End of an Era

Today marked a sad day in the lives of so many. Royce and Sue Baron, retired from active missionary service for about two years now, are leaving the Christ Lives Bible Church and Mexico. They are moving to Houston, Texas to enjoy their retirement years and serve the Lord in Hispanic ministries in new ways. The service was very nice with several men preaching small sermons and then there was a special presentation to the Barons in thanks for all their work (first picture). The Barons' two daughters, Michelle (seen in the second picture with her husband Gabriel and their daughter) and Becky sang a couple songs in honour of their parents. After the service there was a fiesta, a Mexican pot-luck supper with many different kinds of food that can be put in tortillas. There were even clowns for the little ones. What I was amazed at today was how much Spanish little Ahava (seen in the third picture) already knows as she talked with other little kids during the supper. There was even a large cake for the Barons but what was interesting was a tradition that I had not previously seen here before. The Barons were seated in front of the cake for pictures, then after a couple of minutes of nice pictures, the crowd started chanting "mordida, mordida, mordida" which translates "little bite". The Barons then responded to the chants by eating right from the cake in front of them: no hands! Then the crowd chants "kiss, kiss, kiss" and again on cue the Barons responded with a icing-laced kiss for each other. It was all lots of fun. I know that the Barons will be missed by all here and our prayers are with them as they move to the Lone Star State in the first week of May.