My new seat.....

Wow! We were told by friends about this amazing chair in a shop in Satilite, so we decided to investigate and that is what we did the last weeks. During the week we went to see it, but alas they had none! A few weeks later we went and there it was so we had to give it a go, I fell in love with it but it was time to convince Jonny so I told him to sit in it and try it out! It didn’t take long before he loved it to. So it was ordered and is now in pride of place in our living and it is were we do our blogging and chilling, so I have included a picture!

This weekend.....

On Friday in Mexico, it is the “Day of the Dead”. This is a big celebration here in Mexico and at school our teacher explained to us that some people set up altars in their homes with pictures of their loved ones. On the “Day of the Dead” they make offerings to their dead relatives and talk to them. It is a very important time for them, some Mexicans visit there loved one’s graves and clean them, give them flowers and spend time talking and eating there. Satan has a massive grip on this country and we pray that we can be as shining lights in the midst of the darkness.

The Drop-in Centre.....

This is an amazing work which is continuing to be developed, with God workingin amazing ways (click the link for the Agnew’s ministry to read more of God’s presence in this work!) There was a team here from Men from Missions USA in this last couple of weeks. What a job they did over the last weeks. It is amazing to see how God brings together people and can accomplish so much through plain ordinary people like us. Praise His name that He doesn’t need us, but in His grace, chooses to use us!

We praise God that we have been able to be part of this work in a small way, we have both been able to use our nursing skills to treat people here and show Gods love in this manner. We would ask you to pray for this work as it continues to develop. Also for Andrew and Carol Agnew who head up this work, Fidel, Paty, Alejandro and the other people who labour for the Lord in this ministry.

Church plant....

On Sunday we went to a church plant not far from our house, when we arrived we realized that we had seen this area when we were here the first time with the Washbasin team. The weather here has been really cold recently (ok maybe 10 degrees C, but cold for here!) Don’t get us wrong we are used to cold weather, as we have lived in northern Ireland most of our lives, but the difference here is that there is no heating inside any of the houses or buildings!

Here are a few things on Sunday that really humbled us so much.

It is a rented building they are in, so every Sunday before church the pastor and the elders met and pray in the building in order to have it ready for church, as they do not know what has been happening in the building during the week.

During the service we were soooo cold and all of a sudden we had a tap on our shoulder. It was one of the men from the church, and he handed us coats! We couldn’t believe it but gladly accepted.

There was an appeal after the preaching, and there were a few people who came up. One person who stood out to me was a young guy who was crying so hard that there was a puddle on the ground in front of him. This young guy was so passionate for the Lord that I felt so overwhelmed. We praise God for the passion that He has given these people.

We praise God for these church plants and the work that is being done in this area, we are excited about the prospect of being involved in this area in January, we pray for wisdom that we will be able to encourage this work which God is accomplishing through these people.

Good, Better, Best.....

We were really convicted this weekend by the words of another missionary on the field. She has read a book that highlights that we owe God our best efforts, and the best of what He has given us to offer. The decisions we make have to be weighed up as good, better or best. You see, the decisions we make on a day to day basis are normally good, but we have to think; could they be better, and are they our best.

We were challenged on this with our quiet times in Mexico. Due to the language difficulties in church, we were downloading Bible study podcasts, family were sending us sermons from our home church at Ballee Baptist, and we were listening to them as we travelled. Now this sounds super holy, but in reality, many time we went back to listening to CD on our ipods.

You see, we may have been listening to music from the charts that may not have been that bad, that was our good. We could be listening to Christian music that our friends have given us, or recommended, this was our better. But we realised that listening to and applying God's word to our lives is our best.

We hope that you can ponder your decisions, as we now ponder ours. Can we say that our decisions are good, better or our best.

A Week at School.....

This week we both went back to school and it changed a bit - so we felt we needed to update on the praise and prayer points in this area. Julie is in the Elemental Level, and feels so much more confident with her Spanish having time in tutoring with Tania. She is finding her way through the class and even though I'm not allowed to say this - she is around the top of her class! (Sorry Julie!) She also got high marks in her classes with Tania, and we have really been praising God on how He has really blessed us and answered prayer through helping us with Spanish.

Another praise is that although Jonny is in Level 1 for grammar, he has now started in Level 3 for conversation, and has felt this to be of benefit. Due to having friends in church, and connected with the mission here, we have more opportunities to converse in Spanish than others in our classes. Praise God that in Level 3, Jonny is able to share more with his new classmates and also explain in greater detail, about why we are here, and the work God is doing in Mexico.

We thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray as we can testify to the fact that it is our greatest weapon against the attacks of the evil one.

2 Month Update.....!

We have now been in Mexico for two months, and we are going to go out for a bit tonight to celebrate! Today we got a little pang for home, and sometimes, more than others, it can really frustrate you! So today we prayed for the Lord to strengthen us at this time, and help us to be faithful in His plans. So I want to kick off a monthly report of looking back at what I like to call our "Red Sea Moments." I came to this when I read about the Exodus, and 3 days after crossing the Red Sea, the children of Israel began grumbling. Yet God reminded them to remember how He proved Himself to them by His faithfulness! We can count these ourselves when we have times when out of the ordinary things happen in our lives that can only be attributed to God. So here goes!

