Friday, Oct. 21
Ray and I woke early to have a beachside breakfast with Luis, (keep following, the tough part of the mission will come). The rest of the day was spent looking at the different projects, becoming familiar with driving in Mexico, and acquiring material.
About 5:30 pm, our group began emerging from the air terminal. The first ones out were happy, unhurried, glad to see someone they recognized, it was a very relaxed atmosphere. As more came out through the bustle of cab drivers and time share vendors, the sense of urgency became much greater, some even looking over their shoulder as if being chased. HECTOR had struck. Men coming in with children's clothes, girls with tools and men's underwear in their luggage, was way too much for Hector today. Sheila and a couple others were detained, being threatened were alot more fees to pay. We finally all were together headed to the hotel where we ate and spent the night. More on this tomorrow.
Mexico Mission
Thursday, Oct. 20
Ray and I arrived at the airport in Redmond about 6:00 am, 4 sodukos, 3 airplanes, 4 crossword puzzles later we arrived at San jose del Cabo, greeted by a blast furnace heat as we went through the airplane door. A smiling Pastor Luis waited for us on the other side of a very confused customs officer, the assortment of tools and childrens clothes were a little much for him to deal with. ( You will hear more about "Hector" tomorrow.)
Pastor Luis gave us the van and escorted us to the hotel. After a very good meal we retired for the night, thankful to God for a safe journey,
Ray and I arrived at the airport in Redmond about 6:00 am, 4 sodukos, 3 airplanes, 4 crossword puzzles later we arrived at San jose del Cabo, greeted by a blast furnace heat as we went through the airplane door. A smiling Pastor Luis waited for us on the other side of a very confused customs officer, the assortment of tools and childrens clothes were a little much for him to deal with. ( You will hear more about "Hector" tomorrow.)
Pastor Luis gave us the van and escorted us to the hotel. After a very good meal we retired for the night, thankful to God for a safe journey,
Mission Mexico
Oct. 19, 10:22
Packed and ready to go. Adventure awaits, buildings to be built, talks to be given, children to feed, and souls to be touched by God. All in just seven days including travel time. We can do all things through Christ, right?
18 missionaries from Father's House and New Life Fellowship are invading San Jose del Cabo to do work for God's kingdom. I will be posting each day to keep all of you supporting us at home updated. We may be the ones in Mexico but this is a team effort from our churches. Please keep us in your prayers.
Tomorrow morning Ray and I leave early to secure the transportation, donkeys, rickshaws, pogo sticks, something that will get us around in a foreign country. Like I said, "adventure awaits".
Follow along with us as we "Live it Out"
Packed and ready to go. Adventure awaits, buildings to be built, talks to be given, children to feed, and souls to be touched by God. All in just seven days including travel time. We can do all things through Christ, right?
18 missionaries from Father's House and New Life Fellowship are invading San Jose del Cabo to do work for God's kingdom. I will be posting each day to keep all of you supporting us at home updated. We may be the ones in Mexico but this is a team effort from our churches. Please keep us in your prayers.
Tomorrow morning Ray and I leave early to secure the transportation, donkeys, rickshaws, pogo sticks, something that will get us around in a foreign country. Like I said, "adventure awaits".
Follow along with us as we "Live it Out"
Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011
Sorry I missed last night, we were flying and driving from 2:00 pm (Cabo time) until 4:15 am (Bend time), I hope that qualifies for some slack.
Yesterday morning we took a little time by the pool before checking out of our hacienda. We had some time on the way to the airport, so we detoured to one of the kitchens we had worked at for some measurements and pictures.
Pastor Luis then took us by the home of one of his congregants. We had sat behind this family on Sunday in worship service; we had seen them singing, praising, and worshipping God with lifted hands; we had no idea of the state of their dwelling place. The five of them, husband, wife, 2 teenage girls and an 8 year old boy live in a 15 by 20 "dwelling." Their walls are pieced together scraps of lumber with a blue tarp pulled over for the roof. Electricity and water come from a neighbor with an extension cord and a hose. The outhouse is comprised of three old pieces of wafer board and a sheet. (They actually feel very blessed because they have a concrete floor rather than dirt.) They have been living there for three years and just three weeks ago finally got mattresses to sleep on. Do you want to hear the astounding part? They want to host a home group!!! We very humbly prayed for them before leaving. As we got back into our car, I believe all of us were fighting back tears. I think Ray was ready to leave everything he had in his wallet to help. It will be very hard for me to hear complaints about what we have or don't have after experiencing that so closely.
The motto "friendly skies" should be changed to "how many planes can we get you onto in one day? skies." We were supposed to get into PDX at 8:30pm, reality was 12:30am. After a snowy drive over the pass and relearning USA driving rules, we made it home--thanks, Clint, for turning on the heat for us cuz it's colder here than we remember. :)
It is so good to be back. I have much more to share; you'll hear it all in the coming weeks. Continue to stay tuned to this station. More happenings coming.
Yesterday morning we took a little time by the pool before checking out of our hacienda. We had some time on the way to the airport, so we detoured to one of the kitchens we had worked at for some measurements and pictures.
