The Church of the Open Door!

My commitment to Pastor Renairo to keep lifting him up.....in prayer!

So, today was the last day on the worksite here with the Ensenada Project and it was bittersweet. I had to overcome Addi's and my 'hurling' last night as we both got sick, but felt good enough in the morning to make a go of it. After all, I just blogged about finishing strong so this was going to be a real test of stamina. I was glad I went because as the day went on, my strength continued to increase. It was a morning that was committed to prayer and the great exchange as I like to refer to it in Isaiah 40

29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Rylan joined me today and was a hard worker impressing the group leader, Chuck, who watched as he pulled nails out of a 2x4! We were able to complete the roof and get the rolled shingles on and the team inside completed the drywall and applying the compound. We were unable to hang the doors...thus the title of my blog, but another team comes tomorrow and will take over where we left off.

We ended the day at the site by completing the circle of love with prayer with Pastor Renairo, his wife and family joining us as we sang 'Mighty To Save' together. There were long embraces, tears of joy that flowed and a real sense of knowing that this had been another God ordained week. It was another amazing testimony to God's goodness.

As I reflect on this past month, I have to admit I am so grateful for the opportunity to partner with the national pastors here and support them in their ministry in a real practical way. Even though there was a lot of construction work to do in many ways it has been a sabbath for me and I feel very rejuvenated to step back into my calling and ministry at Southside.

A sidenote...

Every morning this week as we drove up the driveway to the orphanage, we saw many different people picking the green beans in the field. They were men and women and children who would be on site as early as 6am and they are paid on a per quota basis. Compared to them, few of us work as hard as we do for the little that they receive at the end of the day. In many ways it gives you an incredible sense of appreciation when we just walk into a grocery store and easily purchase whatever we need without much thought other than the price we are paying. Seeing what I saw made me realize I would be willing to pay more for vegetables like these if the money made it back to those in the fields, but unfortunately this is not the case. In reality these people are actually the lucky ones because they stand by the roadside with their buckets and the farmers can handpick who they want and so some who are willing to work will walk away in the morning empty handed.

Finishing Strong

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 2 Timothy 4:7 Those were Paul's words to Timothy as he knew his time on earth was coming to an end. Our time in Maneadero is fast coming to an end at another chapter will close in the adventures of our family. It was almost a year ago when we first began exploring the possibility of coming to serve here and it has been an amazing life experience for all of us. It certainly has instilled in our family a sense of mission and a realization of how little so much of the rest of the world lives on. It is also has been an amazing journey of hearing God's voice for us as a family too from early on when God confirmed through Scripture to Brynley that we should go. She posted this note for us as we came home after being out for the night in early January.

Mom & Dad,

I was reading my Bible. I had randomly opened it to this verse, Proverbs 14:21. It said, blessed are those who help the poor. I don’t know if that means we will be blessed if we go to Mexico and help the poor so I needed your opinion.

- Brynley

Well as it turns out, she didn’t need our opinion. As Addi relayed the story to us, she shared how Bryn was so excited about this verse, she was running around the house. For us it was so encouraging because Brynley is the one that we are most concerned about. She has a severe peanut allergy and we know that she would be at the greatest risk. For God to show Brynley that verse was an encouragement and confirmation to us.

Then God gave me Psalm 91 during the height of the swine flu scare and also on the same day gave that same chapter to Sami, one of Rick's assistants here in Mexico on the same day.

So, while we have been sick and had injuries at different times, nothing has knocked us off the course of completing our mission here.

Today we had the opportunity to bless the pastors as Sharon had set aside shirts for them from our 'superstore haul' We also gave out the soccer balls, two for each of the five churches here. Raffa is running a large combined youth outreach event on the 31st and we had a bunch of cool 'Canada' gifts as well as prizes for him to give out. The last of our Dollarama finds went to Tammi for prizes when they have a party at the end of the summer for all the children involved in the afternoon VBS events at the churches.

