Funny things the kids say Part1

~Emmy was not going to finish her apple and Davin wanted it. She did not want to share so I asked her what she thought Jesus would do. She said, "Um, Jesus is gonna spank us!"
~"When we go to Houston at Christmas time, can we go to the
store and buy me a tiny baby tiger?" -Emmy
~"Mommy look at that lady...she has a really big bottom!"
Emmy (in front of the lady)
~Davin calls Nathan "Daddita!" (not a real word but it sounds
a little Mexican)

more pics

This is one of my favorites- I LOVE their kisses!

Updated pics

Here are a few recent pictures of the kids.

Big Daddy and Grammy visit

Today we are picking up Big Daddy and Grammy (Nathan's parents) for a five-day visit to Cancun. They are taking a trip for their 31st anniversary to visit us and see the grandkids. It has been raining every day for the past 3 weeks, but hopefully it will clear up a little while they are here. We are looking forward to hosting.

Town gossip

Yesterday i was working in one of my Starbucks offices and i overheard a conversation by a group of ladies next to me. It caught my attention because i heard the name of our church, so i listened in a little. I didn't catch the whole conversation, partly because i didn't want to be too obvious about eavesdropping, but mostly because of the coffee machine noises in the Starbucks ;) It made me smile because they didn't know me, but they were talking about this movement that God is doing. In many ways I hope it stays like that. That there is not a face associated with whatever good is happening, but that God begins a movement and He gets all the credit because there is no other explanation.

more on Matthew

Matthew 5:31-32

“You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery."

Does anyone else see the line here that says 'unless she has been unfaithful"? I always thought divorce was wrong in God's eyes, no matter what. Not sure where I got that but I am glad I am able to read the words for myself straight from the mouth of Jesus!


Here is another one I thought I knew but had twisted in my mind:

Matthew 5:42

Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

Give to those who ask??? Like the guy standing on the corner who might use my money to buy cigarettes or alcohol or drugs? I always thought I was being a good steward of my money by NOT giving to those people. A friend and I were talking about this verse and she asked me, "Who are we to judge who is worthy to use our money, since God gave it all to us anyway?" OUCH!!! I think she was right.

Sometimes it hurts when I find out I have believed something incorrectly for all these years. My first reaction is to try to blame someone else...maybe a former teacher. The truth is it is MY responsibility to read it for myself. But, I am thankful that God is correcting me so I can try to follow these not quite so easy guidelines.

Wow what a day!

ok i will start this by saying God is awesome and all this was because of Him. we have had a crazy couple weeks of prep and prayer (and enemy attacks) for today...the start of a 4-week series on marriage at COF Cancun. Lots of anticipation of what God is going to do through this series...here is a quick rundown of what we saw today.

• three theaters, simultaneous worship in two service times. 10:00 - 2 spanish rooms, 1 english; 11:30 - 3 spanish
• 74 students in their new venue at the other end of the plaza (middle school, high school age)
  
• 200+ kids in the kids area
• 820 adults in the theater between the two times and three rooms
  
• total ~ 1,100 people (about 650 more than the week before)
• lots of volunteers stepped up to help (greeting, kids area, students, tech setup)
  
• 2 worship leaders singing in different rooms accompanied by the same band (the third room filled after the message had started)
  
• a great message from Marco
• lots of positive feedback from first-time guests. always exciting when they come because of problems with their marriage and then they learn that the real answer is Jesus
  

thanks again for your prayers...now we get to do it again next week!! and thinking about that makes me want to go to bed right now. :)

Retaliating with Love

Matt 5:7,9, 21-22, 39-42

God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.

21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’[d] 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone,[e] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[f] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[g] you are in danger of the fires of hell.

39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

I have read those verses and others many times recently in the book of Matthew. These were words that Jesus taught. We are told to be merciful and to work for peace. If we are even angry we are subject to judgment. Do no resist an evil person. I don’t know how I have read those verses so many times and not actually chosen to apply it to myself. I was a supporter of the war the US is currently in. I had a gun and learned how to use it for self defense. Engaging in war, no matter what the motive, is not merciful or peace-making. Me being ready to shoot an intruder is resisting an evil person- which is exactly what Jesus said not to do.

These are the things we have been reading lately. We don’t have it all figured out, but we do know this is how we are told to behave as Christians. I know it sounds crazy but since when does anything Jesus said make any sense to us mere mortals?

