Friends.......

I'd like you to meet some of my friends here in Mexico.

This is Isela, probably the best friend I've made since coming here. Her husband, Eli, is our Institute President. She has 2 boys just about my boys' ages: Ervin and Irving. She has been so patient with my halting Spanish and continues to teach and show me....I am learning so much from her. I've never met anyone with a more sacrificial spirit and positive attitude about serving God. Just last night, we cooked dinner and ate together - she gave me some wonderful advice about adjusting to life here in Mexico. Gracias, Isela...




Playing and singing together during an altar call in the Rio Bravo church




This is Janette, one of my friends here at the HIM church. She understands and speaks English well...she has been so kind to me since the first moment I arrived.

Sweet baby girl who stole my heart. Granddaughter of our pastor in Santa Apolonia.

This is Rosa, pastor's wife in Cuchicuato - and her daughter - helping me make pizzas in my kitchen.

Here is Refugia from the Rio Bravo Church. What a sweet spirit this lady has! She has befriended me since we first arrived in Texas a year and a half ago, making me special Mexican food and putting up with my poor Spanish.

Meet Macedonia, pastor's wife in Pedregales. She's a very quiet, but giving person...she shares what she has willingly and happily. She has made me feel very welcome in her home.

And here is Deborah, one of my tutors at the language school in Texas. What a happy person she always is....and what an immense help to me linguistically. She's from Morelia, a beautiful town just about 2 hours south of Salamanca. She's an educated girl in her early 20s. She challenged me to my limits in Spanish, correcting, reminding, encouraging me.....muchisimas gracias, Deborah!

And there are more.....Anna Correa, Xotchil (I think that's correct), Teresa, Lorena, Sylvia, Lupita, Yohanna, Edith, Esther, Pilar, Reyna, Marta, and more.....people that God has brought into my life, for reasons that He understands perfectly. I'm so thankful for my friends.

Pizza Party

During this weekend, we have been blessed to attend and participate in the Family Seminar here at the HIM church in Salamanca. Craig Dahler is the speaker and has been doing a great job.

Last night, our pastor and family from the Bible Methodist Church in Cuchicuato, Refugio Sanchez and his family, came to the service and to our home afterwards for a meal. We made lots of pizzas, Isela made spaghetti, and we had a wonderful time fellowshipping. They called it "la comida gringa" (gringo food), but I noticed they ate it with great gusto anyway!

What a Fun Weekend....

This past weekend while Marc and Logan went on a trip to visit our border churches, Jordan, Cameron and I had the wonderful privilege of hosting part of a tract team that had spent last week in Mexico City - handing out tracts and witnessing.

4 girls spent the weekend in our home and we got to enjoy meals, fun and fellowship with the whole group (13 in all) several times.

What a fun weekend......

Introducing.....Scrap Solutions

Dear Friends and Family,

I have something very exciting to share with you. My sister, Myranda, who has been blessed with incredible creative talent, has, after much thought, decided to open a home-based business called Scrap Solutions. She offers to share her creativity with you, by way of handmade greeting cards, scrapbook pages, checkbook/planner covers and other projects.

To read more, visit her business blog at www.scrapsolutions.blogspot.com. You can view samples of her work, read info on ordering, find item and shipping prices and contact Myranda to place your own order.

If you're into scrapbooking/card making, you will find Myranda to be a great source for design ideas, advice, tips on the best scrapbook tools out there and more.

If you're not a scrapbooker, let her help you get started or just simply do it for you! I have already placed my order for some greeting cards in Spanish. I can't wait to receive them and share them with my friends here in Mexico.

Either way, I know you will be happy with her products. Take a moment and check out her website today. New samples and "special deals" will be added frequently. You may also contact her at: the5weavers@sbcglobal.net or 330.806.6964

Thanks and have a wonderful day,
Melodie Sankey

www.sankeyfamily.blogspot.com

Jordan is 12

Our oldest son, Jordan, turns 12 today. It seems impossible. Where did the time go since this afternoon 12 years ago?

Jordan, your dad and I wish you the happiest birthday ever. You've brought so much joy into our lives and gave us the privilege of being called "parents". I'll never forget how excited we were to finally see and hold you. We looked at you in awe, feeling a sort of love we'd never felt before. We remember how much fun those days were and how you grew, trying and doing new things - such a happy boy. But now you're almost shoulder-high to your dad and 12 years have passed in a flash. We celebrate who you are today and what God is making of you. He has so many plans for your life - we can't wait to watch and see what He does. Happy birthday, son.

