MEXICO MISSION TRIP 2008

James 1: 27 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

Dear Family and Friends,

We returned safely from Mexico late afternoon on Sunday. We have many stories to share with you about our 9-day ministry in Chihuahua, Mexico! THANK YOU so much for your prayers. Though Ed and I went last year to Mexico, we found this trip very different in terms of the location, needs, etc. Much prayer was needed and ya'll did a terrific job keeping up with us!

Basic Information
Our team stayed at Casa Hogar - a Chihuahua orphanage that was created by Hermano Luis and Hermana Cecy. We were challenged with the ministry of playing with the kids and helping out with contruction projects around the orphanage. Since we were staying at the orphanage, we slept and ate with the kids for the entire time! Here are some pictures of us around the orphanage:

Lesson #1: God's Love Around the World

The orphanage itself is a story. Luis and Cecy moved into the facilities just two weeks prior to our arrival. A family friend donated the actual land for the orphanage and much of the building has been built with funds sent over from different North American churches. We were very humbled by the way Luis and Cecy live by faith everyday to provide for the children and their own family of 5 (they have three sons). About twenty children are living in the orphanage most having been removed from their families by the Mexican government. We heard several testimonies from the children and Luis/Cecy sharing about the drug abuse, alcohol, prostitution, and sexual abuse that has destroyed their families. Some of the these kids had been rejected by other orphanages in the past because of different circumstances. These kids live in the orphanage not because they are "orphans", but because their immediate family cannot take care of them presently. Once the parents have dealt with their demons...the children are allowed to return to their family.

We saw God moving in all these children. Some children would openly share how God had changed their life since coming to live in the orphanage. Other children were just learning about God. Probably most evident was the way in which Luis and Cecy loved each child as their own. No matter what behavioral problems or specific need a child had...we saw over and over how Luis and Cecy loved the child and reminded them of God's unconditional love for them. It was a beautiful picture.

Lesson #2: the Power of Prayer

Mary, our translator, got sick halfway through our trip. She had a severe sore throat and had stomach issues for over 72 hours. She finally went to the Mexico doctor and found out that she had e coli! He gave her some medicine (for free because she was with the orphanage) and PRAISE GOD she started feeling much better. She was able to join us for the remaining last two days and offer alot of helpful translations as well as have many meaningful conversations with the children.

Poor Josh! He had this weird eye irritation and eventually started swelling around the eye. One day he was helping move some metal pieces and somehow got his wrist cut. The picture above is after Josh got the cut. He was to hold his arm above his heart to stop the bleed. Here he is trying to paint with one hand. On top of that, he had a fever. Luis and Cesi thought it was enough of a concern to take him to the Mexican doctor, but the doctor was out when he went. Thus, we gave Josh a Tylenol and sent him to bed. Miraculously, he got up the next morning and everything was fine including his eye!

Lesson #3: the Body of Christ
One of the best parts of the trip was getting to observe our youth and how they would respond to a cross cultural experience. We saw alot of humility and maturity in the youth throughout the trip.

Here are some of the challenges that they faced coming into the trip:

• Limited number of people with Spanish speaking abilities (Chris takes Japanese in school, Josh takes French, Stephen just got back from Asia)
• Alex's first time taking a trip outside of the U.S.
• No Chinese food for over 7 days!!!!
• Living in simple means (no internet, tv, facebook, etc.)

However, we saw God choose to use US while we were there! It's always amazing to see how our individual talents and gifts can be used...

• Mary, a teacher from Minnesota, volunteered her summer break to translate for us! Alex was able to use his Spanish 3 skills to help us as well!
  
• Chris, Josh, Stephen, & Ed used their guitar skills to help entertain and encourage the kids with praise music!
• Josh P. used his past Bellaire chess club experience to play chess with the kiddos
• Christine used her artistic skills to draw pictures for the girls
• Cindy's duct tape was used over and over again on the trip...not to mention her ability to climb a ladder!
• Jen's unlimited energy was used to play with the kids for HOURS at a time after we had put in a full day of construction.
• Alex also used his computer skills to help Hermano Luis edit a slideshow he had been working on for the orphanage
• Cecy's amazing cooking (imagine cooking for over 30 people every meal) opened our eyes to the yummy world of Mexican food
• Luis actually spent some time living in the USA -- so his English was really good; we had no trouble communicating with him; he was our 2nd translator!
  

We have more stories to share, but hopefully we'll get to share them in person with ya'll. Thank you again for supporting us, the church, the youth, and missions around the world. We are indeed thankful to serve our Mighty God!