Hello,

John and I have some news. After praying and talking with our pastors and family, John and I feel like it is time for us to move back to California. We feel that God has clearly show us that this is his will for us. I am surprised, but it is reassuring to know that we are following his leading. 

We are super grateful for the time that we have had serving with La Fuente. It is an great ministry, and we are excited to see what God has in store. The pastors  are all amazing people. We have learned a lot from them. La Fuente really embraced us when we came a year and a half ago and stretched us in different ways. John and I have grown so much through our experiences here. 

We are excited to see our families, but leaving is bittersweet. There are so many wonderful people here who have impacted our lives. It will be really hard to leave our friends. We love living here, but we know that it is time to move on. 

John and I are going to spend the next couple weeks shutting down our lives. We will start the long drive home at the end of the month. 

I want to say that we are deeply grateful to all of you who supported us with your prayers and donations. We feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to serve in Mexico.Your generosity has overwhelmed us again and again. Thank you. 

Peace be with you,

Moorea

(sorry for the delay. I thought I had posted this earlier)

Merry Christmas

Christmas is always a little strange this far south. We are still in tank tops and shorts especially in the afternoons which are still very warm, though not a wasrm as they were, thank goodness. 

We are in the midst of the Christmas rush here too. We had our Christmas service on Sunday night. The service was bilingual for our English and Spanish congregations. We had children and adult choirs, a living nativity, and a dance. I had the opportunity to choreograph a hip hop dance for the youth to perform. It was a bit of work and took lots of practice, but it was super fun and turned out better than I had hoped. I think the kids liked it, which was the goal. We had a huge turn out for the service - nearly 400 people packed into our auditorium. At the end of the service, people had an opportunity to write a message on a heart-shaped piece of paper and put it in the manger as a symbolic act. It was a beautiful service. We have already started planning the Christmas service for next year.

Christmas Service

Decorating the church

Last week, we built a makeshift stable and borrowed animals from local people to fill the living nativity. At one point, I called John Mark and asked him I was interrupting anything. His response was: “Well, I’m just picking up some sheep so...no.” We invited the local elementary schools to bring their classes to our living nativity, and while they were there, we told them the story of Jesus’ birth. It was an amazing opportunity to reach the local kids and their moms. One little girl, about 10 years old, was from a Jehovah’s Witness family (there are many Jehovah’s Witnesses here). When the presenter said that Jesus was God, she was like “really?!” She was enthralled with the story. The next afternoon, she brought some of her friends back to the church. Pastora Maya thought they just wanted to pet the animals, but she said, “I brought my friends so that they could hear the story about Jesus. Could you tell it again?”

Teaching kindergardeners the Christmas story

Living Nativity

Last night, we had a posada, or Christmas party, at the mission in San Ignacio. We had almost 70 kids with piñatas, candy, and a traditional Mexican Christmas punch. It was crazy with so many kids, but it was an overall success. Since coming back from Guadalajara, I have been able to teach kids classes on my own, without a translator. That was my goal, so I am pretty happy about it. I still can’t do it off the cuff, so I write out the lesson in Spanish and have one of my friends read through it with me and correct the mistakes. It helps me learn the vocabulary that I need and experiment with the grammar. The little ones (4-7 years old) almost always understand me, which is fantastic. One time, I was assisting a class taught by one of the teenagers for the older kids. They were having trouble listening that day, so I finally intervened, shouting “silenciense” which means absolutely nothing in Spanish but sounds kind of like a mangled version of “quiet yourself”. The room went dead quiet and one kids timidly offered the correction “silencio?” It was hysterically funny, but we were able to hold it in till class was over. 

While living in Mexico has many advantages, there are several surprising things we have had to live without. My friend and I decided last week that we wanted to make gingerbread for gingerbread houses. I then learned that it is impossible to find molasses down here. I scoured the internet and discovered that one can apparently make gingerbread without molasses, so we will attempt it this weekend. It is funny how many of those unobtainable things I am still discovering after a year and a half. 

This Christmas is already much more festive than last year. John Mark and I bought a little table top cypress tree and covered it in red lights and funky ornaments. I am grateful for the few decorations we have acquired in the past year. They really do make a difference. We also have family in town! John’s parents flew in on Sunday and were able to make it to the Christmas service and the Posada in San Ignacio. John and Ted are doing a project at the church installing closets and cabinets in the computer/sewing room (which is also my squatter office). Mary is going to be cooking with some Canadian volunteers who are providing a Christmas dinner for the prison inmates we minister to once a week, and a nearby elderly home. Next week we have a few fun things planned during our Christmas break.  It is really good to have people from home with us. We appreciate how upbeat they have been considering that this lifestyle is a lot more uncomfortable than the one they are used to (with fuzzy critters and no hot water). 

