As Mrs. Foster commented, we are back from Mexico, having safely arrived at the airport late Saturday afternoon.  I think I can speak for all of us in saying that it was truly a great trip and that we are very appreciative of your prayers and support.  It is difficult to summarize the benefits of the trip in a single post, especially being only a few days removed from it, but I want to highlight just 2 things that I found particularly striking about our journey.

First, this trip taught many of us a little bit about how to walk with God by faith, trusting that His plans are better than our own.  From the outset, things didn’t quite go as planned: as you read about in our blog, we had to leave Jon in Houston due to an overbooked plane, and we weren’t able to fly out to Amoltepec on Monday because the weather was too stormy.  Naturally, these were initially perceived as significant disappointments, but as the week unfolded, we realized that God had built them into our trip for good.  When we had to leave Jon in Houston, it was the jolt we needed to actively depend upon the Lord, trusting Him to bring our team back together in Oaxaca (which He did the next day).  And in God’s providence, the bad weather that prevented us from flying to Amoltepec on Monday actually enabled us to visit an orphanage in Oaxaca and serve a church that Edgar had just planted on Oaxaca.   Had we flown out as planned, we wouldn’t have had this opportunity, and likely would have run out of work in the mountains…proof again that God knows what He is doing when He adjusts our plans.  As Jeff Mills often says, when God changes your plans, He’s actually enhancing them.

The second thing that stood out to me about this trip was the breadth of God and His church.  During the course of the week, we had an opportunity to worship with two different congregations, one in Oaxaca (in Spanish) and one in Mamey (in a native language called Mizteco).  And while we couldn’t understand much of the service, we knew that they were worshipping the same Christ we do, and got just a small taste of what it is going to be like in heaven when people from every tribe, tongue and nation come around the throne to worship God.   It was really neat to be able to spend some time with brothers & sisters in a different part of the world, and while there is so much that is different about us (from clothing to language to food to culture), there is one thing that is in common: our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Perhaps the most poignant moment of the week for me came during the service in the isolated mountain community of Mamey, when the pastor there, Pedro, thanked us for our work painting their church and said it would always be a reminder to them that “they are not alone.”  The bond of Christ is truly a unique and wonderful thing!

Thanks again for all your prayers, support, and comments on the website.  They were an encouragement to all of us while we were down there.  Since words can only describe so much, be sure to check out the pictures of the trip that Jon just sorted through and uploaded (thanks Jon!).  And to get a different view of things, watch the video of us landing (thanks Hiram!) and the one of us taking off from mountain airstrips!

Early this morning, we woke for a spectacular breakfast, had a group devotional led by Chase, and then headed off to finish painting the church we started at the beginning of the week which was recently planted by Edgar in a nearby town. After finishing we returned to the Ross’s home and ate lunch and then spent some time napping, talking, playing Dominos, and reading until around 5 o’clock when friends and neighbors of the Ross’s came over in order to work at preparing for the upcoming VBS. We cut, traced and colored many signs and cut-outs to be used during the VBS. I think that it’s safe to say that many of us will be glad to never have to see a pair of scissors for a long time. Finally, we sat down for possibly the most delicious dinner yet (tasty tamales, which are corn husks, filled with meats, a corn mash, and spices). Now we sit, talking and likely playing Domino’s once more, and eventually packing so that we can easily wake at about 5 in the morning to leave for our flight to Housten. We plan to arrive at around 5 o’clock in the afternoon at the Cleveland Airport, so for those of you picking us up, thats about the time to be there. Moms and dads be sure to have on hand our favorite foods (oh Kraft Mac N’ Cheese (hint! hint! ) and a bath ready to go when we arrive home. Also some listening ears may be needed to hear all about our adventures.

We all like to thank each and everyone of you who took the time to pray for all of us during the week and for your thoughts and contributions to our trip. Nothing would have occured without and each everyone of you and for that we are most grateful. We cant wait to share our experiences and would love to ask for one more day of prayer in that we would travel safely tomorrow and to always remember everything that we saw and learned on this trip. Again thank you for everything and we will see you all stateside!

