Tuesday 1 April, 2014--Panes and Pececillos--Mariposas en Mexico

Good morning from Tijuana!  We never ventured into the street today because it rained and everything was muddy.

We started the day with breakfast club.  We had about 78 for breakfast this morning.  Christian led the group in How Great is Our God and then they taught us the song in Spanish.  We will do that song again on Thursday.  I had the great honor of sharing Christ based on 2 Corinthians 5:17.  Christian and I brought butterfly scratch art projects for the children so that they could have their own butterflies to remind them of Christ's love and transforming redemption.

 Making pancakes

 And rice milk

After breakfast club, Christian played guitar and enjoyed time with Armando's kids, Pricila, Brayan and Edgar.  Chico and Miguel also joined in the fun.  I have some great videos of this, but am having some trouble uploading them to any of my social media, so stay tuned.  I will try again when we are stateside.

After breakfast club, Armando started making donuts.  He sells them himself, and he also gives them to the neighborhood families to sell to earn some money to sustain themselves.  Armando is a baker who apprenticed as a boy when he lived in Leon.  He is happy to be baking again and the joy it brings him shines in his cheerful singing and busy movements.  Armando is one of the hardest working men I have ever met and his heart is solid gold.

Measuring doughnut flour.

He prays humbly over the project.

Making a "volcano", as Megan calls it

Pouring water into the volcano.  He doesn't even need to mix the dough in a bowl.  Mad skill!

I cannot find my photo of the doughnuts on trays covering the long tables, covered in cinnamon sugar.  You will have to take my word for it:  Armando makes DELICIOUS doughnuts.

 Eliana's first selfie.  She has so much fun with her primo!

 It was a busy day, especially for this man who cooked for breakfast club, cleaned up, made doughnuts, tried out his new commercial oven, made us supper, sold doughnuts, checked up on shoes sales, ran some errands, and rocked his baby girl to sleep.  Good night; or, as Brayan mistakenly said as he headed to bed, "Good morning!"

The Tale of Two Travelers

Monday, March 31, 2014 a trip that was promised since my sister-cousin married her love, and booked since Black Friday of 2013, finally became a reality.  Christian and I left town rather uneventfully at 7:45 a.m. for the airport in Minneapolis with the end goal of laying our heads on pillows at the end of the day in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

Sweet baby Eliana Grace was born to Megan, my cousin who is as precious to me as a sister, and her amazing husband, Armando, on the first of February.  My arms have ached to hold her since that day.  It was her announced arrival, and Christian's scheduled spring break, that directed the timing of this trip to spend time with family and to have the honor of coming alongside Megan and Mando for a few days in God's work through their mission, Panes y Pececillos.

The trip to the airport was blessed with safety and ease.  We left our shuttle and were through security within 10 minutes.  That doesn't mean there wasn't a little snafu.  Christian's luggage was searched due to a suspicious container.  After I completed my processing through security, I approached the search scene to see the security agent holding up my 4 oz container of contact solution and Christian nervously yet forcibly pointing his finger at me and emphatically stating, "That's hers.  It belongs to her.  She made me put it in my bag!"  Thankfully I got to keep the contact solution, but I realized I will have to watch my own back on this journey.

We left dreary Minnesota and arrived four hours later in sunny San Diego.  Megan and Eliana picked us up at the airport and after a joy-filled reunion, well, joy-filled for all of us except for Eliana, who despises her car seat, we headed to the Torrey Pines glider port for sandwiches.  It was here that I para glided about 17 months ago, so I was excited for Christian to see how beautiful the place is.  The Polzins met us here.

 Christian, Megan, Eliana, Levi and Camille enjoy watching the para gliders over the Pacific Ocean.

 This para glider had his big dog along for the adventure.  We had never seen THAT before!

