All good things must come to an end, and this is certainly the case! This week has DEFINITELY been a "good thing". Our team was consistently strong across the board: physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally...WOW! Even the (almost) daily rainfall couldn't "dampen" our experience! (Har har har...)
Today we spent enjoying all things Reynosa: the prayer gathering, the market, the siesta...as well as an evening service, followed by a "good bye dinner" with the translators and the other youth group (who were a treat to work with, by the way). It was a great way to close the week.
One side note: during the evening service, Michaela, Devan, and Tori shared what God did in their lives - in front of HUNDREDS of people! Way to go, gang! I also heard from several kids that they want to go next year, and want to start raising funds IMMEDIATELY! You've got to love their zeal!
Tomorrow, we will have our final prayer meeting, and then we'll load the vans and leave by 6:30am. We should cross the border sometime around 9:00am, but it could be anywhere from 7:30 to 10:00am, depending on traffic and/or if we come across any "hiccups" at the border. Students will be allowed to call once we cross the border!
We should arrive at CCC around 10:00-10:30pm. We'll call once we have a more accurate arrival time.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support. It was OBVIOUS that God was at work in our lives this whole week, and we owe much of that to "the prayers of the saints". Muchos gracias, and gloria Dios!!
(As a final note: I will not post on Saturday, but I will post at least one blog update with the pictures. It just wasn't very conducive to get pictures on the blog during the week this year. Many apologies! But stay tuned on Tuesday and/or Wednesday for those posts! Thanks for your patience and understanding!)
Friday, July 1, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Reynosa Update: THURSDAY
Today was a bizarre day, to say the least. It rained for the third straight day; but unlike the other days, where it rained hard for brief moments, it rained nonstop - ALL DAY AND NIGHT. Apparently, Reynosa is being significantly affected by Tropical Storm Arlene. The roads are impossible to drive through on many side streets.
Because almost all of our ministry needed to be held outside, we didn't get much accomplished. Fortunately, two of the three morning VBS gatherings met, although both had a big drop in attendance. The kids who came had a great time of closure with our teams.
The evening was a complete washout. So we decided to have a party with the translators at a local home! Many wonderful memories were made and friendships were strengthened. (Relationships are a key reason why we choose to engage in a long-term partnership with a mission like this.)
Tomorrow will be spent in celebration and relaxation. After our normal 5:00am worship service, we will go to the market try to barter for bargains! We'll return for a brief siesta and then attend the evening's celebration service. Then we'll return to the hotels to pack for the departure (we'll have no time to pack on Saturday, as we will leave for the border immediately after the 5:00am prayer service).
Please be in prayer tomorrow for safety as we go to the market, as well as for opportunities to "be Christ" to someone. Please also pray for emotional, physical, and spiritual strength, as we're all very tired from the long week.
Because almost all of our ministry needed to be held outside, we didn't get much accomplished. Fortunately, two of the three morning VBS gatherings met, although both had a big drop in attendance. The kids who came had a great time of closure with our teams.
The evening was a complete washout. So we decided to have a party with the translators at a local home! Many wonderful memories were made and friendships were strengthened. (Relationships are a key reason why we choose to engage in a long-term partnership with a mission like this.)
Tomorrow will be spent in celebration and relaxation. After our normal 5:00am worship service, we will go to the market try to barter for bargains! We'll return for a brief siesta and then attend the evening's celebration service. Then we'll return to the hotels to pack for the departure (we'll have no time to pack on Saturday, as we will leave for the border immediately after the 5:00am prayer service).
Please be in prayer tomorrow for safety as we go to the market, as well as for opportunities to "be Christ" to someone. Please also pray for emotional, physical, and spiritual strength, as we're all very tired from the long week.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Reynosa Update: WEDNESDAY
We've passed the half-way point, and our crew is still going strong physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally! Praise God!!!
Today we had our third VBS gathering, and our final visit to the hospital for a couple hours. We then had a "mandatory nap time", and then the evening service at the church. There was a guest speaker - an American missionary who tried to preach in Spanish. His Spanish was so bad that our translators (sitting by us) had a very hard time interpreting for us! (Not that I could've done much better with MY Spanish!) So, needless to say, it was a lonnnngggg 2 hours and 17 minutes.
Tomorrow we will have our final VBS and final evening ministry. There will be much emotion, to be sure! We've quickly gotten attached to these kids and the translators who partner with us.
