On this, our last Sunday in Chihuahua, Liz and I decided to spend the time at home reflecting on the year, praying for the future, and preparing for our final days. Before we started the day though, we listened to a sermon posted earlier this year by John Piper, one of the pastors at Bethleham church in Minneapolis and the founder of Desiring God ministries.

Wow.

This sermon, which hopefully is posted below in an audio format, but is also available online at this link: If My Words Abide in You, was transformational. Please find a moment in this week to chissel out 50 minutes, brew a cup of coffee, turn off your cell-phone, and listen to the words of God. The first ten minutes might leave you a little puzzled... please push through.

I like order.

Is it just me, or does the concept of a house full of dust-bunnies, dead bugs, half-packed boxes, and piles of unsorted junk make anyone else cringe?

The last few weeks here have been crazy.  We are packing up the house we've lived in because we have to be out of it by May 28th, and we are finishing up the last week of classes at Binimea because finals are next Tuesday and Wednesday.  Therefore, our last 100% dinner was this week, and we decided to play Bible Outburst with the kids.  (You may have heard of the standard "Outburst," but only a house full of missionary kids would get into an excited game of "Bible-Outburst."  

Also, we've started taking things off of the walls and putting them into boxes. You may notice the corner that we're sitting in from the photo above is now pictured in the photo below.

Also, we've started consuming all of the random food that seems to find it's way into the corners of your pantry and hides there well past it's expiration date.  That is why the meal in this photograph has a mixture of frozen-taquitos, hot-wings, frozen-brocoli, and refried bean-dip.  

It may not look like the healthiest meal, but it sure does hit every possible odd cravings.

I forgot my glasses. . .

Today, I forgot to wear my glasses to work. After 2nd period, a 10th grader walked up to me and said, "You remind me of the blond guy from Heroes." I didn't know who she was talking about, but apparently, w/out my glasses, I look like this dude:



I thought that was kind of a compliment, until I realized that most people only know him in the role of this character.


I'm not sure whether I should be flattered that she thinks of me as THAT bad-ass, or concerned that I remind her of someone who makes a living wearing strips of leather and knuckle-pads.

Party like a rock.

A few quick updates:

Chango is lying low for a while. . .  And he keeps looking at me with a mixture of hurt and confusion.  -Why did you do it?  What did I do wrong?

We celebrated the end of the year with the Binimea staff.  We only have one more week of regular classes and then finals.  They gave us the "quitter-award" which is supposed to communicate love and sadness as we leave.

We also had a family over for dinner.  This family has meant a lot to us while we've been down here.  Jonathan Willcock has been my excercise partner since the fall, I've been able to teach guitar to two of their kids, and they've had us over for dinner and games multiple times.  However, adding the two us us to their house is no big feat, but when we have to find room for six more people around our table, a little creativity was needed.  After borrowing a table from the neighbors, adding it to our table, and using EVERY dish we own, I think we pulled it off.

Back at it. . .

Recently a missionary got very sick with something that wasn't the swine flu, but because the Mexican government is so cautious, if she had been taken to a hospital here in Chihuahua, she would have been completely quarantined for 20 days. Her family decided to take her to El Paso, TX instead.

School has resumed finally, so I taught my classes Thursday and Friday. It was nutso! The students had it in their mind that the summer had already begun. (To make matters worse, the whole high school - all 24 of them - were leaving on a camping trip on Friday.) At one point, I noticed a student, who had already been slowly checking out mentally, staring at a blank wall while I lectured. I called his name to answer a question and his distant voice vaguely mouthed the words, "Graduation . . . camping trip . . . huh?" and then he snapped back.

In other recent news, I've had the chance to play some soccer out at the Missions Institute. It's a national training program designed to equip Mexican nationals to spread the gospel in their own country. (very cool) Also, we've been enjoying enduring the 100+ degree heat like professionals. (this includes hiding from the sun from 8:45am till 6:45pm, and of course, the appropriate hammock usage.)We took Chango to the vet on Wednesday to get his first Rabies vaccine. He didn't particularly like that. What he doesn't realize is that in less than a week we're taking him back for a surgery that he will like even less. (if you know what I mean)

Other than that, we are up to normal life.

Liz cuts my hair. I teach Liz guitar. We only have three more weeks in Mexico.