"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."  Psalm 116:15

After living a long and full life, Mrs. Mary Lillie Tudor passed away this morning.  Mrs. Mary Lillie was a part of the church where I grew up- Pleasant Union Christian Church.  It somehow seems fitting that this saint has gone home to be with the Lord at Easter time. Tomorrow, we will celebrate the resurrected Christ.  Today, Mrs. Mary Lillie celebrates with the resurrected Christ.  Her faith "has been made sight". 

I could say much more, but I want to share two reasons why Mrs. Mary Lillie has been so important in my life.  First, I know I'm special to the Lord, in part, because of Mrs. Mary Lillie.  You see, ever since I was a little boy, she would call me close and tell me just that- that I was special and that God had a plan for my life.  When I preached my first sermon at 15 years old, she told me again.  And again when I went to college, and got married, and became a pastor and a bunch of other times in between.  When many other kids were wondering what they would do with their lives, I knew I would serve God in ministry.  And I knew this was possible because Mrs Mary Lillie had told me a hundred times that I was special and God had a plan for me.  For this, I am forever grateful.

Secondly, I am forever grateful for the prayers of Mrs. Mary Lillie.  You see, since we have been on the mission field, and even before, she has told me of her continual prayers on my behalf.  She would say, "John, you know I love you and I pray for you everyday... and sometimes twice a day."  She called me on the phone in Latin America to tell me just that. Just this morning I preached to 50 indigenous Mexicans because of her prayers.  I believe there will be indigenous Latin Americans in Heaven because of the effectual prayers of Mrs. Mary Lillie Tudor. The truth is, I now have a hole in my ministry.  My most important prayer warrior died today.  And while my soul rejoices at the thought of her in being with her Savior, I, for one will miss the powerful prayer support she has offered daily on my behalf. 

About two months ago, God began a sort of revival in my heart over the importance of specific, consistent prayer.  Today, I realize that this renewed belief in prayer is the sprout shooting up from the seed sown in my heart through the prayers of Mrs. Mary Lillie.  And for this, I am especially thankful to our God.

Last month, we as a family had a blast one weekend making this "trailer".  This is the first time the internet has been reliable enough to upload it.  We hope you enjoy "The Fantastic Four" starring Caleb, Luke, Elijah and Hope.  I finally got it to post in time for today, Luke's 6th birthday!  Happy Birthday, Scooter!

Last week's meetings allowed us the opportunity to visit with our good friend from Peru, Arnold.  The kids loved seeing him (and enjoying the peruvian treats he brought us)!

Luke has graduated from preschool! :).  And, to be honest, it is celebrated pretty heavily here.  The kids get presents and flowers (we came up with a toy car for Luke- much less than his buddies).  And they had a big program (nearly 3 hours long!) with it ending with Luke's class dance (see video below).  It was adorable.  We are proud of his dancing and, especially, how much Spanish he as learned since we've arrived in Mexico.

written by John.

written by John.
This is... a little something.  It is a little something I wanted to write about each member of my family.  I am, indeed, a very blessed man.

Hope.  My little girl continues to grow up before my very eyes.  She seems to have a new word everyday (I promise she said "Doggie" today but no one else seems to have heard it).  Her big blue eyes melt my heart and she may be the best "missionary" of the family as she has started more meaningful conversations.  Her sweet smile disarms all pretenses and allows us to talk with people that are pretty skeptical of our presence.

Elijah.  My littlest man is a great kid.  He smiles all the time and brings much joy to our home. Just this morning after breakfast, he came and sat in my lap and pretended to be my puppy.  He still has so much "toddler lovin" in him... for which I'm grateful.

Luke.  Luke is one caring little boy.  Just yesterday he stopped playing and came to Hope's side so she wouldn't be left alone in her highchair (she managed to tip it over a few weeks ago).  When we came into the room a moment later and praised him, he simply told me that he was about to run out of the room when God told him to protect Hope.  He stood by her so that she couldn't tip the chair.  This is one of tons of compassionate examples that I could share.

Caleb.  What can I say about my oldest.  Ever the extrovert, he has made friends with many people since we've moved to our village.  Evidence of this could be the kids that seem to constantly stop by or the way his school lights up when he arrives.  But he isn't open to other little boys, you should have seen him play/care/love on the little girl who recently visited her grandma.  She didn't have too many playmates because she lost the ability to use her tongue (she can't talk and has a hard time eating) when she was sick as a baby.  Others may have neglected her, but Caleb played with her as hard as he could.  They were precious together.  He'll even visit with our elderly neighbor... by himself.

Jenny.  My greatest earthly treasure and the love of my life, Jenny is such a blessing to me.  Were it not for her, I wouldn't have 4 wonderful kids.  And were it not for her, my life would be much less colorful.  She has a way of brightening my day (her smile still captivates me!) and is constantly making me laugh.  As mother and missionary, I see her growing more effective almost daily.  And as a wife, I believe I could do no better.  She better resembles Proverbs 31 day by day.

