I Heart: MEXICO in Pictures

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“I Heart: MEXICO” Service

video enclosure: “I Heart: MEXICO: Service Promo“

Coming Home

We’re now safely in El Paso at our hotel and counting down the last few hours before our air travel.  We expect to be home before 11:00 PM this evening.  In the next week, I’ll be posting several of the pics and working on editing down the video captured during our trip.  We’ll share our experience together on the evening of Sunday, August 16th @ the 6:30 PM service.  Please come out and hear our groups’ amazing stories, see the vivid pictures, and watch the heart-rending and action-packed videos next weekend.  We hope to see you there.

Thursday, August 6th Journal

This morning my group of guys climbed up to the top of the rocks overlooking Creel behind our hotel for our devotional time.  We challenged each other with what God has been downloading as we looked out over the city and prayed.

Today’s journey is pretty much set up to be a tourist-like day.  We all got in a bus after breakfast and traveled together to the Copper Canyon.  The canyon is estimated to be, in the least, seven times larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States.  We stopped at two different look outs, did some of our last shopping on the way, stopped at a few more places of interest, and endured a bit of rain at places, but it was a magnificent “touristy” type of a day.  My brief description is way over-simplified; it will just be way easier to just share pics in this case.  It was a great way to wind down from a week of ministry and hard work.

After driving around and being tourists all day, our last stop was at the children’s home, to say good-bye…

Anabelle captured the hearts of us all…

Snapping pics for memories…

And one more set of group photos…

Here’s a highlights video from our time at the Children’s Home…

Video enclosure: “Aljaba Children’s Home“

That evening we got together for our last sharing time.  There were lots of tears and heart-felt sharing.  This trip has been so much more powerful than many of us could have ever expected. Several of our students continued sharing in their rooms past the large group time, with many more tears and hugs.  From start to finish, the “I Heart: MEXICO” trip has been a tremendous adventure.

Oh, and one more thing about today… I bumped my head leaving the “el bano” (bathroom stall)… OUCH!

Wednesday, August 5th Journal

For our group devos today, we all gathered in one large group and shared about our call to “love one another as Christ has loved us.”  I love our students and leaders so much.  They have been challenging and encouraging each other and me all week long.  God has really been shaping and forming lives this week.  I believe with all that is in me that several of us will never be the same again.  Our eyes have definitely been opened to a broader world experience.

This is what we had for breakfast (and it was REALLY good)…

Today was my team’s day to distribute to the first nations people of the region, the Tarahumaran natives.  The Tarahumaran are very separated from society, living in caves and/or rustic log dwellings.  I had the privilege of riding to our distribution point with a guy named Duane from the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) Mission Base.  On the way to our drop-off Duane shared his personal story of being called to the Tarahumaran people, how he gave away everything he had and came down to Mexico on faith – quite an amazing and challenging life-story.

We filled up two large pick-up trucks with food, clothes, toys, and various supplies.  I rode in one of the trucks while with Duane while the majority of our group rode in an old school-bus-looking vehicle. Duane had some praise and worship music playing in his truck on the way and the words were become alive in a new way as we drove through the jungle.  The road was very bumpy and rocky and we had to cross several creeks to our destination.

As we got closer to our end-point, we started seeing groups of people in shanty’s popping their heads out.  We were probably a couple of miles from the main road and it took us about thirty minutes or so to get there via our vehicles.  When we arrived, the bus had a bit of trouble getting through the main gateway because it was so tight, but it managed.

There were clusters of people, families or groups from different villages, scattered about around the clearing.  We were told that many had most likely walked very long distances to get there for the distribution.  As the bus unloaded, we went out and “shook hands” – more like a sliding our hand over theirs in their culture – and greeted them in their native dialect (not Spanish).  There was also a lot of picture taking and filming; these people and their culture is so beautiful to me.  They were shy at first, but as we started making our rounds, playing with some of the kids, and showing them some of the pictures we were taking, they started to open up and smile and laugh.

Jose Louis, our interpreter for the trip and also from the YWAM Missions Base, has been interpreting God’s Word into the Tarahumaran language for several years.  He welcomed the people to join in a small group and stand around us as we shared, though his translation, personal stories of our faith and stories of healing/restoration.  It is not their custom to raise their hands or even do an altar call, but the looks in the people’s eyes as we were sharing was enough for me. I could hardly look at them without tears welling up.

