 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
Tiffany D.
My trip to Mexico was hardcore. Things that were said during the chapel meetings were challenging to my thinking and the way I live my “normal life”. When I’ve listened to other speakers in the past, they are usually powerful and have words of wisdom but I have really gotten some tangible realistic things that I can apply to further my relationship with God. Some of which are surrendering things that I hold tightly in my hands. I need to have open hands to the things that I desire because nothing I have is really mine. Even things that are respectable in our world, such as going to college, getting a good paying job, and living comfortably in society. God blesses us so we can be a blessing to others.
One of the biggest things that stood out to me from the messages was a missionary named Eddie Passmore said to live your life by “the Lord’s Prayer Decision Making”. I need to ask myself is what I’m doing bringing the most glory to His name? Is it making his Kingdom most come and his will most done?
I also learned that God’s heart beats for missions. Our purpose as Christians is to invite the uninvited, reach the unreached, and saving the unsaved. God is waiting for every person to have the chance to hear the Gospel and come to Faith in him so he can bring us all to heaven. Isaiah 6:8 says “Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here am I. Send me.” That is our purpose it doesn’t always mean we have to go to the darkest deepest places of the jungle, but I need to be influencing people towards Christ instead of being influenced by others.
But some of the lighter-hearted experiences were really awesome!! I made some awesome memories, awesome new friends, and I petted a tarantula!! We went to Magic Mountain Six Flags in California, which was a blast, visited Baja Bible College in Tijuana, I got nailed to the house we were building, made a little 2 year old boy laugh, ate amazing tacos, got pink eye (which was the worst part of the trip thankfully), was moved by the awesome worship, tasted cactus, saw zebras in the city! There was too much to record all right here, but Mexico was amazing. I honestly really liked their lifestyle. It was simple. They didn’t get by on fancy cars, and big house, they got by on love, joy and contentment.
I thought the trip was about going down to Mexico and building houses but it wasn’t. It was a great part of the trip but the whole point the speakers were trying to get across was we need to have contrite hearts, willing to serve and go and do whatever God commands us to.
Ethan J:
I had an awesome experience. It was a chance to help people who actually needed God’s help. Playing with the kids and meeting new people, on and off the team, was my favorite time. My least favorite things were the rigid sleep schedule and the heat! The food the families served was amazing, and not too spicy. I was also able to revaluate my life in what I was doing wrong and how I can fix it. I would definitely want to go back next mission trip.
Melissa M:
Mexico has been the most amazing experience in my life to grow closer to God and learn more about him. It wasn’t what I had expected it to be like, and I mean that in a positive way. The people are poor, and yet they are happy and content with what they do have. God taught me a lot of lessons on this trip. First he taught me that I need to be more great full for things. He taught me that his heart beats for missions. He wants everyone in the world to be a part of his family. He has no “plan B,” you must rely on him completely and have faith in him. Go and make disciples of all nations. Leave the 99 sheep and go after the 1 that is lost. Those are only a few things God has taught me, the list could go on and on. The only hardships I had on this trip were not really hardships at all. They were lack of sleep and being out of my comfort zone sometimes but that is good for me. Now for the good times. I loved worship! Music has its way of touching me in ways nothing else can. It brings me joy to raise me hands and praise my savior. Also, I loved playing with the kids. They loved passing around the soccer ball, doing crafts, and blowing bubbles. I also had an opportunity to read in Spanish a Psalm to a lady who was half blind whom we had fixed a roof for. Overall this has been a great experience for me, and has definitely changed my view of the world.
Graham H:
Mexico was great! Everyone there was very nice. Both families that we built houses for made us delicious lunches which cost them two to four days’ wages. We met a family on the prayer walk we did, and we also met one of the elders from the church they go to. One of the things he said right before we left really challenged me to share my faith with people. God has been challenging me to take risks and has been encouraging me to share my faith. I have learned a lot throughout the week, and have many great stories, which I can tell you about when I get back. I believe God has done work, big or small, in every life here. Can’t wait to see you all.
