Heading home today, and I am ready. I miss my life as a non missionary, but I hope that I head back a changed man. More willing to live out my faith. More willing to share with others. More willing to trust in the Lord. Committed to a quiet time to be in His word. Praying for the church in Boquillas and the larger church around the world. Having a better understanding of the tactics of the enemy. Putting myself squarely in the stream of God's way of moving. Loving the Lord more deeply and loving the praise of other men less. Allowing myself to realize that I don't have to move mountains to win the love of God.
We had another sharing time this morning, just the group from PRC this time, followed by breakfast. Our kids indicated that if they had it to do over again, they would play more with the Mexican kids. Sam Voss also shared something touching - that he had really appreciated mentoring and encouragement from Peter during the week.
We said goodbye to Lupe this morning. Each of us took a porcelain trinket as she had requested. There is not much that I would want less than a porcelain trinket, but I did not want to offend Lupe. I was touched, though, that she wanted us to have something to remember her by. Leah was very excited about taking something. I hope hers doesn't get broken on the plane.
The bus was late again. Just before getting on, I scared a calf that was running down the street. Quite foolish of me, and I was not able to retrieve the calf. I faked like I was going to takcle the calf and I guess it figured that I really would.
The bus ride was uneventful. I will say that the countryside looked different on the way home than it did on the way to Boquillas.
Bought the kids donuts at the airport. Laura bought a bag and I bought a Twix bar that I forgot to eat.
Now, sitting on the plane...
March 25, 2011
I would describe this week as a ball rolling downhill and gaining momentum. Last night the ball flew into the air. Four new Christians accepted Christ at our meeting last night. Well, I guess Pedro had already accepted Jesus the night before, but last night he shared his story with our group. It was powerful! He said that he had been up at the soccer field as we started worship Thursday night. When he heard the music, something stirred within him and told him that he had to go. So he left immediately. When the pastor invited people forward to pray to accept Jesus as their savior, the same voice inside him told him to go forward. But he couldn't. Then the pastor invited people to the front for laying on of hands for healing, and Pedro said that he drew strength when he saw his aunt go forward. He told the pastor that he wanted to pray to accept Jesus. At that moment, his eternal destiny changed forever. What a testimony! It was powerful to hear Pedro share his story.
Pedro told us this last night, during a time of sharing. We got together, just PRC and the church from Boquillas, to reflect on and discuss the week. After the sharing time, Roberto came to us and said that he wanted to pray the same prayer as Pedro, to accept Jesus as his savior. This was also very moving for me. Roberto was the first person in Boquillas who I had talked to after arriving. It was special to be able to pray with him as he became a Christian.
I walked back to Lupe's and got my Spanish/English bible for him, but when I got back to Mamma Mago's house I learned that Juan had already given Roberto his own bible. Shortly thereafter, I was glad I had gotten my bible because Roberto's friend Miguel accepted Jesus too! So I gave Miguel my bible. Then, Luis also accepted the Lord! So I walked back to Lupe's a second time and got Laura's Spanish/English bible for Luis. What a blessed night!
Earlier, I had the privilege of baptizing Rebecca and Leah. Lupe and Nicholas came to the baptisms. They were 30 minutes late, but then we were running 30 minutes late for the baptisms...I was praying for Nicholas, but he did not come forward to accept Jesus and be baptized himself. I am still praying for him to do this, and will continue to do so.
Chuck Voss also baptized Sam, Judah, and Caleb, and then Tim Hedges baptized Anna. Pedro, Vicky, and Veronica (?) were also baptized. After the baptism, we took the kids to the store for some snacks as a small celebration.
Earlier in the day, we took communion to Trinidad and Lola. I think that Trinidad is 90 and Lola is 89 years old. Lola was sick, so we started with prayers for healing for her, Peter, and Hal. Peter had a strange pain in his ankle that was very severe when he woke up, and was not sure what had happened. After praying, we had the Lord's supper together. It was so different from what we would do in church. We were outside, among the trees and flowers in Lola's courtyard. We had left over bread and mango orange juice for the blood because we could not find grape juice. Thomas shared how this was more like communion in the early church. Lola also shared some verses with us and we recited John 3:16 together. When we left, Mark Stephens gave Thomas what had been collected and we were able to give them almost $7000 pesos.
Laura was really struck by the beauty of being able to share communion with Lola and Trinidad. I was also, but I was disturbed that it had been a year since they last had it. Why should they have to wait for the church from Colorado to bring them communion when there is a church in Boquillas who could do the same? Apparently, Victor doe not believe that he can do this because he is not yet an "official" pastor. He still needs some training. Discussing this with Thomas later, the idea is that the pastor from Leon will come and mentor victor. I will try to remember to pray for this.
A group of us walked up to the old Boquillas church, just to see it. Pastor Gabino still lives there and runs his bakery store from the same building. It is a small, yellow building, with a second story for Sunday school classes. I learned that the final straw in the church split was when Gabino told the church that they could not have their own bible study. The rule was that it had to be in the church building - nowhere else. And pastor Gabino had to be there or there could be no study. Talk about control issues...He was the same way with evangelizing, I was told. You had to bring new believers to him and he would share Jesus with them inside the walls of the church. Nowhere else. And no other person in the church was "trained" to share the good news. I am not sure how someone can be led so far astray. I fear this is demonic. If so, perhaps mighty acts for God are in store for the Boquillas church, if the enemy attacks like that. Gabino was a big obstacle to the gospel of Christ spreading in this town, in this area, and by all indications the obstacle has been overcome.
