These are just a few pictures of the kids ministry in Los Cantaros. We are dreading saying goodbye in just a few weeks but God told us in the beginning that this was a short time project. We know that there are many more in the city to share with so we will be moving on to a new area in October. Please be praying for us as we search the exact area that God has for us next.

 

This is a quick picture of Kim Simpson and Kandi teaching the English class in Los Cantaros a couple of weeks ago. 

The ESL Class was started with the hope to find older youth and or adults to study the Bible with us but we have not had any success with it either. However we know that God will use the stories that the youth in the ESL class and the kids in the kids club have heard to impact their lives in the future. God's word does not go void when presented. 

Thank you again for your prayers!!

Slideshow from the Mexico Independence Day

Click play (the triangle) to see the show.

On Sept. 15 during the night Mexico celebrated its Independence with a "Grito" (a scream) followed by a day of celebration on the 16th. The reason the main celebration is on the night of the 15th is because that is the night that one of the founders of the country began to shout for Independence then the following day on the 16th the war began. Anyway we hope you enjoy the pictures in this slideshow showing what we did during the celebration. The music is the national anthem of Mexico and the screaming of "Viva Mexico" at the beginning means "Live Mexico" this is the "Grito" from the 15th of this year at the celebration we went to. 

After a long day Mckenzie was exhausted and sacked out on daddy.

The girls have started swim lessons and they love them. They are both doing great. Kaitlyn can swim on her own now and is just working on perfecting her skills. Mckenzie is getting better all the time and loves going now. Wow that is a huge blessing as she cried a lot at the start.

This first pictures are of Kaitlyn at classes and Mckenzie's pictures are next.

Mckenzie loves her swim lessons also. Here is a few pictures of her swimming along with a short video. Enjoy!

This is the video of Mckenzie going under water.

Just some fun pictures of Mckenzie at swim classes.

A couple of weeks ago we got to go to our Annual General Meeting. This is a meeting focused on worshiping our God in English. Wow we had a blast worshiping God in our native tongue with a group of missionaries and a team from the US. We also had a chance to discuss church planting ideas and to have a whole lot of fun. The first day we stopped by a store that carries many US brands and types of food. One of the things the girls found was Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and as you can see they couldn't wait for bowls they just dug right in.  Aunt Laura is in the photo with Kandi and Kaitlyn and Aunt Kim is in the photo on her own.

Along with worshiping and having fun at the Annual Meeting we got to make new friends and see old friends again.

While at the Annual Meeting Kandi, Kim and I also hosted a family game night. We used an Amazing Race theme and everyone had a lot of fun. We had 5 stations/games for the teams. They had to make a pyramid blindfolded, they had to eat doughnuts on a string, they had to stuff marshmallows in their mouth and say chubby bunny, the kids got to give their parents a drink while they could not see anything, and finally each team got to sing Amazing Grace to the tune of Gilligan's Island. We had a lot of fun.

During the Meeting the kids also had a great chance to show off their talents during the talent show on the last night. Several kids got up on the stage and preformed and they were all great. The show was complete with 3 judges (like American Idol) that the kids had to hear comments from after they preformed. The judges were different in the fact that they only had good christian positive feedback to offer. The show was great and it was fun to see how much talent the kids have. Bowden (pic below) told his favorite Bible verse and Abby and Caroline sang and played their favorite song. 

Kaitlyn also sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord" from memory while her VBS teacher played it on the piano. Check out the video below.

After she finished singing Kaitlyn had to make her way to the judges and get her comments. They loved the song along with everyone else.

After the meeting we stopped by HEB (a grocery store that carries many US brands and types of food). We found several treats that we can't get in Guadalajara and we were like kids in a candy store. 

The girls were having a lot of fun and enjoying picking out food.

We found canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls. We can and do make biscuits on our own but the taste of those canned ones are just a little taste of home.

The girls were thrilled to find pizza rolls, curly fries and tator tots. Kandi and I were thrilled to find the biscuits, french onion dip, and cool whip.

Mckenzie is just hanging out with the Haynes' and Aunt Kim having fun. I think they might be trying to turn her into a gangster.

This last month we had some special visitors. Grammy and Auntie Mandi (Matt's mom and sister) came to visit us. We had not seen Mandi for about 2 years and Grammy for a little more than a year. We were glad to see them and get to catch up on a lot of things with them. But of course we did not just talk while they were here we went all over the place and enjoyed the countryside of Mexico with them. There are several entries of our time with them below followed by several other entries sorry there are so many entries but it has been a busy month and a half.

While they where here all the girls had a couple of tea parties and of course they went to get their nails done and played  beauty shop a lot.

We also took them to Los Cantaros to help with the ministry 3 different times and of course we went to eat tacos and several other things at some of our local street vendors.

While Grammy and Auntie Mandi where here we also took a small vacation and went to the beach for 3 days. Were we ever ready for that. We all loved the beach and the ocean but I think it was a toss up for the girls which was better the beach or the pool with slides. No matter what we had a lot of fun and were glad to be able to go and enjoy our time away.

We also went downtown to shop for a while and see the Cathedral. I can't think of one reason why we needed to shop. However I can think of 5 reasons (5 ladies). For lunch we grabbed some chips and hotdogs from the convient store and sat down by the road to eat (what a picnic) Also while we were there we took a bus tour of part of the city. We rode on top of the bus on the second story. It was a lot of fun but evidently Mckenzie found the history lesson a little boring because she took a nap as the man talked.

  

For fathers day we went to a near by lake called "Lake Chapala". There is a nice little town by this lake that we like to go to once in a while. It has several nice parks to play in by the lake and you can also take boat rides. The boat takes you to an old island that is pretty run down but there are some pretty flowers on it and a lot of fresh water sea shells (which Kaitlyn loves). The other thing this town is known for is there minnows. No you don't buy them to fish with you buy them to eat. They are left whole then breaded and fried. Then severed with lime, salt and a smoky chili sauce. Yes Matt has tried them and likes them on occasion. Yum, Yum!!!

                          
This is a common view as you drive through the countryside. The farm that you see in this picture is a tequila field. These cactuses will grow about 5 years until they are ready for harvest. When it is time to harvest the farmer will dig up the roots and sell them. The roots are then pressed and the juice that they yield will be used to make tequila. The state of Jalisco where Guadalajara is at is the home of tequila and the locals say in order if it to be real tequila it has to come from Jalisco and it will not have a worm in it. I thought this was interesting.  

This is a picture of Kaitlyn riding her bike without training wheels and a picture of Matt as he was teaching her. Wow she was proud and now she rides everywhere, she doesn't even slow down for the speed bumps. (Okay maybe she learned that from her daddy's driving). Anyway she is a great bike rider and is getting better every day. This has actually been an answer to pray because she is meeting more kids now, which means we are making more Mexican family friends as a family. God is good, all the time God is good!

One day while Grammy and Auntie Mandi where here we went to the Zoo. It was a great trip and we got to see a lot of animals. A first for all of us was seeing a hippo actually move and eat (normally they are just sleeping away the day). We had a great time.