SUSTAINING GRACE

New Website!

2010-05-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard yet we now have a website. You can click on this link below. It is at

www.sustaininggrace.com

We will be posting similar style post on our website under blog updates.

God Bless.

A couple of pictures

2010-01-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

Quite a crowd to hear Jessie's Dad Mike Weaks preach ALL in Spanish this past Sunday.
He did a really good job after 15 years of not speaking Spanish.

English class Level 2 watching a short video clip for the story of Moses just before we had a break for Christmas.

Men's Retreat photos

2010-01-18T10:49:00.000-08:00

Being in Mexico you can never know for sure if the roads will be paved or not. On our way we found the road was not quite finished yet. Amin is asking the truck driver how long it will be until we can pass. Not more than a minute later we were on our way again driving on gravel roads for over an hour.

Tapalpa was where we went. A small city in the mountains that had some cool things to do. Here is a picture that I took just before we sat down to eat together. Jose, Me and Carlos.

Siggy and Jose. Daniel, Amin, and John. What goofballs!

There was a pretty waterfall that we climbed down and saw in the middle of this valley. We had a good time of prayer during this time. Here Siggy is taking in all the scenery. Daniel and Carlos actually smiling in a picture.

Everyone except for me of course. Daniel, Siggy, Carlos, Amin, John and Jose.
The men of La Roca Church.

We had a boat ride on the lake. It was a bit cold but again we talked about how Jesus took his disciples out on the water and how many lessons the disciples received from Jesus. Me and Daniel in the first one. The second Amin takes a turn driving the boat.

John had to drive to remind him of Canada. Me and Carlos who just left to go to Bible school at our mission headquarters in Tecate, California.

In the morning it was pretty cold. I would say about 35 degrees. That is pretty cold down here. John of course is playing guitar while everyone is eating breakfast. He is the one with the green hat on. He even slept in all of his clothes and hat.

Carlos and the guys sitting around the campfire talking for over three hours about the gospel.

Update

2009-10-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here is two pictures I took of the first night we went to meet with some believers who live outside of Autlan. This is the house of Juana and Fransisco who are on the left side of the picture. They have expressed their desire for a Bible study and prayer time during the week. We are blessed and encouraged by them. We started a Bible study on Friday nights at their house. We can hardly wait to see what God has in-store for these believers.

FYI: The plant that is hanging all around is called chiote, which are similar to potatoes. They have a nice patio area that is really comfortable except when you hit one of the chiotes with your head, they have little prickles all over them.

Norma and Carlos's daughter, Akati, who the girls love to play with.

Here is the first time we got to see Baby Daniel outside of the hospital. The doctors encouraged everyone to wear masks, at least for the first couple of weeks. A quick update about him. John and Elizabeth continue to see Daniel amaze the doctors. After leaving Guadalajara, John and Elizabeth were waiting to see how Daniel's eyes would do. The eye doctor said that if his eyes did not improve he would have to have another surgery. Praise the Lord his eyes improved and he does not need the surgery. The next little hurdle is his hearing. He can hear, but needs to pass a hearing exam. John and Elizabeth are going back to Guadalajara this week to get another test done. Please pray for this new baby. At the end of last week he weighed over seven pounds. YEAH!!! That is much better than two pounds.

2009-09-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am stopping from this whirl-wind experience we are having with all the stuff that is going on. The last update was over a month ago and our lives has been busy since that point. First bit of news is that we found a new home! We stumbled across some guys painting an empty house and found out it was for rent. The price was about the same as what we were paying for our other house. This is the style of house that has a courtyard just on the inside of the house. It is great because it is only two blocks away from La Roca. We have come to find out that it is over a hundred years old. There are many interesting thing about the house. Right now we are in the process of having the roof re-done. It made of tiles and has many leaks. So this week we have a guy here is now removing all of the tiles and placing plastic down and putting the tiles back down so it won't leak. We thought it would only take a day. Going on day three we are hoping today it will be finished and we can put our living room and bedroom back together. After being here for two weeks we feel we have taken a step backwards the way the house looks. We are very happy that the roof won't leak anymore though. We have posted some pictures of the house on clarkcreation. You can take a look if you like. There is a link on side of this page.

The next bit of news is that English classes started last week. I (Andy) am teaching three different levels this year. Level 1, Level 2 and Level 4. It has been a bit of a challenge to focus on class preparation as there are still so many things that need to get done in our house. Jessie is again teaching level 3 this year. I have over 25 students in both level one and two. Pray that God gives us opportunities to speak into the lives of our students.

Other exciting news. John and Elizabeth have brought Daniel home. They have to get his eyes checked to see if he needs another eye surgery but as of right now everything is going very well for them. He is just about 6 pounds which is really a big difference than 2 pounds. They are all adjusting to life together. I have yet to see him due to a cold, but Jessie was able visit them on Friday and actually got to hold him. She said is a cute little baby just small. Please pray for them during this time of transition.

2009-08-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a few photos, something I haven't done in a while. Last week I went up the mountain near our house a few times to pray about the ministry in Autlan. It really helped me focus on what we are doing here. During my time on the way up, I thought you would like to see how people get there water up in the mountains. Here they use big plastic jugs that they fill up and bring to their houses. Seeing this makes me realize how good we have it, where we live. It would be hard to carry your water up the mountain everyday. In this picture they use a donkey to carry the jugs. The house behind it is adobe, which is bricks that are made out of mud that haven't been heated. They still use these bricks off and on. It is more expensive to use the normal bricks and cement, so this might be all they can afford to build their houses.

I meant to post this when we got back from Guadalajara the first time 2 half weeks ago. This is baby Daniel. He is doing well. This morning he weighs 3 lbs. 1oz. which is such a wonderful answer to prayer. He has been gaining weight more quickly now. A few weeks ago they would weigh him everyday. He wouldn't gain anything or very little. Then he started gaining 15 grams a few times. Now they weigh him every other day and he gains close to 80 grams in two days. We hope and pray that this continues to be the case. The faster he grows the sooner he will be able to come home to Autlan. Below is John the father (our ministry partner). Can you see the resemblance? John was in Autlan for a few days trying to get the process started for a birth certificate. He is now back in Guadalajara.

Tuesday

2009-08-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Last week was a very busy week. We went to visit John and Elizabeth on Monday and Tuesday, I started working at La Roca all week. It was a bit different to be gone from 3:30 PM to 11:00 PM everyday. It was a great time to catch up on some maintenance at La Roca.

The week ended with some sad news. Our dog Denver ran away on Thursday. He was a small Fox Terrier who loved to run. He got out underneath our front gate just after I left to return some videos. I want looking for him right after I got back about 30 mins or so later. He was no where to be seen. After a few hours it was evident that he was not coming back. We even put up signs with his picture on it with our phone number. As we started talking to people, no one had seen him. They also said there is a good chance that someone just picked him up and took him away. The worst part is not knowing what happened to him.

Today, I walked up the mountain close to our house and had a great time of prayer. (The picture of at the top of the page is of the mountain.) Someone back in states reminded me how important it is to pray and how it is a good idea to prayer walk. As I sat up there on the mountain next to "Mary Alter" I was compelled to pray that the people of Autlan would become hungry for the God's word and God would reveal Himself to them. There are many people who try so hard to earn their salvation. Our hope is in Him and not ourselves. We all have fallen short of the glory of God. It is God who redeems us.

Wednesday

2009-08-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Norma and Carlos the couple who were staying at our house for a few days had a baby boy Ariel Isiahi was born of Thursday morning. Both Mom and baby are doing great back at home. We plan to visit them this week. I am not sure about the weight and height but he looks really good.

On Monday, we again went to see John, Elizabeth and Daniel but this time we took some other people as well. We took Ady and her two kids Denora and Daniel as well as Barbara. Our girls came and were glad to see John and Elizabeth. It was the first time they had seen Elizabeth since leaving Mexico. Our girls have been praying for Daniel almost every night before they go to bed so it was good they finally got to see who they were praying for.

This week, Ady our waitress for La Roca needed some time off, so I am working at La Roca all week. This is a good thing because it gives me plenty of time to catch up on maintenance at La Roca when we are not busy. The shelves I wanted to build before I broke my toe will finally get finished as well as lots of little things that have needed to get fixed or painted.

Update on Baby Daniel:
Last e-mail John and Elizabeth sent out, Tuesday August 11.

This process can be a roller-coaster ride. A few days ago when we saw him in the afternoon his color was pale and his little eye lids were red tipped. Also his heart was slowing often. The doctor was just going on vacation (he set up substitutes) and his normal nurses were on their day off. So all the people that were around him were new and didn’t know that he looked different and weren’t going to do anything about it. On top of that they are not used to little white babies so his color would be harder for them to identify. So we had to ask them to call the doctor. The doctor had a blood test taken right away and discovered that his Hemoglobin was down. The next morning he was given his second transfusion. There was blood left over for him from the last one. He looked and felt much better.On a positive note the eye doctor looked at his eyes early and said that they were fine so far and he would repeat the exam in 8 days. Maybe we will avoid a laser surgery? The doctor said his heart rate was slowing because of a condition that happens to them when they eat through a feeding tube. The doctor says that is normal and that it is just that the tube agitates them a bit.

So once we got through that and felt better he started having reflux which looked rather dramatic because his heart and oxygen goes down to about half and they send us out of the room to suction away the guck that comes up. Apparently that is normal for a preemie too. They have changed his position, put him on some medicine and are feeding him more slowly so that he digests the food as it comes in rather than filling up his stomach and have it burp back up. They say that his little valve in the stomach will mature and close as he grows and he will pass this stage.

On the upside he is now 1 kilo and 50 grams. They gave him more calories and alternated mother’s milk with formula. His cheeks are more puffy and we notice more meat on his legs and arms. He is getting a round tummy like his father has developed. There is a Krispy Kreme donuts here in the city and I find it hard not to visit once in a while. Tomorrow they are going to see if his hemorrhage has cleared up in the brain.

