This Week In Ministry

Hellooooo again!

Time for another ministry update. We have some exciting things going on this week.

Today we get started with a Girl's Beauty Night. There will be massages, pedicures, manicures, a talk about inner beauty, and several other things planned for the night. We have a ton of girls in the ministry so it is sure to be a great night.

this is a really great group of girls (Erika, Aline, Ixchel, Maria)

Tomorrow is the normal devotional lunch. We are going to take a break from our weekly trivia and bring back one of our games from last semester just to keep things mixed up a bit. We had a student leader give the talk for the first time this semester last week and a few more on the schedule to finish out the semester.

Josh, Pibe, Raul, Beto, Pablo, Rosa at devotional lunch (aka Pozomida)

On Saturday there is another home football game here at the university. The team is doing extremely well. I have several friends that are players and others who are coaches so I really enjoy going to the games to support them all. This Saturday we are going to take some of the kids from the orphanage we work with to the game. Last semester we taught them to play flag football and since many of them really enjoyed it, we decided to invite them to one of the football games. We are hoping this will be a good time for our students to go deeper with these kids and really start some relationships that will be beneficial to both the kids and our students.

Chris plays defensive line and all the girls love him

Sol (student in the ministry) with Fisher and Hector (two of my favorite coaches)

Sunday we are going to baptize at least 3 students, maybe more, and we are going to to do it at the BEACH. We are really excited about the students who have made this decision (check next week for pics and stories). They each have a very unique story on how they got to this point. God has been working on them for some time now and it is such an honor for us to get to be a part of it all. We are renting a van, using our cars, gonna pile everyone in who wants to go, drive a few hours, get out, baptize the girls, hang out and have a picnic on the beach, go to Dairy Queen, then head back to Puebla. Pray for these 3 amazing girls that will be getting baptized and for those who are on the edge, for all the students who will be going, safe travels and for the excitement and decision of these girls to be contagious in the ministry.

In other news of upcoming events, we will be having our monthly worship time Monday night and in a few weeks I will be giving the talk at En Vivo, our Tuesday night main event. On Tuesdays remember we are going through the bible in its sections. We have almost made it through the whole bible. We just have another talk on the Letters and Revelations. Since our two main speakers will be out of town the week of Revelations, I get the honor of giving that talk. Pray for me as I prepare and get pumped up to give another talk. And while you are praying, don't forget to mention all the people mentioned in the blog.

Thanks for all your love and support. Peace out. Love you all.

Realistic

Reason 15: Realistic

I love my dad because he is realistic and a dreamer like me needs someone like that to keep themselves in check. My dad has always been the one that has given me the reality checks when I needed them. From times when I was younger and not making the smartest choices to the times when I dream and maybe don't think everything through before wanting to get started.
I can't honestly say I always agreed with what he told me or liked it even if I agreed, but I appreciate it. The fact that he loves me enough to care about my choices and help me the way he knows how is priceless.
My dad might not seem like a dreamer just because his attention to details and realism comes out more, but he is. Just look at what he has done over the last 5 years.
His dad used to tell him that he would see it when he believed it. I know he thought about that a lot over the years, but he also thought about all the details that needed to happen to make things become realities. Sometimes I just like to think that if I believe it will happen it will (and in a sense I think that is true), but he is good to remind me of the realities that have to happen to make dreams come true. He doesn't ever do it to discourage me or anything like that.  
It's just that he is wise, lived through lots, learned from it all and now wants to pass it all on to me and I love him for it.

Fisherman

Reason 14: Took us Fishing

Hey there again. It has been a while since the last post, not because of a shortage of reasons I love my dad, just a shortage of time. Actually I think we all have enough time to do what we need/want, just sometimes we let certain things take priority over others. And today it dawned on me that I hadn't really thought about the posts recently. So here we are once again. Reason 14 I love my dad...he took us fishing and taught us to bait a hook.
I have many many memories of fishing with my dad. He was patient with us, always untangling or getting us unstuck from trees or the bottom of the lake. He taught us how to unhook the fish and hold it so we wouldn't get pricked by the scales. You would be amazed at how many people don't know how to do the basics of fishing. Last year I went fishing with some friends here in Puebla and I was the one baiting the lines for them all.

One memory that sticks out is once when we went fishing when we lived in Texas and somehow I ended up catching a really big catfish. Everyone was really excited and we took some pictures that I am sure still exist somewhere but not here.

I don't think I ever fully got into fishing. I like to do it from time to time and not for hours on end, but I am thankful for all the times my dad took me fishing and taught me the basics.

La Malinche

Fall Retreat to the Mountains

Two weekends ago we went on our annual fall retreat to "La Malinche", a mountain that is nearby. Usually the fall retreat has less poeple on it, so we were really excited when our final number was over 50. We had a great time and built many new relationships throughout the weekend.

We all met at the campus house at 5pm to drive the hour and a half up the mountain to our cabins we had rented.

But, we had a little delay because the bus didn't arrive for another hour.

