Team Retreat

This past week, our team spent two days together at El Tephe, a water park that is a couple hours from where we all live. We enjoyed some good fellowship, delicious grilled arrachera, and some insightful sharing times. One of our team's current goals is to build a community of trust. We were grateful to be able to borrow some babysitters from another team :) and had some meeting times where the adults took turns sharing key experiences in our lives using post-it notes, otherwise known as "life-mapping".

In the morning, we had a devotional time where the kids heard a story about Jonah. We all enjoyed listening to the interaction, especially the answer to, "What can we learn from Jonah?"...."Don't fall into the water!"

Bicentennial Park

Our team has enjoyed this park twice now...and it is quickly becoming a favorite! We certainly can't beat the price! Thursdays happens to be their 2 for 1 special day, so we paid about $1 each at our last visit! We didn't take any pictures on our 2nd visit, but the water park section is also a lot of fun with a lazy river and slides, etc.

I HAVE THE SWINE FLU!!!

Not actually. Just figured you read the post with a horrible title like that.

But on the flip side, the "O's", as in Tim & Michelle O'Brien have been sick with a number of symptoms that resemble the dreaded flu and are wondering if perhaps they've been victims of this epidemic. They'll have to tell you that...I don't know. I don't think anyone knows until they get a positive blood test. Anyway...pray from Tim and Michelle to get better. They seem to be improving as they move into about week three of this illness.

Also, the "H's" also struggled for a couple weeks with something fierce and Brock very well may have also had this nasty swine virus. He certainly had the symptoms. I believe they're all well now...even from a strained or pulled arm muscle from being overly active (can you say...Wii baseball?!?...lol...Brock hates me for passing this on but that's OK...I'm sure the 5 of you reading this blog won't tell anyone else!).

Also, among our Mexican co-workers, Blanca Colorado has been very sick with flu-like symptoms. I haven't heard a recent report so not sure how she's doing. Pray for Blanca.

Interesting to note that O'Briens, Howers and Colorados are all in their 30s or early 40s. Seems to be the age range this flu targets...like a tornado and trailer parks. Odd, isn't it?

So...if you're wondering...yeah...it is a real virus and people are getting sick here in Mexico and a few are dying. We're all concerned and watching the developments. We're also not at all worried because we know God is in control, our lives are His and not our own, He takes good care of His children, and we are His children.

Pray for Mexico, pray for our health (to be good or to get better!), and pray that God will use this epidemic for His glory and that we'll be faithful in doing our part of glorifying Him.

Possessing eternal life through Christ is far better than good health and temporary happiness. Praise God for being our ROCK, our HOPE, and our LIFE!

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away...

...and it appears that several of us haven't been eating our apples!

Couples were to meet this past week but Brock and Heather H. were still battling the flu, their boys having just gotten over illness; Dayton M. was still battling a bad cough and a light fever after a couple days of flu-like symptoms; Bethany O. is oozing goop from both her eyes (pink eye?). One of our wives is having a scheduled surgery next week too, and we didn't want her exposed to all these germs that could become cause for delay for this sensitive procedure...so we ended up canceling our weekly meeting this past Thursday. Bummer...it was our quadruple date week too which is definitely one of our four favorite meetings of the month!

Next week it's the guys turn. We'll see how it works out this Thursday. I vote for a change to Wednesday so we can meet at Wings Army in Querétaro and rid the world of a few dozen chicken wings (buy 20 get 10 free on Wednesdays!). I think Wednesday is surgery day so that idea probably won't work out.

The Gals Met Last Thursday

All four of the 20 OHMS wives met last Thursday for their accountability week. Despite it being MK Homeschool Spiritual Emphasis Camp week at Camp Koinonia, getting the gals together wasn't too hard, since Heather lives at the camp and Beth and Lori were working at the camp for the week. Tim brought Michelle up in the afternoon when the other three were in between camp duties and they enjoyed a time of fellowship, book review and prayer. How neat!

Little Annie played with one of her brothers' dainty toys (yeah right!) to keep her busy! Ya think she'll be a tomboy growing up?!?

Easter Egg Hunt Pictures

Here are more pictures from our Easter Egg Hunt. It was a great time!

3rd Thursday Is Family Meeting (correction 4th Thursday!)

This Thursday was the 3rd (oops...4th) of the month and so the 20 OHMS (all 20 of us once again) met to celebrate Easter and enjoy fellowship at about 8,000 feet near Camp Koinonia.

We enjoyed a candy hunt, lunch and acorn wars under a large oak tree, a simple Resurrection Egg devotional, and playing in a pirate ship that looked a lot like a homemade trailer.

Everyone had a great time, we didn't get any kids stuck on the barbed wire fence, and all the hidden eggs were found among the tufts of grass and the countless horse flops. Fortunately, all the eggs were brightly colored plastic and easily distinguished from the earthy-toned presents left by the horses.




Uh-oh...Bethany's ring pop dropped in the dirt. Can't have that one back...so sorry...
...and the resulting realization that she can't have it again. Oh what sadness!

Bethany cracked us up when she walked by Beth and Beth commented that she looked cute in her pretty jacket. Bethany immediately started swinging her shoulders like a model on a runway and said, "Tanks." LOL!

AMAZING!

Yes, you read that right. AMAZING!

What's so AMAZING!?

Well...nothing much really. This blog is off to a slow start so I thought a catchy title might bring in some traffic. Ha-ha! I should have been an ambulance chaser, I guess! It's been 2 weeks since our last post so I thought I'd throw a post up to kick-start the blog space here at 20 OHMS.

