Have you ever been at a time in your life where you just knew you were meant to be in a certain place? After the first several months in Cuernavaca it was time to return to New Zealand to visit my family and friends. I had been away for 2 yrs already.

During my stay in New Zealand, Anna Lee’s husband died (Anna Lee Carlton is the founder of the magazine, Bread For Children, that I was working with) and this created a need for help at the head office in Florida. I was asked to return to Florida for a time, rather than to Cuernavaca. However I had received a very strong impression during my time at home, that was to go to McAllen Texas.

Florida
I returned to Florida where Anna Lee assured me that as soon as it was possible, she would release me to go to McAllen where I could also be supportive to the work of the magazine since McAllen is a city on the border of Mexico.

The year spent in head office was a great time of further training for what was ahead of me. I learned a lot about preparing copy for the print shop and also had the opportunity to deal directly with the staff at the print shop.

My American Parents

It was in Florida that I met a couple who became my “American parents”. Their children still keep in close touch with me to this day. (This couple are now both waiting for us in heaven). I was blessed with 2 couples in the States who both became my American parents, and one couple in Mexico.

After just over 1 year in Florida, I was released to go down to McAllen, Texas. My american parents saw me off on the bus trip early that morning and we set off for the 2 day, 2 night trip to South Texas.

McAllen, Texas
Early in the morning 2 days later the bus finally pulled into the station in McAllen Texas where I was met by a new friend. At the boy’s orphanage I had met a couple who studied Spanish at the missionary language school. They made arrangements for me to be able to stay in one of the dormitories there since it was summer time. This would give me an opportunity to look for an apartment. The school was practically deserted.

Ideas Came Flooding into My Mind
During the first day ideas suddenly started flooding my mind, and I sat down with pen and pencil and started writing and drawing. For the next several months I worked with the preparation of what turned out to be the first of the series of booklets, Templos Vivientes (Living Temples). It was an incredible time as ideas seemed to come from “nowhere”. The time was right.

I had found an apartment within walking distance of shops and a cafeteria as well as some other stores including a copy shop. Inquiries at the coffee shop revealed that my budget would allow me to print 200 copies of the first booklet (I was planning to do this using photo copies to begin with).

The booklets are full of illustrations that would help parents who’s reading skills were not tops be able to read them to their children. My plan was to take the 200 copies back to one of the villages near the boys orphanage and give them to the mothers asking them to read the books to their children.

Templos Vivientes – The Vision Grew.
Before Templos Vivientes fully ready for the copy shop a friend introduced me to a Canadian missionary couple. They were looking for someone to rent an apartment adjacent to their home to have someone there when they were away. It seemed to be a good arrangement and so I accepted. Then they said “oh by the way, we also have a print shop in the back which you are welcome to use”.

My 200 copy budget ended up printing 2000 booklets for the first run, and in two colors! This booklet was reprinted many times to a total of 50-60,000 copies.

May your vision grow as you follow it! I would love to hear about the growth of your vision. There is plenty of room below in the comments to share. I look forward to hearing from you.

What a diverse team, a Colombian, a Kiwi and an American!

Anna Lee and her secretary had visited Mexico City previously and had been connected with a magazine distributor in Cuernavaca Mexico (Trine V.). Trine had introduced Anna Lee to a printer and she was in the process of transferring to another area, leaving her apartment vacant in Cuernavaca.

Everything Was Prepared For Us.

So we had an apartment to go to and a printer waiting for us. All we needed to do was to take the original copy of the magazine down and some equipment to continue working with future volumes.

There was even a car provided. Wow!

The trip down was not too eventful until we reached Mexico City and I tell the story of that little adventure right here..

We finally arrived about 1.30-2am rather tired and worse still we had kept our landlady up waiting for us. Trini was also still up waiting and she was due to leave the next morning, well actually later that day

Despite the lateness of the hour, in true Mexico fashion we were greeted warmly by Mrs Gonzalez (landlady) and offered some hot chocolate.

The next day we unpacked all of the originals of the magazine ready to take to the printers. The front page story was about a little boy in Mexico who had fallen into a water tank and was miraculously rescued.

