Finished and Still Going

 Yesterday and today, Abraham and I delivered most of the diplomas and prizes to those who completed their pages and watched all the videos during this past week.

The kids were, of course, excited to receive the dolls or soccer balls and notebooks. They also were pleased to show the work they had done on the pages.

VBS 2020 has not ended, however. Today, as we visited homes to give out the last prizes and diplomas, twelve new children signed up. In addition, Six and Abraham will be going around tomorrow to our neighbors to see if any of them would like to participate, since the ones who already finished were from Huejotzingo where we used to live, and not San Miguel where we now live. A few Huejotzingo children also experienced technical problems, so we will be going to their houses to show them the videos on Abraham´s phone.

Ongoing VBS

 Doing VBS by whatsapp means that there is no definite end to the classes. Certainly, the children who started on Monday will finish their videos, craft, and work pages today. Abraham is sending out a review and some questions for those participants, and they will receive their prizes and diplomas tomorrow.

However, several children have enrolled throughout the week, and we plan to invite our immediate neighbors starting on Monday. The advantage to doing everything virtually is

that we don´t actually have to have met those who are participating. Today, for example, Abraham and I passed some hours in San Martin buying the prizes we still didn´t have. Because of the large number of soccer balls we purchased at once, the store owner asked us if we are coaches. Abraham explained what the balls are for, and she asked if her grandson could have the classes. He will be the youngest participant so far, at 2 years old.

Two families that are signed up did not have telephones. Through mission funds, and with the help of my brother-in-law who knows where to find good used phones, we were able to provided cell phones for those families.

The week has been busy. We have learned quite a bit about what goes on behind the scenes in video shoots, now that we have had to find creative solutions to varying problems. We have been encouraged by the positive response of participants, and we are likely to include virtual VBS from now on, even as we pray to also be able to have live VBS in following years.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue, as we also continue inviting families to join the VBS.

Whatsapp VBS day 2

 While Abraham and I are not nearly as busy with this year´s VBS as in previous years, there are still several tasks to complete during the day. We started out with printing more work pages for the older group of kids, since we gave out all of the pages we had with us yesterday. Abish helpfully arranged the pages in order and stapeled all of them. With those ready, Abraham and I began the work of transforming Abraham into the elderly Biblical Abraham. That turned out to be more time-consuming than we had anticipated, since attaching the

beard and mustache involved a lot of creative thinking. We ended up using a face mask, masking tape, three hair clips, and clear string to arrange everything. With face paint, we aged him to somewhere around 100 years old.

Filming concluded and sent out, we left home for Huejotzingo to both do grocery shopping for the week and give pages and supplies to children who signed up after we left yesterday. We had purchased supplies for 40 children and ran out, so shopping also meant adding a few more supplies.

While Abraham went one direction to buy groceries, I stopped at the Bodega Aurrera for the VBS supplies. As I walked to the other part of town to meet Abraham, I ran into some of the Alamedas - one of the families we have known the longest in Huejotzingo. We have only had minimal contact with them in the past few years, but this afternoon, I talked with them for awhile and offered the VBS packets to the two children. They gladly accepted, but the difficulty is that they have no cell phone and therefore can´t access the whatsapp materials. We will probably loan them my phone for a few hours tomorrow and Friday so they can catch up.

I arrived with Abraham, and we were going to return to the Alamedas to give the children their pages and supplies. However, when Abraham turned to key in the ignition, the engine only clicked. The battery had drained. While I walked back to the Alamedas, Abraham looked for someone to jumpstart the car.

It seems perhaps God decided to keep our car from starting. The man who jumpstarted the car has two small children, and he welcomed Abraham´s offer of the VBS. We had not met him or his children before, but now they will be joining others learning about the armor of God.

We know that there are more than 43 people signed up for the VBS, but we do not have an exact count. We hope that those who are enrolled are sharing with others.

Please continue praying for us. We appreciate your support.

