From the teddy bear...

In the first part of the trip, I spent time in Texas with Sharon who gave me this nickname. I spent the first day in Mexico working with Dan Fly and Jay Lewis on a truck. It was a learning experience for all of us. Things go much slower here than I'm used to in St. Louis. Those who know me know I like to go fast. All in all, things are great. The team is really coming together. My Spanish is improving, and I'm dredging through. Even though I'm in over my head, I'm trying to speak with everyone. I really missed my family yesterday on Father's Day. The team pulled me through. Continue prayer for us and my self and my family.

-Ben Allen

P.S. We're playing four-square every night. It's been great, and our skills are really improving.

A word from Danny L...

Hey Danny here,
Yesterday after a worship service at Gilgal we ate dinner that the Mexicans prepared for us. I just happened to sit next to the bass player and drummer from the praise band. We talked and, through broken and even broken-er Spanish, the converastion turned toward music as it generally does with me and other musicians. Long story short, they invited me to play with them today at band practice in the church. So today I was able to jam with some local musicians and guess what, the language barrier was no problem. It didn't matter that I looked different or that I didn't understand what they were singing, we were all praising the lord together.

So far on this trip I was able to play the guitar for our team worship time, play the trumpet with and without others and I have played piano and guitar in free times of fellowship with other team members. I have been on this trip three times before and never before has the trip been covered in music such as this trip is so far. I am truly thankful that God allows us to praise him with music and that he has given me the ability to play these instruments because without him I truly am nothing.

-Danny Lewis

Pics from Saturday, Day 3

Words from Erin and Anna...

Hola, mi amigo. That’s ‘hello my friend’ in Spanish, and is pretty much the only Spanish I know. Riding down to Matamoros, Mexico to participate in the VBS we were holding, I was trying to remember the other two phrases I knew. I was so nervous about the VBS. I went last year and remembered liking it a lot, so why was I so scared? While we were driving, Daniel S. suggested that we pray for the kids and parents who will be attending the VBS, we also prayed for those of us who would be working there. After those few minutes of prayer, my mind had changed completely. I was so excited!
When we arrived, Megan quickly found Leslie, the girl she raised money for a few years ago. It was so encouraging to see the connection between the two. Soon after that, I saw the girl I met last year, Perla. Even though I can’t say more that five words to her, and the only communication we ever did was laugh, but somehow she still likes me. She gave me pink charm bracelet that day that I promise I will never take off.
The only responsibility I had in the VBS was saying one line in the skit and after that, I was free to play chalk, jump rope and blow bubbles. I was so glad to have a change of mind, and right now, writing this, I am so excited to go to VBS tomorrow.

-Erin Hotchkiss

(the next day)

Today has had one of the biggest impacts on me that I have ever experienced. It was a big difference from yesterday which seemed pretty boring and uneventful. Yesterday I spent most of the day sorting sheets and towels and organizing what was basically a house where everyone dropped their unwanted household junk. What confused me was they gave the place some fancy Spanish name “Bodega”. Anyway, today I felt a little more productive because I did some real manual labor. I got to move old furniture that was being discarded into a huge dumpster: old mattresses, chairs, couches, dressers and the like. After lunch I was a part of the group that went to the VBS. At first it seemed a little awkward because of the language barrier, and I was a little nervous to go up to any of the kids and try to interact with them. So I just kinda stood off to one side and watched them play with chalk and jump ropes. Then I started talking to this little girl, Karina. I helped her with her little craft after the skit. We made mariposas (butterflies). She colored a picture after she made her mariposa and then began writing something on the back of it. She handed it to me and the writing said, “De: Karina Para: Anna”, which means From: Karina For: Anna. Wow… I was completely shocked and happy at the same time. I didn’t know what to do, but then I remembered the bracelets on my arm… So I gave on to her. We became so close in only a few short hours. We taught each other words in each others languages which was pretty cool. We went to a general store down the street and got “soda in a bag”. You aren’t allowed to keep the glass soda bottle, so they pour the soda into a plastic bag and give you a straw to drink it. Unlike a soda can if you drop it you are bound lose all of your soda. It was hard to say goodbye to Karina, so I really want to come back to that VBS next year.

-Anna Nobbs

Pictures from Friday, Day 2

A word from Tyler...

A few weeks back, me and my friends decided to chase the sunrise. I see the sun setting everyday, and it’s not as spectacular as it once was. However, a sunrise is a whole different story. As an 18 year old hooligan, 6 AM is one of those few hours I claim doesn’t exist. So, me and my friends went to see the sunrise. It was pretty cool, and I had a blast. It was an adventure getting up before the crack of dawn and having a breakfast picnic. It could hardly compare to the feeling I had this morning when I saw the sunrise. There is a completely different set of emotions that washes over me when I see the sunrise as I’m scrambling for shovels and trowels to build a concrete wall. Well, that’s the rush I had as I was still in the “I’m nearing consciousness after sleeping like a rock” stage. It was pretty radical, and a nice way to start the day. (Even if I did have to wake up an hour and a half before breakfast even started).

I’m always baffled by those who find calculus difficult. I’m a major math geek and appreciate all the intricacies of derivatives and differential equations. Today only helped to strengthen my belief. And I think I finally found a way to convince everyone that math is easy…have them lay brick. Laying brick is a ridiculously hard. Its more than just the manual movement of the heavy bricks and mortar, it’s the fact that no matter how much you tap, measure, and twink the blocks will NEVER be in a straight line. It’s just a fact of bricklaying. Not to mention the fact that I’m getting tan lines! After spending hours in the sun every day at the pool as a life guard, I get tan lines after half a day in the morning sun. I guess this is God’s way of saying, “Welcome to sunny Texas, now its time to get over yourself.” So its time to look on the bright side and realize that at least my time in the sun prevented burns, unlike the other members of my elite teams who did not escape the rays of the sun.

Bill taught us how to lay bricks. Bill is a “retired” missionary who spent over 20 years in Brazil. He ministered with the Nichols while down there. Bill was full of stories and he loved to tell them. You could see the twinkle in his eye when he was remembering something from his past. Bill and his wife live in an old renovated school bus turned into a mobile home. It has over 400,000 miles on it, its engine was last rebuilt in 1980 and the rig gets 800 miles to the tank (its got a hundred gallon tank…do the math). When his wife’s hip went out, he designed and built an elevator lift in his bus. Back in the day he was a diesel engineer for the navy after hardly graduating high school. You can learn a lot just by working next to a man with such experience and a great personality. God can have such an impact on a man’s life. Bill was born in a Christian home and accepted Christ at the age of 7. He didn’t walk with the Lord throughout the entirety of his years though. He went the way of the world for a while, he was a motorcycle rebel. Yep, that’s right, God can even use motorcycle rebels to have a profound impact on the establishment of his kingdom. How encouraging is that.

Well, that was my morning, I’d write more but everyone is trying to get on here to type, so ask me about the rest of my day later. God bless.

-Tyler

A word from Nikki... and some photos.

Thursday, June 14th, 2007
- Flight from Dallas to Laredo
It is a very beautiful thing to fly through the clouds. There are so many shapes, sizes, and forms. All they do is sit in the sky, yet they display God’s eloquence and beauty so obviously. My two favorite cloud formations were: 1) When the clouds looked like a snow blanket underneath us, and 2) When the clouds ended like the edge of a cliff, as if the earth below was the bottom. It’s so addicting to look out of the window and see God’s beauty.




Our traveling was wearisome today, mostly because of an hour delay while sitting in a smaller than normal airplane in Dallas waiting to travel to Laredo. The wait was due to a maintenance problem, which ended up having to do with the fuel pump. It took a lot of patience to wait it out, but we were very thankful that the pilot considered our safety first instead of getting there on time. We finally arrived at RGBI tonight, ate some Little Caesar’s pizza, and had a short meeting. Work starts early tomorrow morning! Thank you for your prayers.
-Nikki Sneed