Up-to-date News

So...it's been forever since I posted!  How is it that time can slip so quickly out of our grasp?

I've been wanting to do some "posts in review" so that everyone can be up to date with all the highlights from the past 8 months or so, but I've had a hard time knowing where to begin.  I guess that's what happens when you get so far behind!  =)

For now, I'll just do this short post with the condensed version of our current plans.

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September brought the birth of our baby girl (more about that in another post) and the return of Michael  to the US.  We then spent most of the fall and some of the winter doing deputation services.  The Lord really helped us and we were planning on returning to Mexico on January 16th.

The closer we got to that date, the more Michael was feeling the stress of having been in MX by himself for 4 months catch up with him.  Looking back, he feels that he had been close to having a nervous breakdown while on the field.  After seeking some counsel and advice, we decided to postpone our return to the field until the middle of March.

These last few months have been a time of much needed rest and relaxation.  Michael has felt the hand of the Lord touching him and restoring him to full health.  During the first week of March, he was scheduled to preach a camp meeting at H.I.M.'s hispanic church in Ft. Myers, Fl and so we scheduled our return flights to MX for March 20th.

And...here we are still!  Last Saturday night (the 16th), Michael and I were talking about our passports. I knew mine would expire in April and I thought maybe two of the kids' expired sometime this fall.  Upon returning home that night, I checked...and discovered that Kyle and Taylor's passports had already expired in January!  Woops!  Now what?  We were supposed to leave Tues. evening for an early morning flight on Wed.

Michael called the passport center in Philadelphia, but their first available appt. was for Thursday morning (the 21st).  So we called the airlines and told them we wouldn't be making our scheduled flights.

I must say that when Tuesday came, we were feeling a little out-of-sorts!  We were mostly packed and definitely ready to go!  But, we want to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit the most.

Thursday we were able to get/renew the needed passports and now we're ready to go again...only we're not sure of the exact date.  We definitely want to follow God's timing for us, so we're trying to patiently wait for a clear answer as to when to leave.  Would you help us pray to that end?

...And I'll try to keep everyone updated better!!! =)

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And just because a blog post is boring without at least one picture...here's one from when we were just in Philadelphia to renew our passports.  We took a short carriage ride around the old city.  Unfortunately, we had to do it on the coldest day of spring...or so it seemed!!

Our Trip to PA - Part III

If you haven't yet read Part I or Part II of this saga, you can read them by clicking on the highlighted links.

{ THE REST OF THE STORY }

And so, as you have read previously, we had a wonderful time in PA!  Sadly, our departure on Friday May 11th was drawing close.  But we were a little unsure how to proceed.

Because we already had planned that the kids and I would be coming home in July (because of my pregnancy, etc...), we were praying that the Lord would make it clear if we should return to Mexico with Michael as planned, or try to save some money by just staying in PA until the baby's due date.  We felt no direction to do anything other than what was originally planned, so Thursday before we were to leave, I spent the day packing!

Early Friday morning, we, along with my family, were off to the Harrisburg airport.  Well, when we finally got to the counter and tried to check in, we were told our first flights had been cancelled!!  They told us United had cancelled our trip because we had not shown up for the first leg of the trip back in April when we were having all those issues getting to PA!  (read part I) We had no idea ~ I had checked travelocity late the night before and printed our itineraries off, and everything appeared to be in order.  Now what were we to do?!

The agents at the counter said to call travelocity.  We called them.  They said to call United.  Round and round we went!  By the time we were able to get someone to get us straightened out, the boarding process for our scheduled flight had already been completed and we couldn't go.  Just great.

Michael and I looked at each other and realized this was our answer to prayer.  With this development and now the additional costs of needing to purchase new flights, it was not monetarily feasible for me and the kids to return to Mexico.

Although we would have chosen to know this information before we got to the airport that morning, we know that God's plan is the best plan, no matter the timing!

And so, we loaded our luggage back into the vehicles and headed north.  We were able to get a decent flight out of JFK the following week for Michael, and supposedly, we have a little credit from the airlines to help with our flight expense when we return as a family to Mexico in January.

Since that time, the kids and I have been enjoying spending the summer in PA with our families and trying to be a blessing in our home church, while Michael is ministering alone in Mexico.  The Lord has really been blessing and helping him there and I hope to post some updates from him in the next few days.  I'm sure he would appreciate your continued prayers for him.

