Give thanks to the Lord for he is good! His steadfast love endures forever!

As of today, I have 12 days left in GTO. Incredible!

My past few weeks in GTO have been filled with exciting, frustrating, life-altering, disappointing, moving, and difficult moments. These moments have taught me even more to give up my expectations for situations because God's plans are final and secure. Nothing can change them—not even my failures. (Above is a picture of me and “Cristo Rey”[“Christ, the King”])

This past Thursday we had ESL class at camp for the children of Tejaban. After praying about it, we decided to use this lesson to share the gospel with the children. This was a big moment for us because we had been building up to this point for almost two months. All of us were so excited and the preparations for class made us even more so. I know that we all had expectations for the class and were hoping for a revival. However, we forgot that we have an enemy who hates the word of God and will stop at nothing to prevent it from being shared with the kids of Tejaban. Oops. (Below is a picture of Florecita. She is our source of joy!)

It all started when the 15ish kids that did come to class were about an hour late. They showed up, sat down, and then the havoc reeking began. Disrespect that we had never encountered from this particular group of kids was prominent. About five minutes into class, right after the name of Jesus had been mentioned, all of the kids stood up and said that class was boring so they were leaving. In that moment, I'm sure that all six interns had the same facial expression. Our hearts were breaking. It was time to bring out the big guns....candy. Yes, that's right. We bribed the kids to stay and listen....and it worked. After   everyone was back in their own chair, we started again with the vocabulary section of class. Words like “love” and “forgiveness” were strategically translated along side “Jesus”, “cross”, and “salvation”. It was going well until, ironically enough, Satan chose to use a serpent head in the pocket of a little boy to cause chaos. Needless to say, the snake head was confiscated and it ended up in my pocket. Just the fact that I had no qualms about touching the snake head and having it in my pocket showed me that God is truly changing me in many ways while I'm here. We managed to make it through class with no major disasters. After class time, we let the kids play outside on the camp. During this play time, one of the older boys tried to steal one of the basketballs, purposefully hit a sick bird out of a tree with said basketball, and hit a girl repeatedly over the head with the afore mentioned ball. The gringas were not happy. He was “sent home” which is the nice way of saying that we kicked him out of camp. That day will always be the memory that comes to mind whenever spiritual opposition is mentioned. However, despite the difficulties, I truly love these children and all that they represent for this village. 

Yesterday, I was eating lunch with my sister interns and we were discussing the confusion of feelings that we are beginning to experience. We are all so excited to see our families, sleep in our own beds, walk just a few feet to the bathroom (instead of the whole length of camp), and eat Chick-fil-A. However, we are already beginning to miss loving on our kids, interacting with our team family, walking in the city, ridding the bus, and much more.

God has truly blessed me by choosing to place me here and this experience is one that I will never forget.  

            I feel that so much time has passed since I was able to share with you all. Life here for the past three weeks has been the busiest and craziest thing I have ever experienced. First, a new addition to our team, “semi-intern” Emily, arrived on a Saturday and immediately was thrown into our life here in Tejaban. Our normal routine (ESL on Tuesdays and Thursdays; English Club on Wednesday and Saturday, and lots of time to unwind and relax) was shattered by the arrival of our first team. Suddenly, our quiet camp with only 11 human inhabitants and 1 dog was filled with 37 youth from Jacksonville, Florida, three translators from Mexico City, and a partridge in a pear tree. Just the sheer volume that this group reached at meal time was amazing when compared to the volume of our small team. With this team, God also sent a gift to me. My best friend Sam was able to come and spend two weeks with us here in Tejaban and his presence was such a comfort and a blessing to me. However, a few challenges that we faced in the ten days that the Jacksonville team was with us were patience, selflessness, and grace. In moments of frustration, I often found myself calling them “The Gringos”. As you can imagine, showering was both infuriating and terrifying at the same time. I won't horrify you with the details. For these reasons, the interns sought the comfort of the garden hose for the washing of our hair.

