The Work is Not Over Yet

I know that almost everyone had an amazing experience in Mexico on the mission trip. What we need to remember, though, is that our work isn't over yet. I've heard of several people on the team that want to continue to work with the churches in Valle Hermoso, be it by writing letters, donating school supplies, or something else. I also know for a fact that the pastors and churches want down there want to stay in touch with us, as well. This afternoon, Bernardo, the pastor in the picture above, called me. We didn't talk for long, as I'm sure that phone rates are rather expensive calling from Mexico to the US. He did, however, want to know whether we had had a safe trip back to the States. He also said that he was, and still is, praying for us.

In the same way, I think that we should be praying for him and his church. There are three main ways that we can help him, besides just prayer. His biggest passion in ministry is with the kids, so all three have something to do with the kids. The first is with school supplies. One day, my group leader commented my group saying that it would be really cool if we could help out the kids we met there, maybe by buying school supplies. We all thought it was a pretty good idea, and one that we could actually do. The very next day, Bernardo pulled me aside and asked if there would be any way that we could help the kids out with school supplies. He said that they are very poor, and it's hard for them to buy even basic school supplies. I told him that we had talked about that very thing just the day before, and he firmly believes that it was God's idea. I think that some people at Salem are already working on putting together something to help with that. I'll have updates as we find out what we can do.

The second way that Bernardo would appreciate prayer is that he needs a van to be able to take the kids in his church places. I'm not exactly sure what he has now, but it's not adequate. In a couple of days, I'll post how he did get the vehicle he has now, though. That's quite an amazing story by itself. The third way is that he has a burden on his heart to open a sort of cafeteria in the village. Most of the families are extremely poor, and sometimes don't have enough food. Bernardo told me that, as it is now, kids will go off to school in the morning, usually having eaten breakfast. When they come home for lunch, their parents are usually at work and, and there often is no food in the house. Bernardo gets kids at his home and at church asking for food. He has a ministry where he gets day old bread from certain bakeries and distributes it to the kids, but it isn't enough. He says that they already have land for the cafeteria, but none of the resources to actually build or maintain it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be God's hands and His feets to help Bernardo's prayers come into being? I would love to help out, so if anyone has some ideas for how to help with a van, a cafeteria, or more school supplies, shoot me an email!

Statistics

Here are just some interesting statistics about the blog. All of these come from during the trip, plus a couple days before and until now.

Pageviews: 2,545
Visits: 865
Unique Visitors: 247
Average time spent on the site: 7 minutes, 13 seconds
Countries that people have visited from:
United States
India
Mexico
Canada
Germany
Philippines
Latvia
France
United Kingdom
Cameroon
Martinique
Turkey
Malaysia
New Zealand
Morocco
Singapore
Australia
Netherlands
Portugal

Saturday: Home, Sweet Home

Saturday brought mixed feelings for almost everyone in the group. On the one hand, I think we were excited to get back to the States, where almost everything is nicer, cleaner, more comfortable, more convenient, etc. No topes (speed bumps) everywhere, being able to drink tap water, actually have a toilet seat again, not have to hike through thick mud, etc, etc...
On the other hand, it meant that we had to say goodbye to Mikrut family that had helped us so much while we were there in Mexico. We had already said our goodbyes to the pastors and the people we had worked with, but Saturday was it. We were actually leaving. It's amazing how fast time goes. We closed our Saturday morning devotions with a prayer for the Mikruts and singing through the song, "Sanctuary." At the end of the song, most eyes were moist.

When we actually left, we drove from Valle Hermoso to the border. At the border, all the people in the two big vans had to get out and file through the government offices, letting the border agents take a quick look at their passports. Everything went smoothly, and we got back on the road fairly quickly. On the way to McAllen, the trailer carrying our stuff got a flat tire. Thankfully, there was a place nearby that helped them change the tire. At the airport we checked in before heading over to a nearby mall for lunch. Following lunch, we returned to the airport to go through security and wait for our flight. Everything went smoothly, and we arrived safely in Dallas. I had a relatively quick connection, but I still took time to say some quick goodbyes to the rest of the team. After a week of working with those people in Mexico, it was actually very hard to say goodbye.

