We are home !
3/22/2008 So far everything has gone extremely well, praise God. We are making good time and the weather has been beautiful. We are awake at 5 a.m. Sunday morning to get up and out so the church can prepare for their Sunrise Easter service. We are planning an Easter service along the way. Please pray for a couple of the students and staff that are fighting illness, also continue to pray for the work the Lord has prepared in advance for the team to be doing. Check the Fri/Sat photo page for a few photos of the trip so far.
3/23/3008 We are here. Travel today was good and we had a great solo time and worship at Mission Bay Park. No troubles crossing the border and the camp set up went smooth. The local church made dinner for us, which was delicious. Tomorrow we start with the clinics and outreach. Everyone is pretty tired so after evening worship and teaching, early to bed. Check the Sun photo page for some photos.
3/24/2008 Gotta' say, we're loving the weather! It's probably 10-15 degrees cooler than San Luis, but still sunny, warm, and with a nice breeze. Today was our first day of clinics/VBS/etc., and it was amazingly smooth and easy. 54 people went through the clinic, and 22 made decisions for Christ. In addition, our needs team (with the wonderful Mona) led six people to Christ! Our offsite VBS team was blessed with around 45 kids, which is pretty amazing, considering that they're working in a completely unchurched area (as far as we know). The other half of our needs team is rebuilding a fence around the church (check back soon for pictures), and are sporting smurf-toned skin to match the new fence. Most of the people who were feeling a little under the weather are better, but please pray for our translator, Sharon, who is having a little trouble with an eye infection. All in all, it's been a fabulous trip so far--please praise God with us for the lives changed, and continue to pray for health, safety, and a lasting impact on the community. Take a look at the Monday photo page.
3/25/2008 We know it is not about numbers but we have been blessed with more people making decisions for Christ today, not only at the clinic but also during the needs teams canvasing local neighborhoods and children at the VBS. It is truly a blessing to see God's glory and power revealed all around us. All glory to God for what he is doing in this community and the lives of the students and staff, it can never be said enough, God is Good. Plans have changed a bit, for the last couple of days here we will have 2 off-site VBS teams and and an off-site canvasing/pray/evanglism team reaching out to neighborhoods that the spirit has led us to. We will continue running the clinics as well as the on-site VBS and evangelism team. The students are doing great and are stepping up to the many tasks and challenges that come their way. Please continue to lift up the team, the town and the local body in prayer. Tuesdays photo selection
3/26/2008 The new VBS site had an awesome group of students and staff showing the love of Chirst to almost a hundred children. The clinic saw over 90 people today with many accepting Christ. All of the teams have added extra focus to being in continual prayer for the community and people we are coming in contact with. This has been awesome and many prayers have already been answered. God is great. Tonight we participated in a service with our host church with Darren Engle providing the message that was translated by our very own Jose Vargas. What an awesome and amazing time to worship side by side with our brothers and sisters. Here are the Wednesday selection of photos.
3/30/2008 We are home. One of the keys to any mission trip, and definitely the trip to Mexico is remaining flexible. That was no more true than on this trip. In order to reach even more people with the Good News, Wednesday night it was decided that the clinic would remain open until 9 p.m. Thursday night, that meant a 12 hour day for the clinic teams. This proved to be a Spirit led decision as many parents who were unable to make it in the previous days were able to get glasses, learn about hygiene and hear the Good News, with many accepting Christ. The rest of the team was busy packing tents, the kitchen, cleaning around the camp and playing with the local children. It may have been a long day, but everyone did great and the Gospel was preached and lives changed. The trip home was a long one, bumper to bumper traffic on the I-405 added many hours to the trip to Modesto, but God is good and the buses were filled with worship and teaching of the word, as well as some much needed rest. Saturday's portion of the journey home was again filled with worship, rest, reflection and many conversations among friends, both new and old. After deciding to stop in Mt Shasta, the students and staff heard the final part of Dan's teaching, which we weren't able to have on Friday night, and the team had an opportunity to reflect on the previous week and how the Spirit had moved in them individually and as the body of Christ, with many re-committing their lives to Christ. Final Photo Page
Be sure to attend the Mexico 2008 flashback on Wednesday evening April 9th at 7 p.m. to hear first hand about the many glorious and amazing ways God was working and changing lives.
The final update for Mexico 2008 on this site is done. DVD's of video and pictures from the Mexico 2008 missions trip will be available soon, if you'd like to purchase a copy, contact Roger after April 9th.
If you have any questions or comments or for more information, contact Student Ministries at 476-7761
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