Noelle Flaschner says...

They say if you plan your goals carefully, and always follow a plan of action, good things will come to you. It is also said that goods things come to thoughs who wait. This mission has proved both of these statements wrong.


None of us really knew what we were getting ourselves into while stepping on to that bus. No training meeting or research paper or veteran of the mission could really give us a good description of what we were to behold down in Mexico. You can't really plan ahead when there's nothing ahead to look at. And our "plan-o-action" didn't exactly give us a strait pathway threw this experience. To be honest, I'm glad it didn't. A curved road will take you to more places than a simple strait one. Some of the places were we ended up we had no idea existed, others we were all too well aware of. I found this to be very fulfiling in our cause, the more people who know the news we give, the more people help, the more lives we touch, the better. Goodness come from and to those who are good.

Waiting to do something like this is definitly one of the biggest mistakes that you could ever do. The good that comes with trips like these is greater than any gift you could ever ask for. This life is short, too short to wait for great opportunities. And indefinitly too short to let them slip by with only a glance. Life is short enough to be able to put your entire heart into everything you do and everyday you have. In the end, it's not who you are, who you knew, or what you did. It's why you did it.

To sum everything else up, the trip would get an eleven out of ten on the to do scale. The church made a difficult decision to continue this trip even though funding was at a minimal.. But 100% of us missionaries can say it was worth it by its importance. I pray that new students will be able to do this trip every year. They too will agree.

Christian Yost says...

We all just came back from the Colonia neighborhood rout and were all tired. Our group took a water break, and our translators took a nap. And the question came up on whether to go back out and try to talk to one or two more houses.
As the over achievers that we are we went out and actually hit more houses. We hit one house in particularly that a man came forward and was in his yard, and did not allow us to enter his yard. But we still started a conversation, and began a relationship. We found out that this man had had four heart attacks in the last two years and was pronounced dead. But miraculously he was standing before us 2 months later looking to be in perfect condition. But in his mind I knew he was scared, not of people or life; but of death. He still had the image and thoughts of that day burned in his head. We started to talk and noticed that he was extremely open and wanted to take in the glory of God into his heart. And the thing he wanted the most I think, is to have a locked and secured spot in Heaven. This way when that day comes he will be confident, on living a confident life. Later in that conversation he accepted Christ as his savor. And he went right into his backyard (as happy as can be) and started to talk to his girlfriend.

Lydia Burg says...

When I was in the Colonia we walked up to a little girl by her house, her mom wasn’t there but right when we were about to leave her mom showed up. She was so honest that she hasn’t been to church in a while. One of the girls in my group shared her testimony with the same experience, and by the end we were all crying.


I was in the Colonia, and we came and visited a woman with her 3 little girls. At first she seemed reluctant to talk to us, because she said she already knew Jesus. But then she became really honest and told us that she loved Christ when she was little, but fell away when she started to go to clubs. As we read her verses, I felt God calling me to share my testimony. At what seemed an awkward time, I asked to share it. As I did, I began to just bawl and so did the woman. Afterwards, Miles told the story of the Samaritan woman in a cool way. She finally decided to rededicate her life to Christ! We ALL cried! It was an amazing experience I’ll never forget!

I was with my group for Colonia and we saw a family out in their yard just hanging around. We started talking and we found out that the dad was a believer in Christ but the rest of the family did not know about Christ. So I told my testimony to them, then the mother wanted to know more about God. So we started to read some of the highlighted verses to her and explained each one to her. Once she understood, she then wanted Jesus to come live in her heart. Then the whole family waned to live a Christian life so we prayed for her and her family. That is what I think is really amazing.

Tuesday

Tuesday brought more great stuff from God for us in Mexico. We had some nice clouds today which gave us a little relief from the intense heat and sun. The clouds also made people more likely to be out and available for conversations. Many of the students had very powerful conversations and interactions with people today.


We had more children at Bible Club this morning so that was encouraging. The student team was excited because their skit had no mistakes for the first time in all their practicing. It was fun to watch them play with the kids and make glittery star crafts with them!

The construction is going really well. All the walls are up with paint and we’ve made a lot of progress on the roofs already too. We’re on pace to have them done ahead of schedule. The students have done a great job jumping in and tackling the work that needed to be done. You can remind them of this when they tell you their chores at home are too much!

Marisa Tomjack says...

Today my favorite thing that my group did was prayer. We did a method or prayer where we used the acronym ACTS. A=adoration. We went through the alphabet and thought of as many things as we could that described God with each letter. Then we prayed on our own adoring God. C=confession. First we listed some of the things that the whole human race does to sin. And then we went through things that Christains did as sins and finally ourselves. T=thanksgiving. We started with being thankful for things on the universal scale. Being thankful for HUGE things and then moved down to smaller and smaller things. S=stuff. Lastly we asked God for stuff. We asked for things to help us on the trip and elsewhere in our lives. The last thing we did in prayer was make encouragement cards for everyone on the trip with us. It was really eye opening to think of praying that many different ways. I had a great time.

Natalie Ones says...

It has been an amazing (and extremely warm) experience here in Mexico. Today my team and I did Colonia. I was surprised that everyone we met wanted to here what we said about God. I had the opportunity to lead a young boy to Christ and I will never forget it! Thanks for all the prayers!

Jenna Hager says...

God has been doing amazing things here in Mexico even in the first day. Today, my group went to the Colonial and brought two people to Christ. One of the 10 year old girls we led to Christ helped us pass out bibles, and went to the church to wait for us to come back. She ran to give us a huge hug, which made me feel incredible! God can change any life even through a simple hug. How great is He!!

Jake Bliss says...

Today during Colonia I had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ. It was a great experience for me and the person I was talking with. I learned the feeling of letting the Holy Spirit take over and speak through me to advance kingdom change. That was something I will never forget.

Monday

Today was a great first day! The students did a great job leading the first day of Bible Club. There were fewer children than we planned for, but we’re hoping that the attendance will build each day as the word spreads and kids get excited about it. We had a great day of building. They actually have all the walls built and we’ll be slapping some paint on them in the morning. It was fun to watch the students sharing in the colonia get excited about giving away Bibles and praying with people. They were a little sheepish at first, but warmed up to the task soon enough. We don’t really keep track of numbers on the trip, but we’ve had more than a few people respond to the gospel and surrender their lives to Jesus! Beyond that, the gospel seed has been planted and watered in the lives of many more.

Sunday fun

We had a very cool experience on Sunday evening when we joined our local church partner for an afternoon service. They had several groups sing special numbers and invited us to sing a special surprise song of our choosing…you have to love spontaneity! We especially loved it when we sang a couple well known hymns in Spanish. It was cool to sing something we knew so well in a language that we don’t know. It reminded me (Dave) of a future day when we’ll sing together before God from every language and every people group.

Wifi anyone??

I am having quite a hard time finding any wifi tonight! I'm using Miles' phone for this update and my thumbs are already sore! You can call the update line at 330-3360 x.550 and check back later tomorrow to see if any wifi could be found.

Almost there

We are 22 1/2 hours into the trip. And we are all a little bus logged! We've had an uneventful trip so far, so thanks for praying for us. The students are having a great time bonding so we're off to a great start. I'll make sure to update you again this evening.

The big day

Today's the big day!  We've been planning and training and cutting out hundreds of craft supplies for weeks, all leading up to today.  Students will arrive, the bus will be loaded, and we'll begin the long road trip south to the border.  It won't be comfortable, but it will be worth it.

Pray for safety as we travel and that God would protect us from any mechanical issues on the bus or cargo van.