Carnival

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.