I need not have worried at all about making my connection to Detroit. The flight got slightly delayed as two of the planes tires had to be changed. Instead of rushing, I had time to find and purchase an interesting John Grisham novel to amuse myself with on the plane. After an uneventful flight spent reading, I finally got back home. A quick check of Facebook online, and I could tell that the rest of the group had made it back to the Twin Cities safely as well. It's good to be back. On the other hand, how can I sit back and enjoy all I have here, while I have friends back in Mexico that sometimes don't even have enough to eat?

Picture 1: The whole team at the McAllen airport.
Picture 2: Those of us on the team wearing soccer jerseys.
Picture 3: Saying goodbye to the Mikruts (not including Jim).

Shout Outs

Hey, just wanted to give a quick shout out to some of my visitors here. Specifically, here's a shout out to those visiting from Lowell, Albuquerque, and Louisville. Respectively, I've had 57, 30, and 24 visits from those places.

Just out of curiosity, do I know any of you? Or maybe you're relatives of someone else on the trip. I can understand the high number of visits from the Twin Cities and Detroit area, but I'm a bit confused by these other places.

Friday: Less Work, More Play

After having a long four days of doing VBS programs at seven different sites, we finally got a break on Friday. We got to get up quite a bit later, only meeting as a team at 9:15. After breakfast and devotions, we headed on downtown to do some shopping. Unfortunately, there really weren't any markets. There were some shops, but not all that much variety of things for sale. Even so, it was kind of fun to have a break from VBS and look around the central plaza for a while.

After lunch at a local restaurant and an afternoon break, we got ready for the evening. The clowns that had been with us on the first day to invite kids to come to the VBS program at the Mikruts's house had a program that they wanted us to be able to see as a group. We drove to a grassy place with trees, picnic table, and a gazebo/pavilion where we would get to see the the show put on by the clowns and then afterwards play with the kids that came to see it. The program started quite a bit later than it was supposed to, but that was because Barb Mikrut and Ben Pease were going to pick up more kids from the churches we had been at. Although, I missed the first part of the clown program since I was talking with Bernarod, it seemed like they did a pretty good job. Unfortunately, a light rain started part of the way through the program and lasted until after we left. Because of the rain, we didn't get to play soccer or anything with the kids as much as we thought we would get to.

When the program was over and all the kids had been driven back to the churches they had come from, we got to go back to the hotel. On our last night in Mexico, we finally got to have very American food for supper: pizza. Following the pizza, some of the people from our group went to go play soccer with some Mexican youth. I think most of us, however, chose to stay at the hotel and rest a bit more after a long, but rewarding week.

Picture 1: Having fun in the plaza.
Picture 2: The big church off of one side of the plaza.
Picture 3: A truck loaded to the very top. Typical for Mexico.

Goodbye: Afternoon Site

I don't think it was quite as hard to say goodbye at the afternoon site as at Bernardo's church. The group of kids in the afternoon wasn't quite as well behaved as Bernardo's group, but it still seemed more formal/strict than the morning site. I didn't feel like I made as many strong connections with the people at our afternoon site.

We still had a normal VBS program before we left for the last time. The craft went better than we expected it to, so that was nice. Some of the little boys were really cute when they were singing the songs. The leader of the VBS there often would ask us after a song whether the boys or the girls sang better/louder. The boys might not have sung better, but the little boys tried their very best to make sure they were the loudest!

At the end of the program, it came time to say our farewells. Lots of the people there wanted a picture with us, so we stood around for quite a while taking pictures of different groups of people. A few people had all of us sign the back of their craft project, and three of the kids even had us all sign the back of their shirts! When we were finally done, we got our last ride in the Deathmobile, back to the hotel before dinner. As with most of the other nights, dinner was at one of the churches. The same soup that had the pig knuckles and tripe showed up again here. I wonder if it was suggested to them by the other church where we had it.

