Thanksgiving

We've been back in Mexico for a few weeks and haven't stopped for a minute! There are some big changes going on within Yugo Ministries right now. I have officially started as the Administrative Coordinator.  I register the teams for all the different ministry sites and trips. When we flew back, we stayed in California for a week so I could train in the US office. After 5 nights in a hotel, we were ready to get home!!
We had a great tour back in the states. The Lord blessed us with many wonderful church hosts. I believe we have 5 new confirmed trips for 2012! The kids enjoyed their time back with friends and family. Lexi was able to go to youth group every week, Aaron played football, and Adam played soccer. It was hard to be away from our house for that long, though! Lexi and Aaron said that they had to fill out a form and didn't know what address to put!  They have been moved around alot this year and we just continue to pray for God's grace over them.
We knew that it would be tough on the kids when we arrived back in Mexico. All the interns have gone home, there are no groups here for a while, not as much going on at the camp, and of course it is dark before 5PM! With me basically going back to work, Nate and I both knew to be ready for some transitional issues and trials...and boy, have we had them! HA! Within the first week we were home, our house flooded 2x! Within the first month, our washer bleached two loads of laundry and our kitchen sink fell apart and flooded the kitchen.  Lexi and Aaron both have gotten sick and Adam has been dealing with horrible nightmares everynight. Along with trying to figure out how to best schedule work and homeschool, its been a tough few weeks. WE HAVE DEFINITELY BEEN UNDER ATTACK!  By God's grace and strength, we are making it day by day. We find joy in the littlest things and have learned to let alot of little things go!
We do ask prayer for the kids especially right now. They have things to look forward to in the new year..the boys will be playing baseball here..groups will start coming in January...interns will arrive in spring...but we just need grace and patience until then! They really have been great about it with positive attitudes. God is good!
We celebrated Thanksgiving  with two other missionary families here. It was the first time we haven't been with extended family during a holiday, and although it was different, it was a wonderful time. We have so much to be thankful for. God continues to show us a little glimpse of His plan each and every day. Why He called us here, why He called us at this time in our lives and in the lives of our kids, and at this time within Yugo.  The Lord has blessed us and answered our prayers about Adam having a friend his age to play with.  A missionary family from Canada moved here in September and has a precious 7 yr old boy! Thank you, Jesus! He continues to give us what we need and even sometimes what we want.... Would you believe that we were able to watch the Iron bowl...from Mexico?  We never thought that would be possible, most things in the US cannot be streamed in Mexico. Now that was one game I was fine with missing, but you know...Nate enjoyed! :)  God just continues to give us little winks here and there like that.
One verse that has been on our hearts lately is:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." We continue to rest in the fact that all these things that are going on in our lives and in the lives of our children are going to be used for good. Here are two pics that I was able to capture on my phone. The sunsets have been amazing!

Fall Schedule

We have been back in the States for close to a month now. I've lived in Alabama for 34 years and it only took 3 months to forget how HOT it is here! :) Its been great to be back and see family and close friends.
My dad had a stress test, heart cath, and pacemaker since we've been back. We are really thankful that we were able to to be here with family through those procedures. He is doing well and everything went smoothly.
 We have a super busy schedule while we are here. We are staying with my parents in Troy, AL and so we drive into Montgomery everyday for the kids practices, games, or church services.  We are in the 3rd week of homeschool and it is going well so far. We typically do school in the morning and then after lunch head to Montgomery for that day's activities. We usually get back after 8:00 pm.  So, its non-stop..but we are enjoying every minute of it.  Aaron was able to get on the same YMCA football team he's been on the last few years. It is special because it is the last year he is eligible to play for the Y. They had their first practice game on Saturday, which they won 7-6. He loves sports so much. I am beyond thankful that he gets to do this while we are back this fall!
This past Sunday was our first official church service that Nathan spoke at. We visited with Eastern Oaks Baptist Church in Montgomery and it was such a sweet family of believers. We really enjoyed our time with them.  Adam especially enjoyed it. He met a nice little girl in Sunday School class and by the time we had fellowship lunch after church this is what I found them doing...

That kid always makes us laugh!!

Nathan heard from the pastor this morning who said he was inundated with emails the day after of people wanting to go on a mission's trip to EOC! What a blessing! God is so good. 

