In March, Josue went to Guadalajara, Mexico, to help preach in a Bible conference. He came home with the strong feeling that the Lord was calling us to Guadalajara to minister alongside the pastor down there. We prayed about it, sought counsel from wise, Bible-preaching pastors, and asked many, many people to pray for us. Convinced that this was the Lord's will for us, we prepared for the move and in July, we took off on the huge task of moving this family of 10 over 1000 miles from our home. The trip down there proved to be filled with trials, but we persevered and with the Lord's help we made it to Guadalajara in 5 days. (You can read about our rough start on my husband's blog.)
We arrived in Guadalajara on July 11, 2013. It was a big change for our family. We not only moved to a different country, but we moved to a huge city after having been in small towns or rural areas our entire marriage. It was quite a learning experience for our entire family.
The kids learned to make their own fun since our "yard" was considerably down-sized from what they were used to. Here you see them creating a "swimming pool" by covering the drain on the patio. :)
We had an unexpected visit from home. My husband's parents were visiting family in Monterrey and decided last minute to drop by Guadalajara for a visit. I say "drop by", but in reality, it was a 12-hour bus ride to get to us and then a 24-hour bus ride for them to get home. But it was wonderful to have them there for the short time they stayed.
We got our school room all set up and ready to go. We continued what we had been doing and added in some Spanish vocabulary building with the little ones. The only downside to our homeschooling is that the girls didn't learn as much Spanish as they would have had they been in a Spanish-language school all day.
We visited a nearby town when Josue was invited to preach in their church service. Here you see us walking to the city center where some evangelism was taking place.
My "mom's helper" taking care of the little ones during a church service in Guadalajara.
This is Raul with his dogs, Princesa and Pirata. He was a homeless man who slept on this sidewalk at the store near our house. The cart you see behind him contains all his earthly possessions. We became friends with him and were able to help him several times. But honestly, I would say that he helped us as much as we helped him, though I'm sure he wouldn't believe that to be true. He was so sad to hear that we were leaving Guadalajara to come back home and we were equally sad to say goodbye. We miss him and pray for him often that the Lord will use the Bible we gave him to bring him to Christ.
Although we went to Guadalajara with the intent of staying long-term, the Lord had other plans for us. We still do not completely understand what He was and is doing in our lives, but we trust Him completely because we know that He is good. Here you see the movers packing up our belongings for the trek home.
Back "home". While we are home, we are not exactly home. Our house has been rented out for 3 years. The other elder in our church, and his wife, very graciously moved out of their beautiful house to give us a place to stay. This is the view from the front door. We are humbled beyond measure at the kindness of the Lord and His people to us. The outpouring of love and support to us upon returning home has been amazing. We are so thankful to be a part of such a loving fellowship of Christians. We love and appreciate each and every one of you.
