Spanish School & friends

Laura & Becky singing at the Christmas concert

Nellie

Jesica

Dr Eder & Maestra Paulina
with Nelie

Maestro Ruben

Grammar teacher, David

second downhill path before we hit sandy road



School bound

Choral group

Juan & Ruth

Ruben, Adriana, Jesica

Serjio, notable guitarist
Music Teacher

Eli decorating her Christmas tree

San Lorenzo outreach

Where's the highway?

We are back to Roca Blanca after a three day trip to San Lorenzo, a new
church plant about two years old. We arrived and walked across muddy road
construction and then walked a steep incline up to where the church sat
overlooking the village. It commanded a great view which is usually the
location of the catholic churches in the village. We hustled to set up
clinic and saw probably thirty patients that evening, entertaining the
children on the side with songs and games. They fed us well...all weekend
and housed us in separate places. John and I were led to a in a newly built
room with one hammock and one cot available. We were thankful there seem to
be no mosquitoes because it was necessary to leave our door ajar to get any
cool breeze that might become available. We had bathroom facilities
outdoors and were grateful for cold bucket showers during our stay.

outreach dinner

On Friday, we saw patients off and on all day. A dentist came that morning,
Adrianna who is wife to one of our Spanish teachers, and John and I helped
her with about 20 plus tooth extractions over Friday and Saturday. We held
flashlights, sanitized instruments, led patients in and out, sweep floors,
and whatever we could do to be helpful.

roadside barber

delighted patient

When working with the children, we were both involved in a drama that was recorded into the Mixteco language. Usually the children know Spanish from going to school but many of the adults do not so we always have interpreters. We had a visiting retired
surgeon with us and his wife. He had two interpreters to translate; one from English to Spanish and then another to translate from Spanish to Mixteco. He is only in his eighties and still going strong.

Friday afternoon, we took a break to have a church service at 5pm. It
started with a Mariachi style band that was very rousing and cheerful. I
thought then how boring the Catholic church would seem to the people by
comparison. The band made it sound more like a fiesta along with all the
dancing, clapping, and singing. The musicians set up in the small concrete
church building where we had been holding clinic. We were sitting outside
under tarps...till it starting pouring rain. At first, we would lift and
dump the tarps where they sagged so they wouldn't seep through but pretty
soon, it was a loosing battle. Some took shelter in a small overhang, some
of us took shelter in the kitchen shed. It was rather distracting to hear
any preaching with rain pounding the tin roof and people shuffling to find a
dry place but there were two preachers and they shared the Word for about an
hour. Many of the locals were still under sections of tarp listening with
all their hearts. Afterward, everyone was served hot weak coffee and a
sweet bread roll. We had a time of fellowship then tramped carefully
through the dark and muddy street under construction to our abodes.

Some of the interesting food we had was scrambled eggs in a real chili
powder/tomato sauce, chicken/rice soup, shrimp/Spanish rice, and entomatadas
which are tortillas dipped in bean soup and served with crumbled cheese over
the top. All entrees except the last came with beans and hand ground, hand
made hominy tortillas cook over the fire on a large clay plate. There were
8-10 cooks most of the two days with several servers. They had some
kneading the tortilla dough, some pressing it in a metal press, and several
cooking them around the plate. Other fires held the huge pots for cooking
beans or meat. They fed our group of 28 plus interpreters and then fed
their men and helpers so they were feeding about 50-60 every day.

morning devos

We are thankful every time for the opportunity and privilege to share the
love of Jesus with these needy people. John and I are thankful for the
wonderful truck the Lord provided us with to come here as we are always
carrying people, luggage, and other supplies when we go. It gives us a
double opportunity to serve. Thank you for your faithful prayer and
support. For each of you who participated in this way, you are the arms
that stretch forth the hands. You are those whom make it possible.
God's blessings on you with our thanks to you.
John & Joyce

Shrimp tamales...what next?

Just when we think we have seen it all, we get yet another surprise. One evening, we had become quite tired of studying and needed a break. Not only did we need a break, we also needed some practice speaking our Spanish we were learning. So, we went outside to see what aunti and uncle were doing. Uncle was sitting sedately on the porch just watching aunti in her kitchen.

Her kitchen is outdoors under a thatched roof. It is where uncle starts the fire every time she is ready to cook. It is where the laundry is done, the dishes are washed, and food is prepared in small or large quantity. The so called “house” is really only a bedroom with a bed, television, a dresser, some nails to hang up clothes and other assorted necessities, and with boxes for storing this and that under the bed or anywhere on the floor something else isn’t taking up the space. There are chairs but they are outside as much or more than inside as they even watch tv from outside on the porch where a breeze might blow and cool them off a bit.

