Make a Smilebox greeting

Well I thought I would take the time to show off our little blessing, I know that is what Mommys like to do. This is for all of our family and friend that we miss so much, and those that we see often.

Joshua 4 months old growing fast.







Dad you got to teach me how to play basketball.






Look mommy, I can sit up by myself.




Getting ready for church with daddy.





Mommy and I needed a picture too.

Mom look at that water, dont let me fall in.

Mom and I just going out for a walk on the town.

One of the boys.

All I want for christmas is my two front .....

Dad and I just chillin.

Bath time with mommy, is so much fun.

Look at me sitting up like a big boy.

If you want to see these in bigger form just double click on the picture.

keeping the main thing the main thing

Blessings to everyone,

I pray all is well with you.

So there I was last week, returning home for lunch from some of the daily stuff that I do down here and I started thinking about a blog that I wanted to send out. I started thinking about so many of the blogs that I have sent out in the past and it is quite likely that many of you simply think that I take care of orphans, am in the midst of building a new orphan facility and do these really interesting things like take 5 hour trips into the jungle to build a small house for a missionary, or drive 4 hours in the other direction to hand out clothes, medical supplies and food to a poor community of about 200 people that live in the middle of nowhere, or spend a day in another state here in Mexico helping out victims that lost homes because of a flood that destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. And why is it that I could possibly think this? Because those are the things that I blog about. Those really neat trips out into the great unknown!

BUT I wanted to send out a much different blog post this week. One that reminds me and hopefully you all that we all must KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING so far as Christian missions is concerned.

Do Christian missionaries do those things that I wrote about above? Certainly we do but that is not what makes us Christian missionaries. And I am not only talking about foreign missionaries; I am talking about local missionaries to your community and surrounding cities…..that is all of us!

What makes us missionaries is that along with our good works we take the good news message of the gospel to a lost and dying world. What good is a prolonged life of good health and comfortable surroundings if a person’s ultimate destiny is to live forever separated from the only true and living God in a place of terrible torment? Answer: there is nothing good about that scenario; we would only be making it more comfortable for the lost while on their way to hell.

So I wanted to write to you and let you know that your support of ´KeelingMinistries´ (also known as ´Living Among Them Ministries´) does not only go for those awesome trips into the great unknown but most importantly it helps Sarita and I minister to the local people that we live among (if you have not done so, you might want to look to the right of this blog and read why our blog site is entitled ´living among them´…)

Soooo, why was I thinking about all of this last week? Why was I thinking about KEEPING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING?

Because I had just spent about 4 hours with one man who I hope and pray will one day kneel at the feet of Jesus and utter the same words that the Psalmist did in Psalm 107, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

This man’s name is Felix. I have written about him before but just in passing. He is a man that has been in my life since the first days here in Teopisca. He did not really know I existed for the first six months because whenever we would meet, and I mean every time, he was drunk. I, and Sarita as well, saw him drunk so many times in the streets of Teopisca that I lost count. I would talk with him when I could but most of the days he was too far gone and the conversations would not last very long. Sarita and I would pray for him but that was all that we could do…not that praying is a feeble thing.

Well, all that changed one day in January 2008. I went to Central Park here in Teopisca for the first time with a few pastors and we, well they, did some street preaching. We sang a few songs and we proclaimed the gospel message. While the men were preaching, I was handing out some tracts and talking with the people that would walk by or that were just hanging out on the benches. (there were probably 80 people that heard us that night…this is not Central Park in New York!)