Please continue the prayers - they are FELT!! Please pray for the last chance we have to share the Gospel with these kids and their parents, that God will open hearts and minds for them to clearly understand and respond to the invitation.
Finally, I apologize about not having any pictures posted. I will try to do a special post tomorrow with only pictures, followed by my normal evening report. Thanks for your patience!
ddd
From one of your friends in your office back at CCC: "I am thanking God for the willingness of EVERY person on your trip to endure a little less comfort this week in order to see Christ's love in action in Reynosa. I'm praying also that this experience will humble your hearts and cause each one to be open to (and excited about) God's plans for your future. DREAM BIG!"
Today we had our third VBS gathering, and our final visit to the hospital for a couple hours. We then had a "mandatory nap time", and then the evening service at the church. There was a guest speaker - an American missionary who tried to preach in Spanish. His Spanish was so bad that our translators (sitting by us) had a very hard time interpreting for us! (Not that I could've done much better with MY Spanish!) So, needless to say, it was a lonnnngggg 2 hours and 17 minutes.
Tomorrow we will have our final VBS and final evening ministry. There will be much emotion, to be sure! We've quickly gotten attached to these kids and the translators who partner with us.
Please continue the prayers - they are FELT!! Please pray for the last chance we have to share the Gospel with these kids and their parents, that God will open hearts and minds for them to clearly understand and respond to the invitation.
Finally, I apologize about not having any pictures posted. I will try to do a special post tomorrow with only pictures, followed by my normal evening report. Thanks for your patience!
ddd
From one of your friends in your office back at CCC: "I am thanking God for the willingness of EVERY person on your trip to endure a little less comfort this week in order to see Christ's love in action in Reynosa. I'm praying also that this experience will humble your hearts and cause each one to be open to (and excited about) God's plans for your future. DREAM BIG!"
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Reynosa Update: TUESDAY
What a difference 24 hours can make! Things are getting into a good rhythm now! We did our second straight day of the morning VBS and the evening large group ministry. Much was learned from Monday, and it was put to good use today.
The evening program was the highlight, as we saw 15 kids make a decision to follow and trust Christ! Our group rejoiced over this news! Now comes the vital part where the Reynosa Alliance Church does follow-up with each family after we leave. Please pray for these "seeds" to find healthy soil!
A couple of fun oddities happened that are worth mentioning. First, it actually RAINED a few times today! That's a pretty rare thing around here. During our 5:00am prayer time, someone requested prayer for rain, so it was cool to see God deliver like that!
The other blessing was the church getting us FREE tickets to the professional baseball game - in VIP seating! What a wonderful memory-maker that was for our groups!
Tomorrow will be our 3rd morning VBS, and then we'll visit the hospital for the second and final time. The evening will be devoted to attending the church's Wednesday service. That will be a welcome break!
Thank you for your prayers! Group unity, positive attitudes, health, impact in the lives of Reynosa, impact in our lives...all these requests are being answered with a resounding YES by our extravagently gracious Father! Please continue in prayer to that end! Many thanks!
The evening program was the highlight, as we saw 15 kids make a decision to follow and trust Christ! Our group rejoiced over this news! Now comes the vital part where the Reynosa Alliance Church does follow-up with each family after we leave. Please pray for these "seeds" to find healthy soil!
A couple of fun oddities happened that are worth mentioning. First, it actually RAINED a few times today! That's a pretty rare thing around here. During our 5:00am prayer time, someone requested prayer for rain, so it was cool to see God deliver like that!
The other blessing was the church getting us FREE tickets to the professional baseball game - in VIP seating! What a wonderful memory-maker that was for our groups!
Tomorrow will be our 3rd morning VBS, and then we'll visit the hospital for the second and final time. The evening will be devoted to attending the church's Wednesday service. That will be a welcome break!
Thank you for your prayers! Group unity, positive attitudes, health, impact in the lives of Reynosa, impact in our lives...all these requests are being answered with a resounding YES by our extravagently gracious Father! Please continue in prayer to that end! Many thanks!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Reynosa Update: MONDAY
Okay, so I'm really tired. I have had ZERO time to post a blog. (And no, I didn't play any games of Settlers of Catan.) So here's finally an update!
We started out the morning by going to our 5:00am prayer meeting, which was a"good different" (according to Devan Fuchs). It stretched the group, but our team realized how welcoming and loving this community really is!
