Mexico Matters – Thinking Missionally, Acting Intentionally

Local Church and Mission Ministry Early 2025

Since last March I find myself as the senior pastor of the Jesus Maria church, and it has been a learning and growing experience. A special shout-out to pastors Rick Clark of ...

Subscribe to receive an email when a new article is added.

See what else is happening

Local Church and Mission Ministry Early 2025

Since last March I find myself as the senior pastor of the Jesus Maria church, and it has ...

Feliz Navidad 2024

Christmas is always a special time in Mexico, and this year has been exceptionally blessed! We have enjoyed ...

Generosity as a Way of Life

I know that “Giving Tuesday” has passed, but most of you I imagine aren’t into the hype of ...

Remembering God’s Faithfulness

As I write this I'm getting ready for a mission conference this weekend. Mayra and I will be ...

Special Times with Special People in PA

September and October, 2024 were spent in PA, and what a great two months they were! Rod had ...

Veracruz, PdV, WOLC, COG

So many acronyms! That's what Mayra often says when she goes to the U.S. and hears and acronym ...

Mount Calvary, Interns, Trip to León, June 2024

Summertime, oh summertime! Always so full and full of fun! The month of June started with two of ...

Mother’s Day and More

Greetings from Ixtapaluca! This season of ministry has been a bit different for us, as since March we ...

Woodside Bible in Guadalajara

My first rather lengthy experience in Mexico as a 23 year old single guy was teaching Bible, Science ...

Friends, Family, Ministry and Snow!

This early 2024 has been an exciting time in many ways, as Mayra and I began the year ...

Palmas Church first Sunday in 2024

We were delighted to participate in the Palmas Church's first Sunday of 2024. Afterwards we took a picture...thankful ...

Ecuador: Where the World Divides in Two

I was humbled and honored recently to be invited by the Ecuador Liebenzell field director to speak at ...

Short-term adventures, summer 2023

Mayra and I are taking a deep breath today, after being involved with a series of short-term experiences ...

Summer 2023 Visitors, Part 2

Our summer ministry has gone through some significant changes over the past 10 years or so, from being ...

Gas Prices and Economics in Mexico

I was watching the news last night here in Mexico City, and was reminded of something that we've ...

Summer 2023 Visitors Part 1

This summer we are pleased to host three Liebenzell USA interns, one for 4 weeks, one for 6 ...

An Important Step in the Life of a Local Church

This past Sunday the Path of Life Bible Church--Palmas celebrated the recognition of its first two Mexican leaders. ...

Visiting Christian Colleges and Supporting Churches, Being with Family

Mayra and I have been in PA since mid-January, and during that time have had the opportunity to ...

Reaching an Unreached Ethnic Group

We hear about unreached ethnic groups, villages scattered all over the world who have never heard the gospel, ...

Baptisms! (with photos and video)

Baptisms are always my favorite services, because in baptisms, discipleship comes into focus, and both conversion and commitment ...

6th Anniversary Path of Life Bible Church Palmas

On Sunday, November 6, 2022, the third Bible Church plant in Ixtapaluca celebrated its 6th anniversary. The church ...

Precious in the LORD’s sight is the Death of His Saints

Two weeks ago, on a Saturday, Edgar Corona was walking to our house for a men's Bible study. ...

A Visit to PA, a Conference in Guadalajara

Shortly after surviving a busy summer (see last post), we finally were able to do something we'd been ...

Summer 2022

Talk about a rebound! After two years with zero visitors because of the pandemic, this summer possibly set ...

Two Weeks of Fruitful Ministry (part 2)

Elizabethtown Grace Brethren Church, or E-town Grace, as it's now called, has supported me (Rod) since way back ...

Two Weeks of Fruitful Ministry (part 1)

We have been pleased to host two church groups over the past two weeks. Gary, Kathy, Denny, Matt, ...

Mount Calvary and Liebenzell Interns

Our summer started off with a bang, receiving three Liebenzell U.S.A. interns (Joshua, Amanda and Rafael), as well ...

Summer 2022 has Officially Started

These last several weeks have been very significant, especially having been able to participate in the pastoral recognition ...

Conversando con Friends

We've been back in Mexico now for several weeks, and they've been full and fun. Much of what ...

The King has Come

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the first day of Passion Week, the intense, final week of Jesus on earth ...

Winter Ministry

Of course, it never really seems like winter here. Sure, it can dip down into the low 40s ...

An Important Announcement–Agency Change

If you've been following this site, you know we've been posting quite a bit about Liebenzell USA, and ...

Fifth Anniversary Celebration

This past Sunday, about 40 of us traveled about 40 minutes from Ixtapaluca, toward our two towering neighbors, ...

Heading South for the Winter

Yes, it's starting to get cold in PA after a remarkably beautiful and relatively warm autumn. So beautiful ...

Changes and Transitions

This past year has been different in many ways, but still good. Still very good. Our time in ...

Spring is Here!

It's been a LONG time since I've updated this space, so I wanted to take time to do ...

Hope for Oaxaca

I have recently been communicating quite a bit with our pastor friend in Oaxaca, Gaspar Chable. It has ...

Reality Check

This past Saturday we began our time be checking our average screen time on our cell phones. Turns ...

Back in the Keystone State

I felt for a while like we were in a game of Frogger, us being the frog and ...

First Sunday back with Baptisms

Need some encouraging news in the midst of ongoing discouraging national and world news about disease and natural ...

Family News

Whereas much of the U.S. seems to be entering into a second phase of the covid crisis, here ...

A Time to Remember

I've mentioned this before, but if you're like me, you've gone through various cycles of opinion about COVID. ...

COVID Dynamics in Mexico

Mexico is a country that thrives, it seems, on making life more difficult than it should be. With ...

A Special Prayer Request

Juan and Blanca Martinez...a few years ago. Juan is 52 years old now. The header picture was taken ...

This is the Song that Never Ends….

Anyone else feel like that? It just goes ON and ON my friend! Here in Mexico we are ...

The Latest from Mexico

I will spare you any philosophizing on this current epidemic, and simply mention some news here in Mexico. ...

Prayers for Three Youth

I'm sure that you are getting weary of constant talk about the virus, as I am. Unfortunately the ...

Mexico Ministry Update

Mexico along with much of the southern hemisphere it would seem has been spared from the worst of ...

Not So Conventional Wisdom

I tend to be a contrarian by nature. Not sure why that is, but it certainly has gotten ...

A Funeral and a Party

This past weekend was an exercise in extremes...from sadness to joy, from spiritual darkness to the celebration of ...

OT Survey Course Begins

The second course, Old Testament Survey, began this past Saturday, the first of seven 8-hour Saturdays, at the ...

A Sweet Time in Texas

I've written quite a bit lately on this ministry site about our ongoing partnership with Still Water Community ...

Women’s Outreach Breakfast

This past Wednesday, around 25 women, about half of which were not church attenders, participated in a breakfast ...

Youth Group Progress Report

Youth ministry is funky...fun but often unpredictable. Great participation...until there isn't. Why does it seem like a youth ...

Conversando with Friends

We are excited to announce the theme for our short-term ministry this year (and probably next year as ...

Understanding Young People–A Cultural Divide

I like studying and thinking about culture. A recent Kindle purchase that I'm working my way through is ...

First Class Completed

If you've been following this ministry site, you know that since this past October we began a 40-hour ...

FAMEX Missions Conference in Guadalajara

Mayra and I had the honor of participating last weekend in a FAMEX missions conference in Guadalajara, organized ...

Sendero Bible Church, Palmas 1 3rd Anniversary

We celebrated the Sendero Bible Church Palmas 1's third anniversary this past Sunday...hard to believe it's been three ...

Hermeneutics Week 2 (plus a video from Pastors Conference!)

We had our second 8-hour hermeneutics class this past Saturday, October 26. Once again, the attendance was 51 ...

Introducing Matheus and Silvia

Matheus and Silvia will be married, Lord willing, on November 1st, in Portugal. Soon after that, they plan ...

How to Interpret the Bible (class #1)

If you're familiar with theological education by extension (TEE) in Spanish, chances are you've heard about the CCBP ...

United Service (Culto Unido) 2019

Every year the 10-12 Bible churches in the Mexico City metro area get together and have a joint ...

Areli’s 15años

This past Sunday we celebrated Areli Abigail's 15th birthday as a church. The quinceaños celebration here is a ...

Watching and Waiting from Afar

After a lot of agonizing weeks, Mayra and I finally made the decision that academically it would be ...

A Month of Transition

After a very productive and exciting Spring/Summer of short-term teams, where we were privileged to receive a total ...

Highlights from DVBS, Basketball and English Week

This year was the second year for our DVBS program in the relatively new (2 1/2 year old) ...

Friendship Coffee and Mexico Matters

We are pleased to announce a new partnership between Friendship Coffee and Mexico Matters! Some of you may ...

God is Working in the Church Here

Word of Life Bible Institute Mexico does a super job with their summer camps. Last year, David came ...

Pastor Kirk Belmont–A Weekend of Teaching

Kirk Belmont, pastor of Hope Community Church, Mount Joy, PA, first came to Ixtapaluca last summer with a ...

Baking Classes, Remodeling and Outreach Events with WOL

Our second week of team ministry here in Mexico was truly special, working hand in hand with some ...

Baking Classes and Remodeling Project

In one day of promoting next week's baking classes on Facebook, we reached the limit of 40 women ...

A Wonderful Week in Oaxaca

This past week, 17 of us traveled in three vehicles to the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and enjoyed ...

Still Water Community Church and Lighthouse Community Church Weekends

Still playing catch-up with this blog...during the month of May we were privileged to be visited by old ...

Fun, Weird Happenings

Today Mayra and I were returning from downtown Mexico City. Mayra had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist ...

Cathy’s Graduation–MCSS Class of 2019

Cathy graduated from Mt. Calvary last Saturday! Below...a tribute I wrote to her. There is not just one ...

Cathy’s Graduation (and a quick trip to PA)

I went up to PA last week for three reasons. The most important one was to be present ...

Easter Week 2019

Kids have off school for two weeks over Easter, and the city empties out. Everyone, it seems, goes ...

Church Basketball Team

A bunch of guys primarily from a couple of the churches here have been playing basketball for a ...

Church Services and Combined Youth Activities

We are happy to report that our Sunday services in the new, rented facility are going well, aside ...

A Special Evangelistic Project

If you've been down to visit us here, you've probably met Samuel. He is an elder at the ...

Anniversary and Baptisms 2019

Next Sunday we're invited to the Jesús María church to celebrate their 9th anniversary. How well I remember ...

Palmas 1 Church Plant 2.0

Thank you for your prayers for a new facility to rent. Our first Sunday this past Sunday was ...

Saying Goodbye to “El Rincón Feliz”

Last Sunday was our last week at our first (and only) place of meeting for the Palmas 1 ...

The Pilgrimage of Church Planting

If you have a church building that you go to pretty much every Sunday, and perhaps twice or ...

Accidents and Vehicle Inspections

One reason no one in his or her right mind would want to live with the borders of ...

Camp Bighorn 2019

We are privileged to host a group of 10 from Camp Bighorn, Plains Montana for the third year ...

Back in the Swing of Things

It was good to be in church this past Sunday for just the second time after a four ...

2019 Ministry Theme

Every year we try to come up with a ministry theme that is both relevant and real; a ...

Cultural Differences

Everyone is aware that culture plays a huge role in how we view the world, but culture is ...

Long Lines to Get Gas in Mexico

We are excited to return to Mexico after an extended time in PA over these past 4 1/2 ...

Hot vs. Cold Climates

Over the years I have seen general trends in short-term teams that come and visit Mexico. Obviously there ...

Mexico Matters Grows Up

Same ministry, new capacity for facilitating short-term teams and projects. During our time in the U.S. we've wanted ...

Hooked on Guatemalan!

A friend from Ohio bought 10 packets of Friendship Coffee from Guatemala. Here's what he said... Had my ...

Cathy’s Health, Daniel’s Plans

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for our daughter Cathy. We had another appointment at ...

Second Tournament, Dreamers Defend Title

Last Saturday, November 3, we organized our second soccer tournament at the Elizabethtown Poplar St. Park, and we ...

David’s Season as an E-town Bear

Mini-Neymar. After Neymar's rather weak performance in the World Cup, with all the flopping and crying he did, ...

Friendship Coffee and Latin Missions

I belong to a small missions agency in Mexico dedicated to encourage Latins to go to all the ...

Hispanic Heritage Celebration E-town

We're excited about an activity this October 6, designed to bring Hispanics together around two favorite pastimes....soccer and ...

Hope Community 2018

We very much enjoyed our time with 18 team members from Hope Community, Mt. Joy, PA, here from ...

MK and Bi-cultural Missionary Families

I've been serving in Mexico now for 25+ years, having come to Mexico as a full-time missionary in ...

Summer Adventures 2018 Part 1

We're looking forward to a great time with Hope Community Church, coming soon to help with our first ...

Mexico’s New Political Reality!

This past Monday Mexico played Brazil in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Mexico has never gotten past ...

Mount Calvary June 2018

I didn't have opportunity to post this past week...probably because I was too exhausted to do so! But ...

How Fortnite Captured Teens’ Hearts and Minds https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/21/how-fortnite-captured-teens-hearts-and-minds Mexico's Ruling Party Is a Dead Man Walking https://www.realclearworld.com/2018/05/08/mexico039s_ruling_party_is_a_dead_man_walking_191909.html Mexican ...

Visit from Lighthouse Community, Torrance CA

Several weeks ago we were honored to receive a small delegation of four people from Lighthouse Community, of ...

A Preview of Summer 2018 Activities

This summer Lord willing we'll be again hosting groups from three different churches and some individual visitors as ...

Exciting News!

We are excited to announce that Matheus da Silva, a young man who served with us on weekends ...

Word of Life/Palabra de Vida Mexico for Kids Day 2018 (video)

This past weekend was the third year in a row that a group of young people from Word ...

April Conference Mt. Calvary

Last week we had the opportunity to be in PA for a week, participating in Mt. Calvary's missions ...

Easter Youth Activity (video)

These past two weeks have sort of been a blur...but I did want to post a short video ...

8th Anniversary Celebration and Baptisms

Below is a video and some pictures of this past Sunday, when we celebrated the 8th anniversary of ...

Future Projects

We're always thinking about ways to improve community, and foster outreach. One project for this summer is to ...

Cultural Challenges Camp Bighorn 2018

For the second year, we had the privilege of hosting Camp Bighorn's Journey program. They spend just over ...

Camp Bighorn Returns

Camp Bighorn is a Christian Camp located in the beautiful state of Montana. After an exploratory trip to ...

What Are Your “Core Values?”

We just completed a 15-week study on the church's doctrinal statement, and are now transitioning into a series ...

Community Center Week 2

The total participation for the different community center classes this past Saturday, the second week of activity, was ...

Community Center Events 2018

As many of you know, the auditorium in Jesus Maria was coconstructed this past year, and services began ...

2018 Here We Come

Oh, you never know what a year might bring! But a couple of things we do know will ...

Oaxaca Relief Update

When a 8.2° Richter earthquake hits an area, it does not recover in a week or so. Or ...

Recent Short Videos

Power in Weakness

A different post this Saturday morning. It's easy to fall into the trap of talking about progress and ...

First Service in New Auditorium, JM

Many of you have been involved with either praying for or giving toward the Jesus Maria auditorium project. ...

Visit to Río Blanco, Veracruz

The Fry family had a great time this past weekend visiting friends in Rio Blanco, Veracruz, very close ...

I Love My Van

Yesterday Francisco and I drove the 3 hours to Toluca to pick up 30 wheelchairs, half of which ...

Palmas 1 First Anniversary!

Hard to believe it's been a year already! Yesterday our service was dedicated to celebrating the goodness of ...

Kaycee and Alex’s Wedding

We were privileged to attend Alex Yee and Kaycee (Kaba) Yee's wedding in Torrance, California, on Saturday, September ...

Anniversaries, Relief Work and God’s Protection

We're in Puebla this Sunday, visiting Chalo and Beth Sandoval's latest church plant, Maranatha Bible Church. I'm preaching, ...

To Juchitán and Back: The Shocking Power of an 8.2° Earthquake

I left Thursday at 5:30 a.m., and returned home around 10:00 p.m. Friday, after driving 1,005 miles, much ...

Relief Work, Studies and the Best Cake Ever

A sincere thank you to all of you who have donated and prayed for the ongoing relief efforts ...

Tarps and Blankets

Our relief efforts continued this past Thursday, with another foray into the state of Morelos, visiting some of ...

Relief Work in Morelos

It was a long day, but a very good day today. We found ourselves doing some things we ...

Earthquake(s) in Mexico

"The dog ate our homework" has been replaced by an equally unlikely excuse; two earthquakes in the last ...

Back in the Groove

It's been great to get back into a bit of a routine with the ministry in Palmas 1. ...

PA Peacefulness

After waiting around 5 hours in an immigration office the day before our flight left, I was able ...

Leroy Chapel Construction and Outreach (video)

What a week we had this past week! Sort of a blur, actually, but the results remain. The ...

Connect Group in Ixtapaluca and Veracruz (Video)

Here are some short video clips of our time with Denny Mohr and the Connect Group from Bainbridge, ...

Mt. Calvary STM trip–2nd Half

The following schedule will give you an idea of what we attempt to do with short-term teams. Obviously ...

Pictorial Review of the Last Four Days.

Mount Calvary Team June 2017, First 4 Daze: Hearing aid and reading glasses outreach with skit and song ...

Summertime Summertime

As is often the case during the summer, there's a lot going on here. Today, a group of ...

Oikos (not the yogurt) and English

One focus of our community center activities here is English classes. I currently teach English every Tuesday and ...

Wall Going Up! Roof Soon Going On!

The Jesus Maria church property was fully paid for by the grace of God in June, 2013, and ...

Weekends…a bit quieter! Gracias chicos!

If you've been following this blog at all you are aware that we've been receiving student interns from ...

Renacidos “Reborn” in Ixtapaluca

This past weekend, as I mentioned previously, two of the churches here hosted 19 students from Word of ...

Missions, Relationships and Grace

Hard to believe how many spiritual and family connections can be made in one short weekend! It all ...

Week of Bible Institute Experience

Last week, three teenagers from the Palmas church, and five kids total, participated in Word of Life Bible ...

David Crazy…and other prayer requests

David is with his multiple student intern friends at Word of Life Bible Institute Mexico this week, participating ...

Guano and Seeds

What does the word guano mean? Ok, some of you may be thinking...well, that's a Spanish word, and ...

What the Church Looks Like (and Gibson City)

I was impressed these past several weeks at the nature of the ministry team here. We had the ...

Theme T-shirt 2017

Every year we have a theme for the year...here are some past themes: Haz lo mismo en tu ...

Adventures in Culture

I mentioned in a previous post that Camp Bighorn was going to be with us. We had a ...

A Short-Term Team Runs on Water and Coke

A group of 11 people from Camp Bighorn in Montana arrive tomorrow, to spend the first week of ...

Ruth and Elena

We met Reg and Cesca Genter way back in 1997 (I think), before any of our kids were ...

Energy Price Increase in Mexico

You may have heard that Mexico's gasoline prices have gone up significantly recently, prompting some isolated rioting, and ...

Video Update

Several videos from this past weekend. http://mexicomatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/excercise-class.mp4 http://mexicomatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/liga-invictos.mp4 http://mexicomatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/youth-matheus.mp4 http://mexicomatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1-second.mp4

Weekend in Pictures (2)

This past weekend was another great time, with several kids making decisions for Jesus in the soccer league. ...

Articles I’m Reading

Here are some articles that I've been reading lately...on a wide variety of topics. I’m Pro-Life and Pro-Refugee ...

Weekend Update in Pictures

Weekends are such fun times around here. Productive ones, too, with a Bible study, kids club, soccer league, ...

Astro Transmission Issues

This past Friday I dropped the kids off at their school in Puebla, and took advantage of the ...

PA Dutch Pig Stomach

I mentioned previously that I was going to dedicate a post to making Pig Stomach...so here it is! ...

Community Center Events January 2017

This past week we created and had printed out 3 foot by 4.5 foot vinyl banners to promote ...

Soccer, English, Growth

After a wonderful time in PA (coming...a post on pig stomach), we returned to Mexico in time to ...

Unrest in Mexico

Some of you have heard about the unrest in Mexico, primarily due to several hikes in gasoline prices. ...

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…

This past week has been full of year-end activities. Some of the highlights...a Christmas youth group get-together complete ...

Journey Program Mexico

This March a unique Christian wilderness/extreme sports ministry is going cross-cultural, and we're excited to be involved. Josh ...

Ministry and a Mini-Road Trip (Part 2)

Mexico is a beautiful country, with some very unique urban areas and rural landscape. After church last Sunday, ...

Ministry and a Mini-Road Trip (Part 1)

Rod's cousin Marla and her son Kyle came for a visit this past week, and we really didn't ...

Church Plant Update

Thanks to so many of you who have been praying for the new church plant in another of ...

Around 2700 students in 4 days

Matheus, Cheila and Karen, three of the four WOL students who normally visit us on the weekends, were ...

Third Church Plant in Ixtapaluca!

Some of you know that this past Sunday, November 6, we officially began Sunday services in Palmas 1, ...

Schoolhouse Rock

A couple of weeks ago David, Cathy and I (Rod) went to the Jr. Hi School where Samuel ...

An Extended Death Celebration

I was explaining a Christian's position regarding multiple holidays throughout the year last night to a couple of ...

WOL Pastors Conference 2016

Last year was the first year that we attended a Pastors Conference sponsored by Word of Life Mexico. ...

Play. Eat. Sing. Eat. Teach. Eat, repeat…

Teaching. Eating. Singing. Eating. Playing. Eating. Ministering. Do you see a pattern here? So was our second weekend ...

First Youth Meeting (with Sendero and WOL kids)

Had a great time with Matheus, Cheila, Rebecca and about 15 kids from both Sendero de Vida churches ...

Meet Rebecca Contreras

Rebecca is the third member of a group of students from Word of Life Bible Institute, who will ...

Meet Cheila Fernandes

Meet Cheila Fernandes! She and Matheus are both from Portugal, and we met them both last summer at ...

Meet Matheus Da Silva

If you've been following this blog you know that we're super excited to be able to work with ...

One Neighborhood at a Time

You may remember (ok, probably not) a post from last Fall that mentioned Matheus and Cheila, and how ...

Two Videos from September

The two videos below are: 1. A very short visual of some of the food we ate as ...

Remember the Pokémon Go Craze?

It wasn't more than a couple of months ago that it wasn't uncommon to see groups of young ...

