A New Chapter

This past Saturday we had Ladies Bible Study.  And it was my turn to lead.  I had led part of the study in the past, and had one time done the whole study.  But this was the first time to do it without Angela there.  I was nervous, as always, but I knew that Maria would be there.  Maria is a long-time member, a wise, godly woman, the kind of person that makes you feel a little better because you know that if you don’t quite understand what someone is saying and just how to respond, or you make a significant theological error due to your difficulties in the language yet, she will speak up and respond appropriately.  Maria is my security blanket.  So, Saturday morning, we arrived at the church at 10:30am (when the study is supposed to start).  One other lady was there.  Over the next little while, more ladies trickled in, until we were a group of 7 or so.  But Maria had not yet arrived.  I started to feel just a little more nervous.  By 11:00, the ladies were sort of looking at me.  Gulp.  Well, I guess we should begin.  “Lord, it’s You and me.  Please help me,” I prayed silently.  So, we began our study with prayer.  I said ‘Amen’, and guess who walked in the door.  Maria.  The Lord teaches me, “I am sufficient.  Trust in me.”   

  

Richard & Angela and their children left a few weeks ago.  I’m not sure I remember feeling so sad ever saying good-bye.  (A close second would be moving to Mexico, but being 6 months pregnant and with 3 weeks to pack up and move, I think I was too numb with exhaustion by the time we had to say good-bye to feel too much).  What a rich 2 ½ years the Lord gave to us to work alongside them.  What a blessing they were to us, how much we learned from them.  They took us in as family.  Their children, our adopted nieces and nephews, each one, became so dearly precious to us.  One day they were here, the next day we moved into their house.   Our house.  How strange at first.  Naomi walking around the house, wondering where all her friends went.  Walking up the front steps, expecting their warm smiles to greet us.  And yet, here too, the Lord has been so good.  What did Matt say to me the other night? He noted how this house was feeling like home already.  I had to agree.   And well, they did leave one family member behind – Scooby the dog.  (I have been reminded of the truth of this statement:  “never say never.”  I still can’t believe I have a dog that comes in the house at times). 

Just as hard was watching the church say good-bye.  I don’t have words to express how much this family meant the church here.  How they have walked alongside so many, in difficult times, helping to carry their burdens, holding out the Word of Life to them.   And then thinking of the children and young people of the church - how much it has meant for them to have a solid Christian friend, few and far between here.

And yet we feel the Lord sustaining us.  We have had some very rich, blessed Sundays.  There is a sense of going forward, of working together.  Matt just got home from a bible study led by our deacon and was so encouraged by the excellent job he did.  One of the ladies has offered to take over some of the organizing of supplies at the church.  On Sunday, the young people’s made sandwiches to bring to the hospital (a monthly event) with the help of a married couple, and we were not involved at all and could have some people over for lunch.  These are all big steps, encouraging times.  Matt realizes that he cannot do it all, and is working hard to hand over as much as (wisely) possible.   

Matt looks forward to starting a new members class soon.  A family with one young son, a newly married couple, and a young mother are all eager to work towards membership.

The last half year or so I have been a bit down regarding my Spanish.  Sometimes I feel just plain weary of feeling a bit (or a lot) dumb all the time.  Always understanding most of what is said, but not all.  Not getting the jokes.  Sometimes it gets a little old.  My natural reaction that I’ve had to fight against lately is one of two responses: switching into English when at all possible – although without the Bouts here, I can’t do that too much anymore – or retreating into myself and not reaching out, not trying to start conversations.  I pray for the right focus – it’s not about my pride, but about bringing glory to God.  Now that we are a little more settled here, I hope to be able to focus a bit more on this again.  We are looking into the possibility of having someone come to the house to help with cleaning and conversation for me (and maybe teach me some good Mexican cooking).  

We thank you for your prayers.  We are sure that many of you are praying, because we feel so upheld and encouraged.  And yet we ask that you continue.  Pray for the people of our church.  That the Lord will encourage each of them, and that He will continue to use this time to strengthen the church.   Pray for Matt as he takes on the full responsibility here.  And please pray for encouragement in the language for me.   There is much work and many needs!

God's blessings to you all!  

    The Van Dykens.

Time at the park with friends from our old apartment.

Celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary.

We are so enjoying our new place.

Pure joy in the jolly jumper.  Don't mind what's in the background.  This is the only doorway that we can use it in. :)

Good morning!

Enjoying the front lawn.

Birth Announcements

Most likely you have already heard of the birth of our son Steven John, whom the Lord gave to us in December of this past year.  If you remember, Naomi was born in Guadalajara, a very big city about three hours away.  Steven, however, was born in Tepic.  The difference between the two births was quite remarkable.  The clinic we went to in Guadalajara was very "natural", if I can say it that way.  They encouraged me as a husband to do as much as was possible to help.  The clinic we went to in Tepic, however, was very "clinical" and had much more of a sterile feel to it.  I had to suit up in an operating suit, complete with blue booties and mask, to be able to be present at Steven's birth.  Anne-Marie even had to plead with the doctors to let me in well before the final few minutes!  Know, however, that though we were very happy with both clinics, we do feel a bit more comfortable with this past experience in Tepic.  The doctors and nurses were professional, excellent, and caring!

The important thing, though, is that the Lord has now blessed us with two healthy and happy children.  Naomi is growing up to be a real people-person, while Steven is the easiest baby imaginable, who loves nothing more than to return smiles.  Here you can see a picture of us when Steven was born, and two more recent pictures.

Meeting Steven

More Recently

The Two Mexicans

But, as you may have noticed, the title of this blog post is Birth AnnouncementS.  What can that be, you might be wondering?  No, the Lord has not given us twins!  Rather we had the privilege over the past two Sundays to receive two different families as members of our church.  Omar and Itzel and their eldest son Omar made public profession of their faith two Sundays ago, and four of their family of five received the sign and seal of baptism.  This past Sunday, as well, another couple, Reynaldo and Zenaida, made public profession of their faith in our church.  The latter was particularly special for me, as I have been giving them profession of faith classes for the past year or so.  It is beautiful to see the fruit of the Lord's work in these different lives, to desire to profess their faith before the world, Christ's Church, and God Himself.  We praise the Lord, for we know that it is He who has been at work! 

Omar & Itzel & Family

Reynaldo & Zenaida

And finally, thank-you for all of your prayers for us and little and big things you have done to show your love for us!  We do find ourselves quite well supported, and we thank-you for that.  And thank-you for all your reminders to write this blog post and others!  :-) 

The Past 8 Months (we're still alive!)

Well, it is high time that something goes up on this blog.  Seeing as we haven’t written for awhile (thank-you for your patience! - the truth is that it’s been about 8 months now), I thought I’d try to highlight something from each month that has passed us by, and then end by telling you about a wonderful weekend we had just recently.

Okay, here we go…

March: Hmmm, not remembering too much from this month…. Oh, except for one very important thing:  We found out that the Lord had blessed our family with a new life.  Pretty amazing for us, and so thankful we are.

April: Our siblings came to visit!  Garnet, Sarah, & Ruth were here for a week and helped us to celebrate Naomi’s first birthday.  

May: We had a very encouraging, wonderful 10 days with a group of 15 from Canada & the US.  We were amazed to see how many seeds were planted.  May the Lord yet grant (more) growth!

The Whole Team

 

The Team Hard at Work

 

 June & July: Richard & Angela & family left to Canada for 2 months, and we moved into their house.  We were ”on our own” for 8 weeks or so, and experienced a mix of ups and downs, but felt very blessed by the Lord.

August: We received our permanent resident cards!!  This was quite the stressful, trying time, and the Lord taught us much about trusting in Him.   These cards do not have an expiry date, which means that we will not have to renew our Visas every year – an incredible blessing! 

Permanent Resident Cards!

September: We enjoyed a four week visit to Ontario.  One week with each side of the family at a cottage, some time with our Church family, a trip up to Ottawa to visit my parents, some visits with friends… four weeks flew by pretty quickly.  And such wonderful times! But with much thanks to the Lord, when the time came, we were ready to return home, and happily and quickly settled into our lives here once again. 

