Mission Talk January 7th, 7 - 9 pm at the Spiritual Life Center

Join us tonight for our talk at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita. We will be speaking with two other missionary families. There will be testimonies, pictures and question and answer time. We would love to see you there!

Here is the article that ran in our local Catholic Diocesan Newspaper.
http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/feature-articles/20299-st-jude-family-prepares-for-missionary-work

Travel Plans Updated

We are in Wichita and will be here until Jan. 22nd. We will be flying out of the country on Jan. 28th to our first mission post in Malaybalay, Philippines!



It is on the largest island Mindanao in the red area below. We will live on a mountain where the weather is tropical, warm and humid. It is very green and very beautiful.

Mexico Recap: weeks 2 & 3

Driving in Mexico we saw beautiful mountains!

Being in Mexico was a huge a blessing. It was also a challenge (but a good one). God wants us to stretch and grow out of our comfort zone. And in the U.S. we had a really big comfort zone. What I mean is that we are basically, for the most part, comfortable all of the time. Our clothes are comfortable, our bed is comfortable, our car is comfortable, our couch, our chair, you get the picture.

Living in Mexico for 3 1/2 weeks we had much less of the comfortable life than we were used to. It is so eye opening to see how much of the rest of the world lives. Many of the homes we visited had no washers and dryers (they hand wash and hang to dry), no stoves (instead brick or cement ovens with firewood), very few beds (sometimes shared by everyone in the house), no hot water, and no nice furniture. The floors are cement (sometimes dirt), the walls are adobe, and sometimes they have a bathroom (usually outside). The homes would be considered very dirty, the furniture is old and often falling apart.

 
A simple chapel built by some of our missionaries in Mexico. We visited villages and held prayer services almost every evening.

And yet, from the poor of Mexico I saw the greatest faith and generosity. People who had what we would consider nothing, gave out of their necessity, be it clothing, money or their time. When we would visit a village where they had no regular mass (maybe once a month) almost every person who attended the prayer service would come up and ask to be prayed over. We had a pot-luck meal at one of the villages and the women of the village stood by the food and served us the entire time and wouldn't eat until we had eaten. We prayed with a man who had seizures, and was told he could die at any time, who thanked God for the blessings He gave his family (he has a wife and 2 young daughters). I was humbled and inspired by the poor and by my fellow missionaries who always served with joy. God can do great things with us when we let go and allow Him to work through us.

My amazing friend Catherine came down with the short-term mission trip and we were so blessed to have her! She took this picture at a old folks home she visited.

Felicity playing guitar while Daddy plays the Djembe.
We learned lots of songs in Spanish and Hannah is busy learning the guitar.

The girls watching the parade right outside the mission house.

Felicity and Theresa (little missionaries) in the courtyard at the mission house.

Holding hands in the dining room at the mission house where we ate all our meals in Mexico. Marta fed 50 - 80 people everyday! And even more when we had visitors from the community.
This is where we shared Thanksgiving with over 100 people.

Felicity making Magdalena smile (Theresa's sister).

Grace playing under the clothes lines where we hung our laundry in the sun. The washer we used didn't have a spin cycle so we had to hand ring everything. There was also a stone washing tub for hand-washing and an american washer (but my loads were too big for it).

Grace getting her hair washed in the pila (we also brushed our teeth here). There were 6 showers to share between us all and sometimes it was easier to just wash your hair.

Grace getting ready to get her hair braided by Melissa (one of our mission partners) 

and Felicity on Rebecca's lap.

Our family in front of our bedroom with a Mexican blanket. 

It gets very cold in the part of mexico we were in and many of the poor needed blankets.

Here is an awesome blog post a friend sent me that really reflects the theme of stretching that we experienced in Mexico.

Bailey Christmas Travel Plans

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. We had our commissioning ceremony last Wednesday and the next day we moved out of our house at Big Woods, cleaned, packed the van and drove away towards California! My mom is with us and went on our 5 day road trip to San Diego. We are SO excited to be here!!!

We wanted to share our travel plans with ya'll so you would know where we will be and when we can see you!

December 12th - Leave Big Woods and drive to California
Dec. 16th - Arrived in San Diego, CA
Jan. 2nd - leave California and drive to Kansas
Jan. 7th - talk at the Spiritual Life Center, Wichita, KS
Jan. 13th ??? - leave Wichita for Big Woods (depends on when we fly out)
somewhere between Jan. 15-30 -  fly out of the country to our new mission post!

Back from Mexico!

Our family is back at Big Woods after 3 1/2 weeks in General Cepeda, Mexico. We are taking a day to rest and I will try to post some more pictures soon.

Our home for the next 3 weeks is La Casa de Misionarios. It used to be the servants quarters to the main house next door (now owned by the city). It was built before the U.S. was a country!

We have a small bedroom that the 2 younger girls share with us. Hannah & Catherine are in the "Hen House" which used to be a stable and now houses 20 beds filled with 15 missionary girls.
There are 3 bathrooms to share and we all brush our teeth in the middle of the courtyard with bottled water.

We visited a rancho on Saturday and will be visiting many more while we are here. We invited the people to join us for a prayer meeting in the church and 2 missionaries gave their testimonies (Donovan was one of them). There were 3 other groups in different ranchos. We struggled with our Spanish phrases but I know with time and practice it will get better.

God is using this time to help us die to ourselves even more as we get used to having less than we are used to. The girls are having a blast getting to know the missionary kids who live here and some of the local children as well. They make friends very fast. Kids really do make the best missionaries!

Off to Mexico!

We are leaving this evening for Mexico. Please pray for us

* to have safe travels
* to stay healthy
* to be open to God's plan for us there
* to prepare our hearts and those of the people we are going to meet

We will be on a short-term trip until the end of November. Our access to phone and internet will be limited so we may not be able to call or go online each week. We will be taking pictures and sharing our stories with you when we return (unless we can blog while there). So check back often and remember to keep us and all of the missionaries in your daily prayers!