-The Invisible Realities-

Making cow intestine soup today for the crusade staff *

Mexico: wooohoooo I'm lovin' it! I keep looking around and breathing "Jesus, I'm here! ...Thank You so much." Cultures are amazing because the diversity of each nation displays God's creativity in such beautiful ways. Even a nation as close to America as this is, the cultural differences are huge. Becuase I'm in rural Mexico rather than in a more modern city, I can hardly believe how "quaint" everything is and I keep making a gringo of myself, snapping pictures of cactus fields and squealing over things that make Asheligh roll her eyes. I can't help it... I'm in Mexico and that is very, very cool. (Being a tourist is not cool. But, oh well: you're only here for the first time once.)

This was my first view of Refuge Ranch. It is up on a mountain, and across from it is the majestic smoking volcano, PoPo.

The markets are wonderful and I think I could wander around them all day without growing tired of it. Today I tasted some mole` from a street vendor. It is some sort of a dark chocolate paste saturated in chile powder. My mouth ignited and I'm almost positive that smoke began to pour from my ears. The vendors laughed and offered me some more while I emphatically stated in my pitiful Spanish, "Me no gusta picante`!!!" ("I don't like spicy!")

Here we are: Ashleigh and Dani in Mexico. Fer real!

Refuge Ranch is home to Julie and Victor Zaragoza (below) and their 12 children. 3 are biological, and the rest are adopted. Victor is a former Mexican gang member and Julie is a pastor's daughter from Indiana. God brought them together to create this amazing home for their children and to bring the gospel to many different parts of Mexico through their medical crusades.

I love meeting the children that Ashleigh has told me so much about. They are beautiful, as you can see. Some of the cutest kids I've ever met, in fact. :) Not speaking the language, I do a lot of watching... and I'm captivated by their dark eyes and adorable little voices prattling in Spanish. God has brought each of them to the Ranch from different circumstances; many of them absolutely horrific. I'll introduce you to a few of them:

Josiah and I

Fidel

Angie holding Anna and Daniel

Ruth (the little blondie who can't speak English, lol!) and Joce`

Martita

On Tuesday we are leaving for 5 days with the crusade team. We'll be conducting a crusade in a rural are; I'm not sure what the name of the town is. Thanks for prayers! I've been wondering... how can I showcase Jesus to people whose language I cannot speak? Three ways have come to mind: servanthood, smiling, and learning to say "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you" in their language. Maybe as the week rolls on, He'll show me more ways.

*(I'm kidding. It was cheesecake. But supposedly they do eat cow intestine soup.)