[Saturday, June 26, 2004]
Hola a todos!!
Well, I want to focus this blog on telling you about our mission trip to Puebla. It was a great experience. We were full of excitement as we drove to Detroit on Monday morning, June 14. At the Detroit airport we quickly got checked in and met a girl that was joining us on the trip. We also met Jerry and Rhonda Blevins in Detroit. They were coming in from New York. The flight was a first for several of the group, so that was fun. I loved pointing out the view of Mexico City, which is, as we say in Mexico, "en todos lados" or it's everywhere!! Mexico City is the most populated city in the world and it just stretches out for miles and miles between the mountain ranges around it. We got into Puebla a little later than expected but everything was good.
Throughout the week we completely repainted my classroom and it looks great! It's a very good change. Also, part of the group worked on a big roof project. That too was successful. A third group of us worked on the 5th/ 6th grade classroom and a 4th team fixed the bannister going up stairs and painted the upstairs hallway. I was very excited to see the new improvements made on the school!
Outside of work, we did some other things. We went to the park one afternoon and passed out tracts. We joined with my Mexican youth group and we teamed Americans up with Mexicans to do this job. It was awesome! I met two girls who are studying english and we exchanged e-mail addresses. I'm hoping to tutor them when I return in the fall! Pray that God will keep that door open! One day we went rapelling and climbing at the cliffs. Everyone who did it enjoyed the experience. Almost everyone in our group rapelled and most people did some climbing. I enjoyed sharing this activity with my friends. (One of my favorite parts of the trip was just sharing my life in Puebla with my friends.)
Every night we met as a group for a time of Bible study and worship. Rick Hudson led us in talking about missions. He focused on the idea that every believer is called to missions in some way and he gave us examples of how we could be involved, even living in the US. He encouraged us to pray for and communicate with the missionaries we do support. So, I pass on that challenge to you. We had wonderful times of worship that week and people were truly growing closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I personally found the week spiritually refreshing. I was with a group of young adults who love God and who were so united in Him. God definitely blessed me through my team members. Us girls serenaded the boys one night and they served us breakfast, gave us each a flower, and wrote us each a note for Sunday morning. We had a great time serving the Lord together. I praise God that I was able to be a part of it. We were all challenged during our trip.
Of course, every trip has to have an obstacle, and I have a tradition of having some kind of airport adventure every time I fly, so the 2 coincided this time. We had a somewhat big problem the morning we flew back to the US. I led the group through the check-in station, where all of our bags were searched(that's normal.) It took nearly an hour to get all 15 of us through and the last person got to the counter and we discovered he didn't have his visa. I waited at the counter for everyone to get through (as a translator and experienced flyer) and so I talked with the lady and found out that this person had to go to the immigration office. So, he and I split up from the rest of the group and went to the office to straighten out the visa problem so he could leave the country. Well, in Mexico they like to make things complicated, so we had to go to the immigration office, then to the bank to pay the fine, then back to the immigration office and then back to the check-in counter. By the time we got to the security check, our plane was supposed to have been boarding for the past 10 minutes. (Thank the Lord it was late.) So, it was a very adventurous stressful hour but we made it safely and joined up with the rest of the team in time! Praise the Lord for that!
I encourage you LBTers to talk with some of the teens and college kids that went to NY or Mexico because they would love to share what God did in their lives! Have a great week!
Angelina
Well, I want to focus this blog on telling you about our mission trip to Puebla. It was a great experience. We were full of excitement as we drove to Detroit on Monday morning, June 14. At the Detroit airport we quickly got checked in and met a girl that was joining us on the trip. We also met Jerry and Rhonda Blevins in Detroit. They were coming in from New York. The flight was a first for several of the group, so that was fun. I loved pointing out the view of Mexico City, which is, as we say in Mexico, "en todos lados" or it's everywhere!! Mexico City is the most populated city in the world and it just stretches out for miles and miles between the mountain ranges around it. We got into Puebla a little later than expected but everything was good.
Throughout the week we completely repainted my classroom and it looks great! It's a very good change. Also, part of the group worked on a big roof project. That too was successful. A third group of us worked on the 5th/ 6th grade classroom and a 4th team fixed the bannister going up stairs and painted the upstairs hallway. I was very excited to see the new improvements made on the school!
Outside of work, we did some other things. We went to the park one afternoon and passed out tracts. We joined with my Mexican youth group and we teamed Americans up with Mexicans to do this job. It was awesome! I met two girls who are studying english and we exchanged e-mail addresses. I'm hoping to tutor them when I return in the fall! Pray that God will keep that door open! One day we went rapelling and climbing at the cliffs. Everyone who did it enjoyed the experience. Almost everyone in our group rapelled and most people did some climbing. I enjoyed sharing this activity with my friends. (One of my favorite parts of the trip was just sharing my life in Puebla with my friends.)
