Extreme Adventure!

So, about an hour outside of Queretaro, there's this huge rock formation called Bernal. (<-- click the link to see a picture) There's a cute town below it, and really really really yummy gorditas to eat. And, you can climb up the rock as well. You can go about 2/3 of the way up not even being an athlete or anything. You can go a little further up if you're not terribly afraid of height and have good balance, and to get to the tip top by rapelling. (I've only been to the second level...) It's a nice hike, and not really dangerous. We took some of the students from the Horizonte Church young adults' group up there last saturday... Anyhow, I know that doesn't exactly sound like anything EXTREME... But it IS if you're taking a paralyzed young man up with you!! Rafa is a 25 year old who'd been completely paralyzed from mid-torso down for the past 8 years. He was very active and adventurous before he was paralyzed, so it's been a rough 8 years. Rafa has very limited use of his arms and hands as well, but actually paints quite well, and does computer graphics stuff. Anyhow, he said a while back that he'd never climbed Bernal. So, we said we'd take him (to the base of the rock!), and Juan said he's CARRY HIM UP!!!

So we planned the trip. The guys talked for a few weeks about what would be the best way to get Rafa up there. (Although very thin, Rafa is about 6'2 tall (190cm) and probably weighs about 165 or 170lb, 75kg!!) They figured out the best way to get him up was simply to strap him onto Juan's back. I had serious doubts that Juan could carry so much weight (remember, Rafa can't cling on with arms and legs). But we went.

It took a long time to get Rafa strapped into a rapelling harness that we rented, and get that strapped onto Juan, and get everyone comfortable. I STILL had doubts about the safety and wisdom of this venture...

But we went for it! There were a couple times when we almost quit, but didn't. Everyone helped out - walking alongside Juan to catch Rafa if anything happened, carrying pillows for Rafa and Juan to rest on every 200 feet or so...

And we ALL made it up to the first level (2/3 of the way up the rock)!! AND made it back down safely!!

It was really an excellent day! We are thankful for the opportunity to have been able to get Rafa up Bernal, and get a feel for an adventure again!

For more pictures, see my Facebook page.

Things to Remember This By

The past two weeks in young adults group, Jesus has turned the water into... grape juice? and overturned the money changers tables in... Trawpilandia?

We've been studying the life of Christ cronologically. Each week, we see a different event in His life - from His birth, to going to the temple as a boy, calling the first disciples, etc.

So, two weeks ago, we wondered how we could make the story of Jesus' first miracle something memorable. So we MADE the wedding feast as similar to a wedding feast in Jesus' time as we could, being in 2009 in Mexico...

Short tables and seating on the floor, clay cups, green olives, grapes, pita bread with hummus, grape juice, and even Jewish party music!

We saw how Jesus demonstrated that he was both HUMAN, like us, and GOD, all powerful. Read John 2:1-11, and see in which ways He demonstrated both!

And last week, as the students entered the room (Trawpilandia, the elementary school kids' room, which means the land of growth), they saw tables laying on their sides, overturned chairs, some Bible-looking clothes scattered around, clay dishes from the week before tossed here and there, and money sprinkled on the floor... (We wanted to bring in a few white, furry dogs that could pass for small sheep, or even a friend's chihuahua, but no one wanted to clean up poop...)

We looked at John 2:12-22, about Jesus getting rid of the vendors and advantage-taking money changers in the Temple ("Hey! Over here! I'll give you 8 pesos per dollar!!") So, why did Jesus upset these guys in the Temple? The people were likely using the Temple for personal financial gain, AND they were doing it in the Temple Courts, which is the area that the gentiles were allowed to enter to worship God. So, the gentiles probably couldn't do a lot of praying and worshipping during the Passover time if there were a bunch of sales going on in their area of worship. And, most of the people in the Court area were probably there to get rich, and not to worship. Jesus loved His Father SO much, that He wanted the people to respect God how they should. His Father was/is His passion! Maybe it was ok for vendors to sell animals for sacrifices, or change money (13 pesos to the dollar please!) for foreigners coming to worship at Passover. But when the point of the booths in the Temple becomes personal gain instead of helping people to worship, it totally defeats the purpose. And since Jesus is passionate about people truly worshipping His Father, He put a stop to those who were abusing the right to be in the Temple Courts.

I don't have pictures of the overtuned room we "set-up" last week, but I hope it will help the idea of the passion Jesus has for His Father to stick with the students.

What are YOU passionate about?

Camp!

The other week, we had youth camp for ages 12 and up. I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical about having jr. high and high school AND young adults in the same camp. But it actually turned out REALLY well!

We had some huge snags in our plans on the first day (camp was thursday thru saturday) that had to do with the facility that we were renting... We weren't given our rooms when we arrived, there was a huge group of teens that should've left in the morning that was still there when we arrived, lunch was 2 hours late, etc. But, we went ahead with some activities that we could do on the lawn, like games and a devotional; and enough kids brought lots of snacks that we were able to stave off the hunger with Cokes and chips. Everyone had incredibly good attitudes despite plans not going, well, as planned.

