Our mission trip is getting farther and farther in the rear view mirror, but as a group we have worked hard to not lose sight of all that God taught us.  Last week we gathered as a group one last time to look back on the trip and more importantly to evaluate how our time has been since we got back home.  It was interesting to hear how their experience in Mexico has affected their everyday lives.

It was great to build houses for homeless people and show the love of God, but more importantly I pray that God would continue to use this experience to shape our students for a lifetime.  May they forever be changed!

If you were unable to be at church on July 25th to hear some of our students share about their trip, click here to listen.

Tommy

Today we leave Mexico.  We have had a great trip, but are ready to get back to the US.  Our plan is to start driving to the border around 10:30PT, which is 1:30ET.  So please keep us in your prayers as we travel.  Most likely we’ll have to wait in line to cross the border for about an hour or two.

Lastly, pray for our students as they enter back into the US culture.  After being out of it for a week they will most likely be stretched just coming back.  So yeah – thanks for the prayers.

Yesterday ended up being a pretty crazy day.  Our morning talk took on a little different shape as Eddie, the director of Caravan wrapped up the entire week.  His message was challenging, stretching, and made many of our student uncomfortable.  My response to that is GREAT!  I’m glad our students didn’t necessarily agree with everything he said.  I’m glad they were thinking critically.  I’m glad to see that some of them are beginning to take steps to making their faith their own.

There are SO many people around the world who haven’t heard the name of Jesus.  There is no Bible written in their native language.  There is basically no one and they’re waiting for someone to come.  Who will go?  Is it wrong to primarily only pray, “Lord, send someone.”  Sure that’s not a necessarily bad thing, but how many people pray “Lord, I’ll follow you with no strings attached”?  I think when it comes to surrender most people, including myself struggle with giving God complete control.  Some may say “God, I’ll follow you anywhere as long as it doesn’t involve living in a remote part of the world being a missionary.”  So their “surrender” is already less than 100%.  Others might say, “God, I’ll follow you as long as I don’t have to move away from my family.”

How hard is it to find a “follower of Christ” who is able to give in to complete surrender?  What would that look like for me?  What would that look like for you?

Wow. I look at this screen and cannot choose from the hundreds of stories I could share with you: Stories of friendship, of laughter, of guilt, of compassion, but mostly stories of growth. There are the usual stories of laughter and friendship that can only come from trips like these where you’re forced to see people at their worst and except them for it but right now, I want to share a more personal struggle that has more recently become a triumph. Although God has gifted me with spiritual gifts such as leadership and diligence, I’ve never been one for doing the whole “kid” thing. I’ve never really enjoyed working in the nurseries and I find it really difficult to relate to kids on a personal level. I knew coming into this trip that this particular struggle of mine might hinder the work of God through relating to the kids of the families we would be building for. The past two days (more…)

Today at our build site, the father of the family we were building for, told us that he was going for a job interview and that he would be back to help when it was over. As he was leaving, we decided that we needed to pray that he would be hired for this job. So our whole team stopped working and gathered on the site and began to pray that Robert would do well in this interview and get a job to help support his family. As we were praying, PG (the pastor from the other church) walked him to his car and also prayed over him about the job situation. The team did not know he was doing this, and he did not know what we were doing. In about an hour and a half, he returned home with great news that he had received the job. We were so excited that God answered our prayers so quickly, what a testament of God’s greatness!

By Dawn, Abby, Jaz, Mikaela

Finally we made our way to our evening group teaching time.  It was done by a guy who is on staff with World Vision.  Our students really enjoyed his sense of humor and challenge to care for the least of these.  Some of our students felt led to pursue child sponsorship.  One of the interesting things about World Vision is that they allow churches to adopt a village.  So if a church would like to push child sponsorship they can make sure that all of the children come from the same village.  It really is a great way for a local church to make a difference in one community over a long period of time.  Hmmm?

Well that was our day.  Thank you for your prayers and please keep lifting them up.  We definitely need it.  If you’re wondering how you can pray, then ask God to stretch us, challenge us in the spots of our lives where we need it most, and that God would give us what we need to do His will.

Thanks!

Tuesday was a very interesting day.  It began like any of the other days…wake-up…devotions…breakfast…teaching…and load up the trucks to head out for the work-sites.

This is where things get a little crazy.  Two out of our four groups had a pretty normal day.  We worked hard, got back to the dorms, and loaded the trucks for the next day.  After that we had time to get our first shower of the week (most had their last shower Saturday night or around 4am Sunday), and then had pizza at Ma Ma Mias – it was very good.  When we got back to the dorms at 7pm for our evening meeting we found out that our other two groups hadn’t made it back yet – Enter CRAZY…

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So far there have been many great experiences, including bonding time with Tommy as we fake loogies and poor water on girls . Also, the lunches made by the families have been amazing. Home-cooked is so much better than eating-out, but the prices here are fantastic. To get two tacos and a drink it is $3. FANTASTIC! Me and my homies Trent and Daniel are having a great time playing card games and soccer. Daniel’s hammering skills are amazing and Trent loves to remind him of that. Another thing I enjoy is stealing Daniel’s candy with Trent. We love to take his bag at night, take some, and then put it back and say we didn’t take any . By the way, his “Warheads” are amazing! Yesterday at the taco stand everyone tried the “intestine taco”, but I was the only one to try the “head-meat” taco which was interesting to say the least. Van rides are extremely bumpy but extremely entertaining. Our leader is Tommy and he tends to entertain us by putting the front tires over the speed bump and flooring it in the back to make us all hit the ceiling. Overall, the trip has been an amazing experience so far. And also, hi mom and dad .

By Dylan Troyer (typed by Trent Chamness)

So along with the many spiritual experiences we have had, we have also had many funny moments as well. Today for instance Justine and Tommy decided to smash a tortilla and sauce in Megan’s face. She wasn’t very happy about that (haha). This trip is becoming a bonding experience for everyone. We have gotten to know the people from the other church and their personalities are very fun. Our group finished our second house today and both were surprisingly simple. The children are adorable and very helpful. Most of the kids can hammer in the nails better than us. I think that the next three days will help us grow physically, spiritually, and socially. We are excited to see what the next three days will hold for us.

By Justine Ruiz & Megan Howard

Are Christians or followers of Jesus really seen as people of sacrifice?  This is a very interesting question.  Yesterday morning (Monday) in our teaching time Eddie (the director here at Caravan) challenged us to be people of prayer, humility, sacrifice, and understanding.  All of those are certainly worthy to be dealt more time, but I want to spend a few minutes thinking about the whole sacrifice element.

Luke 18:18-30 tells of an interaction Jesus had with a ruler.  Check it out: (more…)