Yet another update from Wendy... enjoy! :)

Hey Everybody,

Hola! from Mexico. Sorry it has taken me a bit to get in touch with you things have been a little busy over here. We arrived here on the 5th with smooth sailings through customs. We immediately headed off with our host families, Sarah and I headed off with Rosie Martinez. Many of you know we brought lots of materials for Rosie from the states. She arranged a ride for us and all the materials. As we arrived at her place she realized she forgot her keys with a friend at the airport, so we spent a bit of time on her entry way greeting all her neighbors, sitting on her mound of boxes. The neighbors were so sweet they brought us drinks and offered for us to use their facilities, we laughed as we waited on the keys. Sunday Pastor Luis preached on false teachers and the congregation was introduced to each of us. We went to lunch and had some yummy tacos. Armida and I had to do some shopping for the upcoming VBS snack. The VBS went well the kids loved it, they were so excited wondering what country they were headed to the next day. The VBS material was about trading so they went to a country each day for example China and learned of the Bible story as well. Nobody wanted it to end, but Friday came to quickly. We had 65 kids in attendance and Rosie taught about 43 women on JOB We received many thanks from the moms and the kids. The team went to the Ortega's house Thursday night and Armida made us Papusas (El Salvadorian speciality) Then Friday after we finished painting the seminary rooms we headed to the Graumens, we got to see baby Abby and enjoy dinner and fellowship with them Friday evening. Saturday we headed to the museum of anthropology, it was amazing. It showed how life changed for the people of this region. We we left the museum we got to see dancing and this tradition of men coming down on a rope. We had a beautiful lunch with the team and all our wonderful host families. The people are so warm and friendly here. Hopefully my Spanish is improving. I caught a little bit of cold so on advice from Rosie I had to miss church yesterday so I wouldn't share it with anybody else. Pray for a quick recovery. We are getting ready to head to the pastor Luis house to help with some improvements painting and such and get ready for the youth conference in the evenings this week. I am privileged to be here and want to thank each one of you for helping to make it possible through your help and prayers.
love in christ,
Wendy

posted by yours truly,
tiara

Updating you by posting an email from one of the team members.... Vanessa!! :D

Hola! Como estan?

I hope that this email finds you all doing well. I send you warm greetings from team Mexico! Our team arrived safely exactly a week ago today, and we are blown away that the time has gone by so quickly.

The Lord has gifted us with a group of amazing servants. We have gifted musicians, plenty of fluent Spanish speakers and teachers, cooks and a very effective leader.

Our team members have been able to spend more time with their host families this year, which has been an incredible! Katie and I have been tremendously blessed to be a part of the Contreras family this year. They are an incredible example of a Godly family - Luis is incredibly humble and selfless, Robin is the model Godly wife, and the kids are... kids :) Olivia is 6, Rodrigo (Gigo) is 5 and Ana Gabriela is 3. They have been so much fun to be around! Last Sunday, we helped to lead worship at Iglesia Naucalpan, where Luis Contreras introduced the team to the congregation and explained the purpose for our two weeks here. Many of those families participated in the VBS this past week and will also be involved with the youth conference next week.

VBS flew by. Our theme had to do with changing, and the kids were given a passport with pages for a different country they would be "visiting" on each of the 5 days of VBS. We led them in singing, had puppet shows and announcements, then broke up into different age groups for the lessons and activities. Each day was also paired with a story about a character or characters in the Bible. All of our snacks and crafts were tailored to that character and to the country. For example, on Thursday, we talked about the apostles, the country was China, we made little fish necklaces and the kids had fried rice as their snack! I got to do a chopstick demo and teach them a few Mandarin phrases, and the kids were surprisingly skilled (even the 4-6 yr olds!). We were very impressed with them. Praise God also for our highest attendance yet. We peaked at 65 kids on Friday (compared to 50ish last year). We didn't expect to have that many kids, and we barely had enough supplies and food for everyone. The Lord is really using this VBS as an effective Gospel ministry to these children!! Yay!

