One Day at a Time

Greetings from the mountains! Life continues on one day at a time for our family, as we continue to adjust to life in Las Moras. Being out here has given us a sense of continuity and stability we had long missed, living without a permanent home for over a year and a half! Amy’s recovery has only continued despite more challenging living conditions, and her medical treatment is phasing out successfully. Home school is going well, progress is being made daily on the house, we’re building relationships in the church and community (not to mention with our awesome coworkers!), and our kids are all enjoying mountain life! In short, we are doing well – for which we thank God greatly.

Beginning next week, we will enter another ‘busy season’ of life. Phase Two of house construction continues with the visit of three work teams in two months, interspersed by visits from two different consultant teams. Our February work team was unfortunately cancelled, leaving the goal of ‘house functional, unfinished-yet-ready-to-live-in’ still achievable, but requiring much work. God is raising up workers to help us finish this off, but it’s not going to be easy! The pace of life is going to pick up, without much opportunity to catch our breath between events.

We ask for continued prayer over all of this! God knows every detail, and the way these things have come together is clearly by His provision. Please pray that He continue sustaining us day-by-day, keeping our eyes on Him while we rest in His sufficiency, and confident in His plan for both our family and the Nahuatl church.

Here in the village, Amy’s days fill quickly! Beyond classic homemaker responsibilities – each made more difficult by our new mountain lifestyle! – she teaches home school for ‘the bigs’ while keeping the peace between ‘the littles.’ She makes time to write thank-you notes, compose shopping lists for supply buyers, and learn the ropes in community development projects… just to name a few. Furthermore, she is always ready to set everything aside and greet a visitor at our front gate – whether they have come to work, borrow something, ask a question, or just to visit! Typically, we have multiple visitors pop in at odd moments throughout the day!

Looking forward, it is hard to imagine how Amy will be able to add language learning to this already-full daily lineup without help. Many missionary moms in fact never get the local language, which can cause problems both immediately and once the kids have grown! Since before we married, it has been our goal to find a way to ensure Amy can be a full member of our church planting team – mastering the language and culture, then helping with all practical aspects of the work. This is why we hope to bring out a home school teacher, especially for those early years of language learning!

We are looking and praying for such a person to come and join us out here in Las Moras – whether for a semester, a school year, or multiple years. Their primary role would include preparation, teaching, homework correction for three kids, grades K-6 in ’20-’21… taking on most day-to-day school work, with big-picture help from us and our coworker Katie. This would be a truly challenging remote missionary role: one with limited local resources (power, water, internet – all shared), no easy access to mail or shopping, and normally independent life decisions subject to the needs of the whole missionary team. However, the payoff includes: experience with an unreached people group church plant without long-term commitment, enabling a missionary mom to put maximum time into ministry, close-hand observation of foreign culture, and quality time with some pretty neat missionary kids (I may be biased, here).

Do you know someone who might be interested in this kind of role? Have them write Amy and I at jordan_husband@ntm.org, or do so yourself! We would love to have someone join us out here as soon as August of this year, if the Lord provides – it would be our privilege to explore the idea together and see how God leads.

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Bonus Reading: What did it look like when our coworkers Katie and Rachel first moved into the village? Check out Katie’s Throwback Thursday article… even though its not Thursday anymore! https://blogs.ethnos360.org/katie-moore/2020/02/28/a-look-back-2/

Praising God!

• We were able to facilitate a medevac for a distant neighbor with difficulty walking and breathing. UIM pilots got him to an ambulance, which took him to a big city hospital where he will be treated.
• Amy continues to make good progress in her recovery from post-partum depression, and is doing so very well – even in the middle of the harder daily routine here in our remote mountain village!
• God provided a storage option for our family in Mazatlán – something which has been surprisingly difficult to locate! We are now working to get our boxes and furniture moved there, so we can bring up as much as possible before the rainy season.

How to Pray:

• For the growth of the Nahuatl church. Pray for wisdom for our team in adjusting meeting and teaching schedules, so that as many as possible feel welcome and have the opportunity to come hear about Jesus!
• For our work teams – those about to arrive and those still in planning stages. Pray for safe travel and work, productive visits, good fellowship, and a fully functional house before rainy season arrives!
• For our family, in the middle of all the upcoming busyness. Pray for stamina, rest, and time to simply be a family in the middle of many visitors, extra travel, and hard labor!