I realize that it has been almost a month now since I have updated my blog. These past two weeks have probably been the busiest weeks since being here in Mexico. The past two weeks have been vacation for the university students so I have had some time to do some things as well. Here is what has been going on:

March 30-April 3

I went to Bernal, a small town right outside of Queretaro, to a student conference called CONAMIES. It is an annual conference for students from all over Mexico. It was a good time of teaching, worshiping, and getting to fellowship with students. I was also able to spend some time with the other missionaries in Mexico who are doing university work and to see old friends that I had made when I was living in Queretaro.

The group from Guadalajara/Puerto Vallarta

Some of us got up early to climb the rock and see the sunrise

I was able to see my good friends Alma and Lila while I was in QueretaroEsperanza and I

Nolan, Josh, Amy, Ramiro (Josh's best friend from Monterrey), and I were able to take a break from the conference and spend some time together

April 5-8

I was able to go up into the mountains a few hours from Guadalajara with a group of students. It was a 3 hour hike up the mountain to get to the place where we camped. We worked with an indigenous people group called the Huicholes. During the days we had classes for the kids with Bible stories, games, and songs and the guys constructed some cages for the peoples' animals. We also got to spend some time learning from the people there about their way of life. They showed us how they make their tortillas from hand and how they make the kind of jewelry that they are known for. In the evenings we had a time of worship with some of the Huichol believers. This place was more rural than anywhere I have ever been, more so than Nicaragua or where I was in Africa. As I sat there worshipping with these believers I thought about how amazing it is that the Gospel has reached them up in these mountains but also about how there are so many more people all over the world that the gospel has yet to reach

Just one of the many beautiful views on the way up

Kristen is a student in Queretaro here studying Spanish for a few months
On our way up

After 3 hours of climbing in the sun with our backpacks this is what we all looked like when we reached the top of the mountain

Playing games with the kids

We told the kids the story of how Jesus showed servanthood by washing the disciples' feet and showed them what that meant

Dinner time


Looking down to where our tents were (right in front of the church building)

Grinding the corn for the tortillas

Learning how to make bracelets

Blanca and I

Church service on Sunday morning

Some of our group