Nobody knows what will happen with the property or why the association of churches continues to support Gabino as a pastor.
Continuing to work backwards to the morning, we finished Galatians during our men's devotion. Pedro came for the study, which was unexpected. He shared some insights also, revealing that he has been in the word although non one knew it. His coming to bible study was a sign of the great things that would happen Friday night.
Pedro told us this last night, during a time of sharing. We got together, just PRC and the church from Boquillas, to reflect on and discuss the week. After the sharing time, Roberto came to us and said that he wanted to pray the same prayer as Pedro, to accept Jesus as his savior. This was also very moving for me. Roberto was the first person in Boquillas who I had talked to after arriving. It was special to be able to pray with him as he became a Christian.
I walked back to Lupe's and got my Spanish/English bible for him, but when I got back to Mamma Mago's house I learned that Juan had already given Roberto his own bible. Shortly thereafter, I was glad I had gotten my bible because Roberto's friend Miguel accepted Jesus too! So I gave Miguel my bible. Then, Luis also accepted the Lord! So I walked back to Lupe's a second time and got Laura's Spanish/English bible for Luis. What a blessed night!
Earlier, I had the privilege of baptizing Rebecca and Leah. Lupe and Nicholas came to the baptisms. They were 30 minutes late, but then we were running 30 minutes late for the baptisms...I was praying for Nicholas, but he did not come forward to accept Jesus and be baptized himself. I am still praying for him to do this, and will continue to do so.
Chuck Voss also baptized Sam, Judah, and Caleb, and then Tim Hedges baptized Anna. Pedro, Vicky, and Veronica (?) were also baptized. After the baptism, we took the kids to the store for some snacks as a small celebration.
Earlier in the day, we took communion to Trinidad and Lola. I think that Trinidad is 90 and Lola is 89 years old. Lola was sick, so we started with prayers for healing for her, Peter, and Hal. Peter had a strange pain in his ankle that was very severe when he woke up, and was not sure what had happened. After praying, we had the Lord's supper together. It was so different from what we would do in church. We were outside, among the trees and flowers in Lola's courtyard. We had left over bread and mango orange juice for the blood because we could not find grape juice. Thomas shared how this was more like communion in the early church. Lola also shared some verses with us and we recited John 3:16 together. When we left, Mark Stephens gave Thomas what had been collected and we were able to give them almost $7000 pesos.
Laura was really struck by the beauty of being able to share communion with Lola and Trinidad. I was also, but I was disturbed that it had been a year since they last had it. Why should they have to wait for the church from Colorado to bring them communion when there is a church in Boquillas who could do the same? Apparently, Victor doe not believe that he can do this because he is not yet an "official" pastor. He still needs some training. Discussing this with Thomas later, the idea is that the pastor from Leon will come and mentor victor. I will try to remember to pray for this.
A group of us walked up to the old Boquillas church, just to see it. Pastor Gabino still lives there and runs his bakery store from the same building. It is a small, yellow building, with a second story for Sunday school classes. I learned that the final straw in the church split was when Gabino told the church that they could not have their own bible study. The rule was that it had to be in the church building - nowhere else. And pastor Gabino had to be there or there could be no study. Talk about control issues...He was the same way with evangelizing, I was told. You had to bring new believers to him and he would share Jesus with them inside the walls of the church. Nowhere else. And no other person in the church was "trained" to share the good news. I am not sure how someone can be led so far astray. I fear this is demonic. If so, perhaps mighty acts for God are in store for the Boquillas church, if the enemy attacks like that. Gabino was a big obstacle to the gospel of Christ spreading in this town, in this area, and by all indications the obstacle has been overcome.
Nobody knows what will happen with the property or why the association of churches continues to support Gabino as a pastor.
Continuing to work backwards to the morning, we finished Galatians during our men's devotion. Pedro came for the study, which was unexpected. He shared some insights also, revealing that he has been in the word although non one knew it. His coming to bible study was a sign of the great things that would happen Friday night.
March 24, 2011
Today we went to the water park. This was a "down day" that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but we decided to move it to Thursday since VBS would be finished then. All of the kids took this change in schedule very well, with the exception of one of ours.
We met at Mamma Mago's house and got on the bus at around 8:30. On the bus, Brenda White had the kids raise their right hand and take a pledge that they would not complain - no matter what happened that day, to include if the water park was not even open. They all took the pledge.
The drive to Abosolo was very pretty. The road left from the back side of Boquillas and went up over a ridge, with Abosolo on the other side of the ridge and down the valley on the other side. I continue to be amazed with how rocky the farmland is here.
When we got to the "La Caldera" water park, they charged the adults half price ($48 pesos) since "not everything in the park was open". This was a bad sign, I knew, and I started thinking about the complaining that would come from our kids. It wasn't really true that not everything was open. Actually, *none* of the rides were open. And there were no lifeguards in the entire park, so it was obvious that they weren't expecting very many people (anyone?) to show up that day. I'm was a little shocked that they would let anyone in at all with no lifeguards. I guess my roots in litigious American culture are showing a little.
Mark was disappointed and had an extremely negative reaction. It was partly that nothing was open and partly that it took us so long to get sunscreen on, get changed, get our stuff organized, and get into the water. He was hard to handle during this time, but once we got into the water he settled down. Actually, I thought that all of the kids handled the situation extraordinarily well.