As for progress on the church, we got off to an early start this morning as the Princeton crew has been feeling the heat of completing thier projects. Remember there are four other teams building houses in Jamin's community. Rick and I got on the site around 7:45am and worked another hard day. I'm glad to report that with one day left we have all the trusses up, the roof sheeted, most of the drywall up as well.

Staying on The Straight and Narrow

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

Well we found out quickly that one of the walls that was set, level and plumb yesterday wasn't today as the person screwing in the bottom plate didn't watch to keep it on the chalk line and that was enough to shift it enough that all the screws had to be cut off with the sawzall. A number of hits from sister sledge and a team of us lifting with our hammers and we were back on track.

In many ways it is the same way in our spiritual lives in that if we start making exceptions for ourselves in what it takes to become 'living stones' in the building of God, we will destablize the house. The key is always to measure ourselves back to the foundation, Jesus Christ and the level that is the Word of God keeping us straight. Left to ourselves and our own definitions of holiness, we will miserably fall short. We need to keep bringing ourselves back to the Word and the Spirit who breathes life into it and us!

Today we finished and closed in the walls at the entrance to the church and then began working on the cable ends and beginning to hang the trusses. There was a team working on painting the lower level in the plum colour to match...we're going with the theme of royalty for God's house here.


This morning we enjoyed a morning off so Sharon and I took the kids into Ensenada where there is a McDonalds and everyone enjoyed sausage and egg mcmuffins except I went for the Mexican mcmuffin. Sharon was pretty excited to see sliced jalepeno peppers where you would normally find ketchup.

So, I have ate just about everything in sight here in Mexico and not had any stomach issues, but I've been to Mickey Ds twice now and both times, I have spent too much time in the outhouse on the worksite in the afternoon...

After the Golden Arches, we had a chance to hit the market and do a little bartering on a silver ring for Addi and a 'nacho libre' mask and cape for Rylan. Only two more days left on the work site for us.

It's All Good!

Wrapping up at the end of another extremely hot day with Joe in the middle and Billy on the framing crew!


being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

Today I had a really good opportunity to get to know two of the youthleaders from Princeton Alliance.

Billy is the first guy I connected with this morning over breakfast. He is presently studying at Eastern College. He also leads a small youth group and shared with me how he has been inspired by a 'grandpa' in youth ministry who, in his 70s, gets down and wrestles with youth. Some have seen an 'apostolic' gifting in that he is the type of person who is very good at breaking ground with new ministries, but not necessarily called to long term ministry in one place. So, he wrestles with whether he should pursue youth ministry or church planting. We spoke his role as a shepherd with a small group in his current ministry and how that role will change to one who equips and trains apprentices to lead so that the group can multiply. They just recently saw 6 youth baptized. We also spoke about mentoring and the importance of having someone to connect with on that level.

The second person I got to know was Joe. He is ripped and a serious body builder like my brother Adrian who could lift a whole wall section by himself. He has such a great heart and the joy exudes from him. He manages an office for a lawyer in Manhattan. Joe shared how his mother in law who used to be a pastor in Brooklyn had a vision and told him that one day he would be building churches. He was told that nine years ago and at the time he shared how he was really just into himself and told her...whatever! However last year he was here with their team and they built the first floor of the church. He was baptized in the ocean last year and God really met him here in Ensenada. This year he is back with his daughter who he prays will also have a life changing week. There is a baptism service on Thursday for members of their team so we will see. By the way, Joe is on the team with me building the second floor of Renairo's church.

Today we got a lot accomplished as all the trusses are ready to be set in place. They were built last week by the team from South Carolina. We just have to finish the walls at the back of the church and we are ready to go on the roof.

Tonight I had the opportunity to share about my trip to Israel with the interns and staff here and we continued to focus on our strengths and growth areas from the previous teams.

First Aid Tips from Mexico...

