Cactus Anyone?

What would you bring to a BBQ at a friend's house? Chicken? Steaks? Hot dogs and hamburgers? Potato salad? Chips and salsa? Probably.

Here we bring cactus. Of course we had steak, beans, and the likes as well. Some of the cactus gets boiled. Some of it get cooked in whole cactus leafs on the BBQ. It's definitely NOT one of my favorite foods, but it's typical of Mexico (at least central mexico) and probably something that most people in the States never really thought about eating!

Gorditas Continued

A while back, I wrote about our "after-youth-group" gordita tradition, but I didn't have pictures of the wonderful food and fellowship then. Well, thanks to Helena and Rose, I have a few pictures so you can see our lovely cooks, the yummy food, and the fellowship!

Here is Ruti and her sister making the gorditas on a wood stove (the BEST way to eat them!):


Ruti happily flipping the gorditas... you can see that they are like thick corn tortillas, but they have cheese or bits of meat in them at this point. Once off the grill, they are sliced open and stuffed with more meat, cheese, and salsa!

Some neighbors and church friends enjoying gorditas:

By the way, these things are SO homemade, not only are they hand formed, cooked over a woodstove, and stuffed with made-from-scratch meat dishes... BUT the ladies grind their own corn from their dad's corn fields! Now THAT is homemade!!

Win, Disciple, SEND

One of the most exciting things about being a missionary, in my opinion, is seeing people within the ministry being sent out to serve in ministry positions outside of their home town/ home church.
At Iglesia Horizonte, our vision is to: Win, Disciple, and Send. And this year, just these first 4 months of 2007, we have seen three young men sent out from Horizonte to minister in other parts of Mexico!

(I'll put pictures in here just as soon as I can...)

Alex
Alex is a 25 year old guy who recently began attending a school of music ministry run by Marcos Witt in Monterrey Mexico. He wants to use his gift of singing and playing instruments to serve the Lord in some way in full time ministry in the future. Alex came back to visit for two weeks this spring break, and I couldn't even believe some of the ways he has changed! He couldn't stop talking about all that he has been learning about growing in the Lord and helping others grow as well! It's not "normal" for young people here to move out of their parents' homes to go to school in another city, so being in Monterrey hasn't been easy for Alex, but he said that despite missing his family (and mom's cooking! YUM!) he's learned SOOOO much and has very much stronger passion for the lost, and to be in full time ministry. And this is evident in his life!

Job
Job is 21, and is also a musician. Just remember, when he is internationally famous, I'm friends with him! heehee! Ok, Job left the beginning of February to move to a small town in the state of Michoacan. There, he is the worship leader at a church, and also studies in the city of Morelia during the week at one of the best music schools in the country. He was an amazing asset in the music ministry of Horizonte while he was in QRO, and I'm sure that his new church appreciates both his musical abilities and his desire to lead a congregation in meaningful worship of God. Job's music teachers in QRO told him last year that he has too much potential to be dinking around in QRO, that he should continue to study in a higher level of music. He has had many concerts in QRO - he plays classical acoustic guitar like you'd never believe! So it's also a blessing for him to be able to study in Morelia to continue to develop the gift that God has given him.

Ricardo
Ricardo is a middle-aged man who has had a rough background. I don't know his testimony exactly, but earlier in his life he didn't always make very good decisions. He is still a bit rough around the edges, but I've even seen him change for the better in the year that I've been here. Ricardo left, today actually!, to go to Tijuana to start a rehab center for men. As many of you probably know, Tijuana is not one of the safest, prettiest, or more economically stable cities in Mexico. There are many many people, especially men, who have drug and alcohol addictions, and there just isn't much hope for them. But we know that there is hope for them in the Lord, and Ricardo wants to open a rehab center that focuses not only on the hope of a better life without addictions, but the hope of a better life in a relationship with the Lord!

Antojitos Queretanos and the Judases

This past sunday I went to the Queretaro county fair. What a bad day to NOT bring my camera with me!! It was really great, and a wonderful cultural experience that I would have LOVED to share with you all through pictures, but like I said, I left my camera at home!

I went to the fair, which was in the Centro, with Jean Paul, and we first stopped to have dinner at one of the many many food tents. The traditional fair food is called "Antojitos Queretanos." In QRO, this food consists of - tacos (of course!!), enchiladas queretanas (stuffed with cheese, potatoes, onion, carrots, and in a really yummy garlic sauce), gorditas (think corn tortillas filled with cheese or meat, and cut open to put in more meat and sauce), elotes (corn on the cob with mayo, cheese, lime, and chile), tamales, and my favorite, guajolotes!! (wah-ho-LOW-tays)

Here is a picture (that i robbed off the internet) of people eating antojitos at a similar fair somewhere else in Mexico:


And a guajolote (called a "pambazo" in other parts of the country)... It's a big bread roll dipped in hot sauce and grilled. It's stuffed with meat, cheese, refried beans, cream, lettuce, and jalapeños.

After the wonderful food, JP and I enjoyed some typical mexican music, had a completely non-mexican oreo frappuccino, and went to wait for the event that really caught my attention.