The water park was filled with palm trees and was absolutely beautiful. There were quite a few flumes and some very steep slides that looked pretty fun. And the park was filled with tables that, I'm sure, are packed with kids and families on a summer day. There were crews of workers sandblasting the flumes, the lines to which were blocked off with police tape.
Although none of the slides and plumes were open, most of them had very large pools at the bottom, and we were able to swim in these. They were warm and, I'm told, were naturally heated by a hot spring. There was a large wave pool that was also open, albeit with no waves. It was refreshing to just relax in the water.
Before not too long, a group of people were leaving to go shopping in the market district of Abosolo. I decided to stay with the kids so that they could swim because I knew they would not be ready to leave yet. This turned out to be fairly stressful. At one point, I had 5 kids in the pool with me, none of them mine, whose parents had told me "Watch him/her. They don't really swim, so keep an eye out". Praise God I didn't lose any of them, although I had a scary moment with Gus right off the bat. Another interesting moment was the huge snake that swam into the wave pool. Some workers killed it after it swam across the pool and climbed up the other side.
Laura shopped and bought some small bowls, aprons, and something that would serve as a Christmas ornament. We all had (warm) showers before dinner, which felt truly awesome. We left the park after dinner and had a long wait for the bus driver. Had a locked bus, but no driver, which gave us a chance to stand around aimlessly for 35 minutes in the barrio. Turns out the bus driver had walked up the street to get some dinner.
The Leon church was setup when we arrived back at Mamma Mago's and we enjoyed worshipping with them again. Lots of praise songs, a sermon about accepting Christ, and an invitation at the end for anyone to come forward and accept Jesus. Nicholas was at church (again!), and I was praying earnestly for him to go forward, but he did not. I am still praying for Nicholas and will continue to do so. Finished the night processing the day and the trip so far with Laura over a bag of choco snacks from the tienda. She mentioned that she views the culture here as somewhat selfish and provided some support for that view. I think that this is true of the culture everywhere.
We met at Mamma Mago's house and got on the bus at around 8:30. On the bus, Brenda White had the kids raise their right hand and take a pledge that they would not complain - no matter what happened that day, to include if the water park was not even open. They all took the pledge.
The drive to Abosolo was very pretty. The road left from the back side of Boquillas and went up over a ridge, with Abosolo on the other side of the ridge and down the valley on the other side. I continue to be amazed with how rocky the farmland is here.
When we got to the "La Caldera" water park, they charged the adults half price ($48 pesos) since "not everything in the park was open". This was a bad sign, I knew, and I started thinking about the complaining that would come from our kids. It wasn't really true that not everything was open. Actually, *none* of the rides were open. And there were no lifeguards in the entire park, so it was obvious that they weren't expecting very many people (anyone?) to show up that day. I'm was a little shocked that they would let anyone in at all with no lifeguards. I guess my roots in litigious American culture are showing a little.
Mark was disappointed and had an extremely negative reaction. It was partly that nothing was open and partly that it took us so long to get sunscreen on, get changed, get our stuff organized, and get into the water. He was hard to handle during this time, but once we got into the water he settled down. Actually, I thought that all of the kids handled the situation extraordinarily well.
The water park was filled with palm trees and was absolutely beautiful. There were quite a few flumes and some very steep slides that looked pretty fun. And the park was filled with tables that, I'm sure, are packed with kids and families on a summer day. There were crews of workers sandblasting the flumes, the lines to which were blocked off with police tape.
Although none of the slides and plumes were open, most of them had very large pools at the bottom, and we were able to swim in these. They were warm and, I'm told, were naturally heated by a hot spring. There was a large wave pool that was also open, albeit with no waves. It was refreshing to just relax in the water.
Before not too long, a group of people were leaving to go shopping in the market district of Abosolo. I decided to stay with the kids so that they could swim because I knew they would not be ready to leave yet. This turned out to be fairly stressful. At one point, I had 5 kids in the pool with me, none of them mine, whose parents had told me "Watch him/her. They don't really swim, so keep an eye out". Praise God I didn't lose any of them, although I had a scary moment with Gus right off the bat. Another interesting moment was the huge snake that swam into the wave pool. Some workers killed it after it swam across the pool and climbed up the other side.
Laura shopped and bought some small bowls, aprons, and something that would serve as a Christmas ornament. We all had (warm) showers before dinner, which felt truly awesome. We left the park after dinner and had a long wait for the bus driver. Had a locked bus, but no driver, which gave us a chance to stand around aimlessly for 35 minutes in the barrio. Turns out the bus driver had walked up the street to get some dinner.
The Leon church was setup when we arrived back at Mamma Mago's and we enjoyed worshipping with them again. Lots of praise songs, a sermon about accepting Christ, and an invitation at the end for anyone to come forward and accept Jesus. Nicholas was at church (again!), and I was praying earnestly for him to go forward, but he did not. I am still praying for Nicholas and will continue to do so. Finished the night processing the day and the trip so far with Laura over a bag of choco snacks from the tienda. She mentioned that she views the culture here as somewhat selfish and provided some support for that view. I think that this is true of the culture everywhere.
March 23, 2011
Yesterday...started slowly, I suppose, for me. We had devotions on Galatians chapter 5. Funny thing was that Victor accidentally read Ephesians 5, but the passage harmonized well with what we had all read. And Mark Stephens did Galatians 4 by accident, with similar harmony.
