clarification and prayer for our MKs

At this point, some of you may be confused about where and how we live. For instance, were you surprised to hear that there is a rather large missionary community close by? It's true. There are quite a number of ex-pats living in our little town. Sometimes there are more, and sometimes there are very few, like during the summer, but our children are blessed to grow up in a tight-knit community of missionary kids who are more like siblings and cousins than merely friends.

Many of the kids, like our Bekah, attend the Oaxaca Christian School either part-time or full-time. Some are home schooled, and others attend Mexican schools. You might remember praying for Mike when he was attending OCS several years ago. Back then it was a 2-hour commute by bus each way! Thankfully now the school is only about half an hour from here by car on a much-improved highway since they relocated the school to this end of the city. By bus it only takes one hour each way, allowing for short walks to and from the bus stops.

The good thing about the school is that they have a block schedule, like a community college, so that the high school students have the option of attending only part-time. Bekah is taking advantage of Biology and English, which only meet on Tuesday, Thursday, and for a shorter period on Friday. She is also taking one elective class in Art. Now that I'm overcoming my fetish against slimy things, I might have been able to conduct the labs that involve dissections, but those kind of things are really better in a classroom setting than on my kitchen table. Don't you agree?

As for our little town, it's small enough that the kids can freely walk from one end to the other. That's one reason why they always feel "hemmed in" when we go to the states, because they can't get out and walk anyplace they want to go. Here, no friend lives too far away to reach without parents' assistance. The older kids can even visit their friends in Oaxaca City by catching a bus or two. They can go to a movie, hang out downtown at the zocalo, or do anything parents allow them to do, all without requiring a chauffeur or chaperon. My three kids at home aren't quite old enough for these privileges except when older brothers or sisters (including Heidi as a sister) come to visit, but they will be soon, providing they merit the trust I had in the older ones.

Are there dangers here? We do feel a certain amount of spiritual protection over our family, (thanks to the prayers of the saints!) but we know we are not immune to the dangers that lurk on the streets of Mitla. For instance, drugs and alcohol are readily available to any child who chooses that path. No shop or bar would ask for an I.D. to check their ages before serving beer or Mezcal to minors. Likewise there are internet cafes all over town with no parental controls installed, so pornography could be a ready temptation as well. There are gangs that would not hesitate to inflict bodily harm on any foreigner who gets in their way or offends them somehow. So, yes, there are dangers. However, for the most part we do feel safe.

As you read these things, could you please take a moment to pray for our three youngest children? Pray for protection for Bekah, Jon E., and Debbie as they hang out with their friends out and about town. Pray that they resist temptation and become true followers of Jesus in every situation they face. Pray for revival among the MKs (missionary kids), that they would be an infectious example to the young people in our community. Pray for the Oaxaca Christian School to be a healthy spiritual breeding ground for future servants of the Most High God.

Last year we went through the painful process of seeing one of the MK community stop walking with the Lord for a period of time. Living in a small town, there was no hiding this young man's immoral lifestyle. It was devastating. The parents did an amazing job separating themselves and their ministry from the unwise choices their son had made. They continued to love the sinner while HATING the sin. They modeled tough love and went to war, spiritually, on behalf of their wayward child and his unsaved lover. The rest of us watched in admiration. No one dared to condemn, knowing it could have just as easily been one of our own children who had been seduced by evil.

Yes, please, do pray for the missionary kids in Oaxaca. They are targets of the enemy to render our message powerless. May each child be transformed so fully by the Holy Spirit that the power of the Cross would be seen in their daily choices.

 Oaxaca Christian School