The next day I woke up and felt a little better about the previous day. I mean, we did stretch, and stretching is what you do in the name of God. It's very hard to just jump into telling people about your faith if you haven't done that before, but you gotta start somewhere, right?
We went a different direction today to go to the church. I wish we had gone that day every single time, because it was straight highway and no people/bikes/potholes/etc. It was uphill, and downhill alike. When we went up this one hill, just over the crest was a massive neighborhood project that looked like it housed millions of people. They were apartments that the factory owners built especially for the workers. They take the rent right out of the pay. Kind of keeps them there for the rest of their lives.... This was an awe inspiring sight, to see two of these massive neighborhoods, one on each side of the highway. The one side was where most of the children we spoke to yesterday lived.
Got to the church, did our thing, and then went back to camp for hanging out time. The consensus of the group was to go swimming, but the little kids weren't allowed to go. That kind of bummed the little people, but there was nothing we could do, so we brought out the dvd player. They passed the 2 hour time frame with Disney's Cars movie.
We then needed to get ready for the Wednesday night service at the church. It was going to be a late night, with dinner after church. Church service there was kind of different. Everyone got up and either sang a song, or told a testimony, or just gave verses that they liked. That lasted quite awhile, and then our leader did the sermon. Our leader and his wife lost a child in a fire last year, and they talked about that for quite some time. He had went on the mission trip last year, and it was hard for everyone to notice that he wasn't there this year.
Then we got to eat food that was prepared from the ladies of the church. Yummy chicken and vegetables in aluminum foil baked in the oven. That was filling, and greasy, but good!!!! Got back to camp way late, and hit the hay.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 3 of mexico
Okay, so. Sorry about that. I guess I should continue my tales from Acuna Mexico. Day 3 brought more heat and dirt. We went to the church again for VBS and the kids were waiting for us. We did little skits and devotions again. They sang lots of songs. I sweated. Is that a word? We all had to bring water bottles everywhere. I think we would have died if we didn't bring the water. Anyway...i digress. After vbs was over, it was decided that today we would go evangalize the streets. This was going to be hard for me, because well....i didnt want to be left alone at the camp again, entertaining myself with nothing, but it was soooo darn hot. I decided that we would all go with daddy and the group. So, we lathered everyone up with sunblock and hats, and water, and proceeded to go together. This is when Mr. Happy decided that we would be splitting up. I don't split up. I go where my husband goes. And my children go where I go. So, hmmm. A dilema to Mr. Happy. He likes splitting people up, and I could tell that he didn't want our huge family to take any other people with us, so he thought it best that we all (our family) go with him. This irked me some, because he made such a deal over how HUGE we were, and it didn't seem fair....but anyway.
We walked across the street...that was as far as we got. There was a group of children playing soccer, and Mr. Happy aka Ben started talking to them. In spanish. We stood there somewhat uncomfortable, for several minutes. He then just out of the blue wanted my 10 year old to tell them when he was saved, and how he did it. This kind of freaked my son out, and he clammed up. I helped him with prompting, and Ben started talking again. He told us that this group of boys were all faithful catholics, and that this was going to be hard. He then wanted my husband to show the boys the evangacube, which is a cube that has different sides, that shows how to become a christian. My husband had to tell the entire story, which he did quite well, I will say. Then he asked the boys what they thought. They said some things, and then he had them listen to the salvation message via cd. We stood around for some more time, and then they were all done. He asked them if they accepted Jesus, and they all said yes. He then told me to tell them what new believers should do, and I told them what I thought. He handed them some bibles, and we were off to the next group of children.
Now, here is where I should interject what I am thinking about. I really wonder if this is the best way to evangalize. I mean, children are so easily swayed that we could be satanists for goodness sake, and prompt them to enjoy the thought of worshipping satan. I mean, I understand planting a seed and all that, but to talk fast and force them almost to accept Jesus just doesn't seem like a good idea. Give them the bible, tell them about our Lord, invite them to church...but don't just talk fast and hard, and make them listen to a cd? Am I making sense here? These are kids. Where were their parents? Would they enjoy what we were doing?