I journaled and spent some time reflecting on the trip so far while the ladies had their devotions. After our morning meeting, I decided not to go on the visitations (it was a short visit anyway since it was a visit to Victor and Jose, who were working) and instead started a game of catch with the Mexican kids in the street. This was a lot of fun, both for me and for the kids. Peter joined in and then we decided to throw some batting practice for the kids. We played in the field across the street from Mamma Mago's house. This went well and we were almost through a full rotation of about 12 kids when one of the boys nailed another with a rock, right below the eye. I dealt with this situation and then left to go prepare for VBS.
This was the last of the 3 days of VBS, and it went well. Somehow we forgot the backgrounds for the skit, which was disappointing. The VBS lesson was "Operacion Rescate", which was about a polluting factory that changes its ways and then the town gets cleaned up. It was a metaphor for our salvation in Christ, but perhaps, maybe, there was a left of center environmental message in there also. Anyway, the background drawings, which Laura and I had made, were the factory, some trees, some houses, and a river. The first 2 days of VBS they are polluted, and then the on the last day they are clean. Forever clean. Unfortunately, we forgot them, so we improvised by finding some trash in the schoolyard and then picking it up as part of the skit. In Boquillas, there is trash around, so it wasn't hard to find.
Our classroom was the 6-8 year old boys, and we had 20 boys. Slightly chaotic. Some of the boys I could tell were not going to memorize their verse. Perhaps for some of them, it was distracting to have some strange looking gringo kneeling next to them. Anyway, for the boys who were struggling, I decided to just read and repeat the verse several times with them and then give them a toy. It was funny because I detected that Sonja was more hard core than this. I think that she went back and demanded more from some of the boys after I had moved on.
After VBS, which ended at 7:00 pm, we went straight back to setup for our compressed, 1 night "Wild at Heart" meeting, which started at 7:00 pm. I could hear music again as we walked down the hill to Mamma Mago's, and I was wondering if we were walking into a repeat of the previous night. But the band was setup on the other side of the courtyard and only played a few songs.
Steve Aldrich introduced the topic in English and Donato translated to Spanish. I could tell that the men gathered enjoyed Steve's introduction. Next, we had decided to play "The Ultimate Prize" video. After a 5 minute technical glitch with the projector (first, no sound; then I rewired the sound, but had no video; had to reboot the projector and we were in business), we watched the movie in Spanish.
After this, Steve shared the story of his "father wound", which was powerful stuff. The men gathered had a sheet of paper to make notes from their own lives throughout. And they did. After Steve was done, nobody got up to leave. With a courtyard full of men, that is what I would expect. But nobody left. Steve invited men to share some of their own story, and one man did. He shared about having grown up as an orphan and stressed the importance of making the most of the time that you have with your loved ones. Donato then shared his story of redemption and how it changed his family life. Overall, it was a great discussion and I hope that God will use it to speak into the lives of the men of Boquillas.
I journaled and spent some time reflecting on the trip so far while the ladies had their devotions. After our morning meeting, I decided not to go on the visitations (it was a short visit anyway since it was a visit to Victor and Jose, who were working) and instead started a game of catch with the Mexican kids in the street. This was a lot of fun, both for me and for the kids. Peter joined in and then we decided to throw some batting practice for the kids. We played in the field across the street from Mamma Mago's house. This went well and we were almost through a full rotation of about 12 kids when one of the boys nailed another with a rock, right below the eye. I dealt with this situation and then left to go prepare for VBS.
This was the last of the 3 days of VBS, and it went well. Somehow we forgot the backgrounds for the skit, which was disappointing. The VBS lesson was "Operacion Rescate", which was about a polluting factory that changes its ways and then the town gets cleaned up. It was a metaphor for our salvation in Christ, but perhaps, maybe, there was a left of center environmental message in there also. Anyway, the background drawings, which Laura and I had made, were the factory, some trees, some houses, and a river. The first 2 days of VBS they are polluted, and then the on the last day they are clean. Forever clean. Unfortunately, we forgot them, so we improvised by finding some trash in the schoolyard and then picking it up as part of the skit. In Boquillas, there is trash around, so it wasn't hard to find.
Our classroom was the 6-8 year old boys, and we had 20 boys. Slightly chaotic. Some of the boys I could tell were not going to memorize their verse. Perhaps for some of them, it was distracting to have some strange looking gringo kneeling next to them. Anyway, for the boys who were struggling, I decided to just read and repeat the verse several times with them and then give them a toy. It was funny because I detected that Sonja was more hard core than this. I think that she went back and demanded more from some of the boys after I had moved on.
After VBS, which ended at 7:00 pm, we went straight back to setup for our compressed, 1 night "Wild at Heart" meeting, which started at 7:00 pm. I could hear music again as we walked down the hill to Mamma Mago's, and I was wondering if we were walking into a repeat of the previous night. But the band was setup on the other side of the courtyard and only played a few songs.
Steve Aldrich introduced the topic in English and Donato translated to Spanish. I could tell that the men gathered enjoyed Steve's introduction. Next, we had decided to play "The Ultimate Prize" video. After a 5 minute technical glitch with the projector (first, no sound; then I rewired the sound, but had no video; had to reboot the projector and we were in business), we watched the movie in Spanish.
After this, Steve shared the story of his "father wound", which was powerful stuff. The men gathered had a sheet of paper to make notes from their own lives throughout. And they did. After Steve was done, nobody got up to leave. With a courtyard full of men, that is what I would expect. But nobody left. Steve invited men to share some of their own story, and one man did. He shared about having grown up as an orphan and stressed the importance of making the most of the time that you have with your loved ones. Donato then shared his story of redemption and how it changed his family life. Overall, it was a great discussion and I hope that God will use it to speak into the lives of the men of Boquillas.