Pastor Luis then took us by the home of one of his congregants. We had sat behind this family on Sunday in worship service; we had seen them singing, praising, and worshipping God with lifted hands; we had no idea of the state of their dwelling place. The five of them, husband, wife, 2 teenage girls and an 8 year old boy live in a 15 by 20 "dwelling." Their walls are pieced together scraps of lumber with a blue tarp pulled over for the roof. Electricity and water come from a neighbor with an extension cord and a hose. The outhouse is comprised of three old pieces of wafer board and a sheet. (They actually feel very blessed because they have a concrete floor rather than dirt.) They have been living there for three years and just three weeks ago finally got mattresses to sleep on. Do you want to hear the astounding part? They want to host a home group!!! We very humbly prayed for them before leaving. As we got back into our car, I believe all of us were fighting back tears. I think Ray was ready to leave everything he had in his wallet to help. It will be very hard for me to hear complaints about what we have or don't have after experiencing that so closely.
The motto "friendly skies" should be changed to "how many planes can we get you onto in one day? skies." We were supposed to get into PDX at 8:30pm, reality was 12:30am. After a snowy drive over the pass and relearning USA driving rules, we made it home--thanks, Clint, for turning on the heat for us cuz it's colder here than we remember. :)
It is so good to be back. I have much more to share; you'll hear it all in the coming weeks. Continue to stay tuned to this station. More happenings coming.
Monday night, January 17...Our last full day before heading home. It was mostly about "us" today. We spent about an hour in the morning getting prices on materials, food, etc. at Home Depot and Wal-Mart, then we had an afternoon of FUN. We drove into San Lucas--oh! have I mentioned that I LOVE driving in Mexico? The rules are more or less there for personal interpretation. I'm sure that's not true, but everyone sure drives like it is!
We went out into the Sea of Cortez on a large catamaran with about 25 other people for a snorkeling adventure. We had a photo op at "Lover's Beach" and the arch at "Land's End." As we were taking our 45-minute cruise to the snorkeling destination, our cruise turned into a whale-watching excursion. We were able to see a gray whale breach a few times; Sheila captured it on camera. We continued on to our snorkeling beach, where, according to the laws here, we HAD to don life vests in order to snorkel, much to Sheila's delight, and much to my dismay. :) The water was pretty cold, so everyone was done within 45 minutes, but lunch was waiting for us, so within minutes we were warm and content.
When we returned to the dock, we walked around, picking up a few little souvenirs (we have grandchildren, you know! and Sheila and Sherrill love the Vanilla for baking that they make down here), and had another fabulous meal.
Back at our room, we settled down for one more game of cards. Ray and I are leaving these cards in Mexico.
Looking forward to being back home--Central Oregon is a GREAT place to come home to! Especially because of the people there. Dios los bendiga. (God bless all of you.)
We went out into the Sea of Cortez on a large catamaran with about 25 other people for a snorkeling adventure. We had a photo op at "Lover's Beach" and the arch at "Land's End." As we were taking our 45-minute cruise to the snorkeling destination, our cruise turned into a whale-watching excursion. We were able to see a gray whale breach a few times; Sheila captured it on camera. We continued on to our snorkeling beach, where, according to the laws here, we HAD to don life vests in order to snorkel, much to Sheila's delight, and much to my dismay. :) The water was pretty cold, so everyone was done within 45 minutes, but lunch was waiting for us, so within minutes we were warm and content.
When we returned to the dock, we walked around, picking up a few little souvenirs (we have grandchildren, you know! and Sheila and Sherrill love the Vanilla for baking that they make down here), and had another fabulous meal.
Back at our room, we settled down for one more game of cards. Ray and I are leaving these cards in Mexico.
Looking forward to being back home--Central Oregon is a GREAT place to come home to! Especially because of the people there. Dios los bendiga. (God bless all of you.)
Sunday glorious night, January 16...phew!!! What a whirlwind of a day! We started out this morning with the goal of being able to Skype with all of you at FH during the morning service. After much frustration on both ends, the forces of technology were not in our favor today! We'll try to win this war another time--hopefully by the time we come back down for our missions trip in the fall!
The morning service started at 11am with sunshine, singing, and prayer. Then we were blessed with Communion. Pastor Luis introduced all of us from the U.S. (we were "special guests"), and thanked us for the keyboard...profusely, I might add. It was very humbling, and to all of you who were able to donate towards that purchase, please know that God is pleased. It sounded great and they were very happy with it! Pastor Luis had asked me to preach, so I spoke, and guess what? I only spoke for twenty minutes!! Now, don't be getting any ideas...my interpreter (Pastor Luis) took twenty minutes interpreting, so I guess my whole message was about forty minutes. ha.
We prayed for several people after service; again, we felt very honored and blessed to be a blessing to these good people.
