Rebekah Meyerend's blog

A Full House

School project

The library officially opened the 1st of September (although we had opened the two Fridays previously) and we're off to a running start!  Some days I feel like kids are coming out of the wood-work (or cement-work in my house).  Last Friday was one of those days.  Fridays are a favorite day to come to the library because it's "game day".  Instead of doing worksheets we do an art activity and pull out the board games.  Last Friday, besides the usual crew that came for game day, I had 6 or 8 girls doing a school project in my garage.  They had to make a background scene for a play they're going to do at school next week. 

Hard at work

 

I am especially thankful that Maru has joined me this year.  She is a pastor's wife who lives in the area and is doing a wonderful job of getting the library in shape and putting all the information about the books and registering the chidlren in the computer.   A few days her husband, Pastor Danny, has even come to help!

Maru

 

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Not only has the library been full of children, but since we are enlarging our church (next door to the library) the church met in my house last week for Thrusday and Sunday services.  After a couple weeks of low attendence, I was surprised to have a "full house" on Sunday.  We used the library for the worship service and my living room and garage for children classes.  Praise the Lord that my home is being used to honr and glorify Him.  So, come visit when you come and be part of the fun.  There's plenty to do and even though it's a "full house", ther's always room for one more!

 

 

Sept 08 015

 

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Sergio

 

Eliud & friends

SUMMER FRIENDS Summer Friends" was...

SUMMER FRIENDS

 

Vbs, grace 1

 

Summer Friends" was the title of one of the children's programs I participated in this summer. It also aptly describes my time spend in the States this summer.  Although I was anxious to return to my home in Mexico, I return with wonderful memories of time spent with new friends and old.  I praise God for these precious experiences and will warmly remember each precious person (big and little) who made this summer so special. 

 The picture above was taken at Grace Fellowship church in Unionville Pennsylvania during their Vacation Bible School.  I had my own Mexico corner and the diffferent groups viisted me there each night to learn Spanish songs and phrases and about my work in Mexico.  "Pato, pato, ganso" (duck, duck, goose) I discovered, is a favorite game among children everywhere!

SUMMER FRIENDS

SUMMER FRIENDS

 

Vbs, grace 1

"Summer Friends" was the title of one of the chidlrnr's programs I participated in this summer. It also aptly describes my time spend in the States this summer.  Although I was anxious to return to my home in Mexico, I return with wonderful memories of time spent with new friends and old.  I prasie God for these precious experiences and will warmly remember each precious person (big and little) who made this summer so special. 

 The picture above was taken at Grace Fellowhip church in Unionville Pennsylvania during their Vacation Bilble Shcool.  I had my own Mexico corner and the differnet groups viiste dme there each night to learn Spanish songs and phrases and about my work in Mexico.  "Pato, pato, ganso" (duck, duck, goose) I discovered, is a favorite game among chidlren everywhere!

WATER

The pipa

Water is such an important part of our lives.  Weather it's for drinking, washing clothes and dishes or cooling off, we can't live without it!  Most of us are used to turning on the pipes and having water flow into our houses.  However in many parts of the world it's not that simple. I have a cistern in my garage and usually the water form the street pipes fill the cistern and I have a water pumps that pumps the water up into the tank "tinaco" on my roof and then through the pipes into my house.  Since March there has been a problem in my neighborhood and the water isn't coming into the houses.  I've heard different reasons (pipes are broke, wrong size pipes, water pumps aren't working) but no one seems to really know.  Thankfully the water company has been sending around water trucks (pipas) to fill our cisterns, barrels or even buckets.  How I praise God for the living water that is offered us in Jesus Christ.  He is the well that never will run dry!

 

Filling the cistern

 

The hose

CHILDREN'S DAY, 2008

April 30 is children's day here in Mexico.  It's a special day set aside to honor our youngsters and let them know that they are loved and appreciated.  The schools hold parties, take the kids on trips and give gifts to the students.  We in the church and as part of our ministry also  held special events for the youngsters.  We started the Friday before by making chocolate treats.  We had bought chocolate fountains and then dipped fruit and marshmallows in the chocolate...yummy!