I was a victim of several "drive by savings" when I was a new parent. They would come scour the neighborhood, because it was a low income one, and knock on all the doors. WHERE WILL YOU GO IF YOU DIED RIGHT NOW???? They always wanted to know. Well, I dont know....THEN YOU NEED TO BE SAVED BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN IS THROUGH JESUS!!!! Well, sign me up pastor. And then.......nothing. They would leave, I would be happy they were gone, and I never heard from them again......until the next round of door knockers. I never felt saved. I only did it so they would leave. This probably happened 3 or 4 times over the course of time that I lived there. That wasn't helpful, was it? So, maybe one of these boys really knew what he was doing, and felt it in his heart that Jesus was his Lord and Savior now....and I suppose it would all be worth it then, but what about all the rest??? Would there be follow-up? We got addresses, so maybe, hopefully. But if not, what good did we do?
We talked to tons of kids....or rather, Ben talked and we just kind of kicked the rocks, and stood there. He was big on talking, Ben was....He felt the holy spirit prompting him constantly, which is another topic all together. We actually got a group of older boys toward the end that you could tell just wanted us to go away. But, Ben wouldn't let that happen. They got the whole talk, the cube, and the cd. One guy seemed to understand fully what he was doing. That could have been the whole reason we were there too? Ben told them that if they listened to us, when we were done, they could show us some tricks. They were bikers and skaters. They were pretty good, and enjoyed showing off for us. So, picture this. A huge basketball court, with one group of boys playing b-ball on one hoop with our 6'3" son showing how he could dunk (with no language barrier I might add), another group on the other hoop, bikers and skaters riding on the side of the court, and tons of kids playing soccer in the grass. At one point, I had to take my boys to go water a tree in the field. THAT was fun, let me tell ya. But there were no bathrooms anywhere, but a ton of people probably saw. Oh well. Finally, after 2 hours of this, we were done.
We went back to camp, and had share time. The other group talked to several adults, and probably didn't have the luck that we did....kids are pretty curious. Plus Ben is pretty engaging, but they did plant a few seeds.
Went to bed at a decent hour this night....I was tired. Oh, and hot! Did I mention that?
We walked across the street...that was as far as we got. There was a group of children playing soccer, and Mr. Happy aka Ben started talking to them. In spanish. We stood there somewhat uncomfortable, for several minutes. He then just out of the blue wanted my 10 year old to tell them when he was saved, and how he did it. This kind of freaked my son out, and he clammed up. I helped him with prompting, and Ben started talking again. He told us that this group of boys were all faithful catholics, and that this was going to be hard. He then wanted my husband to show the boys the evangacube, which is a cube that has different sides, that shows how to become a christian. My husband had to tell the entire story, which he did quite well, I will say. Then he asked the boys what they thought. They said some things, and then he had them listen to the salvation message via cd. We stood around for some more time, and then they were all done. He asked them if they accepted Jesus, and they all said yes. He then told me to tell them what new believers should do, and I told them what I thought. He handed them some bibles, and we were off to the next group of children.
Now, here is where I should interject what I am thinking about. I really wonder if this is the best way to evangalize. I mean, children are so easily swayed that we could be satanists for goodness sake, and prompt them to enjoy the thought of worshipping satan. I mean, I understand planting a seed and all that, but to talk fast and force them almost to accept Jesus just doesn't seem like a good idea. Give them the bible, tell them about our Lord, invite them to church...but don't just talk fast and hard, and make them listen to a cd? Am I making sense here? These are kids. Where were their parents? Would they enjoy what we were doing?
