Ankle update

Like all 'em colors??!! No that is not my new tan line! I wish. It's all bruise.

As many of you know, I slipped and fell off a slightly elevated floor Friday evening. I've twisted my ankles a lot through the years. When I was younger I was able to snap them back. I guess with age you aren't able to do this anymore. My ankle is healing but it is still very sore and swollen. Thanks for all your prayers! I made it through the crucial time of our Christmas Program without any problems. Now I just have to learn to take it easy. Not something I enjoy. I still have major shopping to do to get ready for family that is coming over Christmas. I'm having to just relax and trust God that everything will come together in His time!! By the way, I updated my status on Facebook. I didn't iceskate nor bowl. I sat on the sidelines!!

Christmas Program!

Thank you so much for all your prayers! Our Christmas Program went very well!! We aren't sure how many folks attended (forgot to delegate this to someone!) but we had more guests than we've ever had before at an activity!! The cast and the choirs did so well! Of course the Children's Bell Choir is the cutest thing ever. No one fell up or down the stairs when filing on or off the platform!! We did have a couple of dropped bells. No biggie. We had wonderful tamales and atole afterwards. And then the grand finale was the breaking of piñatas!!

We started out the day with our normal worship service. Then we all stayed and had lunch here at the house. Wall to wall people!!! It was fun because we also ate together the night before after our final rehearsal! Right now we are all experiencing a little let down. Not because of anything that happened yesterday but because we have all enjoyed all the Saturday practices. We have all grown as a church body the past month and a half of Saturday practices. We will all miss the fun time of singing, laughing and eating together! I have to admit that I'm exhausted but it is a good exhaustion. A very clear presentation was given of the True Meaning of Christmas and any tiredness we are experiencing today was well worth it!

My ankle held up well yesterday with all the activities. Thanks for your prayers! Nicole's ears are doing much better! Double ear infections are pretty painful. She still has a lot of flem and is coughing a lot but on the mend!!

Trust everyone keeps Christ in the center as we wrap up these final days before Christmas!


So thankful for the long great room that transforms into a lunch hall!


Best place to be when it is lunch time is around the table where the food is!


Food and Fellowship!


Drama Team


Children's Bell Choir!


More of the Children's Bell Choir


Teen Tube Choir! What a great bunch of kids!!


Alfonso was the person manning the rope of the piñata!


Piñatas are a big part of Christmas here in Mexico!


Ernestito smacking the piñata!


All rushing to get the candy out of the piñata!!

Sneak Peek!!

This is the scene we are using of the shepherd family's home. It took six hours to paint each scene.


Here is half of the pasture scene. You can still see the LG logo through the paint. You can see that we recycled our fridge box!!



The night scene where the shepherds meet the Angel!

Thank you so much for your prayers concerning our Christmas Program Practices. Tonight we have our final run through here at the house and tomorrow evening we will perform at the party house we are renting. Last night while we were there for a basketball party I tripped off the dance floor (no I wasn't dancing!)and twisted my ankle pretty bad. I'm gimpy but not out! I'm posting a few pics of the scenery that the folk here at Nueva Vida have been working on. We appreciate the five folks that worked very diligently to get this done. I think it looks great!!

Basketball

Natalie and I at a Basketball Christmas Party!


Natalie and her team had a gift exchange! Can you guess what they exchanged?!

We have really enjoyed our time with basketball here! Natalie has had an opportunity to play now for four years. It has been really nice for her to get exercise as well as form friendships. I, too, have had opportunities to share the gospel with several of the moms. Natalie will finish up her time in this particular b-ball program in June of 2009. Nicole however wants to continue! I love it that all three of my children have enjoyed playing a sport that I truly love. Of course it comes with some frustrations. Having both played and coached basketball, I tend to get a little too emotional during games. I've often thought it would be best if I took a roll of duct tape to use on my mouth. It's hard to not "help".

