Next stop Denmark

It has been a little too long since I last updated here, a lot has happened, so here is a bit of it :)

We're still doing good here in Mexico and are getting ready to go to Denmark (10th of October), and trough one of Lupita's German friends it seems that I might be able to get some work in Hamburg, but we're not sure of anything yet and we're also looking into Sweden  This is a step in the process of integrating Lupita in Denmark that requires us to live in another European country for a while before we can stay in Denmark.

Intercession on the roof of our building

Cooking Rajas in the kitchen

The last weeks we have been getting some of the papers we need for Lupita and I to marry in Denmark, and now we finally got all the papers with apostille stamp and translation. The Mexican systems can sometimes be confusing, but there are good people. When we got the apostille stamp we were helped by a nice guy behind the counter, we got our documents and left. We had been using Lupita's iPod to take a few notes so before we left i checked my pocket and i thought i felt it, so we left. A few minutes later when buying our metro tickets at the metro station close to the government building the nice guy from the counter comes around the corner exhausted from having run after us holding Lupita's iPod that we had left on the counter.

Lupita in the kitchen :)

I was so relieved that we didn't loose it, and I'm thankful for good people like this guy.

Back in Mazatlan
We finished our work here at the base the 3rd, and the plane is heading for Denmark the 10th. This means we had some time in which we went on a trip to Mazatlan where Lupita lived for almost 4 years.

It was really good to be back in Mazatlan where i did my DTS. This is the first time we got to go there since my DTS and it was good to see the people again, and get to say goodbye to them. In all it was a amazing trip and we both felt really loved there where the base also prayed for us and the next steps in our story :)

Speakers

The base had a goodbye night for us, with amazing cake
and lots of encouragements :)

The last month in the DTS we had a good deal of speakers come and go, and it's always nice to learn from them. One I especially liked was a guy called Kayle. He is from Canada and also spoke on my DTS. He is a guy who has lots of interesting stories and talks a lot about the holy spirit.

We took him out a day to go to the big castle here in Mexico City and it was good to get advice and encouragement.

New friends
Through our weekly visit to the people living on the street in Hidalgo (nearby place where we play football) we met a couple, Osvaldo & Jasmin. Osvaldo used to do drugs and has been living on the street for 15 years, Jasmin havn't lived on the street, but used to be a prostitute. When they met she asked him to quit the drugs, and he promised her he would take care of her if she stopped working as a prostitute. This was where we met them around 3 weeks ago, trying to change thier lives. From the first time i saw them i could see they weren't as the other on the street, they were trying to get away from there, they were trying to change.

Our leader Chris saw this desire to change, and invited them over. Since then they have been comming here regularly listening to classes or eating with us. They even had counseling cessions with the team we had from Chile (who were doing thier counseling school) and from what i hear it was a good experience for them.

Through conversations we learned that they want to get into an appartment, wich would both be cheaper in the long run, and they would have thier own kitchen and bathroom which they don't have now. Osvaldo is a hard worker, and he is currently working cleaning windows, but he is trying to get a job as a one who dilevers water. With what he is currently gaining he would be able to pay an appartment, but the deposit is the problem. He has even asked chris to save some of his money from his job to save up for the deposit.

Now we're as a base trying to figure out how we can help them. We know that the change is something they will have to accomplish themselves, and it might do more damage if we help them too much financially, but we also see that they act responsible and really wants change, so we're right now as a base considering helping them in paying a part of thier deposite on an appartment (around 4000 pesos deposit) because we think it would be really good for them, and the room they rent now (80 pesos a day) is not good or safe.

So we're happy to see this process of changing for them, and we are praying that they will

Sorry for the long story, but we're excited about this couple and how God is restoring them, and it's nice sometime to see that change for the people living on the street really is possible.

Food at the base..
Recently I've been taking pictures of the food we've been making in the kitchen. These i'm putting along with recepies for the next one taking over the kitchen so it's a bit easier to get started.. Here are a few of the things we eat :)

Mexican summer in the spring of our lives

It's summer in Mexico, but i don't really feel the difference. Here the weather is just at nice as it was 6 months ago. I think that living here has changed me somehow. I find it difficult to truly appreciate the sun in the same way as i used to. We have sunshine almost every day, so the thankfulness of clear skies slowly faded away. It's easy in denmark when you come from the cold dark winter, but here it's just summer everyday.

