Complete VBS week

VBS at Dios es Amor certainly keeps everyone busy. There are very large groups of children, and the young ones especially are hard to keep in hand. Thankfully, it was only on the last day that there was rain almost constantly; the other days, although rather overcast, stayed dry.

Sunday was the finale, and many of the more than 200 children who had attended the VBS invited their parents and other relatives to attend. In the church service, we sang the songs that the children had learned, and each age group gave a small presentation on stage. Our pastor spoke briefly, and then the children received their certificates and prizes. The service was very short, and after it ended, everyone went outside for cake and punch.

My sister is visiting for two weeks, and she joined Six, Abraham, and I for the afternoon in Huejotzingo. First, the children played soccer with Abraham, and then we gathered inside for the Bible story and songs. One young girl, Jacqueline, talked with Abraham after the Bible story, and she said she wanted Jesus in her heart. Please pray for her, that she will really understand the decision she made and that her life will be changed as a result. She is one of the children whose parents are in the States and who is living with her grandparents, many cousins, and some aunts and uncles.

We continue to pray for land in Huejotzingo. Please join us as we ask God how he would have us work in the area. There are so many needs.

VBS

Today was the first day of Dios es Amor's VBS. There were about 275 kids and young adults who came, and if the typical pattern persists, there will be around 300 by the end of the week. Abraham is in charge of the games, and I'm helping him. The attendees are divided into six groups: babies, 4 - 6 year olds, 7 - 9, 10 - 12, and 13 - 18. There is also a group of young women who have been attending VBS since they were children, and they continue to come. The hardest group to manage with the games is the 4 - 6 year olds (the babies don't come out with us). These youngsters are easily distracted and often don't understand or follow directions.

Please pray for the VBS. Pray for the volunteers who are in charge of groups, working in the kitchen, working in games, organizing crafts, helping with the booklets, and teaching lessons. The VBS is a big undertaking each year. Pray for the hearts of all who attend, that those who do not have a relationship with Jesus will be open to accepting him into their hearts and that those who do know him would be closer to him.

Yesterday in Huejotzingo, Abraham went to visit Don Ezekiel. It had been quite awhile since we last saw him. The two of them talked for a long time, and Don Ezekiel talked of his rancor toward his father and his anger over injustice in the world. He sees no reason to pardon his father. Please pray that God will change his heart so that he can let go of the burden of anger and accept Jesus into his life.

Our first anniversary (a super long post)

Because we got legally married two months before our church wedding, we can celebrate two anniversaries a year. For our church wedding anniversary on June 21, God provided us with the opportunity to fly to Huatulco, Oaxaca and stay for five days at a four star hotel for a tremendously good price.

Our flight left from Mexico City in the early afternoon on Monday. We arrived in the tiny international airport in Huatulco without any idea of how to get to our hotel. From previous traveling experience, we knew the airport taxis would charge far more than any other transportation, so we asked directions from one of the shop keepers.

Keeping her voice conspiratorially low ("The taxi drivers don't like when I give directions"), she told us where to catch a bus to La Crucecita which we knew was near our hotel. We walked out of the airport, and soon a bus came by. It took us through miles of brilliant green jungle and stopped at the station in La Crucecita.

When we asked how to get to Chahué where our hotel was, the man at the station told us it would be two hours walking. We asked someone else just outside the station and he said no, it would take maybe 1/2 hour of walking to get to the Villablanca.

As we checked in, the receptionist kindly upgraded our room from standard to junior suite. We had arrived during the low season, since the majority of schools are still in session, and therefore the hotel had very few guests.

After leaving our luggage in the room, we set out to find the beach. Because the area is basically jungle and is part of the Sierras and therefore very hilly, the beaches are actually a series of bays, and they can't be seen from any distance. Basically, you know you've arrived when you emerge from the trees.

We came out from the trees to see Chahué bay with its glassy clear water that characterizes all the Huatulco bays. Later on we learned that the bay is infamous for treacherous currents, but the water was peaceful when we strolled along the shoreline that afternoon.

After the refreshing walk, we went to a nearby supermarket to buy food for our meals that week. The travel package we found included American breakfasts each day, so we didn't need to buy much.

The biggest drawback to vacationing in Huatulco is that there are almost no public buses. Only one route passes through the town and goes to a few of the bays. The rest of the bays are accessible only by taxi or walking. We chose the latter option, and so on Tuesday we set out for a bay called La Entrega.

