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.

Settling in Tepic

Dear friends & family,

It seems that a lot has happened since we last sent out an update – besides the ELM newsletter, that is.  Back in August, we left Guadalajara and settled into the apartment above the church for a few weeks before heading back to Canada for a visit.  Speaking of which, we could write a book about all we experienced getting Naomi’s Canadian passport so that we could travel, but suffice to say that we got it with 15 hours to spare.  [Matt: An outsider might have thought we had turned into Pentacostals… there were so many “Praise the Lord”’s flying around once it arrived.  :-) ]  We had a wonderful time in Ontario, and enjoyed time with our home church, a week with each family at a cottage, and a few visits with friends.  The time was too short, and we didn’t get to see everyone we would have liked, but so it goes. 

When we returned to Tepic, we got to work looking for our own place to live. And the LORD provided!  We are on the 3rd level of a 6 unit, 3 level apartment complex, and we love it! Not only is the breeze incredible (even on a warm day it stays nice and fresh), we live just around the corner from the church – a 3 minute walk!  [Perfect for meeting people around the church too.]  And it was so nice to move into an empty place.  Does that sound strange? The Lord gave us what we needed for the first year and a half of marriage – 4 different furnished places – but it was sure nice (especially for me, I think) to set up our own place for the first time.  What a blessing a home is.  And we pray that our home will be a blessing not just to ourselves. 

We do love it here.  Matt has jumped into the work with both feet, and is keeping busy with… preaching and leading Sunday school every 3 weeks,  meeting with his tutor [up to] 4 mornings a week, leading Bible studies, attending Toastmasters, fixing piano keyboards, making mosquiteros (screens) for our windows….  And I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things.  He’s also excited to set up a stand at the Saturday morning tianguis (outdoor market).  Hopefully this Saturday.  [We’re starting this as an outreach method.  Lots of people will pass by and hopefully be wondering why in the world a gringo would ever want to set up a tianguis stand.  And so I’m hoping to “rope them in”.  :-)  I’m going to have some free Gospel tracts and also some books for sale.  But if it fails, at least I’ll enjoy some good reading time!  :-) ]

I have a tutor come 3 or 4 mornings a week.  I also go walking a few times a week with a friend from the church who has a baby just a month younger than Naomi.  She is from Argentina.  And so we have a lot in common – new moms in a foreign country.  Our friendship has been a real blessing to me.  I attend the Bible studies with Matt and also the ladies Bible study.  And otherwise I enjoy caring for my family and doing those regular things that Moms get to do.   [Ordinary things, perhaps, but in an extra-ordinary way!]

Naomi turned 6 months on Monday.  She loves to sit up (although can’t quite do this on her own yet) and grab at whatever she can reach.  At times her mother underestimates her abilities.  And so, this afternoon I found her with marker on her face! (Thankfully washable).  Her favourite toys are things from the kitchen.  Matt said that he wanted to bring some balance to her life and introduce her to some of his tools.  But then he thought better of it.  [Just because she might not quite be ready for the circular saw yet.]

Some highlights from the past while:

• Thanksgiving dinner with the Bouts.
• Having our first guests from the church for Sunday lunch.
• A funeral service at the church for the mother of someone seeking membership, a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel to many!
• Setting up a real true baby room for Naomi – we now have a change table, a little rocking chair in the corner (a beautiful gift from Rev. & Mrs. Bout), and the blanket that hung over my crib as a baby on display.  And the walls of the apartment are light yellow – perfect!
• A few times when talking English, the Spanish word popped into my mind first.  Yay!  [Wen thee Inglish start geting mixted up, thee Espaneesh ees veeri good.]
• The visit of our friends Jasson & Kim from Guadalajara.  They plan to move to Tepic in December or January, and with another pilot family hope to set up a base here in Tepic.  Their objective is to assist pastors by flying them to remote villages in Nayarit. 

Please pray.  Thank the Lord with us for the opportunities we have had to share the good news, for a repentant heart, for our new place, for safety, for our healthy, happy little girl, and for the Bout family who have been such a blessing to us. 

Please pray also for those in the church who are struggling – lack of work, legal difficulties, health problems, and spiritual struggles.  For our ability in the language (especially for me).  For opportunities to build relationships with our neighbours here in the apartment.  Thank you.

In Christ, Rev. Matt & Anne-Marie & Naomi Van Dyken

Meeting Grandpa & Grandma Van Dyken for the first time.

 

Cousins! 

Four generations.  We love you, Oma Blokker.

Matt fishing.  A holiday wouldn't be complete without a little of this. 



Cousin Julia, just 3 1/2 months apart.

Naomi's good friend Rebekah can always get a smile out of her.

A family from church - our first dinner guests in our new place!

A grasshopper of sort, taking shelter in our front door wreath, which was expertly made by Jessica.

Naomi, six months old already!

