*… edit… Gary, this is for you. I made a mistake on my last blog. I talked about all of us standing in a circle and yelling the spirit of the Lord is on…well, I had a blah moment and it was actually “the sword of the Lord”…Gray very politely corrected me on that, so this was especially for him. J *
Wow…where do I start so much has happened in the past several days. Last time I left you, we were all about to leave and start the “race”…so I guess I will begin there, where I left off. The day before we left Matamoras we went across the border and got a few things we needed to go on our journey and spent a couple of hours on the Internet studying maps and driving directions.
Then came “the day” it all began…Sunday we all woke up bright and early at 5am to have worship and debrief time before we left. I’ll be honest and tell you that I went into it not expecting a whole lot…I thought we would all go in there and just kind of do some prayer and worship and send each other off. We had an amazing week, I was somewhat confused why I was going in so unexpectant, but that’s where I was. I walked in and the worship had already started. The minute I walked in the room I could feel the spirit and you could not deny it. As I sat there (actually stood) I was so amazed and in awe of what the Lord was telling me. During the week Gary (and Tom) had talked about the sex slaves in Thailand. How they were little girls sold for nothing. They are used until they attract AIDs and then they are kicked on to the streets. One of their goals for next year is to raise 6.5 million dollars. This will buy all the orphan girls there. WOW!!!! Can you believe that? The girls there are worth so little that that amount will buy all of them. When Gary said that it really hit me and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I wrestled with it all week long and didn’t really know what to do about it or where to store the thought and feelings I felt. I had my heart broken for Africa before but my heart started to hurt so bad for these people, these girls that I had never met at a place that I have never been before and didn’t know why or even really want to. I spent time in prayer about it and never really felt an answer to why I was having these thought and feelings. Well…as the Lord always does in His perfect timing surprised me sitting there in worship on Sunday. He very clearly spoke to me and said you have your heart broken for Africa, yes…BUT (there’s a but) you haven’t had your heart broken for these girls, these people that you haven’t met…I want to break your heart for them, I want you to love them the way that I love them and the way I see them. I want you to feel my heart and cry my tears. In that moment, it was so clear I knew that I couldn’t ignore it. So, I have made a promise with Gary to keep in touch with him over this next year and the minute all this is over to contact him and I will be able to fulfill what the Lord has spoken to me.
After getting all that out and getting completely blown away, I walked outside to where Orange (our trusty blue and white Suburban) was sitting and there was about 6 people crowding around it trying to get the back door to shut. It had been opened to put all of our luggage in and now it wouldn’t shut. Not because there was too much luggage, but because the latch was broken. Yes…broken. After working on it for about 30 minutes no one was able to “fix” it. We solved the problem by rolling up the back window and praying that it wouldn’t break from the pressure if it holding the door closed. (by the way…so far, so good)
Now…the race was on…it was time for it all to begin. So Seth, Gary, Andrew, and some other lovely supporters all lead us to the main road where Seth got out and did the whole…on your mark, get set, go thing and we all took off. Blue and Red were in front of us, but I do have to say by about 10 minutes into it we were in the lead.
After about 3 bathroom breaks and getting gas at what seemed like every 2 hours we found ourselves in a town right by the beach…so what to we do…(considering this is a once in a lifetime experience) we decided to go find the beach. After many wrong turns, driving around in circles several times, and locals sending us in the wrong direction we opted to skip the beach and just get some lunch. We found ourselves a nice local café and ate…what else…Mexican food. No…it’s not “American Mexican”, but it’ll do.
Several hours later it turned dark and the roads we were on were not very trustworthy. You couldn’t see where you were going, very very very (did I say very) bumpy, very dark, and Jessica and I were tired of being hit in the head with the luggage, so we decided to find a hotel and call it a night. That we did…after shopping around a bit (for a hotel) we found one, grab a bite to eat, and crashed.
At dinner we all decided that since we were so tired, spent so long trying to find the beach and we knew the other team was ahead of us we wanted to slept in. We left about 10 and headed to Veracruz where we were “racing” to get our picture made with this statue. After we got to Veracruz we had no idea how we were going to find the staute, so we just decided to go to the central part and start looking and if we couldn’t find it we would ask someone. We go to central and within 5 minutes, we found the statue…Amazing. This was a pretty big downtown area and we were able to get right to it with no help. We got the pic taken, ate lunch, and went to the beach…of course. The day was pretty relaxing and uneventful. I drove us from Papalante (where we spent the night the 1st night) to Veracruz so we all got there safe and sound. (do you expect less?) We hung out at the beach, met a lady that spoke English, and just got to look at God’s creation.
About 4pm reality kicked in and we realized that we did still have about 10-12 hours to drive to our final ministry place, so we decided to get back on the road and drive as far as we could. We stopped at another hotel along the way and stayed there and got back on the road at 8am this morning. We were in the car for another 8 hours today…so yes…if you have been doing the adding…we have been traveling for 3 days.
I think (actually I know) I have smelled every smell you could possibly think of…from fried tortillas, to cows, chickens, pigs, to skunks, sewer, and any other possible unpleasant thing you wouldn’t want to even think of. It has defianetly been interesting, but I think the 3 days of having togetherness is bringing us as a team closer together.
We are now at the place where we are going to be ministering and the people are great. We are staying at the church/pastors house. He and his wife are taking very good care of us. The girls are all in a room with bunk beds and the guys are all sleeping on hammocks…yea, I’m pretty jealous. It’s okay. We’ve already told them that we are going to steal them.
Oh…Kristin has been talking to the Lord lately about being on this trip and whether or not if it’s really for her, so the day we left, she decided not to leave with us and stay back and think and pray about things. She possibly will meet up with us later, or even do something completely different. I just ask that you be in prayer with us and with her as she searches the Lord about this and the decision she has to make.
I guess that is it for now. It’s 12am and I am about to try and get some sleep. We are going to try and rest up a bit tomorrow and do some door to door evangelism in the afternoon. We all have been are very excited about going out and doing ministry, so I know we are all ready for this after spending a week in “training” getting “pumped” up!!!!
Love you all and miss you so much.
*… Side Note…My parents are traveling back to Africa today and tomorrow, so please be in prayer for them and their safety.*