I thank God for my family.

Written by John.

I realize many of our supporters keep up with us more now through facebook than through the website.  If you want to be our friends on facebook, simply click here and then choose either Jenny and/or John to be your friend.  Additionally, you'll find a link to me on twitter on that same page.  In addition to this info, here are three things I'd ask you to pray about on our behalf.

1. Language:  Our people group speak a language that relatively few people in the world actually speak.  Because of this, there are very few people trying to reach these people and NOONE is doing so in there mother language.  Pray for us to learn the language and for us to have the ability to train the believers (there are a few here) to share God's story in the language of the people.  While less common now, there are people right here in town who do NOT speak Spanish.  They CANNOT hear the gospel until it is preached in their tongue.  To complicate this further, there are some younger people (under 30), who only speak Spanish as a result of the stigma associated with speaking such an uncommon language.
2. Scripture:  We praise God that the NT has been translated into a dialect similar to the language of the people.  Unfortunately, it is different enough where it isn't easy of them to listen to/understand (I think of it as the difference between English in Great Britian and that spoken in USA).  A further problem is that there probably are 10 people in either dialect that can read their language.  They must HEAR it... otherwise a stack of NTs would do them very little good.  Pray that, through us and the believers we train, they will hear, understand and respond to God's glorious gospel.
3. Culture:  Pray for us to adapt to the culture around in every way we can WITHOUT compromising our Faith.  Many parts of the culture here are beautiful (for instance the high importance of family).  Other parts are not- pagan practices regarding treating the sick and avoiding spirits.  Pray for us to learn the culture and that God will address the cultural aspects that are outside of His Will.  Further pray for our kids as they continue to adjust to a different place/language/culture - They are doing great, but there are still some difficult aspects for them.

written by John.
This past week has brought us just a bit closer to getting our house move in ready.  Because the house has been vacant for a good ten years or so, there has been plenty to check on.  With the entire house being made of concrete, it does mean that the actual structure of the house remains unchanged.  Slap a coat of paint on it and it looks just like it did 20 years ago.  The painting begins today.

This past week we were able to repair the windows- 20 year old sun baked silicon gets pretty brittle (BTW- they guy helping me showed how much experience matters as he probably completed two or three windows for every window I completed).  The plumbing was completed (temporarily) and various electrical projects were completed.  Yesterday, the carpenter began on the closets and the plumber began work on putting in a second toilet (sort of unexpectedly). We HOPE to be in the house within the next week and a half!  We are very thankful for this blessing.

Written by John.
While it still isn't official, we are very excited about the possible house that Jen posted about a couple of days ago.  Since then, we have gotten estimates for the necessary work to be done and I just submitted the official paperwork to get the ball rolling with the mission.  For ease of communication, the rest of this post will be written as if we are definitely moving to this house.

Our town is a nice place in the State of Oaxaca.  We aren’t terribly far from the city of Oaxaca, a great place for us to get most anything we could need.  As Jenny already described in her last post, the view is INCREDIBLE!  The beauty of the sky accompanied by a backdrop of mountains is absolutely majestic.  I find myself looking around and wonder how I could be so fortunate. 

The few townspeople we have met so far have been very friendly.  In fact, yesterday we met our new neighbor who invited us in and even shared with us some Mole.  Mole is a traditional type of sauce that is served meat (we had chicken) and eaten with tortillas.  The meal is typically served at fiestas- we actually had leftovers from a celebration the day before.  The tortillas (tlayudas in this case) had been made by our neighbor that morning.  During the course of our conversation, we learned that she made tortillas each morning- as is typical in our town.  In fact, our conversation started in the yard between two big piles of corn that the family had recently harvested.

As night came, the air cooled and we moved inside where I saw what will likely become a common site- her altar dedicated to her dead relatives.  On the table burned a candle (I wondered if it always burns) and various adornments, liquors and flowers.  I made sure the boys didn’t bump or touch the table as they played with a pile of “corona” bottle caps on the floor (they had picked them up in the yard earlier).  During this time, Jenny was learning from more about some of the weavings that our neighbor makes- they were both beautiful and intricate.  I later commented to Jenny how much better the gifts will be that we can send to our family stateside.  I loved the Peru stuff, but these weavings are incredible.

We later moved to the kitchen to enjoy the Mole.  The mole revitalized my excitement for the food here- having come from Peru, I had been a bit disappointed thus far.  In addition to the mole and tlayudas, we enjoyed learning a couple of new words in the local language.  Sadly, I think my bad pronunciation made me even my best efforts virtually unintelligible.

After a bit more conversation, we said farewell to our new friends and neighbors and drove back to our temporary house in the city.  Arriving home late, we got the kids to bed and continued to reflect upon all the culture and language we had just learned and experienced.  It was a good day.  My prayer is that our current experiences will pave the way for deeper conversations about life and faith… and the good news of Jesus Christ!