We then went to La Jolla beach.  This is where Megan and I started our "mommy brain" competition.  Megan forgot her keys, but Camille picked them up and took them to her car.  When the Polzins pulled up across the street from our SUV, Aaron held the keys out the window and said, "Forget something?"  I smiled and started across the street to grab them.  I nearly was hit by a car that was FLYING down the street.  Close call--and everybody worried about what would happen to us when we were across the border--HA!  I proved to everybody that I can have a near death experience no matter where I go. 

 This is Christian's first trip to California and his first time seeing the Pacific Ocean!

 Amy Kastler, I pushed everybody out of the way and took this ocean photo just for you!

Eliana with her Mama and her tias. 

 Eliana, how do you feel about your first trip to the beach?  Unimpressed?  Oh, sad baby!

Camille wants to be a part of Christian's first brush with the Pacific.

 Can you say, "CUTE" X 2?!

Mitt Romney has a house up there somewhere.  Not that I really care.

Levi and Camille begin to build a trench to keep out the dragon.

 I had to join them after taking a few pictures.  Digging in sand is therapeutic, especially when digging with such wonderful friends as these two!

This is a photo reenactment of Megan and her godchildren.  The original was taken over 5 years ago.

But now Megan has godson, Levi, too.  Here she is with all her godchildren!

Before we left La Jolla, Eliana had to eat and then got acquainted with her primo.

She reached out and touched his face.  It was precious.

We got food for the mission and headed back over the border. A quick stop at Costco gave Megan a winning point in the "mommy brain" contest.  We started heading into the store before Christian smirked and said, "So, are you just going to let the car run while we go in?  Shall I put up a sign that says, 'Steal me?'"  Snot. 

We went to Tacos Alicia for supper.  Monday is two for one night, which means they blast obnoxious Mexican pop music over a loud speaker.  Not to be outdone in the mommy brain contest.  I had another near miss with a pick up truck in an alleyway.  I was trying to snap the following photo.  It is blurry because the girls could see the impending danger.  I couldn't.  Christian pulled me out of the way, which redeemed him from throwing me under the truck at the airport earlier.

This is Pricila and America, by the way.

We are so blessed to be here with loved ones.  Tomorrow we get to help serve in Megan and Armando's neighborhood.  I cannot wait to share this adventure with you all!

The Desert Snakes and the Water

I once lived with a colony of people in a hot, dry desert.  We were chronically thirsty and this thirst drove the purpose of our existence: we were constantly searching for water.

This barren land contained dangerous snakes.  The snakes would try to squeeze the breath out of us by wrapping themselves around our necks.  The master of the land warned us repeatedly to stay on our guard lest the snakes choke us.  Even more so, he warned us of the fatal snake, one slightly larger, who did not squeeze our breath from us, but rather would render a death blow to us in the form of a fatal bite.

We would get so engrossed in our search for water, and our enjoyment of water found, that we would forget about the snakes.  More than once, I found myself clawing at my neck to remove a constricting snake with the help of others around me.  I would gasp for sweet air once the snake had been destroyed, shaking in terror, heart pounding, vision slowly returning from black to color.  Each time it happened, I swore I would never again let down my guard against the snakes.

Slowly, however, as time passed, my fellow colonists and I would relax into our routine and again become so focused on finding water that we would forget about the snakes.  Inevitably, the snakes would see their opportunity and attack.  The fatal snake was particularly sneaky.  He often traveled with the other snakes and was difficult to distinguish until it was nearly too late.  When he was spotted, we would cry to our master who would battle the snake on our behalf.

I came to the point where I just accepted the presence of the snakes.  I had grown weary of always standing guard  and figured they wouldn't kill us.  Sure, they could cause great pain and discomfort, but we fight them off.  As for the fatal snake, well, we would just cry to the master if he got too close and he would fight him off for us.

One day, the snakes were swimming in the water, but I was trying to scoop up some water despite the danger.  I realized too late that the fatal snake was there.  He was quick and strong and was soon crawling up my arm.  I cried to the master, but he didn't come.  In a panicked frenzy, I tried to pull him from my body, but to no avail.  Exhausted, I collapsed and the snake arose to strike my back.