I had heard a couple years ago that around Easter time in QRO, they blow up a big statue of Judas. It happens to be on Easter sunday in the evening that this takes place, which was the time we were at the fair. This is an event sponsored by the Catholic church, and JP said that he thinks they do it to mock Judas - he couldn't keep Jesus dead! This really surprised me because here, Good Friday is the BIG holiday (and cuaresma (lent) the few weeks before). There usually isn't much celebration here on Easter sunday (Resurrection Day, as we call it in the Evangelical churches), as Jesus is still on thee cross in the Catholic churches for the whole year!

Anyhow, we saw what looked like a giant piñata of a devilish man hanging over one of the walking streets and knew that was where Judas would be blown up. We waited about an hour smashed between a couple thousand other people for this event to start.

Along with Judas, other figures are blown up. JP and I only stayed for Judas and one other, as we had to pick up his sister from the bus station. The second figure that was blown up was a monster that said "No to Abortion" on it. Soon, the Republic of Mexico will vote on whether or not to make abrotion legal for the first three months of pregnancy (it's illegal now). The Catholic church is very much agaist this, so they blew up that monster to demonstrate that. There were a few other ugly looking beasts to be blown up that I'm not sure what they represented, and a man in a three piece suit (who we didn't stick around to see). I'm pretty sure it was either ex-President Fox of Mexico, or President Bush, or possibly Arnold Shwarzenigger. All the figures are of people or political acts that the Catholic church, and probably the Republic of Mexico in general, don't like.

Here is a picture of a different Judas in another city (although I have a feeling that it's President Bush, because on the left it says "no war.")

And here's a Judas in the process of being blown to bits. For about 1 minute, the statue spins around letting off all kinds of fireworks, then BOOM! The whole thing goes up in flames in a big explosion, and all the bystanders get showered with burning pieces of paper-mache Judas.

Anyhow, it was an interesting cultural experience!

Hot Water

This past wednesday through saturday, I went to the city of Aguascalientes (literally means hot waters) for the annual church leaders' conference. It was a good time of fellowship with other leaders of Horizonte and of various other Horizonte churches in Mexico.

The only cost to the trip was travel to get there and back, which was a HUGE blessing! We got most of our meals free and 17 of us from QRO stayed together on the floor of a home that is for sale and has no furniture. It DID have water though for showers and toilet!!

Anyhow, we heard reports from the various churches represented, and also had a sermon series on 1 Thessalonians taught by some pastors that you may have even heard of, like Fermin IV, Jim Foote, Juan Domingo, and our own Martin Macedo from Horizonte QRO!

We also had the wonderful opportunity to spend all of friday afternoon (and WELL into the night!) and saturday morning in AGS downtown. This included - leaving a person behind on accident while he was in the bathroom, trying to smooth-talk a police officer out of giving JP a parking ticket while we couldn't even find JP OR his keys, getting the license plates taken off Martin's car (it's what they do in a parking infraction), walking like 6 miles in the hot sun, eating tacos that were a bit sketchy, and getting up again at 6am... It was a merorable experience!!

A bunch of QRO folks enjoying the conference:

A beautiful building in the cleanest city in all of Mexico (Queretaro is the 2nd cleanest!!)

Ruben, Rose, me, and JP enjoying ice cream in the AGS Centro:

Isamar with a "Jicaleta." This is a popsicle (paleta) of a giant piece of jicama (yes, the vegetable) rolled in chile powder!

A bunch of us enjoying a park in the Centro:

And another picture of a bunch of us...

Isamar and I doing a picture perfect imitation of the statue! :-)

At some rest stop between AGS and QRO on the way home:

The Operation, and Camp

Ok, here's the scoop. I'm going in for a somewhat minor operation the end of April. I have two rather large cysts in my abdomen that need to be removed. Unfortunately the cysts are so big that the surgery can't be done orthoscopically, so I will have a good-sized incision left behind and a kind of long recovery time. Supposedly, I'm supposed to be on complete bed rest for 5 or 6 days after the operation, then will need to limit my activities for 2 weeks after that. The thing that will be difficult for those 2 weeks is that I'm not supposed to walk very much (just around the house and stuff) and I can't take the busses because they're very bumpy. Well, walking and taking the bus are basically my two ways of transportation, so even though I'll be able to do regular activities like office work at the church, and working at the cafe, I'm not sure how I'll get there! Anyhow, I have lots of people who will take care of me here, and I live with a wonderful family who I know will be patient with me. Please pray for me as I go in for the operation, and I'll let you know the date when it's scheduled.

On a MUCH happier note, I'll be going to the city of Aguascalientes this week for the annual pastors' conference (or "church camp for adults" as I like to call it!) for leaders of the churches of our denomination in Mexico and hispanic churches in the USA. This was in QRO last year, so I was in the kitchen or helping with arrangements most of the time, I think I'll enjoy being a full-fledged participant this year! I'll be staying with a family from the local church in Aguas, and the church even provides all meals for free! The only cost is transportation to get to Aguas, and since the city is only about a 4 hour drive to the north of QRO, it's quite cheap for us! I'm looking forward to meeting new church leaders, catching up with those who I already know, and hearing reports about what the Lord is doing in other parts of Mexico, California, Texas, and Nevada.