Individual team members lead devotionals every day and after VBS, we have been cleaning and painting Iglesia Remanente (where the VBS and youth conference are held). Our worship team has also been preparing to help lead worship at next week's youth conference. We have had 3-4 hour rehearsals every afternoon with a local worship team that we are collaborating with. That has been a great and wonderful challenge for us, too. How amazing it will be to make music for the Lord with our Mexican brothers and sisters next week! We will have a combined worship team of 12 people - 1 drummer, 1 keyboard, 1 trumpet, 4 guitars and 5 female vocalists. It's going to be really awesome... And learning all these Spanish worship songs has been SO much fun :)

We have had several evenings of fellowship as well - a pupusa party (thanks to our team member Armida), and last night we spent the evening with Josiah and Crystal Grauman (and 3-month old baby Abby; she's ADORABLE) and Jim and Carolyn Dowdy (neighbors of the Graumans' - the share a wall). The team loves to laugh, and we seem to laugh at everything when we're completely exhausted. Armida and Henry are particularly funny. Today we had a group outting to the famous National Museum of Anthropology. They have a lot of interesting things there, and Rosie Martinez remarked that it's a good reminder of where she was before Christ - completely pagan and then completely astounded that God would allow her to see her sin, repent of it and be saved! Preach it, sista! We went to lunch at San Angel afterward (like last year).

Anyway, that's everything in a nutshell. I'm excited to share my pictures with you when we return home (next Sunday). Next week, we will be spending a lot of time at the Contreras household in the mornings/early afternoons doing painting and cleaning, as we did last year. The youth conference will run in the evenings.

Please continue to pray for...

1. The hearts of the kids and families that came to the VBS - that the planted seeds would be nurtured and Lord willing, they would come to accept Christ
2. Next week's youth conference - for our own hearts and the hearts of those that will be in attendance (theme is on Colossians - setting your minds on things above)
3. Health and safety - praise God most of us have been ok so far, though Jhaneth and Wendy are coming down with colds now

Until next time, Dios te bendiga!
By His grace,
Vanessa =)


Posted by yours truly,
tiara

Waking up to the voice of excitement!

Yesterday, around 8:20 am, the phone rang and mom answered and was waking me up to tell me that Jhaneth was on the phone... and literally I had excitement rushing through my body as I was preparing to just receive the phone call. Aahhhh!!!! a phone call from Mexico!!!! how exciting!!
So I answer the phone and Jhaneth, who was very enthusiastic and very WIDE AWAKE, unlike myself, said hi and was asking how I was feeling and telling me that they have been praying for me and my health... (so sweet, they were checking up on me!!) she was telling me that everyone was doing well and that they were at the Remanente church, which is where VBS is taking place. Of course in Mexico their time is two hours ahead and they were 10 minutes away from having kids storming in to start off the day at VBS. I was able to speak with Henry who was preparing to teach the lesson to the kids and he expressed how thankful he was to have that opportunity and also was so amazed at the details of the planning of VBS, with the lessons, the memory verses, the themes of the lessons, the visuals (which we are ever so endebted to the selfless generosity of my dear friend Kat Turcios. She donated her entire set of Betty Lukens' Bible visuals in felt to our team!! May our Lord bless you dear Kat!!). Henry said how it was all a blessing to him, the team and the children there...
I also got to speak with Carlos briefly as he was telling me that they were doing great and that everything was going well. And then had to run off because there were kids coming in!! That was a blessing!! to wake up to the voices of excitement of some of the team members in Mexico. I urge you all to continue fervently and unceasingly in your prayers.. I shall be posting momentarily (like in 4 hours or so) what the team has been teaching at VBS this week... thank you and keep visiting Katie's blog at: http:/www.mexicocitystm08.blogspot.com for more detailed updates.. God bless you all!!

posted by yours truly,
tiara

Arrived in Mexico

Well, we all arrived safely and after the fun of customs, we went in our seperate directions to our host families. Sarah and I along with Rosie got picked up by a driver to help with the all the boxes and we arrived at our host home. I went to church this morning and all the people were so loving and seem blessed to have us there. Pastor Luis introduced us each individually and I almost missed my name, Jhaneth had to give me the nudge. I enjoyed a taco lunch and then off to Sam´s Club and WalMart, hopefully we didn´t forget anything after four hours of shopping. We made a stop at the Ortega´s and I made a new friend named Lola (not the one with feathers in her hair) and she almost bit my hand off. bye fellow bloggers...


