So yeah, we're back (Pictures and Video from Day 11)

As you all know, we are home!
When we came out of the airport, a large crowd of family and friends engulfed us and welcomed us home, which is always nice. (If you were in that horde, thanks, by the way.)

The border crossings and flights went really well, as planned, and we were even early enough to wait in McAllen and Houston for several minutes! I guess that's just one more advantage to having such a small team...

There will probably be a couple more posts on the blog in the next week or so, I think Beth wanted to say something. Oh, and Becky has some videos I'll probably put up.

And without (much) further ado, the final pictures!

















As always, but for the last time, there are more pictures, on the Photobucket.

Like I said before, there will probably be a couple more posts, so keep watching for a while.

Adios for now,
-Ian

Pictures from Day 10 (Saturday)

So I'm not sure how many people will remember from last year, but on Saturday of last year's trip, we were divided among families that go to Iglesia Bautista Gilgal de Monterrey to go to their house and eat dinner with them.

Well, we did it again this year, and it was really fun. I was with Becky, Steve, and Stephanie Uno (Bleikamp), and we went to Miros' sister's house. (Miros is Ramone's wife, in case you don't know.) Well, it turns out that it was someone's tenth birthday, and what we went to was kind of her party. A whole bunch of family was there, including the couple that I ate in the house of last year.

We ate tamales con carne o frijoles (beans or meat) and had some cheesecake. It was super fun to visit with almost an entire family (16 grandchildren of a grandpa there, if that gives you an idea) and practice my spanish. After it had been honed throughout the week with all the stumbling and hearing translations, I understood about 65% of what I heard, which I was extremely excited about. Especially when the lady from last year asked me "Tu fuistes a mi casa el ano pasado?" and I understood it completely without having to hear it twice!

Well, that's my small, incomplete overview of tonight. It's 12:36, and we need to leave at 7:30 tomorrow, so goodbye. There were three other houses, so ask the rest of the stories from the team when you see them.
We'll be at the airport at 5:30.

...If nothing really Mexican happens, anyway.

-Ian

Video and Pictures from Mountain Day (Day Nine)

Tejacote

Greetings, faithful readers of The Blog. This is Stephanie, or Stephanie Uno, as I'm called here. So yesterday we got up at 6:30 in order to eat and leave the church at 8:00. Nope, I don't think many of us were entirely awake. We hopped in the van and drove to Cercado, where we changed vehicles - most of us spent the next 2 hours standing in the back of pickup trucks. But don't feel sorry for us, because we enjoyed one of the most scenic drives I've ever seen. It was a bit bumpy, and we all have the bruises to prove it, but it was definitely worth it. There's no way the pictures can do it justice. When we got to Tejacote we climbed into another truck and drove around delivering bags of groceries to the locals and praying for them. Becky and I even got to ride a burro (donkey) at one of the houses. (I'm pretty sure Ian got a video of that.)

On a more serious note, some of the prayers requests we were given were very sobering. One lady said she was sick with tuberculosis; another lady had a mysterious pain in her knee, and no medicine for it. (We gave Pastor David some Advil for her.) We visited one family that had an infant with a cleft pallet. The mother told us he was only 50 days old - he was so tiny! His parents seemed very comforted by our prayer for them and Pat's story of a child she knew with the same condition. Please keep him in your prayers too; Pat, who is a nurse and knows these things, told us that he'll have to go through at least two surgeries in the next year or so.

We had a bit of a scary moment on the way back down the mountain... we met a huge bus while going around bend in the road. With much careful maneuvering, we made it safely past... but for a few minutes we were close enough for Al to shake a passenger's hand. He (Al) said that was the biggest vehicle he'd seen that far up the mountain. And Becky got a video of the whole thing.

Well, that's all for now! We're leaving in a few minutes to go to the outdoor market... so adios!

~Stephanie

Pictures from Day Eight

This was the last day of work at the church (Thursday) so we were just finishing up a lot of the projects you've already seen. None of the other pictures are extremely exiting, don't worry. There are a few more on the Photobucket, should you still wish to see.

The next day, we went to the mountains, which was absolutely spectacular. I will try to post pictures as soon as I can. But I took 204 pictures, and I have no idea how many Becky and Steve took, so it will take a little while to sort through.

But I'm hurrying, never fear.

Today for breakfast, a few Mexican ladies are making us pancakes for breakfast, which should be awesome. Adios for now.

-Ian

Video and Pictures from Bosques (Day Seven)

Again, there are more pictures on the Photobucket, if you would take a look.

