Home Mission Assignment

The month of February & March we were in the United States completing our first ever HMA, Home Missions Assignment. HMA is designed for missionaries to return to their home country and reconnect with supporters, supporting churches, raise additional funds needed in order to stay on their field of service, and to get some rest. The length of time a missionary is on HMA depends on the missions organization requirements and on how much money the missionary needs to raise.

In a period of two months we tried to do what most missionaries would take six months to a year to do. It was exhausting, but also very rewarding to reconnect with people & churches that we love dearly.

Here is the breakdown of our trip:

*We visited 5 different churches and traveled to 4 different states

* We spoke on a radio show about the importance of cross-cultural communication (click on the link to listen if you missed it! We come in at the 30 minute mark)

*Attended a missions conference at Christ Community Church in Carmel, Indiana, where we were able to reconnect with other MTW missionaries that serve in other parts of the world.

*Gave a presentation about our work in Mexico approx. 15 times.

*Went out to lunch/dinner with current supporters and friends that we haven’t seen in a long time approx. 20 times

* Got our family pictures taken by the amazing Nathan & Ashley Siner from The Siners photography. Check out their blog. The Siners are awesome!

http://www.thesiners.com/blog/indianapolis-family-photographer-jesch-family/

*Shared our love for Mexico & missions with two different youth groups and at an elementary missionary club (which Mateo was a part of the year we left for Colombia!)

*Spent a few days on the beach in Florida with our best friends!

We arrived back to Mexico exhausted, but with full hearts and very thankful for the experience. We want to welcome our new supporters and say thank you once again to those who have been with us for some time now!

Enjoy the pictures! Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Life in Guad #1

When we lived in Bogotá, I did a blog series called “Things You See in Bogotá.” The series highlighted the different kinds of things that you see there that we do not necessarily see in the United States of America, or more specifically, in the Midwest.

I’ve decided that it is time to start my Mexico version of that blog series. This time it’ll be called “Life in Guad” and it will feature things we see all of the time that have become totally normal to us now (like 5 people on one motorcycle!), people we love, foods we eat, lessons about the culture & language, etc. Our hope is that this blog series will give you, our readers, a true glimpse into our lives here in Guadalajara!

So here is the first post of “Life in Guad” and yes, of course, it is about FOOD!

We LOVE Mexican food! I grew up eating homemade tortillas, chicken & rice & beans, fajitas, carne asada, and chorizo & eggs. But as I got older, meat started to gross me out. So at 17 years old, I stopped eating red meat, pork, & sea food. I still eat chicken, although I am very picky about it. And I do like turkey bacon 😉

I knew enough about Latin American culture before moving to Mexico that food is an important part of relationship building & that refusing to eat something that someone has made for you is extremely offensive. So I prayed….a lot. The last thing I wanted to do is offend someone because I don’t eat meat. I have asked the Lord to simply help me eat what I have to eat in the times that I have to eat something that I absolutely hate. And trust me…there have been those times.

Like the other day when I ate “escamoles”, a Mexican delicacy known to most of you as “ANT EGGS.”

Look like cous cous right???

Well trust me…I love cous cous and escamoles do not taste the same! The only way I was able to get this down is because I ate it with guacamole & a tortilla. Answered prayer. Thank you Lord.

Also that day I had to eat a pork taco…but we won’t talk about that anymore. I’m still scarred.

So how can someone who hates meat love Mexican food?

Well…have you ever tried a tlacoyo? It is like a super thick tortilla. Top it with cactus & guacamole and eat it with beans….delicious!

What about molletes? How can you go wrong with bread, beans, cheese, and pico de gallo? You just can’t. Trust me.

Chilaquiles for breakfast? They look like a version of nachos…and they basically are. You can get them plain or topped with egg or chicken. Every bite is an explosion of so much yummy flavor!

And of course…tamales! Most people don’t know that tamales can be made sweet as well. I’ve tried pineapple, coconut, strawberry, chocolate, & cranberry.

There is a lady that sells tamales on the street near our house for $10 pesos each. They. Are. Amazing. Every single night she sets up her table, unloads her van with huge pots of piping hot, fresh tamales and proceeds to make a killing! People stand in line for hours to get her tamales. The first time I went, my friend & I stood in the rain for an hour! It was worth it.

Of course, Matt & Mateo love the tacos here! Tacos de arrachera, de chorizo, y pastor. Basically translated….meat, meat, & meat!

This is what tacos in Mexico look like:

Contrary to popular belief…tacos are not made with cheese! Just a corn tortilla, meat, onion, cilantro, and of course, lime. (or as we say here…lemon 🙂 )

As with the ant eggs, there are delicacies here that I most definitely do not want to voluntarily try because of the “gross factor”. Matt got brave the other day and ordered “crickets” with the guacamole.

Yep…gross. Matt ate many. Mateo tried one. I tried zero.

Then there is “pulpo”….which I’ll let you guess by the picture what it is.

Praying right now that I never, ever, have to try it.

So as you can see, there is a variety of food in Mexico that is both yummy & in my opinion…gross. (and I haven’t even told you about how they use ALL of the parts of the cow in their soups & stuff. And when I say all…I mean ALL.)

Because I try to be a “healthy eater” overall…I am extremely grateful that fruits & vegetables here are dirt cheap and super fresh. Most nights…this is what you would see in my kitchen:

That’s some goodness right there!

Come visit us and we promise to feed you some super yummy Mexican food! And if you are an adventurous eater…you may end up eating a cow tongue, a cricket, or some octopus!

On turning 40

Yesterday I turned 40 years old. Did you hear what I just said??? 40! The BIG 4-0! How did that even happen?

