¡Viva la Vida!

Weird Eats

Our next door neighbor has been telling us for a while that cow tongue is his favorite meat. I wasn't too sure about it, but I told him I would try it. I mean, in the last six years we have eaten turtle eggs, iguana, bull testicles, chicken feet, intestine soup, cheese ice cream & pig feet (and probably other things I don't remember). The cow tongue tacos tonight were pretty good! I can probably say it's the best weird thing I've eaten.

Grocery Shopping

It's so nice to have a good supermarket within half an hour of my house. When we lived in Nicaragua, we had to go quite a ways to a supermarket and then it wouldn't have most of what we needed. One Thanksgiving we had to go to five different stores to get all of the stuff for a good traditional dinner.

Yesterday I went to H.E.B., a chain store based out of Texas and was pleased to find everything from canned pumpkin to cranberry sauce to pecan pie! My favorite find was the already baked and smoked turkey for sale! Tomorrow night we are having a Thanksgiving dinner for our cell group, and we wanted to make it as tradional as possible. I was mentally preparing myself to "wing it" on many recipes, but thanks to H.E.B. I won't have to!

Fruits of Waffle-fest

We have asked people to be praying for our English-speaking cell group, fondly known as "Waffle-fest" because we often make waffles for our dinner together. In the past three months we have seen it grow from 4 people to 14, with 2 men having accepted Christ and 1 who is seriously considering it. We study the book of Acts, using "The Dust Off their Feet", a collection of modern commentaries through the book. We have been challenged and spurred each other on to live more like the early church, letting each chapter push us into something new in our lives of faith.

Thanksgiving Mexican Style

This year, for the second year in a row, we were invited to a church in Monterrey to celebrate a Thanksgiving feast with some of their people and to share about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Last year we met some really neat people and formed great friendships as the result of this night.

A week ago I was on the metro with a missions team from Montana and I noticed one guy was really paying attention to me speaking English, so I asked him if he understood. He did, and was anxious to speak with me and practice his English. In ten minutes of conversation we were able to talk about him and his work, his desire to speak English w/ people, and to talk about Thanksgiving. I invited him to the event in Monterrey, gave him my card, and left it at that. Wouldn't you know it? He called and wanted to go! So, last night, Joe and his friend Lili joined us for a wonderful night of feasting and thanking God for all His blessings.

I love it when God orchestrates new friendships with people and shows us how easy it is to share His love with people. It was a special night.

Jackson has a bad cold, with a cough, sore throat, and head congestion. Due to the H1N1 virus, he cannot attend school unless we have a doctor's note that says he does NOT have the flu. He has no fever, I know he doesn't have the flu, but they won't let him in, so to the doctor we go, to be exposed to people that probably really have the flu. Lovely.

Last minute messages

True to the stereotype, we have found that most churches do not plan their sermons or speakers too far in advance. Last week, Greg got invited to speak at a chapel service about 6 hours before it was to begin. Today I got invited to speak at church to the women with 4 hours notice. We have both learned to take some time and develop outlines or at least to always have something in the works so we can be prepared for those last minute invitations. It feels good to be the last-minute go-to guy when someone cancels or they haven't organized their speakers very well. I have found that my last minute messages are usually the best ones because I have to depend on God for every word and I tend to speak from the heart more. It has taught us to be ready in season and out of season, always ready even if we don't feel like it. I just am thankful for the opportunity to share with people what God is doing in me and through me. What an opportunity!

A missions team came in last week and painted a bunch of houses for widows and poor people, but then they blessed us! Here's a picture of our nice, clean, freshly painted blue house!

Two weeks ago we got new mayors in the state of Nuevo Leon. The first thing the mayor of Monterrey did was take all traffic police off duty and put them through rigorous testings, including lie detector tests. The streets were without traffic cops for two weeks, and it was so wonderful to drive without worrying about the "mordita"!

In August, I was asked if I would help out to form a choir in our church. I've participated in lots of choirs, but never led one! It has been a challenge, but one I have taken on with great joy. At first, I thought I would be helping, but it has turned out that I am in charge. I now have to teach singing, organize backup worship team members, and pick songs. It's fun but very time consuming.

Kids with guns...

From an article in today's Washington Post: 

The number of minors swept up in Mexico's drug wars - as killers and victims - is soaring, with US and Mexican officials warning that a toxic culture of fast money, drug abuse and murder is creating a "lost generation." Although the exploitation of children by criminals is timeless, authorities say the cartels are responding to new realities here. They have stepped up recruiting to replace tens of thousands of members who have been killed or arrested during President Felipe Calderón's US-backed war against the traffickers. The crackdown has led the cartels to diversify their operations, moving from the transshipment of narcotics to extortion, immigrant smuggling and kidnapping. It also has sparked intense rivalries, with youngsters serving as expendable foot soldiers in battles over trafficking routes to the United States and local markets that serve a growing number of Mexican drug users.

Kids With Guns (Gorillaz)Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Taking over
But it won't be long
They mesmerized, skeletons
Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Easy does it, easy does it, they got something to say "no" to

And they're turning us into monsters
Turning us into fire
Turning us into monsters
It's all desire
It's all desire
It's all desire

Drinking out
Pacifier
Sinking soul
Where you are
Doesn't make sense to
But it won't be long
Cause kids with guns
Kids with guns
Easy does it, easy does it, they got something to "no" to

And they're turning us into monsters
Turning us into fire
Turning us into monsters
It's all desire
It's all desire
It's all desire

Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it