Pastora Maya asked me yesterday if I would sing a special song for the ladies meeting on Friday. Her daughter is the singer, and would normally do it, but the song is fairly difficult and out of her range. I said yes with trepidation. It is barely in my range, so we will see how it goes. I am pretty nervous about it. 

We are continually grateful and amazed at all of our blessings. All of you who keep up with us, pray for us, and support us financially are a big part of that. Thank you for waht you do. Words are not enough to say how much it means to us. 

Merry Christmas

Moorea

Hello,

We have been doing great. 

A couple weeks ago, we had a dedication weekend extravaganze. A local non-profit sent a shipping container with a playground inside and two guys to help set it up. There was a debacle with the paperwork, so we were not allowed to open the container for a few days. The land was given to La Fuente by the government, so there was a lot of red tape. We had a huge kids event planned for that Saturday, and we still hadn’t gotten permission on Wednesday. The paperwork came through literally in the last moments. John Mark and the volunteers were able to get it up in two days. On Friday, We had a character program in a school a few blocks from the playground. We are not alowed to teach about Jesus, but we did a program for 700 kids, using crafts, sports, video, and dance to teach character. One of the crafts was an invitation to our event the following morning were we could talk about the Bible. We also had a free medical clinic. We had vison, dental, general health, and chiropractic volunteers from the local community. It was a very sucessful day. 

Craft time

Picking out new glasses

Sports and games

Dancing

On Saturday, our kids program went great. About 700 kids showed up for the event. The mayor’s wife also came to show her support. We had music, crafts, balloons, family photos, food, games, and John Mark had his own station for the slackline. We had had a lot of opposition from the community the weeks before, including a disparaging article in the local tabloid. John Mark’s picture was in the newspaper. Several times things nearly became violent. The police arrested two people to keep the peace. Once the playground was up, things clamed down quite a bit.

Setting up the Playground

Grand Opening

Passing out food to the kids

Mark's Circus - John's slacklining station

AJ teaching the kids to slackline

Giving out wheelchair to local kids

Sunday morning, we had a special service to dedicate the new sanctuary and thank the people who had made it possible. It was a great celebration that included a ribbon cutting. We had a second one in the afternoon for the Spanish congregation. 

New Sanctuary

Ribbon cutting ceremony

John and I went hiking with some friends in the south part of the bay in a place called Boca de Tometlan. We hiked through the town, out of the inlet, through the jungle to the beach. We ended at a beach that has no roads to it. The only way to get there is to hike 2.5 miles or take a water taxi. It was a beautiful hike. We found orchids, a light house, and spiders the length of my index finger.  Some of the boys we were with were not thrilled about those spiders. A dog also adopted us and walked most of the way there with us. We packed a picnic lunch and played king of the rock in the ocean. It was a great day.

Sketchy bridge

My friend, Kenia, and I

Huge spider

John has been doing a lot of construction to prepare for the inaguation weekend. I have been continuing to work with incoming teams, teaching kids classes, and do random things that need to be done. Right now, I am choreographing a hip hop dance for the youth for the christmas program. I am pretty excited about it. We had our first practice today. It was a lot of fun.

Recently, I have been helping a couple girls with their English homework. It is very different trying to teach English grammar to someone who is not a native English speaker. Both of them speak a bit of English, but they are so shy, that I only realized that recently. 

On Thanksgiving, John and I hadn’t planned anything since it is just the two of us and I couldn’t fit a turkey in my toster oven. Nearly all of our friends are Canadian, so we celebrated Thanksgiving in October. On the day of American Thanksgiving, I was feeling kind of lonely and far away from family. I wanted turkey, and gravy, and cranberry sauce. Thanksgiving afternoon, our closest friends (a Canadian family) invited us out to celebrate, knowing that we were going to be alone. It made our Thanksgiving so much better having people to share it with. I am so grateful for them. Later that night we had a bonefire on the beach which was awesome. 

There was recently some changes in leadership at the missions. John and I were thinking that we were going to be moved to another mission. I was secretly hoping that we would stay. Our mission is the smallest, but I love it. I didn’t want to leave the kids that we have been working with for the last year and a half. We found out last week that we are going to stay where we are, and I am thrilled. 

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We are doing well.

