The Market

A couple of times a week we go to the market for supplies for the cafe, our home and bits and pieces. This week we have been to three different markets for various supplies.

The Cruz on Monday for trays for the cafe and a yummy breakfast of tamales. The Tepe on Thursday for mangos for the cafe, some fruit for our family and a breakfast of freshly prepared fruit juice. We have also found cheap second hand clothes in the Tepe that costs about $2.50 per piece so Sandy was able to get some new jeans and a blouse.
The big banger was Friday in the abastos (supplies) market. This is the biggest Market in Queretaro and is the source of wholesale trade. We were able to buy 5kg of strawberries for just $6.50 and 5kg of blackberries for $11.50. These are our main ingredients for our natural fruit smoothies.

Here are a couple of photos from the Tepe.

Expocafe

We are SO excited about what God is doing in our ministry. We have been able to progress with the cafe/gallery plans to the stage where we are purchasing equipment and preparing the shop space. From 2-4 September, Sandy and I went to Mexico City to ExpoCafe which was a national coffee event. The purpose of our trip was to contact suppliers, look for equipment and gain information and skills in the world of coffee. It was a very beneficial time and we were able to put a deposit on the workhorse of our cafe - the espresso machine.

Check out the photos!

Looking out for others

Our street

We are renting our new family home in a locality with lots of families with children. The street is private (it has a closed off gate) and there are 51 houses in the street. It's cool because the kids can play on the street and as long as we keep an eye on them, it's relatively safe. We've been able to make friends with most of the kids that live in our street and they enjoy playing with Romi.
There are some kids in our street that have parents that work lots and often they are left alone at home. There's one little guy who's eight years old and spends most of his time home alone. Sometimes he doesn't even eat in the afternoon because there's nobody in his house to prepare his meal.
We really want to help out our little mate Memo so we often ask him over to our house to eat if he hasn't eaten and make sure he's okay.

In the school holidays, God has put it in Sandy's heart to run a holiday program here our garden for the kids, giving them activities during the holidays and sharing with them a message of hope in Jesus Christ. Sandy used to work as a preschool teacher as well as being a mum so she's well equipped to share with these kids.

Please pray for Memo and pray for our plans to reach out to those amongst whom God has placed us. We are building relationships with several families here and we pray that as a family, God's light would shine through us to every house in our street.

Tacos with friends

Sarah is a good friend of ours who comes from the US. Sandy often goes out for coffee with Sarah to catch up and share times of encouragement together. Recently, Sarah's parents came to visit, so in our true Mexican style, we took them out for tacos!

The tacos were a BIG hit! Glad you enjoyed it guys!

The Proposal

The time had come and all was ready. I had prayed about it, thought about it, had the ring and I was ready! My sister and her husband were with us and very excited about what was about to happen…

I took Sandy out for a romantic dinner that I had organised for the two of us. Sandy thought we were going to the restaurant, but we took a shortcut which took us to a lookout with a waiter, table and red roses waiting. We sat down to a lovely dinner and enjoyed chatting about how God had brought us together, some funny and candid moments we have shared and our dreams for the future. Sandy was enjoying herself, but had no idea what was to come…

After we had enjoyed main course, we stood up to enjoy the view. The background music playing was by Luis Miguel and Sandy started singing the first song and proceeded to tell me it was a song dedicated to a woman that he was no longer with, hmmm, I let that song pass by. The next song started and Sandy said “This song is beautiful!” so I thought, “This is the moment!”
I felt the ring in my pocket and started to pull it out as I got down on bended knee. The breath escaped from Sandy’s lungs as she gasped with surprise. “Sandra García Estrada, ¿te casarías conmigo?” (“Sandra Garcia Estrada, will you marry me?”)

“¡¡¡SI!!!” (“YES!!!!!”)

I put the ring on her finger and I couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as I gave her a big hug! We enjoyed dessert and tea and coffee as a newly engaged couple. We asked our waiter to take some photos for us to capture the moment (sorry, the proposal photos are a re-enactment, that’s why I have a goofy smile and I’m looking at the camera whilst I put the ring on her finger.) It was an amazingly special time and a celebration shared with my sister and her husband visiting from Australia.

Wahooo!!! We’re engaged!!! That’s Lord for your love, grace and faithfulness!!!