Jonathan S:
Mexico can only be described by being truly amazing. For the first few days we were camped out in Master’s College in Santa Clarita where we prepared for the trip ahead of us. We had evening and morning gatherings where we worshiped the Lord and listened to some of the youth leaders share their testimonies and tell us of foreign missions. When we arrived in Mexico we also learned about the mission field, except instead of learning of tribes that have come to Christ already, I learned about something called the 10:40 window. We learned that in this window (from Europe to Asia) there are about 8,000 unreached people groups living without any knowledge that God exists. That was probably the biggest thing that impacted me on the trip, that and the kindness of the Mexican people, but that is a different story. Now we are back at Master’s College and are eagerly awaiting tomorrow when we fly back to the evergreen state… YIPPIE…
Clairesse M:
Mexico was excellent! I had a lot of good times so I’ll just mention one. The most touching thing (I thought) was on Friday when we went to a lady named Lupita’s house. While we were there some of the girls and I read the Bible to her (she is mostly blind and can’t read). When we read to her, her face was so intent. She really wanted to hear what we read to her. What hit me about that was that most people who have CD’s and tapes of the bible really don’t care, even supposed “Christians”. But this lady was so happy we read to her, even when we didn’t know how to pronounce the words. If we want to hear the Bible we go and get a CD or something like that, she had to wait to hear until someone was willing to tell her. It’s kind of like how the people who don’t know God have to wait until someone who does goes out and to tell them.
Today is our last full day here at The Master's College. Frank is feeling a little better. Tiffany's pink eye is being treated. The athlete's foot among the guys is under control. Wendy is a bit more rested. And we're all feeling the itch (not from the athlete's foot) to get back to Washington. Be sure to tease Melissa about the photo Wendy snapped of Melissa and a guy. It's not what it looks like (no worries, Pam & Rick.)
Gunnar has been entertaining us/making us crazed with the ukelele he bought from a vendor at the border. Several kids collaborated on a silly song about this whole experience. Maybe it will become part of our presentation back at IBC on August 1.We'll be planning that today.
Jonathan celebrated his 16th birthday yesterday with an ice cream fest. We invited the Sylvan Way church kids to join in since we're sharing the dorm floor with them.
Yesterday each student was expected to plan out their "one minute talk," a cohesive, coherent answer to the inevitable question awaiting us all: "So, how was Mexico?" Plan on asking the kids that question to learn what most impacted them and how they've heard God these 2 weeks. The big thing we've been discussing is, how will we go forward into our lives back home after all we've seen and done and learned? That's a huge question to ponder.
We've loved seeing many of our kids become good friends with other groups. We desire them to even gain some accountability about the ways they have been spiritually challenged here.
Tomorrow we load duffle bags into trucks to be driven north, and then split up for the trip home. Karen and Frank will spend the whole day traveling up and down and all around with the vans, while the rest of the team will travel with Wendy. Our sincere thanks to those who are coming to drive us home from the airport.
Until then, we send our love and thanks for your prayers and love.
A P.S. to last night's entry: the SERVE 2010 cold germ finally caught Frank last night. Please pray he will rest and recuperate before we do our multi-stage van return and flights on Tuesday. Thanks.
And Wendy is still feeling very tired and could use your prayers for energy and rest.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support--we know they are essential.
Whooping, sighs and singing reverberated through our van as we crossed the border from Mexico to the US today around 12:30. Thank you for praying! We had no problems, just about 75 minutes of waiting. Then our van chauffeur pointed us straight to the closest In-n-Out Burger--along with nearly every other SERVE van! (Pastor Rick, Frank continues to covet that list you provided...). We were slightly later to the restaurant since we ended up following another caravan of white vans by mistake! It seems that many church groups come and go each weekend to Mexico for ministry!
Our final day of community serving yesterday was unique. It was the hottest day yet, and we were in the same community where we had prayer walked on Sunday. Our chosen job: to renovate the roof of a nearly-blind widow. Sounded simple, until we arrived and discovered a nest of fierce wasps under the eaves. No, not one nest, but 6! Two guys went off to buy wasp killer stuff while the rest of us chatted with Senora Luipta and tried to avoid the sun. Wasp killing was marginally successful so roof repapering proceeded, with 2-4 people on the roof at a time. We worked in shifts both to avoid long stretches in the direct sun, and to reduce weight on the very shaky roof.
Meanwhile, Wendy got stung so our first aid kit finally came in useful. (The sting didn't cause too much discomfort.) We declared her sting the only one necessary, and God allowed the rest of us to remain unscathed. As we all tried to stay in the meager shade of the senora's concrete porch, several students took turns reading to her from the Psalms. Nichole, Melissa, Clairesse and Jonathan gave her deep blessing by reading from the Spanish Bible we would leave with her. She had shared how sad she was to be unable to read her Bible due to her poor eyesight.
After the roof was finished, a few guys labored hard to repair the front door so it would actually close and provide security. Then we gathered to pray with Sra. Lupita; we were so humbled by her gracious prayer (translated from Spanish). She was overcome by tears as she thanked God for the blessing of a roof that will no longer leak and for hearing God's Word. We felt as much blessed as she did.
