Quote of the Day

"Love is sitting in another person's place and seeing how his problems look to him."

-- Francis Schaeffer

Mexico Wrap Up 2008

There is so much that I want to say about my recent trip to Mexico, but I will try to be concise for your sake’s. Originally, we were slated to send half of our team to do construction in Juarez each day, but the cartel wars changed that and I am so glad. Many groups had cancelled their trips because of the violence, so we were the first group who had been there in weeks. The kids were ready to accept us with open arms and wanted to play until they were sent to bed at curfew. They were in need of a lot of loving and we were happy to oblige.

Donna and Karina reading together. Some good friends at SAS Book Distributors donated children's books in Spanish for us to take.

Jonathan, Diego, Marcos and Christian.

This kid's name is Angel and I found that to be terribly ironic.

The group tackled various maintenance projects around the Ranch and an optometrist on our team did eye exams for all of the kids and all of the staff. It was fun to see little ones running around with their new specs!

These ladies learned how to prep kids for eye exams.

Dr. Tarr's first patient that need glasses! My favorite boy, Gilberto!

My main responsibilities were coordinating team schedules, keeping tabs on projects and general oversight as well as teaching in our Vacation Bible School. Our VBS coordinators were magnificent. I had no idea what I was asking of them! This project was quite the undertaking, but I am so glad that we did it. Each day we sang songs, taught about the Fruit of the Spirit from Ephesians 5, made a piece of “fruit” and another related craft and also played a game related to the lesson. We had quality time with a lot of the kids and feel like we left them with more of a picture of Christ’s love for them. At some point during the week I became the primary teacher and my friend Joslynn acted as Spanish translator, together we were known as the “Party Girls.”

Meeting of the minds to plan the next day's jobs.

Dave praying with the kids at VBS.

Making the fruit of the day. Friday was apples representing kindness.

During one of the relay races, the kids make one team member a scare crow. It was so cute!

The VBS crew at the end of the week. We survived!

The Party Girls, Les and Joz.

This trip was a great time to be away from normal life and get some deep time in with God. Quiet mornings staring across the desert are among my best memories. During those times, God reminded me of why I love Him, why I love His people and why I love orphans.

My view during my devotions each morning.

I went to bed very sad one night when I imagined my favorite boy, Gilberto, going to sleep in his dorm. He has a clean bed, clean clothes and all of his necessities. Yet, he doesn’t have a mom or a dad. So, here is the call to action. What are you doing to improve the plight of the orphan in this world? If you are a Christian, we are told that helping the orphan is a sign of true religion (James 1:27) and I, for one, want my religion to be true. I want to challenge you to regularly support Rancho 3m (http://www.rancho3m.com/) or one of thousands of agencies like it (http://www.voiceoftheorphan.com/).

So, what are you going to do?

Home

We pulled into Knoxville around 8 p.m. tonight and I am off to bed shortly. I am not looking forward to returning to the world of calednars, voicemail and to-do lists.



Posts about the trip will be forthcoming. Check this link for a few pictures with more to be added soon. In the meantime, this is my friend Javier: