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Tuesday, 05 May 2009

Sunday, April 19 to Sunday, April 26 — A Summary

Well, we’re back.

It’s 7:30 PM Tuesday evening, and I’m sitting in my room in the Verity campus in Indianapolis. It’s difficult to get my mind around the fact that it’s all actually over — but as our time in México fades into memory, I attempt to briefly chronicle the events of a little over a week ago (has it really been that long?) while they are still relatively fresh in my mind.

Sunday, of course, was church day — being in México just meant that we went to a church in Guanajuato. And what a church! Its “sanctuary” consisted of a tarp suspended by some poles. The congregation had attended a Seminario Basico, and they requested additional teaching in the seven basic principles covered in the seminar. And additional teaching they got! For over three hours (including a break halfway through), we went through the principles, explaining each one and then illustrating it with testimonies, songs, or skits. After the service, the church took up an offering. For us. I still shake my head in wonder that this church, which doesn’t even have a “proper” building, would still be willing to give to God, above and beyond their normal tithe. Eventually, we left the church and headed back to Guadalajara. We actually returned from Guanajuato with one more person than we had when we left. Emilio, Ernesto’s younger brother, was given permission to come with us, and played the pivotal role of the boy protagonist in the David & Goliath skit everywhere it was performed thereafter. Additionally, Marian Solano, Alberto’s sister, joined the team for its second week of ministry.

» View photos from Sunday, April 19

After spending the night in Guadalajara, we left Monday morning and headed out again. First stop was a prep school in Tizapan. The ‘08ers had ministered in this school the year before, and they had obviously left a favorable impression on the students. We were originally scheduled to give presentations before three bodies of students, but when the students learned that they were here, everyone who wasn’t in the first session showed up at the second session, whether they were scheduled to or not. After leaving the school and doing some touring, we drove to Colima and got situated: the guys and the Pharisses stayed at Casa Cuna (Crib House), a local orphanage, while the ladies and the McCrays stayed at the nearby Hotel Costeño. Then we ate dinner at a house affiliated with the orphanage, which was to be our lunch and dinner dining area for several of the following days. Finally, we had a meeting in the courtyard of Hotel Costeño, near its swimming pool — the first of many such meetings, where we would discuss the next day’s schedule and plan lessons to teach the students in a local Christian elementary school, which was also affiliated with the orphanage.

» View photos from Monday, April 20

The mornings of the next three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) were similar. The team split up into small groups to teach classes (six- to seven-year-olds, seven- to eight-year-olds, eight- to ten-year-olds, etc.) from 7:30 to 8:30 each morning. After regrouping at Casa Cuna to debrief, eat breakfast, and get some R&R, we gave presentations to the orphans from 11 to noon. On Tuesday afternoon, we drove to a church that meets under a tree (the people are interested in the Gospel but prefer to meet outdoors). We had been told beforehand that there would be about fifty children attending the meeting — nearly twice that amount, plus a good number of parents, showed up. Spiritual warfare was evident during this meeting, as the team competed with a neighborhood boom box for the attention of the children.

» View photos from Tuesday, April 21

Wednesday afternoon saw us going to a village of indigenous people. Despite the general dirtiness of the meeting place — we had to sweep out the stage area before we could use it — the competition from another boom box (I’m still wondering how it is that each village seems to have at least one of those things), and a myriad of low-hanging clotheslines, the team shared as enthusiastically as ever. After the presentation, Dr. McCray and Mr. Phariss talked with a group of about 20 of the men who had prayed to receive Christ as their personal Savior. I’m told that this was the first Christian meeting that the local men ever attended — prior to this, it was always only women and children — and that this was the first time the indigenous people had ever seen men (especially young men) serving Jesus. To me, as a young man, that thought is very sobering.

» View photos from Wednesday, April 22

Thursday was especially hectic. The day began, as usual, with us teaching classes at the school. Not too long after the classes ended, Mrs. Phariss and Mrs. McCray attended a women’s meeting. Our last bit of ministry at the orphanage was bumped up from 10:30 to 11 that morning, for immediately afterward, we loaded into our vehicles and drove to La Esperanza, another orphanage some distance away. There, we shared some songs and skits with the orphans and ate lunch before returning to Casa Cuna; later that afternoon, we gave our last large-group presentation to a group of about 150 children in a local church for Children’s Day. Shortly after the presentation concluded, Mr. Phariss, Dr. McCray, Adam, and Marian (Alberto’s sister) went to a meeting of the parents of the children of the school we’d been ministering at earlier to share about their experiences with homeschooling. (The rest of us headed to dinner.) They also attended a men’s meeting later in the evening. Thus, our time of “formal” ministry concluded with a bang — seven events in one day!