Like every other “young person” I grew up thinking that 40-year olds were really old. I remember going to birthday parties of people turning 40 and the theme was always “over the hill.” What does that even mean anyway? One definition says “no longer able to do something at an acceptable level because of age; past your/its prime.” Another one simply says “too old for something.” Ouch!

While aging is a natural process of life that we all must just accept (because like it or not…it’s going to happen), I am grateful that I am aging well. I always wondered what I would look like when I was 40. Would I look like a mom? (not even sure what that means!) Would I have gray hair? Would I have wrinkles? Would my husband still find me attractive? I’m here to report that the answer to all of those questions is…..YES! 🙂

To be honest…I wasn’t really excited about celebrating the fact that I was 40. This was me in the morning:

Yep…cute huh?

But then I decided to go for a run and do a really good workout, so I started to feel like “ok…I got this! 40 ain’t got nuttin’ on me!”

Later in the evening my boys took me out to dinner. This gave me a perfect excuse to do my hair & makeup! And yes…I need an excuse to do my hair & makeup anymore. It doesn’t just happen just because 🙂

I love these 3 pictures because they accurately reflect the 3 different stages of my life that you would find me in at 40 years old! I either look like I just woke up, like I’m going out for a run, or I actually took time to do my hair & makeup!

(Side note: one of Mateo’s friends from school guessed I was 28 years old! I love that kid 🙂 )

Why do we fear aging or getting old? I think I know why, for me, 40 is hitting me hard.

*My brother died when he was 38. I cannot even imagine what it was like for his wife and kids to lose him at such a young age. I have already lived 2 years longer than my oldest brother. Kind of blows my mind to think about it, really.

*I always thought at 40 I would have a bigger family. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so unbelievably grateful for my husband and for the one son we have on this earth. But I would be lying if I said that the fact that I have two babies in Heaven, and not here with us, doesn’t bother me….all. the. time. I would have loved for Mateo to have siblings. He would have loved that too! I know that being 4o doesn’t make it automatically impossible to have children, but with my condition, it makes it that much harder.

*My body is definitely changing! Metabolism is slowing down, I don’t sleep as well as I use to, and I have to wear these weird socks to bed at night!

Well, I’m just giving away all of my lovely secrets aren’t I??? I have plantar fasciitis in both of my heels, which developed from running so much. These socks hold my feet in a slightly stretched position which is supposed to help eliminate some of the pain I feel on a daily basis. I know….you’re jealous 😉

*And since my mom’s passing, no matter what birthday I am celebrating, it will be without her. All day yesterday I longed to get a call from my mom telling me happy birthday. It’s a weird thing to long for, knowing that it is never going to happen.

But I have to say, at the end of the day, as I was celebrating with the two most important people in my life, all I could feel was blessed.

I mean, here I am, living in Mexico, living my dream of being a missionary and serving God full-time with an amazing husband and awesome son! What more could I ask for? So many friends. So many children in my life. So many amazing experiences. So many blessings.

Honestly, if I died today, I would die the happiest woman on earth. So completely filled with joy. I want for nothing. Need for nothing. Because God has given me everything I could possibly want or need.

So….here’s to being 40 years old! I’ve decided to embrace it and continue to count my blessings. Every second, every hour, every day is a gift. I don’t want to miss a thing in this life cause I was too busy worrying about being fat, being old, or my gray hair. There are too many people in my life to love on, to cherish, and to spend time with. There are races to be ran….and praise God that I still have the ability to run! There are mountains to climb, trails to hike, and silly nerf wars to play with my son. There are people who need to hear about Jesus! I don’t want to miss a thing.

And can we just talk about how handsome my husband is??? I mean….sheesh! He turns 40 in December. I think he’s got this.

I am blessed.

Vacation Bible School 2015

It was Cristo Salvador’s first time to ever put on a VBS! With being a small church & getting a very late start on the planning, the odds were stacked against us as to whether or not we could pull off a VBS that was fun, exciting, & completely centered around Christ. Well…prayers were answered and the 3-day VBS was a success! All praise to God! We are grateful to the 5 volunteers from Project Kids Network in Indianapolis, Indiana that came down for the week to help us plan & execute the Vacation Bible School. Their help was greatly appreciated and they did such a great job with the kids! We also have the best interns a missionary could ever dream of, seriously. (More on our interns in another post!) With everyone working together, including a few ladies from the church, we were able to have a great 3 days with the children from the community. Many contacts were made and the children learned about Jesus! A few of the children were very disappointed that it was only 3 days and all of them were very sad that the Americans were leaving. The biggest reward for us was seeing a brother & sister from VBS walk into church Sunday morning with their mom & dad! The dad of the little boy commented to one of the interns that he saw such a big change in his child during the 3 days that he was with us that he had to come to the church to see what we were all about! Thank you Jesus!!!

(Click on each picture if you would like to see it bigger)

Our interns created a skit that they performed each day which included the superhero characters of “La Chica Fuerte”, “El Doctor Hielo”, and “El Gran Grito”. And of course, you cannot have superheroes without a villain, so there was also “El Señor Sombra.” It was seriously hilarious and by the end of day 3 all the children had fallen in love with the superheroes!

Project Kids Network brought two parachutes with them from the United States that we were able to use during the VBS. The children absolutely loved it! We started each day by playing games with them.

A very important part of the day was the Bible lesson time. The children were taught about God’s love and various truths from God’s Word. Our teachers were amazing!

And of course….no VBS is complete without games, music, & crafts!

Many of you prayed for this VBS and we could not be more grateful! Contacts were made, friendships were formed, and Jesus was proclaimed! May God continue to use us for His glory!