So much to be Thankful for!!!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and believe it or not we also celebrated a week before Thanksgiving! Can we ever be too grateful? I think not. We are so thankful for the missionary families that God has allowed us to fellowship with here in Mexico. It is times like Holidays that we are reminded often of our loved ones and what they are doing back in the States. It can be difficult. This year we went to the Onofrios and celebrated a week early. The Onofrios used to work here in Mexico City but are now church planting outside of Tulancingo, Mexico. It was fun to get away from the Big City for a day! The girls got to ride horses and get dirty! Nicole and all the rest of the younger children played on dirt hills and rock mounds close to the Onofrios house. What fun!!! We wrapped up the day around a bonfire cooking marshmellows for S'mores!!! I don't know where we found room for S'more but we did!! We feasted all day and it sure was yummy!! Thank you Grace and Jennifer!!

On Thanksgiving Day we hosted this time and really stuffed ourselves with delicious food. (again!) We had fun fellowshipping, eating, playing video games, watching football (NOT) and playing boomwhackers!!!!!! I can't forget that some of us played Apples to Apples! Fun, fun!! Then we wrapped up the evening with Prince Caspian!!! Yes, we've had the movie for over a month and no it isn't pirated! One of the perks of living in another country!!! I'm so thankful for all our missionary friends!!!! I was too busy to take any pictures of Thanksgiving Day but I hope you enjoy these from our first Thanksgiving at the Onofrios!


Finished up the day cooking marshmellows over a fire for S'mores!!! Yum, yum!! Thanks Onofrios for a wonderful day!


"Where is they?" (Daniel Onofrio and Benji Hornbrook)


Sarah Palin, eat your heart out!!! I'm sure that Nicole done killed some'um that day!!


War! Cowgirls vs. Cowboys! Not sure, but I think the girls won!! (Elizabeth Onofrio, cousin Claudia Hornbrook and Nicole)


Nicole also got in on a little horseback riding!! (thanks Jennifer!)


Natalie enjoying a horse for a whole day thanks to Jennifer Onofrio!

Thank you for your Prayers!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our Christmas Program rehearsals!! They have gone very well. They've gone so well that the boomwhacker choir has added another song and not only have we formed a men's ensemble but we are going to add a small ladies ensemble!!!!! Everyone is a buzz about the program! It is exciting to see the folks come together. On Saturday we meet here in our home and practice the adult choirs, boomwhacker choirs and the drama team. We had a house full! This is a time when our folks get to know each other better. We have 60 folks that attend our services these days. Not all of them come on the same Sunday but we are getting close to averaging 55! We are so excited to see the newer folks get involved in the Christmas program! Yesterday it was such a joy to lead the children's voice and bell choir. We have one little guy (3 years old) that sings at the top of his lungs and not necessarily on key! The kids have come a long way. We graduated a lot of our kids up to youth group so our choir is made up of younger children this year. (5th grade and down) I still have 15 kids in the choir! All of the kids in our church come with their parents! Our church is blessed with lots of families!! Continue to pray for us. I'm so exhausted by the time 5:00 Sunday afternoon rolls around. This is when I can sit for the first time all weekend. At least this is when I notice that I am sitting!!

Also pray for Sam. He is so busy with Seminary, Counseling/Discipleship, church, Christmas Program ... . God has given Sam many opportunities to share the Hope we have in Christ via counseling. Folks have come to Christ as a result and many are getting their lives back on track. We are so thankful for God's Word and the Truth that sets us free, encourages us and gives us true joy in this life!

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week! We all have so much to be thankful for!

I've got more room so come on down and visit us!!!!!

This week we have started upgrading our appliances. Many of them are nearly 18 years old and aren't very energy efficient. Our first upgrade was the refrigerator. I can't believe I've lived this long with one that was so small. (14 cu. ft.) My new one has over 20 cu. ft.!!!!! This will make hosting groups a lot easier and we hope it will help cut down on our light bill. The next appliance to upgrade will be my washer. It sounds like a rock polisher. I guess I might need to clarify what that sounds like to some of the young folk. I did see a rock polisher at Toys R Us when we were in Indiana so I don't feel too bad. However, it was considered a Retro Toy. Now that makes me feel old. Anyway, if you've ever heard a rock polisher in action you can imagine what my washer sounds like. We've had a repair man here but there isn't much hope. The poor thing is one its last leg. We hope to be able to upgrade the washer after the Holidays.

