Apple and Chamoy and Tahin Receipe

This is soo good and has lots of natural fibre too!

Serves 4 people

Wash and slice 2 apples. In Mexico City I soak my apples for 20 minutes in iodine water to help kill any parasites from the crop and dirty water.
Dry and place apples in bowl
Sprinkle some Tahin about 2tsp on apples and mix
Pour some Chamoy about 2tbs and mix
Serve with toothpicks

I am sure you can find the two spices in any international store or section in your Canadian grocers.

San Pabilito Visit !



This was entering the village after driving 4.5 hours

This is the view from Leobardo's home

 

The man sitting on the left is Leobardo and used to be the town drunk.  He and his brother's family have recently met Christ and are the only ones in the village with their faith and desire to share their faith with their neighbours. We heard stories of how their neighbours vandalised their home and threatened them.

There is another church in the village, but they are forbidden to speak their own native language OTOMI. It is looked down upon as lesser and unholy.

There are many village people that are alcoholics and if you attend the town church you are forbidden to associate with anyone who is not religious like you. It is very sad and is clearly not an accepting, grace filled faith that is offered to us in faith by God. Some of these people are illiterate and therefore reading the scriptures and reading about their freedom in Christ is likely not a reality they will discover. It is our dream to find a way to partner with these brothers and help equip them for their dream. They believe they are called to start a church for all the village children and teach them about the love of God and His acceptance of them. 






We drove to San Pabilito with Heather Huhn who is our connection to this village. She has overseen a ministry run through our church La Fuente, called Corazon Valiente (Brave Heart). They minister to street children and run programs helping children of merchants get into the school system and learn Spanish in order to have a new start or chance at life through education and faith. This ministry has been well received in the Coyoacan area and had a room donated to them in a local building to run their after school Homework Help programs. It can be quite difficult for children who's parents do not speak Spanish but Otomi (one of the native languages in the villages outside of the city). Once the children are enrolled in the Mexican school system they are not left to fend for themselves as Brazve Heart helps them complete their school work.

The young lady in the black sweater far left in the photo is the oldest daughter of Leobrardo. She wants to be equipped to teach the children in her village about the Bible. She is currently enrolled in a school, studying to be a nurse but feels that the Lord is calling her to focus on ministering to the children that live in her area. When we arrived we brought them little gifts and Heather gave her a Bible in Spanish and Otomi!  By night fall I think there were at least 40 kids around.

How much do I love these children! Davida gave me a friendship bracelet, I didn't want to take it as I thought the list of her possessions could be counted on her 5 fingers but I didn't want to insult her either so I made a trade for my gloves.

What a priviledge it was to be able to spend the day and night with such great people in San Pabilito. It took us about 4.5 hours to drive there as it is not in the City of Mexico but in a state called Puebla. The people in this village do not have a lot of material possessions and it was hard not be reminded how lavish we live even when ashamedly we sometimes think we have less then others. The family we stayed with slept on the floor in order to make us feel welcome. I felt bad but knew this was a sign of their hospitality. I did sleep in my hat, jacket, vest and clothes. It was so cold as the houses do not have heat, running water and other things we would find intolerable to live with out.

It was so hard to not give everything we possesed to these loving children. Davida is the little girl in the top picture to my left who followed me around all night. I kept giving her my ORCHATA drink (rice, water and sugar), I also gave her my gloves as an exchange for the friendship bracelet because she insisted I take her bracelet. Due to the cold and lack of running water their hygiene was considerably different then ours. But this wasn't a choice for them - it was a result of being poor and  born into a poor family in a poor village. It made me love them even more. If they did try and shower in the cold river they would likely get sick and how would they dry their clothes and hair? By 6 p.m. the village was covered by a cloud, and it looked like we were in the middle of a thick fog. But in reality the villagers were preparing dinner and since all their "kitchens" were open fires beside the houses, the air was a combination of cloud cover and smoke. It really felt like camping only inside your house. After dark once the little service had concluded, Davida and her father needed to walk home. It was rainy and damp from the high altitude and the cloud cover was right above us. I was told it would take them an hour to walk back home. I just kept thinking about Davida's bare toes in her sandals and made a mental note next time to bring socks and gloves and lots of them!!!!!!