That service really kicks off our meetings..we have 2 to 3 a week from now until we fly back.  Please pray for traveling mercies as Nathan travels all over the next 6 weeks.

Summer season is ending

It's hard to believe summer season is ending. Our last group of the season was here this week. It has been a whirlwind since we arrived on June 2nd. These three months were such a great start to our ministry here in Ensenada. We saw many homes built, many people fed, and most important of all many lives changed. We are having to say goodbye to many wonderful interns as they head home. Our team of interns are some of the most wonderful young adults that I have met in a long time. Their heart for Jesus and for others around them is contagious. We have been blessed to get to know them and for our kids to  be able to form friendships with them.
 We were able to take a family vacation to California last week. It was a great time to just be together and rest, before we gear up for our busy fall season. We will be heading back to Alabama for the fall. The kids are all going to be involved in some various activities during Sept. and Oct., and Nathan will be doing his traveling to speak at churches.

We are  going to miss our new EOC family so much over the next 2 months... And we will miss the surrounding communities and people. These pics were taken on Lexi's last day at the feeding program before she flew back to Alabama. This little girl, Sylvia, did not want to let her go. Lexi told me on the way home, "Mom, she seriously changed my life.."

We ask that you pray for our time back in the States. Our hope and prayer is that we continue to spread the word of what God is doing here in Ensenada to bring back teams that have already partnered with us before and for many new ones to be added. We would love to add new teams to the schedule for 2012 and have that many more lives changed.  I've never met anyone that has come on a trip here and not had their lives changed forever.

I will continue to update while we are back in the States this fall. I do want to thank each and everyone who has kept in touch with us, prayed for us, supported us, and loved us this year.  God has definitely blessed our family and we can't wait to see what is next!

Glory to God

Over the past two weeks, we have seen 4 people come to know Christ! Glory to God! It is so encouraging to hear these stories. I was just reading a few days ago in I Corinthians..."Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

How very true, indeed.

Our family has been so busy the last few weeks. Lexi and Aaron have been going out with groups doing ministry. Aaron has enjoyed a wonderful week with a group from Valley Springs doing a VBS/Sports Program. He has been able to be the drummer for the praise team each day. He was upset yesterday because he had to miss the afternoon session due to an orthodontist appointment. Which, by the way, we have been able to start the "braces" process on him! Found a great doctor here that speaks English and less than half the cost of anything I was quoted in the states. He has been needing them for a while, so we are very thankful. Lexi went on a build this week..the first time by herself. Here is a picture of her and one of our interns, Rachel, who has been a dear friend.

Nate has been splitting his time between office work and building. We have been so blessed by the response of churches out there. Our fall is getting booked with dates!

We are so excited!

Here is a pic of him and a new home owner:

  I have been splitting my time between the feeding program and office work.  

 Here are a few pics from the feeding program:

After much prayer and research, we have decided to go through Evangel homeschool in Montgomery. So, I have been trying to finish up everything needed to start school in the fall. I'm almost there!

Little Adam man has came a long way since we first moved. He used to not like being at the camp. He didn't want to try to make new friends. Now, he likes to be there and is doing better meeting new people. He was over late last night with a group of kids, he met on his own playing Uno Attack. He also loves preaching now! At family devotions, he asks for everyone to listen to him. He will get behind something pretending like its a podium, and go to preaching. It is SO HARD for us to keep a straight face sometimes. This kid has such an amazing relationship with Christ. One night this week I was tucking him in and saying prayers and he said "I want to pray to you tonight, Mom." I said, "Honey, you can't pray to me..you pray to Jesus." He said it a couple more times and I would try to explain..finally I just said Ok, Adam. So, he starts praying and his prayer is "for me" not "to me".  He prayed that I would stay healthy and happy and all these others things. I couldn't believe it. At 5 years old, he's having these conversations with Jesus on my behalf! We've never even taught him how to pray for someone like that.

Here is a pic of one night when he dressed up like a preacher: 

Centerpoint

It's kind of funny how we are pretty much at the center of the summer season here and we had a small group from Centerpoint Fellowship in Prattville, AL just spend a week with us.  They wanted to experience the trip, the camp life, the people here, and see the need before they brought a church group on a trip.  We really enjoyed spending time with them. It was nice to hear a familiar accent and to see the Auburn Tigers represented! HA! Seemed like everyday someone was wearing something with AU on it! Love it! We were able to show them some builds that were going on and take them to a feeding program.  It was a great week. They absolutely believed in the ministry here and committed to bringing groups back in early 2012.