Pictures from Day Seven

And now a message from Pablo Martin

Where can a guy get a cup of coffee around here? Fortunately there is a fine Starbucks right down the way!
Well, we've been here since Sunday after a very productive time at R.G.B.I. What a dear servant that Sharon is. Here in Monterrey our work days have been efficient in spite of the daily obstacles to overcome. The Lord continues to demonstrate His mastery of every circumstance. He is Good!
Today we assembled 6 podiums that we had previously cut up in the R.G.B.I. wood shop. (A very nice facility I might add...) Tonight it's on to Bosques were we will consider what it means to be "willing in the day of the Lord's power." Pray for us!
--Pablo

Yo - that means I in Spanish

Que Pasa Callabosas.
First, everyone reading this blog, should experience Monterrey at some point in their life, not just the Monterrey life, but through the lens of Gilgal church. We have been at it since Sunday, and whether it is a fellowship after a service, working together, or the in between times, it truly is a joy to be here. This is the 6th version of this missions trip, and the best part is the each one has been uniquely different, let me fill you in...

1. RGBI - Sharon definitely had some work for us. Smaller and some bigger things, ranging from changing batteries in smoke alarms, to painting metal entry doors. We were also able to replace the front window of her home, and some other odds and ends. While their Paul Martin came up with a design for a pulpit to mass produce for the church in Mexico, and we manufactured them with the carpentry shop at RGBI (finished 11:30 p.m. the night before we were supposed to leave.

2. Matamoros - The first ever trip into Matamoros. Enrique and Letty Rodriguez are starting a bible study in a rented house, where there is no church, and lots of people, mostly ninos. We came to do a 2 day VBS, and offer some support to the Rodriguez family. The first day we had 35 children in a space 10x8, the kids loved the drama, and Rebecca did a fine job sharing the plan of salvation, some children prayed out loud with her. Pray for those kids as Enruque and Letty follow up with them. There is so many children in this barrio, pray for them.

3. Border - Crossing was fairly easy. The immigration lady stamped our visas wrongly and that mistake cost us 45 minuntos. But we beat the rush, there were 3 other groups crossing after us, some were very large (in numbers not stature). The drive through Mexico was uneventful, which is always good. This was the first year we went to the church without any assistance.

4. Gilgal - This is going to be too short for all that is going on here. More later, on this. We made it to the last 30 minutes of church on Sunday, and than there was a huge party for Fathers. Mexico celebrates dads in a big way. We were treated to our first Mexican meal, and it was good. The evening service was some sharing from the team, a group of girls (Becky, Step squared, and Beth) sang a few songs, and I was able to preach on The importance of fathers, Judges 2. The work being done at the church is a variety; painting, craft prep for VBS (they hope to have 2,000 kids this summer!), pulpit assembly, putting in a new floor, cleaning, electrical, and more painting. Each night, and several breakfasts we have been treated to a Mexican feast, as Miros (Pastor Ramons wife) and several ladies have cooked for us. The hospitality shown to us has been incredible.

5. Bosques - a 30 minute drive from Gilgal. This is a small house church of about 35 people, in a community where there is no church present. The church just starting making payments on this house (they had been renting for years). With the payments come improvements. On Monday the fellas (Steve, Pablo, Juan (Ian), and I) worked there preparing and then pouring concrete pad in front of the house, so that the church can use this space for meetings and VBS. Never fear we did have a trumpo (mixer), still was difficult but it least there was no volcano mixing. The pad was poured, and there was much rejoicing. Tuesday, Steve and I worked with our Mexican heffe (boss) Beto (Humberto) laying block in the front of the building. Funny story - we did not have materials that morning, though we had ordered them the day before. We went to the material yard, and they yard guy said they were closed because nobody had bothered showing up with the key. His boss rolled up 30 minutes later(we hung with the yard guy watching the day go bye). The boss got us into the officina, but did not have a key to the 3 inch chain wrapped around the door, at which the yard guy pulls out a hacksaw and proceeds to cut the chain, he cant do it, our man Beto finishes the job in no time. Now we are in the yard, but the door to get the truck to the street is locked. Beto informs them to cut the weld on door where the lock is. At which point Beto cuts the weld and we are in business laying block by 1:00 p.m. that day. Wednesday was the service at Bosques, Paul Martin preached, Pat and Kathy shared, and the ladies sang, the place (new concrete pad and walls was packed). This was a sweet time of fellowship.

Tis all for now, Friday is Montonya (Mountains day)...

El Pastor

Video and Pictures from Day Six

As always, there are a more pictures on the Photobucket, so you should check them out.
Also, you can comment without an account now. But thank you to the people who made an account to comment, it's nice to hear from you guys. :)