Jesús transforma vidas

Abraham and I just finished the second VBS of our summer.  My sister Joy was visiting during the first VBS which was at the church Dios es Amor.  She and I helped Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the babies´ room, and Abraham helped every day with the games.  The theme for that VBS was El Soldado de Dios (God´s soldier), and it was planned for and prepared by a team at the church.

The second VBS was the one at our home in Huejotzingo.  Several months before, Abraham found a curriculum at http://contare.org/, a site dedicated to training people to tell Bible stories verbally so that others can learn the stories and tell them to friends and family.  

We decided to try the VBS curriculum with the theme Jesus Transforms Lives.  Each day featured a different person who had contact with Jesus:  the Samaritan woman, the man who had been Legion, Zaccheus, the Samaritan leper, and Peter.  The Bible stories had been edited to make them into personal testimonies, and five different people memorized and presented the monologues to the children.
 

Preparing for the VBS took considerable work, even though the curriculum was already online.  We had to print out pages, edit some material, make copies, buy supplies, draw and color posters, choose and learn songs, and plan games.  We decided to include the daily verses in all of the games and activities, with the result that the children thoroughly memorized five verses by the end of the week.

One of the verses in a game

 It was an exhausting but rewarding week.  A large group of teens and adults came to our home from Dios es Amor each day to help with the activities.  They pitched in with preparation in the morning, added finishing touches to the games, helped serve snack and guided the children in verse practice during snack time, sang enthusiastically, explained the hand-crafts and papers that reenforced the day´s stories, and cleaned up after the children returned to their homes.  Four of the helpers memorized the Bible stories and presented them in monologues during meeting time.  Five families from the church donated snacks for the kids.

Throughout the week, our son Abishael accepted the complete disruption of his schedule with relative calm.  He was carried by different people during the VBS hours, and he sometimes slept almost the entire time the kids were at our house.  It was only toward the end of the VBS hours when he began to fuss, and when I took him to our room and let him play quietly on the bed, he recovered his cheer.

Quite a few children missed the closure on Sunday, but the ones who came enjoyed the time.  The older group of children recited all five Bible verses of the week, the last two verses with sign language as well as speaking.  The younger group said one verse all by themselves and sang a song.  Three mothers joined their children at the closure, which was the first time that any parents had attended a VBS closure.

Please pray for the children who attended.  Several of them told us that they repeated the stories at home in the afternoons.  Pray for the families as well, that the stories of transformation would touch their hearts.  Pray also for Abraham and I as we return our home to its normal state, rather than have piles of stuff all over.  Pray too as we plan to visit the families of the children who came to VBS, that relationships could be established and lives changed.

s´mores and love

Mini-s'mores, a treat not known in Mexico

A few weeks ago, Abraham and I started a special class for the preteens and teens on Sunday afternoon, a class that we teach before the general Bible class.  I teach the girls, and Abraham teaches the boys.  We are discussing love, dating, and marriage with them.  The youngest in the group is 9 years old, which may seem young for thinking of those topics, but many marry or begin dating very young here.  One of the teens who comes quite faithfully on Sunday afternoons became pregnant when she was 14 and now has an almost-three-year-old son, and she talks often about love and marriage.

Considering the home situations of many of the children and the negative influences that surround them, we pray that Biblical teaching about real love can help steer the young people to healthy, wise choices.  This last Sunday we wanted to focus on agape - Godly love.  As an illustration, we made mini-s'mores.  We were going to tell one of the teens to give another teen a s'more at the beginning of the class without giving out the s'mores first.  We were planning to use this illustration to show that we cannot give what we have not received, and also use an unfamiliar treat to show that God's love is unique and special.

We postponed the class and illustration, because only six children attended the kids' club last Sunday afternoon, due to an event in the downtown square.  On other Sunday afternoons, we have had a growing number of children attending, including some recent additions that have visited after being in reading class during the week.

Two of the reading students have now finished the first book in the curriculum Mas Luz and are beginning the second one.  The younger girl asked me, "How many books are there?"  I told her there are only two and said, "When you finish the second book..." Very excited she interrupted, "When I finish the second one, I'll be able to read!"  This girl also struggles with a speach impediment where she pronounces 'l' for 'r' and also has difficulties pronouncing 'bl'.  Since two of my mother-in-law's sons also had that problem, she taught me some exercises to help the girl pronounce words correctly.  We began the exercises last week.

Abishael is growing in leaps and bounds.  We recently took him for a well-baby check-up, and the doctor said he is doing very well.  Abishael loves to "talk" to us, earnestly trying to communicate his opinions and ideas with coos and squeals.  He is a joy.

