The Holidays...

Hey all!

So, a quick review of past events...the board meeting, baptisms and testimonies, gigantic 70-person work team, and enormous Thanksgiving celebration all turned out pretty well, with a few minor glitches here and there. All in all, things went very well, the team managed itself handily, the townspeople flowed through the food lines smoothly, and we had enough beds for everyone.

Since then, I've been pretty busy, what with helping supervise the three older boys (Michel, Frankie, and Fede) with Joel while Seth was with his family for 2 weeks, sorting out a few issues with the school schedule, and finishing up with exams. That, and I was sick a lot, which was rather annoying. The last week or so of school was a relief, as we finally wrapped things up and I was able to catch up on details before flying home on the 24th.

The last week or so before flying home was a lot of fun, since I was off school and there were a lot of holiday activities, ranging from a lock-in with some of the kids (see videos on youtube plus more details below) to caroling to game nights and what-not. The lock-in was a surprise reward for the kids who did well on their school newspaper and daily journal duties, and we ended up inviting the younger kids plus their houseparents for games and snacks. We stocked up on food, games, mattresses, pillows, and such, had a devotion at 9:00pm, and then played, ate, sang carols, played, and ate the rest of the night, until we cleaned up and went home at 7:00 am. The younger kids went home around 12:00am. All activities were held in the school and church buildings beginning Thursday night, right after the last day of school. (Friday was a looonnng day for me.) Among the games played were: (click on blue links below to see relevant videos)

Team Shark: Teams of 5 or 6, one mattress per team, drag your mattress forward until the judge yells "shark" at which point the mattress becomes your lifeboat and everyone has to jump on as quickly as possible. Last team to get on the lifeboat moves back one mattress-length, first team to reach the finish line wins...

Bears/Rabbits/Octopus/Crabs: one "octopus" or "bear", depending on your preference for bear-crawling or crab-waddling, tries to catch the rabbits or crabs before they cross the ocean or forest to safety. If touched, the rabbits or crabs become immobile helpers to the bear or octopus and try to touch other rabbits or crabs during the next round. Last rabbit/crab touched becomes the bear/octopus in the next round...

Crab Soccer: soccer, only played while crab-waddling, with a normal soccer ball.

Rattlesnakes: 4 blind-folded players, 2 of whom are rattlesnakes (pursuers) and 2 of whom are humans (pursued). The snakes can clap their hands up to five times, forcing the humans to respond in kind and giving the snakes a chance to tag the humans by following the sound. The other players join hands to form the boundaries and watch the fun...

Dragon's Tail: form teams of 5 or 6, join hands, fix a bandana or scarf to the last in line as the "tail", then set all teams against each other to see which dragon "head" can yank the most "tails" while maintaining their own tail free from yankage.

The Shark Song: a boys camp favorite, involving motions, gestures, and very simple lyrics with a very predictable story line...

Among other special events in December...the boys had a chance to visit "Brazos de Amor" in Agua Prieta, MX, another children's home with far less funding, and see what a typical orphanage in Mexico looks like...they enjoyed being on the giver's side for once, and gained a renewed appreciation for how blessed they are. We also held our Christmas program and a chili supper, featuring 7 kinds of chili...strangely enough, Duane Wulfe won the opinion poll as to who had the best chili.

I then headed up to Tucson the 23rd, flew home the 24th, and have since then enjoyed family, food, etc. I am still planning a quick trip out to Leo over New Years, so we'll see what happens then. I return to Mexico the 4th to watching boys and getting ready for school again!

Prayer Requests:

I'm planning a Michoacan trip for 4 older kids in June...the plan is to help out a work team from Leo in Ixtlan by teaching English to the locals. I'm also hoping the kids can renew old acquaintances, be givers once again, and learn about money and travel and responsibility, since they will be planning with me and paying for their share of the travel expenses...flight, food, etc.

Joel and Kristi Leman are expecting their first baby.

Jonathan and Bere Aupperle will be taking over one of the houses (Alexia, Ramses, Nereida, Jose, and Gloria) for the Coughlins beginning when they all return from a Christmas trip to Ixtlan to visit Bere's family.

We will need to start making plans for the school program next year...teachers, high school, changes to the junior high school, summer program, etc.

Cassidy Wulfe started repenting this month, right after her quinciniera (15th birthday party, a big deal for girls here in Mexico)! Praise the Lord!

There are other things to pray about, but that's enough for now.

A parting thought...I was reading "When Helping Hurts," a book about not doing more harm than good when we give charitably or participate in short-term missions (work teams, etc.) and it brings up a lot of good points, information that most of us never consider. It's not a real exciting read, but it is worthwhile if you get the chance. Authors are Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. We just don't realize how great our responsibility to the poor is nor how little we understand about ourselves or the poor. By the way, we definitely don't sacrifice enough when we give...giving less is definitely not the point of the book or my point in recommending the book...rather, we need to give more, but give it more wisely.

Featured Child of the Month: Yaneli! Yaneli is 10, smart and really sassy, short, and skinny. She is like one of those tiny little lap dogs...they have almost no weight to throw around, so they make up for it with lots of noise! Yaneli, being so small and bold for her age, is pretty popular with work teams. Neither shyness nor fear are common characteristics for this one. She's a lot of fun and can be very sweet...can be. Sometimes she takes "cute and sassy" too far and ventures into "bossy and rebellious," which isn't so cute. She is still young and soft, but may have some very difficult "breaking" to go through to submit to God's call for her life.

That's all for now!

Be sure to check out the pictures on photobucket and the videos on youtube! Also, if you have a pen pal, don't forget to write!

Thanks,

Todd