After a lengthy hiatus, here I am again! Life has been rolling on just as it always does. We have been fairly busy, the kids are growing, playing, swimming, growing....it's a viscious cycle.
Olivia and I spent 8 days in Mexico on a short term mission trip. My third time going and her first. I have to say it was a wonderful experience for both of us. I'm glad she expressed an interest in going but I have to say I hesitated just a little when I finally agreed to take her along. The Mexico trip has always been such a special thing for me - special friendships made with people I wouldn't normally cross paths with, profound spiritual growth with each task that was asked of me, just a letting loose and letting the "real" me just hang out. And it always helped that after a lifetime of being a mommy having to take care of everyone else, that I could spend a week not worrying about anyone else but me! But that's not a very Christian attitude is it? And so my 11 year old went to Mexico to serve the Lord.
We started out with a flight delay going into Houston. We had like 10 minutes to make our connection to Aguascalientes. We had to RUN! And you know...Momma don't run! But we made it with minutes to spare. Cris and Rosie were waiting for us at the airport with...get this...KFC! We pulled over to a truck stop and had some fried chicken and warm coke. It was all good! We hit the road and made the 2 hour trip to Estancia. By this time, Liv was so tired she was starting to get grumpy.
Rule #1 on a mission trip - you are NOT allowed to get grumpy! She crashed as soon as we set up our room and had a pretty restful nights sleep. Saturday, we hit the ground running. Breakfast at 8am, we headed to the town of Maravillas at 10am. The first vbs is always a rough one. No one knows just what to do and we are always unprepared. Wendy decided to read the story in Spanish and that didn't go over very well. I don't think the kids understood her at all. But Liv did great acting in the drama of the Good Samaritan.
Saturday night was Teen Night at the camp. We had about 20 teens show up to see skits, sing songs, and hear testimonies and devotions. It was nice. Elizabeth Goodwin sang a beautiful song and really impressed all of us. Chase and Dana Barber gave their testimonies. We had a late dinner and then a fabulous devo by Keri. Our theme for the week was "Creado Para Servir" so she spoke of when Jesus washed the disciples feet. And she actually got a bucket of water, some towels, and washed every one of our feet! It was a moving devo and we were all caught up in the emotion of the act, and trying to visualize our savior doing the same to his disciples.
Sunday, we split up in two groups - one went to Saucedo and one went to Refugio. I was with the latter group. There was about an hour of singing (long even for Mexico!), and then we went outside to teach the kids while Art preached a sermon. The lesson we did for the kids was Saul on the road to Damascus. The kids got to paint a butterfly suncatcher. After the craft, I went back inside to give my testimony... a hard thing to do. I had prepared it in Spanish and thought it would be a breeze, but I have to admit, I had a moment about halfway through. It all ended well though. After the service, we walked across a dry field (that was supposed to be a crop but since there was no rain, there was no crop) and had lunch at the preacher's house. Believe it or not, we had tuna salad and crackers! Sunday night, we all went to Rascon for church services: Carlos preached, Dana Brooks gave her testimony and we taught the kids about the four friends who lowered their friend through the roof to see Jesus. Dinner afterward. And singing. Lots of singing. We kept hoping the power would go out to kill the darn keyboard but it didn't and there was more singing. Sunday night Patrick gave our devo.
Monday we went to the elderly home. Liv was finally going to see the old people. The first time I went I had the heebie geebies real bad. It took several visits for me to get over it and I ended that week loving my experience there. I was pleasantly surprised when Liv just jumped right in and started loving on "
los ancianitos". She made me very proud. I think that day we did the Prodigal Son story (I think) and had a felt board to help with the story telling. Monday night, we went to Pastoria. It was my first time there and I was very excited. I had heard so much about this town - there is not a Christian church there and there is only one Christian - Adriana. She was baptized last year. It was a big deal for her to be baptized. So we prepared for about 100 kids. Sadly, only about 40 showed up. And in the middle of our thing, a van full of thugs showed up, blaring rap music and teasing the kids that were participating in the lessons. It was easy to get rattled and I just wanted to go and yell at the boys and tell them to leave. The truth is that they looked scary and were plenty intimidating. The devil uses all sorts to try to get in our way. As soon as I realized that, it was easy to tune them all out and to continue on with our work. I had to practically yell when I was translating the lesson and by the end of the evening, I was hoarse, but it was worth it. The boys eventually left and we were able to finish in peace. We went home to a wonderful spaghetti dinner made by our own Conchita. Gracias Conchita y Dios te bendiga! Elizabeth Lindstrom had devos.