Michael has plans to return home on September 20th, and our little baby girl is due September 30th!  As of now, we have plans to begin our fall deputation starting the middle of October.  We hope to see some of you at our services!  We'll also be able to spend the holidays here in PA with our families, and then we hope to return to Mexico the beginning of January.

And now, you know the rest of the story!!!  =)  Maybe I can try and keep this poor old neglected blog more up to date, you think?!!!

{ the boys have enjoyed going fishing with Pappy }

To see various misc. pictures from our time here in PA this summer, feel free to follow me on facebook, or my sister who posts lots of pictures of her nephews!  Or if you're not signed up with facebook, you can see pics on this album.

Prayer Request

Today we are leaving for a little trip to Guatemala. We will be staying through the weekend and attending a marriage seminar held at our H.I.M. Tacaná church. If you think of us sometime today, say a little prayer for traveling protection and safety as we drive, and also for Bro. Butch Heath (the special speaker), Bro. John Dykes, and Bro. Hery Santiago from Hobe Sound, Fl as they will also be traveling to the seminar. We are excited to be taking a much needed "little break" from our ministry here in Southern Mexico and hope to return encouraged and rejuvenated!

Also pray for our churches here in Southern Mexico on Sunday as the doors will remain open and Antonio and Guadalupe will be preaching in our absence.

And, I'm hoping to take pictures this time, as my husband did not take any pictures the last time he was there! =)

Have a great weekend, my friends! I hope to return to the blogging world on Tuesday!

Upcoming Campmeeting

A week from tonight, we start a weekend campmeeting at our church here in Tapachula. Others from our H.I.M. churches in Motozintla and Guatemala will be attending as well. Bro. Rigoberto (Director of H.I.M.'s Hispanic Churches) will be the special speaker and Michael and I will provide the singing. We are looking forward to having Bro. Rigo and his wife visiting with us. Would you help us pray that 1) the Holy Spirit would come and meet with us each service, 2) that our present believers would become more grounded in their faith, and 3) that new people would be won into the Kingdom? We deeply appreciate the thoughts and prayers that you (our family, friends, acquaintances, and even blog visitors) lift to the Father in our behalf. ¡Muchas gracias!

Bro. Rigo and his wife have already been on the road traveling. Read about some of their visits here at Eric Kuhns' blog.

Official Immigrants!!

Yay! Now the kids and I got our visas too! We're good to go (or stay, in this case) for a year - and then we can renew them here in Tapachula for another year.

(Don't you just love the flattering photos they

insist on taking for these kinds of things...?) ;-)

Remember Michael in your prayers today. He is traveling with some other men to one of our H.I.M. churches in northern Guatemala to preach a youth revival. They will be driving through some of the more unstable parts of Guatemala. I'm sure they would appreciate prayers for their safety.

Michael preaches three different times on Saturday, and then once on Sunday morning before making the 5-6 hour trip back home.

And hopefully, I'll have pictures to share from his trip when they get back. I reminded him a couple of times where the camera was located and to pretty please take some pictures...so we'll see!! =) Actually, I don't have much hope...but there's always a first for everything!!

PTL

We are Praising The Lord for helping Michael to get his FM-2 Visa!

What this Means: Previously, we had only 6 month tourist visas. This visa required us (and our truck and trailer) to leave the country for a few days - every six months! That's a great option if you live only a few hours from the border, but since we're 30 hours or so from the border...it's not something we wanted to do that often! Plus, there's more expense involved.

With this FM-2, we do NOT have to leave the country to renew our visas! They do cost money, and they will need renewed once a year, but we can do it all in-country. And after five years, if we meet all the requirements, we are eligible to obtain a permanent resident visa which would allow us to come and go at will.

Somewhere along the line, Michael was able to meet and then do all of our paperwork with the regional director at the immigration office. I'm sure this helped to speed up the process, because we were told it could take a couple of months, but he was able to get his "immigrant" card in just three days!!!

Now the only thing that remains, is to apply for this same status for me and the kids!

Playing "Catch-Up"

So, I guess it's no secret that I'm terribly behind on this blog. Now the only problem that remains is catching up on the past two months...

We've been enjoying the addition of Baby Parker in our lives! He just turned three months old and is starting to give us a glimpse of his personality. He has slept through the night since he was 2-3 days old, he likes to smile as long as his belly is full :-) and he prefers to stick two or three of his fingers in his mouth instead of using a pacifier. He's a very good baby, and we all (including his big brothers) love him very much!

