Marty Boller, our pastor from Iowa, sent out this email today... some thoughts on Good Friday.

I encourage you today to not let this day slip away with taking a few moments of quiet reflection on the POWER OF THE CROSS.

Without the Cross, you and I are still lost in our loneliness, our despair, our sin, and most of all, left to our own devices to climb our way back into God's presence.

With the Cross, the power of God has been released on our behalf to rescue us not only from the outward evils of this world, but our inward selves, as well. No longer do you and I have to look inward to find the strength and ability to be a "good" person. No longer do you or I have to place our hope in our ability alone to keep on the "straight and narrow".

No, GOOD FRIDAY is GOOD...because it was God's day to display openingly to all the world, that He loves us so much, that He's willing ...

I've been back in MN for about 18 hours now... and have realized again that it is cold.   That's my deep thought for the day.

Craig Brooks gave me copies of all the photos he took on our trip.  I posted them on Facebook.  He has a lot better camera than I do, so these are better quality photos.  Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/al ...

This morning as we get ready to fly back to MN, I started thinking about astronauts. Yes, astronauts... Specifically, I was thinking about the process astronauts go through to re-enter the earth's atmosphere after having spent some time in outer space.

Puerto Vallarta is not “outer space”, but it is a very different world than I live my usual life in. During this past week, I have gained perspectives on love and life here that I hadn't seen quite the same way back in MN. The people of Puerto Vallarta, and especially the Santillan family – Mario, Lety, Anna-Elle and Luis – captured my heart in special ways. I will miss them, and hope to return to visit them soon.

We have had a wonderful week. We were thrust into the life of ...

We have a busy and exciting day today (including celebrating with a group of Puerta Vallartan people getting baptized!)   I'll try to post some things about that tomorrow when we have a little time off.  For today, I thought would write about the schedule that we are adjusting to in Mexico.  My wife Andrea lived in Mexico for for 4 months during college, so she had given me a little bit of a heads up, but I didn't quite get it until I had been here for a few days.

This week, we typically have woken up around 8:00 AM, and spend some time getting ready for the day.  Breakfast is between 9:00-10:00.  Yesterday, our Mexican pastor friends treated us to a homemade breakfast of wheat pancakes, eggs & salsa, and fresh fruit.   For us, we've been spending the later mornings taking some time to do some Bible devotions and pray for our day ahead.  Around 11:30 or 12:00, we hav ...

Hello again - sorry this post has to be short again.  We got back very late from the Progresso colonia in Puerto Vallarta.  We did a gathering for the families there that included music, some testimonies, a shoe give-away, and a hot dog dinner.   It was tons of fun and very fruitful.  There were about 100 kids that showed up and around a 12-15 adults. 

I'll have to save more of the stories from tonight for another time, but wanted to include a quick note about how this gathering got started in the Progresso colonia.  Up until about 18 months ago, Mario and Lety and their team had been focusing their outreach efforts in Del Villar colonia (where we've been working the past 2 days).  During their gatherings, they kept noticing these two girls showing up for the programs for the kids.   They came to find out that the girls were from a neighboring colonia that was a 15 minute walk away.  ...

We are having a great trip so far - getting a chance to deliver groceries and shoes to families in the colonias in Puerto Vallarta, as well as taking time to pray for them.   The people here are wonderful and have been very receptive.  I only have a few minutes right now, so I'll have to save some further stories for later, but for now - please enjoy some pictures via Facebook.