~Inspired

Since the 2nd of May, I have been inspired by a special visit from a special woman.... 

 

Inspired by a woman who has been my role model since I was a little girl.  

 

Inspired by a woman who, even though she is 37 years older than me, is one of my  

best friends.  

 

Inspired by a woman who knows just how to encourage you, and is always ready to have a heart to heart talk. 

 

Inspired by a woman who thinks the world of her grandbabies, and by doing so makes their mama feel oh, so loved.

 

 

 

  

Inspired by a woman who gets and gives so much joy out of the simple things in life.

 

 

Inspired by a woman who gives of her time and talents to serve others.

  

Inspired by a woman who tells me she is so proud of the man I married...and that man admires her so. 

Inspired by a woman who never forgets to make a birthday memorable.

 

Inspired by a woman whose consistently cheerful presence is missed terribly now that she has gone back to her home in Chiapas.

 

 

 

Inspired by a woman who I am honored to call Mom.

 

~And Baby Makes...

Six 

BOYS 

and two girls!!!
.

 

We are looking forward to having another baby boy join our family!  The only one who is disappointed is Elisabeth...she really wanted a baby sister.  I have no doubt that just like with Caleb, in no time she will love the idea of having another brother :)  Steve is one happy Daddy, and I am amazed and thrilled that the Lord is trusting us with so many little men ;)  I am at the half way mark now, and feeling great.  The ultrasound showed a normal anatomy, and Baby was active.  Thank you all for your prayers for our family.  He has been SO good to us!

~He Is Risen!

  ~Steve and me on Friday at a Couple's Retreat.

We had a beautiful Sunrise Service this morning at 6:00...just about the time, over 2,000 years ago, when Jesus arose from the grave!  It was a treat to hear my brother, Philip, preach the Sunday School message, and then to hear Evangelist Vacilio Alfaro preach.  Even at this early hour, the church was FULL, and the spirit was one of excitement...remembering that we serve a RISEN SAVIOR!  What a blessed hope we have, knowing that Jesus still has power to perform miracles in our lives...whatever that need may be!

"And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.  And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.  And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?  And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.  And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.  And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.  But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.  And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid."

Luke 16:1-8  

 

 

~ WOW!

 

Sunday, March 11, by God's grace, we celebrated the Church's 8th anniversary!  What an exciting week we had in preparation for this special day.  Beginning on Monday, we had prayer services every night from 8:00 until 9:30 for our Conference.  We prayed for the special speakers, that they would preach exactly what we needed to hear, and that our hearts would be tender to change what needed to be changed.  We prayed for the lost souls that would be present, that the Lord would convict them and save them.  We prayed that the visitors would feel His love, and have a desire to return to hear more preaching.  We prayed for the men who would be coming from Washington to arrive safely, and not get sick during their stay.  Our prayer for the attendance was that there would be 250 present on Sunday morning.  After prayer, we had choir practice, and got home between 10:00 and 11:00 each night.

~Group from Washington.

Thursday evening, Steve's brother, who is also the pastor of our sending church in Washington, arrived with three men.  They were a tremendous encouragement to our family and to our people, and we are thankful for the care they showed in coming to be with us.  

~Means Missionary family with a friend.

On Friday, a missionary family of seven arrived from Aguas Calientes to be with us during the Anniversary Conference.  

~Pastor Cordova using four of our men as examples while preaching.

Friday evening at 6:30, we began the conference services with Bill and Pastor Alejandro Cordova preaching.  The church was full, and the spirit was wonderful.  After the service, there were folks saved, and decisions were made.
.

 

 ~Steve interpreting for Bill's sermon...they both did a great job! 

It's so fun to see them together...their personalities are so different, but they complement each other :)  Our people got so tickled at them.

~Soul Winners

Saturday morning, our soul winning group met at the church at 9:00 for breakfast.  We then split up into different groups.  The men took bus rides and preached to the passengers as they handed out Gospel tracts.  Meanwhile, the ladies and children went to different parks downtown to do the same (except for the preaching part...unless you count little Fernanda's bold approach to several folks...smile).  It was a FUN day. 

~Austin and Miguel are good entertainers :)

We arrived back home at around 1:30, fed everyone, and put the kids down for a quick nap before getting ready to leave again for the evening services.  We had a fantastic time, and more souls were saved, including a young man who came that we invited while downtown!  

 ~Saturday evening adult church service.

Each sermon that was preached by Bill and by Pastor Cordova was an encouragement to me personally, and I'm sure that everyone present would say the same.  We got the kids to bed that night at 1:00, and after making 3 kilos of rice to take for the anniversary meal and taking a shower, I got to bed at 2:00.  Tired, but happy, and expecting the Lord to bless in a wonderful way the next morning.

 ~Ready to go!

Sunday was an EARLY rise day, as we had to be to the church  to begin getting ready for our BIG day.  What a blessing it is to see the people you have worked with begin to get a burden for their own people.  So many of our folks worked very hard, and would hardly let me do anything.  I took care of my little ones, as I took pictures, and thanked the Lord for letting me see Steve's dream come true.

  

 ~The picture journey of the church's past eight years.

 ~Heating water for the baptisms.

  

~Getting ready to cook the pork meat into Carnitas.

~Banjamin and Haden

~Abigail, Adelina and Elisabeth

The Lord DID work, and the church house was FULL, with over 260 present! 

Steve presented certificates to the folks who have made decisions in the past week.

 ~Seven folks who made a decision to serve the Lord full time with their lives!

Please pray for Angel, Karina, Veronica, Osiris, Pamela, Jose Luis and Daniel.

~Jesus and his family joined the church.

~Jose Roldan joined the church.

~Steve preached a convicting message about being faithful.  I am thankful for his faithfulness these past eight years.  What a blessing to see the fruit of your labors!  

There were many decisions for salvation made during the conference, and there were eight baptisms!

~Arturo

~Hortencia

 

~Daniel

~Cesi

~Alejandro

~Luis

 

 ~Raul

~Guillermo

 

 

~The meal was DELICIOUS!

 

~The cake was beautiful, and Steve even got to take a "mordida" :)

...at everyone's insistence! 

 

We got home at 4:20 that evening...so very worth every minute of work that was put into this SPECIAL DAY!  The Lord was certainly glorified!

The next morning, the 22 people who were staying in our home loaded up into two vans, and we headed to the ruins of Teotihuacan, two hours away from Querétaro.  

 

 ~We had a good time talking about...lots of stuff :)

.

 

 ~Miguel took advantage of the relax time :)

~The ruins were very impressive.

 

.

  ~I stayed down at the bottom with our three little ones while everyone else climbed to the top.

  

 ~Three little explorers :)

~Me and my girls :)

~We were sad to see the long awaited week come to an end, but we are also thankful that our guests returned to be where they are suppose to be.  On Tuesday, the group from Washington brought me a BEAUTIFUL arrangement of flowers.  

How thankful I am to have health and energy to be able to serve the Lord and my family.  He has been so good to us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday we had wonderful services ~ more souls were saved, and three men and one lady followed the Lord in baptism.  We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for His work here in Querétaro!   

~Thank you, to all who care for us, and who pray for us!  

We love you!