October:  Dad & Mom Van Dyken came for a visit!  What a rich two weeks we had with them.  Naomi just loved having Grandpa and “Mama” (as she called Grandma) here, and she enjoyed lots of extra walks and attention.   We also went to our first Mexican wedding this month.  Charlie & Debbie are neighbours here in the apartment building. 

Charlie & Debbie

Grandpa, Grandma, and one very happy grand-child

 

And here we are in November.  Let me tell you about two weekends ago.  We had the joy of participating in our bi-annual church retreat.  All seventy-five of us (yes, a large group – just about everyone from the church plus some family members and friends!) left the church Friday morning, and headed to Santa Maria del Oro, where we enjoyed two days of inspiring speeches, uplifting songs, great fellowship, and delicious food.  We were doubly blessed by having a pastor & wife & sister join us from Guadalajara.  Gonzalo and his wife Celia are serving the Lord by planting a church (Presbyterian) in a little town called Santa Ana, which is part of GDL, and actually very close to where we lived while we were at language school.  Celia and her sister Teresa (who used to visit me in GDL to help me with my Spanish) sing beautifully, and also have amazing testimonies of how the Lord called them to Himself.  It was a great encouragement to everyone to have them there.  They really took an interest in each of us.  Then on Sunday, after the church service, we had our own little concert in the church.  So, a very full, rich weekend .  We thank the Lord for this.        

Retreat Group Photo

 

Today marks 37 weeks in my pregnancy.  Three more weeks to go.  Or maybe less, if my doctor and all the ladies at church are right. J  We are getting quite excited to meet this little one.  Naomi likes to point at my tummy and give kisses to the baby, but she also thinks that Daddy has a baby in his tummy too, along with Grandpa and Grandma when they were here.  J    

Somehow, most of the above monthly hi-lights have something to do with having visitors from Canada or going to Canada.  But the honest truth is that as much as we love having visitors and sharing our lives and what the Lord is doing here with them, we also do really love our normal lives here.  Matt continues to enjoy very much working alongside Richard, and we are treasuring the time we have with them here yet.  Matt keeps very busy with preaching every other week, leading Bible studies throughout the week, teaching Sunday school, setting up a better sound system for the church, giving guitar lessons to some of the young people, ….. and doing all sorts of odd jobs here and there.  Matt & Naomi & I enjoyed setting up a table for our church at a local tianguis (outdoor market) awhile ago, and hope to be able to do this again sometime.  And amazingly, we are still able to enjoy lots of family time.  I’m especially thankful to be able to share three meals a day together – something most families don’t get to experience.   

Here are some random pictures of our life in Tepic.

Naomi and her good friend Daniela

Our adopted nephews and nieces  :-)

 

At the local library

 

Saturday Morning Ladies' Bible Study

 

Well, that’s all for now.  Lord-willing, we will have some more happy news to share with you all soon. 

May the Lord bless and keep you. 

Matt & Anne-Marie

 

Hackers in your Email, Gmail Two-Step Verification

[I've been having trouble with this post, so I had to repost it.]

I've been seeing a lot of people lately who have had their email hacked.  The latest includes a minister I know well, and two separate people in my extended family (this very morning, actually).  The email looked something like the following (minus the link):

Hello,
Check out this properties, CLICK HERE, and log in with your email

Best Regard

--[signature of the person which goes out on the bottom of every email.]

 

This has been a learning experience for all of us, I guess.  I have four major suggestions.  The second is the most important.

1. Never click on links on emails unless it's obvious that the person who wrote the email actually wrote the email.  
2. If you are asked to log-in somewhere with your email, check the address bar on the top of the browser.  Make sure it says, for example, www.google.com or mail.google.com. If not, don't log in, or a hacker will have your email and password nicely stored on his server.
3. If you do get hacked, do the following.  
1. For Gmail, change your password immediately AND DO THE FOLLOWING.
2. Log into your email from a browser.
3. Go to the bottom of the inbox, where it shows "Details" in tiny letter on the right (just below the inbox).  Click on this.



The Details link is on the right, just below the inbox, in small letters.