So, John sat down with uncle on the porch and watched me enter the kitchen with aunti. She had a basket of small live shrimp and a bowl of green sauce into which she was putting handfuls of these shrimp. She continued to push them under the green liquid until they gave up surfacing. She proudly told us about going to the nearby river and netting in the shrimp. She showed us the bag of them in the freezer and another bag in the refrigerator that had already been boiled. But, the shrimp she was drowning in the sauce were neither boiled nor dead. We visited for some time and then headed back to the books.

Today, when we reached home, she came running saying, “esperame” which means “wait for me”. She grabbed up a pretty clear glass bowl and grabbed a handful of tamales to put in it. Yes, you guessed. They were shrimp tamales made from their home grown and ground corn and those shrimp that had succumbed to the thick herbal chili sauce.

John didn’t feel too inclined to try them. I pulled the whole shrimp out and ate the tamales. They were very tasty!

When in doubt, pull the bugs out and eat the rest!

Tetepelcingo outreach

Danbi the piper

hand weaving loom

Tetepelcingo interpreter

Our Spanish classes were invited to go to a nearby village for weekend  ministry. It was a three hour drive, only 45 minutes off the highway.  Quite a few of the mountain roads will not yet be passable after the monsoon
rains. There are, in fact, rains still falling, especially in the
mountains. We traveled to Tetepelcingo on Friday afternoon and returned on  Saturday afternoon. It rained hard Friday night and it rained part of the  way traveling back so we traversed some flash flooding across the roads and  wallowed through some soft sandy beds in places. The ministry for the  Spanish school students was to the children. Of all the places we have been  yet, I believe this had the most children. They were not as bashful or  reticent as most. They were fully ready and waiting for us to come. We had  songs we learned, skits, stories, and games. We spent time with them both  Friday evening and Saturday and it was well we didn't have anymore days than  that as they had far more energy than all of us combined.

The clinic was open both that evening and the next day as well but, there weren't as many clinic personnel as usual so John and I enjoyed sitting in some of the consultations to listen and to pray. There were four mini offices made of sheets hanging from strings tied to the walls inside the church building. Three were for consultation, one was for prayer, then the front held the pharmacy and waiting room. Though we only had a few that came, we had some serious cases. I viewed one lady's endoscopy and the
cancer that she has in her stomach. She was in her sixties and is coming to church regularly, claims to have received Christ, and is for sure receiving prayer and encouragement from the body of Christ. Praise God for that.
Another lady had high blood pressure which was causing several other uncomfortable side issues. Her greatest infirmity, we found out, was that she had lost three of her family members, her husband, a daughter, and a son. These weren't recent deaths but the grief of them was staying with her constantly. She told us she had headaches and that her eyes hurt from crying so much. She needs Jesus.

Tetepelcingo children

We are thankful for the opportunity we had to share the love of Jesus with these people, to cry with them, to hug them, to play with their children.
Though many of them could not speak Spanish, let alone English, love, music,
fun, and medical care transcends all language barriers. We did have a safe
trip, a good nights sleep, and good food with no ill effects as well. Thank
you for reading this and for sharing in the rewards of God's kingdom through
your continued support.

Mariachis? Nothing draws like music.

Mexico History



The day of September 15, Mexico celebrated the biggest one of its independence days. The independence from Spain. We have had a history lesson, and several cultural lessons related to this, spoken to us at Spanish school this week. They give us better understanding of the country and its people. It is a history full of wars, violence, political and religious struggles for power from several countries and among its own people groups. The French were here. The Spaniards were here. There were emperors. There were presidents. There were dictators. There were popes. For years, the turnover of power happened so often and each were so radically different, that it was chaos. It is not unlike our own history in many ways.

But, there is one very big difference. “One nation under God”. We have had the supreme privilege of living in a country where the reigning belief has been in a supreme God whose very supremacy has brought hope, abundance, a general unity, and morality among other things. That has never been available to the country of Mexico.

