Todd Stoller

2011-11-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!

A few new videos for you all to enjoy!

Mexican Cultural Dance The kids are far better at being cute than they are at dancing...

Mighty Mouse Nereida I weigh approximately 170 pounds, Nere is 9 years old, almost 10. She's been able to lift me up and support my weight since she was around 8.

Who's On First Michelle and Karla might be a little hard to hear, but yes, they are speaking English.

Fall of Faith 1 We did a series of team challenges and obstacles, like a 6-person pushup and this trust challenge.

Fall of Faith 2

Don't forget to check out the new photos on photobucket!

As for some info about what's going on in the photos, for Mexico's independence day we held a special dance presentation by the primaria kids, followed by games and fireworks that night with the older kids at Cafe Sed. For my birthday all the kids came dressed up in the weirdest outfits they could find (I have no idea why...), a few days later we had a pajama day at school, and then did the team challenge obstacle course.

Thanks,

Todd

A few other events to discuss...

2011-08-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

A few other things since the last post, and a few more photos (be sure to check out the other new photos on the photobucket link to the right--just click on Mexico and look for Magdalena or look through the other albums)!!!

First, we had a graduation ceremony for the kindergarten, primary, and secondary school graduates...Fede, Karla, Jazany, and Osmara.

Second, we had a 4H fair of sorts, complete with horsemanship and goat showing, art, photography, sewing, speech, demonstration, music, and more!

Third, school starts on August 22nd! Please be prayerful!

Thanks,

Todd

Whoops! I did(n't) it again!

2011-07-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't write very faithfully the last few months, did I? So, here's another scorching summary of what's been going on since my last post...

Sigma, a business that supplies us with food, hosted a party for the kids, with inflatable toys, piñata, clowns, and etc. They did a really nice job, very mature group of people, but fun.

Betsa had her 15th birthday party in early May, which in Mexico is kind of the rite of passage into womanhood...dress, cake, party, ceremony, family, friends, etc. Betsa is Ruth's oldest daughter, followed by 3 rowdy and rambunctious boys...Manuel, Josue, and Angel.

Lupita had her 15th birthday party in early May as well. She elected the informal route, with a short ceremony, cake, pictures in the dress, etc., followed by everyone changing into old clothes and playing volleyball, baseball, etc. I missed out on a lot of pictures of this one, because I was driving a route at the time, but such is life.

I now have a US and Mexican driver's license! I also have a Mexican cell phone! I'm becoming a national!

ENLACE, Mexico's national standardized testing, came and went with few problems. I think the kids did pretty well.

That same week of ENLACE, the kids had another kind of learning experience when Duane Wulf and Joel Leman butchered a hog and the kids got to watch and help, all the way from the hammer blow to the head (we had no stun gun)(the first one didn't do the job, so they whacked him again) and throat-slitting all the way to the hide-scraping, gutting, anatomy lesson, and bacon preparation.

Joel and Steph Rinkenberger's wedding went off very well...I am still very much in awe of their willingness to start life together with 4 very energetic kids...I also admit I choked up when Joel walked down the aisle with Marcos, Aaron, and Diego in tow in their little suits...they were so obviously excited to be in a (their very own!) wedding with a new Daddy to walk behind. They were very manly tears, though, and I didn't let them fall, so it doesn't count against my reputation as a Macho Non-emotional He-Man Stoic. Plus, I always have a very large lump in my throat, so the fact I was swallowing hard and often (but very briefly, mind you) can be written off as an extra, temporary thyroid gland, probably the result of exceptionally high levels of muscle-building testosterone flowing through the glandular system into my massive biceps...

Keith and Emily Schambach officially announced their decision to move back to the US. They are now in Leo, IN, where Keith is working at Paragon Landscaping. It was obviously a very tough decision for them, and tough for the girls and the rest of us, but God is simply moving them from one mission field to the next, and He is trustworthy. Pau and Kali are taking over the girls now.

We had testing, finished school, held an end-of-year fair and exhibition, and had another lock-in at the school! Pretty similar format to last time in December really....devotions, explanation of rules, games, farewell slideshow for Keith and Emily, more games, singing, food, movie, food, cleanup, go to bed at 4am...

The dorm was finished, and looks much better! Then we moved. Part of the craziness of the last few months was having basically half the staff shifting places, with Seth, Fede and I moving into town, Steph and Joel moving into our dorm (which is now a house), Pau moving out to the girls' house, Keith and Emily moving to the US...you get the idea. All of this while we had up to 3 different housing projects (new construction or remodel) going on and hosting a number of work teams...

We went to Michoacan, finally! Fede, Michelle, Cassidy Wulf, Nicole Knobloch and I headed down to Hermosillo by car and to Guadalajara by airplane (first flight for Fede and Michelle), then met up with Gloria Gonzalez to tour Guadalajara before heading to Ixtlan. From Ixtlan we went to Zamorra and Camecuaro (a very beautiful lake area), then by bus to a national park in Uruapan, an island with a famous statue (Ajintzi, I think) close to Patzcuaro, and then on to Morelia, where I had my language training for 2 months in 2009. In Morelia, we visited a craft museum, a candy museum, churches, my Mexican host family, markets, restaurants, and a couple of universities. From there we went back to Ixtlan for a few days of welcome rest and hanging out, then back to Guadalajara and Hermosillo and Magdalena.

When we got back, there were lots of new kids...Mariela, who is 9, I think, came first, followed by Belem and Belinda, who are Fede and Jaqui's younger sisters (ages 12 and 10, I believe). Last, we finally got a family of 5 kids who we had been told were coming months ago...Fernanda (8 yrs.), Tadeo (6), Perla (3), Leobardo (2), and Milagros (10 months). All were very thin and underfed, but especially Tadeo, who has special needs, and Milagros, who was immediately sent to the hospital for stage 3 malnutrition. It is amazing what regular baths, good food, and safety will do for kids. I would never have imagined Tadeo could be as energetic and expressive as he is now, and Milagros, though still small (she's about the same size as Soraya, Limon and Kristy's baby girl born only a few months ago), is much more energetic and cheerful. There will be a long period of adjustment for many of these kids though, who will need to find their way to a new normal.

Meanwhile, the girls (Jaqui, Lupita, Karla, Tania, and Yaneli) went with Pau, Geo, and Kali on a special trip to Culiacan, south of Mexico City, for a couple of weeks to see Pau and Geo's parents. Their mother, Rebecca, then came back with them to stay for a few weeks.

Also, Bere's mother and younger brother came about the same time to stay for a month or so.

Summer school went off very well, in spite of the chaos. We had a number of volunteers who helped out as summer school teachers....Rebecca Aquino, Pau and Geo's mom, taught Spanish classes and was then succeeded by Sarah Frank, who taught in summer school last year and is now at CVE full-time as our primaria English teacher. Heidi Krueger taught science and sign language classes and helped take care of some kids while several staff members went home for wedding receptions and such. Apparently she likes it here, as she is now planning to stay on full-time in child care. Alyssa Myer and Lisa Aschlimann came down from Bluffton to teach study skills, math, music, art, and English, and Sara Schick was our swimming instructor and PE teacher. Meanwhile, some of our own kids got into the act, with Michelle helping in swimming, Jaqui teaching kindergarten and preschool, and Karla also stepping into the kindergarten classroom and serving as a translator for Sara in PE. Seth also stepped in admirably as the go-to substitute teacher whenever there was a shortage of people, so I actually got a few weeks off of teaching! (I didn't realize until then how much the classroom schedule had drained me of enthusiasm and energy last year...thankfully, with the time off from teaching and ability to focus on supervision this summer, I'm starting to recharge.)

Another part of the hectic schedule this summer was a simultaneous temporary exodus of child-care workers....Joel and Steph went back for a week or two to hold receptions for their families in Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana, and took their best man and maid of honor with them (Seth and Jenna) while Jodi went home to visit family and take Jorge to get his leg fixed...(Side note...Jorge's leg didn't need surgery because God healed him before he even headed north!)

It was a welcome change of pace for me to be teaching this summer in non-standard classes...I got to teach a couple hours of swimming per day, plus driver's ed! Swimming was fun, courtesy of the Duane and Ann family pool, and I spent a lot of time with Limon and Kristy's boys (Angel, Isaac, Daniel, Marcos, Eduardo) and Juantan and Bere's kids (Ramses, Aaron, Nere, Jose, Keyla). Driver's ed was a little nerve-wracking at times as we did parallel parking, driving in reverse, and other exercises, but the kids really did very well, even with stick shift! Fede and Michelle were on Saturdays while Jaqui, Lupita, and Karla had Wednesdays.

VBS week was tiring and crazy but good...we had a total of 524 kids during the week, plus another 30 adults or so. With all the heat and driving and teaching, it was nice to get it done, but definitely an important part of the CVE yearly routine. Joel Rinkenberger and I were teaching the 12 to 15 year old boys.

Now, I have a couple of "free" weeks to plan and organize for next school year, do some teacher training, and relax a bit before school starts on August 22!

Thanks for your patience!

Todd

Breaking News Story!

2011-04-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So, there's going to be a wedding at CVE...Joel Rinkenberger and Steph Barr are making all the kids (especially the older girls, who are completely in love with all things romantic) get excited at the prospect of a wedding here at the children's home! Pray for them as they sort through all kinds of things on their way to marital bliss!

Also, I figured I'd include a few pictures demonstrating the talents of our kids here at CVE. Michelle makes the flowers pictured here, and Fede makes the knitting items, such as hats, scarves, etc. Jaqui and Fede are both very artistic, and Frankie is showing off part of the bridge he made with popsicle sticks. When finished, it supported approximately 100 to 120 pounds! If you are interested in purchasing hats or flowers, both of which can be made to order, please let me know. Flowers are around $6 and hats around $15.

In addition, I included a photo of Ana (aka Anahy) with Karla. Ana, sadly, is no longer with us, and neither is Frankie. Both left while I was in the US, so please pray for them in their new lives, that they would not forget what they learned. We must trust that God can use all things for good, and confide that He loves them far more than we do and can be trusted to work in them even when far away from "home."

Thanks,

Todd

Finally! Time to Catch Up (Session 2)!

2011-04-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

So, here we go again!

In March we had Jaqueline's quincinera celebration, complete with church service, flowers, cake, dress, photos, music, and a dance with her father and brother and Bill. It was a happy occasion all around, everyone had a good time, and Jaqui really seemed to enjoy it. A girl's 15th birthday is a very big deal in Mexico, kind of a coming-of-age ceremony.

We also have a new teacher now, who is also Jaqui's older sister, Daniela (next to Jaqui in the photo). She will be taking Cesar's place as our Spanish and science teacher for the older kids. Cesar was a replacement teacher from CONAFE, our school certification organization, who began working in November when our previous teacher left for a different position. Also, Pau's sister, Geo, is now working in her place in the school as the art and social studies teacher, as Pau is now teaching adult Spanish to the staff here at CVE. So, with lots of turnover and changes, we're all adjusting and learning.

Praise the Lord! Julian, pictured above with his son, Fernando, is repenting! He faces lots of challenges, including raising his special-needs son alone, so please pray for him!

One exciting little note was when a gas tanker truck overturned on the curve and fell across the train tracks. We had to evacuate CVE while they got it back on its feet and out of the way. They were probably being a little overcautious, but it was nice to have a few hours of surprise break from school.

We have some new kids now...Jorge, 2 yrs., has a broken femur, which is not a good indication of his home life. Keyla, 3 yrs., and Osmara, 5 yrs., are sisters. Estephania, 6yrs., is the younger sister of Julissa and Jazany, who are in the process of being adopted by the Schicks. Estephania was staying with family until recently. Ana, 12 yrs., is also with us now, and trying to adjust and make friends. Please pray for all of these kids, as they have to establish themselves, deal with the pain of their pasts, and begin reconstructing their lives in the context of a God who loves them and died for them.

Finally, the dorm I live in is on it's way...after adding on the bathrooms and bedrooms, we moved our things over to the new section and they tore into the old section. In the meantime, there has been a huge amount of dust, but it has been nice to be in a new room and bathroom. They tore up the old floor, replaced the windows, tore down the ceiling, treated it for termites, and began putting up the new walls, wiring, and plumbing, so hopefully we're not too far away from completion.

In the meantime, they've also been working on the new house for the Limoncitos, Joel and Kristi's brood of savages. Exterior walls are up, so there's progress, but a long way to go.

Also, a few more videos...

Makoto Inoue stopped by for a visit and also gave us an introduction to Japan, complete with a judo lesson...of course, the kids enjoyed that....Judo 1 and Judo 2!

A few games for you to watch...Twisted Tug of War involves the usual game, but with a twist...everyone for himself, and with feet planted in strange positions...if you lose your balance, you step away.

Blind tanks once and again made an appearance...pair up, blindfold one, confine the other to the wall, give the blind person a ball, and have the seeing partner shout instructions in an attempt to eliminate the other teams. Great fun!

Child of the Month: Estephania!
Estephania, 6 yrs., is the younger sister of Julissa and Jazany, as mentioned before, who up until recently was living with relatives. Since coming, Estephania has jumped into CVE life easily, what with already having lots of connections, but seems to be struggling now that there are so many other new kids here who get the "new kid" attention from adults and kids alike. Feels a little lost, I suppose. Regardless, she's sweet and cute, generally speaking, and seems pretty soft and receptive. Pray for her as she adapts to CVE and establishes herself with us. Pray that she will feel the love and affection of the staff, even though she may not be the new kid anymore, and especially that she will respond to God's love and affection for her.

Don't forget to check out the pictures and videos! For pictures, see link at right. For videos, click on the special text included in this post!

Thanks,

Todd

Finally! Time to Catch Up!

2011-04-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

So, anyway, I haven't written since the last time I was home, and I'm a little behind...oops!

I'm going to split this up between several posts so as to allow space for more pictures...so don't stop reading with this one!

News since New Year's is a little fuzzy for me, but here's a general sampling of the highlights...

Over New Year's I had a chance to visit Leo again and catch up with old friends. It was a nice, slow visit, lots of sitting around and talking.