Auditorium Progress

There are a lot of parallels to the construction of a building and the formation of a life. ...

FAMEX Conference in Guadalajara

I (Rod) am privileged to participate in a small Mexican missions agency based in Mexico called FAMEX, short ...

Where Language Divides, Love Speaks (by Kaitlyn Black)

Going to Mexico I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and I guess you could say I was ...

Hydroponic Projects (and submersible pumps)

I had the unexpected treat of spending the weekend with Gaspar Chablé, a pastor, rancher and friend from ...

Word of Life Connection

We are pretty familiar with Word of Life Bible Institute out of Schroon Lake, NY. Although we have ...

Summer Fruit

This summer has been busy for us. I actually hate using the word "busy" because so often it ...

Hope Community and DVBS 2016

It's been an exciting week for our annual church DVBS, this week setting some records as far as ...

Short-term Missions Preparation

Short-term missions trips require a lot of work, both on the part of the organizing church leadership as ...

Eternal Matters

If you've been paying attention to this blog (and others) and to our FB page, you've seen a ...

“Immeasurably More!”

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. Sorry about that. I've been running around with 36 ...

Auditorium Addition

We are extremely grateful for all of your prayers and financial investment in the church in Jesús María. ...

Mt. Calvary Church–Review of the Week

These past 9 days we were privileged to host a group of 20 people from Mt. Calvary Church, ...

Summer Power Shuffle Begins

Tomorrow our summer of activity officially begins, with the arrival of a group of 20 (plus our son ...

Wheelchairs!

I finally got word mid-week last week that I could deposit funds for 30 wheelchairs and go pick ...

Confirming Details

A group of around 20 people from Mt. Calvary Church, Elizabethtown PA will be arriving June 10, Lord ...

Preparation

This past week I was involved in a series of meetings, and there are a lot of details, ...

Book List

I get my book list probably from the same place you do...from friends who say, "Hey, you gotta ...

WoL/PdV

Usually when I use the initials "Wol" I'm referring to my home church, Word of Life Chapel. Over ...

Word of Life Bible Institute Zona de Impacto

This weekend we are excited to have a group of students from Word of Life Bible Institute, located ...

Cantando en Español and English

If you need a prayer request, pray for this woman. Her name is Deborah Giese (pronounced GEESE-Y, yeah, ...

Hearing Aids and Beautification Project

A fairly new outreach for us here is the donation of hearing amplification devices. All we require is ...

Exponential 2x2x2 Timmy

Every year we think about a general theme to caption the gist of our we do here for ...

Mexico City Madness

It's not easy to live in the Mexico City metro area. It really seems like the city government ...

Our own Sweet 14, and the “Undefeated” Soccer League

This past week we put on two major sports outreach events. The first was our 5th soccer tournament ...

Rio Grande Bible Institute and the Landrums

This past Wednesday, son David and I, along with pastor friend Erik Morga and his wife Patty and ...

Make our World Beautiful

The picture at the top of this post is an actually picture of the wall in front of ...

Daniel’s Recovery from Knee Surgery

As you may recall, our son Daniel tore both his ACL and MCL in the last two minutes ...

How to Reach Out?

One of the questions I like to ask churches (and ask myself) is this: How do we as ...

Oaxaca Men’s Week 2016

After our week in CA with Valley Bible we arrived home on a Monday night. On Tuesday I ...

San Francisco and Valley Bible

The last two weeks for us have been a blessed blur, as we spent a week with friends ...

Uncharted Waters and Tiempo de Vivir

Our relationship with Uncharted Waters Sports Ministry in Ixtapaluca goes way back to 2007, when a team of ...

Gracias Kaycee!

We have been privileged to work alongside Kaycee Kaba for the last year as she has served the ...

ACL Surgery Prayer Request

Many of you know that our son Daniel tore his ACL and MCL (two ligaments in his knee) ...

Wheelchair Ministry Thank You (video)

This is going to prove to be a classic post. Below, our daughter Cathy doing a short video ...

Drywalling

How do you transport 8 sections of 4x8" drywall? Well, if you have an Astro Van, anything is ...

Community Center Closing Program (video)

Many of you know that we like using all sorts of "good works" to reach out to our ...

Forays into Mexico City

This past week has been full of expected and unexpected happenings. It has been a week where we ...

Being Bi-cultural (part 4) Communication

Don't beat around the bush. Just tell me! Generally speaking, U.S. culture values clarity and honesty in communication. ...

Our Son Daniel

If you would have told us in early March, 2013 that our son would be finishing out his ...

Being Bi-cultural (part 3) Tasks vs. People

Without a doubt one of the huge differences between U.S. and Mexican culture is the value that each ...

Family Connections. WOL Pastor’s Conference (part 2)

One of the realities of missionary life is that nobody knows your family. In most cases, people you ...

Word of Life Mexico Pastor’s Conference (part 1)

About a month ago, Mayra and I were invited to a missions conference at the Villa de las ...

Being Bi-cultural (part 2) Visas

As a family we literally have nearly 30 passports in a drawer in our house, most of them ...

Being Bi-cultural (part 1) Kid’s Education

Being bi-cultural is wonderful, but it's also challenging. Probably the biggest area of difficulty for a bi-cultural family ...

Gethsemane (a poem)

GETHSEMANE The image of a cross I see in the tear of Him who would die for me, ...

Wheelchair Video, Rural Oaxaca

Another video from Adventures in Life Ministry and Dave Miller from a recent medical mission week in northern ...

A Story of Forgiveness and Redemption

While in Oaxaca I was able to speak at length with Gaspar. By "at length" I mean for ...

Urban and Rural Outreach

This past weekend I drove to Oaxaca with three friends from the church. Oaxaca is beautiful and very ...

A Van Full of Goodies

Tomorrow at noon a group of us will be going through four huge black plastic bags full of ...

“Little Animals”

For the last five months we have been involved in reaching out and assisting in a number of ...

Is the End Near? (part 2)

The original intention of this second and last blog post about the end of the world was to ...

Is the End Near? (part 1)

A conversation with a friend, then two recent sermons have confirmed in me what I have been sensing...we ...

Good Neighbors

Long ago as part of my orientation to Mexico I was required to read a short book about ...

Summertime Happiness

We feel very blessed to be able to spend several weeks with our son Daniel, my parents and ...

Baptisms!

What dispenses grace? The Roman Catholic church believes that God's grace is given and received through a number ...

Cars and Corruption

If you live and minister in Mexico City your vehicle needs to be inspected or “verified” to use ...

Request List #1

One of the privileges of living between cultures is that we are able to channel resources in strategic ...

Summer Teams

We were privileged to be a part of three separate church groups this summer. During this time we ...

Summer Overdrive

We were pleased to have a group from Mt. Calvary Church with us from June 12-20. What a ...

missionXchange, the first week

A week ago today we picked up Wesley and Kevin at the airport. They got in at almost ...

Too Fearful to be Sorrowful

Yes, it has been quite a week in the United States. A quick look at social media highlights ...

missionXchange 2015 Mexico City

Two days after a great group from Mt. Calvary Church returned to PA, we kicked off our first ...

This Past Week in Pictures (wow!)

These past 8 days we were privileged to receive a group of 19 people from Mount Calvary Church ...

We Can Afford to be Generous People

The church. The church is not a building, although it often meets in a building. The church is ...

The Seed, Soil, and Action

I grew up in Lancaster County, PA, home to some of the most picturesque farming in the world. ...

Cursed is the One who Trusts in Man

This is the verse that has been running through my mind like a digital alarm that I can't ...

Loving our Enemies. Turning the Other Cheek

I must confess that I get a kick out of listening to Dennis Miller on his weekly "Miller ...

If Our Van Could Talk

With a little help from the Reider family and our home church, Wolc (thanks!), we purchased a 1 ...

Men’s Meeting Friday at 9

Why is it that the women have all the cool Bible studies? Not any more! For the last ...

Doctrinally Sound, Lovingly Tolerant

After last Sunday morning's Sunday school lesson on the foundational purpose of the original 12 apostles, and how ...

Conferences, Wheelchairs and Skate Parks

I know Mayra would appreciate your prayers for tomorrow, Saturday April 25. She will be speaking to around ...

The Most Important Question for a Local Church

A question that I ask myself, and ask churches both in the U.S. and here in Mexico, is: ...

Going Viral, Living a Contagious Faith–Graphics

I think I mentioned on our previous post that the theme for this year's outreach events and short-term ...

Evangelization via Relationship

In his book Cross-cultural Servanthood, Duane Elmer cites a study done by the Canadian International Development Agency, seeking ...

Road Stories and God’s Faithfulness–Part 2

A couple of days ago I wrote about our trip up to the U.S. for a missions conference ...

Road Stories and God’s Faithfulness-Part 1

Our 2003 Chevrolet Astro has something like 160,000 miles on it now. Not too many, right? But if ...

A Ministry for The Rest of Us

I spoke to Dave Miller this afternoon. He was in a hospital bed near Las Vegas. I told ...

Yeast

For the last month, every Friday evening we've been meeting in a home in a new neighborhood here ...

5th Anniversary this Sunday

Over the past week a bunch of us have been working on details for this coming Sunday's 5th ...

Holiness and Grace in the Local Church

I preached a sermon several months back entitled "The Holiness of God and the Reality of the Christian ...

A Broad Definition of Faith

I grew up in Lancaster Co, PA. Even though lots of dairy farms have gone out of business, ...

Our Week in Oaxaca

David and I spent last week with Dave Miller and Gaspar Chable at Gaspar's ranch outside of Oaxaca, ...

Playing with Baby Dolls

Many of you reading this will think that I am fabricating today's post. An overactive imagination maybe. Too ...

We’re Back!

Of course, we never really went away, but we've had a bunch of problems with website servers and, ...

Community Center Rationale

Yesterday we kicked off yet another semester of community center activities. I had a 6 p.m. English class, ...

Welcome 2015

"When it rains, it pours." December 2014 was full of good, bad and downright ugly. I won't go ...

Christmas Weekend

This weekend was a special one, with a prayer walk Saturday morning, an evangelism time Sunday morning and ...

Year End Events

This week and early next week we wrap up a semester of community center classes, this time in ...

Quick Trip, Two Purposes

Last week I flew into Harrisburg, PA, then drove up to Boston for three days with son Daniel. ...

Illustrating God’s Word

My good friend Samuel teaches physics in a High School in the morning, and in a Jr. Hi ...

Wheelchair Outreach Recharged

You may remember that over the past several years we've been distributing free wheelchairs as an extension of ...

A Gallon of Gas at $3.71

I wrote recently that many in the U.S. are enjoying plunging gasoline prices. Take a look at what ...

Theological Fruits and Nuts

I’ve been discouraged lately about the state of the evangelical church in Mexico. For the last two weeks ...

Day of the Dead Outreach

What to do about Halloween? It's perhaps a relevant question in the U.S., but here in Mexico, well, ...

Construction and Chicharrón

I stopped by the church around 1:30 p.m. today and found our construction foreman, Miguel, with his group ...

Mini-Neymar

David is really pretty good at soccer. Last summer, while playing with the big boys at a local ...

Cost of Living in Mexico

I've been reading on Facebook that some of you are quite delighted about falling gasoline prices. Plenty of ...

Daniel’s Day Off

So...our son Daniel, who is living in PA and studying 11th grade there, had a day off today. ...

The Church and the Building

Necessity is the mother of invention! Necessity dictates that we become more concerned about security after our church ...

The Volcano is Still There

For a long time I maintained a blog entitled "In the Shadow of Volcanoes." The title describes, almost ...

Theft and Missions

I just got a call from Samuel informing me that the church was broken into yet again. This ...

Back in the Deep South

Our trip from Pennsylvania back to Mexico City was full and fun. Adam Landrum and his son Lucas ...

Back to School and Football Season!

It's so beautiful in Lancaster County, PA! Daniel has survived two weeks of "two-a-day" football practices, in spite ...

Summertime in PA

We are so privileged to be in PA for the month of August. Wow, summer is so fun! ...

The Beach, Football and More

So...it's been a while since I published here. Everybody needs a little time away, and we are so ...

MissionXChange Internship 2015

Some of you may have heard that Rod and Mayra Fry are teaming up with Dave Miller and ...

End of Internship. Lessons Learned

Earlier this week the 5 students that composed this year's summer internship experience boarded a plane and returned ...

Soccer Tournament Outreach

What a Saturday! Actually the success of last Saturday began about 5 weeks ago. At least twice a ...

Painting Project

Over the last several weeks the inside of the church has continued to undergo transformation, with the rough ...

A Blessed Weekend (part 2)

We nearly canceled our summer evangelistic event after our main speaker was not able to come, but decided ...

A Blessed Weekend (part 1)

Through an interesting sequence of events we were introduced to a Christian rehabilitation center in a nearby neighborhood ...

Upcoming Events!

We're gearing up for a full weekend, preparing for a "Mini-fería" or Mini-Fair in a public area in ...

Baptisms July 2014

We all have messed up. We stumble through life searching for something to give us purpose, to grant ...

Teaching and Learning

The interns are involved in teaching English in several neighborhoods nearly every day, and on Tuesday were invited ...

Nacho Libre

Returning from downtown yesterday.

All in a Day’s Work

You never know what you're getting in for teaching English at the local jr. high school. Today, Peter ...

Superstar Soccer Status (video)

It's always kinda fun to take college students from the U.S. into Jr.Hi. and High Schools here. There ...

Redemption

We just finished week 4 on our Tuesday night study on salvation. Now that we totally have mastered ...

The Importance of Meals

The Mexico national team won in dramatic fashion today, over a strong Croatian team. Final score...3-1. The victory ...

Influence

I was talking to a new friend, Hussam, yesterday about the importance of the gospel impacting a community ...

So How Long Have You Been in Mexico?

Every now and then I get this question. Just compare the two photos below and it will give ...

Cleaning up the Neighborhood

Those of you who know me pretty well know that one of my requests for a future occupation ...

That’s just something I do.

This week has been a busy one as far as teaching. On Tuesday I began a 6-week series ...

Short-Term Missions Done Right

Thinking about a short-term missions experience? Not sure you want to deal with the hyper-activity? Not sure you ...

Only One Worthy

I've written about the celebration of Ixtapaluca's patron saint, El Señor de los milagros, or "Lord of Miracles" ...

MissionXchange is the Winner!

Some of you know that we're excited about kicking off a new 6-week long mission experience next summer, ...

Dysfunctional Communication

We're preaching through Genesis as a church, and I've had the privilege of preaching through chapters 25-32. Preaching ...

Do you really know what tacos even are?

Some helpful hints to help you determine if you are eating a real taco: Taco Bell tacos are ...

A Three Hour Tour

Depending on how old you are, the phrase "a three hour tour" might bring to mind lyrics like ...

Daredevil David

If I'm not mistaken, "riding the rail" is Chicago slang for "going to the racetrack." Well no, we're ...

Blogging with Friends

All of our co-workers, and even a future co-worker, are communicative. Communicative, mind you, can be used as ...

Blogging with Friends

In spite of my friend (and cousin) Josiah's best efforts, the MexicoMatters.org site continues to experience issues. He ...

Take a Mission Vacation. Come to Mexico.

Mayra and I just talked to the owners of a two-bedroom house in a nearby neighborhood. We are ...

Milk, Gas and Razors

A gallon of milk in Mexico (at Walmart) costs 51.50 pesos, or about $3.96 U.S. Minimum wage in ...

Check out MexicoMatters.org

Hi there! I've begun to transition over to a new website entitled MexicoMatters.org. Check out the latest post, ...

Food and Ministry

While at a missions conference at Mt. Calvary Church, lead pastor Richard Vaughn mentioned that book that I ...

Earth Movers R Us

A bunch of church people showed up at 10 a.m. this morning to move several cubic meters of ...

Wheelchair Donation Request

I just sent a petition for 50 more wheelchairs to Operation Blessing today. Apparently they do not have ...

New Logo!

Take a look at our brand new MexicoMatters.org logo, which Samuel just created for us. We are just ...

New Logo!

Take a look at our brand new MexicoMatters.org logo, which Samuel just created for us. We are just ...

Summertime Preview…and a new 1st

Summers are without a doubt one of our busiest times of ministry in Mexico, largely due to the ...

If I Were a Mission Agency President (part 2)

I remember graduating from Bible school and talking to the pastor of my home church about the possibility ...

If I Were the President of a MIssions Agency (part 2)

I remember graduating from Bible school and talking to the pastor of my home church about the possibility ...

Two Videos of Sendero de Vida’s Church Service

Below, several videos of services that we've had at the new property. The first video was made by ...

If I Were a Missions Agency President (part 1)

I remember a long time ago a number of people told me that I was going to be ...

If I were a Mission Agency President (part 1)

I remember a long time ago a number of people told me that I was going to be ...

Getting Missional

Word definitions are curious animals, especially when a new word or word phrase makes a debut. The American ...

Getting Missional

Word definitions are curious animals, especially when a new word or word phrase makes a debut. The American ...

Let’s Get David Back to Uruguay

The video below is about David Gomez's ministry in the country of Uruguay. David is a good friend ...

Sendero de Vida JM 4th Anniversary Celebration

Check out some pictures from the church's 4th anniversary yesterday. What a great time we had, with both ...

MexicoMatters.org

Over the course of the next couple of weeks (and maybe sooner) we will be changing the way ...

Big News for Daniel and Our Family!

A big thanks to Mt. Calvary Church and School. We spent a full, encouraging four days with Pastors Dick and ...

Daniel will be a Charger!

A big thanks to Mt. Calvary Church and School. We spent a full, encouraging four days with Pastors ...

Worship Languages…Nature and Community

Quite a challenging sermon by Dr. Dan Sheard, who is also superintendent at the school. Are we beholding ...

This Weekend at Mount Calvary

We're excited to participate this weekend in Mount Calvary Church's missions conference! The conference kicks off Sunday morning ...

Cornerstone Youth Center Event

My dad is on the board at a real neat youth outreach in Elizabethtown, near the E-town train ...

Video of Last Sunday’s Service in JM

We have been in PA since March 12, and this morning was the third morning we've woken up ...

Property Progress Pics

I'm reposting some pictures that co-worker Tina just put on Facebook. You can see progress on the temporary ...

Moses at Sight and Sound

Thanks to some gracious people who my parents know who are employees at Sight and Sound Theatre, the ...

Good Conference at Wolc…and Snow!

This past weekend we were extremely privileged to take part in Word of Life Chapel's missions conference. I ...

All of Us (Daniel too) Made it to PA

After a smooth day of travel yesterday with a slight delay on our connecting flight from Chicago to ...

Language and Culture…a Barrier, but also a Bridge

Last Sunday David Gómez shared in our Sunday morning worship hour. David is one of several Mexican missionaries ...

Passport Trauma Continues

You may remember a post back around the beginning of February about the beginning of our passport adventures...driving ...

Core Values of the Sendero de Vida Bible Church (part 1 of 2)

Core Values: Sendero de Vida Bible Church (translated from Spanish, points 1 and 2 of 5)1. LOVE: Love ...

Language and Culture. Barriers, Bridges, Trampolines.

Last Sunday David Gómez shared in our Sunday morning worship hour. David is one of several Mexican missionaries ...

A Pictorial Rewiew of the Property Development (en español también)

It has been a little over 14 months since we signed a contract to buy a property for ...

Quietly Extraordinary (part 2)

(continued...)As a young person, Gaspar wrote letters to a Canadian missionary who worked on the west coast of ...

Quietly Extraordinary (part 1)

This past Tuesday I ordered arrachera fajitas and he ordered stuffed chipotle peppers. The conversation that followed was ...

Trip to Veracruz (part 3)

I mentioned before church services practically happened around the clock. The velorio did not lack for pastors and ...

Trip to Veracruz (part 2)

I was weak because of lack of sleep and literally nothing in my stomach. A 6-hour trip through ...

Trip to Veracruz (part 1)

Last Tuesday night at nearly 11 p.m. we received a call from Samuel that Aurora's father Ruben passed ...

Passports. Grr…

A cross-cultural life adds at least one extra dimension to life: the ongoing need for passports and visas. ...

Seeing Things

I don't have many spiritual gifts. That is not humility, that is fact. It is easy to look ...

Reflecciones del amor y el matrimonio, C.S. Lewis

Una intimidad completa y complejaEl inventor de la máquina humana nos estaba diciendo que sus dos mitades, el ...

My Temporary Office…and Reflections on Jonah

My two boys are once again going to football practice, this time with another team much closer to ...

Changes and Vision

We recently made a change in our mission affiliation, and wanted to briefly make you aware of this ...

20 More Wheelchairs, 20000 more pills

A big thanks to those who have donated for our ongoing wheelchair ministry. To date we've donated about ...

Less than Circumspect Inspection

Something happened to me today which didn't seem all that surprising to be honest, at least to me. ...

Mission Field to Mission Force (part 3) The Education Virus

I remember graduating from Bible College (MBI) and thinking I knew something about the local church and about ...

Mission Field to Mission Force (part 2) Ethnocentrism

I am not a statistician. I am not a missiologist either. But I am involved in missions in ...

Marrying and Burying People

Part of the reason I wanted to become a missionary was so that I wouldn't have to marry ...

Mission Field to Mission Force? (part 1)

Much has been said about the potential of Latin American countries becoming a significant force, perhaps even the predominant ...

Tiempo de Vivir Community Center Activities

The week we kick off another semester of community center activities. I'm heading in to teach our first ...

A Horrible Accident

On Wednesday, a group of of including all the members of FAMEX (all three of us!) drove up ...

Wheelchair Events (pictures)

I wanted to put some pictures of the three wheelchair events we did over this past weekend, but ...

Sledgehammers and Wheelchairs

These last three days have been full and productive ones. I'm exhausted! Really. I can't hardly type. For ...

Wheelchair Events in New Neighborhoods

Over the next four days we will be donating 21 wheelchairs to needy people in three different neighborhoods ...

The Decline of a Society (part 2)

I remember when President Bush invaded Iraq. I have no desire to get into the politics of that ...

The Decline of a Society (part 1)

My recent short visit to Lancaster County, PA, was delightful, and surprising my parents was priceless. I almost ...

Faith Sees the Unseen

This Christmas season has been full of diverse events, both joyous and melancholy, full of surprises and sickness, ...

End of Year Surprises

I like surprises, and like surprising. Turns out we received several generous Christmas gifts at this year's end, ...

Thank You, Feliz Navidad!

The Fry Family wants to wish you a blessed Christmas season, and a new year rededicated to listening ...

Weddings, Funerals and Festivities

Over the last month we've had the privilege in participating in three of the most significant life events ...

Greetings…north and south of the border!