As we interns went through a daily schedule of breakfast, leading construction teams, lunch, open camp (when the kids from the village are free to come in and play), dinner, and then team debrief and games, our exhaustion levels were astronomical. However, the time that we spent with the Jacksonville team would not be traded for anything by any of us. We grew to love them and enjoy all the time we had with them.

During their last weekend in Tejaban, the Jacksonville team invited the youth from a Baptist church that is pastored by Javier, our cook's husband. Around 20ish youth from his church came to stay for two nights and, once more, our camp's and our team's capabilities were tested. I began to feel that Campamento Mision al Mundo might burst at the seams, spewing “fresa”gringos out into the street with the cows and goats. However, the walls held strong as their limits were tested once more with the arrival of a 12 person team from Nashville, Tenn. By this point, many of the interns could be seen periodically fleeing the scene in search of some alone time that we were able to find when we were together. Irony is a funny thing.

On Monday, our Jacksonville team left and in their absence they left sadness and quiet. The presence of the Nashville team, semi-intern Emily, and my friend Sam, helped to soften the blow. Our schedule continued as normal until the Nashville team, Emily, and Sam left on Friday. Our team leader, Alex, and his wife, Maggie, also left on Friday to lead a team in Acapulco, Mexico, for a week.

Suddenly, our team has gone from 11 to 7 (6 interns and our associate staff member David) and we don't know what to do with ourselves. ESL classes begin again on Tuesday and English Club will continue to happen on Wednesdays and Saturdays. With only 22 days left in our trip, we are beginning to feel the “closing” and are even more desperate to be lights to this dark place.

Please continue to be in prayer for the people of El Tejaban, Guanajuato proper, Leon, Irapuato, and Silao as we work to share the love of Christ with them.  

My week in pictures

Semper Gumby

Well, what a week it has been. After arriving on Tuesday, I have settled in and really gotten used to the morning schedule and even the insanity of morning workouts. My favorite times at camp are around 7:30-8 (I've become a morning person...amazing) and 7-11. The wind is so strong and it cools off so that everything feels so pleasant and relaxing. Our schedule, as far as I can tell, will be something like this......
Monday....I have no idea.
Tuesday...English class for kids of the village
Wednesday....Guanajuato time! Guanajuato all day until the English "club" with college aged students at 6
Thursday......English class for kids of the village
Friday....free day and laundry
Saturday.....youth group
Sunday.......church with the group in the morning and then free time

So far, we have actually faced a lot of opposition from some people in the village and in the cities. While walking back from the village one day, a little boy yelled out, "HEY! Gringos! F*** you!"
We were all a little surprised and didn't exactly know how to react to that so we just ignored it.
Yesterday, while on a packed bus to Leon, an old man over heard our conversations in English and yelled at us to stop speaking f***ing English and that we were all crazy and a lot of other things that I tried to block out of my mind. While this was alarming, it was also rather humorous for us and for the Mexicans on the bus. The man just really, really hated English, apparently. When he was about to get off, David, one of the guys who works with us at the camp, said, "HASTA LUEGO!". At least it was in Spanish...


 Although we don't have a car, transportation hasn't been an issue. A bus drives right by the front of the camp every 20 to 45 minutes from around 6:20 AM to 9:45 PM. However, catching the bus DOES prove to be difficult at times. Yesterday, we had to walk for a mile and a half before we encountered the right bus and then had to sprint across the road to flag it down. At night, if we catch the 9:45 bus out of GTO, we end up having to walk for several miles in the dark to reach the camp. While the dark is overwhelming sometimes, the sky is amazing. We see shooting stars every night that we walk.

I know that this post is getting long but I wanted to make sure that I let you all know some of the harder aspects of living here as well as some of the great aspects.

On Wednesday, we met with a group of college aged students to form a "club" of people who want to speak English. This time was so fun for me and for the rest of the girls as we made friends and were able to just relax with people our age. We made plans with some of the students to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie some time next week and have plans to get coffee and play some games. I'm so excited to see how these relationships develop and how God uses them for his kingdom!

