The State of the State

Queretaro is the state in Mexico that has the most people who worship death, or satan.  There are a lot of churches here, and each one is dedicated to a saint - I think that's pretty normal to hear "St. Matthew's Church," or "Church of Saint Thomas."  But in Queretaro there is a "Church of holy death" in a town right by where JP works.  People make pilgimages from the city to the church.  One Christian girl from the US who came to study at the State University here was living with a family who told her "we worship death."  Before I moved to Queretaro, I would have imagined people who "worship death" to be creepy-scary-looking people who are outcast by society.  But not here.  That family that I know that worships the Santa Muerte is super "normal" - they have a cool house, good jobs, and the woman makes and sells yummy tamales in the house in the evenings.  I was going to put a picture of La Santa Muerte (holy death), but I don't want that on my blog.  But if you want to see what it looks like look it up in Google images.

Please pray for the people in the State of Queretaro.  Of course not all worship death.  But so many are lost, and worship things other than God.  Approximately 1% of the population of this state attends a Christian church.  And how many of those people actually have accepted Christ?  The family who I teach english classes to has an altar to their favorite saint set up in their living room.  Queretaro also has the highest rate of suicides in the country and the highest rate of single moms.  It would be a stretch to say "we're suffering for the sake of Christ," because Queretaro is (in my opinion, and the opinions of many queretanos!) the most beautify city in Mexico!  But even though this city SEEMS to be in good shape - athsetically, economically, politically - we are actually in a really poor state of being.  That's why JP and I are here.  And that's why we ask for your prayers - for us as we work with people here, and for the people we minister to. 

The Best Weekend Ever

We just had a ridiculously LONG but SUPER GOOD weekend!!

Why?  Read below!

Singles Conference
JP and I led a group of 24 young people ages 18 to 36 to Cuernavaca (supposedly 3.5 hours south of Querétaro) for a conference for singles at the Horizonte Church in that city.  About 300 people were in attendence, and we had several EXCELLENT speakers that touched on topics that I know many of our young people are dealing with.  At least two of our young ladies are dating guys who aren't Christians, and this topic was talked about very clearly - God's plan for us NOT to be joined together with unbelievers - and I know that these ladies have been thinking about the consequences of their relationships a lot this past weekend.  One of the speakers talked about SERVING the Lord as a single person.  There are SO many opportunities.  And another speaker talked to all the ladies about taking advantage of singleness to serve and living life to the fullest, NOT waiting around for life to "begin" once you get married.  Even JP and I learned a lot of good stuff to apply to our lives!

The group from Horizonte Queretaro at the conference!

Cristina, Pam, and Ramses

The Food
We ate WAY too many tacos at the conference, they brought in the biggest chunk of meat I've ever seen and between 300 people we finished her off!  :)

The Drive
So, as I mentioned above, the drive from Querétaro to Cuernavaca SHOULD be about 3.5 hours.   The 24 of us took off at about 6am from Querétaro in our car, another small car, and a 15 person van driven by JP.  We stopped for about half and hour just outside of Querétaro, as some other people from Querétaro had car problems (they were following us to the conference).  Then we stopped again for potty and coffee break for about 45 minutes.  We entered Mexico City at about 9:30 am.  This will all of the drivers' first time driving in Mexico City - it wasn't half bad!  But one girl got car sick there and we had to try to find a pharmacy to get some dramamine, and kind of got a little bit lost...  We got to the conference at noon - and hour after it started.
Then we left for Querétaro at about 10pm.  And we hit TRAFFIC at 11pm on the parking lot, er, I mean the highway, that circles about Mexico City.  We were stuck on the circle highway for TWO HOURS!  We ended up getting back to QRO at 3am!  But all arrived SAFE, thank God!

Our fearless pilot!

Bus ride! 

(Maricela, Cristina, Andrea, Adrian, Karen, Pam)

Sleep (or lack thereof!)
I don't do well on little or no sleep.  But between the time JP and I woke up at 7am on friday morning and the time we went comatose in bed at 6 pm on sunday, we slept a grand total of 7.5 hours!  And were driving for 10 of them!!  (ok like 11.5 for JP since he has to drive 45 minutes each way to work!)  But it was worth it!