March 22, 2011
It seems to be a different animal that wakes us up every morning. Today's animal: pigeons. Not an ugly sound, but it will wake you up. Yesterday was interesting...I think the theme for my week here is, "Rely on God". Or maybe it is, "Pray".
Last night we had another church show up when we had invited men to a "Wild at Heart" talk. We heard music coming from Mamma Mago's house as we walked down the street after having finished VBS. Church had already started. I am not sure what town this church was from, but it was not the church from Leon. I must confess, I was not happy to see them. Apparently, Victor had invited them to come on Tuesday night during the week of our visit, but then this was never finalized. Well, they came. And so did the men who we had invited to come to a talk about living for God as a men. A talk that did not happen...
I had invited Nicholas, Lupe's husband, to come to the "Wild at Heart" meeting. Nicholas, who does not attend church and does not know the Lord. I told him about the meeting, through Steve Aldrich translating, and I told him that I would be honored if he came. He came. Mache came with his sons and his soccer friends. His soccer friends who do not go to church. Trinidad's sons came. Who knows who else came and then left when it was not what they expected. So I sat there in the back of the service, frustrated. And I felt something like embarrassment and guilt. I figured the men who came were upset and feeling that we had played a bait and switch on them. Worshiping was not on my mind. Then I felt the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling me to pray. To pray for the men who came, that they would listen and be open to the Spirit of God. I heard the Spirit say, "It doesn't have to be YOUR way. Or PRC's way." I heard the Spirit say, "I can work here now. Pray." So I prayed. And as I prayed, the edge softened and my outlook started to change. For this event, for this reason, to hear from God this night, I am glad that I came back to the worship service.
Initially, I could not stay. I was mad. I had just attended a worship service. Actually 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday. I didn't FEEL like staying. So I left. I took the kids to the store for a snack and then down to hang out in the town square. As time passed in the square, I saw more and more of our PRC folks filtering in. Hmm, I wondered if they had the same reaction I did. About 25 minutes went by, hanging with the kids in the square, and I began to feel that I could not stay away. The Mexican believers wanted to worship with the believers from Colorado. I knew I needed to be there. So I went to Lupe's, took a quick shower, and went back and sat in the back of the service. This is when the Spirit began to work me over.
I moved over next to Steve and asked him to translate the sermon, in summary to this point. He said that the pastor was preaching great stories of fathers and sons. He said it was a terrific message. After the worship finished, I found Nicholas and thanked him for coming. He said that he would come tomorrow night also! This, I decided, was another reason that I needed to be there. To not run away and do my own thing. So that I could acknowledge Nicholas and thank him for coming.
Have been working backwards to this point and I'm running out of time. So, the day in summary in forward order: men's devotions this morning on Galatians 3. Organized an Aww Heck game for the kids. I was feeling that I needed to do something to connect with my own kids. Breakfast. Team meeting. Had a visitation with Lupe and Nicholas and 2 of their grown daughters. This is when I had invited Nicholas to come to the "Wild at Heart" talk. Took invitations to Savino and Trinidad's son, Guadalupe. Fixed the tarp that had blown apart in the wind. Lunch. VBS preparation. VBS. Then the rest, as recorded.
Update: I learned later in the week that the breakdown in communication with the church that came was due to the fact that Victor's uncle had been sick 2 weeks before our visit and, sadly, had passed away the week before we arrived. Victor had been with him in the hospital several days and, thus, difficulty communicating.
Last night we had another church show up when we had invited men to a "Wild at Heart" talk. We heard music coming from Mamma Mago's house as we walked down the street after having finished VBS. Church had already started. I am not sure what town this church was from, but it was not the church from Leon. I must confess, I was not happy to see them. Apparently, Victor had invited them to come on Tuesday night during the week of our visit, but then this was never finalized. Well, they came. And so did the men who we had invited to come to a talk about living for God as a men. A talk that did not happen...
I had invited Nicholas, Lupe's husband, to come to the "Wild at Heart" meeting. Nicholas, who does not attend church and does not know the Lord. I told him about the meeting, through Steve Aldrich translating, and I told him that I would be honored if he came. He came. Mache came with his sons and his soccer friends. His soccer friends who do not go to church. Trinidad's sons came. Who knows who else came and then left when it was not what they expected. So I sat there in the back of the service, frustrated. And I felt something like embarrassment and guilt. I figured the men who came were upset and feeling that we had played a bait and switch on them. Worshiping was not on my mind. Then I felt the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling me to pray. To pray for the men who came, that they would listen and be open to the Spirit of God. I heard the Spirit say, "It doesn't have to be YOUR way. Or PRC's way." I heard the Spirit say, "I can work here now. Pray." So I prayed. And as I prayed, the edge softened and my outlook started to change. For this event, for this reason, to hear from God this night, I am glad that I came back to the worship service.
Initially, I could not stay. I was mad. I had just attended a worship service. Actually 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday. I didn't FEEL like staying. So I left. I took the kids to the store for a snack and then down to hang out in the town square. As time passed in the square, I saw more and more of our PRC folks filtering in. Hmm, I wondered if they had the same reaction I did. About 25 minutes went by, hanging with the kids in the square, and I began to feel that I could not stay away. The Mexican believers wanted to worship with the believers from Colorado. I knew I needed to be there. So I went to Lupe's, took a quick shower, and went back and sat in the back of the service. This is when the Spirit began to work me over.