We thank you for your continued prayers and concern. We keep hearing of people who are still praying for him daily. If you would remember these details when you pray again that would be appreciated. We will give you an update on these things soon. God bless.

John and Elizabeth

We are back in Mexico!!!

2009-08-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

WE ARE BACK IN MEXICO!!!

We have hit the ground running. Everyday we have something that takes up most of the day. We got back on Wednesday night. Those first couple of days we were in recovery mode with Lilly and Aletta throwing-up on the way home. Sunday, we went to church (I preached), a birthday party, and I worked at La Roca. Monday, we visited Guadalajara to see John, Elizabeth and Baby Daniel. Right now we have a family staying with us that are about to have a baby. They live to far out of Autlan and do not have a car so they are staying with us to be close to the hospital. Needless to say we have been busy since getting back from the states. Everyday I mean to update. I start but never finish. So today I determined to finish.
Furlough was great. We had wonderful time all the places we went. We were so encouraged by our visits. It was a breath of fresh air for us. Even with being sick off-and-on through out our time in the US, we still loved being in the states. Every step of the trip, we were so encouraged by the love we felt from other believers. We were able to share with many of you face-to-face which is so much better than e-mail. We hope and pray that your faith was encouraged by hearing what God is doing here in Autlan.

For those of you who have been praying for Baby Daniel, John and Elizabeth's baby, please continue to pray for him. Pray that God would would continue to help him to grow. If you have a Facebook account John has post a few video's of Daniel. One is of Daniel when he was only 30 minutes old. We were so happy to be able to finally see him on Monday. He looks really good for a preemie. Thank you for praying for him!

2009-07-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is an update that was written by John today. I thought I would post it for those of you who have been praying for John and Elizabeth.
Andy

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to give you an update on things. Daniel is doing very well. He continues to breath on his own. He weighed 880 grams when he was borne and now has lost weight (which is normal) and is 715 grams. His waist is 19 ½ cm his height is 32 ½ cm. He will stop loosing weight in a few days. He should be out of the lights soon which will slow his rate of loss. Also he is starting on his mother’s milk today via feeding tube which will also help. His infection appears to be clearing up and they will do a test tomorrow. We feel that he is going to make it and do well due to your prayers. It seems our faith is becoming sight. We are not out of the woods yet so please keep praying. You have all been such a blessing to us, you can’t imagine. We saw one eye open up today when they turned off the lights. It was blue like Elizabeth and we wonder if it will stay blue. He has a perfect shaped head just like his father. His little cry is absolutely heart breaking and we are filled with love for our son.

We have been shown so much love and kindness by all of you and many Mexican people here. We have a free place to stay in Guadalajara now thanks to Jeff and Lisa King our language teachers from 5 years ago. The Hotel refunded our money for the month that we booked (I will always remember their kindness). Plus some very kind people have responded to help with our bills and we thank them so much. Every bit helps allot. If you feel that someone needs to be forwarded this update don’t hesitate to do so. It is hard to get everyone when things are so crazy right now. Thanks to Bethany Baptist for sending us a good quality breast pump and prayers. That’s all for now. We will try to send pictures on our next update. We also have a video of Daniel when the Pediatrician was reviving him and we will put that on facebook when we get the chance. I am going to Autlán tomorrow to pay bills and take care of some business. My sister Charlene is flying in tonight to be with us for a week. Bless her soul. It may be a couple of days until I get a chance to update since I am going to Autlan round trip tomorrow. Don’t worry I am getting better sleep and can drive perfectly safe. God bless.

John

Update on John and Elizabeth

2009-07-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

A CALL FOR PRAYER!

Elizabeth gave birth to Daniel at 7:45 last night. We do not know how much he weighed but Elizabeth said he was very small. Elizabeth gave birth in our small town of Autlan. A few hours after he was born he was transported by ambulance, with John, to Guadalajara. I just got word that he made it through the 3 hour drive to Guadalajara and is now in the best hospital available. Daniel is fighting for his life. Also please pray for Elizabeth as she is still in Autlan.

A call for PRAYER!

2009-07-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

A CALL FOR PRAYER!

Dear beloved of the Lord,

We are in need of your prayers. Elizabeth Rodgers our ministry partner that many of you met at our home Church in June has gone into Labor. She is only 27 weeks pregnant (just into her third trimester) and the baby is a bit small as well. If they are able to stop her labor, an ambulance will transfer her to Guadalajara where she will be able to get better medical care.

We ask for you prayers for John, Elizabeth and baby Daniel. John and Elizabeth had been told they could never have children so this baby was already a miracle from the Lord. Let us pray for another miracle.

We will keep you posted.

A funny video of worship music at La Roca Church

2009-07-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Can you tell John was a Metal head when he was younger?

Quick update

2009-06-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

We have been extremely busy since leaving Mexico on Furlough. Right now, there are 9 children ages 1 through 8 years old, running around me so I won't even try to write something right now, in Illinois.

Here is Jessie leading worship at Church Upon the Rock. The next picture is of Jessie, John and Elizabeth at our old College Bethany College of Missions just before we shared with the students about our ministry.

Here are some pictures from our town that I meant to put up before we left. The first is of the sugar cane factory and the second is of one of the trucks full of sugar cane waiting to go into the factory. Sugar cane is one of the main crops in our state of Jalisco.

The first is of rows and rows of the plant that tequila is made of. It takes 8 years before it is ready to be harvested. Our state of Jalisco is known for it's major production of Tequila, which is creates a huge problem of Alcoholism through out Mexico. The second is one taken in a local park that we were walking through. The breaker box is wrapped to a tree. There are no such organizations like OSHA in Mexico.

A quick update

2009-05-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Mountain side just near our house.

We are doing well here. We are seeing the weather changing. Last night we had our first rain fall in 10 months. Jessie and I jumped out of bed late last night when we thought we though we heard it falling. Autlan is incredible dry and dusty right now, not to mention really hot! Rain was such a great sight to see. It was only for a short time but it was so refreshing. With this change comes humidity. We are beginning to feel the heat more intensely during the days. We have been told that we are in the midst of the hottest time of the year. It is dry heat right now. While we are on furlough, we will miss half of the rainy season, which is when the heat goes down but the humidity goes up.
My foot is healing nicely. Last Wednesday, I got my stitches out. Looking at my toe now, doesn't bother me any more but before I could hardly look at it. Looking at how big the cut is on my toe, I am sure glad that I was wearing tennis shoes and not sandals. I would have lost the whole tip of my toe along with my toe nail. I am grateful to the Lord that I am not in a lot of pain.
It couldn't have happened at a better time (if you can plan on breaking your toe). With the swine flu, La Roca has been shut down as well as all the English classes and many are not attending our bible studies. We are also preparing for furlough. It takes a lot of work to get everything ready for 6 weeks. So it has been helpful to sit down and work on planning.

Dia del Nino

2009-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

La Roca church (our church plant) put on a big event for children's day. It is the same as Mother's day but for kids. We had it at a local park. Here are some of the pictures of the event. Jessie, Aletta, and Lillian were still sick during this time which was about three weeks ago.

Here is some pictures of the puppet show we had as well as the music
we started the event off with.

John, Daniel and Carlos barbecuing some hot dogs. A lot of hot dogs.
You can't have a party without a pinata.

A picture of the amount of people who were there which was around 100 people.
The second is of a short drama that I was apart of.

The older kids had to walk as a group from one place to the next. Not an easy task with each one of their feet tied to the person next to them.

Nothing like a parachute to through water bloons up in.

We had a good day for the kids. They all had fun. After the games there was a swimming pool that most of the kids enjoyed before lunch. We were blessed to have so many people there in the midst of the swine flu. God be the glory for what went on. We have planted some seeds in these kid's hearts. We pray that God would open up the hearts of the people in Autlan.

Our first experience at a Mexican hospital.

2009-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Today, Andy dropped a heavy piece of plywood on his foot and broke his middle toe. The wood severed his toe nail off but the Dr. ended up sewing it back into place because without it his bone was completely exposed. Poor Andy was in so much pain! He is now on crutches and will be off his feet most likely for the next week or two while he heals.

Strange times..........

2009-05-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

First let me say that we are well! Yes, me(Jessie) and the girls got sick with colds and the flu. I was sick for about three weeks. First it was a cold, that turned laryngitis, that turned into a terrible cough. Then, just as I was starting to feel better, the girls got sick with the flu and I, of course, got it as well. No, this was not the swine flu, at least we have no reason to believe it was. We must remember that most cases of the flu are still just the common flu we are used to. All that to say, we are all feeling better now and almost fully recovered.

No cases of the swine flu have been reported in our state of Jalisco but that does not keep this small city of Autlan from remaining calm. Everything is shut down, all schools are closed, and even businesses, that has not been asked to shut down, have closed their doors. The American Consulate as even urged us to stock pile powered milk and non perishables foods! I would say about half of the town is wearing surgical masks. Many are choosing to stay home. Even the cultural hand shake and kiss greeting has been reduced to a simple head nod. This is all drastically effected our ministry. We feel like life has taken a pause. Almost all of our ministry events have been canceled, because no one will attend. As of today the Coffee house (La Roca) will closed down for the next week. For us, this is a time of prayer! We thank all of you who are praying for us.

Something that we do need at this time is hand sanitizer. We are being advised to wash our hands whenever we come in contact with people. This is not easy to do when you are out shopping or in the downtown market. Autlan is completely out of hand sanitizer and we discovered yesterday that Guadalajara is as well. I was also told that hand sanitizer is shipped from Mexico City, so we should not expect to see it any time soon. All of us missionaries (us, Rogers, & Bruggermans) could use some and if anyone would like to ship some to us, we would greatly appreciate it.

