With the summer coming to a close in just a couple of weeks, we didn’t expect to be introduced to many new projects, especially on houses that had barely been touched since Katrina. That’s why meeting Wade came as such a surprise. Wade lives in the same neighborhood as Jeanine and Sonny, but until one of our teams from Texas came to help him gut out his home, he has had no outside aid.

Wade camps out at a pier for now, spending most of his time fishing and getting his home to a point where it can be restored. He comes back to his house to shower in his yard with a hose, thankful to have access to running water. Open about the struggles he has faced in getting back on his feet, he showers volunteers with thanks, provides an endless supply of snacks to encourage throughout the workday, and praises God for His sovereignty. His tearful recollections touch the hearts of the groups that have finally begun work at his home, as well as ours, encouraging each of us to continue serving even when we might feel weary.

Meeting people like Wade makes it difficult for our team to say goodbye, knowing there is yet so much more to be done in Pearlington. Still, we are thankful to become even such a small part of his life, and hope we have been a light of encouragement.

-Cheryl Knowles

Jump rope, beads, pipe cleaners and more captured the children in Ruiz this week.  Kids Club took place at the church in Ruiz where fifty children gathered for games, crafts and singing. The team from Kansas practiced their Spanish with the children through interactive activities and acting out the Bible story in a drama.

The children learned about the life of Saul and the fruits of the Spirit by creating their own fruits of the Spirit with cut out fruits.  In addition they heard the story of the lost sheep and lost coin. In order to learn the memory verse the children came up with their own actions to present in front of the group while saying the verse. 

Songs got the group energized and excited as they tried to sing louder and faster than their neighbor. One new song talked about all the animals that God has created and lastly stated, “los ninos que aman a Cristo, oran, alabran y se van al cielo (the children who love Christ, pray, praise Him and go to Heaven).”

Mission Trips to Mexico
For the past week, our two small teams of women from Canada and Kansas have been doing their best at staying true to the old saying “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” Their commitment to experiencing the Mexican cultural has produced a week of activities that can only be found in Ruiz.

We started out the week with a tour of the local market. The group of eight got up early and we walked through the stands of fruits and vegetables, meats, and craft supplies. The market is usually buzzing with activity by 6:30 am and the bright colors of tropical fruit mix with the smells of tamales and the sounds of quick barters in Spanish. Our group walked through, briefly stopping to sample some pan dulce before heading out to breakfast and our day of work. Though our official tour ended that day, many of the girls returned the following morning for souvenirs, gifts, and more experiences with the sights and sounds of early mornings in Ruiz.

Later in the week, a few of the girls bought some embroidering threads, needles and napkins. Many women in the community embroider decorative tortilla napkins to use in the house, so making these napkins has become a hobby of some of the interns. Although the napkin itself might be used for other purposes when we return to the states, it has certainly been fun learning the craft from other women in the community and passing it along to the groups this week.

One of the activities that brought the most laughter was an informal tortilla making session. Since the cooks typically make handmade tortillas for a meal at least once a week, we asked if the small group could join in on the fun. The simple task of balling the dough, flattening it in the tortilla press, and flipping it onto the grill turned out to be much harder than the women made it look. Everyone took a turn at the process and almost everybody lost their tortilla on one step or another, whether by smashing it too thin, ripping it while taking it from the press or folding it over while placing it on the skillet. 

Overall, this week has been a lot of fun. Though we come to Mexico to serve the community, it has been a great week to also experience what Mexico has to give.

-Emily Ruehs

Go to www.experiencemission.org to view our Christian youth mission trips to Mexico.

We had a three week break in between teams, and I felt it was my responsibility to go out and appreciate God’s creations in Arizona. To do this right my cousin flew out from Indiana and took me on quite a memorable adventure. We hiked through the Grand Canyon, took a flight over and around the canyon, and rafted down the Colorado River. It was just the exciting escape I needed to rest for the remaining teams to come. I write this not to brag about my vacation, but to write about what God did in my life through this excursion.

Before going on this trip with my cousin, I was feeling pretty beat down. I was so exhausted from the work aspect of it all, I was missing my family pretty badly, and feeling just incredible low point in my life. I needed something in my life to rejuvenate me. I felt as if I had been running a marathon and did not feel as if I could go any further. Then out of nowhere God provided me with this excursion with my cousin that just completely rejuvenated my soul. This served as a reminder that God knows how to provide for your needs, and just when you need it He will give you a drink of cool refreshing water. I just need to remember that if I rely on Him, He will provide for me.

