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

Hello!

Spanish School
John and I have officially been in Mexico for a year as of June 25th. We celebrated the day by starting language school en Guadalajara. We have classes in the mornings, Monday through Friday. The school is called Harvest Language School and is specifically for missionaries. There are about 12 people in the school in different levels. John and I are starting out in the first level. I feel like most of it is review for me, but I have been learning at least one new thing everyday, so it is the right place for me. I do speak a bit of Spanish, definitely enough to converse with people, but there are holes in what I know. So far, the school has done a good job of finding those holes and filling them. Most of the grammar thus far has been review for John Mark too, but he is learning a lot of vocabulary. He understands a lot of spoken Spanish, sometimes even more that I do, but he can't say hardly anything. We are excited about the things that we are about to learn.

Sarcastic 1st day of school picture on the staircase :)
Interns
The last big thing we did in Bucerias before we left was speak for the group of summer youth interns. The interns are made up of young people from the church who were invited to the program. Most of the teenagers/young adults were selected because the' re already leaders in youth group, at the missions, in the kids program, and other areas. They are the most dedicated and the most servant hearted. There are about 15 of them. The first half of the program consisted of weekly teaching sessions about leadership. In the second half, the kids will live at the church and serve full time, helping with VBS, camps, and the regular services throughout the summer. John and I were asked to teach one of the leadership training sessions with a translator. Our topic was Callings, Giftings, and Talents. I taught for an hour about how we are all called to usher in the Kingdom of God by following the example that Jesus left for us in the Gospels. John taught for an hour about recognizing your giftings and cultivating them. Afterwards, we took them all out for ice cream. It was a great time, and the kids seemed to get a lot out of it. It kind of made leaving harder: we love those kids a lot and miss them.

Speaking for the interns. My friend, Paola translated

John speaking

Listening

Our New Home
We left on Saturday after sorting through everything, storing some of it, and cleaning. We moved into a small room at the pastor of La Fuente Guadalajara's house. Pastor Pocho and Elli have been very welcoming. They are a funny couple; it is a blast spending time with them. We are grateful to have such a wonderful family to live with. The parents speak a bit of English since they lived in the States for 8 years, but their four kids (who were all born in the States) speak much less. The first afternoon we were here, I found myself sitting around a table with 12 other people, learning Spanish tongue twisters. I already knew how to say Parangaricutirimicuaro (thanks AJ!) which is a mountain. The name is so difficult that even some Mexicans can't say it. It is a fun party trick. Then, I was prompted to ask simple questions in English to see if they could understand and answer them in English. Things like: What color is the sky? and What is 7 x 2? It is much harder than you would think to come up with questions like that, but it is fun. The afternoon ended with several of them trying to speak English with a British accent. It was hysterical.

Pastor Pocho asked me and John to teach/practice English with their kids an hour or so a week. Since they are all American, he thinks they should be able to speak English. They range in age from 14 to 18. They have all had English in school, but they have not had a lot of practice. There is a big difference between taking a language class and speaking the language. They are all at different levels, so it should be interesting. I am looking forward to it because it will help us to develop relationships with them. I am pretty sure they think that I speak a lot less Spanish than I do and they are shy, so we have not talked much. We will start this week.

There is a wonderful backyard at the house with apple, pomegranate, mango, and lime trees. The mango and apple are both producing right now. Someone always seems to be sitting out there. It is cool and beautiful. There are two dogs (a poodle and a tea cup chihuahua) and two rabbit that live in the back yard. They are friendly, but not too friendly. The poodle will come and sit on my feet when I am out there. John and I may or may not get distracted from our homework by watching them every time we study outside.

Saturday & Sunday
Yesterday, we went to a market in the morning. It is only one block from our house. People set up stalls selling vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, clothes, bootleg CDs, kitchen supplies, cleaning products, and beauty products. It is very cheap so we bought veggies for this week. In the afternoon, we were invited to eat with our house family and their guests. We had chills rellenos (if you have never had this, stop reading right now and find some.), ceviche, and shrimp. They cook shrimp a little differently here. Everything is still intact. head, legs, eyes, long stringy tentacles. Everything is on your plate. I waited till someone else ate them to see how it is done. I was praying that I would not have to eat those bulbous black eyes and the papery shell. I didn't. I just had to peel it myself with my hands. It is very common in Mexico to eat with your hands. Traditionally, they just used tortillas to scoop up everything. Even nice dinners seem informal to me because of that.

Last night, we were invited to go to a market on Chapultepec street by our new friend, Angel (pronounced AN-hel) who also happen to be one of our teachers at school. He is our age and doing a mission program based in Texas, but he is from Mexico City. He is pretty awesome. The market was a mix of art, clothes and book venders, street dancers, traditional handicrafts, and music. It is an odd feeling watching a standing bass and bagpipe duet in Guadalajara. The city is very different from where we have been living in Bucerias. I love Bucerias, but it is fun being in an urban environment again. I told John Mark yesterday, "If we keep our mouths shut, everyone will think we are from here." Really, we don't stand out that much. We stayed at the market till the thunderstorms started. As we walked to our car amid the scurrying crowd, we watched vendors packing up quickly to save the merchandise.