We met a man who grew up here in the state of Oaxaca, lived 30 years in the USA, met Jesus there, and is now compelled to return to his home, his country, his people. Why? Because he realizes the great darkness they live in, the great hopelessness, the great poverty of body, soul, and spirit. He told of his childhood when the priests would tell them the Good Book said “blessed is the man who is poor…he will inherit heaven”, and so they were taught poverty, that it was good. They were and are still being told that the Bible which missionaries carry is an evil book; that missionaries do witchcraft and are full of demons. Yet, their priest stands holding the same Good Book and speaking from it to the people, according to what the Church allows him to teach.

He told of how no foreigner could ever enter their villages without being beaten or shot. Even Mexican people from other cities were not accepted to live in other villages. Fear ruled and reigned and the law was within each village to take care of their own with whatever violence was necessary. He’s talking about situations only 40 years ago and these same conditions are still being found today in the mountain villages. The same lies are being told to and believed by the people.

Rueben, Spanish teacher and family

Another young man, a teacher of ours, has been relating sad political news to us this week as its has been burdening his heart. Of the huge teachers’ strikes that leave children without teachers for months. Of mountain villages where there are no teachers or schools. Of a people who have no hobbies so that when the week of work is finished for the men, they have only drinking to turn to. And for them, there is little to no stopping till they are drunk which leaves their family poverty stricken. Of the six large drug cartels that are fighting everywhere to gain the most power, including power of the government, and in the midst of the struggle are killing many innocent people. You’ve heard some of this in the news recently. He told the same stories of lies being spoken to the people that missionaries are really witches come to cast curses and fill people with demons.

Hey, this may be a modern world, but there are still a large number of people that do not know that. You may think that there are way too many missionaries who have gone or are going to Mexico, but there are still so many who have never heard the truth or been set free from their terrors by night and by day. There are too many languages, too many remote places still ruled by historic views and beliefs. There is still a very great need, a very great harvest.

There is another war coming. It is a spiritual war, full of fire and full of fight and God is setting up His people in preparation for it; to set free His bride in Mexico, especially the part of His bride that is present in Oaxaca, Mexico.

This year, Roca Blanca has the largest number of students going through the intense bible training. One of our sweet friends, who previously was a worker at the Guest House, is now in bible school and is glowing with the greatness and gladness of what he is learning and experiencing. A broken, wounded pastor and wife are here in training, thrilled to be hearing greater and deeper things, to be healing and preparing for the promotion the Lord has for them. Two doctors have left their practices for the year to receive discipleship at bible school. Lots of very young people and a number of older adults are here together, crowding every available space on the Base and renting every available room in Cacalote, to come together and eat from the same table of both physical and spiritual food.

What an exciting privilege and opportunity to be here, training ourselves in the Spanish language, preparing for the spiritual breakthroughs that God has for this state and this people in this time and this place. Watch and Pray! Watch and Pray! See the day of the Lord that is coming! See the release of the prisoners, the freedom of the captives that will take place here! See the powers of darkness that WILL BE overcome because…”THUS SAYS THE LORD”.

The Christian Dream

We all have heard of the American Dream and as we live here in the States, we all get caught up in fulfilling that dream. We want a certain size house with plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, 2-3 car garages (and a gourmet kitchen; that‘s me). We want nice cars, boats, golf carts, or whatever other recreational playthings and lots of memberships to programs of exercise, sports, music, etc. We want our children to have lots of things, activities, lessons, and learning, then later cars and homes and all that we have wanted, plus more so they’ll take good care of us in days ahead. The longer John and I live here at home, the more pull those things have on us. In pondering these things, I ask myself ‘if I could have anything I want from life, anything at all, what would it be?‘ And looking back on all our experiences, I know there is absolutely nothing that has satisfied John or myself like being in the middle of a Jesus meeting, watching people get born again, baptized, healed in body, soul, and spirit. Nothing ever equals up to that.

As I began writing this, I was thinking it was to be titled “The Missionary Dream” but upon reflection, I know from God’s Word that it is for every believer. So how is a Christian dream different from the “American dream”? It is simply fulfilling the call and cry of God’s heart that every tongue, tribe, and nation hear and be given the privilege to choose Christ. It is the Great Commission to make disciples, baptizing and teaching them to walk in the Spirit. That call is to every believer, hence “the Christian dream“. It isn’t a replacement of the American dream, it is a priority, a love call to serve God first with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; to seek first the kingdom of heaven and (then) all these things will be added to you. (Matt. 6:33) We all, always need a reminder of our priorities. We all, always need to keep and promote the Christ Dream. We all, always need to be looking for the proverbial woman at the well who needs love, prophecy, truth, revelation, new life, and all that Christ has to offer. We all, always need to prioritize our finances, our time, our thoughts, our plans, our very lives to make every effort to fulfill the Great Commission through the greatest commandment of loving God and loving others.