After some time walking in the heat and humidity, mostly uphill, we came to a look-out where we could see the bay below us. How dismaying to see that the road looped off away from the bay before arriving several kilometers later at La Entrega. We could see that cutting through the jungle straight downhill would take us to our destination and save lots of walking.

Anyone who has ever contemplated shortcuts knows that they're usually a bad idea. This time was no exception. As soon as we left the road and plunged steeply downhill, whiny clouds of mosquitoes enveloped us, hungrily feasting. Their constant bites drove us faster downhill, so it did not take long before we arrived abruptly at a tiny bay off to the side from La Entrega. We ran into the inviting water, and the salt soon soothed our multiple bites.

This bay has a reef, and people can rent snorkeling equipment at La Entrega in order to better see all the brilliant fish. The water is clear enough, however, that even people without masks can easily see much of the ocean life below. Waves lap tranquilly at the shore, hardly disturbing the surface.

We stayed, talking for awhile with some tourists from America who had swum from La Entrega to the mini-bay. And then we stayed some more, reluctant to return by the only route available - back up the "short cut" through the jungle. It turned out to be worse on the way uphill, because we couldn't find our way to the road, and the mosquitoes continued to bite with abandon. After about 45 minutes, we finally heard a car passing, and that guided us out to the road. Whew! On the way back to our hotel, we turned aside to the bay of Santa Cruz to ease the itching of the bites in the ocean water.

On Wednesday, instead of hiking to another bay, we went downtown. Huatulco is very small compared to Puebla. We browsed through shops, admiring the handiwork of local artisans displayed in a museum/shop and talking with one of the artisans as he worked on an alebrije.

Abraham had never eaten a tlayuda before, so when hunger struck, we began looking for a place to order them. In the zocalo at the hotels the costs were prohibitive, but leaving the main square, we found a small family-run place where the wife prepared our tlayudas and also offered tips on where we should visit during our stay.

Thursday we set out for two bays further away. Just as on Tuesday, our walk took us primarily uphill in the humidity and heat. After about an hour of walking, we arrived at the entrance to the first bay. El Arrocito is almost as tiny as its name implies, but it is lovely and peaceful, worth the long, steep walk the winds through luxury housing.

After some time enjoying the water and beauty, we hiked back out to the main road to continue to Tangolunda Bay. Unfortunately, we didn't have sunscreen with us, and most of our walk was in full sun. I began to sunburn, and both of us also felt very thirsty. We also didn't have any cash, so we had to find a place that accepted credit cards and had sunscreen and water.

Our first attempts failed. At one place they didn't accept credit cards, at another they normally did, but their system wasn't working. They directed us to a small plaza, and finally we found much needed sunscreen but still no water. At a coffee shop, we got water, but it wasn't enough.

We crossed the street to a hotel on Tangolunda Bay, looking for a place to buy water. Once we entered, however, we saw there was no store, but someone directed us to a restaurant, and there they gave us as much water as we wanted. Wonderful.

From there, we went through the hotel to the beach. Tangolunda is one of the most developed bays in Huatulco, but that does not mean it's very developed. In Huatulco there is a law that the hotels cannot be more than four stories high, which means that all development is low-key. The bay is surrounded by luxury hotels, but they are not presumptuous.

The bay is not as serene as in the other bays. The waves crash with some force against the beach, but the water is just as clear, and we saw schools of fish swimming in the breakers, darting back just in time to avoid being thrown on the sand. We strolled along the bay, crossing the full extent in about fifteen minutes. Because we had entered through a hotel, we didn't know how to leave by way of the public entrance, so we entered another hotel at the edge of the bay.

Just as we entered, a guard asked if we were guests at the hotel, and when we said no, he told us we weren't allowed in the hotel. Instead of making us leave though, he showed us the hotel's pet iguanas and their little swamp, and then opened a coconut for us to drink. After that, he directed us the to proper beach exit, and we set out on the long walk back to our hotel.

I was too sunburned the following day to want to be out in any sun. We stayed at the hotel most of the day, leaving only after the sun had set to visit downtown again.

Saturday was our final day, and it was the only day with any rain. Because Santa Cruz Bay is close to the hotel and easy to get to, we walked there after checking out of the hotel. We had time to enjoy the waves one more time before we had to leave for our flight back to Mexico City and from there the bus ride back home. It had been a marvelous vacation week together.

Loving on the single parents

Dios es Amor has a high percentage of single parents in the congregation. Every story is different, but the common element is that these parents work extremely hard and often have little or no rest. Many months ago, Abraham and I decided to plan a night of pampering for them, a time when, for a few hours, they could be kings and queens.