A few pics from our time in the mountains…

I honestly have a hard time explaining, in words, the beauty of this experience.  “Overwhelming” seems to be the word that I seem to keep coming back to.  These families have nothing.  You would see a little girl get a stuffed bear toy and run away jumping, smiling, and incredibly filled with joy.  An older lady that we had given flour to grabbed Rigo’s hand and held on to it with tears in her eyes as she smiled and said thank you in her native tongue.  We had the opportunity to pray for and lay hands on three different gentlemen in the village who were hurt or ailing.

Jose Louis told Rigo after we were done that the stories that we shared and the resulting look in their eyes were very encouraging to him.  He said that our group shared with the right level of language and culture for them to understand and it made it very easy for him to translate.  He is the one that will continue the work of harvesting the seeds that were sown today and I am so thankful for him and Duane.  What incredible people!

Here’s a highlights video from our time with the Tarahumaran natives…

Video enclosure: “Tarahumaran Outreach“

We had lunch at the YWAM Missions Base, eating on some rocks that overlooked the city of Creel.  Jose Louis shared his testimony and we said that you and exchanged hugs before heading back to the hotel.  We shared some brief feelings from our experiences that day and then had some free time before dinner.  I chose to journal and then head to the Internet Cafe with Tyler and Nick Reid.

Here’s a couple of fun pics I took from our hotel rooms…

That evening, Ray Wilson told us that we were the first missions group to ever be invited by Lupe over to the children’s home for dinner.  What an honor!  The meal was good, we sang songs and worshiped together, presented Lino with a guitar and the kids with a signed brand new basketball, and enjoyed the fellowship.  After the meal, the kids sang us a song.  It was totally a “Sound of Music” moment!  Our hearts have definitely been pulled towards Mexico.

Me and my little twin…

The children homes new color: pistachio green!

Nick rocking out some Larry Norman on the new guitar…

A picture that some of the kids drew for Shelby…

What a blessed day.

Tuesday, August 4th Journal

Today was our second workday here at Creel.  We found out that Leone was sick (losing her food) the night before, but seems to be doing okay this morning.

After lunch, our whole group (both teams) went to the children’s home to do more work on painting and scraping their facilities.  A lot was accomplished in very little time.  So much, in fact, that some of the guys went into town to purchase a top coat of paint to start applying in the afternoon.  There were some scattered rain showers – and even thunder – that slowed us down a bit but didn’t stop us!

The whole workday was spent at the children’s home, mixed with work, play with the orphans, and more work.  A fun mix to be sure.  I purchased a couple of blankets that were handmade from the kids – a perfect take-home for me.  I will never forget their faces… their laughter… their smiles.  These blankets will help remind me.

That evening, after supper, Ray had us share our testimonies around the dinner tables and gave us an extra hour or so to shop, play games, and just hang.  I ended up going out for almost two hours with Rigo, one of our Spanish interpreters, and Greg, and ex-bike ministry leader from the Salem Church – both really fun guys.  And, by the way, that’s probably the longest shopping stint I can ever remember.

Shopping in Creel and with Peso’s has been a lot of fun.  The streets become very alive in the evenings: full of people, music, cars, stray dogs, vendors, lights, and lots of shoppers.  The shops are each unique and yet similar in lots of ways.  This particular evening, us guys went to almost every store on the main drag.  We also hit the central square and a few of the street vendors.  We were looking for that “perfect gift” for our wives and daughters back home – an agreed upon tough task.

But in the end, I came back to my room with bags that were plenty full.  I hope I chose wisely.

Monday, August 3rd Journal

It was a little bit harder getting everyone up and ready this morning.  The long days of travel and the full day at the orphanage and the shops yesterday tired everyone out, I guess.  But we managed to get everyone up and together for a second day of devos.  Again, I was encouraged.  We really do have awesome students!

After breakfast, our group split into two teams.  Ours went back to the orphanage for a day of scraping and painting and the other team went into the mountains for food and supplies distribution to the Tarahumaran natives.

Our team got together at the meeting room to load supplies into a bus and rode up to children’s home.  Upon arrival, we unloaded and sorted the goods into their storage areas on the corrects shelves and spaces and then split into two more teams: one two play with and love on the kids and another to start work on the painting project.