Hear the Word of the Lord.  We live in the desert and long for eternity.  We are constantly in search of that which will satisfy our thirst.  Satan and his minions prowl like snakes, seeking to destroy and our Master has warned us to stand guard.  Brothers and sisters: do not let your hearts be calloused, do not grow weary in the fight for what is good.  For the Lord is with us and will come to our aid when we call upon him.  But a day is coming when he will turn aside and allow us to be overcome by the evil desires of our heart.

Mr. Weinlaeder

On Sunday, April 28th, 2013, many gathered to celebrate Mr. Ken Weinlaeder's life of ministry in Lutheran schools.  He retired from RCLS in December.  I was privileged to be invited to speak at his celebration due to the unique and important roles he has played in my life.  This is what I had to say...

I am honored to have this opportunity to speak today.  Mr. Weinlaeder has had such a profound impact on my life that I wonder how I can justly speak of him in just a few minutes.

Mr. Weinlaeder was my 7-8th grade teacher at Immanuel Lutheran School in Plainview and that's when I first got to know him.  It was then that he began to ingrain "Ken-isms" into my vocabulary.  Those who have had Mr. Weinlaeder as a teacher know of what I am speaking.  The most memorable Ken-ism for many of us had to do with the fair.  One of us would whine, "That's not fair!" to which Mr. Weinlaeder would invariably respond, "The fair's in August."

He had this amazing ability as a teacher to help even the most thick-headed of us learn difficult things, like math, diagraming sentences, or not to chew gum in class.  We learned alliteration in the form of 25 sentences if we needed a rebuke.

Those of us in his first class at Immanuel were groomed to play ping pong in the Olympics, and I'm convinced that if we were all to get together today, we could still race around that table playing Around the World; but it may not be pretty.

You see, Mr. Weinlaeder was a challenging teacher.  He could be downright scary!  But he played and had so much fun with us telling funny stories and jokes and torturing us with his puns.  We worked hard and laughed a lot.

The only thing that seemed to knock Mr. Weinlaeder off balance was pre-schoolers.  Once when some in our class had to hang out with the pre-schoolers because their teacher, Mrs. Mussell, became sick, we had a rambunctious kid who called Mr. Weinlaeder, "Zero Nose."  We were all at a loss as to what to do with a little person who was undaunted by his authority!

Mr. Weinlaeder shone the light of Christ in such a way that he made us seekers of that light.  There were quite a few of us who chose a life of service to Christ.  In some way, God used Mr. Weinlaeder to inspire us to go in that direction.

I remember how in college I needed a place to student teach and Ken advocated for me to be able to do that student teaching at RCLS.  I cannot even express to you all how it touched me to have someone show confidence in my heart and ability like he did.  He ultimately made it possible for me to graduate college and teach a number of years in Lutheran schools.

I got to ride back and forth from Plainview to RCLS with Ken.  On one of the earliest days, he had to look at me and say, "You know, you can call me Ken."  So, I did; but I think I blushed every time I said his first name for a month because it seemed so strange!

I remember one day on our trip, I was talking to him about my concern about what heaven would be like.  Ken told me, "Heaven will either be all that you hope for, or it will be even better."  I will never forget those words and how I've shared them with countless students.

Eventually I got to be on staff at RCLS with Ken.  Doing ministry side-by-side with Ken was one of the greatest privileges I've ever had.  This is a man whose heart and vision is for the Lord--100%.  His enthusiasm for the Gospel is contagious.  He brings so much joy to life's journey with all of his mischief-making.

Those of us who have had the honor of being partners in ministry with Ken know that he has the wisdom of Solomon.  We have all come to him with our broken pieces, broken plans, and sometimes even our broken hearts.  He seemed to intuitively know when to be still, when to speak, and what exactly, to say.  Even now, when I am faced with an important decision, I wonder what Ken would think.

I get to stand here uniquely as one of Ken's past students, his mentee, his former colleague, and the proud parent of one of his former students.  Through all of these roles, Ken has been a father figure to me.  Even more so, he has been, and will always be, one of my dearest friends.

