I know it’s been a little while since I updated the blog. It seems as if everything gets in the way of keeping you guys in the loop, but I’d finally like to share our December with you.
On December 12th, the entire family loaded up the van and traveled a couple of hours south, to a small village in northern Mexico. Since we had gotten some desperately needed rain the day before, the unpaved roads leading to the village were a bit challenging to traverse, but we made it to our destination with only a few inches of mud clinging to the bottom half of the van. Sam, Olivia, and Everett were beyond excited to see the village where we would be staying for the week, and to meet the local children. Although Sam has traveled out of the country several times, this was Olivia and Everett’s first time to use their passport. You would have thought that Christmas had come early! They had a fabulous five days in Mexico, and it’s amazing how the language barrier didn’t seem to bother the children much at all. Sam played lots of soccer with both the big and little kids, Everett met a very sweet little boy who is the same age and they played very well together, and Olivia, as usual, had a dozen little girls around her the whole time.
While in Mexico, we were privileged to be able to minister to some of the families in the village. Often, we think that our culture is unique in the problems that Christians face; that is, sadly, not the case, and God placed a family from that village in our path that has struggled with many issues, including alcoholism and domestic violence. Only a couple of days before our trip to Mexico, a female translator that had worked with our ministry previously had agreed to come along to help with communication, and since I don’t speak Spanish at all (unless you can count “Buenos Dias!”, and “uno, dos, tres…”), I was extremely happy about this turn of events. Because of her wonderful translation abilities, she, Jeremy, and I were able to minister to a sweet lady whose husband had left her and her three teenage daughters. This was a blessing to all who were involved, but especially to me. It’s very humbling to sit in someone’s house and have them pour their heart out to you, just hoping for a receptive, nonjudgmental response, and some encouragement in the Lord. Since she was a strong believer, she knew where to find hope, but like all of us at times, needed the fervent prayers and support of other Christians. Please pray for this family, as there is much hurt, and many issues that still need to be resolved.
One of the ways that we were able to minister to the village involves everyone’s favorite children’s book, the Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Since I usually can’t keep from talking about it, most of you probably already know that I have been reading this book to my children for nearly five years now, and that I absolutely love it. As a matter of fact, my kids and I enjoy it so much, that we ordered several French translations of the book to take to Haiti with us last year, and some of the Spanish version to take into the Mexican village.
We were able to have several bible study sessions while we were in Mexico, and our translators would read a couple of stories out of this book to the children. The kids loved it, and even the adults were excited about hearing the story of Jesus through this little storybook. Through the process of telling the stories, we learned some interesting facts about the villagers; although most of them have grown up in the local church, were baptized as infants, and even confirmed as adolescents, they know nothing about the bible. Their priest has forbidden them from studying, or even owning a bible, and as a result they had never heard the stories of David and Goliath, Abraham and Isaac, or any of the others that we often take for granted. They know a little about Jesus, but that is the extent of their biblical knowledge. My heart was broken when I learned of this. Isn’t Mexico supposed to be a “reached” country? Don’t they have plenty of churches? It seems that the more time I spend in other countries, the more my eyes are slowly being opened and I find myself learning aspects of “missions” in various contexts that I never even knew I didn’t know, if that makes any sense. “Missions” seems so simple, but can be so complicated because, well, sinful people are involved. Please pray that the people of this village can learn the truth of the gospel by studying scripture together, despite the protests of the local church. There is a small gospel presence there, and I pray that God will transform these few believers into bold witnesses for Him.
The last day of our Mexico stay was exciting because we were invited to the annual Christmas fiesta in the village. We all had a blast, and it was great for my kids to see a celebration in a different culture for the first time. This fiesta featured a not so typical Mexican meal of pizza and spaghetti, lots of singing and gift giving, and finally, a pinata!
Olivia and Everett were able to participate in the pinata ceremony, but were slightly disappointed when they found out that the only treat inside was confetti. There were lots of hugs and sweet words from the villagers as we left on Friday afternoon, and my kids started immediately asking when we could go back to the village. They had such a great time, and were so good with the children, that we will definitely take them back in the near future. They didn’t even seem to mind the fact that we were sleeping in a wet tent, it rained most of the time we were there, the whole area was a muddy mess, and we nearly lost the tent in a wind storm. As a matter of fact, it was like kid paradise. Oh, to be five again…
Thank you all for your continual prayers.
Here are a few more pictures from our week in Mexico.
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| Olivia and her crew |
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| Olivia always finds a tree to climb |
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| Everett and a lamb |
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| Sam and Willie |
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| Sam and Greg playing Soccer |
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| Everett and Julian |
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| Kid play |
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| Will reading the Jesus Story Book Bible |
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| Fixing goodie bags for the fiesta |
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| Our Mexican/Italian meal |
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| Everett swings for a miss |
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| Olivia has to swing higher |
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| Rafaela and her daughters who wanted to keep Everett |
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| All of the kids from the school and our team |
On December 12th, the entire family loaded up the van and traveled a couple of hours south, to a small village in northern Mexico. Since we had gotten some desperately needed rain the day before, the unpaved roads leading to the village were a bit challenging to traverse, but we made it to our destination with only a few inches of mud clinging to the bottom half of the van. Sam, Olivia, and Everett were beyond excited to see the village where we would be staying for the week, and to meet the local children. Although Sam has traveled out of the country several times, this was Olivia and Everett’s first time to use their passport. You would have thought that Christmas had come early! They had a fabulous five days in Mexico, and it’s amazing how the language barrier didn’t seem to bother the children much at all. Sam played lots of soccer with both the big and little kids, Everett met a very sweet little boy who is the same age and they played very well together, and Olivia, as usual, had a dozen little girls around her the whole time.
Sanders Party of Five 
Thanks Kandy. As usual, your recounts of your trips are always great. You include the details that a Mamaw likes to hear (kid stories). Sounds like your little missionaries are falling right into God's calling on your family.
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Awesome! Love the details.
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