Nearing Good-Bye Time in Guadalajara

We are nearing the end of our time here in Guadalajara, and so we thought that it was time for a little update.  Our main goal for our time here was to learn, as much as possible, the Spanish language.  If you have ever had to move to another country and learn to speak the language there, you will know that it can take a while (many years).  However, thanks to the Lord's provision, we can affirm that we have made some major strides.  Anne-Marie has just about finished all four levels of the language school.  She is doing very well, in my opinion.  While she still feels that fluency is a good ways away, yet she recently remarked to me that she has been given a very good base grammatically with which to build off of.  The language school program is laid out very well, and covers all of the 14 different Spanish tenses, as well as a lot of the little things that make up a language.  Anne-Marie also has a tutor named Teresa come once a week, who has come to be a dear friend of Anne-Marie.  She is a godly Christian lady, a grand-mother, who loves the Lord and loves to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all those around her.  Quite an example for us!  You will have to ask Anne-Marie to tell you her story when we come back to Ontario, Lord-willing, in August.

I graduated from the school at the end of April, and so have had some more time to practice.  There are a number of ways that I've been practicing: via intercambios (half English / half Spanish) with university students, talking with the guards, leading a weekly Bible Study, visiting nursing homes nearby, reading in Spanish, and preparing for sermons.  All the different methods have helped in their own way.  Talking to students helps with the lingo.  For example, a common phrase in Guadalajara is: "¡Qué padre!" or "¡Padríssimo!"  Literally, that means "What a father!" or "SUPER-FATHER!!"  You might wonder what in the world that means, as I did too.  But basically, all it means is: "That's great!  That's cool!" (or something like that).  Talking to the elderly is helpful too, especially if you can find one who is a bit of a stickler with little things.  Don Raul is such a man, and is not at all inhibited about teaching a youngster the proper way to say things.  "You don't want people to think you're a simpleton!", he reminds me. 

Our biggest problem continues to be, not so much expressing ourselves correctly or intelligibly, but rather understanding others when they talk.  The two challenges there are training your ear to distinguish the sounds and also the vocabulary.  For both, practice is essential.  Both Anne-Marie and I can understand everything (or almost everything) from some people, but then we come across someone who it seems we can't even make out one word!  Thankfully, that's getting better for both of us with practice, but we still have our work cut out for us.  Learning a language takes a lot of patience and dedication!

I intended to keep this update short, but as I remarked to someone recently, "I have a problem with being brief."  :-)  I still haven't mentioned anything about Naomi (what a blessing!), church here, Tepic, or our future plans.  Basically, we're just about wrapping things up here in GDL.  We hope to move to Tepic the week of August 13 or so, so that we can get a bit settled before leaving for Canada.  August 24th is our date to fly back to Ontario for two and a half weeks, after which we will be going straight to Tepic.  We're looking forward to both very much.  We will most certainly miss all of our good friends and brothers and sisters in Christ here in Guadalajara, but it will be good to finally make our home, we trust, in Tepic. 

[From Anne-Marie:] Some of you might be wondering about how our little gal is doing.  And I'm happy to talk about her!  Naomi is now 3 months old, and is amazing us with the new things she is learning and doing.  We've enjoyed watching her discover her hands and her voice, and as of this weekend, she's starting to be able to move herself a little.  She has slept through the night for us for a few weeks now, so that is a huge blessing, especially with me going to school.  Her smiles brighten our day, and we feel very blessed with our precious little girl.  So that's our little Naomi update.  One other thing... Matt was quite generous when speaking of my Spanish above.  (He is still leagues ahead of me).  But, I am learning more each day and pray that will continue.  Please keep praying for our language learning.  How happy I will be when one day, God-permitting, I will be able to share the gospel with someone in Spanish.

So that's a brief update for you.  We look forward to seeing many of you when we come back to Ontario soon.  Thank-you for your prayers.  We know that you pray for us, and I thank the Lord for all of the doors that He has opened recently for opportunity to share the Gospel.  Please pray for grace and strength for us both (Anne-Marie's very busy with the school and the baby, though I help where I can), and for the Lord to work repentance and faith especially in those we meet here.  There is much dissatisfaction with the Catholic church here which provides many opportunities for witnessing, but I am growing in the realization that it is the Lord who brings people to Himself.  Thankfully, He is able to use our weak words and example, but ultimately it is His work.  That's what we need to look for, and that's what we need to pray for.   God's blessings in Christ to each and all of you!

Quick Dates:

• Lord-willing, Anne-Marie hopes to be finished language school on August 7 or so.
• We plan to move to Tepic during the week of August 13th, so that everything can be in place when we return from Canada in September.
• We hope to be in Canada from August 24th to September 12th.  We plan to be in Hope URC, Toronto on August 26 and in Immanuel URC, Jordan Station on September 2.