Thanks all for your support, congratulations and prayers. We still don’t have all the details for the wedding as we are praying for God’s timing and direction. We would value your prayers as we take this important step of faith and as we seek to glorify God in our decisions and our future together.

Goodbye 2008

What a huge year! 2008 was a year of immense change and growth for me. I moved to Mexico, started in mission service, made new friends, moved house in Mexico and so much more. Here are some of the scenes and moments from the year that was...

Christmas in Queretaro... part 1

Queretaro is an amazing city to be in at every stage of the year. I love the atmosphere, the markets, the street stalls, the energy and vibrance of a city that loves to share and showcase culture. Christmas brings even more vibrance to this city with all the streets of el centro decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments and the famous Christmas scenes in Jardin Zenea.

From Christmas in Queretaro 08

Nativity scene (apparently the baby Jesus doesn't appear in the scene until the 24th)

From Christmas in Queretaro 08

Wise men

From Christmas in Queretaro 08

Adam and Eve

From Christmas in Queretaro 08

They even have a scene for the devil trying to attack the Christians however the truth is that the power of God has overcome the devil and he is condemned for eternity

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog, is patient when I don't get around to updating it and who supports me in one way or another. I wish you the very best for this Christmas season and my desire is that you would encounter the reason for Christmas in Christ Jesus, the Savior of the world, who longs to be your Savior, friend and Lord.

Merry Christmas!

I've moved!

Ok... so I'm still here in Queretaro, Mexico, but I've moved house. I've had a fantastic nine months living with Yola, Ruben and during the holidays, Alex, but now it came time to move house. Alex has finished his studies in music and worship in Monterrey and has come back to Queretaro and another family member is going to stay with Yola.
So... after much prayer and waiting on God, he provided a place that is excellent and provides exactly for my needs. In my new place I have a great balance of care and independence. I now live with a Señora, an older lady who is the mother of the family I stayed with in 2006. It's a big house and she rents out some of the rooms so I live here with her, another doctor called Pablo and another doctor and his wife who live in the bungalow.
The Señora prepares my meals for me and has a lovely manner of looking after me. I feel very blessed to be so well looked after and that God has provided for me just what I need.

If you would like my new address, please email me or check my next newsletter for the details.

¡Viva Mexico!

These were the words that resounded in our ears as we celebrated the shout that started the Mexican revolution that subsequently led to Mexico's independence in 1810 which we celebrate on September 15 (the shout) and 16 (Independence Day).  Last night at approximately 12am, we had our "grito" and shouted Viva Mexico!  Viva!... and so on with the names of the Heros of Independence... and finally Viva Jesucristo... VIVA!

Jean Paul gritando Viva Mexico

Plaza de Armas all decked out for the party

Here's where it all started!

I celebrated the occasion with some close friends and we had a night of Mexican celebrations which I think helped me become even more Mexican... check out the photo...

We ate pozole and enchiladas which are both VERY Mexican and danced some very Mexican dances.  It was cool to see my friends dressed up in traditional Mexican dress from different parts of the republic - Jalisco etc...

The dancers

Traditional Mexican dress with Ruthie, Lucio, Sandy and Romi... (ok, the moustache isn't part of it... that was mine!)

So next year, look out - the celebration of Mexican Independence Day is coming to you - get into it!!!  

Balance

One of the things that I think is vital to life, both overseas like me and in general, is balance. Recently I've been pursuing a healthy balance by getting into a rhythm of exercise here!

I started out slow a few weeks after I arrived, heading out to Cerro de las Campanas (Hill of the Bells) for a run by myself. It's a good little run - short, but with a good sharp hill in the middle. I started with a couple of laps of that. My time for a lap to start with was somewhere over 5 minutes.

Since then, I've started going with some friends to run and generally do some exercise. About four weeks ago, Alma Rosa, Danny, Lila and I headed out to the Seguro where there is a running track... and 8 laps later, puffing but happy we got into it! After running, we did some exercises to "bajar la pancita" (get rid of the gut) and then I pulled out my AFL footy and started to teach the crew how to play. They went well!

