NTM

There is something fresh that seems to come with a new year.

Our holiday season saw many changes. We were able to visit Torre’s parents in Nevada. Torre’s mom had brain surgery the week prior to our visit. She had a non-cancerous tumor removed from her pituitary gland. Because of the rather surprise nature of the surgery we decided to spend Christmas with them. The time spent was special as Turin celebrated his first birthday December 24th and his second Christmas. 

The New Year brought many changes. We said goodbye to our friends as we helped them pack their things and move back to the states. We said hello to their dog, Moby, a black lab, who is about nine months old now. New families have moved here to study Spanish, some going to other Spanish speaking countries, and others staying here to join the team of Mexico.

We’re still plugging along in Spanish and wondering if we’ll ever sound smarter than a first grader.

It was good to have the break, but even better to come "home".

Happy Thanksgiving!  We’ll be in class on Thanksgiving day, but we will celebrate Friday.  We would like to mention a few things we are thankful for. 

Torre:  I’m thankful for my family because despite all the changes that are happening they are the one constant in my life.

Narah: It’s been a blessing getting to know new people and learn new things.  I thank the Lord for His sovereignty.  Also for the many ways He has provided for us as a family while we are here. 

Turin: I like my babysitter, Yoshi.  Mom prayed for her before we even met her!  I like my food.  I like my bed.  And I like my mom and dad.

Thanksgiving is such a special and unique holiday. We thank so many of you who God has used in His ministry here. Without His partners the work in Mexico could not go forward.

"Hey Narah, we finished that package of toilet paper we bought the first day we got here."

"Huh, so it lasted us a month?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"We’ve been here a month already?  Wow, remember this time last year?  We had just gotten into Mexico to visit and check things out.  I was seven months pregnant.  We thought then, ‘This time NEXT year we’ll be living here.’ and here we are!"

The conversation you just heard took place a week ago.  We’ve been here a month!  Looking back we see how our Lord has been with us each step of the way.  Every time we get in the car to travel, He kept us safe.  He saw us through all the changes of a baby, moving, and leaving family.  He brought many of you along side us to pray for us and encourage us, or we could not being here.  God is good!  What a team!

This time last month everything seemed so new.  This time last year it all made me nervous!  This time next month…well, hopefully we’ll know more Spanish than we do now. 

Because God gives us today and holds our future, we keep pressing on.

The first week of language classes are over and we officially feel as if we are in kindergarten all over again.

We started our week with an outing to see the city and become familiar, as a learner, with the world around us. Our drive took us downtown, to the south side of the city to the mountain overlooking our new home, location of parks, and ended with us trying to sample and order ice cream in Spanish.

The next days were spent learning the alphabet, our numbers (Sesame Street only goes up to 10) and ended with colors.

You know you’re new to a language when you get excited to recall what red is in Spanish and to point to the correct number on the board for the teacher.

Everyone has to start somewhere! 

Click here for some pictures of our new surroundings.

“Well we’re here.”

I’m typing this Monday Aug 11 in anticipation of internet coming maybe today? Maybe tomorrow? We’re learning a lot just in the 48 hours we’ve been here. Let me summarize.

Boarder crossing: Uneventful, thank you Lord! Those who prayed, we were blessed!

First 24 hours: Two wardrobes to put “items” in. Kitchen full of things that we’ve decided we’re not going to use, need to decide what to do with items. WE HAVE A KITCHEN! Very little water pressure. EXCELLENT VIEW OF MOUNTAINS!!! No propane in tank, therefore no hot water. Language helper stayed two hours until the gas men arrived to fill the take, after they said they would come “in ten minutes”. GOT TO KNOW LANGUAGE HELPER Sergio. EXCELLENT meal with our host family, encouraged! TURIN doing well, as long as there is a floor, he’s good! CRIB in place.

Second 24 hours: No water pressure because…now water! HA! The water comes on twice a day and fills our dinaco on top of the house. PRAISE: the water was only turned off at the street, YEAH!!!! An easy fix! Grocery shopping with Beth (host family) went really well. PRODUCE IS a lot cheaper here. NOT overwhelmed. DECIDED to paint the house. Moved items out of kitchen and to another family who needs them and put our items into the kitchen. Got an excellent meal at a restaurant. And to top it off, we slept much better because we added more air to our air mattress. It’s the little things.

Day three: Here I sit, can’t keep unpacking because we’re going to paint. We just wait for the guy who is going to help us paint, come and tell us what to do and how much paint to buy. Good morning being shown around the office and meeting a lot of folks on staff. So if we get internet today, you all will receive the email that, “Well, we’re here.”