Here is a first aid lesson that one of the interns discovered. She was cutting chili peppers that were full of seeds and in the process the heat from the peppers were surging through her fingers and up her arms. Everyone was giving her advice from running her fingers through her hair to letting them dry in the sun and putting them in milk. Finally she remembered that peeing on them apparently works and 10min later the pain was gone....well maybe too much information, but there you go!

Aposento Alto!

Pastor Renairo and Jordan lifting up the wall on the second floor of his church, Rosa De Sharon!




On Sunday we visited Francisco's church, Aposento Alto, the church of the Upper Room.

They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity Acts 2:46

There was a real sense here of a group of people with one mind and heart to glorify and praise God. I could feel the love of God here in their common desire. The service was three hours long...the longest of all the churches, but it was not the length that stood out to me as much as those who were there. The service began at 4pm and it was a great time to start I think for those who were in attendance. The really cool thing here was that over 50% of those who attend here are youth. They are active worshippers as many are involved in leading as well. The worship with everything they got and there was a group of young guys who came up at one point and jumped up and down and danced as the high energy songs were played. Pastor Francisco played the drums and it was vibrant.

The question I thought to myself was how many youth in Canadian churches would stay engaged that long? They listened intently as an older man preached for over an hour. There was also a time of communion, a time to come forward and be prayed over which many did, children sharing their verses and what they learned, more worship and then snacks outside at 7pm. They had churros (crunchy noodle like sticks) with hot sauce and lime, little chocolates, cold coke as we lingered with them for a while, laughed and shared together outside.

Following our time there we headed back to the orphanage where the team from Princeton Alliance is staying at and had a late supper before heading back to the Romanos.

Monday morning came way to early again as we sorted and prepared tools for the 4 house builds along with the church build at 6am. We then headed over for prayer and Rick and I joined the team to work on the Rosa De Sharon church site at Renairo's. I guess you would have to say it is a fitting project for us to finish up our time here in Ensenada on.

We are building a second floor on top of the existing church and Jordan and Bryn worked alongside me as I operated the chop saw for most of the day cutting the 2x6's to frame the walls as well as trimming the windows. Jord got to hammer in studs, one of his fav jobs as Bryn joined the painting crew after delivering my cuts to the upper floor.

Tonight we had a near scare with Rylan as he was launched by a 'not so bright' teen on the teeter totter and came pretty close to breaking his collar bone. He is badly bruised but he was checked out by an ER nurse on the team and he should be OK.... We just keep remembering the Lord's promise to us in Psalm 91

Move That Bus or Van....

It was another emotional Friday as we gave over the keys this afternoon to Teresa and Ornesto to their new home. Sharon joined the team as they were able to get some great deals on furniture. We were able to bless them with a kitchen table, chairs, place settings, a single bed and frame and a queen size boxspring and mattress. The family had also requested food and beans and rice were purchased...enough of each to fill a garbage can full. Teresa shared with us how grateful she was to our team as the tears flowed. She spoke about seeing us all sweat so much and we laughed.

It was certainly a race to the finish line as the home was sanded and all the rooms given two coats of paint. I constructed shelves for each bedroom and Jordan and Rylan were right in the thick of it as well, sanding for as long as they could and then helping me. Stu and Stephen had fits getting the electrical to work and after smoking out a surge protector and tripping the power from the house nearby a few times, everything clicked.

We were supposed to have tomales for supper but there was a shortage so the interns and our families had to settle for street meat...bacon wrapped hot dogs and cheeseburgers which were simply amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was loaded with toppings and went down so well with coke! I have to admit I wasn't sad that they ran out...

In the evening everyone shared at the fireside about what they learned and how God touched them. A few of the ladies shared how our children's drime moved them to tears and spoke of God's anointing on them. Many spoke with incredible transparent honesty of where they were really at and how God really opened their eyes. It was a very moving evening that began and ended with worship and prayer for healing for both Karen and Victoria.