I moved over next to Steve and asked him to translate the sermon, in summary to this point. He said that the pastor was preaching great stories of fathers and sons. He said it was a terrific message. After the worship finished, I found Nicholas and thanked him for coming. He said that he would come tomorrow night also! This, I decided, was another reason that I needed to be there. To not run away and do my own thing. So that I could acknowledge Nicholas and thank him for coming.
Have been working backwards to this point and I'm running out of time. So, the day in summary in forward order: men's devotions this morning on Galatians 3. Organized an Aww Heck game for the kids. I was feeling that I needed to do something to connect with my own kids. Breakfast. Team meeting. Had a visitation with Lupe and Nicholas and 2 of their grown daughters. This is when I had invited Nicholas to come to the "Wild at Heart" talk. Took invitations to Savino and Trinidad's son, Guadalupe. Fixed the tarp that had blown apart in the wind. Lunch. VBS preparation. VBS. Then the rest, as recorded.
Update: I learned later in the week that the breakdown in communication with the church that came was due to the fact that Victor's uncle had been sick 2 weeks before our visit and, sadly, had passed away the week before we arrived. Victor had been with him in the hospital several days and, thus, difficulty communicating.
March 21, 2011
I felt like I didn't sleep much from 3:00 am on, but then I was asleep at 6:55 am when Laura shook me awake. Men's devotions started at 7:00, so I got ready quickly. I was a little late...but not the latest. Victor, Jose, and Sabino all arrived after me, which aligns with what we've been told about local custom.
Started a SOAP study of Galatians with the PRC and Boquillas men. Chuck asked the question of how Paul must have felt about the Galatian church backsliding from grace into works - a church that he had invested a lot of missionary energy into. I think he was alluding to the Boquillas church, which had to split from pastor Gabino due to legalism and control issues. We also had a good discussion of the struggle of wanting to please men instead of God.
I visited with David, Thomas, and Steve Aldrich while the women had devotions. Then we had breakfast followed by a team meeting. The first activity of the day was visitations, but we decided to do our family challenge instead. The local kids had the day off of school to celebrate the first day of spring, so it was an opportunity to do our family challenge at a time when we knew kids would be around.
First, we walked through town and passed out invitations to Vacation Bible School (VBS). The kids were happy to get an invitation and the parents seemed happy also. I also passed out invitations to the "Wild at Heart" men's meetings. After this, we found some boys in the town square and started up a game of charades. We had a blast! You could tell the boys really enjoyed it also. They were climbing over each other to get to the front and try to be the first one to guess correctly. They soaked in the adult attention and the opportunity to play with folks from out of town. I hope we get another chance to play with a different group of kids sometime this week.
Funny thing about the VBS and "Wild at Heart" invitations - both had to be adjusted. VBS was scheduled to start Tuesday night, but at the end of the church service yesterday Victor told everyone Monday. So we adjusted. And the men's meeting was moved to Tuesday and Wednesday, so we marked up the invitations with the new dates.
After the family challenge, Laura, Dan, Mark and I took a walk up to the pond. There are houses on the hill above the pond that are recently built. I am told that these houses share water from a single hose that comes from the well on top of the hill in Boquillas. Unbelievable.
We returned for "linner" and then spent the next hour preparing materials for the first day of VBS. The boys behaved well, I thought, and did a good job of learning the bible verses for the first day. There was worry when we first started that kids would not come because confirmation class was scheduled at the same time. Turned out that wasn't an issue, and I think we had 100+ kids across all of the age groups.
After VBS, we packed all of the supplies back into the truck and returned to Mamma Mago's house. There was no program scheduled tonight, so we just relaxed and played with the kids. We watched Scotty Stephens do his cup stacking routine, and we learned that he is a world record holder in cup stacking. It was unreal how fast he could do it, and he said that he was out of practice. We also enjoyed listening to mission stories from Steve Aldrich. Mark, Eric White, and Jonathan Stephens came over and seemed to enjoy listening also. I also think that Steve enjoyed sharing with these young me. He had shared earlier that this is what had initially made him want to do mission work - listening to the stories of missionaries who would stay with his parents on furlough when he was a kid.
Overall impressions so far:
Am I really doing anything here? I think that God may be teaching me to work for Him no matter what. The results may not be for me to know, or maybe there is no harvest at all. But His call is His call. This is hard to accept and I second guess myself. So I guess I need to be learning this.
The Boquillas kids are terrific. They really want to be around us. And they are respectful, with very few exceptions. I'd say that the people here, in general, kids and adults, are very respectful of our faith. The culture here is not one where people "want to put Darwin stickers on their cars". They listen. They are happy to talk. They are happy to receive an invitation. They send their kids to VBS. But then they don't engage with the local church here. It is a passive rejection, perhaps, instead of a more active "bumper sticker" type like back home. Lord God, please turn the hearts that You will turn. If Your will is not revival here, then help me to accept this. Thank you for sending us.
Started a SOAP study of Galatians with the PRC and Boquillas men. Chuck asked the question of how Paul must have felt about the Galatian church backsliding from grace into works - a church that he had invested a lot of missionary energy into. I think he was alluding to the Boquillas church, which had to split from pastor Gabino due to legalism and control issues. We also had a good discussion of the struggle of wanting to please men instead of God.
I visited with David, Thomas, and Steve Aldrich while the women had devotions. Then we had breakfast followed by a team meeting. The first activity of the day was visitations, but we decided to do our family challenge instead. The local kids had the day off of school to celebrate the first day of spring, so it was an opportunity to do our family challenge at a time when we knew kids would be around.