10 weeks

Too cute @ 3 months!

As far as ministry related items...

1) We have held 13 deputation services already and have quite a few scheduled for this fall. We've enjoyed seeing familiar faces and making new acquaintances and sharing how the Lord has been helping in Southern Mexico.

2) We have also been doing a lot of "fill-in" work while here at home (Central PA).

: : Michael helped train the instrumental group from Penn View the last few weeks of May due to the injury of Mr. Lucas Shrout's daughter.: : Our home church (New Columbia GMC) had a cancellation for their VBS, so we "filled-in." Thanks to Michael's family, we had props, songs, verses, and ideas all ready to go! We had excellent attendance with an average of 90-100 kids nightly. Our theme was "Set Free" and Michael did a wonderful job doing all the up front stuff. Since I'm not an "up front" kind of person, I played the piano and did the "behind the scenes" work.


: : We ended the VBS on a Friday night, and then started singing at Mt. of Blessings Camp Meeting on Saturday...(yep, due to a few cancellations!) Although it was physically tiring, our souls were refreshed sitting under the ministry of Bro. Leonard Sankey and Bro. Rick Maloyed. We are so thankful for the presence of the Lord meeting with us at camp.

After camp meeting, we decided the kids (and ourselves) could use a small break from the norm, so we headed to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. It was SUPER HOT that day, but we all had a fun time anyway.

Neither Parker nor the alpaca were too impressed with this photo op. :-)

Well, that pretty much brings us up-to-date. We are looking forward to being able to attend Penns Creek Camp Meeting starting a week from today. After that, we have a family vacation planned, and then we start into our fall deputation schedule in late August.

And hopefully, I'll try to keep this poor blog a little more updated.......!

Journal of our Move to Tapachula, MX

CAUTION: Read at your own leisure...this is a very lengthy post!

Thank the Lord for safety and traveling protection on our recent move to Mexico!

We left the Rio Grande Valley, TX on Jan. 14th. Our truck was loaded inside and on top and we were pulling an overloaded trailer! We stopped at the TX/MX border to pay duty on a few items, and then we were on our way. We had no problems with our papers and visas at any of the checkpoints.

We decided to make a quick stop for gas about 1-1/2 hrs. down the road. We got our gas, then pulled around to another spot and parked the truck so we could do potty breaks and let the dog out to exercise her legs. When we were finally ready to leave, the truck would not start! Oops! We had forgotten that this same thing had happened the week before and we forgot to have it looked at. Seeing as my husband nor I are experienced mechanics, these problems could make for an interesting trip! But, the Lord already had people lined up to help us. We no sooner got the hood open, then an American and two Mexicans drove up beside us and offered to help. Whew! It was decided that a clamp on our battery was loose and so they drove a screw down in to help hold everything together until we got to Tapachula. On our way again, we had no more troubles. We spent the night at a very nice hotel near Tampico.

We left the next morning prepared for a not too stressful day. All the roads we traveled seemed to be two-lanes and we were always following semi's or rv's who were just creeping along. The roads were also a little curvy and hilly, and therefore not good for passing! Needless to say, this part of the trip was taking forever and we were not sure if we would make it to our planned stopping place.

It was nearing dusk when we started on the bypasses around Veracruz. We made a turn, and heard a thud, thud, thud.......our back, right, truck tire was flat! Oh no! We got out and was assessing the situation, when once again, God already had a helper in place! We were pulled off the road in front of a propane gas station, and one of the men there came out and volunteered his services in changing the tire. He tried to jack up the truck, but it kept sliding off. We tried his co-workers jack, same problem. We had WAY too much weight in the truck. It was decided that Michael would ride with the co-worker 5 minutes down the road to fetch a tire mechanic while I stayed in the truck with the kids. They returned with the tire mechanic and some better tools, and the tire was changed in no time at all. The next problem, we had to take the tire mechanic back to his shop, but there was no room for all of us in the truck. So, what's the best solution? We're still not sure, but this is what we decided to do. Michael takes the truck and kids to return the tire mechanic, while I stay along the side of the road with the trailer and the dog. Oh, did I mention it was dark already? Yeah, it was a "wonderful" moment in my life! Some of my fears were that someone would stop and I would have to try to talk in my limited Spanish or that Michael (who's not good at directions) would get lost trying to find where he left me! Thank the Lord nothing happened, but I was starting to get concerned after waiting almost an hour and Michael still wasn't back! He finally returned, and we decided to call it a night at a hotel down the road that had been recommended to us by the mechanics. The hotel was not the greatest thing one ever stayed at, and we were feeling a little unsure as to how secure our truck and trailer were going to be out by the road...but we didn't know of another quick solution, so we just had to trust God.