It is early Saturday morning and we will be here to get prepared for the largest group of the summer as there will be 80 people coming this afternoon. We have to move all the mattresses from our present site, 'The Second Floor' ministry center to an orphanage that is not in use and completely set it up for the week.

As Rick says... ' I YI YI !! '

John 3:16

The Three Amigos!

Last night I had probably my worst nightmare ever as I woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and crying at 3:15am. Sharon heard me scream out as well and it took at least 45 minutes to finally settle down and be able to sleep again. The wierd thing about the dream is that it was completely out of the context that I am in presently. It was a dream about going tobogganing in winter and watching as one of my children flew helplessly right into open rushing water. I was frantically trying to come to their aid and was unable to save my child. Most of my dream centered around my search and coming to grips and telling my wife what happened at which point I woke up. After Sharon consoled me, I lied awake giving this whole episode over to the Lord and submitting it and myself to Him especially if this was an attack because Scripture tells us that we are to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. I also spent time in introspection giving over any hidden affections in my life that came before Him as well...

During morning prayer we prayer over one of the pastors from New Jersey, Steve, who has been suffering from a tooth ache that turned into a pretty large infection. After prayer he went to a dentist to seek out help and the awesome thing is that is starting to drain itself much to the dentist's amazement and he is doing fine so a cool answer from the Lord.

On the site, we managed to catch up to the other teams by completing our roof and we just have sanding, painting and furnishing left...

Tonight as I was tucking Rylan in, he asked me what 'perish' means because he was reading John 3:16 on the cover of the journal that Lucie gave him for this trip.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. It lead into a neat conversation with him about what heaven will be like for those of us who believe and how it really will be an amazing place.

31 degress 51' N 116 degrees 36'W

Service reminds us that Christianity isn't about keeping our faith as much as it is about spreading our faith. Religious meetings are the means not the end; they don't define us!

Gary Thomas in The Beautiful Fight

The beauty of Christian service is that it keeps you on the move, but one wonders what happened? Why is it that most believers come to church with their napkin tucked into their neck instead of a towel hanging over their wrist?

I think it is important for us to keep fighting the mentality that states what am I getting out of this instead of how can I invest myself in what matters for eternity...

And then its not just about going out and doing service or doing evangelism. We love to serve because it flows out of a heart that Jesus captured and I love Him so much.

Every morning before we pull out the tools or even begin on the worksite we pray. We pray with the national pastors and we pray through Scripture and it is awesome. When we get to the worksite and before we pull out the tools, we gather around and pray, the real power tool and the lady we are building the home prays with us...We join hands and then shake the love around!

The beat goes on and we are now pass the halfway point on our home and the confidence is building! no pun intended. Our team continues to do excellent work and I am really enjoying working alongside them and seeing the progress we make at the end of everyday.

Tomorrow we pull out the roll of shingles and tar and finish the mudding on the drywall while the ministry with the children continues on in the afternoon. Tonight at the debrief meeting we were able to perform our drimes for the teams that our staying here.

By the way, we got some drops of rain last night enough to spare the people here from spraying the road with their own hoses for a few hours. It has rained only twice since we've been here and for only mere minutes.

Muy Culiente!

1 Timothy 1:5 The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.

The home we are building for a family this week is being done as an outreach to a family near Faustino's church. They don't go to church yet, but it is our hope that they will truly be blessed by our team. We had the opportunity to have them join with us this morning as we huddled for prayer on the site and Sami translated our love and our joy to do this for them.

The neat thing this week is the mother is right in there ready to lend a helping hand whether it is painting or carrying the sheeting and helping lift it to us on the roof. We certainly have had our fair share of challenges but we continue to persevere and aren't too far behind the other teams. We can look up and see Rick's site just up the road and he makes me know it...that I'm looking up to team awesome, but that's ok because we are team #1!