As promised, today was FULL of adjustments. "Flexibility" was the buzz word all day long! Our team displayed a supernatural ability to adjust and have a good attitude (even though I was a poor example and pouted for a bit of it).
We did our first morning VBS in three different homes, partnering with the other youth group down here. We evenly divided our two youth groups to serve together. A total of about 125 kids showed up! Needless to say, we had to make on-the-fly adjustments!
After lunch, we made a visit to the local hospital to serve meals in the courtyard area to poor families visiting sick relatives. We prayed for their needs as well. Meanwhile, four students (the Utley kids and Mickey) went in with translators and prayed for various sick people.
We had a brief siesta, followed by rapid prep for the evening ministry (130 water balloons were made and 8 additional "magicians" were given a "cram session" on helping perform that evening's magic trick.
The other youth group assisted us in our evening "park ministry" at the church, along with the translators. And we needed every one of them! Hundreds of little kids came, all speaking Spanish!
We came back to the hotel, grabbed dinner, had a planning meeting for VBS, and then our group had devotions. The theme was "Abiding in Christ", from John 15:1-17. Without Christ, there was NO WAY our team would have been able to do nothing, so that devotional was appropriate!
Pray for strength, unity, peace, and patience as we try to remain "flexible"! And pray for tomorrow evening's ministry. We will be giving an altar call to hundreds of kids. Pray for a HARVEST to be reaped in!
We started out the morning by going to our 5:00am prayer meeting, which was a"good different" (according to Devan Fuchs). It stretched the group, but our team realized how welcoming and loving this community really is!
As promised, today was FULL of adjustments. "Flexibility" was the buzz word all day long! Our team displayed a supernatural ability to adjust and have a good attitude (even though I was a poor example and pouted for a bit of it).
We did our first morning VBS in three different homes, partnering with the other youth group down here. We evenly divided our two youth groups to serve together. A total of about 125 kids showed up! Needless to say, we had to make on-the-fly adjustments!
After lunch, we made a visit to the local hospital to serve meals in the courtyard area to poor families visiting sick relatives. We prayed for their needs as well. Meanwhile, four students (the Utley kids and Mickey) went in with translators and prayed for various sick people.
We had a brief siesta, followed by rapid prep for the evening ministry (130 water balloons were made and 8 additional "magicians" were given a "cram session" on helping perform that evening's magic trick.
The other youth group assisted us in our evening "park ministry" at the church, along with the translators. And we needed every one of them! Hundreds of little kids came, all speaking Spanish!
We came back to the hotel, grabbed dinner, had a planning meeting for VBS, and then our group had devotions. The theme was "Abiding in Christ", from John 15:1-17. Without Christ, there was NO WAY our team would have been able to do nothing, so that devotional was appropriate!
Pray for strength, unity, peace, and patience as we try to remain "flexible"! And pray for tomorrow evening's ministry. We will be giving an altar call to hundreds of kids. Pray for a HARVEST to be reaped in!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Reynosa Update: SUNDAY
We had an enjoyable day today! Everyone is healthy, happy, and unified! We had a good breakfast, attended a 2+ hour church service, had a good lunch, and then...
We had a meeting in which we were told we were completely changing plans for our ministry times! (A key to any successful mission trip is a joyful spirit of flexibility, right?!) These changes will begin tomorrow, and will replace our original morning plans to do the jail ministry, Bible studies, visitation, and construction, as well as our evening plans to do the park ministry.
In the mornings, we're partnering with the eight folks from the Alliance Church in Wadena, MN, to put on their VBS. They were planning for 40-50 kids in one home. Now we're doing three homes, with at least 50 kids EACH!
In the evenings, the Wadena church will be assisting us. We'll still be doing our park ministry format, only not in front of our anticipated 30-40 kids at the park. Now it will be on the church grounds, and in front of TEN TIMES THE KIDS!!! That's right: 300-400 KIDS! WOW! The Reynosa church is (thankfully) covering the expense of additional supplies, and offering significant volunteer help, so we're okay there. But we'll have to make significant logistical adjustments to pull this off! Please pray for wisdom, patience, faith, and peace.
Tomorrow morning will be our first prayer gathering at 5:00am, so I'm going to wrap up this update now. I'll try to get a better update for you tomorrow, with pictures!