*[Unfortunately I know not who blogged this... I'm assuming it's Wendy Zahn... either way, it shall be posted... :) ]*

posted by yours truly,
tiara

Should you want a more inside scoop....

Katie Hamilton has created her own blogspot as well to update family and friends about her trip to Mexico. Please visit http://www.mexicocitystm08.blogspot.com
I will be able to provide general information of what the team will be doing in Mexico City during the weeks, but Katie on the other hand will be able to fill you in on what actually happens... enjoy!! and please keep praying!!

posted by yours truly,
tiara

The excitement of the 5th of July...

One can understand the jitteriness and excitement of fireworks and bright colors, loud bangs and people flinching as they explode, on an evening on the 4th of July. Let me present another scenario… it’s the evening of the 4th of July. With all excitement of celebrating the 4th of July, perhaps some went to see fireworks and were praying to God that a firework would not fall on them and explode and prevent them from going on their trip to Mexico City the following day… While others where busy forgetting that it was the 4th of July… Do I have enough socks?… check! Did I put in my deodorant and toothpaste? …. Oh.. And don’t forget my toothbrush and hairbrush… check! It’s 9:30 pm and I need to get to bed because I’ve got a bright and early morning tomorrow… better put my alarm at 3:30 am… maybe I can wing it if I put it at 4:00 am… Well, this was the case of the Mexico City STM 2008. May I present to you… Mexico City Short Term Mission Team of 2008! Drum roll please… drrrrrrr… The team leader, Carlos Diaz, and under his leadership, 10 team members: Henry Bafiera, Luis Duenas, Sergio Cifuentes, Luisa Pellon, Armida Mineros, Wendy Zahn, Vanessa Ling, Jhaneth Gomez, Sarah Wang and Katie Hamilton. Six members of the team have gone to Mexico City on a STM before… and the rest of the team… it’s their first time!! Receiving an exciting voicemail from Luis Duenas, who was calling from the airport to say hello and bid his quick farewell thereafter, was great… especially because some teammates got to leave a little message too. Rushing to dial Luis back, I couldn’t contain myself with so much joy that I felt for this team knowing that they were embarking on a mission where God is going to use them to their fullest potential and do all for His own glory!… anyway to show a little personality of the team members… Luis answered the phone saying, “Hey…what up, what up?” and I could just hear in the background the team roaring in their conversations, laughing, excited. The lovely and very engaged Vanessa was being accompanied by her fiancé and pretty sure she introduced him to the whole team. Miss Katie and Wendy said hello. Team leader, Carlos, got on the line as well to say hi and said he hadn’t slept a wink ;D (how fun…) He also asked that we pray for the team and for the whole trip. Jhaneth, whom I have to say was the most ecstatic on the phone was almost cheering in every word she was speaking!!! She was VERY HAPPY and excited :D. Sergio got on the phone too having me guess who it was speaking to me (not hard to figure out), and Sarah said she was so excited… this being her first time going to Mexico on a STM!! I can tell already this team is blessed…and GOD IS WITH THEM. Jhaneth filled me in on the details of their morning today… practically the whole team had to wake up around 4 am to get ready and arrive at the FLYAWAY in Van Nuys at 5 am. There, they had to take the FLYAWAY bus at 6 am that would take them to LAX. They arrived by 7 am, and had to check in with their luggage… after all this… they were ready for breakfast!!! Yummy… there’s nothing like having Burger King and Starbucks for breakfast… at an airport!! ;D The team was waiting to board their flight on the Alaskan (I don’t know how the whole Alaskan Airline works with going south to Mexico instead of going north towards Alaska…ahh…sense.) Boarding time on the plane was at 9:55 am and their flight departed at 10:25 am. Mexico City STM should be arriving in Mexico City at 4 pm their time (meaning 2 pm US time - 2 hour difference). So strap yourselves in and get ready to fly with God’s wonderful blessings as this team is on their way to do the Lord’s work with the Mexicans, both the saved and unsaved. Please pray for this team, pray for it’s members individually, even if you don’t know them, pray for them by name - God knows all and hears all!! Updates will be posted as frequently as possible… you are more than welcome to email the team if you’d like at mexicocitystm2008@gmail.com

posted by yours truly,
tiara