Exchanging the Glory of the Immortal God for Images

This is one of the rather intense blog posts, so if you're not really interested in getting a ...

Short-term Teams Done Right (part 2)

In my last post I focused on some misconceptions regarding short-term teams, in this post I'll be more ...

Short-Term Teams Done Right (Part 1)

I've had several conversations recently with churches desirous of making missions more relevant to their local congregations. Unfortunately ...

Short-term Opps Done Right. (part 3) Openness and Humility

This is the final blog on Short-term Opps Done Right. If you missed the first two blogs, click ...

Short-term Opps Done Right (part 2)

In my last post I focused on some misconceptions regarding short-term teams, in this post I'll be more ...

Guitar, Drums, Watching TV. All at Once. Sure!

Here's Daniel on the drums and cousin Israel on the electric guitar. Oh, can we watch football while ...

Short-term Opps Done Right (part 1)

I've had several conversations recently with churches desirous of making missions more relevant to their local congregations. Unfortunately ...

Quinceaños, Weddings and Tattoos

This year's final month is going to be full of special activities, with a girl from our church ...

You Just Gotta Smile

For those of you who know David a little bit, well, you know he's pretty active. My wife ...

Justice and Injustice: The Need for a Supreme Being

This past Sunday afternoon Samuel and Aurora invited us up to their house, and we spent the better ...

20 Wheelchairs, a Drum Set, Random Kitchen Appliances and Two Dogs

Just when Tina thought that nothing more could fit into her garaje space, I show up with 20 ...

Prayer for Don Ruben

We'd ask your prayers for Aurora´s father Ruben. He had a heart attack, and was transferred from a ...

Valley Reunion. Good Friends. Same Language

We've had a lot of people in our house over the years, including many visitors from the U.S. ...

A Church Making a Difference

Mayra and I have the wonderful privilege of being supported by Valley Bible Church, in the San Francisco ...

Valley Journal. Diversity and Unity in the Church

We first met a group from Valley Bible Church way back in 2002 (maybe). One thing led to ...

A Child Against the Darkness

I've commented before on how Mexico makes a five-day weekend out of celebrating death, so I won't go ...

Charlie’s Plowman’s Farm

Check out Charlie Estañol's fascinating new ministry project, The Plowman's Farm, and the video that informs as to ...

Getting our Hands Dirty…and Transitions

Last week we stopped renting a two-bedroom home, affectionately known as "la casa de David," a house on ...

Mensaje para Halloween y Día de los Muertos

NO TE DEJES ENGAÑAR…POR ESTAS FIESTAS Y TRADICIONES En este país celebramos la muerte. La muerte es un ...

Praying to Mary. Part 5 in a Series. Is Mexico a Christian Country?

There is a very common misperception in the U.S. today (and unfortunately even in missiological circles) that Mexican ...

Gotta be Some Sort of Record

Last night David ordered and polished off 3 orders of his favorite taco, beef without cheese. That's like ...

My Cousin Ben and the Tragedy of Abortion

Recently a friend in Minnesota, Alyssa, has been reminding many of us of the tragedy of abortion, and ...

When Mexico Loves the U.S.

My sons and I and practically the whole entire country were watching Mexico's crazy game against Costa Rica ...

Jour de l’Action de grâce

We're excited to celebrate Canada Thanksgiving Day (Jour de l'Action de grâce) with the Cottrills today...well, at least most ...

Nuevo curso: la apologética cristiana

La apologética cristiana ¿Cuántas personas que conocemos han empezado a creer en Santa Claus o en los Reyes ...

The Whole World Will Be Ours…but in the meantime

We are in the process of forming a Mexican non-profit to give our community center ministry here more ...

Recent Top Blog Posts

Recent popular blog posts. If you missed them, check them out! Stick out Like a Sore Thumb. Translating ...

Missions Conference Time and “The Call”

This article will appear, or so I'm told, in The Moody Standard, and in-house publication at Moody Bible ...

Vocabulario prohibido en la casa Fry

Abajo, una lista de palabras no gratas en nuestra casa. En sí tal vez no son groserías...¡pero tampoco ...

WoW at Corban

The banner at the top of the blog is the banner that friend Paul Johnson will be using ...

Stick Out Like a Sore Thumb

Friday at ExpoCristiana I had the opportunity to translate for Elizabeth George during an interview on live TV ...

Guitar Class and Random Thoughts

First of all, a quick prayer request for Aurora, Samuel's wife. She has been suffering from unusually high ...

Book List and Community Center Update

Here's a list of books that I've either just finished or am in the process of reading. Most ...

A Circular Dinner at the WTC Mexico City

After never visiting the World Trade Center in all our years here, turns out going there is becoming ...

Innovative Organizations

Organizations and websites that are on my radar. Operation Blessingis a huge relief organization based out of Virginia ...

Miriam, Tashami, Carmen and God

Last night Miriam called us. We met Miriam two summers ago at our first wheelchair distribution event, in ...

No News and Good News…Property Update

I spoke with Rodrigo today, the architech who is helping us navigate through the legal obstacle course of ...

Community Center Activities for Fall 2013

This week marks the 7th (I think) semester of classes for our community center Tiempo de Vivir, affiliated ...

Rain, Rain Go Away

Thanks for those of you who have been praying for Aurora's parents. It would appear that the majority ...

Prayer for the Coasts

The picture of Mayra and Aurora is from 2010, when a bunch of us (19) took a 5-day ...

Unimaginable Dangers, Many Secrets

Good friend and pastor Fernando Amezcua and the church that he pastors, Grace Bible Church (Iglesia Bíblica Gracia) ...

Wheelchair Video (from event yesterday)

A big thank you to co-work Jim Cottrill who accompanied me yesterday to this event and produced this ...

Which is Easier, to Heal or to Forgive?

Mark 9:1-12 is a great passage to read right before you donate wheelchairs to a group of people ...

The Essential Ingredient

I found myself talking for a long while about all sorts of very good stuff yesterday, in a ...

Land, Mobility and Migraines

So much to write about...so much that is difficult to express and explain in such a small space. ...

$21 per Wheelchair

Ismael and I cruised into the Mexico City today to pick up 20 Generation 2 wheelchairs to be ...

Josiah and Heather

Had a great time this past weekend with Josiah Heigel and his (special) friend Heather Nero. We took ...

Wheelchairs and Oaxaca

Next Thursday Ismael and I will be going into the city a bit to pick up 20 wheelchairs. ...

Small Steps Toward Progress

Well, the church property project drama continues. Apparently on Monday night, overnight, about 35, 18 ft. lengths of ...

Tale of Two Trees

Turns out our tree cutting party was shut down because of a minor error on the part of ...

The Weightlessness of Evil

One of my favorite sections from all of C.S. Lewis' writings. What evil is when compared to the ...

Progress Being Made, Slowly

With permits in hand, progress is being made at the property. Today, a small door was opened in ...

Our Little Girl is 13!

Hard to believe that we have two teenagers in the house now. Cathy turns 13 today, and the ...

LCC Pastoral Visit at 12,000 ft.

After a pretty busy summer it has been great to hang out and fellowship with Jeff Pierce and ...

How Great is Our God

Yesterday was a full day and another standing-room-only service at Sendero JM. Really a special time of worship, ...

Mexico City Excursion

The Wolc team and half of Mexico was in downtown Mexico City this afternoon. Highlights of our time--several ...

Kid’s Club Wrap-Up

I didn't post anything yesterday because we only arrived home around 12:30 last night, after a great night ...

Day 4

Below, several pictures from Day 4 of the kids club. Marla also helped with a baking class, bringing ...

Day 3 Kids Club and Construction

Once again, not a whole lot of time to write an extensive report...because it's already about 11 p.m. ...

Kids Club, Day 2, Craft time Day 1

We really have no idea how many kids we had today...estimates go from 65 to 90, but was ...

Day 1 Wolc Team

All ten members of the team arrived on time, but we're still waiting on Shawn's luggage! Everyone else, ...

Teachers Dressed as Flight Attendents

Last night the many in the church turned out to help clean up the área in front of ...

It’s Not as Hot Here As You Think

This morning I went to the local Office Depot and got a bunch of orientation packets printed out ...

Sleep-overs, Nerf Wars and Puzzles

This post is dedicated to our kids and our nephews! They've been engaged in a permanent pajama party ...

Giving a Bit of Orientation

Thanks to those of you who prayed for my prayer this past Sunday. It was a really neat ...

A Sunday Prayer

When Daniel's football season began, we were happy to see that of 8 weekend games, only two were ...

Kid’s Club Extravaganza

Every year for the past 10 years, long before the Jesús María church began to meet, Marta and ...

Minion Birthday

Here's some pictures of David's birthday party yesterday. The amazing thing is that he actually smiled normally for ...

Internship Program Finale and the Red Dragons

Our 2013 summer internship is officially over, with our interns returning to Dallas/Denton for a short debrief time ...

Community Projects, Part 2

Today was our second day of community service projects, and the first day of a youth day camp ...

Serving God through Serving our Community

After a challenging devotional time talking about the last days of King Josiah in 2 Chronicles (is that ...

Baptisms Sendero de Vida

Lots happening here, but one really special event that we participated in as a church family here this ...

Visitors and Activities

These last few days have been a blur of sorts, with people coming and going (mostly coming), trying ...

Football…with Helmets and Such

This past Sunday Daniel played his second official football game, and his team, the Cherokees, dominated the entire ...

Everybody Needs to Get Sick at Least Once While Here

Mayra and I got a call at 5:30 a.m. this morning. Now, that's never good news! And it ...

Interns and Vocanoes

Tomorrow our interns return from Guadalajara after being there about 12 days, participating in a youth retreat, being ...

Honor Guards (video)

Can you find our two youngest kids? This was the official, former transfer of flag duties from one ...

Cathy’s Graduation from 6th Grade

Here's some pictures from Cathy's graduation this Friday. Where did my Little girl go! More comments later.

Christmas in July. Sort of.

It's a rare thing indeed to wake up on a 4th of July and find the world was ...

Summer DVBS Poster and Airplane

Every year we have multiple kids clubs. Just a couple of weeks ago we did a sports camp, ...

Standing Room Only

Here's a shot of our church service on Sunday, with David Mena outside. Thanks for the picture, Jim ...

We Need a New Meeting Place!

Yesterday was a fun day at church, with probably a record attendance. I always get a kick out ...

Do Math First Next Year

Last night we once again had a full house, with a send-off party for Jacklyn Punt. Always great ...

Truth Stranger than Fiction

In another example that true is sometimes stranger than fiction, several of us were once again judges for ...

Quinceaños. No Big Deal for Boys

We've begun our annual five-month birthday run. Turns out that the five of us have birthdays in June, ...

More than Overnight to Deliver

Had a great time of worship and hearing the Word today. We did a lot of traveling over ...

Rain, Sports and Evangelism

A big shout-out to Mike Contreras and Teo Moreno, and the Uncharted Waters program that they use. All ...

TESOL and Sports Day #2

Fun night last night watching the 6th game of the NBA finals with Mike Contreras and Teo (or ...

Sports Week in Ixtapaluca

Check out Tina's blog post and Jim's blog post about the first day of a summer sports week ...

Is Mexico a Christian Country? Part 6

The following is the latest in a series of blogs entitled "Is Mexico a Christian Country." It is ...

Post-Conference Interview with Dave Miller

Last night we had a great time celebrating Daniel's 15th birthday with some friends, including Abbie Middleton, a ...

Rain, Traffic, and Daniel’s B-Day!

I take Daniel to his practices twice a week usually, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. His football practices go ...

How Much to Rent a Backhoe?

Last night Samuel and I met with a man who will be helping us navigate through the maze ...

Algebra Class

Daniel has taken a sudden interest in algebra. Could it be that his current teacher, Jacklyn, is much ...

72 Hours of English Classes…Go!

Marcy Metzger, our first intern to arrive this summer, has already begun to teach English. She will be ...

Fullback or Linebacker?

I thought I'd post some pics of Daniel during an early practice this morning (6 a.m. to 8 ...

Let the Games Begin

Tina has a great post summarizing some of the activities of this summer. Check it out HERE. Daniel's ...

Summer Internship and Activities

We are excited to begin our summer internship program here. Marcy, an MBI student, is the first to ...

Bulldozers, Pig Sties and Church Planting

Every now and then I am reminded of the differences between ministry in the U.S. and ministry here. ...

16 kids, 40+ grandkids

I went with Lydia, Allan's mom and a friend of hers to deliver our last Gen1 wheelchair today, ...

Saying Goodbye to Victor

This past Friday night we had another 40+ people in our house, most of them young people, to ...

Living Counter-Culturally

Yesterday I took the Green 1999 Chevy that we have to have some minor repairs done. The term ...

Sillas y Pastillas (Chairs and Pills)

"Sillas and pastillas" sounds a lot better in Spanish because it rhymes. "Chairs and pills" just doesn’t jingle ...

Equality and Fiestas

Victor Monterroso from the Boston area has been with us for the last three weeks, and has been ...

Iztapalapa Anniversary Sunday

The Iztapalapa Bible Church, renamed Peña de Horeb a few years back, started Sunday services way back in ...

FAMEX Missions Conference 2013

This past weekend is a bit of a blur, but a pleasant blur, with much blessing and challenge. ...

Lost Phone. Pyramids. Cool Stories

Ok, so I pick up Tony Vasquez at the airport last night and return to where Daniel has ...

Victor’s Adventures at Aztec Stadium

Victor is back with us after a few days in Ciudad Azteca with the Topp family. While there ...

153 Big Fish

I'm in the midst of studying for a sermon for next Sunday, May 26, at Peña de Horeb, ...

Residency Exam

Yesterday was a fun day at the Fry household, with over 40 people in our relatively small house. Late ...

Two Videos about Good Works and God’s Love

Here are two videos related to two workshops that will be presented at the FAMEX missions conference coming ...

Colorful and Aromatic (!) Xochimilco

Yesterday we took advantage of Teacher's Day (May 15 in Mexico) to take Victor and the family to ...

Reaching the World is Better Together

Planning continues for the FAMEX missions conference coming up in two weeks. Tony Vasquez will be the main ...

What? I Have a Car But Can’t Drive It?

This past weekend, after a nice time with Mayra's mother for Mother's Day on Friday (in Mexico that ...

On the Roof of the Cathedral

Yesterday Mayra needed to buy some things downtown, and the kids had off school (again), so we took ...

Harvest Bible Mexico City

Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach at Harvest Bible, Mexico City, doing pulpit supply for a week ...

Families Together!

Rare indeed to have our two families together...but we managed to make it happen earlier this week! The ...

Remembering A Year Ago With Thanksgiving (A pictorial review)

A little over a year ago, at around 1 p.m. in the afternoon, a got a rather frantic ...

Mr. Fix-It

Whenever my dad comes to Mexico, we save some things for him to do. Not really. But he ...

La Antigua, Veracruz

My dad and son officiating mass (not really) in a chapel in La Antigua, Veracruz, constructed in 1523, ...

One of My Favorite Things

One of my favorite things to do in all the world is fishing, and now I can always ...

Dan and Dad

Great to have mom and dad Fry down for a visit! Here, Daniel and my dad go head ...

Generation 3:16

Last night I took my son to football practice, and planned to talk to my good friend Toño ...

Noah and Claudia

Some of you may recognize the names Noah (Noé) and his wife Claudia, and their two boys, Claudio (17) ...

Drum Classes and Visitors

Our church is blessed to have a great drummer, Allan, who really lights it on Sunday as part ...

Promo Poster FAMEX Missions Conference

Below, a promo poster for our FAMEX missions conference, here in Mexico City May 24-25. We're excited to ...

Not of this World…Visa Process and Citizenship Issues

It always is funny to me when people say things like, "Well, because your wife married you, she ...

Political and Religious Conquest Do Not Mix (Part 5 in a series)

Check out previous postings on this subject HERE.The Spanish conquest of the New World, including Mexico, commenced around ...

An Action Packed Missions Conference in May

Friend Erik Morga and I spent a good part of Tuesday morning planning this year's FAMEX missions conference, ...

Evaluación DISC

Hoy al rato, en una reunión de líderes, vamos a evaluarnos usando una herramiento que se llama DISC, ...

Women’s Conference April 27

Here's a promo poster for a women's conference that our church is hosting the end of this month. ...

Phillipines Report, Fish Farms and Finishing the Task

I was delighted to confirm the participation of Operation Blessing Mexico at our upcoming missions conference the end ...

Wanna Play Football in Mexico?

Yes, I know, when I say football I should mean soccer, right? Especially because we live in Mexico, especially ...

Mr. Joe Ata

Over the past year we've distributed around 60 wheelchairs through an organization called Operation Blessing. Marta and I ...

Is Mexico a Christian Country? (Part 4)

Missed previous entries? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3Pre-Reformation CatholicismMonumental events occurred in the early 1500s, history altering ...

Third Anniversary Celebration Picture (and update)

Below, a picture of most of us at Sendero de Vida Jesús María's 3rd anniversary service. The church ...

Is Mexico a Christian Country? Part 3

Check out Jim Cottrill's blog post on some recent events here.What follows is a short entry on what ...

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

I grew up attending Easter Sunrise Services in my home church in PA, and now celebrate this super-special ...

Is Mexico a Christian Country? (Part 2)

Miss part 1? Check it out HERE.Disclaimers I was recently with a friend, and I gave him grief ...

Space Portals, Cool Trees and Hippies

(Yes, I know I promised to write about Mexican Roman Catholicism, but this is so much more fun!)When ...

Third Anniversary, Sendero 2

What a great time we had at church yesterday, celebrating the church's 3rd anniversary with a packed house! ...

Community Center Program

Last evening, after a rather raining afternoon, we had our 8th(?)closing program at the community center. It was ...

Is Mexico a Christian Country? (Part 1)

If you check out Operation World's facts and statistics regarding Mexico, you'll find that Mexico is 95% "Christian." ...

Calculus is a Foreign Language in Any Language

Last night after the Bible study on Daniel 9, I took Charles and Samuel out for tacos. I ...

Zach, We Have to Board!

We so enjoyed two couples who visited us here in Ixtapaluca for the last week or so. Pete ...

Egg Hunt

It's been a crazy weekend. I'm still recovering! Fortunately the kids didn't have school today in honor of ...

Snow on the Volcanoes

Co-worker Jim Cottrill took several pictures this morning of the spectacular view we have from where we live ...

An Historic Moment

Yesterday Daniel and I were with friends Pete and Beth Gross, Zach and Vonnie Netzly and Abigayle English, ...

Escape to the Mountains

Great to have Pete and Beth Gross, Zach and Vonnie Netzley, and Abigayle English. A big shout-out to ...

Hector and Lilia

The power of the gospel is most clearly seen in the transformation of people's lives, and rarely have ...

Football Family

Yeah, when thing get a bit rough in the Fry residence, we all put on our helmets and ...

Property Project Update–Crunch Time!

As many of you know, we are smack dab in the middle of a project to raise funds ...

New Life in Christ Studies, Revive Ministry

Our friend Samuel has been working on the artwork Volume 5 of New Life in Christ, or Nueva Vida ...

Church Planting Questions

What is your opinion with regards to these important aspects of starting a new church? Is a full-time ...

Cold Day in Mexico City

This morning when we left home for church around 8:45 a.m., the outside temperature was 37°F. We are ...

The Uncontrollable Nature of Idolatry

Our daily trip to drop the kids off at school every day is an obstacle course, as we ...

Radical Grace (Part 2)

(if you missed Part 1, you might want to start by clicking HERE.)Romans chapter six reminds us that ...

Radical Grace (Part 1)

I’ve been preaching through two chapters in Romans, chapters 6 and 7, and have been learning tons. Perhaps ...

Father Son Outing at 12,000ft

Just so happens that this year Ismael and I are circuit coordinators this year. Basically we coordinate events ...

Board Games and Future Projects

I received word recently that Operation Blessing Mexico (click here for U.S. site in English) now has second ...

Dave and Popo

Yesterday I spent the morning with new friend Dave Miller, from Adventures in Life Ministry. We met through ...

Authenticity and the Missionary Enterprise

Lastly in this brief foray into authenticity in ministry, I’d like to talk about the missionary enterprise. I ...

Valentine’s Dinner!

Ok, time to take a break from the rather intense posts of the past several days and talk ...

Would Jesus Use the Internet? Part 2

This is part two of an ongoing opinion evaluating the pervasive and corrupting influences of fame and the ...

Authenticity and the New Evangelical Elite

This is the first of a two or three part series. We all appreciate consistency between the message ...

Left Behind Remake

Remake of the Left Behind movie, this time with some serious star power, Nicolas Cage. Check out an ...

A Mix of Fondness and Fear–A Poem

Below is a poem I wrote a long time ago, somewhere around my early to mid 20s. During that ...

The Richest Became Poor. Economic and Spiritual Realities

According to a study released February, 2012, by the UNAM (Mexico’s largest and most prestigious university) a common ...

Thank God for Dirty Dishes

At our family cabin there is a little plaque right by the kitchen sink. "Thank God for dirty ...

Church Property Update

The church here is totally committed to fundraising during these days, with different sales and events going on ...

Migraines and Teenagers

Daniel experienced his first migraine in November, 2011. At the time, we had no idea what was going ...

Wheelchair #61

It's a whole lot of fun giving wheelchairs away! Today's recipient was Rosa, a mother of twin boys, ...

Superbowl Sunday…Fiesta!

Between today and tomorrow, I'm guessing somewhere around 90 people will spend some time in our house, eating, ...

Mexico City Metro Ride!

I mentioned that I wanted to write a bit about my experience in the Mexico City metro on ...

Martín’s Mariachi Celebration

Yesterday I took public transportation into Mexico City, and returned the same way. The metro part of the ...

Complicated and Expensive to Drive in Mexico City

We received a friendly reminder in the mail yesterday that we need to pay what is called a ...

Brigam, Dave, Charles, Pete, Beth

I was listening to the radio (in Spanish obviously) this morning. Lopez Obrador, the presidential candidate for the ...

Faith Saves, Faith Sanctifies

The church is going through the book of Romans, and my chapters are 1,6,7,15 and 16. Yesterday the ...

Socialized Medicine in Mexico

I stopped by for Miguel and Iris this morning at 6:30 a.m.. Miguel has had serious back problems ...

Las Mañanitas and Taco Ánimo

This evening was week two for our community center activities...4 people for English (down from 16 last week) ...

The End Times

Somewhere around 16 people braved the cold last night (yes, it does get cold here!) to attend our ...

RGBI Report

I've posted some pictures from our time in RGBI. Thanks to Erik Morga for taking most of them! ...

My Trip with David

As the kids grow older, it's been more and more possible to take them on trips with me. ...