Seriously though, I have to admit that it is a little intimidating having an engineer and architect on my team. They constantly pull out the papers to look at the drawings and I just tell them to put that away because that's what we do in Mexico! A lot of what we do on the homes isn't on the drawings but what has been learned through experience. I'm leaning heavily on memory from last week and so far so good...That is except when I start comparing myself to the other sites and the competitive edge can get the better of me and we start making mistakes even with the smart guys!

Thank goodness we are catching those before we get too far...

Jokingly I just to blame it on the heat... 'muy culiente' is what we say down here for really hot! The cool thing is that we all really are supporting each other and they haven't lost faith in me and we are gelling as a team.

At the end of the day what is most important is that our love for Jesus, this family and for one another is 'muy culiente'

Praying that things will continue to heat up!

The Least of These

Matthew 25:37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Wow what an amazing Sunday we had here as we had the opportunity to first go to Jamin and Renario's church which is out in the flats close to the ocean. The service didn't start till noon and the youth would definitely appreciate that. When we arrived we noticed that each person who came was given a number...would there be a 50/50 draw with the offering?

The service began with Jesus leading worship...there are a lot of guys who take His name here. He goes by the nickname, Chewy! He truly has a heart of worship and the small church was packed out...standing room only today. Pastor Jamin preached the Word with intensity and conviction although I really had no idea what he was saying, I could feel it. We had communion after and the children were given grapes. I thought that was a neat idea. Following the service, he prayed for a number of people who came forward and church ended around 2:30pm!

Following church we quickly downed some deep fried fish tacos and that it was off to the 'mountain' to do a 'distribution' to one of the poorest areas of Maneadero where we are staying. The people here actually come from another poor province, Oaxaca, and work the fields picking vegetables if they are chosen by the farmer and are lucky to make $10- day. Some don't even speak Spanish, but a dialect of it and actually you can hear them cluck as they speak.

So, we played loud music and invited the people out of their homes to come and meet with us. We performed our drimes and then Jimmy Donaruma, the youth pastor from Long Hill Chapel in New Jersey spoke to them on Jesus and the Samaritan woman. He spoke on how she thought she was just getting water, but Jesus was giving her so much more than that. So, too were the people there to receive the clothes that we brought for them, but we were coming to offer them so much more. The clothes will wear out, but Jesus love will not and we directed them to Faustino's church which is not too far from them.

Following our presentation we laid out our brand new clothes and shoes that we brought from the cast offs from Superstore along with clothes that the other team had and were able to bless their socks off. It was a lot of fun and brought an incredible sense of joy.

In the evening we listened to a concert by El Trio and Marina from the Nazarene Church and then two of the pastors shared their testimonies. We listened as Pastor Renario shared how he once trafficked drugs and weapons across the border, was caught and spent time in prison in the US. He shared how he found Jesus and how His life is now transformed!

Monday morning came way too fast as I was up at 6am sorting tools with Rick and Todd as we got ready for 3 house builds this week. So, I'm leading a team to build a house from the get go....Rick doesn't waste anytime, that is for sure! Thank goodness I have an architect on my team as well as a guy who used to build homes as well, but they almost have too much knowledge for the way we do things here in Ensenada!

I made a few mistakes using 10' footers for framing instead of 12' and 8' but thankfully caught it before we secured them to the pad because the 10' are for trusses....stuff like that, but no permanent mistakes and I'm happy to say that we completed day one with a success....all four walls are up! We are on our way!!

Home Sweet Home!

...build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. Haggai 1:8

This passage of Scripture specifically deals with the rebuilding of the temple in its context, but we know now that God does not dwell in a temple made by human hands, but dwells within us through His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19,20) I have to believe God took pleasure in our collective body of a team comprised from 3 different countries to complete this home this week. The morning began with some serious hard core sanding and I got all of our kids on the job. I am still blowing drywall chunks out of my nose! When I finished checking it all over, it was time to declare this house ready to paint just before lunch. In the afternoon Rick and I built shelves in two of the rooms and the team bought a sofa bed for the family.

