Sorry I missed last night, we were flying and driving from 2:00 pm (Cabo time) until 4:15 am (Bend time), I hope that qualifies for some slack.
Yesterday morning we took a little time by the pool before checking out of our hacienda. We had some time on the way to the airport, so we detoured to one of the kitchens we had worked at for some measurements and pictures.
Pastor Luis then took us by the home of one of his congregants. We had sat behind this family on Sunday in worship service; we had seen them singing, praising, and worshipping God with lifted hands; we had no idea of the state of their dwelling place. The five of them, husband, wife, 2 teenage girls and an 8 year old boy live in a 15 by 20 "dwelling." Their walls are pieced together scraps of lumber with a blue tarp pulled over for the roof. Electricity and water come from a neighbor with an extension cord and a hose. The outhouse is comprised of three old pieces of wafer board and a sheet. (They actually feel very blessed because they have a concrete floor rather than dirt.) They have been living there for three years and just three weeks ago finally got mattresses to sleep on. Do you want to hear the astounding part? They want to host a home group!!! We very humbly prayed for them before leaving. As we got back into our car, I believe all of us were fighting back tears. I think Ray was ready to leave everything he had in his wallet to help. It will be very hard for me to hear complaints about what we have or don't have after experiencing that so closely.
The motto "friendly skies" should be changed to "how many planes can we get you onto in one day? skies." We were supposed to get into PDX at 8:30pm, reality was 12:30am. After a snowy drive over the pass and relearning USA driving rules, we made it home--thanks, Clint, for turning on the heat for us cuz it's colder here than we remember. :)
It is so good to be back. I have much more to share; you'll hear it all in the coming weeks. Continue to stay tuned to this station. More happenings coming.
Monday night, January 17...Our last full day before heading home. It was mostly about "us" today. We spent about an hour in the morning getting prices on materials, food, etc. at Home Depot and Wal-Mart, then we had an afternoon of FUN. We drove into San Lucas--oh! have I mentioned that I LOVE driving in Mexico? The rules are more or less there for personal interpretation. I'm sure that's not true, but everyone sure drives like it is!
We went out into the Sea of Cortez on a large catamaran with about 25 other people for a snorkeling adventure. We had a photo op at "Lover's Beach" and the arch at "Land's End." As we were taking our 45-minute cruise to the snorkeling destination, our cruise turned into a whale-watching excursion. We were able to see a gray whale breach a few times; Sheila captured it on camera. We continued on to our snorkeling beach, where, according to the laws here, we HAD to don life vests in order to snorkel, much to Sheila's delight, and much to my dismay. :) The water was pretty cold, so everyone was done within 45 minutes, but lunch was waiting for us, so within minutes we were warm and content.
When we returned to the dock, we walked around, picking up a few little souvenirs (we have grandchildren, you know! and Sheila and Sherrill love the Vanilla for baking that they make down here), and had another fabulous meal.
Back at our room, we settled down for one more game of cards. Ray and I are leaving these cards in Mexico.
Looking forward to being back home--Central Oregon is a GREAT place to come home to! Especially because of the people there. Dios los bendiga. (God bless all of you.)
We went out into the Sea of Cortez on a large catamaran with about 25 other people for a snorkeling adventure. We had a photo op at "Lover's Beach" and the arch at "Land's End." As we were taking our 45-minute cruise to the snorkeling destination, our cruise turned into a whale-watching excursion. We were able to see a gray whale breach a few times; Sheila captured it on camera. We continued on to our snorkeling beach, where, according to the laws here, we HAD to don life vests in order to snorkel, much to Sheila's delight, and much to my dismay. :) The water was pretty cold, so everyone was done within 45 minutes, but lunch was waiting for us, so within minutes we were warm and content.
When we returned to the dock, we walked around, picking up a few little souvenirs (we have grandchildren, you know! and Sheila and Sherrill love the Vanilla for baking that they make down here), and had another fabulous meal.
Back at our room, we settled down for one more game of cards. Ray and I are leaving these cards in Mexico.
Looking forward to being back home--Central Oregon is a GREAT place to come home to! Especially because of the people there. Dios los bendiga. (God bless all of you.)