As soon as I got back down to CVE, I jumped right in to taking care of Joel and Kristi's boys (Angel, Jose, Isaac, and Daniel), which was a nice little adventure. I did a lot of reading, ate lots of Mom's Chex mix, and enjoyed the following scenario...Angel was in charge of taking care of rabbits until then, when Eddie, a much younger little squirt, was given the privilege of taking care of the male...the day before the changeover took place, Angel explained to Eddie that the male had to stay with the female one more day...so Eddie says, "Why?" Angel stammered, then said, "He has to 'load' her." Eddie say, "Ohhh....How?"

In February, my parents came down for a week to visit, so that was fun, even though things got a little crazy right about then. Also that week, Jon and Amy Gerst brought their two adopted girls from Ethiopia for a visit, and we had them in to my English class to talk about adoption.

The Saturday after my parents left for home, we had a Fight Night for the boys and men and wannabe men on campus...the night started with pizza and Kung Fu Panda, then finished with lots of sweaty boys with their shirts off and their underwear and pants stretched very, very tightly...upward. See the youtube videos for some interesting footage...Limon, Joel Rink, and Wedgie Wars!!

Also, some other interesting clips on youtube might be the science presentations made by Fede and Karla, or the rather interesting play put on by Angel, Alexia, Ana, and Tania...written by themselves!

Child of the Month...Jorge!
Jorge is 2 years old, a recent arrival with a broken femur. He was very, very quiet and reserved at first, but is starting to get comfortable with the attention and smile and interact a lot more. He still doesn't talk much, but has a cute smile. He has a tendency to act helpless (he kind of is helpless, but more so than he would have to be...) and eats like a horse if you feed him, but is still pretty much an unknown to me. Time will tell when the cast comes off and he has to fend for himself a bit more. Pray for Jorge that he can be more independent and confident, but especially that he would be soft and receptive, in spite of his past home life, to the love and affection of Christ.

In addition to the photos and videos in this post, don't forget to read the other posts and check out all the available photos on my photobucket site using the link at right.

Thanks,

Todd

The Holidays...

2010-12-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

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

Ahh, busy times....

2010-11-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

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

Hmmm....It's been a busy month....

2010-08-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

So, July and August were really busy....Here's a blistering rundown of the events...not in chronological order...

After Dan and I went camping with the boys and nearly burned down the campus (last post), Joel Leman and some boys and summer help and I climbed the nearby mountain you see in the photo below (but up the left side, not the cliff you see in the picture...).

We had a puzzle competition night that was really fun, where we split up into 6 teams, made 6 stations with 3 puzzles (easy, medium, and hard) at each station, and gave the teams 10 minutes to get as far as they could. The team with the most points at the end got Cheerios!

I traveled home and got to see almost all the family at one point or another, including a quick trip out to Leo and a fly-by of Dallas.

Jeff Beer came for a visit, as you can see in the photo above.

School started, and the first week is over, with only minor mishaps, but still with a lot of prayer and work to go. We have 13 in primaria, 8 in secundaria, 1 in an online preparatoria program, and 3 in a special education type setup. Part of the new school setup has meant turning the computer room into a mini-classroom, with new walls and everything to separate a space and avoid distractions. Joel Rinkenberger has been working on that project for us, along with Candi (see photo), Aaron, Marcos (Poncho), and Diego, so if he could only get one more helper (maybe Eduardo), he'd easily finish in only 10 years!

The new house was ready enough to move in, so Dan and Tami Coughlin now have 6 kids...Alexia, Ramses, Nereida, Jose, Gloria, and Kaeb. Speaking of which, keep writing, all those of you who have a pen pal!

We've had multiple pool parties at Duane and Ann Wulfe's pool, a 4H fair that included everything from insects to bikes to dog training to acting and singing, and lots of soccer and food. We also had a reading program for the kids in the computer room where they could earn prizes for time spent reading.

Oh, did I mention Vacation Bible School? Jonathan Aupperle, Dan Coughlin, and I had 9-11 year old boys, and the last day we had almost 60 boys in our class alone. We were well over 300, probably 350 or 400 total, on Friday, but I never did hear a final number. If I recall correctly, there were 41 kids piled into one 15 passenger van (the dashboard does in fact double as a seat if the child is small enough) and around 160 kids in a 66 passenger bus.

There are new pictures on photobucket, too.

Prayer Requests:

We've had some openness to following Christ over the last few months, especially among our girls, so please pray that those who are making tentative steps forward, whether here on campus or in the community, could stand strong, find the support they need, and above all, submit to the Spirit's direction and conviction in their lives. It can be very difficult for convicted souls to stick it out after the initial emotional wave passes. May the Spirit make himself known!

The school still has lots of new kids, lots of new routines, and lots of new teachers, so keep us in your prayers as we find our normal, gain some balance, and settle in for the long hall. Pray that we will have the wisdom to discern when to have mercy, when to discipline, how to teach, etc., and the strength to carry it through.

As I mentioned before, Dan and Tami went from 1 to 6 kids, so pray for the adjustments that are going on with both kids and adults in that new house.

In conjunction with Dan and Tami, the sibling house went from 12 kids to 7 kids being cared for by CVE, so there's a lot of adjustment there as well.

I think that's all for now! Please keep praying for me, CVE in general, the kids, especially the boys, and anything else you can think of!

Thanks,

Todd

Blind Tanks....Karla's "Me" Impersonation...etc.

2010-06-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

So, it's been awhile, but before we start, I now have a youtube account! Little by little, I continue acquiescing to the vices and wickedness of the internet. However, below in blue are links that will take you to my two whole videos if you just double-click. If for some reason that doesn't work, just copy and paste the address below in your webbrowser. If that doesn't work, you're pathetic or I made a big mistake.

Karla's impersonation was part of an English project/presentation for the end of the year. The kids had to impersonate everything I do and say in Spanish in the classroom throughout the day, but in English. You can't see it very well, but she taped a small, unripe apple to her neck under her chin (I don't know why....) as well as wore my sport coat, tie, and hat. The other student is her classmate, Federico. The content of this impersonation is exaggerated...slightly. Very slightly.

Karla Impersonation of Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZdJ_MfQ5VY

Blind tanks is a game played in teams of two...one, a seeing (or screaming) guide who can't move away from the wall, gives instructions (left, right, forward, backward, duck, fire, etc.) to a blindfolded "tank" who has a ball to throw at the other tanks as they move around the room. Whoever survives, wins. They big, muscular, stunningly handsome gringo in red would be...me, of course. In my defense, allow me to explain a few factors that negatively affected my otherwise sterling performance...first, Jaqui doesn't enunciate her words very clearly, whether speaking or screaming, in Spanish or English. Second, the room is really big and all hard surfaces, so everything echoes. Third, everybody else is screaming, and it all mixes into one big noise, where individual voices are indistinguishable. Fourth, and most importantly, the Spanish word for "straight" is "derecho" and the word for "right" is "derecha," which sound exactly the same when screamed loudly from a distance of more than 3 feet away. Please see "first" above.

Blind Tanks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtINwgkElFA

We had rain! For the first time since (I think) early February, it really rained here! Two days in a row! In Illinois, when it rains, everyone runs inside. Down here, everyone runs outside. If there happens to be a gutter sloshing a small waterfall off the rooftop of a nearby building, so much the better! On Sunday, everyone ran out and we had a huge game of soccer, which was like trying to play football on a slip-n-slide. Very, very fun. Monday night, we just had a waterfight, involving mud wrestling (Frankie)(what a surprise), 5 gallon buckets of water, and a small waterfall that became the favored spot to soak everyone who was soaking you. Also very, very fun!

In other news, our school was asked to provide the escolta (flag escort) at the end of year celebration for CONAFE in Santa Ana (CONAFE is the department that certifies our school, Santa Ana is the nearest town to Magdalena to the south, about 20 minutes, named after General Santa Ana of Alamo fame)(or infamy...he's a very unpopular figure in Mexican history as well). Michelle, one of our older students, was selected as the top student overall for our region in CONAFE. A few weeks later, we had a graduation ceremony for several of our kids, including Michelle. There were family invited, pizza, cake, slideshow, speeches, and an inspirational message from Bill Schick. Very good time had by all.

I've had the fortune (or misfortune) to join some of the little guys for camping and swimming the last few weeks. These sorts of things always look great before and after, but can often be miserable when it's actually happening. During camping, I was left without a sleeping bag and had to suffice myself with not much padding (my fault...took a bad count) and Diego almost burned down CVE campus....this was before the rain, so everything, including the pile of large fallen tree trunks, dry twigs, and bark that Diego set on fire, was really, really dry. Fortunately, Dan Coughlin was there helping out and caught it fast enough to get it out. As for swimming, the kids are actually doing pretty well, though obedience is a little lacking at times. At least I'm in a pool when they disobey me! Actually, like I said, they do pretty well for their ages...

Kid Profile for the Month: Federico Figueroa (Fede) is a nice kid, sensitive, 15 years old. Very artistic, reasonably but not superbly athletic, intelligent, generally diligent in a lazy sort of way (yes, that's a paradoxical oxymoron, but it's true), very funny, especially the way he talks. Several months ago he committed his life to Christ, but since then has struggled a bit, not from overt sin but more from distractions, complacency, lack of urgency in his walk with Christ. Pray that as he grows he will find direction and purpose, not just for this life, but for all eternity. Pray that God focuses his heart, mind, and eyes on the prize and draws him into a headlong pursuit of the holiness of God.

Speaking of spiritual things, I myself am facing some of the same temptation to stagnate as Fede, and as I'm sure many if not most of you are too. Please expand that prayer above about headlong pursuit to me and yourselves and the American church in general, including our denomination. There is more to true life than novels, movies, tv, sports, job, money, food, sleep, friends, or even family. There is an eternal, almighty, loving, holy, just, righteous, burning, glorious, majestic, merciful, ever-present, all-knowing God who invites and demands our slavish devotion as the only thing really worth pursuing with the tiny piece of time that we are each alloted. Dare we forget it?

Gracias,

Todd

Ahhh....Time to think....I hope!

2010-06-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Sorry, it's been awhile, and I still don't have much time before summer school starts, but here goes....

School's out! In a week or so we'll be starting summer school again, but hopefully it will be a bit more relaxed and less time consuming than the last few months have been. Something to pray for. Pray for the summer school teachers, the kids, the learning, transitioning, everything. We should have all the teachers we need for the coming year, so start praying that the team can gel together, work hard, and have a good year next year. We finished the year well, with a bombardment day, an exhibition of student work, including speeches and impersonations, and a game or two of "Blind Tanks." I'm hoping to include at least one video with this blog, but I'm not sure it will work since I was unable to load photos for my last blog. Not sure what the problem is, but hopefully it won't get in the way with this one.

My younger brother Ryan came down with the Princeville work team and it was good to have him down, along with some of the other people from home, like my aunt Mary and cousins Victoria and Alivia. Ryan was an instant celebrity, being my brother, and did a presentation/demonstration of physical therapy, while Victoria and Alivia seemed to be pretty popular with the kids, especially Frankie.

This week, Washington brought a team down and it was good to see my cousin Austin along with the Fehrs and a few others. Austin was also an instant celebrity, partly because he's my cousin and partly because for some reason, Frankie and Uriel really latched on to him immediately, which is not so unusual for Frankie (if you're a girl) but very unusual for Uriel, since Uriel hardly speaks to anyone in Spanish, let alone when he has to use English.

In other news, Bill and Joan were able to cross the border with Uriel and Lily, so you may be seeing them around for a month or so in Central Illinois.

Child profile: Candi (short for Candelaria) is 4, about to enter kindergarten, far too cute for her own good, and generally doesn't get into too much trouble. That doesn't say much, since she's only four, but pray for Candi that first of all her cuteness won't corrupt her heart (too much attention, etc.), that her heart will be clean and free of the anger and impetuosity that characterize (unfortunately) her older brothers, and that she will have a heart for God as she grows and matures.

Don't forget to check out the new photos on photobucket. Just click on the link at right. Also, for an impersonation of me by Karla and Fede, click below.

That's all for now!

Thanks,

Todd

Wind, Exercise, and Prayer Requests...

2010-05-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

Let´s see, what´s new...some strong freak winds tore part of the roof off the volleyball court and deposited it (steel supports and all) on the roof of the comodor...Ramses and Yaneli, both age 10, can each do about 30 pushups...Frankie can run 26 laps around the local track in 55 minutes, which means he can run about 8 minutes to the mile for almost an hour...without doing any training ahead of time, other than his daily activities (I told you he has a lot of energy)...and Duane and Ann Wulfe organized a track and field day for the kids at CVE, which was carried out today to much fanfare and fun!

The ¨Dia de Diversion¨ included sprints, long distance running, 3 legged races, baseball and frisbee throws, a volleyball tournament, bicycle contests, and an obstacle course complete with tires, ¨barbed wire¨crawling section, mud, and water provided by a fire hose from none other than Female Firefighter of the Year, Susie Zobrist! Lots of fun was had by all, beautiful weather, prizes, etc. Candi, the young 4 year old cutie with an attitude, took first for the girls in every event...because she was the only girl in her age group! I don´t think she realized though, because the girl got more and more excited with each first place recognition at the ceremony...rather entertaining to watch, actually.

Prayer Requests...

Some of the boys are having a rough time right now...please pray for Isaac, Jose (big), and Marcos (Poncho), and their counselors (Joel and Kristy Leman, Stephanie Barr).

We have a lot of decisions to make in the school regarding Summer School and primary teachers for next year...these teachers will have a big impact on the kids, spiritually and academically, so we need God´s intervention.

I will be watching Seth´s boys (Frankie, Fede, Michel) sometime in the next two weeks for a week or so, when he heads home with Joel Rinkenberger to visit. That means I´ll be teaching during the day and supervising in the evening, for a week or more...I need sanity and good behavior, desperately!

Be sure to check out the links to my photos on photobucket! There are new pictures of the Ixtlan trip and hopefully I´ll have the track and field day pictures up soon as well.

Thanks,

Todd

Ixtlan! (and Guadalajara, Mazatlan, Culiacan, Eduardo, etc....)

2010-05-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hola!

Hey, maybe I'll get this one posted on time!

First, and most importantly, I think this last Friday dressup was a little creepy, sort of French-ish, but hey, every once in a while you've got to experiment, keep things fresh, etc. Let's everyone know you're cutting edge.