Picture 1: The whole group of kids, with the pastor, the other leaders, and us.
Picture 2: A shirt that we all signed.
Picture 3: One of the smaller groups that they wanted a picture of.

Goodbye: Morning Site

We only had four days with the people at our VBS sites. Even in just those four days, though, we connected extremely well with the people there, and made great relationships. As such, Thursday was a very difficult day, saying goodbye to everyone. Our group felt especially at home and welcome at our first site. The pastor there is named Bernardo. He really has a cool testimony that I'll put up later.

Anyway, for this day of goodbyes, Bernardo had planned to follow the VBS program with a fellowship time for us and the kids. For most of the morning his wife was gone, most likely making us lunch. Even while he was there, he was working on something else. We actually did a pretty good job of leading lots of the VBS, though. Once his wife came back, he left to go get ice cream for us. After the VBS program was finished, they served both us and the kids lunch made up of some kind of chicken salad. They also had cookies and ice cream for dessert for all of us. After eating and spending some more time with the kids, he hadus present certificates he had made for the kids that attended. At the end of that, he gave each of us a nice certificate to thank us for coming.

After all of that, it was time to actually say goodbye. It was hard, really hard. A couple of us from my group got to know Bernardo quite well and we talked to him a lot. Both he and his wife are amazing people. They are extremely generous, giving sacrificially to those in need. It's a wonderful change from the materialistic culture of the United States. They also love God very, very much. They trust Him foreverything, and He always gives them what they need. Whenever we would thank Bernardo for anything, he would always immediately say instead, "Thanks be to God."

The bright side to how hard it was to say goodbye is that we did form long-lasting relationships. Hopefully we can continue to partner with Bernardo's church and give encouragement, even from the States. Besides that, several of us are hoping that it can work out to return next summer to visit the churches we worked with. I firmly believe that if we have faith, just like Bernardo does, God will work out a way for us to return there next summer. Even if it seems unlikely, with God, all things are possible.

Picture 1: Saying goodbye to Bernardo and his wife.

Stuck in the Mud, Part 2

Thursday was our last day of VBS. It was also the second day that we got completely stuck in the mud. The night before, it had rained. As we drove to the site in our van "Grande Azul," or "Big Blue," we started getting a little worried, seeing how much water was left on the roads. After we turned off of the paved road to go the rest of the way to the church, we started to hit the muddy spots. Finally, just a short ways from the church, we got stuck. At first the van just fishtailed over toward the left side of the street and onto the grass. Then, the wheels kept on spinning, but the van didn't move anywhere.

We decided to just walk the short distance to thechurch, then, and get the van out after our last VBS program at that church. As we started walking back towards the van, it started to rain. As we pushed the van, with help from some of the bigger kids that went to VBS, it started to rain even harder. Pushing didn't seem to be doing much good at first, as the van's wheels would spin but only allow the van to move forward at a crawl. Even then, as the back part of the van got pushed out of the grass and back onto the road, it didn't last long. The rear part of the van would swing out, but then it would skid right back towards the grass. We only got it out by having just as many people push on the side than on the back.We did finally get it out, although it was again covered in mud that we tracked in. Not only that, but we were all thoroughly soaked, too. Things like this are rarely fun at the time, but they make great memories!

Picture 1: First time the van got stuck. This time, instead of deep mud, we got stuck with a thin, slippery layer of mud on top. As a side note, the second van got stuck in the exact same spot shortly after we got out.
Picture 2: Bonus shot of the first time we got stuck. No shots of this time, since I was actually pushing. Notice how deep the mud was the other time.

Picture Post: Us with the Kids

The girls from our group with some of the girls that cameto VBS.


Friends at our afternoon site.


Playing a game with the kids during VBS.


Helping out one of the little boys with his craft.


Sitting with friends at our afternoon site, near the end of the craft time.

Coming up...

Coming up as soon as I land in Michigan, look for more updates on some of the following:
-Stuck in Mud, Part 2
-Saying goodbyes at our VBS sites
-Many more pictures
-Replies to the comments that have been left so far (thanks for commenting, it really is an encouragement).

