Highlights from Michael's Trip to Tapachula, MX

Early Wednesday morning, Dec. 9th, found Michael along with Jonathan Springer, John Dykes, and Rogelio (an RGBI Hispanic student) traveling south 30 hours to Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. Their mission: 1) to pick up our furniture that was being stored in Salamanca, 2) to find and begin renting a house for us to live in, and 3) meet with the believers and contacts in both Santo Domingo and Tapachula.

The mode of transportation was Jonathan Springer's truck with our trailer attached. The picture below has the beautiful volcanic mountain of Orizaba in the background.

"Welcome to Tapachula"

Remember the small town of "Santo Domingo" that we have mentioned? Our plans have been slightly changed in that we will not be living in this town, but will still be working at planting and developing a church there. During this trip, Michael was able to visit our contacts in Santo Domingo and at the same time, Hery Santiago and many of the H.I.M. pastors from Guatemala and one pastor from Mexico were able to commence for a meeting and services in Santo Domingo. Michael was presented a Bible in the service from Bro. Hery and the pastors on behalf of H.I.M. for his completion of language school. Michael also had the privilege to speak.

Tapachula: The city where we'll be living and starting another brand new church. We have three main contacts and their families who will be helping us in this endeavor. The three men have all attended and been members at the H.I.M. church in West Palm Beach, FL when they worked in the States. They are solid Christians and will be a great asset to us.

Below: The first church service of the "Iglesia Evangelica de Santidad de Tapachula". We will be holding services in this semi-enclosed "building". The lady in blue (below) runs a restaurant here during the week, and we will be holding church services here on Sundays.

Michael preaching.

A group photo. Kyle is really excited about meeting and getting to know some new friends. He'll be speaking Spanish better than his mother in no time!! And his mother will need extra prayer as she will mostly likely be teaching a Sunday School in Spanish...yikes! Thank goodness children are very forgiving...!

...And the men were successful in finding a decent house for us to live in. It is located in a very nice and safe neighborhood. We will have a backyard that is totally enclosed so the boys will be able to run and play to their hearts content. As with most rental houses in Mexico, there are always some minor details we will have to work through upon our arrival (making sure the gas lines are hooked up properly for the stove and water heater, checking how the water system works with the pumps and cisterns, painting, having the phone/internet get hooked up, installing light fixtures, fixing anything that needs fixing, and finding a place to put all of our food and kitchen items in the limited cabinet space...etc...).

And these lovely creatures will be our "neighborhood sentinels!!!" (Unfortunately, I can see my youngest son trying to make friends with one...) =)

And so, these are the highlights from Michael's trip. Right now, we are in Texas finishing our packing and seeing to last minute details. Lord willing, Thursday is the day we will head south as a family. After almost 2 years of language studies, we are excited to finally begin our ministry in Southern Mexico and to plant churches and disciple new believers!

We will appreciate your prayers for us for traveling protection (it will take us 3 days to get there) and as we acclimate ourselves to a new culture and begin our ministry work.