May 26, 2006
Hello one and all!
I was just reading my dear friend Latisha’s blog about her and her husband’s work in Oaxaca, Mexico and how she was lamenting about not keeping up with her weekly posts. I feel a little sheepish as I contemplate that this is our first update since November!!! Not that I haven’t tried. I had an update all done complete with pictures only to have the electricity go out and erase it all. And that didn’t happen just once, but twice! But I will not give up and I will try to update information here every couple of weeks or so.
So here we are, the end of May and rejoicing in the great things God has done and is doing in His church in Toluca. If you get our newsletters, then you have been hearing every month about the new souls added to the church and other efforts going on to impact the city of Toluca for Christ. (If you would like to receive our newsletter, please drop us a line at rktoluca@yahoo.com and let us know. We will gladly put you on the list.)
AIMers
The big event for us right now is the arrival of our 5 new AIMers. AIMers are students of the AIM (Adventures in Missions) program our of the Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas. They will be here for about 2 years learning Spanish and trying to do whatever is necessary to encourage the church and to help her grow. Some of you may remember that it was through this program that I came to Toluca 14 years ago. Time will tell what God has in store for these young workers in His kingdom.
Please pray for their adaptation to the culture and their quick learning of Spanish. They are Tiffany Sellers, Chelsea Hagar, Jessica Ellison, Quaid Ledingham and Devon Newburn.
Personally I am excited to have some fellow Americans here so that they can help me (and my kids) retain our American roots and celebrate things like Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and other American holidays together. Being the lone American here for some time, it has been easier for me to let these dates fall by the wayside. Now they will be revived and taught to my kids.
Baptisms
This month we have been blessed to see some more souls added to the kingdom. Tomás, Armando and Mireya were baptized this month. We are so happy to see that God continues to bless his church here and that more hearts turn to His truth every day.
Spiritual Maturity conference
The last week of April we hosted a three day conference on Growing toward Spiritual Maturity. John Dyas, ex-Toluca missionary, came to give the conference. As a whole, the church welcomed John and showered him with love. We had over 50 students each day and ended the weekend with a great church potluck. It was wonderful to have John again and many members wanted to spend time with him looking for encouragement and remembering happy moments together. John stayed with us at our house and we enjoyed every moment we had with him. We told him that he is welcome to come again, as long as he brings his wonderful wife Clare!
Homeschooling
Up until now our kids have been going to the private Christian school that is located here in the church building. This is a great school with a small family atmosphere and good loving teachers. Not all who attend or teach are Christians, but several have started to come to the church and some are even now faithful members. By all Mexican standards, the Philadelphia Institute is a good school. We have been happy with the progress our children have made in all subjects... except, as to be expected, English. My children are fluent in spoken English, though they often mix a bit - speaking more Spanglish when at home, but I find myself doing the same, so I understand. I don't mind them preferring Spanish, but I do want them to read and write at their age levels... and honestly if we keep going in the Mexican schools, I doubt that will happen.
Also while watching the movie "National Treasure" I realized that my kid are also lacking in American history. Throughout the movie my kids would ask: "Mommy, what is the Liberty Bell? Who is George Washington? What is the Declaration of Independance." So thus, my desire to homeschool was born.
Many have asked me why I don't just supplement what they are learning with English and History classes? Well, if I could find the time (and if my kids had the energy) perhaps we could. But they all (including 4 year old Angie who is in preschool) go to school from 8am to 2:30 pm. They get home to eat at 3 and then twice a week have soccer from 4 to 6. Then add in the hour+ of homework each day, showers, dinner and at least a bit of playtime... well, you can see that there just isn't time or energy for more school.
I have looked and looked and checked with the Mexican school system in case we want to put them back in after a year or two at home... and I found out that they have to be enrolled in an accredited school with a report card in order to get credit for their studies. I have found one that sounds good... The Sycamore Academy. At the Sycamore Academy they take care of all official record keeping and they are accredited through the Northwest Association of Academic Schools. Now I just have to decide for sure which curriculum to use.
