Ahh, busy times....

Hey all!

So anyway, it's been about 2 months since I last posted...things were a little busier than normal, to say the least!

Be sure to keep writing if you have a pen pal at CVE! Also, be sure to look at the Photobucket pictures (see link at right).

Also, a couple of videos...
Leap Frog
Miguel Hidalgo Goofs!

First, I turned old in October. I am now 28 years old. Almost 30. Wow. There was cake, my face in the cake, a crown, a birthday gift of a daily planner from the other teachers (a hint, perhaps?), and a sweater that was supposed to have "Studmuffin" embroidered on it but instead had "Da Muffin Man" taped on the front. Kind of the same message, I suppose. Also, the primaria kids and teachers blackened their front teeth (a teacher also sported a hideous wig) and wore letters that said "Happy Day" in Spanish. All in all, a good birthday, except I had a sore throat.

Probably the biggest and most abrupt change was when one of our secundaria teachers, Rohde, accepted a position with CONAFE, the organization that certifies our school, and we've had a bit of a scramble to replace her. Please pray for Cesar, the replacement sent by CONAFE. He's 27, seems mature and responsible, but is not a Christian. We don't know much about him, so it'll be a bit of a process to orient ourselves to each other.

We had a work team from Milford come for a week, which started work on our dorm for the older boys (where I live) to add on some bedrooms and bathrooms and turn it into an actual house, with kitchen, living room, etc. Eventually, we'd like to have a couple to stay there, so we need to have it ready for them when and if the Lord sends them. Something else to pray for, because these boys could really use a stable Mom and Dad relationship. While you're praying, remember it could be YOU the Lord wants to send!

I had a chance to take Frankie to the local health center/hospital in town. He needed a cyst removed from his neck, and I wanted to see what medical care looks like in Magdalena...yikes! It was really overcrowded, and there were very long waits...we had to get there at 2:00 for a surgery at 4:00 that took less than 30 minutes. The doctor who did the surgery seemed professional, and we didn't have to pay anything, but it was definitely socialized medicine...When we left, there were still people in the waiting room who had been there before we arrived. You have to go to the hospital once and wait to be diagnosed, and then you have to go again later and wait to be treated...For emergencies, obviously, it's different, but all in all, it was an eye-opener.

Now, for the future...the coming two weeks could be the biggest in CVE history (that might be a slight exaggeration, but it'll be close)! Please keep us in your prayers as things get really hectic (and stressful)! The CVE board comes on Wednesday, along with the entire Schick family (a rather large clan), followed by a work team numbering some 70-75 people on Saturday who will be here for the baptisms of Ben Schick and Jaquiline Figueroa and for the huge annual Thanksgiving Day celebration. Also coming for the baptisms is a small group from our sister church in Tecate. The Thanksgiving Day celebration consists of inviting lots of townspeople to come and eat turkey with us, resulting in numbers somewhere around 200-300 guests from town. If you've ever prepared a full turkey dinner with stuffing, pie, etc., then imagine 200 guests plus 60 CVE kids and workers plus 75 team members plus 30 or more family visitors....

Two new CVE-related businesses are up and running, Duane Wulffe's meat-packing business (producing beef jerky and Slim-Jim type products, but of much higher quality) and Katie Schick's coffee shop/bookstore. Pray that their businesses can succeed and be good testimonies for the town, as they've invested a lot of time, money and effort with the purpose of providing jobs and income for Magdalena.

Pray for the older kids here at CVE as we wrestle with the best way to educate them in their high school years while protecting them from sin and yet preparing them for the world that awaits.

Finally, pray for the new converts, Jaqui and Ben, as they are baptized on the 21st. Ben is 16, Jaqui 14, and both will have a powerful influence in setting the tone for young converts at CVE in the future. We have at least 3 other girls who have expressed strong interest in following Christ, but they have no real pattern to guide them as to what the teen-age Christian life looks like.

The CVE child of the month is Jaqui! As I said before, she's 14, has been repenting for about a year and a half, and is artistic, shy, sincere, insecure, sensitive, etc. She is interested in photography, likes to read, and enjoys spending time with her sister, Daniela, brother, Federico, and niece, Darilis. She is a perfectionist and is rather hard on herself when she does something wrong. She hates English and math in school because she doesn't like to make mistakes. She's also deathly afraid of frogs, and is ridiculously fun to tease and torment in a multitude of ways. Please pray for her to stay strong in her faith, be a strong Christian light to her peers, and rest peacefully and securely in the love and power of Christ.

Thanks,

Todd