Sunday glorious night, January 16...phew!!! What a whirlwind of a day! We started out this morning with the goal of being able to Skype with all of you at FH during the morning service. After much frustration on both ends, the forces of technology were not in our favor today! We'll try to win this war another time--hopefully by the time we come back down for our missions trip in the fall!
The morning service started at 11am with sunshine, singing, and prayer. Then we were blessed with Communion. Pastor Luis introduced all of us from the U.S. (we were "special guests"), and thanked us for the keyboard...profusely, I might add. It was very humbling, and to all of you who were able to donate towards that purchase, please know that God is pleased. It sounded great and they were very happy with it! Pastor Luis had asked me to preach, so I spoke, and guess what? I only spoke for twenty minutes!! Now, don't be getting any ideas...my interpreter (Pastor Luis) took twenty minutes interpreting, so I guess my whole message was about forty minutes. ha.
We prayed for several people after service; again, we felt very honored and blessed to be a blessing to these good people.
At about 1:30, we went to the director of the school's home for lunch--wow, what a spread! I think we needed to go back to church to repent of gluttony. Honest. Then we walked a couple of blocks away for dessert at the French Riviera--very chic and modern. (Please note previous blog about spin bike.) During dessert, we were asked if we would like to join in helping at another kitchen in another colony, so we left from that restaurant, went to a grocery store to help purchase food, and traveled to the colony. Pastor Luis & I went down the streets inviting people to eat and to come to a church service (the "kitchen" is there just outside the church) while Ray, Sherrill, and Sheila helped make ham sandwiches. Eliana was there working like crazy, too. She's an Energizer Bunny if I've ever seen one! She and Pastor Luis are amazing people--they truly love God and want to see people's lives transformed.
About 100 people showed up for the service and meal. We were back at our hotel around 7:30pm, happy and tired. We can't really figure out why we're so tired, but we are. :)
Although I'm having a great time with plenty of ministry opportunities, my heart was with you in Bend today as well, thinking about all of my friends worshipping together, and then the sharing that I'm sure happened in Home Groups.
I've already had reports that everything went well today, as I knew it would. We have a wonderful, hard-working group of people. We brag about you all the time, even if it's just to the Lord sometimes in prayer! Thank you for being the church that I miss so much when I'm gone.
I refuse to even mention the card game tonight.
The morning service started at 11am with sunshine, singing, and prayer. Then we were blessed with Communion. Pastor Luis introduced all of us from the U.S. (we were "special guests"), and thanked us for the keyboard...profusely, I might add. It was very humbling, and to all of you who were able to donate towards that purchase, please know that God is pleased. It sounded great and they were very happy with it! Pastor Luis had asked me to preach, so I spoke, and guess what? I only spoke for twenty minutes!! Now, don't be getting any ideas...my interpreter (Pastor Luis) took twenty minutes interpreting, so I guess my whole message was about forty minutes. ha.
We prayed for several people after service; again, we felt very honored and blessed to be a blessing to these good people.
At about 1:30, we went to the director of the school's home for lunch--wow, what a spread! I think we needed to go back to church to repent of gluttony. Honest. Then we walked a couple of blocks away for dessert at the French Riviera--very chic and modern. (Please note previous blog about spin bike.) During dessert, we were asked if we would like to join in helping at another kitchen in another colony, so we left from that restaurant, went to a grocery store to help purchase food, and traveled to the colony. Pastor Luis & I went down the streets inviting people to eat and to come to a church service (the "kitchen" is there just outside the church) while Ray, Sherrill, and Sheila helped make ham sandwiches. Eliana was there working like crazy, too. She's an Energizer Bunny if I've ever seen one! She and Pastor Luis are amazing people--they truly love God and want to see people's lives transformed.
About 100 people showed up for the service and meal. We were back at our hotel around 7:30pm, happy and tired. We can't really figure out why we're so tired, but we are. :)
Although I'm having a great time with plenty of ministry opportunities, my heart was with you in Bend today as well, thinking about all of my friends worshipping together, and then the sharing that I'm sure happened in Home Groups.
