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.

Chapter 2: The Beginning

As I mentioned in the first chapter, one of the things I noticed during my first months in Mexico was the lack of Christian literature available for children (this was in 1977). At the time I was helping oversee a dormitory in a boy’s orphanage near Monterrey.

At Christmas we went into the city to look for some books to give the boys for Christmas and were horrified to find there was so little to choose from.

Christian Literature Was Always A Part of My Vision

I always had the publishing side of missionary work on my heart. We were constantly receiving visiting speakers at Youth For Christ, and several were from Christian Literature Crusade. Their stories always fascinated and challenged me.

One of the first materials I published was a little magazine for the local Sunday School I was teaching at the time. As well as the magazine, I set to work doing children’s puzzles for my class. A teacher from one of the largest churches in Christchurch, NZ saw them and asked permission to publish these puzzles in their weekly church bulletin.

Confirmation and Direction from the Home Church

So when we saw the need in Mexico, I wrote to the church in NZ that was supporting me at the time sharing what I saw. The secretary who was familiar with what I was working on before I left New Zealand, immediately replied with an article she had seen in the Women’s Aglow magazine. It was about a children’s magazine that was being published in Florida. Bread for Children was the magazine, and the author (Anna Lee Carlton) shared her vision to start publishing in Mexico.

At the time I was working with a lady who had been in Argentina for many years and so of course her spanish was very good, while mine was still in the beginning stages. We contacted Anna Lee, director of Bread For Children, and were flown over to Florida to meet the team there. The few days with Anna Lee, her husband and the staff sealed the next step in my adventures on this side of the world.

We returned to South Texas (the base for going in and out of Mexico), packed and returned to Florida. We were to prepare the first issue of Bread for Children in spanish which was to be translated as “Pan Para Los Hijos”.

One of the first things we noticed was the absence of illustrations in the magazine. We commented on this and mentioned that Mexican children need visuals. (All children do actually, but we were preparing Pan Para Los Hijos).

Who Was To Do the Needed Illustrations?

Anna Lee was fine with that, but who was to do the drawings? So far my drawing skills had been limited to copying or at least adapting a sketch from an existing one. But there was no point of reference for any sketches that were needed now.

However I volunteered and sat down with a pencil to see what I could do.

Immediately my mind was filled with images of the scenes at the boy’s orphanage near Monterrey. I had something to copy and adapt!

A very big surprise was awaiting me in Cuernavaca where we were to be sent to print the first volume of Pan Para Los Hijos (Look for this surprise in next article, to be published on Thursday, Jan 8th, 2009).

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