Page Hughes

One truth we have learned this week is that no matter where you live families are being attacked by the enemy. Doug has invested the last 3 weeks teaching on marriage. All this week we have met with various groups discussing marriage. Today we met with the Spanish speaking ladies bible study. As we discussed marriage we talked about how God desires husbands to love their wives and wives to respect their husband. These are 2 entirely different commands but if we don’t respect and love each other we will experience conflict. We talked about how marriage is a divine dance where when we serve each other and listen to each other we will have a dynamic marriage. That is great wisdom no matter what country we live in.

We spent time resting and preparing for our return home this afternoon. We will meet again with a small group. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Please pray for our safe return tomorrow and that we will not have problem with travel or customs. Your prayers have been appreciated.

Once again God revealed to us how much we take for granted. Mike and Lynn were able to go to the Mayan village today. Their assignment was to tell Bible stories. They began at the home of Rudolpho. He speaks both Spanish and Mayan. The boys asked if he had ever heard the story of David and Goliath. He said no. The guys could not believe he had never heard the story. After listening to the story Rudolpho went to the next home with the guys and this time he told the story. In this village where many adults do not read, story telling is how the biblical message gets passed along.
The ladies attended the English bible study of Jonah. Then tonight we helped throw a block party. Mike showed ultimate servant hood by dressing up as a chicken to bring in the crowd. It did not have the desired effect. One child went crying and running to her mom. Even though we had a rough start we eventually drew a good crowd. The children had lots of fun. They took home many beany babies and lots of prizes. We shared with parents about the church. It was a great success.

Thanks for the many prayers.

Wow what a day we had at Chan Chen. We started the morning with the van breaking down. The men went with Doug to try to get it fixed. The parts had to be ordered so the men stayed in Playa and painted the nursery at the church.

The women loaded up the truck and headed to Chan Chen a Mayan village. We did a women’s event with 30 of the ladies there. The ladies laughed, talked, listened to yet Bible stories and testimonies. While the ladies had their meeting we also had a portion of our team do a children’s event. Cindy said there were at least 60 children there. I think the true number was about 45 or 50 but they were everywhere. For all of the girls they felt like the children multiplied by the minute.

Santiago is one of the young people who helped our team today. He is 16 but looks like he is 12. He speaks some Spanish and is studying English at the training center. He was not in school because he could not afford the fees. He was super helpful as he instructed the children how to do each game. Our team communicated with him with hand motions and a few words. As he corralled the children our appreciation for him grew! At the end of our time the girls expressed their appreciation for our young friend and we gave the missionaries money for his return to the classroom. He shows great potential to be a great leader in the community. We were also thrilled to find out he would be receiving one of the computers we brought.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Please pray that the van will be fixed quickly. It limits what can be done without transportation. We will be participating in bible study tomorrow and are supposed to do a block party tomorrow night. Blessings to you all for your part of this journey.

Arturo is one gentleman we met at church today. He is originally from Guatemala. Arturo asked a couple of our team members what we were doing in Playa. We told him we were part of a mission team. He asked, you are missionaries? We said yes but short term missionaries. We will return to our country next week. His eyes lit up as he said, “I accepted Christ because some missionaries came to my country. He proceeded to tell us how some American missionaries told the story of Jesus and a lady who lived across the street from his friend came to know Christ. She was so changed that she gave the missionaries her house to have church in. Arturo asked his friend what was happening at the house and his friend told him about Jesus. His friends family member helped lead Arturo to Christ because the missionaries had led him. With great admiration Arturo said he had a special place in his heart for missionaries. We know we will not be here long this week but we hope our influence on this community will result in changed lives.

We had a great time worshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Mike and Lynn shared testimonies today about how God has made their marriages stronger. Many were touched by their words.

Please pray for us tomorrow as we do another women’s event in the Mayan Zone. We have no idea how this will go or even if anyone will come. Please pray God will send who should be there. Please pray for our team as we continue to serve.