1. We are now really into our Spanish and we have found it difficult at times, but God has blessed us with amazing teachers, and an amazing tutor for Julie.
2. We have a wee car which has meant that we can zoom around the city in safety, and get places to relax when we need to.
3. We have been blessed by being able to live so close to the other missionaries on the field, and we have such a great team here to share God's work with.
4. God has given us an amazing family as friends. We have spent some great time with Benjamin, Gretal & Yohanni, having meals and having real fellowship while attempting to speak Spanish!
5. God has astounded us with providing us with Skype, which has meant that we can keep in contact with home. We were told it would take weeks for our internet to be activated, and yet it only took about one day! Praise God for making things happen in His time!

There has been so many more things that have caused us to rejoice, and we will definately have more in the months to come.

We hope you can feel encouraged to sit back and look at your "Red Sea Moments." They really make you stand in awe of the faithfulness of our God!

The Funniest Thing.....But True!

Some of our friends had sent us this video from Youtube as a joke to all those who have studied Spanish in some form. It is hilarious as it's so true - we actually learned all this stuff in our first semester! (Note to Christine, my sister-in-law. You can actually add -o to the end of most English words to make Spanish words!)

The Strangest Ministry.....!

A while ago, we went to Grandad's (and yes, I did say my Grandad!) and he had bought a new computer to play golf on, called the Wii. We laughed at the fact that my Grandad had a computer, then found out a bit more about it. Jonny had got a bit of extra money from his work, and decided to buy one, it comes with one game with boxing, golf, baseball, tennis and bowling. And this is all you need! What happened next is nothing short of amazing. You see, the Wii is the most amazing thing ever, and immediately we hooked soooo many people into it. Our friends bagan dropping like flies and buying the Wii, one couple even using it in their youth club. So we decided to bring it to Mexico as it is really compact. Unfortunately due to region differences, it is in black and white, but no less potent. So far we have played it with nearly all the missionaries here, and some of our Mexican friends. It is amazing fun, no secret tricks, no language barrier, it's good exercise, all the family can play, and everyone gets hooked. It has really surprised us how the Wii has become so popular, and we hope that we can play it loads over here with all of our friends. (Except for Robin Mackinnon as she is beginning to get far too good at bowling!)

Grrrr.....Sickness!

On Sunday during church Jonny began to feel a bit unwell and his tummy began to get a bit sore. Cue the inevitable! We were supposed to go out for dinner with Benjamin and Gretal but had to cancel as Jonny was getting worse as the service went on. We went home and got him lying down, but his condition got a bit worse and he vomited several times! He then began to feel a lot better but still had tummy pains. At this point I felt that he needed something in his stomach as he hadn't eaten all day and looked pretty green. Gary came over for support, and I made us all the stomach settling Bourbon Chicken with spicy wedges (This is why I'm the chef! - Jonny) So after eating this, it came right back up again, and we (well Julie) began to get worried. I rang Robin Mackinnon, who rang Leroy & Kay Lyndsey for advice. About 45mins later, the OMS cavalry arrived! Robin, Leroy and Kay came to assess Jonny and see what could be done. (Obviously my embarassment of being spotted in my pj's was dampened by my illness! - Jonny)

They thought Jonny had an infection, and thought about taking him to hospital, but it was decided to see out the night, with his own personal nurse, and see how it was in the morning.

In the morning the nausea had gone but the cramps etc. continued. so Leroy took Jonny to a local doctor who did some tests and concluded that Jonny has food poisoning! He has three medications to take and a bit of rest, so we are taking today off in order to get him back to strength, then back to school.

Please pray for us, and our health, as we are still new to this country and all the new little bugs that it has. And pray for rest and recovery for Jonny and I, so we can start back to school ASAP.

p.s. jonny is feeling alot better!

A New Typical Day.....!

Starting tomorrow, Julie and I are starting school together. Julie is going into level 0 and I begin level 1. So our new typical day will go as follows:

1. Get up about 5:45am, and get ready and have breakfast.
2. Leave the house around 6:15am-6:30am.
3. Arrive at Campanario at 7am to get the bus.
4. The bus will arrive at our train station around 8:30am.
5. We get the tube to Insurgentes (near our school) at about 9am
6. We walk to our school and arrive about 9:30am.
7. Leave school at 2pm-2:30pm.
8. Get on our return trip and arrive home about 4:30pm.
9. Rest, usually!

Unfortunately this is a good day! Many days because of traffic etc, we can be on the bus for over 2 hours!!! It seems as if the school is miles away but it is in the centre of the city, and it's due to traffic it takes so long. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and pray that the Lord protects us as we can be fresh each day for Him.

Gas.....!

