Viva Mexico!

Last Friday the 16th was Mexican Independence Day.  The celebrations actually start at 11PM on the night before, the 15th.  That's because at 11PM every Mexican turns on their TV and watch the President go out on the balcony of one of the parliament buildings, rings a bell a few times.  And then the President yells some things like ' Viva Mexico!' and everybody present and watching (aka all Mexicans) respond by yelling 'VIVA!'  And he goes through a progressing of maybe 10 different sentences, each one ended by yelling 'VIVA!'

The church in Tlalpan had a service that night, a time of preaching and prayer followed by lots of food.  The food included Pozole (the traditional food for Independence Day), tamales, quesadillas, and sopes.  All very, very good.  Then we turned on the TV, to watch the President and participate in the yelling.  Then we fellowshipped some more and brought out a couple pinatas. We had a lot of fun watching the kids take their shots at the pinata.

On Sunday (yesterday), we celebrated with the church in Coyoacan.  After the church service we went to the home of Rogerio and Cinthia and we all had more pozole and good times.

Here are some pictures....

Things I've made recently

Ok, this first picture is of a plant Don Jesus (our neighbour <--- yes, that's Canadian spelling) gave us.  The pot was a yogurt container that I spray painted brown and added a little fabric for style.  I like repurposing things.

Over the Mexican Independence Holiday's/Day's off from school, we varnished our table.  It took about three days because we had to wait so long in between coats.  It turned out nice.  The top coat isn't as nice as it could've been because our brush was pretty much shot by then, was rock solid from previous coats.  It is so hard to wash varnish out of brushes!!!!

This is a dress I made.  Its super comfy!  Even though at moments I wanted to pull out my hair (because I didn't have a pattern), I'm very happy with how it turned out.  The top is made from a T-shirt and then I used denim for the skirt part.  But it is actually attached together, its a dress.  I made it in an evening, on a whim.  And I love it, I'm sure I'll wear it a regularly.  

 

And another post- two in one day- what a record!!!!

I just thought I'd post some pics from last Sunday when Jason was preaching at the church in Coyoacan (aka Church in the bookstore, aka 'Wayne's church', etc).

Ya- it's crowded.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Things I've been up to.

I knitted this rug and I love it!  It's a simple basket weave stitch, double stranded. I had fun making it.  

I cut out the counter in the picture because it was full of dishes!!!! *oops* :)

This is a chili pot pie.  It was DELISH!  Yup, B for Boyle.  Cheesy, right?  Couldn't think of anything else.

This is a wreath I just finished making today.  I saw it at a friend's house and thought it was so cute, though her colours were very 90's-ish.   I picked blues to match the bathroom (where it now graces the wall).  Here's the process...

It's a foam wreath and I started out by using a glue gun, but, well, that got messy.  I found poking it with a pen MUCH easier.

But wait, there's more pictures!!!!

These are my fall decorations.  Put them up yesterday and I'm feeling 'fall-ish' now.  Since there are only 2 seasons in Mexico (rain and non-rain), its hard to feel 'fall-ish' and, come winter.... bring on the Christmas decorations, its the only way I can get in the mood, since the weather's not doing it for me!

So cute, I love it!

Ok, just one more picture!   My successful transplant of the seedlings!

They're growing like weeds!!!  (um, are they weeds?)...

Well, that's all folks.  I'm sure nobody is actually following this anymore....  But it's just as much a journal for me, as it is a way for you to feel apart of our lives.  :)  

Love you family!!!!

So- keeping up with posts is harder than I thought!

I have been trying to upload some pics of my latest knitting projects, etc.  But we have been having internet problems this last week and my computer in particular has been affected with the evil virus of SLOWNESS!  I think that computer has just about seen its days.

New update:  I had an ultrasound today.  Looks like I have a recurrence of kidney stones.  Apparently that is common, but let me tell you its certainly unwanted!  I have 2 kidney stones now, the bigger one is 7mm.  So I am more determined now to stay on top of my water intake and medicine.  I have to drink about 12 glasses of water a day!  So I filled up our jug (that's 4 glasses), so I need to consume 3 jugs full a day!  When I had my ultrasound in May I only had one kidney stone, today we found out its gotten bigger and there's another one. I am researching more now about getting rid of kidney stones (since this has lingered for months!) and how to keep them away.

I appreciate prayers.  I didn't think I'd be dealing with this for so long.  But trusting the Lord makes going through it easier.  Knowing that He always has the best plan for my life and that He brings me through any trial and temptation for a reason, so that I may be tested, so that I may learn some lesson, but all ultimately to give Him glory!

 I love you family!

Something to brighten the day.