It turned out to be a wonderful night, and not just for the parents. Looking at the faces of the many volunteers, I saw smiles, smiles, and more smiles and laughter. Everyone enjoyed the time.

Although we'd been planning for months, most of the actual footwork began on Thursday afternoon. Dan, another missionary teacher at PCS, drove Abraham and I to La Central de Abastos, a several-blocks-square market with the lowest prices in the city. The market opens at 3 a.m. so we arrived when many of the individual stores were closing, but we still found the ingredients we needed, and for astonishing prices.

Returning to the school, we stashed the food and began putting together the small gifts we'd gathered from donations. That done, we went home, and I pressure cooked two kilos of garbanzo beans to prepare them for the next day's opening course of garlic garbanzo soup.

As we surveyed all that had to be transported to the church, we realized it would be impossible to go by bus. Pastor Manuel agreed to pick us up at 2:30 on Friday, so that we could begin cooking and set-up by 3. The problem was, less than a mile away from the school, the pastor got into a fender bender. No one was hurt, but because he had to wait for the insurance agent, he couldn't pick us up.

Another missionary came to get us, and we arrived at church with only 1 1/2 hours to prepare. I cannot say enough about the volunteers that came. They were the best! They kept up cleaning and chopping fruits and vegetables, washing dishes, seasoning, egging, and breading chicken, clearing counters, setting up and decorating tables, figuring out the chocolate fountain, and more, always more and always asking as soon as they finished, "How else can I help?" And just before 5, a small army of beauticians arrived to set up their make-up, hair styling supplies, and facials. There were no complaints - on the contrary, as mentioned before, the volunteers seemed to be having as much fun as the guests.

When the first guests arrived, Abraham left off helping in the kitchen in order to start the games. We had decided to begin with Spoons, since it is an easy game to explain, and new comers can easily join as they come. Once it looked like everyone had arrived, Abraham divided the group into teams for some Bible questions and other games.

After some game time, the parents went with the beauticians who gave facials, hair cuts, manicures, and makeovers. There was one giving neck and shoulder rubs as well.

As the treatments came to an end, we began to dish up the soup, followed by green salad and chicken kiev. Of course there were refried beans and tortillas as well. When dinner ended, the chocolate fountain tempted our guests to try chocolate covered strawberries, black berries, bananas, and marshmallows.

Although we had planned to end at 8 p.m., at that time there were still gifts to pass out. One student at the seminary had donated bracelets for every parent, to add to the other donations we'd received. Two of the pre-teens circulated among the parents, passing out the bracelets and other gifts.

At 9:00, once the last parent had gone, there were still dishes to wash, tables to stow, and food to divide among the participants, so we did not leave church until 10. It was a long day, but so very worth the work!

And it would seem it is now an established tradition. We heard many comments of, "Next year..."

summer for one of us

The Puebla Christian School year ended on Friday, and now most of the teaching staff has returned to the United States or will be returning soon. Summer has begun for the P.C.S. staff and students.

Abraham and the other seminary students continue in school for two more weeks, and these weeks are the hardest ones, with various projects and group work due and some exams to study for. The end is in sight, but it still seems far away.

This Friday night, with the help of many volunteers, Abraham and I are putting together an event for the single parents of Dios es Amor. We plan to have an elegant dinner and fun games for the parents to enjoy. Some of our volunteers will give shoulder and neck massages and manicures, some will care for the children while their parents relax, and some will help prepare and serve the food. We hope the parents leave the event feeling like kings and queens, knowing that their often unremitting work has been seen and is appreciated.

On Sunday afternoon in Huejotzingo, several children that infrequently attend Bible class decided to be there. As we arrived, we also passed one child who had suddenly stopped going to Bible class after his family moved away in December. Abraham stopped to talk with him, and the boy said he would attend this coming Sunday. His family life is very difficult: his father is an alcoholic who lost one wife and some children to divorce but does not know how to change his life-style in order not to lose the family he has now.

Don Ezekiel attended the Bible class again and spoke at length with Abraham afterward. He said that by Wednesday, his nightmares and dark thoughts had gone away, but the pain from the colitis had returned in full force. Please continue to pray for him.

There is a family that recently moved to the neighborhood near the place we rent for Bible class. In the small house live Oscar and Michelle and their three young children, Michelle's mother Silvia and grandmother, and Michelle's sister. Another of Michelle's sisters, named Danna, does not live with them, but Silvia has told us about her struggles with depression and her two suicide attempts. Danna's anti-depressants cost about $70 every two weeks which is terribly expensive for her. Please keep her and the family in your prayers.

