The following blog is a summary of the events from Sunday:
God has truly accomplished more than we could ask or think! Sunday was a day for worship, fellowship and sharing. After a quick trip to the border to return our travel permits to Carboneras, we attended services at Pastor Freddy's church in Elsa. Quincy, Ed, Chad, Gary and Dennis shared a brief testimony and Lance shared some words of encouragement to all. What a great time of worship with Anthony, Pastor Freddy's grandson, leading the singing. Man has he got some "pipes"! After the service Frank took us to see the property where they are building a new sanctuary in Elsa. We took time to pray over the site where the foundation has been laid. Then we left for Progreso to attend the evening service at Ebenezer. More fellowship, worship and testimony. We gave flowers to the 4 ladies who fed us amazing meals while we were working on the church. Jerit entertained the kids with a backflip out of the swing set. We handed out 30 Biblios, many many bags of rice and beans and then during the service we heard back from 5 people of Ebenezer Church their appreciation for us being there to help them. Lance shared the message and we witnessed one lady accepting Christ and asking for healing and a one gentleman accepting Christ! Praise God! It was a full evening as we even engaged a man who had who wandered into the event. He stayed for the service and shared in the meal we all enyoyed afterwards. We shared the gospel and prayed over him as a group before he left. We said our final goodbyes and headed back to Camp Oasis. It's been great to see what God has done and to be a part of it! What's even more amazing is what He has done in each of us. And to top it off we have had a blast doing it!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
A Blog Post from Quincy Hodge, one of our men serving across the border this week:
What a blessing to be here! We have accomplished so much since we started working on the Church Thursday afternoon. The 40 x 40 foot fellowship hall has been transformed from an oppressively hot room with exposed rafters to an insulated painted ceiling. Insulation was attached between the rafters first then we hung half-inch plywood for the ceiling. The coordination of measuring, sawing, and hoisting large boards to rafters 10 to 15 feet above the floor was a big task. We were thankful to the Lord that it all went off without a hitch. Ceiling ventilation with exhaust fans have been installed in the fellowship hall and the sanctuary. Ridge vents have been installed on the roof and roof repairs to 7 bare areas have been made. Today we painted out the fellowship hall ceiling and walls were in progress.
The young men of the church have joined us in the work and we have made new friends and coworkers in Christ.These same young men were making repairs to the walls and painting them out. Even younger children were helping out with a paint brush on the walls. It was a real sense of community.
At midday we traveled 3.5 hours down the coast to Carboneras to visit Enrique, Rose and their two boys AC and Favio, 8 and 7 years old. Pastor Freddie and Frank went with us. On the trip we heard Frank's amazing testimony of what God has done in his life and we listened to Pastor Freddie's heart for the lost and the unreached people of Mexico. When we arrived in Carboneras we took a quick tour around the tiny fishing village. It is so humbling to witness how people here have so little and yet have the joy of the Lord in their hearts. Enrique's family lives in a 400-500 square foot room. They have no running water and they share an outhouse with 4-5 other families. Their shower is a 3x3 foot shack and they use a bucket for the water. They buy their fresh water. But they are clean, happy and so hospitable. We saw the car the church bought for Enrique to take his fish to market. Rosa fixed dinner for us from one of Enrique's recent catches. We all agreed that it was the best meal we have had on the trip so far. After some great fellowship and lots of laughter, we prayed over the whole family before we returned to Progreso. What a sweet time! From Jared, Kelly, Ed, Gary, Lance, Dennis, and Chad, this is Quincy signing off, Glory to God!
What a blessing to be here! We have accomplished so much since we started working on the Church Thursday afternoon. The 40 x 40 foot fellowship hall has been transformed from an oppressively hot room with exposed rafters to an insulated painted ceiling. Insulation was attached between the rafters first then we hung half-inch plywood for the ceiling. The coordination of measuring, sawing, and hoisting large boards to rafters 10 to 15 feet above the floor was a big task. We were thankful to the Lord that it all went off without a hitch. Ceiling ventilation with exhaust fans have been installed in the fellowship hall and the sanctuary. Ridge vents have been installed on the roof and roof repairs to 7 bare areas have been made. Today we painted out the fellowship hall ceiling and walls were in progress.
The young men of the church have joined us in the work and we have made new friends and coworkers in Christ.These same young men were making repairs to the walls and painting them out. Even younger children were helping out with a paint brush on the walls. It was a real sense of community.