I was a victim of several "drive by savings" when I was a new parent. They would come scour the neighborhood, because it was a low income one, and knock on all the doors. WHERE WILL YOU GO IF YOU DIED RIGHT NOW???? They always wanted to know. Well, I dont know....THEN YOU NEED TO BE SAVED BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN IS THROUGH JESUS!!!! Well, sign me up pastor. And then.......nothing. They would leave, I would be happy they were gone, and I never heard from them again......until the next round of door knockers. I never felt saved. I only did it so they would leave. This probably happened 3 or 4 times over the course of time that I lived there. That wasn't helpful, was it? So, maybe one of these boys really knew what he was doing, and felt it in his heart that Jesus was his Lord and Savior now....and I suppose it would all be worth it then, but what about all the rest??? Would there be follow-up? We got addresses, so maybe, hopefully. But if not, what good did we do?
We talked to tons of kids....or rather, Ben talked and we just kind of kicked the rocks, and stood there. He was big on talking, Ben was....He felt the holy spirit prompting him constantly, which is another topic all together. We actually got a group of older boys toward the end that you could tell just wanted us to go away. But, Ben wouldn't let that happen. They got the whole talk, the cube, and the cd. One guy seemed to understand fully what he was doing. That could have been the whole reason we were there too? Ben told them that if they listened to us, when we were done, they could show us some tricks. They were bikers and skaters. They were pretty good, and enjoyed showing off for us. So, picture this. A huge basketball court, with one group of boys playing b-ball on one hoop with our 6'3" son showing how he could dunk (with no language barrier I might add), another group on the other hoop, bikers and skaters riding on the side of the court, and tons of kids playing soccer in the grass. At one point, I had to take my boys to go water a tree in the field. THAT was fun, let me tell ya. But there were no bathrooms anywhere, but a ton of people probably saw. Oh well. Finally, after 2 hours of this, we were done.
We went back to camp, and had share time. The other group talked to several adults, and probably didn't have the luck that we did....kids are pretty curious. Plus Ben is pretty engaging, but they did plant a few seeds.
Went to bed at a decent hour this night....I was tired. Oh, and hot! Did I mention that?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
we interrrupt these fascinating mexico tales
forgive my lack of updating the mission trip log.....I just recieved notification from the specialist in chicago about his diagnosis on Rachel. He thinks she is a classic Pontocerebellar hypoplasia patient, and it doesn't look too good. In reading about it off of case studies and the like, it seems to be fatal half of the time.....so all my computer time is going to be spent searching the internet and emailing the doctor, not on my blog. Please forgive me, and pray for Rachel if you think about it.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Why we were in acuna in the first place....per request
The reason for the trip was pretty simple. We have a thing at our church where families are invited to go to either honduras which is VERY expensive and not for little kids, or go to Acuna which is VERY cheap and for anyone. We did the honduras route once and the mexico once before also. We go down and run a vacation bible school for the kids at the orphan home that is next to the church. We also evangalize in the street helping out the pastor of the church we hold vbs at.
part 2 of Mexico day two
Okay, so after the guys have their prayerwalk, they get back to the camp and I made the request to be allowed to sleep in the mens dorm. It is the same set up as the womens...two sides both having doors, and access to the bathroom. It would be totally private, but with my husband who could help with the two babies, and not be loud. They agreed and I was happy again. :)
Dinner was uneventful, and we just kind of hung out together getting to really know each other. We had all gone to church together for awhile, but really never sat and talked. It was nice. Then we went to wal mart. Oh, but wait....Holly didn't bring her passport, her drivers license or her birth certificate. Oops....we were going through the border and they don't take too kindly about that sort of thing. Luckily, I wasn't arrested, or detained at the border once we promised that we were coming back to Mexico after wal mart. Whew!! That was a little scary.
Had a blast at wal mart, got back to camp, and went to bed.
Interesting to note that no one cares about what you are bringing INTO mexico, but boy howdy do they check you when you are leaving mexico. Why is that??? I could be bringing tons of drugs and ammo into their country, and they dont care. I mean, the checkpoint is a random light...if you get red, they check you, but no one ever gets red... weird.