Every night we met as a group for a time of Bible study and worship. Rick Hudson led us in talking about missions. He focused on the idea that every believer is called to missions in some way and he gave us examples of how we could be involved, even living in the US. He encouraged us to pray for and communicate with the missionaries we do support. So, I pass on that challenge to you. We had wonderful times of worship that week and people were truly growing closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I personally found the week spiritually refreshing. I was with a group of young adults who love God and who were so united in Him. God definitely blessed me through my team members. Us girls serenaded the boys one night and they served us breakfast, gave us each a flower, and wrote us each a note for Sunday morning. We had a great time serving the Lord together. I praise God that I was able to be a part of it. We were all challenged during our trip.
Of course, every trip has to have an obstacle, and I have a tradition of having some kind of airport adventure every time I fly, so the 2 coincided this time. We had a somewhat big problem the morning we flew back to the US. I led the group through the check-in station, where all of our bags were searched(that's normal.) It took nearly an hour to get all 15 of us through and the last person got to the counter and we discovered he didn't have his visa. I waited at the counter for everyone to get through (as a translator and experienced flyer) and so I talked with the lady and found out that this person had to go to the immigration office. So, he and I split up from the rest of the group and went to the office to straighten out the visa problem so he could leave the country. Well, in Mexico they like to make things complicated, so we had to go to the immigration office, then to the bank to pay the fine, then back to the immigration office and then back to the check-in counter. By the time we got to the security check, our plane was supposed to have been boarding for the past 10 minutes. (Thank the Lord it was late.) So, it was a very adventurous stressful hour but we made it safely and joined up with the rest of the team in time! Praise the Lord for that!
I encourage you LBTers to talk with some of the teens and college kids that went to NY or Mexico because they would love to share what God did in their lives! Have a great week!
Angelina
[Saturday, June 12, 2004]
I'm glad to be writing this from my house in Lima!! I've been home almost a week now. Well, the last week in Puebla I spent housesitting for some friends. They have a nice big home in Cholula, Mexico. One night I had two friends over and we played Hide and Seek in the dark. It was fun. My biggest adventure during the last 2 weeks was my traveling day. I tend to have interesting travel days. Well, anyways, I was sleeping at my friends house the night before I was to leave. Someone was coming to the house at 5:00 to pick me up and take me to the bus station. So, I set the alarm for 4 and went to sleep. Well, I was awakened by the sound of the telephone. It was the person waiting outside for me. It was 5:00. So, in 10 minutes I got up, packed up my things and left. Of course I was carrying my shoes, socks and coat to put on on the way. So, I was on my way out the door, which automatically locks when you close it and the corner of my coat got stuck in the door, but the door was already locked. I had no way of getting back in the house. So, I tugged a few times, but was frantically trying to still make the 5:30 bus. SO, I just decided to leave it. I thought it'd be a funny sight for the family to come home to and it was. So, I just left the coat there. I did however lose my socks somewhere between the house and the van. They haven't turned up yet. ??? Fortunately I made it to the bus station on time. Later, in the HOuston airport I had to run to catch my 2nd flight because it took an extremely long time to go through customs. Also, for the first time the customs officers, at 2 different checkpoints, questioned me about what I was doing in Mexico and why I was there so long. That made me a little nervous. Well, eventually I made it home to Lima.
God has been good. He provided me with a summer job and the opportunity to spend time in fellowship with believers at church and Bible study. I am really looking forward to hearing the Bible taught in English for the summer.
For those of you that don't know, I'm going back to Mexico on Monday with the team that is going. We'll be doing some work on the school where I teach. We just found out that all our support money is in. We're getting very excited about the trip. So, please keep us in prayer (the team from Chi-Alpha) as we take this mission trip. We expect God to do great things in our lives through this! Have a great week. I'll write again after we get back from our trip!
Angelina
God has been good. He provided me with a summer job and the opportunity to spend time in fellowship with believers at church and Bible study. I am really looking forward to hearing the Bible taught in English for the summer.
For those of you that don't know, I'm going back to Mexico on Monday with the team that is going. We'll be doing some work on the school where I teach. We just found out that all our support money is in. We're getting very excited about the trip. So, please keep us in prayer (the team from Chi-Alpha) as we take this mission trip. We expect God to do great things in our lives through this! Have a great week. I'll write again after we get back from our trip!
Angelina