Property Project Encouragement

If you are in any way aware of what's going on in the ministry here, you know that ...

Hopelessness and Hope

I've mentioned before that through the gracious gifts of several people in the U.S., and a great partnership ...

Slow Internet, Rapid Life

I have not been updating this blog much lately for one simple reason: our Internet connection is terrible. ...

Rio Grande Bible Institute

Last week was a blur...son David and I, along with Fernando Amezcua, Erik Morga, Tim Blykcer and Samuel ...

Family Mission Trips

Over the past several two years we've had several families come and visit us here. One family of ...

A Bigger Table Needed

Look who visited us yesterday! Miguel and Iris and their four kids were here for a Día de ...

Special Adoration Service

This Sunday we enjoyed a special "worship" service, or so we call it, although every Sunday is a ...

Strategy Games

We were happy to have our friend Denny Mohr with us. Samuel and Aurora, Mayra and I took ...

The Smoking Mountain!

It can be smoggy and foggy in Mexico City, but if you climb high enough...to over 12,000 feet, ...

Expensive Toys

I mentioned a couple of days ago HERE that some things are cheaper in Mexico. Labor-intensive work especially. ...

Give to an Excellent Cause

I've written before that the second Bible church signed a contract to purchase a property for an eventual ...

Bargain Prices in Mexico (for some things)

Happy New Year's Eve!There are aspects of life that are more expensive in Mexico. Anything electronic you're going ...

Valley Bible, Part 3

The church of Jesus Christwas one of the best ideas God came up with, and He’s come up ...

Valley Bible Journal Part 2…and Urbana 2012

The Camino Global team is at Urbana, including teammates Tiffany Taylor and Tina Barham, and our friend from ...

Valley Bible Journal Part 1

We still have a couple of wheelchairs from the last batch of 25 that we received. This one ...

Lunch at the Crazy Rabbit

Friend Denny flew down yesterday, and Samuel and I picked him up at the airport. The airport parking ...

More Holiday Traditions in Mexico

It really is amazing how diverse Christmas and New Year traditions are in Mexico. Please take the time ...

Christmas in Mexico

Yesterday we enjoyed a great Christmas service with Martín and Laura Méndez and the congregation in Santa Bárbara. ...

Contract Signed!

After a lot of prayer and a few years waiting, we signed a contract to buy a plot ...

Transparency and Corruption

Here's an interesting chart and article on corruption around the world. We could certainly tell a lot of ...

Mexican “Pastorela” or Christmas play

We went to kids' Christmas program last night. Much of it was fun and quite enjoyable. One part ...

Roadside Assistance

I was ready to sit down and watch the Cowboys and Steelers play on Sunday, when I got ...

Christmas Song Competition

As promised, some pictures from yesterday's Christmas song competition at a nearby jr. hi school. Thanks, Tina, for ...

Hallelujah! (Not the song you’re probably thinking) video

Fun day of judging Christmas songs at a nearby Jr. Hi school (pictures later), then at a special ...

New video from Cru. Good stuff.

Tomorrow, a Christmas carol sing-off in a nearby Jr. Hi school. Oh, will it be fun!Check out this ...

Names, Strong Coffee, Enchiladas Suisas

Last Friday evening at our closing ceremony, I came up to a man I had seen in church ...

Video Closing Program

Thanks Jim, once again, for a video record of our time last Friday evening (below). Great times! Check ...

Virgin Day

Occasionally someone will ask us why we are involved in church planting in Mexico, a country that is, ...

Community Center Closing Program Dec 2012

I'd first of all like to thank all of you who prayed for our event last evening. It ...

Let the Fun Begin!

Allan kicked off our week of outreach with a student-parent basketball time this afternoon. Allan desires to be ...

Basketball and Bible School

Today, Allan ends this semester of basketball classes. He has a closing time just with the kids in ...

What Motivates You?

I mentioned that I had read the book Drive:The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us several months ago, ...

Heart Art (more)

We're getting ready for this coming Friday...what we still need to do, among other things, is figure out ...

Stealing Stephen’s Pictures

Spent several hours last night putting together wheelchairs for distribution Friday evening. Here are a few pictures that ...

Round Numbers

On my way out the door to teach a course on music and singing, and to practice some ...

Hope Coffee for Christmas

Ahh, the smell of fresh cut pine (well, pine that was cut somewhere in Canada, or perhaps Michigan, ...

Art that Impacts

This coming Friday is our big event at the community center. We want part of that time to ...

Appreciation, Donation, Good News!

Next week is full of some amazing events.Sunday after church we travel to northern Mexico for an annual ...

Great White Hunters

My dad and some relatives enjoyed their annual ritual of walking their rifles around the woods this year. ...

Pastor’s Breakfast at Puebla Bible Seminary

Toño Muñoz stopped by today at around 7 a.m., and we headed to Puebla. Toño was speaking at ...

Hope Coffee

Following the example of friend Alan McManus, I'm also advertising Hope Coffee, a great way to buy some ...

Veracruz and Progress

This past week we spent three days in Veracruz, and got together as a team for a devotional ...

Thanksgiving and Sodium

After suffering for a couple of days at a beach in Veracruz, Mexico, our family was headed home, ...

Mexican Pastor Friends

Several of us from Ixtapaluca traveled to northern Mexico City this past Saturday and attended an event entitled ...

Sendero Website and Joe Briones

Just got this email...kinda cool. I posted about this material a couple of days ago, an illustrated color ...

Anyone Want to Help Put Together Wheelchairs?

A big THANKS to those of you who helped us buy this last batch of wheelchairs. I saw ...

Earthquake!

One of the joys of living near a fault line is the occasional feeling of weirdness that happens during an ...

Initiating and Sustaining Relationships

Stephen P. mentioned these cartoon tracts, available through David Cook Publishing and the Global Church website. I wrote ...

Sing, Sing a Song…or Paint a Picture

Over the next several months I'll be teaching a singing and music course (mostly singing) to two different ...

Prayer Request for Martín

A special prayer request today...Martín Méndez, pastor of the first church, has been experiencing severe headaches, and at ...

Property and Non-Profits

14 people in prayer meeting today...good start to the day. We continued to pray about a property for ...

Summer Teams and Construction

Our meeting this morning regarding a potential property for the church was very encouraging! I'll give updates as ...

Amigas del Alma Event

Tomorrow I'll be meeting with the owner of some property near the second church, to investigate the possibility ...

Special Service Yesterday

Yesterday we celebrated a special worship service, during which many different people from our congregation participate. I was ...

David Fishing (video)

A short video of son David doing what he most loves to do!

Pátzcuaro, Mixqui, and Spiritual Darkness

Pátzcuaro is one of several Mexican towns supercharged in occult practices that have departed radically from traditional Roman ...

Death Day

I took my son David and nephew Israel fishing today. David caught five and Israel caught three, all ...

A Long Weekend…for Day of the Dead

No school tomorrow or Friday. Halloween is today, then two days of Day of the Dead in Mexico. ...

12,100 ft. Above Sea Level

We enjoyed a good T2 team talk with Phil O'Day and Bob Buhler (who is not related to ...

Pumpkin Smash Video Farrar Mens Dorm

Back in the saddle after several days in the great Northwest, enjoying an edifying and crazy time with ...

Corban, Charlie and the Oregon Coast

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be involved in three different classes here, two of them with a ...

Pumpkin Smashing

Yesterday our first full day at Corban began with a great chapel service, the teaching time in charge ...

Music Ministry, Coro Unido

I continue to be EXCITED about all the opportunities coming up to be involved in various ways in ...

MBI, Corban, Río Grande, video

I'm re-posting a video that co-worker Jim Cottrill created, summarizing the summer internship in 2010. Good stuff! Just ...

Snakes and Volcanoes

I was studying a future passage on Romans yesterday afternoon when I heard a little neighborhood kid screaming ...

From Mexico City to Puebla via Paso de Cortez

Yesterday Stephen P. showed up at our door. He looked lonely and hungry...so we invited him in, fed ...

David, our Soccer Player

David has decided that he likes soccer better than football after all, and has been very enthusiastically involved ...

Football and Krispy Kremes

So...the Cowboys lost again. The only consolation is that the Eagles did too. And it looks like San ...

Chan talks Church Planting

I preach tomorrow, kicking off the book of Romans, 1:1-15. It is probably the least doctrinally intense part ...

Drums, Guitar, Prayer

This week was a good week for community center activities. Daniel (below) filled in for Allan Wednesday, and ...

Honoring Those in Our Communities

I was pleased to hear about a special service honoring local First Responders and Emergency Personnel, hosted by ...

Where in the World is Allan?

Sam just completed a banner for Corban U's missions week, which begins October 22. The theme, as you ...

Soplando Vida/Breathing Life

My wife recently bought a CD of one of our favorite singers in Spanish, Jesús Adrian Romero. One ...

Cumpleaños Party

A big thanks to all of you who sent me birthday greetings yesterday. We had a great time ...

Taco Cake

I spent a good part of the morning today going around buying things (ok, Mayra actually bought them) ...

The Moody Chorale

Lots of color in this picture! I made Tina's "picture of the day" yesterday, in part no doubt ...

English is Crazy!

I'm having fun teaching Daniel English. Sort of. Amazing how many rules have so many exceptions that they ...

Opps for 2013

Thank you to a couple of you that responded to yesterday's email regarding the wheelchairs. Just wanting to ...

Donations Accepted

Just got word that we can go pick up another 20 wheel chairs, but we have to pay ...

Death Rate 100%

Here I am sitting with Sam...it's 8:30 p.m. and he's finishing up some graphic work for Corban University's ...

Good Day to Worship!

I'm stealing some of Stephen Predtechenskis's photos for this post...I really like the shadows in these pics of ...

Spiritual Conversations

We knocked on Stephen's door this morning at 9 a.m., and it sure looked like he was actually ...

Tashami

Some of you know that we've been involved in handing out wheelchairs during the past several months, working ...

WOW logo, Family Missions Experiences

Corban WOWDaniel and I are gearing up for our time with Paul Johnson and family at Corban University, ...

Hot Water

Stephen Predtechenskis arrives today...so yesterday we were making sure he has at least a minimum amount of food, ...

Community Center Kick-Off this Week

At church today, we handed out 400 flyers and 14 small posters to be posted next to stores ...

Independence Day Video

A short video of the Independence Day activities here last week. A big thanks to Jim Cottrill for ...

A Christian Caste System

Ed Stetzer is beginning a series on the concept of "laity" or laypeople, and points out how this ...

The King is Coming

A story on CNN caught my attention today. A French magazine was going to publish a satirical cartoon ...

“No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets”

I received an email from Paul Johnson, or Professor Johnson to his students at Corban University in Salem, ...

Who are You? Why Do You Do What You Do?

On Sunday we handed out all the 25 banners that were printed out kicking off our "Be Born ...

Partying Mexican Style!

This weekend Mexico (and most of the countries south of here) celebrated independence from Spain. Mexico's independence process ...

Abstract Art and Societal Transformation

In the multi-faceted outreach with the Born Again theme in December we'd also like to feature art that ...

Mormons and Buildings

I was talking to my favorite Mormon friend Edgardo about the fact that there are Mormon church buildings ...

If You Want to Change Mexico…

We'll be kicking off a multi-faceted outreach culminating in a community center outreach in December. Here's the first ...

Subversive Kingdom

Last night we went as a family to visit Iris and Miguel, and their four kids. They have ...

What are You Living For?

Daniel went with a friend to a school where his mother, Liz, teaches. We allowed him to go ...

Mayra’s Birthday and Ricardo’s Birthday

Yesterday Mayra turned ____, I guess the answer to that is 29. We as a family tried our ...

Jesus Thoughts Mowing Grass

Any number of entities should have cut the grass in the park in from of our community center/market ...

Who is this Man?

Online e-books and e-readers like Kindles and Nooks have changed the way in which we read, and most ...

Vuelve a Nacer

This past July, Mexico elected a new president, and many local governmental positions were up for re-election also. ...

S´mores and Culture

I must confess when Susan Miller, Tony's wife, gave us a mini indoor S´more make complete with Sterno ...

Church Planting Movements–10 Universal Elements

I came across this file hidden in our computer and thought it was worth another look.The Ten Universal ...

Tacos with Sam

Now, one of the activities that I most enjoy in Mexico is eating tacos in the evening with ...

18 Different Beds

Just one of the random details from our 8Kmile+ road trip. We're happy to be back home, and ...

Natural and Supernatural

Life can be lived naturally or supernaturally. Living life naturally is easy. The only thing it really requires ...

In Dallas, Hope Coffee

After driving a bit over 750 miles on Wednesday, we drove another 700 miles yesterday and arrived at ...

Youth Kick-off Sunday and Comm Center Schedule

Great time with our dear friends of Word of Life Chapel on Sunday. It was youth kick-off Sunday, ...

Quilts and Quiet

We are back to the digital world after several wonderful days out of cell phone and WiFi range. ...

New PrayerCard

Today, a church board meeting and rehearsal for this Sunday's worship. Also today, a meal with cousin Tony ...

Gold Medal Bass

David and my uncle Dwight (any family resemblance is purely coincidental), with two nice bass that Dwight and ...

Run for the Border

Yes, our kids like Taco Bell...although they will admit that Taco Bell tacos really aren't tacos. No, this ...

Sam’s Wolc Mural

Our friend Samuel, from Ixtapaluca, has been commissioned with painting a mural for our home church, and has ...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Yesterday, Dave Dilworth, pastor of Word of Life Chapel, organized a church activity to go see the Lancaster ...

Mexicans in PA and Julie Ellenbarger

Our time at EGBC was great yesterday; good to touch base with some many friends. Afterwards we had ...

Where in the World are the Valtierras?

We returned from the beach this afternoon to a beautiful, albeit rainy Fry residence. The Valtierras went up ...

David and Me, Fishing in CO

Thanks to Stephen P. (can't spell his last name, and too tired to look it up) for these ...

Peace, Friends and Sand

A Pennsylvania diner, corner booth with coffee, is a mental image that I have of peace, and I ...

Great Friends, Special People

We've traveled over 4000 miles since we left Mexico City several weeks ago, and have gone through the ...

David’s Birthday, Museum, MBI

Great day with the Steeles today in Lake Villa! Finished off the day with a piñata and some ...

On the Road Again…

Our time at Estes Park, Colorado, this past week at Camino Global's special week of meetings and conferences ...

Trout and Elk

Too much to write about...yesterday we drove as a family through Rocky Mountain National Park, up to over ...

Georgetown and the Train

Denver

We cruised into Denver and did something my father has not nor will ever do, when downtown into ...

Taos

We spent last night in the beautiful little town of Taos, New Mexico. Today, on to Colorado, where ...

Trip Update and Prayer Request

The Fry family made it across the border around 3 p.m. Tuesday (after spending almost an hour on ...

A Day at the Airport

Jordan and I left the house at 5:38 a.m. this morning, on our way to pick up Samantha, ...

Car issues

Mayra and I have been rather frantically preparing for a gigantic trip, coming up very soon, with so ...

July 4th Celebration

Yesterday we celebrated the 4th in style, with A LOT of hamburgers and hot dogs, with maybe 20 ...

Kids Club and (surprise) International Visitors

Yesterday was our second day of kids club, once again rain-less, and it was a fantastic time, with ...

Kids Club Begins

The rain came in buckets twenty minutes before the first day of kids club started yesterday, but then ...

Mexico Elections

Enrique Peña Nieto, former governor of the State of Mexico (where we live) and candidate for the PRI ...

Wheelchair presentation video

Last night (Friday) we gave away another 14 wheelchairs to some very needy people, and had a wonderful ...

Tacos Arabes in Puebla (and other news)

Today I went to Puebla with co-worker Jim Cottrill to pick up the interns, and they came right ...

Baptism Videos

A Hard Hit!

If you take the seats out of our 2003 Astro you can fit the world inside, and if ...

Vote for Jonatan’s Video Please!

Today eight of us when in our 7 person van to Puebla, plus luggage (and a parachute of ...

Baptisms 2012

I've often said that baptismal services are among my favorites. This morning we met at the church early, ...

New Name, New President for our mission

Lots of changes for our mission, formally CAM International, now Camino Global.We are looking forward to participating in a week-long ...

English, Drums, Coffee, Keyboard, Football

Yes, life does go on after the Ohio group, barely, but we're managing! English, keyboard, drums and coffee ...

Baptisms on Sunday

Ahh...a day of (relative) rest! Paid the electricity bill, the telephone bill, went to the post office, and ...

Pics from Last Weekend

I'm sure there will be a lot of pictures of this past weekend when the Ohio team returns, ...

Downtown, Classes, last full day for LCC group.

This morning, 19 of us piled into a van and headed to downtown Mexico City. We headed to ...

Worship, Rain and Music!

I was up pretty late Saturday night trying to figure out exactly how we would do a bilingual ...

Benches and Community Clean-up Campaign

Four main projects done today... 1. Installing four benches, which began by breaking cement with digging irons and picks. ...

A Simply Incredible Evening

Our desire as a church is to reach out to our community in any way possible, to share ...

Wheelchair Rumble

Several of us went back into Mexico City today and squeezed 15 un-assembled wheelchairs in our van. Check ...

LCC Day 2

After a great devo time led by Christian (Proverbs 8), and a book study on the importance of ...

Great Start to a Fun and Effective Week

Our week started off well today, with a meal and a team time at our house after the ...

Calm Before the Storm!

We just finished a good team time with the interns; I've enjoyed our conversations on all sorts of ...

Mayra is Superwoman!

Mayra has been at a retreat since Friday afternoon, and the wear and tear of being Mr. Mom ...

Oops, Sure did Underestimate that Response!

A few days ago I mentioned a wheelchair project...we came into contact with an organization called Operation Blessing, ...

Run for the Volcanoes

This morning we took a break from our team meetings and morning devo times to leave the metro ...

Making Frappuchinos

Last night Samuel decided he wanted to make himself a frappachino...and had an interesting time, to say the ...

Flyer

Here's a rundown of (some of) the activities being offered this week and next, with a special invitation ...

In the Zone

This coming weekend is a biggie. Mayra has a women's retreat from Friday evening through Sunday, and is ...

Great Group! Activities Begin

Today began our daily internship schedule, and although there is no "normal" week, for the next three weeks ...

Scavenger Hunt and David’s Touchdown!

Yesterday was our last day downtown for orientation, and after a devos time and book study at the ...

Orientation Downtown

Our 2012 Internship orientation near downtown Mexico City began yesterday, with everyone arriving safe and sound. It was ...

Ready, Set, Go!

Today marks the beginning of six weeks of pretty much non-stop ministry, with our annual formal summer internship ...

Internship Orientation Manuals

Just picked up 12 internship orientation manuals and copies of song sheets of songs in English in Spanish. ...

Football, Church and Decisions

Daniel has been searching for "his" sport for quite some time. So after forays into karate, soccer and ...

Men’s Retreat

On Friday, four of us from Jesús María, and another 6 men from the first church here went ...

Car Repairs and a Men’s Retreat

Yesterday while taking 9 boys (our two included) to football practice in the van, we went over a ...

Coffee Shop Outreach

Tina had a great post yesterday on what went on at her coffee shop. The relational element permeates ...

If You Want to Change Your World…

Samuel is a committed Christian, and for years has desired to use his art in a ministry context. ...

Miguel and Tania

Please pray for our co-workers Miguel and Tania. Miguel is deacon at the first church, Sendero de Vida ...

Prayer Walking

All this week those we are doing a prayer walk around the church's neighborhood, Jesús María. I wasn't ...

Snippets

A few glimpses into our day yesterday.Daniel and I drove to church at 8:50 to unload the instruments, ...

Wheelchair Project

At the encouragement of co-worker Tina Barham, I (finally) wrote a letter to Operation Blessing Mexico to solicit ...

Park Beautification and Classes

We are EXCITED to have a group of young people down from Leroy Community Chapel in about a ...

Señor de los Milagros (Lord of Miracles)

The patron saint for Ixtapaluca is El Señor de los Milagros, or The Lord of Miracles in English. ...

Our MP Experience–Part 2

(continued from yesterday)Much to our surprise, we received a call around 6 p.m., asking about the progress of ...

Our MP Experience Part 1

MP stands for Ministerio Público in Spanish. It is part police station, part City Hall and part Circuit ...

The Need for a Property

We started preaching through the book of Nehemiah in January, and are just about through the narrative of ...

Van Update

We are certainly thankful for those of you who have prayed for us throughout this whole van-being-stolen-at-gunpoint, and ...

Laughing and Football

This morning I took Matt and Laura Steele back to the airport after a great week with them. ...

Band of Brothers

I am wearing the physical and emotional weariness of the last week and month like a warm, comfortable ...

What a Fun Day!

Our morning began with a Mother's Day presentation at our kids' school. Mothers Day is always May 10 ...

Leadership Recognition Service May 6

It's been a while since I've written, but as usual, not because of a scarcity of content, but ...

A Wedding and a Funeral

Friday we picked up the Beenenga family, Denny and Dave from the airport, and are having a great ...

Pastoral Symbols

I've begun to realize that I like the use of visual symbols in teaching. A lot. It seems ...

Special Guests, Part 2

Two more special guests headed down this weekend are Dave Dilworth (pictured below with his better half, Deb), ...

Special Guests Part 1

When you think of missions trips, perhaps you think primarily of teenagers and young adults. Last year, however, ...

No Phone, No Van, No Problem

There was just another earthquake at 11:38 a.m. here in Mexico, 5.5, or so I read on Facebook ...

Kid’s Day

There's much more I could write about last week, but you'll just have to download the book when ...

This Week has been Surreal-Part 2

Tuesday began weird even before the robbery at 1 p.m. Daniel was sick and throwing up various shades ...

Un relato de mi querida esposa de esta semana…

"Encuentros divinos"by Mayra Fry on Friday, April 27, 2012 at 5:32pm · "No te jactes del día de ...

This Week has been Surreal-Part 1

This week has been surreal. It began, for me, preaching the same sermon twice at Leroy Community Chapel, ...

Our Van has been Found!

We received a call from local, municipal police sometime around 6:30 p.m. last night, actually two calls. The ...

Spiritual Dynamics and Theft

We have been seeing an incredible response to the gospel lately. Last Thursday, on the first night of ...

Balance Beam

By God's grace I enjoyed a wonderful weekend with brothers and sisters at Leroy Community Chapel. Jeff and ...

Oh Come On…Snow this Late in April

Should have I really been concerned that snow could have been a factor for my return trip to ...

With the Pierces in OH

I arrived in Pittsburg last night and met my dear parents at the airport. Turns out my bag ...