Praise the Lord He showed up big today at the women’s conference. Let me begin by thanking Lynn, Mike, Doug and Christian for keeping the children. Lynn was up to his elbows in baby poop but everything came out well. I forgot to ask for prayer for that but you may want to pray for Lynn because it was definitely traumatic.
The actual conference was a blessing. The ladies began by sharing fun facts about themselves as they played a fun game. Then Cindy shared a wonderful testimony of how God is faithful even when difficult times come our way. Then we thrilled to see the ladies fully engaged as we heard the story of Esther. The ladies were honest in admitting many were struggling. The focus of the day was that God loves and cares for you and He has a plan and purpose for your life. He also wants us to understand it is in His timing. The ladies then used their creative abilities to make an angel and key chains. We ate and enjoyed warm conversations. It was a great day!

Thank you for your many prayers. We knew His presence today in a great way. Tomorrow we will worship with the church families as we attend church in Paamul and Playa del Carmen. We will attend both English and Spanish services. Thanks again for your prayers.

We moved Meg to the stable where the trainer is this week. He brought a horse trailer to transport her. She was terrified of getting into the trailer. He led her to the trailer and lured her with sweet hay. She was so sweet leaning as far as she could without falling over then backing away due to her fears. The trainer said, horses are not “hard headed by nature they are just fearful animals”. They have survived for hundreds of years trusting their instinct to avoid fearful situations by running. Slowly but surely the trainer walked her around developing a trust relationship with her. He led her to safe places and spoke soft words of comfort. He even fed her some soft grass then each time he would lead her back to the trailer. After 40 minutes of developing the trust relationship she finally mounted the trailer. As Les and I watched this dance of trust we remarked how that is so much like us when we have had a bad experience. We are anxious any time we come back to a place of fear or failure. Many people feel that way about church.
Les and I thought, “we too need to provide opportunities to build relationship with people in a nonthreatening environment to build trust”. As that trust is built they are more open to stepping back into a place they may have been hurt in or just not know anything about. Just as it took time and patients for Meg to make that step, it may take lots of time and patients for your friend as well, but the end result is that they arrive where they can get the care and attention they need.

To say I was shocked when Les gave me a horse for our anniversary might be the greatest understatement of the year. My practical brain could not wrap around the fact that my wonderful husband had just fulfilled a dream I had since I was 4 years old. All I could say was “A Horse?” “Where will it stay?” “How will we take care of it?” “Did you get a saddle?” After the adult in me sat down, the child began to believe she really had a horse and one day soon would ride just like I had dreamed. I called my parents, told all of my friends, and beamed from ear to ear almost feeling like someone needed to pinch me.
Reflecting on it all now I still am thrilled and wonder, what would it be like if people got this excited about receiving the gift of Jesus. Would they get past the practical long enough to realize the true gift they had been given? Would they smile ear to ear for days just reflecting on how blessed they really were and dream of all that was ahead. Would they tell everyone about their gift? Oh how I wish they would get this excited. I really believe that receiving this gift has made me fall in love with Jesus even more. James says every good and perfect gift come from above. Jesus is so much more than just a horse, but even the sweet gifts here are a taste of heaven. I can’t wait to see all God has to teach me over the next few years as I learn Lessons from the Stable.

This is one of my favorite recipes for the season. It is a family recipe, so things are fairly general, but that is the way it is with recipes passed from generation to generation.
Cook 2 pans of corn bread and crumble.
Boil 3 chicken breasts and cut into small pieces when done.
Brown 1 lb. Sausage, and 1 lb. ground beef
Sauté 1 stalk of celery, 2 onions, 1 small bell pepper until softened.
Combine all above ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 small cans of Cream of Mushroom soup and enough chicken broth to make it soggy but not too wet. Shake in salt, pepper, cajun seasoning and sage to taste. Grease 2 9×13 pans and pour the dressing in. Dressing can be frozen or kept in the refrigerator. Serves a large family or can be shared with a neighbor.

It is so awesome when you are speaking and hear God speak something to you that you have never thought of before. Last night was one of those times. I was speaking on preparing your heart for Christmas. I had been talking about spending time daily with Him in prayer and Bible study. Then I thought about Hallmark and Lifetime movies and what makes them so desirable. Most of the stories are about relationships that are apart at the beginning of the movie. Due to unique and entertaining circumstances the two people who are apart are reunited. Isn’t that what God is longing for us? We are far from Him and through circumstances, some good and some difficult we are brought together with Him. We truly are living the most unique love story ever written and He longs for us to fall head over heals in love with Him. And best of all…. We truly will live happily ever after. This Christmas as you are weeping through the movie of your choice remember that God wants to reunite with you, spend quality time together, and in the end live with Him forever.