Kids playing with bubbles

People watching

Sunday lunch is a big deal in this house. I hear that there is usually a lot of people here on Sunday afternoons. Today, we have been invited to eat with the family. They are making carne asada, and it smells wonderful. When we eat with them, we usually sit at the table for at least an hour after the meal, talking and joking. It is great fun. (ps you would not believe how tiny our kitchen is considering 9 people live here and more are constantly coming and going. It is the size of a walk in closet in the States.)

New Projects
John has already acquired a couple of new projects. He is going to speak for the youth group here next Saturday. He is a little nervous because he hasn't even met many of the youth, but he is excited. Pastor Pocho will translate. He is also going to be creating more web presence for La Fuente Guadalajara, starting with a website. Since he helped create the website for La Fuente Riviera, he has experience using the programs and templates. Once it is created, he will teach Pastor Pocho's kids how to maintain it. He might also be making a website for the newest La Fuente church in Tijuana which had its first service today. Last week, John helped Pastor Pocho build a wall out of drywall to create another bedroom upstairs.

Thanks for keeping up with us. We are doing really well. Please continue to pray that we will learn Spanish quickly. There is still a lot we don't know.

Dios te bendiga,
Moorea

Hello,
It has been a while since I have posted. A lot has been happening.

My sister was here for a few weeks. It was wonderful to have her here. John and I were eager to share all of our favorite places and people with someone from home. She met all of the pastors we work with, went to mission with us, played with kids at the orphanage, and hung out with the youth kids. She got to participate in all the things we do. Our lives don't intersect enough. It is good to have recent fun memories with her. I miss her now that she is back in California.

John and I also got to go home for a couple weeks. A close friend got married, and I was in the wedding. We also sold my car and bought a 4-runner a few months back. We needed to drive that back to Mexico too. It was great to spend time with family and close friends. Even though I love Mexico dearly, and missed it while we were away, you just can't replace that feeling of home. We celebrated a wedding, helped with my mom's surprise 50th birthday party, and were able to do things like bonfires with John's brother's family and a 14 mile bike ride with John's dad. John also got to do his favorite things that he can't do in Mexico, namely shooting and climbing a mountain. We were able to have a meeting with our friends and sponsors, showing pictures and telling stories about what has been going on in the last 9 months. Thank you to everyone who was able to come and watch our presentation. We are amazed and grateful for the people who love us, pray for us, and support us financially.


Bike riding with John's dad


Shooting


Me and our niece, Ellie


Hiking Brokoff Mountain


Everyone took a nap on the summit except one

We drove back last week, crossing at Nogales which is the safest and easiest way to get to the coast. We stopped a few places on the way, visiting a friend in LA, camping and doing a short hike in the Grand Canyon, and having a visit with my grandma in Arizona. It was the first time she had met John Mark and it was really good to see her. We had no problems at the border and minimal delays due to standard border paperwork and traffic. We made the trip from the border to Bucerias in 2 days, which is really great time. After 5 days total in the car, I was thrilled to pull into town.


This is what we saw for 5 days - desert


At the Grand Canyon


Hiking in the Grand Canyon





Last week, we got back in to the swing of things, going to mission and the regular church services. I had missed those things while we were away. We also started packing up our apartment. We also met up with two friends, Roanna Farley and Leslie Greenetz, who were vacationing here. We were able to drive them around and show them the area where we live and work. It was fun spending time with them.

We are scheduled to begin language school on June 25th in Guadalajara. We are cleaning and packing up our apartment this week, getting everything ready for the temporary move. We will go to language school for 4-6 months, and then return to Bucerias to continue working with the church here. Our church in Bucerias has a sister church in Guadalajara. We have met the pastors a few times. It is really nice having a church to plug into right away there. Almost no one speaks English, which will help us to learn Spanish. When we left the US, we still has no idea where we were going to live, but Pastor Keith may have found us a place with the pastor's family from the church. We haven't seen the room, but the situation sounds better than we had hoped for. Please pray that we get a great place to stay for the few months we will be there.

John and I have mixed feeling about leaving the work that we are doing in Bucerias. We are really attached to the kids that we work with at the mission and in the youth group. We are sad to be leaving them, but we know that we need the language to be more effective and to help carry the load of teaching and organizing events. We know that it is important to put our whole focus on the language to learn a lot in a short time. We took a diagnostic test as part of our application to language school. I have learned a lot in the past year and was able to complete several of the test questions. The language school director emailed me back and said that the class will cover everything I have learned the past year in only three weeks! It is going to be an intensive course and we will need to study a lot just to keep up. I am looking forward to the challenge. We leave for school next Friday or Saturday.

Excited for the things ahead,
Moorea

Prayer
Smooth adjustment to living in a new, very big city
that our living situation will be a good fit
that we will learn Spanish quickly
safety
For Mexico - the cartel activity is increasing.