Plastic Stool Video

A big thank you to Cameron Fenske for investing his own money to come down and visit us ...

Migraines and Soda (Pop)

Daniel is back with a blog entry today. You can read it HERE. The soda drinking is an ...

Cathy and the Crayfish (and the dog)

Two nights ago my daughter was woken around 3 in the morning by our little dog Teddy barking ...

Open Doors

I've begun to actually write something down for my mission conference sermon a week from tomorrow at LCC. ...

Kidzania

Yesterday we drove across the city with the Cottrills, Tiffany and her sister Luissa, and Tina. We went ...

Not a Novelty Anymore…

It's now been over 24 hours since we had running water. At least during the morning hours we ...

Earthquakes, Doctor’s Appointments and Coffee

Ok, Tina really doesn't like the title of "Tina's Coffee Shop," but it was basically her idea, and ...

No More Little Bird…

Cameron Fenske, California police officer and video dude, send me a great video today that he produced while ...

He is Risen Indeed!

This past week has been a bit of a blur, with numerous extra activities as we've worked alongside ...

The Problem of Sin on Good Friday

Most religions claim a transcendent God, or at least a transcendent non-personal entity. We know we need a ...

What are GenYer’s Top Priorities?

Mayra taught the kids yesterday at kids club, numbers are growing, with 59 kids attending today. Pics of ...

Kids Club and Canada Team

The following is a video that primarily focuses on a team from Canada that Jim and Shari are ...

Closing Program, Easter Egg Hunt, Awesome Worship

FridayFriday evening marked the end of another 12-week community center course, with a closing program featuring a summary ...

Good News, Good Works and Grace–Part 2

Continued from yesterday...So we as a church body seek to live and breathe grace, which makes for a ...

Good Works, Good News and Grace–Part 1

I met Jessica probably about two years ago, bringing her son to guitar class and her daughter to ...

Internet Radio, Social Media, Cell Phones and a World Apart

What a wild world! Last night we just happened to be on Facebook when friend David Gómez was ...

2nd Anniversary Video

Our co-worker Jim did it again, putting together another video, this one on our time last Sunday, celebrating ...

Quinceaños Video

A big thanks to co-worker Jim Cottrill, who put together this video from a quinceaños celebration this past ...

2nd Anniversary Celebration

This weekend was pretty intense, with a quinceaños celebration on Saturday and the celebration of our church's 2nd ...

Preparations

10 lily plants and 12 clay serving bowls. My wife, getting ready for tomorrow's 2nd anniversary. I just ...

Cleaning Up for a Big Weekend

We are frantically preparing for this weekend, with Claudia's quinceaños this afternoon, and a big celebration for the ...

Community and Coffee

Tina and Tiffany wanted to use one of the market spaces we purchased for community center activities, and ...

What Do You Say?

Her name was Leticia, and we hadn’t met her before last night. Most of Mexico shook yesterday as ...

7.6 Point Quake Rattles Much of Mexico

I was reading a book yesterday as I was waiting for the van's oil change, and the world ...

People Respond When You Meet Three Needs

Daniel is suddenly interested in reading (whew, about time!). He is currently reading Quiet Strength, by Tony Dungy. ...

More Faith, not More Strategy

We have a busy week ahead, with a quinceaños party for Claudia, a girl in our church on ...

Mix of Fondness and Fear

Here's another poem I wrote...a long time ago. I need to get back into the habit. Poetry is ...

Freedom!

I've been here in Mexico a while now, but last night and early morning today was a first ...

An Interconnected World

Most of us are still trying to play catch-up to what the interconnectedness of our world means, and ...

Gethsemane

Great post on forgiveness, click HERE.GETHSEMANE The image of a cross I see in the tear of Him who ...

Beware of Christians

A friend of mine sent me a link to a new Christian movie that is coming out this ...

Frantic, Outrageously Fun Spring/Summer!

We are excited about the coming months! The highlights for the church... 2nd Anniversary March 25, Leadership Recognition ...

3 Months in Uruguay

Our (former) co-worker David Gómez has been in Uruguay now for over three months. Here is a simple ...

Sweet Fellowship

Last night was a great time with a bunch of my favorite people! Toño and Becky Muñoz came ...

Two Poems

A CHILDLIKE FAITHDays composed of time, and I'mWalking down a corridor of moreThan I could ever know and ...

Fear or Passion–How are You Motivating?

I continue to be challenged by the book I mentioned in yesterday's post, Stop Stealing Dreams, by Seth ...

The Purpose of School and the End of Paper

One of my favorite authors is Seth Godin. His content and style is all about motivation, about innovation, ...

Art Genius

My good friend Samuel teaches physics to high school students in the morning, leaving his house around 5:30 ...

Courageous

Last Saturday night the youth invited the rest of the church to see Courageous, or Reto de Valientes, ...

Mexico City Weather, Part 2

(continued)Combine the high altitude with a relatively close proximity to the equator, and the result is near-perfect weather ...

Mexico City Weather Part 1

Almost invariably we need to clarify proper attire for guests coming to Mexico. Convention wisdom states that Mexico ...

Not Machiavelli’s Prince

(continued from yesterday...) The rich and powerful will always be rich and powerful. Only fools give away privileges. ...

Mexico’s Purchasing Power

According to a study released February, 2012, by the UNAM, Mexico’s largest and most prestigious university, a common ...

Big Brother

For the last two days, for the first time ever, this blog has seen over 1500 page views ...

Rites of Passage

My daughter asked me when she can join Facebook so she can communicate better with her friends. I ...

Feeling Better

I woke up feeling great today after dealing with a sore throat since Tuesday. It wasn't that it ...

I am the Frog, Part 2

But I did not have the fortune to be born in Mexico, and I’m the only one of ...

I am the Frog

In BetweenLiving between cultures affords many opportunities and challenges not always readily available to someone who lives in ...

Graphic Identity Part 2–Mascots and Ministry-specific Logos

This post is part 2 on an important, yet often neglected aspect of ministry, especially in a missions ...

The Importance of a Graphic Identity Part 1

One cool thing about having an artist on the ministry team here is being able to incorporate art ...

Football or Fútbol

Mike Ditka has famously said, “If God had wanted man to play soccer, He wouldn't have given us ...

Summer Internship Opportunities in Mexico

Every summer since 2002, Mayra and I have coordinated CAM Int'l's summer internship in Mexico. It has been ...

Getting Around Mexico City

I was happily about to renew my visa for another year yesterday. Within the next year, I hope ...

Week in Review

I'm just about ready to leave for Polanco, which is the whole way on the other side of ...

A Worthwhile Investment

Most of the activities we do as a church, with few exceptions, are geared to reaching one or ...

A Winsome Lord

I met for several hours Thursday night with a man who has begun attending our church, along with ...

Writing a Book, Alyssa and Matt

After years of my mother encouraging me to write a book, I've decided to do so. Two main ...

It’s Really Hot in Mexico, Right?

Everybody always thinks that because we live in Mexico, we constantly have to endure humid, 90 degree temperature. ...

A Clear Mental Image of a Preferable Future

“Vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen ...

Plans and Faces

Some of you have perhaps received this information via email, but I wanted to re-post here.I know I’ve ...

Christmas and Easter Every Day

We had a record number of men in men's meeting this past Saturday evening, and Ismael gave a ...

Some of My Favorite Cartoons/Graphics

Today was Superbowl Sunday. I really didn't care a whole lot who won, and was initially rooting for ...

Purpose vs. Money

I was reading a book recently entitled Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. It's an o.k. ...

Jessica Nixon Coming to Ixtapaluca

Jessica Nixon came down to visit our ministry here last June, during a weekend event we dubbed, Vision ...

Never Know How Great an Impact Your Life Can Have

Cool video on the unseen, powerful effects of the gospel. A much lighter video of our daughter playing ...

Run for the Border, Part 3

Thursday began a bit more slowly after returning to CAM Center after midnight the night before. I managed ...

Dallas, Day 3, Trip Part 2

After braving three hours of rain Tuesday evening, we arrived in Dallas and found our apartment at CAM ...

Mexico City-Bibleville-Dallas

A road trip with your 13-year-old son is a great experience, and our three-day initial trip to the ...

Car Stories

Several days ago I filled up the van with gas and came home. When I arrived at home ...

Community Center Schedule Jan.-March, 2012

Community Center Tiempo de Vivir(all classes are free with the exception of Saturday’s music classes)Basketball—Monday and Wednesday 5:30-6:30English ...

Can’t I Just Drive?!

Driving in Mexico, and especially in or around Mexico City, is a real treat. If your car is ...

Wired for Sound

Co-worker Jim Cottrill made up a video of our missionary team voting Rolland and Jo Ann Smith off ...

Wedding Adventures

On Saturday my wife and I and my kids had the privilege of attending Sergio and Elizabeth's wedding. ...

Wedding!

Elizabeth made a decision to trust Christ when she was about 5 months pregnant. She heard about the ...

Syncretism

Expect a few video excerpts in days ahead...today was a full day of working on details for the ...

Videoing up a storm

Cameron continues to record up a storm. Today he interviewed Martín in English and Spanish, and took video ...

Magical Paint

Full days, with some self-inflicted activity, trying to get the house we rent for church in shape for ...

Our Slogans Say a lot about Us

Slogans or saying reveal much about an organization, a workplace, or a church. There are a lot of ...

Books to Read for Early 2012

This morning in the mail I received a GREAT Christmas gift! Emily Nissley, a friend from PA who ...

Trials and Blessings

Yesterday our house was full of friends, and we celebrated a year full of both trials and blessings ...

Fiesta!

Mayra and I are gearing up for a Christmas/New Years party with some dear friends from both churches ...

Emmanuel

Emmanuel, God with us. What an amazing truth, the lengths and depths that God went to in expressing ...

Breakfast with Jesus

Having survived the Christmas flurry of activities, I'd like to report on one of them. Last Friday from ...

Tis the Season…

Christmas cheer is flowing here in southeastern Mexico City. In typical Mexican style we've already celebrated several Christmas ...

Culture is Fun…usually!

Our co-worker, David Gómez, began a 2 year stint in Uruguay last week. Uruguay, situated to the south ...

Sports and Testimony

I really don't like bandwagons. I prefer to start something, then leave it to someone else once the ...

Community Center Closing Program

David Gómez is in Uruguay! Para los que hablan español, el post de David Gómez y su transición ...

Closing Program Today

Today we celebrate the conclusion of our fifth semester of community center activities. We started giving 10-12 week ...

Hope Coffee…good coffee for a good cause

If you're looking for a convenient way to send a meaningful and delicious Christmas gift to a friend ...

Writing and Poetry

I like to write. Although I maintain this blog, well, that hardly counts as real writing. It is ...

Cameron Fenske

We're excited to renew friendship face-to-face with Cameron in January. Cameron is a Moody alumnus who spent a ...

Update on Daniel

Some of you have asked recently how Daniel is doing, after his rather scary episode on November 19, ...

End of Year Events

We're entering the year-end ministry blur, with a flurry of primarily evangelistic activities coming up in the next ...

CAM Mexico Conference, Veracruz

We returned Saturday evening after arriving Tuesday evening...great time had by all. Here's Daniel doing his older brother ...

Weddings and Hospitals

Mayra and I were both going to be formal witnesses at Rafael and Mariana's civil wedding, which implies ...

A Surreal Experience

Through a contact we have in a local government office, I was invited to an event last night ...

Service, Wedding, Support

Yesterday was a special day at church. José preached on Mark 14:1-11, a passage about a woman anointing ...

Taxco and Puebla

Today I am out the door for a pre-marriage study (what do you call those in English), then ...

A video clip of fun at Xochimilco

Nicole has been videoing up a storm. She just returned from Puebla, and will be spending her remaining ...

Competition is one thing…

Today (or yesterday rather) I taught an ESL class that Lindsey Hearst had been teaching for the last ...

Kiwi and the weekend

Kiwi was lost again yesterday. Turns out dad moved the cloth covering, allowing him to crawl out a ...

Rain and Blogs

Daniel has begun his own blog, as part of his school assignments. He's required to post at least ...

Reflections on Death

I understood something for the first time two days ago. People here in Mexico, when they think of ...

Women’s Conference, Commissioning Service

This Saturday, 17 women from both churches traveled to northern Mexico City to a women's conference in Villa ...

Miguel is much better…

Thanks for your prayers...Miguel has been much better, walking around with little or not pain, able to straighten ...

Health Care and Missions Challenge

Medical care is different all around the world. It doesn't matter where you are, a hospital is one ...

Preaching in Neza

Relationships are such an important part of life and ministry. Who would have thought that the three years ...

CAM becomes Camino Global

Change...a part of life. Actually, an essential part of life. Wouldn't it be weird to look at photos ...

To all of you Moody people…

Hey, special blog post to all of you Moody people who need to come down to visit us ...

Proclamation

It is really difficult to home school Daniel lately. Right now, for instance, Pancho is here. If you ...

A Time for Everything

As many of you know, we have targeted the densely populated, sprawling mega-developments of Ixtapaluca for our church ...

Chicago and Las Vacas

My time at Moody a few...years ago was without a doubt the most formative time in my adult ...

MBI and Chicago

Samuel and I arrived in Chicago after a perfect flight from Mexico City to Chicago on Tuesday morning. ...

Keller Quote

Timothy Keller, Reason for God, IntroductionThe number of Americans answering “no religious preference” to poll questions has skyrocketed, ...

Back after the Break

I am eager to write after a self-imposed FB and blog fast this past week.Last Friday morning, after ...

Break

I'm beginning a week-long blogging and FB fast this week. C u next Monday.

The Little Mower that Could

I cruised into Mexico City, Iztapalapa, today to a Home Depot and found a nice little red push ...

Never a Dull Moment

I'm experimenting with a new blog format...which gives you the ability to view the blog, and past posts ...

Counterfeit Gods

I just began reading Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope ...

Hanging signs, passing out flyers

We started community center activities last week, but just got around to hanging the 9 ft by 6 ...

Music Class Saturdays

Saturday music classes began today, with 8 students beginning to learn notes and rhythm, with the eventual goal ...

Community Center Activities for Fall 2011

Work continues on a newly fenced in section of grassy area that we plan to, little by little, ...

Life’s details

Our community center activities continued yesterday, with 12 people in ESL, 3 in dance, 18 in basketball and ...

Ticket Purchased

Well, it's official! David Gómez has purchased his ticket for Uruguay. He will be leaving Mexico on Thursday, ...

Weekend Report and Joe Martinez

Joe Martinez spent the last week with us here, Cathy graciously sharing her bed. Joe first visited us ...

Video summary of ministry and opportunities

Below is a list of links to videos on youtube. The first one was produced by Samuel and ...

Independence Day

This evening, at 11 p.m., the president of Mexico will stand on a balcony of the presidential palace ...

Community Center schedule

Here is a list of classes for the fall course at the Jesús María Community Center Tiempo que ...

Learning how to play some instruments

On Sunday evening, Samuel and I met with a Christian couple that we had met previously once this ...

We would like to introduce to you…

The Lord has been bringing many new faces to the ministry here in Ixtapaluca. Allow me to introduce ...

MBI missions conference, October

Several days ago, Mexican co-worker Samuel and I confirmed our participation in Moody Bible Institute's annual missions conference ...

News vs. Advice

Someone who came to the vision weekend brought a book down than I grabbed after a Sunday service ...

Martin’s account of his accident in his own words…

Martin's account of his accident...in his own words, taken from FB.Hello to everybody, to the ones that do ...

Conversation with Mr. Loss

This past Sunday evening, co-worker David Gómez and I called Myron Loss in Uruguay via Skype. Myron and ...

Ok, let’s do this…

Can't go into a whole lot of details here, but yesterday we began collecting signatures in our search ...

Reflections on the fog

I will probably go to my grave thinking that I have really never worked very hard in my ...

Hospital Life is Not Fun

I was able to spend the night with Martín Wednesday evening, arriving in the middle of a rain ...

Martin continues to improve

Daniel, David Gómez and I visited Martin in the hospital today. Bruises on his face and arms, and ...

Update on Martin

I spoke to Elena this evening around 8:30 p.m., after dropping off her grandkids. Laura is with Martin ...

The Martin Miracle

Yesterday, around 2, when I arrived at Martín and Laura´s house, Martín was already in an ambulance, with ...

PA wrap-up

The last couple of days in PA have been sort of a blur, but lots of fun. On ...

Earthquake…on the East Coast???

Around 2 p.m. today I was speaking to Charles and Bridget Ulibarri via Skype. The Ulibarris are considering ...

Ideas for PA evangelism

We greatly enjoyed our time yesterday at Wolc. Daniel, Mayra and I were all able to share in ...

Kayaking and Guns

Weird. We've been shooting a lot lately. Last night, even Mayra got into it, shooting several rounds of ...

Kids club summary in Ixtapaluca

Reports from Darrol and Sam have mentioned a tremendous ending to the kids club this past week in ...

Relax!

We spent the last several days with my parents at a wonderful place in Central PA, our family ...

Peaceful PA

Our flight from Mexico City to Houston arrived on time...but going through customs in Houston is HORRIBLE. It ...

Loose ends and details…

I wasn't around a whole lot today for the club. After Mayra did the opening and I helped ...

Kid's Club started out with a bang today, with somewhere around 80 kids. The students were divided into ...

Saturday activities

Today, the Fremont Alliance church did the following:1. Had a devotional and team time in the morning.2. Played ...

Daniel at Harvey Cedars, and a team from Nebraska

I asked my good friend Keith to take a picture or two of Daniel, who is in the ...

Central America’s Crime Problem, and commentary

Turns out although Mexico gets most of the press, violence is other Central American countries is actually, in ...

Expensive to drive in Mexico

Over the last several days we've taken a few trips, no incredibly long ones, mind you, but expensive ...

Escuela Bíblica de Verano

We are gearing up for a summer kids Bible club (DVBS) this year again in Jesús María. This ...

New and Improved t-shirt design

Here is the new and improved logo for our Ixtapaluca t-shirts. See if you can identify yourself or ...

Men’s Study, Colossians

Last night, 9 of us met at 8 p.m. for a men's Bible study at Matt and Alyssa's ...

Driving in Mexico

Mayra, David, nephew Israel and I went to a small town called Tenango del Aire for lunch yesterday. ...

Next Step and Daniel

I just returned from three days in 100+ degree Denton and Dallas TX. So glad to get back ...

Saying Goodbye…again

Goodbyes are never fun, but here in Ixtapaluca we've elevated it to the likes of an art form. ...

Donate towards a project, get a t-shirt, support the ministry here

Hi all. I've copied an email I just sent out to many of you here.I've attached two pictures ...

Vision Weekend Results

It's always a bit difficult to fully evaluate the results of a meeting such as we had in ...

The Van

Yesterday, as I already mentioned, we squeezed 13 of us in my van and were on the way ...

Camp Koinonia and accidents

Last week we sent 5 young adults to Camp Koinonia, a Bible Church/CAM Int'l Christian camp situated on ...

A new pet

Ok, really didn't want to do this...but alas, the family wins! Normally when our family gets a new ...

Instruments wanted

I thought I'd let those of you who follow the blog in on an opportunity to help us ...

Always Room for One More

Our slogan for the church planting ministry here in Ixtapaluca is:Making Room to Make Disciples, with a tagline...Always ...

Tribute to Grandma Fry

Tribute to Grandma FryWhen I think of grandma Fry and the 44 years of my life that I ...

Testimonies

Yesterday was a very special church service. It was special because so many people participated in it, and ...

Tostadas and Blue Bell Icecream

Yesterday we hosted the two families of 4, (Velazquez and Beenenga) plus interns and loose change yesterday, with ...

Missions Conference and Rain

This past Saturday 15 of us from Ixtapaluca traveled to northern Mexico City and attended a missions conference ...

A new week of classes

This week marked the beginning of our last week of summer activities at the community center (except for ...

Pictures

My friend Sam says that pictures say 1000 words, so I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

The Mural

Evangelism via art. Sound postmodern? Not likely to happen? Too different to be effective? Think again. There's a ...

Baptism video

Can't see the video? Click HERE.

Baptisms tomorrow

We're excited about tomorrow, celebrating a service that is one of my favorites--baptisms. No baptistery here, no, we ...

Food, Action Steps and Prayer

Here´s a fun video of some of the activities this past Sunday, as 16 or so visitors, plus ...

Men’s Study

About two months ago we began a new emphasis with our men. Every Saturday night at 7 p.m. ...

Daniel is 13!

You know you're in trouble when at age 13 your son goes through an elaborate bargaining process with ...

Vision Weekend

I don't think I have slept less in a weekend since college, but sleep, after all, is overrated! ...

Link to Update

Co-work Jim Cottrill's report on yesterday.Click HERE. Last night after the meeting, 8 of us drove into downtown ...

Vision weekend guests arrive

Today was a busy day at the airport, with 14 people flying in from the U.S., along with ...

Backstage with Nick Vujicic

This past Sunday afternoon Mayra and Cathy met Mayra's mother and sister Monica at the Metropolitan Theater downtown ...

Oil pans and volcanic eruptions

12 of us headed out early Saturday (well, o.k., not too early) to one of our favorite destinations--to ...

Tim Tebow on O’Reilly

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Week One Done

Wrapping up our first week of internship activities with an encouraging participation in ESL and self-defense programs.Today, Sendero ...

A great couple and an awesome project

The great couple is Matt and Alyssa Miller. We met Alyssa in 2007 when she came down for ...

ESL and Self-Defense

ESL classes started off with a bang today, with about 22 people attending our first class. Brigam and ...

Joint Service Today

Several times a year the two Iglesias Bíblicas Sendero de Vida churches get together. It's always a great ...

On the roof of the Cathedral

These past several days have been a whirlwind. After picking up four people at the airport on Wednesday, ...

A special prayer request

Mayra and I started doing an internship program before they were cool, way back in 2002. We started ...

God of this City

God of this City Verse 1: You're the God of this city, You're the King of these peopleYou're ...

Anuncios y Eventos

Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida29 de mayo (hoy en 8), 10 a.m.Servicio con Sendero 1 en el mercado ...

Short video from last Saturday

It's been cool getting to know Roberto Popoca recently. He is a member of the Grace Brethren group ...

Internship time

Our internship time partially began on Wednesday with the arrival of Robert Loffler, a Moody student who grew ...

Update

I haven't written in this space because I literally have had no time to do so. These last ...

Second Medical Brigade

Today started early, with many folks from the church out at 7:30 a.m., preparing for a full day ...

Corban University

Tomorrow (or today, depending on when you read this), a group of 4 people, including friend and professor ...

Mother’s Day celebration

Sort of feels weird, a pretty big event going on tonight, and we didn't have to do much! ...