Now then, Ixtlan! The trip overall went very, very well. No one died. The members of the road trip were: Bill and Joan, Ben, Uriel, Lily, Katie, Nora, Pau, Rohde, Jarrin, Geo (Pau's twin sister), Michelle, Lupita, Jaqui, Frankie, Fede, Karla, and I. There are lots of new pictures on photobucket (see link on sidebar), though if there seems to be a lot of good-looking women in there, I can't claim responsibility since Lupita had my camera for long periods of time and wants me to get married as soon as possible...though I might have encouraged her to find me someone...:-)

Details, then! First, we left early Thursday morning from CVE after finishing the national testing on Monday and Tuesday. The kids and some of the adults had prepared food for the way down, so we drove down through the states of Sonora (desert) and Sinaloa (like Iowa, really, lots of agriculture). We went through Hermosillo (2 hrs. away, 2 million people, roughly), Obregon (about 1 million), Los Mochis, and ended after 9-10 hours in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa and headquarters of the Sinaloa drug cartel (one of their men is currently running for governor). Like I said, I felt very at home there, given that there's corn, wheat, and other crops everywhere, very green, very developed agriculturally. Pau, one of our teachers, arranged for us to stay at a hotel close to her parents (her father is a pastor there). Very comfy, good food, and he took us for a quick drive around Culiacan, ending with a scenic lookout place beside a famous restaurant where you can see the whole city. Culiacan has it's own island, formed by a river that splits in two and rejoins. We think Lupita had pink-eye during this time...didn't seem to affect her or us too much.

On Friday, we left early again and headed for Ixtlan, passing through Mazatlan (big resort city, nice beaches, etc.), Tepic, and Guadalajara (third-largest city in Mexico, very historic, etc.) before arriving in about 10 hours. We got there in time for Jonathon and Bere's civil ceremony and dinner, which was in Zamora, about a half hour from Ixtlan, which contains a really cool, really big (3rd. largest in Mexico, I think) church. Baroque style, for those of you who care. In Mexico you generally have 2 ceremonies for a wedding since the church is denied the right to legally marry people (hence the civil service with a judge). The civil service is usually first, a small, very official legal affair, followed by dinner for the invited (absolutely awesome tasting, not sure what it was). Then, a day or so later, you have the more traditional, culturally-accepted, flowery, white-dress-and-cake wedding in the church. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in addition to Jonathon's family, Dick and Jeanette Graham were there! The boys (Fede and Frankie, Uriel, and Ben) and I stayed in the Betesda guest house, while the girls stayed with the Gonzalez family (Gloria used to work at CVE), the ladies stayed in Rudy and Rosario Troxel's house, and Bill and Joan stayed in a hotel in Zamora with the wedding party, family, etc.

On Saturday, we went to the Gonzalez family strawberry patch, had breakfast, and went to the geyser in Ixtlan, a generally continuous stream of water about 30-40 feet high. We swam (the water is like a very hot shower at the source), played volleyball, ate, etc. Afterward, we had a singing in the church, wedding rehearsal (the boys were ushers), played volleyball, ate, etc. This day was characterized by the boys waiting for the girls to show up, usually at least an hour later than planned, if not longer. How long does it take for a group of 10 girls/women to change clothes, anyway? Apparently somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 hours, 2 if they are really in a hurry...

On Sunday, we of course had the wedding (Jonathon and Bere were successfully married, in 2 languages), followed by a reception in a nearby hotel (open air, very nice), then went home and played volleyball, walked through Ixtlan (7,000 people, roughly), enjoyed the plaza, etc. I have decided quite firmly that Mexican cities at night are absolutely awesome...I forgot how much I missed walking through cool night air in an ancient Mexican-style plaza with all the walkers, sitters, vendors, musicians, etc. Very relaxed, very nice. I had also forgotten how much I love mango. Regg Beer, a single brother who works in Ixtlan, showed us a half-built, enormous church that was abandoned because one of the workers died. Magdalena also has an unfinished church building, abandoned for the same reason. Mexicans tend to be very superstitious and consider the buildings cursed.

On Monday, we left early for Guadalajara, stopping in Tlaquepaque, called the most beautiful small town in Mexico (it wasn't)(very nice, but not that great) to walk through the plaza, visit a church, etc. Afterward, we headed to downtown Guadalajara, with government buildings (toured the state government building), churches (closed to visitors at the time), museums, statues, plazas, etc. We ate in Mexico's largest "mercado," four levels of street-style madness, took a ride on the metro (to give the kids the experience), and took Jaqui and Lupita on their first-ever escalator ride. Quite honestly, Guadalajara was nice, but not half as fun as watching our kids (with adults, a group of 18) try to get on and off of the metro at the same time, before the doors all close. Joan almost lost a leg. The other passengers looked very relieved to see us leave after only a few stops! Overall, however, nothing was as fun as watching Jaqui transfixed and screaming at the top of the escalator, unable to take that first step onto the moving escalator (Jarrin and I had to lead her on to it...very fun!) Later, Bill and Joan and their group stayed to meet with some old friends from Costa Rica, while our group left for Culiacan (to stay with Pau's parents again and drop off Geo). We got stopped by the Federal Police once, for speeding, but didn't receive a ticket. Fortunately, our papers for the van were in order and we had written permission from the government to have the kids with us in the van! On the way, we stopped in Mazatlan to visit the beach, which was very cool, even though we missed the sunset by about 10 minutes and had trouble finding the road again. We got to Culiacan, ate pizza, and went to bed. Jarrin thought she had strep throat.

We left Culiacan, went back to Obregon and stopped for a bit to talk with a potential teaching candidate (Jaqui threw up while there), then continued on through Hermosillo and at last arrived in Magdalena in time for supper. Praise the Lord!

All in all, it was really neat to see the kids experience a different side of Mexico, take ownership of the trip, learn, and take a few steps closer to adulthood.

Now then, about Eduardo, the new boy...the jury is still out. For now, he's got a lot of learning to do about general behavior (he's been living on the street, abused, etc.) but he seems to be reasonably teachable. He's definitely not shy, and a bit of a clown, which makes him fun to be around but could be bad for him because he's cute and he knows it...if he gets into the habit of clowning his way through life and school, things could be very hard for him. Pray for his heart and mind, as this is probably the first time he's seen and heard the gospel, and for his sisters, who are still in the home he came from. Eduardo (Lalo, Eddie, etc.) is 8 years old, and also quite rough-and-ready. His second week here, he fell off a bike and cut/broke his little toe to the bone, so he's got a big bandage and limps around in a really cute way...he could earn boatloads of money begging on the street right now. He was riding (barefoot) on a bike the very next day! He's short, and pretty thin, too, so he should fill out rather rapidly in the next few months.

Thanks again for all the prayers!

Todd

Hmmm...things must be really busy....

2010-04-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Surprise! Late again! Things are definitely getting busier, and not likely to stop or slow down for a long time...

A quick note on the above photos...for those of you who scoffed at the idea that I'm a trend setter, look no further for proof in the matter...be it here known, that I, Todd Stoller, have put the "cool" back in being ugly. If that's not an accomplishment worthy of a true Studmuffin, what is?

Let's see...Over spring break, after work teams from ISU, Purdue, Bluffton, and Roanoke, I got to go home for a week and see all my family in one spot! (Rare occasion, anymore.) My brother Doug and his wife Krista were there from Dallas with their daughter Ashlyn, Alex and Cassie drove in from Ft. Wayne with Caitlyn (Nubbins), Gavin (Gavinator), and Ian (IceMan or Chunk), and of course Mom, Dad, Mark and Kate, and Ryan were all there. Good times had by all, and I had a chance to visit grandparents, neighbors, and church folk, though there's never time and opportunity for everything you'd like to get done. It was also nice that Kirk and Keri were back from Jamaica, staying with their parents just a block from my house, and Clint and Bethany were in from Leo, so it was almost a Gateway Woods reunion again.

Prayer requests and other things...we have national standardized testing coming up for the kids this week, so please pray about that, as the results will reflect on our school and hopefully lend credibility to what we're doing. Immediately after that, we leave with Bill and Joan, their kids, the teachers, and the secondary school students (an entourage of about 16, in two vans) for a two-day, 20-plus hour trip to Ixtlan for Jonathon Aupperle and Bere Navarro's wedding, via Culiacan and Guadalajara, so please pray for safety and sanity and a strong marriage that can be a light to a world where lifelong marital faithfulness is considered an accesory item when it comes to love. The trip will last 6 days in all...long time in a van with only a handful of drivers. Also, we still don't have all the permits we need for the vehicles, nor do we know when the testing will be done (administered by CONAFE) so we can set a departure date and time...more things to pray about. Immediately after that, we will be having testing for our Bloque 4 (two month period) to fulfill CONAFE requirments.

We have a new boy, Eduardo (aka Lalo or Lalito), age 7, pretty thin, with a lot to learn and a fairly teachable heart, who looks a lot like Ramses (profiled earlier). Hopefully I can get some pictures of him and post them on the next blog. Many of you probably already know this, but the premie baby we had as of my last posting, Josiah, had to be sent to Hermosillo for hospitalization (not eating) and will probably not return. Please pray for God's intervention in both their hearts.

Summer school will start in a few months, so please pray for the staff as we figure out the schedule, etc. Also, pray for the volunteers...Zach Knobloch (Peoria), Sarah Frank (ISU), Ryan Eisenmann (Chicago), and Laura Tucker (Champaign).

Also, we are still in the process of looking for teachers for next fall, so please keep in prayer for the right people at the right time and the wisdom to discern.

Frankie is the profile kid for today, he's the one in red in the group photo above. Frankie is one of the three boys currently living in my dorm, along with Fede (not profiled yet) and Michel (profiled). He sleeps above me, likes rap music and the Mexican version of country music (definitely not rap), loves to run and play soccer, and has a boatload of energy. He hates school, loves to work in the garden or with machinery, and has frequent dreams where he yells and hits the wall in his sleep...rather entertaining. He believes (generally speaking) in the God of the Bible but has not given his life up in submission to Him. He is definitely maturing, but still very impulsive and short-sighted, and finds it rather hard to focus on one thing for long periods of time. Please pray for Frankie, as it will be very hard for him to make that big commitment to Christ. However, as Seth Gerber says, if he ever does commit, he has enough energy to convert the entire Middle East to Christ. As with all of us, he has much potential, for good or evil.

I think that's all for now...provided I have sanity left after the trip to Michoacan, I can hopefully find the time to write about that next time!

Thanks,

Todd

Finally...some warmer weather!

2010-03-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I was getting really tired of enduring 60 degree weather everyday...at last, spring is here, and I can once again count on 70, 75, or 80 degree days. It's a dog's life. We've had over 7 inches of rain so far this year, which is huge, since the yearly average is 10 inches, and the rainy season is in August. The farmers are happy, the floors are dirty...etc.

Anyway, various things to write about...my parents and Keith and Ruth came to visit for a week or so, which was nice. The extra boys have moved out of the dorm, and I've moved to a bigger, more comfortable room. (The whole dorm smells much better!) Aside from a few cold showers last week, due to our water heater cracking, things are much more comfortable around the house. The roof is almost on the newest house, so they can start with drywall soon, and the fence has been completed all the way around the campus (except for the razor wire and cement undergirding). We have a host of new sidewalks, making it much easier for the poor souls cleaning up the mess after every rain when kids of all ages track mud all over the floors, not to mention a new basketball court and a couple of new hoops. All of this work has been done by teams from Congerville/Eureka, ISU, on-campus staff, and random visitors. Also, Jon and Amy Gerst came for a quick visit, which was a nice Leo reminder.

Prayer Requests:

Josiah (whom I've named Throckmorton)(this will also serve as the monthly profile) is our newest family member. He was born to an extremely malnourished mother and weighed just 3-4 pounds at birth. We got him at 5 days old, and since then Steph, Jodi, and assorted others have been trying to keep him alive, which is no easy task, given the circumstances. He doesn't eat very well (acid reflux, vomiting) and actually was 4 ounces less than his birth weight today when he went for his doctor's visit. They were considering the possibility of new formula, or injecting his food with a syringe. There have been 8 hour periods where he wouldn't eat anything. Through prayer and God's provision he's made it this far. Please keep him in your prayers.

Steph and Jodi and Jenna (see above) have a lot on their plates.

Joel and Kristi have started taking care of 5 boys: Bennie, a hefty 6 month old, Daniel, Angel, Jose, and Isaac. Please keep in mind that three of these boys have been raised by single men for the last five years...One of them used a wedding-gift dish towel for a paint rag today...and then asked permission. I think my mom is sighing in remembrance right now. I'd like to think I wasn't like that when I was growing up, but alas...

Jonathan and Bere have a big wedding coming up, with lots of preparation and separation. (Bere went to Michoacan to get stuff ready, Jonathon is staying here for a few more weeks to get things ready on this end.

Speaking of the wedding, we at CVE are officially crazy. We're planning to take the secondary kids, teachers, and the Schick family to the wedding, a two day driving trip that will be a huge blessing in terms of time spent together, memories made, rapport built up...but also lots of tight spaces and travel fatigue... Please pray for protection and blessed time together.

Also, speaking of the school, we are looking for more teachers and school staff for next year, which can make things really smooth or really stressful. Please pray for wisdom and the right people at the right times, even when God's plan makes no sense to me.

A parting thought...

How many times do we make the same mistake the Israelites made with their kings, or that Gideon made with his thousands of men? We (especially me) tend to think that more organization, planning, etc. is the best, that it's up to us to get things done and accomplish the task as efficiently, cleanly, and neatly American-style as we can, when God wants to use "300" men in a very disorganized, bizarre and totally illogical way to get His plan accomplished? Do we long for the power, organization, security, and efficiency of depending on a "king" in place of the uncertainty, flexibility, and illogicalness of depending on God and His system of "judges?" How often do we miss the blessing of taking things one day at a time with God and His plan as opposed to trying to figure it all out on our own, with all our ducks in a row, everything laid out? Will we be content to rely on God's unorthodox "marching around Jericho" for our problems, or will we want a good, logical, American, money-driven, efficient, planned out solution? Are we submitted enough to wait on the Lord?