Hello,

Things are starting to slow down a bit since high season is almost over. Our English speaking congregation is about half of what it was three weeks ago and it will shrink down even more in the next couple weeks. We are sad to see our snow bird friends leave, but they will be back in the fall.

My sister was able to come down to visit me and she will be here for a month! I am really excited to have her here. I had a few days off while the rest of the staff was at a conference in Tepic. Kaela and I spent some time catching up, hanging out on the beach, and eating tacos.

On our day off, we went to the hot springs at the river with our friends. We hiked around a bit in the river, slipping on rocks. There is small rope swing upstream from the hot spring pools. We played there for a little while, jumping, swimming, and chicken fighting. We had a pretty great day.

San Ignacio Mission

At the mission, we have been learning about Moses and the Israelite. The past two Tuesdays, we decided to show Prince of Egypt to the kids to help them understand the story and understand how everything fits together. We made pop corn and watched it. The kids really enjoyed the film. When God parted the Red Sea, most of the kids were enthralled. Their eyes were big and they mumbled “whoa!”  Also, one of the moms who had never come to the mission before stopped by that day. She is the mom of the family I blogged about a couple weeks ago. She seemed a little timid, but I greeted her and invited her in for some popcorn. Even though I don’t speak Spanish and we can’t communicate much, she seemed happy to see me. She sat with the other ladies for a few minutes and chatted. I am praying that God meets her and that her entire family comes to know Him. That Tuesday, I am praying, will be the first step for her.

John and I also had an opportunity to teach the adults at the mission this month. I spoke on who we are in Christ, our position as sons and daughters of God who can come boldly before the throne of grace and who can expect God to move on our behalf as he promises. We are both learning a lot about preparing sermons and teaching. We were talking last night about how much we have learned and grown since we have been here. We are grateful for the opportunities that we have here and for the things that God is doing in us and through us. John also preached on a Wednesday night for the main service at church. There is a link to the sermon in the post below.

Youth

John Mark has been spending a lot of time with the youth recently. There is a flock of 15 year old boys who follow him around, trade music with him, and mimic him in subtle ways. They are really cool kids. Some of them have started coming to the mission with us and hanging out with us outside of church. They are crazy and fun and “so fifteen”.  John used to help out with the youth group at Glad Tidings before we were married.  He missed it after he started working 60-80 hours a week, too busy and exhausted to make time for the youth group. Now that he has time for it again, he is realizing how much he loves it. Hanging out with youth and mentoring kids is his passion. One of the kids is throwing a dubstep/hard style/techno rave and video shoot after youth group this Saturday. The two of them stayed up late last night cutting and mixing the music, discussing which songs were worthy to be included. They will probably pull another late night tonight to try and get it done. 

En Vivo

John’s contribution:

En Vivo is a three day conference that happens once a year in Tepic at the main La Fuente Church. Everyone looks forward to it all year and we were hearing about how cool it is for several months. Moorea wasn’t able to go, but I was very excited to be able to go and was asked to drive one of the vans up. I ended up staying with the youth guys and halfway baby-sitting and halfway getting into trouble with them. It was a really good opportunity to really bond with and pour into some of the youth I haven't spent that much time with. I had more fun after hours with the youth guys but the conference itself was amazing as well. The worship was outstanding. Absolutely amazing. And a few of the preachers were from the US so those services were bilingual which was nice for me. 

It was a blessing to be able to go and be with the youth. The mom of one of the guys who was staying with us came up to me the next Sunday to thank me. I have never met her before and it was a kid I have only talked to in passing before the conference. I was really able to get to know him over the couple days of conferences.  She came up and was thanking me for all that I had done and how her son had a really great time and she had already seen a change in her son. She was really genuine and it was encouraging to me to get some feedback. 

En Vivo 2012 from Jesiah Hansen on Vimeo.

Santa Fe

Please pray for the church we want to plant in Sana Fe. The government has promised us a piece of land that is 6000 sq meters (1.5 acres). We have started meeting in a park there, doing breakfasts, kids programs, and Bible studies. There aren’t any churches (Christian, Mormon, Catholic or otherwise) at all there even though the area is home to hundreds of families. The people are really excited to have a place to meet. Well, some of them. A small group has started a petition to try and keep us from meeting in the area. Apparently they don’t want a Christian church there. Ironically, the lady who started the petition is now attending our meetings regularly. Pastor Keith said that when the work of God is moving forward, we should expect some opposition, but we are just praying that doors will open and we will receive that land anyway. Please pray with us for that area.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support. We absolutely could not be here without you. We are really excited to be part of a ministry that is moving forward, helping people in practical and spiritual ways. We really feel like we are where we are supposed to be. Thank you for helping us follow God’s direction for our lives. 

God Bless you.

Moorea

If you would like to partner with us financially, please note that your donation is for “Holmes” and send it to:

Glad Tidings

PO Box 1630

Yuba City, CA 95992

Hello all,

I preached on this last Wednesday and just uploaded it to the La Fuente website (one of my jobs, managing the website) and I thought I would share it with everyone. Enjoy!
http://lafuenteriviera.com/index.php/multimedia/audio

Peace be with you,
john mark