Grafitti Mural

Alyssa Miller and Samuel Valtierra have been up early for the past couple days, painting on a rather ...

Pets and family news

Our daughter is definitely the animal lover in the family. Yesterday she came home from school with a ...

Back to the Basics

Two weeks ago several of the men from both churches got together. The concept was simple...we would read ...

Organic Leadership, by Neil Cole

I'm reading through Organic Leadership, Leading Naturally Right Where You Are, by Neil Cole, on my Kindle. This ...

Easter weekend

Easter weekend is such a special time. Samuel pointed out in his sermon this morning that we really ...

Heart of a Leader | Christ’s Commission Fellowship

A great video by Bill Lawrence, speaking about the priority of the heart of a leader, over his ...

Community Center Closing Program (Video)

Co-worker Jim Cottrill recently produced another one of his famous videos, this one on the closing program of ...

Radical

I just finished reading Axiom, by Bill Hybels, and Radical, by David Platt. I'm in the middle of ...

Quite the weekend

We had a good meeting with the owner of a small meeting area/hall on Friday night, and he ...

Signs of Growth, Making Faith Work

I'm reading Bill Hybel's book Axiom, which is full of helpful, pithy concepts for leadership. One recent proverb ...

New Site for Info on the ministry here

We have begun to actively pursue raising support for the purchase of a building or a plot of ...

Going to the dentist, the same in any culture

Our first ever medical and dental activity happened today, at the market space area we use as for ...

Community Center Closing Program

Last night was a lot of fun. It was probably our most attended closing program of the 4 ...

Drums, earthquakes, etc…

My parents sent down some funds several months ago to help us buy Daniel a drum set, and ...

Brigada Médica

This Saturday, two doctors and a dentist will be helping us demonstrate God's love to our community in ...

Christmas on Facebook

Preparing for our fourth closing program at the Community Center on Friday night, as well as a medical ...

Matt and Alyssa´s house warming

We gave Matt and Alyssa Miller a bit of a hard time for serving hot dogs tonight at ...

Effective short-term ministry

My wife and I recently sat down to evaluate (and remind ourselves of) our once again busy spring ...

A Good Day

One year ago, 20 of us officially stopped attending Sendero de Vida, Santa Bárbara and began Sunday services ...

Sendero de Vida JM, 1 year old this weekend

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Sendero de Vida, Jesús María, the second church in this area. Hard ...

Good reading

I recently purchased more books than I have time to read, but I'm in the middle of a ...

Water Wars

Yesterday's service was once again ridiculously crowded, not that we have so many people, but that we have ...

Una labor social

In an effort to teach our young people that the world does not in fact revolve around them ...

Mayra is much better, an interesting encounter

Some of you knew that my wife Mayra has not been feeling great for the last two weeks ...

Back to normal…not really

We arrived back home last night around 10 p.m. Mexico City time with everything, including a 44 lb. ...

We’re back…

It's been a while since I've posted anything, and in that lapse of time the world has changed ...

Anyone can do “easy”

I had a great time today with fellow CAMers in Texcoco, but Mayra continues to struggle with a ...

Doubts, Ducks and Devotion

Last night was awesome! Today was too. Miguel, who trusted Christ around Christmas, has been without work for ...

Washing Cars to go to Six Flags Mexico

Yesterday (Saturday) a bunch of the young people began washing cars for a donation, and ended up washing ...

Fry Highlights

I mentioned on FB that we lost our little pet snake, Pepa. Still no news on that. David ...

Jon Foreman, Your Love is Strong

Can't see this video? Click HERE.

Sleep…later

Yesterday was a fun day. Good friend and pastor of Sendero 1, Martín, was invited to Japan of ...

Prayer and Donations

This weekend is shaping up to be a crazy one, and it just got a little crazier. We ...

Daniel jamming on the drums

Can't see the video? Click HERE.

Youth Group Sunday

We had a great time today, with 26 young people (Jr. and Sr. High, plus college and career) ...

Saturday

I'm out the door with Mayra, going to a marriage conference here in Ixtapaluca entitled The 4 Seasons ...

English, Basketball and books

Yesterday in English class I had 12 students. But there were 20+ kids from 10-14 in basketball! Crazy. ...

Joel Rosenberg on Egypt

I read Joel Rosenberg's book Epicenter and was wondering what he would have to say about the current ...

English, what a beautiful language

Well, we ended up having 24 or 25 people in our house for Sunday's game, which was exciting, ...

Gearing up for tomorrow

I just finished the 11 song Powerpoint for tomorrow's song service, and am babysitting of sorts right now, ...

Uncharted Waters video on training session

Just found a video that Uncharted Waters made of their time here about a month ago. A number ...

The rest of the story

I mentioned that I would relate more of our Oaxacan experience yesterday. This is the rest of the ...

Oaxaca

Mayra and I carved out a weekend to spend some time with our kids and get to know ...

Quite the night…

Yesterday afternoon, Mayra and I accompanied Aurora to visit her cousin, Elba, who was just diagnosed with cancer. ...

A great poem

IfIf you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you ...

Vision Casting Weekend

I'm posting this because it's been on my mind a lot lately, and I want to keep it ...

First week stats

Although the week is technically not over (basketball tonight), here is the rundown of activities.Monday...5 registered for keyboard, ...

Community Center activites begin

This week marks the beginning of our fourth semester of community center activities, and we are excited to ...

Hurry up and wait

Yesterday's meeting with the municipal president was postponed due to his presence needed in the state capital. Emergency. ...

We need a bigger place to meet

Counting people is always a dangerous endeavor, reminiscent of David's census-taking. It is dangerous for two reasons. First, ...

My beautiful wife

The lady who keeps us all going here in the Fry house is my lovely wife, Mayra, pictured ...

Studies and Opportunities

Tonight we cranked up our Tuesday night Bible study again, after a three week break for Christmas and ...

Video for visiting church

A couple of days ago, when I was with Darrol and Dylan Prussia, we drove up to the ...

A full week

This past Tuesday I was reminded of what our summers many times are like, with two trips to ...

UW Sports Day 1

Our three-day kids club and training time started well today, with representatives from 11 different churches attending the ...

Gearing up for a full week

Thanks for praying for the sports ministry week of training and clubs this week. Just got confirmation that ...

In importance of new things

I've been thinking about the significance of a new year, and leaving the past behind. Of new starts, ...

CAM Team time, Paso de Cortez

On Monday, a bunch of us from CAM, most of us from our team, drove up to Paso ...

Christmas in Mexico

It's not snowing here...seems like it is a lot of places...but we are going to a place tomorrow ...

Good news to all peoples

We are gearing up for a fun day here in the Fry house...probably around 20-25 people in the ...

Is Mary Virgin Born Too?

Catholics think so. It's called the Immaculate Conception. We probably think that when we hear of an Immaculate ...

Many of us take eating for granted…

...maybe we shouldn't. Yesterday Mayra and I accompanied Tiffany to Sams Club. She had received $400 from some ...

Christmas song by U2

A bad song, redeemed by U2.The original song implies that Christmas is just a fantasy, a materialistic excercise. ...

And I will put enmity between…

In our continuing saga of searching for the perfect pet (because a dog just, well, we just can't ...

Closing program and Joint Service

This past Friday night we celebrated the end of 12 weeks of English, basketball, dance, baking and guitar ...

Good friends, good memories…

Several years ago, Bill Walker spent 6 weeks with us in Mexico. Whitney, his girlfriend (fiancee?) at the ...

For such a time as this

I recently heard a sermon reminding me of an important truth. God doesn’t need any of us to ...

Fooseball and Jerseys

Tonight, rehearsals continued for our closing community center program this Friday. Among the practices...6 dance students (including my ...

Poster for Kid’s Clubs Training

The week in review

The first couple of days of this week were a blur. Our whole family was sick, with a ...

Capacitación Clubes de Deportes

Capacitación en Clubes de DeportesUncharted Waters Sports MinistryOrganización cristiana con alcance internacional basada en Colorado, EUEnseñanza en la ...

Dad and the bridge

It's hunting season in PA, I know that because my dad and extended family have all gone north, ...

If Jesus were born in Ixtapaluca, in 2010

The following is a simple work in progress, a drama that we'll be doing for our closing program ...

Sick…

As I´m writing this, all three kids are resting/sleeping on the sofas and a rocking chair in our ...

Good video

I wanted to post this, and Alan McManus helped me do it by finding it on youtube. If ...

Elijah

The conference speaker this week, Bryan Hall from Bristol, TN, spoke all week on Elijah, his calling, his ...

Jerseys and Fooseball

Today we picked up 15 basketball jerseys, complete with numbers and last names on the back. Our two ...

Ten Things I Learned in Mexico

I rarely re-post articles, but this one is just too good! Crystal Langer is a Biola grad, currently ...

The song says it all…

I come to make all things new…

This past Tuesday night, Allan taught the Bible study. In one of his points, he recalled for us ...

Why We Are Here

Co-worker Jim Cottrill posted an excellent video on a recent visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe. Guadalupe is ...

Love and Respect

It was my turn to preach yesterday, and my passage was Ephesians 5:22-33. When confronted with such a ...

Friday and Fish

We began a Friday a.m. prayer meeting today, with a pretty good response, 12 people showing up. After ...

Downtown and Basketball

Yesterday Tiffany taught Daniel (she does this once a week, giving a break to both father and son!) ...

Sunday Service

Yesterday we enjoyed a Servicio de Adoración for our Sunday service. Servicio de Adoración means "worship service," but ...

Moving people along…

It's easy to stagnate in our faith, isn't it? When a new church begins, there is just a ...

The Call

We are submerging ourselves deep into evangelical Christian jargon here when we talk about that often mystical concept ...

Security in Mexico

Questions about security have become the number one issue for those asking how we are here, and particularly ...

Concert on Saturday, Sunday events

This past Saturday the women attended a women's conference in Tlalpan, and the rest of us participated in ...

A week of firsts…

I've been here a while, but this week did some things that I've never done before. It's a ...

A couple of cool videos

One of the most memorable sermons at Moody was the first night, when a guy named Skye talked ...

Projects…and classic David

Some of you may be wondering what happened to the administration a second community center that we praying ...

The advantages of home schooling….

Ok, so we're not home schooling veterans by any means, and are not necessarily sold on the idea ...

Blogs of note

Before my trip to Moody, I took a survey of some trusted younger friends to investigate what sort ...

A couple of books…

I've read two books fairly recently, finished the first just yesterday. Here are some quotes. If you want ...

Tactics

Samuel and I returned from Chicago after a wonderful time at Moody and some fun watching the Chicago ...

MBI

David Garrison has been the key conference speaker here, and he's been phenomenal! Our "Art in Missions" workshop ...

In Chicago!!!

Jose picked Sam and I up at 3:45, we checked in fine in Mexico City, transferred planes in ...

Art in Missions

One of the workshops that we're doing at Moody is entitled "A Picture is Worth 1000 Words: Art ...

Pictures from the past…and basketball

I've been going through a ton of photos lately, preparing several Powerpoint presentations for next week's Moody workshops. ...

Missions conferences at Moody and Corban

I called Samuel early today to see when we can drop off a 6 meter x 1.5 meter ...

Van ride, wild ride!

Against my better judgment I volunteered to take the young people to a youth activity this past Saturday...the ...

This weekend…

I preach today, just about ready to leave and pick up Mariano from Valle de Chalco (where the ...

Activities in full swing, Animando Cartoons

Community center activities picked up a good bit so far this week, with around 15 people participating in ...

Theological education by Internet…and our second week of club

Tomorrow morning we need to do several things:1. Hand out flyers to promote the club. Last week we ...

Anniversary! Classes have begun, sports outreach in Jan.

Yesterday, Mayra and I celebrated (sort of) 15 years of marriage. We REALLY need to find a way ...

Community Center activities starting up, pics from last week

This week marks the beginning of another 12 weeks of activity for our Jesús María Community Center, and ...

A nostalgic week…

A bunch of activities this week reminded me of people and events that happened between 8-18 years ago.On ...

My Own Little World

I just got a note from friend Paul Johnson, who is a missions prof. at Corban College in ...

How much fun was that!

When we lived in Iztapalapa for 6 1/2 years from 1997-2003, I was involved every week for a ...

Moody Bible Institute missions conference participation

I just received details from Moody as to which workshops we will be involved in at MBI in ...

Church in Jesús María today

Our service today had to set a record, or at least close to it, for attendance, probably 50 ...

Mexico celebrates this week

This year Mexico celebrates both its 200 year birthday as an independent country (1810-1821) as well as 100 ...

Happy Birthday Mayra

It's Mayra's b-day today! She is...well, that's classified. I was going to invite her to breakfast today, but ...

Car issues and meetings

Hmm...two things that wouldn't make my top 10 list...but necessary and even important. A few months back we ...

David and Basketball

David has always been a favorite for people visiting our house. He is special, high energy, a fierce ...

Subversive, effective, intentional Christianity

Tree-houses, an outdoor mini-amphitheater to watch Christian movies, a nice campfire setting for campers...all sorts of ideas running ...

Divine power to demolish strongholds

Paul, reflecting on the ministry in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 so beautifully declares: "For we are to God the ...

Samuel and two new ELA book covers

There are advantages and disadvantages to being a good friend to an artist. The up side is that ...

Don Reuben

We received work this morning that Aurora's father, who suffers from high blood pressure and other heart-related problems, ...

Computers and Home Schooling

Daniel is in 7th grade, and we've decided to home school him this year, for a variety of ...

ELA and Basketball

I told Samuel I'm not going to take him anywhere with me anymore, because it seems like anytime ...

What exactly is he doing out there???

Last Friday, I took Daniel up to Jesus Maria, to the community center, to help David Gomez and ...

Why am I tired?

Daniel is starting homeschooling tomorrow. At least I hope he is. I went out and bought a desktop ...

Iris, us and Jesus

Iris is a woman with four young kids, and one of them, the oldest, all of 6 years ...

Reading List and MBI conference

Too bad Amazon.com doesn't deliver to Mexico. If they did, things could get expensive for me. So...right now ...

Time in PA, NJ, OH

Too much has happened over the past three weeks to do the time justice in a brief post. ...

A very informative video

CAM president Dan Wicher shared this youtube video at our leadership meeting last week. Makes you think...If you ...

Kids Club in Jesus Maria

Sam wrote yesterday giving an update on the kids club, happening this week in Jesus Maria.Turns out they've ...

A change in environment…

After being in Mexico City for the last year, well, we're just not used to so many cows ...

Internship Video

It's been a wild summer. Here's a video that co-worker Jim Cottrill put together for this summer's internship.If ...

It’s Friday already!

I'm just about out the door for a youth study I'm giving on what the Bible says about ...

Antioch, where the believers were first called Christians…

Ok, not the same city exactly as the biblical Antioch...these new friends are from Virginia. Mayra and I ...

English songs competition

This past Wednesday, CamRon, Micah, Stephanie, Kyle, Jacklyn, Tiffany and Andrea were judges for an English singing competition ...

Xochimilco…and field corn

So we went to Xochimilco today, which is sort of, well, let's just say that it's a quaint ...

The girls and their pajama party

I mentioned in a previous post that building relationships is sort of a mantra here. We are convinced ...

David is better…finally…and Conejo Loco

Today we visited the doctor's office (doctor #2 for 2nd opinion) for the fourth time this week after ...

Kyle and Stephanie

Yesterday we were pleased to pick up two new CAM summer interns...Kyle and Stephanie (pictures below). They arrived ...

Photos and Video from Sendero baptisms

Today the two Iglesia Biblica Sendero de Vida (Path of Life Bible Churches) had a joint baptismal service. ...

Weekend activities in Ixtapaluca

This past Friday evening David Gomez organized a youth conference/concert, with a motivational talk entitled "Youth with a ...

Your house is flooded. Huh?

Ok, so we decided to get Daniel a cell phone for his birthday. Not a really fancy one, ...

The Pyramids, Chapultepec, Daniel’s Birthday

Too much to write, not enough time...so quickly...Last Thursday evening the interns and the Fry family took off ...

I’m not a prophet, but…

...I told everybody at the beginning of the internship that at some point during the next 7 weeks ...

Teaching English at a Jr. Hi school

Our daily schedule changed today, as we were involved in teaching three hours of English classes at a ...

Spanish classes

I've been saying constantly now that the interns are taking English classes...but they already know English. For 3 ...

1st weekend in Ixtapaluca

The pictures below are all from last Friday. We had a devotional time, ate breakfast, then went by ...

Orientation Mexico City

This year´s internship started officially this past Wednesday, with Jacklyn, Camron, Andrea and Micah arriving within 2 hours ...

What a day…

So Monday night, Daniel and I go to a friend´s house to watch the 4th game between the ...

Pictures of a number of recent activities

I've not been very faithful of late in posting pictures of various events...but here they are:First is a ...

Women´s Conference Tomorrow

In February, Cati Ramirez came from Puebla and did a conference on unconditional love. It was a great ...

Taking the Door Off

We are renting a small, two-bedroom house. The area that we have to meet at as a church ...

Teacher’s Day…another day off in May

No school today...again. May is crazy. The kids hardly go to school between Labor Day (May 1), 5 ...

Corban University with us

Corban University is a great place that we knew almost nothing about until last Saturday, when we met ...

Ezekiel and the Wheels

I'm reading Ezekiel right now, just got through his "wheels" passage. The man had a relelation that surely ...

Theological education via Internet

Church planting is an interesting pursuit, especially regarding spiritual leadership. The most important qualifications for an elder or ...

May 4, 2010 | General

Video from yesterday...thanks Jim.If you can't see this video, click HERE.

An Incredible Day

The day started without coffee, although I certainly should have had some, because I struggled out of bed ...

David and Marshmallow Cream

You can tell by the title to this post that it's going to be a good story. Marshmallow ...

Evidence of God’s Care

Any ideas what this is?I certainly understand if you have no idea. It is a (broken) used motor ...

Faith

Friday evening I had a Puebla Bible Seminary board meeting in Puebla, and we met at Roger and ...

Tiempo de Vivir

We now have a name and a logo for our community center. The center is located very near ...

Ministry Opportunities

A couple of weeks ago I received a call from Larry Hower, who until recently was director of ...

Participating via Skype in Leroy Chapel’s missions conference

Tomorrow I'll be attending church in Ohio. Sort of. Pastor-friend Jeff Pierce asked me to share, live, with ...

Valle de Chalco study

Last night was the second week for our Valle de Chalco study, in the area that we provided ...

Sign for church in Jesus Maria

Mayra went with Aurora today to visit Andrea's family in Magdalena Contreas, a part of Mexico City FAR ...

The weekend and San Rafael

This past Saturday Sendero de Vida hosted a circuit-wide youth activity, an all-day rally, in which teams of ...

Bible study starts in Valle de Chalco

Perhaps you remember the relief work that we as a church did in Valle de Chalco, during and ...

Can you ride a ripstick?

Grandpa Fry took the kids to a Toys R Us store in Lancaster, PA, last summer, and Daniel ...

1st Sunday Service, Jesús María

Our team of 19* arrived early for our first service in a new neighborhood, to put up some ...

Club Program Last Night

Last night was not without it's technical difficulties, but all in all was a great time. We rented ...

Invitación, Clausura de Clubes Jesus Maria

Clausura Enero-Marzo, 2010Clase de InglésClase de tecladoClase de guitarraClase de repostería/Amigas del AlmaClase de basquetból7 p.m., Viernes, Mercado ...

Here and there

Today I spent some time in the formerly flooded Valle de Chalco area, touching base with the 29 ...

Basketball and Birthday parties

Last Wednesday we began another new activity related to our community center--basketball! The first class drew about 12 ...

Vision and Impact

This morning Mayra had a meeting organized by co-worker Shari, with a number of other ladies in the ...

Valle de Chalco service Sunday

We praise God for a great service in Valle de Chalco on Sunday. We saw an attendance of ...

Salvation! and Chalco presentation (English)

Last night, while rehearsing two short dramas for Sunday, two young ladies, Hayde and Yvonne responded to the ...

Program for Sunday

We are finalizing details for this coming Sunday. Today, David and I tried to confirm two more people ...

Bibles, Bibles and hunger

Last night Samuel and I visited several families that I got to know during the first five days ...

Visitors

This Friday, Daniel and Lauren Menge join us for around 10 days. They are both Moody grads (yeah!) ...

Delivering 170 food bags/boxes and clothing this morning

Last night we were excited to have 6 families represented in our Tuesday night Bible study in Jesus ...

Decisiones, decisions…for a new church plant

Mayra and I both thought we had a really good team meeting last Saturday evening, in the house ...

Youth group meeting Friday night

Friday night the young people played a game called "Upset the Fruitbasket." After three times in the middle, ...

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was not a fun day. It started with a meeting at school. I love my kids, but ...

The plan

Thanks! to so many of you who gave to this ongoing flood relief project. We received about $800 ...

10 hours of meetings, but feeling better

These past several days I feel like I lived in a misty haze, and it wasn't the rain ...

Sick!

I didn't go to serve breakfast at Valle de Chalco today, because my whole being just aches, feel ...

Day 5 of our involvement in Valle de Chalco

What a difference a day makes! We arrived at our usual spot surrounded by the hustle and bustle ...

Day 3 of our corner kitchen

Today we served eggs in a tomato sauce, refried beans and coffee, with a fresh bolillo. Fortunately the ...

Valle de Chalco, Day 2

Yesterday we served a total of 360 eggs, 6.5 lbs of hot dog and 9 lbs of refried ...

Relief work began this morning

It's been neat to see how our humble attempts at helping out our neighbors have come together. Yesterday, ...

Women’s conference and relief effort

This morning our very own "Amigas del Alma," Aurora, Shari and Mayra put on Jesus Maria's first ever ...

Giving disaster relief via CAM Int’l

Perhaps some of you have seen in my Facebook page or on the blog the incredible flooding that ...

Flooding, women’s conference, street hockey

The flooding right next to where we live is actually getting worse. As of this morning, the breach ...

Help for flood victims

Little by little we are seeing a bit of support for our efforts to help, in whatever way ...

Flooding near here, please pray

It rarely rains in central Mexico in February. We are in the "dry" season. Sure, every now and ...

Cathy in New York City

On our flight back from Harrisburg this past Tuesday night, we passed through Newark airport, and I snapped ...

Tribute to Ben

Last Thursday, Cathy and I flew from Mexico City to Newark to Harrisburg, to take part in a ...

Video of Ixtapaluca

Our co-worker, Jim Cottrill, is sometimes recording when you don't even think he is! He's his latest video ...

Ben with Jesus

This is a really sad post! Over the weekend my youngest cousin, 10 year old Benjamin Aungst, went ...

