The Miller Family in Mexico City

Dia de la Madre

In Mexico, Mother's Day is always celebrated on May 10...and wow, is it ever celebrated.  One of our Mexican friends said that Mother's Day is probably the most celebrated day on the Mexican calendar (besides the special day for the Virgin of Guadalupe).  Much of this focus on mothers stems from the Roman Catholic emphasis on the mother of Jesus.

On May 9, one of the traditions is for a group of people to go to mothers' houses to sing a traditional song in a post-midnight serenade.  Julianne participated with the singers this year and they came to our house around 3 a.m.  We never heard a sound! :)  The other tradition is not so easily ignored- loud fireworks.  From midnight on Friday through midnight on Saturday we were treated to the sporadic launching of large amounts of gun powder.

As many of you celebrate your mothers today (or are celebrated yourselves), we trust that you will be reminded of the blessing it is to be a mother.  Janette and I are so thankful for our mothers and the Godly influence they have had in our lives.

So what do you do when you are living in two cultures?  Janette thinks it is obvious that we would celebrate Mother's Day on both the Mexican and U.S. dates.  We are giving her some special attention this weekend and this evening the men and youth of the church are having a cookout for the women of the church.

Stay tuned in the coming days for more blogs on the recent children's workers' workshop and other church events for May.  The picture in this post is of Janette at some ruins near Campeche.

Central Africa HealthCare Organization Conference

How did another two weeks go by without a blog post?!  Perhaps we could blame our schedule of late and a mild case of "senioritis" as our first missionary term comes to an end.

I did have an opportunity last week to attend and participate in the annual CAHO conference in Spring Arbor, Michigan.  We also took advantage of Josiah's free passage which allowed him to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson in Spring Arbor.

CAHO brings together some of the most experienced and thoughtful medical missionaries (and others interested in the same) in the Free Methodist Church.  In recent years, they have graciously expanded their scope to include Mexico and Haiti in addition to the longstanding works in Central Africa.

This year, we took time to think about the call to ministry.  I'm not sure I came away with a lot of answers but the questions we are asking these days were validated and we were encouraged.

While I was in Michigan, Janette was here in Mexico City helping with the details of a Children's Worker Workshop put on by missionary Kay Stotts from Chile.  We've received great reviews of the sessions and this weekend Kay and Janette are repeating the performance in Campeche.

As you can see, our last couple of weeks have been busy and we look forward to being together again as a family when Janette returns on Sunday night.  Thank you for praying for us as we enter our final month here in Mexico City.  There are many things that need closure and many boxes and suitcases to pack.  We are living in this in-between time and want to be present for our friends and co-workers here but also preparing our minds and hearts for the new experiences ahead.

Pray for Haiti

Have you seen the recent reports out of Haiti?  It isn't frontpage news any longer.  But people are struggling and starving there.  Here is an update from some friends who are standing with the Haitians.  Check it out and allow God to move you to prayer, to tears, to action...

Super soap for sale!

Mexico City women are now selling soap through SEED.  Go to Janette's blog to read all about it and see the different types!  And then you can buy some for your friends, your family, your neighbors, your dog, and your own home !  Just email seed@fmcna.org or call 1-800-342-5531 ext.249 to order today!  The soap sells at $2.50 for a regular size bar or $5.00 for 3 square bars.

The Taste of Dirt

No, this isn't that healthy dirt taste that clings to your fresh vegetables from the garden.  You know, the taste that tells you that the tomato you're about to eat didn't spend 2 weeks in a refrigerated truck.  Rather, this taste of dirt is from the dust that blows off of the piles of Mexico City garbage.  Without buildings or trees to slow the wind, the dirt swirls across deserted soccer fields and into every crack and crevice.  That was the scene and the taste as Janette and I arrived in one of the largest garbage dumps in Mexico City- Neza.  It is situated in a huge open plain in one of the more populated regions of Mexico City.  The full name of the municipality is Nezahuacoyotl.

Missionary Gary Allen and our friend Sergio came along as well.  Gary helped translate in the optical and medical areas.  Janette also helped in the triage and medical areas.  A college team from Miami (of Ohio) University made up the bulk of the OSI group this week.  Many of the patients seen were trying to get refills on their basic medicines since the OSI teams don't return to the Neza dump until mid-June.

Would you pray that the doors would remain open for OSI to continue ministering in Neza?  We are also asking God to show us how the Free Methodist Church might invest longterm in ministries like the outreach to Neza.  Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support which allow us to continue ministering in places like Neza and to men, women, and children like those you see pictured here.

