Party Time.....

Last Saturday we were at the party of Fernandito (Jonathan & Lupita's nephew.) It was a Pirate themed party and we had facepainting, games, tacos, and REAL pirates!

It was amazing to be there with Julie's parents and to see a Mexican birthday party, and especially for our "stars" of wives to get a little face paint too!

A Relaxing Affair.....

On the first day that Julie's parents arrived we went to a little pool down the street from us. We had chatted with Robin about going, and so we set off with Robin, the kids and our rabble to the little place.

It was a great time with swimming, spinning on a roundabout(!) and also a picnic. Everything was going well until a little rain shower, but we left having had an amazingly relaxing day with family and good friends!

The Wheels on the Bus.....

On Friday we went on the Turibus around the centre of Mexico City. It is the second time that Julie and I have been on it, but we made a few stops this time with Julie's parents and it is a really cool tour of the Federal District!

We have been really blessed to have some time with Julie's parents and still can't get over the shock of them actually being here!!

Surprise....Surprise

Last Wednesday we babysat for the Mackinnon family as they picked up two representitives from the US, and we were to keep them in our house while they were here. So we stayed up, watched a video and waited after having a long day of cleaning our house, shopping and generally tidying for our very important people.

However, when Robin and Christian returned, they didn't have the VIPS, but instead they brought Julie's Mum & Dad. They had all kept this secret for weeks, and we hadn't a clue!

So they have arrived for ten days, and we hope to get the most out of their time here, so expect some photos on the blog!

Our Mexican family...

Please remember to pray for our pastor, Jonathan Villanueva and his family. His wife Cleide is from Brazil, and they are expecting their third child in a months time. The child will join their other kids Samuel and Sara.

Remember them at this time, as it continues to be a busy time for them, and also as they serve the Lord. They have been like a family to us since we joined the church, and we praise God for them.

Mother's Day...

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Mexico, and it is one of the biggest celebrations of the year. So today in church we had a special celebration for the mothers in the fellowship, and each of the children made a gift for their Mum. The pastor's daughter, Sara, made a little gift for Julie, as she said Julie will be a Mummy soon.

After the presents were handed out we had a BBQ to celebrate the day, and we all had tacos! Julie even won an applause for the smallest baby, although she was outdone by a lady in our church with 24 grandchildren!!

Coming Soon...

As we haven't got a picture of the whole Ballee Baptist Mexico Team coming in July, we have decided to put this on as both the picture, and the team, are coming soon!

Today marks 8 weeks until the team come, and behind the scenes, both in N. Ireland and in Mexico the pressure is on for preparations, planning and panicking!!

We are so looking forward to the team coming to work with us, and it will be such a blessing to have them here to serve the Lord beside the missionaries here.

More updates (and pictures!) when we get them!

The Beautiful Game...

Last week Julie's Dad and some others were involved in a charity football match to raise awareness and funds for the Project Mexico shop in Coleraine. The guys raised £200 ($400) to go towards the shop, and the cheque was presented to Julie's Nanna, and Gloria who both volunteer a lot of their time in the Project Mexico shop.

It has amazed us how the local community has supported the shop and the work that it does in raising awareness and funds for the Mexico field. Thank you for all those who took part, and all those who work tirelessly in the Project Mexico shop.

Very Cultural.....

On Friday we were in for a real treat! It was the cultural week at the school of Maddie, and Joshie (with Ethan sneeking in on the action!)

Friday was the finale, where each class presented special dances from around the world. Maddie's dance was from Mexico, and is here dressed in an authentic Mexican dress. Josh's class had prepared a Cuban dance.

It was such a fantastic time for us to share with the kids, and it's amazing to see how they performed with such enthusiasm!

A Different Kind of Scan.....

We were at the MacKinnons last night and Josh (their oldest son) drew us all pictures. Aparently Jonny is like Spiderman....and Julie got this lovely picture! We asked Josh what it was, and he said it was Miss Julie with a baby inside of her.

Having been for tests, scans, checkups and various other things since we found out Julie was pregnant, it's so refreshing to see it all from a childs eyes!

Benjamin, Gretel & Yohani

This Sunday we went out with our Mexican friends for a little outing. Since moving church our times with Benjamin, Gretel and Yohani have been limited but we really enjoy going out with them once in a while. We went to our former church at Santa Monica where they attend and afterwards went to a little town called Tepozatlan (Te-Po-Zat-Lan)

We had a great time and were so excited to play with Yohani, who is walking and talking now! How things have changed since we first knew them!

Jovenes.....

This last week as well we had a celebration for the birthday of one of the youth fellowship. It was a great night of fun with the young people again, and we had a feed of hot dogs and cake that made us want to sleep for a week!

The young people have had their ups and downs like everyone else, but we are excited at such a devoted group that we have. They meet every week to go through a devotional course, and have times of prayer and worship. So every once in a while they have a special night where they go bowling, ice skating, or have a wonderful feast like we had here!

Suprises with the Law.....

On Saturday, between our work with MEXIKIDS and the youth at our church, we were out driving Gary's car getting something to eat. On our way back we were stopped by a policeman at traffic lights and told to move to the side of the road. The Police Force in Mexico has been known to be notoriously corrupt and we were a bit worried to say the least. The car had lapsed 3 days over it's verification period, and we were in a bit of trouble. I called Christian to inform him, and the policeman came and asked me to get out of the car. At this point they normally ask for a bribe to let you on your way. So with both of us praying hard at this point, Jonny got out.

To our surprise the policeman asked why we were wearing matching canary yellow shirts. We informed him that we were from N. Ireland, we worked in a church here with kids, and were Christians. He asked about our church, our doctrinal beliefs (I haven't a clue how I explained this in Spanish!!) and also where our church was. He then asked me to see my Bible, which is in English and Spanish, and for a piece of paper. I returned to the car completely confused, and asked a distraught Julie for my Bible and some paper.

When I returned he said he was a Christian, and he would let us off if we went straight home, and got the car verified. He also gave us his address and phone number and asked if we could come and teach him more about the Bible!

So this week we are going to get in touch with him, and he has invited us to his house. Please pray for him as it must be very difficult to be a Christian in the police force in Mexico. More importantly we praise God for this very strange opportunity to disciple a fellow believer.

Cool Running.....

This time last year we ran the Belfast Marathon to raise funds for Julie and I to work and live in Mexico for the year. We had a great time on the day, apart from a terrential downpour on the last leg.

In July this year a team from our church, Ballee Baptist, is coming to work with us in Mexico for two weeks. They ran the marathon this year as a fundraiser for the team, and we just wanted to thank them for raising the profile of God's work in Mexico and raise money for it.

So a big thank you to all the team, oh......and there should be another runner today called Gary Thompson. Check out the news for him because he was bound to be in the top 10!