Observation, Interpretation, Application!

English classes have already begun in earnest, with an average weekly attendance in our Wednesday and Thursday classes ...

Spectacular view of the volcanoes

We have lived here in Ixtapaluca for over 5 years now, and I can't remember ever seeing the ...

Tuesday and Wednesday, Activities begin in 2010

Today was the first day of our second 10-week English course, and we started well, with around 20 ...

Margarita with the Lord

Yesterday, just as church was ending, I received a call from Josue, from the Iztapalapa Bible Church, the ...

Muñoz and Mendez families

Two of our favorite families, Toño and Becky Muñoz and Martin and Laura Mendez, have visited us during ...

Registration for English classes, next Tuesday

Now that we're back home and the relative peace of the holidays is over, it's time to get ...

Hernan Cortez’s house, circa 1550

I've included a couple more short videos from our Veracruz trip, these two of Hernan Cortez's house, which ...

Veracruz Adventure

This past Thursday we drove the 4 hours from Ixtapaluca to Veracruz (4 hours the way I drive!). ...

Projects for 2010

We are excited about this coming year! We will, Lord willing, be hosting groups from DTS&Baylor in March, ...

Christmas event pics

Here's some pictures of our trip to Puebla to attend the Coro Unido, then a few pictures of ...

Christmas and gift-giving

I was reading an article recently about Christmastime as it is currently celebrated in the U.S., that really ...

A crazy busy weekend

It all started Friday night, with the kid's school Christmas program. You can check out a video of ...

Soul Friends “Amigas del Alma”

Pictures of today's great Apple Pie Bake-off

Christmas season in full swing

This morning I stopped Samuel and Aurora's house briefly and saw the "Amigas del Alma" in action...preparing to ...

Coro Unido Mega-Choir Extravanganza

This morning, after taking the kids to school, Mayra and I made it to the last little bit ...

Cathy’s Christmas Ballet Presentation

Cathy has been taking ballet classes for the last couple of months, practicing much of that time for ...

Video of Jesus Maria English event

Co-worker Jim Cottrill put together a short video of Friday night that visually summarizes the evening very nicely.If ...

Report on Presentation last night

A big thank you to those of you who were praying for our first significant community activity in ...

Practice, practice…

Today started early, taking pieces of the 8 ft. by 20 ft. x 3 ft high stage that ...

Christmas Carols, Mexican Jr. Hi style

This morning Jim and Shari Cottrill and I were part of the esteemed judges panel in a nearby ...

House rental for church plant, 1 year contract begins in January

Here's a picture of the house we will be renting for the start of church plant #2 here ...

Video of Christmas practice

our English class closing program is this coming Friday evening. Here's co-worker Jim Cottrill working with Mary (Claudia) ...

English Club closing program poster

Our new promo poster for the closing event for English clubs in Jesus Maria. Samuel, David and I ...

Baking classes continue…Dec. 11 event

Shari Cottrill keeps teaching the ladies of Jesus Maria how to make delicious pies and cakes, today it ...

Church Construction

I took a few pictures of the church building today. The last 4 years have been an adventure ...

Has religious America finally awakened?

Bill O'Reilly and his Talking Points monologue entitled, "Has religious America finally awakened?"Video from last week, Fox News.Watch ...

Conference Pictures

We arrived home early today after spending Tuesday through Saturday in the Mexican state of Veracruz, at a ...

Willow Creek International Leadership Summit

This past weekend the plan was to attend both days of Willow Creek's International Leadership Summit, at Torre ...

The three amigas strike again…

Check out Samuel's new Christmas graphic of the three amigas.Last week was a very significant week, with three ...

The kids…

It's tough getting a picture of the three our kids where each one is smiling and reasonable normal. ...

Evangelical Free Video featuring El Faro, in Lebanon

The last time we were in the U.S. for an extended amount of time, 2003-2004, we had the ...

Sunday, 15th birthdays and Soccer

Yesterday was another good day at Sendero, with great attendance. Martin had to bring up some of the ...

Teaching English all day

I returned to our house around 1:15 p.m. today, after teaching 6 (or was it 7?) English classes ...

Best friends Women’s ministry

Mayra, Shari and Aurora have officially started their unique women's ministry in Jesus Maria! Samuel just created a ...

Coro Unido–Puebla’s 200+ voice choir

CAM missionary Terry Vanderwerf is already losing sleep (according to wife Helen!) over organizing a HUGE Christmas concert ...

Tiffany Taylor

Last week we were privileged to have Tiffany Taylor with us, who graduated with a Masters in Business ...

Football

Once again I'm condemned to follow an important game (Dallas vs. Eagles) on the Internet on ESPN's Gamecast, ...

Christmas at CAM basketball project

Yesterday I met Jazmin, a vivacious young lady with a degree in Physical Education. Her mother is a ...

Youth Campfire

Last night we had a campfire at Samuel and Aurora's house. Seems like whenever we say the word ...

Jesus Maria and our target area

Video produced by co-worker Jim Cottrill, focusing on our target area for the second Bible church in Ixtapaluca.In ...

Come to Mexico!

I've embedded a video in the blog that Jim Cottrill produced. If you can't see the video, you ...

First Fruits

This past Thursday, we once again had 30 kids in the first class, and around 22 people, including ...

Ok, that’s a new experience!

Today, the kids didn't have school due to an in-service day, so we decided to go on a ...

Joshua Daniel

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my friends Dan and Katie and the birth ...

Sunday

I preached today on Romans 13:8-14, and spent a bit of time on the phrase: Owe no man ...

Projects

I will soon be posting a number of small to medium sized projects for those of you who ...

A much better video!

Ok, you've seen my pictures and video...but co-worker Jim Cottrill actually knows how to put together a presentation. ...

Men’s Retreat at 12,000 ft.

This past Friday, at around 8 p.m., 16 men from two churches traveled the 90 minutes from Ixtapaluca, ...

Daniel teaching

Yesterday we had our second week of ESL classes, with about the same participation as last week...our second ...

Decorating and Celebrating

Yesterday we spent some more time conditioning our market space/ESL center, putting up two whiteboards and a bunch ...

The boys and I

Mayra participated in a children's conference this weekend with a workshop on teaching preschoolers. More on that tomorrow. ...

English Classes and Lots of Contacts

Today I re-initiated a long-term,ongoing English class here in Santa Barbara, the neighborhood where we live, moving it ...

English Classes starting tomorrow

Some of you know about a small market space/store sort of area that we purchased in a neighborhood ...

Mascot duty once again

This morning was a bit less crazy because Cathy did not have school (teacher in-service day or something), ...

Generators for TMI

I spoke to my parents this evening and them mentioned that they drove right by a huge truck/trailer ...

Week in review

Sometimes life just passes by and I live it and forget it...here are some of the more memorable ...

Remembering Grandparents

Although my life for the last 20 years or so has been dramatically different from my first 20 ...

Hike Up La Malinche

Last Saturday a number of young people and adults from the church took part in what Martin has ...

Grandma A; 1917-2009

I received an email from my dad this morning informing us of the passing of my maternal grandmother, ...

Roberto…Luis….Pablo and Jesy…Toby and Marilyn

Several years ago, Mayra and I were involved with a university ministry for about 4 years, until we ...

Sick…

Yesterday is a blur. The last thing I remember of Monday night was staggering up the stairs, really ...

Hiking La Maliche

This coming Saturday the youth are going to climb a nearby volcano, La Malinche, the "least tall" of ...

Developing People, Planting Churches

I just talked to José Antonio on the phone for a while. Toño Muñoz fell while trying to ...

This weekend

This past weekend was a full one, as usual. On Saturday we braved traffic and construction areas all ...

Tacos and a great conversation

We've been busy paying school bills, paying the rent, paying the phone bill and trying to see the ...

Social Networking

I found this interesting youtube video on Facebook...partially confirming at least some of the themes of the video. ...

Adjusting to Life in Mexico

Today was the kids' first day of school (having missed all last week because of travel), and the ...

We’re back in Ixtapaluca. It wasn’t easy!

We began our trip back to Mexico City last Tuesday. Seems like a LONG time ago. Here's a ...

Beautiful PA

Well, I told my parents today that I love being everywhere I happen to be, but I really ...

The week in review, and 3 Shades of Blue

Ok, you know you should update your blog when your dad sends your son downstairs and says, "when ...

Hope Community on Sunday

My cousin Ryan and wife Leah are visiting tonight, the whole way from Iowa. Can't wait to sit ...

Fry Cabin

Ok, so I'm just about beginning to feel guilty about how many days we've been enjoying spectacularly beautiful ...

A full week

I tried to tell Samuel and Aurora that what we've done these last two weeks usually is spaced ...

New Church partnership, bear, trout, soccer

A lot has happened in the last couple of days. I'll start with the most painful first, and ...

Sight and Sound–Wow!

Our days are SO full of wonderful experiences! On Thursday, the day started with a behind the scenes ...

Full first day with the Valtierra family

We picked up Samuel and family Tuesday evening at Philadelphia and took them to where they're staying, the ...

Time at Bible Fellowship Community Church

Our time with Bible Fellowship Community Church was great! Unfortunately, we weren't all able to go. David started ...

jaja

hi im daniel my dad dosent now im in his blog the stuff mi dad put me dancing ...

New property purchase in Ixtapaluca (and news from PA)

I added some pictures on the blog that Samuel just sent me. Hopefully they'll help in giving you ...

Our summer church schedule

Our summer church schedule is beginning to take shape, with a commitment this week at Wolc's VBS time, ...

This weekend was fun! It started with a Friday evening with my almost 90 year old grandmother, Catharine ...

Sweet morning!

So, it was tough getting up at 1:30 a.m. to make coffee and try to find my shoes, ...

TX to PA

So...here's a brief summary of our trip up from Mexico City. We crossed the bridge at Nuevo Laredo/Laredo...and ...

In beautiful PA!

After a LONG 2,700 mile plus journey from Mexico City to Elizabethtown, PA, we are enjoying family here.On ...

Fun with Toño and Becky

For more pics of last Sunday's baptismal service, click HERE for pictures posted on Jim and Shari's blog, ...

Daniel Dancing

Last Friday, 3rd through 6th grades put on a bit of a mini-musical very loosing resembling High School ...

Baptisms Sendero de Vida June 2009

Yesterday was a GREAT day...baptisms always are...as we traveled about an hour away to a public swimming area ...

Kid’s school presentation

Here's some initial photos...video coming soon. Due to the flu scare, the kids' mothers day presentation was delay ...

Thank you, Mayra

Mayra and I are transitioning out of weekly ministry in Sendero de Vida, to begin focus on another ...

Potential new outreach area

This past Saturday evening, Samuel and I dropped our two boys at the movie theater and drove around ...

Daniel’s Birthday party

We celebrated Daniel's birthday yesterday (and today, at his Mexican grandparents house). Here's some video. If you can't ...

Planning for Sendero 2

Starting a Church. What's important? Below we've identified 4 key areas that are fundamental to this process of ...

Paso de Cortez with Daniel and the Downs

One day each year we pull one of our kids out of school without any forewarning and do ...

Video from Saturday’s formal dinner

Here are two horribly incomplete segments of video from last Saturday evening. Terry Vanderwerf directed the 100+ voice ...

Dan and Sue Wicher

CAM president and friend Dan Wicher and wife Susan were present for Puebla Bible Seminary's 50th Anniversary celebration, ...

Day 2–You and the Church conference

It's been a great day so far here in Puebla, at the Torre Fuerte Bible Church, the 50th ...

Starbucks by the U.S. Embassy

Little by little I'm waking up, nursing a Carmel Machiatto at a Starbucks by the U.S. Embassy in ...

Puebla Bible Seminary/FAMEX conference

I spent most of the day today working on last-minute details and getting hundreds of copies made for ...

David and Construction

My other superstar, David, started soccer classes on Wednesday. He loves it!Yesterday Martin called to ask if I ...

Daniel and Soccer

I happen to think, as probably most fathers do, that my son is exceptionally gifted at soccer. He ...

The Word is Alive

Mayra and I have been enjoying Casting Crowns' CD The Alter and the Door a lot lately. Here's ...

Earthquakes and Parties

Yesterday at around 2:24 p.m., central Mexico experienced a pretty strong 5.9 Richter earthquake. I was driving up ...

Logos and Caricatures

After a morning Bible study on the subject of believer baptism, Samuel and I cruised downtown, to a ...

The Kids

A picture, or a couple of them, say a thousand words. You can see on our kids faces ...

CAM Int’l Mobilization Logo

CAM Int'l has a new name and logo to promote short term missions experiences. Emerge! This year, 19 ...

John Piper on Abortion

Gravitating toward Life

Having kids is great for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons I most love to ...

Pray for our home church…

Word of Life Chapel, located in Bainbridge, PA, about 4 miles from Three Mile Island nuclear power plant ...

How to Love Unconditionally

On April 25, our church hosted a circuit-level woman's conference, entitled "How to Love Unconditionally." Here's a poster ...

The Beach!

Due to the influenza virus, school was unexpectedly canceled all this week (through next Wednesday). Museums closed down. ...

Life in Mexico City lately

How Piggy flu got started….

The potential guilty party for all of this flu business!

On a lighter note…

Some of you know that I enjoy the board game Settlers of Catan. A good friend, Charles Wright, ...

Another Flu Update

According to the evening news, 103 people have now died as a result of the flu virus here, ...

Swine Flu update

Mexico City is apparently the epicenter of a new viral epidemic. What began as something fairly local and ...

Schools canceled today

Another update later today from Reuters...click HERE!For an update on this situation, check out this article. Thanks, Jim, ...

Mechanic experience

Not all run-ins with mechanics here in Mexico (or anywhere for that matter) are positive experiences. One that ...

Mountains and Mobilization

Last week we were pleased to host Karin Rountree for several days. Karin is CAM's primary campus representative, ...

Friends

During our last night on vacation recently, on the balcony of our hotel, late at night long after ...

Holy Week activities, more Pics and Video

This past week was a full one, with services at the church on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, ...

Iztapalapa Passion Reenactment

This is part of a procession that takes place every year in Iztapalapa, the judgement of Christ before ...

Today

Today was a different day. After helping get the kids ready for school, I took public transportation into ...

Video of Yesterday’s Leadership recognition

Thanks for the video, Jim!

Getting Well

On Monday, after picking the kids up from school, Mayra and I took the kids to a little ...

This weekend, like most…

What's a typical weekend look like here at the church? Well, Saturday for us started out with a ...

What’s Going on…

Check out what's going on in my home town, Elizabethtown, PA, today, more specifically at the High School. ...

Church, Prayer, Books and Food

After surviving a COLD and RAINY Team Leader training time in east Texas, I returned back to Dallas ...

Ixtapaluca Church project

If you would like to learn more as to how to donate to our church, Sendero de Vida ...

Retreat!

Normally I'm the guy who gets to leave home, but last weekend Mayra had the opportunity to go ...

The Purpose of Life

You might be thinking that I am feeling the need to redeem myself after the last hamster post. ...

Laura Guaza clip

Some of you know Laura. She's a gal from Columbia who came to Mexico in 2005 with the ...

Be fruitful and multiply apparently applies to hamsters too…

You know, it's truly amazing the amount of knowledge one just doesn't have, about any number of significant ...

Mexico Internship 2009

It's almost internship time again! After coordinating CAM Mexico's internship program for the last 7 years, we're taking ...

An impacting video

Pray for Alejandra

Some of you know Alejandra Escalera. What you may not have known was that Alejandra gave birth yesterday ...

Video of our Sendero Valentine’s Day couples buffet breakfast!

Memories

Don MacKay just tagged me on this photo on Facebook of our Moody Chorale 1987 European Chorale tour. ...

Leadership “what would you do if” time…and tacos

Last night Mayra and I went to sleep sometime after 12:30 last night. Here's why.We invited Jose Antonio ...

Pictures of last Sunday…and, THE HAMSTERS!

Last Sunday we loaded up a bus and some vans and went from here to Iztapalapa, to the ...

More Art and a Praise

More Samuel pictures. You really gotta see these pictures in person...but they really are good.Today was a great ...

Samuel’s Art, and Animando Cartoons

Samuel Valtierra won 1st place for both of these pictures...more info later.Ok, I have a bit of time ...

Martin’s B-day

I'm actually sitting on the third floor of Martin and Laura's house, listening to salsa music with Martin ...

Thanks so much! We have a great support team.

Check out the websites of our 7 supporting churches (in alphabetical order):Click to go to their websites.The Chapel, ...

God…is seen in His creation

I'm preaching on Romans 1:18-32 tomorrow. This cartoon is relevant.Did you know that the human body is made ...

Epicenter

Our annual Fellowship Conference speaker from 2007 mentioned he was reading at that time a book called Epicenter, ...

May the U.S. be guided by this prayer…

Rick Warren's prayer today at Obama's Inauguration.

Video of the church

Mauricio helped me make a quick video of the inside of the church, recent modifications and also future ...

Charlie Estañol…and passports

I just received a statement of recent contributions to our church property project. Among the donors was a ...

Pray for Mexico!

Jim Cottrill posted an interesting blog entry today. To check it out, click here.I was viewing another related ...

Great video of Tim Tebow

The Florida Gators won the BCS College Football championship last night. He's an MK who grew up in ...

Our new Transformation Team

CAM International is moving to a team dynamic, with missionaries working together in teams of 3-6 families. There ...

Three Kings Picture session a success

Last night, as I mentioned to some of you, the church took advantage of a vinyl backdrop and ...

Day of the Three Kings/Dia de los Reyes

Mexican kids have it pretty good. They can enjoy the benefits of Santa Claus on December 24th (the ...

Interesting Links and Info

Here's a link to Jim Cottrill's blog...he also wrote quite a bit about the activities of the end ...

Yesterday, passports and hospital visits

Yesterday we left home around 11 a.m. bound for the U.S. embassy, right in the heart of the ...

Battle of the Bands Concert

I didn't get any pictures Friday night, December 19th, but fortunately our co-worker Jim Cottrill did. The event ...

Christmas at the Fry house

Christmas in Mexico is really celebrated more on the 24th than on the 25th. Our celebration started around ...

Video from this past Sunday

19 members from Lighthouse Collective returned home yesterday after 10 full days here with us and the people ...

Big Event Tonight

Last night the Lighthouse Band practiced to after 11 p.m. Today is the big day. I received a ...

More news

I've been a bit busy of late, too busy to do much in the way of posting. Check ...

www.lighthousecollective.com

For much more info and photos, visit Lighthouse's website at www.lighthousecollective.comJust got back from eating tooooo many tacos, ...

Concert and Being Rear-ended

The Lighthouse concert last night at the mall was awesome. I'll try to get pics and videos soon. ...

Michigan team here

Just a quick note to let you know that the Michigan team, all 19 of them, arrived safe ...

Now you have it, now you don’t

Yesterday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon we hosted 19 women in our house. Each month the ladies ...

Light up the Night

Samuel has been working on a number of graphics for the Michigan team's time here. They arrive this ...

Church planting reflections

I responded to a question today about church planting here in Mexico, particularly about the advantages and disadvantages ...

What a Weekend!

Well, it was a crazy weekend, with the fun starting Friday night, with a rehearsal at our house ...

Candy Christmas Houses

Here's some video and pictures from last night. It was...sweet! Of course, David managed to eat far too ...

Battle of the Bands

Here's a promo poster for the 3-band event we're planning for Friday, December 19. We have municipal permission ...

CAM Fellowship Conference Pic and MBI Alumni Pic

Here are two pics, one of our CAM Family in Mexico plus some visitors, the other of Moody ...

Hunting Season (in PA)

Yesterday my dad called from our family cabin. I had no idea why my dad would call in ...

Life as a Turkey

I asked my son Daniel what were some highlights of conference this past weekend. His first response was ...

Fellowship Conference report

It's been a while since I've posted an entry. Reason: our annual CAMEX Fellowship Conference, this year in ...

Miracle Crash

Early today at around 12:30 Alejandro and David were going from here into Mexico City, in Alex's old ...

Life and Ministry, and a new church plant

Last Wednesday, Martin, Samuel, Miguel, Jim and I had a meeting to determine, in a sense, the future ...

Roller Coasting and New Skills

This past Saturday the Ixtapaluca youth group went to Chapultepec amusement park. Those of you who have been ...

Back in Ixtapaluca

Well, we're back in Ixtapaluca, we arrived yesterday at around 2 p.m. Due to the last-minute tickets I ...

Summary of a full time in PA

Daniel and my time in PA has been full and profitable. The viewing Friday evening and the funeral ...

Surprise! We’re in PA…

So after an already long day, Daniel and I are in our second plane, a big 767, from ...

Family Heritage

Yesterday morning at 4:25 a.m. my grandfather, Mahlon Fry, passed peacefully into God's presence. He is a portion ...

Alan and the Dishes

Quote of the Day:Where the light of revelation is not accompanied by spiritual experience and power in our ...

Anyway…

Some more humor...here's a picture of me and some Elizabethtown Grace Brethren youth group members, back in 1997. ...

Denny Boxing and Us Dancing!!!!

A couple fun videos of our time with the Wolc team in August.

Some fun pics from August

I found a bunch of pictures I didn't know I had on my laptop...and videos. I think Keith ...

Pastorela

Pastorela means Christmas play in Spanish. We are suspending our discipleship (Sunday School hour) time from now till ...

Listening to Casting Crowns today…The Altar and the Door

I have found some serious encouragement and...rebuke! in listening to Casting Crowns "The Altar and the Door" CD. ...

Of Visas and such…

Today was a day high in learning, mostly self-learning. I won't get into all of that, suffice it ...

Home Again

We all arrived back home again today at around 6 p.m. Good to be home!Had a great last ...

Wrapping up our time in Big Sandy

I woke up today thinking about two things. 1. I'm going to have to re-enter Mexico as a ...

Blog Address

http://t2.caminternational.org/Ok, so I'm dying here, inside, trying to work through complicated RACI charts, with the sight of green ...

Dallas and T2 meetings

Well, I arrived in Dallas Friday night and spent the evening with Brad and Lindsey Bridges, at Lindsey's ...

Oh good grief…I’m an alien, I’m a barely legal alien…

So I get out my visa this morning, and my passport...and I'm looking at the two documents. My ...

December Graphic

T2 Workshops

I'm rather frantically attempting to get everything done I need to get done today and tomorrow before leaving ...

Article for local newspaper

Una Semana de Celebración Navideña…Domingo, 14 de diciembre, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Celebración del 2ndo aniversario de Plaza CortijoCon Laura ...

Weekend

On Saturday Miguel, Alex and I drove up to northwestern Mexico City, to a huge graveyard where David's ...

