Casa Hogar Work Day

Hello friends and family!

I thought I should update tonight because tomorrow will be a busy day.



Today began with breakfast and devotions as Meghan wrote in ourlast note. After breakfast we had some small chores to do and then began gathering the tools we needed for a day of painting. They have been adding rooms on to the dormatory. These rooms will be used for the ¨dorm Parents¨ which at the moment the do not have. The pictures I have attached are of the team priming and painting. We had a small competition between the guys and gals to see who could get more done. Well the girls won...but only because the hired a professional to help. Sort of. Carlos, I believe his name is, has been donating time to the orphange and he is in the building trades and happens to be a really good painter. So at the end of the day the girls had more done than the guys.



Tomorrow morning we will be mixing cement ( all done with shovel ) and helping to pour a sidewalk around the new addition to the dorm. We will also finish the painting we started today. Maybe we will let the girls do that !!!



In the afternoon Enrique will take us swimming at a favorite water hole. Then in the evening we will be having our ¨childrens extravaganza¨. It will be a very full day.



I am so proud of our team members. They are all hard workers and are having fun doing it. Meghan has been a blessing in so many ways but her job as translator is immensly helpful to all.



It continues to be hot but we are all careful to keep ¨watered¨. Thanks for your prayers. We are looking forward to the childrens ministry tomorrow night. Pray for attendance and well as receptive hearts.



Love to all!

Pastor Scott... on behalf of the team!

México--A Whole New World

Buenos días todos!

It is Thursday morning here at the orphanage, and we feel like completely different people writing to you. So much is different...wonderful, but full of newness and challenge.

The Lord blessed us TREMENDOUSLY in crossing the border without even been stopped! There were two checkpoints that had given previous mission teams problems, and though we were pulling a trailer loaded with luggage and work tools and VBS materials, the customs officials waved our two giant vehicles through. Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers!

Reality (and the heat) soon hit us. If I can speak on the group´s behalf, we shared a feeling of discomfort, excitment, fear, love, and complete reliance upon God.

The orphanage was still a two hour roadtrip south. We arrived 5pm to a metal and cement campus with dormitories, dust, and about 20 boys and girls who live here. A couple of them know some English, but that´s it. It´s nearly all Spanish from here on out.

Last night, we attended a Penecostal church service in the town of Sabinas Hildalgo. It was in an adobe building with squares cut out for windows and a giant fan in back to keep the air flowing. Beyond the geography and design, the hermanos y hermanas (brothers and sisters in Christ) displayed such a pure, uninhibited joy for the Lord. THAT is what is sticking with us. As a custom, during every service, there is a time when the congregation stands up individually and shares a Bible verse and how God is at work in their life--adults and children, both. It is a time of excitement and praising and encouragement and clearly is something that everyone looks forward to.

After the service, we had our supper at a local restaraunt about 10pm. Carol and Enrique led us in a sort of de-briefing from our long, challenging day. We had the option of sleeping indoors, but because of the unreal heat, most all of us carryed our mattresses outside in the center of the orphanage courtyard. Quite literally, we sleep under nothing except the Mexican sky in a circle of twin mattresses and sticky bodies. Praise be to God for the breeze!

Today we will paint and clean and pray and paint.

I believe that our devotions this morning will be the theme for the remainder of the week. John 15:1-8. God is the vinedresser, Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. He will be pruning us all week.

Love,

Pastor, Monte, Sherri, Emily, Kendra, Kyle, Travis, Michal, Heidi, Helen, and Meghan