School was hard today, some of those grammar concepts can be hard to grasp.  My teacher keeps on saying 'pan comido!' meaning 'piece of cake!'  And I think to myself 'um, no its not!'  So needless to say when I saw these pretty flowers, I bought them and they brightened my day!  And the wonderful thing about living in Mexico and shopping at markets is that the flowers are only $10 PESOS a bunch.  That's less than a dollar.  You can get a dozen roses for about $2 US, not bad eh?

I like to indulge just a little!  Aren't they beautiful?

Our One Year Update

Dear praying friends,

We can’t believe that its been a year since we first arrived in Mexico City!  We are very thrilled to see how God has led in this first year, and we are excited to see how He will lead in this coming year.

We are in the middle of another session of language classes.  This will be the last for Jason and Danielle is planning to take one more.  Danielle has begun the ‘Intermediate’ level and Jason just finishing it up. 

Last May we took 5,000 tracts home with us (we had heavy luggage!), and we have been handing them out since then.  We often give them to taxi drivers, because we have a good chance for conversation during the ride.  We gave one to a taxi driver a couple weeks ago who seemed particularly interested in a Bible study, please pray that he would give us a call.  We also gave a tract to our neighbor/land lord, pray that he would be interested in the gospel.  His name is Don Jesus, he and his wife are in their 70’s. 

Jason is preaching 3 Sundays a month, but, starting August, he will be preaching each Sunday of the month.  He has learned much and gotten comfortable preaching in Spanish during these months of guest preaching. 

We continue our Thursday evening Bible studies.  We have a few couples coming regularly.  We always have much discussion time because there are many questions!  One young man came a few weeks ago, he is the son of the family we originally started the Bible study for.  He is the first to come from that family so far.  Pray that, in God’s will, we will see the whole family come out and we will see more people attending and learning about our loving God. 

Jason has begun to translate ‘Separated Unto The Gospel,’ another tool we hope to utilize in the future.  As we finish up our studies in the next couple months, we will be focusing on tract distribution, the Bible study and ultimately starting regular Sunday services in our home.  Please pray for us as we end the first phase and start a new one.  We have much to look forward to here in the work of God.

We praise the Lord for supplying our needs before we ask them.  We are being given a van, it is in Canada, so we are planning to drive it down after the fall week of prayer.  We didn’t think we’d be able to get a car for a few years yet, but the we thank the Lord for seeing this need.   Pray for a safe trip for us in October, especially for when we cross the border into Mexico.

 Prayer Requests:

-Awareness of God’s leading

-Evangelistic opportunities and tract giving

-Continued cultural adaptation

-Language fluency

-Bible study and the relationships being made through it

Enjoying our Friday afternoon...

 Just some pics for ya'll to enjoy!

We had such a lovely afternoon.  I was ready to throw my Spanish text book against the wall, well lets just say a little break was in order!  And thankfully we could make it work!  It was SO relaxing!

 We played a little Upwords!  

And here's a picture of the pears growing outside. 

They aren't that good for eating, but they're good for baking!

Adding comfort and personal touches to the house...

Our house is filling up, things are going on the walls, projects are getting done. All, as they stay in Spanish, 'poco a poco' meaning little by little.  

I made these lovely cushions for our dining room table chairs.  We found out quite soon that if you sit around talking at the table, your bum gets a little sore.  So this one has been on my project list since the beginning, and wow, believe it or not, its taken me this long to get them done.  After all that thinking and planning (we bought the materials MONTHS ago), it was actually pretty easy to whip them up.  But I have to admit, the picture is of only one chair, cause I haven't finished the rest yet!  I've still got 3 of the 6 to go!  But at least the two of us can sit in comfort and style!

I chose a nice dark colour for the cushions because I knew I wanted them to be in use for a long time, and the dark colour will hide any stains they may accumulate!  *smart thinking* :)

Wish we could have all our family here so you could see the house and I can play hostess! Love you all!

Slippers!!!

We love things that the grandparents have made for us.  I thought of one in particular, our slippers, because we've been making good use of them since the rainy season hit us.  Gotta keep them feet warm!

New Printer

Sometimes buying particular things can take a long time and some planning when living in Mexico.  Electronics are for some reason more expensive here.  Because of that, we knew that we wanted to buy a printer/copier/scanner/fax machine combo online.  Jason found a good deal.  The only thing was getting it here!  You don't exactly put a thing like that through international mail!  Fortunately our good friends the Goldfuss' went up to Texas for a little summer family time.  And, well, we got our printer sent to an address there in Texas and they brought it back for us!!

Jason didn't want a picture of himself on here.  However, this is what it looks like when Jason is at work in his office.  Now with our printer we can print thousands of invitations, church bulletins, sermon notes, and much more!  Right now, we aren't printing anything quite in that kind of quantity, but Lord willing, not too far in the future we will be printing church invitations.

Keep praying for the Bible study!  We had someone new last night.  He is from the family that we had originally started the Bible study for (and he is the first to come from that family).  They live very near our house, please pray that we will be able to get to know the family and develop a relationship with them.