So I turned around during this event and I saw my “friend” Felix sitting on a bench about 30 feet from where I was. I went up to him and over the next 30 minutes, I was able to talk with him a little about the gospel. A say a little about the gospel because he was drunk of course but at least he was still this time as he sat on the bench. He got up to leave during our conversation and I asked him where he was going and he said he didn’t know. I told him that I would take him home and he said ok…problem was, he didn’t know where home was. I drove around the streets of Teopisca for about 15 minutes and we were not getting anywhere with that so I decided to ask people if they knew Felix and where he lived; and the people did. The first person told me he lived in that direction…so I went that direction…the next told me to go down this road…so I did…the third told me that he lived just around the corner…so I went around the corner…and the fourth pointed to the third house and told me that was his…so that is where we ended up. I knocked on the door and his wife and two of his children greeted me. His two children are probably 30 and 27. We sat and talked for about 20 minutes and they told me that Felix doesn’t drink for weeks at a time but when he does, then he will disappear for 15 of 20 days and just drink and drink and drink…returning sometimes at home to sleep for a few hours. So I took in that information and I left.

Well the next week I went back to Central Park to take part in street preaching once again. And guess who showed up? Yep, my friend Felix. But this time things were different. He had on his “nice clothes.” His shirt was pressed and he had on his good sombrero. We sat and talked for about 45 minutes. We talked about his life in general and we talked about the word of God and the gospel. He told me that he did not want to drink but that Satan talks him into it. Well after we talked, he left on his own and I invited him to my house that Thursday. We confirmed the time and I went by and picked up Felix and his family on the appointed day. They came over for dinner (7 of them) and we had a good time. I read a Psalm and some from the New Testament. We finished dinner and they left BUT that started a great relationship with this family.

From that day forward, about every 7 to 10 days I would go over to Felix’s house and read the bible with him, and most of the time with his wife Margarita and some of his kids or grandchildren. I read the bible to them because neither he nor his family can read; which is not unusual here in the state we live in…the illiteracy rate down here is over 50%. But it was not uncommon to arrive some days and be told that he was out drinking and had been for some days. He would also come by the house every so often while drunk.

Ok so almost done.

Lately things have been different.

For the past 2 months or so he has come by the house more often and he has wanted me to come to his house on a more regular basis. He has not been drinking for about 3 months now and he says that he doesn’t want to ever do that again. We talk a whole bunch about what the bible says and he has even started asking more questions. He is not a Christian to date but I want to believe that the Holy Spirit may be working on him…ever so slowly but working nonetheless.

So last week he invited me to go along with him up to his property on one of the mountains that surrounds Teopisca. It probably took us about 45 minutes to walk up to the very top of that mountain where his corn and bean fields are…stopping only once…man, was I ever grateful for that stop…this man is 55 and walks up that mountain like it is nothing…something to be said about being accustomed to what you do!

When we got to the top, he took me to a cave where we stopped and talked for almost one hour. He told me about rituals that the Catholics do here at this site and also how the witches….and I mean real witches who live here in Teopisca…come and perform rituals and rites as well. The Lord opened up so many doors to speak about His word in so many different areas. But the biggest door that was opened was when he started talking about being a good person and about doing good works so that God would be happy…that was an opening that I took advantage of.

I can’t say that my friend Felix understands all that I have told him thus far but I can say that he understand many things. Although one thing that I couldn’t get him to agree with is that he continues to sin even though he is not drinking…he continues to express to me that the only sin that he has in his life is his drinking problem even though I read him passages that talk about anger and lust and many other things that Jesus spoke about. But he mentions sin all the time to me now so at least I know that it is on his mind.

So why did I write this lengthy correspondence?????

Because as Christians we must remember to KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING!!!

We can’t get side tracked and think that because we are giving money to good Christian causes, or are helping the poor or are involved in a myriad of activities at the church that we are released from our God given mandate to evangelize this dark and lost generation of people that we live among. It is easy to lose sight of the Main Thing; especially when doing ministry among so many people with physical needs. Believe me…I know it is difficult to keep the MAIN THING THE MAIN THING.

So what is the MAIN THING?

Pursuing that for which Christ came to this earth…Romans 15:8,9 tells us this purpose.

“Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: ‘For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, and sing to Your name.’”

We must be about proclaiming the glorious riches of Christ to a people who are blind and ignorant so that they may see, understand and savor the wonderful, matchless and merciful goodness of our Lord and Savior so that they may spend forever glorifying His name.

