Mexico Part 2

More pictures, stories, and thoughts.... enjoy....

Mon-Fri this was my schedule:
6:30 Breakfast
7:15 Worship & Personal Devotions
8:15 Group Devotions
9:00 Work Projects...painting & caulking for me!
1:00 Lunch
1:45 More painting!!!
3:30 Game prep and prayer
4:00 Games with the kids!!!
6:00 Dinner
6:45 Hanging out with the kids
8:00 Group Evening Devotions & Worship
10:30 Lights out...sometimes this ended up being 10pm cause everyone was so tired :)

Trabajo -- Paintar Los Banos!
Last year I painted the outside walls of the school bathrooms, this year I painted the inside!

I was so glad I got to work at the school again this year :)

Grupo Rosa
During game time I had a group of girls!!!

Esmaralda was in my group again this year...


still the same bundle of energy!

....her sister Karla was also in my group for the second year... I love this girl!

A group picture is coming...I need to get it off the disc from Missy.

Missy had some great games planned, as always!

And Matt did an excellent job with the storytime and directing the games...








More thoughts from Devotions...and random pictures

Come in faith....

...Be specific

Be Expectant....

... He gives generously

Mexico Part 1.49

You can see the wonderful slide show Missy put together on her website!

This is a great glimpse of all the projects we did, and our game time with the kids...I love the video clips :)

Oh, and as I watched it I was reminded of an airport story I forget in the last post. Dan N., being the servent that he is, was helping the lady at the counter while she checked all the luggage for our team. The next thing we knew, Dan was sitting in first class!

Mexico: Part 1

We got to the airport at 4:30am Oct 7th... I do not have any pictures of that, though, since I was still waking up.

Arriving in El Paso.
Yes, Ashley, there are mountains in Texas.

Waiting for our table at La Melanche - the best Fajitas I've ever had. (you can tell we're all a little hungry)

Saturday & Sunday -- planning, hanging out with the kids, church, cookout for the everybody!

These girls (and some others) remembered me, which made my day!

Me and Miriam

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him."

Me and Lizbeth

Thoughts and quotes from group devotions....

'Pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation every day to grow in holiness'

I'm so glad these girls were on the trip!






Sun afternoon....

Got to talk with some of the ladies on the staff. They brought out a half of an orange with chiles on it for me to try! I'm not one for hot food, so I was nervous to try it, but it was great! I ate Jo's, too. Thanks to Tita, Sonia Edith, Lety, and Leydi for talking with me and giving me and thanks for the orange :)

Sun PM - off to Guadalupe for ice cream!
Answered prayer -- getting to spend time with the older girls...they were so much fun!

Me: what flavor is that?
Sonia E.: uhhh...coco...?
Me: chocolate?
Sonia: no...umm...coco...
Me: coffee?
Sonia: ummm...coco...nut?
Me: ohhhh, coconut! (which made sense since the ice cream was white!)


Also, Jovany wanted me to sit next to him in the van.
Then we were friends for the rest of the week :)

PS: he gives the best hugs. I thought he was going to break one of my ribs.


More thoughts and quotes from my journal...

'When the Holy Spirit is speaking to you... do it'

'What is the will of the Lord?'








'Souls going to heaven....
projects will burn.'

'We serve in Christ, through Christ, for Christ.'

To be continued....

I'm back...

the sunrises are beautiful in Mexico

... a Mexico post is coming very soon (I'm just a little tired right now).

For those wondering about the chemical explosion in Apex...
My house was just barely outside of the evacuated area, so we didn't have to leave. But, a few people from my church did have to evacuate. I just tried not to breathe when I walked from my house to the car and the car to the house; but when I did breathe, it smelled a little like burnt rubber. It was strange hearing about my hometown from Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News (and on FoxNews, etc...), I guess Apex got our 15 minutes of fame. It made it a little tough to go out and get last minute stuff for my trip, but God bless the good folks at SuperTarget who opened back up that evening :)

Anyway, since the air was bad in Apex, I decided I would go down to Mexico where they have really clean air ;)
(since I was gone this week I am not caught up on the latest details, but appearently the plant had a lot of chemicals in there that they did not own up to right away, so I guess things will get a little messy now with lawsuits.)

Take a deep breath and enjoy your week...thoughts and pictures from Mexico coming soon.

Vamos a Mexico

In less than 4 days I will be headed to Guadalupe, Mexico with 30 others from my church!

We are going to serve for a week (Oct 7-14) at Rancho 3M, a Christian orphanage. I am so excited! Rancho 3M is a wonderful ministry that takes in abandoned and abused children or children whose parents cannot afford to care for them. At the ranch they receive an education, receive loving care, and most of all hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here are some pictures from last year...

I had some fearless girls on my caulking/painting team last year!

Thankfully we came back with all ten of our fingers :)

Like last year I will have a group of little girls to play with in the afternoons
~ Grupo Rosa - the pink group!


I do no know yet who will be in my group, but I can't wait to spend time with these girls again!



I would really appreciate your prayers!
I am eager to see how God will work this year. He is so faithful to work by through us, and in us. It is only in God's strength, goodness, and power that our work will bear fruit. Praise God that he can use weak vessels like me to accomplish His purposes! Also, please pray for our health. A few people (including our translator!) have been sick this last week.

I will update with pictures when I come back!

It's October!

I love the fall!

Today in 2nd grade we went to the NC Farmer's Market where we got to sample lots of good apples, taste some apple cidar, see pumpkins and gourds, and many other reminders of the fall season (now, hopefully we will start to get some cooler fall weather!)

But, fall is also a very busy season. I found the recent posts on the Girl Talk blog to be very helpful in approaching this season in a way that glorifies God... the series so far has given two out of the three indispensable qualities for a busy/hectic season: humility, and dependence on God. I want to recommend these to any of you who, like me, are tempted to feel overwhelmed! Here's a short quote...

"Let’s honor God by responding to our “endless” list of to-dos with humility—joyfully accepting our limitations and simply doing what we can."

Enjoy this season that God has given you!