-Once we're back in the States, video clips and descriptions of the other sites people have been at.

Train Surprise

We had been told that we had a big surprise waiting for us Wednesday night, but no one had any idea what it could be. When we finally met at the hotel to go drive to the church where we would eat, a small train pulled up outside with loud music blaring. Our ride, and our surprise had arrived. I must confess that even though I've seen a lot of mission trips, I have never seen any mission trip group ride in a party train like that. We drove to the church, with several of the girls dancing along to the music mst of the way. It was actually a lot of fun! At the church, there were kids waiting that switched places with us on the train. We got out to have dinner, and they got on to go for a fun ride around the neighborhood. I was a bit worried that the pastors had payed for the ride out of what little money they have, but it turns out that a candidate for mayor had payed for it. Besides that, he has promised to pave the streets in front of the churches, pave the street in front of the Mikruts' house, and has already given each of the churches a large water storage tank.

Anyway, for dinner we had mostly very tasty food. One thing we had, too, was some sort of bean soup with an unidentifiable meat in it. Later we found out that it was pig's nuckles, and possible some tripe mixed in. Not the most appetizing thing for the majority of American kids, but I think most of us ate enough not to offend anyone. Later we had sang some songs for the pastor that hosted us, and he sang for us. When we were all done, we drove back to the hotel in the train, again with the loud music blaring, cars honking at us, and people waving. The train even had a horn like a train. A very, very loud horn that the driver kept on blasting, even though it was already past 10 PM. We must have been quite a spectacle, a group of lively American teenagers riding through the city in a train like that!

Picture 1: The front of the train.
Picture 2: The back two cars of the train.
Picture 3: Kids from the church, excited to be on the train.

Deathmobile, Continued

Wednesday evening, after our VBS program at the second site, we were pleased to find out that we would get to ride in the Deathmobile to the place we would be having dinner. The pastor who had driven it before seemed to greatly enjoy all or laughing and exclamations from the back of his van. Again he kept on swerving wildly, driving fast through puddles and on dirt roads, and generally driving in a rather dangerous manner. I was the only one in the vehicle who spoke Spanish relatively fluently, and I was sitting in the back. Since the engine was so loud, I could hardly hear what he was saying. What I did catch were his questions/comments (hopefully in jest) about how he didn't know how to get where we were supposed to go. I'm sure he was just playing around, though. At one point, we turned off of the dirt roads back onto the paved road. Immediately, we noticed that, instead of taking all the unpaved back roads, he could have just turned out from the church and ended up in the exact same spot without any turns at all!

The trip became even more exciting when he started down an unpaved road and noticed a big puddle covering the whole road. He apparently thought it was too big to get through, so he started backing up. Remember, now, that this vehicle has no rear view mirror. He also didn't appear to think it necessary to look backwards, either. Finally, when he could turn out and go straight again, he didn't. He kept going backwards almost all the way to the church we were going to!

Picture 1: The Deathmobile, with the pastor who drove us. We figured we were safe, considering the fact that he's a pastor, I'm a pastor's kid, and we had around seven Bibles in the van!
Picture 2: The inside of the van.

Coming up...

Coming up, look for more updates on some of the following:
-Stuck in Mud, Part 2
-Saying goodbyes at our VBS sites
-Many more pictures
-Replies to the comments that have been left so far (thanks for commenting, it really is an encouragement).

-Once we're back in the States, video clips and descriptions of the other sites people have been at.

Wednesday

Finishing up with Tuesday evening, we had dinner at the church of one of the other pastors. They had actually bought us something from a fast food place. It was very generous of them, and we were thankful, but I think lots of us would have prefered more Mexican food. After dinner, we sang some songs as a group, and the pastor, with a couple relatives, sang some songs for us.

Moving on to Wednesday. It seemed like more people were getting used to getting up early, even during the summer. During our morning devotions, a couple people shared what God had taught them so far. One mentioned flexibility, a huge thing in Mexico and on mission trips. The other said that they were learning to be a lot more grateful for what we have in the States.

