Mexico Trip - part 2

Back for another update. Whew! What a week that has flown by! It's hard for me to remember all that has happened. Here are a few photos from our time so far, though the photos really don't fully capture all our experiences as sometimes we just have to live the experience not photograph it! I know there have been lots and lots and lots of games of the card game UNO and "Go Fish" played. The kids down here get exceptionally competitive with UNO, more than anyone I've ever seen! They are constantly requesting to play UNO:-) I'm glad we packed that game in the suitcase with us! Also, we brought along a game of pictionary and printed out spanish/english words so we could all play. I've been pleasantly surprised to see that has also been a huge hit. We've played lots of games of that as
well.

I packed a suitcase full of crafts/games relating to bible stories for just about every day and also lots of little things that can be a little something
special for the day. Games, jumping ropes, bubbles, stickers, tattoos, water balloons, stampers etc. The kids are enjoying these extra activities. We've
had some wonderful bonding times with the kids. Our relationship with these kids has deepened greatly this year. Last year we were more acquaintances,
though by the end of our stay we were friends. But this year, they know that we really are investing in them and they are drawing closer yet, so that is
really special to us.

One other thing I've been doing lots of is baking...which of course hasn't been helping me much in regards to conscious eating. I've been trying out a bunch
of baking recipes for Marta at her request, and trying to teach her and her oldest daughter a bit about baking. They love to try new things. They are on the look out for things they can make at the orphanage or even sell. So we've tried pizza, buns, tuna casserole, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, sugar
cookies, biscuits...and there are more we will be trying this upcoming week. Everything I bake is such an experiment so it is always a little bit nail
biting as baking just doesn't work the same way here as it does at home. I think the flour is very different here and the oven only has heat coming from the
base not above.

The most stressful baking experience was definitely yesterday. It was the oldest "orphan" girls birthday and she was turning 18 years old. The whole extended family was going to be coming, making us a group of at least 30 people. Last year I'd made a cake for this girl's birthday since we were here at the same time, and I didn't feel they really liked the cake I made (banana spice cake with cream cheese icing). So this year I felt nervous about them not liking it again... Anyways, they wanted me to try out my chocolate cake recipe, so I went for it. Of course something went wrong, as it always does when I bake/cook for other people (:-)...the oven rack was just too near the heat and so the cake burned. I managed to salvage the cakes and once it was iced no one would have been the wiser. I realized this morning, that I forgot to put vanilla in the icing as well!!! I knew the icing didn't quite taste right last night! Anyways, the cake looked pretty, and tasted okay (though not the same as home once again). The other thing that I did yesterday for the big party was make the copycat "Red Lobster" biscuit recipe. Marta had told me last year they were some of her favorite biscuits, so I brought the right ingredients from Canada this time round, and made about 120 biscuits for the party last night! Whew! I was exhausted after that endeavor! But they were a hit! Yay!

On Sunday we attended church in a nearby village, both in the morning and the evening. The church is being planted by a korean church from the States. They
are currently without a pastor, so a korean american man from the church in the States has moved down to this village to fill in as pastor for the next six
months until they find a new pastor. The amazing thing is that he doesn't even speak much spanish! He will be working through a translator. I was so blown
away by this man's (and his wife) obedience, passion and surrender to the Lord. Their little 6 year old boy will be attending school in the village...with no
spanish yet known. Whew! Anyways, there was a mission team from the korean church that had come down to work for the past two weeks, so our visit coincided with their time.

God certainly had His hand in this meeting. From the very start when the visit to this small church was arranged (don't have the space to describe all that, except to say it was much more than coincidence how it all came to be) to the very topic of the message on Sunday (about the kingdom of God, the very thing on our heart's and which we have been studying in depth the past month). I sat listening to the message (what a blessing it was that the pastor spoke in english, translated into spanish of course!) and it was like God was saying "See I'm working here too, speaking the same words." They asked us to share in the service and so both Jon and I shared impromptu which once again was God inspired as Jon closed with the Lord's prayer emphasizing "Your kingdom come, your will be done." The pastor began to expound on this and showed how that prayer was incribed on the necklace around his neck! I was just so blown away by how God confirmed His message, His words, to us and to them again and again.

After the service, we delivered some food/hygience/school supply hampers that we had purchased on behalf of some friends from our home church. It was moving and touching to meet and pray with four different families, with various struggles and illnesses and difficulties. We pray this gesture of God's love will be a seed planted in their hearts and will draw them closer to God and encourage them.

Jon has been working on the land at the orphanage site a fair amount. I've been cleaning, playing games, running errands with Marta, etc. Our kids have been playing, playing, playing, playing, playing with countless kids that come in and out of the doors of this home! It's been a joy.

We are thankful for God's hand of protection with health and safety. We certainly don't take it for granted. I felt the beginnings of a chest cold setting in the beginning of our time here and Marta and the kids prayed over me and it lifted that very day, praise God. My youngest daughter had troubles with her ear as I think she got water in it from some extreme water play that was happening here:-) Anyways, she couldn't hear out of it for a day or so and then it moved to hurting...but once again, praise God, she is feeling better. We were driving back to the village church on Sunday evening (on a pitch rural road) and the lights started to go out, raising concerns of problems with the alternator or the electrical etc. We prayed our way to the church that evening...and praise God we arrived safe and sound and returned back to the Fletcher's home safe and sound.

As I said previously I'm still struggling with 0-5 eating. It's hard with such different schedules and with all the potential "tourist nibbling" opportunities I have here! Plus all the baking is not helping any! I'm sure I've gained some weight... My goal for this upcoming week is to cut out juice as much as possible and just drink water. I'll also make it my continued aim to be hungry for breakfast as that is the most relaxed, eat-when-you-want, meal. And I'm going to try really hard to cut back on portion sizes at lunch and supper. I'm really struggling though.

Well, that's my novel for today. I know I've been pretty long winded, but God has been good and I'm thankful for God's provisions, power and equipping once again, as each day I've been falling at His feet in such need of Him.