Speaking of the Holidays, we are so excited that my parents (Jerry and Rita Jamison) and our son, Nathaniel, will be joining us here in Mexico City!! We hope to take everyone to a Dinner Outdoor Theater where they perform the Mexican version of the Christmas Story. Many Latin countries add a little twist to the Christmas Story. It is passed down via tradition from the Catholic church. Believe it or not here they insert Satan and the fallen angels into the story. At first I was offended by this. Now, after several years living here I can understand why it is there. I think the idea of the anger that Satan and his following must have experienced when Christ was born is probably accurate but since it isn't in Scripture we really don't know. We Christians have so much to give thanks for and give God the Glory for! Satan didn't, hasn't and won't win. God is still on the Throne and His Word will prevail over everything for Eternity!!!!!!!!!! This Season we (the Body of Christ) need to give the World the gift of hope and love we have because the Messiah, the Emmanuel, the King of Kings was born, died and rose again for US! Praise God! This should cause us to jump up every morning and shout Aleluya!!!!!!

Vows Renewed!

Last Friday we had the privilege of going to Alvaro and Veronica's house for a very special occasion! Alvaro and Veronica renewed their vows to one another!!! This couple came to Sam and asked for counseling. Their marriage was a mess a few months ago. It was so neat to hear their testimonies of how God has worked in their lives. Both have come to know the Lord through counseling. It was exciting for us as a family to meet the other folks that have had an impact on this couple's life as well. We enjoyed a wonderful meal before the Renewal Ceremony. Please pray that Alvaro and Veronica will continue to grow in their Christian walk. They are the only saved members in their families. Breaking away from the Catholic church is tough.

Heartbreaking

Yesterday morning we were informed of a horrible, heartbreaking event. One of the Hornbrook Families life long friends was murdered. Nelly Muñoz was murdered by her husband. Nelly, Polly and her brother Yeko have been friends of the Hornbrooks since the children were just little tikes over forty years ago. My sister-in-law, Debby and my brother-in-law Jim have known Nelly most of their lives. Please pray for Nelly's family. Nelly had two children 7 and 3. Both the children were home when their daddy attacked and killed their mommy. Unfortunately they saw everything and even tried to find the phone to call the police in the middle of it all. Please pray for these children that they will get true help from God's Word. And as my daugher prayed last night during our family prayer time, "pray that Nelly's husband would truly accept Christ".

We have been studying on Anger here at Nueva Vida. We all know that we have disappointments come our way everyday. The goal is to handle them in such a way that brings glory to God. We are reminded again that God's Way of solving problems is the only True Way and brings about True Joy in Marriage and Life.

Just last night we were told that A.E. had another "episode" and got out a knife and was threatening her family. As many of you remember I was called up to our neighbor's a couple of months ago and found A.E. with a rope around her neck. Anyway, Sam, during our deaf bible study last night, explained again how man's ways never bring about true happiness. Unfortunately, A.E. has been placed on a medication to control her behavior. A.E. is 24, lives with her parents, and has a son that is 5. You can imagine how her son is acting out what he has seen in his home. Pray that we will have an opportunity to share the Hope that we have in Christ. Our neighbors are pretty discouraged and looking for answers.

So many folks around us are struggling in their relationships. Sam has been bombarded with counseling opportunities. Pray that Sam will be able to keep everything in balance. Right now he is trying to balance his counseling, Seminary teaching three days and one night a week, leading the youth group, preaching in the mornings on Sunday here at Nueva Vida, plus preaching at Peniel on the south side of town every Sunday evening. Peniel is a sister church that is without a pastor right now. Sam also counsels one to two couples every Sunday there at Peniel before and after the service.

Thanks for your prayers.

Christmas..........it's almost here!

We are so thankful for the new families that God has brought to Nueva Vida recently. We have four couples right now that we are trying to bring into the fold. Three of the 4 couples are unbelievers. God is working on their hearts. Two of these couples are folks that our church people have brought to church. The other two are ones that Sam has been counseling. Along with these couples come seven children! Please pray for these new families. Pray for their salvation. Some of these folks are stuggling with alcohol, sexual sins, marriage struggles, etc. We rejoice in knowing that God is the Great Counselor and His Word has all the answers for life's issues!

