Almost Christmas!!

We can hardly believe that our friends the Jonssons will be arriving tomorrow to spend Christmas with us. We are so excited to see these familiar faces that we have loved and missed!!! I can hardly believe well will soon be starting a new year. This has been a year of so many changes, so much growing. That sometimes I feel exhausted just thinking about it. But above all it has been a year so full of joy and peace knowing that we are right where we were created to be. What an honour to be living here in Mexico City. We have been able to adjust to our new culture and are falling in love with this monsterous city, something I never would have imagined saying a year ago. We have an interview January 5 at an Orphanage that we hope to be helping out with, please pray that God would lead us and open the doors that He would have us walk through. I didn't realize how much a dreamer I am, I am already dreaming of all the different ways we can love and serve in this orphanage. I thought of bringing down some of our Canadian teams to lead different programs and just love them, (we would translate how funny is that). Like I said I am just in dreaming stages. But I am thankful for the ability to dream! I know without hope and knowing that we have a God to whom nothing is impossible, dreaming is impossible. But praise God that we can dream and walk slowly ahead and wait for the Lord to open the path ahead of us and trust that He is directing us.

Have a great week.
love ME

Meet Lolita

Looking for a teacher???

Thought I would add this little advertisement to my blog :) We are now officially looking for a Canadian certified teacher (could be a couple) to join our team and take on the responsibilities of guiding our kids education this August. Our kids will be taking courses through Alberta Distance Learning. For this following August so far it will be Izzy 9 Naomi 9 Carmy 7 and Benny 4 who will be in school. There are future dreams that once this school is established it could be opened up to other kids in our community as well. We are also dreaming that we could use the facilities for possibly teaching English. Really we are just dreaming, but anything is possible right especially when we are walking by faith. If you think you might now someone interested please pass them on to The Converge website http://www.cmaconverge.com/ and contact the administrator in charge of hiring, Frances Choi or email directly at choif@cmacan.org for more information about the Mexico City teaching position.


There is also a list of other positions that are open, ie other people who are wanting to join our team to help plant a church, as well as working professionals who would be willing to move to Mexico City.

Razones para vivir,

Our New Movie introducing our Del Valle Team

So excited

I can hardly believe that just three months before, we were preparing to leave Costa Rica and begin our new adventure in Mexico City that I was fearful of all the unknowns. I now realize how much emotional energy I wasted. If I only could have imagined how amazing God's provision would be, how amazingly his hand was already at work preparing ahead of time the people we would meet. As I write this I am sitting beside my little Tica Sister Stephanie who is visiting from Costa Rica and God willing will be back early in the New year to join us with our church plant. Now I think I am pretty creative, but I never would of dreamed that from serving hungry little kids in Costa Rica I would have had the opportunity to make a new little sister and that would not just be it but that God would wind our paths to close that she would (hopefully) join us in Mexico City. Why should I be surprised is this not the same God who put the stars in place and told the sea where its limits were? Tonight I am so encouraged we spent the afternoon with my Mexican friend and it was her birthday so we had the privilege of making her dinner and spending the evening with her!! She is going to come over on Sunday as well and join us for a morning of hearing Stephanie's story and worship with us and then we will have lunch, of course there has to be food! It is amazing the peace and joy that you feel when you are exactly in the place that you know you were created to be. I know that some days I would give anything to see my Claudia and for all the other things that seem so far away from us. But you can not even image how God supplies for your every need, there is truly nothing that we are lacking. I feel absolutely content and find my life so rewarding,believe me I also know that this has a lot to do with the fact that we have faithful people at home lifting us up in prayer. We love you, and thank you for support thank you for allowing us to live out our dream in Mexico City.
in the pictures are Stephanie at San Angel a beautiful little place with wonderful art work! The other pic is a beautiful picture of a mexican woman selling dollls.

Dia de los muertes

Well here is a very interesting custom that Mexicans celebrate each year. This November 1st and 2nd Mexicans come together and celebrate a day called Dia del Muerte (Day of the dead). They decorate their houses and schools with decorations of skeletons and even celebrate with pan de muerte, or Bread of the dead. Even Starbucks in MC even makes a special coffee drink called coffee of the dead. This celebration is a very difficult and complicated day to understand but can be broken down into two basic levels. The first level is that people have the day to remember their lost ones, remembering them by bringing things they liked to their grave sites, talking and singing, partying and celebrating the life they lived. Much like what we do in Canada by bringing flowers or going by "the house that grandpa used to live in," remember his laugh and stories. And then there is the second level that not everyone does but is very real in many of the small towns. They invite the spirits back from the dead to come eat and party with them. Although it is morbid on some levels, I think there is a lot to learn from our Mexican friends for there is great value in remembering our loved ones, perhaps it may even help some of us grieve and mourn in a healthier way. Of course I am not too sure about inviting spirits to eat with us or offering sacrifice to dead family.

I am trying to make a big decision I need to decide wheather I send Julia to school on Friday October 31 and not really know what that day will look like for her, as the teachers have requested a number of things for the offering that day. My heart desperately does not want to offend my new Mexican friends that I am deeply enjoying learning about and discovering more about their very interesting culture. It is not just a holiday that people celebrate but it is part of who they are. I really want to be a person who is open to learning from our new culture. I know that they have a lot to offer us. Please pray that I will have discernment and a sensitive spirit. As a new friend of mine is the administrator of the school pray that this will not affect my new friendship.