It was quite the project, especially with limited ladders to reach the second story.  But with many hands and many dedicated hard workers, lots was accomplished – and quickly.  Here’s some pics from our work day…

My feet were incredibly swollen and hurting after a day of standing on ladders or supporting them from the bottom.  We walked back and when I lay on my bed before supper, it was HARD to make myself get back up!  I decided to take a shower to see if that would help.  It did.

Supper was a fabulous combination Mexican plate (which I’ll probably be paying for later).  So good!  And after dinner, we had our nightly group time of discussion and sharing.  This night was especially good – getting to hear stories from both teams that were both touching, challenging, and inspiring.  Almost all of our students were raising their hands to share and many of them did.

After Cynthia got up and shared a little about her experience in foster care, Barry asked me to stand up and share about how Deanna and I came to adopt Autumn and Cynthia.  I wasn’t raising my hand to share that evening, because I was already tearing up through everyone else’s and knew that if I got up – especially to talk about adoption – that I would lose it.  Regardless, I got up, LOST my composure immediately and stumbled my way through sharing my story.

I think part of why this experience is so overwhelming to me is because of how close my family is tied to the idea / thought of adoption.  And seeing how Lupe and Lino love and call these orphaned children their own, really floors me emotionally.  I think that their ministry and life-calling is so special and so near to the heart of Father God and I am so thankful that so many of our students are getting to experience this close-at-hand with me this week.

This evening is the first that I made it to the Internet Café and was able to post my daily journals so far.  I only had a half an hour, so I didn’t have time to check e-mail and do much else – other than send out a couple of tweets on my Twitter account.  I’ll probably try to get away for a longer time some other night and upload a few more posts.  Pictures and video will probably have to wait until our return to the states. (UPDATE: As you can see, I’ve embedded pics and video upon our return.)

I called back home and found out that Deanna was at a softball game with Kella.  She’s doing much better after her fall (with the help of meds) and all is well – so good to hear her voice.  I’m missing her and my too little ones a lot – especially after just browsing through some pics on my laptop.

I returned back to my room and I’m listening to a conversation going on between two young men outside of my room right now, and it is blowing me away.  I can’t share anything else because it’s a sensitive situation (involving tears), but I just want to say that I am SO PROUD of our students – across the board.  We have students that are really serious about loving God and loving others.

Sunday, August 2nd Journal

Our devo time this morning was great – excellent weather for one thing.  But I was also encouraged to hear from my three boys what they are expecting God to do in their lives this week.  It’s gonna be awesome!

I titled the message that I shared with the group on Sunday morning was “How to Break Your Hearts”.  We discussed why we’re here in Creel and how to grab hold of God’s heart for the people of Creel.  We also had several times of group sharing and prayer and sang a few a capella songs of worship.  It was a very powerful launch point for our week of ministry.

The rest of the morning and some of the late afternoon consisted of gathering and organizing the donated goods we had collected to distribute among the Tajumaran people.  It was a big task, but almost everybody pitched and gave it their all.  It was definitely a site to behold.

The meals and accommodations here have far exceeded our expectations.  In fact, whereas I thought I might be losing some weight on this trip, I might actually be gaining some.  Our meals at the hotel have been three-course meals at every sitting: soup, main dish, and dessert.  And what we were told was going to be our “Mexico-nice” hotel with tinkling shower heads has turned out to be a rather pleasant stay.  The showers are fine; the water just takes a while to warm up… that’s all.

Today was our first day to make the trek up to the orphanage.  None of us knew what to expect, but I think – again – all of our expectations were exceeded.  It all started kind of slow and awkward… no one knew what to say or do.  But then we started introducing ourselves, hugging, saying “O-la” and it was like the heavens opened up.

We brought sports balls, frisbees, crayons, fingernail polish, and more to share with the kids.  When our students started playing around with the kids, amazing smiles broke out everywhere.  BIG, huge, grinning smiles!  It was amazing.  You could literally “feel the LOVE” in the courtyard.

I was going around trying to capture the experience on film and was having the hardest time wiping the grin off my face (which I thought must have been overwhelmingly BIG).  I was so overwhelmed with joy seeing what I was seeing.  Our students playing, loving on, and sharing their joy with orphans who have nothing but their orphanage family.  My smile was so big I felt tears running down my cheeks.  It was totally the experience of the trip so far for me.  I could play and watch our kids play with those orphan kids all day long.