We had a meeting in which we were told we were completely changing plans for our ministry times! (A key to any successful mission trip is a joyful spirit of flexibility, right?!) These changes will begin tomorrow, and will replace our original morning plans to do the jail ministry, Bible studies, visitation, and construction, as well as our evening plans to do the park ministry.
In the mornings, we're partnering with the eight folks from the Alliance Church in Wadena, MN, to put on their VBS. They were planning for 40-50 kids in one home. Now we're doing three homes, with at least 50 kids EACH!
In the evenings, the Wadena church will be assisting us. We'll still be doing our park ministry format, only not in front of our anticipated 30-40 kids at the park. Now it will be on the church grounds, and in front of TEN TIMES THE KIDS!!! That's right: 300-400 KIDS! WOW! The Reynosa church is (thankfully) covering the expense of additional supplies, and offering significant volunteer help, so we're okay there. But we'll have to make significant logistical adjustments to pull this off! Please pray for wisdom, patience, faith, and peace.
Tomorrow morning will be our first prayer gathering at 5:00am, so I'm going to wrap up this update now. I'll try to get a better update for you tomorrow, with pictures!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Reynosa Update: Saturday
We arrived in Reynosa! Everyone is safe, healthy, and getting along wonderfully!
Several of our students got an adrenaline rush as we crossed the border. The students were amazed at the stark difference between the couple of miles we crossed from Texas to Mexico. It really is a powerful contrast of wealth and poverty. (Logistically speaking, it was smooth sailing - they didn't even check for passports!)
Once we arrived, we unpacked, visited their version of "SuperWalmart", and had a debriefing time with Joel Nelson (Director of Harvest Ministries). We went over basic policies (don't drink the water, don't flush toilet paper, don't go off alone, etc...)
We then went to the youth worship service at the church (think: Elevate combined with a young adult singles ministry). The service was packed, energized, loud(!), inspiring, and - thankfully - air conditioned! Joel preached on...of all things...typology! (Look up the word when you leave this blog post!)
After the service, we headed to Joel's favorite restaurant for authentic Mexican tacos, loaded baked potatoes, and Cokes in glass bottles! We then returned to the church to join the youth/singles and watch a broadcast of Mexico trouncing the US in soccer. You should've seen the crowd's reaction! It was the Super Bowl, times ten! We then returned back to our hotels, and are now very tired.
We get to sleep in tomorrow until 8:15am (our only day to do so), before the church service, lunch at the church, siesta, and a detailed orientation training. It will be our "easiest" day of the week before we hit it hard on Monday!
Oh, on a side note...I'm terribly disappointed to announce that we have yet to see a cockroach. But, the week is still young!
Please check tomorrow for prayer request updates! But in general, pray for strength, unity, and a time of spiritual stretching!
Here is a photo of us right before we left at (gulp) 5:00am. We had a glitch with the other pictures loading, so we'll have to try to add them tomorrow! Thanks for your patience!
Several of our students got an adrenaline rush as we crossed the border. The students were amazed at the stark difference between the couple of miles we crossed from Texas to Mexico. It really is a powerful contrast of wealth and poverty. (Logistically speaking, it was smooth sailing - they didn't even check for passports!)
Once we arrived, we unpacked, visited their version of "SuperWalmart", and had a debriefing time with Joel Nelson (Director of Harvest Ministries). We went over basic policies (don't drink the water, don't flush toilet paper, don't go off alone, etc...)
We then went to the youth worship service at the church (think: Elevate combined with a young adult singles ministry). The service was packed, energized, loud(!), inspiring, and - thankfully - air conditioned! Joel preached on...of all things...typology! (Look up the word when you leave this blog post!)
After the service, we headed to Joel's favorite restaurant for authentic Mexican tacos, loaded baked potatoes, and Cokes in glass bottles! We then returned to the church to join the youth/singles and watch a broadcast of Mexico trouncing the US in soccer. You should've seen the crowd's reaction! It was the Super Bowl, times ten! We then returned back to our hotels, and are now very tired.
We get to sleep in tomorrow until 8:15am (our only day to do so), before the church service, lunch at the church, siesta, and a detailed orientation training. It will be our "easiest" day of the week before we hit it hard on Monday!
Oh, on a side note...I'm terribly disappointed to announce that we have yet to see a cockroach. But, the week is still young!
Please check tomorrow for prayer request updates! But in general, pray for strength, unity, and a time of spiritual stretching!
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