At our morning site, we tried to get even more involved. This time, we actually sang a song for them, Montaña, and taught them a game that we like to play as a youth group. It took a little while for them to catch on, but we did indeed bring Shuffle Your Buns to Mexico! The kids loved it, and asked to play it again, today. It was also good to see more people in the group playing with the kids and talking with them as much as they could. After a welcome stop at an internet cafe during our midday break, I rejoined my group to go the afternoon site.

The afternoon site seems to bed a bit better organized or better equipped, but the kids aren't nearly as cooperative. It might partially be due to the fact that we have three fewer people from our group at that site. Still, the little boys seem to be especially unattentive. Nevertheless, it went well enough. Other than the fact that a few of the little boys seemed bent on attacking me the whole afternoon. There are some older kids there, too, so we can play soccer with them while the rest of the kids play games inside. I don't think I mentioned this yet, but we also purchased soccer balls for each of the sites that didn't have any. The pastors, especially the one at our morning site, were very grateful.

Picture 1: Playing with the kids attending VBS.
Picture 2: Shuffle Your Buns comes to Mexico!

The Deathmobile

The ride to our afternoon site was harmless enough. The car was a bit old and it was a bit tight, but it was decent enough. When we were finished with what we were doing at that site, the pastor told us that he was the one that was going to take us to where we would eat dinner. He had his van, which we later took to calling The Deathmobile, parked outside. Like the other car, it looked decent, if a little dilapidated. As soon as we stepped inside, though, we realized that it would be an interesting ride!

I hardly even know where to start. The most obvious thing was that the seating in the van was very strange. There was a bench seat in back, with another bench seat along the side opposite the sliding door. As with the rest of the van, they looked worn out. The sliding door didn't have an obvious handle on the inside, and there wasn't much covering the bare metal. The roof was being held up by a board placed horizontally just under it. Just before we started out, it was noticed that there was no rear view mirror. And no speedometer. And the pastor had told us the day before that the brakes were bad. Sounds like fun, right?

Even before we left, we were all laughing. I think that only encouraged the pastor to drive crazily. We started off, after the pastor messed with the engine a bit, and drove away. We went as fast as the van could go, going over the bumps quite hard, swerving wildly, and turning into oncoming traffic. Did I mention that he didn't have power steering? It made for some very interesting driving, especially since he took the back roads that weren't paved. Like I said before, I love the driving in Mexico!

I don't have any pictures of our ride, yet, but I'll try to get some from someone else, soon.

Updates

Just a quick note to say that I really am trying to get online as much as possible. There's simply too much to write and too many pictures to post to be able to fully cover everything in the time I have available.

Thanks for reading, though, and feel free to leave some comments. After the trip is over, I'll post more pictures from everything I write about, as well as hopefully get some people from other groups to write something about their experiences. For now, though, it's back to the hotel to get ready for the afternoon session.

Tuesday: Stuck in the Mud

Yesterday, Tuesday, went better at the first site. After our daily morning devotions as a group, we headed on out. At the first site, we actually got to play along with almost all of the games that they played. It was great to see the group try to get involved and play with the kids, even with limited amounts of Spanish.

What wasn't so great, though, was Ben's idea to take a shortcut as he was driving us back. It was just a small shortcut, but we took it anyway. And got stuck in the mud. Very, very stuck. Pushing was useless. Thankfully, a lady was just driving by in a powerful-looking pickup. I flagged her down and asked for help to pull us out. Eventually we tied on to the pickup, and she gunned the engine. With the wheels of both vehicles spinning and spitting mud out the back, with the engine and wheels of the pickup smoking, and with most of us pushing, we finally got out! As we thanked the woman, she casually mentioned that she sold perfume. Of course, we felt obligated to buy some. It certainly wasn't what we wanted to happen but it made for some great pictures!

The group of kids in the afternoon was larger than the day before, as it was at the morning site. The program was rather uneventful, though, other than the fact that we tried to get involved more with the kids. The ride to where we had dinner was very eventful, though. Unfortunately, that will have to wait until next time. My time online is running short....

