Pray for Juan!

Hey all!
Juan is a guy from the colonia who was just released from the drug rehab program. He is well known by the team and the whole colonia just as a druggie. While he was in the rehab program, Chris (from our team) visited him a few times. He expressed interest in staying clean and coming to church when he got out. We have been praying for him since Chris told us about him. And last night at cell group, guess who showed up?! God is SO good and SO faithful. He seemed to have a good time, and even signed up to do the ice breaker at next week’s cell group! We know we have to pray even harder now. His old “friends” are still around and there is just so much temptation. So, please join us in praying for Juan!! Pray that God would capture his heart and give him strength to stand up to the temptations, and the humility to admit he can’t do it without God’s help. Pray that the Christians in the colonia (specifically Chris, César, and Chicles (David)) would know how to love him and be his friend. That our church and cell group would accept and love him and that he would feel comfortable with us. Pray that he would not only stay clean but that God would transform him completely. Pray that he would know how long and wide and high is the love of Christ!

Remember what Jesus promises,
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. John 14:13

Thanks for praying friends!

Día de Independencia

So last week was Mexican Independence. The 16th. The night before is what they call the Grito (yell). The people of Fresnillo – about 10 thousand- gathered in the center at the government building and at 11pm the president of Fresnillo came out and gave a speech that ended in everyone yelling “¡Viva México!” People blew wistles and horns and sprayed shaving cream. Then the fireworks started. There was a structure in the middle of the crowd that spurted fireworks and little rockets for about 10 minutes. At one point a flaming something flew of into the crowd. No one was hurt as far as I know. I am continually amazed at what we can do in a country where people don’t sue like we do in the States. Then they had the fireworks I am used to. Big balls of color and loud booms. Except they were shot off about 30 feet from where we stood. OK, maybe I am exaggerating, but if I wanted to I could have pushed my way through the crowd to be 30 feet away. So we watched the fireworks directly overhead. SO cool. Much louder, more exciting, more dangerous and more of a strain on the neck than sitting on a blanket in the grass watching the fireworks from 2 miles away.

On the actual day of independence there was a parade. All the school kids were in it in their uniforms marching. After the parade I bought a flag and took a siesta to fulfill my job description for the day of “Appreciating Mexican culture”. Oh I also visited some of my girls and a church family. :)

emotional week

At the beginning of this week I started to get very sad about missing my friends. I thought a lot about how it will be a while before I really connect and go deep with the girls on the team, and even longer with the Mexican girls because of language and cultural barriers. I was already sad about it and then in Club the phrase of the week was “A good friend is a blessing from God” I almost cried when we were reviewing it. Thursday I did cry a bunch. Now that I look back on it I see that part of it was self-pity. I resisted comfort from God and just enjoyed my sorrow. Part of it was also valid mourning. It’s ok to be sad that I am away from my family and my close friends. I am going to have days when I am sad, and that’s ok. Even in the midst of all that, I still enjoyed and appreciated my team and praised God for bringing me here. And by Friday God snapped me out of it and I was able to really enjoy Him and be still Friday night. It was a sweet time of soaking and worship. I will explain soaking later.

Spanish is getting much better. I have been on a few visits with my girls, and we have been able to communicate pretty well. It helps when I pray ahead of time too. God has really helped me understand so much. Reading books with them also helps. Even if I can’t pronounce all the words or I read slowly, there are pictures and some of the girls can read themselves. On Saturday I got my fingernails painted by Sandra. One hand red, the other green. That night we had our first Conexión. Conxión and cell groups are for my age group. It is sweet to have that fellowship. We watched the USA vs Mexico game. We (US) won.

Praise the Lord with me!
-Spanish is coming along
-Jesus is my best friend
-29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus promises this in Matthew 11

Pray for me:
-That I would be able to figure out a schedule and a system (daytimer, to-do lists, etc) and stay organized
-That God would give me a tender heart as I get to know my girls and hear their stories
-Wisdom to know how to love them, how to talk to them
-Words and understanding to communicate with my girls.

Feeding and the Fair

Feeding = Torta
Fair = Feria

Torta
Last Saturday I was in charge of filling the bolillos, and that means I was in charge of about 6 girls ages 11-15. The first time I did this on my own, it was a long hard two hours. They didn’t listen very well and I think one of the girls was making fun of my Spanish. Which is so understandable, but it still hurt- mostly my pride. Then we ended up with a bunch of filling after all the bolillos were filled. Over all it was a discouraging time.
So this time I found Meredith in the kitchen before it all started and she prayed for me. As soon as we finished praying, Gaby walked in. She ended up being on the set up team, not in the kitchen but nearby so anytime I needed to, I could ask her for help. The girls on my team were angels. SO polite and always asking what else they could do to help. And they sang worship songs as they filled. Even one of the less angelic girls was asking all about me as we worked together- I did not expect to be so encouraged by the Jovs, but that’s the amazing and beautiful thing about God’s Spirit living in people.

We have been praying that Adaneli would be able to hear and talk and sing praise to God. As we washed cups, I would break out into the kid’s songs every once in a while. When Adaneli saw me she started signing too. It was just noises at different tones, but so beautiful. She explained to us that she was singing praises to God. So we praised God as we washed dishes.

What I learned at torta:
If you stick you hand in a big jar of chilies and chili juice, and then later in bleach water, it burns.
To make it stop burning, you put your hand in lard with a little salt. Trust me it really works.
If you have chile juice on you hands and you touch your eye it will burn. To make it stop burning, put you hair in your eye. If you hair is not long enough, find a friend with long hair.
That’s what I hear at least.

Fair
Last weekend we also went to the fair. The only other Fair that I have been to is the North Carolina State fair. I am suspicious that the same exact fair travels to Mexico. I will now take the time to list important similarities and differences. If you don’t find something that you are wondering about, its probably the same, or something I know nothing about like whatever that crazy thing is.. dirt derby, crash something.. oh, Demolition Derby. Yeah, I didn’t see anything like that. In Fresnillo we drive those cars.

Different
Pancakes instead of funnel cakes.
Entrance is free
Gorditas and tacos instead of turkey legs
Churros instead of fried candy bars
Next to the hand painted dishware they sell socks- lots of socks- American Eagle socks.
An armed mob squad marching around in formation. (do we have that in NC?).

Same
Cowboy boots and hats
NC rivals represented. Ok, maybe I was the only one sporting a NC State t-shirt and baseball hat. (the difference was that I didn’t mind walking around with Chicles in his Tarheels hat and sweatshirt. It was much better after he had “Cristo me ama” (Jesus Loves me) airbrushed on the back of his hat.)
Tons of people.
Our group wandered around and talked a lot about what to do next
From the top of the Ferris wheel you can see the whole city.
A cow with 6 hooves! Only 10 pesos!
Expensive rides that make you sick.
Lots of people, even when its raining.
My favorite part is the Ferris wheel

Katrina

It is different to be out of the country while something like this happens. I feel detatched, and in some ways that is nice, in other ways I would rather know the details and hurt more for those who are suffering. In any case, we are praying for those in New Orleans who have lost loved ones, homes, lives. We are praying with hope as we remember that God does work all things for the good of those who love Him, and for His glory.
May Your kingdom come and Your will be done, oh Lord.