Virtual VBS Day 1

 Day one of VBS, the Armor of God, is now fading into night. During the morning, Abraham and Rachel finished printing out the pages that they planned to hand out to children in Huejotzingo. Abraham also recorded the three songs from youtube onto whatsapp. With the pages ready and stapeled together and divided by age, Abraham put together his costume so he could appear as Paul, the first presenter. After experimenting with various styles, he found a convincing ensemble and it was time to make the videos for the day.

Rachel climbed out an upstairs window and stood on the overhang in order to film into the house, through the window bars, to make the video appear as if Abraham, as Paul, were in prison. Once that video was finished, they made a welcome video, an opening prayer, and a video to explain the craft page for the week.

With everything ready, they set out to Huejotzingo to give children their VBS packets and supplies for the week. When they set out, not many children were signed up, but they visited the houses of families who had participated in previous years, and many children joined the whatsapp list. A little after four hours of dropping off supplies and enrolling new children, Abraham and Rachel returned home. By then, many of the children had already completed their work page and sent in the photos of their answers. A few other parents wrote to enroll their children, and those participants will receive their materials tomorrow.

While the count is fluid, what with people still signing up by whatsapp, there are so far eleven children younger than 6 years, and 24 older children signed up.

Continue to pray for the Lechuga family and for all the children - and their families - who are taking part in the VBS. It is a very different VBS from previous years, but has the potential to reach even more people than the live VBS´ of other years. If you would like to see the materials and share them with others, please leave a comment with whatsapp information.

Virtual VBS

 Covid-19 has dramatically changed how people all over the world interact.  We are no exception here in Puebla.  This year, we cannot do live vacation Bible school, so we are opting for VBS through whatsapp.  We chose whatsapp since many children do not have ready access to the internet.

The theme is of the armor of God, found in Ephesians 6.  As we have done in past years, we will be teaching the theme using monologues, written by Abraham, and based on Biblical characters.  This time, we will have to make videos of the monologues and send them to participants.  On Monday, Abraham and I will go to the house we used to live in in Huejotzingo to give printed copies of work pages to the children who have signed up.  We also decided to buy basic supplies to provide to the children, since we cannot assume that they have at home what they need in order to do the crafts and work pages.

Also using whatsapp, we will send three songs for the kids, and hopefully their parents, to learn.  Each page we give the participants will have the verses from Ephesians printed.  

On Friday, Abraham and I will return to Huejotzingo to present the children with their diplomas and prizes for the week.  

While doing a virtual VBS is new to us and not ideal, it does provide a way for us to spread the message farther.  Children who do not live in Huejotzing will have the opportunity to participate using their telephones, and we pray that their parents and older siblings will overhear the classes and help with the pages we send home.  Please join us in praying that this situation turns out for the very best - for more people to be reached through the virtual VBS.  As always, pray for us as we work on the details and as the VBS is in session next week.

No guarantees

On Sunday, January 26, headlines worldwide announced the death of basketball legend, Kobe Bryant.  He was a young man with a family.  No one expected his sudden demise in a helicopter accident.  Several other people died along with him, although their names were not famous.

There was another death that day, closer to us.  It was anticipated by the family and friends of Eduardo, the man who died.  He had been diagnosed with advanced pancreas cancer in June.

Three of his teen-aged children had been to many of our vbs´s.  They also sometimes attended English class and math tutoring.  When they abruptly stopped coming to classes, we didn´t think much of it, since their previous attendance was somewhat spotty.  However, a few months after their disappearance, we drove passed a bus stop and saw the man and his wife exiting the bus.  Once a tall, strong man, Eduardo was almost unrecognizable, having lost half his weight.

Abraham and I decided to visit the family to see how they were doing, although at the time, we didn´t know the cause of Eduardo´s change.  When we arrived at their house, Rosario, Eduardo´s wife told us about his diagnosis and the subsequent hospital stays and ineffectual surgery.  She told us that, less than three months after surgery, Eduardo returned to work as a long-haul truck driver.  Because of his work, he was not home when we visited the second time, either.

Early in December, we finally found Eduardo at home.  Abraham conversed with him at length about his life and inevitable death.  Abraham clearly emphasized that none of us know the day of our death.  Although Eduardo was the one with cancer, none of us is guaranteed another day´s life.

