missionaryMAC

Mariachi San Pablo's Christmas CD is HERE! Even though the Christmas season doesn't technically start until Friday, people have been playing this in the office ever since Pastor Heimer came back from picking them up yesterday. Chris keeps telling me that I am on the front cover since I WAS with the group during the photo shoot...wearing a Mariachi San Pablo T-shirt...but I'm not convinced. Anyways, you can order a copy online at http://www.ylm.org/mariachiCD.html or by calling the office ((915)858-2588. They're $16 and make great Christmas gifts... In the meantime, check out this FREE music video featuring the title track. I'm in it for sure--there's a photo of Viviana's baptism and a video of me moving a piece of insulation inside a partially built house, probably on one of my organize-the-construction-site rampages. Until next time, blessings!

It's been more than a week since my last post, so I think it's time for a general update on my life. The title is pretty much what I've been up to lately. The annual Our Father Lutheran Church Alternative Thanksgiving group gets in on Wednesday night, so I have been conference calling with the leaders, scouting potential construction projects, mentally steeling myself for some of my most hectic days apart from June, July, and August, and the early part of next week will be filled with Lowe's, Sam's, and Wal-Mart runs. Thanksgiving 2009 was definitely a highlight of my year, so I'm really looking forward to being a part of it, border-style, for the 2nd time. Other things on my brain that maybe you want to read about: --I made some super-yummy chicken and dumplings a la Cracker Barrel last week. My grandma that I'm turning into used to make them but I never had. They turned out to be delicious and I can't wait to make some for my family when I go home for ...

The real reason that I went to St. Louis took place 11/8-11/10: the LCMS Servant Event Leadership Conference. This was my 3rd year in a row, so thankfully there were some changes so it wasn't ALL a repeat. We did a mini servant event at a local Orphan Grain Train warehouse (ironic because YLM is a frequent recipient of OGT shipments), and LCMS personnel were on hand to lead some of the breakout sessions. As usual however, the Bible study was my favorite part. The writers always do a wonderful job of integrating small and large group discussions, components for different styles of learning, thought-provoking questions, and different methods of praying at the beginning and end of each session. This year's study was called "Live to Serve," and each day was centered around a word of the day and a Bible verse of the day. Note: it was difficult to follow the train of thought sparked by the word of the day when you are using a translation of the Bible that does not include s...

I am now done with the 2 chapel services that I was scheduled to do during my STL visit--St. Paul's and Lutheran South. I have done it at St. Paul's twice before, so I am very comfortable with the routine. I always bring a Powerpoint so even if the littlest kids don't understand what I'm talking about, they can look at the pictures. This year it was all about Thanksgiving. I thought it would be beneficial to see other people spending their Thanksgiving break serving others, it's a different way of celebrating than most of them are used to, and my sister (whom most of the students know) was in a bunch of the pictures. You can find most of them here . The Biblical message I weaved in was that of giving thanks at all times, based on 2 Chronicles 31:2 . I especially like the version in The Message . I chose that particular verse because a) I feel like I use Psalms and Proverbs too much and it was in 2 Chronicles, and b) Hezekiah was just doing his thing, but he always m...

Made it to STL safely with no problems...thanks for your prayers! My dad met me at the airport, and on the way back he said my sister Kara wanted me to pick her up from school. It was a little too early, so we stopped by my house so I could drop off my stuff. My mom was home from work, and she had the idea that we could just all go get Kara, and at the same time take a look at some of the items that the schoolkids have donated over the past 2 months. I am leading chapel this Friday, so they collected offerings for YLM in Sept. and Oct.--money yes, but also stuffed animals, hygiene items, school supplies, books, and baseball equipment since it's more fun for younger kids especially to donate "stuff." It's all currently being stored on the stage at St. Paul's. I packed light--just my carryon and personal item--so I can take 2 free checked bags with me on Southwest, packed full of donations, and we are pursuing a couple avenues for free/cheap shipping to El Paso for ...

I promised a blog on YLMHC's 2nd Annual Golf Tournament, so here goes. It was held last Friday; I guess the original idea was to make a whole weekend out of that and the Reformation events for out-of-towners, with a Mexico mission worship service/tour on Sunday afternoon. It didn't wind up happening that way, but it was only our 2nd go at it. Most of the golfers were actually Ft. Bliss soldiers who were able to play free of charge thanks to corporate sponsors and people that love the mission but couldn't make it to El Paso/don't know how to golf. Before the tournament, I called local restaurants and businesses in an attempt to round up door prize donations. I have done that for several YLM fundraisers now and so I have a good list of ones I can usually count on. My role on the actual day of was to sell Mulligans. Chris and I put together a 3-D display of possible ministry areas people could designate their Mulligan "donations" to, and I sat behind the table an...

A missing parrot! If I were going trick-or-treating, that would be my joke. Thanks Carrie ;) P.S. This is how Freddy is sitting as I am now writing this post. Today is Halloween/Reformation Day, but all my celebrating was done early. YLM and San Pablo have had a busy weekend, starting with YLMHC's 2nd Annual Golf Tournament on Friday. More on that later, today I'll focus on the festivities. First up--bilingual Reformation service. It was a little odd to do it up big yesterday instead of today since Reformation Day conveniently fell on a Sunday, but there are always tons of volunteers (mostly from Juarez) around on Saturdays that we wanted to include, plus it served as a joint celebration with all the Lutheran churches of El Paso and several of our Juarez affiliates that are all having their own services today. It was neat to see the huge procession of all the pastors and hear all the choirs (including a bell choir) playing in unison, and today's service was actually really ...

Picture time! I limited myself to just a couple highlights from each port and a couple from the ship itself so as not to make this post as long as the path from the port to the town of Santorini (see below). I'll give brief explanations too so you know what you're looking at, but if you want the full story or the links to my complete photo albums, just ask! Of course if you know me at all you know that a scrapbook will soon be in the works too...it won't be done for probably at least a year though! The ship departed from Venice, so we arrived with a few days to sightsee first. Part of the city is on the mainland, but I loved the allure of the historical portion which is located on one of 118 islands where no cars are allowed--all travel is done by boat or on foot. There are DHL delivery boats, boat speed limit signs, and even boat gas stations! Another of the islands, Murano, is known for the glassblowing trade and abounds with showrooms and shops. St. Mark's Square as ...