12 hour days at church

Hey all, hope all is well on the home front. I appreciate your continued prayers and encouragements, it really means a lot to know that you are supporting me. On saturday I gave a morning devotional at a youth missions conference which was really cool. I spoke about the need to make decisions and not excuses and that following Jesus is something we do or not do and not something we can do half way. I thought it went well and I am finding myself more and more comfortable speaking in front of groups in Spanish. I have continued to visit churches and families that we will be working with for the summer. Yesterday I went to a church that was really far away and leaving my house at 7:30am didn't leave the church till like 6pm and didn't get home till 7:30. The church while incredibly long was really cool, their music was amazing and while the long service was a bit annoying to my get it done US sensibilities, i really enjoyed just the freedom that the service had, allowing people to share testimonies and have longer periods of silent and corporate prayer and then even an intermission before the sermon. Stephanie (my summer co-leader) and I introduced ourselves in front of the church and then I gave a short little message about being one church and one body in spite of different languages and countries and that we are all one Church and one body together in Christ. Then we were invited to share the message at the youth group after church and I ended up talking for I think around a half an hour and answering questions that the people in the group had about being a missionary and living in a different country. It was a cool time and I think its so amazing how in just one day (albeit a really long day) such strong bonds could be forged between the church and stephanie and I. Continue to keep me in your prayers as we make our final church, family and pastor visits this week. Also on another note on Saturday a bunch of us went to the semifinals of the Mexican Soccer league and Cruz Azul (my second favorite team after Puebla) managed to win and get to the final of the league for the first time in like 11 years or something. I might try to go to the final if I have time and money. Hope all is well, much love and God bless.


Me with my pastor from my first summer and some of the guys I worked with, spearheaders will be working in that church this summer so I went there for a visit last week.

Missions Conference on Saturday

Hey all, just wanted to catch you up on the latest here in Mexico. This sunday I went to visit my first church from the summer because there will be a couple of spearheaders there for the summer. It was realy cool to hang out with them and get to know them better. Its cool to see guys that were just getting involved in the church three summers ago now leading worship and to see them now building a new church building. I am continuing to visit the other churches and families for the spearheaders this summer and we are all just preparing ourselves to effectively train and equip them to serve God here in a new place. This Saturday I was invited to speak at a missions conference at a church here in Mexico that is hosting a missions conference for young people, to try to encourage us to go to the missions fields and just really live up to our calling. I just finished reading the book Jesus for President that really challenged me to live in a different way and continues to call into question for me what exactly it looks like to follow Jesus. Thanks for all your prayers and support. Much love and God bless.

Back to where it all started...

Hey all, just got back from my leadership retreat to get ready for the summer program. We are getting ready to host between 13-16 students for the summer and excited for what God will be doing. In the next few weeks I will be visiting the churches we are working with and meeting with pastors and host families. Tomorrow I will be going up to the church in La Presa where I spent my first ever summer in Mexico. Now I will be on the other side of things as a leader for the students that will be staying and working there. I am excited to get to go back and work with them. Pray for me to be able to get back into the swing of things here in Mexico City and to not think so much about past (Puebla) and future (hopefully still going to Brasil) and just be able to focus on the ministry at hand. Please keep the leadership team in your prayers as we meet families and pastors, growing our relationships with mexican ministry leaders and families. Pray for unity as a leadership team and a church. Finally, pray for the spearhead summer team that they would be preparing their hearts to come in just over two weeks. Thanks so much for all your prayers and support.

the leaders for the summer, some of us following directions better than others to look tough in the picture
doing an obstacle course at our leadership retreat
one of my goodbye parties in Puebla

There's something unpredictable, but in the end its right...

So here I sit in my room at 1am trying to pack my stuff up and get ready to move on. I can honestly say that my friends here are some of the closest that I have ever had, it has just been an amazing experience for me to see how many people I have gotten to know at such a depth. I definitely have struggled with my job and whether I made any impact here. At times I definitely wasn't sure, but after my 1 week farewell tour I am confident that God has worked here both in and through me. I am grateful for such an honor to be able to do his work. I honestly love so many people here and will always carry Puebla in my heart. For me the greatest complements I have received have been from people who have told me that I will always carry Mexico in my blood and thanked me for making efforts to be Mexican. For me it is one of the greatest complement I can receive. I strongly believe that it is an ability to become more Mexican that allows for a ministry to thrive, for friendships to thrive and for life long friendships to be forged. I pray that my time here might make a difference here for time to come, that God would continue to work in me and in the people I had contact with. I pray for encouragement, hope and perseverance as I enter into this new phase being a leader for the summer program. I pray that I might be able to keep in contact with my amazing friends and family here. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

this link has some update pictures from an old album
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2265552&l=8af73&id=5706269

some new pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2266686&l=23735&id=5706269

me with my new Puebla jersey that my youth group gave me

most of the people that came to my Bible study
my 5th grade math teacher who happened to go to my church in Puebla
one of my adopted families here in Puebla, this one is the Brasilian missionary family

Asi se lleva Mexico en la piel (rough translation, thats how Mexico gets in the blood)

