Day 5: Thursday

Cooking!

One of the girls after graduation

   

  Thursday was the last day for us to be in our communities. This morning, after the prayer meeting, I met up with the group after breakfast at the ranch to pray as a large group then go off into the communities. Upon our arrival there, we finished painting the school walls as well as the walls in the community center. While painting the school walls, we were able to listen to the Graduation ceremony the kids had which was so cool!!  After most of the painting was finished, I had an opportunity to help with the cooking!! I quite enjoyed rolling tortillas and talking to some of the women who prepared our meals each day!

Playing Catch

Denise! 

Brandon and I 

Playing soccer with Brandon! 

Painting the School 

Jersey Pic! 

     













After cooking, I went over to the school to play with the kids and help wash the brushes out. When I got there, I saw Brandon playing so I went over and played with him for a while, which was so great to see him laughing and playing! One of the kids was playing with a water gun which the other kids saw and wanted to use, so we went to get a few more from the bag we brought. Then the kids began chasing one another around. Watching soccer, playing with kids, and cooking was wonderful! After playing with the kids, it was time to eat lunch which consisted of steak, rice, tortillas, and rice water. I did not eat as much since the food was quite filling, but it was quite delicious! When we finished with lunch, we gathered the kids to play at the school to hand out jerseys and have a water balloon toss. We received a generous donation from Plymouth Soccer which made us able to hand out many jerseys to each community! The kids as well as the adults loved the jerseys and wore them as soon as they received them! After getting pictures of them in the jerseys, we had a water balloon toss!

 The kids paired up with us then we all stood in two separate lines  and tossed the water balloons until they popped. Afterwards, there was a great amount of water in the bucket which carried the balloons, a kid had gotten a hold of it and poured it on someone. Children are quite impressionable, so once other kids saw that, they went around picking up whatever they could find to pour water on us. Needless to say, it was a great water fight. The kids would get anybody, even the adults, unless someone was holding a camera, which was only a few people. Many of us were soaked from head to toe, it was AWESOME! Following the water fight was a pinata, which the women in the community had made for the kids to use. It took a while for the kids to stop pouring water on us as well as each other, but eventually they stopped so we were able to cool down (literally :) haha! )

    

 

        Once the pinata was broken and the candy was gathered, it was time for us to circle up and have a large goodbye with the people in the community to thank them and say something to them about how we have enjoyed spending time with them or give them a word of encouragement if we wanted to. They also told us that they were very grateful for our help and they told us that they would not forget us and that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, that they were glad to have gotten to know us and work with us that week, which was so heartfelt. I was not thinking about how much we were helping them, but they helped me a great deal! I learned many things from the women in the community as well as the children as well as the faith that they have and the joy that is in their hearts. They were such inspirations for me which I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to see! After sharing words of encouragement, we all prayed before saying our goodbyes, giving hugs, and taking pictures. As we left the community to go back to the ranch, I saw kids walking down the street to go to their homes and I began praying for them. I prayed that the kids and the women I worked with would receive many blessings from God, that they would continue to have hearts of joy, that they would remain in good health, and mostly that they would continue on their journeys with the Lord. 

          I ask you to do the same, to pray for the people in Mexico, not just those who we worked with, but many others, that they may grow in the Lord and find his abundant grace, mercy, and love. That World Vision would continue to grow in Mexico and have more areas to work in, and that those without a family would be blessed, that they would find a family.
   I read a book called Reckless Faith, which is about a woman who helps orphans in Mexico along with her husband and Back2Back Ministries. It is about having a faith that is reckless enough to do things that may not seem like the best thing to do, to do things without thinking about them a great deal, to pray continuously, to ask the Lord for strength, and it is about how God promises to take care of the orphans and love the Fatherless. To me, I thought this was quite inspiring, seeing how God loves those who may not believe in the Heavenly Father and he wants them to come to him with open arms and surrender there lives to him, like a father opening his arms to his child. I highly recommend reading this book, it has a great message and it helps inform you about some ministries in Mexico! Below are several verses which I find encouraging and some verses that helped me as I was in Mexico! 


           If you would like to find out more about World Vision and the work they do, or find out about Sponsoring a Child, please visit http://www.worldvision.org/m/home . For more information about the trip, I would love to tell you more about it if you would like! Also, if you want to know more about the book  Reckless Faith check out Family Christian Stores!