Tuesday we started out at the elderly home again. This time we made butterfly windchimes for the residents. Once again, I had to help the blind ladies color theirs. We hung the chimes in their rooms and just spent time w/ the residents. We spoke to Eusebio a lot about his decision to accept Christ and even pressured him a bit about possibly being baptized that day. He didn't want to and we were once again disappointed. Tuesday afternoon found us at Loreto with Israel and Obed. They are the cutest little preachers and they make the work so fun! I was shocked to hear that Obed is only 20 years old and is leading a growing church in Saucedo. We learned about Jesus washing the disciples' feet again and had a wonderful drama to illustrate it. The kids made tote bags ( I think) and then had some play time outside. We headed home to a great dinner and a devo by Art (he talked about being reckless and stepping outside our boxes).
Wednesday we headed back to the home. We played balloon games with the elderly and they loved it. That went on while Patrick played and we sang. Good times in Mexico, I say! We had them make puzzles (again - I helped the blind ones!) and then I gave another testimony about being recently baptized. It was supposed to be directed at Eusebio but he didn't flinch. That afternoon, we headed back to Loreto. We had a small group because the bottom fell out of the sky just as we arrived at the church. But that didn't deter us! We worked as if we had a hundred kids there and they were the most important kids ever. Today, they made backpacks and towels. Liv got to wash the kids hands after they made their handprint. When the day was almost over, Israel got out his zampone and guitar and he played us some nice Andean music. He has a nice voice and I would have loved to hear him sing but he didn't this time. He asked me to send him some music by the Kjaarkas. My mom has a ton of their stuff so I'm sure I can make copies and get them to him somehow. Wednesday night was my turn for devos and I shared my testimony that I gave on Sunday. It was so emotional for me that I couldn't even start. I had to have Carlos read it for me. Everyone was crying and I really didn't mean to make them cry. I had hoped my message would be a positive one, that God used my time of brokenness to reveal Himself to me in a mighty way. Maybe they got it through the tears. Maybe.
Thursday we got up at the crack of dawn to head out to Teneuca in the state of Jalisco. It was a four hour drive from the camp but they felt it was important enough for us to visit that church so we went. We had to pack all of our stuff since we would not be returning to the camp. We made it to the camp, had lunch, did our thing, enjoyed the beautiful landscape and the children, and then started the two hour drive back to Aguascalientes. That's right - six hours total in the car! But it was all for the Lord so "gloria a Dios!" We had dinner at a restaurant that night - it's always interesting when you have a group of 25 or so to eat together. But it was good food and we had a good time. Thursday night Sue Cates had devos.
Friday, we went to the church in Aguas for breakfast. Man, did they put out a spread for us! There must have been a dozen different dishes to choose from! We were truly humbled by their kindness. We did our lesson (washing those feet again!), did a fabulous craft (same craft we've always done but it just turned out so much better here!), and then had recreation time. A good time for all. We went back to our hotel and we were able to enjoy the afternoon off. We were on our own for lunch and then did some shopping. I said I didn't want to shop but I had to help my sisters who didn't speak the language. I was tired but glad to help. We made it back to the hotel w/ about 30 minutes to rest before meeting for dinner at another restaurant. The food was similar to the night before but it was good. Jan Lindstrom gave an exceptional devo that night and had us all in tears. What an honor to have served alongside Ms. Jan. It was a great experience. So, we were off to bed because we had to be up at 3AM!!!! Yikes!
Saturday we took off from the Aguas airport at about 6:30am. Then it was on to Houston, and after several delays, we finally landed in Atlanta sometime around 5:30 or so. It was SO good to be home and to be able to see my babies! And my hubby! God is good to have called me to serve Him but He is so good to have brought me home safe and sound.