More than a Month

As of June 6, Abishael is now a month old.  He is growing rapidly, and we enjoy him very much.  His Mexican grandmother loves to hold him when she comes to Huejotzingo every Sunday and stays through Monday.  His American grandparents and other relatives there have not been able to meet him, but they have seen him through his photos on facebook and through skype video.  We are working on either getting a visa for Abraham (a difficult undertaking) so that we can visit the States or on finding a way that my parents can come to Mexico to meet their grandson.  

We also will have to travel to Mexico City and fill out lots of paperwork in order to register Abishael as an American citizen.  He is already registered as a Mexican.  At the United States embassy, we will need to have proof that Abishael is our son, including photos of me pregnant, medical receipts, and ultrasounds.

A week after Abishael was born, we started reading classes again.  I have a varying number of students, but several of them have attended faithfully, and one girl is almost finished with the first book, lacking only one lesson to end.  We will give her a certificate of completion once she finishes.

The Sunday afternoon kids' club continues.  Before Abishael was born, Six and I began teaching the kids how to embroider.  Actually, we taught some of the kids and helped others practice what they already knew, since most of the kids have done embroidery or sewing at home.  Six hemmed the edges of muslin cloth rectangles, and couple of weeks after Abishael's birth, the kids chose patterns and transferred them onto the prepared cloth.  They will be working on the embroidery until December, and they can use the finished work as a Christmas gift.

We appreciate your prayers and support.  Please pray that we can get a visa for Abraham without any problems.  Before he and I met, he applied for a visa to study in the United States and was denied twice.  We have not tried for a visa in the three years we've been married, but we know it is a difficult process.  Pray also that we can register Abishael without complications.  Please continue to pray for the families in Huejotzingo and for us as we share the love of Christ with them.

Beloved Abishael

On May 6, 2012, Abishael Lechuga Greenlee came out into the world.  We had planned for a home birth, with Abraham's grandmother - an experienced midwife - in attendance.  Labor started at about 11:30 p.m. May 5th and continued throughout the night, not intensifying but also not subsiding enough to let me sleep hardly at all.

The contractions really intensified at 5:30 on Sunday afternoon.  My mother-in-law, Abraham, and his grandmother all encouraged, exhorted, and instructed me through three hours of heavy labor, but finally Grandmother Esperanza said that we should go to the hospital.  Abraham called the Red Cross ambulance, and we were soon on our way.

At the first hospital where the ambulance stopped, the same hospital where Abraham had his emergency appendix operation almost a year ago, we couldn't enter, because there was a party in process.  The ambulance continued down the street to the hospital where we had gotten Abishael's second ultrasound.

The doctor checked where Abishael's head was and also listened to his heart.  Signs showed that the baby was still fine, so we went ahead with natural birth.  They put in an epidural to relax tense muscles to give me relief and to allow the baby to exit.  We knew about the cord wrapped around his neck, but another complication had arisen in that Abishael had slightly turned his head.  With medical help, he was able to come out very soon after our arrival, at 10:30 p.m.

All his vital signs were normal, so soon we were transferred to our room.  The following day in the afternoon, we checked out of the hospital and returned home.  My mother-in-law stayed with us until Wednesday, helping us adjust to having our newborn.  I still had swollen feet and hands and of course was still recovering from the extremely long labor.  It took several days to return to almost normal.

Please pray for us as we learn to be parents.  Pray that we raise our boy in the way the God calls us to.  Please pray also that we can arrange for some way for my parents to meet Abishael.  Travel is difficult for my mother, but getting a visa for Abraham to go to the United States so that we can meet there is also very difficult.

Memorizing

When my parents visited in September, we asked them to bring some Bibles.  They brought down 50 copies of the Bible Dios Habla Hoy, a version accepted by the Catholic church.

Our goal is to give them all away.  One of the ways that the kids who come on Sunday afternoons can earn a Bible is by scripture memorization. 

These Bibles aren't for keeping

At the end of December, we told the kids they could win one by memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 before Valentine´s Day.  Two girls began to regularly visit our home during the week so that we could help them memorize.  We didn´t just focus on them learning the verses, we also spent time discussing their meaning.  After a short time, one of the girls gave up memorizing, although she still continued to come.

On Valentine´s Day, Zalma successfully recited the chapter, and she won her Bible along with some other small gifts.  We took her picture and posted it in the room so that other kids could see that memorization is possible, although it requires work.

The next passages that we selected were Isaiah 42:1-9 and Jeremiah 31:31-34.  We told the kids they had until Easter to memorize.  Again, the same two girls came to our home, and we helped them memorize and understand the verses.  This time neither girl gave up.  They both practiced extensively.  Abraham suggested that Six, Ken, he, and I also commit the verses to memory during the assigned time, and I didn't have to work very hard at it, because I was the one who was with the girls most often.

Zalma and Nati recited the verses on Easter Sunday, Nati glowing from the success of having stuck with the work and seen the results of her persistance.  She was very pleased to receive her Bible, and we gave Zalma a different gift, since she had previously won a Bible.