Our love always,

Mom and Dad

A New Day

I'm up a little earlier than normal this morning - and the peace and quiet is well worth it. I love having this time to get the day started right and especially with the new challenges in my life right now, this time to meet with God and get renewed in His presence is absolutely essential to me.

I am going with Collette and Isela to a new HEB grocery store in Leon this morning. There are lots of HEBs in Texas and that's basically where I shopped for groceries while we lived in the Valley. I have been to this store twice before and I always enjoy making the drive over - they have a bigger selection of more American-type foods. I'm helping to host a Mexico City tract team this weekend - and we're purchasing groceries, etc. to prepare for this.

Gotta add this before I move on this morning - this picture of my growing boys. It seems every time I turn around they're a few inches taller. This was taken in Guanajuato.

And just to think - Jordan will be turning 12 this week - I don't think I'm ready for this and I'm certainly not old enough to have a 12 year old....lol

Have a wonderful Tuesday. ~ Melodie

Check out the huge aloe vera plants behind them!

March 2007 Newsletter

Good morning, everyone. I just finished sending out our March newsletter. It contains a family update plus pictures and an update about the Youth Convention. If you're interested, you can:

• visit our Bible Methodist Missions Yahoo Group to view it under the Files/Missionary Newsletters Section: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bible_methodist_missions/

If you're not already a member, signing up is easy!

• Or email me at melodiesankey@yahoo.com and I'll send you a copy.

Have a great Wednesday....
Melodie

Happy Birthday, Marc

Today I wish a very happy birthday to my husband and my best friend, Marc. There is no way to say how much I truly love you, honey and how happy I am to be your wife. You are an amazing person, inside and out. You have faced tremendous challenges recently and I have watched your inner strength at work as you have met each challenge head-on and still cared for me and for our boys. I hope this day is special for you - you deserve it.

I love you.

Melodie

Tacos al Pastor, our town and our house

You gotta see these tacos we love.....

We eat them at a little restaurant here in Salamanca called La Herradura and they are scrumptious. Of course you can put more stuff on them: vegetables, cheese, but we mostly like them just this: with salsa, lime and salt. Even Cameron eats them - now you KNOW they're good.

Our town is 404 years old. At the entrance of our colonia is a beautiful lighted fountain with the dates of Salamanca's 400th Birthday. How beautiful....

Here's a quick look at our patio...I'll add more pictures of our house when I have time.

I am very blessed to have such a beautiful place to live - now if I can just keep the white tile floors clean with 3 boys running in and out........

Home from Florida

We're back in Salamanca after a great flight from Ft. Lauderdale (how great that snow delays don't bother us a bit), NO problems through immigration and customs (thank the Lord, more on this later), a 3 hour bus ride from Mexico City to Queretaro, an hour and a half bus ride from Queretaro to Salamanca, and a taxi ride home (actually it took 2 taxis to take us and all our bags). We arrived just before midnight after 13 hours of traveling....and were so glad to sleep in our own beds.

Our beautiful hotel in Mexico City

There is just no way to express what a great time we had in Florida....Sea Breeze Camp was wonderful. We so much enjoyed the ministry of the other workers and the fellowship with family and friends was awesome. Our kids LOVED the English children's services. The Lord helped Marc preach and us to sing...people were so very kind and expressed their thanks to us.

The Mercy concert went great as well.....packed house and we sold every CD and tape we brought in 10 minutes...no joke! It was great to sing with Anthony and Marci again.

Heading for the shore....

We spent several afternoons at the beach during our time there....it was gorgeous and we loved it, as always. It was so fun to eat lots of American food - LOTS - we didn't even feel hungry after the first day in the US. I guess the different diet and smaller portions we've been used to made the difference. Anyway...we hit our favorites several times and it was all delicious.

It was so fun to spend several days with Marc's parents and Maria, too. They were present for several days of camp. Also Steve and Kent flew in for a couple days. And as I said, Anthony and Marci and kids also....

Ok - immigrations......when we left Mexico City to fly to Florida, the airline officials took our 6 month visas from us. Apparently they needed to keep them as our permission to be in Mexico and now that we were leaving we didn't need them. We tried to explain, but.....anyway, we got on the plane thinking "what are we going to do, those are our permissions to live in Mexico" (Until Marc's FM-3 goes through - legal permission to do missionary work in Mexico) We didn't know if they would issue us another set of visas when we returned since we were still in the "system" for 5 more months. The officials don't like to renew visas until the time is totally spent. Well, we just decided to leave it in God's hands and "worry" about it when we got back to Mexico. At the airport in Ft Lauderdale yesterday, we received new visa forms to fill out. So we did, just as if we were applying for the first time. When we reached Immigrations in the Mexico City Airport I prayed, "Lord, please give us an official that is happy, well-rested and has nothing to prove!" Amazingly that is just exactly what happened - we breezed through! We received 90 day tourist visas, got our passports stamped and were on our way in about 5 minutes. I was so relieved and thankful.