Dinner was uneventful, and we just kind of hung out together getting to really know each other. We had all gone to church together for awhile, but really never sat and talked. It was nice. Then we went to wal mart. Oh, but wait....Holly didn't bring her passport, her drivers license or her birth certificate. Oops....we were going through the border and they don't take too kindly about that sort of thing. Luckily, I wasn't arrested, or detained at the border once we promised that we were coming back to Mexico after wal mart. Whew!! That was a little scary.
Had a blast at wal mart, got back to camp, and went to bed.
Interesting to note that no one cares about what you are bringing INTO mexico, but boy howdy do they check you when you are leaving mexico. Why is that??? I could be bringing tons of drugs and ammo into their country, and they dont care. I mean, the checkpoint is a random light...if you get red, they check you, but no one ever gets red... weird.
Mexico day two
Okay, so I left you at the wake up time on Monday morning. I apologized to Tony, and all was well. We ate our torillas and beans for breakfast, and got ready to leave for the orphanage and church. 10:00 comes quickly in the morning it seems. We drove there behind the main van and proceeded to hit several potholes, and almost hit people/cars. They drive like crazy there. Bicycles are a good mode of transport, and many use it, but they act like cars, bobbing and weaving out of traffic. I about had a heart attack before we finally got to our destination.
When we get there, there is no children to be seen. It seems that no one mentioned to the children that there would be a VBS that week or something. We never got that translation anyway. So, they scrambled and lo and behold here comes some kiddos. It was MUCHO hot in the church and they were working on the airconditioners when we got there. I say air conditioner, but they were more like swamp coolers or whatever you call them. Not really cool, but better than a stagnant hot air. All the kids were excited to be there and my children recognized a few from their trip 2 years ago. I don't know if they recognized my children though.
The whole service was in spanish, and that was hard, because while they translated what we said, they didnt translate back....I stayed outside the church on the balcony because the bass guitar, the regular guitar, and the drums very VERY LOUD. I felt like I was in a rock concert. Apparently, this is how they like it in Mexico. LOL.
Then when VBS was over, we went downstairs to do a craft with the kids and then leave. We get back to the camp sight, and the men were deciding that they were going to go back and prayer walk around the neighborhoods. They were so interesting, the neighborhoods. The houses were made of concrete bricks and galvanized steel roofs. None were finished, because if a house isn't fully constructed, they don't have to pay taxes on them. Kinda fraudulent, don't you think??? But anyway. There were dogs running on top of roofs, and clothes lines on the roof, and trash everywhere. They really do not care about their living enviroment there. Every now and again we would see a wealthy mexican, and that house would blow you away, but that was obviously not the norm. People were everywhere, walking, running, biking, strolling babies, etc. Bars on every fence, and window. Definitely not what you see in Oklahoma.
More later......
When we get there, there is no children to be seen. It seems that no one mentioned to the children that there would be a VBS that week or something. We never got that translation anyway. So, they scrambled and lo and behold here comes some kiddos. It was MUCHO hot in the church and they were working on the airconditioners when we got there. I say air conditioner, but they were more like swamp coolers or whatever you call them. Not really cool, but better than a stagnant hot air. All the kids were excited to be there and my children recognized a few from their trip 2 years ago. I don't know if they recognized my children though.
The whole service was in spanish, and that was hard, because while they translated what we said, they didnt translate back....I stayed outside the church on the balcony because the bass guitar, the regular guitar, and the drums very VERY LOUD. I felt like I was in a rock concert. Apparently, this is how they like it in Mexico. LOL.
Then when VBS was over, we went downstairs to do a craft with the kids and then leave. We get back to the camp sight, and the men were deciding that they were going to go back and prayer walk around the neighborhoods. They were so interesting, the neighborhoods. The houses were made of concrete bricks and galvanized steel roofs. None were finished, because if a house isn't fully constructed, they don't have to pay taxes on them. Kinda fraudulent, don't you think??? But anyway. There were dogs running on top of roofs, and clothes lines on the roof, and trash everywhere. They really do not care about their living enviroment there. Every now and again we would see a wealthy mexican, and that house would blow you away, but that was obviously not the norm. People were everywhere, walking, running, biking, strolling babies, etc. Bars on every fence, and window. Definitely not what you see in Oklahoma.
