Gifts from Auburn BMC to our Mexican Pastors

Auburn Bible Methodist Church and Sis. Judie Burton have blessed our mission work and pastors again this year with their generous and wonderful Christmas gifts! Thank you so much, Auburn! They sent a special gift for each pastor, his wife and all his children, plus family gift bags for families in the churches.

Here are Saltillo Pastor Dolores Hernandez (Conf. President) and his family receiving their gifts.



Love this picture of Sylvia and I...she is my most wonderful friend - well, one of them...I have lots of great friends here in Mexico. She is my "bridge person" - so vital to foreign missionaries still learning culture and language. Love you, Sylvia!

I love these kids...and would take them all to raise. :-) They call me their American Mom and my boys call Sylvia their Mexican "mami".

Merry Christmas!
from Marc and Melodie Sankey
Jordan, Cameron and Logan
Your Bible Methodist Missionaries in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

We trust each of you have a wonderful holiday season as we celebrate Jesus' birth so long ago. The miracle of His birth has come alive to us in a new way this year and we thank Him for His amazing love...that brought Him all the way to us.

We give God thanks for His touch on Marc and the wonderful recuperation he is experiencing since his accident 8 weeks ago today. Daily, he is gaining strength and returning to his normal activities: missionary work, mentoring of pastors, handling of missions finances, family activities, etc. He has an appointment with the neurosurgeon in Celaya (central Mexico - 7 hours south of Saltillo) this coming Monday - we are expecting the doctor to again be pleased with his progress since there have been no complications.

We thank each of you who has prayed for Marc and our family during these past two months. We have relied on your prayer support and God's strength and have found His grace to be sufficient. Many of our Mexican pastors and families have been here to help and support us with so many details that needed to be cared for. Marc's parents came and spent 3 weeks with us, helping and supporting us - thanks, Mom and Dad. The love offerings, cards, emails and phone calls have encouraged our hearts - we thank you!

Thank you also, for the many Christmas cards and gifts our family is receiving during this time of the year. We feel your love and support so much.

After the first of the year, we will be turning our attention more fully to our missionary work and the normal duties that are ours, as Marc continues to recuperate. Thank you for your continued prayers for him and for our family. As we near the end of the first year of our Share Support, we thank God for each one who is faithfully supporting us each month - you are such a blessing to us.

We pray God's blessings on each of you this Christmas season - may His presence fill your hearts with joy!

~ The Sankeys ~

The only Christmas present I want this year - my wonderful husband. Thank you, Lord!

Love this time of year....

On Thanksgiving evening, the boys and I put up the Christmas tree. Oh, and Marc read the instructions for the tree assembly from his easy chair. :-) Christmas music was playing and we were making memories...

Happy Thanksgiving!

My heart is so full of thankfulness to God today for giving my husband back to me. I know it was God's touch that spared his life. Thank you, Lord.

I'm thankful for my awesome kids who stood by me during this time - they're amazing.

We wish each of you our friends and family a very happy Thanksgiving 2009!

My Miracle, Marc

This picture of Marc and me was taken several days ago when we were still in Celaya. I thank God for the miracle of my husband.

He's doing great!

Just a quick update on Marc - he's doing so well; the doctors are all amazed. He's still taking it very slow and is on several continuing medications, but his progress is remarkable. We see the head neurosurgeon on Monday afternoon and hope to go home to Saltillo on Tuesday. We're SO ready.

My computer has chosen this time to malfunction and is being worked on as I write (I'm using Marc's) therefore no new pictures in awhile. I'm supposed to be getting it back tomorrow - fixed! We'll see.

Thank you for praying for Marc. God is touching him in an awesome way!

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning update on Marc

The beautiful roses from the Sams....

This is the update Marc's dad wrote yesterday morning...thanks so much, Dad.

