Baptisms in Majahual

This is currently one of my favorite pictures of mission work in Mexico. It was taken outside of the home where Brad and Heidi Krause stayed during their year in Majahual. In the photo, Brad is baptizing a young girl named Abilene Corona Jimenez.

As I've mentioned before, Brad and Heidi spent nearly a year as volunteers in Majahual, a town about four hours south of Cancún. During their time there, Brad had the chance to baptize others in the area, including six children of the family pictured below:



Brad and Heidi were able to lay the foundation for a future church in Majahual. The Mexican Lutheran Church is working toward calling a Mexican pastor to officially open a mission there. Here is one of the groups the new home missionary will be working with near Majahual:



As always, it is a thrill to watch God's hand at work. He used Brad and Heidi to reach more with his Gospel. We trust he will continue to guide the Mexican Lutheran Church as it goes through the calling process, and that he will lead a Mexican pastor to accept the call and start a mission congregation there.

New Missionary Coming to Mexico

This week, seminary graduate Brad Krause accepted the call to serve as missionary to Mexico.

Brad and his wife Heidi spent nearly a year in Mahahual, a town four hours south of Cancún (you may remember hearing about this last October). In Mahahual they served as volunteers, helping to get a mission started there.

Now that their time as volunteers in Mahahual is coming to an end, we are very excited that they will still be able to serve in Mexico. Before they come to León, they will be making preparations to leave the U.S. on a more permanent basis and will also head to Puebla to study Spanish for a couple of months.

Brad's position here in Mexico will replace the one Missionary Ralph Martens currently holds, as he will be retiring this summer. We are thankful both for Ralph's years of service and the blessing of a replacement for his position here in León, Mexico.

Signing up for School

This little sweetie is now registered for kindergarten. She'll start next August at a school that is five minutes, by car, from our home.

Trinity turned three in February of this year, and according to Mexican law she needs to have three years of kindergarten before she starts elementary school. This means that children generally start school when they are three years old. After completing Kindergarten 1, Kindergarten 2, and Kindergarten 3, children are ready to start first grade.

For kindergarten, children go to school for 4 to 6 hours on weekdays, depending on the kindergarten program they are enrolled in. A school might hold kindergarten from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., or somewhere in between. All schools hold classes Monday thru Friday for kindergarteners.

The Mexican government offers low-cost public education for nearly everyone. While many children attend public school for kindergarten, others enroll their kids at a private school. Private schools here are an affordable option for the middle and upper class. I found 15 schools Trinity could go to within a 10-minute drive from our home (and there are more schools close to our home, but the 15 I mention were the ones we considered as options for our situation).

I found a secure, well-run private school for Trinity to attend. It offers the three-year kindergarten program she needs. After that, she will go to a different school for first grade.

School for Trinity will start at 8:30 a.m. At about 10 in the morning, she will eat the almuerzo (breakfast) I will send with her. She’ll get out at 1:30 p.m., just in time to come home and eat comida (lunch) with us. This goes along with the eating times in Mexico: Mexicans generally eat breakfast between 10 and 11 in the morning, have a large lunch between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, and enjoy a light supper between 8 and 10 in the evening. We already eat according to these times, so we won’t have to adjust when Trinity starts school in August.

Trinity is excited about starting school and I feel it will be a positive move for her. Since we are new to León and don't know many people here yet, it will be a good way for us to make new acquaintances. Trinity will have the chance to play with new friends and start a bilingual education.

That said, until August comes, I'll be soaking up each day we get to enjoy having her little body still at home with us.

A glimpse of farm life

We live in a busy part of the city: within a five minutes' drive, we can get to the largest mall in the state of Guanajuato, three large grocery stores, Home Depot, and three different Starbucks. We're within walking distance of various taco stands, a Chinese restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, and -

cows.

Smack in the middle of our neighborhood is a plot of land used for farming. From its appearance, the city built up around it and the farmer decided not to sell his property to commercial investors (sign below reads: "Property not for sale" in all caps).



Our girls are fascinated with the farmer's Holsteins. They've lived in cities since they were little, and are really enjoying getting a glimpse of animals so close to home. Here's what we do two or three times a week:

Walk out of our house, with Trinity on her pink bike and Noelle running beside her -



Walk down our street, toward the entrance of our gated community -



After passing through the gates, turn left -



Peek into a real farm, complete with equipment and a brick barn -





Go to the outside wall of the brick barn where there is ONE BRICK MISSING!