After a not so restful night, we were up real early in the morning hoping to make up some time. After a slight delay trying to find an ATM machine to get money out for the rest of the trip, we kept on trucking. Halfway through the day, our truck started making noises...then the check engine light came on...then our truck's braking system lights came on. Superficially, we couldn't see anything wrong, so we just kept on driving, and praying that our dear, overloaded, truck and trailer would make it the whole way! It did...and we pulled into our new home early in the evening! Our new "Home Sweet Home" never looked so good!

We know many of you were praying for us along the journey although you may not have known all the details at the time...Thank You! Your prayers helped us to make it safely to Tapachula to begin our new ministry. We are forever grateful to you!

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.

It's A........

After a doctors visit and ultrasound, the results are in:

20 Weeks!

An Announcement...

So, the time has finally come. There are some things that can only be kept a secret for so long.

Without further ado...

We are excitedly anticipating the arrival of
Mason Baby #3 in approximately 24 weeks!!
(my preferred way of keeping time during pregnancy)

Below is a very blurry ultrasound picture that was taken at
11 weeks/2 days.

What's Been Happening?

Yikes! Where do I begin? So many things have happened since I've last posted...

Here's the simple version of what we've been doing:

[] Got back from our trip to Mexico
[] Spent lots of time with Bro. Juan from our church who became terribly ill. (Thank the Lord for a healing touch...it appears he will come home from the hospital this week!)
[] Prepared for family along with a PVBI group who came to visit
[] Trying to get a newsletter out (since we're behind again...!)
[] And, still feeling the need to recuperate from all of the above!

Oh...and did I mention I have a kitchen sink that is leaking, as well as ants trying to invade my kitchen...?!! :)

Now for some commentary and (not too many) pictures:

We were so happy to have Dan & Michelle Durkee (Michael's sister), their three boys, and the ladies trio from PVBI "stop by!" They arrived last Monday evening, had a service at our church Tuesday night, and left early Wednesday morning.

Somehow we managed to cram 12 people in our very small apartment for a few meals...we went to the hospital in MX to sing for Bro. Juan, then went to Progresso, MX to souvenir shop...the guys had a blast playing ball down at a park...I enjoyed seeing pictures from the group's trip to Ireland...and can you believe it? I Didn't Take Pictures!!! I wish I would have had the presence of mind to think of it then, and not now!

The only pictures I took, were of the group/s singing...

Wow! It's hard to believe how much our nephews are growing up!
And, here's a video clip of the group singing my favorite song of the evening...hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

News from Salamanca, MX

Wow! Our time here in Mexico has come and nearly gone!

Today was a very special day here at the Salamanca church. The new pastor was installed this morning. It was a very nice service and quite a few people attended. Below are a few misc. pictures that were taken throughout the day.

(except for this pic...this was taken Sat. afternoon.) This group includes the new pastor and his wife, her mother and two brothers, Philip Burch, the Mason crew, and Daniel - a student/assistant that Pastor Abel is tutoring/mentoring. We had a good time together before a few of them left for home in Southern Mexico.

The new pastor, Abel, and his wife.
...during the actual installation
Pastor Abel preaching

Me and a very good friend of mine ~ Grace with her little girl

Kyle and one of his best buddies ~ Carlitos

Tomorrow we are heading home! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we make this long trip!!

Update: We made it home safely!!!!

Traveling...

Would you please pray for us today? We are making the long trip into Central Mexico to fill in at the Salamanca church for approximately three weeks until their national pastor arrives.

We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for our safety, traveling protection, and a smooth journey.

Until we have internet connection again, hopefully the picture below will tide you over...this is a family pic my sister took while at the Alamo in San Antonio. I've got lots of other great pictures to share, but they'll have to wait!

Happenings in our Household

Really and truly, we haven't dropped off the face of the earth!! I know you all have been wondering, but...

Life has been normal and very routine around here...don't get me wrong, that's a good thing, but it also means there's not much to blog about!

Let me tell you some of the things that happen/or have happened around our house...

:: Michael goes to school everyday from 8:00 - 12:00 and then studies with a tutor from 2:00 - 3:00. Every late afternoon on Monday, he practices with the school "band" because they play in chapels on Tuesday. Did I mention he studies a lot too?!

