Summer Trip 2014: Part 2 ~ Chihuahua

{See Part 1 here}

After my parents left, we ended up staying at the border another 6 days. The plan had been to go visit in Delicias, Chihuahua that week, and then attend a church conference (IAMUM) on the weekend. We were told we may have problems entering back into the States if we left with our van to Chihuahua while still waiting for our paperwork, so since it was cheaper to stay in a hotel than rent a car, we stayed those 6 days.

Anyways, once it was time for the Conference we decided to rent a car and we were on our way to Chihuahua!! It was a quick 5 hour drive down into Mexico and we arrived at the Conference.

The IAMUM Conference is held every other year. It is made up of 6 (I believe) different church Conferences that work together, and one of these church Conferences is the CEMM, which is who we and EMC partner with in Chihuahua State. IAMUM stands for (in English) The United Anabaptist Mennonite Church of Mexico.

The weekend consisted of sessions and workshops and times of interacting over meals. My highlights were the times of getting to know the other people, and catching up with all of the pastors that we used to work with in Chihuahua! Dallas and I also connected with a couple that works with MCC, who are from Ontario and Dallas happened to have attended Bible college with her so that was a neat connection.

There were only two other families that brought their kids to the Conference, but fortunately our boys really connected with them. They had such a blast.
And I had to let go of Carter especially. I am so used to have to keep an eye on all 3 of my kids, and fully expected to sit out of the sessions and workshops, needing to be with the boys out at the playground or things like that. Well Carter asked all weekend to go hang out with his new friends (who were ages 9 and 11) and so I didn't see a lot of him! It felt strange but yet it made me smile to see the way he is growing up, gaining independence, and handling it well. The Conference was held at a Bible college campus, a small one, so the boys were able to be free to run and play without getting lost.

Once that weekend was over we headed over to our Juan Carlos and Claudia's house for the night, who have two boys. We had planned to spend more time with them but got some quick visiting in the afternoon and evening before leaving the next morning. We also attended church with them (they are providing pastoral care to 4 small churches out in the country and Juan Carlos is also the President of the CEMM Conference) and at church were able to connect with others that we knew from living there earlier.

5 little boys will make swords out of anything :)

The next morning we drove the 3 hours to Delicias! We lived there for 2 years and to me, that is the place we formed our little family. Carter was already 2 when we got there, and Logan was 6 months old, and then later Brady was born while we lived there. So it's the place where our boys learned to crawl, walk, talk, etc.

We drove through the city and went to see where we used to live and where Carter used to go to school there. Everything felt very familiar but it also didn't feel like "home".

Until we were at Antonio and Lety's. They are the pastoral couple that worked in a town 20 minutes from Delicias and we were at their house every single Sunday for supper and the evening. Their house felt like home to me! Because of our van problems we weren't able to be there nearly as long as we had hoped to be so it felt very short but Lety and I were able to have some good talks in that short time.

The day we got there, their son was turning 14 so they had invited several of their friends and church people over, who we all knew as well from our time there.

We are so thankful for their hospitality to us! We stayed with them for a couple of nights and a few days.

Lorena and I

One day we also went and visited Lorena and her family, who we had Bible studies with for a year or so in Delicias, and spent a night with them also.

Dallas also went and visited Peke, who he studied the Bible with.

Both of these families are not doing as well Spiritually right now and that was tough to see. We can only pray that we gave them a little encouragement. Dallas also gave Peke's contact info to another Pastor friend so we hope that they an make a connection.

This picture is blurry but for me it was special to see Benita again, Lorena's mom (on the left in the picture), and also her sister Vero. Her mom is doing well and is a good testimony in the family.

We went to the dam near Delicias one day, with Lorena and her kids. Below is Brady with Renata, who was born just a few weeks before he was while we were living there.

And finally, these two families, were such blessings to us! They are pastors in an independent church in Delicias and we happened to meet them while we lived there and became friends. It was good for us at the time to have friends that were also in ministry but not part of our own ministry (to share with, etc.) and they also helped us out in sooo many ways!

We hope it will not be 3 years again before we are back to visit in Chihuahua!