When I make a list of what is involved in each and compare them, they look like this to me.

Christian Dream American Dream

Praying for others big house w/big garage

Seeing people born again, boats and cars, etc

healed, baptized higher education

Giving financially to other’s needs memberships

Counseling from God’s Word smart clothes

Seeing spiritual growth lots of toys, gadgets

Giving encouragement

Total: eternal reward Total: earthly possessions we won’t take with us…but could be good tools to reap eternal rewards.

We all, always will be called to sacrifices. Setting priorities calls for sacrifices. But all the earthly possessions in the world will burn and be no more. Everything we ever sacrifice in this life for advancing the Kingdom of Heaven will reap eternal rewards that we will enjoy forever. Lets live with an eternal perspective!

Lets sacrifice! Lets keep our priorities in answering the call that is ringing through the whole earth today! The Lord of the Harvest is calling: “Rescue the perishing quickly; rescue them from the coming wrath“.

Added blessings

Amish hand pump

One of the goals we have had is to get a hand pump that will allow us to access our well water without electricity.  We were so happy to get that accomplished this summer.

Our new-to-us gas grill given through a dear friend and supporter.  We had time to try it out once before we headed south to Mexico.  Wow!  It's a keeper.

Three trailer load of fresh manure/hay composting through the winter so spring garden will be freshly fed.

The electric company dumped a truck load of ground trees and leaves for free mulching.  That was the week just before we left but we were able to get it spread around. 

Summer’s End

It is mid-August and we plan to head south to Cacalotte, Mexico September 4th. Our summer’s work is drawing to a close here at home. Well, almost.

As we reflect, we realize we have been blessed with a good garden of fresh produce to eat and share.

We have so enjoyed our time with many different family members and friends both in reunions, celebrations, church meetings, and through phone calls. We completed two more rooms of our small abode: the bedroom, upstairs, and the bathroom, downstairs.

We leave the sitting room and laundry room to complete next journey home and possibly the west wing which will be at least half greenhouse. The fencing remains following the building projects and new avenues will have to be cut again by that time as the trees and brush have replaced the open areas cut through along the property line two or three years ago.

So, in preparation for going, we have been repairing the truck and replacing the oil. Since we drive around 2,000 miles one way, we have to do that every time we come home and every time we leave again. We praise the Lord God our provider who has taken care of the repair expenses.

We’ve made arrangements for our sister, Nancee Clouse to take care of mail and bills, but financial support will still go through LAMP ministries. We have the house to clean up and close. We have wood to cut in preparation for a return next April. We have last minute shopping and packing. And, it looks like we have bible and music school book packages to pickup for delivery and people to meet in route.

We will be traveling alone this time and we sincerely covet your prayers that we can go in safety, that the truck will be faithful, and that we can find our way without big mishap. We ask the Father to be our Hiding place, our Shield. We ask your prayers for grace to learn the Spanish language and live a Christ-likeness among the village people; not offensive to their culture. We pray for hearing ears to open eyes to see all that God is doing and to walk obediently in His plans. We pray for contentment to live simple, and always keep the Great Commission the priority of our lives (see blog entitled: Christian Dream).

There are some of you reading this who wish you could be with us. Daily, as you read the Word, pray what you read over us and know you are with us in the most vital way; with us in spiritual warfare, alongside us in the battle. Keep us constantly in your hearts and prayers and whenever you get opportunity, please write us. Nothing is as encouraging as hearing from friends.

Yours in Christ,

John & Joyce

homesteadmailbox-jc@yahoo.com
Ourlifeandministry.blogspot.com

P.S. Please agree with us in prayer for John to have four new teeth. A previous dental plate was attached to four teeth by wires that caused those four teeth to be badly damaged.

Home ministry

Home ministry…




We are home in Missouri for the spring/summer. Our Spanish classes will resume in September where we left off. We brought our books home but do you suppose we have cracked them? Well, actually we have cracked them, but…that is about it. Ooppss! We have been pretty involved in home ministry.



Our first month was spent in caring for Joyce’s dad up to his death, then caring for her mother as she went through the various adjustments. Coming home means getting back into the frame of mind to handle home business affairs, meeting with people you haven’t seen for several months, getting on a schedule that is different from what you have been on the past several months. Can you believe it? We actually got used to eating at 7am, 10am, 3pm, and 7pm. Chuckle. We had to adjust from weather being in the 90‘s to the 20‘s (and below). We went from mental labor to physical labor, cutting wood as fast as possible to get the wood stove going before we froze. Lots of sore, stiff days and blisters but we are getting back up to speed! We live two different lives back and forth throughout the year and love them both.



