Sunday, July 26, 2009

Mofles is Spanish for Muffler

I'm sitting here enjoying a glass of ice. Yes. Ice. It's a treat here in Mexico. It is settling in my stomach on top of the mantaray soup we ate after church. Yes. Mantaray. These things...

Rafa makes a soup that is actually quite delicious. You'll have to come to Ensenada to try it!

So much has happened through this ministry over the past few weeks. Within the past month or so, we've built a boys dormitory for children with special needs, 10 houses, and the second story of Reyerio's church. We successfully survived the largest week of our summer! Last week, we hosted 81 people from Princeton, New Jersey. Through all of these teams, relationships have been formed that are so encouraging. And even if these people never see one another again, they'll have lasting memories that their change lives. Even in just a small way.

I have a new friend at the weekly Bible class (VBS) at Roca Fuerte. His name is Mofles (MOE-flays). It literally means muffler. He's a skinny, bronen-skinned boy whose amost 4 years old. Last week, he came to VBS in a pair of khaki shorts. That's it. It was another hot day so it made sense that he wouldn't want to put a shirt on. But his shoes. Where were his shoes? I jokingly asked what happened to his shirt and poked his belly just to get a glimpse of his cute little smile. But where were his shoes? When VBS ended we all went outside to play and eat snack. I could tell his feet were burning on the hot sand so we went to sit on a bench in the shade of the church. I asked, "Where are your shoes?" He told me he doesn't have any. This makes me sad. But as sad as that makes me, it makes me just as happy to just sit with him. They way he cuddles into my lap. Showing me his animal crackers (he thought it was a horse. i thought it was a rhinocerous.) His shy smile. His skinny arms. His dirty hands. He is God's. And God will take care of him. If God wants to use me to show him a little love, good. If God wants to use someone else, good. But God will take care of Mofles.

Please pray for Rosi because she's due to have her baby girl this week!!

Here are a few pictures from these past couple weeks that I like. Just imagine you're here with me!













Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Hot Busy Love

Those are the three words I would use to describe what's going on here right now.

It's been in the high 80s I think for the past couple weeks and it's killer. I know the high 80s sounds like a perfect temperature for those of you in Vegas right now, but we're used to it being much cooler than that. Pray for our teams we go out to construction and working with kids every day. That sun beats down and can take a toll on our bodies.

We are in the middle of our 3rd week of constant group-ness. We've had groups from New Jersey, South Carolina, and Iowa with a total of about 120 people. Every day brings new adventures. Sometimes, I'm in the kitchen cooking with our beautiful chef Tomasa. Last night, we made close to 200 flautas and vats full of beans and pasta salad. Gotta love it. Sometimes I'm helping lead the groups to the beach or souveneir shopping. Hard life, right? Sometimes I'm at vacation Bible school. Rarely I'm at the construction site. Sometimes I'm food shopping. A lot of the time I'm cleaning and organizing stuff around our ministry base. And the list goes on.

Please pray for our team as we have a group of 80 from Jersey coming in on Saturday. This is double our average group size. It will be a week of streching and a week that will only work through the Spirit. As I look ahead I'm intimidated by the size of what is going to happen but then I look at our God and I just laugh. He is so good and He has good plans for this week.

Even though it's hot and busy I have a continued growing love inside me. God is showing me things about myself and about himself and it's brought me such joy. Life is hard but God is more than enough for me. As long as God is with me, anything can happen and it will be ok. Because I know who I am and where I'm going. I have been saved by the One who made this universe and I'm going to spend forever with Him. That is something to smile about.

Here are a couple pictures of one of the groups as they were building a house and after ministry at the Boys Home (boys rehab/correctional center).