The next passage is John 1:1-14, and the kids have until the end of May to work on those verses.  One of our neighbor girls, who frequently comes to our home during the week (along with her sisters, niece and nephews who come for reading class) already knows all the verses by heart.  She only has to continue reviewing so that she doesn't forget them before the end of May.

We hope and pray that other children will be encouraged to memorize and that the verses won't just be in their minds but will also affect their hearts.  Neither Zalma nor Nati have accepted Jesus into their hearts, and their home situation is worse than any soap opera, but they now both have Bibles, which we emphasized are for using, and they both have some scripture in their minds.

Please pray specifically for those two girls and their families.  They very recently moved to another town, where they live in dangerous and unwholesome conditions.  Other children have told us that they continue to come to Huejotzingo, but only for their catechism class.  We have not seen them since they moved.

Full term

Most of these don't tell me much...

The report with the ultrasound

Abraham and I went for our baby's second ultrasound last night.  The doctor showed us several different views of our little one, and said that as far as he can tell, Baby is doing well.  The only problem is that the umbilical cord is still wrapped once around Baby's neck, just as it was when we went for the ultrasound two months ago.  The doctor told us that when the cord has been wrapped around the baby's neck since early on, chances are that there is less problem - the cord is longer - than if the baby manages to wrap the cord late in the pregnancy.

Since we hope that Baby can be born at home with Abraham's grandmother as midwife, it is encouraging to see the continued health and growth.  We will be visiting a doctor in Cholula for a check-up tomorrow.

A basket of baby goodies

A small sampling of the clothing

The church Dios es Amor arranged a baby shower a few weeks ago, and we received a supply of diapers, wipes, creams, and other useful items from the church ladies.  A few weeks later, the mothers and teachers of Puebla Christian School organized a second shower.  They provided more of the consumable items, along with some toys, clothes, a highchair, and other such baby paraphernalia.  

We found this rocking chair cheaply at a flea market

People ask us, "Are you ready for the baby to be born?"  How to respond?  Yes and no.  Can anyone really be ready for a tiny, completely dependent child to come into their lives?  Who can predict how many sleepless nights, how many scrapes and bruises, how many temper tantrums, how much change will come into their lives?  Yet, of course, we are looking forward to seeing our baby's face, to cuddling, hugging, and kissing, to loving and training and learning how to be the parents God wants us to be.

Please pray for us that the remaining time with Baby inside will go well, and that he or she can be born without complications.  Pray also that we will be the parents God plans for us to be.  This is a life-long prayer.

The Ten Commandments?

The 10 Commandments in the children's catechism book:

1. I am the Lord your God:  you shall not have strange Gods before me.

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.

 

4. Honor your father and your mother.

5. You shall not kill.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

The 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 (including in the Catholic Bibles):

1. I am the Lord your God.  You shall have no other gods before Me. 

2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. 

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

5. Honor your father and your mother. 

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery. 

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Visiting various churches, cathedrals, and homes, the reason for the change in the commandments is obvious.

Reading classes

When we moved to Huejotzingo almost a year ago, Abraham and I put up notices advertising that we would teach classes in our home.  We offered English, drawing, and general tutoring.  Six and Ken contributed with classes in sewing, guitar, and piano.  At first, several people came for English classes.  They came for about a month, and then they disappeared.  Now I only have one student for English class, and she doesn't come very regularly.  I help her with her English homework.

Ken has two piano students, and Six has one sewing student.  The piano and sewing students are in the same family, and their son comes for drawing class with me.

Within the last three weeks, a new set of students began to come to our home.

A large family lives on the corner of our street, and the girls come regularly to the Sunday afternoon kids' club, often bringing one or two of their toddler nieces and nephews.  None of the kids in that family attend school, although some of them used to.  One of the girls knows how to read very well, but her next younger and next older sister do not know how to.

Practicing writing

We offered to teach them to read, and that Tuesday morning, they came.  Using a curriculum called Mas Luz, I began teaching them simple syllables, sending home note cards with the same syllables so that the girls can keep reviewing.  While I work with each girl individually, the other one practices writing.  Their sister who knows how to read uses our desktop computer to learn typing.  She also works math problems with Abraham.

Reviewing syllables

The girls come three mornings a week, often with a niece or nephew (or two) in tow.  They work on their lessons, and then they stay to play and talk until we send them back home.

Last weekend, a lady knocked at our door, asking about reading lessons for her 6-year-old daughter.  The girl attends school and her mother works on reading at home too, but still the girl doesn't now how to read.  She started class with me on Tuesday afternoon.  Her second class will be Saturday morning, and we will probably add another class on Wednesdays.

