Balloon Ministry...

...Is always a hit with the children. Today we were back at the same place as yesterday for another open-air service, balloons and soccer, and prayer time at the end.

Open-Air Service

Gearing up for another open-air service in a neighborhood we haven't worked in before. Today's setting is the local park and we'll be performing at the soccer court. There were a lot of children at this service and there was a family that really touched my heart when we went door-to-door. It was a granmother, grandfather and their 8 or 9 grandchildren (from a couple different families). It was really neat seeing how close these children felt to their grandparents. I picked up that the parents work every day and so I'm sure they are with them daily. They were very receptive to our visit, graciously received a Bible and began reading it before we left. Students from Abiding Savior Church (South Dakota) perform a drama.

Sunday Afternoon

There's something about Sunday afternoons. I try to do as little as possible, this Sunday, I washed the car. The boys made it fun (washing eachother). It was so hot the water was steaming and evaporating off the car. Bianca had her girlfriends from church over to play afterward.

Go Karts!

We typically let our teams choose how they'd like to spend their freeday. Some want to go to the Grutas de Garcia (caves), some choose Cola de Caballo (Horsetail Falls) and others just want to go to the Quinta and hang out at the pool. Regardless, it's up to them. Well, our team this week chose, Go Karts.

We have a Go-Kart track here in Monterrey. These Go Karts hit speeds of almost 40 miles an hour and when you're sitting about an inch off the ground, that feels pretty fast. Pockets, the youth leader (who also drives a race car) took me out on one of the turns and I never saw him again. There's something to be said for driving ability, it's not all speed. It was a blast. My son Noah said, "Dad, it was almost like Mario Kart, minus the turtle shells and all." Pics are coming

A Community In Need

Today we went to a community to do door-to-door Bible and food distribution followed by helping out at a local Soup Kitchen. The community is largely made up of garbage haulers. Not the people that work for BFI or Waste Management, these are guys that own a horse, a carriage and ride around town picking up garbage in communities where the garbage trucks won't go.

The needs and problems in this community are incredible. First, there is garbage everywhere, all over the streets, broken tile, glass, animal manure, food waste, etc. The smell walking down the street is like that of a garbage can that is a week overdue to be taken out. In 2 years on the mission field, I have never seen anything quite like it. I've been in slum villages in Thailand with open sewage and poor areas in Southern Mexico, but I think the fact that there is so much garbage everywhere, it is almost overwhelming. Please click on the album below and remember, the pictures are only a poor representation of the visual image, the sense of smell is not engaged in a picture and the magnitude of the amount of garbage is difficult to capture. But the children looked happy after dinner was served!

A Community in Need

The Kiley's Are Here!!!

We headed up to the border today to pick up some friends of ours, Anne and her daughter Maddie Kiley. We are really excited to have them down for a visit/mission trip. They are from our home church, River Valley Church in Minnesota.

This is a good time to go out for tacos!

Soup Kitchen

We call it a Soup Kitchen but it's usually hot dogs (the kids love 'em). We did ministry at the Metroplex Soup Kitchen today. One of our team members got bit by a dog (have I mentioned there are a lot of dogs in Mexico).

Sainai Evangelical Mission

That's where we're working this week, Sainai Evangelical Mission (Mision Evangelica de Sainai). It is on the outskirts of Monterrey where people have built homes in the foothills of the mountains. It is very steep, rocky terrain, no running water (it's delivered on trucks) and lots of children. Many of the parents (if both are in the home) work, sometimes multiple jobs. There was a tremendous response at the services and the last night, we had a prayer line where many people came forward either for prayer or to accept Christ. God's presence was so strong, it was amazing.

Reflections from the Other Side of the Border

I've lived in Mexico 2 years now and for the most part, I know the language, I'm familiar with the culture (I better be, my wife and in-laws are Mexican), and we have a lot of things that exist back home, like Starbuck's Coffee, Wal-Mart, Sam's club, etc. Monterrey is a big, fast-paced city with a lot of money. At the same time there are very poor areas where people barely have enough to survive. And yet, every once in a while, I find myself almost forgetting that I live in Mexico. I'm a missionary, yes, but aren't we all? I mean, I work in ministry full time, but I would attest that every pastor at my home church is every bit as much of a missionary as I am. So, day in and day out, it's easy for me (due to the above mentioned things) to just sort of forget that I live in Mexico.

But then, a holiday rolls around, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, those are the two biggies that aren't celebrated here (the minor ones like Labor Day and Memorial Day are celebrated but in a different way). So, on the 4th of July, something doesn't quite feel right. If you log in to the internet, you know it's the 4th, but if you walk down the street here, it's the 4th still, minus the parades, the cooking out, the fireworks, carnivals, festivals, etc. Something just feels like it's missing. It's days like these that it's easy to feel homesick. Last year we had the blessing of spending the 4th in McAllen, TX with some friends. This year, it's just another day in July.

So what do you do to cure the blues, well, at a lack of other ideas, we headed off to, "America's Incredible Pizza." It's a pizza buffet (with good pizza, salads and desserts). Your entry includes access to indoor go-karts, mini-bowling, indoor miniature golf, gobs of video games and my favorite, laser tag. The boys loved it! While there weren't fireworks, there was shooting and a good time was had by all.

Hot Off the Press

One of my responsibilities here in Monterrey is putting together a quarterly newsletter that gets sent out to Youth Leaders and Pastors all accross the U.S. and Canada. This past issue I had the priviledge of going out for breakfast tamales and interviewing Pastor Armando. A Mexican Pastor our ministry has worked with for almost 10 years. He had some very compelling things to say.

A couple of my favorite quotes of his from the interview were, "God, if you'll save my marriage, I'll give up my law career and serve you for the rest of my life." God did, and he did (give up his law career and has been serving the Lord for over 10 years. Regarding the short-term teams that come down, he said, "It has really blessed us to work with teams that have dedicated their vacation time and money to come down to do work that belongs to us. It has helped mobilize our church from the pew to the community." As a result of his experience working with Youth With A Mission, at a recent Pastor's conference he made the following challenge to the Pastors, "If you aren't doing mercy ministries at your church, you aren't doing God's work."

He is a very kind-hearted and gentle person, with a purpose, and he's not afraid to express it. I love working with Pastors like him, they are such an inspiration!