Mexico Missions 2009

July 10-18 was one of the most amazing weeks I've had in years. Adam and I went to Irapuato, Mexico, with Crossroads to work with La Roca (a church in the city) by encouraging their pastors, teaching their church members, doing extreme church makeover with a construction team, and reaching out to their community. Adam was on the construction team ... they completely renovated the La Roca building to be more functional for the people who meet there. And I did vacation bible school and some prayer walking around the communities in Irapuato. We met some amazing people and had some amazing experiences. But more importantly, we fell in love with missions and the church all over again .... Here are a few pics from our week.

My new friend, Kara -- the best travel companion EVER. We worked at VBS together each morning. And on the last day, we had the most killer adventure. Against all rules, we took a cab by ourselves! to the street with pottery so we could shop! It was so fun. But even better than shopping was the way that Kara challenged me. She has an amazing testimony and she made me think outside my box. She opened me up to a world of trust and love and acceptance. She is the real thing, folks. Thanks, Kara -- you're amazing.

The guys on the construction site. Wish we could have gotten more before/after pics of their work. They took a church from hardly-even-functional to amazing. They worked long hours every day, and loved every minute of it.

Just a glimpse of our VBS site. We had over 300 kids on the last day.

Two of my favorite locals! :)

Dinner at Sanborn's. Delicious restaurant in the city.

Kathryn and I "testing" that day's craft. We made pinwheels and the kids loved them!

So sweet.

Really cool story -- in the afternoons, we went to the city slums. This is a dangerous community. Lots of drugs, gangs, poverty. This picture is in front of this lady's home. That blue that you see is her shelter. This woman (the one in the middle) welcomed us into her home with open arms, so thankful for our good news. She asked lots of questions about Jesus, and with the help of an interpreter and by the guiding of the Spirit, we told her of saving grace and taught her how to pray. We went back to see her every day after that and one afternoon she introduced us to her neighbor. We had a similar conversation with her neighbor and taught the two women that there is power when we pray together. We challenged them to get together to pray for their families, their community, each other. They even practiced praying so that when we left, they would be able to do it themselves. Oh there is so much I could say about all this, I don't even know where to begin. The bottom line, lives were changed and will continue to be changed as these women gather together to make a difference.

Thank you, Jose. It was an awesome week. The other night, Adam and I were brushing our teeth -- the bathroom was quiet except for our brushing. Adam stopped momentarily and looked at me. And in all seriousness he said, I miss Mexico. I miss Mexico, too, babe. We'll be back.