Great Grandmother
We are happy to have had the chance to visit with Raul's great grandmother this week. She is Raul's mom's mother and a very special part of our family. We don't get to see her very often since she lives in Leon, Guanajuato about 4 hours from Toluca. She is about 85 years old and has 8 children and more grandchildren and great grandchildren than she can keep tabs on! She is very sweet and we than
k God for the time we have bee
n able to spend with her.
"The Church of God"
This past Wednesday I had a great opportunity to speak to a group of women about the importance of our heart in our Christian lives as women and mothers. The event was planned Sonia and she invited me to be the speaker. Sonia is Victor's sister and as many of you know, Victor is a member here at church and a very special friend of ours. Sonia is his oldest sister (there are 10 of them total!) and she attends church with the "church of God." Honestly I am not aware of all of their doctrinal beliefs, but I was honored to be asked to speak to the women there. They were very nice, open and loving. I invited them to take classes with us in the women's program of the Bible Institute and I welcome the chance to open the lines of communication about the Bible and God's will in our lives. It was a great experience and I was glad that AIMer Tiffany Sellers accompanied me. Here is a picture, a bit blurry... but you get the idea anyway. :) (That is me up front in case you can't tell.) ;)
The following are just some assorted pictures we wanted to share with you.
Most people don't believe us when we say that the weather in Toluca is not the stereotypical weather one imagines for south of the border. We rarely get over 75 degrees and though we don't get snow, we do get a lot of hail. This picture was taken in our yard after a hailstorm earlier this month. You can see the white balls all over the yard. So meone else told me their kids went outside to make a "hailman" (the Toluca version of a snowman, I guess!).
This picture is of our boys and their soccer team. They are still playing with Pachuca, named after the professional team they are affiliated with.
Their mascots are the tuzos (which are like gophers I guess...) but they are more often referred to as the city name that the original team is from. Pachuca is the capitol of the state of Hidalgo.
Hello one and all!
I was just reading my dear friend Latisha’s blog about her and her husband’s work in Oaxaca, Mexico and how she was lamenting about not keeping up with her weekly posts. I feel a little sheepish as I contemplate that this is our first update since November!!! Not that I haven’t tried. I had an update all done complete with pictures only to have the electricity go out and erase it all. And that didn’t happen just once, but twice! But I will not give up and I will try to update information here every couple of weeks or so.
So here we are, the end of May and rejoicing in the great things God has done and is doing in His church in Toluca. If you get our newsletters, then you have been hearing every month about the new souls added to the church and other efforts going on to impact the city of Toluca for Christ. (If you would like to receive our newsletter, please drop us a line at rktoluca@yahoo.com and let us know. We will gladly put you on the list.)
AIMers
The big event for us right now is the arrival of our 5 new AIMers. AIMers are students of the AIM (Adventures in Missions) program our of the Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas. They will be here for about 2 years learning Spanish and trying to do whatever is necessary to encourage the church and to help her grow. Some of you may remember that it was through this program that I came to Toluca 14 years ago. Time will tell what God has in store for these young workers in His kingdom.
Please pray for their adaptation to the culture and their quick learning of Spanish. They are Tiffany Sellers, Chelsea Hagar, Jessica Ellison, Quaid Ledingham and Devon Newburn.
Personally I am excited to have some fellow Americans here so that they can help me (and my kids) retain our American roots and celebrate things like Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and other American holidays together. Being the lone American here for some time, it has been easier for me to let these dates fall by the wayside. Now they will be revived and taught to my kids.
Baptisms
This month we have been blessed to see some more souls added to the kingdom. Tomás, Armando and Mireya were baptized this month. We are so happy to see that God continues to bless his church here and that more hearts turn to His truth every day.