Blessings and Peace,

Moorea

Hello,

What We’ve Been Doing

This week, John Mark has been working on preparing the new sanctuary and grounds for our big dedication weekend that is coming up in two weeks. He lead a team that designed and build 25 sound deadening panels to hang in the sanctuary. Buildings are made of concrete block here and echo like crazy. Even with lots of help, it took him and several others a week to make and hang the panels. He has also been moving construction debris out of the parking area, and fixing lots of little things around the church. He took a team out to the new property that the government is giving us to clear the weeds and debris. He will be helping instal a playground there next month. After being in school for several months, John is thrilled to be back working with his hands.

Cleaning the land in Santa Fe - our newest location

New sanctuary with sound panels - view from the stage

I have been helping out with communications. I have been translating things for pastors who need to send emails in English. All of the pastors speak English, but do not write it confidently. I have also been communication with teams from the States and Canada. I have been taking inventory of the craft and medical supplies for our two kids events and free clinic next month. And of course, doing other random tasks that need to be done. I am still teaching history to Pastor Keith’s 15-year-old son, AJ, twice a week. which is fun for me (less so for him).

Young Adults Bible Study

While we were in Guadalajara, our friend started a young adults bible study at La Fuente. I have been going since we have been back, and I love it. It is all in Spanish, which is definitely a challenge, but I am able to follow along and contribute a little as my Spanish allows. I enjoy immensely getting to know the young adults on a deeper level. Most of them I have known for over a year, but since we are always busy serving, and I have limited Spanish, I feel like I am really getting to know some of them for the first time. I look forward to it every week.

Kids from Young Adult Bible Study

Teaching in Spanish

I taught my first class in Spanish on Tuesday. For the past year, I have been teaching through a translator. It took the kids a month or so for the kids to get used to the translator (which slows down the class), but they have been doing well with it. (It has actually work great because when visiting teams come and teach through a translator, the kids in San Ignacio listen a lot better than the kids at other missions who are not used to the language barrier). On Tuesday, I wrote out my lesson in Spanish and went over it with one of my Mexican friends to correct my mistakes. When I gave the class, the kids understood everything I said, could follow the story, and listened. It was great. I am excited that my Spanish has progressed and I will keep learning as I try more and more to branch out on my own to teach. 

 Praying for kids in San Ignacio

Playing soccer in San Ignacio

Puppy

Last week, I came home in the afternoon to find a puppy on my doorstep. He had slipped under the gate. I think that he was hiding from the other street dogs. I thought he would just go away, but he didn’t so we have adopted him. He was very pathetic looking and small, about half the size he should be. We pulled about 80 ticks off of him, and washed him up. After a couple days of food, he perked up a lot and started acting like a puppy. We named him Antioch. He still has a few health issues, like severe anemia, but he is acting surprisingly healthy, which is great.

Baby Antioch

Thank you all for keeping up with us. 

Peace be with you,

Moorea

Hello,

John Mark and I are done with language school and have returned to Buerías where we have been working for the last year. We are very excited to be back. We were planning on living in a small apartment at the church for a couple of months, but by a miracle the lady who was subleting our old apartment moved out the day we arrived. We were able to move back in the next day. It is wonderful to be in our old place. We have been renting a small room for the last few months, and it is great to have our own space again. Even with boxes everywhere, it feels like home. 

We went to the mission in San Ignacio on Saturday. It was so fun to be back with the kids. I had a little girl clinging to each leg. It was adorable. 

We were able to do some fun things around Guadalajara before we left. The coolest thing we did was outside the city. We took a daytrip with some friends to a city called Guanajuato which is almost the very center of Mexico. The fort in the city was founded by the Spanish nearly 500 years ago, and it was an native city before that. Since the roads were not built for cars, they are mostly too small, and many of the roads go underground in stone caves that used to be underwater drainage a couple hundred years ago. It is the most beautiful city we have seen here. There are more photos on my Facebook, if you are interested. 

With Friends 

A famous street in Guanajuato 

The whole city was just beautiful 

Over looking the city

We also had our third anniversery in September. We had lamb tacos, bought some flowers and got creme brulee to celebrate. It was a great day. So much has happened since we’ve been married, it had to believe that it has been such a short time. 

A team is here from Saskatchewan, Canada. John Mark is leading one of their projects to build sound deadening pannels for the new sanctuary. The building is built of concrete block, which is very bad for playing music. It echos terribly. Hopefully these pannels will make the worship sound a lot better. 

