It's official, Horizonte Church will now have two morning services! We are at about 80-90% capacity in the auditorium, and have actually have new people come into the church and leave because it looks like there are no available seats!! We DON'T want that! There are of course going to be people who are reluctant to change to two services, as in all churches when it's time for a change. But this is being presented to the church like this:
Our goal is to reach more people in QRO through our morning service. In order to to that, we need to have enough seats for everyone so no one leaves from lack of a seat. In order to have more seats we either need to: expand the auditorium (can't exactly happen due to lack of money), or have another service. It's all about reaching more people!
Please pray for us during this transition. As of now, we don't have two sets of people to cover two services, so many will be serving during both services (worship team, greeters, sound, etc). We also want to offer sunday school classed (UpStreet and Waumba) during both services, so we'll need more sunday school volunteers so each set of teachers can go to a service as well.
We will be doing vision-casting services for this soon, and a celebration service because God has allowed us the opportunity to grow and reach more people! The first day of double services will be September 30.
Oh, and I'll be in Salem (and Willamette Valley area in general!) Sept. 5-12, so if anyone wants to get together, let me know!!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Hasta Luego??
One thing that I am really terrible at is saying goodbye to people. I've been to Honduras and El Salvador several times each, and everytime I cry when I leave. I know that I'll be back, but I still cry and it takes a few days (or longer!) to get over it. My first time hosting a short-term mission team (well, helping host) was in Honduras in 2004. A team of high school students came for a week and I bawled when they left. I realized that if I was going to be a long term missionary, I'd need to get over it and not let it bother me so bad to leave people.
I'm fine with the short term teams leaving now. But the first time we had an intern here in QRO for 2 months, I bawled when she left! I'm actually starting to get used to the two month people leaving. But now, we had Helena, who was here for FIVE months. I bawled when she left! It's really hard to have people leave, and Helena was especially hard... It's rare that we get people here that are truly from MY culture. Many of our interns and all of our teams are from the southern USA, and truth be told, I fit in a lot better in Mexican culture, and understand better Mexican culture than the culture of the south. Helena's from Arizona, so we're both extremely informal westerners. She's 20 and single, and speaks the same native language as I do... even with the same accent! haha! She was here for a third of the time that I've been here, so it's like she's just always supposed to be here. But she's not anymore.
Will I EVER be able to learn to deal with saying goodbye to people?! I dread the day I have to leave QRO for good if that ever happens! Even tough Helena left, I still live in the same place, have all the same friends (minus one without her), do the same things. She is the one who has to re-adjust to everything again. What happens if someday it's ME leaving here?! I don't even want to think about that...
Anyhow, God has always gotten me through the goodbyes (I want to call them BADbyes), and I suppose it might get easier...
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Here Comes the BOOM!
Casualties avoided, but the grace of God!!
Yesterday Roberto (my little brother here) was outside and I smelled gas. He was trying to light the water-heater and said that he thought it wouldn't work because there was a gas line explosion somewhere. Well, we have our own gas (I think it's actually propaine) tank on top of our house, so I lit the water heater and went on with life.
A little while later, Gaby came home from work - like 3 hours early! She said that the school she works at was evacuated because everything smelled like gas, but just on her street.
I went on with normal life and proceeded to go to the Centro to run some errands. When I got off the bus, my nose was assaulted with a nasty gas smell. And the pizza place that I was going to grab a slice at was closed. Well, on my trek to the post office, I noticed that everywhere smelled like gas, there were angry restaurant owners talking with the police on almost every street, and traffic was horrible.
I found out later that there had indeed been a gas line explosion!! It happened in a small town on the Queretaro/Guanajuato border (like a 20 minute drive from my house!) I probably would've heard the explosion had I been awake when it happend. My friends Ana and Ahide who live even closer to the explosion woke up from it. Miraculously, NO ONE was killed! There was a LOT of damage done to buildings and land, and all the natural gas in the City of QRO and surrounding areas was knocked out for the day. But wow, it could've been a lot worse! In Mexico City (in the 80's I think?) a whole neighborhood got blown to smithereens from a gas explosion! I'm thankful that this time ended with no deaths, and I'm thankful also for our propaine tank on top of the house!
(Just one question... I have smelt natural gas in Oregon many times when the stove doesn't light right away, and it stinks like animal poop or eggs or something. The gas line that broke here was natural gas, not propaine, and it didn't smell ANYTHING like natural gas in my parents' house, but everyone said that the smell is natural gas! Are the gas pipes in Oregon rotten or something??)