MORE Changes for Horizonte Queretaro
The church leadership of Horizonte was informed of the following this past week:
Juan, the pastor who came after Martin and had gone back to pastor in Ensenada due to health problems, had left his son, Jonathan, as pastor of Horizonte QRO.  However, Juan's health is getting a lot worse (please pray for him!), and he asked Jonathan to please come back to Ensenada to be the permenent pastor there.  So where does that leave us?  With Kike (KEE-kay) and his wife Paulina from Cuernavaca!  Kike had come several times to QRO en the past few years, and had a burden in his heart for the people here (1% evangelical Cristian!).  He and Pau were praying about starting a house church here when Jonathan called up and asked them to pray about pastoring Horizonte Querétaro.  So on sunday, it was annouced that Kike will be our new pastor, beginning that day!  We're sad to not have Jonathan and Evelyn here, but Kike and Pau are awesome, and we know that they will be a huge blessing here!!

Kike and his wife Paulina

Kike and Jonathan

Soccer
The Horizonte QRO girls' soccer team won our second game on sunday!  Just to top of the excellent weekend!!

Dirce, Alma, Ari, me, and Arely after the soccer game

Birthdays and Parents

JP and I had a couple of special days in February...  We both turned 30!  JP on the 20th and me on the 23rd.  My parents were down here for a week too!

Here are some pictures of the fun birthday week!!

Barb and Rick in Mexico City

JP and Jessica in Guanajuato

Us at our birthday party - we had 35 people in our house over the course of the evening!!

Some of the girls from the birthday party!



Fire

Just a while ago I was sitting here at the computer and heard sirens entering our neighborhood.  I could tell that they were really close behind our house, and went out to see what happened.  In the next condominium complex over there was a house on fire.  That particular house in the complex is at the very back, and there is no place for a vehicle to come within probably 30 feet of the house.  So the firemen went in with neighbors' garden hoses and buckets... they didn't even turn on the fire hose.  Some neighbors from our condominium complex told the firemen that they could get the truck right up next to the burning house.  One fireman asked to use my neighbors' ladder to climb the fence into the patio of the burning house.  I was there more than 5 minutes watching the house burn and the firemen try to figure out what to do.  They finally brought the truck around to our complex and put the fire completely out... after having to break windows and have A LOT of the family's stuff burnt.

This really takes away a lot of faith in the fire department for me...

One thing you have to understand about house fires in Mexico is that the houses are built out of concrete blocks, rebar, and plaster, so at least the house structure withstands most fires.  But I imagine that the family's furniture and most everything in their home is ruined...

Everyone got out of the house fine...  A small boy found a lighter in the house and went to go play in the closet.  With the lighter.  You can probably imagine that the clothes caught on fire, then the closet doors, etc.  The dad tried to put the fire out himself but it got too far out of hand and they called the fire department.  I feel so bad for the family because it took about half and hour for the fire to be properly put out!  And, most people who live in these condominiums don't exactly have a lot of extra money lying around in case of emergency, so who knows how they'll put their house back together.  JP and I are going over there now to see if we can help them...  donate bedding, clothes, etc...  Please pray for the family with the burnt house.  We also want to use this opportunity to share Christ's love with them.

Graduation Time!

JP has his graduation and graduation party last week!  We went out to dinner after the graduation with a bunch of friends who'd been with us through all the joys and challenges of school.  Then saturday was the party with JP's school friends!  It was a blast!

Classmates before the graduation ceremony

Us

With Luis and Sandy

JP's dad

The guys in JP's class at the graduation party!

Cesar, Bruno, Fede, Chava, JP, Pacheco

JP, Chava, Elena, Cesar, and Pacheco enjoying the food

Bruno, who spent lots of time in our house over the past few years



Enter the Matrix!

Last week we started a series in Infusion young adults's group called "Enter the Matrix."  It's about living for Christ and not being consumed by the world.  Like John 17:15 - "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."  We are to to live in the world.  But we are to live for Christ!  To be an example of HIM to the world that needs Him! 

