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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Moving Along

October 19, 2020

When writing our last update, the process of moving into our house-in-progress loomed large. Challenges certainly continued to present themselves: a dozen leaks springing (literally) to life one evening, unexpected interruptions abounding, and the polyurethane coating our kitchen counters needing over a month to dry in rainy season humidity! Yet, in the end, we did […]

Busy Season

September 3, 2020

As our family’s first rainy season in the mountains unfolds, life continues moving forward at a rapid pace. At times, it seems that another monumental unexpected shift inevitably follows its predecessor… and were perseverance to depend on our strength, we would long ago have been swept away! Yet God’s faithfulness remains when our strength is […]

We Made It!

November 29, 2019

Editor’s Note: we had this blog ready to publish at midday on Thanksgiving, but our internet connection went down for 24 hours. Just one more adjustment in the mountain missionary lifestyle! On Friday November 15th, our family sleepily crawled into a fully loaded pickup truck and put Mazatlán in the rearview mirror. We drove two […]

Making A Move

November 8, 2019

From Mazatlán to Las Moras When last we wrote, the exciting news we had to share (about Nahuatl baptisms!) was penned from Spokane, WA. Since that time, we’ve been on the move! Our road has led from Spokane to Kansas City, to El Paso and the familiarity of Chihuahua City, and now we find ourselves […]

Ready for the Rains!

June 4, 2019

The final week of house construction was – in a word – grueling. For Don and I, it was the ‘leave everything on the field’ moment… a final push to wrap up three months of hard work, long days, cot-and-tent sleeping, missing family, unbelievable logistics, and a relentless deadline imposed by the coming rainy season. […]

All in a Week’s Work

May 10, 2019

It’s amazing how much can change in the space of just one week! Above, you see the result of the Peaceful Valley Church team’s efforts in Las Moras last week – a structure twice the height of that in my last blog post’s photo. All week long, we worked: cutting studs, placing plywood, framing walls, […]