4. There you can see all the mailbox activity.  There's a button there: "Sign out of all other sessions".  Click on this.  That should kick the hacker out of your email if he is logged in.  Just changing your password might not kick him off if he's already logged in.
5. You should be able to see there if the hacker gained access to your email.  If for example, there are IP addresses from the UK or China or Russia, then you know they got in. If so, then you'll need to change your other passwords immediately (e.g., Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, etc.).
6. If your email is with someone else other than gmail, then look for something similar (LOG OUT OF ALL ACCOUNTS).
4. I highly suggest that if you have a cell-phone which you carry with you, that you sign up for two-step verification on gmail.  This way, even if a hacker gets your password, he can't get in unless he has your cell-phone.  How it works is if you try to log in from an untrusted computer, gmail will send a one-use pin number to your cell phone.  This has several advantages:
   
1. If someone tries to get in, you know about it right away because you get a message on your cell phone. 
2. For them to get in, they need to have your cell phone as well.
3. You can set devices to trusted.  That way you only notice the two-step process when you sign in from someone else's computer or ipad.  Otherwise, it's exactly the same as you have it now.
   
4. Gmail provides a list of one-use pin numbers for you to use if you don't have cellular access.  Once you use all the numbers, you can regenerate the list.  I carry these numbers in my wallet.  You could even use just this option if you don't have a cell-phone (with great care), because really, how often do you log in from an untrusted computer?

Mat Honan, a well-respected tech guy who was very careful with his security, got hacked partly because he didn't have gmail two-step.  You can read about it here.
http://stevekinney.net/post/28715272834/dont-get-hacked-turn-on-two-step-verification-in

 

Here's another interesting post about how they hacked him, with more detail.  Quite ingenious, actually.
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57602

I hope that this helps you from getting hacked, and also helps you to know what to do if you do get hacked. 

God's blessings.  It's good to know that the most important things of our life are secure with Him forever more.

Dominican Republic Pastors Conference...

I recently made a trip to the Dominican Republic with a team from Edmonton Orthodox Reformed Church (a URC) and Rev. Ken (Carlos) Herfst from Guatemala.  The point of the trip was two-fold: the Edmonton team of about 10 people was tasked with working on what, Lord-willing, will be a school some day for very poor children (who live near the dump).  The team worked very hard in the hot sun, and the work that they did was impressive.

As far as physical labour goes, I and Carlos had the much easier task.  We didn't actually help with the construction at all, for we were busy with the second purpose of the trip.  In previous years, Edmonton has invited different seminary students to come along with them and preach (in Spanish) in a number of different churches in the area that Dr. Silvia knows. (Dr. Silvia is working with the Luke Society and Word & Deed.  Pablo L., Reuben S., and I have each gone in previous years thanks to Edmonton's invitation.)  This year, however, Edmonton had the great idea of having a pastors' conference for the local pastors.  There were about 7 pastors and 7 students present, though the number did vary a little due to busy schedules.  The main speaker at the conference was Pastor Herfst.  He did an excellent job presenting and teaching a God-centered approach to the narratives in Scripture.  Rather than a moralistic approach ("Be like David and kill your giants"), he showed us how to see God as the central actor in Scripture.  We subsequently worked through two passages, one on the testing of Abraham (Gen. 22) and the other on Jairus's daughter (Luke 8), to put the tools to work.  For myself, I spoke on three different passages in Exodus (the burning bush, the lamb, and the law), with the purpose of connecting some of the dots of the OT narrative to the NT.  The conference was very well recieved by the pastors, so much so that they asked us to come back!  One pastor, a leader of a 400 pastor-strong denomination, was already planning a conference for this coming year.  I doubt if I will be able to go next year for various reasons, but Pastor Herfst is hoping to return.

It was a very enjoyable trip.  I learned a lot both from Pastor Herfst and his passion for wholistic mission (body and soul), and from the Dominican pastors.  Because of the need there, many of these churches are doing perhaps more in terms of relief than we are in North America.  I especially loved the singing with the pastors - Dominicans sure can sing!  A blessing and encouragement to be there!

Our Stuff Has Arrived!