More on this soon.
~Kaycee

Baptism Pictures

Nathan and Miguel filled up the pool the night before. It took two water trucks called Pipas to fill it up.

This picture is a couple from the US that live in the area named Ed and Connie. It was so sweet to see them get baptized together!

This was me and a guy named Tomas. We got baptized at the same time. The water was REALLY cold!

This was a friend's brother and sister. It was only Mario's second time to visit the church. We were all so excited for them.

Luis, the other pastor here, got a chance to baptize his mom. It was such an emotional time. At the end of the last service he also baptized his daughter, Renata.

We had 71 people baptized on September 21.

Mexican Ingenuity

The Mexican people are amazing. Nothing stops them. Nothing gets them down. If they want to do something, they will find a way. Here are a few examples of things I have seen here over the last few weeks.
Entire families on one scooter...mom, dad, six year old and baby (all with helmets of course)
-A man riding his bike while carrying a large box fan.
-A man riding his bike while carrying a pizza.
- Bicycle taxis ready to take you anywhere you want to go
-A bicycle taxi stacked eight feet high with furniture
-A man standing on the street corner, making churros and selling them while you wait for the light to change

My favorite and the most impressive:
-A man riding his bike while carrying a six foot ladder!!!

WOW! I would sit at home thinking I couldn't go to work today because I didn't have a car. Not the people I saw...they work it out!

Baptism Sunday

Happy Sunday all!

Thank you for your prayers this weekend...God answered them in a strong way! We had a great morning as we celebrated communion and baptisms today. With a pool set up in the back service driveway of the theater, we baptized 71 PEOPLE throughout the three services.

We had planned for 50 spontaneous, so had to make a quick run to the store to prep extra packages before the last service when we saw we were going to be short. Even the rain during the last service paused exactly long enough for us to baptize and then restarted. It was an unforgettable day and a life-changing experience for so many. Special thanks to Kaycee (event coordinator) and Marco for the awesome sermon.

Exciting things at the Cancun campus, as God continues to amaze me. :)

-nw

El Policia

Today was my first time to be pulled over by the police! I was in the car alone...which NEVER happens. I turned left at a place where the sign says not to but I couldn't see it because of the huge bus in front of me. I was also on the phone with Nathan which is not allowed here. My license is also expired which matters here too. After the guy took ten minutes to explain to me what I did wrong (I finally understood with LOTS of patience on his part), he told me I had to go to the police station to pay one hundred and fifty dollars. They take your license here until you pay your ticket.
I said that I could go in the morning and pay my ticket. He said if I paid him right here (bribe him) he would not write me a ticket and it would not go on my Cancun record. We went back and forth for a long time. After about twenty minutes it finally ended. He gave me my license back with out a ticket and invited me to go dancing with him sometime (with Nathan if he wanted to come too). HAHAHA It was so funny but I got away without bribing or a ticket and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. :)

Baptism

This week we are working on spontaneous baptisms for CDF Cancun. I am in charge of making sure everything goes well and is planned out perfectly. I am really excited about it. There are several ladies helping me put everything together. We are providing clothes, undergarments, towels, anything you could possibly need to get baptized so people have no excuses not to go ahead and do it that day. I am getting baptized in the English service. I was baptized when I was little but I don't remember anything about it. Now it has a whole new meaning to me. Nathan is going to baptize me...I am just a little nervouse that he might try to dunk me before my nose is plugged or something. ;) You know he would be serious at a time like this though. I wish all of you could be here to celebrate with me.

Our cable to hook the camera to our computers has been missing for a few weeks. I used it when Bethany and Charity were here so I know it is in our new house. As soon as we find it we will post some pics of the kids. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

I Like To Move It Move It

Check out our kids moves! They are ready for the clubs in Cancun.

Emmy's spanish

Happy Birthday!

video blogging

fifth test with this...and just to clarify we are only moving a few streets away here in Cancun.

Just a typical day in Mexico :)

The last few days have been so interesting. We are really getting a taste for what it means to live in Mexico. Yesterday morning we had the most awful smell in our house after I fixed breakfast. It took several minutes before we saw black smoke pouring out of our laundry room. When we opened the door we saw that our tankless water heater had exploded in flames! Thankfully Nathan was back from Costa Rica or I would not have known what to do. He turned off the gas and put the fire out with a damp towel.