Take a look at the pics which show my little journey with my friend Felix. Please pray for him and his family!

Sarita and I do these types of things on a weekly basis with so many individuals and families down here in Teopisca, so I wanted to share with you some of the things that we do that don’t make the headlines of our blog posts.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog!

Blessings to all,

Lance, Sarita and Joshua

Here the three of us are at Felix´s house with his wife Margarita...we are helping him ¨shuck¨his corn so that he will have lots of granuals to make his tortillas and other foods made out of cornmeal...we just sit around many days and talk about life in general as well as the word of God!




This is a pic of Felix holding Joshua about a week before these other pics were taken of our journey up the mountain...Joshua has a big smile on his face...actually Felix and Joshua are good buds now...Felix loves to hold him and make baby noises to him....

This is the beginning our journey up into the mountains...with some pretty flowers along the way...

crossing over into his field at the very top of the mountain...

here we are checking out the beans that he and his family have been cutting off of the stalks of corn...they grow corn and beans together since the bean stalks need something to grow on...

This is the entrance to the cave that I spoke about above...Felix didn´t tell me until after we peaked our head into the cave that there is a huge 8 foot long snake that supposedly lives in there...a gift from the witches!!!...i guess it is supposed to be part of their rituals as well...

here is a pic of the cross at the top of the cave...like I said, not only do witches take part in rituals here but so do the Catholics who pray to the earth among other things...Felix told me that they think it will bring them good crops...

Here is Felix shaving open some sugar cane for us to eat as we had our hour long talk which I wrote about above...you probably can´t see it but he has a huge smile on his face and actually his is out of control laughing as he had just told me a good joke...almost the best part of the day :)...

These next two pics show us walking down the other side of the mountain going to take breakfast to his son and his nephew who were working the fields picking the beans as well...off in the distance you can see our little city of Teopisca...There are between 15,000 and 20,000 people that live in and around Teopisca in little communities...

This is a bag of about 80 lbs of beans that they had picked that morning...

And here we are eating breakfast....eggs, some type of beef (I did not ask), beans and corn of course, and tortillas...you can see that Felix likes to laugh....

Photo of his corn field up at the top of the mountain...

Pic of the mountain that we climbed....

We brought back his two horses to feed and water them...they use the momma horse to carry the corn and beans back to the house...

Here we are back at Felix´s house....

That is how the babies are carried around here in Teopisca...most of Mexico for that matter...this is Felix`s daughter in law and newest grandchild....

that´s all folks...

Trip into the north jungle of Chiapas (10/20/08)

This update has lots of photos…..

About 10 hours after I preached my last sermon at the missions conference, Sarita and I parted ways for 4 days as I headed out with three other missionaries to go to a little indigenous community about 5 ½ hours away up in the mountains of the north jungle of Chiapas. We went to build a small house for a man that has now become a native missionary...He has a burden to go back to his community to share the gospel and disciples those that are already Christians.

I have included a whole bunch of pics because I wanted you to travel with me as your support has helped me in participating in this endeavour.

Thank you for your prayers in this as well as I know that many of you were praying for this trip to go as planned and that the Lord would be magnified in all that happened…and He was!


We left early Monday morning and about an hour into our trip we ran across a community that was making every car pay 20 pesos to pass by...this is a common occurrence in Mexico...they wanted to "build more speed bumps" with the money...who knows...we paid and went on...




this is the mountain range that we ended up in...way off in the distance...

we had good roads for about 4 hours and not so good roads after that...