OSI Spring Break Trips

Our friends with Operation Serve International are working here in Mexico City this month.  They are hosting three different teams.  Last week, I had the opportunity to work an afternoon alongside a team from the Buffalo, NY area in the garbage dump of Neza.  We saw almost 50 medical patients as well as a number of optical, hair care, and children's ministry visits.

This time of year in Mexico City is very dry and often windy.  Our small canopies were not much protection from the stiff wind that whipped across the dry dirt soccer field where we were set up.  Most of the afternoon found me squinting and trying to keep the dirt out of my mouth as I sat on my folding metal chair across from the patient in hers.  All of the children have skin irritations and matted hair.  It is impossible to keep the ever-blowing dust out of the thin-walled shacks.  My heart went out to them and I wondered if maybe the Israelites felt a little like that as they wandered in the desert.

Tomorrow, I'm going back to Neza.  I have the option of picking and choosing my visits to the garbage dump.  Hundreds who live there have no options to leave.  I pray that God continues to soften my heart as I see these friends in Neza with his eyes.

Sowing in Xochimilco

Pastor Juan and Eva have been ministering with one family in Xochimilco (So-she-mil-ko) for a couple of months now.  (We learned of this contact through a family member who is living in the United States.)  They have typically had two adults and 2 children attend a Sunday morning class.  While the numbers weren't large, the mother and daughter were very interested in learning more about God and the Bible.

Now enters the Peterborough, Canada VISA team.  They accompanied Pastor Juan and Eva to Xochimilco where they had a kids program of puppets, music, clowns, and a Biblical drama.  Several neighborhood families came to the outreach.  The team was also able to give some of the basic necessities to these needy families who are often hungry and without adequate clothing.  But would any of these families return without the draw of the Canadian children's ministry?

Praise God, the answer is YES!  Pastor Juan reports that yesterday morning 16 people came to the Sunday School in Xochimilco.  It is a beautiful thing when short-term teams are able to give a jump start to the work.  Thanks, Peterborough friends, for your willingness to serve and for the love you demonstrated to the "least of these" in Xochimilco.

Sorry, we don't have any pictures of this new house church yet.  We'll post them when we do.

Church Math

We seem to be trying to balance our addition/multiplication with subtraction/division in the local church these days.  God has done some amazing things in the last few months and yet we are also facing some of the most difficult challenges we've ever had in our church this week.  The last couple of days have been very painful for Janette and I but we can also testify that God is with us.  Many of you have prayed for us despite not knowing the details or even that something was going on.  We thank you for that and ask that you continue praying that God's will be done in us and in the church leadership and in Mexico City.

God's Word has been so uplifting and healing as well.  What a privilege to have the very words of Jesus and God's servants to remind us of his love and faithfulness.  The Psalms have been especially meaningful.

There are things that we learn from being broken and from suffering.  Is it possible that just as Jesus' wounds were our salvation, so our wounds might be a healing for others?

The "Velada"

It was announced and Joel and I were in confusion...what did they say we were going to do?  A prayer service until 2am - why?  We already have a Thursday night and a Friday morning  prayer time that  are not well attended.  Why would people pray for 6 hours into the middle of the night?  Joel and I tried to get out of it - the kids are sleeping, we usually go to bed at 10pm, we attend the other prayer times...but when Friday night came we were there (Julianne was sick and so stayed home with the sleeping kids).  The evening began at 8pm with a potluck meal.   A good way to bring people in on time :).  At 9pm, with 17 people present, we began with praise and testimonies of God's work in our lives.   10pm was a time of personal conversion stories and a neat opportunity to really get to know each other better.  We also witnessed the beginning of new leaders rising up to serve in the church.  11pm was a great time of searching scriptures and feasting on the Word.   Midnight began the time of intercession and a pastoral prayer for each attendee and the family they represented.  When 2am arrived we were encouraged and eager to schedule our next vigil.  The Miller family would still love to see it take place in the daylight hours but we praise God for the work he is doing in the Tizoc church!

Women's Discipleship Group

I am excited that we now have a women's club!  This is a new ministry focused on discipleship for women in our church.  It is still in the beginning stages as it has been going for only 3 weeks but I am encouraged to see that 13 women are now attending!   The Wednesday morning time is spent participating in a cooking lesson or craft, enjoying a teaching time from the Bible, setting personal goals for becoming more Christ-like and sharing our prayer requests.  And without any prodding we are seeing the women reaching out to their friends and family and inviting them to come along.  Out of the 13 women attending, a third of the women do not attend our church nor do they profess to be Christians but have a desire to share, learn and fellowship.  And as questions arise during our teaching time we are proud to see our church members learning to respond in love with truths from the scripture.   God is working in Mexico City!  Please pray for our Wednesday morning Women's Club.