We continue to pray for funds to buy land in Huejotzingo. We would like to be able to work full time there instead of only two hours a week.

News of Huejotzingo

The school year is almost over, and therefore AWANA is drawing near to a close as well. Here is a short video of the kids playing a relay where they have to carry plastic eggs on spoons in their mouths. In two weeks we will have the final ceremony, and the club will end for the summer. Meetings will soon begin for the week-long VBS that will be the second week of July.

The people of Huejotzingo, specifically the children, need your constant prayers. Recently I was talking with a man who works, together with his wife, teaching children how to protect themselves against sexual abuse. I mentioned that Abraham and I are praying about moving to Huejotzingo to work full time with the people, and he said, "That's a difficult area. There's a lot of child prostitution there." This unwelcome news made me consider again how unprotected the children who go to Bible class on Sunday are. Many of them wander around almost completely unsupervised, because their parents either work long hours or are in the States.

I also immediately thought of raising our own children there. We will of course protect them as much as possible, but parents cannot be with their children all the time. I have begun to pray already for their protection, even though they aren't born yet.

Other unwelcome news came from Don Ezekiel, a man that I have mentioned previously as having bouts of extreme pain in his abdomen. It seems he has colitis. He is also under attack from the spiritual realm.

On Sunday he talked with Abraham and told him that he has begun having horrible nightmares about killing people. He said also that there are times during the day when he is walking down the street, and he sees someone and begins to think how he could kill the person. One time someone had tools of his and claimed he hadn't taken them, and Don Ezekiel felt an overwhelming urge to kill the man and even felt as if he were being pushed from behind toward the man.

Don Ezekiel is a powerful man, and he is physically capable of giving in to these dark thoughts. At this point he is not a Christian, although he reads the Bible and believes in the existence of God. He doesn't want to give his life to Jesus, because he is afraid he will mess up afterward. He has not been able to hear with his heart that perfection isn't necessary. Please pray for him. Satan does not want to let him go.

Huejotzingo

This is the land available in Huejotzingo. It is 20 X 20 meters, and the owner is asking 200,000 pesos up front.



Yesterday Abraham went to visit a family where at least some of the children usually come to the Bible class on Sunday afternoon. None of them had come, and he went to take the birthday dessert to one of them. When he arrived, they were just getting ready to leave to take flowers to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Several of them have professed faith in Jesus as their Savior, but at this point they do not see that this means they do not have to offer flowers to the virgin anymore.

Later, Abraham asked another girl what she thought of the virgin. This girl has also professed faith in Jesus, and her response was, "Well, she's an idol, isn't she?" Our prayer is that everyone can realize the same fact.

Land in Huejotzingo

Lord willing, Abraham and I will be moving out to Huejotzingo to work full time there after Abraham graduates from the seminary. We are looking for land to buy, so that we can construct a house close to where the mission work is.

Two weeks ago, the owner of the rooms we currently rent for the Sunday meetings in Huejotzingo told Abraham about land for sale. The owner has two empty lots side by side which he is selling together. The land is 20 X 20 meters, and he is asking 220,000 pesos for it (roughly $17,000). He wants all the money in one payment, and we do not have the finances at this point to buy.

Please pray with us that God will let us know his plan. Also, if you feel you can give toward buying land, the area available now or other land later, please send checks written out to Newport Mesa Christian Church. Include an insert in the envelope saying that the funds are for Rachel and Abraham Lechuga for land. The church's address is: 2599 Newport Blvd. Costa Mesa, CA. 92627
Thank you so much for your support!

The Joel competition, our first first anniversary, and the Sierras

Wednesday was the Big Night of the junior high and high school youth group competition on the book of Joel at Dios es Amor. Abraham and I had been working for several months with the junior highers, reading the book of Joel, discussing the meanings, and learning a whole lot about locusts. The format for the competition was baseball, with the 'pitcher' reading a question with a value of 1 - 4 bases to the 'batter.' The game went a bit overtime, but in the end, the junior highers won 16 - 9. They, and their parents, were very pleased.

On Thursday Abraham and I stayed home from work and school to relax together and enjoy a day celebrating the anniversary of our civil marriage a year ago. We slept late, and then Abraham made breakfast for us. After that, we went to a theater to see Date Night (funny but rather crude in spots). It was late evening when we returned home, and Abraham began to prepare a deluxe dinner.