-Sarah

Pray for team member Sarah Pelletier.

So since Kyle wrote about Tuesday, I’ll write about yesterday (Wednesday).  I didn’t really read what Kyle wrote completely, so some of this might sound kind of repetitive…but I’m just going to write about everything that happened yesterday.  So yesterday we woke up pretty early in the morning.  The boys slept in a cabin up at the top of this mountain in the village, and the girls slept in a smaller cabin a little bit higher in the mountain.  It was so dark at night in the cabin that when I held my hand in front of my face I couldn’t see it.  I didn’t have a watch or anything with me, so I would wake up several times in the night and think “Wow! It’s got to be at least 7:30 by now”  but it wasn’t.  Up in America we are so dependent on time so it was both a strange yet incredible feeling of having absolutely no idea what time it was.  When I woke up, I went outside to brush my teeth and I soon realized that we were in the middle of a big cloud.  It kind of seemed just like a really think fog, but it was moving extremely fast.  There would be times when the entire side of the mountain and the village below would just disappear, and then they would reappear later.  It was pretty neat.  So while Hiram and I were brushing our teeth we saw a donkey tied to the side of the mountain.  It was making donkey noises (whatever they’re called) and Hiram was able to make a sound that sounded exactly like the donkey.  It was really funny.

So after all the guys got dressed and stuff, the girls came down to the cabin and we had breakfast.  Before that though Pedro (who I’m pretty sure Kyle talked about) brought us up to a cabin to watch a chicken get slaughtered.  He did it really fast and took all the stuff out and all, and then he let Hiram do a second one.  Hiram was not really good at it, but it was funny.  Then we went down and ate breakfast.  A native family who lived in the cabin next to the girl’s cabin made all of our meals.  They were delicious. (the meals)

After breakfast, we went down to the village to continue working  on the church.  This time we painted the inside of the church though.  This was a little bit more difficult, because we were not suppoced to spill paint on the ground at all.  outside it didn’t really matter, but inside was different.  We also continued to help with the benches, and we also helped rebuild the pulpit.  Probably the most fun for me, was when Hiram and I helped tear down a doorway.  The entire building was built pretty much out of just dry mud so we used hammers to tear the doorway down.

We brought toys for the kids from the village to have, and throughout  the day we would give the toys out.  The kids would just come up to where we were working and just kind of stare at us.  Then we would smile and they would smile back and we’d give out the toys.  Those in the group who could speak spanish were able to hold little conversations with the children, but the children’s main language is Misteko (a native indian language that I spelled completly wrong)

We took a short break for lunch (which was the chickens from the morning) then we went back to work for a little while.  Later in the afternoon, there was an actual church service in the church.  Dan Southam preached.  A guy named Amos translated from English so the people could understand.  Before Dan’s sermon, we all went around and introduced ourselves and said a brief little thing to the people about who we were and how we were glad to be there and so on.  Amos translated that as well.  Then Pedro stood up and said some more things in the native language. It’s incredible to think that while we couldn’t understand anything they were saying, they were worshiping the same God we worship up in the states.  After the service, we gave out the rest of the toys.  The kids faces’s lit up when we gave out the toys.

Soon after the service ended it started to rain.  Most of the people went back to there homes, but a couple stayed to help us put up the rest of the door frame.  After we put the door up, we soon realized that it was not just raining, but that we were in the middle of a thunderstorm cloud.  We decided that we were done for the day and that we needed to get back up to the top.  Amos and I decided to race to the top, but the others wanted to stay in the church until the storm passed.  Amos and I got to the top in about 2 min, while the rest waited in the church for about 20.  It was nice getting to know Amos a little bit better, and we talked about life as a missionary.  When the others finally made it up the mountain, we had dinner.  It was late by this time so pretty much right after dinner we went to bed.

Today was another great day, but thats for another person to discuss…

Thanks for all your prayers!!!!