So now, I've managed to get into a routine of going for a run three times a week... Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

The last Thursday night, Alma and I ran at the Seguro and then asked some guys if we could join their soccer (futbol) game - one on each team. I was a bit worried that my skills weren't going to be up to scratch, but with some good determination I played okay! The guys were of all ages, from about 15 to about 45! After we had played soccer, I got out my AFL ball again and got some of the guys involved in learning which was funny. Everyone seems to go straight for American football when I get it out, but after some explanation that you can't throw the ball, it always ends up a lot of fun.

This morning I went with Yolanda to spinning (pronounced here espining). I'd actually never been to a spinning class before and it was pretty hard work, but great for the legs! She was pretty suprised by how much I sweated, but I told her that it was all my fat falling off!!!



How do you keep balance in your life?



Just to balance things out, I think we're going to eat KFC for lunch... but never fear, I'm heading out to play football or basketball with some young people afterwards!!

Thank God it's Friday

Phew – thank God it’s Friday! Last Friday I finished up full-time Spanish school (going to class every day) and this week has been my first week with a schedule consistent with the rest of the team. A few updates on activities… last Saturday I went to a water park in Tarimoro, Guanajuato for our first catch up with our single guys community group. It was a lot of fun and I got to play with my camera’s waterproofness a bit which was cool!

Phil, Lalo, Charlio, Pepe and Olmo

We are planning to start running a drama production every few weeks at our church for kids and I happen to be one of the actors (also in Spanish!). One of the ladies at our church works as a drama teacher and met Arturo who is an actor and drama student through her work. Arturo is helping us out with the drama production by acting and providing drama coaching for all of us. On Sunday night several of us went along to a production of Mamma Mia (in Spanish!) in which Arturo was acting. It was a lot of fun seeing the production prepared by students doing a drama intensive. They prepared the whole thing in only 8 days, but it was very professional! I was a little confused as first because the main character changed actresses a couple of times (to allow everyone to be involved and to accommodate different voice ranges I found out later!) but apart from that I understood what was going on. The songs are quite funny when they are sung in Spanish because they are a bit of a mix between English and Spanish e.g. money, money, money, un poco mas dinero…

Then to an update on my work here… This week has been great! We have been working as a team in the church office during the day and have spent a lot of time this week seeking God for the way forward, planning and dreaming. It’s been so fantastic to have all the team together going through this process and seeing the opportunities for the future.

Our conversations this week have centred around our vision and mission for the team here and indeed those of the church. Our church’s vision is “to guide people to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ”. Our team’s goal in our interaction with the uni students group is to make disciples and train and equip leaders. I love it when I have the opportunity to share my life with others, to support and serve them and to see them grow and develop their God-given potential. We are looking at how we can best equip the young people to have an intimate relationship with God, to have close relationships with their own community and to have a fantastic influence outside their community.

This week I’ve also been able to wrestle with some of my doubts and reservations about our approach to mission and ministry and have spent some time chatting with Martin, our pastor and team leader, which has been super-helpful. We ARE on the same page, and are both dreaming of a missional church that is distinctively Mexican and introduces people to Jesus in a way that is relevant to the culture around us. It’s been a time of growth for me as I’ve had to work through the issues of contextualisation (putting the message in terms that make sense in a different culture – same message, different presentation), being missional (and for me that means crossing multiple cultural boundaries (Australia/Australian Christian/Mexican Christian/Mexican/Mexican young people) because we are seeing in this post-Christendom era that presenting the good news of Jesus means being missional and crossing cultural boundaries even in your “own” culture), receiving and sharing vision and much more. All that training, Perspectives and reading I've been doing is coming in handy.

So yes, watch this space… lots is happening and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead! God is definitely working and with God, life’s an adventure!

The wild brumby runs free... an update on the past month

I’ve been busy! Sorry that I haven’t been very active in updating my blog – I hope to work on that! It’s been great to receive emails and remain in contact with friends and family back in Australia. I’ve also been excited to hear news and updates from other friends who are leaving to work in other countries - God is faithful and keeps on providing the resources again and again for his love to spread around the world!

The last month has been full of more new experiences, challenges and fun times. I took the following picture that describes my life at present when I was feeling a little bit arty or something.