So on Saturday night, we talked about what we're investing our time in...  School, a good job, a family, owning your own home, etc.  These are all GOOD things, but they shouldn't be THE things that we're living for.  Our number one focus should be Jesus.  We do (some of!) the things that the world says we need to do, but while we're at it, remember that God has put us here to: KNOW Him, GLORIFY Him, to BE LIKE Him, and to TELL others about Him!

Girls at Infusion: (back) Karen, Pam, Ari, Brisa, (front) Carmelita, Alma, Cinthya

We'll continue "Enter the Matrix" for three more sessions! 

 Jean Paul, Ruben, and Dany

Last week we went out to tacos after Infusion!

On February 12th we're doing a service project for an older woman at Horizonte who lives in a metal taco stand.  We'll be fixing the roof and sides of the stand so water doesn't come in when it rains (two of our young guys can weld), water-proofing the areas where the metal siding is hooked together, and painting the whole stand.  Catita, the woman who lives in the stand, sells candy from her taco stand as her source of income.  We hope to raise enough money to: fix up the stand, bring lunch for the young people who go to work and Catita, and buy lots of candies for her to sell, as well as some pretty containers to display them in.  So far we have 4 paint brushes, the caulking needes for the cracks on the outside of the stand, and two large bags for assorted candies.  Some of Catita's friends from the church are donating a little money to help, and we're going to have a car wash to raise the rest! 

The Example of Daughters

Several months ago, I wrote about Pam and Karen, and their baptism here at Horizonte Church. 
Well, I've been discipling Pam since them (in August), and that has been going well...  She is enthusiastic about learing more about the Bible, and deepening her relationship with the Lord.  Karen works in the mornings and goes to school at night, so I haven't been meeting with her, but Pam shares what we learn together with Karen in their house! 

Pam and Karen's parents were not Christians when I last wrote about this family.  The end of 2010 was an incredibly difficult time for this family - several difficult situations arose, and the dad was getting almost hostile toward people who told him about Christ.  The mom started coming to church in December with Pam and Karen.  One day after church, she asked me to pray with her and her daughters for a difficult family situation.  Pam said she was shocked that her mom asked for prayer!  But that was the beginning of a change in the mom.  She accepted Christ!

A few weeks later, the dad was about at the end of his rope.  He found himself alone and desperate for help.  His siblings have been Christians for years, so he knew of the Message of Salvation.  He knew that he just needed to accept forgiveness from Christ and he would be saved.  So, alone one night, the dad accepted Christ too! 

Now the whole family comes to church on Sundays and you can just see their desire to learn more about Christ!  The parents are kind of shy, but we're introducing them to other couples their age - like Arturo and Fabiola, who have daughters the same age as Pam and Karen and live in the same neighborhood - and are inviting them to a married couples' event on February 12th.  It's really been amazing to see how God is changing this family!

My time with Pam has been great too!  She has so many questions about the Bible - most of which we look up together - and I've been encouraged to study the Bible a LOT more because I realize that I don't know how to answer some of the things she asks!  We have been learing some Bible verses together too, and Pam has her family practice them with her.  They all know John 3:16 now!  :)

Carmelita (friend from church), Karen, and Pam at tacos with the youth group!

I'm SO thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the change that the Lord has brought to this family, and see how GOOD He is!

La Rosca de Reyes

First of all, if you haven't seen the pictures of our New Year's in Mexico City, see post below!

We have another Christmas time holiday here in Mexico that isn't commonly celebrated in other countries (well, maybe Latin America, I'm not sure!)  It's "Wise Men Day."  This is the day where we commemerate the wise men bringing Jesus gifts.  Like Christmas, this day has turned into a gift-buying night-mare, in which the real significance of the day gets totally lost.  But, on January 5th, kids get a helium-filled balloon and attach a piece of paper denoting the present that they want.  Supposedly, the wise men come that night and bring them the gift.  On January 6th, kids wake up and lo and behold, the gift they asked for! 

Since this is a day for kids, adults don't get presents.  We get "Rosca de Reyes" bread. 

