Newborn baby Josephine Mary Stahl - our newest grandchild, and our first granddaughter.
Life in the Frey household is seldom boring – at lease according to my ever-patient and beautiful wife. Theresa and I are in Manitoba again for the moment. As I mentioned in my last blog entry back on July 6th, we were going to be heading back to Canada for some weeks in order to be with family again, and specifically to help out with our newest little granddaughter.
Little Josephine Mary Stahl was born on July 11 at 11:24 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz, and was 20.5 in. long. She is probably the best natured baby that I have ever seen. Diana and Nathan have no real idea of how blessed they have been.
Theresa and I have been busy with family. It is a pure joy to be able to immerse ourselves into our children’s, our grandchildren’s, and our parent’s lives again, even if only for a brief time. We have also been trying to get time in with
Theresa with grandsons Ari and Jude.
friends as well. Time is always too short, and family and friends too many to do justice to all.
I have also been blessed and excited to be able to purchase some much needed, and much prayed for farm equipment on line for the farm in Mexico. We have been blessed to have the tractor and the equipment that we have, but lacked a disc. Although we could do a lot of work with the tractor, we could not do the weed control and cultivating that we need to do without a disc. I have been looking for months on craigslist trying to find something that was reasonably priced and close enough to the border to fit our needs. Up until about a week ago I was coming up with zero.
As the saying goes – “it never rains but it pours”. After finding nothing at all for months on end, all of a sudden I was stuck with a dilemma because there were two discs for sale, and I needed to make a decision as to which to buy. In the end I purchased a disc and boxblade, both for the price of less than one single unit. How exciting! We will pick them up in Texas when we head south again, and in November when we begin clearing the last area of land we will have the tools to make the job more doable. I am psyched (as the younger generation is apt to say).
Our grandson Rowan, our dinosaur-man is four years old. Theresa shows her artistic side in the dino-birthday cake creation.
Also, I have been kept busy in organizing and administrative preparation for the Project LAMBS courses which will be offered in Cd. Valles again in October. This will be the last cycle of classes which will be taught by foreign teachers. After this final teaching cycle and graduation the program will be run, taught, and administered by Mexican nationals. In the mean while I am still being kept busy being the connection point between Mexico and the Canadian and American teachers.
As I have spoken of many times before – this handover to national leadership is what the whole vision of Project LAMBS has been about. Certainly we will continue to be involved in some way, but only in a support role alongside the national leadership. It is a joy to watch a ministry reach maturity so that it can be “given away”.
There is also a great debt owed to the men and women who have so faithfully and sacrificially given of their time and talents over the years to see this Bible training become a reality. Of special mention are Cleo Yoder, Fred Erb, Winston Penner, and Dr. Chuck Nichols who have been “pillars” in the work.
Swinging from the extreme south to the extreme north of our continent – Theresa and I have the opportunity to spend
Four of our five handsome grandsons - Theo is missing from the picture.
some time on a fly-in-only Native reserve in northern Ontario called Wawakapewin (also known as Long Dog). We have been invited by long-time friends of mine, Archie and Rhoda Meekis, to come and spend five weeks working on the reserve with them.
I have known Archie and Rhoda since my childhood days when I grew up at Deer Lake, another fly-in-only reserve in northern Ontario where my parents were missionaries. Archie and Rhoda are both from Deer Lake, and we have known each other since those early days. Archie held the position of chief of the Deer Lake Band for several years. Currently he is one of the main administrators of the new band of Wawakapewin.
I am not 100% sure what Theresa and I will be doing at Long Dog, but we will be working under our friend’s guidance and leadership. We will wait and see what doors God opens up as we serve in this capacity in the new community.
Our newest implement for the farm - a disc. I can hardly wait to hook up the three point hitch to the old Ford 8N.
As I mentioned, we will be at Wawakapewin for five weeks. After that time we will be heading quickly down to Mexico again in order to do the final preparations for the Project LAMBS teachers to arrive. From there it will be one whirlwind marathon of two weeks of LAMBS classes and final graduation, followed by a week of intensive VitW Ministries administrative meetings with Fred Erb, the Canadian missions director, and the Board of Directors of OUpC, the Mexican non-profit covering the Mexican end of the work.
So, as I said in the beginning – my ever-patient wife just shakes her head and bears with me. Never a dull moment in the Frey household.
Blessings,
Steven and Theresa