First, we walked through town and passed out invitations to Vacation Bible School (VBS). The kids were happy to get an invitation and the parents seemed happy also. I also passed out invitations to the "Wild at Heart" men's meetings. After this, we found some boys in the town square and started up a game of charades. We had a blast! You could tell the boys really enjoyed it also. They were climbing over each other to get to the front and try to be the first one to guess correctly. They soaked in the adult attention and the opportunity to play with folks from out of town. I hope we get another chance to play with a different group of kids sometime this week.
Funny thing about the VBS and "Wild at Heart" invitations - both had to be adjusted. VBS was scheduled to start Tuesday night, but at the end of the church service yesterday Victor told everyone Monday. So we adjusted. And the men's meeting was moved to Tuesday and Wednesday, so we marked up the invitations with the new dates.
After the family challenge, Laura, Dan, Mark and I took a walk up to the pond. There are houses on the hill above the pond that are recently built. I am told that these houses share water from a single hose that comes from the well on top of the hill in Boquillas. Unbelievable.
We returned for "linner" and then spent the next hour preparing materials for the first day of VBS. The boys behaved well, I thought, and did a good job of learning the bible verses for the first day. There was worry when we first started that kids would not come because confirmation class was scheduled at the same time. Turned out that wasn't an issue, and I think we had 100+ kids across all of the age groups.
After VBS, we packed all of the supplies back into the truck and returned to Mamma Mago's house. There was no program scheduled tonight, so we just relaxed and played with the kids. We watched Scotty Stephens do his cup stacking routine, and we learned that he is a world record holder in cup stacking. It was unreal how fast he could do it, and he said that he was out of practice. We also enjoyed listening to mission stories from Steve Aldrich. Mark, Eric White, and Jonathan Stephens came over and seemed to enjoy listening also. I also think that Steve enjoyed sharing with these young me. He had shared earlier that this is what had initially made him want to do mission work - listening to the stories of missionaries who would stay with his parents on furlough when he was a kid.
Overall impressions so far:
Am I really doing anything here? I think that God may be teaching me to work for Him no matter what. The results may not be for me to know, or maybe there is no harvest at all. But His call is His call. This is hard to accept and I second guess myself. So I guess I need to be learning this.
The Boquillas kids are terrific. They really want to be around us. And they are respectful, with very few exceptions. I'd say that the people here, in general, kids and adults, are very respectful of our faith. The culture here is not one where people "want to put Darwin stickers on their cars". They listen. They are happy to talk. They are happy to receive an invitation. They send their kids to VBS. But then they don't engage with the local church here. It is a passive rejection, perhaps, instead of a more active "bumper sticker" type like back home. Lord God, please turn the hearts that You will turn. If Your will is not revival here, then help me to accept this. Thank you for sending us.
March 20, 2011
We often hear the sounds of chickens at home, but this morning we got to hear roosters. I believe we also heard some wild turkeys, which make quite a racket. Last night was cold. We will need another cobija tonight (glad I have a Spanish-English dictionary with me). What a beautiful morning it is. Calm, cool air, and the sun lighting up the hills outside of town.
We met Lupe this morning instead of last night. We were wiped out, with waking up early and then traveling all day, so we went to bed early. When we arrived, the only person home was a young lady named Esteffa, who I think is Lupe's granddaughter. After we turned in, there were people outside our room, which is the family room of the house. They were loud and seemed to be enjoying an evening with the family. I went to introduce myself to Lupe before the kids were awake. She stood in front of a grinder making corn meal. She pointed to it and said "mi trabajo". There were 2 other ladies with her, one of which gave Lupe a coin and took the dough she had just ground. She introduced me to the 2 ladies, but I did not understand everything she said. I think she was telling me that they were members of the church. Before leaving for the day, we stopped in the kitchen and I introduced Laura and the kids to Lupe. She had a big smile and a hug for each child. I didn't get a hug. :-)
We left for breakfast and a PRC only service at Mamma Mago's. David White spoke out of 1 John 5 on "5 things that we know". Thomas' message later was on the same verses, which was a neat "coincidence". I guess the Spirit wanted us to focus on 1 John 5 this morning.
Breakfast was beans and hot dogs, with tortillas. This was Laura's and my day to serve, so we helped serve the food and clean up. After breakfast I helped John and Hal get the soccer bags ready for the tournament. John brought the supplies in his suitcases, and we put a water bottle and a pamphlet on the 4 spiritual laws in each bag. Later, I helped hang tarps over the courtyard for the church service with the Boquillas church. A group from a church in Leon came at about 10:00 and started setting up instruments, sound equipment, and a projector. I inquired and found out that they do this about once I month. It is a terrific ministry. They bring God's praise right into the middle of town for all to hear. And the service is different than what could be done in a small town like Boquillas with limited resources and few people.
While they were setting up church, Juan, Donato, and John were getting ready to take the truck up to the soccer fields to setup for the tournament. I grabbed Hal and asked him to join me to pray over the pamphlets in the backpacks that would be handed out. I really felt God's Spirit with us as we prayed. And I truly desired some man's/men's life/lives to be changed by the truth that we were bringing. I may never know if this prayer will be answered.
Shortly after getting back from this, Peter asked me to go with him to invite men in the town to church. I said yes and also invited Thomas and Chuck to come along. Thomas came with us. I must say, this totally stretched me since I am not confident with my Spanish. Peter was an inspiration. He launched right in and I couldn't help but do the same. I used all of the Spanish I know talking to men in the town square. I don't think any of them ended up coming to church, but perhaps this is what God wanted to teach me - to make the invitation and let God stir hearts as He chooses.