I've already had reports that everything went well today, as I knew it would. We have a wonderful, hard-working group of people. We brag about you all the time, even if it's just to the Lord sometimes in prayer! Thank you for being the church that I miss so much when I'm gone.
I refuse to even mention the card game tonight.
Saturday night, January 15...had a wonderful lunch with Pastor Luis and his wife Eliana. We discussed the upcoming mission trip at length. There is so much need, such as feeding hungry children in "colonies" (the name of super-poor neighborhoods), doing physical labor on the church, providing whatever we can physically and spiritually,...our prayer still needs to be "What exactly do You want us to do, Lord?" It can be overwhelming--the need--so we have to pare down to what we can accomplish and do well in a week's time.
After lunch, we went with Luis & Eliana and helped set up chairs for the service tomorrow. It brought back fond memories of setting up for our tent a few years ago (minus the snow, of course!). As you can imagine, the rest of the afternoon our minds were abuzz with ministry possibilities for FH.
I can see so many of you ministering in different ways here, being stretched, giving, laboring, encouraging, praying, playing, working so hard that you're happily exhausted.
Tonight we ate in-house and read through a possible play for the upcoming dinner theatre. That was fun, to say the least, each of us reading two or three different parts! (Actually, Ray and I were reluctant readers, but alas, all for His glory...)
Did I mention how much fun "Hand & Foot" is? (The boys are back.)
Oh, and "GO, SEAHAWKS!"
After lunch, we went with Luis & Eliana and helped set up chairs for the service tomorrow. It brought back fond memories of setting up for our tent a few years ago (minus the snow, of course!). As you can imagine, the rest of the afternoon our minds were abuzz with ministry possibilities for FH.
I can see so many of you ministering in different ways here, being stretched, giving, laboring, encouraging, praying, playing, working so hard that you're happily exhausted.
Tonight we ate in-house and read through a possible play for the upcoming dinner theatre. That was fun, to say the least, each of us reading two or three different parts! (Actually, Ray and I were reluctant readers, but alas, all for His glory...)
Did I mention how much fun "Hand & Foot" is? (The boys are back.)
Oh, and "GO, SEAHAWKS!"
Friday night, January 14...another very relaxing day, especially for Sheila and Sherrill who had massages. Ray and I took advantage of that time to go to the hotel we may be staying at for the missions trip and snapped a few pictures. We also went to some stores to do some price comparisons for when we return. All of us have taken advantage of any spare time to read, read, read...oh, and we saw a few whales today! Awesome creatures.
Had another delicious dinner and that's about it for the day. We are supposed to meet with Pastor Luis and Eliana tomorrow and hopefully meet some other pastors down here and a contractor. We are still praying about what God wants us to do exactly; I hope you are, too. We want to do what is most profitable for the Kingdom. Please join forces with us in prayer for God's perfect will to be laid out clearly.
Stupid ol' game. Who invented "Hand & Foot" anyway?
Had another delicious dinner and that's about it for the day. We are supposed to meet with Pastor Luis and Eliana tomorrow and hopefully meet some other pastors down here and a contractor. We are still praying about what God wants us to do exactly; I hope you are, too. We want to do what is most profitable for the Kingdom. Please join forces with us in prayer for God's perfect will to be laid out clearly.
Stupid ol' game. Who invented "Hand & Foot" anyway?
Thursday night, January 13...this was the warmest weather day yet. Yesterday was overcast most of the day, and while we still considered it fairly warm (about 72 degrees, I think), the locals had on long pants, tennis shoes, and jackets. Some were actually shivering!
Have I mentioned the food yet? Well, let me put it this way: I can hear my spin bike calling my name! Everything has been Delicious.
Today's highlight was going to a "kitchen" that the church runs. It is in an extremely poor district of San Jose, and I'm talking POOR. They prepare a meal (dinner) three times a week for neighborhood children, usually around 30-50 kids and about 10 adults. We arrived about an hour early to help prepare the food, which included a trip to the grocery store. Guess the number of people who showed up? Well...Sheila counted at least 125, not including the staff of about eight that were helping! We were worried about having enough food, but it stretched even to include seconds, and there were leftovers. Ray and I handed out candy (per Pastor Luis' request) to all of the kids. Ray and I each had a bag, the kids lined up, and kind, generous Ray kept running out so Eliana kept having to replenish him! And again, there was enough...thank heaven.
