Zona 7

Altotonga, Mexico -- Well, I am super excited. We have a busy and exciting weekend coming up. I'm looking forward to see what God's going to do!!

Well, I'm eating on a muffin right now, which is the typical Mexican dinner-- any kind of sweet bread and coffee. But I'm a little early. A lady from across the street just came to the door to borrow an English-Spanish dictionary.

Ok, a recap on this last week. Cesar, the youth who was in the accident is back home-- got home yesterday. They're still going to take him to Veracruz for surgery on his mouth. Actually, he happens to be online right now, and his screen name says, "I am alive", but in all caps. Saturday night at the club, the dance girls did their piece. One of the poor girls looked like she was going to pass out when we were starting. It made me chuckle. They all did fine, of course-- they all remember the tiny mistakes they made. It's ok though. It's not about being perfect.

The kids going to Oaxaca presented the mime piece to Jonah. It went well. And I did the talk on love. We were all sitting on the floor in a circle. I talked about how we understand love, and that God's love is "Love, period." He doesn't love us for reasons, or for who we are, what we have or do or if we do or don't do something. He loves us unconditionally. I wish you could have seen their faces. They especially lit up when we were talking about how to experience it (of course, pointing to God).

There was also a couple of opportunities that I've had to talk to youth who have been going through hard times. On Monday, I went to finish painting the walls on the club-- just 4 hours of touch up work. Then I went with 2 other youth to hang up some 350 or so bulletins about the concert this weekend. It took us about 3 hours.

This morning, I went to buy the bus tickets to get people back to the airport (including me!), to pay the rent and the phone bill. Then 2 meetings, English class, "house shopping"-- the list of things that my roommate and I go in on together for things we use-- dish soap, laundry soap bars, etc. And now I'm here.

Ok, so this weekend-- Thursday, the group gets in. Friday, we'll have 2 programs for the schools. There are 3 schools going in the morning-- where we'll talk about Universal Values and Zona 7 will play as well. And of course, we'll prep for the concert. In the afternoon, we'll do the same thing for the schools that go in the afternoon-- and there will be 4 schools, I think. It's a lot of kids, that I know. But it'll be good for the kids.

Then, Saturday, we'll have something for the core group of kids in the morning with the band. And then in the evening, we'll do the concert. Contests, games at the beginning, the concert, and then presenting the Gospel. I'm really looking forward to seeing what God's going to do. We've been praying a lot for this event. God's done good things already-- we want to see many youth get saved and get plugged in!So, please be praying for us in that. It's going to be a long and busy weekend. And then, after sleeping, probably maximum possible-- 4 hours, I will get up and head to St. Louis!!So, that's what's going to be going on. I'll help particularly with Vonda for breakfasts, and lunches won't be that big of a deal. And then I'll meet the directors of the schools-- which will hopefully open doors.Well, I'm going to get. I'm going to study Japanese tonight and then try to get some rest and relax... since it's been a while. :) Tomorrow will be a very long day-- as well as the rest of this week.

An Eventful Week

Altotonga, Mexico -- Hey there. It's been a full week, to be sure. I managed to get the walls acid washed and then sealed. The only thing that's left to do is paint in the white splotches. What a fun process.On Monday evening, I got a call late that night that one of the youth had been in a car accident. I had a vision, or something very similar to it, about that on Sunday... but I didn't say anything. He has been playing in the world for a while, and he was out with his friends. His friends are pretty much ok after the accident. Our youth has a crack in his skull, and something about having to do surgery on his jaw. His face is all bruised up. They took him to Xalapa, and the visiting hours are like from 4-6pm. So, I haven't been there to visit, but will see about it next week. Supposedly, next week they are taking him to Veracruz to have the surgery done.

It makes me go... man... why? Not why to God... but why the youth decided to make the choices he did. Hopefully God will use this situation to bring the youth back to him. I am just glad that God spared his life.

Wednesday I went out to Orilla and had the Bible study there with Rosita. It was a pretty normal day. A busy day as usual. Wednesdays-Saturdays are my busiest, busiest days.Thursday evening, one of the youth was talking to me, and she was crying because of her home situation and that she didn't want to go home. In fact, she had left earlier, and was about to open her door, and she turned around and came right back to the Club. So, of course, I pointed her to Christ (she's a Christian... or at least was). And then there were just a lot of unexpected visitors. I kept the Club open till 9:40.

There were a lot of youth.I continue with all the other things I do every week... meeting with the pastor, discipleship times, English class, Club times, etc.

Still studying Japanese. I like it a lot. A whole lot.Tonight I still need to finish my laundry. I did 3 buckets this afternoon, and put 2 more buckets to soak while I went to the Club this afternoon. I'm still wondering why I decided to do that, because I knew I'd get home late... and it takes a bit more time that it does in the states to wash clothes. :)I also want to finish preparing for the lesson that I'm doing tomorrow... of course, on love.

My dance girls are performing their dance piece tomorrow, in preparation for when we do it next week in front of at least 2000 people or so. And then, the youth going to Oaxaca are going to present the Jonah mime I choreographed. So, our "format" is a little different tomorrow. That's ok. I'll be changing the format a lot in a couple of months.

And, tomorrow is one of the busiest days I have in the week. Well, it's 11:03pm. I guess I better get to that laundry before it gets too late.

** Will write on the event for next weekend on next Wednesday, if I don't get to it on Tuesday. Please be praying in advance for a powerful movement of God!!!

How many missionaries does it take to screw in a lightbulb

Altotonga, Mexico -- It's been a fairly normal week, which I am happy for. Last Sunday morning, I went down to the Club to paint over the white humidity stains that I had acid washed a couple of weeks ago. I painted over it. A couple of days later, it came back. So, I'm going to have to acid wash it again and then put a sealer over the walls and then repaint. So, that's my project for tomorrow morning. But I have to wait a couple of days between each step.

In other news, you could so make fun of me for this-- but Chris taught me how to put in a light bulb yesterday. Haha... no- it's just that I have to climb up a tall ladder, and it's a... halogen? I don't remember-- but you can't touch the bulb. And then I have to screw the light fixture back together. What a fun project. My favorite part was when Chris said to me-- ok, now come down a step and wait while I go turn the light on--and don't look at the bulb in case it explodes. That's a lovely thought 20 feet up on a ladder.

Other than that, we continue praying a lot and figuring out details for the event in 2 weeks. More on that before the event. And then I'm trying to get things together for being up in the States for a week! I'm excited!

Tonight in the youth meeting, we had several visitors from a church in Perote-- a half hour from here. They're going to come to the concert here in 2 weeks-- and then they wanted to invite us to an event that they're having in May. They're inviting all kinds of churches and stuff to participate in contests for dance groups, I think mime, singing, and all kinds of things... I'm excited for this. We're going to start our next round of dance classes after the concert-- but near the end of March. I wanted to give them the opportunity to present like we're going to do in this event-- but I didn't know what it was going to be.

This will be great-- as well as to be able to introduce them to more Christians and get a wider network. It works in many different ways. Who cares about winning-- I don't even remember what they said about winning. But it will be great inspiration for them. Right now we're working on mime pieces for the missions trip to Oaxaca that will take place in March. We're doing the ever-famous David and Goliath piece that I learned in the Centre and then I choreographed a piece about Jonah. It's pretty cool. We're going to present those next week during the Saturday night meeting-- as well as the dance girls-- they're going to present.Well, it's Saturday night. And my general tradition is to clean my share of the house. So, I'm going to get to that. Have a great weekend and will be seeing many of you a few weeks!