Walking in the center of the city after
taking photos at the national palace

I don't buy into the idea that there is no happiness without suffering, but i believe there is still some truth hidden in the idea. A fulfilled life doesn't come without sacrifices. Growth does not come from times of peace and contempt but from times of challenge and suffering. By this I don't mean suffering as that what happens out of our control, you often can turn that to growth though, but what i mean is the growth that comes from intentionally steering towards suffering by giving up our own desires. This isn't a popular message today since we have spend hundreds of years developing our soceity to avoid suffering but we made the mistake of not seperating what is nessicary and what is unnesseacary suffering.

We as Christians have a huge challenge. The world is getting better and better at fulfilling our short term desires, but worse and worse at giving us a fulfilled life. We need to change this stating with us. We need to be lights for others, not that everyone can se how good and holy we are, but that they can see that it makes sense, the bible makes sense.This means going against our culture of giving in to our desires, and it will be hard, really hard, but more than worth it.

So we have to embrace suffering, not because suffering is something good, it's horrible, but we have to embrace it because it leads to a richer life. The more we give the richer we get, and if we remember to start with thinking that everything is already given, it helps..

In the national palace looking at my
amazing bride

Well, a bit about suffering, but don't worry, my life is better and harder than ever, and I love it. I'm in a painful and exciting process of growing up and not just carry the responsibility of my life, but also Lupita's life. We're making big decesions about the future, and it's scary, but i've been told that if making big decesions about the future isn't scary, you're doing it wrong.

But God is good, and here is a bit about what has been going on here in mexico..


Team from the states
One of the things that has been big lately was a team we had from the states. It was in coroporation with "Vereda" the church of Josh (the pastor who married us). The team was 30 people with 8 - 12 of them staying with us for 9 days. We had 12 the last few days because they wanted to sit in on our DTS classes. which was a good week since we had a speaker called Troy Sherman who is an amazing guy.

With the team we did different things, althoug Lupita and I stayed home a lot to do different small errands, like shopping for 100 sandwiches that we ate along with street kids. It only took 30min to assemble them all, but we also had the help of 40 people working like an assembly line, it was fun and chaotic. A fun thing was that on the team they had ex-Amish people who spoke Pennsylvanian Dutch which is very similar to German, so i could communicate a bit with them on their native language, even though they spoke English fine.

Right now we're having another team from a YWAM school in Chile, they are only staying for a few days, but it's always interesting to meet new people.


Troy Sherman
Has been our speaker this last week on the subject of relationships. The time Lupita and i have had to sit in on the classes has been amazing. He is an inspiring teacher and i could use pages to describe why. He has an amazing testemony and an the things he says in his teachings are so radical and attacking on our ways of being "sleeping" Christians that most people would cry hypocrite if it wasn't because you're not a second in doubt that he practice what he preach.

Lupita's vow, written the night before

Lupita and I took him out for a cup of coffee Thursday afternoon and had a really good talk with him about the challenges of being married, and he wasn't late in giving us tips and advise on life. He lives in the states and travels all over the world teaching although he never leaves his family for more than a week at a time.

We heard that he and his family (2 kids) is having a hard time financially since they both live only on people's support, and since recently loosing some long time supporters they were looking for new. So if anyone feel's interested in helping I know that the money will be doing a real difference.

He and his family is really active in fighting against human trafficking as you can see from their website, where you will also find his paypal if you are interested in supporting him and his family in their ministry.

Troyandalisa.org


Our wedding
We finally got the photos from the wedding on 2 DVD's from the states. It was 915 photos after the photographer, our friend Angela had sorted the bad ones out. We have uploaded our favorite to Lupita's Facebook in 3 different folders if you are interested, here are some that I liked..

Lupita at the hairdresser close to the base getting ready early in the morning the day of the wedding. It's a nice place and I've cut my hair there before, and it's only around 40 dkk, her's was a bit more expensive :)

Me getting ready in my parrents hotel room. Nikolaj helped me with tying the tie since he knew a more advanced tie tie, and if there's one day my tie deserves an advanced tie tie, it was this day.

Here I still haven't seen Lupita yet, Montse found this horrible cat blindfold for me and my brothers were mocking my lack of vision, my brothers are evil...

We got into the National Palace, a famous place in Mexico City that has been home to presidents and dates all the way back to the 15th century when the Spaniards defeated the Aztec and build the place on and with the stones from the ruins of Montezuma's home (last ruler of the Aztecs)

Me and my brothers, how proud our mom must be :) The guards after begging them to let us in the National Palace told us we only had 15 minutes, we probably spend a good hour in there, I guess the guards couldn't bear to spoil the fun and ask us to leave.

The first hug for my parents after starting my own family. It's hard to imagine that i most likely one day will be doing the same with my son

First kiss, never gets borring :)

and another kiss on our way to the evening reception. The flower in Lupita's hair was put together by her bridesmaids. The total cost of Lupita's bouquet and 4 for the bridesmaids along with button hole flowers for me and my brothers was around 150 kr

It started raining during the ceremony, thank God that we took photoes in the morning sunshine, and even though the rain changed plans a bit t was fun going to a cafe for a cop of coffee with the bridesmaids and my brothers.

My speech! The reception place was amazing, the 3 story atrium was amazing when the light of the sun through the ceiling windows lowered you could see the 200 candles we had all around on the walls, and on the railing of the little fountain.

After an amazing night salsa music was put on and every single of our guests got our dancing, even Lupita's 2 year old niece. We hadn't planned on any dancing, but we went with it and it was fun :)

As a last thing we had the cake that my mom had baked for us here in Mexico, and as tradition Lupita and I took the first bites. Bonus info, the building called "Casa de Don Manuel"  is 400 years old and Don Manuel was rumored to be a cruel murderer, which we found out after signing the contract...

They forgot the rice, but who needs that when you have rose leaves and ice cubes. I even had a bouquet (not lupita's who was caught by a girl who got engaged 2 weeks ago) stuffed in my pants, not that it was that big of a deal since they already cut my socks and underwear as danish tradition goes.

The start of a new family

It has been some time since my last post on this blog. This is because i recently changed my Facebook status to married, and since then I've been learning what it means that we now have our own little family. It's a process i'm sure will take many years but so far it has been amazing.

Right in front of Zocolo, the heart of Mexico City,
walking in a huge crowd of people.

but well, I'll try to write about what has been going on the last month.

The wedding

We got married the 30th of June and it was amazing. We had my parents and brothers from Denmark, some friends from the states and some of Lupita's family from Chiapas, so people came from far away. We got married in a church we knew well (I lived there for a month during my outreach) and that always have been good to us. After the ceremony we were supposed to take pictures but luckily we did that before because it started raining a lot. So we just went with my brothers and Lupita's bridesmaids to a little cafe near the place of the reception that started at 18:00. The reception went well with a lot of speaches. The evening ended with everyone spontaniously dancing with we hadn't planned with but it was fun and after that Lupita and I went across the street to a hotel where some friends had put our honeymoon baggage in our room.The next day took the 1½ hour plane ride to Puerto Vallerta where we spend 2 amazing weeks in a small hotel near the beach.

We're really thankful for all the people who helped make it an amazing day and i'm also greatful for all the gifts and congratulations from Denmark :)

The amazing view from our roof with hot tub and pool. We
had it almost to us selves since the small hotel only had 9
apartments and only a few other visitors when we
were there.

New apartment, new room

Orignialy we planned moving in to an apartment away from the base, but for different reasons we have ended up staying at the base. We recently as a base rented a new appartment right across from one of our others (now we have 3 in total) so Lupita and I have gotten a room there. We're the only ones living in there permanently along with a room mainly for when we have guest speakers but also other guests. The rest of the appartment is used as an office and classroom. We rented the appartment at a really good price because the condition was really bad, but we painted, put new floor and new toilet/sink, so now it's fine.

