Week Two

Here are some pics from the Children's Carnival, over 300 kids and 100 adults, 70 volunteers.

Students from the Matthew Center - late night Tacos after the Carnival

These are students hanging out with the girls.

This week, Trevor Goddard, one of the main leaders at Matthew Training Center came back from a week spent with friends.  It was great to connect with him and hear his vision for the property and the ministry here.  I forgot to mention that last week, Keziah lost her front tooth while eating an ice cream bar - and we never found the tooth! 

Kez also cut her finger this week, but she quickly got over it and was her giggly self in no time.  Julia and I gave our testimonies to the students on Tuesday, not always an easy thing, but sharing our God stories always brings community and gives Jesus all the glory!  

Julia has received many compliments on her cooking and is doing a fantastic job.  It would be great to come back when they’ve renovated the kitchen as many items are stacked in plastic bins, or tucked in the back of a low cupboard so it does make the whole cooking process a little more complicated. I should also say that “lunch” is actually eaten around 2:30-3:00pm as the main meal of the day.  Typically supper is eaten anytime between 9:00-10:00pm.  I still really haven’t got used to eating that late and surprisingly after that afternoon meal we really haven’t ate very many suppers.

We’re fixing up the sprinkler system here at the center and running a power line for the pump for the pool - lots of trenching!  I’ve worked alongside Raul and Chappe (spelling?).  The gringo (me) using a pick axe broke one of the main water lines on the first day working with them - they assured me it wasn’t my fault as they didn’t know the line was there either, and we soon had everything connected again. 

The girls had a blast with new water in the pool, lots of fun!  It's basically 30 everyday and in the afternoon it can feel very hot!

Cleaning out the pool!

We've had some practice on the tennis courts as well.

It was Mother’s Day on May 10 in Mexico - it was probably a once in a lifetime experience for Julia, we love her lots! 

I can feel myself finally starting to relax and start to think about what God has for me and how to reconnect with him. I’ve started reading quite a bit, which feels great!  Here’s a couple of quotes that caught my attention, the first one comes from Brennan Manning’s book, Abba’s child. 

“I knew I was broken.  I knew I was a sinner.  I knew I continually disappointed God, but I could never accept that part of me.  It was a part of me that embarrassed me.  i continually felt the need to apologize, to run from my weakness, to deny who I was and concentrate on what I should be.  I was broken, yes, but I was continually trying never to be broken again, or at least to get to the place where I was seldom broken.  I came to see that it was in my brokenness, in my powerlessness, in my weakness, Jesus was made strong.  It was in the acceptance of my lack of faith, that God gave me faith.  It was in the embrace of my brokenness that I could identify with other’s brokenness.  It was my role to identify with other’s pain, not relieve it.  Ministry was sharing, not dominating; understanding, not theologizing; caring not fixing.”

The second quote comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together, 

“He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.”  Said another way, people who only dream of community usually destroy it, but those who love people without expectation unknowingly create it.

This coming week the students at Matthew Center are having a retreat in Mazatlan.  We decided to stay back at the center and do some painting and make some extra meals for them.  I'm sure we'll have a chance to explore some in Guadalajara too.  

Right now we're catching internet at the church.  We just finished a very nice mother's day celebration and we're soon going to have a potluck here.