Celaya, Mexico. Again, many thanks for the prayers and concern of our Ropeholder family. This is Tuesday morning, Janet and I are in the hospitalroom with Marc and Melodie. Marc had a very good night of rest (and Melodierested well too), and this morning has shown the most improvement yet in hisrecovery. The ophthamologist was in last night and thinks that Marc's eyewill make a complete recovery. Though it is still swollen in the area ofthe eye, yet the bruising is receding, and the eye itself looks better. This morning, Marc (with aid of the nurse and Melodie) walked to the bathroom, was able to shower and wash his hair. Then he was able to seewell enough to walk across the room (and was walking better too) and sit down in a chair. The nurse re-dressed the suture line across the top of his head (Janet says the suture line is beautifully done [if such a thing can be"beautiful"]), cleaned out the actual wound area where the rock/piece ofconcrete had smashed into his forehead, and rebandaged that area and his nose that had been shattered. Right now he is eating almost normally though he says it hurts to swallow. Altogether, and thus far, this day has been very encouraging to all of us. As Melodie has mentioned, "The prayers of God's people are making adifference in my husband's life." From all of us - thanks for your prayer,and we earnestly request that you continue until God brings us the whole way through this present circumstance.

Leonard Sankey (Marc's Father)

This is the piece of road asphalt/concrete that almost took my husband's life.

God is so good.

Marc's Accident

I'm sure that most of you have heard by now of my husband's accident that took place early this past Friday morning. A large piece of concrete entered through the windshield, hitting him in the forehead. His skull was fractured in 3 places, the worst fracture actually pressing the bone into his brain, requiring surgery. His left eye orbit was also crushed as was his nose and both of those had to be rebuilt.

Our Missions Director was traveling with Marc at the time of the accident and together they were able to get the vehicle off the road. An ambulance was called and according to the advice of a businessman who was at the roadside truck, they took Marc to a very good hospital in Celaya, Gto., Mexico. - Centro Medico Quirugico. He has been operated on and attended by 2 very competent neurosurgeons, a plastic surgeon and an opthmalogist. The nurses have been very attentive and I'm so thankful for the good medical care he is receiving.

The piece of his skull that was pressing on the brain was lifted and then put in place with several other broken pieces of his skull with titanium plates. Also the left eye orbit was repaired using a titanium plate.

The neurosurgeons are happy with his recovery so far. He has passed the first most critical 24 hour period - thank the Lord. He is dealing with alot of pain, but has been a trooper through all of this. Despite his skull being bashed in, he was able to walk to the ambulance, crawl in the back, and lay on the stretcher. He never lost consciousness once, but as a result has dealt with an incredible amount of pain.

I am so thankful for our wonderful friends, John Parker and Clair and Melba Sams. John surely saved Marc's life...I cannot imagine what would have happened if he had been alone. The Sams have fully taken over the care of our sons for me (even down to the dirty laundry). I cannot begin to explain how grateful I am that they are here with me. Most of our Mexican pastors have been here to pray and sit with Marc...Eli and Isela have spent hours with me, Pastor/Conf. Pres Dolores has taken care of important Missions business that Marc could not care for. Thank you so much.... Most of all, to my wonderful Lord, for sparing the life of my precious husband Marc.

This is of course a picture of our Sequoia, showing where the piece of concrete entered. I have other pictures of the vehicle and of Marc, but frankly, I am not ready to share them..maybe never. They are heartbreaking to me and too graphic to post.

Thank you for your prayers. We need them.

Melodie

Monday Night English Classes

This past Monday completed our second session of English classes here in Saltillo. We have really enjoyed teaching English and our students have learned so much.

Marc giving the written exam to second level students.

Christy was so cute...she brought her little notebook, listened intently and wrote who knows what? :-)

Pastor Dolores and Noemi giving their oral dialogue presentation.

Grading papers...

Danna and Miguel practicing their dialogue.

Afterwards we invited everyone to our house for American snacks and to hand out completion certificates and grades. 25 people in my little house...love it!

Noemi receiving her certificate.

Paula, a girl from the community, receiving her Level 1 Completion Certificate.