:: What do I do? Well, there's always cooking, cleaning, feeding, washing, grocery shopping, chasing the kids around, and....a never ending pile of laundry!! This is not a favorite chore of mine, so I do one load each day so it doesn't get too overwhelming! Below is a picture inside the school's laundromat. For those of you ladies who own your own washer and dryer, and have the privilege of throwing laundry in while still in your pajamas...bless you! The school here does not allow us to have our own washer in our apartments, therefore we must use their facilities (at $.75 to wash and $.75 to dry), or go to a laundromat!

:: Even with all the never ending things to do in a day, I still get a chance to work on "fun" stuff! This normally happens when the kids take their afternoon nap! I've finally decided to start a new quilt. I've got several ideas that have been running through my brain, but decided to go with a scrap quilt (using leftover pieces of material from other projects). This is a little hard for me to picture, because I'm all about color coordination and organized looks, but we'll see how this turn out. The picture below shows that I'm still using only certain colors so I don't go too crazy! I think I have 128 triangles cut out - that will get sewn together - only to get cut apart into like 320 rectangle strips - and then sewn back together!!!!! Oh what fun!

:: Philip and Collette were so kind to bring me some more Mexican strawberries last week! After all the ones I froze before I left MX + these new ones, I officially have no room in my freezer for anything else! I guess we'll just skip the meat and eat only strawberries for a while!!! Ha! Ha!

:: Well, the only other thing worth mentioning...can you believe we've been down here a year? We were in MX for almost 9 months, then here in TX for 3 months or so! Our second set of Visas/Vehicle Permit for MX expire on the 31st, so we had to go turn them in the other day. Also, Michael's passport expires the end of April, so we also need to get on the ball with getting him a new one.


I guess that about sums up our life here in the Mason household recently!

Swagbucks: Earn Gift Cards for Searching Online

Does anybody else check out Money Saving Mom? I like to watch her blog for all sorts of helpful ways to be more frugal, save money, and get links to coupon deals. I was intrigued when I saw her last post.

Obviously, if you're reading this blog...you're on the internet. And I would suppose that you use a search engine to find different stuff throughout the day, too. So, why not earn money (through gift cards) for all of your searching? Swagbucks is an online search engine (which uses sources such as google.com and ask.com) that will reward you for searching online. It's very easy to sign up - and they don't require a lot of unnecessary info. Upon signing up, you will receive 3 points to your account. Then, download the search engine toolbar or plug-in and begin earning more points. At just 45 points, you can redeem them for a free $5 Amazon Gift Card, or at 50 points, a $5 Starbucks Gift Card. There are a ton of other prizes too.

I signed up, got my plug-in for my search engine, and now I'm on my way to earning "swagbucks." Plus, the more people you refer, the more you earn! Check it out, then use my referral code (it's already plugged in the link) and sign up here!!

A Great Water Filter System

Just a minor detail. If you're a fellow missionary, or just like good, clean water - please scroll down the page until you see the new link added on the right sidebar. This is the kind of water filtering system that we use here in Mexico. Michael's parents got this for us, and we have been extremely impressed and thankful that we don't have to spend millions on the large jugs of water that only last every few days or so. We also got free sport water bottles that filter upon sucking the straw...these were a great help on our trip to Southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Home Sweet Home - Almost!

Whew! After 20 hours of traveling (just on Saturday alone), we've finally arrived "home" - well, in Salamanca, that is. We're staying with Philip and Collette tonight since it's so late, and we have church in the morning. But, soon, I'll be back at my own house!! Yeah!!! Hot showers, here I come!

Thank the Lord for a safe and uneventful trip!

Here We Go, A Traveling...

Well, the time has come for us to make the grand trek back home! I, for one, am very happy to be going! Not that we didn't have a great time here, but there's just something special about home!

We would ask your prayers again as we leave out this morning, travel all day, then travel all day tomorrow - maybe finally arriving in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Another special request...we've all been battling some sort of sickness this past week, but it has seemed to hit Kyle the hardest. Just this morning he was tossing cookies, so we would ask that you pray that he be touched so that we would have a 'quiet' trip home! It's definitely not fun being sick when you're away from home, let alone, traveling hundreds of miles!

I have more trip pictures to share, but they will have to wait until we get home.

Thanks for your interest in us and for your prayers ~ they mean a lot!!