Our camp theme this year was "My Identity In Christ." We had some great times of worship, some activities that related to "my view of me," and "God's view of me in Christ." We had two guest speakers (adults from Horizonte Church) and a few people from the young adults group share Scripture and experiences related to the theme, and encouraged students to think and pray about what actions or steps they need to take in their lives once they begin to discover an identity in Christ.

The worship group: Ruben, Alex, Job, and Chino is hidden behind Alex


Students participating in the worship time:

Some of the young adults sharing experiences and Scriptures:

Girls hanging out! (Ana, me, Aurea, Brisa, Lluvia, and Amayrani)

And we had some weird fun times... This was in a photo scavenger hunt in downtown Tequisquiapan (a town about 1 hour away from Queretaro), one of the things we had to take a picture of was our team with weird hair-do's. We had four teams for all the games and activities at camp, this was my team, the red team... They're awesome (Back: Alan and Abdiel. Front: MariJo, me, Amayrani, Mary, Dirce, and Justin was taking the picture.)

And a terrible picture of me and Ana after a game... We always seem to get our picture taken together at our worst!

The camp turned out very well, and the students wanted it to last longer! Maybe next year we'll shoot for 4 or 5 days... I feel like the students really learned more about their walk with the Lord, and they definitely built stronger relationships with each other as well!

Quick Update...

Wow, I haven't been good at writing in my blog for quite awhile...

We've been pretty busy... Jean Paul has finished with the political candidates' visits to his school (see previous entry), and is busy with another semester. He graduates in August 2010!

Oh, speaking of August, we received a large enough financial gift from a generous person to be able to go to Oregon THIS August!! We still haven't bought tickets, but it looks like we should arrive on August 15, and stay until the 26th. It will be JP's first time to the States - actually his first time ever leaving Mexico!!

As far as the young adults group goes, things are good! We are planning a youth camp for ALL the young people (age 12 and up); that will be 16-18 of July. Please pray for the planning of the camp, in which we're trying to involve many of the college-age students, that the Lord will give us wisdom in WHAT to talk about with the teens, and what to plan for. We want this to be a camp that is not only FUN, but that also IMPACTS their lives! Our main theme is "Identity in Christ." We hope that the speakers can communicate well to the teens, and that all activities are uplifting, fun, and learning experiences! The camp will be held in a place with cabins in the town of Tequisquiapan about an hour away from the city of Queretaro.

Our friends Mark and Abby, who have been in Queretaro since January, are leaving this week. They came here to study spanish before moving to the state of Chiapas (southern boarder of Mexico with Guatemala) to begin a youth ministry there. So the time has come to see them off to their ministry destination!


And, my 10-year high school reunion was a couple weeks ago - that makes me feel old - and No, I didn't go, but I heard it went well. It looks like about half the class was there! (Yeah, there were only 45 in my graduating class...)


Look! Most people look just the same as 10 years ago! haha!

The Projects

I have been very encouraged by our group of young people at Horizonte Church. I had mentioned in a previous blog that the young adults expressed a desire to do something to both serve out community and share the message of salvation with those around us. I mentioned that they thought of six different projects that we could potentially begin that would help accomplish those two desires. After much thinking, organizing, planning, and praying, we found that three of those projects have the most potential to meet needs in the community and share our faith with others.

Several students, including myself, plan to visit the state physical rehabilitation center to visit and play with the children who have handicaps. We actually had our first event – a short music and drama presentation – planned for April 30th (which is children’s day), but that was postponed until further notice due to the flu outbreak. We hope that through small drama presentations, the children and parents will come to know the Lord.

Two young ladies have been raising money, by selling homemade cookies, to buy healthy snacks and small toys for children on the streets. The plan is to talk with the kids – and their parents if available – and hopefully continue to take time to play with them and chat with their parents on a regular basis (most children and families are at the same intersection begging every day). The girls who are organizing this project and those who will go with them to talk with the kids and families hope to form relationships with them that may lead to the children and families knowing the Lord.

The third project is a little more complicated, and I will talk more about it in a future blog, as it has several purposes!

Please pray for our young adults to continue to be excited about the ministry projects and to have courage to share their faith. Pray for those who we will meet through these projects, that they may choose to follow the Lord!

And some pictures so you have something to look at! Heehee!

Alan (from the high school youth group) and I acting in Kid Stuff - a once a month music and drama program for the kids at Horizonte Church. This is what we were (and are, once the quarentine lifts!) going to do at the physical rehab center for the kids!

The musical part of the kids' program... :)

Spring Break!

We've had a lot of funness going on around here in the week that JP was off school and Horizonte church staff was out of the office!

On Easter Sunday, JP and I went to the fair in the Centro. This isn't the big State Fair, but a smaller one, kind of like a county fair - no rides or anything.

One famous tradition in Queretaro (and some other cities too) is the burn a figure of Judas on Easter Sunday. I imagine that originally it was because we could say that Judas was responsible for Jesus' death, although we know that He would've died anyway even without Judas' involvement. Nowday, besides the statue of Judas, the Catholic Church - who organizes the event - also burns statues that represent people or problems that the church doesn't like. This year, figures of the "financial crisis," "drug addiction," and "violence" were burned.