We left at 5AM on Friday morning to take them to the airport in San Deigo. We had one of the longest waits at the border yet, but we all survived. Being in the back of what everyone calls "the prison van" (because it literally was before EOC bought it) with the three kids..no air...and tight conditions for 2 hours was extremely testing, but I made it! Woo-hoo..there were times when I had my doubts. I was thinking either me or one of these kids is not making it out of this van!!  The Centerpoint group was so gracious and patient! They let Adam crawl over them about a million times as he would get antsy. It all paid off though, we had a wonderful family day in San Diego! After the group was dropped at the airport we did our monthly grocery shopping. We also found a very cool thrift store that was so much fun to explore..got stocked up on lots of good movies. We were able to take the kids to Inflatable World..which is this big park of inflatables outside. It's all fenced in and really nice. Of course, it was a high of 75 in San Diego yesterday, so the weather could not have been more perfect. The boys just ran from one to another for hours! They were definitely able to get all that stored up energy out!

We are excited to start the second half of the summer. We still have so much we want to do and get accomplished. The leaders of the feeding program in Lomas Bonitas will be out the next 2 weeks, so we are going to help there each day to keep it running.
I still need to get together a plan for homeschool. It is coming up quickly! I have researched many curriculums and umbrella schools. I wish there weren't so many choices! HA! It can be quite overwhelming, but in due time I KNOW God is going to give me a peace about which one to choose.

Real Need

This is a clip of song time at a feeding program.  There was over 100 people that came to get food.  Mostly children, some mothers came as well.  It still bewilders me how alot of children don't seem old enough to walk to the church by themselves, but yet they also bring their younger siblings with them. Children that are 6, 7, and 8 years old bring their little 1 - 3 year old brother or sisters. They show up around 9:30 in the morning and just play around the church. Singing and Bible story time start at 10:30 and then they eat. We  leave around 12:00 and the children are usually still  playing outside the church. The older children actually do a good job of watching their little ones. They  have to feed them and take care of them.  I think it is just amazing to see how much our children are really capable of.   I think sometimes we hold them back because we think they are too young or too immature to handle certain things, when really they are gifted, intelligent beings that can learn and do as much as we teach them. 

 It also really struck us this week just how actually hungry these people are.  There are a group of older boys that come that are around 12-15 years old.  They have got to the point in life where they want to look cool and be accepted, but they must come in and do Bible songs and story time in order to get food. So here they come and they happily sing Jesus Loves Me and listed to David & Goliath!

And I can tell you that every single child, ages 1-15, gets exactly the same thing, whatever is served and does not complain once. I have never heard, "Oh, I don't like the beans with that stuff on it" or "I don't like these kinds of noodles"! They eat and eat until whatever is served that day is gone.  Since I have a "picky" eater, this completely frustrates me. Just moving here and eating at the camp everyday has been a new challenge for Adam. We are working through it and he has eaten more new things than ever before...but we still have a ways to go!  So, there is such a real need and we feel so blessed to be able to help.

I also think it is kind of funny that these kids cut up and get in trouble just like ours back home. If you'll listen, the lady gets on to a group of boys during the singing because they are playing. She tells them they are going to have to come do a solo if they don't start behaving.  Reminds me of doing children's ministry at CCC!

Lexi went with our interns yesterday to a VBS program that they are helping a local church with.
They had over 200 kids come out! Lexi had a great time and fell in love with a little girl named Rosa. Here are some pics.

It's been a good week. We celebrated July 4th with fireworks after night chapel out on the beach with the team and interns.  I've never spent a July 4th in jeans and a sweatshirt!! The weather is actually warming up recently. Its been around 85 during the day and 70s at night. As long as we keep our windows open and fans on, we do just fine. 

Nate has started working on contacting pastors and trying to book appointments for the fall. So, he is taking some time for office work and is not on a build this week.  We will be back in the States in Sept - Oct and need to spread the word about EOC YUGO! They will start booking trips for 2012 soon and would love to have the calendar full!

Um...yeah! This just happened

Yep, we drove off a cliff....literally! So, we are on our way to a feeding program in a village called Lomas Bonitas. The church where the program is held is extremely difficult to find. Its in the middle of this huge village and its not like there are any directional or street signs, so a sweet friend of ours takes us in HER car! There was also a team that wanted to go help, so we were leading 3 vans of people. Nate is driving and me and the kids are in the back. We get to the church where they do the program just fine. And by the way, it is a great program. Children from all over the village walk there to get a hot bowl of soup. Most of them come by themselves, some bring their younger sibling with them. Some moms come with small babies and toddlers. They sing some songs, read a Bible story and then feed the kids and play with them for a little while. As we are heading home, we are all looking out the windows at the sites, as well as Nate, who was driving and we go off the side of this cliff! So scary! It felt much worse than it looked!! Aaron was in the 3rd row seat in the back...before we knew it he had jumped over the seat, past his sister, mother, and baby brother and out the door in a matter of seconds. He said later, "I didn't want to die!" (Note to self: do not put him in charge of fire escape plan..he might get out but the rest of us are toast!!)The rest of us slowly jump down out of the car safely. The team following us stopped and pushed the car back on the road. Thankfully, no one was hurt, not even the car!

I knew this was going to be an adventure!!!

Three Weeks

It has been exactly 3 weeks since we arrived. In some ways it feels like we have been here 3 months and at other times like 3 days. We are learning more and more about life here everyday. We started taking Spanish lessons as a family.  We are picking up new words and sentences all the time.  Nate's new favorite is the word for peanut butter - "manteca de cacahuete"! Thats a tough one! Of course, we HAD to learn to say it because that is Adam's favorite. He wants a pb&j sandwich everyday. He said he is soooo tired of TACOS! HA! We do have a good bit of mexican food here at the camp everyweek, but the funny thing is the food I miss the most is what I think of as Mexican! I miss Montgomery Mexican food! There are no chimichangas here, no cheese dip, and definitely NO SWEET TEA!

Nate took Aaron on a build this week. They are building for a family with a son that has some special needs. Aaron really enjoyed the construction. He hammered and cut and painted and everything else! He loved it. I think for the first time he really got to see why we are here. He also fell through the roof yesterday! Thankfully, he landed on his feet and walked away without a mark! Today is the house dedication where they get to hand the keys over!

I have started helping with the morning chapel services. Luckily they use the same program we used at CCC. So, I was able to jump in and help out pretty easily.

Lexi went out with our media team this week. She loves video and photography, so that is such a great area for her to be involved with. She can learn so much from them.

Our little Adam is having probably the toughest time so far. He really needs a friend here his age. Please keep him in your prayers! We taught him "Quieres jugar?" which means "Do you want to play?" He also knows "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" in Spanish. So, he is getting a little bit more confident with trying to play with some local children.

We have a day trip to San Diego planned for Saturday. We have some shopping to do for things that we need from the states and also are going to pick up a new intern from the airport. We are looking forward to exploring a little more of southern California!

Life in Mexico

Well, we have arrived in Mexico! The travels out here went very well. Nathan and my dad traveled over 2,000 miles across the country in the moving truck and didn't have any problems or difficulties. The kids, my mom, and I all flew and had a wonderful trip.  We made it across the border with all of our things without worry.  The Lord has surely kept us protected through the entire process.
The first week here was spent cleaning, unpacking, and settling in. My parents were able to stay with us for a week and we enjoyed some wonderful times together.  We were able to take them to some of the home sites that were being built and they were able to go to some of our chapel services here. So, they were able to get a really good picture of what EOC YUGO does!
Speaking of EOC, the staff here has made our first few weeks here so easy. They have been beyond helpful as we have settled in. It is wonderful to be a part of such a great community of people. The kids have already connected with alot of the interns and are really enjoying it here.
Nate and Lexi went on their first complete build this week. They are building for a home for a mom, grandmom, and little girl. The little girl is in the pic at the bottom..and their home they were living in is posted there, as well.  They will get to hand the keys over today to a brand new home! (Will post new home pics soon.) Such a blessing! Nate will take Aaron on a build next week.  We will also start helping a local feeding program next week. We will help hand out food a couple of times a week. I'm super excited for the kids to be involved in this program.
We have found some incredible family time since we have been here. We have played board games, watched old movies, and had walks on the beach together. It has been such a great bonding time for us.
We took last Saturday off from unpacking and spent a family day together at a local campground. We rented 4 wheelers and rode all around the mountains. It is so beautiful here! We feel truly blessed to be called to this ministry!