Mexico Matters – Thinking Missionally, Acting Intentionally

Short-term adventures, summer 2023

Mayra and I are taking a deep breath today, after being involved with a series of short-term experiences here, as well as a trip to a very rural (think dirt roads) part ...

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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 ...

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