At about 1:30, we went to the director of the school's home for lunch--wow, what a spread! I think we needed to go back to church to repent of gluttony. Honest. Then we walked a couple of blocks away for dessert at the French Riviera--very chic and modern. (Please note previous blog about spin bike.) During dessert, we were asked if we would like to join in helping at another kitchen in another colony, so we left from that restaurant, went to a grocery store to help purchase food, and traveled to the colony. Pastor Luis & I went down the streets inviting people to eat and to come to a church service (the "kitchen" is there just outside the church) while Ray, Sherrill, and Sheila helped make ham sandwiches. Eliana was there working like crazy, too. She's an Energizer Bunny if I've ever seen one! She and Pastor Luis are amazing people--they truly love God and want to see people's lives transformed.
About 100 people showed up for the service and meal. We were back at our hotel around 7:30pm, happy and tired. We can't really figure out why we're so tired, but we are. :)
Although I'm having a great time with plenty of ministry opportunities, my heart was with you in Bend today as well, thinking about all of my friends worshipping together, and then the sharing that I'm sure happened in Home Groups.
I've already had reports that everything went well today, as I knew it would. We have a wonderful, hard-working group of people. We brag about you all the time, even if it's just to the Lord sometimes in prayer! Thank you for being the church that I miss so much when I'm gone.
I refuse to even mention the card game tonight.
The morning service started at 11am with sunshine, singing, and prayer. Then we were blessed with Communion. Pastor Luis introduced all of us from the U.S. (we were "special guests"), and thanked us for the keyboard...profusely, I might add. It was very humbling, and to all of you who were able to donate towards that purchase, please know that God is pleased. It sounded great and they were very happy with it! Pastor Luis had asked me to preach, so I spoke, and guess what? I only spoke for twenty minutes!! Now, don't be getting any ideas...my interpreter (Pastor Luis) took twenty minutes interpreting, so I guess my whole message was about forty minutes. ha.
We prayed for several people after service; again, we felt very honored and blessed to be a blessing to these good people.
At about 1:30, we went to the director of the school's home for lunch--wow, what a spread! I think we needed to go back to church to repent of gluttony. Honest. Then we walked a couple of blocks away for dessert at the French Riviera--very chic and modern. (Please note previous blog about spin bike.) During dessert, we were asked if we would like to join in helping at another kitchen in another colony, so we left from that restaurant, went to a grocery store to help purchase food, and traveled to the colony. Pastor Luis & I went down the streets inviting people to eat and to come to a church service (the "kitchen" is there just outside the church) while Ray, Sherrill, and Sheila helped make ham sandwiches. Eliana was there working like crazy, too. She's an Energizer Bunny if I've ever seen one! She and Pastor Luis are amazing people--they truly love God and want to see people's lives transformed.
About 100 people showed up for the service and meal. We were back at our hotel around 7:30pm, happy and tired. We can't really figure out why we're so tired, but we are. :)
Although I'm having a great time with plenty of ministry opportunities, my heart was with you in Bend today as well, thinking about all of my friends worshipping together, and then the sharing that I'm sure happened in Home Groups.
I've already had reports that everything went well today, as I knew it would. We have a wonderful, hard-working group of people. We brag about you all the time, even if it's just to the Lord sometimes in prayer! Thank you for being the church that I miss so much when I'm gone.
I refuse to even mention the card game tonight.
Saturday night, January 15...had a wonderful lunch with Pastor Luis and his wife Eliana. We discussed the upcoming mission trip at length. There is so much need, such as feeding hungry children in "colonies" (the name of super-poor neighborhoods), doing physical labor on the church, providing whatever we can physically and spiritually,...our prayer still needs to be "What exactly do You want us to do, Lord?" It can be overwhelming--the need--so we have to pare down to what we can accomplish and do well in a week's time.
After lunch, we went with Luis & Eliana and helped set up chairs for the service tomorrow. It brought back fond memories of setting up for our tent a few years ago (minus the snow, of course!). As you can imagine, the rest of the afternoon our minds were abuzz with ministry possibilities for FH.
I can see so many of you ministering in different ways here, being stretched, giving, laboring, encouraging, praying, playing, working so hard that you're happily exhausted.
Tonight we ate in-house and read through a possible play for the upcoming dinner theatre. That was fun, to say the least, each of us reading two or three different parts! (Actually, Ray and I were reluctant readers, but alas, all for His glory...)
Did I mention how much fun "Hand & Foot" is? (The boys are back.)
Oh, and "GO, SEAHAWKS!"
After lunch, we went with Luis & Eliana and helped set up chairs for the service tomorrow. It brought back fond memories of setting up for our tent a few years ago (minus the snow, of course!). As you can imagine, the rest of the afternoon our minds were abuzz with ministry possibilities for FH.
I can see so many of you ministering in different ways here, being stretched, giving, laboring, encouraging, praying, playing, working so hard that you're happily exhausted.
Tonight we ate in-house and read through a possible play for the upcoming dinner theatre. That was fun, to say the least, each of us reading two or three different parts! (Actually, Ray and I were reluctant readers, but alas, all for His glory...)
Did I mention how much fun "Hand & Foot" is? (The boys are back.)
Oh, and "GO, SEAHAWKS!"
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