Our stuff has arrived!  Now that might not sound like much - it's only a four-word sentence, after all - but let me assure you that that was quite the momentous occasion.  We handed over most of our earthly belongings to a moving company in Toronto early last August (2012).  At that time our biggest worry was that it would arrive in Mexico before we would, as we were in Canada for some time.  Little did we know that it wouldn't be until six months later - February 13, 2013 - that our stuff would actually arrive.  It has been quite the experience and patience-building exercise.  At one point, we were quite sure that we had lost it all, and so we were consoling ourselves by the fact that the most important things we have can never be taken away.  Then that same afternoon, another door opened and it seemed like we might well get our things!  One never is quite sure what to think here in Mexico. 

The much-condensed summary of the matter is the following: we were assured by our moving company in January, 2012, that there was a certain freight service to Manzanillo, Mexico - not that far away on the Pacific side.  After we gave them our things, we found out that that service was discontinued.  We decided to ship it to Veracruz on the Atlantic side and then truck it across.  That delayed it till December.  However, the Mexican company we employed to clear the customs for us neglected to tell us until the stuff actually arrived of certain required customs documents.  To get those documents was a delay of two more weeks (and lots of port fees).  Then the port was shut down for a week by a cyclone (more port fees).  At this point, Richard Bout took over the negotiations, as it started to get a bit more complicated, due to more problems with customs (more port fees).  Near to the end of the matter, we found ourselves in a clasic "catch-22" situation: we didn't want to send more money until the stuff arrived, because we didn't know if we would ever get our stuff - and they didn't want to send the stuff until they got the money because they didn't know if we were going to pay the rest.  We twice discussed and discarded the idea of driving straight to Veracruz (16 hour trip one-way) to pick up the stuff ourselves.  The long and the short of the matter was that especially thanks to Richard's expert negotiation skills (he used to work at a call-center), our stuff arrived.

How does one react to this all?  There are a lot of "should-of's" that could be said.  Suffice it to say that if anyone is moving to Mexico, make sure to talk in person to the foreign (i.e., Mexican) embassy in your home country well ahead of the move.  Another suggestion would be not to let your stuff out of your sight (i.e., no moving companies).  Do it yourself, having researched the paper-work ahead of time with people who have experience, and then you won't get into the unhappy situation of sending money to who-knows-where wondering if you'll ever see your things again.  The Lord has taught us a lot through this all.  First of all, the blessings of a more-or-less corruption free country are not to be taken for granted.  Second, at some point, you need to hand over your frustrations to the Lord and trust that He is a much better judge than we are, and that one day He will make things right.  Indeed, that's part of the reason we are here - we have work to do.  Third, stuff is just stuff.  The more you get rid of, the less of a head-ache it is.  :-)  Fourth, the Lord has taught us a lot about prayer and trust.  Knowing that God is indeed Lord and that Christ is King (even where wickedness seems to be rampant) is extremely refreshing.  And fifth, we've learned the blessing of having and relying on good friends!  Thank-you, Richard and Angela!

We thank the Lord our God for bringing our stuff here.  50 boxes, but some things in there we didn't want to lose.  All my seminary notes and most of my books.  Our wedding gifts for the kitchen, and some special things of Anne-Marie's.  And it's all here!  Thank-you for your prayers, and praise the Lord!

One Year Later...

(Plus a week or so). Some reflections:

Just three weeks after accepting the call, we were going to leave Canada. And furious weeks they were, with sorting through all our stuff, packing, tying up loose ends, Matt’s ordination, and saying good-bye to friends and family. And then that morning came, January 13. We were off to the airport in a snow storm. Off to Mexico, to our first city of residence, Guadalajara, with our little 6 month bump packed safely away, along for the ride. My early memories from those first days and weeks are a mixture of warm welcome, exhaustion, and being overwhelmed. There were Richard & Angela, Jessica, Christianna and Rebekah waiting at the airport for us. I remember Rebekah holding out a bouquet of red and white flowers for me. A whirlwind one day tour of the city (and Matt’s birthday yet too!), and then off to Tepic for the Sunday. Another warm welcome, this time from the church with a luncheon after the service. And then driving the 3 hours back to Guadalajara, just the two of us in our new-to-us ’96 Explorer, trying to find our home in the dark. You know, when you have to turn at the green house, but now it’s dark and we’re not sure where the green house is (and your wife is no help because she’s too exhausted to remember anything). What a strange feeling that was. Where do we live? Where is our home? And is it even safe to stop and ask someone where our neighbourhood is? And then that next morning, off to language school for Day 1. I remember going to the grocery store that afternoon, and having to make a decision about every single thing that went in the cart. Nothing was familiar. Standing in line to pay, I remember leaning over the cart, feeling as if I could hardly stand. (Being six months pregnant probably didn’t help!) 