Deuteronomy 10:18  ESV
   He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing

Isaiah 1:17 ESV
  Learn to do good; seek justice, 

correct oppression; 

bring justice to the fatherless, 

plead the widow’s cause.

1 John 3:1 ESV

 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

  Joshua 1:9 ESV

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 

Philippians 4:6 

   Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to God. 

This trip was such a life changing, challenging, emotional, fun, awesome, and wonderful opportunity and I wanted to thank all of you for your prayers, support, and donations which have helped me to be able to experience such a wonderful trip! Words cannot express how grateful I am to have had such a wonderful team of people who supported me before, during, and after the trip, so thank you very, very much! May the Lord bless you this year and for many years to come! 

The whole group!

Carlita!

Day 4: Wednesday

  

































              This morning we left almost right after we ate breakfast so we could have more time in the communities. We were doing very well with time until we arrived in the community. Due to the lack of space on the road, there was a great deal of traffic by the tents and carts set up for market day "el dia mercado". After a little bit of waiting for cars to pass one by one, we got to the community center and found a few empty spaces. There were so many things along the street from dog collars to clothes and food to pig heads and fresh meats. It was quite interesting to see! The delay was not great, only about 10 or 20 minutes, so when we arrived at the community center, we went right to work! There was a great deal of painting to still be done, so we split up into teams again and were able to get more work done which was great! Some people in our group built a bookshelf by hand and it turned out really well!

          












  


   








               After painting for a bit, I colored more with some kids before going to the playground for some soccer! That was quite so much fun! Following soccer, it was time for lunch. We left the school and walked over to the community center, sat down, and prayed for the meal. For lunch we ate rice, chicken with chocolate sauce, tortillas, and jello with limeade to drink. The food that week was wonderful and we are so thankful for all of the hard work the women put into each of the snacks and the meals!  


          This far into the week, my Spanish vocabulary has increased a bit and I have been able to better understand some of the things the women and kids said, which was great! Although I still struggled and needed help with some of the translating. 

                   When we were finished with lunch, we ended up finishing the pinatas! It was so much to finish, but it was a bit difficult getting the paper on the correct way and cutting the paper properly. After spreading the tissue paper on the newspaper, which made my hands black, but we were able to wash them and get most of it off. :) The girls I worked with were laughing and telling me about the better ways to make the pinata and where to poke the holes, it took a bit of patience and time; however, when we finished it looked pretty good! A short while after finishing the pinatas, it was time for us to depart and head back to the ranch, ,we washed our hands in bin that was used for washing dishes, then we said good-bye for the day. 

    On our way back to the ranch, we were surprised by an ice cream stop in the town square in Tecate, where our ranch was located. It was a cool and delicious treat to have, especially when it was hot outside :). Back at the ranch, I got to talk to some friends about what has been going on this week for them and what it may be like after Mexico, and it was a great time of encouraging one another and listening to other people talk about how Mexico has been changing them. Dinner was again, quite scrumptious! After we ate, we met a bit later for large group and were asked to set up 28 chairs around the area and then to sit down. Some stood and others sat down, then we were asked to number off from 1 to 28 and remain seated. Those who were above 28, stood while those below 28 were find a seat after we knew what was going on. One of our youth leaders briefly described what would be going on, then prayed. After we prayed, we were asked to keep our eyes closed as they went around tapping people who would be encouraged. Those who were tapped would keep their eyes closed and be assisted to a seat. Those who remained standing were to be the people who encourage others. The leaders went through a list and those who were standing to tap someone who drew you closer to God, tap someone who you loved to see, tap someone who is a leader, and many more different things. Those sitting down would keep their eyes closed as people walked by and tapped them for each thing that was said. It was very encouraging to receive all of that encouragement from people and see how you helped people, without knowing who it was. There were several rounds of this so everyone could have a chance to be the person who taps others and to be the one receiving the encouragement. For me, this activity allowed me to be encouraged in things that I did not feel were my strongest as well as allowing me to encourage others, which was great! After the activity, there was a greater sense of unity and God's presence on the patio during the game as well as during worship that night. Worship was great, it was very sincere and just encouraging to feel the unity and peace. After we finished, one of the drivers, Israel, played the saxophone for a while and it was AMAZING! We told him thank you for playing so well, but he said it was for God, not for us. He was a great man of God and we could see his passion for the Lord in his music! It was an INCREDIBLE day full of encouragement, worship, helping others, and serving the Lord.