Yesterday Roberto (my little brother here) was outside and I smelled gas. He was trying to light the water-heater and said that he thought it wouldn't work because there was a gas line explosion somewhere. Well, we have our own gas (I think it's actually propaine) tank on top of our house, so I lit the water heater and went on with life.
A little while later, Gaby came home from work - like 3 hours early! She said that the school she works at was evacuated because everything smelled like gas, but just on her street.
I went on with normal life and proceeded to go to the Centro to run some errands. When I got off the bus, my nose was assaulted with a nasty gas smell. And the pizza place that I was going to grab a slice at was closed. Well, on my trek to the post office, I noticed that everywhere smelled like gas, there were angry restaurant owners talking with the police on almost every street, and traffic was horrible.
I found out later that there had indeed been a gas line explosion!! It happened in a small town on the Queretaro/Guanajuato border (like a 20 minute drive from my house!) I probably would've heard the explosion had I been awake when it happend. My friends Ana and Ahide who live even closer to the explosion woke up from it. Miraculously, NO ONE was killed! There was a LOT of damage done to buildings and land, and all the natural gas in the City of QRO and surrounding areas was knocked out for the day. But wow, it could've been a lot worse! In Mexico City (in the 80's I think?) a whole neighborhood got blown to smithereens from a gas explosion! I'm thankful that this time ended with no deaths, and I'm thankful also for our propaine tank on top of the house!
(Just one question... I have smelt natural gas in Oregon many times when the stove doesn't light right away, and it stinks like animal poop or eggs or something. The gas line that broke here was natural gas, not propaine, and it didn't smell ANYTHING like natural gas in my parents' house, but everyone said that the smell is natural gas! Are the gas pipes in Oregon rotten or something??)
Friday, July 06, 2007
The Good Old Days
Those of you who have been here in Queretaro know that I don't see a lot of poverty on a daily basis. Yes, there are the homeless people asking for money in the streets, but hey, I worked at Great Harvest Bread in downtown Salem, I think I now see about the same amount of homeless people per day as when I worked there. My friends here, as well as the young people with whom I work, aren't starving to death by any means. They have a moderate array of clothes to choose from everyday, and can generally scrounge up some money to go to a movie or grab a coffee. The people that I am with on a daily basis are your basic middle-class Mexicans.
My friend Mariana is included in this "middle-class mexican" group of friends. Mariana is an 18-year old girl who just graduated from high school. I've been meeting with her on a regular basis since the beginning of the year. Her house is small, and nothing extravigant to be sure, but they have everything they need - food (really yummy food too! her mom's an awesome cook!!), enough clothes, money to get to and from school, money to enter college in august, a roof over their heads, hot water showers, etc. And I know that if Mariana or her brother wanted a candy bar or something, they wouldn't be denied that from lack of money.
The other day I was talking with Mariana, and she was telling me about when she used to live in Ensenada (about 2 hours south of San Diego CA). After Mariana and Alan's (her little brother) biological dad died, her mom got remarried, and later THAT dad died too, so they moved to QRO about 5 years ago to be close to the grandparents. I'd known all that since I've known Mariana. But it's always interesting to me to hear more in depth about what life was like in Ensenada...
Silvia (Mariana's mom) and her husband began to build a large house in a nicer neighborhood in Ensenada when the kids were young. I don't know what happened exactly, but the money dried up and the house was never completely finished. The family was stuck with a big house (owned by the bank because of loans they couldn't pay off) and no money to eat, buy clothes, etc. In fact, they didn't have cupboards or furniture in their kitchen, and got used ones from a rich friend who remodeled her kitchen. But the cupboards went in the bedrooms to make closets for the kids. And the countertops that they had in the unfinished kitchen were plywood; the kitchen floor bare concrete. Mariana told me that she remembered that right before her dad (second dad that is) died, a team of people from San Diego came and put a countertop in the kitchen, and tiles on the kitchen floor, and patched up holes in the non-waterproof roof. She told me about receiving a basketball from a team that came to help at their church, and she was SO happy to have the ball, she and her mom cried because Silvia couldn't have afforded to ever buy Mariana a basketball. Mariana and Alan remember receiving "Operation Christimas Child" boxes from Samaritan's Purse, and Mariana even told me with a smile on her face that she was so happy to open a box that had a doll, gloves, and toothbrush and paste in it! They even received their clothes from people from the States who gave away their used clothes. (Mariana and I wonder if they ever got MY clothes, we think it's funny that I went to Ensenada in 1999, and they were still living there, and were poor then!)