We didn't provide a blog post last ight becasue we decided, after our second showers for the week, to take our students for a tour of Baja Bible College above downtown Tijuana. Two Caravan staff, one of whom just finished her year at the school, led us, and we were able to see the beautiful castle-like building that is the school, with amazing views of the city. This two-semester Bible school combines cultural training and community outreach in a very appealing way. Maybe some of our high schoolers will take advantage of this great opportunity one day!
We devoured delicious pizza before zipping back to camp for our final meeting. We know the teens are processing what they've heard and seen--when Karen went into the tent for bed, several girls were writing intently in their journals.
Everyone is well and feeling refreshed (despite the 100 degree heat of Santa Clarita) Tonight and for the next 2 days we will debrief the many aspects of this venture as a large group and in our own team. Pray that we adults will be discerning as we lead these discussions and help our kids understand and think about what they've seen, done, and experienced internally. We so desire each of them to see how God has worked in them and where He is pointing them in their next step as His followers.
What happens in a dusty campground in Tijuana when it rains? AAhhh. It cools down (so thankful!). And it gets muddy. Clouds moved in this afternoon and the first drops tickled the van’s windshield as we drove across town at day’s end.
House #2 is done! Our students worked so well together. Each family can be proud of their kids. We are!
At the end of the afternoon, we prayed “Mexican style” with Berta and her family to dedicate their new house, and gave her the second of Mary Jonhson’s quilts and a Spanish Bible. She and her family fed us delectable homemade flour tortillas with chicken, rice, beans and nopalitos (cooked cactus in a sort of salad with cilantro). Muy rico!
Finishing the house was a little bittersweet because Wendy wasn’t there. She acquired a cot in the nurse’s tent this morning due to a deep lack of sleep and some intestinal issues. This afternoon after napping, fluids and quiet, she’s feeling a lot better. Unfortunately all 5 cots were occupied this morning as other students and leaders suffered stomach and intestinal upsets. Today most are improved. Thanks for your ongoing prayers.
There were no kids in the neighborhood where we worked yesterday or today, which was disappointing. However, the 2-year-old grandson of the new homeowner giggled and frolicked with our teens, enjoying blowing bubbles and playing with balloons. Ethan has a real joy interacting with children.
Estella, we gave several of the Bible graphic novel books you donated to the teen sons of the family we worked for these past 2 days. Very much appreciated!
Tomorrow we anticipate painting and re-roofing the home of a widow from the church we visited during our prayer walk on Sunday. Showers (second time this week—who hooo!) are on the schedule tomorrow, as well as a birthday cake for the 8 or so people having birthdays during this 2-week stretch. Jonathan is one of those.
Please continue to ask God to give our kids, and all the teens here, the willingness to surrender themselves to God and release their own plans and desires in exchange for His.
Summer has certainly arrived in Tijuana. Today was the hottest day yet, with the least breeze. We’re still upright, though rather ragged, red-faced and definitely grubby.
We started the second house this morning, a larger one than before. We praise God that we finished the four walls about 1.5 hours faster than planned! The four teen boys of the family who will live in this house were delighted to wield saws and hammers with us.
Everyone’s getting more tired and the heat accentuates this. Pray we will rely on God for our reactions to situations and each other—shorter tempers and thin patience are a reality.
Our speakers continue to show us that that question, ‘What is God’s will for my life, for me?” is the wrong one. We should be asking, “What is God’s will?” Clearly His will is to be wholly concerned for the lost. The teens are thinking more about this, and realizing that people who don’t know Jesus will never see heaven. How can we work on God’s side to alter that destination?
Besides visiting the upscale Laundromat this afternoon, the teens had fun checking out the “peso store” (think dollar store). We also cruised a plush grocery store that reminds us of QFC on the food side, and Fred Meyer with the non-food goods. And the air conditioning was soooo appreciated!
Tonight is a break in the regularly scheduled programming; instead of a speaker, the churches are all tossing in their best ideas for a talent show.
Most of the camp is healthy, and few injuries have happened—thank God! Frank finds the nurse’s tent with its cots and cooler environs to be most restful. (Snore) He’s been doing an expert job driving, including the amusement park thrills of speeding up over the multitudinous speed bumps and hearing the shrieks when a quick stop is necessary to avoid a semi truck or zippy taxi.
Those who prepared letters for our students before we left would love the expressions of the kids when they get their daily dose of home. They are still puzzled about how these letters arrive.