A small local church next to the outdoor eating area began its mid-week service just as we were finishing the cleaning-up part, so the four of us quietly went in to enjoy the worship lead by a young man playing a keyboard. Yesterday I began to pray for God to "stretch me, ruin me, heal me," and as I stepped into the humble little building for that evening service, the "ruining" began. As I watched some of the poorest people on earth raising their hands and praising God on a Thursday night in a full church, I wondered how I measured up to their faith.
Have I mentioned the food yet? Well, let me put it this way: I can hear my spin bike calling my name! Everything has been Delicious.
Today's highlight was going to a "kitchen" that the church runs. It is in an extremely poor district of San Jose, and I'm talking POOR. They prepare a meal (dinner) three times a week for neighborhood children, usually around 30-50 kids and about 10 adults. We arrived about an hour early to help prepare the food, which included a trip to the grocery store. Guess the number of people who showed up? Well...Sheila counted at least 125, not including the staff of about eight that were helping! We were worried about having enough food, but it stretched even to include seconds, and there were leftovers. Ray and I handed out candy (per Pastor Luis' request) to all of the kids. Ray and I each had a bag, the kids lined up, and kind, generous Ray kept running out so Eliana kept having to replenish him! And again, there was enough...thank heaven.
A small local church next to the outdoor eating area began its mid-week service just as we were finishing the cleaning-up part, so the four of us quietly went in to enjoy the worship lead by a young man playing a keyboard. Yesterday I began to pray for God to "stretch me, ruin me, heal me," and as I stepped into the humble little building for that evening service, the "ruining" began. As I watched some of the poorest people on earth raising their hands and praising God on a Thursday night in a full church, I wondered how I measured up to their faith.
Wednesday night, January 12...had a restful day, one of the most restful days I've had in a long time. Read and napped by a pool overlooking the ocean (saw a couple of whales!), finished a book that inspired me, encouraged me, and challenged me to add a new prayer to my life "stretch me, ruin me, heal me"...you can bet there'll be a message about that coming soon. :)
Now that I've finished a book that has so thoroughly challenged me, I'm taking it easy for a few days with a fictional adventure book. Suspense. Action. Thriller.
Went to Home Depot yesterday and Costco today. Home Depot was fairly different than the ones back home--more interested in selling T.V.'s than good lumber, but at least lumber is for sale here! That was a relief, thinking about what we might be doing for a missions project. Costco was a lot the same, even the prices, but no books at all. That was weird.
Sherrill brought some peanut brittle that her daughter Courtney made, and guess what? I chipped a tooth! Know any good dentists?
Keep us in prayer on Thursday as we visit the kitchen where the local church feeds children, and we'll meet with other pastors and church members as we try to discern what their most urgent needs are and what would benefit the Kingdom the most. Wisdom, Lord.
We boys got revenge in cards tonight.
Now that I've finished a book that has so thoroughly challenged me, I'm taking it easy for a few days with a fictional adventure book. Suspense. Action. Thriller.
Went to Home Depot yesterday and Costco today. Home Depot was fairly different than the ones back home--more interested in selling T.V.'s than good lumber, but at least lumber is for sale here! That was a relief, thinking about what we might be doing for a missions project. Costco was a lot the same, even the prices, but no books at all. That was weird.
Sherrill brought some peanut brittle that her daughter Courtney made, and guess what? I chipped a tooth! Know any good dentists?
Keep us in prayer on Thursday as we visit the kitchen where the local church feeds children, and we'll meet with other pastors and church members as we try to discern what their most urgent needs are and what would benefit the Kingdom the most. Wisdom, Lord.
We boys got revenge in cards tonight.