We gathered around as a team for prayer with the new family and handed the keys to Marina at 4pm along with a gift of money and I found myself even getting emotional as the tears of joy fell from her face. She took the keys and we watched as she opened the door to her new home. As we stepped in with her, she took a look around and gave us the nod of approval.

Some of the teens from New Jersey had bought fireworks that we lit off in the street to celebrate the event.

Before leaving we also took the opportunity to give away another another High Power soccer camp ball to one of the kids in the community who did such a great job helping us out during the week.

Our meal tonight at the second floor was 'tomales' and Sharon learned just how involved the process is to craft these babies from scratch. The chicken is wrapped in cornmeal and than cooked and wrapped in corn husks.

Tonight there was an opportunity for the outgoing youth teams to share at a worship time and fireside at the Romano's and it was so amazing just to hear every team member share about their experiences. Many spoke about how much joy they saw in the children who have so little here and also the power of prayer. One girl shared how she would choose this experience over going to a resort with her family anyday. Rick shared on living in such a way that your life demands an explanation. The fact is now that these 40 students do have an incredible opportunity to share their faith as a platform just based on the question of what they did this summer.

Well, Saturday is turnaround day and we will get a chance to do laundry and welcome new teams that will come tomorrow evening.

See all your Southsidians at church tomorrow!

Gong Show!

Rick must have faith in me because he left me again as the project manager back in Durango. I thought I was managing pretty well as I was overseeing a team taring and running a shingle roll while another group was doing more mudding on the drywall. The Americans call it spackle... OK, so I was working on trimming up the windows and all was well until I noticed the tar seeping out over the dripedge and then I actually found one of the adults on our site applying the spackle on the seams with her bare hands...are you kidding me. She told me her teenage son recommended it to her. So, I started to first tackle the roof and get my tar happy teens from Jersey going a little easier and they did well getting to the peak on one side before lunch. After finishing the trim work, I went inside to put my limited drywall skills to work making wider seams to cover the handiwork spackle. I returned to the roof to realize more direction was needed as the team kept going down the other side of the roof instead of starting from the bottom. At that point Rick and Ricardo arrived and I was waiting to be stripped of all titles, but faith gave way to grace and they were really good about it and we quickly got back on track and finished strong for the day. Hey and for what's it worth we are still ahead of the other team that is doing the same house build.

So, we will be doing another house build next week and this rookie will be a seasoned sophmore!

As I thought about the day it reminded me of how the disciples learned. Often Jesus would send them out and things didn't always go as they expected. When Christ came on the scene, He often used it as a teaching moment whether it was the need for prayer or greater faith. Peter's experience walking on water began with faith but we miss it if we focus on him failing and sinking. The fact is that he did walk on water while the rest were boat huggers and the event ended in grace as Christ pulled him out when he was sinking.

The point of the Christian life is that we will never fully ever feel ready and we shouldn't either. It all comes back to Christ showing up in our life when we feel its going to be a gong show. The unexpected happens, God is glorified and we live to see another assignment from the King!

Soul Salsa

I have been continuing to read Gary Thomas' book, Beautiful Fight, and I love how he writes about service in the chapter on 'Hands and Feet Used By God'.

Service is salsa to the soul... (pretty fitting term for being here in Mexico)

People often talk about the blessings of being a believer, usually referring to financial provision, physical healing, reunited families and the like. Without denying that God indeed offers such gifts, we would do well to remind ourselves that service is among the most cherished blessings that God bestows. What was true in the time of Moses is just as true today: "I (the LORD) am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift." Numbers 18:7

I really can resonate with the truth of this and I can't thank those of you enough who have supported us both financially and prayerfully as a family as well as the elders of Southside for the opportunity to truly be part of an amazing project...the Ensenada Project.

www.ensenadaproject.com

The mission here is to create long term change through short term teams and you can definitely see and feel the effects of what is being accomplished here in love. It is such a joy to serve the churches and families here.