Eduardo was a fighter.  He had crossed into the States and worked in Los Angeles for years.  He trucked long distances through California, and then returned to Mexico where he married, had children, and continued trucking.  He had no use for God, because he felt himself to be strong and capable on his own.

Our family left for a three-week visit with family in the States, promising to bring back the sunflower seeds from the 99 ₵ store that Eduardo remembered with fondness.

On January 26, we returned to Eduardo´s home with packages of sunflower seeds.  Although Eduardo had been very thin when we last saw him, the change of a month was drastic.  Now we found him in bed, with the appearance of a skeleton.  Rosario helped him with the shivers from sudden low blood sugar by briskly rubbing his chest.  As she rubbed, she filled us in on the month´s happenings.

After some time, Abraham offered to take over with the massage.  As he rubbed Eduardo´s chest, Abraham asked him, "You are very strong.  Do you want to keep on fighting?"  First, Eduardo said yes, then changed his response to no.  Abraham asked whether he wanted to ask for forgiveness from God.  With complete lucidity, Eduardo replied that he did.  He asked Abraham to help him pray, and in that moment, surrendered his life to God.  After singing Amazing Grace in both English and Spanish (Rosario sang along in Spanish), Abraham and I left to go to kids´ club at Marina´s house.

As we prepared to sleep at about 11 pm, Abraham´s cell phone rang.  Eduardo´s oldest son called to say Eduardo had ended his earthly fight.  We visited the family twice the following day.

We will continue our visits and prayers for the family.  Will you join us in praying for them?

Silent auction

There is a family connected to Puebla Christian School which has struggled with health problems for a few years.  First, the mother - the current secretary at PCS - was diagnosed with lupus.  Shortly after that, the youngest son of the four sons began a two-year battle with non-hodgkins lymphoma.  While the family does have health insurance, it did not cover all the options they explored to cure Aaron.  As a result, the family incurred significant debt with the banks and through personal loans.   The PCS community put together Gofundme pages twice to help with medical costs, but even so, the debt grew. On November 5, 2018, Aaron´s cancer battle ended with him leaving for Heaven at the age of 15.  A few months later, his father began the process of dental surgeries which he had postponed during Aaron´s treatments.

Now Abraham and I are organizing a silent auction online with the hope to diminish (or eliminate!) the family´s debt.  We have sought donations from friends and also from businesses near the school.  People at Dios es Amor church have contributed as well, and now there is a smorgasbord of goods and services available for auction.  People have been very generous and helpful.  The sale begins November 8 on the googledocs https://forms.gle/kgkbpWuAzCx9CifN7 and will last until 8 pm on November 16. 

There will be an event in the evening at the school to end the auction.  People from the community around the school, as well as from Dios es Amor, and from the school itself are invited to presentations given by many of the school´s class groups.  Several ladies have offered to sell food at the event, with the money gathered to be donated to the family.  The auction will be totally online, but there will be computers set up and students ready to help with bids at the school.

Please pray that all will go smoothly with the auction.  Pray that each item or service sells well and that the debt can be significantly reduced.  Above all, pray for the comfort of the family Esparza Espinosa as they move forward without Aaron.  They know they will see him in Heaven, but naturally, their hearts are broken here on earth.

VBS 2019

game time

Moses, humble liberator, VBS 2019 has ended.  Vacation Bible School in Huejotzingo is always an intense time of hard work and constant activity.  The work begins a few months before the actual VBS dates, with choosing the theme and then deciding who the principal characters will be who tell the daily stories.  We add the verses, crafts, worksheets, and theme snacks, and Abraham writes the monologues for each day.  Once the rough draft of the week is ready, we go back over the plans to see what needs to be changed.

at work on Moses mini-book

The VBS week approaches, and we go on shopping sprees to buy the supplies - food, scissors, colored pencils, end-of-the-week gifts, and more.  The house where we will be is cleaned and many items moved to storage to leave space for the expected group of children.  We find volunteers to play the roles of Jocabed, Zipporah, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses.  Dios es Amor church loans us costumes and game supplies.  Monday is a flurry of final preparations as we print out Tuesday´s worksheets, make name tags and attach their strings, decide on last-minute changes to the snack, and write out the verses and song lyrics on posters. 