Andrew & Jessica Clark
Gavilan 78
Fracc. La Paloma
Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco
Mexico c.p 48900

Prayer request

2009-04-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

Jessie has been sick for over a week and half now with a cough first and then it turned into the flu. She would cough through the night and be quite tired though out the day. Now she is dealing with fever and chills off and on as well as being really tired. So life has been about getting better. The girls have been sick as well. Off and on they have had fevers and colds since last week. They seem like they are doing better at times but then as the day goes on they seem to go down hill. Each one will have a fever at different times through out the day. Sometimes all they want to do is just sit there. I say this to ask for your prayers.
Also this weekend we are having an event with church for Children's day. We are anticipating over 100 kids who will come. God willing we will be able to handle all of them. Hopefully we will all be better before then.
I, (Andy) Praise the Lord, have not gotten sick during this time. I have been a bit tired from the girls getting up during the night, but that is about it.

Thank you in advanced for your prayers. They make all the difference.

2009-04-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Before I add a bunch of pictures to our blog, I wanted to first write a bit. I haven't sat down a written anything for a while, things have been busy. Anna had her fifth birthday last week, which was a blast with a big blow-up jumping thing. It was good, because we had some of our friends come over with their daughter, as well as a few other people. It was a good time.

Last week, we started another Alpha course. We had a few people show up. It is a real experience to actually see who comes. In this culture, they will tell you they are coming and you never see them. So, we had about 5 people there and we had a good talk afterward. We hope for more people to come this week.

I have changed my day that I meet with Daniel and Denora. It is now on Saturdays, because of Alpha on Fridays. It works better to have it on Saturday. Unfortunately Daniel has been sick for about a week and was unable to make it. Denora, I think, didn't want to walk by herself to La Roca. I am not totally for sure what happened to her on Saturday. This past week, a young guy named Ivan, who is the nephew of one of the ladies who goes to our church, was having some problems. He was struggling with suicide. Barbara asked John if he could talk with him after Alpha on Friday night. John agree to talk to him. After Alpha he came with Barbara and two friends, Fransisco and Ceaser. While John was talking to Ivan, I ended up playing cards with his friends and Barbara. It is turning out to be good thing. The following Saturday, Fransisco came as well as Christian, another young guy who is a believer. Ivan had to work, but when I spoke with him on Sunday he said that he was going to come next week. Below is a picture of the group of us while playing cards.

Ceaser, Fransisco, Ivan (who is Barbara's nephew) Barbara & Christian.
Also, I took a photo of me and Fransisco, who often comes to La Roca through out the week.

pictures of the Cathedral of Autlan

2009-03-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christian bookstore at La Roca coffee house. It is the only one in Autlan. If it looks weird, I took two pictures of it and put them together.

Here we are doing some praise and worship at a church near the Regional training center. The pictures were taken just before service started. The pastor is also a Tecate International Missionary.

This is Audie, Daniel and Denora. Audie is one of two employees of La Roca. Daniel and Denora have been reading the gospel of Luke with me on Friday nights. They are good kids.

The next pictures are of the main cathedral of Autlan. The place was empty because of Carnival. You can see what we are up against here in Autlan. I have seen the place filled to capacity for mass. That is a lot of people. These people are so blinded.
They think they can earn their way to heaven.

This picture was taken from La Roca so you can see how close La Roca is to the cathedral.

Carnival

2009-02-17T06:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings from warm Autlán! I’m so happy to be getting out this much-needed update to you. It’s Carnival time for Autlán. Carnival is huge here and everyone participates in it in one way or another. A lot of things shut down for this event, including our English school and coffee house. We wish we did not have to, but during Carnival, students stop coming to class and La Roca gets very few costumers. So during Carnival, we will be working on many “special projects” that are always on are to do list, but never get done. Although we have never been here for Carnival, we have heard enough about it to dread its arrival.

Bands start playing at 10am and the party goes all day and all night for the next 11 days. What I have been told shocks me and reminds me why we are here. People lay drunk and passed out on the sidewalks and the downtown fills with the stench of urine and vomit. It is know in Autlán as a time of letting lose and giving yourself over to whatever feels good. A shocking amount of teen pregnancies come out of this event, as well as abortion. Our La Roca coffee house is on one the streets that will be block off to party goers and alcohol venders, thus, we will be shutting our doors for the next two weeks. We ask for your prayers during this time. We are praying for the young believers and those who have come to us searching for truth.

The tan building behind the booths is a school. They are serving alcohol right in front of children all day long. This picture was taken at about 12 in the afternoon. There are many more people in the night time.

Two of the many booths. Tequila is the drink of choice, as it is produced in Mexico .
One of Autlan's major crops is the Tequila plant.

Some cowboys who are leading some bulls to the bull ring.

The park that was all decorated during Christmas is now again full of bulls and bull fighters.

A quick update.

2009-01-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

With our first Christmas behind us, we are now getting back into the swing of life. Jessie and I both are teaching again. We have started a few Bible studies. I have just started one that is with Adie's kids (one of our waitresses at La Roca, as well as a new missionary with Tecate). Dinora and Daniel are their names. Dinora is 10 and Daniel is 12. They just gave their hearts to the Lord only a short time ago during Sunday school. They are sweet kids. They are the first young people in our church plant. I want to be faithful with the ones we have right now and as we grow as a church, hopefully and God willing, we will be able to disciple more young people.

Jessie went on a woman's retreat over the weekend, so it was just me with girls. The girls have been under the weather with colds, so it was good to have a nice and relaxing day at home while mom was away. They enjoyed watching a couple of episodes of Little house on the Prairie. Anna is understanding more and more. She would have watched the show the whole day if I would have let her.

We had a close call with our dog on Saturday morning. Denver, our young Fox Terrier, decided to chase after a man walking down the opposite side of the street. One of the roads we live on is pretty busy street. I was loading Jessie's things in the car before she left. I looked over and called for Denver. Before I knew it, he was rolling underneath a car that was driving down the road. It happened so fast. Denver started running back to our house, but was stumbling and falling and crying in pain. Thank goodness he didn't have a scratch on him. It put some fear into him, though. He won't go out in our patio, unless there is someone with him now. This is a big lesson for me as well. This is the first time I have had a dog. It has been a challenge for me to start training him. I guess I am needing to really work on it with him.

A picture of Denver

I had a chance to catch up with a guy that has been really showing signs of change in his life. His name is Ivan. He is young guy in his middle 20's that has gone through some hard life struggles. Over the last couple of months, he along with another guy, have been reading over the book of John with me and John. As he talked with me, I could see that God is working on him. Something that I was really encouraged by was that over the vacation time, he said that he prayed for the first time out loud in his room. He said that he usually prays before he goes to bed in his mind. For someone who has never prayed out loud before, this is a big step. I was able to share with him some scriptures about being obedient to God. After sharing, I prayed for him again. His response was "I am not ready yet to pray out loud, but I will let you know when I am". Some might see this as a discouragement. I saw this is a moment of God growing him. What I mean by that is, I can't do anything to make him pray. All I can do is wait for the fruit of what God is doing. This is Ivan.

This is a random picture taken from our car. Sorry it is a little smudged, the glass in our car was dirty. Who knew that a pickup truck was a family vehicle - the extended family vehicle. They are probably headed to a party. I would say about 15 people are in this truck if not more.

FM3s

2009-01-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

We are legally residents of Mexico now!!!

Praise the Lord!!!
We had been tourist visas but now were are here under ministers visas. We got them in Guadalajara on Monday. It was a long process about 3 months or so from start to finish with all the paperwork and traveling to Guadalajara twice. These visas are good for five years. We do have to renew them every year but far less work. Thank you to all those who helped us with extra support. We are grateful.

2009-01-20T19:26:00.001-08:00

A few Sundays ago we did something that we should have done a few years ago. We had the girls dedicated at Church. It was such a special event for Andy and I. Our prayer is that we will live a life in Christ that our little girls will follow. You know that song by Philips, Craig, and Dean that says, "Lord I want to be just like you, cause he wants to be just like me". It's so true, huh! Well, here is a couple of pictures from that event.

Drama and Christmas in Autlan

2008-12-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a few pictures of our drama we did downtown that I have been meaning to post.
Never knew Jesus could be bald did you?

This one is of us in our little choir. Jessie even had a solo during one of the songs. It was a really good experience for us. We had over 200 people watching us. John shared a message after we finished the drama about how sin can get in the way of us coming to God. Several people have said they were touched by the drama. You can see the back of my head in the little group of guys on the right side. Jessie is in the middle group. You can see only the top of her head.

This is a picture several days after we did the drama.
I wanted to show a little bit how decorated the park is during this Christmas season.

This is the gazibo in the middle of the park. It is a full nativity scene.

This is to the right and the left of the gazibo.

As you can see they spray everything down with white stuff that makes it look like snow. Most people in Autlan have never seen snow. My personal favorite is the palm tree with Christmas lights almost to the top of the tree.

This picture was a little bit disturbing. It is a new addition this year. There were more people looking at this part than any other part. When we asked a few Mexicans as to why they had put this in the nativity scene they did not know. There are three devils who seem to be dancing in hell. It is located directly behind Mary and Joseph. It is a reminder to us that we are in a battle all the time.

English class Christmas Party

2008-12-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

Jessie and Sandra making a Mexican punch called Ponche.

One our students Jesus playing Mexican love songs after we sang some Christmas Carols.

Lillian is up way past her bedtime.

All kinds of Mexican food for the party.

Some students of Jessie's level 3 class.

Level four and five students playing games and eating.

Decorations and three pinatas helped change the class room into a party room.

Church

2008-12-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

Here I am at church lighting our advent candle. I read John 14:1-6 about Jesus being the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Thanksgiving update

2008-12-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

OK, it has been a little while since I last posted. With this time of year things are pretty busy as they are back home.

Thanksgiving. It was over a week ago now. We had our thanksgiving meal at the Bruggemans. They have the most room as they live at the Regional training center. We started our first meal at 2:30 PM with just us Americans. We didn't have to worry about speaking Spanish which is a nice change. After the meal we watched a Christmas movie "The miracle of Mr. Tummey" or something like that. After that Elizabeth's English class level 4 came to have another meal. We were so stuffed by the end of the night. Jessie made a great pumpkin cheese cake among other things.

One thing that was really good was that two of the guys that came were the guys John and I have really been getting to know. Their names are Ivan and Daniel. They have continued to come to a Bible study on Friday nights for the last two months. We have been challenging them to make a decision to follow Christ but they seem to take a long time to make this decision. I would ask for your prayers for both of these guys. They are best friends and have a lot of influence on each other. They both have given up drinking for various reasons and with out God's help I fear they will turn back to it. John and I are amazed that they continue to come every week to learn more about the Bible.

Choir update, We are going to be on stage downtown on the 19 of Dec. It will be very exciting for us to be out there. Last night I drove by downtown and there were dancers dancing on the stage. There were many people sitting in chairs & standing around watching. It will be great for us to share with people hope for their lives.

Other people God is working on are Roberto and his wife. Roberto is a level 3 student in Jessie's class. Jessie has said that he always wants to know more about the Bible in class. He came into La Roca a couple of weeks ago and talked with John for an hour and a half about the Bible. One of the things that is really a challenge for him and his wife is that they see that the prayers they are praying over and over have no value to them. John and I got to share with them on Friday night again. They are searching for truth. John gave them a book that was written by an ex-priest from the catholic church who shares his testimony, as well as some of the false teaching that Mexican catholics believe. Roberto came to church on Sunday to check out our small little church. We didn't get a chance to talk with him before he left, as he had somewhere else to be right away, but I am sure that he will let us know on Wednesday what he thought. Here is a picture of him with John on Sunday before church started.

I am very excited to tell you that my brother Ben is coming for Christmas. He is going to a youth conference 12 hours away from us, but is flying into Guadalajara and staying with us for three day before it starts. This will be our first visitor here in Mexico. I am also excited to share with him what it is we do here, not just by phone or pictures. I can't wait to see him.

The women's Bible study

2008-12-07T12:35:00.000-08:00

The women's Bible study at our house on Friday night.
There were a few ladies who were not there as well.

We are all under the weather

2008-11-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

Here we are a less than a week away from Thanksgiving and it is still just as warm as can be. It has changed at night time to drop in temperature but the days are still as warm as a Minnesota day of sun. With this bit of change, it still brings colds and flues. Over the last week all of us have come down with colds and sore throats. It is the kind that just makes it difficult to do normal things and not the kind that puts you in bed for days on end. All the girls are more whiny and crying more. Jessie and I both have taken naps in the afternoon at various times.

One thing that we are excited about, is our church doing a Christmas outreach. We will be singing three Christmas songs as well as doing a Drama. We are doing "Everything" by Light house. It is on God tube and You tube. We hope with the time that we have left we will be able to do it well. We are grateful for your prayers for this event. We know that Satan does not like what we are doing.

English Classes are continuing. There is a lot of seeds being planted. My last homework assignment was for my students to take a gospel of John in Spanish and read chapter 3 and summarize it using only English. I told them they could take it as far as they wanted to go with it. I am excited to see what they will do with it and how God will reveal himself to them.

Few more pictures

2008-11-10T06:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic. of us and our ministry partners that we work very closely with, John and Elizabeth Rodgers. We are so blessed to know them. We love you guys and thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to serve Him with you!

Our church had a baptism in a river just outside of Autlan. Here is John sharing some scriptures with us about baptism and what it represents.

This is Norma and Carlos (pictured below). They have only been Christians for a very short time. Being baptized for most Mexicans happens when they are babies. It is not the baby's decision to get baptized. So to new believers being baptized is a statement of faith. They are choosing to identify themselves as a follower of Christ. They are a very financially poor young family and are continuously in need of our prayers.

Our mission conference

2008-11-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

Every year our mission has an annual conference. With the growth in Autlan, this year the leaders came down from Tecate, California, & had the conference here. There were five of the leaders that came, including our mission director, Ron Huffman. The theme of the conference was "The hand off" focusing on passing the baton off to others. The baton represents our faith & that we need to pass others. The theme verse was 2 Timothy 2:2.

"And these things you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. "

It is a good reminder that we need to bring others to Christ and teach them to pass their faith on to others. It was an encouraging time for us. They also shared the vision 50/50. The mission will be 50 years old in 2012 and the vision is to have 50 different ministries under Tecate Mission International. Right now there are only 25 or so. One of the highlights was the time we were able to spend getting to know the leaders personally, as well as them getting to know us. This was the first time we had met some of them.

Here are some pictures that we got from our director's camera.
He is the guy standing next to me. (Andy)

John, Elizabeth, Jessie and I did worship on Tuesday during the conference.
The second is of us during one of the morning sessions.

We had some time of fun with team-building games.

The banquet we had using an Olympic theme.

Ok, these are a little scary I know, but they are right in front of the Government building downtown. It is part of the celebration of the day of the dead which was October 31 and November 1. I am not totally for sure which day they celebrate it, but they have festivities both days. Both of these stand over 15 feet tall.

This is right inside of the Independence building (the main governmental building). It is a shrine dedicated to the dead. You can see the shelf is covered with little skulls. This is one area that needs to change in this culture. They pray for their dead relatives in hope that if they are in purgatory, they will be released and go on to heaven. It is reminder how deceived people can become.

This is us at La Roca church, with our mission leaders attending.

Funny thing happened today

2008-10-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

A funny thing happened to us today. We were getting ready for church when Jessie and I both agreed that we were going to get to church early for a change. It is a bit difficult to get to church with 3 little girls who all have to have their faces washed, hair brushed and clean clothes on. We also try to get the house cleaned up from Saturday night choir practice, which is at our house. So, today we decided to get going earlier. We made it to church at 10:50 AM, 11:00 is when church starts. Our church is still small at this point, maybe 8 to 10 people, so when someone is not there, you notice. Mexican culture is such, that people arrive somewhere in between 11:00 and 12:00 to church. John, Elizabeth, Jessie and I decided to start service with the four of us at 11:15, so people would start getting the idea that we were trying to start church at 11. We finished singing about 11:45 AM or so and still no one had shown up. We all were confused, because this had not happened before where no one came to church. We decided to talk about the up coming conference next week that our mission is doing here for us. (Some of the main leaders of Tecate our coming down for it). At 12:10, Carlos and Norma come walking in. They informed us that it was only 11 AM. We had no idea that daylight savings time happened last night. Not more than 5 minutes later, the other members of our church arrived as well. We all had a good laugh about it. We did get to go over the music before anyone had gotten there. Unless someone would have told us, we would have left and gone home wondering why no one came to church today.

Our house video & update

2008-10-12T16:39:00.001-07:00

We have posted a guided tour of our house on http://www.clarkcreation.blogspot.com
if you want to see it.

During Christmas time, there are a lot of events happening. Our church is putting together a choir to sing in the center of town. We are very excited about this. Two and a half years after John and Elizabeth did a choir event, they still get comments about how nice it was and how they would love to see it again. Music is a great way for us to reach out in to the community. They love music here. The church is still really small and having a way to interact outside of Sunday service is good way to get people connected.

One couple that came to our church is Carlos & Norma. They have a one year old daughter named Acady. They told us some of their story of becoming Christians. When they decided to step out of the Catholic church, the church erased their marriage records, as well as their whole family not supporting them in their decision. Often times, the whole family will push new Christians out of the family. They feel the pressure from their family continually not agreeing with them about not attending the Catholic church. That is where our church can meet some of their needs. The body of Christ is not just going to church on Sunday mornings, it has to be more. They need the body of Christ, they need the fellowship. Often new believers will give in and go back to the Catholic church, where everyone in their family attends.

Lady of Guadalupe

2008-10-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of when I went up the mountain where the Mary altar is in Autlan.
The first is from just outside of our house. You can see it anywhere you are in the city.

They have mass once a month, as well as a festival each year, where people will crawl on their hands and knees for penitence. It is a sad to see so many people who don't know the truth.

There are candles burning all the time. The walls are completely black, as you can see, from all the candles that have been burned.

This is inside the doors. They will leave flowers for a few of the different saints. The picture is of the Lady of Guadalupe, which is why the whole place was built.

Independence day celebration

2008-09-26T12:53:00.001-07:00

One of Mexico's days of Independence was on Sept 15th this week. We ended up going to see a dance show in front of the town hall. There was a big stage set up with a set of bleachers that was about 6 or 7 rows of seating. It was not going to work when we had two strollers for Lilly and Aletta. They brought out chairs that were in between the bleachers and stage & it was there we found enough seats for all of us to sit down. We waited around for a while for the show to start. A lady got on the microphone and started the program by talking about what groups were going to be dancing and by welcoming everyone to the Independence celebration. It was at this point she started speaking English. She said very clearly "And we want to welcome all the people who have come from the United States to be with us here tonight." Talk about being pointed out in a crowd. It was instantaneous that the whole crowd of people were now looking at us four gringos (John, Elizabeth, Jessie and I) with three little girls sitting in the front row. We just laughed and looked at each other. I looked down the row where we were sitting and all eyes were on us. Here was our unofficial welcome to the small town of Autlan, Jalisco, Mexico.It was a great eye opener to know that even being here a short amount of time, we are being recognized. We had someone just come to our door today saying that someone had told them that Americans live here and that they might buy something from them. We are not in Guadalajara any more.
The English classes are an instant involvement in meeting a need. A lot of college students need to have some level of English before they graduate. A number of Jessie's students are middle age people who need to learn English for their job. Elizabeth has said that she is already getting more ministry opportunities than she has ever gotten before, this early in the school year. God is doing great things. We are only starting to see the fruit from the seeds that have been planted. We are blessed to be apart of what God is doing here in Autlan.

Here are some pictures of La Roca

2008-09-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have tried three times to put on a video of La Roca coffee house. It did not work, so here are some pictures instead.