-Chris

Have you ever thought about approaching homeless people to offer a free sack lunch? If you think it might be intimidating, you would be right; that’s how most of us felt as our teams hit the streets of Seattle last week. But, after sitting down and talking with the people who live on the streets, our nervousness abated and our attitudes. We learned that, just like each of us, these people have their own stories, including unique histories and their own hopes for the future. Most importantly, we saw that we share a universal need for a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The majority of those we visited with, right there on the Seattle streets, were friendly, and they were grateful for what we had to offer, including conversation interspersed with laughter. One of our team leaders got a reaction when he joked with some men sleeping in the park. He asked if they were hungry, “Because,” he announced, “I’m about to serve you breakfast in bed!”

After talking with these individuals and establishing a comfort level, we realized the blessing of being able to minister to them. In addition to passing out lunches through our “hit the street!” ministry, the two teams (one from Oregon and one all the way from North Carolina) split up to participate in different work projects each day. We were excited to work with some food banks, including two Union Gospel Mission shelters as well as Catholic Chore Services. And one day, we broke into groups of three to go into the apartments of some elderly folks living in the area. We helped with cleaning and enjoyed visiting with them, sharing God’s love and truth as we did. We also got involved with the Hunger Intervention Program (HIP) at the church where we stayed, helping them bag lunches and organize their pantry.

So, at the end of the experience, we can look back and see how addressing the physical needs of others allowed us to lose a little of ourselves, while gaining so much at the same time!

-Emily T.

Sometimes the hardest part about going on a missions trip is that you are only there for a week, and because of being there a short time you don’t always get to see the whole project finished or see the after-affects.

This past week, though, got to go against the norm, and saw projects finished and lives changed. In our last meeting together on Thursday night multiple people shared how wonderful it was to actually see a work project completed. “In past trips we’ve always had to kind of leave things half done for someone else, but it was so nice this week for us to see everything get done that we set out to do. It was especially good for the kids to see all their hard work come together at the end.” said Youth Leader Tina McGuffey.

The teams had three different large work projects this week, two of them being rebuilding porches. It was a great sight to see them get done by the last day, and to see the happiness and thankfulness of the families who we worked for. At one of the project sites we built it and left them with the stain and paint brushes to finish the porch. We were skeptical as to whether or not they would actually put the stain on or just let it sit as most people do in this area. We ended up being able to see the family that night and to our surprise they had painted it that afternoon! This was especially exciting for the kids who really got to know the family because it says that they are taking care of something on their home, and that’s a trait that’s not very common in this area.

The third worksite was at a house that is being renovated for a family, and our job was to paint about five rooms and two hallways of the house, and to attack the three ft. tall grass in the small but overwhelming yard. By the end of the week they had completed all the painting and got about half of the yard whacked down. It was really exciting for the family and for the team that had got to know them while they worked together all week.

All in all I would say this week could not have gone better, projects were completed, kids lives were changed, and most importantly God showed up in all of it.

Lovin’ the Lord in West Virginia,

Leanna

This has been another great week here at the Inscription House. We had two teams here, and one was from a town near my home town, so it was kind of fun meeting people who knew my home area. I even found out that one of the team members was a friend of my uncle. So that was fun working with people from my home area.

Anyways this week shaped up to be one eventful week of service. We went back to Jean’s house this week to work on a few projects that could really help Jean out. One of these projects the team worked on was building a shade for Jean. Jean has a bad case of diabetes and has trouble walking around. So instead of moving around to shade, or finding ways to stay cool in the Arizona sun, she sits out in the open most days and bakes in the heat. So to lift her spirits even more and protect Jean from the sun we built a shade attached to her house so that she could enjoy the outdoors in comfort. We also patched up her roof to protect her house from the weather.

We also got the opportunity to help Grandma Mary repair her house. Mary is an elderly woman who has such bad arthritis that she can not walk upright and has to crawl around to get from place to place. Her family has been less than supportive and have torn up her house through vandalism and had put several holes in her walls.

So the team patched up the holes and then painted the walls. Mary was so pleased with everything that she showed the team how she spins wool. Mary was very inspiring to me. Even though she has such an intense handicap and very little help, she works so incredibly hard simply to make a little money. Mary left a lasting impact on my life as well I am sure on the team that worked to help her.

Chris