Today was Thursday so we had another T2 meeting. Last Thursday, we met at the McManus house for a couples-only game night. Bryan Smith was out of town so Lori was unable to come but the OHM couples were here. We had a blast! (Sorry Bryan and Lori that you couldn't come.) We borrowed Paul and Grace Becker from the San Juan team to join us for some games since their team was mostly out of the country last week and we know they enjoy playing games. (This T2 stuff is soooo much fun!)

This week was the guys-only meeting. This only comes once a month and is probably the best meeting of the month. That's b/c the guys get a chance to have some "guy time" and "male bonding" or something like that. Mostly, it's a chance to relieve our wives and children of our presence...and go out for lunch together in a rare moment without them. And to talk about...uhh...guy stuff. (not to mention I had the best ribeye steak I think I've ever eaten in my life at our local Cow Corral Restaurant...the name sounds a little better in Spanish; it wasn't as cheap as it sounds though!)

Actually, while we did enjoy some small talk, we did get down to business and got into some of our accountability issues that we want to delve into. We decided between the three of us (Brock was out-of-town and couldn't come this time) that we pray entirely too much and we need to cut back. Errrr...I mean...we all agreed that we need to pray more and do a better job at cultivating lives of prayer. We also agreed that pretty much every year we seem to sense that we need to pray more and do a better job at cultivating lives of prayer. If it sounds like I just repeated myself, good. I got my point across. It's a lifetime issue.

We've all read books on prayer, talked about prayer, and heard sermon after sermon on prayer, but at the end of the day or maybe at the beginning or perhaps in the middle, what we really need is to actually, simply....pray. AMAZING! (see there it is!)

So, of all the great and important things that came up in our meeting today, I'd rate this one point as the most important. We're resolved to holding each other accountable to pray faithfully, daily, weekly, continually...and no, not just endless requests and "thank-you for this day..." trite prayers of habit, but to really seek to immerse ourselves into continual, constant communion with God.

You'd think missionaries would already have this down pat, but I guess there's a few of us who still need to work on it. Maybe you pray too much...but if not...feel free to evaluate your own life of prayer and join us in seeking a deep, wide, river of prayer in your life too. Grab a hand and jump in with us! The water is simply divine.

Weekly Meeting

For the sake of anyone who might be following the blog, we have a weekly meeting 4 times a month, always on Thursday (unless it isn't). Each of the first four Thursday afternoons of every month, we have a time of prayer, fellowship, business, etc. However, each week is a little different.

Last week was the 4th Thursday of the month so we met as families and went to a nice park in Querétaro for a picnic and a devotional for the parents (with little ones literally hanging out of the tree we were sitting under). The 3rd Thursday of February was a meeting with just the guys. We went out for lunch here in San Juan del Río, talked a lot (can't tell you about what...mostly b/c I don't remember!) and prayed together by the river near my house.

Today is the first Thursday of the month so just the ladies are meeting in Querétaro (without kids, except for Lori who's hosting in her home while Bryan is in Puebla studying). I'm sure they'll spend time talking and a bite for lunch. Other than that...it's a rather secretive meeting...the guys can only wonder. Ha-ha...just kidding. Actually, they'll no doubt have some spiritual input and prayer and to be honest...I should let them tell you. I have no idea. I just know my part is to watch the boys and let Bethie and the gals enjoy their time together without men and children (except for Lori this time).

Well...you know what the Bible says..."Go into all the world...and have meetings!" Or maybe not...but these are still important times for our team and for each of our families as we take time to stay spiritually fit together. Accountability, encouragement and spiritual refreshment...can't minister without these.

Welcome to 20 OHMS!

What exactly is 20 OHMS? The answer starts with another question: What is T2? If you don't know the answer to that question, you can read all about it here: http://www.t2blueprint.com/what-does-t2-stand-for.html

Now that you've discovered what T2 is all about, I'll tell you what 20 OHMS is. We are a CAM International discipleship ministry team based in central Mexico. We currently are comprised of the O'Brien, Hower, McManus and Smith families. That's where we got our idea for "OHMS." If you'll add our 12 children to the 8 parents, that explains the "20."

Have you wondered yet what we'll do to our team and blog name, if we have any more children in our families? I just want to tell you, we have too! Of course, it's easy to add numbers...so 21, 22 or 23 OHMS is an easy fix. 25 OHMS means someone is going to have to get a bigger house and car! As long as the number doesn't go down, we should be in good shape.

There is a connection (so to speak) between an electrical term for resistance and our walk with Christ. We're called in James 4:7 to "resist the devil" so that he will flee from us. Jesus also talked about being filled with light and placing lights in strategic locations (such as...on a hill or NOT under a bushel or basket) in order to illuminate the surrounding area. These are excellent connections to make for 20 OHMS as we seek to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers as well.

It's interesting that the Greek letter for "omega" is also the electrical symbol for "ohms." Jesus, the Lord God, calls himself the "the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end," in Revelation 1:8. Thus, we included what perhaps is a subtle reference to this in our blog banner. You probably noticed that already.

Apart from symbols and names and interesting stuff like that, we want to invite you into our very real lives and ministries. We are real people and real missionaries which means we have real challenges, real failures, and in Christ, real victories.

Thanks for checking out our new blog and we hope you'll come back again and again to join us in our journey together. We'll be introducing ourselves over time. Our ministry blogs are linked to on the sidebar so feel free to surf away to those locations any time.

Now, let's light our world with Jesus Christ! He is truly the one and only Light of the world. From the families of 20 OHMS we ask today that God may grant you grace and peace in Jesus Christ!