The back terrace of La Roca. The classroom where we are teaching English.

What you see when you get up the stairs. The kitchen where we make the coffee drinks.

The front room where there are Christian materials in Spanish and English.

The terrace and the middle room for more seating. The book shelf is where some of the games are stored, such as Uno, Phase Ten or Skipbo. They get a lot of use.

These photos are just to give you an idea as to what La Roca is like. We hope to give you more as time goes on, as we do ministry here.

Jessie and I both will be teaching English classes at La Roca. I will be teaching level 2 and Jessie will be teaching level 3. They are both on Wednesday nights. It will take a little juggling with the girls, but we are very excited to be a part of this ministry. There is over 100 students at this time. Last year there were only 60, so you can see the need and the ministry is growing. Level one alone has 60 students plus. The more people who are in the classes the more that are getting the truth of God's word. We use a lot of Bible stories and Bible verses to get the students to start reading the Bible themselves. The transformation is beautiful, when God starts opening their eyes.

I do want to let you know that we are going to need prayer partners for our English students. Elizabeth has said that it is a great way to get people praying for these students to come to know the Lord. It is vital to our ministry and it gets you involved. We will be sending more info soon. I wanted to put it out there, so that you are thinking about it.

A few pictures

2008-09-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here Andy is learning how to make coffee drinks at La Roca coffee house.

The teachers of La Roca English School.

Rick giving a placement interview for the English classes.

Training to be English teachers

2008-08-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of one of the signs that we had up for a month to advertise for the English classes. This is on a main street, through the center of town, less than a block away from La Roca. As of right now, there are over 50 new students and about 35 students from the last session. Elizabeth has said that the last week before the placement interview day, that there are a lot of people who sign up at the last minute. So, there will be well over 100 students total.

WHY TEACH ENGLISH?

When John and Elizabeth came to Mexico almost five years ago, they never planned to teach English. However, after starting up the La Roca coffee house ministry, they still found it hard to get into the lives of the people in Autlan. They decided if they could find a way to meet a need, it would give them an active roll in the community and thus opening wide a door to build relationships. Someone yesterday asked me, "So why teach them English?" Because it is a common goal of most Mexicans. Many need it for school, tests, university requirements, immigration, careers, and to communicate with relatives in the U.S. Elizabeth says, "The goal is to meet a social and educational need, English language learning, to further the sharing of the gospel. Classes are designed with the hope of being salt in the students lives that creates a thirst for a genuine relationship with God. We model this relationship in every class!" Furthermore, the classes are held at the coffee house which give students a very social environment. Some 16 or more have come to know the Lord as their personal Savior through La Roca and the language school and the seeds that have been planted are uncountable.

We are moved

2008-08-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Real quick note. We moved into our house three days ago and we now have Internet. If you want to see our house, before we worked on it, scroll down on this blog & you can see a video. We have so much to talk about, but still so many things that need to be done in our house. To top it off, tomorrow we start our training to teach English, which starts the first week in September. I say all this to say that I will try to update tomorrow, after we get done with our training. We are in a whirlwind right now. We can't even remember what day it is. I hope, also, to add more videos so you can experience what we are going through.
Thank you to all who have prayed for us during this time of transition. This will, hopefully, be the last one for a while, Lord willing.

First Indian Village outreach

2008-08-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pictures we took when we went an Indian camp. The Indians get paid to harvest the Tequila plants, but the houses they live in are in very poor condition. The Indians usually speak Spanish as their second language. They are looked down on by most Mexicans.

1- Pastor Antonio gave a message, with the microphone many people heard the gospel message, even if they were not watching the puppet show or story.
2- The kids, before we sat them down to share a message with them.

1- Kids will play with anything.
2-This is puppet show where the kids sat, watched and heard the story of Daniel and the Lion's den.

A family of Indians who were selling tortilla cloths.

2008-08-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is our new home! We have yet to move in because of all the work still needing to be done on it.

2008-08-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

This one is of the center and of our living room.

2008-08-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

The first looks at the center

2008-08-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

#1 just after we got up the first day being in Autlan.
#2 is a short video of our rooms before we are unfinished packing.
#3 a little bit of rain

My diploma

2008-08-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

After eight months of Language school, I am finished.

Last week in Guady!

2008-08-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, my brother, Ben, said (Hi Ben!) that I hadn't updated in like three days. So, here I am updating our blog in the midst of our chaos. We are moving in less than a week. Before that though, we are having a birthday brunch for Aletta, who is now three years old as of last week. Jessie is out running errands this afternoon and I think we have more last minute shopping before we go to Autlan. We are going to stock up on things like coffee and contact solution. There are other things we might not be able to get in Autlan, but only time and experience will tell.

On different note, I graduated from Harvest Language Center yesterday. Because we all can take finals and be done whenever we finish them, they had a little ceremony for us after the last day of classes. All I have to do now is finish my finals on Monday. I can't believe that I am done with language school. It has gone by so fast.

We are moving to Autlan on Tuesday or Wednesday. We will be packing everything up tomorrow after the party. Nothing like a Saturday afternoon project.

It was the other day I was talking to someone and I realized that most people do not have life changing experiences in that their life is completely changed. One day it is completely different than the next. We experienced this when we came to Mexico in January. We had lived in a townhouse, worked a job, and received a steady paycheck. Now, we live in a 3 bedroom house in a huge city full of people who do not speak the same language and I am going to school full-time. Next week, I do not know what our life will be like exactly, but we will be living in a rural town with cobblestone streets, and with another missionary family. I won't have homework. We will be teaching English to people who sound like me when I speak Spanish. Two times in less than a year that our life is changed completely.

This is just the step we had to take when the Lord called us to go and give up everything that we knew in our life. Things like seeing your sister fall in love and get married. Things like communicating to someone exactly what you need and they know exactly what you mean. All those little things that God asks you to give up, is well worth it. As God asks you to give them up, how can you hold them back from God, who gave them to you in the first place. He gives us the choice to do things His way or our own way. I would much rather do it God's way, than my own way. I am sure with time, I will see the reasons for us to being here. As one of my teachers shared with us, we are to be farmers who keep planting. We may not see the growth for a long time, but God takes care of that part. We need to be faithful in planting, even when there is no visible fruit. The fruit will come if we are faithful to sow the seed. I will get off my little soap box now, but I want to encourage you to ask God if there is anything that he wants you to give up for Him and His glory. You might be surprised in what He might say.

church in Guadalajara

2008-07-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a couple of pictures of our church in Guadalajara. The first the pastor Rafael Santana. The second is the nursery, younger kids Sunday school room. Anna is talking to Rafael's wife Mirna. We will miss them. Next week we will be our last Sunday in Guadalajara.

Three weeks left!

2008-07-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Here I am sitting in my living room typing on our laptop, listening to KTIS (MN Christian station) on the radio. We had a very nice warm day, which is a nice break from the clouds and rain. It rains everyday pretty much.

I wanted to update while I have time. We only have three weeks left in Guadalajara. These eight months have gone so fast. I am going to be done with all four levels of language school. It does feel good to know that I will be putting all of the knowledge I have learned into practice. It will all settle in. I mean I have learned Spanish, but all of the little rules that come with it, it is hard to remember all of them. That is all part of the process that I have to go through, I guess.

With only three weeks of time left here, comes another world of different things. There will not be one thing the same when we get to Autlan. It is hard to wrap my mind around it. I won't be going to school. I won't have to drive through the traffic. Our house will be different. Where we get our groceries will be from one big grocery store. The roads are all cobblestone in the outer areas of town. We will have to adjust all over again. It is a prayer request of ours that we would have a smooth transition to Autlan.

As of right now, our living situation, when we get to Autlan, is that we will be living at the Center. By the center, I mean a compound that was designed for short-term missions and Bible school for pastors that our mission owns. It has one kitchen and can sleep up to 70 people. Our other team members, that we have mentioned before, Rick and Jo'ell Bruggeman, will be staying there as well. We have grown to love them over the last 8 months. It has been such a blessing to get to know them while going to language school together. They have 5 kids that are ages 4 to 16. Their 9 year old Morgan, 4 year old Christian & Anna love to play together. So for us,to live with them for a while will be heaven for the girls. It will be fun to have the girls be able to play outside. The middle of the center is grass and cement where they can ride their bikes. They already love the hammock that is in between the trees there.

Only a couple of weeks after moving to Autlan, we will have a week long seminar where Elizabeth is going to show us all the ins and outs of teaching English. This, I will admit is not an area that I would have ever thought I would be doing. But, the need to have male teachers will open up many opportunities to share the gospel, especially for the young man that come to the language classes. I am sure it will take me a couple of classes to get comfortable, but I think it will be a stretching experience. Having gone through the process of learning another language, I now know what a past participal is, as well as pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives. It is amazing that I will know exactly how they feel trying to communicate to someone with a language that doesn't just come naturally. I think it has given me a different view on teaching English. I always thought, "Why would I ever teach English?" It is now that I realize, that it is a vital ministry with this culture, as well around the world. The seeds that can be planted in a person's heart can't be counted. I have seen the classes that Elizabeth has done and I am amazed at what topics she brings up. For example: being faithful to your spouse. This is a problem that many people face. The truth that you can put out there, just about your own life and how the Bible talks about that even looking at another man or woman with lust in your heart, is committing adultery in your heart. In this culture, they are already open to spiritual things.

Jessie and I both are very excited to get to Autlan. It is what we have been waiting to do for the last year and half. In November, it will be two years since we had the decision to come to Mexico. Man, time passes fast. I hope you are blessed today.