Along with that, the primary reason for wanting a king was the poor conduct of Samuel's sons. This says a lot of things: first, the importance of rearing well, not just governing well; second, the idiocy of wanting a king (whose sons will tend to be just as corrupt as Samuel's, if not more) in place of God's chosen judge. Also, how often are spiritually dead people turned away from Christ by the corruption in our hearts, the selfishness, the materialism, the dependence on man and his solutions? How often are we the reason people won't accept the uncertain (yet certain) way of the Lord? Are we the ones who drive others (even in the church) to seek a humanistic solution to their problems?

Another month passes between posts...

2010-02-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hola!

Hijole! Sorry about the last post...I had it written but experienced some technical difficulty with the photos and just now got it published...Since then, other things have happened, so I decided to write another right away. Here's the news that happened in the meantime!

First, we've had a lot of rain (around 2 inches earlier in January in only a day or two) and more this past week. To have so much rain is unusual for this area over the last 10-15 years or so, but actually pretty normal historically according the old-timers around here. I'd sure like to see the relative drought over the last decade or so come to an end, as would the rest of Mexico, I'm sure. The whole country has been much dryer than usual, with shorter rainy seasons, dying trees, lower water table, etc. The farmers have had to irrigate a lot more than usual, which is a considerable burden. I believe this is a continuation of what's happened over the last few years in California, etc., with historically dryer years that increase the risk of devastating wildfires. All that to say, I cast my vote for more mud and dreary weather in the Sonora desert!

Second, we had some remarkable winds about that time and the center concrete/styrofoam wall of the new house being built collapsed entirely, being open, exposed, and unsupported at the time. Quite a setback in terms of labor, time, and material, but thankfully no one was hurt. The Cissna Park team had to spend their last day stretching cables between the exterior walls to keep them from bowing out due to the unsupported roof weight.

Third, visitiors! In addition to Fairbury and Cissna Park, a small group from Peoria stopped by to do some small jobs. Thus, the kids had a chance to get a violin lesson from one of the group members and lots of other little details with painting, storage shelves, organization, etc. got done around campus. The Cissna and Fairbury teams made some big steps toward completing the fence around the property: all the brush is cleared, the posts are set, and we just have to stretch the chain link and barbed wire. Right now we have a Hungarian man from the sister church visiting and tearing into our immense woodpile, cutting, splitting, stacking, and making a cool bench out of some of the logs. Today the Eureka/Congerville/Goodfield team comes, bringing with them my aunt, uncle, and cousins, so I'm excited. It will be the first family to see where I live, work, etc. The day that team leaves, my parents and a mentor couple of mine will arrive for a week-long visit, making me even more excited!

Fourth, with Jonathon and Bere (two staff members) getting married soon, there are a lot of changes in store for the kids: Joel and Kristy Leman will take Bernardo (Beni), Jose, Angel, Daniel and Isaac, and Seth will take Frankie, Fede, and Michel. Uriel and Lili have already moved in with the Schicks as their adoption process moves forward. Isaac is an 8 year old, new to CVE, Daniel and Michel were two of the problem boys (Michel is profiled below), and Beni is the 6 month old we recieved in November. What all this means is that the old girls dorm will be remodeled (starting this week with the ECG team) for Joel and Kristy and their boys, while Joel Rinkenberger, Seth, and I will be with the other three boys in the other dorm. In the meantime, however, while the dorm is being remodeled, all the boys (7) and single males (4) will be crammed into the dormitory I currently live in with just Seth, Frankie, and Daniel. Please pray for patience, wisdom, and vigilance for the young men as the young boys will have greatly increased opportunities for problems among themselves. Please pray also that the remodeling (pretty extensive) will be completed quickly!

Don't forget to look at the pictures on photobucket! New camera, new photos, etc!

Prayer Requests:

Michel, profiled below, has a lot to learn about submission, obedience, and brokenness.

I have a lot to learn about pride, humility, and being a Mary instead of a Martha.

Jonathon and Bere have a lot of logistics and obstacles to work out in their budding relationship, what with distance, language, red tape, and culture and everything else.

There are lots of things to think about regarding the school...summer program, volunteers, plans for high school for the oldest kids, teachers for the coming year, certification, etc.

Haiti will disappear from the news, but the need will not.

Now then, for Michel...Michel is almost 14, but seems to have stopped maturing at a much earlier age, physically and mentally and spiritually. His mother committed suicide when he was very young, which obviously has had some very legitimate negative effects on his heart, but he has also used it as an illegitimate excuse for much more. He desperately wants attention from men older than him and boys younger than him, but his attempts to get it only drive people away from him, making him very difficult to love. Pray that this move to a dormitory of 3 men and two other boys, all older than he, will have a maturing effect. As it stands now, his heart is very hard and ill-prepared for the gospel.

A final closing thought...I have recently been impressed with the perfection of God's plan for the family, society, and church. All have been designed to include a broad range of ages, from very young to very old, with intense interaction and discipleship. As I've struggled with how to help these boys who can't seem to grow up or worked with younger kids who don't mind adults very well, I've had to think about maturing experiences in my own life...older brothers who gave me kicks in the pants in not so gentle ways, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, middle-aged mentors in the church, etc. We do not grow much by being segregated into similar age groups with similar maturity levels and life-perspectives. Rather, we grow by being discipled, corrected, encouraged, and spurred on by those who are younger and more energetic or older and more experienced. Unfortunately, the trend is away from God's integrated, rather uncomfortable discipleship and interaction plan to our own more convenient, more comfortable self-segregation. It's easier not to deal with the "impetuous, casual, disrespectful, change-minded younger generation." It's easier not to deal with the "stubborn, rigid, outdated, tradition-minded older generation." "What is this world coming to?" "How much longer until we are in charge and can change things to the new, better way?"

In schools, kids spend all their time with kids their own age (and thus have no pressure to grow up...they feed on each other's immature interests, thoughts, and opinions). In families, parents and siblings are detached and kids are attached to their friends (same age) either physically or electronically (once again, no pressure to look beyond their own little world, interests, obsessions, etc.). Sadly, in church, via single groups, separated worship services, contemporary vs. traditional worship styles, etc., we are also self-segregated by age (no pressure to gain the perspective of others more mature). What can be done to counteract this counter-maturational trend? Do young men my age have to be consumed by movies, video games, sports, and other entertainment, or can we look beyond ourselves to a world in need? Do teens and preteens have to be continually enslaved to the latest diva, hot stud, singer, fashion, or electronic device, or can they move beyond the narrow confines of American consumerism and pop culture? Will middle-aged adults always think money, position, power, prestige, and security are worth living for, sacrificing the things most important? Will the elderly be continually caught with a sense of declining productivity, constraints, and limitations, consumed with ever more miniscule concerns? I'm hitting on a lot of stereotypes and generalities, but my point is, what are we doing about the church, the family?

I've heard several times over the pulpit the need to reach down (mentor those younger than me), reach across (learn together with those my age), and reach up (be mentored by those older than me). This, of course, takes a lot more effort to move out of my little group and be inconvenienced, but I can look back on at least 5 special brothers who have gone out of their way to learn with me or mentor me, and countless more who have touched my soul in other ways. Now, will I continue looking across, reaching up to build relationships? Will I in turn disciple and take special interest in the younger generations? Will I reach out and integrate myself or stay comfortable and segregate myself with those who are like me?

Thanks, and sorry for the ramble!

Todd

Ummm...Not sure what to title this....

2010-01-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

Hey all!

Things are going pretty well down here. After getting a good chance to visit people in Princeville, Leo, and Dallas, I arrived back down in Magdalena and started teaching the next day. Thankfully, it was only a two-day week, Thursday and Friday, when the kids and teachers could all get a warm-up after 3 full weeks of no school. The following week went really well, so I'm guessing even the kids were ready for a routine again. Also, thanks to my recent trip home, I am once again equipped to rock the fashion world with my original creations, fascinating wardrobe, and sizzling good looks every Friday. As you can see from the pictures, it feels good to be back on top of everybody's "I want to look like him" list. Once again, I have taken up permanent residence on the cutting edge of fashion, a veritable rock star when it comes to scintilating clothing combinations.

As far as other news goes, we just finished with the Fairbury work team and have just begun with the Cissna Park team, which really doesn't change my routine that much, being in the school all day. Right now the big projects are building a new fence around the entire CVE campus and working on the new house, with a few other side jobs thrown in here and there.

Prayer Requests:

Obviously, Haiti and our missionaries there should be weighing heavily on all of us, given the severity of the problem and the enormity of the need.

As for me, we're currently searching for good education options for the kids as they graduate our secondary school, along with looking for ways to improve our curriculum and find a way to be licensed more independently and permanently than CONAFE (our current licensing group) allows. That, and looking to expand next year to include all of our primary kids.

In general, please pray for my spiritual growth, that I could have right priorities (God's priorities) and escape Satan's snares while actively ministering in Christ's kingdom, rather than just being comfortably involved in teaching math and English.

Keep praying for the boys on campus I mentioned in the last entry (Daniel, Poncho, Michel), as they are definitely long-term projects.

Keep praying for the church here, as we definitely would like to see more adults, especially men, attending, learning, and changing. We have lots of kids, so there's a lot of seed-planting that can bear fruit down the road, but in the meantime we'd love to help with a harvest as well.

Kid Profile:

Marcos (aka Poncho) is about 10 years old, very short, very energetic, incredibly impulsive, and desperate for attention (especially from men)! He can be extremely cheerful, polite, gentlemanly, and charismatic, but there is another side, too, unfortunately. Due to a variety of reasons, he's very behind and easily frustrated in school. His intelligence isn't the issue, however...matters of intelligence in life and in school aren't all that important and can be overcome. However, I fear the end results of Marcos's strong will (stubbornness and pride) and impulsiveness as he grows into a young man with more and more physical capability to enforce his desires and pursue his impulses. It will take a God-sized hammer, a lot of Christ-kike intervention, and a lot of prayer in his life to break his heart and will into pieces small enough to be useful in God's kingdom.

Thanks,

Todd

Tecate and a few other things...

2009-12-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

"Hey, I finally am able to post when I planned...instead of 3 weeks later..."

This phrase was what I started with on December 3, 2009. It is now December 29, 2009, and I'm hoping to finish this entry sometime today or tomorrow...or maybe it'll be February 31 when I finish it...who knows!

All that to say that things have been rather busy and strange (like normal) around Christmastime at CVE (just like in the US!).

First, prayer requests:

For the most part, our kids do pretty well, but we occasionally have issues with a few, unfortunately the same few most of the time and unfortunately almost all boys. The girls have their separate issues, that tend to run deeper and show up on the surface less frequently, like an underwater current that wants to pull them out to sea, away from shore. The following boys, on the other hand, are always bringing their issues clearly to the surface, like a whale, leaping up and crashing against the surface, bellowing for attention. I can't really give details, but please pray for Michel, Poncho, and Daniel. They desperately want attention, especially from older males, but their behavior as a result of trying to get that attention usually isolates them from what they are seeking. They want to be tough guys, "real" men, the center of their world, but all that really comes out as a result of those desires is immaturity and selfishness. Pray for me, their mentors, the older boys who act as their role models, for better or worse, and especially for the hearts of the boys themselves...at this point, there is only so much we can do to help them...God must do a work in their hearts.

Speaking of little boys...I now have a greatly-enhanced opinion of the sufferings of my mother (of no less than 5 boys...). Picture this: you are sleeping snugly in your bed when you are awakened around 6:30 am, by the sound of a little boy's feet sprinting down the tiled hall to the bathroom. You hear the slam of the stall door, the rustle of pajamas being undone in typical "I waited a little to0 long to go to the bathroom like always" fashion (very typical of little boys), and the whooosh of a little boy desperately in need of relieving himself (which is unfortunately not preceded or followed by the reassuring "click" of the toilet seat being raised). Suddenly the whoosh is replaced by an all-too-recognizable splattering sound (the toilet seat, the toilet reservoir, the wall, the floor, etc...) and an "oops," then the whoosh returns again. As an audible groan escapes your lips, you hear the pajamas being redone, the stall door close, and the pitter-patter of a little boy's feet returning to bed. You do not hear the sound of toilet paper being used to wipe up the puddles on the floor, nor do you hear the sound of running water that always accompanies the washing of hands... My dearest Mother, I know understand more fully than ever before the surprised rage emanating from your mouth (AIIIIIII--RRRRGGGGG!!!!!) so many times during my childhood as you once again experienced first-hand the evidence of another little boy's unresolved bathroom issues and poor aim. May you be richly blessed.

The little boy in this unfortunately true story (repeated daily, it seems) is Daniel, pictured above with me, the profiled child of the month and one of the boys I mentioned earlier in this entry as needing prayer! Daniel is 10, almost 11, I think, and lives in the dormitory with Seth Gerber and I. He is, in many ways, a very typical boy of that age, wanting to be one of the big kids but not having the body, mind, or heart to be a "young man" yet. He loves to wrestle and imitate the "3 Ninjas" (the incredibly corny movies of 3 pre-teen brothers who are trained by their ever-present Ninja grandfather to take on 57 well-armed adult males singlehandedly in mortal combat while blindfolded with nothing but chopsticks, a spatula, and a frisbee as weapons)(unfortunately, I cannot deny the presence of this passion in my past, either). He also like to invent thousands of little lies to make himself seem cool, get what he wants, get out of trouble, avoid blame, get someone else in trouble, etc. He desperately needs a mother to nurture him and a father to whup him on the "trazero", things Seth and I can't really provide very well as "big brothers." Please pray for Daniel as he grows and as seeds are planted, that the hardened, selfish sidewalk of his heart will be cracked by the slow yet powerful freezing and thawing of God's love, working to soften and break him into something useful for kingdom.