Today, the Lord showed me how much passion people had 

for praising him! Also, he showed me how encouraging one another could really bring unity to a group and bring the group closer! I was reminded of the joy that comes from being in the Lord's presence, which you are always in, but sometimes it is easy to forget about that. 

               You make known to me the path of life;    you will fill me with joy in your presence,  with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11 

Day 3: Tuesday

   The morning began with a prayer meeting, devotional time , and breakfast! The prayer meeting was held everyday at 6:30 a.m. for whoever would like to attend. There we prayed about many different things such as our God's mercy and love being shown through us, resting in the Lord, rejoicing in the Lord, and for things that may be holding us back from having a great week like fear or worry. That was a great way to start off the morning! Breakfast was always pancakes with variations of tortillas, eggs, beverages, and cereal which was amazing! When breakfast was complete, I gathered my gear for the day and met everyone else by the vans. From there we prayed for the day and ventured off to our communities! Upon arriving, there was more painting and cementing to be done. Since there were limited materials at times, we took turns playing with kids and coloring which was so much fun! While coloring, I got to the kids pretty well! They would ask us to draw anything from cameras to mermaids and princesses to fish, they loved those! 

     After a bit of coloring, I assisted in painting the outside of the community center along with some kids who wanted to help. While painting, we were given our snacks to eat which if I may say so myself contained a great deal of delicious fruit! Afterwards, I sat down and made pipe cleaner crafts with some of the kids and played a game of peek a boo with another kid.  While playing, I noticed a little boy helping out with cementing and sweeping away the dust. He would do whatever he could to help out which was so awesome to see! 

Fruit! 

Peek-a-boo

Marcos! 

   

               Today was such a great day full of coloring, playing with kids, and capucci (piggy back rides). Playing on the playground before lunch was very fun and watching soccer being played while children were laughing really brought joy to my heart! While playing, we were told it was time for lunch so we went back to the community center, ate some DELICIOUS food and drank more hickama juice, which was delightful! Then we helped the women in the community by making pinatas with the kids, which is a bit more difficult than it looks :) The girls I made the pinata with were good at knowing what to do and how much glue to put on the paper so it would stay. This was something I had not ever done before, but it was really cool! When we finished and cleaned up the mess we made, it was time for us to depart for the day and head back to Costco to meet the other groups and get some ice cream before going back to the ranch! Es muy delicioso! :) 

       

                Back at the ranch, there was more swimming and eating as well as some time we could all gather together and share our days and how the trip has changed us thus far. Afterwards we had a time of worship and fellowship as we met with our work groups and we participated in some team building activities which allowed us to think together as a team. Then it was family group time and free time, which was great to be able to share different things about the week with people outside of the community! 

 One story I shared from the day was a story about a boy named Brandon...
  After piggy back ride races, I stopped, looked around, and saw a boy off to the side. He looked sad, so I walked over to him and offered to give him a piggy back ride. He was quite shy and shook his head no. Then I began talking to him to see what was wrong and to find out what his name was, but he still did not say much. I asked a few friends to help talk to him since I didn't know a great deal of Spanish. They talked to him and did not get  much of an answer until his brother came over and talked to him, we eventually found out his name was Brandon. After staying by him and talking to him, I began to think of ways to make him laugh. Naturally, I made silly faces. He began to smile a little bit, but then stopped. I could see that he wanted to trust me, but was a bit hesitant to talk to me. In the Spanish I knew, I told him that I was kind and nice and asked him if he liked the Little Mermaid mural. He was warming up to me and ran over to the wall, motioned over to me to come over by him, and said some things in Spanish. I could pick out some words and he was talking about King Triten, then pointed to his shirt (Superheros) and said that Iron Man was his favorite. Then he started laughing and talking to me more, which was so great! I was so glad that God was able to help me stay by Brandon and try and talk to him. After that it was time to go, so I said goodbye and prayed that I would be able to see him again before I left. Which I did on the last day, I saw him laughing, playing ball, chasing people around, and having a great time and I was so excited to see him happy! My prayer was answered. 

I am not sure why God used me to help Brandon smile that day, but I am glad he did! I learned that looking for the things off to the side instead of in the center helps you to see more. I learned how to be patient and persevere when things seem as though nothing will happen.I learned to see others as who they are- children of God and gifts from the Lord.  I learned how to find the love of God in the eyes of a child, and I learned more about compassion that day as well as throughout that week. It was a week that changed my life. 




"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." -James 1:7