Pictures

So my new posts posted under my last one... in case you wanted to cheak them out. Here are a few pictures from the trip! :)



Here is a link to some more pictures!

El Comi

We went to a juvenile detention center, El Comi, in Mexico. We went there to play with the kids. It was my first time in a prison, and it was a little weird at first. My group began to play volleyball, basketball, and of course, soccer against the Mexican inmates. I couldn't believe how young some of these boys looked.

I was watching the soccer game with Allie when we started talking with one boy (Oscar, a.k.a. Billy Jane) and eventually we were surrounded by a group of them. They were really interested in what we had to say. A few of them shared the story of their lives with us. One boy was sent to prison 3 years ago (at the age of 13) for being caught with pot. Even though it was his first time with pot, he had a record and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. One boy showed me track marks on his arms from when he was a heroin addict and was sent to prison for dealing it. And one other boy had been there for 8 days for stealing and was waiting for his trial.

As they opened up to us one of them said to me “tell me about you”. Ok… can you say HUGE opportunity? So I shared with them a little bit about me, the real reason I was there, and about God. They all listened and seemed interested. I really hope it made some sort of an impact on their lives. One of them had actually converted to Catholicism (BIG religion in Mexico) during his time in prison. I got to share with him the similarities and differences of Catholicism and Christianity (well as much as I could in Spanish anyways). Anyways… El Comi was just one other unforgettable experience I had. Sorry I don’t have any pictures… we were not allowed to take anything but our water bottles into the prison.

Shinning Shoes

This was my first real experience of “Servant Evangelism”. We started outside of Wal Mart and ended up outside of LEY. We just asked people if we could shine their shoes (half of our group shone shoes and half washed windows). It was pretty cool to see their expression when they heard it was completely free. While the gringos washed the shoes, a translator shared the gospel and invited them to a church service near by. Many people reacted very well and agreed to come to church that week. It was a really interesting way to evangelize and it seemed to reach people very effectively.

Pancake Breakfast

We brought breakfast to a very poor neighborhood and did our program. It was the first time we did our skits and I was dressed as a clown. It was WAY out of my comfort zone… but not by the end of the trip. For me, this service was really just about building relationships. I met a group of Junior High girls and we talked a lot. I got to see a few of them at church a few days later… it was just really neat building relationships with people who did not speak my language. It was the first time I had spoken my Spanish since school (where I didn’t learn very much anyways) and it really helped me to feel comfortable speaking it (which came in very useful later on!). This was one of the little girls there... she was so sweet!

La Fuente

La Fuente is the church where we stayed. They had about 800 members, and had planted around 6 churches. There goal was to reach out to different areas of the city (with groups and programs like ours) and then to plant churches in those areas. I know that there are churches here with the same purpose. I really love this idea. (I think New Hope is doing this as well, right?)

Sunday night we went to service. The sermon was really good, and the worship was incredible. There is no way you could ignore the presence of God (well… why would you want to anyways?). Everyone enjoyed worshiping God even though for most of us we did not understand what we were saying. I totally felt the power of God at work. It was also cool to think about the same experience you have with God here in America, is also experienced by people all over the world (I know… duh… but it’s a cool feeling). At one point the pastor stage dove off the stage into the crowd. It was a really cool experience. For some reason whenever I worship in different language it always seems to be incredible. Any worship is great… but it tends to always be really powerful in Spanish. Has anyone else experienced this? Why do think this is so?

El Ocho

Do you feel grateful for what you have? It always amazes me how people are so ungrateful, yet some are grateful even when it appears that they have nothing. El Ocho was probably one of the poorest places we visited. It was amazing what these people did NOT have. Most of their houses did not have real walls, some made of cardboard. Many of the little kids could not even afford clothes or shoes, and so many of them looked so sick. The community was on a mountain, and when it would rain, there would be mudslides, which would destroy many of their houses. These people had lost so much and they did not have anything, yet they were so thankful for what they did have and they were so happy for us to be there with them. I am so thankful for everything God has given me and for the amazing family He has surrounded me with.

Ultimate AIM

Ok… so for those of you at a point in your life (finishing out high school maybe) where you don’t know what to do, or even are just free to do something like this, I want to share with you an opportunity that was given to me this week. I was invited to be involved in a pretty cool program. It’s called Ultimate AIM. It is based in Guadalajara, Mexico and it gives you the opportunity to live there for two years doing missions work, as well as completing your first two years of college. I am defiantly praying about this commitment because I think this would be such a cool experience. (I want to do something missions orientated after high school, and this is just one of my choices.) If you are not sure what you want to do after high school, this is something you should look into. Also, check out a post my sister wrote: Why Not?

Indian Reservation

I don’t even know were to start about my trip. I had so many experiences that I cannot even put into words. However, the day we went to the Indian Reservation was one of the most touching times. We got there on Tuesday morning, broke up into groups, and started walking around the neighborhood with a translator to invite the families to “a free program for the kids with clowns, candy, dramas, and games” (this is what we did before every one of our “open air” services).

As we began to walk around the reservation I immediately was touched by their living conditions. All of the people seemed to be sick. There was poop (sorry Dennae) in the middle of the streets, and my translator started telling me that it was NOT from the animals, but from the people who did not want to get used to the living conditions (indoor plumbing) the government set up for them. I saw little kids who were wearing no clothes or shoes, just underwear. It broke my heart seeing these people.

When we came back, I started talking to the little kids. Suddenly, a little girl came running up to me and gave me a huge hug. I was pretty surprised, because most of the kids took a little bit of time of warming up to you, and she was not acting like that towards anyone else but me. We played football and blew bubbles. She tried so hard to understand my broken Spanish, and we had some great conversations. When the program started she would not leave my side. At one point I was up front and she came up and stood by me. Her eyes were glued to me during every skit I was in, and the ones I was not in she was sitting on my lap. At the end of the program she accepted Christ as her Savior, and gave her heart to him.

When we were done I played with her (as well as many other kids) for a little while longer. She asked me to come to the store with her and she bought me a piece of gum (really stale bubble gum) that was wrapped with a tattoo. She placed the “el espongebob” tattoo on my arm. She was really sad when I told her I had to leave. I gave her a big bottle of bubbles (I wish I had more I could have given her). She took my hand and walked me to the vans. She watched me as I went into the back row of my van, and waited until we pulled out. As the van drove away, she came running after the van. It broke my heart to leave her. I connected like this with many kids during the week, but this little 8 year old girl (whose name is too Hispanic for me to repeat) touched me in a different way. I pray God will keep her safe and put someone in her life to keep her near to Him. I was there to impact kids lives. I don’t know how much of an impact I made on her, but she made a pretty big dent in mine.

Ok… well I have been avoiding setting up my blog, mostly because I’ve never thought I had very much to say. I am not very much of a writer… but I won’t get better until I start writing now will I? So I decided to just write whatever God lays on my heart, and you English majors will just have to deal with it. :) I am going to start by writing about my experience in Tepic, Mexico this summer (July 7-15, 2005).