Now for Tecate: Keith and Emily Schambach with their daughter Kaleigh, plus Nicole Knobloch, Pau, Bere Navarro, Gloria Gonzalez and four of my students, Michelle, Lili, Jaquiline, and Karla, and I traveled about 7-8 hours by van to Tecate, Mexico, on the border just south of San Diego to visit our sister church (Nazarene). Along the way, we passed through the Sonora desert and the Rumorosa, an incredibly winding path through the mountains renowned for its many cliffs, wrecked cars on the slopes of those cliffs, and high, whispering winds. (For pictures of the Tecate trip, see my photobucket links.) We visited an orphanage sponsored by a Mennonite group from Costa Rica (go figure), enjoyed a bible study, singing, and church services, a walk through the town plaza, and of course, a lot of food. Jose and Cathy Cervantes were our contacts and organized much of our stay. I stayed with Javier and Adriana and their four boys. It was a great experience to live with a Mexican family, eat truly Mexican food, and experience life with a Mexican family without many resources to speak of. I got to hear their testimonies of God's faithfulness, see life from their perspective, see their charitable hearts and sacrifices, and hear their life stories and testimonies. Along the way, it was interesting to see how the border with the US influenced everything. Literally across the street from Jose and Cathy's was the border fence, a 10-ft. high wall of corroded metal that I could have easily climbed over if I had so desired (Jose said about 20-30 people a day will cross within sight of his home). We also saw one long section of fence in the Sonora desert that was just a series of metal posts, filled with concrete, to keep cars from driving through. A person could easily have walked through into the US. (We were asking the girls if they wanted to visit the US quick while we were here...they took photos of themselves sticking their hands through the fence to the other side so they could brag they had "crossed" the border to the US illegally.) Overall, we had a good time, got to spend time with the students outside of school and the orphanage, and experience life in another part of Mexico. I was greatly encouraged by the church there, especially by the fact that they actually have mature, Christian men in their church! It is very difficult, due to a variety of factors, to get men involved in active leadership, especially young men who are often more interested in entertainment. This is true everywhere, including the US, but even more so in Mexico.

Lets see...other things: We finished the first half of school with some big tests for the Mexican licensing group, CONAFE, and had some fun (and chaos) learning basic CPR and Heimlich maneuvers with the students, taught by Dana and Martha Kay Regier. It was good to see some Princevillians again and fun to watch the interactions between the students and Dana and Martha Kay. Christmas at CVE was fun, what with caroling at a nursing home (much nicer than the ones in Jamaica, but still not Apostolic Christian Skylines or Cedars, by any means), Christmas junk food and cookies, special services at church, and gift night with all the kids on the 24th. Christmas at home has been great too, what with seeing family, friends, etc. after a long trip home on Christmas Day. After a trip to Leo, IN and Texas to see friends and family, I'll be back in Mexico, where the additional energy, chaos, and craziness of the work team season should make things even more entertaining. Hope to see some of you then!

Also, a new opportunity for any of you who might want to get to know some of these cute kids (such as Aaron, pictured above with cake all over his face...)! I'm hoping to start some correspondence between my friends and family in the US and some of the kids at the orphanage. The kids are well-provided for financially, what with food, clothing, medical care, etc., but certain things that can't be measured monetarily can mean a lot. My thought is that once a month or so, some of you would write letters (Spanish or English), send pictures, cards, pages from coloring books, word puzzles, bible verses, etc. to the kids. With the help of their mentors, they can then write back to you, hopefully establishing a relationship and building communication skills along the way. If you are interested in "adopting" a child for prayer and communication on at least a monthly basis, please email me at todd.stoller1@gmail.com. I have up to 8 kids right now that would enjoy receiving their "own" mail from someone, so if you're willing to commit, great!

You will notice that I will be removing some of the links for photos from the blog and replacing them with one link to my main page on www.photobucket.com. You can then look through the site to find new pictures of the Tecate trip, pictures from Magdalena, or old pictures from other cities in Mexico, such as Morelia or Mexico City. Please be careful of the ads on photobucket, right now I don't have a way to control which ones show up, and unfortunately, many are rather inappropriate.

Ok, that's enough. Here's hoping I write next month's blog entry in a more timely manner!

Thanks,

Todd

Oops! It's been a while again!

2009-11-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

I really am still down here and wanting to write more often, but it's amazing how things get away from you!

Anyway, let's see. Coming events...our Thanksgiving work team is here, a group from California, Colorado, Illinois, and several other states. Carl Hoerr and Joe Maller drove the Berean Bus down from Illinois to Colorado, and then to Arizona. Just from Colorado to Tucson was 16 hours straight through, I think all told it was around 36 hours or more...ugh! Lots of young people, so it will be interesting to see how things change with the crowd.

Also, Joan always holds a huge Thanksgiving invite at the church, which I've been told involves 30 pounds of butter and which I know involves a ridiculous amount of frozen turkey and stuffing. I believe I unloaded 12 or more boxes of stuffing, and there are 10 turkeys in the freezer, so I'm looking forward to that night.

The morning after Thanksgiving, we're planning to load a van full of girls and drive around 10-12 hours to Tecate, where we have a sister church we'd like to visit for a couple of days. That should be an interesting trip, so please pray for safety, fun, spiritual seeds planted, relationships built, and sanity for all.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures of all this and share them with you all more frequently...sorry!

As far as past news goes, recently we had the board of directors down for one of their meetings, so I got to see Wayne Banwart, Jerry Tooley, and several others for awhile. During their stay, we had the Mexican Revolution holiday, which involved a parade of cute little kids dressed as nurses, doctors, soldiers, sports stars, etc. (but no candy...what a let-down!). This made for our second 3-day weekend of the month, after the Day of the Dead, a Halloween-type holiday that they celebrate all across Mexico. There are lots of wierd superstitions associated with the Day of the Dead, so we don't really do much with it at the orphanage, but we had some special food (Pan de Muerte, or Dead Bread, is quite frankly awesome!) and decorations for the kids.

I went up to Nogales, Mexico, with a few others to get our FM2's, a longer-term visitors' visa, which involved a trip to a photographer for rather expensive mug shots, an hour drive, a quiet but long wait in the office while Nicole hammered through the red tape, fingerprints, and then briefly crossing the border for some pizza (Little Caeser's...large sausage...$5...beautiful!) before coming home...my first visit to the U.S. since arriving in August!

Finally, the campus was hit by a nice little cold/flu bug, which, with all these kids running around means that almost everyone on campus had it at the same time for a period of over a week or two. Just as that was almost over, we had some bad meat in one of the lunches, which resulted in another day of discomfort for the majority of the campus...the Pepto-Bismol and Nyquil were flowing freely!

Now then, prayer requests...

Pray for safety and blessing on the Tecate trip, as I mentioned before. Pray for the new little guy (Bernardo, several months old) that arrived recently. Really cute...not very talkative, though. Pray for the Wulf family, on their way back from language school to start a meat-packing business in Magdalena, and for Dan, Tami, and Jarrin as they get closer and closer to arriving for good from language school in Morelia. Pray for my priorities and walk with God as the next month or two bring lots of tasks and urgencies and travel, which means lots of opportunities to forget what really matter... Pray for the hearts of the kids (and teachers) as God plants and waters and works... Pray for Alexia, whose photo is above and who I'm about to profile!

Alexia is the last but first (Confusing? So is Alexia!) sibling in the family I've been profiling since September. She is the oldest of the five, at 11 years, followed by Ramses, Nerieda, Jose, and Gloria (who is still a princess/diva along with Candi, a three-year-old, but no longer the sole focus of attention with the arrival of Bernardo). Alexia is pretty rambunctious and desperately looking for attention, especially from men. She is in that awkward stage where her body is leaving her behavior behind and she doesn't yet have the maturity to realize it. She wants the attention that the younger kids get and occasionally acts like them to get it, which at her age just isn't as cute as it once was. However, with time, training, prayer, and interaction with positive older role models (male and female), she should figure it out and become a great young woman who is a delight to be around. (She's fun to be around now, it's just a little awkward sometimes...:-)) Pray that she can understand the changing boundaries (physical, behavioral, mental) that come with her changing stage in life and that she grows (under the tutelage of God Himself) into a mature, pure, beautiful Christian woman.

For some info on the photos above, that's Nere, Julissa, and Aaron in the medical outfits at the Revolution Day parade, Lupita and Bernardo, Alexia in blue with Tania, Candi eating pizza (homemade crust that was absolutely excellent!), and Kaleigh Shambach, Keith and Emily's daughter.

Thanks,

Todd

Wow...it's been a while!

2009-10-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

Ok, so, lots of things to write about...

First, prayer requests: the kids, as always, need your prayers for soft hearts, conviction, seeds planted, opportunities siezed...The adults, as always, need your prayers for energy, inspiration, patience, love, and joy. The orphanage, as always, needs your prayers for protection, blessing, and wisdom. The church, as always, needs prayers for conviction, change, and the Spirit's moving in the hearts of people. I, as always, need help with Spanish, patience, inspiration, and much more! Thanks everybody!

Don't forget to look for new pictures on photobucket! Links to sample slideshows are in the sidebar, or you can click on "Main View" once you get to the slideshows (top right corner) to see all the photos in that album at once!

As far as news goes, I had my birthday party, which involved lots of chocolate and cake, several "Feliz Cumpleanos" songs, and one face (mine) shoved into the birthday cake (a Mexican tradition...). Also, I recieved a very large package with one bottle of rootbeer inside...Nice!

One of the cows died, and we had a chance to watch Duane Wolfe, a meat expert with his Ph.D, butcher it while it was hanging from the backhoe. No pictures, unfortunately, but it was pretty gross, really.

As far as creepy crawlies go, I got to hold my first tarantula (a cute little guy, very furry and soft) and a tiny snake (not sure what kind, but not poisonous) that Bill Schick found and showed to us, shared my bed with a lizard one night (when he came back the next night, he had to be evicted...), and watched with amazement as over 6 mice were extracted from the same spot in less than 2 days!

Also, for two days, there was a cold snap that brought temperatures low enough to frost the ground in the morning and make it well worthwhile to build a fire in the cafeteria. (Also, half the kids on campus got sick.)

I witnessed my first Mexican funeral, the grandfather of one of our converts in Magdalena, a Catholic man. It was interesting to see the differences in the services, what with a sermon, Mass, mile-long walk in a funeral procession to the cemetary, graveside visitation, lots of tears and emotion from normally stoic people, and the actual entombment process all rolled into one. The gravesites vary wildly from one family to the next, with some having colossal markers and ornate decoration, statues, and carvings, versus others that are basically a crude metal or wood cross stuck in a pile of poorly mixed concrete. It's extremely tragic to see the differences in what people can afford. It is not uncommon to actually mix the cement by hand and pour it over the gravesite right there in front of everybody. Often, with a poorer family, they mix it themselves.

Finally, today I made a hammock from some rope, rocks, wire, pvc pipe, and bedsheets that for now works pretty well, holding around 350 pounds at least on my second attempt (Jonathon Aupperle and me)(I haven't and won't test it much beyond that!). The first attempt was good, too, but while I went to the workshop for some materials, I left the younger kids to play in it...half an hour later, the sheets were totally destroyed! I guess bedsheets aren't made to hold 3-4 kids with shoes on jumping up and down and swinging wildly back and forth... Anyway, I have high hopes for Sunday afternoon naps in my hammock with a puppy and 1 or 2 little kids to make a perfect "Norman Rockwell" type memory-picture...:-)

Now, for the little'un profile: Jose, 6 years old, wearing a coat, hat, and all that kind of cold gear the day of my birthday, is sitting on my lap as one of the family I've profiled so far: Nere, the tomboy, Ram, the future lady-killer, Gloria, the campus princess, Jose, and Alexei (not profiled yet). Jose is rather rambunctious, like Nere, and generally pretty sweet and likeable. He does, unfortunately, have issues with lying when he gets himself in trouble, and he doesn't like to obey directions (I discovered that today while making the hammock). He seems to have a little harder heart than Nere or Ram, though he is still a little boy. Maybe it's his hard head and strong will, rather than a hard heart! Regardless, please pray for Jose as he grows up...that his will is broken before an Almighty God, that he learns to pursue unselfishly those things that are truly good rather than selfishly pursue those things that he thinks are good, and to love others as he is loved by God.

Thanks all!

Todd

A question, a littl'un, and more...

2009-10-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hello, all!

First, I'm frankly rather disappointed in all of you...not one wretched comment about the buzzard! Seriously, I've managed to accomplish something none of you could ever hope to attain...sure, you've probably hit one of the little sparrows that fly around back home (makes a nice little "ping" sound), or a rabbit (a pleasing "thump-bum") or even a raccoon ("whump"), but aside from deer, which are as common as rodents in IL and IN, there's no real adventure there! Please. Have you people no spirit for the truly exciting things in life?

I, on the other hand, have not only taken out occasional sparrows, rabbits, and one deer (actually, that one committed suicide, I think, by ramming it's head into my car), but have subsequently attained so much more...a duck, which was really gross (guacala, en espanol), and a buzzard, with a wingspan of at least 6 feet! We're talking serious carnage, with feathers, beak, blood, everything! I mean, a bird whose wings stretch out to 8 feet in length is enormous! What's more, those 4 foot wings (another foot for the body width makes at least 9 feet total) have incredible quantities of feathers. Of course, since I did my original estimates of length in meters, I have to allow for some approximation in the conversion calculations, so it was probably more like 9.5 or 10 feet in size, speaking truthfully and in all sincerity. Granted, I wasn't driving, but I did contribute significant moral support to the actual driver...

Secondly, I just so happened to encounter my first rattlesnake one evening, while walking with one of the boys to turn off an irrigator. Naturally, my keen eyes quickly picked up on a slight movement in the dense underbrush, whereupon I instantly saved the boy's life by shoving him to one side as the snake struck (with one hand) and with the other snatched the snake's head right out of the air with the other, clamping the mouth shut so fast it had no time to retract from it's murderous onslaught. At first, it appeared to be roughly 9 feet long, not counting the 1 ft. long rattle and 6 in. head, but on closer inspection, decided it to be much smaller, probably only about 8 feet long, with a girth of 12 inches. It was a Western Diamond-Backed rattlesnake, probably the most deadly and aggresive snake in the world, naturally.

Actually, it was about 2.5 feet long and had really cool skin (kind of loose and a little like chain mail armor, very different from the tight, smooth skin of a constrictor, like a boa or python). Based on a pamphlet I found, it really was a Western Diamond-Back, which are poisonous but not the worst kind. The kids immediately wanted to know if I planned to keep the rattle, which is apparently a very cool thing to have hanging in your room, so the snake lost his tail soon after his death to one of the boys. Also, in reality, I walked right past the thing, which was sitting out in the bare dirt under one of the lights, and didn't see a thing until Frankie pointed it out...at which point we proceeded to crush it's head with rocks. It was the fourth snake they found that day, but the other three were little guys (6 inches or less) and non-poisonous. Not sure what brought them all out, but the temperature was definitely cooling that week from the hot summer, so maybe that was it.

