Mexico Mission Trip - Day 3

Sunday morning we woke up had breakfast and headed out to our rental home's patio for morning devotions, as we journaled and meditated on the Great Commission students discussed how they felt called and motivated to be more active in their faith.  That the power of God goes beyond any fear that we may have.

What a view for doing your morning quiet time in the Word

After devotions we got to go to Hope Chapel Rosarito's Sunday service.  The place was full of people for Palm Sunday and it was awesome to be a part of.  The students performed their pantomime and the other half of the team performed their puppet show and interactive story for the little kids.  It was a good experience for students to see different ways of doing church and stretching them out of their comfort zones.  Praise the Lord we witnessed 2 people make decisions to follow Christ in the service.  Many of the students were amazed to see how God can work through people and we didn't even have a long sermon, instead Pastor Sandy shared a short message from her heart.  

After lunch we prepped giveaway baggies for our upcoming outreach.  We made an assembly line and the students filled the bags with tracts, candy, bubbles, and little toys.  We used the bags that we had decorated the previous day.  In total we filled about 100 bags in less than an hour.  Our students are quick and hard workers.

Students filling the giveaway bags for the outreach later that day.

After our bag prep some of us were able to go into the ocean near our house.  We really enjoyed swimming in those big waves.  It was so refreshing to enjoy God's creation like that.  Following our time in the ocean we headed out to a local community, Vista Marina, to do our planned outreach.

We pulled into the neighborhood and corralled as many little kids and families as possible.  At the outreach we had our team do their interactive story, the pantomime and the puppet show.  We concluded by offering an invitation to follow Christ.  It was great for the students to see these kids and their families enjoying all of the students' hard preparations.  There were continual smiles and laughter among the little kids. 

Vista Marina neighborhood where we did our outreach

To finish off the outreach we distributed the bags we had prepared ahead of time.  It was awesome to see the faces on the little kids light up as we gave them this little goodie bag.  It was great to see many of the team interacting with the kids, utilizing their little bit of Spanish vocabulary and showing the love of Jesus.

Goodie bag distribution at the Vista Marina outreach

Our Sunday finished off with a BBQ back at the Godwins' house.  We had burgers, beans and lots of fun.  Our students are doing such a great job of serving, including the locals within our group and showing the love of Jesus.  I continue to hear great things about how caring and respectful our students are.  

Just before we went to bed we celebrated the birthday of one of our teammates, Casey.  We got him a chocolate cake and spelled his name in Captain Crunch Berries.  

Celebrating Casey's 14th birthday with a chocolate cake in Mexico

The trip is going by so quickly, and I know it will be over before we know it.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers and thank you for your support.

Mexico Mission Trip - Day 2

Last night after blogging we went out to support a local futbol (soccer) team.  The pastors and missionaries of Hope Chapel Rosarito have been supporting this team by going to all of their games and cheering them on.  Some of the players actually started going to their church, asking questions and pursuing a life following Christ.  They've even been able to get the team new jerseys with the church's name printed on them.  So last night we got to attend one of the games and cheer them on.  The team loved having such a huge cheering section throughout the game and they destroyed the other team 13-3.  It was a blast watching some "rapid soccer," eating sunflower seeds, and rooting on the local team.

A group pic of us with the futbol team

Today was an awesome day full of various and life changing experiences.  After getting a great night's sleep that could have continued we awoke and got to eat a tasty breakfast under the beautiful sunshine.  We then had group devotions on the back patio in front of God's gorgeous oceanfront.  The discussion was inspiring and riveting.  We went back to the church and did some preparations for an upcoming local outreach.  We put our artistic skills to work as we decorated gift bags and wrote out John 14:6 in Spanish.  

By the time the afternoon came around we headed out to serve at a local church.  Instead of having lunch at the church we were able to eat hot dogs and chips at this church we were serving.  The church we worked with today had recently built up walls instead of meeting on the side of the street or in an old school bus.  The walls were given to them and were old garage doors that were setup for the church to meet.  During their service we performed our pantomime drama, had Duane, Emily and Clara deliver their testimonies through interpreters and listened as the pastor Marcus gave an invitation for salvation.  God did amazing work and we were able to pray for four individuals who decided to give their lives to Christ.  Praise God!!!

The drama team performing at the local church today

Following the service time we served lunch to the people in the church and surrounding community.  We BBQed some hot dogs and gave out bags of chips and fruit punch.  The students really did an awesome job serving this church, and I continue to hear rave reviews about them and their great hearts for God.  

Eating the greatest tacos ever, and drinking sodas out of glass bottles

We concluded the evening eating some of the best tacos in Rosarito.  Students had the choice of fish, pork or steak and they were amazing.  Our taste buds danced as we enjoyed this tasty dinner.  Plus we got to drink cold Cokes in glass bottles; always a special treat.  After dinner we went back to the church for some quality team building and relational time before hitting the hay.

We've only been hear a couple of days and God is doing so much work that this post can't contain it.  Pastors Don and Sandy Godwin keep telling us about how much God is doing in the lives of the church and the people we've been with.  Continue to keep us in your prayer this week.

Mexico Mission Trip - Day 1

We had our first full day at Hope Chapel Rosarito.  We awoke very early when the sun came up and we didn't have a clock to tell us what time it really was.  Thinking we had slept in, some of the students got out of bed and began getting ready.  Come to find out it was 5:30am and they were an 1.5 earlier than when they needed to get up.  We had a great breakfast, had a time of meet & greet with the missionaries here and had some time to practice our dramas and puppet shows.  

After lunch some were able to catch up on some sleep while other explored the local beach of Rosarito.  Friday evening was Hope Chapel Rosarito's youth service, "Remedy."  During which we played capture the flag and had dinner with about a dozen local students and the missionaries' kids.  During the service April got a chance to sing worship with their student band, we performed our pantomime drama and share a quick message and testimonies.  God was really working through our students to impact the lives of these local students.  McKenna and Casey shared testimonies that were so applicable you knew it was a divine moment that only God could orchestrate.  

We're on our way to catch a local futbol (soccer) game, which is going to be tons of fun.  I hear nothing but rave reviews from the pastors and missionaries about how helpful, polite, respectful and fun our students are. 

One day in and God is already doing amazing work.  Praise the Lord.  Keep us in your prayers. Below are some pics from the day.

Some of the group hanging out on the church's back patio overlooking the ocean.  Wow!!

Anticipating the "Remedy" youth service

Students playing the newly discovered game, "trashcan."  Tons of fun and lots of laughs

Playing a little Capture the Flag with some of the locals before service