My time in Guanajuato has been so great! Though there are some harder aspects to life here, they are far outweighed by God's blessings and his provision. May God bless you and keep you! You will hear from me soon.

Vivo en la casita verde

Hello, all! I'm HERE! By here, I mean the small village of El Tejeban outside of Guanajuato, MX. We arrived yesterday in the tiny, tiny airport of Guanajuato, Leon, and several other cities. After locating our bags, Elisa and I cautiously walked out to meet an MTW staff member, David. This was strange for us because we didn't know anything about David and had no idea if he was a gringo or a Mexican. Thankfully, we met up with no problems. I think I stuck out enough for him to realize that I'm not from around here. After gathering our things and taking a minute to send messages to home, we began our 30 minute walk (with all the luggage) over the highway, down the road, etc. to the bus station. All THREE of our bus rides were standing room only and there was absolutely no room for our luggage. I was immediately amazed at the willingness of the bus passengers to help us get all of our stuff on. It may have been because they had places to be and didn't want to be delayed. Nonetheless, the assistance was appreciated. Being on the bus here is an incredible experience. Such a smattering of people all crammed into a bus. The contrast is sometimes amazing. One seat on the bus may have a farmer with buckets filled with produce and the other seat may be filled with a business man. I love it!

    When our bus arrived at the camp, the first thing I saw was a little girl, Lupita, who had come to the camp for the ESL classes. As soon as she spotted me, she yelled,"YEEEY! GRINGAAA!!!" and then rushed over to hug me. THAT is exactly what I needed after such a long day. Once our bags were put away, we came out to the gate to talk with the remaining kids who didn't want to go home from the ESL class. We played various  clapping games with them and just spent some time loving them. While we were out on the road, a herd of cows came by, several buses passed, and many cars and trucks drove by on their way to the village (Tejeban) which is about a 20 minute walk from our camp.

   Our first evening at the camp was pretty relaxed. We fixed dinner and chatted with our team for the rest of the night. I thank God for the amazing team that he has given me. We all love the same things and laughed so much last night. There are already plans in the making for lunch time viewings of The Office and a Harry Potter marathon in preparation for the final movie in July. (We will all be going to see the final movie in a nice theater)


I'll post more later! Thanks for praying!

Baggage

Well, here I am, packing the night before I'm supposed to leave. Today has been especially hard and painful. As I have said goodbyes, I've had the constant stream of thoughts whose main theme is "This is the last....". Thankfully, my call has only been for two months and I will soon be back with stories to tell. Jesus is going to change me this summer, I know it! I know it because of how much Satan has fought with the Spirit in me as I have prepared for my journey. I haven't been able to sleep for several nights and the lack of rest really has my body in a state of exhaustion. Please pray for me as I travel. Pray that I would be alert and able to think and that everything would go smoothly with no baggage lost or damaged. I will also be dealing with a recently broken toe as I travel so please pray for quick healing and protection. You will be hearing from me soon! May God bless you and keep you!

Pre-field Training

....And so it begins! 

  PFT began on Monday the 23rd of May. The actual training took place in the mountains of North Carolina at a PCA retreat center called Ridge Haven. For three days, interns from all over the country met together in one place to train for their fields. Throughout theses three days, I was honored to interact with amazing young people who all had a common passion; missions. Our mornings began with breakfast provided by the talented staff of Ridge Haven followed by worship. In the afternoons, we had more meetings and team building exercises. These exercises helped us learn how to work together as a team. In the evenings, we ate dinner and then had evening worship followed by free time.  

(Below is a photo of the Latin America teams going to Guanajuato, MX; Acapulco, MX; and Lima, Peru.)

       

    During out training, I had the great pleasure of leading worship with a few others who had volunteered. Our time of preparations were always easy and filled with joy and it was a really encouraging time for me as I watched God's love pour out from each of my fellow interns. 

I returned from training ready and excited to work in Guanajuato with my 5 sisters in Christ. I leave Tuesday at 8:45 AM and should arrive in GTO at 3:00 PM. Thank you for your prayers! 

(Below is a shot taken of all of the interns before leaving for the field)