You know I was thinking about how our children like to complain "It's not fair" when things don't  go their way. And it seems from childhood we have had the thought that things worked on a scale of fairness in this life. Is that really true? Is it fair that some of us live extremely abundant lives and yet are not thankful for it because we see what we are lacking? Why is it that the poor can live a street away from us, a city away from us perhaps a world away from us and they go completely unnoticed?  I do not think the greater injustice is that these children and families are so poor and live with out the necessities of life. No, the greatest injustice is that these people go unseen by us through out our daily lives. While we stand in line for our Starbucks or latest perfume why don't our hearts break over the fact that some mothers can't shower their own children because they have no water, or fear of them freezing afterwards because they have no heat? If we were them would we be angry that the world developed and we were left behind? Would we feel abandoned by our fellow man? None of us can end world hunger, none of us can solve even 1/8 of the world's problems. I think we are each capable of caring. I pray that the things that would break the Father's heart would also break our hearts. I pray that we would each be conscious of the gifts, abilities and provisions that have been given to us and then in a attitude of thankfulness I pray we would each search our hearts and ask ourselves "what can I do?".  It seems to me, no matter where one lives, it appears too easy to live a life that is based on the world's standard of success.

Here are some of my thoughts perhaps to inspire you where ever you live. We are all capable to do a little, to love on others and let them know they matter, we can see them.

- donate clothing to your local chaity or organization that gives clothes to the poor.
- donate food or 1 hour of your time and get involved in a breakfast program in your neighbourhood.

Do you know everyday children go to school with out breakfast? Their parents are considered the working poor and they go unnoticed.

- find a shelter in your area and ask what you can do to help.
- sit and have coffee with someone
- can you help clean or do repairs to a building?
- is there a soup kitchen in your area where you can donate ingredients or even better your time once a week, or once a month?
- meet your neighbour.
- get to know someone new.
- shop at a second hand store and dream of who you can help with the $ you save.

Let's pray that God would open our eyes to see ALL the people all around us and help our hearts to be sensitive for the things that break their hearts. Whether you are young or old you can make a difference.

Here is a link to a music video that has a great message.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY

1 Timothy 4:10-11

¹⁰ This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

¹¹ Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. ¹² Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

James 1:22-27

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Teaching @ IME

This is Mexican History class for the GR. 3-6 with Mrs Erika. Notice my wonderful eyeball drawing from the science class I just taught.

I absolutely love being at the IME school twice a week teaching. I had forgotten how much I love being with children and teaching them. The drive takes a little over an hour from where we live to a town called Iztapalapa.

I teach Math, Reading and Book Reporting to the Grade 3 class. I hope to get them all excited about reading!!  I also teach Science and Bible to the GR 3-4 class and Reading to the Grade 4 class.

I made a Valentine's mail box with the children =)

This is Andy I call him my second favorit Andy.

baking the night before

Mexico City Interns

Andrew and I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with the two interns that are currently on the Mexico City field. They both arrived last summer from Canada and the Lord has been giving them a whole new life experience out here.
Jeff very much reminds me of Andrew, more on the quiet side but if you ask him he always has something interesting to say. I think he definitely has the gift of evangelism and is always sharing the hope of salvation with those the Lord places around him. The other week we ran into him at church La Fuente and he was there with two girls he just met at the park. They asked what he was doing and then he invited them to church. I think they might of also been drawn to his fair completion and blond hair. He does stand out a bit :)

Rebbecca is a great caring young girl. We try to meet weekly and talk about the good, the bad and the not so pretty side of being away from family and friends and yet being so full and knowing your in the right place at the right time. She is gifted with administration skills and will one day be a great member of a office team somewhere.

Our children love Auntie Rebbecca and Uncle Jeff. They are currently both on a visa renewal trip and just finished a 17 hour bus ride. I am SO glad I am not with them right now.

this is Rebbecca waiting with me while we wait for Beth to get dropped of from school

This is the back of Jeff dancing at a wedding we just attended a few weeks ago. You go Jeff!

This is shortly after we met Jeff and Rebbecca last summer...I think it was August.

Simon says ?

So last month Andrew was very excited to attend a course in Costa Rica called "Leadership Matters." Only thing the day before he was to fly out and the day of he was told by immigration that they would not permit him to fly until his FM3 Visa card was complete. And by complete they meant when they were able to give it to him. That was disappointing but we trusted that the Lord was in charge of even the government officials that we were dealing with and let it be. The next day he was given his FM3 Visa card but the course administrators said he had missed to much and would not permit him to attend.

Now once again this has become a issue. One that has the potential to stop our Christmas trip to Canada. Only it is the Canadian government that issued changes when applying for your child's birth certificate forms. So instead of them sending the required paper work to the Mexican government they decided to change their forms and resend it to another department with in Canada. Long story short after many prayers and drives to and from Immigration and the Airport Immigration office we have permission to take Bethany out of the country while she is still in process with her paperwork. So that means we get to celebrate the holidays with family!