In the church listening to the preaching. We got married by
an American who is pastor in a Mexican church. He and his
Mexican wife also did our marriage counseling. They
were awesome.

How we ended up with that apartment is a little special. It started a little more than a month ago when we were praying about if we should get a new apartment. Then a few days later the couple right across our door called the landlady and said they were moving out in a few days, this was after 25 years in that appartment. When they left they took everything, even the power outlets so the place was in a bad condition, but this meant we could get it to a cheaper rent than the other apartments. So we took this sudden moving of the couple and considerably lower rent as a sign that we were supposed to get that one.


Paul in "Verano de Fuego"

In Paul's summer camp they have a mini outreach that is in
Puerto Vallerta, they arrived the day after we left there.

Lupita's little brother Paul is still on his summer camp and he is coming home this Saturday. We're really excited to hear all of his stories and about what he experienced. We have heard a little from him and it sounds like he is having a good time, also our friends in Mazatlan says he has been doing good. I didn't manage to gather all the money (3000 dkk) we needed to pay for his school and tickets, but luckily the base here offered to pay his tickets, which meant we had enough to pay the school.

So on the behalf of Paul we just want to thank everyone who gave money towards his summer camp. I know it has been an investment in his future, and we just pray that God will conteniue his work in him. We have heard from a friend on staff in the summer camp in Mazatlan that Paul wanted to do a DTS so we hope and pray that he will stay with that plan after he finishes his high-school.

Because of the chance of rain we decided to take the pictures before the ceremony. This meant that i would see Lupita before so her bridesmaids and my brothers wanted to make the first time i saw Lupita special. Therefore i was driven with a blindfold to the National Palace. So in the picture I'm standing blindfolded about to see her in the dress for the first time :)

(The national palace decided on the day to change their mind and not let us in. Luckily after 15 minutes of waiting and a few begging tears from one of Lupita's bridesmaids they gave in)

Countdown

In 4 days I'll be a husband. It's hard to believe and i'm both scared and relieved. Scared of what the future will bring but relieved that it will be with my best friend, soon to be wife, Lupita.

Right now I don't have time for a long post, but I just want everyone who reads my blog and who can't come to the wedding to know that I'm sorry. I wish we could spend this day with all our families and friends but that was never a possibility. I hope that you will think of us and this Saturday and remember that we wish you were here celebrating with us. If you feel forgotten in Denmark then we promise that you will get to celebrate it with us one day when we're back and if you feel like giving a gift then all we hope for is prayer of a rich and a blessed life together.

Life changing moments

Every once in a while days come that opens up the course of our lives.. Those days we make decesions that determines which road in life we will be following. As the days go by those decisions have to be kept, so we commit to our decisions by choosing to continuously follow through on them.

The day that I heard about DTS in Mexico was one that changed the course of my life. There I meet the love of my life and i decided to be with her and she with me :)

Lupita and I one day doing ministry, my sign says smile, and
I think Lupita is better at it than me :)

Now in less than 3 weeks i'll be making a commitment. This commitment is a choice I've been certain of for a long time now. So now, finally, the day is near when i get to make this commitment in front of friends, family, Lupita and God. A commitment that we will walk together through life no matter on which paths those life changing days will be taking us, to enjoy life to the fullest in the good times and in times of suffering to be thankful that we're walking in it together.

Life here in Mexico is good and the day of the wedding is coming near fast. A few days ago i went with Lupita, Paul and Filip to try and choose the food of the wedding. It was a dinner at with the table and flowers set like it will be the day of our wedding, and beforehand we had selected a few different things from each catogory that we wanted to try, and in the end we settled on some really good things. The food won't be traditional, but still with a touch of Mexico. I can reveal that both tamarindo sauce and jamaica sauce is a part of the menu, both ingredients from the Mexican cuisine

Our international evangelism day. Here we're talking with
some guys from a high school.

International YWAM evangelism day
YWAM has started this day every year where all bases and schools go out on the streets and talk about God. We were joined by some from local churches and in all we were around 40 people. It was a good day with a lot of conversations with people.

Team from Colorado
Our team from Mazatlan of 9 people left but only to be replaced a day after with a team of 10 from Colorado, USA. The team is taking a 10 days trip here to Mexico to do work with us. We have got to show them the city and the last few days we have been doing a lot of different things with them. Saturday we had a guy we know (Diego) show a documentary he made with some others. The documentary is about human trafficking in north and south america and we had Diego give a short talk about the problem after the movie. Afterwards the team went out to give roses with small notes to prostitutes. I've seen the documentary before but in another "cut" and this newest and final version was really good and felt professional even though it was made on a not that big budget. The documentary is called "Volviendo" (returning) and it is a kind of a research documentary for Diego and his team before they start on making a full featured film.

Family is coming
Also now it's only a little while until the rest of my brothers and parents come. I'm really excited and i hope Lupita and I won't be too stressed before the wedding to show them the city. We still have a lot to do before the wedding, but i feel we're getting closer, and I know that it will be an amazing day, and if everything goes wrong, I'll just see it as a bumpy beginning of something truly amazing.

Another game of football with homeless in Hidalgo, I had to go a little early to cook dinner, but i heard that my team lost :(

One month :)

Time is moving fast and it's now only 1 month until i'll get married to Lupita. This is very exciting but we have tons of stuff to do but we're sure we will get ready for the big day. We just hope that Lupita will get better from her sickness soon. Aside from the wedding preparations we have enough to do here at the base.

We have 3 nights a week designated for family night to
strenghten our relations here at the base. One of the nights
each week is creative night where you can do whatever you
want as long as it's creative, so we paint, draw, write, play
guitar, take photoes and much more. This is my rather
strange picture from last family night. 3 elephants.

Yesterday we got the Mazatlan outreach team back from Brazil. The team will be staying here almost 2 weeks and do different ministries. This means that we currently are 20 people on base, which then means a lot of work for me planning the food. Especially it's a challenge in the kitchen which isn't very big to cook for 20 people. On top of this we will be having another team sleeping here in a few days (no eating as far as i know) which will bring our total number up around 30, so we will be more than full :)

Otherwise our time is going with preparations for the upcoming DTS, and the last 2 weeks we have been spending a little time making some notebooks by hand. This actually didn't take as long as i expected (a family night with 8 people working as a machine helped a lot). The reason for this is that we will have our students write about what they learn every week in these journals, and really want the students to put personality into these journals. Therefore we thought it would be cool if we put time into it by making them ourselves so that the students would be inspired to really use it and not just be another cheap notebook somewhere. The picture has the 10 notebooks we have made and we expect to put some fabric around them so they will look nice, and we hope that the students will use their own creativity to decorate them on the outside and on the inside so that these notebooks can be a place of reflections, thoughts and ideas from the teachings.

The notebooks waiting to be covered with fabric and
decorated, one book probarbly takes around 1½ or 2
hours to make when in training

My little brother is coming soon :)
Now that Lupita and I are getting married Filip my little brother will be coming here to Mexico a bit in advance. He will be living here on the base with us, and helping with different things. When he arrives the current team will stil be staying here, and when they leave we have another team shortly. So there will be enough to do, and we can hopefully show him a little of the city. Also i'm sure he will get chances to go be a part of some ministries like playing football or other things.

Lupita's little brother is here :)
This last few weeks we have had Paul living with us most days (he sometimes needs to go home). We think it's really good for him to be here instead of wasting his time at home, and he is really helpful when we need an extra hand. I have had him help me and Alejandro cook a lot and i think that is also good for him since he has never really cooked before. In Mexico it's very uncommon that boys ever cook in their home. This was also true for Alejandro, who i had to teach a few basic things in the beginning like not using the same cutting board for vegetables after cutting raw meat.

But it's good to have him here with us, and surprisingly fast he is starting to pick up on a lot of the English we speak (and i get to practice my Spanish). I think this is really good thing for him since English opens doors so he hopefully in the future can avoid the bad/low paid jobs which there are enough of here in Mexico City.

My finances
The last few weeks I've been sending mails around to some people, and i still have a few i haven't send to yet. This is because I've been asking for support to be able to keep working here in YWAM CMC until Febuary 2013 as Lupita and I plan.

Everyone in this organisation (YWAM) are unpaid. This means that everyone has personal supporters. So far i've been able to live on earlier savings and a my really generous and helpful parents, but now is the time for me to find someone who will support my work here.

Therefore I've been looking for 11 people to support me with 200 a month (the next 8 months, which will cover my living expenses) and I've gotten enough to cover around 4 of the 11 i need. I'm super thankful for this support, and i hope and pray that i'll get the last people so i can keep doing my work here the next months.

If you are interested in supporting me, please write me, and also we're still trying to send Paul to "Verano de Fuego" (summer camp) and we're a little over half way, so help for that is still more than welcome especially now that we see him enjoying being here with us we think it's a very important chance we shouldn't let him pass on, a chance for him to do and become different than the millions of other teenagers here in the city.

Here we were doing a drama in a youth service last Sunday. It looks really empty but there was around 150 young people. The event were from 16 - 20 and in the end the church had prepared some really good food for us. We did 2 dramas, some advertising for our upcomming DTS and a short message.  This drama I were on Facebook in the right side of the scene.

Curtains finally!

This week we finally got the last of our curtains put up here on the base. They were donated by a friend of the base 2 weeks ago, so now every room have curtains. This might seem like a small thing, but I feel it's an important step to make the base feel more like a home, like our home :)

Just relaxing in a park in Tlahuac close to where Lupita's
family lives. We went there with them to "celebrate"
mothers day.

This morning I was trying to remember what has happened the last few weeks. I feel like time goes fast, and most of the stuff i recollect is our wedding preparations. Lupita and I have started pre-marriage counseling with an American pastor and his Mexican wife, they are an amazing couple, and they don't waste the time with empty talk. They have 10 years of personal experience with what difficulties that are especially prone to cross cultural marriages. The pastor's name is Josh and he has said yes to marry us which we feel really good about.

Other than that we still have our other things here at the base, and during the last few weeks we have as always had lots of things going on.

More life in the base

Lupita's niece Adrianna with her dad (Lupita's brother)

A thing that we didn't expect living here in the center of Mexico City is all the people interested in living with us. These are people who most of them has been in  YWAM and now work/study in Mexico City, but would love a place to live in the center with a community of other Christians. Right now we have 3, but in a few weeks we will have one more. In the beginning we weren't sure how to deal with this because we're a school and not just a place for people to live, but we enjoy the extra life on the base, and the people who are living with us always loves to be a part of many of the things we do when they are free to. (worship, ministry, family night) 

So we see it as a chance to provide a (hopefully good) Christian community for Christians here in Mexico City who has other things to do than being full time in YWAM. 

Getting new contacts

Around 2 weeks ago we visited 2 American girls who works with different ministries here in the city. One of them had 6 years here the other 2 years. They gave us lots of contacts to different projects, and they could tell us a lot of stories, especially about homeless kids on the street since that were one of their focuses.

In the park i also tried jumping with elastics, and wow, it
was fun, but also frightening, especially because the
elastics felt really old.

The 2 girls also told us lots of things about working with street kids, and one story i thought was shocking. It was of how some of the street kids they regularly visited actually weren't sad when they found out they had aids. This was because as they said it would protect them against people wanting to steal their organs. I think it's sad that people have to live in so horrible conditions, and i think all of us as their neighbors (in the Christian sense) ought to help them, or as a absolute minimum use the knowledge of their life and suffering as a catalyst for living a life in thankfulness for the blessings each of us receives every single day. It's hard, but i don't believe it's impossible.

Lupita and I standing at what used to be a lake in the park. After the first big earthquake we had here in Mexico 2 months (Biggest in 7 years) ago all the water disappeared down in the ground. Now there's no way of getting the water back and the 1 - 2 million people who live in this neighborhood will have to live without their lake. To the left of us a lot of boats was stranded that will probably never be used again.

Here is a image for our web page i made Friday afternoon for our evangelising day. This is something started in YWAM and on the 2nd of June people from many different countries will go on the street and make God known. The image is one i took on my outreach of the cathedral in Zocalo where we're going to meet that day.