Last week we got up in the morning, and Jonny got into the shower to get washed. But the water was a bit tepid, but hey ho. Later on Julie figured out that the shower was freezing, the oven didn't work, and the tumble drier wasn't going on! Hmmm.

We got a bit of gas delivered when we first moved in but it had seemed to run out!! So Julie rang the Mackinnon's to see what and who we should ring. So gas was ordered for 2pm that day. Yippee!

Unfortunately, Julie sat in all day and no gas arrived. Our guards at the top of our street are amazing, and they are really concerned about our safety, but they didn't know anything about the gas company and didn't let them in. The gas company said they would return the following day at 9am. Again no gas in the morning or afternoon, and we had to run out for showers etc, and have lovely microwave food, yummy!

Finally we figured what was happening with the guards and we got him to ring the company, and everything was sorted! So we are clean again, have clean clothes and eating proper food, you'll be glad to know.

It's funny as sometimes little things like this happen and we havn't got a clue what to do, but it's amazing that God has placed around us fantastic families to keep us o the right track!

Exams and Level 1

Last Friday Jonny had his exams for level 0. There were three exams; an oral exam, a written grammar exam, and a writen conversation exam.

He did really well in all three exams, and feels really excited about starting level 1 this week. It is amazing how time flies, and it seemed like only yesterday that he started!

We really appreciate your prayers and e-mails to encourage us in our language study, and we can tell you that it is making a big difference in our lives, study and general communication with people. This is why we are here, to share Christ through our lives, our actions and our words. Your prayers are upholding us and blessing us with the strength to do all three for the advancement of His kingdom.

S.T.I.C. (Sticking Together in Christ)

Last Friday we had our inaugural meeting of our new men's missionary fellowship group called Sticking Together in Christ (STIC)

It was amazing to have a night where we could all chill out and have the three F's (fun, food, and fellowship!) We began the night with prayer and a reading from God's word in 1st Thess. chapter 4, in relation to encouraging each other. We then had a bit of grub, and Christian gave his testimony. I found it strange that we know each other as missionaries, but sometimes we know little of each others lives before now, so it was amazing to hear how God has touched Christian's life and channels blessing through him.

We finished up with a game of Nintendo Wii. It was fantastic to see everyone getting together and - well - making fools of oursleves playing bowling, tennis, and most popularly golf! In the coming months we hope to have more of these meetings and each guy is responsible for each night and we'll have loads of fun nights, but most importantly nights where we can encourage one another and glorify God!!

We forgot.....Our Anniversary!

Ok this is a post we have tried to get around to for maybe three weeks! On the 20th September we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! But as it was just a normal day for us it seemed a bit - well normal!

It's kinda strange over here because every day seems to blend into the next, and before you know it, it is your anniversary and you forget! Well Jonny didn't! (I don't know how because sometimes he goes to school with two different socks on! - Julie)

I got a lovely bunch of flowers, and also a pair of shoes (they were too big but it's the thought that counts!)

It's been how long.....?

It amazes us every week as we realise that we've been in Mexico so long. This is our seventh week in Mexico!
However to be honest there are good days and bad days. Sometimes the language is really tough, and then the food doesn't agree with you. Or something happens at home, something small, but because you aren't there it seems massive! We have just been talking these last few days, it would be lovely to go home for a few days, see everyone and eat kebabs! We are happy here, we have a peace about being here, but the devil does attack in subtle ways.

What has meant alot to us are our friends, family and church family who have e-mailed, you all know who you are! Sometimes just knowing that people back home are thinking and praying with us gives us a little spring in our step! Thank you all so much!

Friends/Amigos

These are our friends from Church, and we asked them last Sunday when they came for dinner, could we put a bit on our blog about them. They agreed, so here they are! In order we have Gretal, Yohani, and Benjamin. We met them in church in our first week and we could hardly speak two words to them, it was so embarrassing for us. So two weeks ago we studied up loads and went out for the day with them and had a fantastic day. Yesterday, they came to our house for an Irish meal. We had salmon and potatoes, however, no chillis! They seemed to like it, and have invited us to their new house next Sunday for a meal after church.

Please pray that our Spanish gets much better so we can share more with them. We showed them pictures of family and friends yesterday, and also of our church. They said that our friends, family and more importanly our church must be really happy that we have come to Mexico to work for God.

This meant a lot to us, as it is because of God, our families, our friends and our church, that we have been able to come to Mexico to serve Him. We really appreciate all your gifts, support, e-mails and cards, that encourage us so much while we're here.

DIY Take 2.....

After our disaster with our new curtains we decided to take our time to hang our curtains upstairs. We knew we needed to get our curtains up, as it was either that or change the newspaper as it was nearly 2 months out of date!

So last week, armed with a drill, a chair, some curtain ring (thanks Carol & Andrew!) and a lot of patience, we had a go.

Before


After (2 hours!)

And before you ask, they looked much different in the shop ha ha. But they keep the light out in the morning, and they are better than newspaper!