Berean Bible Church - Mexico Trip - Day 1 and 2

It has been a wonderful trip so far with 2 days down and 7 more to go.  The trip has been extremely unusual as the chaos of the "starting of the trip" started 2 days before leaving. 

Since I was in Florida last week, and my wife found out her sister's cancer had spread, she decided to stay an extra day to visit with her sister, so I ended up flying home on July 4th.  Two flights later - Tampa to Dallas, Dallas to Chattanooga, I was home.  But only for a brief stint as I headed off to Philadelphia on Friday - Chattanooga to Atlanta, Atlanta to Philadelphia.  Only to connect with the team on Saturday and fly 2 more flights - Philadelphia to Houston, Houston to Puebla.  (by the way, we had a 9 hour layover in Houston - talk about fun!!)  Seriously, the chaos of travel was 3 days long...

Anyway, God showed Himself faithful because when we were fishing for flights, Ruth Lopez (AMG missionary in Mexico) suggested I look into flights in Puebla.  Usually they are higher cost, but this time they were not.  Yes, over 6 months ago, God was looking out for this team, because if we had scheduled our flight into Mexico City like last time we would have been stuck somewhere without a flight because of the Volcano that erupted.  God is faithful and good - all the time.

We had a long day trying to arrive here, but there were some notable moments. 

Like - the first flight I was asked to change seats with a 12 year old girl in row 12.  She was a window seat (which I really don't prefer), but I agreed so she could sit with her mother.  The short story from here is I ended up being moved to the exit row sitting in the aisle!  With the exception of the good food and drinks they serve, I felt like I was flying first class.

While waiting in the airport we played rage, ate pizza (and some other foods), rode Rachel around in a wheel chair, talked about waiting until we were almost late for our flight and then running through the airport to just make it (that was Heather's idea), taking pictures in the shuttle and the elevator...  We had fun just waiting for our final ride.

The evening flight was uneventful - we arrived in Puebla on time and by 9:30 PM we were at the church.  We had some food, talked briefly about Sunday, and headed off for bed.

Sunday morning we began with breakfast, setting up chairs, moving tables, making sandwiches for the graduation party, and we talked about our study in James for the week.  Matt even led us in singing songs - it was a great time of worship. 

Then the fun began.  The people started showing up for the church/graduation.  Three students graduated today.  It was a blast to be a part of.  They performed, shared verses, Bible stories, we sang, and Pastor Manuel gave a challenge.  The deaf students were thrilled to be graduating, and it was cool to watch the interactions of the families and the church members - loving this group of kids that the local society said should have been discarded.  What an amazing ministry they have here, and we are thrilled to be part of it.

After the graduation we served food, cake, and then some of us headed outside to play ball with the kids.  Soccer and then basketball were the game choices, and the kids seemed to have a great time as we laughed and played together.  Mike and Alan worked up a sweat as the kids were relentless chasing us and the balls down.

Eventually we cleaned out the room that we will be tiling tomorrow, and people headed home.  We were so thankful for the extra hands as it kept things from taking too long.  We began pulling out all of the stuff for the carnival, the school supplies, the food items, etc. out of our bags and preparing for the week.  In the mean time we found out that we will be doing some carpentry work, some drywall work, replacing binders for the school (the team brought many of these down - they were donated to AMG), and we had some electrical work to do.  John solved an electrical problem that others couldn't resolve, and he did it in just a few minutes.  I was impressed. 

We also found out that we will be digging!! Sound familiar??  Where the road beside the church meets the concrete road the dirt has been washing away so they have been mounding dirt on the road.  We are going to level the dirt, and then put in about 220 paving blocks on a 15-20 foot section of the road that we already dug up once.  The digging won't be anything like last time, but it will be time consuming - and we don't have 30 people. 

Needless to say, the team is excited about getting started tomorrow.  We had a great time talking about the day this evening and preparing for tomorrow.  By the way, we played soccer for about 1 1/2 hours tonight as well - it has been a long, but profitable day!

Before I get myself in trouble - today marks my 23rd anniversary and although I am many miles from the one I love (and the one who has showed me what true love is), I have been able to spend many moments today reflecting on the great gift God gave me in her.  My wife is an amazing woman - evidenced by spending 23 years with me - and I am truly blessed to call her my best friend. 

Thought for the day:  One of the new students at the school is blind.  She is probably 10 years old (I haven't asked yet), but I met her today and she asked me to take her picture - a picture she will never see.  I watched her being led around by adults and kids alike - she is very interactive and trusting.  I was told that one young boy, Diego, accidentally ran her into a tree - but she bounced right back. 

At one point, she was led over - by one of the kids - to a woman who was helping serve the cake.  The lady couldn't stop what she was doing, so I helped lead this blind Spanish girl to her seat - helping her dodge chairs, people, tables, etc. All the while she was holding a piece of cake in her hand - and I had a tray in one of my hands.  It was extremely difficult, but eventually we arrived at an empty chair at the table and I was able to seat her and hand her off to another person.

What a lesson in faith.  This girl heard my voice only once before in the day, and that for only a second or two, and mostly in broken Spanish.  Yet she followed my lead without question and we safely made it to the chair.

There are times I feel like I am in the dark and I have no idea where I am going.  However, I have a good and powerful God - whose voice I know - and I can be confident that He will lead me to a good place.  Not necessarily an easy place, but it will be a good place.

That is what faith is - not blind following of the unknown, but rather a confident obedience of what is known but not yet seen.  God has been good in the past - His word reminds me of this regularly.  And I know - as this little girl showed me - that I can follow His lead wherever, and He will keep my foot from harm, and the conclusion will be His glory and what is best for me!