» View photos from Thursday, April 23

Friday was beach day — we left the orphanage and hotel bright and early and went out to a local beach, where most everyone played in the water and got severely sunburned. Me? I stayed in the shade and journaled the whole time, saying “No, gracias” to pretty much everyone I saw (them peddlers are persistent people!). We got off the beach rather late, and coupled with dinner (and singing to the restaurant folks), it was about 9 PM when we got all loaded up in the vehicles again. We were back at the Latin America Center in Guadalajara about five hours later — at two in the morning.

» View photos from Friday, April 24

Saturday, our last full day in México, was largely spent touring the city of Guadalajara. That night, we had a final team meeting, where we sang some songs and shared memorable moments from our time of ministry. We finished packing and left the Latin America Center on Sunday; Guadalajara International Airport was filled with a disturbing number of people wearing the now-iconic masks, a worrisome symbol of the then-developing outbreak of swine flu. Nonetheless, our flight to DFW and then to Indianapolis proceeded smoothly — and what a welcoming party awaited us back at the Verity campus!

Our trip was very fruitful. All told, we estimate that we ministered to somewhere between 1,400 and 1,500 people over the duration of our trip. I’d say about a hundred people responded to the Gospel invitations that were given after the presentations, and we were able to give them New Testaments and get them in touch with local pastors for follow-up discipleship on the spot. Many of them also wrote down their names (and some also gave contact information) so we can continue to pray for them by name.

As I look back over the whirlwind that was the last two weeks, I can only be thankful. Thankful to God, for His protection from everything from drug wars to illness and for His hand of blessing throughout the trip; thankful to the Pharisses and the rest of the locals with whom we worked during our time in México, who worked night and day behind the scenes to make our trip as successful as it was; thankful to our friends and family at Verity, at home, and abroad, for their prayers on our behalf; and thankful to you, the reader, for sharing in our adventure. I know that I will never be the same after that experience, and I will never forget our friends who are continuing the work in Latin America — even as I say adios to México and hello to the United States.

Ku, signing out.

Saturday, 25 April 2009

Saturday Evening, April 18 — The Street

Saturday evening was filled with intrigue and adventure. A few Christians from the city led our group on a tour, informing us of its historical background. While we toured around, we handed out tracts and examined the markets. Later, we split up into smaller groups to enjoy the layout of the city. Bright colors greeted our eyes in the residential section, yet they never clashed. The people of Guanajuato amazed us with their receptiveness. Not once did they reject a tract from what I could see, and we found them reading the tracts as we passed them again about ten minutes later. After touring the city, we headed back to the hotel to gather strength for the night’s presentation outside a local theater.

This was where things became really interesting. When we arrived, we found the area in front of the theater already occupied. Some of us began to pray, and our leaders instructed us to seize the spot once the mime finished his performance. We followed the plan, but another group kicked us off abruptly. We moved over to a nearby spot. Here, we reconvened our program, but the noise hindered our effectiveness. Someone shouted, “Let’s move.” It was a sight to behold, with 30 people singing and part of the crowd following. None of us knew what was happening, but we kept on singing and walking. Eventually, we found a place where we completed our program. It was definitely a night of flexibility, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy the songs and skits. The rest of the night we ventured around the city and ate some great tacos. God really blessed us that day.

— Matthew Schaefer

» View photos from Saturday, April 18

Thursday, 23 April 2009

Ready to try to take a sip of water out of a fire hydrant?

Hello all!

This is KJ with a brief little "how we've been doing and how you can pray for us" report. Things are quite busy these days. We are in Colima at the moment. The guys are staying at the Orphanage we're working with and the girls are at a hotel around the corner. It's very pleasant here -- there are palm trees everywhere, and we're right off a highway. Colima is near the ocean so it's a pretty developed city (hopefully I'll get to see the Pacific for my second time on Friday!).