It's so hard for me to imagine all this for this family. God is so good; once they moved to QRO, Silvia's sister gave them a house, and Silvia got a good job, and they are now on their feet financially even to the point where Mariana will even enter college soon. Mariana said she was amazed, even as we sat in a coffee shop together drinking milkshakes, that it's hard to think that 6 years ago a milkshake was only a dream, a 50 cent chocolate bar was even out of reach for them! And today those things are a part of everyday life, just like they're a part of everyday life for you and me. It's amazing the miracles God works in peoples' lives...
My friend Mariana is included in this "middle-class mexican" group of friends. Mariana is an 18-year old girl who just graduated from high school. I've been meeting with her on a regular basis since the beginning of the year. Her house is small, and nothing extravigant to be sure, but they have everything they need - food (really yummy food too! her mom's an awesome cook!!), enough clothes, money to get to and from school, money to enter college in august, a roof over their heads, hot water showers, etc. And I know that if Mariana or her brother wanted a candy bar or something, they wouldn't be denied that from lack of money.
The other day I was talking with Mariana, and she was telling me about when she used to live in Ensenada (about 2 hours south of San Diego CA). After Mariana and Alan's (her little brother) biological dad died, her mom got remarried, and later THAT dad died too, so they moved to QRO about 5 years ago to be close to the grandparents. I'd known all that since I've known Mariana. But it's always interesting to me to hear more in depth about what life was like in Ensenada...
Silvia (Mariana's mom) and her husband began to build a large house in a nicer neighborhood in Ensenada when the kids were young. I don't know what happened exactly, but the money dried up and the house was never completely finished. The family was stuck with a big house (owned by the bank because of loans they couldn't pay off) and no money to eat, buy clothes, etc. In fact, they didn't have cupboards or furniture in their kitchen, and got used ones from a rich friend who remodeled her kitchen. But the cupboards went in the bedrooms to make closets for the kids. And the countertops that they had in the unfinished kitchen were plywood; the kitchen floor bare concrete. Mariana told me that she remembered that right before her dad (second dad that is) died, a team of people from San Diego came and put a countertop in the kitchen, and tiles on the kitchen floor, and patched up holes in the non-waterproof roof. She told me about receiving a basketball from a team that came to help at their church, and she was SO happy to have the ball, she and her mom cried because Silvia couldn't have afforded to ever buy Mariana a basketball. Mariana and Alan remember receiving "Operation Christimas Child" boxes from Samaritan's Purse, and Mariana even told me with a smile on her face that she was so happy to open a box that had a doll, gloves, and toothbrush and paste in it! They even received their clothes from people from the States who gave away their used clothes. (Mariana and I wonder if they ever got MY clothes, we think it's funny that I went to Ensenada in 1999, and they were still living there, and were poor then!)
It's so hard for me to imagine all this for this family. God is so good; once they moved to QRO, Silvia's sister gave them a house, and Silvia got a good job, and they are now on their feet financially even to the point where Mariana will even enter college soon. Mariana said she was amazed, even as we sat in a coffee shop together drinking milkshakes, that it's hard to think that 6 years ago a milkshake was only a dream, a 50 cent chocolate bar was even out of reach for them! And today those things are a part of everyday life, just like they're a part of everyday life for you and me. It's amazing the miracles God works in peoples' lives...
Bye Helena!
Ok, I haven't written here in FOREVER, so here is a brief update at what is going on...
Global is closed for the month of July, so that gives me some much needed time to catch up on the technical side of things at the cafe, and to meet up with some of the girls in my small group, and girls that I've met through Global.
On Monday, Helena, who was with us since the beginning of february, left for Arizona. She will be missed!!
Lots of friends at Helena's good-bye party:
Now THAT'S a mordida!! (yes, that is me on the left helping dunk Helena in her cake!!)
Dany and Helena goofing off enjoying the music!
Global is closed for the month of July, so that gives me some much needed time to catch up on the technical side of things at the cafe, and to meet up with some of the girls in my small group, and girls that I've met through Global.
On Monday, Helena, who was with us since the beginning of february, left for Arizona. She will be missed!!
Lots of friends at Helena's good-bye party:
Now THAT'S a mordida!! (yes, that is me on the left helping dunk Helena in her cake!!)
Dany and Helena goofing off enjoying the music!
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