Tortillas!

I just thought it would be fun to take you along with us on our morning trip to the tortilleria...the place where they make and we buy fresh, hot, corn and flour tortillas.

Depending on the meal, usually 1 1/2 to 2 kilos of corn tortillas is what we buy for our family. A kilo (about 2.2 lbs) of corn tortillas costs 12 pesos (about a dollar) and a kilo of flour costs 25 pesos (about $2). We usually buy corn and make flour at home simply because Daddy likes home made flour tortillas much better than the ones from the tortilleria. Since my tortillas usually turn out looking more like maps or shoes than nice and round, I prefer to buy them :) But usually I can get a neighbor or lady from church to help me roll them out...well, maybe they do most of the rolling and I help cook :)

So here are a few quick shots of one of our trips to the tortilleria...

The shops open about 5 in the morning so we can always buy fresh corn tortillas to eat with our breakfast...beans, eggs, salsa and corn tortillas....mmmmm!!! Remember, our house is your house and if you want to come visit, we'll have a plate for you too :)

Here is a shot of the hot corn tortillas coming in off the line.
This lady is the one who weighs and wraps the tortillas up for us to take home. She is amazing! I took a quick video to show you how fast she can wrap. The children love to watch her and she always gives them a fresh tortilla to eat while we are waiting. :)

Careful, they are hot! :)

Today, we bought a few flour ones too.

I probably should have put this picture first, but once I upload them, I don't know how to move them around! Here is the outside of the shop...there are several shops in town, but this one is just a few blocks from our house. We can walk there if we want.

And right before we got home, we stopped at the store right down our street to buy some chilis to make the salsa. This is where we buy most of our groceries each week.

And here's the video clip! :) Hope you enjoyed our little tour!

Bit of this and that

I just want to thank those of you who have sent treats and prizes for the children in our church. They look forward to the last Sunday of each month as that is when we open the "store" and what a joy to see their enthusiasm to work hard on their verses and other areas so they can earn "tickets". Please pray with us that these dear children will give their heart to Jesus and continue to grow in Him.

Just a few pictures from the past month...

Ivan (a dear young man in our church) and Timothy were sitting on our couch one morning reading their Bibles. I'd asked Timothy to hold Samuel for a bit while I finished with breakfast and a couple minutes later, I looked back into the living room and saw that Nehemiah and Eliseo had joined them. It was so cute :)

Abigail is such a big help to dress Eliseo and comb his hair so nicely each morning.

Passing summer afternoons doing crafts...a favorite activity!

And just because he's so cute :)

Pastor's Conference...120+ in our home! PTL!

Before Daniel gives his report on the ministry, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the love, sweet notes, and especially for the prayers for me and our family this past week. The Lord is so very good and so faithful. Through the days and times of sadness, His Word was such a gentle, healing balm to my heart. Your prayers have been heard, and we thank the Lord for you.

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Pastor's Conference

This past Monday and Tuesday we held a pastors conference here at our church, for the seven Independent Baptist churches in Baja South. Although we are a small group of churches we enjoyed a good time of fellowship, great pulpit pounding messages and good food.
On Monday the pastors arrived in their vans with people from their respective churches, and by 2:00 p.m. all but one of the pastors were here, and there were 87 people in our home. We all shared stories of the ministry, met the new recently converted people, and enjoyed lunch. After, a private pastor's meeting planning our future activities, we had an evening service from 5:00- 9:30. We ran routes for our people (from our church) and had over 120 in attendance. there was standing room only... people in each of the three windows looking in, people outside trying to hear and great hallelujah type singing. Our churches love singing the old hymns like dwelling in Beulah Land, and It Is Well With My Soul among many more.
Seeing our churches get together and fellowship, getting fired up amen'ing the preachers, getting excited about serving the Lord, makes us Pastors happy. It is blessing to see your people get on fire for the Lord, and to get excited about going out soul-winning. After the 4 hour service those from our church said they could have listened another hour or two, the time went by so fast. About 10:00 pm everybody went over to our house for a delicious dinner of Bistek con papas (meat and potatoes) and we all just had a great time of fellowship.
We had around 120 in our house!!! That night we housed 27 people for the night... besides us. We had 41 people sleeping in our house, it was great!! They slept in the kitchen, dinning room, living room, family room, the girls room and even in two of the vans parked outside. We thank the Lord that we have a house where we are able to recieve people and open it up to fellow believers. The next morning we had about 60 for breakfast and then continued the preaching and teaching services to finish the day with lunch at 2:00. Although, revival meetings and pastors conferences are readily available in the States, its not as common here in Baja South, so it was a shot in the arm for each and every participant.
I took a video of the house to give you an idea of what it was like (pictures and video at the bottom of the post); I hope you enjoy it.

May the Lord continue to work here in Baja California Sur.

