Today I am teaming up with a very special group of ladies to share more about the real life aspect of missions.
Missionaries are not super human. We're not extra-special. We're people, just like you. Our uniqueness often comes because of our location and neighbors and the unique challenges those present.
To help you put a face to missions, I and several other baptist missionary women (BMW) who are also bloggers, are sharing some unique things about ourselves and our fields. Here is my contribution from southern tropical Mexico, and I hope you will also click the links at the end of the post and get to know some of the others as well.
About Us:
My husband, children and I are baptist missionaries in tropical Mexico. I have never enjoyed the heat, but I have totally fallen in love with palm trees and ocean breezes. We don't have a beach in our town but we do have a lengthy boardwalk near the water that is great for pictures and for watching fishing boats. It is almost a land of eternal summer here as even in the 6 weeks or so of “winter” our coolest temperatures are in the 60's F.
- Learn more or sign up for our family's monthly updates here (English) www.TKHornor.com
- Visit our ministry site (Spanish) www.MayordomiaCentral.com
About Hammocks:
It is traditionally acceptable here to have a hammock as a permanent piece of living room furniture. Many still sleep in mayan hammocks both for comfort and coolness. We LOVE the tradition. I wrote about our hammock here.
About Things I Love:
I love elephants, books and hymnals. I collect all of these items, and cannot imagine life without them. I grew up singing out of a shaped note hymnal in a little church in Western North Carolina and still thrive on the “old hymns” of the faith.
As for elephants… some of the earliest photos of me have elephants in them, elephant crib runner, plush elephants. I've admired, loved and collected them literally all of my life. I don't know any other animal that shows the mighty power and tender, loving, leading care of our Father God like the elephant. My life's bucket list includes seeing them paint in real life and owning a painting created by an elephant artist.
About Missionary Day to Day Life:
We homeschool our five children. On Fridays the 2 oldest attend a local Christian school (for Spanish and music). They are learning piano and violin (though we are in between teachers right now).
We have a tiny patio in front of our (rented) house, and a combined Christmas gift from grandparents last year – a trampoline – has been one of the best gifts our family has ever received. Great for using lots of energy in a small space.
We can't walk through a grocery store without someone stopping us to touch the blond hair of the baby.
Appliances cost double here what they do in the US, so our refrigerator/freezer is half size, which also means we spend twice as much time grocery shopping to keep it filled. We have a half size sink as well and no dish washers here.
For 6 years I did laundry for 6 people with no dryer. I hung everything out to dry, or in to dry depending on whether it was rainy season or not. God provided a dryer for us when Sonshine was born and I thank Him every day for the dryer!
If you would like to learn more, click on the links for Mexico, Expat Living or Missionaries.
About Missionary Dreams:
While one aspect of our local ministry is the church plant, another aspect is the Spanish homeschool movement. We have written a literature based curriculum for Spanish speaking homeschoolers (grades preschool to 6th) and promote it through our bookstore, Lemonhass™, our Spanish homeschool blog, and traveling to speak and share our resources with homeschool conferences both in and out of the US (as finances allow).
Our dream is to see the Spanish speaking world have a strong Christian homeschool community in the next 10-20 years, strengthening families and training the next generation to do the work of the Lord.
If you know anyone who speaks Spanish and might be interested in learning more, please send them to www.Lemonhass.com.
Have a question for me? I'd love to answer, please ask it here, or leave a comment below.
Now if you'd like to get to know some other fabulous missionary ladies, visit Aleassa at Coffee With Sprinkles or see the full list at the Baptist Missionary Women blog.
Jen B says
Thanks for joining in the blog hop! I loved reading more about you!
Rachel's Reflections says
Enjoyed visiting your blog.
Beautiful family picture – love the colors.
~Rachel
Katie Hornor says
Thank you Rachel.
Carole says
Your comment about “winter weather” made me smile. Our warmest summer weather ‘might’ hit 60 degrees! 🙂
Katie Hornor says
We should trade houses for vacation Carole! Ha! Only thing is we’d probably have to buy all new wardrobes too! My kids are so warm blooded now, they’d freeze in snow, even though they long for it.
Aleassa says
Great post! I enjoyed reading a little about your life. That’s so interesting about the Spanish Homeschool curriculum, I’m going to remember that for future ministry.
Katie Hornor says
Thank you Aleassa.
Amy says
I love that you created a Spanish homeschooling curriculum. I could totally see myself doing that, but not for another language. Wow! We use a literature-based curriculum for our homeschool.
Katie Hornor says
I read your post too Amy. What language is it there? I wonder if you could create a curriculum for them?
Charity says
Cheering on my fellow homeschool moms! Thank you for your efforts to support homeschooling.
Katie Hornor says
Thank you Charity
Carie Means says
Enjoyed reading about you and all you are doing. We serve in Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s good to know about a homeschool curriculum and resources we can direct people to who are interested in homeschooling.
Katie Hornor says
So nice to “meet” someone else in Mexico Carie. Let us know if we can help with homeschool stuff.
Tabiatha Tallent says
Hi Katie. I’m a PW in Temple, GA enjoying the blog hop and getting to know missionary families around the world. Thanks for sharing a little bit about yourself and for your service to the Lord.