1. The bible – God’s word has been my guide and sustains me in my relationship with God
2. The Cross of Christ – that’s the reason I’m here – the cross of Jesus Christ has changed history and gives us the opportunity to have a restored relationship with the Creator God and to discover a full and meaningful life now and forever
3. 501 Spanish Verbs – yes, there are many more than 501 but I’m still learning and speaking Spanish. I’ve been really excited that I can now converse pretty comfortably in Spanish and my Mexican brother told me (in Spanish) “you’re speaking really well, a lot more clearly and rapidly than before – it’s good!”
4. I took the photo in Mexico… i.e. I’m in Mexico

Earlier in the month, we had a break from our youth ministry for about a week and I had the opportunity to head to the beach for four days! YAY! Being close to the beach is one thing I really miss about Australia so this was a real treat. I went to a beach called San Blas which is in a state called Nayarit on the west coast of Mexico. It was about 7-8 hours drive from Queretaro on a freeway with lots of toll gantries! We passed Guadalajara and Tepic on the way as well as seeing signs to the town of Tequila (that’s really where Tequila comes from!).
San Blas was great – very quiet (tranquilo) and not full of foreigners (apart from me!). We ate on the beach, listened to some roaming musicians for the birthday of one of our friends and played AFL footy on the beach! I managed to go for a surf even though the waves were a bit small.

Me, Alma Rosa and Sarahí

Yes!!!! The Wild Brumbies continue to run free!!!

Some authentic Mexican tunes!

Footy on the beach - they're not bad... I'm gonna start and AFL development squad...

Amidst all the fun, I have actually been doing something! We have started working as a team to form the way forward for our ministry. It’s helped a lot to have the team working together at the church to improve our communication and sense of community. At present we are working hard to build up a strong group of young Christians and involve them in reaching others.
We’ve had various activities in the church that I’ve been involved in and guess what… one of the other team members has blogged about that so I’m going to link to that to save me some time! You’ll see some photos of Conectate and Universitarios. I helped to run games at Conectate (a day to connect with a community group in the church) and also I’m a leader in the uni students group. Click here to go to Jessica’s blog post…

I’ve made some cool new friends like Bruno who I have been catching up with over the past few weeks. I’ve also been catching up with some young people from the church and I’ve made some friends with whom I can play music which is really awesome.

My real passion here is to see young people encounter Jesus in an authentic and relevant way, see their lives transformed by God’s power and invite others to meet Jesus. It’s so cool for me when I see young people who are passionate about God and who live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in way that is truly relevant in their life (fully Mexican, in all areas of their life). This is how I long to be – not simply a missionary whose job it is to share the gospel of Jesus, but a radical disciple of Jesus who lives in Mexico and invites others to come and meet Jesus in their context and culture.

Trip to Bernal (i.e. big rock!)

Hey all! How are you? I hope things are going well for you wherever you may be. I thought I'd let you check out a few photos of my trip to Bernal last Friday. Bernal is about one hour from the city of Queretaro, though there was lots of traffic so it took quite a while to get there. It's a little puebla but the main event is the big rock there. It's supposed to be the third-biggest monolith in the world after the Rock of Gibraltar and some other rock I hadn't heard of. I'm not sure, but I think they may have overlooked Uluru? Does anyone know if that's like a monolith (i.e. one big rock) or not?

Anyway, I went to Bernal with some of my Mexican friends that I met last time I was here in Queretaro - Pablo, Aixa and Alma - and with some of their friends too - Felipe and Martin. We had a lot of fun/exhaustion climbing up the side of the rock. The date that we went - 21 of March - is primavera or the first day of Spring and there were LOTS of people. Some people believe that on this day (or actually it's the equinox that counts apparently) if you go up the rock, wear white and perform some type of ceremony that you receive good energy. Well, I didn't believe it in the first place, and I didn't wear white, but I think I proved it pretty much false by how tired I was after climbing the rock and coming back down - a lack of energy!

Here is most of the crew near the top of the rock - Aixa, me, Martin, Alma and Felipe... Pablo is behind the camera.

Afterwards we went and had a BBQ back at Felipe and Martin's house - it was almost Australian!!... well, apart from the tortillas, the location... ok well, it was a bbq!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, there are lots of exciting things happening here at present both in the city, in our work with the church and our focus on uni students.

Video update

Here is a quick video update too! Wow - so many updates, so little time!