There is so much more story to tell after that point, but I just hesitate to put you through all that if you're not really interested..lol....

Main thing is we had a great time in Florida, we're home and back in the saddle.

Hasta luego....

Love,
Melodie

What a Sunday!

We had an awesome Sunday - we were privileged to visit the two Bible Methodist Churches that are within driving distance of Salamanca: our churches in Pedregales and Cuchicuato. (say those 3 times) We had really good services in both places. Marc preached tonight in Cuchicuato. We enjoyed delicious meals with both pastors and their families. They were so kind to host us and so patient with our stumbling,bumbling Spanish. Here's a few photos:

Marc and Pastor Manuel Navarro, Pedregales

Sis. Macedonia and I, Pedregales

Dinner Conversation

The little "chickies" that enjoyed lunch right along with us

Marc preaching in Cuchicuato

My boys were too busy playing and exploring after the services to get too many pictures of them. They are not at all shy, but after a very interesting after-church experience tonight, I found myself wishing they were a little more that way. But that's another story for another post...

I hope your Sunday was blessed, also.

Logan's friends

Logan loves to play Uno...in any language. It was so cute to watch him with his little Mexican friends. He is probably speaking the least Spanish of all our kids, but already acts like he was "born and raised" here. He loves tacos al pastor and totally gobbles las tortillas de harina (flour tortillas).....

January 2007 Newsletter

Good afternoon......We have just completed and sent out our first "real" newsletter. Thanks, Marci, for an awesome job - you're hired! (but without a paycheck...smiles...) Seriously, thank you, Marci - your work is fantastic. If some of you do not receive our monthly newsletter and would like to read it, you can find it at this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bible_methodist_missions/files/MISSIONARY%20NEWSLETTERS%20/ entitled "January 2007 Mexico Newsletter". Please feel free to print a copy and post it on your church bulletin board or wherever people will have an opportunity to read it.

One week from today we will be leaving home to travel to Mexico City, stay overnight and depart early Wednesday morning for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to participate in Sea Breeze Camp 2007. This will be my first time to fly on a foreign airline - just a little nervous.

Hey, maybe we'll see you there....

Happy Birthday, Myranda

Dear Myranda, my baby sister.....I won't be able to be as eloquent as you were on my birthday but please know that although we are far apart, you are close in thought to me today. I'm sorry you had to experience a loss with your husband and family on your special day. I love you so much and hope there are many wonderful birthdays to come...... ~ Melodie

Back Home in Salamanca

We made it home safely yesterday afternoon around 5 pm. We had a good time in Texas (I LOVED my birthday dinner at Outback) and the chance to relax a little was very needed.
We sang and Marc preached at our church in Soledad (or 28, as they call it) Sunday morning and we sang, he dedicated a baby and preached at Saltillo Sunday night.

We stayed with Jose and Anna Correa and their family after enjoying a meal with the Saltillo pastor and people and also those from La Boca who had come to Saltillo for the joint-service. I might add that during this meal I actually tried fried grasshoppers that Bro. Dolores had brought back from Oaxaca. They were absolutely putrid and disgusting, especially when I sat there looking at their crisp little bodies with the legs fried off.....But I told the people who were ALL watching: "Now I am really a missionary!" I probably said it wrong but they got the point and cracked up anyway.....

We stopped by San Rafael on our way home to visit a moment with Eli's parents who own and operate a tortilleria there in the village. We needed to nail down some details about this upcoming youth convention. It's hard enough for me to hear, process, think and respond in Spanish when the situation is perfect....but when there are machines running in the building so loudly that I can hardly hear anything at all - well, it was quite a challenge. But I must have not botched it completely - we talked for 15 minutes or so...and I left with 4 hot packages of tortillas de maiz!

Well, I need to get moving. Today it's laundry and back to homeschool - and trying to get ready for the work team coming in a few days.

Love you all,
Melodie

p.s. oh yeah, and I went by myself (well, with Logan) to buy lots of groceries last night at the Soriana store. I know...isn't it about time....but for me, it was huge. I didn't get lost and made it back home in one piece, gracias a Dios.