Spiritual Maturity conference
The last week of April we hosted a three day conference on Growing toward Spiritual Maturity. John Dyas, ex-Toluca missionary, came to give the conference. As a whole, the church welcomed John and showered him with love. We had over 50 students each day and ended the weekend with a great church potluck. It was wonderful to have John again and many members wanted to spend time with him looking for encouragement and remembering happy moments together. John stayed with us at our house and we enjoyed every moment we had with him. We told him that he is welcome to come again, as long as he brings his wonderful wife Clare!
Homeschooling
Up until now our kids have been going to the private Christian school that is located here in the church building. This is a great school with a small family atmosphere and good loving teachers. Not all who attend or teach are Christians, but several have started to come to the church and some are even now faithful members. By all Mexican standards, the Philadelphia Institute is a good school. We have been happy with the progress our children have made in all subjects... except, as to be expected, English. My children are fluent in spoken English, though they often mix a bit - speaking more Spanglish when at home, but I find myself doing the same, so I understand. I don't mind them preferring Spanish, but I do want them to read and write at their age levels... and honestly if we keep going in the Mexican schools, I doubt that will happen.
Also while watching the movie "National Treasure" I realized that my kid are also lacking in American history. Throughout the movie my kids would ask: "Mommy, what is the Liberty Bell? Who is George Washington? What is the Declaration of Independance." So thus, my desire to homeschool was born.
Many have asked me why I don't just supplement what they are learning with English and History classes? Well, if I could find the time (and if my kids had the energy) perhaps we could. But they all (including 4 year old Angie who is in preschool) go to school from 8am to 2:30 pm. They get home to eat at 3 and then twice a week have soccer from 4 to 6. Then add in the hour+ of homework each day, showers, dinner and at least a bit of playtime... well, you can see that there just isn't time or energy for more school.
I have looked and looked and checked with the Mexican school system in case we want to put them back in after a year or two at home... and I found out that they have to be enrolled in an accredited school with a report card in order to get credit for their studies. I have found one that sounds good... The Sycamore Academy. At the Sycamore Academy they take care of all official record keeping and they are accredited through the Northwest Association of Academic Schools. Now I just have to decide for sure which curriculum to use.
Great Grandmother
We are happy to have had the chance to visit with Raul's great grandmother this week. She is Raul's mom's mother and a very special part of our family. We don't get to see her very often since she lives in Leon, Guanajuato about 4 hours from Toluca. She is about 85 years old and has 8 children and more grandchildren and great grandchildren than she can keep tabs on! She is very sweet and we than
k God for the time we have bee
n able to spend with her.
"The Church of God"
This past Wednesday I had a great opportunity to speak to a group of women about the importance of our heart in our Christian lives as women and mothers. The event was planned Sonia and she invited me to be the speaker. Sonia is Victor's sister and as many of you know, Victor is a member here at church and a very special friend of ours. Sonia is his oldest sister (there are 10 of them total!) and she attends church with the "church of God." Honestly I am not aware of all of their doctrinal beliefs, but I was honored to be asked to speak to the women there. They were very nice, open and loving. I invited them to take classes with us in the women's program of the Bible Institute and I welcome the chance to open the lines of communication about the Bible and God's will in our lives. It was a great experience and I was glad that AIMer Tiffany Sellers accompanied me. Here is a picture, a bit blurry... but you get the idea anyway. :) (That is me up front in case you can't tell.) ;)
The following are just some assorted pictures we wanted to share with you.
Most people don't believe us when we say that the weather in Toluca is not the stereotypical weather one imagines for south of the border. We rarely get over 75 degrees and though we don't get snow, we do get a lot of hail. This picture was taken in our yard after a hailstorm earlier this month. You can see the white balls all over the yard. So meone else told me their kids went outside to make a "hailman" (the Toluca version of a snowman, I guess!).
This picture is of our boys and their soccer team. They are still playing with Pachuca, named after the professional team they are affiliated with.
Their mascots are the tuzos (which are like gophers I guess...) but they are more often referred to as the city name that the original team is from. Pachuca is the capitol of the state of Hidalgo. posted by Raul and Kim Solis | 7:37 AM
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