Tuesday night, January 11...got up early this morning and met with Pastor Luis and Eliana at a private (Christian) school where Eliana works. About 200 kids attend, down from the 400 they had last year--the economy in Mexico isn't as hot as the weather apparently. The school property is where they have their Sunday morning service, too, so we took a trunkload of pictures and video. Sheila had a chance to talk to a fifth grade class about Jesus because a little 11-year-old girl/student died yesterday of a brain tumor. The kids were all sad today and the director asked if we would please talk to this class. Scary stuff when it's thrown at you and have about three minutes to think of what to say. Ministry is ministry, though, no matter where you are or even how (un)prepared you are!
I've had the privilege of being in several foreign countries and traveled via the bus, taxi, or missionary vans as a passenger, but today I have the newfound freedom of being the driver in a foreign country! I was scared to death, but exhilerated at the same time! The near misses had Sheila cringing in the passenger seat like a frightened four-year-old, probably wishing she was in a child's carseat!
By the time we picked up Ray & Sherrill at the airport in the afternoon, I was a pro, and Ray greatly admired my driving skills. We had a wonderful dinner, then the girls soundly defeated the boys in a friendly game of cards. (We will get revenge.)
I am thankful for so many things...tonight, I'll say I'm thankful for speed bumps that aren't the size of bowling balls, traffic laws that are actually obeyed, and lines in the road you can actually see--all in the USA.
I've had the privilege of being in several foreign countries and traveled via the bus, taxi, or missionary vans as a passenger, but today I have the newfound freedom of being the driver in a foreign country! I was scared to death, but exhilerated at the same time! The near misses had Sheila cringing in the passenger seat like a frightened four-year-old, probably wishing she was in a child's carseat!
By the time we picked up Ray & Sherrill at the airport in the afternoon, I was a pro, and Ray greatly admired my driving skills. We had a wonderful dinner, then the girls soundly defeated the boys in a friendly game of cards. (We will get revenge.)
I am thankful for so many things...tonight, I'll say I'm thankful for speed bumps that aren't the size of bowling balls, traffic laws that are actually obeyed, and lines in the road you can actually see--all in the USA.
I'm no longer doing to blog my "DJ" entries, but am instead going to comment about random things happening in my life. I think it will be more fun for both of us, especially the next week or so as I invite you to follow along on our journey in Mexico.
Monday, January 10...it's been a long day, but thankful there were no "hitches" on our path to Cabo San Jose, Mexico, so Sheila and I have arrived safely and shed our jackets and socks like a snake shedding its skin! We had dinner with Pastor Luis and his wife Eliana. They are awesome people--humble, passionate, and faithful to serve God. I'll post pictures sometime this week. Now, on to the important stuff: when we got here at 1:05pm(PST), we were half-starved...you know, I used to complain about airplane food, but wow, you don't even get peanuts anymore! Anyway, by the time we rented our car, we had been up since 3:30am and hadn't had a meal yet...so on the way to our hotel, we were on the look-out for something quick. Guess what we ended up eating? A quarter pounder, no queso, por favor! Comfort food extraordinaire.
Luis & Eliana came to our room after dinner and we gave them the keyboard. They were speechless. Thanks, everyone, for making this happen. God BLESS you. Tomorrow we go see their church and school...8am. No rest for the wicked and the righteous? Well, apparently they don't need any.
Monday, January 10...it's been a long day, but thankful there were no "hitches" on our path to Cabo San Jose, Mexico, so Sheila and I have arrived safely and shed our jackets and socks like a snake shedding its skin! We had dinner with Pastor Luis and his wife Eliana. They are awesome people--humble, passionate, and faithful to serve God. I'll post pictures sometime this week. Now, on to the important stuff: when we got here at 1:05pm(PST), we were half-starved...you know, I used to complain about airplane food, but wow, you don't even get peanuts anymore! Anyway, by the time we rented our car, we had been up since 3:30am and hadn't had a meal yet...so on the way to our hotel, we were on the look-out for something quick. Guess what we ended up eating? A quarter pounder, no queso, por favor! Comfort food extraordinaire.
Luis & Eliana came to our room after dinner and we gave them the keyboard. They were speechless. Thanks, everyone, for making this happen. God BLESS you. Tomorrow we go see their church and school...8am. No rest for the wicked and the righteous? Well, apparently they don't need any.
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