Max and Julia

I met Julia the end of September when she's signed up to go to Passion Mexico City 2008, but then ended up not able to go. I knew she lived on the military base of Queretaro, and thought she was the girlfriend of Alan, a young guy at church who also lives on the base. Alan later told me that they were't boyfriend and girlfriend, they just know each other. So, since Julia is 23, I figured she lived with her family, and that her dad was a soldier. At church on Sunday, I was talking with Julia (first actual converstation with her!) and noticed that there was a young man hanging around her, and I figured he was her boyfriend. Julia mentioned that that young man, Max, was in the military, and that in January they may move him to a different city. I asked why they don't just get married so she could go with him. That's how I found out, after like 2 months of greeting Julia at church on Sundays, that Max and Julia ARE married! Max is in the military, and they've been married for FOUR years!!

Anyhow, I started hanging out with Julia a couple months ago. We learned that Max and Julia started coming to Horizonte Church at the invitation another military couple who attend Horizonte. Julia asked me if it was ok that her and her husband kept going to church even though they weren't Christians. Of course I said yes! Jean Paul and I have had some interesting conversations with Max and Julia. They are very open to hearing about God and the Bible, and have lots of questions. We hang out with them as much as possible (between JP's work and school schedule, and Max's military trips out of Queretaro), and we always have a great time! They're our age basically (Max is 31 and Julia 23), and we enjoy the same types of things. We went to the fair, to a Christmas play, and tacos a LOT, as the four of us can't get enough tacos!

Right before New Year's, Max was put at a small base just outside of Queretaro for two weeks. That meant that Julia would be at home by herself for New Year's. But she had a plan and I got involved in helping...

On the 31st Julia came to my house with a big smoked turkey that the military had given them (and the houses on the base don't have ovens! smart). We cooked the turkey (first turkey ever for either of us!) made salads and other food, and loaded it all up into my car.

Julia with our turkey (but leaving the house, it only had one leg! She insisted we keep a turkey leg for helping out!):

JP drove us out to the small military base where Max was stationed for two weeks. Julia said it would be fine for her to go visit, Max is a leutinent, and the "in-charge" person at the small base. We arrived and Max came out with a big surprised smile and met us!

We even got to go into the base (which I'm pretty sure it's not allowed for me, being a foriegner, to enter!) and JP played with Max's uniform and artillery...

Above is a picture of JP holding a real gun for the first time in his life... Not so exciting for me - I'm an Oregonian. But it was cool for JP!

Anyhow, that's the scoop on our new friends, who we hope WON'T get transferred to another city soon! We're thankful for new friends, and for the opportunity to share God's love with them!!

Christmas Celebrations!

Yes, I'm finally putting up pictures from Christmas!

This was actually my first Christmas in Mexico! I spent my first two Christmases out of the country (2005 & 2006) in Honduras, then last year I was in Oregon.

Christmas in Mexico is celebrated mostly on the 24th. People work on the 24th, but get off by 6pm or so. I didn't think we really had any plans for the 24th, except to have my mother-in-law over for dinner. But JP decided that the three of us (me, him, and his mom) should go downtown in the evening. That was a GREAT idea!!

Here's me and my mother-in-law in front of part of the nativity display in the Centro:
Jean Paul and his mom in the Centro:

Around 8pm, a parade began. It started off with a bunch o paper-machet dolls walking past... Apparently, kids made the big dolls (out of the stuff we use for piñatas in the States), and they could be inside of the dolls, walking in the parade. Notice in the doll below, there's a rectangular hole where a kid is looking out of. They even stick their hands through the little face-hole to collect money from the onlookers!

Most of the dolls were recognizable famous mexican entertainers:

Then came the "Bible Cars." One tradition from Queretaro is to have floats of Bible stories pass through the Centro on Christmas Eve. Here's a car (float) of Adam and Eve, and angels singing behind them.

We also bumped into Gaby and her dad in the Centro! (Gaby is the lady I used to live with, with the two teenage kids)

Lots of people lined up waiting for the next Bible Car to pass. Every car stopped about every 70 yards to do a song or drama about the Bible story that the car represents. We didn't stay for very many cars, but we saw Adam and Eve, Moses and the 10 commandments, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, and some others.

Then came this Bible Car with a song and drama presentation:

The car said "The story of the brave Judith" on it. I was really confused. Who is Judith?! (Ok, my mother-in-law was standing right next to me, and HER name is Judith, but obviously the car wasn't about her!) :) I asked JP and his mom about it, and they were really surprised that I'd never heard of Judith. I grew up hearing Bible stories since before I can remember, plus I went to a Bible college... I should have a good knowledge of Bible stories!! Apparently, Judith is a book in the Apocrypha (the Catholic Bible has the books of the Apocrypha, but other translations don't have those books because it is harder to be sure that they really are God-inspired books). Judith lived around the time that Esther was alive (say JP and his mom). I believe Judith was also a queen. She saved some people (maybe the Israelites?) from a bad guy by cutting off his head and showing the head to the people of the kingdom so they'd know they weren't in danger from the bad guy any more. Mexicans learn this story along with Noah's Ark, Joseph, and all the stories that I've heard all my life too! Now I know another Apocryphal story!

We ended the night at our house with homemade chocolate chip cookies, vanilla ice cream, and... the movie "A Christmas Story" with spanish subtitles! JP really liked the movie too, which kind of surprised me, because it's very gringo. I said it's a good thing he likes it though because we'll be watching it once a year on December 24th for the next 60 or so years! :)

We slept in LATE on Christmas Day, and opened our presents. Presents aren't near as big on Christmas here as in the States. Lots of people get one or two presents in total. I got JP his favorite candy bars, and he got me a Monopoly game where the places you can buy are all things in Mexico! (We play table games a lot more now that we have other couples over to hang out, and doing things at home is a lot cheaper than going out to have fun!) We both bought new cell phones a couple days before Christmas too, so I wrapped those up and put them under the tree. (JP's old cell phone had the letters on the black and white screen turned upside-down, and the face fell off most times when he tried to answer it. My phone heated up a lot, and some of the buttons didn't work! He had his for 6 years, and I had mine for 3. We really did need new phones!!)

Sitting by our tree on Christmas morning!