Post- Thoughts (Part 2)

Ok... So I wanted to share some of the meaningful things I enjoyed or discovered each day of my wonderfully magnificent trip.

Day of Arrival and Rest

I was so thankful to have a day of rest after we arrived. My body forced me to take a short nap until more people arrived. I'm not a nap taker, but I was so tired from taking turns driving all night that I couldn't help it.

It was so, so good to see Chacho and Marc, the missionaries, again. It had been almost four years since I had last been down to serve with them... way too long ago. I'm so, so glad God laid it on my heart to go on this trip. Isn't He just awesome in that He knows what we need and guides us closer to Him?

Day of Worship and Praise in Matamoros

This was the day of the awesome testimony to God's work as we were attempting to attend church with our brothers and sisters at the Matamoros church. Check out that story here. Our Father provided so much for us over the course of the trip. Vehicles were there on the other side of the border for us. The assistant mayor (vice-mayor?) of Matamoros provided a public transportation bus for our huge group to use to travel in each day.

One thing that pulls at my heart on every mission trip is how welcoming the United in Christ church members are (in both Los Fresnos and Matamoros). It is an experience unlike any American church. They just give so much!

Day of Preparation for VBS and Soccer Camp

It was so wonderful to have such a great group of ladies to help me out with crafts. I like all that is creative (pretty much) and especially enjoy getting to use my God-given creativity, so I was pleased as punch to get to make some Bible verse posters and skit props too.

First Day with Kids

Despite the surprising amount of dirt blown in my face, it was such a blessed day. I can't communicate with the kids well (my three years of Spanish long ago are inadequate) but oh how their faces light up over simple gestures. Thank you, Lord, for so many positive universal signs. Smiles. Thumbs up. Even just using their names. And once again we were shown tremendous kindness and hospitality.

I was also so thankful to work with such a wonderful woman who could talk to the kids. She didn't just use this time to tell the kids how to make each craft, she also used the time to teach them. I can imagine she asked questions like "Who made the stars?" and the kids shouted "Dios!" as they point to the sky over and over again. Lilly was an awesome helper, and I'm sure she's an amazing first grade teacher too. What a blessing!

Second Day with Kids

I was excited to work on painting a couple of vanities for the dorm bathrooms. That's definitely my cup of tea. The time with the kids went great, of course. It was especially wonderful, though, to have some hard working helpers afterward to help me finish up with this day's craft. Much appreciated.

I found a couple things humorous about the international students traveling with us on several occasions. One... their enjoyment of taking pictures with each other quite often. I think that's a cultural thing but could be wrong. I don't really interact with high school or college aged people much anymore, so it's hard to tell which is true. I thought it humorous either way. Two... the instances I saw (and was eventually engaged in) international students teaching each other the "Tony Chestnut Song." You know the one I'm talking about where you point to your body parts as you sing... "Toe-knee Chestnut nose eye love you..." This was equally humorous for some reason.

Another real blessing on a couple of occasions was getting to spend some quality time with one of the littlest members of our group. I enjoyed talking with her, hearing about things from her perspective, and playing "I see..." (our version of "I spy...") out the windows as we were driving along. I see purple lights. I see flags. I see a big chicken.

Third Day with Kids

Another day of many blessings. Several great conversations.

One thing that really stuck out to me this day was the devotional. It was over 1 John 4:19-21. Love. Love God. Love others. What I got out of it, though, was more about relationships. How relationships are of God. They are modeled by God. He first loved us. Now we are able to love others. So... in order to have positive relationships with other people around us, we need to have a relationship with our Lord and Savior. It's all Him!

There was another part of 1 John 4 that really struck me too. It said that "there is no fear in love." Yikes! Fear. That's a tough word for me because a lot of my behavior is based on fear. That's something God is still working on in my heart. That's something that could use some prayer!

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I'm so glad to be home with the people I love. I am also so glad I didn't let my fears talk me out of this great experience. I have no regrets about the decision to go.

Thank you, Father, for knowing what's best for me and encouraging me in that way!

P.S.

Happy 60th birthday, Mom!

I still love you so, so much!