The Christmas Season is a wonderful outreach opportunity for us here. We have a new family in our church as a result of our Christmas program last year! Our Christmas program this year is about a young shepherd boy that needs an attitude adjustment. He sees Jesus for who He really is and his life was never the same! This will be the focus of our program this year. This weekend all our choirs will begin practicing! We have 25-29 kids in our choirs!! We will be singing some old Christmas carols with a twist this year! Please pray for our drama team. Acting isn't easy. We continue to stretch ourselves each year to do something a little better and bigger than the year before. Pray for our outreach during this time. This is a time when we as a church grow closer together with all the practices and activities. Pray that the fringe folk in our group will become more apart of Nueva Vida. Pray for us as we reach out to our deaf folks. We will need an interpreter for the program as Natalie and Oscar will be performing in special music. Pray with us as we begin to look for a place to rent. Space is starting to become an issue. Pray that we will keep Christ the center of this Season!

Updates

Bandit with Jim and Ruth's youngest, Josiah. Aren't they both cute?

Thank you so much for your prayers for Nicole. She is doing very well with her fractured arm. We are half way through the treatments! There have been a couple of days where Nicole has over done it and her arm is sore but other than that nothing to report!

My father-in-law Sam Sr. is doing well also. Sam Sr. and Ellen H. are traveling around the midwest visiting churches and family! We think that Dad H. looks a lot better than he did before the stents. It's no wonder! He was running in 1st gear and I think he is in 4th or 5th now!

Our puppy, Bandit, is doing very well! He is so cute! Natalie and Nicole are enjoying spending time with Bandit during their daily school breaks.

Busy, busy....

Hornbrooks and Whitchers at the "Floating Gardens"


Natural life at the gardens


Nicole and I with Peggy Whitcher



We have been pretty busy this past week. Over the weekend we had our first outing with the youth. We took them bowling! Many of the kids had never bowled before. That's pretty hard to believe. Bowling in a group makes it a very affordable activity. The kids got to bowl two games, their shoes were included, for $4.50!! Very reasonable. They then went to Burger King and got a meal pac that cost $2.50! Sam then treated the kids with icecream!!! Natalie had a b-ball game before the bowling activity. So we were running, running! Natalie's team won their game and Natalie had 11 points! Not bad since she hadn't played a game since June.

On Sunday we had a great day here at Nueva Vida! 54 folks were in attendance!!!!!! We have added a new family and we had another visiting family on Sunday!!!!!! Pray for Ramon and Wendy and their two kids. Wendy has come to church a couple of times but her husband hasn't shown any interest. Ramon commented on Sunday that he had decided that Nueva Vida is where he should be on Sundays and plans to attend regularly!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!

After everyone left here on Sunday we zipped over to another sister church's anniversary celebration. We got caught in very bad traffic along the way. Two of the most famous soccer teams in Mexico were playing each other Sunday late afternoon and we were right in the middle of it. We arrived in time to eat and visit a little with the folk before we turned around and came home. To give you an idea of the traffic. It took us an hour and a half to go 32 miles. Normally it takes an hour.

Monday we spent the day with former missionaries, Dan and Peggy Whitcher. Dan is now the director of church planting in the States for BMM. We spent many Mondays playing Skipbo with this couple when they were on the field. It was fun to take a boat ride at Xochimilco with them. It was pretty chilly but we were able to relax and enjoy all the greenery.

This week we have been finishing up details for our Christmas Program. This year I wrote the drama. We've had a hard time finding drama/musicals for our size of congregation. Last year Sam wrote up a drama based on the story of the candy cane. This year we've developed a story line on the shepherds. We plan to have a new boomwhacker choir as well as have the youth also sing a special. We will have a children's bell choir and voice choir. We are still debating but will probably have an adult choir as well!

Please pray for our little church as we prepare for our Christmas Special!

More Pics from our Trip

You can click on any of these pictures to enlarge them!


The Fox's have such a nice backdrop for pictures!!


Allison, Maci and Natalie posing at Happy Hollow Park.


Nicole with her buddettes, Kami and Kalli Worrell! We miss you girls!