Yet with the help and guidance and strength of our faithful God, we soon adjusted and settled into our new home and life. What blessed months we had in Guadalajara, attending language school, getting to know the Presbyterian Church there, making friends, and watching the little bump grow, and then… welcoming our little package into this world on April 22. 

Although we were sad to leave Guadalajara and the haven of language school, we were excited to make the big step in moving to Tepic, our city of destination (for the time being, of course).

In some ways, it feels like nothing has come easy. Particularly in the paperwork department. Down to the wire getting our FM3 Visas, down to the very last strand of the wire in getting Naomi’s passport. Much stress, headache and problems getting our boxes shipped here (still not here yet, but hopefully next week!). In each case, things going wrong that you never thought could go wrong. (The latest is a cyclone!) How many hours upon hours has Matt spent doing paperwork. And yet, we so feel that every transition has been easier than we thought. We love the church, we love working alongside Richard & Angela here, we love this city, we love our little apartment, and we love our lives here. I remember walking home from the park about a month ago, with my dear husband and precious daughter at home, thinking, There’s nowhere else in the world I would want to be right now. Always easy? No. Challenging times of transition ahead in this new year? Yes, we think so. Yet, the Lord has been so good and for every difficult thing He has put before us, He has given us all we needed to deal with it. And so we can go forward, with courage because He is faithful!

My biggest challenge still is the language. It is coming, and yet I have a long ways to go yet. You know, when you long to have a deep(er) conversation with someone, and you can’t. Or sometimes you can, but only sort of. Or when you want to get to know them, to show you care, but there’s that wall. But in this too, I have to trust the Lord.

A few highlights from the past few months (yes, we haven’t written in awhile!)

• The bi-annual overnight church retreat at the end of November. One of these days I’m going to dedicate an entire blog entry to this. They are such a blessing to the church!
• The arrival of some wonderful neighbours (in November) – Rev. & Mrs. Bout live just around the corner. Yay for great neighbours who (among many other things) let us borrow their blender to make baby food while we wait for our boxes to arrive!
• Weekly Bible studies in the homes of some of the families of the church. It is such a blessing to see a hunger for the Word and spiritual growth! Matt usually leads 4-5 studies a week, and Naomi and I try to come along to most of them.
• Naomi learning new things and bringing joy to our family each day. She is 9 months old today!
• Blessed Sundays of worship and fellowship.
• Trip home to Canada over Christmas – short and busy, but so good.
• The Lord taking Grandma Van Dyken home the day we left Ontario. We are thankful for the time Matt could have with her yet before we left. What hope we have in Jesus Christ!
• Coming home to Mexico, to our little apartment. Nothing to compare with Grandma being taken home, and yet it was good to be home again. And it felt good that this really felt like home!

And we look forward to a visit from my parents next week! 

Some things you can pray about:

• Pray for the youth of the church. It’s not easy to be a teenager anywhere, but it seems even more so here.
• Pray that the Lord will bless us in the language, and give us discipline for this.
• Pray for the Bout family, that the Lord will provide them a place to serve Him in ministry.

God’s blessings to each of you.

Matt & Anne-Marie & Naomi 

Christmas Service and Potluck in Tepic (Joint Service with the Presbyterian Church in Tepic)

      

En route to Canada!  (The plane was almost empty!)

 

Spending time with the van Popta side (two of Anne-Marie's beloved nieces)

Spending time with the Van Dyken side (a gift for Naomi).

"Grandpa" and "Grandma" de Boer from Chicago.

Visiting the Alpuches in Chicago (contrary to appearances, Naomi thoroughly enjoyed herself).

What's all this white stuff?

Our little family, New Years 2013.

Back in Tepic, happily hosting people from the church!  Here are some dear members of our church.