Fine Chinese Cuisine
This is a Chinese food place in the food court at a local mall. As you can see, it’s called Hong Fat Chinese Express. Are you inspired to come and try a little Chinese cuisine here in Ixtapaluca?
Mexico
Video: Vision Weekend Day 3
Here’s the last video, from this past Sunday. It’s a little shorter than the others, probably because the morning service was a big part of the day, and I didn’t video any of it. In our church, one of the interns (Robert) preached.
So here’s a little taste from the last day of the weekend. A major theme was, apparently, FOOD. 😉 But if you want more details about this day, read Vision Weekend Day 3.
Video: Vision Weekend Day 2
Saturday was the first bilingual day. We spent time in God’s Word and in discussion about how to move forward together. For a full summary, see Vision Weekend Day 2.
Here are a few clips from the day. We spent most of the day in the building where Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Santa Barbara (Way of Life Bible Church Santa Barbara) meets.
Video: Vision Weekend Day 1
Here are a few brief video clips from the first day of the Vision Weekend. Obviously you won’t get the real "meat" from the weekend, but you’ll get a bit of an idea what happened… hopefully.
For a summary of what we talked about on this day (Friday), see Vision Weekend: Day 1.
Just a couple of notes – first, you won’t see clips of everyone who shared. Second, the answer is no, I did not intentionally stand outside of the view of the camera!
Vision Weekend Day 3
Today the group split up, some going to the service in Santa Barbara and some going to the service in Jesús María. Our service was … well, no day is ever the same as another, let me put it that way. For example, part way through the service, as I was playing keyboard, the stand fell off of one of the legs, and so I was playing on a slant the rest of the morning. Well, except that the sound stopped working for the keyboard, until I unplugged it from the system and just tried to play with the keyboard speakers….
But we won’t get into all that.
Robert (one of the interns) preached, and Hannah (our Hannah) and her ballet class performed.
After the service we had a potluck, with yummy food as usual. Then we had our last baptism class (which wasn’t exactly the last – some people weren’t there, and one girl wants to be baptized who wasn’t in the other classes… so more will be happening this week!
But – well, this isn’t really Vision Weekend related, but I had a great time again listening to testimonies and talking about the Gospel.
After a break in the afternoon, we met at Valtierras’ house for … well, you guessed it … more food! No one will be going away hungry, that’s for sure.
Then our work groups met again, and made some specific plans to move forward with the ministry here. Things we can cooperate on, whether in Mexico or not.
Finally, we had a time together praying and singing praises to God.
Oh, of course there were the goodbyes. Lots of hugs!
There’s not really any way we can thank those who gave of their time and money to be here this weekend. God will thank them.
Now we’re home again. Tomorrow I’ll be getting up to take two of our guests to the airport. Then back to normal li… no, sorry, scratch that. Life will be crazy from here on in. In less than three weeks we’ll be on the road, and before then — ! But that’s for another post.
If I can, I’ll get up some more pictures and video of the weekend. Meanwhile, you’ve had a summary!
When it rains…
If you’ve been following my Twitter feed or Facebook, you might know I was hoping to get to the doctor today. I hardly slept last night due to sinus issues – apparently I have some kind of an infection, and it was actually quite painful.
But I called the doctor throughout the morning and couldn’t catch anyone in to make an appointment. I tried again after our sessions were done for the day – but nobody was there.
So I decided to go to the store to see what I could find that would tide me over until Monday (I got something – we’ll see how it works…). I also picked up some things for our Sunday meal at the church tomorrow.
I was getting gas and just about home. On the highway to my right, a vehicle rammed into a motorcycle with two passengers. The two went flying, and I thought that was the end of that. The vehicle that hit them didn’t stop for a moment, but flew on down the highway (yes, someone got the license plate number).
Thankfully, they weren’t killed (in spite of the fact that, as is usual, they were wearing no helmets). I didn’t run over immediately, because there were quite a few people around. I watched to see how they were (they were hurting, but more on that in a moment). It didn’t seem like anyone was checking them out too carefully. The police truck came, stopped momentarily for information, and then sped off to catch the vehicle (I have a feeling they were too late, but who knows…).
My gas tank was filled by this time, and the situation changed slightly – it was raining a bit. One man was lying in the middle of the highway, and the other sitting by his side. I grabbed the emergency pack from our van (thanks, Petro Points), and pulled out a blanket.
We covered the one man, and I checked them out a bit and asked how they were doing. The one man claimed to be fine (other than some scrapes), although I hope they check him out more later because I’m not so sure. The other man seemed fine, except for a very sore leg (most likely broken). But they were stable.
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So, I helped direct traffic for a bit, since we were still in the middle of the highway (it’s been a while since I’ve done that – I have renewed respect for police who do it well!). Then the rain really started to come down, so I pulled out a – what do you call it? One of those hypothermia blankets. And we held that over the guys to keep them dry.
Finally the ambulance showed up, and got a splint onto the man’s leg (poor guy – it was pretty painful), and put him on the stretcher. We did our best to keep the rain off of them.
Someone got the motorcycle off the road and I think they were working on the two men in the ambulance for a while, because they hadn’t gone anywhere when I last saw them.
Here motorcycles weave in and out – usually fairly carefully – but usually without helmets – and sometimes recklessly. Almost hitting one is, I’m afraid, a very common occurrence for all of us. Thank God He has kept us safe, and thank God that this accident wasn’t worse than it was.
I got home, and dried off. Praying for those involved. Reminded again that life is fragile.