Isn't that Monster Cookie the cutest??!! Thanks Jenni for making Nicole's birthday so special!!!


Nicole enjoying driving her first Corvette!


Natalie and Nicole getting ready to take a spin in the Worrell's go-cart!


Nicole has her broken arm here but we took the sling off so she could pose with the beautiful colors of Fall!!


My girls just love all of God's animals!!!!!!!

Family and Fun!

We had so much fun with my brother J.D. while we were up. We celebrated Christmas with him which was something very special!!! He even had a tree decorated for us!!



The covered bridges throughout the midwest are just unbelieveably beautiful!!



We had a great time at Conner Prairie Farm with my brother J.D.


We had a wonderful time up North! We got to visit many family and friends! We didn't get to visit everyone we wanted nor did we get to do everything we had dreamed. But overall the visit was very encouraging and refreshing! We feel recharged. We came back and hit the track with a sprint! We've barely had time to sit. This really is what our lives are like and what many of your lives are like back in the USA. We are going to have all Eternity to sit and share all that God has done in our lives while we were on Earth serving Him! What a wonderful time it will be giving Glory to God 24/7!

Nueva Vida did well in our absence. One new family started attending while we were gone! Praise God! Yesterday we had a full house and still two of our regular families didn't come. Space is becoming more of an issue. But Mexicans aren't like Americans--we don't have to spread out when we come to church! Our personal space is a lot smaller down here! Anyway, we are thinking that when we average 50 we will begin to think about renting and relocating.

I'm posting some pics from our time up North. Can you believe I didn't get a picture of our son nor my parents. What was I thinking? Good thing they are coming for Christmas! I will for sure take some pics then so that I can post them. I'm now remembering that we also didn't get any pictures with the Stilwell Families. Now that's a big bummer because it could be years before we see each other again..unless we go to Peru and visit them!!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our safety as we traveled. Also thanks for the prayers for Nicole. She is having to grow in patience as she can't do many things that she would like. Only 4 more weeks to go in the sling and then hopefully her arm will be healed.

Back here in red and green chile country!!

Just a quickie to let you all know that we made it back to Mexico City last night!! The trip went really well. Our new van really traveled nicely. We had her packed to the rim!! We brought back veteran missionary Lois Jackson. She has been a single missionary here in Mexico for close to 45 years! We took her to San Antonio, TX on our way up and picked her up on the way back down. She will stay with us for a few days as she needs Sam to take her to the main insurance office here in the City to resolve some issues from an accident she had the first week of June. Yes, things are much different here. Poor Aunt Lois (yes, we refer to all the missionaries as aunts and uncles) has been without a vehicle since the accident. Anyway, we are all doing well. Our doggies were so glad to see us and our girls were counting down the hours 'til they would see the puppy, Bandit. I will try and get some pics posted from our trip after we get through the rest of the weekend! Thanks for all your prayers and we sure enjoyed seeing many of you while we were up north!!

Broken Arm

Our vacation up to Indiana has been a wonderful time! We've gotten to see family and friends! There have been some disappointments. Two of Nicole's little friends have been sick with the flu most of our time up here and the girls haven't gotten to get together like we had hoped. It has been an opportunity for us all to remember who really is in charge! Sam and I really enjoyed our time at the NANC conference in St. Louis, MO. We hardly ever get to spend time alone with our son. Nathaniel also went to the conference. He planned ahead and did his school work so that he could attend. We were informed at the conference that Nicole had fallen off the monkey bars and broke her arm. We chose to come home last night and care for her. She has been such a trooper. She can tolerate a lot of pain. The break is high up on her forearm and casting the arm wouldn't help. So we have to keep her arm in a sling for 4 to 6 weeks. She is restricted in her activity. Bummer. Pray that Nicole would learn all the lessons that God has for her and that I too would learn what I need to. This is our first broken bone with our children. Pretty unbelieveable. Both Sam and I spent plenty of time in the ER growing up.

Sam Sr.

Ellen, my mother-in-law, called and informed us that Sam Sr. had two stents put in this morning. One artery was 100% blocked and the other was 80% blocked. Dad is doing well and has good color after his three and a half hour procedure. Thank you so much for your prayers! We are hoping to meet up with my inlaws in Dayton, Ohio this weekend and bring them to Lafayette, Indiana for a visit.