Here we are unloading the gear...the guy in the blue shirt is the man that we built the house for, his name is Johel...(it is for him and his wife and new born son)

ok, remember this generator that was unloaded by three people...

so we had to take all the gear and supplies about 300 yards into the jungle...but these guys from his community were ready and willing...

the whole path was muddy and here we had to cross a small rock bridge over a small creek...I almost went in TWICE!!!...to the laughter of all the guys...

remember that generator...well this guy decided that he would just take it himself...this is not unusual as the people down here use these head straps to carry their firewood and anything that is heavy...you will see other photos with more people carrying things in this way...

here I was just watching the guy take off with the generator and just wondering if he was going to make it...he did with no problems...

told you it was muddy...I am taking this photo straight down...somewhere down there is my boot that sank in the mud!!!!

laying the first boards...this is Reise, another missionary from a neighboring town (San Cristobal)...he and his family have been here in south Mexico for like 20 years or something...

first wall to go up...

had to work into the night as we were on a time line...

good meal of eggs and tortillas the first night...man were we hungry...notice the absence of utensils...that is just the way it is...but they got Coca Cola....

we worked through the rain for most of two days but this downpour was just too much....we just all camped out for about 30 minutes...in the second photo below, another missionary named Nathan (Reise's brotehr was underneath an umbrella trying to work)...

me and a new friend....

some onlookers...they were frequent as Johel's house is right off of a path that leads to the only bridge for miles...it is across a very large river...notice the way they are caring their things...yep, on their heads...

you can see the top of the suspension bridge on the left of the photo...those two white posts...

Nathan again...working away....

starting to put on the first side of siding...check out the onlookers...

here we are, Reise and Nathan and myself after working all day and some of the night...told you it was muddy...

setting up the hammocks for a goods night sleep...first time for me to sleep like the natives....

ok, so are you with me...me in my hammock and you in yours...now image....a bunch of Zzzzzz's and than all of a sudden you are on the floor...man what a rude awakening...of course I couldn't share it with the other guys as they were fast asleep...

here are the first trusses going up....not a carpenter so I am not sure if that is how you spell those things are not...the other guy with Nathan is another missionary...his name is Nicky...

ok, so this is the story...me and the guy in the blue shirt worked most of the days together...he is a deaf mute and could only point and utter sounds...it worked really well with me to work with him because pointing and motioning with my hands is almost as good as my Spanish :)

so he had this good idea to start taking out some of the mud from the center of the house...all well and good except that is exactly were we were going to be working for the next 4 or 5 hours...but i explained it to him and all was well...by the way, he and his brother are both deaf mute but they are so well loved by the community...it was a blast to see them all joking with each other and being so patient with these two guys...i love this guy named Pascua (translates Passover)... I don't know how it will work, but I have a desire to teach this guy and his wife sign language so that they can communicate better...please pray for that end...

here are the two of us on the bridge that is the only path to the other side for miles...

here we are not yet finished but we knew it would be dark before long....notice the guy walking by carrying that huge log with his head gear.....

can't see it very well, but we all have our tools that we were working with up in the air showing them off....

can you say lunch time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! can't see it well, but most of the women were barefoot...man that has got to hurt....

another path to the house we were building...

working on the roof....

my little friend...he couldn't speak Spanish nor English and I couldn't speak Chole, this communities native tongue, so we just had a blast trying to get along and figure out what each other wanted...ended up playing games alot... (this was one of the deaf mute's sons)...

the veiw from Johel's front porch early one morning....that is the river down there....

finshed with the roof...ladders were not going to really work....that is Nathan by the way...not me....

finished product....well everything that we set out to do...they are going to put in the doors and windows....all that you see here is about $3,000...this house will probably last him about 7 -10 years if he will seal it like it is supposed to be....

so here are the two mute brothers...they are both married and have kids...those guys are the greatest...

so this is how it works...when you first get married, you build a little wood house and then when you get more money you build a concrete block house and use the old wooden house as the kitchen....that is what is below...this was the house that Johel's parents lived in for many years until they saved up and built a concrete one...but, many of the community still live in these wooden houses....

and last but not least...after working the first day and night (actually every night) i was looking forward to a shower...well i got one but it was out of this large drum with a small bucket and it was really cold!!! i was praising the lord for the littlest things on this trip...like hot water!

and what was my little lady doing besides missing me while I was gone....taking care of my little man....

love you all....hope you enjoyed our trip together....

thanks for all,

lance, sarita and joshua