¡Pura Vida!

Last night we did an evangelistic outreach in support of a new mission church in Salinas, and, after passing out invitations throughout the colonia, the crowd that turned out was composed mostly of children age 10 and under.  It made me think of Jesus and how he related to children - when he rebuked his disciples for trying to keep the little ones away from him and even said, "unless you become like a little child you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven."       

Congratulations, Mr. President-Elect

We want to officially extend our congratulations to Senator Barack Obama as our next president.  With the election of the first minority president, the United States has passed a crucial milestone in its history.  Imagine, only a hundred years ago the very first black man was ever invited to even visit the White House (Booker T. Washington was invited by President Teddy Roosevelt) and that created quite an uproar.  And now, just over a century later, a man of color occupies the most powerful office in our land.  Whether one agrees with Mr. Obama's politics or not, we should all agree that this is indeed an important event in our shared history.

The First & Only Taco Bell in all of Mexico!

November's a very busy month for us as we're hosting 5 teams, but I (Greg) still had time to take my student leaders out to the first and still only Taco Bell restaurant in Mexico.  Their reaction to the cuisine - Mexican food as interpreted by the American fast food industry - was interesting to say the least.  They politely tolerated it...not sure they enjoyed it as much as I did!  But it was their first time so I'm willing to give them a break.

I Miss Autumn...

Julian Price Lake, Blowing Rock, NC. Photo taken on Monday, October 20, 2008.

Ana Maria Salazar

Every morning when I go online one of the first things I do is to check out journalist and author Ana Maria Salazar's "Mexico Today" blog on the latest news and analysis on Mexico. Ms. Salazar also hosts "Imagen News," the only English language news service with nationwide broadcast in Mexico.  We had the pleasure of meeting tonight at the annual Book Fair in Monterrey.   

Flight of the Butterflies

This morning I was hanging out laundry and enjoying the sunny day, when I looked up in the sky and saw hundreds and hundreds of monarch butterflies. The bright orange flutters contrasted against the clear blue sky was breathtaking. We tried to film it, but it was difficult because they are so little. Every year, the monarch butterflies travel from Canada to the south of Mexico for the winter. Supposedly, the migration lasts more than the two month lifespan of a monarch. You can read more about it, and even see a link to the Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico here.

U.S. Consulate in Monterrey Attacked

This weekend the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey was attacked by gunman who fired multiple shots at the building and then threw a hand grenade (Yahoo! news story here).  While the motives are still unknown, it is yet another illustration of the violence and unrest here in Mexico.  The U.S. Congress in June passed the Merida Initiative - which will provide $400 million in security assistance to Mexico and Central America, mainly in training, equipment and intelligence to combat transnational drug trafficking.  Events like what happened here will no doubt get that money here more quickly. 

¡Ya Basta! Taking Back a Town

As we have reported here, Mexico as a nation is being torn apart by an internal war between the government and powerful drug cartels.  Last weekend our church marched through our town declaring that this town and nation belong to God and proclaimed His faithfulness over the land.  Our town lies on one of the drug routes and it has been reported that the lives of our mayor, police force and municipal government members have been threatened.  As Christians our message is the same both to the government as well as to the cartels:  "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

Proclaiming "Jesus is Lord!"

Taking back our streets.

The Museum of the Desert

Today was Greg's day off so we decided to go to the neighboring city of Saltillo (pop. 650,000 & about 1.5 hours from Monterrey) and spend the day there at the world-class Museum of the Desert.  We were not disappointed!  The museum contains a geological history of northern Mexico, an in-depth explanation of the flora and fauna that inhabit the Chihuahuan desert, interesting exhibits on the various dinosaur fossils discovered in the region, a herpetarium (live snake & reptile area), and a large greenhouse which contains more than 400 species of cactus.  The boys loved it and we hope to make it back there again sometime.

Little Johnny and the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis

I promise that this will not be the typical "dirt poor missionary post wagging his finger at how materialistic the U.S. is" kind of posts.  Yes, I promise!  Nor will it be the "look at how greedy Wall Street is" kind of posts.  No, what I want this post to focus on is the illogical financial thinking behind many Americans' purchase of a home.  Nothing defines an American more than their home (ok, well maybe their European luxury car...oh yeah, and their expensive designer clothes...oh yeah and their iMac...but I digress).  Michael Lewis of portfolio.com says it best in his article Mansion:  A Subprime Parable:

The real moral is that when a middle-class couple buys a house they can’t afford, defaults on their mortgage, and then sits down to explain it to a reporter from the New York Times, they can be confident that he will overlook the reason for their financial distress: the peculiar willingness of Americans to risk it all for a house above their station. People who buy something they cannot afford usually hear a little voice warning them away or prodding them to feel guilty. But when the item in question is a house, all the signals in American life conspire to drown out the little voice. The tax code tells people like the Garcias that while their interest payments are now gargantuan relative to their income, they’re deductible. Their friends tell them how impressed they are-and they mean it. Their family tells them that while theirs is indeed a big house, they have worked hard, and Americans who work hard deserve to own a dream house. Their kids love them for it.

