Brothers

This shot entered into the "Let's hear it for boys" contest at iheartfaces.com

These brothers joined together for a fun senior photo shoot.

What we did and what we learned

What do you take home with you from a mission trip? Well, there's alot of things.

First of all, there is the overwhelming sense of how blessed we are to live in the US. We have much to be thankful for. I trust each of our team members will look at their life and stewardship of their possessions in a new way. Some might be called into a ministry life devoted to mission work. But hopefully all of us will be supporters of the Lord's work around the world in a significant way.

Second, we are challenged to look at our mission here at home. Many of our students realized that when they stood up and sang worship songs in the park that they could just as easily do that at home - in a mall, or park or other public place. They are thinking about how they can impact their own culture.

Third, we were all touched by the testimony of Luis - how he came to be a Christian, how he chose to serve in this ministry and how he now leads his family in their personal devotional life and service to the Lord. This might have been a message just for me showing me that my priorities have slipped in that area. Again, seeing how Christians live in another part of our world causes us to re-examine ourselves.

Many other things could be said about the impact of this trip. There was overwhelming sadness to hold an orphan child sleeping in your arms knowing that they don't get held enough, even though they thankfully have enough to eat. The children in the village showed us how happy they are with very little and we realize that all our American stuff leaves us less happy than them at times. The teenagers at the youth rally showed us how dedicated they are in their faith. The sacrifices made by US missionaries over the years that produce much fruit for God challenged us to think about what we are called to do in the future.

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z76/dvanessen/ELCA%20Mexico/

Here is the photo link again in case you missed it.

We're Back and So Thankful

First of all, thank you to all of our encouraging commenters - we felt your support and prayers!

Second of all, thank the Lord with us for a safe trip and return to our wonderful homes and the blessings of this Thanksgiving Day with families and friends. Wow, it's overwhelming to come back and be so blessed with hot water, clean floors and all the comforts we live in here in the Estados Unidos.

There is much to share and we will do our best to bring you the highlights. Please chime in with your comments, team members. We'll post a few photos here but we have the whole enchilada of photo memory sticks posted here:

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z76/dvanessen/ELCA%20Mexico/


I, Leanne, feel so blessed to have gone on this trip with our ELCA students. And let me tell you, they were an amazing team. All of you parents should be very proud of your teens - they gave 110% in team effort and attitude in all the work projects and the ministry to the people of Maya Balam, near Bacalar.

So to begin, I will highlight the first day - we arrived at sunset on Thursday night in Cancun. Cory Bontraeger and Luis Babb met us and drove us 4+ hours to the mission site near Bacalar. His wife, Vanessa, had dinner waiting at 10 pm and we got our first meal under the pilapa, with warm tropical breezes and palm trees surrounding us.

The next morning we were briefed on our schedule and assigned work projects for the morning: varnishing the wooden play structure on the grounds, cutting brush in the driveway and we began to saw and sand wood for tables and benches (they don't have any for their campground).

We immediately feel the effects of this climate - heavy perspiration with the slightest exertion, swarms of blood-thirsty mosquitos, biting chiggers and ants that are easily stirred up in the grass and the jungle, and intense hot solar rays burning our gringo skin. Needless to say, the pool break following a delicious lunch by Vanessa was fabulous.

By mid-afternoon we are loaded up in the van for the 45 minute ride to Maya Balam, a small village of Guatamalan refugees that was settled in the 80's. The children greet us at the church building and we are plunged into the Spanish language, grasping for the few nouns and verbs we can remember. We all wish we had spent more time diligently preparing for the language barrier. Hugs, tickles, smiles and hand motions are the main tool we use as we play with the children, deliver a VBS lesson and craft and finally enjoy a delicious meal of local corn, boiled in the husks and served with chili powder and limes. We return home exhausted and excited.

We´re here!

We are in the town of Bacalar tonite to get ice cream and internet. These first photos are from the village where we have held VBS for 2 days, played with children and ate yummy local corn.

This is the pool on the mission campground, very good for cooling off after our sweaty work projects!

Clearing brush by the entrance

Building new tables

Varnishing play structure

playing with ninos in the village

VBS in the church

Crafts at VBS

Making paper airplanes with the craft paper

Corn with chili powder and limes - yum!

Here's a link to see what it looks like:

http://lagunabacalar.com/

Let's Go

We will leave on our Mexico mission trip Nov. 19, 2009 for one week to the area of Bacalar, Mexico. You can check back here for photos we will post as often as we can.