The temperature is great now, comfortable at night under the covers and nice and cool and dry during the day, so you have to wear a jacket in the morning and you can leave the door open all day, not many bugs, etc. Everything just smells really fresh.

There are some new pictures on photobucket, including San Jose, a little pueblo about 5 hours from Magdalena, where we have a sister church. We took some kids (Frankie, Fede, Gloria, Elizabeth, and Uriel) there with us (Bere, Pau, Joel and Kristi, and me) for a weekend of visiting and whatnot. We stayed with a church family, slept in, talked, read books, went to a lagoon in Obregon (second largest city in Sonora, probably about the size of Peoria or Fort Wayne)(a lake is a big deal in Sonora), ate coconut (nasty stuff), and ate in a restaurant with the family. Then, church on Sunday, where I got to share my testimony for the first time in Spanish to congregation of about 10-15 (God provided in the language department), etc.

The question for this entry (for details, look in my last posting) is "How do we present the gospel?" A followup question might be, "Are we actually doing it, or do I just talk a good game?" I'd love to hear from you by email (todd.stoller1@gmail.com) or comment to this blog. Your response will be kept private and not published.

Gloria is the nina this time, the youngest of 5 siblings (Alexei, Ramses (profiled last time), Nereida (also profiled before), Jose) and the youngest on campus. She's cute, which is her biggest downfall, because with all the kids, staff, and work teams that come down, she's basically a princess that could go for days without walking. I'm still not exactly sure how she ever learned! Naturally, she's very accustomed to attention, so she decides very capricously when and how you will recieve her favor...if she's not in the mood, or needs something, look out! Generally pretty cheerful, but also quite spoiled by all the willing hands (including mine...I can't help myself!). Pray that as she grows she has to do some things for herself, that she learns that Christ, not Gloria, is the center of the universe, and that she can become a pure and spotless lamb of God!

Keep praying for me as I make daily decisions that affect the lives of the kids, that I grow spiritually, that I continually step beyond my comfort zone to reach out and be a light, and for each of us (kids, staff, community) that God be our spiritual foundation, walls of protection, and roof over our heads in a wicked world (not that we be an isolated fortress in the world, but a city set on a hill that cannot be hid).

Gracias!

Todd

A series of questions...

2009-09-28T12:54:00.001-07:00

Hey all...

Most of you recieved this by email, but just in case...I'd like to get your opinions on a series of questions that may seem basic but are very important if we get them wrong. I'm starting (reading, not writing) a book right now that deals with evangelism, etc., and it's raising some important questions for me. I have some opinions of my own about what the Bible teaches, but I'd like to get some input from a few of you...you can either respond by email (todd.stoller1@gmail.com) or comment on the blog, either way your responses will not be published. This is strictly for my learning from your biblical perspectives...:-) Not sure how this experiment will work out, but I'd like to try.

1. What exactly is the gospel?

2. How do we present it to others?

3. What must I do to be saved?

4. How do we present it to others who may consider themselves saved but are not?

All of these questions seem very basic, but are nevertheless very deep and important. They are questions that have been stirred by this book and other books or by my life in the US or by my experiences in Mexico.

For starters, I'd like to focus on the first one: What exactly is the gospel? If we take the easy route and say it's about belief, we immediately run the risk of "Yeah, I believe. Now I'm saved right? Ok, leave me alone, because I'm in control of the situation and I can live however I want." Clearly there is a difference between true belief and a statement of belief that may or may not be real. On the other hand, if we put too many of our own ideas into the equation, we skew the gospel to our point of view and weigh it down. Salvation becomes a series of hoops to jump through: "I attend church, I sing hymns, I read the Bible, I don't kill people. I must be saved." Both views are held by many Mexicans and Americans alike. It's also not as simple as quoting Acts 2:38, because, for instance, Romans 10:9-11 has a very different flavor. Again, not sure where I'm going with this or if anything will happen, but I'm interested in hearing from all of you. Please respond only to me, not to "all".

Thanks,

Todd

Ooops!....Time was moving faster than I thought!

2009-09-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I just realized it's been almost a month since I posted. Wow...that went fast. I posted some more photos on photobucket, so feel free to click on the links for Magdalena in the sidebar.

For prayer requests, please remember to pray for Magdalena this week: it's the San Fransisco Holy Week, Magdalena's patron saint, where people walk for miles (even from as far as Nogales or Tucson, AZ) to fulfill vows to the saint. Sometimes they crawl on hands and knees as penance for something. It's pitiful to see so many on the roadsides, working and working to earn favor from a saint, when a loving but also holy and righteous God is waiting to forgive them if only they would repent of their sins and trust in His atoning blood rather than a ritual designed to please a deceased man. There are many superstitions associated with the making of vows and pilgrimages in Mexico, unfortunately, and often the kids are right out there with the adults, learning the wrong things at the wrong age. What's worse, the pilgrimmage for almost all is really a drunken party that lasts over a week...many of the people walking by the roadside are staggering drunk. One person has already died this year, and probably more will be killed or injured as well as the party continues.

Keep praying for the teachers and kids at the school. Things are going well, but it seems Satan would always like to throw in a few twists if we let our guard down or take things for granted.

Keep praying for my Spanish...it's getting better, but slowly. The faster I learn it well, the better off I and the kids will be.

Anyway, some news and tidbits...

I saw my first two scorpions, about 2-3 inches long. (See photo.) Seth found them in the shower one morning. I saw another centipede, smaller than the one in my last blog entry, but I found out from the kids that they can actually bite you and crawl under your skin. The doctor has to slit your throat (just kidding), I mean, slit your skin to get them out. Que guacala! (How gross!) I still haven't seen a tarantula, only a dead black widow, but Joel Rinkenberger says there's one living near the sidewalk to the boys' dorm.

We had Mexico's independence day on Sept. 15 and 16. School was out! Also, there's a grito (scream) every Sept. 15 around 10 or 12 at night (depending on your time zone). On the night of the beginning of their independence fight, the leader of the rebels gathered the townspeople and gave a rousing speech, punctuated by a series of shouts: viva (long live) la independencia, viva Mexico, etc. Anyway, in addition to fireworks and etc., the President of Mexico (right now, Felipe Calderon) leads the nation in the grito. I missed out on Magdalena's celebration in the town square because I decided to take a siesta for 30 minutes (which turned into 60 minutes, during which everybody left and I missed the van heading out...). Unfortunately, that's pretty common behavior for me. We decorated the cafeteria, had 21 gun flag salute (all the younger kids were given loaded rifles and told to fire them three times in any direction as fast as they could pull the trigger), sang the Mexican national anthem, etc. Also, the Mexican ladies made a big traditional meal.

We had a relaxed day on Friday because one of our teachers was gone, and we did the experiment where you put a person inside a large plastic bag head first, stick a vacuum cleaner in after him, turn it on, and suck all the air out so the atmospheric pressure closes the bag and asphyxiates him. Actually, it's safer to put the person in feet first, with his head sticking out, and suck the air out with a vacuum cleaner. The pressure is actually so strong that the person cannot take out their arm or move their legs...pretty fun and very cool and useful, if you find an annoying enough person who doesn't know what to expect. That way, you can turn it on and leave him there and have a nice break of peace and quiet....

On Saturday, a group of adults and the smaller kids (18 people in all) piled into a 15-passenger van (seatbelts are not required in Mexico, nor are carseats...) and drove 2 winding hours to a hot springs/waterfall area. The downsides were that the hot springs-fed pools were too hot to enjoy for long periods of time on a really hot day, and the waterfall was too dry to really be more than a water trickle. Also, a lot of kids and adults were nauseous, with one of the adults having to stop by the side of the road. The upsides were that I wasn't carsick, I got to snuggle for 4 hours (2 out and 2 back) with cute little kids who sat on my lap (sometimes 2 at a time!), we hit a buzzard (who else can say that?)(it was actually pretty huge...probably had a wingspan of 5-6 feet, really)(we would have gotten another one with a minor swerve to the side...they were all over the road, eating a massive amount of grasshoppers that were having a party all along the road for miles), and ate a really nice lunch in the afternoon. Also, the rocks and canyon walls (see photo) leading to the waterfall were beautiful, even without the water. Supposedly, the water coming out of the springs is around 140 degrees. I'm not sure what it is down below where the pools are, but it was definitely as warm or warmer than a hot bath. It would be a great place to go in the winter or when the rains have just finished falling.

I'm planning to go with a small group of boys and adults to a small sister church in San Jose this weekend, so that's exciting. It's about 4-5 hours, and it'll be a really full weekend, but should be good. Pray for safety on the journey.

Now, for the profile: Ramses (Ram, for short) is the older brother of Nere, last entry's child. He is 9 years old, scrawny, sweet, and generally pretty adventurous, but not quite as much as Nere. He's a little quieter. He has an older sister, Alexia, and younger siblings Nere, Jose, and Gloria. Living in the sibling house, he's got lots of company and lots of playmates, but pray that he makes good use of the role models (male and female) in his life. In Mexico, the macho image of manhood is even stronger than in the U.S., and it shows in the broken homes, etc. There are very few positive Mexican male role models who handle their body, wives, girlfriends, children, jobs, etc., with love and responsibility. The lack of leadership in the home and church in Mexico is pretty pronounced. For now, his heart is soft. Pray that he keeps that soft heart, that he draws close to God, and that he can become a godly Christian man, living and speaking as an example for the world to see. That's Ram with me in the photo.

Also pictured are Michelle, and Federico with Jaquiline, his sister. They're pretty cute together, and have a really good relationship. It's really nice to see how they act towards each other. Jaqi is our only resident who is also a Christian, so pray for her as well.

That's about it!

Thanks,

Todd

Some updates and una chiqita...

2009-08-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Some updates on praises to God... (note the photo of all the kids in secondary school...don't they look adorable and innocent? :-))

First, the school schedule has worked out remarkably well...I'm shocked at how smoothly that little task went!

Second, we have almost all the books we need and printouts for what we don't have, though some of the other teachers would really like to use some online resources that currently are unavailable.

Third, my Spanish has been functional, certainly not sterling, but good enough that the kids don't lose patience with me. Also, they've been very patient with the whole school start-up thing, my Spanish, new rules, and etc. Aside from a few minor problems, things went well. Keep praying for their behavior, learning, and especially their hearts. They are normal kids with all the selfishness, ugly characteristics of other kids and all the beautiful characteristics of other kids that mark them as children of the fall and yet wonderful creations who bear the image of God.

Fourth, when we unexpectedly lost a teacher for a day, Jeff and Jody Beer, a brother and sister from Milford, just happened to be down here for the week, just happened to speak Spanish, just happened to know the kids really well (Jeff was a former counselor here), and just happened to have the time and inclination to step in...for which coincidences we give God thanks.

Certainly things won't always go smoothly, so you can keep praying for my Spanish, which needs a lot of work, for time to get things done, for the new teachers (Pau, Rhode, Eli, Carissa, Kristi, and me) with a lot on their plates, and for God's indwelling spirit to be strong in us when things go awry: strong in patience, flexibility, brokenness, and trust.

A typical schedule:

I arise sometime after 5:00, prepare, have devotions, eat, etc. School starts at 7:00 with a 30 minute welcome session, including devotions, pledge, and group projects, followed by (for me) Math 1, 2, and 3 (4, 2, and 3 kids, respectively, from ages 12 to 16), Physics, English 1, 2, and 3, and on Mondays and Fridays, physical education, which so far has been a lot of fun: the kids like to play almost any sport, and many of them are very athletic. This takes until 2:00, with a couple of breaks in between, whereupon we eat lunch. From 3 to 5 I'm in the school room, preparing lessons, gathering materials, grading (the necessary bane of my existence) or supervising kids with homework problems. Supper is at 6:30, and I head to bed around 10:00. Sometime in the in-betweens I try to have devotions, exercise or a soccer game, and play with some of the kids. So far the days have been really full with school start-up, so I'm hoping for more time to take things slow and enjoy the kids more outside of school, reading, guitar-playing (sorry, Mom, hasn't happened yet), etc.

Other interesting things: one of the boys found a very large centipede (that's my hand, fingers fully extended, in the photo), Seth killed some fire ants that had been invading our dorm, and we found a dead black widow in the bathroom. Surprisingly, none of these things are all that bad, really. The incredibly pervasive and ridiculously consistent gnats give me more trouble than the "dangerous" stuff.

I'm going to try and profile one child per blog entry for a while, to give faces and info to the kids so you can pray for them. For all of them, please pray for soft hearts to the Lord and heads that are willing to think about what life is really all about.

First up is Nere (Nereida). She's 7 years old and apparently afraid of nothing. Her favorite things to do are ride on someone's shoulders, wrestle with the other kids, laugh at anything, get hurt and laugh about it, and etc. She loves being spun in circles and thinks it's fun to throw herself backwards suddenly while on my shoulders, without telling me, assuming I will catch her before she falls headlong to the ground and cracks her skull. It seems the greatest thing in the world would be to swing so hard on the swing set that it falls over, taking her with it. She has four siblings (Alexei, Ramses, Jose, and Gloria) and lives in the sibling house with them. Pray for her heart to stay soft and open to God's seeds and soft voice, that she can be successful in school, and that she doesn't die before age 10.

Thanks,

Todd

Por fin in Magdalena!

2009-08-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

A quick update on things thus far...I had a great finish in Morelia, then flew back to Indiana and had an incredibly tiring but very fun time catching up with friends, coworkers, family (a new nephew), and Leo in general. My parents and I drove to Illinois and I spent an equally enjoyable but slower-moving time in Princeville, again catching up with friends and family. Finally, I flew to Dallas, stopped for the night to see my brother and his family in their new home, and flew the next morning to Tucson, where I was picked up by Bill and Joan Schick. After some shopping and other chores, we drove to Magdalena, where I have spent the last few days settling in.

Some things to pray for...

My spanish is not nearly strong enough to function effectively, so pray for my mind, mouth, and ears, and pray that I'll have time to study and catch up to where I need to be.

The school is being forced into a very abrupt and rapid start because of some timing issues beyond the control of CVE, so pray that the books, teachers, and materials arrive on time.