And, oh, how beautiful they are!  Their smiles, their laughter, their language, the colors of their clothes – it ALL struck me as so beautiful!  What an incredibly overwhelming experience.  Here’s a few pics from our first visit…

Before dinner, I was finally instructed in how to call back home on the nearby pay phones.  I found out that Deanna’s fall from the ladder on Saturday was causing her so much pain that she was nauseous and had to leave after the first service at Destiny this morning.  OUCH!  From what I understand from our short conversation (that my 10-minute calling card allowed), she went to Sioux San and was diagnosed with an inflammation of her ribs (I won’t attempt to spell the medical term for that without the aid of Google).

Kella also got on the phone for a couple minutes and told me that she “loves me more” and “misses me more” than I love and miss her.  I argued with her but she always seems to win that one.

At the end of the day, we shared stories from the day, and the worth of this trip and the reason that we’re here starting becoming clearer to me.  Students from our group were sharing about how God was opening their eyes in exciting new ways.  Several of them had tears in their eyes and shared with such emotion that it was ripping me apart inside, too.  God is SO GOOD!

We went to bed a little earlier this evening because our schedule in the morning will be adjusted for our work days (the next three days).  I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us.  But I did manage to sneak away with a group from our team and go to the ice cream place.  BONUS!

Saturday, August 1st Journal

The I Heart: MEXICO missions adventure is finally upon us.  We gathered together at Rapid City’s regional airport at 5:30 AM, prayed, said some final words, and began our journey together.  For a handful of students, it was their first time on a plane.  For the most part, our first travel day went off without a hitch.  There were a couple students that didn’t fare well on the plane (felt natious / stomach churning), but our flights were all on time and even early in one case.

Here’s our group pic before leaving Rapid…

We arrived in El Paso at around 12:30-noon where Barry Bliss met us at baggage claim.  He took us in shuttle buses to our hotel, which ended up being a really nice place with a  great swimming pool area for the students.  Our afternoon consisted of an afternoon walk to Wendy’s for lunch, swimming/lounging in the pool area, and our group splitting up and visiting a few local super-marts for last minutes supplies.  It was a nice, restful afternoon.  Look @ this pool…

Lifeguard on duty… ;D

The other group from Salem, OR arrived at around 6:30 PM and we went together to have dinner and our first on-site team meeting at a restaurant called Elmer’s.  Here’s a pic of Ray Wilson, our team leader and son of Black Buffalo, sharing with us…

After dinner, our group gathered up all the donated items from the trip and consolidated them into personal luggage for transportation.  It was a big project, as there were a lot of items, but it went by quickly with all the hands.

I called Deanna back home and found out that she had fallen off her ladder while scraping and cracked her back pretty good.  She landed on Angela Bianco, who was there to help scrape, but it sounded like both came out of the ordeal okay.

The next day, we were up at 7:00 AM for breakfast and all packed and ready to go by 8:00 AM.  It was a quick twenty minute-or-so drive to the border where the bus went through very easily, but the passport / people process was not quite AS smooth.  Two of our families, including mine, had only brought COPIES of their birth certificates along, which did not meet Mexican requirements.  Thankfully, with God’s help and a little persuading, we got through.  It was probably about an hour and a half process for our group as a whole.

The bus was very comfortable, with air, and a seating area with tables in the back, which was great for card games and such.  I spent the first half of the ride in the back with the gamers and the second half taking it easy, listening to music and podcasts and chatting with friends.

It was a LONG ride… with our arrival time being about 8:30 PM, from what I recall.  But I wasn’t overwhelmed.  Overall, the bus ride was a pleasant experience – much better than what I had prepared myself for internally (I didn’t know what to expect).

We were served a soup and spaghetti dinner, along with a crème-brule-type dish for dessert.  It definitely hit the spot for me!  After dinner, we met for another team meeting and then dispersed for bed.  Pastor Ray asked me to preach the message for our Sunday service together in the morning.  When we got to our rooms, lights out was at 11:00 PM and everyone went to sleep fairly quickly – exhausted from our two days of travel.

One snafu… we haven’t been able to call or e-mail back home since our arrival.  Barry helped me get a calling card last night, but we were having difficulty getting any of the pay phones to work.  Ray is going to try and help me out with that this morning.