Chocolate fountain

 

Blinded by chocolate

Yummy

 

Those chocolate fountains came in handy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we had a special program in las America's neighborhood where we hold Saturday Bible club.  The teens and kids from my church taught the Bible lesson, did a puppet show and Pastor Dave and his

Give me your heart

 cousin put on a clown show.

April 08 028

 

The afternoon culminated with water balloon fights and water all over the place.  It's a good thing Margarita doesn't mind having her yard invaded by a bunch of rowdy, water-throwing kids!

 

 

Charlie and Israel

 

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he following Saturday, May 3rd, we closed off the street in front of the library and church and filled a few kiddie pools with water.  How many kiddos can you get into a kiddie pool?

  Never mind the kiddos...what about the teens who came to "help"?!  When I went out to "put things in order"...

I ended up wet from head to toe! (by our helpful teens!)

You get in too

 All in all a good time was had by all.  Gaby returned with her fiance, Israel, to do another clown show for the kids.  After the program we handed out sandwiches (tortas) and the cholate treats again. It didn't take long for the food to

Watch out, I'll get you wet

 dissapear!

 

Continue to pray for this ministry, especially for the children and their families.  Pray God's love will be evident in all the activities that we do!

 

 

Wet and happy!

Cold, but happy

 

Tortas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RUTH AND URIEL

RUTH AND URIEL

On April 5th my friend Ruth and Uriel finally got married.  I say finally because they've been dating for over six years.  This is a wedding I thought would never happen.  In Mexico, the ceremony is done a bit differentlythan in the States.  Of course there is special music, the homily, the rings and the vows.  There are also "padrinos" (sponsors) for differnt items used in the service.  Someone buys a special Bible, someone elses gives them the rings. In my case Ruth asked if I would buy the "cojines" (cushions) for the bride and groom to kneel on when they are prayed for. Ruth bought the cushions, I gave her the money (abut $20) and at a special moment in the service, I was asked to come forward and place the cushions on the kneeling stool. It was a small investment to make for my dear friend.

 

 

Special kneeling cushions

Madrina

 

Since I was a ¨madrina¨, I borrowed a nice suit from a friend, had my hair done up nice and even wore high heels.  That turned out to be a mistake as I tripped in the middle of the ceremony trying to take a picture!

 

 

 

The Bride

 

The lasso

Another unusual element of a Mexican wedding is a "lasso" (rope).  Friends buy a fancy rope fixed into two big loops.  The pastor drapes the lasso around the neck of bride and groom to show that they are now joied together.  In this wedding the pastor requested Uriel to move with the lasso around his neck. He did so with great difficulty moving forward until the lasso broke! The pastor chided Ruth for not "helping" Uriel by moving with him. In a marriage both parners need to move together.

March 29th, 2008 Where has...

March 29th, 2008

Where has March gone?!

Easter "vacation" is about over as is the month of March.  We had plenty going on this month and it may take me another month to recover!  Let me share some pictures and special moments with you.

 

Due any day!

Easter morning we had an early (7:00 A.M..) church service followed by a yummy breakfast of chilaquiles (chicken with fried tortillas and green sauce) and jello.  We're still waiting to hear when Eli's baby comes.  Last word her mom was taking her walking every day to try and speed up delivery!

 

 

Our  pastor and his wife also enjoyed the breakfast.

David and Miriam

Thursday of Holy week we had a retreat to a nearby park.  Conferences were  held for all ages on the importance of learning to forgive.  The kids planned a puppet skit on forgiving your friends.

 

 

Planning puppett show

 

New friends

 

 

 

 

The next activity was a five day Vacation Bible School in the Niños Héroes neighborhood.  Pastor David is renting an apartment in this area and it worked out great to use his patio.  I didn't expect too many kids so I was greatly surprised when we averaged around 40 each day!  Some of the children came from my neighborhood to help and we also picked up kids from Las Americas neighborhood.   Our theme was "The Kingdom of God."  We sang songs about God as King of Kings and learned verses and stories from the Bible about King Jesus. 

Mimes

 

Arts and crafts

 

Good pals

 

Refreshment time

 

Boys pyramid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girls pyramid

We all had fun and learned something along the way.  Now it's time to start planning this summer's VBS...want to come join us?!