Getting Legal

2008-07-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

I’m sure many of your remember us speaking about our need to get our FM3 Ministro de Culto visa. It is a special Mexican Visa that permits foreigners religious freedom in Mexico. It’s good for a year and the law allows you to renew it every year. We have a tourist visa at the moment that allows us to be in the country for a maximum of six months (180 days). That why we went to the border to be granted another six months visa. The visa is intended for tourist not those who wish to reside in Mexico for years like us. We could probably get away with it and live in Autlán without out FM3s for years. However we had to ask ourselves if we obey the law because it is enforced or because it is the law. We now have six months to raise $1,900 and get all our papers in order. We had originally planned to go with a lawyer for $1,300 but later found out she was extremely inexperienced in the matter and now plan to go with Tecate Mission’s lawyer. We believe the Lord will provide this $1900 in the next six months for our FM3. Please pray with us as wait for the provision. We will keep you posted as we raise the money.

Picture of the church planting meeting in Autlan.

2008-05-30T03:57:00.000-07:00

2008-05-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I'm so happy to post that my little sister, Becca, just became Rebecca Campbell a few hours ago. We are so happy for you and the amazing journey that you and Paul will share together. Wish we could have been at the wedding. We love you!

We are still here

2008-05-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well I am now on my mid-term break. I am half way through the third level of classes. I meant to post last week after we got back from a short trip to Autlan but with trying to study and stuff time seemed to slip away from me.

First let me talk about the trip to Autlan.It was for the church plant meeting on Sunday. John Rodgers sent us questioner that had over 25 different questions to fill out so we could talk about them. The questions ranged to what do you think biblical the church is, what are some traditions that you would like to see the church celebrate as well as what are some ways to make the church grow. Needless to say the questioner was very intensive. The meeting was John and Elizabeth, Jessie and I, and two other Mexican women (Rick and Jo'ell were unable to attend). We knew that it could get long, so after five hours we decided to end without finishing all the questions. I walked away from it feeling as though I was a part of the ministry there. It was very encouraging to be there at such the beginning stages.

John and Elizabeth are leaving for the month of June so someone needs to preach at the church while they are gone. Rick (another teammate of ours) and I have split the month up so we both go to Autlan twice. That means that we are making at least two different trips to Autlan in the month of June.

I have started an Alpha group with the young adults at the church we have been attending. It is bit of a struggle because there is the language barrier and then also to sometimes younger people don't always want to talk or share what is going on in their life in the group. So we going to try it and see how they will like it.

Puppet show on Dia del Nino

2008-05-06T17:53:00.000-07:00

Andy is the frog! He was so funny!

Pictures from Day of El Nino

2008-05-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some kids making wordless bracelets. The Green one is me. We are explaining the wordless bracelets in Spanish!

Every party isn't complete with out a pinata! Egg relay race.

Another little break

2008-04-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit crazy the last couple of weeks. I (Andy) have now finished my second session of Language School. I am at the half way mark with two more sessions to go. It has been very good for me to be here in language school. I think, in the long run, it will be most beneficial to have the ground work needed to speak Spanish.

I was able to preach at church two Sundays ago. It was in English, so it had to be translated by the pastor, who speaks English pretty well. The Pastor asked if I would preach again, so that encouraging.

We are, again, having another round of sickness. We just got back from a local clinic, because Anna was complaining of her ear hurting. The doctor said that she has a very bad ear infection. All the girls, including Jessie, have really bad coughs and fevers. It was the first time we have been to a doctor since arriving in Mexico. He spoke extremely slowly, because he assumed we did not understand a word he was saying. He gave us multiple medications for the girls, which Jessie had to go home and research each one of them. It turns out some of the medications doctors offer in Mexico are not even used or FDA approved in the states, because of their side effects or risks. She ended up taking several of them back after reading about the risks associated with them. This did not fly well with the doctor. I think he said something like, "So, you got on the internet and now you think you know more then an educated doctor?" Her response was, "Well, you're the doctor, but I'm the mom and I need to protect my kids."

Over the last week, we have been watching the Bruggeman's dog. This has been an eye opener for us. It still has not convinced me to not get a dog, once we are in Autlan, but it has helped me understand that, if we don't have a yard, we will have to wash down the driveway 5 times a day, every time she goes out. Let's just say that having a dog in Mexico is a little different than having one in the U.S. When we look for a house to rent in Autlan, it will be something we will have to consider. The cats are still hissing at her, but not nearly as much as the first couple of days that she was here.

I also believe I have broken my baby toe on my foot. I slammed it into a pipe sticking out of the ground and it is black and purple and causing me extreme pain.

On a spur of the moment last Sunday, I was asked to teach Sunday school. I asked them if they wanted to share what God has been doing with each one of them and they all did - 6 girls and one guy. Then, I shared with them a little of my testimony & how God led us to Mexico. I graduated almost four years ago from Bethany. God didn't just leave us out there to figure things out, He was working on us. We were able to see God work on our behalf at my job time and time again, even if it was not where we wanted to be. God had his plan worked out for us to learn what it is like to stay with something, even when it is hard. God's plans are perfect. That, by itself, gives us peace. Even when we don't know why God would have us go through a trial or testing time, we can know that, through it all, God's ways are perfect. Man, even now that strikes at my heart. The Lord has brought us here to Mexico and we are right where we are supposed to be.

A faith that hasn't been tested can't be trusted.

Adrian Rogers

Our Health

2008-04-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,
Just a quick update and a prayer request. The girls have all just finished a head cold after about two weeks. Lillian is still dealing with a runny nose, but the worst part for them is over. After being around it for so many days, Jessie has now gotten sick. She has the body aches and fever, along with a cold on top of it. Needless to say, that this is frustrating as we all seem to get over one thing and then we all get sick with another thing. On top of it all, the weather has really started to heat up in the day time. It is getting into the middle 90's. It does stay cooler in our house, but at night it just isn't the right temperature to sleep very well. The in-between stage is what I call it. It is the time when you don't know if you should have the sheet on or not. If you do have the sheet on, you get hot, but if you have it off, you get cold from the fan blowing on you. We would appreciate your prayers for our health. I have only had an itchy throat as of this morning. Hopefully, that is all I will get.

P.S. It is times like this I miss being in Minnesota with all that snow to drive in. "Andy's suffering for Jesus" as Jessie would say.

A short update

2008-03-27T16:18:00.001-07:00

I (Andy) was praying today for the church that we are going to and thought that I should update you on our little project we are helping with the end of April. We are going to have an event for the celebration of children. They have a day in Mexico that is called El dia de Nino (the day of child literately). It is just like Mother's Day or Father's Day. The church wants to have a two hour celebration that would bring kids into the church to hear the gospel message through a few puppet skits, food, crafts, games, and a short message . We started planning for it last Sunday at church. So, I am sharing this, for those who want to pray for the event, that the right kids would come and that the seeds would be planted. Also, that we would be well prepared for this event.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is Saturday night and Jessie and I are finally feeling better. We ended up going to a big water park for the the day on Wednesday. We didn't realize that the sun was much brighter than we thought. It turned out we got completely fried. Jessie, on top of her sun burn, was also dealing with a cold. When she woke up this morning, she was complaining of pain in her ears. Needless to say, our little break turned out to be just resting time, because our sunburns hurts so much. Jessie and I both agree that we will be much better prepared next time. We will not underestimated the amount of sun screen to use.

I was reading the Bible today, I read the Easter story. I read over the verses about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It is in Luke 24:13-35. It was right after Jesus had just been crucified on the cross. These two disciple had just heard that Jesus' body was no longer in the tomb. There had also been talk of angels who said that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus' response to them was he had not heard a thing about what was going on. They told Jesus everything that had happened. Then, Jesus began to talk. It is interesting that they listened to Jesus talking, for who knows how long, but never even knew that it was Jesus. They wanted him to stay with them that evening and Jesus stayed with them for dinner as well. It was just after Jesus broke the bread, that their eyes were opened and they were able to know that it was Him that had been with them the whole time. It must have been a weird feeling to them, to have been listening to all that Jesus was talking about in the scriptures and yet they had no idea that it was Jesus. How often do we, as his disciples, hear Him speaking to us and we don't even know it is Him that is speaking. It remains a mystery, the reasons why He does that at times. I think He hides the purpose of what He does until the exact right moment, because He has perfect timing. What would those disciples have done if they had known that it was Jesus all along? Would they have listened? Would they have been freaked out knowing that the person they were talking to was the man that they had just seen put to death only days before? The Lord knew what He was doing when He didn't open their eyes right way. I hope and pray that your eyes may be open to what God is doing in your life. If it is not right now that your eyes are not open, be confident that God, who raised His son from death to life, knows what He is doing in your life. Trust him! Be encouraged today.

Happy Easter!

Picture of Andy on the mountain

2008-03-10T19:14:00.001-07:00

Here I am on a near by mountain. As you can see Guadalajara is a pretty big city.

A month goes quick

2008-03-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

We have been really busy. That is no excuse though. I (Andy) had finals for the last week of my first session of language school. Then, the day after I finished, we headed to Autlan, which Jessie got to see for the first time. We stayed there for a week and got sick while we were there. So, when we got back, we crashed. After getting home, our next priority was working on our newsletter. Needless to say, our blog has been a bit neglected. I apologize for that. I am going to work on communicating more often through the week.

It has been a bit challenging balancing school and home work with the family life. I must say that it is a bit weird to be going back to school. I am learning the language slowly, but surely.

The trip to Autlan was a good trip for Jessie and I, as Jessie had only seen pictures and a small video of what Autlan is like. Even I had a different opinion of Autlan. It is a much smaller city than the 10 million strong city of Guadalajara. I think it would have been a much harder transition, if we had gone to the small town and then moved to the big city. In Autlan you will never have to worry about traffic. Actually, there are more motorcycles and bicycles in Autlan than cars, I think. It would seem that way, as the branch of Guadalajara University is there and the college kids need to get around the city. We are very excited to go to Autlan and get started in helping in the ministry there. We have already committed to teaching two of the levels of English that start in September. As we wrote in our newsletter, this is where a lot of fruit is coming out of. The seeds are being sown and they are beginning to grow. John and Elizabeth have started La Roca Church for people to go to, as they begin to see the truth setting them free.