Today the men came to replace our water heater. After the water heater was in place they turned it on to check it. Something was not connected correctly because water was spraying all over the ceiling. They got that mess cleaned up and finished what they could with out the piece they were missing. The men will return tomorrow to finish but they didn't tell us that they did not connect the water line to anything. Nathan turned on the bath for Davin and I heard running water coming out of the laundry room. That room is now flooded! again! The men are supposed to return in the morning (always mañana) so hopefully they will get it right this time and we can have hot baths tomorrow. :) Just a small sample of life in Mexico. From what I hear this is pretty typical.

Flying solo

Nathan is in Costa Rica for 6 days with a group from Houston and a few people from Cancun. I am alone with the kids for 6 days. It is only day two and I think I could sleep for the next four days. Apparently Davin and I do not sleep well with out Nathan here. I think Emmy could sleep through anything so she is fine.

My friend Ana took me to look at houses today. I found three that were nice options so I will bring Nathan by when he gets back.

If you read this before tomorrow, please pray for me. I am singing all the services by myself (including Spanish!) because our other singer is visiting Houston. I am nervous but prepared so it should be fine.

I am getting the kids ready for bed now so I will blog more later. :)

Freakishly huge kids!

We decided to measure the kids today just to see if they are really as huge as they seem or if it is just because we compare them to Mexicans. They really are giants! On the pediatric growth charts, Emmy is in the 100th percentile for her age height at 39 inches tall. Davin is not even on the chart for 15 month olds. He is 31 inches tall which is the 100th percentile for 18 month olds!!! Crazy tall kids. I wonder where they would get that gene from? ; )

Just thought I would update you on our kids.
-KC

About the church

Guess what...I haven't written about the church in a while.

Since moving into the cinema May 4, we have jumped up in attendance about 50% to around 450 total on Sundays. Things are going great. We have been going through an intense series that we wrap up tomorrow. Two weeks ago we did a membership class and had about 45 people join. Last Sunday, we baptized 16 people in the Carribbean. We are adding helpers, both volunteer and staff, hoping to work ourselves out of a job here in Cancun.

Community of Faith - Houston is set to start spanish services in September, which will change the dynamics of the services here a little as well. We are beginning to investigate other possibilities for the near future that I hope to be able to share more about with you soon.

Thank you for your continued prayers
-NW

Emmy's birthday

Emmy had a princess themed party for her big number 3! There were maybe 20 kids that came. We had an area set up for the girls with 10-15 princess dresses they could wear, jewelry, crowns, etc. My friend volunteered to paint faces for all of the kids. She actually turned out to be really really good! We also had the pool available and every kid ended up swimming before the party was over.

In Mexico, any social activity is an "event!" There is no consideration for the age of the birthday kid. Every party is a minimum of 4 hours. Emmy's party ended up lasting about 4 1/2 hours. We had a piñata and enough candy for all the neighbors!

After everyone went home, Nathan and I joined the kids in the pool for a quick cool off. The day was very successful and I think all the kids had fun. Even the boys were entertained at the princess party. We were worn out though! All I have to say is I am glad there is only one birthday a year per kid.

Mom and dad, now I know why you did not throw us parties every year! Sorry we misunderstood. I ge t it now. :)

What a day!

Well, today was a very trying day for me! I found out how unintelligent I really am!!! Don’t you hate days like those. Last night I was in the process of transferring files from my computer to an external hard drive to free up space on my computer. It is a long story how it happened but I managed to erase EVERY powerpoint and pdf file. EVERY ONE!!! Every song slide I have made over the last 4 1/2 years at the church are gone. Everything!
I was in tears today several times trying to find them and then mourning when I realized they were really gone. I was sitting in the floor with my computer crying when Emmy walked in. After she asked what was wrong and I explained it to her, she said, "Mommy, Emmy get you a kleenex, ok? I'll be right back!" And she did...she brought me a wadded up roll of toilet paper! It was so sweet and brought the smile back to my face. :)

Towards the end of the day I took my kids outside and got a little more familiar with my new camera. While we were outside, Davin ate mud, which (you can tell from the pictures) he did not enjoy. Emmy tried to stay the focus of my lense the entire time. She did not appreciate me passing her up to get some pics of Davin.

The day ended well for having such a traumatic middle. Thankfully, God gave us sweet kids who make us laugh and forget our problems for a little while!

From my personal reading today...

Isaiah 43:16-19

I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters,
making a dry path through the sea.
I called forth the mighty army of Egypt
with all its chariots and horses.
I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned,
their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.