Calling the bus driver

Finally, the bus arrived, we loaded up and headed out.

Pam and Nala

Tristan and Bernardo (friends that are always together)

Friday night after arriving at our cabins, we unloaded everything and then hung out till 2 or 3 in the morning.

Also we had band practice to get ready for morning worship

Pibe

Andrea y Pablo

In the morning we had worship then a time of teaching from our speaker, Tom. He talked about relationships, being rejected, forgiving others, not judging, breaking the cycle of bad relationships and such like that.

Then we divided all the students into teams and sent them on a race. They had to find 5 different stations and complete the tasks at each one. During the race they got points for different things that later would determine the winner. The first one was to make the longest chain with only the stuff they had on them.

The next one was making a dance or choreography to be performed later in front of the whole group. Some were really good...and some were really bad.

Lady Gaga made an appearance

this group had lots of energy

this one was really bad

this one was really good

The next station was picking 5 ingredients, blending them all up, then drinking a glassful. Mexicans don't find this quite as funny as most Americans do.

yummy

Lulis drank it faster than anyone

The forth station was making a car that one member of the team could fit inside of to later be pulled or pushed in a series of races. Each team only had a certain amount of material to use.

the didn't even make it halfway

the guys on the left won everything

some were not made as well as others

Beto, Ixchel, and Robert pulling Sara with Bego bringing up the rear

The final station was to go a find a list of 10 things, bring them back and then find the finish line.

this was the first team done, however they did not win 1st, 2nd or 3rd place

Later that night we had another time of worship with another talk followed by a campfire that lasted until the early hours of the morning like the night before.

the dog stayed by our fire all night

singing by the fire

well actually we had to move away from the fire because a marshmallow fight broke out

this was around 2 am. we moved inside where it was warmer

Sunday morning was a final time of worship with another talk from Tom. Then some of us packed up and left, while others stayed to hike up the mountain.

a few of us before getting on the bus to leave

The weekend was a huge success. Many deep and meaningful conversations were shared over the weekend and continue to be shared. Those who went on the retreat were challenged and impacted in many different ways. 
Below some of the pictures I put the names of the students who are in them. When you pray for El Pozo, think of them, pray for them by name, and for all the students who are searching, struggling, fighting, learning, and through it all seeing God. 

Correction

Correction....
As you might have noticed by now, I am getting older and the past is getting farther away so many details of the stories I am telling are failing me...WELL the picture from yesterday that I said was my dad getting sworn in was actually my dad swearing my mom into the Army.

Stay turned for a ministry update later today.

Love Yall Lots

Medicine Man

Reason 13: Knowledge of Medical Stuff

One thing I love about my dad is his medical background. He has been working in the medical field ever since he enlisted in the Army soooo many years ago.

Being sworn in

This has proved beneficial on many occasions. Sometimes his advice would be from the farm and sometimes it would be what you would get from the doctors office. Whichever it was, you could be sure it was good advice and following it would usually help out. Except for that time when my dad rubbed some transdermal cream on Michelle Donley's

Michelle (we met the day of her 30th birthday)

 forehead to get rid of a headache maybe...the result has been years of Michelle giving my dad a hard time about his meds because she claims instead of taking away whatever it was supposed to cure, it did something else bad, like burn her or something like that...it happened several years ago so for the details of the story you need to ask them, but that event still gets brought up every now and then when we get on the topic of medicines.
One example of his non traditional solutions came out when we would get stung by a bee. He would take the dip out of his mouth and slap it on the bee sting. Maybe it sounds gross to you, and it probably actually was, but it was also very practical since the tobacco would make the sting go away and once that went away, the tears would go as well.
Another random story I recall where his knowledge was sought after was one night real late when we lived in Kansas some neighbors we weren't great friends with but knew came over with a problem for my dad to fix. Their young daughter had gotten a splinter stuck in her foot and was screaming like her life depended on it. The splinter was not some little prickler that commonly gets stuck our fingers from time to time. This splinter was huge and in the bottom of her foot...must have hurt bad. I would guess it was a good 2 inches long at least (for a really accurate estimation you should ask my dad).
Also when most people get sick they have to go to the doctor's office, wait, get checked out, get the prescription and then finally you can go back home to start getting well again. Well not so in my house (maybe I already mentioned this) when we were sick he would do whatever tests needed to be done in the morning, throat swabs and all that, then bring back medicine for us at night. Of course there were times when he couldn't help us out at home, like Luke getting his appendix out or my broken arm, and in those cases we would go to the hospital just like everyone else, but the times when he could take care of us from home was such a blessing for everyone.

Right before I moved to Mexico, I had to get a bunch of tests and shots before I could get cleared to go. I remember on 2 occasions not having to go for followup appointments because my dad was able to do the necessary things from home.

Ask him about this photo...it is probably Donnah or some baby he delivered along the way

I love having a father who has the medical background that he has. The amount of time, money, worry, and whatever else that comes from being sick, needing a doctor and the likes that was and is saved because of his knowledge and willingness to share it can not even begin to be counted it is so much.