the littles make their book

When Abraham and I returned home from shopping and general preparation in Huejotzingo, we found out that Abish had been suffering from an intense headache all afternoon.  Although he had been drippy with a cold, he had not actually felt bad until then.  He slept on and off in the early evening, between doses of his homeopathic medicine, but by bedtime, his headache had not diminished and he had a fever.  We looked for paracetamol in our house to help him, because he could not sleep for the pain, but we could not find any.  Abraham stayed with Abish, cooling the fever with wet towels, and in the very early morning, Abish finally slept well, fever gone.

Not long after that, Lani left her bed and climbed into bed with me.  At about 8, Abish bounced

proud of her work

into my room, waking Lani and I to cheerfully proclaim, "I feel fine!  I can do VBS!"
However, over breakfast Lani began to wilt, complaining of a headache and refusing to eat.  She gets headaches when she´s hungry, tired, or dehydrated, so her discomfort disappeared after we obliged her to finish breakfast.

Jocabed telling about leaving baby Moses in the Nile

Aaron

Typical of most first VBS days, we were running late.  We arrived hurriedly at the house where we used to live in Huejotzingo, and everyone got out to hang the shade tarp on the patio, put up string to hold the song posters, print out the registration papers, and set out the snack.  I left the bustle of activity to drive ten minutes away to pick up two kids and their great-grandmother who would be helping with food prep and clean-up.  Once I dropped them off, I drove the opposite direction to get six other kids.  Chauffeuring is normally my dad´s job, but he was unable to visit this year due to medical issues.

On that first day, 20 children learned songs and verses and ate a snack and did crafts to reenforce the story told by Jocabed about how God takes care of his children.  Day 2 saw a slight increase in attendance, as the children participated in activities related to Zipporah´s story of how God hears.  Aaron arrived day 3 to tell 34 children about how God acts on behalf of his people.

morning review

When we returned home late afternoon on Thursday, day 3, we found out someone had tried to break into our property.  They had cut the chainlink off the front gate, pulling it back half-way.  We do not know if they didn´t enter because our dogs scared them away, or what else might have prevented further entrance.  However, for the next two days, my brother-in-law, who had been the VBS photographer, stayed at home to discourage would-be thieves.

Miriam

Moses

On Friday, Miriam was played by a young lady from church.  She told how God saves, recounting the story of the Red Sea.  Finally, Moses came on day 5, waiting to tell his story until the end of the day, when the parents came for the finale.  We had decided to rearrange the day´s activities so that the parents could see how their children had been learning throughout the week.  Seven parents attended the finale, including two new ones whose sons had joined mid-week.

the littles with their teachers and diplomas

the biggers with teachers and diplomas

Five days of Moses.  Fewer than forty kids.  Some volunteers working daily, and some just once.  Some kids staying the whole week, while others attend one day.  Is it worth it?  We pray that the time spent with the kids will change their lives and touch the lives of their families.  At least eight of the children who were with us most of the week have mothers who work as prostitutes.  Those same children, and other children in the group, come from families where drug and alcohol abuse ruin lives.

Would you pray with us that the stories and activities would help the children and their families learn of God´s longing for a relationship with them and that patterns of destruction would be broken?  Would you pray that the children will continue to attend on Sunday afternoons so that they can learn more?

they won the week´s posters by memorizing all 5 verses

Rededi

After almost ten years of marriage, Abraham and I now own our first vehicle, bought with funds donated to our family.  Abraham researched online and asked for advice from friends and chose the Toyota Avanza as our best option.  The car has good gas mileage and seats seven.   It is from 2017, and the previous owner fitted it with a deer guard (dog guard, around here!) and lightly tinted windows.

In its time with us, Rededi (Regalo De Dios) has already had adventures.  Not long after we brought it home, we had several near misses with dogs running suddenly out into the street.  People aren´t always careful crossing the street either, and lots of the drivers on the road probably shouldn´t be behind the wheel.  The interior of the car was recently decorated with melted chocolate when a chocolate-covered balloon exploded as I took home one of the pre-teens I teach on Tuesday afternoons.  There is also always plenty of mud or dust to decorate both inside and outside.