Also, because of the rapid start, pray that the teachers, staff, and students would have a supernatural measure of patience, understanding, love, wisdom, and flexibility as we begin the year.

Also, a quick note on the links to pictures in the sidebar: if you don't like watching the pictures go slowly by in a slide show, after clicking on the link in my blog that takes you to Photobucket, you can click on the button that says "main" for main view (look in the top right corner of your screen) and it will take you to a place that shows you all the pictures at once, instead of a random selection of pictures one at a time.

Thanks,

Todd

Patzcuaro...

2009-07-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hola otra vez!

Ok, some prayer requests...

I have a week and a half left in Morelia. Pray for excellent progress with my Spanish in the remaining time, many opportunities, much wisdom, and much courage in living and speaking the truth to my family, friends, and teachers, time-management and diligence in setting the right priorities, etc.

Pray in earnest for the school in Magdalena for the coming year: new school, new teachers, new students, new language, new rules and expectations, new culture, new living situation, new schedule...you get the idea.

Pray about my trip home to Leo for the Auction (3 layovers, one long day) and then to Princeville and then to Texas (to see my brother, his wife, and daughter) and finally Magdalena, all in roughly 10 days. Should be interesting.

Joel, Kristi, Joel´s parents, Mike and Susy Zobrist, and the "young'un's" have all left, so there´s only two AC´s at Baden-Powell. It´ll be different to not have so many others around, but probably better overall for my Spanish since I can´t escape to American companions as often anymore.

On the way to Patzcuaro, we stopped in three little pueblitos along the way: one had the first university (a Catholic seminary for training evangelists and priests) in the Americas, another had a small church devoted to Santiago (James) that just happened to be celebrating Saint James Day (many horses, pilgrims, a carnival, and continuous fireworks, consisting of monstrous bottle rockets about six feet tall that sound like cannons going off, etc.), and Zinzuntzan, a former temple site for some native Indians (pre-conquistador).

Ok, Patzcuaro...for those of you who like art, you´d love Patzcuaro. Very picturesque little Mexican town, with the classic square, fountain, artists´ shops, etc. There are wood carvers, woodpainters (using crushed marigolds, gold leaf, bug juice (seriously), crushed rocks, etc.), weavers, a former convent home that took up 3 city blocks known as the House of 11 Patios, guitar-makers, basketweavers, etc., all incredibly intricate and detailed. There was a troop of teenagers performing a traditional dance called "the Dance of the Old Men" that´s kind of interesting, and a type of ice cream called Pasta de Nieve. It tastes kind of like soft-serve ice cream with honey and caramel. Supposedly there´s a secret ingredient, but it seems like every street vendor in Morelial sells it, so it can´t be that secret. I like it! Also, there´s "flotante", which is Pepsi with Lime ice cream, which I like as much or more than root beer floats, which is really saying something. All in all, very enjoyable. Probably my last excursion in Morelia.

On a side note, there weren´t services in Morelia on Sunday, so I had a chance to visit the market with my Mexican family, eat Mexican-style pizza, watch the U.S. get smoked 5-0 in soccer by the Mexican team (yes, I endured a lot of comments from my Mexican family), and generally enjoy the fact that I can pick up a lot more of the conversation now.

Let´s see...que otra? I´m looking forward to getting to the Leo Auction, seeing family and friends and enemigos, eating chocolate chip cookies, sweet corn, haystacks, apples, etc.....(I like Mexican food, but I also miss American food...) in about a week and a half. Other than that, not much!

That´s enough!

Todd

El Bosque Nacional en Uruapan, Mexico...

2009-07-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

First, I haven´t posted any new prayer requests for a while, so here we go...

I´ll be moving up to 5 hours of tutoring per day for the rest of my stay, so pray that I don´t go crazy. I´ve finished the grammar program at the Institute, so from here on out, I need lots and lots of practice with listening, recognizing, and speaking Spanish so I can actually communicate fluidly and naturally, instead of halting and pausing and stammering like I do now.

Pray that I will be a bold, faithful, humble, broken, and obedient witness in words and actions with my teachers, peers, and Mexican family. Also, I seem to have hit a dead spot in my devotions, because I´m having a really tough time focusing during prayer and reading times. Things just seem very blah, like I´m sitting in the doldrums spiritually.

Keep praying for my teachers, Suzy (a new one), Gina, Jaime, Rocio, and Rosy (I should have some pictures of them posted on photobucket before too long...I hope).

Keep praying for my family in Mexico, Margarita, Maria Louisa, Daniela, and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Also, on a note of encouragement, I met my first devout young Mexican Catholic ever! There are some Catholic seminary students from the U.S. here who are very faithful and sincere, but until now all the Mexican young people were ambivalent at best or cynical at worst about Christianity and the claims of Christ on their lives. His name is Luis, and after talking with him for roughly an hour it was clear that he was very sincere, faithful, and diligent in his relationship with Christ. Very encouraging. The one thing (rather big, I know) was that he seemed to have developed a very works-centered view of Christian life, not to the point of saying he could work his way into heaven necessarily (I don´t know what his thoughts are on that), but probably too much emphasis on what he could do as opposed to what God can do. Thus, you can pray for Luis (and for me, since I also fall into that trap often myself).

Ok, now for another post about the entrancing, scintillating details of my life...On Wednesday I had a chance to visit a national park in Uruapan that basically consists of a river running through a jungle with man-made fountains everywhere, waterfalls, stone-paved trails, etc. Joel and Kristi plus Joel´s parents and myself took the bus to Uruapan, spent a few hours trundling through the forest, then returned and had dinner at a very nice but very empty Mexican restaurant in Magdalena. Probably my favorite place in Mexico thus far. There were also several divers who would take leaps from various heights for money. The most impressive was a guy who did a perfect swan dive from approximately 60-70 feet up into the river for 100 pesos. We were told that for 200 pesos, he´d jump from even higher. All in all, great trip. I even had a very tasty $2 burger (definitely better than any fast food places in the U.S) in the bus terminal, and tried ¨chorros¨, which are a really good sugary treat.

For pictures of Uruapan (the volcano and national forest), my previous trip to Ixtlan, and my coming trip to Patzcuaro (tomorrow), look in the sidebar of my blog. I should be able to post the links in a week or so, depending on my busy-ness level here in Morelia. Keep checking the pictures whenever you desire, I´ve been adding new ones roughly once or twice a week.

Ok, that´s enough.

Todd

Ixtlan!

2009-07-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hola, everybody!

Last weekend I had a chance to travel by bus with Zach Knobloch to Ixtlan for single group and Sunday services. It all started with a 2.5 hour bus ride on a very nice bus (they have great bus service between cities here: plush seats, slightly improved snacks over normal airline fare, reasonably-priced, direct routes to most cities (there were even offerings for Morelia to Florida, which would be an unbelievably long trip...), movie, etc.). We got off in Zamora and got another less-nice bus to Ixtlan that took a half hour. I proceeded to get off at the wrong stop in Ixtlan and we had to walk at least a mile to the right stop so we could find our way to the church/guesthouse/Marshall and Jan's house (all located at the same site). The whole trip, including a bus ride in Morelia to the main bus station and various wait times, took about 5 to 5.5 hours. We did a little better on the return trip, about 4.5 hours. I later found out that with an ID from the school, I could have gotten a 50% student discount, but oh well.

While in Ixtlan, I got to see Grant Herrmann from Princeville, who is staying down there for his second summer, see Jan Heinold again, meet a small group of young people from Ixtlan, play volleyball, sing, study the bible, go to church, drive a van on some of the worst "roads" you've ever seen, and eat really good American food for the first time in weeks. Grant also had cold milk (an incredible treat since they serve all milk at room temperature with floaties in it down here in Mexico) and homemade chocolate chip cookies! Aside from the fact that I didn't sleep at all that night due to Coke and chronically sadistic time-confused roosters that decided to announce themselves to the world every 5 seconds, at times in harmony but mostly by round, (literally, all night outside my bedroom window)(Hey, you, the gringo in the house! Just wanted to let you know that you're still not asleep...HA HA HA!!!...), I had a really good time!

Thanks,

Todd

Un Nuevo Vulcan y Mucha Pena

2009-07-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hola everybody!

Last weekend I took an excursion with the school to the world´s newest volcano, which sprouted up in the middle of a cornfield about 50 years ago and has since grown quite a bit. Don´t know exactly how tall it is now, but I think it is approximately 700 ft. tall. It all started from a 9 ft. crack in the ground that a Mexican farmer noticed one day when he was out in his cornfield. It was belching smoke like crazy, and the next day the ground around the crack was so hot he couldn´t walk close to it. The crack smoked for about 1 year before erupting, so the town nearby had a chance to build new houses and move farther away before it blew. The experts had enough warning that they were able to take all kinds of mearurements and learn lots of things about volcanoes, so they were really excited. No one died, and while everyone in town lost their fields for farming, they were able to replace the income with tourism dollars. The farmer who owned the field attempted to find a buyer for his volcano for the rest of his life, at one time being told to look for an American named Rockefeller. He never suceeded.

This excursion involved a long bus ride, 2 hours of horseback riding on a homemade Mexican saddle (my first time ever on a horse), about 30-45 minutes of difficult hiking to the top, 15 minutes of looking down into a massive hole that still smokes in places (if we´d had more time, the natives say there are places where you can dig down and see molten lava flowing), 5 minutes of "skiing" down a steep slope of powdery ash to the base of the volcano, and two more hours of horseback riding (rather painful the second time around, actually) back to the bus. Joel and Kristi and I had a chance to get right up to the rocks that were smoking and steaming (when it rains, the water runs down to the lava and is boiled back out as steam) and hold our hands over the rocks, but it was so hot we couldn´t hold them in place for more than a few seconds. We ate in a restaurant in the little farming town where we got the horses, and then rode the bus back to Morelia. Did I mention that during the last 30 minutes of horseback riding, it was absolutely pouring rain and the slicker they gave me had no hood and wasn´t long enough to cover halfway to my knees?

In other words, this was a very entertaining excursion (seriously, it made me feel like a legitimate Marlboro man, except my horse would probably have made the Marlboro man laugh hysterically). I made sure I used my deepest, manliest bass voice for a day or so afterwards, going around saying things like, "Pardon, ma´am, but I ain´t got no hankerin´fer hombres what don´t hav none respe´t fer wiminfolks. Ah´m fixin´ tuh tear down that feller´s meathouse." It made me feel good, but people looked at me with rather strange expressions, I´m not sure why.

Also, after approximately one week I am now finally able to sit down comfortably. It hurt worse than when Dad used to beat my bottom mercilessly with a wooden spoon for not finishing my peas for supper before the timer went off...just kidding... :-)

Mexico City...

2009-07-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, Mexico City will be on in a few minutes, but first, a word from our sponsor...

Prayer requests:

Jaime, one of my maestros, is a well-educated, articulate, moral man who is interested in many good things, but has up to now never read the Bible and is not convinced that it´s necessarily all true. He recently asked me where I would recommend beginning to read the Bible. He was interested mainly in the 10 Commandments and in the difference between the OT and NT. I was shocked that this nominal Catholic churchgoer who had been in churches for almost all of his life didn´t know that Genesis and Matthew were different books: he thought the NT was a revision, a 2nd edition so to speak, of the OT. He didn't know that the NT was a sequel to the OT. Anyway, pray that he follows through on reading the Bible not just for a day or week, but for the rest of his life. Also, pray that he listens and is convicted by the Word.

I found out a few more details about my future situation with CVE: currently there will be approximately 4 or 5 teachers, including me, three of which are Mexicanas: Rhode Seth, Paulina, and Eli. I don't know the last two ladies, but I have met Rhode Seth before. We have approval from Mexico to have our own school for all the kids who are of age. Also, the plan is for me to live with Seth Gerber in the dorm with the older boys on campus, not as one in charge of the boys but just to get to know them better and be an assistant to Seth. I´m excited about the living situation and excited to have Mexican teachers to work with and give me some guidance. Pray for my relationship with the boys (and girls, too), my working relationships with the other teachers, for me to be flexible as I adjust to a whole new role, and for good materials (textbooks, whiteboard, etc.) to work with.

I visited an orphanage in Morelia to volunteer this week that needs lots of help. Their facilities seem to be ok, given that they operate solely on funds donated to them, but there is a shortage of responsible adults for supervision. Pray for me as I play with the kids, tutor, and etc. Pray that the kids will learn from their supervisors and follow after Christ.

Finally, pray for my relationships with the other students and teachers at Baden-Powell, that we wouldn´t just have friendly relationships but spiritually-meaningful relationships as well.

Photos: look for the link on the sidebar to see photos of Mexico City, and hopefully in the next week or so, pictures of a volcano in Uruapan, our AC church family in Morelia, and more!

Now, for Mexico City: it´s huge! I flew into MC on my way to Morelia, and I distinctly remember circling the city several times at several thousand feet. Most of the time, even from that height, I could look to the horizon in any direction and see nothing but the city below me, block after block of houses situated wall-to-wall, two stories each, stretching out as far as I could see. I´ve flow into Chicago several times, but there´s no comparison. Mexico City is not like our suburbs, with plenty of greenspace: it´s just people crammed on top of people, stretching for miles and miles. Our guide said it´s currently the 3rd largest city in the world, after Tokyo and Sao Paulo. Various quotes of it´s population all run in the 20 to 30 million range. You can imagine the results in 1985 when a massive earthquake hit this city so full of people with no escape or refuge. Much of the city actually sank a few feet lower during the quake, and you can see that lots of the older buildings actually lean noticeably. In several places, the quake uncovered some Aztec ruins, and the entire time when we were walking in certain locations, it felt like you were on a ship, given the uneven rises and dips in the floors or streets.

While in Mexico City for two days, we visited the following places, all of which were great from a tourist standpoint, but very saddening from a Christian standpoint...

First, El Museo de Manuel Riviera and El Museo de Bellas Artes, which were both art museums full of art that, unfortunately, included a lot of symbols of suffering from Mexico´s past, naked women, and ugliness, in my opinion. I liked the buildings themselves, which were beautiful and monstrous and built mostly of marble (though I was saddened to think how much money was wasted to build an expensive building for the purpose of ugly art instead of helping people who actually need it...) Generally, I came away with the impression that much modern art has degenerated into lust, sensationalism, and degradation for the sake of making a point. Sorry, I didn´t like the art museums. We ate in a restaurant that was pretty good, an entire building covered floor to ceiling with decorative ceramic tile...very expensive to build...