We are praparing for the official building dedication next month. Constructions is nearly over! The week of the building dedication, we are also planning on installing a playground in a neighboring town where we are founding a new mission. There will be a dedication for the playground and a celebration festival with games, food, and prizes. There will be huge event in a local school and a free medical clinic as well. And a team is coming from Southern California. It is going to be a very full week. 

Finishing up the main sanctuary

Than you very much to whose of you who gave money so that John and I can continue the work that we are doing. Mundane things, like paying rent and replacing a worn tire are much easier when there is something in the account. We are very grateful for the way that God has provided for us through you. 

God bless,

Moorea

Language School

I hope you all had a great summer. We have been in language school in Guadalajara for two month now. We are learning a lot, and studying like crazy. 

In those two months we have learned something like six new verb tenses and 1200 new vocabulary words. It has been really intense. We are working on midterms this week, and expect to finish the level at the end of the month. Though rigorous study has taken its toll, we are excited about the things that we have learned and are looking forward to using them in ministry when we return to Bucerías.

In class

Centro Guadalajara

Guadalajara

It has been interesting exploring the city during the weekends. We went to the Regional Museum in centro (downtown) Guadalajara. The building itself is 311 years old (the US is only 236 years old). We saw regional textiles, bead work, ancient statues, jewelry, and fossils, including a full wooly mammoth skeleton. Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico with 5 million people. There are lots of festivals and markets every week. We attended one street festival/open-air concert with 12,000 other young people. We usually buy our groceries from a street market called a tiangues where things are very cheap and fresh. Venders set up tables overflowing with produce, dry goods, clothes, kitchenware, meat, fish, pets, bootleg dvds, and toiletries. We hop between paving stones in the often-flooded streets to do our shopping. I will certainly miss that when we leave. 

Finances

The last few months, things have been tight for us financially. Even as we cut back every expense we could, we still had to dip into our school money to cover living costs. If our monthly support does not improve, we will have to return to the states in the next few months. If you feel let to donate, please see information at the bottom of this email. We are very grateful for the support that many of you have given us. We feel privileged to be able to do what we have been doing. Please pray with us that God will supply all we need according to his great riches in glory (Phil 4:19)

John's new hobby: slacklining

Return to Bucerías

Tentatively, our plan had been to finish one more level of language study before retuning to full-time mission work. Through several very recent circumstances, we feel like God is leading us to return early and continue language study in tandem with our work in Bucerías. We are planning to return the first week of October. We are very excited to go back to the work and the relationships that God has given us there. 

Peace be with you,

John Mark & Moorea Holmes

Please send donations to:

The Church of Glad Tidings

1630 Eager Rd

Yuba City, CA 95992

Make checks out to The Church of Glad Tidings, and include our names in the memo

Hello from Guadalajara,

We are here in school and have just finished the first of three sessions. We feel like we are learning a lot. The program is very fast. We have quizzes everyday. We are learning 100-150 vocabulary words every week. There is a two week break between sessions, for which we are grateful. We are almost finished with out take-home tests, and have been enjoying the slower pace. My brain was feeling worn out from learning so much. We start up again next Monday.

Handicapped/pregnant lady parking at the grocery store

John's new best friend, Moli

Guadalajara

Studying in the back yard

Backyard pets: rabbits, turkeys, and dogs

Centro, Guadalajara

San Juan de Dios Market: four floors!

Between studying and being worn out from studying, we haven’t explored the city as much as we would have liked, but we have been able to do a few things. We have gone to quite a few markets in different places in the city. San Juan de Dios is a huge market spanning several square blocks downtown. A person can buy food, herbs, leather products, men’s clothes, shoes, jewelry, pets, and more there. It was huge: four stories in some buildings. We also went to a ballet performance a couple weeks ago. It was really fun.

La Fuente Guadalajara

 A couple of weeks ago, La Fuente Guadalajara held their VBS. John and I had school off those days, so we were able to help out. The theme was The Jungle, and several of the teenagers from the church dressed up like jungle animals. It was fun, but made me miss the kids that I know back in Bucerías. I am looking forward to being back there where I have strong relationships with the kids.

Los Animales!

Helping at the VBS

Kids at the VBS

 Being in Guadalajara has been an adjustment. We have been starting over with new people and new relationships. We have met some great people, especially the family that we live with, our classmates, and our teachers. We are enjoying our time here, but we are looking forward to December when we will be done with school and back in Bucerías which is where our hearts are. Thank you very much for your prayers. I am so grateful for everyone who reads this blog, prays for us, and gives so that we can be here, doing what we feel like we are supposed to be doing. It is a great privilege.

 God Bless You,
Moorea