Jessie had her birthday on Sunday. We ended up going, after church, to Lake Chapala, which is about an hour drive from home. It is the largest lake in Mexico. It was a good day to go, the weather was beautiful. We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and then went to an outside market that was really busy. Sundays are the Saturdays of the U.S. Most Mexicans have to work half days on Saturdays, so they plan on doing everything on Sundays. We, then, went back to Rick and Jo'ell's house for some homemade carrot cake (Jessie's favorite cake).

This weekend we are going to celebrate Anna's birthday with Christian, Rick and Jo'ell's youngest, who also just turned four this month. If I forgot to mention who Rick and Jo'ell are, they are our teammates from the same mission as us and are doing language school as well. They are doing the same thing we are. They will be moving to Autlan in August, as well, to help with the ministry. They have become a great help and encouragement to us. We have really enjoyed getting to know them. The more time we spend with them, the more we realize that God has brought us together. Jessie and I both feel like we have known them for a long time and it has been only two months. They are experiencing the same culture shock we are, I could not imagine being here without them. The girls love to play with their kids, whenever we go over to their house, and they have been a tremendous blessing to Jessie and I.

Team picture

2008-02-06T13:47:00.001-08:00

Here is all of us together!

Bugs?

2008-02-06T13:15:00.001-08:00

I had a hard time sleeping last night. It's been warmer in Guady for the last few days with a high reaching in the 80F. The house stays so nice and cool all day until the sun starts to set in the evening. We don't have any direct sun light in the house until the evening when it sets. That is when I notice the house starting to heating up. So we have been a little warmer in the evening. Our bedroom has a door that opens up to a small patio. The patio is only a few feet wide and a few feet long. The opening to the roof is gated and thus would allow us to keep the door open safely at night while we sleep. We had yet to leave the door open until last night and this kept me awake. It was not because of fear for our safety or the additional street noise that filtered in. I laid awake thinking about the bugs! Oh...yes the bugs that now had full access to our warm house. I think I finally gave up at around 1AM and closed the door. Even after that I did not sleep well. Maybe because I was thinking about what might have already gotten in while the door had been opened? Most bugs around here enjoy coming out in the evening. When we moved in to our house we saw lots of dead cockroaches in the house and I was happy I did not see any alive. We sprayed the patio adjacent to the kitchen with bug poison to keep them from coming in under the door. This has been effective, but disturbing as well, because many mornings I find a dead cockroach when I open the door. I used to go up on the roof to hang clothes, but one night I went up and about four roaches scattered in all directions. "Okay, no more night clothes drying!!!" These are not just any roaches. They can be measured in inches!

We also have large black widow spiders. In just a few weeks I have seen five of them and all too close to home for comfort. One had been living in the bars above our front door and had even laid an egg sack, which can carry as many as 900 eggs. I kept telling myself that as long as I don't see any inside the house I can be rational about it all. Then last night I saw Lorado (our cat) chasing something around the kitchen table. It turned out to be a large roach! It was the first one I had seen alive in my home. I spent the rest of the evening making guesses about it's point of entry. This morning when I woke up and opened our bedroom patio door, I found a black widow spider in the corner of the door. When I opened the kitchen patio door, I found another spider even bigger, on the ground. This one was dead from the poison we had spread. Has a missionary ever left the field for bug reasons? (Okay, that was a joke) So, I will say the bugs are getting to me! I assume I will get used to them, right??

Security system in Mexico

2008-01-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

2008-01-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

Part 2

2008-01-20T17:45:00.000-08:00

Our house #1

2008-01-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

The first of three videos of our house!

2008-01-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

FYI: In this video I asked someone what their last name was. It was not because I did not know their last name but because we had been pronouncing it completely wrong for months leading up to formally meeting them when we arrived in Guady. I know it seems like a odd question.

Some pictures

2008-01-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

A taste of the mountains right after we cleared the border. I love the mountains!

I had to take this picture when we passed this sign. Guadalajara was where we were heading and Aguascalientes was where I grew up as a missionary kid. The sign declared my past and my future.

You would not believe how dirty kids get in Mexico. Most Mexican homes don't come with bath tubs, so Lillian was getting a little bath in the sink just after we arrived.

We now have Internet

2008-01-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

After three hours of four different guys hooking up our phone line and Internet, we now are on-line. It is such a relief to no longer have to depend on the Internet cafe or our friends to get on the Internet. Jessie and I both agree we did not have much of a connection with the news here. We don't have a TV and I don't understand the newspapers for the local news. I can say that we are starting to settle down a bit. It seems like we have been here for so much longer than 15 days.
School is starting to take more time as I am studying Spanish 3 hours in class and a couple hours at home. When I come home from school at 12:30PM, it feels like I should be going to work or going somewhere else. Nope, that is all I have to do, go to school and study. Needless to say, that is not always the case when you have three little girls who are happy to see you home after their nap. We are trying to adjust to that a bit. Jessie has been so great. Every day I come home, some thing has changed. The house looks better and better.

Still no internet at home

2008-01-13T15:52:00.001-08:00

The car is up and running again! The noise it was making was terrible and we believed the back needed an entire new brake job. Turns out our emergency brake system will no longer be working and I don't think it had worked in a long time. The emergency brake system runs behind the rotors in the back (I have now lost the interest of all female readers) and when the mechanic removed the rotors, we watched the emergency brake parts fall out in small shattered pieces.

We still have no internet and I'm sitting in our slightly furnished house watching the girls get dirty in the front patio. Life is so different and no matter how much I knew about Mexico before I came, I'm still shocked by it all. It's almost as if I have even more culture shock, because I was so unprepared to experience any. Does that make any sense? There is really nothing here that is easy to do. The locals don't seem to mind the hassle that is attached to everything, but it's so opposite to our American culture. Take for example paying a bill, such as your water bill. First, the way you find it is truly odd, the delivery man chucks it over your gate into your patio much like a paper boy would do in the states. It's not in an envelope nor does it come with instructions, it just a bill waiting for you on your dirty patio floor. To pay it you have to go down to the building and stand in line and wait your turn to hand over your money. I used bill pay online in MN and never put a bill in the mail box. Paying my bills in the states was a click of my mouse. Like I said, nothing is easy around here.

Andy started school this week. He is enjoying it and I'm learning a lot by helping him with his homework. In a few weeks Andy will have a long weekend and we hope to make it down to Autlan. I have yet to see Autlan and I hear it is very different from this busy Guadalajara.

First week completed!

2008-01-13T15:51:00.001-08:00

We have no internet at the moment, so as I write this, I realize it might be a few days before anyone reads it. It's Sunday and we have been in Guadalajara for a week. It has been a very long week. So many things happened this week. At about 6am the morning after arriving we awoke to the car alarm on our key chain going off. Andy ran to the window and was confused because the car looked fine. Later in the morning, we realize someone had stolen a side mirror off the car. It was one of those really nice heated mirrors. The car is also giving us some trouble so we are not driving it at the moment, until we can get it fixed.

We house hunted for days last week as well. We just drove around with the Rodgers looking for signs outside of houses that say renta (for rent). The day before the Rodger's headed back to Autlan we found a place. It's a bit rough looking and it will take weeks to get it clean enough to live in, but the price was right. It came with a stove, other than that the house is empty except for our air mattresses and suitcases. I have no need to unpack right now, because I really have no place to put anything.

We are in Mexico!

2008-01-01T14:59:00.001-08:00

That is right! We managed to make a four day trip into a three day trip. We drove hard and long hours and are happy to say it was well worth it. We got up early, crossed the border and were driving down a Mexican road by 7am. We arrived at what we thought would be our end-of-the-day destination at 1pm. It did not make sense to stop, so we continued on to Guadalajara. We arrived in Guadalajara at 8pm. The size of the city, as we drove down into it, took my breath way, I had no idea it was so big.

At the border: We were up by 4am on Sunday morning and out the door at 5am. The border was just minutes down the road. We knew that we needed visas and to register our car, outside of that we had no idea what this process looked like. We drove over the Rio Grande and were not stopped at the check point. The guards were all standing off to the side talking to each other. I guess it was way too early in the morning to bother with us. Within seconds of crossing the border, we knew we had done something wrong. Not even a block after the border, we were surrounded by residential housing. Andy looked in his review mirror and said, "We must have missed something, I think we were suppose to stop at that check point for our visas." It was too late now, behind us was only one way streets heading in our direction. We had no way to turn around. We found a border patrol officer who told us we would have to cross back into Texas and come back around. We waited 40 minutes on the Mexican side of the border in line with Mexicans entering the U.S.. Believe it or not, this was what took the longest. So, once again, we made our way back to the river and crossed into Mexico. This time the guards were a little more alert and gave us a red light to stop for inspection. We were both just fine with this, because we had no idea what we were supposed to do next. Why do these things have to be so confusing!! We were directed to turn left and drive several blocks down, get on the highway and at the lights make a U turn for immigration. OKAY! All the signs were in Spanish and I woke the part of my brain that stores what little Spanish I have and set it in full gear. We arrived at the highway with the help of a few Mexicans and found ourselves at the U turn the guard had spoken about. We made the U turn and found ourselves behind a slow moving local police vehicle. In seconds, he turned on his lights and pulled over indicating for us to do the same. I was sure he was just seeing if we needed directions or something, but that was far from the reality. He told Andy in broken English that he had turned on a red arrow. Oh…no….this just cannot be happening! We both knew that Andy had not turned on a red arrow. The officer said he was going to take us to the police station to pay a big fine for what we just did. Andy tried to explain that it had been green, but the officer just kept on with his talk of fines and poor American driving. Since my Spanish was up and running, I tried to speak to him in Spanish, explaining that we were heading to get our visas and we know we turned on a green light. This did not stop his attempt to scare us by threatening a trip downtown that he kept making clear was in the opposite direction of immigration. My heart started to slow down to a controlled state of rage. We both knew what was happening. This was a well known game in Mexico. We were being asked for a bribe! He was hoping we would slip him some money, so we could get on our way. We had no intentions of playing this game and so we did not bite. He was going on and on and I was done with it. I said, "We know we did not run a red light, so if you want to take us to pay a fine, LETS GO!" I was unnerved when he agreed to do just that and Andy started turning our stuffed SUV around, away for the immigration office. We followed him for a good ten minutes and he drove extremely slow. Maybe he thought we would change our mind. We said nothing to each other. All that could come out of my mouth was a prayer for the deepest part of me. I prayed, "Jesus, at this moment we surrender our lives to you, we surrender this moment to you. We surrender our control, our fear, all to you. Have Your way." Finally, the police officer rolled his window down and directed us to turn around and be on our way. I allowed myself to cry with relief, as we thanked the Lord. Immigration went really well and everyone was so nice to us due to the three little girls with us that smiled at everyone who looked at them. Then 40 miles down the road, we hit the second check point. This was the one we were sure would give us a hassle. Many times they stop you, inspect your stuff and try to get some money. Our nerves needed a break at this point and they gave us one. They asked us where we were headed and then let us go on our way.