Ricardo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last picture (for now) of March's activity include...Cookie's (my 16 month old puppy) new "look".  Spring means "shave off all that  matted hair!"

Here's looking' at you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading my blog. I love to hear your comments.  Coming up soon, "How many kids can you fit into a Nissan truck?!"

Spring and Benito Juarez

 

 

SPRING AND BENITO JUAREZ

The coming of spring is celebrated here in Mexico by remembering a special hero's birthday, Benito Juarez.  He was of indigenous origins, born in a poor community in the mountains of Oaxaca.  He was an orphaned at the age of three and at twelve  left the mountain community to live with his sister in Mexico city.  He taught himself to read and write and to speak Spanish.  Eventually he made his way into government becoming a much loved and respected president who brought many reforms to Mexico.  His motto was, "El respecto ajeno es el camino de la paz" (respect for others in the way of peace).  The school children perform typical dances and give speeches about this amazing man.

 

Vaquero (Arath)

Johnathan & friend

Pom-Pom girls!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More swingin' moves

In the library we had our own celebration of Spring, a puppet show for the whole neighborhood with life sized puppetts, music, games, food and of course, lots of fun!

 

 

The puppets sang and danced and talked to the kids about loving God and forgiving others. Even the littlest ones had fun!

Lok at me now!

 

Max & friends

About 90 children and adults attended.  Pray for God's grace on all and that the message will bring godly fruit in their lives.

 

Clap to the tunes

 

Lots of kiddos

Pillin, stay here!

A puppet show about the rebellious sheep who wandered away from the flock taught us about the dangers of disobedience and the great love of our Shepherd (Jesus) who loves us and came to look for and save us.

America's neighborhhod and "The Cows"

On Saturday's I have  a Bible club in a poor neighborhood in Chalco Valley.  Lately I've taken kids from my neighborhood to "help" with the activities. Only sometimes the "help" means more work for me!  It's a good opportunity to invest in the lives of these kids who are facing challenges in their own homes, and an extra chance to hide the word of God in their hearts. 

The Americas neighborhood is surrounded by a sewage canal...where the cows graze. ( I don't each much beef here!)  The kids had been begging to be allowed to see the cows so I finally drove up close and we walked over to see them.

 

Nice cow

Jessica was the bravest and walked right up to that cow.  Some of the others weren't so sure.  Turns out some of them have never seen a cow before!  This came as qutie a surprise to this Pennsylvania girl who as a little girl was teased that a "cow" was a "horse" and a "horse" was a cow! ( I never did beleive that!)

 

 

Brandon didn't want to go close and stayed at as safe distance, said he'd been kicked by a cow when he was little.  Fianlly he got up the nerve to get closer.

 

I'm not afraid of that cow

J & l

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you have Lesly, Jessica and myself (Brandon still won't come that close!)

Now, every Saturday the kids say "Teacher, can we go see the cows?" So, along with planting the Word of God in these young lives, I'm helping them to ....overcome their fear of cows?!

Revw, Jessica & Lesly

Rebe's first blog!

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Hello friend!

I finally decided it was time to "modernize" and create a web page.  Thanks Pili and Donna for the idea and help!  I am, as  you probably know, Rebekah Meyerend, or as a dear friend of mine calls me "rebekahmey".  I've been living and working in Chalco Valley, Mexico for the past 13 years.  I thank the Lord for this wonderful privilege and pray that He will use me daily as a light in what can sometimes be a very dark place.  I'll put in some photos of the Meyerend family. Soon I'll also post some pictures of the precious children I have the privilege of working with.  Thanks for your prayers and for reading this brief blog.  Talk to you soon,

Rebekah

Picture 56,my parents, Maude and Bob : notice mom's lovely pointsettias!

 

54:  The Meyerend Family, Christmas 2007

Danny (14) ,Heather, Paul, Mom, Dad, David (16).  See what Danny is holding.  Can you tell what his passion in life is?!

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55:  Meyerend Family, Danny (14),Becky, Paul, Mom, Dad, David (16) 

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