“But forget all that—
it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

New Venue

Please still be praying for the contract with this Cinema. We announced it to the church today with good reception and we are targeting May 4 to start there. The lady in charge of renting all of their theater rooms is in Monterrey, and we are planning to talk with her directly this week. That will be a positive thing to have that relationship for the future. Anyway, the story is that she has to sign off on it because it is an ongoing rental (more than one time) and she has been super busy in her job because of upcoming dia de los niños.

Just an update and a visual aid of what we are trying to get. The kids place is called "Smiling Games" with the red sign next to the Cinema. Our arrangement with them is already set up and ready to go.

Praying for Easter weekend

Please join me in praying for the church in Cancun this weekend as we are expecting a number of guests in our services.

Not much time to write...I am finishing my message, prepping for the spanish service tonight, and trying to pack for our trip to Houston tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

-nw

Pastoring

Today was a day of investing one-on-one into people: some by sharing dreams, some by praying, some by guidance, and some by correction.

The weird thing is...I feel like a pastor today...not in a positional/prideful way, but as defined as a shepherd/leader. (Other pastors may identify with me on this--you don't always feel that every day) It's still a feeling I am not quite used to...and I will probably never call myself "Pastor Nathan." I am seriously humbled to be used by God in any form, and I have no idea how this was his plan for me all along...it surely wasn't mine. :)

In my short ministry experience, I have worked only in an assistant pastor role...even initially here with Marco. The day after he left, the feeling inside me that was a passion for ministry totally ramped up to another level. It has always been a passion more than a job, but that day I was overwhelmed by this feeling of ownership and responsibility for this church (read: people) here that has been entrusted to me by God. I will give a report to God for this group and our Kingdom impact. Even writing these words again here scares the hooha out of me...and makes me somewhat emotional...and makes me again want to go fall on my face before God as I am hopelessly dependent on Him.

For me right now, this is how it feels to be a pastor.

-nw

Next Houston trip

For all our Houston family and friends: we will be in Houston the week of March 23-28 and we would love to get to see you all.

We realized after our Christmas trip that we may not have planned ahead well enough and time flew by too quickly to get to see everyone we would have liked to spend time with. We are planning to have a hang out / party / love to see you / Davin's 1st birthday celebration on Monday night March 24. You are probably invited. More details on time and place to come.

Hope to see you there.

-nw

Date nights

We have started a monday night tradition that we have been faithful to for probably six or eight weeks now. After a family day with the kids (mondays are usually our day of rest), Kaycee and I leave them with Wendy (our helper) and go out for some quality time as a couple. It's usually something simple such as our favorite café nearby that offers board games and sometimes live music. Tonight we went to starbucks and watched a movie on my laptop that we had rented from itunes (a pretty cool new feature).

As Community of Faith, we are halfway through a series called One Month to Live based on a newly released book. The premise is basically this: how would you live your life differently if you knew you only had one month left to live. Looking at Jesus' life (he knew the number of his days) as well as the lives of other people who knew they were in their last days, this week we talked about "Loving Completely."

Preparing for and giving these messages has been a challenge to me and I want to pass that on to you: purposefully love on your spouse. Our simple tradition has re-ignited a spark that can get lost in the day-to-day...especially if you work together, and have little kids ;)

I try not to wax eloquent in this posts...I'm not that kind of a blogger. But I thought this would be worth mentioning. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.

-nw

Long night and exciting day

Thank you all for praying.

I knew the enemy was up to something. In the middle of the night while struggling with Davin, (he has been a little sick this week and slept very little last night) I started having doubts about what we were doing, if it was working, should we really start Saturday night services next week, etc. (Probably mainly from a lack of sleep.) Also, Marco’s video message this week was full of moments when the camera would go out of focus and it was weird and distracting. Anyway, I turned it into a very early morning prayer time and just gave everything over to God.

Today, the english service was about normal, but in the spanish services, we had more people than we have had since we came in November. We ended up with right at 300 adults between the three services including near max or over max capacity for the spanish services. (168 adults in the last service). So God confirmed in my heart our immediate need for Saturday night and even more so the need to begin looking for another possible larger venue.

Please keep praying as we try to keep up with what God is doing here.

-NW

the new "normal"

I am failing in my pledge to blog more in 2008.

As I was thinking about why, I realized that early on things were so different and strange that every day created exciting stories to share. Lately, however, we have felt very much at home here. Over time, you adapt to a new environment and create new routines and a new "normal" for your family. I believe that has been God blessing us and helping us feel at home here where he has placed us for the time being.