Picture 1: Stuck in the mud, waiting for help.
Picture 2: Pushing the van. I have a couple great shots of the mud and how deep it was, but those will come later.
Picture 3: Kids at our first site woking on the craft.

Monday Misunderstanding

For the actual ministry of doing VBS programs here, we are split up into groups that each go to a different site in the morning, and another different one in the afternoon. We have four groups, with three sites in the morning and four in the afternoon. Since I only go with one group, I will only be writing about my groups experiences, for now.

In the morning we got to the church in good time. The first problem was that no one there spoke English, and I was the only one in our group that was mostly fluent. To begin with, the pastor asked us to go out and invite more kids from the neighborhood to come. If we had thought there was a lot of mud the other day, we were in for a surprise. Even more mud on the streets there near the church. We invited quite a few kids and then returned to the church. We were told that we were only responsible for the craft, and that the churches would do the rest. When we got back to the church and the pastor asked if it was okay where the kids were sitting, I got a bit nervous. When he asked if we wanted to open in prayer, I realized with a sinking feeling in my stomach, that they thought we were going to do a whole lot more than we thought we would do. I politely explained that we thought we were just doing the craft and it actually did turn out alright.

After the first site, we had lunch at a different church, before going back to the hotel for some rest. In the afternoon, we left for our second sites for VBS, which would start at 4:00. Our group got crammed into a rather old sedan, all six of us plus the driver. It was tight, but we made it. At the site, they actually did have something planned. It went well, and the people were very glad to have us there.

That evening, we ate at Nueva Vida again. Instead of returning to the hotel right away, though, we joined in the birthday party for a girl turning 15 (probably the biggest birthday a girl in Mexico ever has). We even joined in the games afterwards, including a very, very big game of musical chairs. That was one of the most competitive games of musical chairs I had ever seen! Very fun, though.

Picture 1: The church we work at for the morning site.
Picture 2: Some of the kids with their craft from the first day, pinwheels.
Picture 3: Racing for the last open chair in musical chairs.

Sunday: Continued

Big update today, with several posts coming up. Sorry it's taken three days to get another update posted. As you might imagine, it's rather difficult to find internet access around here. Because of that, I was pretty rushed with the other posts, so there might be some typos in there.

Anyway, back to Sunday. During the church service, I translated a greeting from Jim Mikrut to the church. It's a good thing my Spanish came back to me quickly! Where I left off with the last post, we were off to a drama at the biggest evangelical church down here, Nueva Vida. It was called Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames. It was basically a drama showing the experiences of a number of people when they died, based on how they lived their lives. Overall, I thought it was very good, especially when I heard that the actors had only rehearsed it for three days. Best of all, at the altar call at the end, there must have been at least 80 or 90 people that went forward!

The pastor that was directing the play had been traveling around Mexico for several months, rehearsing with actors from different churches and directing them as they performed it in their churches. This church was his last stop on the trip, so it was being video recorded to send to some place in Canada. At the end, I was told that he was going to be interviewed, so could I please translate (so the people in Canada could understand). Sounds like a little interview in a quiet back room, right? Wrong. When it came time, I was called up on the big stage in front of several hundred people that had come to see the drama. From there, I stood off to the side and translated his whole speech. When his wife started to give a greeting, she kept on talking and talking and talking... I just assumed she didn't expect me to translate. Of course, she did. I just summarized.

After the drama and greeting/speech from the director, we had a nice supper of tacos at the church. Following that, we returned to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.

Picture 1: Hiking through the mud, trying to find kids to invite to VBS.
Picture 2: The clowns, along with Barb Mikrut, that came with us.
Picture 3: Dinner at the church Nueva Vida (New Life).

Sunday: Church and Recruiting

That is, we were recruiting kids to come to the VBS programs this week. Due to a change in plans, we went from 8 church locations for VBS down to 6. To make up for that, the Mikruts' house was added as another location. Since no one in the neighborhood new about it beforehand, we had to go out through the neighborhood and generate some interest. We had lively music playing at the house, and went through the streets with balloons, snacks, and invitations to the VBS programs. We also had the van, with people hanging onto the sides, and clowns from a local church. We'll see tomorrow how well we actually did generating interest. Hopefully lots of kids show up!

