Mexico Trip - Day 7

The day began very early with a 5:00 wake up. We all gathered together outside and sang “Happy Birthday” in Spanish and English to Katy. It is her 15th birthday, and that is a special birthday for girls in Mexico. Throughout the day, we celebrated her special day, and we all benefited from it. For instance, we took a break in the morning to have a pinata time, we had cake and ice cream at the end of the day. She also received some flowers for her birthday – a beautiful vase of roses.

We began working at our usual time, and accomplished a lot before lunch. Things are looking good, and it seems that by tomorrow evening, we should have many of our projects finished. The work is still very difficult, strength wise, but the kids are doing a great job. I am confident that in just 4 days of work so far, they have done more than had been expected to be done by the end of the week. Today should prove exciting as we see many of the holes closed up, and the plumbing finished. The kids are excited about the possibility of flushing toilet paper – because they haven't been able to because of the septic tank. I still don't think they will be allowed to flush paper, but if it motivates them, let it be, right?

Anyway, after lunch today, we took a little time for relaxing and preparation for the evening outreach. I spent some time playing on the guitar, it was a great time of worship. Then around 3:30, we left for the projects close to the church, to hand out fliers (for our Wednesday Movie Night), to do face painting, balloon animals, and of course, play soccer with the locals. As we got to our destination, Jeff lit up! They had a soccer field inside walls (like a hockey rink) and a turf field, right in the middle of the projects. We began playing, and a crowd gathered. After scoring a goal, the other team had to leave the field. We started rotating in the locals, and soon there was a lot of people watching and waiting to play. We were handing out water, watermelon, wordless book bracelets, coins with John 3:16 on it, tracts, invitations, and popsicles. People were coming from all over the area to get the free stuff, get their faces painted, receive balloon animals, and to watch soccer. It was very successful. We are talking about doing it again tonight.

The neat thing for me was that the tracts we were handing out clearly present the gospel, and I watched many people reading the booklets while waiting and watching the soccer games. I watched one man showing it to the woman he was with. Only eternity will tell the outcome of today's events.

As the evening closed, we had pizza for dinner, followed by cake and ice cream. Then we played some cards – a game called “kemps”, and then we headed off for bed. Keli came to our room and asked for the “pump boy” - which of course is me. You see, the city trucks water to the cistern under the facility, then they pump the water to large basins on top of the building. When the basins empty, we have to pump the water to them. Anyway, I thought Keli was being silly, since everyone was supposed to be in bed, so when 20 minutes or so later someone else told us that Winnie was still in the shower waiting for the water, I felt bad.

After turning the pump on, and then off, the guys started asking some very personal questions regarding dating, sex, relationships, etc. I think they were surprised that I answered frankly and honestly. This seemed to be God's way of saying, it is time to share your testimony, so for the next 30+ minutes, I shared with them the story of God's grace in my life. Needless to say, as always it was very difficult, but very freeing. I am still amazed at the grace of our God. His forgiveness and mercy overwhelm me when I think about what He gave to bring me into His family. I pray that God used the things I shared with the guys to help them walk well with God.