Across America, some version of this drama has become a social norm. As of this spring, one in 11 mortgages was either past due—like Ed McMahon’s $4.8 million jumbo loan on his property—or in foreclosure, like Evander Holyfield’s $10 million Georgia estate. It’s no good pretending that Americans didn’t know they couldn’t afford such properties, or that they were seduced into believing they could afford them by mendacious mortgage brokers or Wall Street traders. If they hadn’t lusted after the bigger house, they never would have met the mortgage brokers in the first place. The money-lending business didn’t create the American desire for unaffordable housing. It simply facilitated it.

It’s this desire we must understand. More than any other possession, houses are what people use to say, “Look how well I’m doing!” Given the financial anxieties and indignities suffered by the American middle class, it’s hardly surprising that a lower-middle-class child who grows up in a small house feels a burning need to acquire a bigger one.

Let's get this straight:  if you give little Johnny a quarter and he goes down the street to the candy store and, thanks to readily available competitive credit, he later returns with an entire little red wagon load of more than $100 worth of sweets, wouldn't little Johnny's parents think something's amiss...? 

A Very Pleasant Time of Year

Well we've paid our dues and now after over four months of blisteringly hot weather we have nights in the upper 60s and days in the 70s.  Sunny, cool, nice!

Pray for India

Some of you may remember that last year I accompanied a group of Mexicans to India on a missions trip. Yesterday I received an email from the coordinators of the trip that I want to share with you. Perhaps you were unaware of the unrest there, as the news of the elections and economy seem to be dominating the news...

As we send this report it is with mixed emotions!!! First of all we can say that our last trip to our "beloved land" has been the most successful in the last 12 years. It was the right time, the right people and the right places for an extraordinary manifestation of God's power in action.

 

At the same time there is deep pain in our heart because of the present situation in India. On September 8^th we received news from our coordinator in India saying that an unprecedented persecution has been unleashed against Christians. An extremist Hindu leader was gunned down with four of his workers, which was used as an excuse to blame the Christians for the assassinations. Similar to when Nero blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome in the 1rst century AD., they vowed vengeance and they are fulfilling their vow.

 

The Christians are being tortured, burned, mutilated, the women are being raped in the presence of their relatives to try to obligate them to reconvert to Hinduism. Orphanages, schools and churches are being burned, there are more than 150,000 people living in the forest trying to save their lives, since more than 25,000 villages have been burned down.

 

This situation has become like the genocide that Rwanda experienced in 1994. I have been informed that this situation began just a few days after we returned from our last trip. It seems like there was a revolution in the spiritual world causing the principalities and powers to counter-attack what God is doing in India, our prayer (A CHRISTIAN NATION).  In spite, of everything the people of God in India are being strengthened and growing in the midst of this tribulation.

 

On the contrary in some of the places that have been the most affected the percentage of Christians has multiplied in the midst of severe persecution.

 

 

They tell us the ONLY thing that can change this very critical situation is PRAYER. We would like to ask that you PLEASE spread the word. If possible please resend this email to at least 10 people. If people don't have email please copy and give out this URGENT request. Our dream would be to see 10,000 prayer groups rise and cry out to God for our "beloved land"

 

We want to make an urgent call to intercession because of the persecution our brothers and sisters are suffering. We trust that this news will move your heart and will cause you to rise as a warrior in prayer crying out for India.

School Supplies Donated

A Senator has donated a load of school supplies to Jackson's school as well as to the Bible School.  Here are happy elementary school children upon receiving their packets.  At left is the school's principal.

9-11-08

Here we are again at another anniversary of the Day That Changed America.  Today I have chosen not to opine but simply to say "Lan astaslem," which is Arabic for "I will not submit, I will not surrender."

Happy Birthday to the Pater Familias

The Most Dangerous Man in Cuba

This is Gorki Águila, the lead singer of a punk band called Porno para Ricardo, and who last month was hauled into court by  the Cuban government and charged with "dangerousness" - a legal charge under Cuban law which allows the authorities to detain people whom they think are likely to commit crimes (think:  "precrimes" in the film Minority Report).  The charge carries a penalty of up to four years in prison.  So fortunately for Gorki, Fidel's minions dropped the charge down to "public disorder" and fined him $30.      