Two other students have had a couple of reading lessons with me, but they haven't yet had more.  Abraham and I visit their house every Friday afternoon, and while Abraham does a Bible study with two of the adults, I had reading class with a third adult and her daughter.  The girl has never attended school, and she is completely unaccustomed to sitting down to do any sort of studying, so working with her is very challenging.  Next time we go, I will start out by reading a story and try to help her see the connection between being able to read the story and the lessons.

Abraham and I visit another family every Friday night.  None of their children attend school, although some of them did for awhile, but not long enough to be proficient readers.  I take a different picture book with me every time we go, and 6-year-old Lupe's first question is always, "Where is the book?"  I read aloud to her, and her younger nephew and brother always crowd close, wanting to hear too.  After reading to Lupe, I pass the book to her next older brother, and then usually her oldest sister also wants to read it, too.  Lupe also wants to be read to on Sunday afternoons, and soon I plan to start teaching her sound-symbol relationships so that she will be able to read to herself some day.

Please pray that these classes will continue.  They are a way for us to reach out to people in our neighborhood and offer them a skill that will be useful throughout their lives.  Pray also that these classes will be more than just academic help - that they would be a way for us to be Jesus' hands and feet.

The carnival

February 18th the internationally famous carnival of Huejotzingo began.  Tourists from Peru, Columbia, and other countries came to see the annual reenactment of the Battle of Cinco de Mayo and another local battle fought between a group of bandits and a magistrate and his army.  The carnival began in 1869 and has been celebrated every year since during the four days before Ash Wednesday.  Throughout the carnival, battalions of "warriors" - called huehues or zacapoaxtlas - fight mock battles, expending tons of gun powder, rocking the air with the constant explosions.  There are also dances, accompanied by lively music from local bands.  In addition, there is a "wedding" held between the daughter of the magistrate and the bandit, Agustin Lorenzo, and there are several parades.

Many of the participants also pass the days drinking heavily, often choosing cheap liquor.  Accidents and even deaths are common.  This year the low estimate of accidents recorded was 50, although other news sources report more than 60.  The excellent news is that no one died.

Although thousands of locals participate, and tourists also flock to see the mock battles and reenactments, Abraham and I decided to steer as clear as we could of the festivities.  The extreme noise, the danger of injury, and the amount of drunks wandering the streets with their loaded rifles helped us decide to stay out of the main part of the festival which was held in the town square (zocalo).  There was no way to avoid all of the commotion, because groups of costumed participants constantly passed the house, and we did go out every now and then. 

On the last day of the carnival, a group of huehues had brunch at a home near ours

Children often begin participating when they are very young

The huehues use masks and wigs along with their highly embroidered costumes

The cheapest costumes cost around 25,000 pesos, while more expensive ones cost around 50,000

In one day, around 10 tons of gun powder were exploded

Horses take part in the parades and battles

There are 5 different types of costumes: zapadores, turcos, zuavos, zacapoaxtlas and indios

 

The rifles are elaborately carved and hand painted

The schools let out during the carnival, although school bands join in parades

Love never fails

Happy dia de amor y amistad to everyone.  I like Mexico's emphasis on love which includes friendship and family in the celebration, rather than just the romantic love of couples.  I am daily thankful for my Valentine, the best friend and companion that God could have given me.  We will be celebrating with dinner at home today.  

Yesterday we had a wonderful blessing from one of the girls who has been coming on Sunday afternoons almost as long as the mission has been open.  Her home life is one of the most tragic I have personally seen, and sadly Abraham and I recently learned of a new tragedy in her immediate family.  She doesn't know about it yet, and we are praying for her and her family.  

Her heart has been very wounded by the problems she has suffered, and her attitude is often harsh and difficult.  She once told Six that she doesn't believe in God, because if he existed, she wouldn't have suffered as she has.  Up to this point, she continues to feel this way.  We have, however, seen some encouraging advances, and yesterday was one of those.

A couple months ago, we told the children that they could win a Bible if they memorized 1 Corinthians 13.  We offered to help them memorize if they came by the house during the week.  This girl and her cousin were the only ones who did, but they only came a few times, and then both decided they didn't want to keep memorizing.

After a time, Abraham set the deadline of February 14th for those who wanted to memorize the passage and win the Bible and another prize.  On Sunday I asked the girl if she was ready to say the chapter, and she said not really, that she had forgotten all she had previously memorized.  I told her that if she reviewed a few times at home, she would probably discover that she still remembered most of what she had learned.

Yesterday she came.  She reviewed the passage a few times, and then she was able to say the whole chapter from memory.  We discussed what the verses meant, and then she received her prize.  Our prayer is that this scripture will take root and grow in her heart, and that she can let go of her sorrow and bitterness to run to the arms of Love.  We also pray that other children will be encouraged by her example of success and that they too will commit scripture to memory.

...faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love!