Mexico

Jesus’ Family in Mexico?

So…they…

purport to be devout Evangelical Christians. All members are disciplined to abstain from narcotics themselves and care for their homes and children, La Familia says. They are also made to study a special Bible….

Then there’s this a little farther down in the Time story:

The sect also uses the Internet to spread its gospel. On one on-line forum, hundreds of supporters sing the praises of Christ and La Familia. “Victory to La Familia Michoacana, gloryfying Jesus by helping others,” writes one aficionado calling himself Fran. “Evil will only reign until Jesus stops it,” writes another calling himself the Messenger. “Nobody is saved from divine justice and they cannot imagine the pain and suffering they will go through.”

Time calls them a sect? Maybe that’s what they are, but, somehow, that seems to me to dangerously tarnish real Evangelicals.

La Familia Michoacana just is not your conventional religious group:

Their use of extreme violence against rivals and police has given La Familia a brutal reputation across Mexico. They first burst to fame in 2006 when gangsters severed the heads of five rival traffickers and rolled them onto a disco dance floor.

😯

They don’t sound like your conventional Mexican drug cartel either

HT: Amsalazar

Mennonite or Mormon?

The day it happened, I was going to blog a bit about the LeBaron-Widmar killings in Chihuahua, Mexico. After all, Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar were identified by the Associated Press as “members of the pacifist Mennonite community in northern Mexico.”

Then I decided not to bother calling attention to the story, even though I’m a Mennonite.

A day or two later I started seeing stories about a couple of Mormons killed in northwest Mexico.

This morning I verified the stories are all about the same murders.

Are Mennonites and Mormons so easy to confuse?

I assume LeBaron and Widmar were Mormons, since a Web search I did turned up more references to them as such rather than Mennonites.

Whatever the case, friends and families are hurting, especially two wives and ten children. May they find lasting solace and peace in God.

Quiz: Identify It

Here — from among the scores I took on my recent trip to Mexico — are six photos. (No, clicking on these will not take you to larger versions. Sorry.)

Beneath each photo is the identity question that goes with it.

What jet aircraft is this?
1. What kind of airplane is that?
A. Bonus question: Who’s boarding it?

What mountain is this?
2. What mountain is that?

What fruit is this?
3. That fruit — what is it?

What fer fowl is this?
4. Can you find and identify the bird?

What's this tree called?
5. What’s this tree called?

What food is on the table before me?
6. What food is on the table?

Swine Flu Update 2

OK, OK — so somebody decided to defer to the pork industry and call this ailment something else. CO2. 280Z. R2D2. H20. H1N1. Something! 🙄

Anyway, so I was in Sonora (northwest Mexico) for a few days last week and this.

Two of my traveling companions and I were struggling with varying illnesses of varying degrees.

Thankfully, none of us had symptoms that were strictly flu-like.

However, upon returning home, I learned that one of the missionaries we visited had come down with flu-like symptoms. The last I heard, thankfully, she’s doing better.

Thank you for your concerns and your prayers.

Swine Flu Update

Greetings from the port city of Guaymas in northwest Mexico’s Sonora state.

I’m part of a mission board delegation that’s been in the area for a few days.

Two of us are ailing somewhat, though almost certainly not from swine flu.

So far, this state has no reported cases of swine flu.

That’s good news.

However, I read online that we may have a tighter inspection crossing the border back into the States tomorrow. 😯

I’m posting this, not to provide you with further news on the epidemic, but to personalize it a bit.

And to ask for your prayers.

Please pray for our health, which is ragged for two of us.

And pray for a timely crossing.

Thanks!

Swine Kissing

Note to family and friends: I’m avoiding all swine-kissing competitions.

Mexico’s Calderon Declares Emergency Amid Swine Flu Outbreak

Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared an emergency in his country’s swine flu outbreak, giving him powers to order quarantines and suspend public events.

Authorities have canceled school at all levels in Mexico City and the state of Mexico until further notice, and the government has shut most public and government activities in the area. The emergency decree, published today in the state gazette, gives the president authority to take more action.

I’m posting this from the port city of Guaymas. It’s in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. Which is a long ways from Mexico City.

Nevertheless, I’m avoiding all swine-osculating competitions.

But last night I did eat a hot dog in Empalme. It had a bacon strip or two.

😯

Above all, love God!