To begin the day, we went to a local church here and worshiped with them. It was probably very different for most of the people in the group. I got to translate a greeting from Jim Mikrut on behalf of the group. Surprisingly, I did pretty well translating. After the service we went to the home of the Mikruts. There we had lunch, put together snack bags for the VBS, and hung out in an air conditioned house.

The pictures above will have to speak for themselves until I can get back online. Right now, we're off to a drama at another church here. Quick rundown, though.
1. Me with the pastor at the church this morning, along with a couple other guys.
2. Going through the neighborhood in the van. Lots of mud. It rained.
3. Need I say anything?

Picture of the Group

Since it's getting pretty late here, I should be getting to bed. Unfortunately, I don't write as well when I'm tired... Needless to say, though, we've had a good start to the trip, and it looks like it will be a wonderful experience for everyone. Here's a picture of the whole team, courtesy of Laurie Wulff. For those of you wondering, yes, we are at a Smoothie King. Who ever said that mission trips are rough?


(That's where I met the group before continuing to McAllen.)

Safely Here, Getting Settled

I'm glad to say that we made it here to Valle Hermoso safely and without any problems at all. The flight for me from Detroit to Dallas went smoothly, and I met up with the rest of the group there without any trouble at all. From there we flew on to McAllen, Texas. That flight, too was smooth, without any major disturbances and not much turbulence.

In McAllen, we met up with the Mikrut family at the airport and had supper at Whataburger, before driving down here. At the border crossing, each vehicle gets either a green light (go ahead) or a red light (stop and have all your papers looked at, all your bags checked, get delayed, etc). The bad news is that all three of our vehicles, two 15-passenger vans and a SUV hauling the trailer of baggage, got the red light. God worked a miracle, though. We told the border agent that we were all in a group (or something to that effect), and he just waved us on through! Thank to everyone praying for a smooth border crossing. It really did help!

Once we got across, we drove down here to Villa Hermoso, where we got settled in our hotel/motel. This evening we drove down to the center square of Villa Hermoso to get ice cream and look around town. Now most of us are getting ready for bed, resting up for a big first day tomorrow. One thing I observed is that, as we were driving back from the center square, one person commented on how rich Americans were. I thought it was great that people were already realizing that. As I have said, everyone should visit a foreign country like this and see how the real world lives. It's very different than what most people in this group have experienced in the United States.

On a lighter note, I am very excited to be here, back in Mexico. It feels a lot like coming back home. I hadn't realized how much I missed the country. And the driving. Especially the driving. It's much more interesting than in the States!

Picture 1: On the airplane from the Twin Cities to Dallas.
Picture 2: Completely filling up the tiny ice cream shop this evening.
Picture 3: A selection of just some of the ice cream we had to choose from. As a side note, this is the only picture of these that I actually took. All the rest are from either Laurie or Mark Wulff. More of mine will be posted, starting tomorrow.

Unrest in Oaxaca

Well, just when I thought things were going along rather well this year in Oaxaca, there has been some more unrest. On the bright side, the annual teacher strikes, which I assume happened, didn't escalate into anything big. Starting in a few days, though, is the Guelaguetza. This is a major cultural event featuring traditional dancing, music, and handicrafts. Some groups of people in Oaxaca are upset that the main part of the festival has become a relatively expensive event that is more for tourists. Of course, there might be other motives (such as the removal of the governor), but this is what they are saying. If they really mean it, they do have a point, as the Guelaguetza is a tradition dating back to the 18th century. On the other hand, protests disrupt tourism, one of the main sources of income in Oaxaca. Besides that, the state needs all the extra money it can get from ticket sales, even if that means selling $40 tickets that most Oaxacans can't afford.