    

So how do nonconformists like this guy threaten a government?  I mean, c'mon, just look at him!    Precisely because he is just that - a nonconformist...a rebel.  That's what punk rockers are supposed to be, right?  Gorki could be singing and thrashing around to the usual Cuban government's fare of anti-U.S., anti-Imperialist, anti-Neoliberal screeds (and at one time, he says, he was Good Comrade Gorki, faithful follower of Ché).  Heck, the government even once allowed his band's songs to be played on Cuban radio!  But all that changed when Gorki started to see through the facade of lies and control that the Cuban government imposes on its people.  So now he's considered a dissident - probably a title he wears with honor - as well as a genuine hero and role model for other Cubans (see this post and this one too on a dissident Cuban blog called Generación Y).  Now that's not somthing you can say about very many lead singers of punk bands!                                         

This & That

* The oldest two boys are studying "History of God's Kingdom" by Sonlight in their homeschool curriculum. Interesting stuff and good for them to learn what they believe and why as they read about everything from Rome to China to modern day revivals.
* Greg had four teeth extracted today, well, shards of teeth that formerly had root canals and the crowns fell off or whatever. He's in a lot of pain but will heal quickly.
* The Bible School students spent the weekend helping out at an evangelistic crusade led by a Korean evangelist. A fight over the flag occurred after the last meeting (friendly fight, that is).
* We've been asked to be on the leadership team at our church, but we're not sure if we have time. Still praying/thinking about it.
* Our youngest kid and all his friends have had lots of water balloon fights in the yard these past few days. So much fun, but definitely messy.
* Oldest son got braces last week. The total cost including treatment is $220. That's amazing.
* We had rain for almost two weeks straight. The sun came out yesterday and we were able to wash tons of clothes. Our house stunk like teenage boys! Now it smells like bleach and fabric softener.
* The town "Nut Festival" is getting ready to start. This means loud music into the early mornings, a fair on the town square, and something to walk around and look at.

None of the above were worthy of its own blog post, but there you have it - after five years of blogging, our first "This & That".

ENOUGH! A Nation Rises in Outrage...

Things aren't going so well down south of the border these days.  Mexico has become a war zone.  As we've been reporting here on this blog, things have really gotten worse over the past year.  The violence here is staggering - on one hand we've got drug cartels here that make al-Queda look like the Girl Scouts and on the other there has been a horrifying increase in kidnappings.  Kidnappings used to only affect Mexico's wealthy upper class but now the growing middle class is being targeted.  Reported kidnappings are up 9 percent this year - 65 per day, according to the Associated Press.

The outrage among ordinary Mexican citizens has grown so much that mounting public pressure has pushed the government to open a well-funded special anti-kidnapping unit with nationwide jurisdiction and the president is set to announce a comprehensive, 74-point anti-crime plan.  Special anti-kidnapping public marches have been called this weekend for citizens to take to the streets and express their outrage.  The demonstrations are taking place in 55 large cities in all 32 Mexican states and millions of people are expected to march.  As I type this, a TV news station is reporting that there are more than one million marchers demonstrating in Mexico City (see pic at left taken just hours ago).  Nearly all of them are dressed completely in white. 

Please pray for this country.  It's hard to sit and watch and not want to get involved but we feel our best involvement is to keep on doing what we're doing - raising up and discipling quality, competent men and women of character who will go out and make the needed difference in their country.  The corruption and violence which are so embedded in the culture can only be overcome by people committed to the Kingdom of God.  There is no other answer to Mexico's problems.  It is time, however, for the church to rise up and be the light it's been called to be..."your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven..."

It'll all be worth it...

Let's face it... we all have tough days. It doesn't matter if you are in Mexico, Nigeria, or the US - we all have those days when we wonder, am I even making an impact at all? I love this song by Rita Springer, and I wanted to share it with you. I'm thinking about all of our friends who are struggling today with raising kids, working, trying to make a difference in their worlds for Jesus. It's gonna be worth it all.

Reading Shakespeare in Mexico

Shakespeare is one of the necessities of a good, well-rounded education.  I (Greg) remember my first introduction to Shakespeare in my tenth grade English class with Mrs. Duncan.  I remember the general consensus of the class being one of dread when Mrs. Duncan told us we were going to study the classic English dramatist.  Shakespeare???!  Oh no!!!  So we began reading Macbeth and, much to my surprise, I completely got into the play.  I can say that I was absolutely riveted by the unfolding action of the play and enchanted by Shakespeare's deft and clever use of language.  You don't realize how dumbed down our language is until you've read the Master!  So Zack and Max now have the chance to experience the wonderful world of William Shakespeare.  They're starting with the Twelfth Night, a hilarious comedy of mistaken identities.  Later they will read the play that so enthralled their father - who hopes they will be as enthralled by it as he was.