Leading Worship
Leading worship in front of the world map
Candlelight worship
Me, Jordan, Mike, & MichelleThroughout the month of March, as we hosted Spring Break short-term teams, I had the opportunity to lead the worship band. It was incredible to see four musicians (two from Canada, one from South Carolina, and me) come together and sound better than many bands I've heard that have been together for years. Truly a miracle.
I've lead worship many times in the past, but this was my first chance to lead with a band. What an amazing experience as I learned to work with the different personalities, put together song sets, and always have the music transposed and printed off in time. What a job!
The Lord was faithful and let His Spirit be known during several of our sessions. Many people were healed emotionally and physically as we worshiped.
I don't know the whole story yet, but I think this was a significant milestone in my life. A big THANK YOU to Jordan, Mike, & Michelle for putting up with me as I figured out what I was doing.
One of the main themes we studied throughout our training this year is that, "Missions exists because worship does not!" Once we all learn to worhship the Creator of this Universe the way He deserves to be worshiped...our job will be easy.
Dry wells...Living water
Me and my friend JordanAfter four grueling days of physical labor under the hot Mexican sun, it was becoming painfully obvious to all of us that we were not going to strike water. At that point however, we knew the real work had already been done in the spiritual realm.
For our third week of Spring Break short-term teams I traveled out to a village about 2 hours away with a bunch of guys to help drill two wells. I was assigned to a team with two of my close friends, Jordan, and Jon W. The well we were working on had been started the previous year, but still had a long way to go. Before we started working, the three of us circled around the hole and prayed for God’s blessing on our efforts. As we were praying, we all heard a sound and opened our eyes just in time to see a roll of toilet paper bounce off the ground and down into the hole. One of the other team members was trying to help us out, and blindly threw the roll over an 8ft. wall as he was driving away. It was unbelievable, and we knew that it was a sign that we were in for an interesting week. It took us the first 4 hours just to get that stupid roll out!
By the end of the first day, the three of us were exhausted and a bit discouraged at the lack of progress. We kept running into one rock after another. Throughout the day various Mexicans would come to watch us work and observe our methods. As the sun began to set, we were taking a break sitting around the hole when another guy showed up. We didn’t think much of it, but he was talkative and introduced himself as Jorge. He invited us down to the local bar/strip club that night. We each politely refused and it seemed to baffle him. He couldn’t understand why three strong, young men would not want to go drinking and looking at naked ladies. Now my friend Jordan speaks really good Spanish and I’ve hung out with him a lot over the last 7 months. A couple times now I’ve observed the anointing of God come upon him and I’ve had the pleasure of watching and listening to him preach some amazing messages. This was one of those times. I sat there praying for him as he shared his testimony with our new friend Jorge and was blown away to see the man’s countenance change right before our eyes. He was hungry. He confided in us how he’s been searching for God and he’s fed up with the hypocrisy all around him and how he’d like to really know how to talk to God without any other strings attached. He got excited about the Good News we shared with him! He then told us that he is the owner of the most popular local radio station that broadcasts to a countless number of people. He asked us to come on air the next night and share what he had just heard so all of his friends and family could hear as well. It was out of this world!
It was such an amazing experience to sit in that little padded sound studio. We circled around a table with 6 microphones sticking out of it, and with the big, black ear phones on our ears making us look silly, we all did our best to share God’s message of love and forgiveness with Jorge the host, and all the listeners that night.
As I sit here typing, I still can’t believe all of that happened. It was so cool to see God’s hand at work and get to be a part of it. Please pray with us for Jorge as he begins his relationship with God. Please also pray with us for all the listeners that night, and those who will hear it again as it is re-broadcast in the future.
We had to walk away from dry wells sunburned and exhausted…but each of us realized that something of much greater significance had taken place. Men and women down in this neglected area of Southern Mexico got a taste of water from the well that never runs dry. Praise God!
Village People
The whole team and the church that we worked with.
Receiving a Thank You speech from the local authorities.
The completed guard railI just got back from a week-long outreach to a village about two hours away from Tlaxiaco. Even though we had to use out-houses the whole time and I had to sleep in a mud-brick home, sharing a double bed with two other full grown men, we had an amazing experience. The village has about 600-800 people and we were able to partner with a local church there to help drill wells, teach health classes, run a medical clinic, and my favorite part, we helped build a 64ft long guard rail to help protect the locals from a dangerous drop-off. The Lord has blessed me with a strong back and I was able to help with a lot of the heavy lifting, including hauling a 100 pound bag of cement up a steep hill. Ouch! To finish it off, we painted the guard rail a bright yellow color and also got to help paint one of the local speed bumps.
All the Mexicans call me Oso, which means bear in Spanish. The first night we were there three little girls were following me wherever I went. I finally turned around and told them that people call me Oso because I like to eat little girls. They ran off laughing to tell all their friends. It made me an instant celebrity and everywhere I went little kids would call out to me and challenge me to chase after them.
The last night we were there we invited all the children to a movie and a dinner. I showed up late after playing several of the locals in an aggressive basketball game. Those men were short, but they were tough. When I walked into the little dining hall where all the kids were eating, the place erupted with yells of “Oso, Oso!” It made me quite happy and I fell in love with those sweet children. Even now as I sit here typing, my eyes fill with tears as I remember their sweet little smiles and voices. The fact was not lost on me that they are the future of Mexico. As they ate, I walked behind them and prayed for the Spirit of God to fill their little hearts. Before they left that night, one of our Mexican brothers shared the Gospel story with them and they all bowed their heads and prayed for Jesus to forgive them of their sins. It was a very touching time for me.