Pray for my father-in-law.

Please pray for Sam Sr. Tomorrow, (Wednesday) he will be going in for an angiogram. The doctors are thinking they will put in a couple of stents but they really won't know until they get the camera in there and see what is going on. We will keep you posted.

Here in the Boilermaker Territory!!!!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our travels!! We made it here to Indiana Wednesday afternoon! Our trip up was smooth as silk!! The Lord is so good! Natalie has already been to Faith Christian School for a day as well as going to a volleyball game! Nicole has stayed busy running in and outside, drinking water from the faucet and drinking fountains as well as helping her Grandfather clean the deck! Nicole has kind of been bouncing off the wall!!

We may have already located a newer van to take back. We are selling our 2000 van to Sam and Ellen Hornbrook. They don't have the car restrictions that we have in Mexico City.

My father-in-law will learn exactly what the doctors think he needs to do concerning his heart this Monday,29th. Thanks for all your prayers for the Hornbrooks!! I'll keep you posted!

UPDATE

My father-in-law has his appointment at Cleveland Clinic today. I will post an update as soon as we receive word from Sam Sr. and Ellen. Over the weekend one of our puppies went to puppy heaven. The white, girl puppy just quit eating. We tried a tube and inserting formula into her tummy but something just wasn't working right. She passed Saturday night. The other boy puppy is plump and growing!

It has been a very emotional week for us. Our neighbor friend that tried to take her life last week is still refusing to reconcil things with her family and with God. She has come for counseling. Sam has shared God's Truth with her as lovingly as you can and it has brought about tears but not a change in her heart. Continue to pray for A.E. and her family. We've had several opportunities to share The Word with this family in the last week. I think they all just want the problem to go away and are still hardened to "truth". Pray that the layers will be removed from their eyes so that they can see their need for Christ. Thank you so much for your prayers for us and for the ministry here.

Cousins!!!!!!!

Nicole and cousin Claudia

We are so thankful to have cousins that live close by!!! Claudia and Nicole get together on nearly a weekly basis to play and have sleepovers!!!!!!! Both girls are going through some tooth issues!! Nicole and Claudia both have some major holes in their mouths!!!

A Friend Needs Our Prayers

Just a quickie to ask for your prayers. Yesterday we were called to a neighbors house because one of our dear deaf folk was so angry that she wanted to take her life. Pray for wisdom as we counsel A. E..

Thanks for your prayers concerning our newest ministry; youth group!! We had a great time with the youth from Nueva Vida. Our icebreaker was chewing bubble gum for ten minutes and then using two tooth picks and creating "art" with the chewed gum. It was a lot of fun! We also played some good snow boarding on PlayStation 2. Thanks to the Manguns in Ohio for purchasing our PlayStation! We used our video machine and projected the game on the screen so that all could enjoy!! We finished up our eating by making "smores" a la grill. Sam lead a study on the Life of David. We have said over and over what great kids we have here at Nueva Vida! Pray that this ministry will be a great outreach tool!

God is sooooooo good!!!!!!!!

I wrote a few posts back how I had lost $500.00 at an ATM here. Today, after twelve days, the money "landed" back into our account. I went to the bank where the ATM was immediately after the ordeal happened and the Head of the Bank told me that my money was "out there" and it should "land" in our account in a few days. I took Sam back to the bank after he got back from the DR and again we were told the same thing. I have to admit that we didn't believe them. The whole thing has caused us to open a Mexican bank account and soon our money will be wired into this bank from the States. We hope to set this all up when we get to Lafayette. Two experiences of not receiving our money is enough for us.

I learned a lot through this "pop quiz". With God's help, and His help alone, I was able to stay calm and trust in His Perfect Plan!

Thanks for your prayers for us!

So cute!!

Here are a few pictures of the puppies!! Sasha, the mom, is doing a great job of mothering the puppies. The puppy with the dark spots is a boy and the all white one is a girl. Natalie and Nicole are so enjoying the puppies! We are having to work hard on concentrating in school. Every recess or break is spent with the puppies!!