Para nuestros Hermanos Mexicanos,
Conferencia de Pastores
Este Lunes y martes pasado tuvimos una conferencia de pastores en nuestra iglesia para las siete Iglesias Bautistas Independientes Fundamentales en Baja California Sur. Aunque somos un pequeños grupo de iglesias, disfrutamos buenísimo compañerismo, mensajes excelentes y comida rica.
En lunes los pastores llegaron en sus paneles con los hermanos de sus iglesias, y a las 2:00 PM de la tarde ya teníamos unos 87 personas en nuestra casa. Compartimos historias de los ministerios, conocimos los nuevos creyentes de las iglesias, y comimos. Después de una junta privada de los pastores planeando actividades futuras, tuvimos nuestro culto de las 5:00- a las 9:30. Hicimos las rutas para los hermanos de nuestra iglesia, y teníamos mas que 120 en asistencia. No había mas lugar,... había personas en las tres ventanas del templo, gente parada y afuera tratando de escuchar, y todos cantando tan bonito. Nuestras iglesias les gustan cantar los grandes himnos de la fe como Tengo Paz con Mi Dios, y Cristo dentro otros.
Viendo a nuestras iglesias reunirse, teniendo compañerismo, animándose y "amenando", calentándose para servir al Señor nos hace pastores contentos y alegres. Que bendición es a ver tu gente animarse para servir al Señor y para salir a ganar almas. Después del culto de 4 horas los hermanos de nuestra iglesia me compartieron que hubieron escuchado otras horas de predicación por que se les hizo tan rápido el tiempo a causa de las buenas predicaciones. Como las 10:00 todos fueron a nuestra casa a comer una rica comida de bistec ranchero con papas, y tuvimos gran compañerismo.
Tuvimos en nuestra casa como 120 personas!!! y aquella noche durmieron 27 personas en la casa no contando a nosotros. Éramos 41 personas en total, era maravilloso! Durmieron en la cocina, comedor, sala, la otra sala, hasta en dos paneles. Damos gracias a Dios que nos ha dado una casa donde podemos recibir hermanos y tener las puertas abiertas, es una grande bendición. En la mañana había como 60 para el desayuno, y después continuamos con los cultos de predicaciones y enseñanzas, y terminamos con una comida a las 2:00PM. Fue una gran bendición para todos
Tome un video para que vean el ambiente del momento. Que Dios les bendiga

Pastors and their Families

Jaynee and Hna. Sugey (Sugey lived and worked with us for several months when we first started in the ministry here...it was so good to see her again).


Attempting to get everyone together for a group picture :)

Pastor Garcia enjoying his posole

We were so thankful for our covered back patio which served as the eating area and gave us protection for the sun.

We spent lots of time gathered around the piano or a guitar and singing

We had various classes during the day covering topics such as soul winning, biblical music, teaching children, being a man or lady of God etc...

It was fun seeing all the vans parked in the empty lot next to our house. :)

Holding a class for the children in our back yard

It was so good for the pastors to be able to get together, encourage one another, and make plans for the year.

It was just a wonderful time of good preaching, fellowship and much fun!

And here's a quick video clip of how it looked inside the front of our home...there were just as many people outside! :) After everyone left, it felt to lonely and quiet...We normally don't feel that way with 12 children! :)

Two Babies with Jesus

Isaiah 43:7

I have created him for my glory.

From the moment we knew you were there,

Our little girl or boy,

Our hearts did swell with so much love,

Our days were filled with joy.

Each day we prayed for you our child,

How we wanted you to stay!

Resting in our in loving Father's will,

Content to follow His way.

Many weeks I carried you

Safely beneath my heart.

And now our Father has carried you

To His home where you'll never depart.

From the moment we knew you were there,

Our world was filled with joy.

And now heaven's that much sweeter too,

With our little girl or boy.

Wednesday afternoon, I went to the doctor. Our sweet little baby's heart was no longer beating.

Yesterday, we went to our doctor in La Paz to check again.

He was so kind and caring and as he was doing the ultrasound, he found 2 little babies, both of whom are now in heaven.

I was almost 11 weeks along.

Not knowing I was carrying twins, I wrote the above poem in my journal Wendesday night.

Our hearts hurt and the tears have fallen, but we have often held each other close and the Lord always holds us closer...He is so loving, so good, and so gentle.

Having had a miscarriage between my oldest two children and now having had two after having our little Samuel, it doesn't get any easier. It always amazes me the love the Lord gives a mommy for her child from the first moment she knows he/she is within her.

Through the pain, this one thing I know...That all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Why did God allow this to happen? Because He is so loving, and so good, and only does what is best for us.

The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:21

When my heart hurts and the tempter brings doubts and fears, I just want to bless our Lord. Always trusting, always clinging to Him, always renewing my mind with His Word.

Thank you so much for your prayers for me and our babies these past weeks. I'm so thankful the Lord has given us a sweet family in Christ who pray, love and encourage us so much.

I am so thankful I have 12 precious children here on earth, and 4 sweet little ones in heaven.

And I'm most thankful for the blessed Hope we have through Jesus Christ our Savior where one glorious day, there will be no more tears, no more dying, no more pain.

He is so faithful and so good.