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.