Home Again

May 20, 2023

Last month, three other missionaries and I traveled to Las Moras on a work team. This was the first return for anyone from our family since we left in June of 2021. After leaving, mold needed only a few months to take over our mountain house (rain and termites made appearances, too!) – and even […]

Spring Cleaning

April 6, 2023

Sometimes, life’s endless need for cleaning and maintenance seems one of the clearest possible indications that we live in a fallen world. You can hardly get the dishes clean before you’ve dirtied a couple more… and any time a wall is repainted, it is likely to be scuffed or chipped within a few days! Moreover, […]

Desert Rains

October 2, 2022

Putting Ferndale and Washington State in our (literal!) rear view mirrors this July came at a cost for our family. It seemed we had just re-acclimated to being with family and friends for the ‘regular’ parts of life… such as birthday parties, soccer games, and quiet morning lattes. Leaving meant a return to scratchy phone […]

Facing Changes

July 6, 2022

Last year, our family left the mountains of Mexico in unexpected and rather sudden fashion. Our field leadership, concerned both for Amy’s health and the degree of ongoing stress affecting our family, sent us back to the States for a medical leave of absence. The departure process felt like a whirlwind as we packed, planned, […]

Prayer: A Visit from Friends

May 6, 2022

Greetings from… Ferndale, WA (wow – that is not the typical opening to one of our updates)! Amy and I have a quick update to share, and a request for timely prayer. Our time in the States has, overall, gone well. We are learning much, working through a variety of health issues (several revealed while […]

A Time to Heal

July 15, 2021

When May arrived, two major events remained on our dry season schedule: a visit from Pete and Liesl Hypki (our itinerant coworkers, now on the field leadership team), followed by a couple weeks on the coast for pre-rainy season repairs and resupply. We greatly anticipated the break from mountain life the latter trip provides, as […]

Light on a Hill

June 12, 2021

A few weeks ago, Agatha – a Nahuatl believer – came to a shocking realization: the village meeting at which she had just arrived was all about her! Another woman, Melody, addressed the crowd – describing how badly she had been treated by Agatha during a community project. In fact, Melody has nursed a personal […]

Early Evaluations

April 9, 2021

During Amy’s recent language evaluation, our consultant asked her to discuss colors. Looking down at her beautifully patterned traditional skirt, Amy pointed to a section and began to demonstrate her hard-earned vocabulary. “This is yellow,” she said in Nahuatl to our friend Lenny – who had come to help with the evaluation. “And this…” At […]

Cavities and Cubbies

March 5, 2021

Worldwide pandemics have a way of complicating things – including plans for the (mostly) annual dental clinic in Las Moras! Pulling off this year’s edition required jumping through many hoops – including considering PPE access, medical experts’ recommendations, and two nations’ coronavirus responses. Despite these challenges and more, our little mountain community still wanted the […]

Cow Goes Baa

December 8, 2020

October was a month of refreshment for our family. While there was no shortage of work – hours of travel, home school on the road, packing and loading kept us quite busy! – the conveniences of city life were a welcome break from our remote daily village lifestyle. Returning home with a load which will […]