When we first arrived at the orphanage on Sunday, we were instantly drawn in to the kids like magnets. Man, they are CUTE. You could instantly tell they are loved and cared for there. Celina is an amazing woman who works with the ministry. There are several orphanages and schools they are connected with here. We haven't seen the orphans at Casa Cuna (Crib House – where the guys are staying) as much as I'd like; we've been busy doing character training at a Christian school from 7:30 to 8:30am (like a mini Children's Institute session, in small groups) and going to a different orphanage (for abandoned and troubled youth) from 11am-12pm. We have breakfast in between and plan the days events in a meeting for the rest of the morning - and might have time for a short siesta . In the afternoon we have an hour or so of “free time,” then do ministry at night again before a late dinner, a group meeting, and bed.

Last night we went to an outdoor church where a bunch of unsaved people from the town came as well, and gave the Gospel message along with our songs and skits and testimonies. The skits are going over VERY well down here, and we're improvising and adding new ones all the time! Can't wait to show some of you a few video snippets I got .

Tonight we went to an Indigenous village where Celina has been ministering to the children and trying to teach them about Christ. I'm sure we'll do a more in-depth post on that sometime soon. But PLEASE be praying for the men of the village. Our guys were amazing examples to them of Christ – especially as they played with the children – and they really need that. Several prayed to receive Christ into their lives. Pray that the ministry there will continue. In nearly all the places we’ve ministered there is at least one person already working in a ministry there, so that gives me hope that discipleship of new Christians and the seeds we planted will continue to grow.

PRAY for us tomorrow. We have a FULL day – like, six events or so! The team is absolutely amazing and are “rolling with the punches” so well. Flexibility is extremely important, and they’ve gone above and beyond the call of leadership. Watching them grow individually and as a group every day is a privilege for me, and I thank God for the opportunity to be a part of it.

YOU all are part of it too!! So many times I’ve been at the end of myself and don’t know why things are working out so well. I’ve also sensed the Holy Spirit often. So THANK YOU for your prayers, they mean a lot!!

In Christ,

Kristina Zaloum

Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Saturday Afternoon, April 18 — The Juvenile Detention Center

Upon leaving the men’s prison, we drove to a nearby church to eat lunch. After sandwiches, a few of us Americans engaged some neighborhood Mexicans in a game of soccer. It was an intense game, but the outcome was inevitable. The Mexicans were good sports about it and took the loss well. The schedule for the afternoon consisted of a presentation at a juvenile jail.

We all made it past the heavily armed guards and frisk searches into the jail. Once inside, we waited in an enclosed courtyard for some time while guards went through the procedures necessary to collect the inmates. They eventually collected 3 girls and about 15 guys ranging in age from 15 to 19. The group looked pretty disinterested and scornful as they took their seats and sized us up. A few songs later and they were joining in the spirit of the thing, perhaps glad for the entertainment. They paid close attention as testimonies were given and crowded forward for a better view of the skits. For me, the skits included the additional challenge of trying to keep my pants up, since belts were not allowed in the facility. Halfway through the program, the young detainees were giving the speakers and singers their undivided attention. Micah Lawrence spoke about his salvation experience. Randahl Williams talked about trusting in God’s goodness, and I testified about character and overcoming temptation. Dr. McCray concluded with a salvation message, a message which was responded to by all but one of the listeners.

After praying, we mingled with the juvenile offenders and distributed Bibles and other materials. It was quite amazing to observe how intent and earnest were the faces which had been so disdainful earlier. We said prolonged goodbyes and waved as the detainees were marched away and disappeared behind electric gates. We left feeling a sense of awe at what we had been a part of. Even though I was not eager to leave, I nevertheless experienced a flood of relief as I retrieved my belt outside the jail and once again fastened my pants securely about my waist.

Adam Anders

» View photos from Saturday, April 18
Saturday Morning, April 18 — The Men’s Prison

My day truly began by me helping Randahl carry the cooler with our food down into the dining room, where we found half the group waiting, expecting to be served by the hotel. After doing that, I went ahead and joined the group waiting, only to discover that I had carried the cooler down in vain, because we were served these Mexican white rolls with butter and jam. This made me and some other people think that the hotel was actually going to serve us a real breakfast. Then after waiting, and waiting, Mrs. Phariss showed up and started hurriedly handing out our own food, because the bread & jam was all they were giving us. Anyway, all that to set the stage for an incredibly exciting, random, and continual-change-of-plans day.