Nathan: We’re having tons of fun building houses and right now, creating a funny skit. Hope to get you a video.
We apologize that we haven’t had enough Internet bandwidth to send photos. We’ve tried several times, but can’t get them to upload.
Thanks for commenting on the blog posts--everyone loves hearing your comments.
We're waiting for each other at the pay-for-shower place in Tijuana, thoroughly enjoying getting clean for the first time this week. Sigh.
Our first house is done! Four walls, a slanted roof, tar and rock paper, and peach paint, plus a plywood door and shutters for the window. A family of four (mom and children) will be living there. We presented one of Mary Johnson’s quilts to the lady of the house, along with a Spanish Bible.
Clairesse enjoyed helping put on the roof, swinging her hammer to tack down the tar paper. Almost everyone seemed to get up there somehow. Nathan and our Caravan leader took the initiative to pull up the roof frame.
Clairesse was popular with the kids for her balloon creations. Tiffany, Jessica, Melissa, and Wendy interacted with the boys, while Ethan and David played soccer in the dust and gave piggy back rides. The kids were disappointed to hear we won’t be back tomorrow. We’ll be off to a new site to start the second house.
Melissa: I’ve enjoyed playing with the neighborhood kids; they’re so cute.
Jessica: I had fun climbing up and the roof and nailing.
Jessica, Tiffany and Melissa were the main painters. (Jessica looks good in peach paint, by the way).
Tiffany: I had fun hammering nails. One of our staff leaders nailed me to the house by my tool apron! (Tiffany was a real go getter once she started wielding the hammer.)
Everyone is really loving the worship band and music, led by two teams of students from the churches we represent. The circus-like worship tent is like a concert venue every morning and evening.
Wendy: Here’s a God moment. Estella Dobos gave us a book, “The Five Love Languages of Children” in Spanish to give away. When I offered it to Maggie Passmore, she was delighted, saying it was something she could use right now in a Bible study.
Our speaker this morning was a Ne Tribes Missions missionary who works in a deep tribal area of Papua New Guinea. Last night we heard from 4 of the Caravan interns, about their journeys to this point in their lives and how they are learning to follow God.
Nichole is still enjoying memories of her time with the A team (advance camp set up team) I had a blast; we worked together really well. The guys gave themselves nicknames after characters from the A Team TV show. We had a great dinner out.
This time at Serve is making me thick more about my future occupation and how to serve the Lord in that.
Tonight is our dinner out at a local restaurant. So far we’ve loved the Mexican foods we’ve had. None of us has gotten sick from eating or drinking (yet).
Thanks for praying for David. He’s back to normal and worked with us today. Others are still coping with allergy-like symptoms. Several teens from other churches came down with diarrhea type problems last night. Pray it will not spread, and that the nurses will have energy and sleep to care for the kids.
There’s no doubt that the speakers are really making us confront our values and spiritual condition. Pray that we each will be willing to hear God. Some of the kids are also needing to understand how to hear God’s voice. As we discuss that, pray our students will begin to grasp it and know His voice when they hear it.
We're reading your comments and will pass them on to the team when we get back to camp. We post and have internet access off site.
No more phone calls til we cross back to the US. Thanks so much for praying. And Clayton, you do your part and we'll do ours!
The four walls of our first house are finished! Our team worked like experts (well, mostly) and completed the four walls for a home in Mexico Lindo neighborhood, about 8 miles from our camp.
The family treated us royally, feeding us tacos de carne asada (roasted meat tacos) will all the trimmings. We loved it!
Having the chance to meet each family member and try to converse was really encouraging. Some of us tried our Spanish, while others used English and wild gestures.
Wendy and some of the girls befriended 5 kids and made paper bag puppets and the guys played soccer. Ethan: “I’m really looking forward to playing with the kids again.”
The morning and evening speakers are really challenging, and the daily personal devotional times are deeply pointing us toward servanthood, from the inside out. Last night we ended the evening session by washing each other’s feet.
Please pray for David Fitzmaurice who’s caught a virus and had a temperature. He slept in the nurse’s tent last night. (His aunts are the nurses, so that’s not quite so bad!). Ask God to keep others from catching it.
Also pray for fortitude as several are dealing with what seems like allergies due to the dust, dryness and wind.
Pray that each student is absorbing the teaching and allowing God to apply it to their own hearts and spirits.
Thank God for safety while driving and at the work site.
Tomorrow we return to the site to erect the walls, build the roof and paint. We hope to get photos up here, if the internet is sufficient.