Peer in and see cows just a few feet away -



And if you're brave, reach in the brick hole and try to touch one :).



When Mom says it's time to go, groan and say good-bye to the cows. Then ask when we can come see them again!

Five Things to Love about León

We're really enjoying León and the region surrounding it. There's so much to see and discover, and the chance to live here is a huge blessing. Here are five of the many things we're loving about León.

1. Scenic region
León is located in central Mexico, close to colonial cities like Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, and Querétaro. There's quite a bit of history and culture to check out as well (fun fact: we just drove through Vicente Fox's hometown yesterday - it's a suburb of León).

2. Good schools
I've been touring schools to find a place for Trinity in August. She just turned three, and according to Mexican law, children are required to enroll in school when they are three years old. They attend three years of kindergarten and then start elementary school. I have found good options for her both for now and in the future should we stay long enough that she would graduate(!) from her three-year kindergarten school and be ready for a primaria (elementary school).

3. Freedom to move
In other places that we lived in Mexico, I couldn't always go out by myself, especially at night. Now that has changed and I find it incredibly liberating to be able to toss the girls (gently, of course) into the van and drive to places with them, sans chaperones. I was just out driving by myself at night a few nights ago - a first for me in a long time.


4. Leather
León is the shoe capital of Mexico, or the shoe capital of the world, depending on the source you check. Needless to say, there are shoes everywhere! And other beautiful leather goods all over the city. This is a handbag Mike and the girls gave me for my birthday last month.

5. Weather
We're in the hottest part of the year here, and highs haven't even reached 100F! A far cry from our desert city (which we loved, don't get me wrong). The best part is that we are just entering the rainy season. Every time I see dark clouds in the sky, I get terribly excited. It often means we'll have a downpour followed by nice cool weather and the wonderful smell of rain.

As you can see, we're loving it! Come and visit, stay for awhile. We'd love to show you our new surroundings.

Package Arrives!

Last weekend Mike visited Torreón. While there, he received a package containing letters from VBS students at St. John's in Minneapolis, MN. It had arrived in mid-April to a home we previously rented in Torreón. Our former landlady dropped it off at church for Mike. Here's the envelope:


Now take a closer look at the postmark -



It was in our name, and had been sent to us on -

JULY 20, 2009

Mike received it on May 1st.

TOTAL SHIPPING TIME: 285 days

So it took the package 9 months and 11 days to get from Minneapolis, MN, to Torreon, Mexico. This is a long time.

Even though it took awhile, we're very thankful it arrived.

Mike estimates that, on average, we receive over 90 percent of the mail sent to us via the regular postal system in Mexico. Of course, we have stories of packages that we know people sent and have never arrived here. Like one we received a couple of years ago that was just an empty box - the contents had been stolen. Or a package sent back in 2000 that had pictures of Mike's trip to Australia in it - we're still waiting for that one to be delivered.

My point is that if you have sent us something and never heard back, there's a good chance your package fell into the small percentage of mail that doesn't make it. It's just part of the way the postal system operates here. It's not 100 percent reliable.

If you have mailed us a package or plan to in the future, by all means leave a comment here or email us if you want. We'd be happy to let you know when it comes.

Or you could always try a plan we've been wanting to test out - strap those letters to a burro and send it south. It should get here eventually!

Visit to Torreón

Last weekend Mike visited Torreón -

let me pause here to explain, as you may be thinking, "What?! Didn't you just leave Torreón because of security issues?"

We did, and we don't plan to go back there to live until things calm down, but it is safe enough that Mike can travel in and out of it.

Even though we don't live there anymore, we haven't forgotten Torreón by any means! And the church work there is still going strong. Mike had meetings with some of the pastors and leaders during his stay. On Sunday, he visited two congregations. One of them, El Redentor (Redeemer), confirmed a former English student during the service (this is an example of English classes at work).

El Redentor also had a hamburger grillout after church. Here are a few photos of the event.

Getting the fire going -




Prepping the burgers -




And the taste test -




Mmm, good.




Washing it down with a refresco -