More later......
Monday, June 16, 2008
Mexico day one........
Driving up there was great...Yeah, it took 14 hours and it was a bit long for me, but it worked out okay. We were loaned a DVD player and that worked when Nathan got to be too much. My room was a welcome sight. Except.....Once we got into bed and was about to snore blissfully, the 2 cooks and their kids decided to join my side and make noise. I specifically took the whole quiet side with no roommates because I had the two babies, and no one else had little people. Needless to say, this little disruption was not favorable by me. They turned on the light, and to be fair, I don't think they knew I was there. HOWEVER, when they discovered that little tidbit, you would think they would have been quiet. NOT!!!
The proceeded to wake up both children several times with doors opening, throwing suitcases around, talking, turning on the light to the bathroom and not shutting it, etc. I was not a happy camper, and I couldn't do a thing about it, because they didn't speak english. And the stupid airconditioner was WAY TOO LOUD, and kept going on and off and on and off. No sleep was to be had that very painful night.
The next morning, I was very grumpy and Tony was unsympathetic. I got upset at him and so we weren't talking. The very happy happy missionary we were working with came into the camp ground and proceeded to make a sermon about how someone in the group was not being very nice, and that if they didn't confess their sins and make things right, they weren't going to go see the kids at the church. Duh....he must have been talking about me...right?? So, I was humiliated because this little sermon lasted about 20 minutes, and so when he was finally done, I started to cry and told Tony I was sorry. Tony thought he was talking to him, so he was just as sorry. This started it all off on the wrong foot that morning. I don't believe in shaming people to make them confess......
More to come.....
The proceeded to wake up both children several times with doors opening, throwing suitcases around, talking, turning on the light to the bathroom and not shutting it, etc. I was not a happy camper, and I couldn't do a thing about it, because they didn't speak english. And the stupid airconditioner was WAY TOO LOUD, and kept going on and off and on and off. No sleep was to be had that very painful night.
The next morning, I was very grumpy and Tony was unsympathetic. I got upset at him and so we weren't talking. The very happy happy missionary we were working with came into the camp ground and proceeded to make a sermon about how someone in the group was not being very nice, and that if they didn't confess their sins and make things right, they weren't going to go see the kids at the church. Duh....he must have been talking about me...right?? So, I was humiliated because this little sermon lasted about 20 minutes, and so when he was finally done, I started to cry and told Tony I was sorry. Tony thought he was talking to him, so he was just as sorry. This started it all off on the wrong foot that morning. I don't believe in shaming people to make them confess......
More to come.....
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The mission trip
The church in Acuna, Mexico
The orphanage next door
Our translators:Erick, Brenda, and Jesica
This was the cooks son, Brayan (pronounced Brian)
Everyone crowded outside the church after services on Wednesday night....they like to crowd.
Some of the kids during VBS
This was a gangster, who was trying to get out of that lifestyle. He was listening to the salvation message on a cd player. When he was finished listening, he started to cry. He accepted Christ right then and there. This was why we were there.
It was hot, and a long drive to get there, and my van suffered many injuries, but that is another post. I just wanted everyone to know that we are back, and we survived. It was good.
The orphanage next door
Our translators:Erick, Brenda, and Jesica
This was the cooks son, Brayan (pronounced Brian)
Everyone crowded outside the church after services on Wednesday night....they like to crowd.
Some of the kids during VBS
This was a gangster, who was trying to get out of that lifestyle. He was listening to the salvation message on a cd player. When he was finished listening, he started to cry. He accepted Christ right then and there. This was why we were there.
It was hot, and a long drive to get there, and my van suffered many injuries, but that is another post. I just wanted everyone to know that we are back, and we survived. It was good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