Hey all, here I am on the eve of my last sunday getting ready to leave here in Puebla. For those of you that speak spanish here are some videos of farewells from the people at my church, the last one is me talking to them. I will try to write again tomorrow. I really need prayer as I'm feeling pretty bummed about leaving here and just trying to sort things out in my head. Much love and God bless. Happy Mother's Day mom!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

hey all, hope all is well. I can't believe how much time flies. This week has been full of goodbyes and endings. It is really sad for me to be honest and I feel about like I did graduating from college and leaving so many good friends and family to come to México. I have learned to love Puebla, I love the people and have so many good friends from being here for such a short amount of time. I went back to Mexico City on Tuesday and realized how much pollution and people there were and wanted to go back to Puebla. I would ask for prayer as I make that transition back to Mexico City God would give me peace about leaving friends and going back to the ever crowded and polluted Mexico City. I would also ask for continued prayers on the Brasil front. This past weekend I had the chance to go to Acapulco again with some people from my church, on Monday I went to the 5 de Mayo parade (not independence day, and not really a big holiday in México, only here in Puebla is it really celebrated, it commemorates a battle won by the Mexican army over the French army). Today was my last day teaching English and then I had dinner with my family from Puebla. I lived with them in November and December and they are such amazing people that have been such a blessing to me. We went out to a Brasilian restaurant similar to Fogo de Chao that they have in Baltimore and DC (but a lot less expensive). It was really cool, tomorrow I have my last Bible study and my last time at the university, as well as my last class teaching some of the people at Campus Crusade, Friday I will pack my things and have lunch with Robson and dinner with some of the other Crusade people and then over the weekend say goodbye to my soccer team, youth group and church. I pray for the right words to leave them all with and for strength to say my goodbyes well. I feel like my life has been just a lot of change for the last two years which can be tough at times. I would ask for prayer again for that. Yesterday at my last English Bible study with my church youth group they had a surprise farewell party for me which was really touching. Each one said something special to me and they gave me a Puebla soccer jersey which was really cool. I truly love them so much and they are such good friends. I feel like I have so many friends and family here for only being here a short time and that they are people that will truly be lifelong friends. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. I would again ask for much prayer in the coming weeks as I make so many transitions saying goodbye to great friends, meeting new ones and getting reacquainted with old ones. I have a bunch of pictures from Acapulco, the 5 de Mayo parade and various goodbyes that you can see at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2265544&l=a1e9c&id=5706269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2265552&l=8af73&id=5706269



most of the people from my youth group at my surprise party
my family from Puebla
at Hard Rock Cafe in Acapulco with some good friends
at Acapulco with my sweet henna tattoo that says Hecho en México (Made in Mexico)
lastly a video of them giving me my cake for leaving, there is a tradition here in México that you will see in the video

Happy May Day!

The other day I was riding a bus to my church and at a red light the bus driver got out of the bus ran to the pay phone and then proceeded to talk on the phone for about two cycles of the light while the whole bus just kinda waited there for him to come back. Things like that always just kinda make me laugh. It wasn’t the first time something like that happened when I was on a bus, once the driver got out ran to an OXXO (like a 7-11) and got a soda and a bag of chips and then came back to keep driving. I think at one point things like this might have made me mad that I was losing time or something, but now I just find them funny and can only chuckle a little every time something like that happens.

On a second unrelated note, something that does make me upset is when people are really condescending to me and try to speak to me in broken English when it is clear that I speak Spanish, but that they just don’t quite get it. I guess this is why in the US I never address someone in Spanish without first trying English or knowing for sure that they don’t speak English because at least for me it can be very insulting to just assume by looking at you that you can’t or can speak a certain language. I guess I shouldn’t let it bother me, but it’s just one of my pet peeves.

Today is May Day, which is pretty much the international labor day outside of the US, which is sort of ironic because it is on the first to commemorate labor strikers killed in Chicago in 1886, but thanks to the cold war when the Soviet Union and the rest of the communist nations adopted it as their labor day as well, we moved ours to September. Here in Mexico I think almost by law, or if not law tradition that if there is holiday midweek they have to or at least almost always connect it to a weekend, so I get off on Friday too. I am hoping to go somewhere with a bunch of people from my youth group, but not sure what the plans are as of yet. Also, here in Puebla we get Monday off for Cinco de Mayo, which celebrates a battle here in Puebla against the French (not independence day which is on Sept. 16). It’s funny because 5 de Mayo is celebrated more in the US than in Mexico. Here it is only celebrated in Puebla and even here definitely not one of the biggest holidays of the year. The president comes and there is a big parade, but it is not the same sort of holiday as Independence day or some other more important ones. I have been sharing with my students various Corona (beer) commercials about 5 de Mayo and they are all shocked how much people in the US “celebrate” 5 de Mayo because for them it is really not that big of a deal.

I can’t believe how fast the time has passed and that tomorrow is already May and that now I have less than 2 weeks to be here in Puebla. I hope all is good with you. Much love and God bless.

you can click here to see some new pictures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262302&l=e6df8&id=5706269



Sharing the wordless bracelet with a bunch of kids in a really small rural poor town about two hours outside of Puebla