I am now home!
Everyone is sleeping and I am still digesting the weekend.
THURSDAY:
The 8 people on our team started carpooling at 4am from Chico to Sacramento...about a 2 hr drive in the fog. We were all a little sleepy since our first, final, and only team meeting wasn't over until 10:00 the night before. It is amazing that God uses us miserable creatures for anything! I think He takes great pleasure in using the "are nots"! (1 Cor 1:27-29)
After flying to El Paso, we were picked up at the airport in the afternoon by Chuy, one of Carlos' right-hand men. We crossed the border and immediately turned down into a drainage flood bypass. This was apparently the fastest most direct route through Juarez! However, during our many travels over the next few days we were constantly being watched over by guardian angels. People drive in Juarez like they are in a Death Race Destruction Derby!! It seems that only aggressive drivers get anywhere! The roads are horrible, signs are often only suggestions, and there seems to be no rules hardly at all. Our drivers kept us injury free and I praise God for our safety.
We disembarked at the mission Base, met Carlos, met four people from a Calvary in Alberquerque, and then headed straight out to the tent. It was out on the edge of Juarez in a real beat up neighborhood. It looked like a war zone with houses in crumbling disarray and dirt roads littered with debris. It was hard to believe that families were living in some of the homes. The use of the tent was provided by an Italian missionary, Leonardo, who owned and travelled with it doing outreach and evangelistic work. We got to hear him sing and play numerous instruments and preach! He was a one-man crusade!!
Our tasks that first cold evening were to set up chairs and build a simple barrier fence around the tent. We got to meet some of the members of Amigo Fiel who would be helping off and on over the weekend. Some kids from the neighborhoods were out doing recon and were told where to find the local pastors to get a bracelet. Then we headed back to Base for dinner, worship, devotion, and fellowship as one big Team. We went to bed exhausted from the long day.
THE TEAM:
They say that one of the biggest issues facing long-term missionaries is strife within their own ranks. Our Team wasn't together for very long but I did see the seeds of discord start to sprout. Thankfully we have also been shown the tools of peace and forgiveness. And our times of worship and prayer together were magnificent. It was a pleasurable experience to be either serving in ministry or praying or worshipping or fellowshiping with Christians or studying the Word nearly all day every day.
Our leader was our church's high school pastor and his wife. Many on the team had never been to Mexico, many had never been on a mission, a few were new to Christianity, some were veteran short-term missionaries, and all seemed excited to be there. A couple people were hampered with illness. Most did not speak Spanish. The youngest was 25, the oldest about 50. Some were able to do hard physical work. It was a very eclectic group and we all got along famously. Some were quiet, some were loud. Some led, some followed, some did their own thing. Everyone had a niche where they fit in and found something worthwhile to do at every event. Sometimes that meant getting up and giving an evangelistic message, sometimes it meant mopping the floors. There were 12 of us...we were the Americanos!
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