One of the reasons we decided to take time off on Thursday, aside from celebrating our anniversary, was that we knew the weekend would be far from restful. A church in the Sierras had planned a youth conference and had called our pastor asking if anyone could speak at the conference. Abraham accepted the invitation, so Friday after school, we boarded a bus for the town of Zacatlan.

After three hours, we arrived in Zacatlan, and a young man came to pick us up for the 1 hour drive to the clinic where we'd spend the night. The roads wound and snaked through the mountains, leading generally upward, sometimes on paved stretches and sometimes on rutted and potholed stretches.

We reached the clinic at 11:30, and ate with several of the clinic staff. By about 12:30, we finally went to bed. Our sleep was cut very short, however, by the cacophonous ring of church bells at 5:15 a.m. The ringing was replaced by recorded songs, and then the musical interlude gave way to bells again at 6:15 when we had to get up anyway.

The youth began to arrive, trickling in in two's and three's. Finally, about 35 people had gathered, and we divided up between two very overloaded trucks for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the church where the conference would be held. After about 1/2 hour of driving, we stopped to pick up five more youth before continuing.

Most of the youth from other areas had already eaten when we arrived, but the ladies cheerfully served us beans, salsa, and homemade tortillas. Once we'd eaten, everyone gathered in the sanctuary for the conference. After singing - this group seemed very musical - it was time for Abraham's first message. He spoke about real liberty, the kind that comes only from serving God.

When he finished the message, we had games outside for awhile. By this time the heat and humidity had increased oppressively, and midges kept raising welts on exposed skin. These difficulties didn't dampen most spirits, and when we returned inside, the singing was as enthusiastic as before.

Abraham preached a second time, this time speaking about living abundant lives in Christ. He involves any congregation in his preaching, but in the Sierras, it is extremely challenging, because the culture as a whole is reticent and also most of the teens' first language is Totonaco rather than Spanish. Some of the more citified teens willingly answered questions and participated in illustrations, but some of the girls especially wouldn't even answer direct questions.

Once Abraham finished, the kids broke into four groups for a variety of games. They had sword drills, dramatized Bible scenes, sang Bible verses, and sang songs containing certain words. By the time games ended, the teens were tired and hungry, and the heat felt like a physical weight.

Abraham had chosen, rather than to preach again, to tell a simple Bible story, ask some questions, and then repeat the story. After that, he broke the youth into groups of 3 or 4 for them to retell the story, ask the questions, and then discuss the answers. This was a method he had learned at a conference a few weeks before, and it was moderately successful with this group. The extreme shyness of some meant that not every group participated. One of the teens with me wouldn't speak even one word.

This activity ended the conference. We ate together, and then groups began to leave. It was time for Abraham and I to go back to Zavaleta to catch the bus back to Puebla. We finally reached home at 10 pm.

The weekend

This weekend we were hardly home. On Saturday, Abraham and I went to church mid-morning for an activity with the junior high youth group that we began leading in January. It is a small group with only four regular members, although sometimes others stay after OANSA (AWANA) on Wednesday for the youth group.

One day, the high school youth group and the junior high youth group began talking about having a competition. Abraham and I talked with Mario, the high school leader, and arranged a competition from the Bible book of Joel. From then on, we've been studying with the junior highers, and Saturday was the final preparation for the competition on the 28th.

Of course, it wasn't all study. When we arrived, the musicians were still practicing for Sunday worship, so we went to the kitchen to teach the kids how to play Mastermind. They all enjoyed it, although at first some of them were also frustrated.

After some time of playing, we broke out the snacks and began studying. We don't know exactly what kinds of questions there will be, but the kids have been (supposedly anyway) reading Joel every day since we planned the competition, and we've been practicing together. Have you ever seen a video of a plague of locusts? It looks awful!

Once we had gone over all the questions, the musicians had finished practicing in the sanctuary. We set up the projector and started the movie G-Force. Only one of the group had seen the movie, and they all enjoyed it.

At 4:15, as soon as we finished the event with the junior highers, we caught two buses to visit my brother-in-law in the hospital. Six called us at about 1 in the morning to say he had been admitted because of a kidney stone. When we arrived in the afternoon, I met one of our nieces and one nephew for the first time. We stayed at the hospital until night, and then went downtown to eat a late dinner. It was after 10 when we finally returned home.

At Dios es Amor, one of the recently married young ladies had her baby two weeks ago. He was born three weeks early, but he is healthy. The doctors had to do a cesarean section because Nathan was breach, and unfortunately, Jasmin's stitches became infected. She only recently returned home from several days in the hospital, and the doctors had to perform a hysterectomy on her. Please pray that she continues to heal well.