Here is a few pics of the kids and Kandi from the first week of school. They all Love It.

Here is a sample of what the girls are doing in school. They are both pretty proud that they have learned to write their names. Of course Kaitlyn is learning to write in cursive and Mckenzie is just learning to write. Kaitlyn is doing great in school. She is doing great in cursive, reading, math, and she is a whiz in spelling (she gets that from her mommy). Mckenzie has almost mastered her ABC's and is loving school also. 

It finally happened after several months of wiggling Kaitlyn has lost her two front teeth. She is enjoying trying to eat with out them and is very proud. Isn't she cute!

This last month Matt also went to a mens retreat with several other men from local churches. It was a great time getting to know the men and spending some quality time with them in the country. Most of the men camped out for the night but Matt went back home in order to attend our Churches gathering at the local Baptist Camp.

Now that is a tortilla warmer. (We take tortillas serious here.)

2 weeks ago our church went to a local Baptist Camp to have our service and to witness several Baptisms. It was a lot of fun and it was a blessing to see so many people being Baptized. The country was very pretty and reminded us a lot of Missouri. The girls also made a new friend that they can add to a list of aunts on the field. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Of course it doesn't matter where you are at Baptist love to eat and have fun.

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.