This bread is special.  Apart from having candied fruit, figs, and walnuts on top, it carries surprises in it too.  Each rosca contains a little white plastic doll (like a plastic army-man, just it's in the form of a baby) baked inside.  Depending on the size of the rosca, there may be multiples.  And there's a catch to the dolls.  Each person cuts their own slice of rosca.  And if they uncover a doll, or there's a doll hidden in their slice, they must buy tamales for everyone present on February 2.  I guess that's why there's more dolls for a bigger rosca - so tamales for 20 people can be bought between 5 or 6 people.  I ALWAYS get a doll.  Every year.  Last night, JP and I went to a prayer meeting for Horizonte Church leaders.  Being January 6th, we cut a rosca.  JP got a doll.  We foung 5 dolls in total, and there was a lot of rosca left.  I took a slice home, thankful that I didn't owe tamales in February!  And, as I was eating the bread at home, I bit the doll!  But we'll just say it didn't count because I wasn't with the others who cut the rosca when I found it...  :)

Just a little interesting piece of Mexican culture for you!

New Year's in Mexico City!

Jean Paul and I went to Mexico City last week to spend New Year's with his dad (Vic)!  We'd gone to visit before, but always just for Saturday and Sunday.  This time we went December 30 - January 3, almost a week!  It was a relaxing time, and we were also able to be tourists for a while, as well as spend New Year's Eve with Vic's family!

First stop was the Chapultapec Zoo!

I love giraffes!

JP and Vic at the Zoo

New Year's Eve at Grandma Conchita's house!

There were probably about 30 people in total - aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousin's kids (JP and I are the youngest of the cousins)  Most of the relatives were people we'd never met before, or who JP hadn't seen since he was 5!

Here's JP with Aunt Mari (in purple), Uncle Lorenzo (the older gentleman), three cousins and two kids!  We'd met Mari and Loren before, but this was the first time meeting the cousins!

It was great to be considered part of the family even though most relatives hadn't seen JP for almost 25 years!  The little kids even called us Uncle Paul and Aunt Jessi! 

 Here's us with Vic and Grandma!

We rung in the new year in the traditional way - counting down to midnight, then eating a green grape for each of the 12 clock chimes, and singing the National Anthem after.  Jean Paul and cousin Carlos did a piñata for the kids... a piñata filled with manderin oranges, caña (sugar cane?), and jicama!  Now THAT is traditional!

On New Year's Day we headed to a part of Mexico City called Coyoacan.  It's almost like a small town fit into the big City!  But it was PACKED on January 1st - not much is open on New Year's and everyone gets bored, so going to Coyoacan is apparently quite the thing to do!

We ate our very favorite fried quesadillas in the food market!  Uncooked tortillas are filled with cheese and your choice of: shredded chicken, mushrooms, sausage, shredded beef, mashed potatoes, chile poblano, ground beef, or any variety of other foods, including three that are very strange for people in the United States - cooked cactus leaf, the orange flower the grows on the end of zucchini, and CORN SMUT.  Yes, you read correctly - corn smut - the fungus that grows between the husk and the corn on the cob!.  It's actually really good!  Then the uncooked tortilla with it's filling goes into the oil to cook to perfection!  Top it off with hot salsa and a fruit punch pop, and it's EXCELLENT!

Here's JP and Vic at the food market!

And in one of the four HUGE malls that we went to, we found something that's not quite so unusual for people in the States but IS for us:

A Dairy Queen Blizzard!  YUM!

We had a great time in Mexico City, and hope to be going back more frequently, even if just for a weekend, to visit!

Navidad in Queretaro

Christmas time is always fun in Queretaro!  Since we have few family members living in Queretaro, and they were out of town this year, JP and I celebrate just the two of us, but by going to the Centro for the Bible-story-float-parade and the yummy food-booths!

This year we ran into Gaby and her dad!  I lived with Gaby and her teenage kids for my first two years in Queretaro!

Christmas dinner for us consisted of lots of street booth goodies!  This was the first time we'd seen pronto pups - JP LOVES them!!

And my favorite bread EVER - Pan de Acambaro!  It's very soft sweet bread with a few nuts in it, and the ovens are right there under the tarps on the street, so we get it fresh and hot from the oven!

We had a pretty laid back Christmas - the parade, sleeping late, watching movies etc.  It was good!