I just checked the flight for the first six team members to leave, and apparently it has "departed". And as far as I know, they’re on it!
This morning we met at the house that the church rents in Jesús María. It was another despedida for the team – gifts, hugs, and prayers!
Then I took some and a taxi driver took the others (a taxi driver named Jesus, no less). The traffic was a little heavier than I expected but we got everybody to the airport, checked in, and through security.
Traffic was very light on the way home, so we rolled in just about when the first group (maybe) took off. The other two leave in about an hour.
From our perspective it was a very good trip. The team did a great job overall. I’ll likely have more comments later – and I hope to post some pictures and video … in the future … when I can!
Thanks again, MI Team! Safe travels, and may God continue to use you and work in you!
Today we were up well before 5am getting ready for the sunrise service at Samuel and Aurora’s home. We went to Jesús María to pick people up, then we headed up to the service.
I was leading the service this morning. I decided to share a series of passages that related to the resurrection throughout the service. In case you’re interested, here they are:
The team taught a children’s song, and three of them shared their testimonies. Rod shared the message.
After the service the men started grilling meat, cactus, and onions – and we had a fantastic meal. We hung out for a while, and the kids swam in the kiddie pool.
Then we had a despedida for the team – that is, a farewell party.
Everybody thanked each other and praised God, and the team received some gifts. It was great to see the relationships that have been built in just a few days. Finally, Ismael prayed for the churches in Canada that the teams come from, and Dave prayed for the churches here in Ixtapaluca.
Just in case anyone doubted we were in Mexico, we had a piñata. Tiffany chose this fantastic bird piñata – a bird that was quite angry. And we smashed it and got candy.
The team members are hanging out with their new friends this evening, and packing up for the trip back to Canada in the morning!
A great way to spend Resurrection Sunday! Praising the Lord for all that He has done in so many lives – in Canada and in Mexico!
Today we went up to the pass between the volcanoes – our family, Rod and Mayra’s family, the MI Team, their host families, and a few other guests. So it was a big group! Here are most of them in front of the active volcano, Popocatépetl:
A good time was had by a… well, ok, I had a bit of a bumpy day personally. Woke up with a crick in my neck. We got out of the house late, and I went to get money out – and got my bank card stuck in a bank machine. Finally got it out and went to another bank machine – where it promptly got stuck. Finally got it out – and had success at the third machine!
But by the time we got to the pass I was feeling pretty sick (migraine attack), so I spent the day in a tin can (what we usually call our van) under the hot sun, with smoke and dust coming in every crack, and crowds streaming around me. They kept bumping the van because it was parked so close to the other vehicles they could hardly get by.
I think the only worse place I’ve been in for a migraine attack was an emergency room. Now that was scary.
Anyway, other than that I think it was a good day for most people. Tomorrow we rise early – very early – for a 6am (Mexican time) sunrise service for Resurrection Sunday!
Today was not what we expected – then again, no day has been what we expected!
But we had a great time anyway. We enjoyed a bilingual prayer meeting the morning, and the team gave an impromptu concert.
Then we spent some time cleaning the community centre area and rented house, and working on some of the projects of the week. Today was mostly painting – here are Janice and Janelle painting the swing set that was built and put into place this week (while Nathanael tests them out). It has already gotten a lot of use!
Later in the afternoon we headed up to the ruins above Ixtapaluca, and had some good views of the city around.
This evening we went to a Good Friday service – packed into the rented house:
Ismael led the service, and Rod led the music. Several from the church gave testimonies about what the Lord has been doing in their lives – it’s incredible what He has brought people through – and to.
Believe it or not, we even had a guest speaker tonight. Ready to "preach, pray or die at a moment’s notice", Dave gave the devotional while Mayra translated. He did a great job, and really focused us on what the Lord did for us.
Then we spent some time hanging out with friends – under a full moon!
Tomorrow will be a day just to spend time together, as we travel up to the pass between the volcanoes. The families who have been hosting the team members are all invited to come, so it should be a lot of fun! It’s great to see so many new friends that have been made in a short time.
When the dust has cleared, I hope to make a video of the team’s time here. But for today, I had my computer automatically choose some clips and throw them together for you, to get a glimpse of what happened. The clips move by quickly, so pay attention! 😉
Today was the last day of the kids’ club, and the closing program. Everyone heard the Gospel more than once today, and some of the children talked to the leaders about salvation.
During the club this morning, some of the Moms got together with Shari and also Heather, Janelle and Janice from the team, and they had a baking class. They made some delicious apple-cheese-pie-stuff, which you’ll see in the video.
Also throughout the day, construction projects continued, such as work on a swing set for the community.
The last thing I have clips of from today was a visit to a restaurant called Espartacos (the Mexican word for Spartacus, but with an emphasis – EsparTACOS).
This afternoon the team came back to our house to chill out a bit – and some of them even learned from Hannah and Nathanael how to use trompos. 🙂
Wow – I just don’t really know what to say about that day – today! So much happened, it was kind of like a week all packed into a day!
Well, maybe it’s not worth it to go into too much detail. The kids’ club went well today, as usual. The children are learning a lot about the Gospel, about Jesus, about the Bible.
Trying bannock at the English Class
I was looking forward to hanging out at the club today, but we discovered that we were out of gas at home and Shari had baking to do in preparation for the big baking class tomorrow. Our second tank was defective, so I went out to find somewhere to fill the gas – and that led to a stop by the police and other adventures I won’t get into (don’t worry, the police let me go… apparently I hadn’t done anything wrong. I guess they just wanted to chat…)
In the afternoon the team did a lot of cleaning and construction-related stuff. (Our word "construction" loosely means anything related to screws, wood, paint and metal – we’re doing a lot of small projects).
The English class this afternoon was a smash-hit – packed out with people from the church and the community. The team played some games, taught some geography and even made bannock.
After the class we went out for tacos (YUM), and then they team went to do some more socializing (which, without doubt, is a very important reason why they’re here!).
Shari, Hannah and Nathanael were on their way to join us for tacos when Nathanael fell splat onto the pavement. He had quite a goose egg, and we went to the doctor as a precaution. But the doctor felt he was fine, and he’s doing well now. Although I admit he looks a little worse for wear.
So that’s a quick summary of our day – here are a few pictures. By the way, eventually I’ll upload some high definition pictures into our photo gallery. Time being limited, I’m just throwing up a few previews here.
Dave plays hopscotch – with all his might!
Parachute game!
I guess it was a bit of a Dave-centric day for pictures – but here’s Dave again, showing everyone a Canadian coin at the English class.