Anyway, this past Monday, protesters marched to the large amphitheater, where the main event of the Guelaguetza is held. The crowd included people wearing masks and carrying rocks and bottle rockets as weapons. In light of the violence before the Guelaguetza last year, federal police had been sent in to ensure peace this year. The protest march turned into a clash with these police, who used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters. Since then, the federal police have made their presence felt much more. From what I've been able to find out, there are police installations of some sort, possibly checkpoints, at the four main entrances to the city. Besides this, there are just more police vehicles and officers in the city, especially around the Zocalo (the center square) and the amphitheater.

So far, this one police/protester confrontation is very tame compared with last year. Let's hope and pray that it doesn't get worse, and that the protesters don't try to seriously disrupt the Guelaguetza.

*The picture above is of one of the dances performed during the Guelaguetza, the Feather Dance. We did attend the Guelaguetza one year, but our seats were too high to get a good picture, so I'm using this one that I took in a small village near Oaxaca. For a video of the dancers in action, please go to this post.*

Schedule for the Week

Again, thank you to everyone that has been praying for this trip as the details get worked out. Here is the basic schedule for the trip, so you can pray more specifically for what we are doing.

Saturday: I will be flying from here in Detroit to Dallas. The rest of the team will fly to Dallas from the Twin Cities, and we will meet up there. We will then fly to McAllen and drive over the border from there. That evening we will (hopefully) spend getting settled in our hotel.

Sunday: In the morning we will be joining our host churches for their church services. If they're anything like those in Oaxaca, they could last two or three hours. Here's hoping that they're very different from the services in Oaxaca! In the afternoon, we will prepare for the children's programs and visit neighborhoods near the churches to generate excitement for the programs. The evening will probably be mostly down time, getting ready for the week ahead.

Monday through Friday: In the morning we'll be helping the host churches with the children's programs. We'll be split up into different teams and work at four different sites. In the afternoon we will be preparing for the next day, but will most likely have free time as well. We might even get in some sightseeing! The evening will find us back at work, this time at four other sites.

Saturday: We cross back over the border after breakfast. Lunch is in Texas, and we have afternoon flights back home. If all goes well, we should be home shortly after 7:00 PM.

Prayer update

A big thank you to everyone that has commited to partner with the team through prayer! We really appreciate the prayer as we keep preparing for the trip and try to get all the details worked out.

The following is the latest prayer update from Ben Pease.

Please pray:

Before we leave -

• For final details to be taken care of smoothly as we prepare

• For our full level of financial support to be raised

• For the hearts of students and leaders as God prepares us for this project

• For the members of the host churches we’ll be working with, as God prepares them for our arrival

During our project (July 21-28) -

• For safe travels in the air and on the ground

• For smooth border crossings

• For our team members dealing with “culture shock” as we are quickly immersed in Mexican culture

• For health for all team members

• That our team members would treat one another with patience, grace, love and understanding even in the midst of fatigue, heat and other stresses. May we demonstrate the love of Jesus to one another.

• For blessed interactions and relationships with our brothers and sisters in Mexico – may these be seasoned with grace and joy

• For blessed interactions and relationships with the children to whom we will minister at 8 different children’s program sites. We expect 650-800 children all together! May they experience God’s love through us.

• For Jim and Barb Mikrut – our host missionaries. Pray that God would bless them as they lead us and in their continued work in Mexico.

• For genuine spiritual growth among all our team members

Update: Valle Hermoso 2007

Update: The originally planned work location was Valle Hermoso, Mexico. It was switched to Rio Bravo, but has been switched back to Valle Hermoso. All references to Rio Bravo have been updated to reflect this change in plans.


Valle Hermoso, here we come!
Since the group leaves on the mission trip to Valle Hermoso in about a week, I figured I should probably get this blog going again! I'll post a few things now before we leave, but while we are actually on the mission trip, there should be daily updates.

To start off with, a few key facts about the trip...
-Who's going: Youth group of Salem Covenant Church (Website)
-Team leader: Ben Pease, Salem's youth pastor
-Place: Valle Hermoso, Mexico (Map)
-Dates: July 21-28, 2007
-Missionaries we will work with: Jim and Barb Mikrut
-Ministry: Helping with Vacation Bible school type of activites
~~~Craft organization and planning
~~~One day of sports

-Team members: