I never imagined

I never imagined you could love a person so much that you had never even met. I never thought seeing our little bit squirm and kick around on a black and white ultrasound screen would bring tears to my eyes. I never dreamed my heart would fiercely long to protect this little one all the days of his or her life and would already have so many things running through my mind that I want to teach this precious gift about life so that he or she can stay away from hurt and harm. I never fathomed that seeing my husband’s eyes light up and a smile cover his face when he talks about this baby would make me fall even deeper in love with him than I already am. I never imagined I would already be so fiercely protective, so utterly captivated, and so head over heels in love with someone I have never touched or seen other than on a camera – but I am.
Today, we went to the doctor and saw our little one jump and squirm all over the ultrasound screen. We heard the beautiful heartbeat – saw a mouth open and close and little legs kick up and down. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and I haven’t even held him or her in my arms yet.
We still have a long way to go before we meet this baby face to face but I already can better understand a parent’s love for their child and more specifically the Father’s love for us. Already thinking about the things I want to tell my children, how I want to save them from doing things that will cause them harm – it puts into so much better perspective of my parents love for me, the discipline I received throughout the years and the pain in their eyes when I disobeyed. I can see my heavenly Father and understand His hurt over our sin that He knows can only bring us harm and the amazingly great sacrifice He gave in His Son to give us freedom from that sin. I never before could imagine – thank you, Lord for this precious, amazing gift and responsibility.

He brings rains to our drought

And now, God, do it again - bring rains to our drought - stricken lives so those who planted their crops in despair will shout hurrahs at the harvest, so those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing. (Pslam 126: 4- 6 the Message)

Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow,will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him. (Psalm 126: 4 - 6 NIV)

I believe as I said in our last blog, times have been tough lately. This past week, I set off with a heavy heart to work with the group that came in. However, as the week progressed, God continuously poured out His mercy and blessed our hearts with a fruitful week that did much to lift our spirits. The group from Oklahoma was awesome. During the week, we passed out around 3,000 gospels. We held a carnival where almost 100 people came and the gospel message was presented. The group went to a "nursing home" for men and passed out coffee, bread, and hugs all around. Also, we hosted a movie night with the national church we were working with, Iglesia Odre Nuevo. We worked hard and felt the blessing from it - God is good and we pray that what we sowed this past week will reap a great harvest.

Last week, I went out with tears and God sent me home with arms full of sheaves! He gave me this verse above from Psalms 126 in my quiet time on Saturday and it is my new prayer as we continue on in our ministry - that He would bring "rains to our drought" and send us home with "arms full of blessing."

- Please continue to pray for us as we continue our work here in Mexico that we would finish strong and that we would not be overcome with spiritual and emotional drought but that God would bring the rain and fill us up with His love and His power so we might be witnesses for him and continue on in the work He has for us.

- Please pray for the health of our precious baby. We go to the doctor again this week and will have officially passed the first trimester! We are less than six months away from D - Day!

- Please pray for Travis as he is working hard at school - it is really tough on him when we are gone for whole weeks with our groups working from early in the morning until late at night.

- Please pray for us as we are searching for God's plan for our future - job, home, etc. We know that He knows the plan but sometimes we have impatience and wish that He would share it with us! Pray that we will have patience and a discerning spirit when the time is right.

- Please pray for our next team that is arriving on March 20th from Gray Gables Baptist Church in Callahan, Florida.

We thank God for all of you and pray that you would have a great week!

Much love,

Travis, Danielle, and Baby

This week

Well, Happy Valentine’s to all and we hope the past couple weeks have been good for you. We must admit we have been struggling just a bit here lately. I have been missing home like crazy and the fact that I am pregnant and tired and cranky doesn’t help one bit. I have been bemoaning so many things from the fact that I miss my wonderfully comfortable pillow top mattress that currently resides in the United States to the feelings of being so inadequate in the ministry that we are doing here or that specifically I am trying to accomplish with the ladies in our apartment building. As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1 I do not feel as if I have been living my life in a way that would honor the calling Christ has placed upon it – to have constant feelings of self pity and inadequacy and the desire to reside solely in my home were not what He called us here for. I even find myself many days struggling to LOVE the people He has called us to minister to as if in some way the fact that I don’t get to sleep on my precious mattress is somehow their fault. Please pray for us as we are currently struggling with these feelings of homesickness and self pity.
In ministry news - We have a lot going on this week – I have another English class tonight and then tomorrow we are showing “Facing the Giants” at UNAM (a university here in D.F.). Friday we have meetings, a baby/wedding shower, and Saturday another group is coming to work with us.
In prayer news – our calendar is almost officially FULL with teams for the end of our term. We have prayed and God has provided! We have one more date in May that is not yet filled and we are praying for God to provide just the right group to come partner with us.
In baby news - I am officially at eleven weeks now – only 2 more weeks to go and we will arrive into the second trimester. The nausea seems to be gradually letting up a little and I am SO happy about this and the fact that the baby is healthy and right on track.
We are excited about all God is doing in our lives but ask for your prayers now more than ever as we struggle to stay afloat as we see the end of our time in Mexico ahead. We have many prayer requests that I have listed below. We appreciate so much your prayers and support and ask that you continue to pray for us in the months ahead as we are about to experience some wonderful but rather momentous changes in our lives.

Current Prayer Requests
- Pray for the team that is coming to work with us this Saturday - Eastland Hills Baptist Church in Choctaw, OK
- Pray for the health of the baby
- Pray that I will SLEEP. I am so tired and for whatever reason lately (they say it is due to the pregnancy) cannot sleep at night.
- Pray that I will have strength to keep up during the weeks we have teams
- Pray that God will give us direction in where and what capacity He wants us to serve when we return to the States in October and that He will provide in His timing all needs we have
- Pray for Travis as he is working hard to keep up with his seminary studies while handling teams and ministry work
- Pray that we will press on and not look too far ahead to home but that while we are living and serving in Mexico we will continue to “BE” in Mexico – body, mind, and spirit.
Blessings and love to all,
Travis, Danielle, and Baby

Starbucks, English Class, and a Frijole . . . .

Is it bad when the people at Starbucks know your name? Travis and I have a tradition of every Wednesday morning making a trip to Starbucks. We take our laptops and work for a few hours while we drink our coffee (mine is now decaf of course);). Well, now the workers at Starbucks refer to us by name. Travis and I tried to convince ourselves that the reason they know us by name is just because we stand out but the real reason is probably just that we spend way too much time at Starbucks. We figure we might can work this into a ministry opportunity - who knows?!

This past Wednesday I had my first English class. I had six students and they all stayed around to talk a little while after class was finished. Three little girls were part of the group and I was able to send them home with bible story books in English as well as Veggie Tale tapes - thanks to the sweet people at Brainerd Baptist! Please pray that this class continues to grow and that I will continuously find ways to share God's love and the gospel message with these ladies.

In two weeks, Travis and I are beginning again with the English club at UNAM. We will be meeting every Tuesday at 2:00. Please pray that we will meet lots of new students!

Today, we went for another ultrasound and were able to see our little frijole in action. He or she was just moving up a storm and it was so amazing to hear it's strong and fast heartbeat. Below are the pictures from today.

Please continue to pray for us in the growth and health of our sweet baby. Also continue to pray for our ministry and the team we have coming on February 20th.

Until all have heard,

Travis and Danielle

A Month Full . . . .

To start at the beginning of the month . . . on January 2nd, we completed our one year anniversary of being on the field - wow how time flies! It was also this month that we discovered we will be bringing home an extra little person with us when we move back to the States in Octoer - that's right - we are going to have a baby! God has blessed us so tremendously and we just cannot thank Him enough!

Our three year anniversary was Wednesday, January 20th. Our original plan had been to go to dinner and a movie for an anniversary date. However, I was so sick with morning sickness ( ALL DAY LONG!) that we ended up at the doctors office because we were afraid I was getting too dehydrated. It ended up being such a precious suprise and blessing when we were able to hear the heartbeat and see our precious gift on the monitor for the very first time. Talk about an anniversary we will never forget!

Our little one is due to arrive around the 13th of September which means we will be traveling home in October with a one month old.

We cannot believe how God has poured out His blessing upon us and can't wait to see what the future holds. Please pray for us and for our next 8 months on the field. We are so excited about this baby but at the same time it is so difficult to be away from family and familiar things. Please pray for the health of the baby and for me to have strength and stamina to continue to work hard in the months ahead. Also please begin to pray now for our future in the United States. As of right now we have no IDEA where God is leading and when there were just two of us it didn't seem like nearly as big of a deal to have no plan but now that there are three it makes the waiting so much harder. I would LOVE to be close to family in the future. However, God has the plan. Please pray for us as we wait and pray and seek the Lord and as we work to become parents that raise our children to follow Christ.

Two more things. . . . I am officially beginning an English class for the ladies in my neighborhood this Wednesday. I do not know anything about teaching much less teaching English. Please pray that God will guide and direct me and that He will give me opportunities to turn this class into a time to talk about Him as well.

Also, please pray for Travis as he begins two more seminary classes this week. It is tough to keep up with that and all we have going on.

Hasta Luego!

Danielle

Week in Review . . . .

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks and that is why it has been so long since we have blogged! Last week we had a team in from Barrington Ridge Baptist Church in Hobart, Indiana. We had a great week spreading the Word through door to door gospel saturation (2,000 in one week!), Movie Nights, and a block party. The group was an awesome one and we had several people come to know Christ! We appreciate so much their willingness to come and be apart of what God is doing here in Mexico!

We have so much to talk about!

We have had an amazing month of December with 3 groups of visitors and lots of ministry opportunities we just haven't had the time to get it all out there! Travis parents came for a visit the first week in December and we really enjoyed our time with them. My parents arrived late on Christmas eve and it was such a joy to get to spend Christmas with them and then our friend Graham came for New Years and we had the opportunity to hang out with him for the first time in almost a year. We are so blessed!

One amazing opportunity we were given this Christmas because of our very generous Sunday School Class was to take Christmas gifts to a local children's home. Our class provided all the gifts and we got to give out the gifts. It was such a sweet time to see the joy and excitement on the children's faces and to be hugged over and over again by these little ones.

Please pray for us as we pick up our first team of the new year on Saturday. We will be working in a very unreached area called Santa Maria de los Torres.

Pray for the 6 that are coming in this team and also for us as well to have strength and stamina for what is going to prove to be a joyous and fulfilling but tiring week.

Also, please pray for me as on January 20th I hope to begin my first ladies English club. I am NOT a teacher but I feel like God has put this in my lap as an opportunity to share the gospel. Pray that I might reach these ladies with HIS word!