Celebrating Canada Day and the 4th of July...

Canada Day and 4th of July fun!!  We invited another American family over.  We had a nice time.  Check out the cake I made.  I took pictures in stages.  It *may* be hard to tell what it is, so I'll just give it away- It's Uncle Sam's Hat.  How American, I know.

 Just a bit of watermelon thrown in there- can't have a summer celebration without watermelon and burgers!

 Nooow.... the finished product.  Yup, that's 4 cakes stacked on top of each other, covered in icing.  We had an interesting time contemplating how we were going to cut it.  

We decided to go with a layer at a time.

It didn't feel *quite* the same celebrating what is normally a hot-summer's-day-sort-of-celebration during the rainy season.  It just pours and pours.  Our yard becomes a swamp!  But we had a fun time just the same.  Thankful for my cozy dry house.

*Sorry there's no pictures of us.  I always forget to take pictures 'in the moment.'

Plants

Yaaaa..... I'm writing about my plants.  People know how giddy I've been about my plants, Jason just shakes his head. :)  But, I DON'T talk to them-ok, it's not that bad. My Dad is helping me work on my green thumb, he happily responds to my emails. :)  My very first house plant- an aloe plant- it died.  I think I watered it too much.  And I have two plants in front of my house, they're in rough shape.  I don't think I watered them enough.  But I am trying to salvage them, they aren't completely done for.  Here's my new 'ponytail plant' -it's lookin good. It's been around for a month, and, so far so good.

These are my little seedlings.  I think it'll be the highlight of my week when I see the first little sprout come out of the dirt.

I've got some herbs, some flowers, and some cactus' in there.  

I like to write the English and the Spanish.  I'm trying to encourage the bilingualism to come through. :)

Well, be assured, I will probably post a pic of the seedlings when they actually poke through.

I love seeing new growth.  I love that we're in the rainy season right now, and everything is sopping wet.  We have to make sure our house is in shape for the rainy season.  A couple days ago, when it was storming, it was flooding behind our house (that's where our washer and dryer is).  Jason went and unclogged the drains.  And we decided that we need to put some wood underneath the washer and dryer to protect it from the elements. 

We also went to Home Depot and bought some containers with little balls that soak up moisture in the air.  We put those in our bedroom.  Last rainy season, our first few months in Mexico, we had mildew problems in our bedroom, and our bed sheets were always quite damp.  These should help.  Things are a bit different here, but we wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  We love that the Lord has sent us here to be a witness for Him.

Learning the Language

These are my Spanish study materials.  The pilgrim's progress (on the left) is just for fun, reading really helps me understand.  I've read novels without a dictionary, though I didn't understand a lot of words, just reading it through like that helps me to absorb and get the whole picture.  Though I don't understand some words, it really makes my brain think.

'Asi hablamos' is my text book for my Intermedio 1 course that starts next week.  *Maybe* I'll have a peak at it, and see if I can get ahead (HA-not likely).

In my Spanish class, besides going through the book, we have many discussions and role plays and other conversation times, that really makes these classes invaluable.  We go everyday, Monday to Friday, 9AM-12PM.  We leave our house at 8AM and get back by 1:30PM-ish.  So, ya, it takes out half our day right there.  Fine for me, I just have to worry about lunch and the house.  Jason, however, has sermons and Bible studies to prepare.  He is so diligent, and such a hard worker!  

There's also some flashcards there.  Those are from my Basico 4 course and previous courses, so I can remember the main grammar concepts taught in the courses.  And so I can review what I'm supposed to know up to this point!

Underneath my text book is a book called 'First 1000 Words in Spanish.'  It has a lot of common words, but also, it does have some obscure ones.  Each page is set in a different location to learn all the words associated with that location, ie. the grocery store, a shed/backyard, hospital, etc.

Yup.  So that's what I'm doing to learn Spanish right now.  My view of language learning so far: Reading and writing are by FAR easier than speaking.

Living and Serving in Mexico City

Hey, I've created this blog to act as a diary (of sorts).  I want to record what daily life is like here in Mexico as a new missionary.  I just want to be able to look back at what I've learned, little things I find interesting about living here in the city, my small accomplishments, things I do around the house and maybe some real life issues.

Up to now, Jason and I have been here in Mexico City, Mexico for 11 months.  We have been studying Spanish, our courses are 6-week intensive semesters, of which, we have done 4 so far.  We are starting another one in July (next week).  Jason preaches at several different churches and we are about 5 weeks into our first Bible Study.

I am a stay at home wife. I love to serve at home and I am learning about how God can use women to minister in the home.  Also, little projects make me giddy and I might share some pictures of projects I complete so you can share in my little joys.  I am learning to be thankful for everything, for little things and finding the good in a hard situation.