At the end of the week, the teams will take up a love offering to furnish both of the homes and Sharon is thrilled as she will be part of the team to purchase the items for the families' new homes! So the excitement continues....

This morning all the teams had the morning off so we spent some family time together and Rick gave our family his pick up to bomb around in. So, while we were at one store this morning, he came by and moved the pick up to another spot nearby. So, needless to say Sharon and I freaked out thinking it was stolen until we spotted it... being the object of a great prank. We enjoyed pizza out at a local restaurant for lunch and it tasted amazing...best pizza ever, but maybe something to do with the fact that its been a while.

After lunch Jordan and I were back on the site with our team working on finishing the cable ends, finishing up trim work, adding the drip guard, more mudding and drywall and definitely on track to finish by Friday which is great. Sharon and the rest of the kidlets participated in the children's afternoon VBS ministry.

For supper at the Second Floor we, along with the teams, had another authentic Mexican dish prepared by Tomasa, called Huaraches, chicken or ground beef prepared on a thicker tortilla with some kind of interesting chocolate sauce as well as lettuce, cheese, sour cream and of course beans cooked in bacon fat on the side!

Assistant To The Manager

Today Rick had to meet with mission leaders from the Alliance office in the US and so he left me in charge of the house build on our site. I have to admit I did feel a little overwhelmed as he pulled out the list and went over everything that needed to be done. However, it went amazingly well as we have such a great team. Ricardo ran the wiring and Rick got me started on placing the center beam to run the 2x4s into to go into holders on the center beam to create trusses. Jordan was part of my team and after we lined all those up and secured them, we then sheeted the roof which was a highlight for him. Another team began to start banging up the drywall while Brynley was on the painting crew doing a second coat.

Rick returned with the leaders from the US office and they were amazed at what had been accomplished in just two days so we did Rick proud! I certainly have an appreciation for what Jeremy does as a contractor on an everyday basis and my brother Ralph would be pleased....no johnnie cuts!

After we finished for the day, we spent some time being the human jungle gym for some of the children in the neighbourhood and made their day. They are starting to warm up to us now especially after having been here for over a week now.

Sharon spent the morning doing prayer ministry with Casey to a family in Francisco's church and then helped Tomasa along with Cass prepare another authentic Mexican supper. We had floutas which are deep fried rolled up taco like with lettuce, sauce and grated cheese on top...

Addi, Moriah and Abby prepared a puppet show for us complete with a script which to their credit was pretty creative.

Tonight we were part of a debrief meeting with the staff and interns and we watched Francis Chan speak on 'lukewarm and loving it' which was a very convicting message for all of us.

Being here is such a reminder of how rich we are compared to over 50% of the world who work for about $2- a day. I think of how easy it is at home to get sucked into the comfortable life that can so quickly numb you to the reality of where I'm living now. Being here really helps you to feel again.

The honest question of Revelation 3 is are we really ready to ask God the question...

God, where I am lukewarm? Reveal it to me.

I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! ¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ¹⁸ So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. ¹⁹ I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.
²⁰ “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. ²¹ Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.


God, do whatever it takes for me to be on fire for you. Show me the areas I am weak and give me strength to overcome. Its a sobering prayer request...

This House Is Not A Home...yet!

Today following our time of prayer and breakfast on the second floor we were divided into two groups to work on two separate house builds. The homes that we build are modest by our standards...20'x16' but they are a huge blessing to the families here who have dirt homes and smaller shacks. Jordan, Bryn and I were on Rick's team and we started a build for a single mother in Ricardo's church. We comprised a team of around 20 on the site as there are now three youth teams here, 2 from New Jersey and one from South Carolina...from Alliance churches.

We were able to frame all the exterior and two interior walls as well as paint the exterior wood panel board that makes up the outside of the house. After lunch part of the group left to lead a children's program at the local church complete with puppets and all kinds of great crafts. Sharon, Rylan and Addi were involved with it.