Here are some photos from last years Christmas in Costa Rico 2011

Last year we spent the holidays in Costa Rica with friends and we planned a full dinner at our place for Christmas day.  Then I (Claudia) got sick Christmas Eve after visiting with wonderful friends (Rosanne ,Willie, J.D and Rhonda and all their children of course). The next day Andrew had to call the dinner off as I was in bed sick (for 3 days).  Andrew and the kids had Christmas. Up side Andrew knows how to make a turkey now even when I am feeling better. You know what was kind of a weird thing. As much as it was incredibly sad not to be with family it was our FIRST Christmas as a family in 12 years of marriage. It was definitely quiet and calm for them. We even had time for carolling as a family and Christmas baking and even hostessing people over to work on a Christmas puzzle one night.

You can't always get what you want...but sometimes you can!

Living outside of Canada has been quite the adjustment. It has been with its ups and downs as I am sure come with all countries. Tonight we are very excited to be packing for Canada. Two sleeps and one more day!! Tim Hortins coffee! Gluten Free pizza! Snow! Family and friends!

Here are some pictures of the sleep over Sam was able to have with his buddies and cousin while we were in Canada. Thanks David, Kyle and Kelvin for making it! The picture below is of them finishing off their time with a Mc Donald's breakfast before we dropped them off.

This is a picture of my sister Lynn with Andrew's sister's Peggie she got for Christmas. Her name is Delilah.

And this is a family picture with my sister's family. We had a great time with you Lynn and Dan and Kyle!

I will add more picture with more family once I find them =)

Thank you to everyone that prayed we would be able to make it.

xoxoxo

The Drop Box

Please check out this video about a true story of a movie coming out about babies in South Korea. 

It's only a few moments but is very powerful. It reminds me of being in the traffic of life.

Claudiahttp://www.dropbox-movie.com/trailer.html

Buses here are so considerate they always have room for one more

what is personal space?

thats right so full the doors can't shut and still the driver goes on

You  know the more I think of it traffic isn't so bad whether in the car or in the market. I think

it actually helps me from the inevitable navel gazing as I like to call it. Just think about it we are people that can stand in the middle of a crowd and yet feel all alone. We need to have people around us whether we like it or not. Otherwise we think our problems are the biggest, our hurts are the deepest our past is the worst. And so if we are able to drive from A-B with out running into anyone or with out having to wait behind 100 people we can actually believe the lie in our head that above all else we are the most burden in the world. How do we get to such a place ? I won't be able to help others lift up their burdens and bandage their  hurts if I am in a place to never see them. 

I can't believe this but ....I am thankful for the crazy amounts of traffic and people here. It helps me to daily encounter people, to see their faces and look into their eyes. So many of them look like they are struggling. Now this gets worse as we leave the City of Mexico. But something I want to never forgot is that even if they have a regular paying job and live in a apartment or in a shed in the middle of the forest  in San Pablito their biggest deficiency is HOPE. They like we need hope and need to be reminded that the current circumstances we all live in right now will pass away. For some of us sooner then later. But is there HOPE after this life. Is the suffering of this life what it is all about, the things we have lost, the things we have gained. For how long will they matter? Will they matter in eternity when I am with my Lord and Saviour. Will it matter to so many others that have never heard the message of hope and are eternally lost in a even worse conditions then they endured here on EARTH. I have hope and I need to love like a person who has been given the free gift of hope. will I live a life of presenting this HOPE if I am navel gazing? I need to choose to live in the bigger victories of this life and share it in action and word. Lets not just survive this life by existing lets offer hope to all the people around us, lets be willing to stretch out our hands and say I am willing to pull you up if you fall. Life is messy lets not tell ourselves  that our neighbours home is cleaner, her scale says a smaller number, her childhood had more roses. Lets be honest life can be difficult, actually life IS difficult but the point is we aren't here alone to do it alone we have each other , we have HOPE and we have so many words of encouragements and inspiration all around us and in the Bible. Read it, drink it in, and then let it flow from you and share the hope that lives with in you. To hurt is to be human, to care and reach out is to be made in the image of God.

So...... how can we be a people that are not afraid to get out there into to trafficy parts of our worlds? Yes I know trafficy is not a word. What decisions can you make to not be a navel gazer? I am not saying life doesn't hurt because it does and I am sorry so many people have to walk through such awful circumstance. My thoughts are we are all broken. Some of our broken parts are hidden deep down where others do not see them. But we are all broken. We can be people that share our hurts and comforts others that are hurting and then remind ourselves and them of the HOPE that we have with in us and the reality of eternity is much much different and greater from anything we have ever dreamed or experienced.

I want to leave you with a passage from  the book of Matthew.

5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them.

The Beatitudes

He said:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The little girl on the right is Davida. Her mom died a long time ago, she has sad eyes and lives in a shed a hours walk away from a village we visit in Sam Pablito and I am glad we can share our hope and our life with her. How blessed are we?

Lets get out there and find some traffic to be apart of. There are so many that are waiting to hear the message of our HOPE. Lets merge.