At midday we traveled 3.5 hours down the coast to Carboneras to visit Enrique, Rose and their two boys AC and Favio, 8 and 7 years old. Pastor Freddie and Frank went with us. On the trip we heard Frank's amazing testimony of what God has done in his life and we listened to Pastor Freddie's heart for the lost and the unreached people of Mexico. When we arrived in Carboneras we took a quick tour around the tiny fishing village. It is so humbling to witness how people here have so little and yet have the joy of the Lord in their hearts. Enrique's family lives in a 400-500 square foot room. They have no running water and they share an outhouse with 4-5 other families. Their shower is a 3x3 foot shack and they use a bucket for the water. They buy their fresh water. But they are clean, happy and so hospitable. We saw the car the church bought for Enrique to take his fish to market. Rosa fixed dinner for us from one of Enrique's recent catches. We all agreed that it was the best meal we have had on the trip so far. After some great fellowship and lots of laughter, we prayed over the whole family before we returned to Progreso. What a sweet time! From Jared, Kelly, Ed, Gary, Lance, Dennis, and Chad, this is Quincy signing off, Glory to God!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Mexico, Day Dos
God continues to bless us here on our second day in Mexico. Today I am reminded of God's Fatherly love through twenty or so children we were able to speak with, something that's never been done before just for the kids. Ed, Lance, and Dennis spoke of God's love through our interpreters, Frank and Obett. Kelly and I blew up balloons to make hats for them (Kelly creates great ballon hats). I now know why the ballon guy at Pappasito's uses an air pump! The smiles on each face will always be etched in my mind. No matter where I have been, children are still the same--they want attention and love. It reminds me of God's unconditional love for all of us. I am floored every time I think of how much I love my family, and yet God's love for all of us is so much more. It is beyond my compehension. I also witnessed the longing and search for hope in a young man named Heriberto. He does nothing but walk around, clearly bored and looking for a place to belong. Every where you turn he's there just hanging out. Lance and Frank shared the gospel with him. We gave him a spanish Bible and encouraged him to read it, particularly the book of Mark. We expect him to attend services on Sunday, please pray that God will speak to him so that he may know there is hope through salvation in Christ. More to come. By the way, Ed wanted everyone to know that he cashed in "eleventy thousand" dollars in our poker game tonight. He's a closet card shark.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Team Mexico crosses safely!
When we went to Home Depot and our helper said, "Be careful in Mexico because there's a lot of drug dealers," we were a bit dismayed. However it was but a moment before we remembered that God had called us to Mexico no matter what faced us. Jerit and I awoke before the sun rose this morning to find the place we are staying, Cone Oasis, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was God's way to let me know He was in control. A good reminder as we would make a total of 14 trips across the border with gobs of stuff from Home Depot. Every time we passed over there is no doubt we should have been searched. However God's faithfulness could not be matched by the border patrol or the mexican army which is guarding the border.
There is little doubt about the future ministry possibilities here with the clinic, churches on both sides of the border...God's the limit! Pastor Freddy was excited to see all the activity at the church for the first time all summer. Because of the rumors of violence all of the other churches that have partnered with his ministry have strayed from the border. Being here it is clear that rumors are from the enemy and that God has brought us here to provide hope for more to be done, for more people to be reached and more communities to be reached. Doing the work today already brought the community out to see what was happening at the local protestant church.
All in all today was exhausting but very fun and fulfilling. If I could describe today in one word it would be "faithful". Crossing the border as many times as we did and never being stopped was enough for all of us to continue thanking God continually. Until tomorrow...Lance
There is little doubt about the future ministry possibilities here with the clinic, churches on both sides of the border...God's the limit! Pastor Freddy was excited to see all the activity at the church for the first time all summer. Because of the rumors of violence all of the other churches that have partnered with his ministry have strayed from the border. Being here it is clear that rumors are from the enemy and that God has brought us here to provide hope for more to be done, for more people to be reached and more communities to be reached. Doing the work today already brought the community out to see what was happening at the local protestant church.
All in all today was exhausting but very fun and fulfilling. If I could describe today in one word it would be "faithful". Crossing the border as many times as we did and never being stopped was enough for all of us to continue thanking God continually. Until tomorrow...Lance
Team Mexico leaves today
Be praying for our group of men heading to Mexico today. They are being led by Lance Williams, who left ahead of the team yesterday, along with Jerit Pogue. For a detailed prayer itinerary, go to www.grandparkway.org and click on News and then the Mid-Week Message.
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