We love Mexico, its people, food, and culture. We love being with God wherever He is, doing whatever He is doing. We are still in training in Mexico to become more effective, by learning the language. We are in training at home to find how we can fit back into our culture as ministers, not just as visiting missionaries. We truly have a heart to serve God in His calling for us whether at home or abroad.



I was reminded of a piece of scripture from 1 Timothy, “a workman worthy of his hire.” It has caused a prayer to come to our hearts that we would indeed be worthy of the support you so generously give to us; that our labors would be to bless the Lord as ministers both at home and abroad. We chose to give our lives to service wherever we are. That prayer has created some very interesting results. We have found ourselves doing quite a variety of things from landscaping, to garden counseling, to phone prayer meetings, to speaking engagements, to attic cleaning, painting, and more. We still have a few months to fill and we continue to prayerfully consider what God has for us in these months at home. We hope you will continue to keep in touch with us, to pray for us, and to send your prayer needs so we can pray for you. Please contact us if we can help you or speak to your group of friends or church family concerning Missions. The times are pertinent to calling more to the “harvest” through “going” or “sending”. Time is running out before God calls out in the words of Jesus on the cross, “It is finished!” and the world ends as we know it.

Release of the baby sea turtles

We had an interesting experience last evening. James and Cassie invited us to come over and visit but when we got there, they wanted us to go with them to a "turtle release" down the beach a 10-12 minute walk. We arrived at a small palapa, that's a thatched roof with no sides so that it gives shade but allows the breezes to cool you. Next to it was a tight fence made from the ribbing of palm leaves around an area about 20x20' . The palm leaf ribs are thin but are sturdy strips that when placed close together can make a good barrier for about anything. Villagers here often used them to wall up their houses or at least their outdoor kitchen. This gives privacy but allows air flow. This fencing was erected to keep dogs and other people from digging up the turtle nests and eating the eggs. One of the local village men had taken the initiative to get several volunteers to help him and nightly they have spent hours combing the beach with flashlights, watching for the big sea turtles to come in, dig a deep 2-3' hole, and lay their eggs. These volunteers then took the eggs and reburied them in the fenced-in area and marked them as to where the eggs were buried and how many days till their expected hatching. There can be 150 or more eggs in a single nest and they hatch out between 50-70 days.

Turtle nest



Baby turtle in hand


















We walked into the fenced in area where Oscar, the man who initiated the program, was kneeling on the ground near a marker. By the number of wooden markers in the ground, it looked as though there were about 30 nests. He explained that each day, he unburies a top portion of them and finds the baby turtles that have hatched and that are working their way to the top. Between Dec. Jan. and Feb. he and others are thus working to bury the eggs and release the babies as they hatch. While we were watching along with several other observers from the base and from the village, he dug into six of the nests and removed close to a hundred baby turtles. He put them all in a big tub and hauled it out of the fenced area to release them on the sand just outside the fence. We were probably still 35-40ft from the sea. Some of the baby turtles took off heading for the sea right away. Some remained in the same spot where they were placed. We waited about 15 minutes then loaded the active ones into the tub to take them closer to the sea. The remaining ones who either stayed still or moved very slowly would go back to a crib to be held till they were fully active and ready.

Release test

Catching to carry closer to sea

The tub was set about 15 yards from the incoming waves and we all selected and picked up several each. He drew a line in the sand and counted to three so that everyone would release them at the same time and we could watch them together. Of course some were far more ready and therefore faster than others but it was very exhilarating to watch them instinctively head for and reach the sea. They would often be tumbled in the strong flow of the wave as it came in but then receded quickly before the baby turtle could be fully washed out to sea. Usually by the second incoming wave, the baby turtles had flapped out far enough that the outgoing water would carry them on out. We were told that by releasing them at dusk, their coloring would blend with the water so that they would be less visible to their prey, and it would be a time when the fish were less likely to be in their eating frenzy. Thus, it might ensure a few more of the turtles surviving. The usual percentage of survival has been recorded by marine biologists as only 1%.

The sun set was beautiful on the horizon as we walked back along the sandy beach towards it, talking about the fascination of the earth and inhabitants God has made, the instincts He has put within them, and will of all to live.