Archive - August, 2008

Blog Day 2008

August 31, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Technology with 3 Comments

Blog Day 2008Today is Blog Day, a day when bloggers are encouraged to recommend five other blogs.

The rules are simple: Find 5 new blogs you find interesting, notify the bloggers that you are recommending them, write a description and link to the new blogs, post the blog day post, and tag it and link to the Blog Day website.

I decided to link to five other blogs written by missionaries.

  • Finding Direction – Our friends the Cottrills recently finished language school and are now living in Ixtapaluca, Mexico. They blog about their daily life as missionaries in Mexico.
  • Between Diapers and Dishes – Michelle and her family are ministering to the deaf in Ensenada, Mexico. She writes about life as a mom living and ministering in Mexico.
  • Pura Vida – Greg and Jan Millsaps live in El Carmen, Mexico. I recently discovered their blog and enjoy their writing style.
  • Mexico Adventures – Jon and Nicolle are interns with Youth Ministry International, working with Huberto Perez, our friend and first graduate in youth ministry from the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary.
  • Mexico Mitchells – The Mitchells have five daughters and are living and ministering in Mexico City. There blog is very informative.

Here are two bonus blogs for Blog Day:

  • Blue Passport – A blog by Richard Lewis, ministering in India. Dr. Lewis was a professor of ours at cross-cultural training school (CIT).
  • Reaching and Teaching – the blog of Dr. Sills, a missions professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Sills is helping our seminary in Mexico begin a missions program, and he helped with the training in Cuba.

    • Technorati Tag: BlogDay2008

Hurricane Gustav hits Cuba

August 31, 2008 in Latin America, Prayer, Uncategorized with 0 Comments


Hurricane Gustav hit Cuba pretty hard yesterday, forcing evacuations of more than 300,000 people. Having gone to Cuba a few times, some of my favorite people in the world live in Havana and Pinar del Rio, the two major areas that got hit by the storm.

Please pray for the country as they recover from the storm. I haven’t heard much from them, but I’ve been in the old buildings and have no idea how they could stand up to 150 mile per hour winds.

Here are some pictures from the BBC that show the preparations and damage in Cuba.

Ten Delicious Mexican Foods

August 28, 2008 in Fun stuff, Mexico with 1 Comment

Maybe I’m writing this post because it’s dinnertime and I’m hungry, or maybe just because I miss Mexican food.

Either way, I thought today I would share with you my top 10 Mexican Foods (in no particular order).

My Top 10 Mexican Foods

  1. Tacos al pastor – a typical taco you’ll find in taquerias everywhere in Mexico. It’s pork meat marinated and garnished with pineapple, onions, cilantro, and salsa.
  2. Enchiladas – Janell’s favorite Mexican food is enchiladas. She likes them with green salsa, and I like “Enchiladas Suizas”, which have cheese on them.
  3. Chilaquiles – mostly a breakfast food, it’s hardened tortillas with salsa, onions, and (sometimes) chicken.
  4. Pozole – A delicious soup with pork or chicken and hominy.
  5. Tortilla soup – tomato based soup with strips of tortillas.
  6. Alambre con queso – Janell’s favorite thing to order at the taco joint, alambre is a mixture of beef, pork, cheese, and peppers that is served on a tortilla.
  7. Arrachera – a delicious cut of beef grilled to perfection. Sometimes, they are selling this outside the grocery store where they’ll grill it up for you.
  8. Tres leche cake – Super moist and tasty cake with milk poured over it.
  9. Flan – Flan is flan. And it’s yummy.
  10. Tacos de pollo – “dorados” are delicious, hard fried tacos with chicken inside.

Hungry yet? I sure am. I post often about food. Here are some videos I’ve made about Mexican food:

Free Missions Resource – WorldMap

August 27, 2008 in Global Youth Ministry, Missions, resources with 0 Comments

Since we’ve been thinking about global youth ministry, you might be looking for more information on world missions. If that’s the case, then The World Missions Atlas Project, over at Worldmap.org, is a great resource for you.

The site contains different types of information, including maps, data sets, and descriptions of various countries and regions of the world. There are maps of various regions linked to the missions data that is known for that region or country.