I can never adequately demonstrate the love and admiration that my heart contains for Ken Weinlaeder.  And I know that I am just one of many, right?  If he has touched your life with the love of Christ, please stand now.

You see that, Mr. Weinlaeder?  We are the harvest of your ministry work.  Thank you for showing us Jesus!

August 8, 2012: Fort Wilderness

I'm Jennifer Jurgensen.  I'm a sinner.  I'm impatient, selfish, judgmental and mean.  I really do not want you to know that about me, but it's true.  If anyone was ever in need of a Savior, well, it is I.  When I examine the commands of God, I see how I all too often fall short.  I try to put myself in charge of God instead of submitting to him.

Despite all of this, when God looks at me, he sees a saint.  Romans 5:8 says that, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Because of Christ's death on the cross, I am justified and purified by his blood.  As II Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

When I look back on my life, Jesus has been beside me on my journey the entire time.  I see how through the trials I've gone through--at the hands of others, through the illnesses and deaths of ones I have loved, by my own rebellious acts, that God was working.  He has never wasted a single hurt, but rather has used them to soften my heart, creating in me patience, mercy, kindness, peace and love.  I am ever awed and humbled that the Creator of the Universe would care for and continue to invest in me.

I stand before you, my brothers and sisters, as a sinner-saint.  I'm broken with sin, but through my brokenness shines the light of Christ.  I, who was once hopeless, through the resurrection of Christ, have been given a hope and longing for the glory of heaven.  My heart passionately proclaims Job 19:25-27, "For I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I and not another.  How my heart yearns within me."

I am here to express to you my desire to follow Christ in perfect obedience and to do the work he has set before me until the day he gives me rest.  God, give me, through your spirit, courage and pliability to keep this vow to you.

Mother's Day 2012: Taking inventory

Today I celebrated my 16th Mother's Day as a mom with some of my favorite people in the world, including my four children.  I thought that today would be a good day to ask my kids some questions to see how they perceive me and how I am doing as a mother.  Their answers varied from dead on, to funny, to downright convicting.

Here are some questions from a list I found in Pinterest that I asked them followed by their answers:

What is something that Mom always says to you?
Emily: I love you.     Timothy: No.     James: I love you always.

What makes Mom happy?
Emily: Having fun with her children     Timothy: Giving her a present     James: Being good

What makes Mom sad?
Emily: When I do something bad     Timothy: Hitting     James: Hitting

How does Mom make you laugh?
Emily: When she tries to imitate Harley     Timothy: Tickling me     James: By talking

What was Mom like as a child?
Emily: Fun to play with     Timothy: Good     James: Like Mary, Jesus' mom

How tall is Mom?
Emily: About 6 feet tall     Timothy: 10 feet tall     James: REALLY tall, like 2 feet

What is Mom's favorite thing to do?
Emily: Spending time with her family     Timothy: Eat     James: Planting flowers

What does Mom do when you're not around?
Emily: Clean the house    Timothy: Clean up the house     James: Look for me

If Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Emily: Decorating cakes     Timothy: IDK     James: Bad guys killing her

What is Mom really good at?
Emily: Decorating cakes    Timothy: Working on the computer     James: Exercising

What does Mom do for her job?
Emily: PE teacher and an assistant at church     Timothy: Work at church     James: Work at work

What is Mom not very good at?
Emily: Art     Timothy: Climbing trees     James: Walking

What is Mom's favorite thing to eat?
Emily: Veggies with hummus     Timothy: Rice Crispies     James: Healthy stuff

What do you and Mom do together?
Emily: Bake in the kitchen     Timothy: Go to the haircut place     James: Go for walks to the park

How are you and Mom the same?
Emily: We both like to bake and cook.     Timothy: We both have blue eyes.     James: She acts like me.

How do you know Mom loves you? 
Emily: She says it every night.    Timothy: She snuggles me.     James: Cuz I do good stuff.

Where is Mom's favorite place to go?
Emily: Home     Timothy: School     James: Grammy and Papa's.