Thursday & Friday Morning Adventures

NOTE: PICTURES & VIDEOS ARE VERY SLOW TO LOAD, SO I AM POSTING THIS, AND THEN I AM GOING TO POST PICS AND VIDEOS FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE.

Greetings everyone! I was hoping to post yesterday, but we did not arrive back home until 1:30 am, which was 2:30 am your time. Why we were out so late I will get to in a moment. Keep reading.

Yesterday morning we participated in the morning chapel held here at the orphanage. Shae and Dan shared their testimonies, and three of the teenagers from the ministry here shared their testimonies. It was a beautiful time of sharing how God's story and our stories came together. I then shared a message from Psalm 139. After our service the teams went out to do ministry. One team went to work in the warehouse, another team went out to the street to collect money for the orphanage, and the third team stayed here at the orphanage and unpacked, sorted, and repacked an entire food storage closet. In the afternoon we had some free time to play with the kids. Adriana and I worked on translating some pamplets and literature from Spanish to English so that they can expand their ministry into English-speaking countries.

Last night we traveled about 45 minutes accross the city and participated in a church service. Our kids experienced a passionate worship service the likes of which they have never seen. There was much dancing and celebration, and every one of our kids entered in (see videos in next post). It was a beautiful site to see them not just sitting around as outside observers, but full particpants. They didn't know the words, but they knew that we were celebrating Jesus, and they had a great time. They also performed their dances and a drama, and I preached a message entitled "Lo Mismo" which means "The Same Thing." I talked about the Great Commandment and how for Jesus and for us loving God and loving others are not seperate issues. We are called to love God by loving others. After my message there was some altar ministry, and then, of course, in typical Mexican fashion, there was another 45 minutes of praise unto the Lord. Everyone, including our Gringos, were soaked with sweat. It was hot enough without dancing, and when 500 people are dancing before the Lord, it is all out for Jesus!

After a 3 1/2 hour service, again, in typical Mexican tradition, we went out for tacos! YES! I ordered 50 tacos and the team cautiously took their first bites. But once they experienced this bit of heaven on earth, it was on! Several of the team ordered the all-you-can-eat buffet. The restaurant was filled with joy and laughter, and some watery eyes, runny noses, and numb lips (from the salsa). We finally left the restaurant at 1:00 am and returned home. Lights out was at 2, but many didn't fall asleep until about 3 am. This did not stop us, however, from getting up at 7 am to get back to work. I told them we did not come here to sleep, but to serve the Lord, and they all did a great job being at breakfast on time.


Unfortunately Matt Moreo was not able to participate with us during the day. During the soccer game the night prior, Matt fell a couple of times on the tile floor. He was very sore and had difficulty walking. We contacted his parents and let them know that we were going to get him to a doctor to have him checked out to ensure that nothing serious had occurred. We got him an appointment at 7:00 pm, and Tim Mee accompanied him with one of the leaders from the ministry who speaks English. They took some x-rays and examined him and concluded that his pain was muscular. Praise the Lord! He is still sore, but we are glad it was not more significant. Please pray that he will be able to walk on his own by Monday so that he can travel with us. Otherwise I will be forced to leave him here in Mexico and they will one day make a movie about his efforts to cross the border. This is the sacrifice we must make for the good of the team. We must desert the weak ones. Only the strong survive. Sorry Vinny & Maryanne. At least you still have Mike. Ha Ha Ha! lol

After breakfast this morning we had a brief team devo, and then we held another chapel servie. The format was the same as yesterday, but this time Bob Plank and Kerry shared their testimonies. Ady's voice was getting weak from all of her translating, so Pamela translated and Josh (my intern) gave the message. They did a great job!

After the service, I gave everyone an hour for some quiet time with the Lord so that they could pause and listen to Him and journal about their experiences thus far. During this time I had a meeting with the leaders, and we just went through some house keeping items and talked about some of the great things we are seeing. We then met with the entire team for a few minutes to share these things. Some of the encouragements and affirmations we shared were that the people here are really recognizing our teams' heart to serve. They have appreciated the joy that we have, and the fact that they are not complaining about their ministry assignments, but actually embracing them and doing them as unto the Lord. They said that another American team was here before, and before the left the shared that they were offended that the ministry asked them to go out on the street to ask for money for the ministry. Our kids, however, have jumped at the opportunity, and in front of cars (just kidding!) to raise funds for the orphanage. Emilio shared with Ady and I that the primary point of having the kids do this is not the amount of money. It is to help them understand (1) what many of these kids did to survive while living on the streets, and (2) to understand what they go through - the things they have to do - to keep the ministry running.

Another note: every day the kids here are treating us as their special guests, and as I mentioned before, they are out-serving us every day, as hard as we try to serve them. We noticed that the kids come and serve us our food at meal times and wait for us to be completely done before they eat themselves. Sometimes they are eating left-overs because the food runs out. Today we asked (1) if the children can sit at our table and eat with us at meal times, and (2) if we could serve them their food rather than them serving us. Of course, the leader Adriana was talking to was shocked by this request and tried very hard to get us to back down from our request. Adriana insisted and said that we wanted to do it, and our team needs that experience. With tears in his eyes, he finally said we could. We have made it our aim to love and serve as Jesus came and loved and served us. The revolution of love! May God be honored!

We love you and miss you all!

Mommy and Daddy love you Claudia and Natalia! Have fun with Nanna!

Thursday & Friday Morning Adventures