You can download PDF files, maps, and data to share what is happening in the world of missions.

I haven’t had enough time to fully explore the entire site because there is so much on it, but if you’re looking for free maps for missions, the World Missions Atlas Project is definitely the place for you to begin your search.

Youth Ministry Freshmen 2008

August 27, 2008 in features, Global Youth Ministry, Latin America, Prayer, Seminary with 1 Comment

Today is the first day of classes at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary. The Center for Youth Ministry has the largest incoming freshman class that we’ve had in the five years of our existence. There are (at least) five new youth ministry students entering this year out of a freshman class of 13.

I’m excited because we really worked hard the last year to promote the youth ministry training program at various events throughout the country. Our students are spreading the word about one of the only bachelor’s degree programs for youth ministry in Latin America (link to Spanish website).

Below you’ll find the list of names of the freshmen youth ministry students. Please pray for them by name.

2008 Youth Ministry Freshmen Class

  • Victoria Castro Vázquez from Teziutlan, Puebla
  • Gerson Hernandez Vázquez from Teziutlan, Puebla
  • Josue Misael Lara Vázquez from Monterrey
  • Kareni Sadai Méndez Galván from Monterrey
  • Débora Osobampo Martinez from Sinaloa

Also be praying for the other youth ministry students who are beginning classes this week at the seminary. I’ll post more about each of them in the future. It’s going to be a great year of ministry.

Ben’s Hips

August 26, 2008 in Ben, Family, Fun stuff, Prayer with 2 Comments

They say that babies who are born breech have trouble with their hips because of the pressure placed on them before birth.

Since Benjamin was born breech, the doctors wanted to do an ultrasound on his hips when he turned 6 weeks old. So we went for today.

We went to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa. The results came back negative. Everything is normal. Thank God that nothing was wrong. We didn’t even see the doctor after they did the ultrasound because everything was fine.

So, we went to International Plaza as a family since we were already down that way. Nathan got to play at the Looney Toons park (see the video below), I got to take my first ever trip to an Apple Store (although I didn’t spend as much time there as I would have liked), and we all got to share a delicious cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory.

Overall, it was a great family day despite the stress of having to go to the hospital for the test. Thanks for praying for us (follow our PoulettePrayer twitter stream.)

(Photo on Flickr.)

SERIES: Global Youth Ministry – Benefits of being a Global Youth Worker

August 26, 2008 in features, Global Youth Ministry, YMI with 1 Comment

Series: Global Youth Ministry
This post is part of a series on Global Youth Ministry. Be sure to check out part 1 – Why Global Youth Ministry is Important and part 2 – What’s a Global Youth Worker?

Some say that apart from church planting efforts, Global youth ministry training should be the top priority in global missions. I believe it’s a ministry that every youth worker should personally be involved in.

Obviously, I believe strongly in the mission statement of Youth Ministry International, which is “To train national youth workers for existing local churches within the people groups of the world.”

Every youth worker in the United States should be involved somehow in the training of youth workers internationally. Here are some benefits of being a global youth worker:

Five Benefits of Being a Global Youth Worker

  1. Personal obedience – everyone should be involved in world missions because God has commanded us to make disciples of all nations. Your participation in global youth ministry will strengthen your personal relationship with God.
  2. An example for your students. If you expect your young people to have a heart for missions, they need to see that you have a heart for missions. Being a global youth worker will allow them to see your burden for the nations.
  3. An example for your church. I always hope that my youth ministry can be an example to the church. If I am interested and involved in global missions, my students will be an example for the church through their support for global missions.
  4. Fulfillment using your gifts in global ministry. You may not believe me when I say this, but you have something to offer. You can pray more specifically by getting to know other youth workers overseas. You can come for a week. You can mentor long-distance. You could even go long term to train others. There are too many opportunities, and there are many different ways you can use your gifts.
  5. You can use your experience. Someone once told me that everything that happens to us is just part of the training for what God has for us in the future. You have experience and training that others do not, and this experience and training that you have had in your life should be put to use in the training of others.


If you’re interested in training youth workers internationally, please leave me a comment or contact me. Youth Ministry International is constantly looking for international trainers, and I’d love to talk to you more about the opportunities there are all over the world.

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