Next, we visited Socalo, the central square in MC that has the Cathedral of Mexico (the largest church in Mexico), the Federal building, where Presidente Felipe Calderon has his offices, the State and City adminisration buildings, and some Aztec ruins uncovered by the earthquake, all in a massive city block. There was also a temporary dinosaur museum set up. This site was cool, but again I was struck by the sheer amount of money people will spend to beautify a building instead of bless others: the entire altar in the Cathedral was carved wood coated in carved plaster painted with gold. There were two massive organs, 6 side rooms decorated with gold everywhere that were paid for by wealthy families as sort of a competition to see who could have the best, and multiple places that you couldn´t go into...unless you made a donation. The Aztecs, in their time, carried volcanic rocks from the mountains an incredible distance to build their temple (slave labor) and decided to construct an entire city on floating platforms in a lake because of their beliefs. Again, pointless extravagance at the expense of others.

On Sunday, we visited the Basilica of Guadalupe, one of the holiest pilgrimmage sites in Catholicism, which is actually 4 buildings and multiple monuments to the Virgin Mary. Juan Diego, an Indian, is purported to have seen a vision of the Virgin at this site, gathered some roses in winter in her honor in his cloak, and then miraculously discovered a painting of the pregnant Mary on his cloak after spilling out the roses before his priest. After much examination by various experts, the image of Mary was determined to not be a painting at all, but an unexplainable miracle, so they built a church (and then another and another) at the site. At one point or another the mantle (which can still be seen on display today) has been bombed and shot at, but has never been damaged. Not sure exactly what I think about the mantle...

Regardless, the site is huge and elaborately decorated, with many little stands selling images of the Virgin, beautiful gardens, the mantle, several monuments and a stadium built for Pope John Paul II´s visit a number of years ago, and lots of evidence of the earthquake: one of the cathedrals is literally leaning, cracking, and crumbling. Again, I came away with a sense of senseless extravagance, and I´m very uncomfortable with the way Mary is presented and venerated in Mexico, but especially at the Basilica.

Finally, we visited the pyramids of Teotihuacan, including the Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon. It was once a huge, vast city, with a main road at least two miles long, painted buildings (in a few places), ruins everywhere, etc. The Temples were very large, and very steep to climb, but doable. It was more risky going down than up, because if you stumbled on the uneven footing, you would have kept falling for quite a while. I´m sorry I keep saying this, but I was struck again by the human cost to building these pyramids. Afterwards, we ate at La Gruta, a restaurant built into a cave, where I had belly lamb...I think it was lamb meat stuffed into a lamb stomach...but I´m not sure. It was pretty good, though.

That pretty much summarizes the trip: two days, lots of driving, ancient buildings, great tourist locations...but spiritually heartbreaking.

I had a long and helpful conversation with my roommate, Robert, a Catholic seminarian who explained a lot of Catholic philosophy to me, which I might tell you about in the future, but for now this posting is already too long. Something else to pray about.

Ok, that´s more than enough.

Semanas Tres y Cuatro...

2009-07-03T11:14:00.001-07:00

"Every man dies, but not every man truly lives..."
--Motto of a motorcycle stuntman who proceeded to almost kill himself while jumping 10 cars.

When I saw the stuntman do his crash landing, my first thought was how stupid it was to live your life always looking for the next thrill, at the expense of all else. It´s sad to think how often we humans waste so much in pursuing so little. However, the more I think about the motto itself, the more I think maybe he had the right idea, wrong goal. Perhaps it would be helpful to replace "truly lives" with "truly lives for eternity´s sake." (Not very succint or poetic, but still...) How often do we waste our lives pursuing the Christianized American Dream (nice house, nice car, 3 perfect kids, secure job, long retirement, nice vacations, nicer home, nicer and newer car, and oh yeah, church on Sundays...) or some other earthly goal (entertainment, notoriety, comfort, etc.) at the expense of all God has planned for us in His Kingdom here on earth? What is the opportunity cost of living life conventionally? What do we miss out on by not living a lifestyle befitting a "soldier of Christ" with a goal of "skidding across the finish line of life" knowing like Paul (Acts 20, II Timothy) that we´ve left everything we had on the court, of being completely spent for the sake of God´s kingdom? Can I say with Paul that I´ve done all I could? Imagine the horrible, sick feeling of an NBA star leaving the basketball court with a 2nd place trophy when he knows that he slacked off a bit in the 3rd quarter, thinking it wouldn´t matter that much? Will we leave this life like that? These are some of the things I´ve been thinking about after reading Claud Hickman´s book "Live Life on Purpose." (see previous post for details) Will I be able to say I truly lived, truly gave, truly served, at the end of my life? Anyway, not that God somehow needs me, but rather that He deserves all I can give Him.

Keep praying for my Spanish, for my teacher who is very moral but not interested in biblical truth, for the little church in Morelia, etc.

Also, this week I´m headed to Mexico City with some other students for a couple of days, so pray about that and hopefully I´ll have some great pictures and experiences to share next week.

Ok, that´s enough.

Semana Dos (Week 2)

2009-06-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

So it's been 2 weeks now, and I'm still trying to figure out this keyboard...

First, some prayer requests...
My teachers are very proficient and helpful and kind, but one is into coffee-table buddhism and another is a very moral man, but also interested in positive energy, supernatural phenomena, etc. He also does not give much credence to the Bible, but gives much more weight to the testimonies of those who've had supernatural experiences. All of my teachers are at least nominally Catholic, which in Mexico means they have rarely if ever read the Bible.

The jovenes (young'uns) in Mexico are almost all Catholic in that they were born into the Catholic church, but none that I've talked to hold to Biblical truth. All of them seem to recognize that many things about the church are wrong, but instead of searching for what's right about Christ, they seem to reject such a search altogether. It seems their experiences thus far have innoculated them not only against the Catholic church, but against truth, the Bible, and Christianity in general.

My family in Mexico is very similar to my teachers and peers: nominally Catholic, very friendly and amiable, close family ties, etc., but not interested in the difference between nominal faith and true faith. The difference between salvation by faith AND works and salvation by faith that LEADS to works is lost on them. They don't seem to notice the logical discrepancy nor become concerned that the first option is not taught in the Bible.

All this to say that I, and Mexico in general, need lots of your prayers.

Second, notice that the links to my photos from Magdalena and Morelia are posted in the sidebar of the blog, always available for you to view periodically. I've been adding pictures here and there throughout the week, so there will probably be some new ones each time you view them.

Third, I'd like to recommend 3 books that I've found extremely beneficial...
Live Life on Purpose, by Claude Hickman, does an excellent job of explaining how to know God's will and live your life for His Kingdom, living life by a compass rather than a map.

The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman, is an excellent view of how Christ evangelized, discipled, and mentored those around him. This book does a great job of clarifying a strategy for evangelism that doesn't necessarily revolve around our modern connotations of evangelism.

The Master Plan of Teaching, by Matthew Friedman, is a sequel of sorts to Coleman's book and describes more specifically how Christ mentored, taught, and discipled his followers once they'd "signed on."

Fourth, in the last week, I became an uncle again (Ian, June 22), I saw an excellent Mexican classical guitarist perform for over an hour, free of charge, found out that my Mexican aunt is a stunning artist (hoping to buy one of her paintings, maybe, which is unheard of for me), and saw my first "Corrida de Toros," or bullfight.

As for the guitarist, he was great, but no Mom, he hasn't inspired me to take up the guitar again...yet.

As for the bullfight, that was a very entertaining cultural experience, but probably not one I'll go to again for a while. There was a horseman that was fantastic (look for Pedro Hermoso de Mendoza on youtube and be amazed at the horsemanship), several bullfighters that were fun to watch at first, but boring after a few minutes of watching the same thing (look for Enrique Ponse on youtube), and 8 guys that must have been slightly inebriated to take on a bull without the benefit of capes or horses. Their goal was to try to "ski" by ganging up on the bull all at once (which involves one particularly brave or stupid or drunk man taking a charge full in the gut) and grabbing his tail, then playing the part of Baloo vs. Sher Khan in The Jungle Book. You can try to youtube this one also, using ¨forcadores.¨

In short, an interesting week. Keep praying for my Spanish skills, which are slooooowly growing better, for my Mexican family, etc.

OK, that's enough.

Gracias,

Todd

Some pictures and Skype...

2009-06-15T11:41:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

First, I do have a Skype account, so if anyone wants to talk via the internet for free, let me know!

Second, I´ve posted some pictures of Morelia and Magdalena on Photobucket for you to view if you so desire.

Please click on the following links to view...

Magdalena Pictures...
http://s646.photobucket.com/albums/uu189/toddstoller1/Mexico/Magdalena/?albumview=slideshow

Morelia Pictures...
http://s646.photobucket.com/albums/uu189/toddstoller1/Mexico/Morelia/?albumview=slideshow

Enjoy!

Thanks,

Todd

Morelia Empiezando! (Begins)(I think...)

2009-06-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

Well now,

I´ve been in Morelia for 5 days now and aside from the rather annoying rearrangment of the keyboards in Mexico (to allow for a few extra letters and symbols), everything is going extremely well. The Aviles family is very friendly, hospitable, and helpful (as much as they can be since only Margarita´s neice, who lives down the street, speaks English). Their home is very comfortable, about 15 minutes walk from the school, and the food has been pretty good. (Mom, you would be shocked to find out what your pickiest eater has been consuming lately.) Margarita is the mom, Daniella is the daughter, and Maria Louisa is the grandmother. They have a rather large extended family, but nobody else is living with them in the house. The neices and nephews do stop by regularly, however, so it keeps things interesting.

The Baden-Powell Language Insitute is great: very welcoming and accustomed to American students, very picturesque and quaint, with great teachers (I have four hours of one-on-one tutoring with 4 different teachers) and a conversation club in the afternoons that has been very beneficial for meeting Mexican students. They also took some of us on a walking tour of Morelia, which I´ll discuss next.

Morelia is a very old Spanish city of 1,000,000 with (strangely) Italian influences. It has nine buildings or churches on the protection list as historical sites with the United Nations. One former church, which now houses a museum with the most incredible crafts I´ve ever seen, was built in 1531. The native Indians in this region are famous for their pottery, paintings, sculptures, wood carving, guitars, feather pictures, etc. I have to say, despite not being a big fan of off-beat artsy stuff, that their handiwork is incredible, especially considering that most of the work is done with very basic tools. Very impressive. Also impressive, but ridiculous, was the main cathedral in town, which is very large, luxurious, old, opulent, and disgraceful. I´ve rarely if ever seen such incredible wealth concentrated in one place, and it pains me to think of the poorer people in Mexico on whose backs it was built. Then again, I´m disappointed in my attitude of selfishness whenever I pass the occasional street beggar with my wallet full of pesos.

Keep praying for me!

Ok, that´s enough.

Home Again! (For Now!)

2009-06-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here we go again...

My last week in Leo was a tremendous blessing, a bittersweet experience, and a powerful temptation. A blessing, because I was able to spend time with friends and family, receive encouragement, eat cow tongue for the first time ever, finish out the school year on a high note with my students, and top it all off with some volleyball and ultimate frisbee. I thank God for so many good "last time ever's." A bittersweet experience, because after months of waiting, I am now heading for Mexico ( a good thing) and leaving all the great friends and memories of Leo behind, not to mention friends and family after a short week in Princeville (not so fun). A powerful temptation, because with all of the farewells and "last time ever's," it was really easy to think of myself as a great, spiritual guy on a special mission from God, when in fact I'm really just a piece of God's ultimate puzzle, a cog in the factory of God's plan. I really need to think of myself in terms of the faithful servant in Luke 17:7-10, who quietly does what is asked of him rather than look for praise and honor.

To help me to that end, God has been prepping me for Mexico and a long period of transition with lots of tiny stressors: odd jobs to be done, myriad packing and storing and planning decisions, significant transitions to be made in a small period of time, priorities to be reset and rebalanced, and a general sense of unsettled and off-balance living. Since I thrive on routine, especially perfect routines, the prospect of going for months at a time with no set routine can be a bit daunting for me. (Even admitting that fact is embarrassing!)

Ok, that's enough.

And so it begins...

2009-04-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how much use this blog is going to get, since I'm not exactly in the habit of journaling much of anything. However, at least I can say I tried...(once).

First, since many have asked, I am planning to move from Leo, IN to my parents' home in Princeville, IL on June 1, certain to be a bittersweet day due to three great years with Gateway Woods School and lots of friends, memories, etc. On June 7, I fly to Morelia, Mexico (about an hour from Mexico City) to the Baden-Powell Language Institute for two months of intensive Spanish tutoring, which just might drive me insane. On August 8, I plan to return to the US for a week at most before flying to Magdalena, Mexico (about an hour south of the border, via Tuscon and Nogales) to begin working with Casa Vida y Esperanza, a children's home sponsored by the Apostolic Christian Church.

Ok, that's enough.

Todd Stoller

A few other events to discuss...

Whoops! I did(n't) it again!

Breaking News Story!

Finally! Time to Catch Up (Session 2)!

Finally! Time to Catch Up!

The Holidays...

Ahh, busy times....

More Videos!

Hmmm....It's been a busy month....

Blind Tanks....Karla's "Me" Impersonation...etc.

Ahhh....Time to think....I hope!

Wind, Exercise, and Prayer Requests...

Ixtlan! (and Guadalajara, Mazatlan, Culiacan, Eduardo, etc....)

Hmmm...things must be really busy....

Finally...some warmer weather!

Another month passes between posts...

Ummm...Not sure what to title this....

Tecate and a few other things...

Oops! It's been a while again!

Wow...it's been a while!

A question, a littl'un, and more...

A series of questions...

Ooops!....Time was moving faster than I thought!

Some updates and una chiqita...

Por fin in Magdalena!

Patzcuaro...

El Bosque Nacional en Uruapan, Mexico...

Ixtlan!

Un Nuevo Vulcan y Mucha Pena

Mexico City...

Semanas Tres y Cuatro...

Semana Dos (Week 2)

Some pictures and Skype...

Morelia Empiezando! (Begins)(I think...)

Home Again! (For Now!)

And so it begins...