01 July Missionaries and their Families...

01 July Hey, Chris here in Chula Vista. I just put Lori on a flight back to Michigan to be with her younger brother who just had a significant embolic stroke... and for her to be with her family that's pretty turned up with all this. Missionaries and their families far, far away. Until you've been in the place where you are working far, far away from your families and living away for years at a time (missionaries, multi-national corporation expat workers, diplomats, study abroad), it's hard to express the deep difficulties...when you are a 4-6-8 hours plane flight away... It's hard. Please pray for Lori and her family, for her brother and his wife and 4 kids... Chris

01July The Unusually Usual in Missions

BAJMISSIONBLOG 01JULY The Unusually Usual… Hey, y’all. Chris in Chula Vista. We just returned from a week in San Vicente. It was filled with the unusually usual… which is the life and work of any modern missionary. Lori had a fantastic time connecting with her cottage-industry women, helping them with the hundred details (I can’t get my machine pedal to work right… the needle on the machine doesn’t want to sew this particular fabric well… ). She was up late in her ‘ministry room’, working thru details for the next day. Lori also has begun the process to bring two new women into the sewing cottage-industry. This always has a number of barriers and hurdles that must be overcome to enter the high-quality sewn product market… one woman lives in a garage-door shack without any electricity, for instance. Lori did tell me, “I really feel called to work this out for these women. When I asked the one woman ‘what will she do with the extra income from a sewing business?’, her answer was ‘buy shoes for my two children’. Their shoes were rags hanging on rubber soles with holes.” The Unusually Usual means having to pray thru, follow the Lord and work out the hard details. I had the Unusually Usual in the form of ‘sometimes, ya just gotta say YES when strongly asked’. I was meeting with the pastors of the Nazarene church, and we were conversing about the pastors current changes in his diabetes care (he's been moved to insulin, so last few trips I've spent hours doing 1-on-1 diabetes education with him. PTL, he's getting pretty good at it...). The pastora then looks at me, “how soon can you start a diabetes support group in the church here? We have a number of members fighting diabetes… it feels like we’re a church of diabetics! I have somebody over here daily with some problem related to diabetes. When can you start?” Well, I had been planning a program launch in January, I'm still lacking adequate funding, but… ‘how about early September?’was my answer. “That will be good. Be ready for a lot of people…” SO, the Unusually Usual means I’ll be wading into community diabetes education 4 months earlier than I was moving with. Please pray. It seems the economic down-turn in the Village has really ramped up the robberies. Almost everyone has a story of a recent ‘robo’… so far, our little house hasn’t been hit… pray! Your bro, Chris

Prayers Answered 14June

Prayers Answered… Update! Hey, Blog-land!! Thanks to everyone who lifted up a prayer for Lori, and to all who sent ‘get-well wishes’. We are deeply grateful for all your practical love to us in this time of difficulty. We give thanks to the Lord for Lori’s current improvement. The surgeon is very pleased with her current progress after some bumps. She is feeling significantly better than pre-surgery, eating right, taking long walks and getting some real sleep. Please pray for both of us as we forage ahead into the summer season of ministry. Now that surgery is behind us, looking to head down to the Village real soon!! Thanks for standing with us! Chris

Lori's Trip Thru Surgery-land May 2012

25 May Hey, Blog followers Pray for Lori. This week, she had surgery here in Calif. She's had a rough time with it, including nausea, vomiting, weakness, wound infection... ... AND being a little discouraged by the ordeal. Pray, pray, pray (plz) Chris

Mothers' Day in Mexico

Mothers' Day in Mexico is celebrated on May 10th, but the party can last for days. This year the festivities started on Wed. during the evening church service. When I arrived, a handmade pin was handed out while I was ushered to the front of the church where all the other mothers were seated. The next hours were filled with sharings, songs and scriptures honoring moms. Then Thursday afternoon, 20 mothers from the church gathered for a trip to the "city" about 1 1/2 hours north of San Vicente where we enjoyed a Chinese buffet and walking along the beach. Families had pulled together pesos to send moms off to the relaxing day. On Saturday, the town's park hosted traditional Mexican dancing, prizes, and a meal. The celebration ended with a band playing into the night hours. Yes, we could hear the music from our home several blocks away. Mexico goes all out to honor moms.

Scarry Night Visitor... 11May

OK, so I am doing the dishes in our little casita in San Vicente. It's dark outside, and Lori is off at a church women's thing. I hear this 'noise' behind me, and find this bug on my floor... which I had accidentally stepped on, and it was goo-ing out. With spoons, I put it in a jar, and begin looking... OMG, is this the 'dreaded' 'Niño de la Tierra' we've heard so much about? Local legend has it that they can inflict a venomous bite that will kill you in 12 hours. What? I just did the whole house perimeter in bug spray yesterday... you know, the Mex stuff that would be illegal in the US... Ahhh! Invaded by a deadly visitor! And... our internet connect was down for a few days... SO, we started a little more aggressive watch of the floor when getting up tot eh rest room in the middle of the night... BUT WAIT! Finally able to research... it's actually named in English the 'Jerusalem Cricket'(Stenopelmatus) even though it's not a cricket, nor does it come from Jerusalem... but every (authoritative) site says it can give a nasty bite that could become infected, it is NOT venomous.... It's called 'Niño de la Tierra' (baby of the Dirt) because it supposedly has the face of a fetal human child... Just another day in Mexico, no?? Chris

Into The Glorious

Driving down to San Vicente, doing the winding mountain passes, seeing the Village as we come into the Valley... and this fantastic song from Christy Nockels blasting.. I was made for more than this world can offer me My heart to hold true mystery My voice was made to fall on holy ears My life to collide with majesty Out from the ordinary into extraordinary Into The Glorious (Into the Glorious, Christy and Nathan Nockels, CD Into The Glorious) yes we were! onward in Grace! Chris