The church service was very high energy. Lots of praise. Lots of songs. The Leon church sang. The Boquillas church sang. And then the Colorado church sang the songs that we had learned in Spanish. Thomas preached on believing God when he says that we are forever in His hand. After the sermon, Victor and Alisa's baby was dedicated. Overall, it was beautiful to have 3 churches coming together to worship God together.
The high moment of the church service was followed soon thereafter by bad news. We got word from the soccer field that the out of town soccer teams did not show up. Major disappointment. I was hoping and believing that God would use the soccer tournament to spread His church, so the news was hard to hear. I didn't end up getting to see any of the soccer games that were played by the in town teams, but Mark Stephens said that the level of play was amazing.
Late in the afternoon, I took a trip with Thomas and Steve Rugg to try to buy pastries for the evening showing of "The Ultimate Prize". Unsuccessful, there were no pastries in town. The movie ended up being mostly a bust, in that none of the players came to see it. They seem very happy that we're here. They even gave the soccer trophy to our group from Colorado, for coming so far and for doing so much for the town, they said. And they sang a cheer for Colorado after giving us the trophy. But they don't engage with the church. Lord, why is this?
The kids are having a blast. Joel said tonight that Boquillas kids are fun to play with. And Rebecca got upset that she couldn't stay out playing until 11:00 pm. Somehow, she thinks that this is what was promised to her, but we assured her that it was not. :-)
We met Lupe this morning instead of last night. We were wiped out, with waking up early and then traveling all day, so we went to bed early. When we arrived, the only person home was a young lady named Esteffa, who I think is Lupe's granddaughter. After we turned in, there were people outside our room, which is the family room of the house. They were loud and seemed to be enjoying an evening with the family. I went to introduce myself to Lupe before the kids were awake. She stood in front of a grinder making corn meal. She pointed to it and said "mi trabajo". There were 2 other ladies with her, one of which gave Lupe a coin and took the dough she had just ground. She introduced me to the 2 ladies, but I did not understand everything she said. I think she was telling me that they were members of the church. Before leaving for the day, we stopped in the kitchen and I introduced Laura and the kids to Lupe. She had a big smile and a hug for each child. I didn't get a hug. :-)
We left for breakfast and a PRC only service at Mamma Mago's. David White spoke out of 1 John 5 on "5 things that we know". Thomas' message later was on the same verses, which was a neat "coincidence". I guess the Spirit wanted us to focus on 1 John 5 this morning.
Breakfast was beans and hot dogs, with tortillas. This was Laura's and my day to serve, so we helped serve the food and clean up. After breakfast I helped John and Hal get the soccer bags ready for the tournament. John brought the supplies in his suitcases, and we put a water bottle and a pamphlet on the 4 spiritual laws in each bag. Later, I helped hang tarps over the courtyard for the church service with the Boquillas church. A group from a church in Leon came at about 10:00 and started setting up instruments, sound equipment, and a projector. I inquired and found out that they do this about once I month. It is a terrific ministry. They bring God's praise right into the middle of town for all to hear. And the service is different than what could be done in a small town like Boquillas with limited resources and few people.
While they were setting up church, Juan, Donato, and John were getting ready to take the truck up to the soccer fields to setup for the tournament. I grabbed Hal and asked him to join me to pray over the pamphlets in the backpacks that would be handed out. I really felt God's Spirit with us as we prayed. And I truly desired some man's/men's life/lives to be changed by the truth that we were bringing. I may never know if this prayer will be answered.
Shortly after getting back from this, Peter asked me to go with him to invite men in the town to church. I said yes and also invited Thomas and Chuck to come along. Thomas came with us. I must say, this totally stretched me since I am not confident with my Spanish. Peter was an inspiration. He launched right in and I couldn't help but do the same. I used all of the Spanish I know talking to men in the town square. I don't think any of them ended up coming to church, but perhaps this is what God wanted to teach me - to make the invitation and let God stir hearts as He chooses.
The church service was very high energy. Lots of praise. Lots of songs. The Leon church sang. The Boquillas church sang. And then the Colorado church sang the songs that we had learned in Spanish. Thomas preached on believing God when he says that we are forever in His hand. After the sermon, Victor and Alisa's baby was dedicated. Overall, it was beautiful to have 3 churches coming together to worship God together.
The high moment of the church service was followed soon thereafter by bad news. We got word from the soccer field that the out of town soccer teams did not show up. Major disappointment. I was hoping and believing that God would use the soccer tournament to spread His church, so the news was hard to hear. I didn't end up getting to see any of the soccer games that were played by the in town teams, but Mark Stephens said that the level of play was amazing.
Late in the afternoon, I took a trip with Thomas and Steve Rugg to try to buy pastries for the evening showing of "The Ultimate Prize". Unsuccessful, there were no pastries in town. The movie ended up being mostly a bust, in that none of the players came to see it. They seem very happy that we're here. They even gave the soccer trophy to our group from Colorado, for coming so far and for doing so much for the town, they said. And they sang a cheer for Colorado after giving us the trophy. But they don't engage with the church. Lord, why is this?
The kids are having a blast. Joel said tonight that Boquillas kids are fun to play with. And Rebecca got upset that she couldn't stay out playing until 11:00 pm. Somehow, she thinks that this is what was promised to her, but we assured her that it was not. :-)
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