GOOD MORNING DAY 2

2007-12-29T18:37:00.001-08:00

We are back on the road. We made it to Waco, TX and found a nice Days Inn to sleep at right off the highway. We don't have a long drive ahead of us, just about 5 hours. The girls slept great last night and don't seem to mind climbing back into the car this morning. We have had little sleep, but a cup of coffee with a double shot of espresso has me ready for the day. The weather has finally indicated that we are in Texas and I sigh in relief, because we left our coats behind in Illinois. The temperature is 50F and rising! We are listening to a CD by Selah that was a gift from our dearest friends Brice and Kellie Musgrave for this trip. The song "Before the Throne of God above" has a line that says, "My name is graven on His hands; my name is written on His heart." It's true; it says in the Bible that our name is written on the palm of His hand. I try to imagine the Creator of heaven and earth who knows everything about me, showing me the palm of His hand and saying, "Jessie, I love you so much, do you see how I have etched your name in my hand." Could you imagine looking down and seeing your name? How can we not fully trust a God who not only has our name written on the palm of His hand, but has even had nails driven through them for our sake? How great is His love.

2007-12-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

What a long day…..

2007-12-29T06:30:00.003-08:00

We decided to make this first day of driving a killer. We hoped by pushing hard the first day that we could make the rest of our travel days lighter and easier on the girls. Maybe if we cover enough ground the first day we could actually stop the next day to see a local attraction or two. That is just what we have accomplished. We set out around 6:30am and it's now 9pm. As I'm typing we have crossed over into Texas. We had planned to travel 730 miles and stay in Denison, TX for the night but we have passed it by and are heading forward. All three of the girls are asleep and Aletta is loudly snoring as always. We are seizing the opportunity to drive more while they are comfortably unaware that they are still in car seats.

On the road again Friday morning , Day 1

2007-12-29T06:30:00.001-08:00

Let the journey continue! After a most wonderful two weeks in Illinois with my family we are now back on the road heading south. The Lord blessed Andy with some heavy snow fall as we headed out this morning, before the sun was up. He will miss the snow. We are now driving down a long strip of open highway with nothing around us. I cannot help but think about the long hours of driving ahead of us and the unknown awaiting us. The last two weeks were so wonderful to spend with my parents as they had so many great stories of their own time in Mexico. My parents packed up and moved to Mexico to become missionaries in 1984. I was only four years old at the time. They had never been out of the country and had no idea what was ahead of them. Those 9 years in Mexico made me who I am and poured into me the very passion that fuels this journey in my heart.

On our wedding day my father, at our request, preached the gospel message. During the message he spoke of the attitude many parents have towards serving the Lord. An attitude of, "You may have me, but don't touch my children." Of course, no parent really wants to see their kids move far way and find them in an environment that is not as safe. However, we know that God gave His only Son for us and sent Him to us to save us. The Lord calls us to hold everything in our life with palms open in offering to Him. Thank you to both of our parents for not just accepting what the Lord has asked from your children, but actually encouraging us to go. I stood out by our car hugging my mom goodbye while large snowflakes fell on us. As I hugged her a hymn rang through my head. "I surrender all to Jesus. All to Him I freely give". It was a beautiful moment that was cut short by my older sister yelling out the door, "Jessie, Live long and prosper" while holding up the Star Trek hand symbol. Ha,ha, too funny! I will never understand Star Trek.

A brief update

2007-12-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

We are trying to up date our blog more often now that we are on the road and living out of our suit cases for now. We are now sitting at Jessie's parent's house, for a few days of preparing, as we have moved on from our home in Minnesota. We spent a good part of the day figuring out which way would be best to go all the way down to Guadalajara, Mexico. It will be a good four day stretch as it will be about 2000 miles from where we are now. This is a prayer request for us - The peace of the Lord, as well as the Lord's protection as we travel. Our girls especially will need extra grace for 4 days in the car, which is pretty tough.

We are planning to video log our trip down. Expect more soon.

Last night in Minnesota!

2007-12-15T13:08:00.000-08:00

Beginning and the end

2007-12-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

The beginning of the end of our life as we have known it for the last two years. I (Andy) am done working for the Directv as of Wednesday. I looking forward to spending more time with my family over the next few weeks. We moved out of our townhome and are now staying with my parents for the remainder of our time in Minniesnowta. (12" of snow before Christmas). It has hard to think about what we should bring or not bring with us. With a car top carrier and a small trailer the space is limited. We packed up the house and the stuff that we will be taking. We think it isn't much stuff, but adding a little here and a little there has turned out to be more than the space we have available. So, once we are done with our townhome, we will be focusing our attention on down sizing the stuff we have.

We are now in the middle of our Moving Sale. It seems that in the middle of winter, having a foot of snow, that the amount of people that come through our doors is minimal. Praise the Lord though, people have still been coming. It is amazing when they might have come only to buy one thing and walk away buying much more.

Jessie has been so gracious during this whole time. She has been such a blessing to me and my kids. She is a great mom even in the midst of so much change.

Sunday will be our last Sunday at Church Upon the Rock. We are sad to be leaving our home church. It has been such a blessing for us to be apart of a church that supports us in our decision to follow God's direction for our lives. They will be praying for us on Sunday. We need all that we can get during this time of transition.

Be Blessed!

2007-11-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE CLARK FAMILY!

DON'T FORGET

2007-10-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

WE HAVE UPDATED OUT FAMILY PICTURE BLOG! YOU WILL FIND THE LINK TO YOUR LEFT ON THE SIDE BAR.

2007-10-05T17:47:00.001-07:00

John & Elizabeth Rodgers our soon to be teammates

These are a few pictures that Andy took while in Aultan in April
Autlan from a hill

Click on the pic. to see it larger

A NEW CAR!

2007-10-05T15:36:00.001-07:00

The Lord has provided us with a new car for traveling down to Mexico. Our van, on your right, was very small and unable to really haul much. This Ford Expedition just fell into our hands and we paid an amazing low price for it. Our van also sold for more then we thought it would. ALL PRAISE DUE HIM!!

2007-10-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Time is just flying as we are now about 12 weeks away from packing up our house and moving to Mexico. It is always amazing when you stand so far away from something in a time frame sense and then all of a sudden out of no where it is tomorrow. It was less than a year ago when we said yes to the Rodgers in that we would come. Now it is approaching a year and we are still preparing and planning to go. Over the last week God has been challenging Jessie and I about living and walking by faith it is a challenge especially when we at times feel so in adequate for what he is calling us to do. It will be weird to transition again in to school. Language school that is. This is going to be a vital part of our ministry down there in Mexico is that we will be able to communicate the love of Jesus. I have always wanted to learn Spanish fluently. Learning the language will be tough but it is what the Lord would want us to do.
Other news Lillian decided to start walking over the past two weeks. It seems like yesterday that she was only able to just lay there on the floor and not move at all.

Your prayers are needed

2007-09-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Our family has been very sick over the last six weeks. We have had colds, stomach flu, and now are dealing with strep throat. A few weeks ago our entire family got tested for strep throat and all tested positive. We were feeling better for about a week when it started coming back. All of us with the exception of Andy, are sick again with strep throat. Our Dr. is trying to figure out what should be done to keep us from getting it again. We ask for your prayers for our health right now. We are leaving for Mexico in 12 weeks and still have so much to do.

SUPPORT UPDATE!

2007-08-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord God Almighty!! We have raised 10% of our budget for Mexico. I know that still seems really small but it's much better then the 2% we had reported not even a month ago! All those who have helped us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Be blessed!

OUR BRIDGE!!!!

2007-08-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

Our prayers are going out to all those affected by the falling of 35w bridge. I still feel so shocked by it. You just never think something like that is going to happen. In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow and to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. We do not know if tomorrow is ours for the taking. Today let us live for Jesus, better yet, today let us live like Jesus.

2007-06-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG

This blog is for family and friends. At this time it is not open to the public. If you know someone who would like access to this blog please give us their e-mail address so we can include them. My hope is that this blog will keep us connected. Come January when we move to Mexico it will be use to update you on our life and ministry. We hope you enjoy it! Be blessed!

2007-06-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Our little Lillian just learned how to clap the other day. I came into the girl's room to find Anna and Lillian sitting across from each other having a little lesson on clapping 101. Lillian was completely focused and Anna was very serious in her teaching of the need and technique of clapping. Now whenever we come into the room she will laugh and clap her hands. Sometimes Anna will pat her head and say, "that'll do".

2007-06-21T21:08:00.001-07:00

Mom and Dad just celebrated their 32nd anniversary. I have never seen a couple as in-love. Now look at what has come of those 32 wonderful years of marriage, seven grandkids. To my knowledge no grandkids are in the making at this present time. Shocking!!!