And the whole group of us. Everyone did so great - very proud of them!

Gift Blankets

The Girls Ministry Club of a church in New York recently sent us a shipment of adorable orange fleece blankets that say "Jesus Me Ama" - Jesus loves me, in Spanish - and just in time for the cooler weather!

We visited our pastor Jose Cruz and his family in Santa Apolonia on Sunday afternoon and were happy to give each of his children: Ruth and Isai each a blanket. They loved them!

Thanks, Kezia Mills and Girls Club for your special contribution and for your support of Mexico Bible Methodist Missions!

This Past Sunday in Rio Bravo

We were blessed to spend part of this past Sunday with our Pastor Santiago, his family and the people at the border church in Rio Bravo.

Logan participating in the SS presentation after class. I was proud of him - he answered his questions very well in Spanish.

Me and my wonderfully sweet friend, Refugia. We've been friends since we first moved to Mexico in late 2005. This is her precious daughter and another one's on the way! :-)

Pastor Santiago's daughter Samantha...she's a cutie.

And all the kids are digging in to that delicious Sunday lunch. Edith and Isela made lunch and we enjoyed eating it at Santiago and Edith's house. Thank you so much for your hospitality!

We always have a great time with our friends, Pastor Santiago and Edith and Bible Inst. Pres. Eli and Isela. Lots of laughs and good times shared....

(Edith and Isela are sisters, btw)

Last weekend in San Rafael

Last weekend, we attended the wedding supper of the pastor's son, Levi and his new bride, Claudia. It was a pretty outdoor wedding, despite the afternoon deluge that threatened to wash us all away. The meal and cake were delicious and we enjoyed fellowshipping with our BM people there in San Rafael.

We enjoyed attending and ministering in Sunday School the next morning.
Here's the pastor's daughter, Perla, teaching S.S.


Reading the Scripture during Marc's class.


Marc teaching Sunday School class - giving his Power Point Presentation on Tithing.

The Sunday School children in San Rafael. This church has a thriving childrens' ministry.

For some reason, I neglected to get a picture of our hosts, Daniel Pena and his wife Lorena and family. We so much enjoyed staying Saturday night in their home and the delicious meals they provided us. Hermanos, muchas gracias...que Dios los bendiga!

A Happy Pantry...

...is one with cans of Skyline Chili on its shelves.

A happy missionary family is one that has cans of Skyline Chili on the shelves of their pantry, after craving it for so long. :-)

Thanks, Steve!

Deysi and Ezekiel's wedding

Deisy and Ezekiel's wedding was just beautiful. I have lots more pictures over on my Facebook account - check them out there.

Marc did a wonderful job performing the ceremony (his first Spanish wedding). Logan was the Bible bearer and walked down the aisle with Christy, the flower girl.

The wedding party

Christy and Logan

So cute!

Independence Day 2009 in Mexico

To celebrate this special day in the land of our calling, we took the day off homeschool and headed out to explore Saltillo. We went to the Centro to look around. It was nicely decorated for the occasion.

Jordan just HAD to have some of those tacos when we went down to the centro. :-)

Love this picture of the Mexican hombres in the centro...just passin' the time.

My 3 boys sporting their Saltillo T-shirts.

brothers having fun...

Here's the game that Marc made up. The boys would swing as high as they could, then jump out of the swing, catch the football mid-air and land on the ground with the football still in their grasp. Yes "rough and tumble" is the name of the game with 3 boys.

Maybe the most amazing form of the day...lol..Cameron snagged that ball and got points for this one!

Marc taking a moment to talk to some cute kids in the park.

Logan taking one of his turns....he caught the ball although it looks like it was at great cost! :-)

Jordan making the catch.

Now on to tackle football with Dad.

Oh, that thick green grass...lol...I was sitting in this grass under a tree watching the game and snapping pictures.

HIKE!

Beautiful Mexican flying in the breeze on Independence Day 2009!