ALL NIGHTER

Well, we have a 6:40am flight and have to leave the house at 5am, so we’re doing an all nighter. What a great trip. Can’t wait to present our testimonies to the church.

Residential de Basque Park

Anyone who was with us last year knows this park. It was the first outreach with our brothers and sisters from Alabama and was also the first this year. What perfect integration of our ministries… yet again. What a great group of people.. many of the same people and some “newbies” too.  The ladies from our team had so much time sharing time with the children playing throwing the Southwest frizbee’s (Thank you Gail) freeze tag and coloring. Shannon has quite a “boy” following and June’s flirty boy friend was there too.. so was Michael Jordon.  I will post more pictures when I get the chance.. miss you all.

APOLOGIES FOR NOT POSTING

Sorry folks.. posting has been problematic this week. It seems everyone has a computer and is wanting to post and the connection here isn’t exactly like it is in the states. I’m journaling and will post when I get the chance.. I’ve been posting new photo’s too.. we’re all thinking of you. Two more days and then we travel back home.. but what I’m hearing from the team.. they’d love to stay and already talking about next year! What a blessing this team has been.. we’ve all been stretched way beyond any expectation. Please keep praying for us.. lift us up for strength, compassion, and understanding.

GUADELUPE VICTORIA

Sue gave a very powerful testimony in GV.

The team went out to Guadelupe Victoria yesterday. They prayed over the new church that was built in Arturo’s village on the top of the mountain.  Chris lead the  VBS songs and had the children rock’n. Delia gave her testimony on how she has been stretched here in Mexico and Sue gave a very powerful testimony that broke through to a group of women and one man who came forward for prayer.

Psalm 96

¹ Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.

² Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.

³ Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.

⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today Pastor Art and I have worship practice for tomorrow’s services so the team is heading to Zacetecus and Gaudelupe Victoria. They are going to Zacetecus to do a prayer walk and then to GV for an outreach to the children in the mountains. This is at the top of mountain where Arturo lives and has his new church that was built by the donations from the Alabama team. Anyone who has been to GV knows the history of this community and our churches involvement. It is also the first place I ever went to on a mission.. so I’ve had to work through some internal things about worhsip and ministry. Worship is where I need to be for this ministry trip. Chris and the girls are prepared to lead the VBS songs and they are going to do the skits for the first time.. Delia is prepared to give her testimony to the children in the community. They are so excited to take this on and “bring it”! Have I said this? What an awesome team!

I will fill you in later on how the day goes. Please pray for safe travels (if you know MX you know how they drive down here), the team so the ministry is conducted flawlessly, lift up Delia so her testimony touches the hearts of the children she shares with and for Pastor John for his message to reach the souls of Gaudelupe Victoria who need to know that they are loved by their Heavenly Father!

THE CHILDREN OF AXLTA MX!

I snapped this photo and the woman said something to me which I did not understand so I asked Kenny to translate. She asked for money. She said that she had no money and no food and was hungry. Which is something we heard from almost everyone in this village.

Proverbs 31:8 – “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute”.

We did our first full ministry at a playground in Axlta. The pastor and his family used a megaphone all week annoucing our arrival. When we showed up the playground it was full with families and children. As we started to unpack the sound system and organize the children started to run away… then I over heard someone say that they were going home to bring the rest of their family. While this was happening we started throwing gliders out to the children who were left behind.. they would grab one and then run away. Then they realized that we were giving them to them and they would stay and throw them and play with the other children. There were some who had more than one and Pastor John told them one per child and they ran looking for someone to give the extra’s too. It was so refreshing to see how giving these children were. Not so long after this we had full families standing on the sidelines looking in as we prepared. When the music started the team went out and invited the children into the center so we could start our program. We started by playing the Spanish VBS songs the team rehearsed and all the kids really enjoyed singing with Pastor Art. Both boys and girls participated in doing the hand motions and singing along with us.. it was so much fun seeing them engaged in a Sing A Long… can you imagine the teens back in the states doing this?

After the VBS songs our new team member from PA, Theresa sang a song, translated by Arturo. And then Kenneth from PA brought a message to the children. Kenneth comes by way of Puerto Rico. After the message Pastor John came out and started speaking to the children. The message that we bring this year is Dios es Real (God Is Real). Dios esta con nosotros (God this with us). Dios es fuerte (God is strong). Dios es grandioso (God is Huge). Dios es en control (God is in control). John preached to the children in Spanish and when we was done he asked if any of the children would like to join him and accept Jesus into their lives… all of the children started to walk forward.. and he stopped them and told them they need to be sincere about doing. They hesitated about a half second and kneeled in front of him. As John was praying with the children we walked around taking pictures of the children (91 of them). It was so awesome seeing the expressions on the children’s faces.

After the prayer we set up face painting stations and all the team members interacted with the children, what joy the children had when they saw each others faces being painted. I had a feeling face painting was going to be a big hit with this team.

THE CANDY

Anyone who has been on a missions trip in Mexico has experienced the candy pass. Its where we make a big line across the sea of children and have runners that help fill supplies as you run out.. its a process that tries to limit the bags to one per child. When we go the City 2k the children know that candy is part of every program and really work hard to get “more” than their portion. At this outreach they were handing the candy to the kids behind them to make sure everyone had some. In fact someone tried to hand someone an extra bag and the child said, no thank you I have one!

Overall the day was flawless, less the slashed tires on Pastor Johns truck when we went out to leave. The enemy weaving his evils tricks.. yet another example of us over coming the barriers he puts in front of us every day! Press closely and push through and the glory of God is revealed!

OUR FIRST MINISTRY

We had an awesome worship service in Axlta. An indian community deep in the jungle. This is a church plant of Pastor John (Church of thanks – Axlta).

FINALLY…

Wow.. what an odd post that was. I guess it never really got posted. YES! Is  a perfect way to expressing how our trip is going so far. Yes, we got here safely, (thank you Lord). Yes, we’re being stretched! Yes, we’re experiencing awesome ministry! Yes… this is EXACTLY where we are suppose to be! LOVE THIS TEAM!

(When I logged on this morning I found that my post didn’t post.. all it said was Finally… YES!

JUNGLE TODAY!

Today we leave for the jungles of Axalta. Back friday. I will post when we get back. Unless I am able to blog via blackberry. Which is what I’m doing. The team is doing awesome. So excited to see what the Lord has in mind for us! Thank all who helped us to get here we are going have some powerful testimonies to share. Bless you all

LONG DAY OF TRAVEL

Rain delays in Boston created some concern we wouldn’t make our connection in houston. Which would have forced to seek rooms in TX. When we landed we found that our connection was also delayed. When we get to the gate we start boarding. Thank you Lord! We have dinner at Pastor John’s house and then head to our housing 3:30 mx time. 4:30 EST.

Ok, blogging on a blackberry is not easy. So I apologize for the first couple of messages.. now that I have Internet access at John’s house I can post freely, as you can see from my last couple of posts.