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1

This is the obvious verse for me to reflect on today as we spent time both at the beginning of our day as well as at the end to pray for the family that will live there. It is really important to the ministry as well as the churches to continue to minister to these families. We definitely want God to be the center of the home and that the family feels His love and presence. There is so much more going on here than simply building a house....

On the weekend Rylan's stomach was very unsettled, but we are glad to report tonight that he has turned the corner after three days and is starting to be his normal energetic self which is great to see so thanks for the prayers!

On Saturday we were able to hit one of the local beaches and enjoy crashing the waves in the Pacific as well as walking through the local fish market and having fun in the park. On Sunday, we were able to minister at Ricardo's church, Roca Fuerte and the kids did an amazing job again. In the afternoon we took a crack at learning a new drime as a family so we will see how that goes.

Sunday evening we were treated to a great concert by some of the local talent, El Trio and Marine who sang and played their guitars for us and the incoming youth teams. We then listened to the testimony of two of the pastors, one who ministers in a boys home and Jamin who has truly an amazing story of the miraculous as he shared how his family heard the good news while living in the very primitive city of Oaxaca.

Stick TO IT tive ness!!

James 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Perseverance is one of those qualities that I really admire in others and pray that I will discover in myself. It is that decision to mark a date, give yourself a deadline and zero in on your goal. In Paul`s own words on his life, he said in 2 Timothy 4:7,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith

We learn these lessons in sports, work, ministry, life and of course right here on a missions trip.

The lesson in perseverance today was going back to Francisco`s church to work on backfilling in the area inside the retaining wall where we worked on Monday. It was hot, dry, dusty and a ton of digging. Jordan really enjoyed taking the pick axe to loosen up the ground so that we could shovel up loads with the wheelbarrow. We made good progress but there is still a fair amount of work to be done to complete the project. The church here is built on a steep hill so we are creating more stability as the plan is to build a second level.

ON the subject of enjoying more of the local cuisine....

I was very proud of Jordan and Sharon this morning as they were also introduced to a breakfast delicacy, a hot soup called Caumanta, similar to my seafood cocktail yesterday except the seafood was cooked. The seafood this morning included mantaray, octopus and shrimp!


After working on the retaining wall, Rick and Tammie took out the local pastors along with Sharon and myself to a Chinese buffet which was the best in the neighbourhood they tell me. We recognized most of the food here and then we visited Jamin`s church which was recently built by a team in May and they had over 100 people out for their first service in the new building. Sharon made some new friends while coming up with some creative games with some of the girls there.

Educating My Palette!

Yes, that is octopus that I am eating!!

So, we are closing in on a week here and Rick has been doing yeoman's work on testing me and my stomach on the local cuisine. A few nights ago in a restaurant he had tripe brought to me which he said was a small sausage and then sirloin which actually turned out to be cow tongue. I have to admit it tasted pretty good, but once you know what it is, it's hard to keep eating. I think I do better at just eating what is in front of me...just keep it a secret. I actually passed on the 'secret meat' to Rylan and he ate the cow tongue with me... hey, he even gave it two thumbs up until he found out as well, but we were good sports!

Today we had an off day and had fun at a local water park and cooled off from the heat. Rick introduced me to a 'raw seafood cocktail'. This time I had full knowledge of what I was getting into as I watched them prepare the cocktail in front of me. The raw seafood consisted of octopus, snail, black clams, oysters, shrimp...no problem and then add salsa juice, onions and tomatoes and viola....drink it back. I was waiting for the blender...no such luck.

Well it brings new meaning to the verse in 1 Corinthians 9:22 which states...

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

We will see in the next day how weak or strong my stomach is!

God is good and the hugs keep getting stronger between the local pastors here and myself. I have really been able to see their heart for the Lord revealed especially during the prayer time and even though I make out very little...I pick up on corazon, Senor and a few other words, but it is their passion that ignites me as well as they pray with such fervor.

Gracias for your ongoing prayers.