Our first destination was a men’s prison. To get into this place, there was a magnificent amount of restrictions that we had to comply with. First, we could not wear any black or blue clothing. Second, we could not wear belts, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. Third, we all had to bring ID, which, for us, meant passports. Cameras also were not allowed, which meant that we have no pictures from this entire experience. After a very long wait, our entire group started going through security. Our backpack full of skit materials (carried by Randahl, of course) had to have everything taken out of it, for inspection by the guards. After that each one of us had a search of our persons, allowing us to line up in front of a central monitoring station, where we had to wait once again, until we got names called individually. These names were rather corrupted by the heavy Spanish accent, “Randahl” becoming “Yammo” (Spanish for James, maybe?), and a couple other completely unintelligible pronunciations. After getting our names called, this allowed us to proceed another few feet into another long wait in a narrow hallway. After a great while, we finally were led up the stairs, and we were let in (approximately 8 people at a time) to a large courtyard. Surprisingly enough, all the prisoners were just standing around, all over the courtyard, with maybe like 2 guards in the whole place. That was a little surprising, considering the intense security beforehand.

This courtyard had 2 basketball courts, and plenty of space surrounding it with tables for eating, etc. When we initially got in there, we started to greet the inmates, but the guards decided to shove us all into this little tiny Catholic chapel, we went in, with almost no one following us. Mrs. Phariss and some others spoke some rapid Spanish with some guards, while all of us waited inside that tiny little chapel complete with candles and icons, and managed to talk the guards into letting us go back to the open courtyard. Although this would have made us stand out in the direct sun for a few hours, it was better, because this would allow us to reach more people. And since the area was so huge, the people who wanted to would gather around us, creating the best possible audience we could get from that situation.

Quite the crowd ended up gathering around, actually, which really encouraged me. Dr. McCray opened up our presentation, and once again, Alberto did an incredible job translating, despite the fact that his throat was bothering him, and that he had to practically yell everything. As an icebreaker before the program, we cleared a small space, and had a quick match of 2-on-2 “football” with Americans vs. Mexicans (Alberto & Ernesto vs. Cook & Kenton). The whole thing was staged, and so the Americans lost on purpose, which worked out well, since the crowd was cheering “Mexico” all the time. Matthew Schaefer was the first one to share a testimony, and he brought out the story of his experience as Basic Training, and how he depended on God during that time. We sang a few songs, and did our Nebuchadnezzar skit (“Nebu-du-con-a-sor” as Alberto spanishizes it) starring our proud king, Matt Martin. Adam and the Modified Chipmunks sang “Brighten the Corner” also. Totally, we had the gospel presented 3 different times. I preached the first time, using a rope trick to illustrate that all of us are sinners before God (3 different size ropes become equal in this trick). After this we sang a song, and then one of the Mexican preachers who came with us, Jorge (pronounced “Hor-hey”) presented the gospel again, based on the song we had just sang, which was really cool. Although his message was in Spanish, it was obviously very powerful and passionate.

The really encouraging thing during this whole time was that despite all the distractions that were happening all around us (from the people who weren’t part of our crowd), for the most part, the people who were listening to us stayed out there and listened the whole time. There was plenty of opportunity for them to leave the hot sun where we were, but they chose to stay.

At the end of all of this, Dr. McCray tied everything together and gave the gospel once again, with an invitation at the end. It was a “bold” invitation, meaning everybody was watching, and the people who wanted to receive Christ came forward out in the open and prayed out loud with Dr. McCray. We aren’t completely sure how many exactly received Christ, but we’re estimating about 30 prisoners.

After all this was over, we spent a decent amount of time just greeting and thanking the inmates for coming. Quite a few conversations were struck up with prisoners that knew English, and a couple of others went over to Josh Cook (who had been playing guitar) and brought him their guitar and some other little primitive percussion instrument made out of a piece of pipe and started enthusiastically singing. It was very fascinating watching them; it’s incredible the cross-cultural connection music can make (I guess I’d notice that). Oh, and Matt Martin said that this was the first time he’s ever had a group of guys whistle at him (they whistled and kept saying “Rey,” meaning “king” in Spanish…took him a while to figure that out).

So that’s basically the morning for you guys. Keep praying for us!

— Zyrek

» View photos from Saturday, April 18