So, in short, here are a few updates as part of our new "normal".
1) we have now had three weeks of video messages with Marco and my fourth week of preaching in the english services. Both have been well received, we have continued to add people each week. This weekend, we had around 280 adults between the three services...including 40 in the english service.
2) As a language update, I have now completed the rosetta stone program and can follow a conversation pretty well. I am also trying to force myself into situations of having to speak the language more...that is usually the last piece that comes. Kaycee is sometimes a little too busy for formal lessons with two little kids right now, but she is learning and practicing with our helper Wendy who now lives with us. Emmy just yesterday spit out her first few un-prompted spanish words that I have heard. She spouted "hola" to Wendy as she saw her in the morning, and was telling me "Ven daddy" to get me to come follow her. The latter of which was not taught by us. Amazing how sharp the 2-year-old mind is.
3) Our message series are now in sync with Community of Faith - Houston and so we are set to begin a series called "One Month to Live" on Feb 16/17 here in Cancun. We are working on marketing the church through this series and hope to bring in new people who are un-churched and do not know Christ. Also, we are planning on new service time schedule starting that weekend to hopefully spread out the crowds a little better between the services and to accommodate growth. We will have a Saturday night spanish service at 7:30, Sunday morning at 9:30 (english), 11:00 (spanish), and 12:30 (spanish). The good thing about our Spanish preacher is he doesn't get tired no matter how many services we do. Please pray that God will bring people to hear His word and experience Him.
4) We are excited to be hosting my mom for a long weekend coming up. "Grammy" is coming to see the grandbabies primarily (without a doubt), but is also bringing a gift for Emmy and the family...a 6-week-old, white, bishon-mix, puppy. We are planning to call him Morpheus since he fits the image so well.

Well, we hope to hear more from you guys as well...we covet your continued prayers.

-NW

First weekend with Marco on video

This Sunday was very well received. Marco's message via video was excellent, but more importantly, God met us there yesterday. At Marco's request, I took some pictures of the new-look worship room.

setup complete

after a crazy-long day, we now have the room ready to go for this weekend's video messages. I spent all day Wednesday with a crew of guys hanging a 7.5' x 10' screen and a projector, then running appropriate cables to the projector to get the room ready. I plan to take some pictures of the action this sunday and post them here. Overall, everything went pretty smooth and it looks really good in there. The quality is very good, so hopefully there are no distractions for people to hear God's message through Marco this week.

This is a big answer to prayer that the school where we meet is letting us hang these as fixtures in that room, because there would be no good way to do that portable every week. I left the school at about 6:30 last night very pumped up after getting to test the look of it.

I can't wait to see what God has for this weekend.

NW

First weekend preaching

Ok, there is no looking back now. Marco and Carina left with their family on Thursday and are now busy getting settled in Houston. This was our first weekend without them here as well as my first weekend preaching. Overall, it went pretty well. (I have yet to hear the audio from my English message to critique myself, but I did get positive response...even from Kaycee). Marco's presence will be missed, but we have been purposing to keep the energy positive in talking about the changes. I think people are still in a wait-and-see mode for the video messages. So pray for us this week as we finish setting that up and begin video messages next weekend.

As a tribute to Marco's leadership over the past five years, there has already been people stepping up and filling in various gaps. Our right hand people are now Luis Garcia and his wife Aleda. (their 3-year-old daughter Renata is Emmy's right hand as well). He has now started in his role as the "face" for the spanish church and she is now leading the children's ministry. They are an awesome young couple and already good friends (thanks more to their english than our spanish).

Tomorrow morning is our first leadership meeting without Marco as well, so I am going to go on to bed to be fresh for that. He may be joining by video eventually, but I don't think he has his internet service set up yet.

We will keep you posted.
-NW

Happy New Year back in Cancun

After a very enjoyable visit with families in Houston for the holidays, we are back in Cancun today...refreshed and ready to get back to work. It was great to see all of you that we were able to.

Along with trunks of Christmas gifts, we brought several things back with us for the church, including a upgraded projector and an acoustic/electric guitar for worship. We are excited about these new tools to help people experience Christ.

We need your prayers because now is when we hit the ground running. Marco and Carina and their family (our strong support system here) are leaving tomorrow for their move to Houston and the final stage of operation "pastor swap". We will miss their friendship and leadership dearly. Pray as we go through another level of adjustment period with culture life and church life.

Part of my new year's resolution is to blog more...so be checking in. That's all for now.

-NW