Having a Sunday almost exactly half-way between Christmas and Easter, we had a Christmas/Easter Service! (In Spanish, we actually use the word Pascua or Passover, for Easter. I do actually believe that, contrary to popular belief, Easter is likely a Christian term. But here in Mexico it’s generally Pascua, and Holy Week (Semana Santa), and Resurrection Sunday.)
This was originally my Dad’s idea. The first half of the service has Scripture readings about the birth of Christ, Christmas carols, and so on. The second half features songs from Good Friday/Resurrection Sunday. The idea is to bring the two together, and show why they are both important.
With so many new people at our church right now, it was also an opportunity – not only to do something fun and different, but also to remind ourselves of the basics of the faith. Who is Jesus? What did He accomplish on the cross? Why is it important that He rose again?
As you can see, Shari even thought of having a poinsettia and lily display. 🙂
But anyway, it really was a celebration of hope. What an encouragement to remember that Jesus has acted in history – and continues to do so – to bring salvation. He is indeed the Sovereign king of all.
Speaking of having lots of new people, we need more chairs! So I went and bought 16 more this week. And we also need to expand our tent – literally – so that we have shelter from the sun. So that is an ongoing challenge.
On Monday, we enjoyed getting together with Chuck and Karla, fellow missionaries in Mexico City. It was good to catch up with them, and pray for one another.
We even had a chance to “get together” as a family, connecting with Hannah in Canada, this week. We chatted and played some board games (online) together.
And Lord willing we’ll be seeing other coworkers next week, Mark and Angélica, who serve in the city of Pachuca.
And I’m hoping to have a prayer time with some of the pastors in our area next week as well, this time via video conference.
Meanwhile I’m preparing to preach tomorrow on “The Purpose of the Plagues“, as we continue through the incredible book of Exodus.
Some of you have received our newsletter – let us know if you don’t get it (it’s the “Different Opinions?” letter). Oddly enough, it was held up at the US/Canada border! Not by police, or truckers, as far as I know, but by some mistake. So I’m not sure what’s up with that. But do make sure that, if you’re on our Support Team, we have your current email address and physical address, in case something goes wrong with one or the other.
Today is Bible study day! Women in the morning, men in the evening. May God continue to teach us through His Word.
Retro: The (lo-res) Family
Both good memories and frustrating memories accompany this picture of the family.
We were at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary (good memories), and we asked the pastor to take a few pictures for us, so that we could use them for a prayer card (still, so far so good).
He was kind enough to take a whole lot of pictures (I think it was with my phone), and we finally got some that were half decent (thanks, Barry!).
Later we discovered – yes, somehow we had the phone set to low resolution photos. And knowing how hard it was in those days to get a good family picture (not to mention any names), we weren’t about to go through the ordeal again.
We still used one of the photos for a little while, but let’s just say it wasn’t our greatest prayer card of all time.
I don’t think this is the actual picture we used, just one of many … so here it is, published for the first time ever, from 10 years ago today!
I hope you like the picture. If you want me to send you a hi-res version, tough luck!! 😀
Retro: The Rare Snowman
Ten years ago today we were in Canada, and it snowed! Not much, but enough to make a little snowman. A rare event for us in those days.