Yesterday…and Today

This week has been an unusual one, with hospital runs M-F, taking Claudia for radiation therapy. On Thursday ...

What We Need…and what we don’t…and what really matters

Well, the Phillies won the NLCS...I remember (barely) in 1980 when they won the World Series. I saw ...

Pray for December ministry plans

Here's a note I wrote to Cliff Johnson, coordinator of the young adult ministry at Woodside Bible Church, ...

Alex and Mar’s wedding

Here in Mexico there are always (or almost always) 2 weddings. The second “religious” wedding is always dependent ...

Van Breakdown on Youtube

Leave it to Luis to actually document the van story! Hey, God was very good in letting us ...

Van Issues…again

Yesterday the plan was to take CAM president Dan and Sue Wicher and friend Jon up to the ...

Going to the Mall

Samuel and I spoke to a mall administrator last Saturday regarding Lighthouse Collective, the group from Troy, Michigan ...

New Books I’m Reading

I'm finally finishing up some books I've been reading...The Courage to be Protestant(awesome book) and The Complete Book ...

Van issues

After a couple of weeks trying to fix our van, last Thursday I finally had a breakthrough. I ...

Please pray for Griselda and family

Yesterday during church I received a call on my cell phone, which I didn't answer because we were, ...

Mexico reflections from Crystal

Crystal Langer has been down here with us in Ixtapaluca several times now...for the internship program last year ...

Manchas and our Astro

If you've visited us here during the last year I'm sure you remember Manchas (Spot, or more accurately, ...

Be Careful Driving in Mexico!

This morning a bus full of 41 passengers was driving north of Mexico City, actually pretty close to ...

Policy Governance at the Puebla Bible Seminary board meeting

This past Friday evening and Saturday the Puebla Bible Seminary board met, of which I am privileged to ...

Fun Cartoon

In case you have trouble reading this cartoon...in the first frame a little girl is reading a magazine ...

Lighthouse, from Woodside, group coming in December

Here's a video that Cliff uploaded to give an idea to the mall supervisors of the sort of ...

Daniel on the drums for the first time

I forgot to mention that Daniel played the drums for 1 song for the first time this past ...

Pictures of Sunday Ind. Day fun

Last night at 11:00 p.m. the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, stood on the balcony of the presidential ...

Independence Day celebration

Last night we had a great time as a church, with a p.m. service and a celebration/food/games/fireworks afterward. ...

Thursday afternoon classes

Thursday is a full evening at the church, beginning with English classes at 4. Yesterday Crystal and I ...

Jingle Bell Rock, malls and Michigan

Yesterday we had a brain surge...seeing as "surge" is so in vogue right now. Almost as popular as ...

Pictures from Mayra’s Bday

Picture from last night. I read a poem that I had written Mayra before we were married, and ...

Party time

I guess a picture, or a drawing, is worth 1000 words. Last night we had a house-full, with ...

Happy Birthday Mayra

Today Mayra has her 30-something...birthday! There are some surprises in the works, but I won't write about them ...

English and Drum classes

One of the ideas that we have for our church and church building is that it become a ...

Highlights from yesterday

Jim Cottrill and I both left our houses at around 6 a.m. yesterday, and met around 6:15 at ...

Church news, English and Spanish

Yesterday I preached on the life of Joseph, from Genesis 40-41. Preaching is still hard for me, one ...

Music classes

We've been praying for a new music teacher at church for the last couple of months, ever since ...

VP pick, Sarah Palin

I really do not like to talk about politics, especially U.S. politics...but...can't help but comment on the recently ...

Claudia’s cancer has not metastasized

Last night Alberto called and asked us to come over and see Claudia. He had good news. Apparently ...

Claudia update, PA pics

Thanks to those of you who are praying for Claudia. According to her husband Alberto she is doing ...

Quotes from the book The Complete Book of Discipleship

…many evangelical churches pose an even more subtle danger by departing from the gospel that calls on all ...

Excerpt from Above all Earthly Powers

Excerpt from Above All Earthly Powers, by David Wells, p. 50Change in focus from character to personality.Warren Susman ...

New Animation in Spanish from Luis

This animation talks about how a runner has to run the race to get the prize, and that ...

Weekend Report

It's Saturday! This morning Daniel and I visited a woman who made initial contact with our co-worker Shari ...

Planning Meeting tonight

What started as a meeting between Samuel and me to talk about some future projects has morphed into ...

Please pray for Claudia

Yesterday after a biospy it was confirmed that the lump that Claudia noticed in the last several months ...

First Day of School yesterday

Yesterday was the kids' first day of school. This year they're all in the same elementary school. David, ...

The Ministry…a checklist

I remain fully convinced that although Christian ministry invariably involves many aspects, the two key, non-negotiable essentials are ...

Update on Sendero de Vida Bible Church

Here's some interesting facts about church life in Sendero de Vida:*60-70 of us meet on a regular basis*Our ...

Edified to Reach the World

Wednesday night was a wonderful time of sharing in the celebration of Fabiola's birthday here at the house ...

More Wolc Pics

We set a new record for the van during Wolc's time here...21 young people in the van. We ...

Hard at Work

Samuel is threatening to make me a mascot, along with our Brigam image. Not a good idea, I ...

Keeping the Church in Line

School registration and car problems

Yesterday we enrolled Daniel, Cathy and David in the same elementary school. Daniel is in 5th grade, Cathy ...

Wolc review

This past week was a full and very profitable one! I still haven't had a chance to download ...

Update

Sorry for the lack of updates, life has been fast and fun with the 15 members of the ...

Word of Life Chapel Team

We are excited to have a team of 15 from my home church, Word of Life Chapel, Bainbridge, ...

Animated Video in Spanish by Luis

Luis and Samuel went with Mayra and I to Spain. Both are incredible artists, and do all sorts ...

Mexico City, Things I Do Not Understand, by John Fry

Every time I come home from Mexico I struggle to find the right words to tell my friends ...

Pulpit pictures

I received a note from dad that they arrived safe and sound this morning around 2:30 a.m. Today ...

Building a Pulpit

My mom and dad left for PA this afternoon, and will, Lord willing, arrive in Baltimore around midnight, ...

Video from last night

Today my dad and two other guys in the church, Samuel and Miguel, and I will be cruising ...

More Favorite Pics from this past summer

CAM Summer Internship video

Here's a video featuring internship photos from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Spain. Thanks, Brad, for making this available.

Ten Things I Learned in Mexico, by Crystal Langer (Summer 2007 and 2008 Intern)

Very perceptive insights by Crystal. I would fully agree with all of them!Ten Things I Learned in Mexico ...

Time in Veracruz

We had a great time with my parents for the last two days in a beautiful, tropical town ...

Slide show from the Prusias time in Mexico

Two weeks ago Darrol and Kim Prusia, and friends Dan and Kelly, spent some time with us. Dan ...

Paso de Cortez outing

Yesterday I dropped of this year's interns at the airport, we left here at around 6:30 a.m. But ...

Volcanos!

Today the interns and their host families and us went up to Paso de Cortez, the road that ...

Pic from two Sundays ago

Dan Coops posted this pic on Facebook...from two weeks ago when he was here with the Prusias and ...

Revolution, take 2

This morning the interns and I did some filming of a soon-to-be released Christian gangsta video, starring Abby, ...

A Full Sunday

This past Sunday was a very long, very enjoyable (for the most part) Sunday. The day started early, ...

Dan Coops Altitude Test

Darrol and Kim Prusia, CAM candidates to Mexico who plan to use martial arts to reach out to ...

Do You Want a Revolution?

Featuring Jonatan Toledo and Abby Grainge singing "Revolution" on the way back from the Teotioacan pyramids this past ...

Thursday ESL A.M.

I've tried to load several more videos...but the lights went out a couple of times...and since my laptop ...

120+ in ESL classes today

It's been difficult to find time to write. Last night Darrol Prusia and friend Dan Coops did a ...

Good Leadership and the Need for more Space

I'm at the airport right now, writing this, drinking a Chai Tea Latte and enjoying a few brief ...

English poster

Today the rain held off again until around 9 p.m., allowing us to complete two more sports clubs, ...

Taco Time…and recovery…

Last night after a really neat prayer meeting where Abby helped out on the keyboard and we had ...

Update

Below are pictures from Sunday and yesterday. Today we made it through both sports clubs without any rain, ...

ESL and Sports clubs begin

Yesterday we kicked off a week of 2 sports clubs and 1 ESL club daily. The weather was ...

Sunday Service and UW arrival

We had a great service today. Abby Grainge played the keyboard for us, our new Yamaha church keyboard...and ...

Posters for Sports Ministry

We'll be placing these posters around promoting this next week's evangelistic sports activities.

Airport runs

I actually rather enjoy going to the airport because I can indulge in a Chai Tea Latte or ...

Locks and a Drumset

Yesterday, thanks to a gift not yet received from two dear friends, we were able to buy a ...

Gearing up for next week

We have a pretty active weekend/next week, with 2 people arriving on Friday, 5 interns arriving on Saturday ...

Uncharted Waters 2008 Team

If you want to know more about Uncharted Waters, and see the faces of the team members that ...

Sunday

Yesterday we did something a bit different in church. After our discipleship studies, instead of a normal sermon ...

Jesus Adrian Romero Concert tonight

Mayra and I were given two tickets to a Christian concert this evening, in downtown Mexico City at ...

Sign for Sendero de Vida

We got the large vinyl/canvas sign for the church printed out today...2.44 meters x 5.8 meters. We'll need ...

American Idol hits Ixtapaluca

Last Friday, Melissa (a.k.a. Paula), Jonathan (Randy) and I (Simon) were the esteemed international judges at a very ...

Internship Update

By all accounts Abby, Brooke, Crystal and Emily are having entirely too much fun in Cuernavaca, as well ...

Video and pics of Daniel’s birthday

Happy Birthday Daniel…10 years old today!

Keyboard

Today we'll be purchasing a Yamaha 7-octave keyboard (DGX520) for about $900, the latest purchase in our pursuit ...

Plans and Permits

I'm in the process of writing up a formal letter to be presented to various municipal offices asking ...

Internship update from Crystal, Cottrill move

Thanks Rod! Things are going well here. We're having a great time with the Downs and the church ...

Mexico City Internship Experiences

Here's some pictures of the last couple days downtown, including some group pics in front of the National ...

Summer 2008 Interns

Once again this year we have a great bunch of kids...Abby from NY, Brooke from Kentucky, Crystal from ...

Internship Orientation

Last night around midnight I found myself near the Angel de la Independencia, on Reforma, in the heart ...

Pray for Lydia

We got a great email today...I thought I'd share it with you and ask you to pray for ...

A day with Samuel

This morning I passed by the church, then picked up David. We defined what sort of polo shirts, ...

Summer Internship Program begins

CAM International Mexico Internship starts this Wednesday!

Saturday 4-wheeling

Brigam leaves this week after being here since February. He wanted to so something special for the youth ...

Cottrill House

Here's some pics of the house our soon-to-be co-workers, Jim and Shari Cottrill, just rented. It's a small ...

Downtown buying books

Driving from here to downtown ranks right up there with going to the dentist as my favorite things ...

Banner for the Church

This is a very small picture of a 18 ft. by 4.5 ft. banner that we're going to ...

Another fun weekend

This past Thursday and Friday, Mario painted our house downstairs...we added some color, me trying to prove that ...

Melissa returns

Melissa Roberts, an intern last summer and CAM MK, returns today to spend a month with the church ...

Cultural Orientation Seminar

About two weeks ago I was invited to present a cultural orientation seminar to about 12 missionaries from ...

Sleeping in…

After three days of being away till after 1 a.m. every night and running around like a crazy ...

A full, fun weekend…

This weekend is going to be pretty intense, with a discipleship Bible study at 9 a.m. tomorrow, then ...

MBI days…

Oh my goodness this was a while ago, like 22 years ago, but what fun it was! Sandy ...

Brigam is Back

Since last Friday Brigam is with us again, teaching English with a fury. He called me twice today ...

House Hunting

Jim and Shari Cottrill were here this past Friday looking at houses. Shari, who had not seen the ...

Kids Mother’s Day program…enjoy the video

Cathy is dancing flamenco in the first video. Daniel puts his teammate on the ground during mock take-downs ...

Mother’s Day Serenades

Last night around 20 of us, including a bunch of young people and 5 adult men sang serenatas ...

Barnabas, what an example he was

Barnabas the mobilizerTraits that every missionary and mobilizer should have.I. An Encourager. A. Acts 4:32-36 B. Barnabas had ...

A really great group of people…

It would be difficult to exaggerate the sense of joy and fun and satisfaction that both Mayra and ...

Popocatépetl and Itzaccihualt

Popocatepetl (smoking mountain) and Itzaccihualt (white woman or sleeping woman) are located somewhere inside of 40 miles of ...

New Mexico City driving restrictions

If your car liscence plate ends in 5 or 6 (as our does) we are now unable to ...

Palabras de sabiduria, de John Stott

Al fin y al cabo solo hay dos posibles actitudes que los cristianos pueden adoptar hacia el mundo. ...

Ahh…real chairs!

Thanks to a generous gift from a good friend and brother who shares my first name, Rod, and ...

Cecilia Mary Rose Emma Bullard

Join us in welcoming Cecilia into the world! My sister gave birth to her first child, a girl, ...

5.8 degree earthquate in Mexico City

Around 7:06 last evening we experienced an earthquake...this one we did not even feel. We were in the ...

Not good news

I heard on the radio that it's been a year now that Mexico City legalized abortions. Since that ...

Coming soon to a t-shirt near you…

At prayer meeting this evening we prayed through some of the pilrimage Psalms. After the meeting I met ...

More Pics from this past weekend

You certainly get to know people better when you're camping! Among our many challenges...getting the tent up in ...

Men’s Retreat Friday Saturday

7 of us went up to over 12,000 ft. Friday night and camped. This morning after a devotional ...

Books and Tacos

Yesterday Mayra and I went downtown with Alberto. To me, going to downtown Mexico City is right up ...

Vans and Sound Systems

I took my van to the garage today...never a good day, especially if you're not exactly sure what's ...

English class Goodbye party

The reason why we teach English... Ty Stingel goes back to Calgary, Canada tomorrow...we leave here at 4:30 ...

More Spain Pics, thanks Brad and Lindsey

What fond memories we have of Spain and the people and places we met there. Brad and Lindsey ...

Hoy no circula

I was driving around contentedly in my Astro van this morning when Alex, a guy in the youth ...

Art is Ministry

We are very much committed here to use all sorts of ways to express God's LOVE and communicate ...

Baptisms yesterday…

Yesterday we once again took what is usually an annual pilgrimage to a public water park outside the ...

Puebla Pastor’s Conference

Here are two pics from this weekend's pastor's conference. Keynote speakers Jack O'Brien and Oscar Lopez with his ...

To Puebla and back…

The last two days I've gone to Puebla and returned on the 9 p.m. "Intermedio," a bus that ...

Baptisms this Sunday

Looks like we'll have 6 people obeying the Lord in believer's baptism this coming Sunday. Please pray for ...

Back in Ixtapaluca and weekend ministry…

Here's a picture of us with our dear friends Charles and Rikki.We're getting back in the swing of ...

Spain Trip–Sevilla, Guadix, Granada and Malaga

After Ubeda we headed south, then west, than back east again. During our time in Sevilla we met ...

Spain Pics–Ubeda and Baeza

In central Spain millions of olive trees grow, the largest concentration of olive groves on the planet, and ...

Spain Pics–Madrid

Here are some photos from Madrid and a small town we visited on our way back to Madrid, ...

Charles, you may kiss the bride…

Toledo, Spain

Here's a group shot of us in Spain, with Rob and Karen Jaworski and their two boys and ...

Cumpleanos Feliz a Aurora

Below there is a video that we made as a group this morning to wish Aurora a happy ...

Still in Guadix, heading to Malaga today

Last night was a new experience, with Samuel, Luis, Brad and I sharing a room. Some said that ...

Last night in Sevilla, now in Guadix

The team is currently, right now, with Nathan and Mary Saxe and their 4 kids in their three ...

The doors…

We ate a late supper with the two Pacos (both elders at the Ubeda church) and several other ...

News from Spain

We arrived in Madrid after three flights, one quite long...Arkansas to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Madrid. ...

Charles and Rikki’s wedding

In about 20 minutes we all leave for the church...wedding starts at 1 p.m. Last night's rehearsal and ...

Spain here we come…

Last night at prayer meeting we had a pretty good attendance, with somewhere around 15 people showing up ...

Shot of church building

Summer Internship Animation Link to youtube

Brigam at our youth activity today…

Busyness, a far cry from godliness

I was looking back over the past couple of posts and realized I fell into a trap I ...

A long, fun (mostly) weekend

I taught the youth group again this past Saturday. Alan came...he is a 20 year old who made ...

English Classes, Church Administration and life

Brigam, from Buffalo NY., and Ty, from Calgary Alberta Canada have taken over my English classes (which is ...

This performance isn't really current...it happened during a fun time last June with the summer interns during our ...

Mariachi Rod

Fishing!

This past weekend was crazy busy...but a highlight was Saturday morning. 7 of us drove up to the ...

Spain Trip finances

Hey, I'm REALLY SORRY to do this...I really am. Turns out God has provided for our personal finances ...

Talking to Spain

Samuel and I were talking again about our plans for Spain...and we decided to call CAM missionary John ...

Relevant quote

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?T.S. Eliot

Birthday Party and Spain Update

Last night after prayer meeting, a number of us from the church went over to Alejandro andMar's house ...

Greeting from Mayra

Answer to Prayer…that was quick!

The previous post was only written a couple of hours when I got a call from Brad this ...

Special Prayer Request

Due to a misunderstanding in the requirements of passengers traveling through the U.S., we initially thought that Samuel ...

The Cotrills

Yesterday it was my turn to preach, and I had prepared a sermon on Genesis 6, the conditions ...

Cameron’s new video

One of the videos recently posted on this blog (Monday, February 11) was made by Cameron Fenske, a ...

More Spain planning

Samuel stopped by last night and we talked about Spain a bunch more. We've decided to make free-standing ...

Slumber Party

Daniel with friend Sammy, watching Narnia. Sammy slept overnight last night.Daniel is 9 now, hard to believe!

Finishing Discipleship Phase 1

This past September we began a church-wide discipleship program. To a certain extent it is a variation of ...

Don't miss an update!

Subscribe to receive an email when a new article is added.

See what else is happening

Feb 14, 2025 | Liebenzell, Moody Bible Institute, World Missions

Dec 24, 2024 | Church Planting, Faith, Youth

Dec 5, 2024 | Liebenzell, Oaxaca

Nov 29, 2024 | Faith, Short-Term Missions

Oct 26, 2024 | Mexico & Culture

Aug 7, 2024 | Childrens Ministry, Church Planting, Community Center, Construction, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions, Word of Life Bible Institute

Jul 3, 2024 | Church Planting, English Classes, Mexico & Culture, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions, Youth

May 9, 2024 | baptisms, Childrens Ministry, Still Water Institute

Apr 3, 2024 | Mexico & Culture

Feb 19, 2024 | Mexico & Culture

Jan 8, 2024 | Church Planting, Youth

Sep 27, 2023 | Mexico & Culture

Jul 18, 2023 | Mexico & Culture

May 31, 2023 | Community Center, Mexico & Culture, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions

May 17, 2023 | Mexico & Culture

May 10, 2023 | Mexico & Culture

May 2, 2023 | Mexico & Culture

Mar 21, 2023 | Leadership, Liebenzell, Short-Term Missions

Jan 18, 2023 | Mexico & Culture

Dec 13, 2022 | baptisms, Church Planting, Word of Life Bible Institute, Youth

Nov 12, 2022 | Church Planting, Discipleship, Leadership

Nov 7, 2022 | Church Planting, Word of Life Bible Institute

Oct 22, 2022 | FAMEX, Liebenzell, World Missions

Aug 26, 2022 | Community Center, English Classes, Journey Program Liebenzell, Oaxaca, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions

Jul 28, 2022 | Mexico & Culture

Jul 6, 2022 | Church Planting, Construction, Hearing Aids, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions

Jun 22, 2022 | Church Planting, Liebenzell, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions, Youth

Jun 7, 2022 | Journey Program Liebenzell, Liebenzell, Mexico & Culture, Short-Term Missions

Apr 27, 2022 | Church Planting, Discipleship, Mexico & Culture, Short-Term Missions

Apr 9, 2022 | Family, Short-Term Missions

Jan 18, 2022 | Church Planting, Video, Wheelchairs

Dec 10, 2021 | Mexico & Culture

Nov 10, 2021 | Church Planting, Faith, Food

Oct 30, 2021 | Family, Liebenzell, Video

Sep 4, 2021 | Commission to Every Nation, Family, Liebenzell

Apr 24, 2021 | Community Center, Faith, Family

Dec 22, 2020 | COVID, Mexico & Culture, Oaxaca, Opportunity to Give

Nov 2, 2020 | Community Center

Sep 11, 2020 | Community Center, Youth

Jul 31, 2020 | baptisms, Church Planting, COVID, Word of Life Bible Institute

Jul 17, 2020 | Family, Youth

Jun 17, 2020 | COVID, Updates

Jun 4, 2020 | Mexico & Culture

May 22, 2020 | Faith, Oaxaca

May 7, 2020 | Community Center, Food

Apr 22, 2020 | Theological Education, Thoughts, World Missions

Apr 7, 2020 | Youth

Mar 23, 2020 | Church Planting, Mexico & Culture, Updates, Youth

Mar 18, 2020 | Culture, Faith, Thoughts

Mar 10, 2020 | Mexico & Culture

Feb 26, 2020 | Still Water Institute, Theological Education

Feb 19, 2020 | Theological Education, Travel

Feb 14, 2020 | Church Planting, Food, Women's Ministry

Feb 3, 2020 | Church Planting, Discipleship, Mexico & Culture, Youth

Feb 3, 2020 | Mexico & Culture

Dec 31, 2019 | Culture, Faith, Family

Dec 19, 2019 | Church Planting, Theological Education

Nov 13, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Nov 6, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Nov 1, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Oct 22, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Oct 14, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Oct 10, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Oct 1, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Sep 17, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Sep 4, 2019 | Family, Music, Soccer

Aug 4, 2019 | Childrens Ministry, Church Planting, Hearing Aids, Reading Glasses, Short-Term Missions, Youth

Jul 23, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Jul 18, 2019 | Childrens Ministry, Short-Term Missions, Word of Life Bible Institute

Jul 8, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Jul 5, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Jun 22, 2019 | Mexico & Culture

Jun 19, 2019 | Mexico & Culture