Although driving around Puebla is still difficult for me - I like being able to know where the lane lines are and they aren´t usually marked, nor are most speed bumps painted - the car has been helpful in many ways.  Getting to and from the market on Saturdays is now much easier, as is traveling to Puebla Christian School to teach on Thursdays.  Also, we have been able to take friends from Huejotzingo to church, cutting the travel time from 1 1/2 hours to only a half hour.  For a few years now we have had a mid-week Bible study with a family with six children, and now we can pick them up from their home for Sunday kids' club as well.  The oldest girl of that family can participate in the pre-teens' craft or dessert class on Tuesdays, because I can drive her (hence the exploded balloon mentioned earlier).  Because of the car, we can now enroll Abish in swim classes, even though the pool is fairly far away. 

Rededi is a blessing, and we know it isn't really ours.  It belongs to God, and we intend to use it as he directs.  Please pray that it will continues to serve well and that we stay free from accidents.

What to Write?

Blog posts are fewer and farther between than ever.  Partly, it is because we have more to do than ever.  Continuing to make our house a home, teaching Abish in first grade, and all the other business of life keep us constantly occupied.  In a facetime conversation with my sister, I commented, "I don´t understand how anyone can ever be bored.  There is always something to be doing!" - and she, a very active preschool teacher, music and museum goer, and more - agreed.

concentrating on handwriting

However, I could make time to write in the blog more often if I knew what updates to give.  We haven´t really changed anything since the last time I posted.  Sure, there are a few updates.  For example, Abish started first grade in January, and he and I both enjoy the sonlight curriculum. (what teacher doesn´t love to hear their student ask to read another page?)  Abraham is Abish´s first grade teacher Mondays and Fridays, teaching in Spanish, while I teach in English Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Thursdays I instruct elementary art at Puebla Christian School, and Abish now joins the other students in doing the assigned art projects and drawings.

the Lorax

 Like last year, at the beginning of this month, we celebrated Read Across America with many Seussian activities, both at home and at PCS.  There are so many fun ideas online for the books that we focused on Dr. Seuss for four days and still didn´t do every activity I planned.

the corner of the bed, fenced off to keep poultry out

With warm weather here to stay for the next few months, I can now go crazy with the garden.  We have so much lovely space!  - with weeds, moles, gophers, our duck, my mother-in-law´s free-range chickens, and poor soil to take into account.  To combat the challenges, we will be using raised beds to grow our vegetables, herbs, and flowers.  Abraham built our first bed several months back, and now I enjoy seeing the new seedlings springing up after last week´s planting.  How exciting it was, two weeks ago, to receive a package of seeds, ordered from Baker Creek Seeds, in the mail at PCS.  (side note and shameless promotion - Baker Creek mails for free in North America!) As soon as I can finish the beds, marked off with recycled bottles collected from litter in Huejotzingo, Abish and Lani will each have their own place to plant, too.

As for the Bible studies, kids´ club, math and English classes, Abraham taking turns preaching at Dios es Amor, both of us helping to teach Sunday school, and crafts or cooking with pre-teen girls, all continues as before.  The Sunday afternoon group is smaller now that a family moved out of the neighborhood.  They had promised to send the kids still, but have not followed through.  One addition to the classes previously listed is that I began teaching basic reading and math to a six-year-old who does not go to school.  Hopefully, her grandmother will continue to take her to the classes every Tuesday and Friday.  Abraham and I go to her house on Wednesdays.

We will soon need to start writing our curriculum for the vbs.  Ours will be July 15 - 19.  The theme will be the life of Moses.

Thank you for your prayers and support.  Please pray for our health and safety and for wisdom as we lead Bible studies and teach the variety of classes.  Pray also for a family in Huejotzingo that we have known for a long time.  Their lives rival any soap opera for suffering and problems.  Pray also for another person we have known for long time in Huejo who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.