-chase

When we went to bed Monday night we were all wondering whether or not we would be able to fly. Upon waking up Tuesday morning rather early, we were greatly encouraged to see a blue sky and little clouds! We ate some breakfast, while Hiram led a devotional and then we were off to the airport. Mike organized the flights once we got there, while the rest of us hung out around the MAF building. I ended up flying on the 3rd and final flight with Hiram and Mike, while Juan Carlos manned the plane. (I forget who flew with who on the first 2 flights.) We took off without a hitch and headed to a village on the way to Amoltepec to pick up some paint for the church we painted. Once we loaded the paint, we were off to Amoltepec. The view from the plane was amazing. Although the mountains take your breath away on the ground, it’s taken away even more when you’re in the air. The entire flight went by really quick, except for out pit-stop. We landed in Amoltepec, unloaded our gear and headed up this steep path to where the rest of  the team was waiting. I know that our support letters said that we were going to be in Amoltepec, but we actually stayed in Mamey, which is a little village about a 30 minute truck ride away. Upon meeting up with the rest of the team, we waited a short time for the truck to get there, loaded up the gear and we were off to Mamey.

Just a little information on the truck and our drive to Mamey. The truck was basically a smaller size pick-up truck with high walls around the edges. Our gear was stuffed as far to the front as possible and then we all jumped into the remaining space. I really wish that I had a picture, so those of you who are reading might better understand. Essentially, the truck was over-loaded. I wasn’t sure that we could move, let alone drive through the mountains. But low and behold, the little truck started up and we were on our way. The path, or road, (if you can call it that), was quite thin. It was basically a small road, sometimes barely wide enough for our little truck to get through, cut into the side of the mountians. It was an awesome drive. Sometimes we would get so close to the edge or go so fast around a turn that I thought we would tip and tumble down the mountain. The view of the landscape around is was just as great, if not better, than our view in the plane. I know we all got a bunch of pictures. On our drive back today, Hiram said something like this, “The beauty of God’s creation is inconcievable.” I really think that sumarizes what we saw rather well.  I think we all enjoyed the ride, I know it was one of my favorite parts of the trip thus far.

When we got to Mamey, Pedro, our host who lives in the village and pastor of the church that we painted, greeted us in Spanish (he didn’t speak English) and led us to the 2 houses that we’d be staying in. The bigger of the 2, is actually the house of a German couple that works with Wycliffe Bible Translators, who were away for a few months. The guys stayed in this house, while the girls stayed in a smaller house just a short walk up the mountain. We also met in the bigger house and eat all our meals there.

Once we got settled, we headed down the mountain to the church that we planned on painting. The church itself was made of packed adobe mud bricks, that were held together with more adobe mud. It had 3 windows, 2 of which were closeable and a front door made of wood. It’s roof was made of thin sheet metal with large wooden support beams throughout. We got to work painting the outside walls of the church, as “eggshell blue”, as Jeff Mills would say. We also started renforcing the wooden pews within the church. Dan made quick work of it with a sprayer as others went around and touched up all the missed spots and edges. Because we painted the outside so quick, we scheduled to replace the front door tomorrow. This was great because we weren’t sure how much we would be able to do within our short time there, especially since we couldn’t fly on Monday. During our painting and construction session, I experienced my first case of elevation “sickness”. I say “sickness” because, I wasn’t really sick, my nose just starting pouring blood for no reason. So to stop the bleeding Chase ripped the bottom of my shirt to plug my nose. I also laid down on one of the pews to slow the bleeding. We worked until it got dark and then headed up the mountain back to our houses to sleep for the night.

That’s basically all we did that day, I’m sorry that this post is so brief, it’s hard for me to remember what we all did 2 and a half days ago. Here’s a short summary: Wake. Flight to Amoltepec. Drive to Mamey. Work on church. Sleep.

I hope those of you who read this got something out of my short summary. We are all well and very, very happy to get to take a shower with soap when we got back today. Now, we’re off to do some site-seeing and shopping! Later!

-Kyle

Pray for Olivia Lin & Dan Southam.

Pray for team member Chase Jones.

Pray for team member Kyle Johannes.

Until next time…

-Hiram

Pray for team member Hiram Foster.