I had made a sketch of the scene from the story and of course the main character was the little boy who’s name was Miguel. I thought that was a fictitious name.

The Surprise Is Revealed

Mrs Gonzalez came down to see if we needed anything and her youngest son was with her. He was about 5 years old. She introduced us to Miguel. I could not believe my eyes when I saw Miguel. He looked just like the sketch I had made, and yes he WAS the little boy who had fallen into the water tank.

It was a true story (which we knew) but even the name had not been changed. I showed them the sketch and they agreed the resemblance was incredible!

Wow, not only did my sketches turn out accepted for the magazine (remember this was the first time I had tried drawing with no “reference” that I could copy and adapt), but I had managed to capture the resemblance of a young boy I had never even met!

I could see that this was another indication that God was leading all the way!

When God calls He equips, there is no doubt about that. It just takes faith to step out and do things!

Introductions To Cuernavaca and The Culture of South Mexico.

Mrs Gonzalez turned out to be very supportive in attending to our every need. Her eldest son showed us around Cuernavaca and took us downtown to a treat of some great coffee and an experience with the Mariachis!

Cuernavaca quickly became my favorite city. It did not take long for me to decide that, and I never really left, just when I needed to return to the border to renew papers and travel to conferences etc.

The City of the Eternal Spring, it is called. Who could not enjoy a city that is never TOO hot yet never TOO cold and that has markets that offer any fruit or vegetable you can think of fresh every day!

Preparing For Greater Things

Our daily schedule in Cuernavaca was divided between editorial work, visiting the print shop and going out to the market and the streets to distribute the newly printed magazines. They were eagerly received where ever we went.

We also visited the different churches of the city and surrounding areas and were often invited to speak in the meetings. Of course we always took bundles of magazines with us.

Little did I realize at the time that all that we were doing was training for what was ahead of me.

Check back in a couple of days to see the next chapter in the unfolding of this adventure, and meanwhile I trust this is encouraging you to follow all that God puts in your heart.

Be prepared! As you start to follow His Vision for your life you will discover that it will always get bigger.

In fact most of my friends down there are more than friends, they are family.

First Impressions: I first went down to Cuernavaca in 1977, as part of a team of 3, sent by a children’s magazine (Bread For Children) I was with at the time.

I had already traveled to Mexico City (known as D.F. or Distrito Federal) by bus, so I was a little familiar with the city. However driving was another thing. Especially back in 1977!

The fun part was the signs. My spanish was at the time in its begining stages, but one of the girls with us was from Colombia, so the language was no problem. But oh my, the signs.

The thing that stands out the most to me about my first drive through Mexico City? The signs!

Along the Pereferico, one of the main axles of the city, there were signs showing the exits just as every city has. Only in D.F. they were not so easy to follow as most cities.

One sign said “Cuernavaca”. Great, we were getting close to the exit. But that was the last sign that mentioned Cuernavaca. The next one said “Insurgentes”. Now if you knew that Insurgentes would lead you out of the city in the direction of Cuernavaca you were fine. But we did not know that!

First Encounter with Culture Shock
Result? Close to 1am in the morning found us still going around in circles and learning a lot about Mexican culture. It seems that almost no one will answer your inquiry with “I don’t know”. They will make something up first. So when we asked for directions to Cuernavaca, guess what? We ended up getting more lost than ever!

Discovering the Friendliness of the Country
Finally an “angel” taxi rescued 3 tired and frustrated girls as the driver cheerfully told us: “Follow me”. Yes there are MANY people in Mexico like that, so willing to go well out of their way to help.

We followed him and were soon crossing the mountains to Cuernavaca where we were joyfully received by our hosts who were anxiously waiting our arrival. Our weariness was soon forgotten as we experienced the warmth of our new family.

I love Mexico! The people are so warm and friendly, that any frustrations you may face are soon forgotten!

Interested in learning spanish? Take a look at the only course on the net that will teach you real latin spanish, and get 10 free videos today Go here now!

Yuli

P.S. The signs on the Pereferico have been upgraded since my first trip, and now they are easy to follow.