The next two weeks we will be hosting two more Spring break teams from the States and going out to two more villages. Please pray that the Spirit of God will continue to go before us to soften hearts and reveal Himself to these sweet hearted people.
One Year Anniversary
We got to visit Maribel in Puebla
First Stop in Mexico: Aldama, Mexico
Ax baby napping --March '08
Smith: ready for adventure
Our family with Maribel last summer
City bus ride
Such a treat when we finally got a movie up and running
A few days ago, we celebrated our one year anniversary of moving to Mexico. God has moved us and walked with us every step of the way. It amazes me to look back and see all the moments that we were being beautifully led by God, yet at the time it felt like being drug behind a truck. We've grown and learned sooooo much that it would be impossible to portray it all in words. However, I would like to say that I would rather spend a lifetime trying to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth and failing, than never having tried at all. Thank you all for enduring all the bumps and slams and breakdowns and rejoicing with us. We couldn't have done it without you. And to Jesus our Faithful Friend...thanks for the ride.
The Miracle Mobile
It was just over a year ago now that the Miracle Mobile came into our lives. We knew the Lord had told us to hit the road for Mexico and every day I was scouring the newspapers and looking online for the perfect vehicle.
One day, after a time of prayer, I decided to check Craigslist one more time. When I typed in my criteria, the first van to pull up was one that I had looked at many times before. It happened to belong to the parents of my little sister’s boyfriend. After calling and making arrangements, we scheduled a day to drive up to Denver and take it for a test drive.
Before we even got there and without any discussion about it, Rachel and I both had unique experiences of feeling lead to simply ask them to give us this van. When we finally talked about it, we both thought there would be no way! The day we drove up to their house, I had one of those hazy, slow-motion experiences when I saw the van for the first time. I thought, “This is going to be in our lives for a long time.”
As we drove it around that day, we kept looking for imperfections or problems we could use to bring up in our negotiations. We couldn’t find any. We were in love.
That night as we drove back over to their house, you could feel the tension in the air between us. We decided that I would do the talking, however, I was having a hard time moving past the small talk and getting to the point. After much too long of a period, Rachel gave me one of those looks and I knew it was now or never. I finally said something to the effect of, “We love your van and it’s perfect for us. We would like to offer you half your asking price, or if you’d rather, you can give us the van and we can give you a tax-deduction.” They looked at each other and after a brief silence I offered for us to leave the room so they could discuss it. But just as quick as that, they turned back to us and said they would take the tax-deduction. We were beside ourselves with joy and couldn’t believe what we were hearing. Now we had a van, and money to head down to Mexico!
We parked our new van outside our bedroom window and many times during that night I got up to check on it and to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. When you envision something for so long and believe with your whole heart that the Lord will provide, it’s always an INCREDIBLE experience when it comes to pass.
Thank you Ernie and Kathy for your generous gift! It has blessed our family and our ministry beyond compare.
One day, after a time of prayer, I decided to check Craigslist one more time. When I typed in my criteria, the first van to pull up was one that I had looked at many times before. It happened to belong to the parents of my little sister’s boyfriend. After calling and making arrangements, we scheduled a day to drive up to Denver and take it for a test drive.
Before we even got there and without any discussion about it, Rachel and I both had unique experiences of feeling lead to simply ask them to give us this van. When we finally talked about it, we both thought there would be no way! The day we drove up to their house, I had one of those hazy, slow-motion experiences when I saw the van for the first time. I thought, “This is going to be in our lives for a long time.”
As we drove it around that day, we kept looking for imperfections or problems we could use to bring up in our negotiations. We couldn’t find any. We were in love.
That night as we drove back over to their house, you could feel the tension in the air between us. We decided that I would do the talking, however, I was having a hard time moving past the small talk and getting to the point. After much too long of a period, Rachel gave me one of those looks and I knew it was now or never. I finally said something to the effect of, “We love your van and it’s perfect for us. We would like to offer you half your asking price, or if you’d rather, you can give us the van and we can give you a tax-deduction.” They looked at each other and after a brief silence I offered for us to leave the room so they could discuss it. But just as quick as that, they turned back to us and said they would take the tax-deduction. We were beside ourselves with joy and couldn’t believe what we were hearing. Now we had a van, and money to head down to Mexico!
We parked our new van outside our bedroom window and many times during that night I got up to check on it and to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. When you envision something for so long and believe with your whole heart that the Lord will provide, it’s always an INCREDIBLE experience when it comes to pass.
Thank you Ernie and Kathy for your generous gift! It has blessed our family and our ministry beyond compare.
Eye! Eye! Eye!
Warning: Gross Content
(not for the faint of stomach)
That night
Day After
Day 5
Today
We can be pretty sure that great spiritual things are happening when our kids get outright attackted. The other night, we were in the Centro (center of town) getting churros. Smith wanted to spend his pesos on the jumpy castle. What could go wrong? Two minutes later, he walks up to us quietly crying, covering his right eye with his hand. When he got right in front of us, he moved his hand to show us. --You know those moments, when your kid walks up crying and you have to act all cool and calm and say, "It's not that bad."? Well, we didn't do so well with that.
At first, I thought I was going to have to kill someone. Jon thought his eye had exploded. It looked as if there was an egg under his eye lid. TWO MINUTES! How did he do that in two minutes?! Turns out he had attempted a front flip on the top of the jumpy slide and ran his eyes into his knees. Bummer. Our friend, Jordan, immediately went to get him a popsicle. Not to make him feel better, but to stop the swelling. We rushed home and our nurse-friend Joni came over to check it out. As soon as she saw it, she said, "Oh, that's good." Apparently massive swelling is fine, as long as it goes outward, not in towards the brain. Thanks Joni.
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