Trip to Chihuahua 2016

Since leaving Chihuahua 5 years ago, we have tried to keep up the connections with the people there, especially with the church leaders and those we worked with while we lived in Delicias. Our last visit there was 2 years ago, and this last week we made the 15 hour trip back up that way.

Prepare yourself for a long post with lots of pictures :) 

We took with us our Intern, Jesse, who needed to cross the border in order to renew his visa and then was going to attend the Conference youth camp. So that meant we were in El Paso, TX, where we took a couple of days as a family and did some shopping (school supplies are cheaper up there!).

Then we headed south into Chihauhau where we began visiting. We stayed in 3 different homes over the week, all people we knew well, and so we felt pretty at home. And I have to say that the boys did so well the whole trip long! We visited on average of two different people or homes per day and they loved it all. So that is a huge help when doing these kinds of trips, as it does become tiring towards the end.

Our first stop was in Chihuahua City, where we attended a church service, as it was Sunday. This is the church where the pastor couple of many years, Aldo & Rebeca, both passed away from medical complications a year from each other. A young couple, Victor & Claudia, that had been part of the church for many years (sister to Rebeca) stepped up and became the new pastor couple, and we were thankful to see that the church is doing well and is growing! It was a blessed morning there together with them.

Victor also became the new President of the CEMM Conference (the Conference of 14 churches in Chihuahua) 3 months ago, and asks for prayers in this new role. The Conference has several strong leaders that overall are working well together and so the support network is in place. 

After a lunch together, we drove another hour to arrive in Cuauhtémoc, where we joined John & Lorna Wall for supper. They were missionaries with the EMC for many years, working with the Low German people in Chihuahua, and are now pastoring a church in that area. We always love to see them! We also met up with them one more time later in the week. A bonus for the boys was that they had their 2 grandsons over, who are the boys age.

We then headed just up the road to spend the night with Jason & Jessica, our friends from Chicago who just moved to Cuauhtémoc 2 weeks ago. They had been studying Spanish here in Guadalajara and now are going to begin their ministry with their team in Chihuahua, so we got to crash at their place!

The next morning we met with Walter and Susy, pastor couple in Cuauhtémoc. We always love to visit with Walter and were able to meet his new wife. His spirit and attitude are contagious. You may recall hearing about his wife Chepina, who was killed almost three years ago.

(picture borrowed from Walter)

From there we continued our drive, one hour more, to get to Santo Tomás camp, where Jesse was to spend 6 days. We got him settled and then headed another hour to arrive at Soto Maynez, with Juan Carlos & Claudia, missionary couple with the Conference. 

This was one of the highlights for the boys as they have kids their age and they took us to a farm ;) Our city boys need to get out into the country!!

While we were there we also went to see the church that they are in the process of building. Juan Carlos & Claudia will actually be moving up to Juarez in a couple of weeks to begin a new church plant there.

We also spent an evening with some of the church group, at the home of Oscar & Lupe, who will be leading the Soto Maynez church. 

 After two days in that area, we headed 4 hours east to Delicias! This is where we lived for two years, helping in the church 20 minutes out of the city and teaching the Bible within the city with new groups. We stayed with Antonio & Lety, pastor couple of the church.

The weather here was hot!! I mean, it was hot everywhere, but Chihuahua City and Delicias were about 40 degrees....I guess your body does adapt when you live in it all of the time. 

So we spent some time with them as a family...

And also attended their mid-week church service to meet up with those we knew from the church, and then met up in the city with Mario & Lorena and Benita, some that we studied the Bible with in Delicias.

We also met up with Orlando & Laura and their girls. They are a pastor couple from an Independent church in Delicias, and they became good friends and a good support to us during our time there! 

Orlando also helped Dallas manage the world of government and lawyers :) While in Chihuahua we needed to make a correction to Brady's birth certificate, which we had to do through a lawyer. Orlando knows a trustworthy one and he is now working on the paperwork for us! We are so thankful. We didn't know if we would be able to do this, as it's a process that takes months and has to be done in Chihuahua.

(picture borrowed from Orlando)

After a couple of days in that area, we headed an hour back to Chihauhua City, where we stopped to visit Pepe & Juanis and their son Giovanni. They are the pastor couple at one of the churches there, and Pepe recently underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. They are so thankful for the way he is healing and that no memory was lost! He is re-learning how to walk and talk but his spirit is positive and it was an encouragement to visit with them. They were a couple that took an interest in us when we lived there and had us over several times, as they were one of the closer churches to Delicias.

Back to Cuauhtémoc, where the boys and I stayed with Jason & Jessica while Dallas continued into the mountains to the camp to pick up Jesse!

Jesse got to know the youth from the different churches and became "one of them" for that week. Some of the food, culture, and Spanish is different in Chihuahua than in Guadalajara so it was a learning experience.

The next day we got up bright and early to begin the 15 hour drive home! We all love road tripping so we had a good time.....but I was ready to be at home again! Stepping into your home after a time away is always refreshing. 

 Continue to pray for the Conference in Chihuahua as they work together as a group and as they seek to build the churches and start new churches. We were encouraged to see what God has been doing there in the north and we hope that we were able to encourage those we visited as well.