Alot to talk about . . . .

We have had so much going on I haven’t had time to blog. Here is an update of what we have been up to for the past few weeks.

We had our last English Club of the semester with the College Students at UNAM and had 2 new girls come. They are very interested in coming back and we hope to see them next semester.
Travis parents came for a visit and we enjoyed our time visiting with them and were able to do lots of touristy things we don’t have the chance to do very often. Also, our home church,

Brainerd Baptist bought 52 pairs of shoes for some children that a local church is trying to minister to. We had the privilege of going shopping with the pastor and his wife and mother in law to pick out the shoes for the kids. It was such a fun experience. Now they are all stacked in our living room waiting until their special Christmas program on December 20th to hand them out.

This past week, two of our sweet neighbor little girls brought us a dessert that they ( and I am sure their mom) had made us. It was so precious it almost made me cry!

Snow sledding in Mexico? That's right. In the Zocalo which is the cities square they have a huge ice skating rink set up as well as a snow hill, place to make snowmen, a snowball fighting room, and a snowmobiling course. Talk about fun!

Friday night, we had the opportunity to go with a local church to deliver Tortas ( a sandwich with beans, ham, mayonnaise, cheese, and jalapenos) and coffee to a local hospital to the people waiting outside the hospital to be seen or on family members. The church group had a small service and we were able to talk to several people about the gospel and one lady prayed to receive Christ! It was a really neat time and we hope to do this again.

Saturday of this week was the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe here in Mexico. People travel on foot or by bicycle from all over the country to pay homage to the virgin and to celebrate her. They literally walk for miles and miles and weeks and weeks carrying pictures or statues of Mary in their arms and on their backs. We saw people everywhere on Friday and Saturday and there were fireworks going on all night long. It was so sad for us to think that people have such dedication to such a void religion. We can only pray that they will find the one who truly desires such respect and honor – Jesus Christ.

Today is Travis’ final for his Ethics class. He has been working so hard and studying away. I am so proud of him because he has worked hard and made A’s on all his papers for this semester! Please pray for him today as he takes his final. Also pray as he is gearing up to take TWO classes next semester – it will be a lot to juggle with our busy schedule.

This week will be busy meeting with pastors, getting things together for our teams in January and planning for when my parents come to visit. We are also working on filling up the empty dates on our calendar for next year. We have many teams coming next year but are praying for God to bring us even more. We want more teams so we can help more churches grow and tell more people about Jesus!

This Friday evening, December 18, I am having a “Christmas Gathering” for my neighbor ladies and some of my friends here in Mexico. Most of these ladies are not Christians. I am having food, a game or two, and my friend Jessica (whom is also a pastor’s wife here in Mexico) is going to come share what Christmas means to her with a specific evangelical thrust. Please pray for this gathering. Pray that ladies would come and that their hearts would be open to hearing the gospel and getting to know Travis and I better so that we might share more with them. Pray also for Jessica that God would give her the words to say and that she would present clearly the gospel in a very nonthreatening way so that they might not be turned off to the message of salvation but very open to hearing about the only One who brings hope and life.

Thanks so much for all of you who have blessed us with your prayers, encouragement, gifts to us and to our ministry, and gifts to Lottie Moon. We are so thankful for each and every one of you and could not be here if it were not for you.

God bless,

Travis and Danielle