~Narah for the Meissners

Well here we go! 

We’ve packed what we can, not knowing what we’ll need.
We’ve said goodbye to family and friends and headed south of the boarder!

Stopping by Kansas than Missouri and Texas we hope to be crossing the boarder in August.

Turin has done as good as anyone who is strapped in a car seat for eight hours at a time, only he can’t talk and tell us when he needs a break.  For the most part he has done really well considering all the changes in his little life.

Thanks for your prayers up to this point, but please continue to pray for safety as well as our health and time with have with friends and family along the way.

We’ll be updating our photo album along the way.  You can CLICK HERE for those pictures.

We are comforted knowing that God has gone before us and is always taking care of us.  We trust Him in what is ahead.

We want to thank those of you who were praying for our need of a mini-van. God provided!

Now the owners of a Honda van provided through MATS in Richmond, Indiana (www.mats.org) along with financial partners, and the sale of our vehicle, we were able to purchase the right vehicle at the right price with low mileage.

God has once again seen to our needs and given us more than we expected. We thank Him for the way He used others to see this great need met.

Stay tuned…we depart for our trip to Mexico in one month!

"What in the world is that bright warm thing in the sky?"  I’m sure that was Turin’s thought when he went outside for a walk for the first time since he’s been born.  The weather is getting warmer, finally.  Mexico here we come!

A few weeks ago we were able to visit some friends in Indiana.  It was a good mini trip to see how Turin would do in the car as well as sleeping at someone else’s house.  It was wonderful!  They got out all their baby things so all we had to bring was clothes!  Turin loved the new toys and going for lots of walks in their nice neighborhood.

We will be traveling again in a few weeks, May 4th, to visit a church in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  That is more of an eight hour drive.  Prayer for a safe trip would be appreciated as well as clear communication to the people in that church as to what God is doing in the field of Mexico. 

Some of you may know that we have been able to stay in a house here in Michigan this past year with the understanding that the owner would be selling it come spring.  Well it’s spring!  Please be in prayer that the house would sell in this unfriendly housing economy.

We’ve added some pictures to our online web album if you’d like to see some photos of growing Turin and our trip to Indiana.

They laid me on a lady I found out later was my mom. The next thing I knew they were cleaning me up, measuring me, "8lbs, 8oz, and 21.4 inches" they said. I thought that was pretty good for a boy. I was then handed to a guy with lots of stuff on his face, my dad. He kept smiling at me. After I was fed I realized this wasn’t so bad.

I guess my mom was happy I came on December 24th. "A gift" they kept calling me. I got to go to my new home on December 25th. I like it there.

I’ve gotten quite used to eating and sleeping my days away. A little noise and they smile at me. Being held is my favorite thing to do these days, especially when my dad comes home.

So far the first three weeks of my life have been pretty good. I don’t know why my mom and dad look so tired.

Thanks for praying for my mom while I was growing. Please keep praying for the three of us, I guess having me has been fun, but they are still learning a lot…

Signing off,
Turin

If you can’t get enough of my face, check out this link for more pictures and a video!

http://picasaweb.google.com/torrenarah/Turin

                                     <Click on photo for more pictures!>

There is so much to share that I just don’t know where to start.  So many folks invested in this trip.  Prayer, giving, encouragement, etc… we want to fill you all in, but how?

For now we’ll focus on the week in Mexico.  We’ll admit it, we were nervous about crossing the border on our own.  But the other day I heard Torre say to someone, "Crossing the boarder isn’t a big deal."  So I guess you could say we learned and with help from nice folks we made it.  My biggest question was where was the restrooms were when we started the trip!

We had a full week organized for us courtesy of one of the staff ladies in Chihuahua.  The week included a tour of the ranch, sitting in on language classes, taking part in an "outing" for the language class, learning more about the tribal works happening in Mexico, touring the school for missionary kids…I’m sure I’m forgetting something in there.  I also got to see downtown and shop a bit while Torre went for a hike.  Oh, and don’t forget all the meals shared with folks there!  Information from them was very valuable as well!

(The following five weeks were spent traveling to Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho to visit family, friends, and churches before heading back to Michigan November 1st.)

Whew, that is a very short summary of the week in Mexico. As we left I was very thankful for our week there. Now I can look ahead and see us as a family in Mexico. Our Lord provided in every way to have our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs met on this trip.

If you would like to receive a recent copy of our holiday newsletter, email us and let us know.  We would be more than happy to pass it along.