It was hard to take pictures in the dark of a moving piñata-type figure, but here's one of the figures before being burned by fireworks:

Lots of people in one of the main streets of downtown watching the figures being blown up:

And our favorite part of the festival... the food booths! Jean Paul loads up on candies:

I love "antojitos queretanos" - typical street food from Queretaro! However, we opted for pizza instead this time, as my stomache health has been a little delicate lately...

Then last friday, we had a water-park outing with the young adult group at Horizonte Church! I LOVED this water park, the water isn't freezing cold like it is at most of the parks! There were several water slides, a diving pilar, a wave pool, and smaller pools for kids.

Alma in the funnel water slide:

Checo, Alma, Cinthya, Arturo, and Andrea hanging out in a pool:

Dany going off the diving pilar. Several people went up to the top but never got up the courage to jump... :)

And today I made "sopes" (SO-pays) for lunch! Sopes are "antojitos queretanos" also. I kind of guessed at how to make them, and they turned out great! Sopes are thick corn tortillas grilled with refried beans, cheese, meat (I used sausage), and salad on top. YUM!

Tomorrow it's back to the office for me! I'm excited to get back with the young adults group too, next week we are going to a physical rehabilitation center to do a small skit and invite the kids there to Kid Stuff (monthly theater and musical presentation for kids at Horizonte). This is one of the projects that the young adults suggested to reach out to our community a while back!!

More to come:

Easter month services at Horizonte

Maricela's baptism

And It's Dawned On Them

We've recently had some interesting conversations with some of the people in our young adult's group here at Horizonte Church. A little over a month ago, Maricela (remember her?) asked to meet with Justin, Lluvia, Phil and I. She came to the church one weekday morning with a list of ideas for the young adults' group. Among the ideas were ways that she felt we could reach out to not saved youth in a relevant way. Maricela is a GREAT person to share these ideas, as she came to know the Lord about a year and a half ago herself. She has an amazing gift of evangelism, and even though she is rather shy, has a huge passion to see other young people know the hope that she has found in the Lord.

Some other ideas that Maricela shared with us were possibilities for raising funds necesary to begin constructing a youth building here on the Horizonte campus. The idea that really peaked my interest was an art expo where we could display photos, paintings, drawings, videos, and musical productions made by youth from Horizonte and around Queretaro. We would charge a small fee, a contribution to the new youth building.

Later...

Last Thursday, after we (Justin, Lluvia, Phil and I) returned from Ecuador, we decided to share a little bit about the ministries we visited in Ecuador to let our youth see some of the creative ways that others in Latin America are reaching the unsaved. This sparked a conversation about how, as young people working and going to school in Queretaro, we have a responsibility to share the message of salvation with other QUERETANOS in the environments that we are in NOW. Ana (who I've begun discipling, and who had mentioned this same thing to be before) told about all the humanitarian aid programs that are being done by college students in Queretaro - good things like habitat for humanity, and food banks - and that we can do those things too, but even more effectively because we have the message of salvation in Christ! So, why are we not doing anything? Why do we just come every week and be "fed" and not share with others? Ok, no one was saying that our weekly Bible study time is bad - it's necesary for us to grow spiritually! But we shouldn't stop there! We're called not only to grow in our own relationship with the Lord, but also to help others BEGIN a relationship with Him, and grow as well.

Several ideas were mentioned last Thursday night and throughout this week as to WHAT we could do to meet both physical and SPIRITUAL needs in Queretaro. Among those ideas were: go to some of the hospitals in the city to pray for the sick; go to the railroad in town when the trains come by and talk with the Central Americans who are arriving illegally to Mexico on their way to the US (as you can imagine, this one really caught my attention!); make sandwiches to not simply hand out to the people asking for money in the streets, but to sit and talk with them while we eat sandwiches with them; bring some guitars and just have a worship music time downtown (young Queretanos are very in to live acoustic music); and us the art expo that Maricela mentioned as an outreach - the artists would be present with their artwork at the expo, and people would probably take the opportunity to talk to some of the artists about their work, some of which may be descriptive of our faith.

Anyhow, I've really been encouraged to see how some of the young people at Horizonte have finally caught onto the importance of growing in their faith to be able to share it with others!! And the ideas have sprung from THEM, not from the leaders of the group, we're just there to support, encourage and help them develop and begin these ministry opportunities, and to care for them spiritually in the process.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to walk along side thes wonderful young people as they reach out to the community!

Just a few random youth group pictures...

Maricela, Ingrid, Carlos, Adam, and Ana being silly:
We had a team building exercise where we build the talles tower possible with marshmallows and un-cooked spaghettis... Phil (not supposed to EAT them!), Job, Adam, Alan, and Mark attempting to get a tower together:

My team WON the contest (out of 4 teams)! Carmelita, me, Edith, and Ana hoping that our tower doesn't fall before the others see it: