The Last Day

"This trip has been incredible. It has really impacted me in so many ways. One example of this was when, on Monday, we went out and bought a bunch of toys for some children. The looks on their faces when we presented each of them with their choice of toy was just awesome. Their little faces lit up with such joy that it warmed my heart, and I know I was not the only one this experience impacted. Another gratifying experience was when we went out to this church in Clint (a small community on the outskirts of El Paso) and repainted it. I could tell the pastor really appreciated our efforts. This trip has also enabled me to get closer with everyone here, and I really appreciate everyone and all they have contributed. I'm sad to be leaving tomorrow, but I know I was blessed to come down here to see and do things I wouldn't be able to back home. All in all, this trip has really lived up to the high expectations I had been forming ever since I heard of this mission trip in grade 7." 
~ Jasmine Meyer

"We have had an amazing time. Today, we had some time to reflect on the events of the week. Some of the highlights brought up were: giving out diapers and playing with kids, hearing phenomenal testimonies, and talking with a group of people in the last year's building (teen challenge). We have had an amazing week.  A lot of us are excited to come home, but still want to stay with the friends we have grown to call family over the week. It is going to be very sad to be in my own room without the buzz of many people conversing 'quietly' as I am attempting to fall asleep. We are all coming home with new reputations (close proximity has done wonders for our trip's ability to know each other as we really are). For example, Raina is now running down the hall away from several different people forming a playfully angry mob. This has been the occurrence pretty well every night. I'll let her (and others-mainly Mrs. Blanchard- tell you the details of this when we get home. Any way, I'm going to spend the last few hours here with the rest of the gang. I miss Canada, and the snow."
 ~ Josie Glasman

As we prepare to depart El Paso, there have been numerous ways in which God has worked in the hearts of our students and supervisors. I think you can all tell. Even by the short testimonies on the blog of the students who wanted to share a bit of their experiences with you. Words cannot express how much we have appreciated all of your prayers and support back home. This missions trip always has a lasting impact on everyone involved. Praise the Lord for his wonderful works!!

See you tomorrow!

Reflections yet again...

Below are a few more perspectives from our students regarding the missions trip so far.

"This whole trip has been an amazing experience I have never had before. God has done some amazing things in my life, and was definitely evident in other people's lives as well. I just want to thank God for His faithfulness to me, and allowing everything to fall into place. God has shown me how to listen to Him, and has given me the courage to do things outside of my comfort zone. I have been very fortunate to hear many testimonies, and have learned the values and effects of God in people's life's. God has also shown me how important my own testimony is. I have enjoyed every moment of this trip, and how much God loves His children.  I have also been able to connect with young children, and learn some Spanish :), and have been able to hear some amazing God stories. Just wanted to say that if anybody ever has a chance to take a trip as amazing as mine has been, then they should definitely do it, because God teaches you so much, and you have a totally different view on things you thought before. "
~ Joelle Goodbrand


" This trip has been amazing and a total eyeopening time! It has been filled with many life changing time such as when we went to church this Sunday and the sermon was about our "First Love"(God) and how we need to come back to him and that we are the ones straying away he also talked about how God keeps on calling us back to Him and how it's our choice whether to answer or not. Also earlier this week we visited a warehouse which is not very big and  houses 15 families! So a couple of days after our visit we came back with a bunch of toys and you couldn't believe the smiles on these kids faces! It was truly amazing and they were all so happy even though they have next to nothing. It really made me think of how fortunate I am and how lucky I am even if I don't always remember that! God is truly amazing! And i definatly cant leave out  tonight at The Golden Coral (restaurant) where we all tryed to hit Mr. G with a bowl full of whipping cream, so Cache went to put it on his seat as he sat down and as he tryed to do this he dropped it on the ground and everyone laugh like crazy! :P As well as all that fun earlier today we also went to Carlsbad which is an amazing display of God great work! It was amazing to see and i wish you all could have been there!! Oh yah and Jesus tu amar!(jesus loves you)".
~ Sydney Kraus

I'm not going to reminisce on the whole trip, as  that would take too long :) I'm just gonna write about today,   in which we went to Carlsbad Caverns and the Golden Corral. The caverns were insane, like seriously. It was huger than ever, and dark and cold and wet. But so so pretty :-) Seriously, it had to take such immense creativity and skill to create something like that. Everything was so incredibly intricate,  with like, caves within caves, and spikes hanging from the ceiling and towers of rock, and since it was dark, the shadows cast by the little light bulbs just made everything a whole lot more interesting. :-) We hiked down for a few hours, and took the elevator up. There were cliffs and tunnels within the caverns, and awesome colors everywhere. Words and pictures can't even describe it, you have to be there. The Golden Corral was great, we tried to slide a plate of whip cream under Mr. Matheson's and Mr. G's chair as they were sitting down, but it was dropped instead. Oh well, we'll try again another time :)
~ Raina Gardner :)

Tomorrow we will be finishing up our work project at the Pentecostal Church, and doing some sorting of donations that will be brought into Juarez in the coming days. Our trip is quickly coming to a close yet we still wait in anticipation of what God will do in the last few days!

Adios for now!

Teen Challenge

Don't let the words fool you. Actually, our students have been the complete opposite of challenging. They have been absolutely fantastic! Each and every one of them has brought something to the table on this trip.
This evening we had a BBQ supper with a group called Teen Challenge. This is a Christian organization which helps anyone over the age of 18. Help is quite a broad word because the individuals come to the program with addiction issues, but the key here is that it is 100% voluntary, and the main reason people come is to develop a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ.  This is why the program has such a high success rate. Our students were very touched by some of the testimonies. One in particular involved a young man named Gabriel. He was recently released from a federal prison. He now has plans to go do missionary work in Africa upon completion of his time at Teen Challenge. Later we split into two groups. Our girls went with the females enrolled in Teen Challenge, while the boys spent time with the males. The boys shared stories, and had a great game of basketball! The girls all seemed to be very moved by the stories, testimonies, and their prayer time. The sincerity of prayer time for the boys was also quite evident after our basketball game. Hearts were moved, and you could feel the presence of the Lord!
A quick update on our work projects. We spent the day at the Pentecostal Church working on painting projects, framing, fixing pews, ceilings and dry-walling. The pastor, Manuel, and members of his congregation were very thrilled with the improvements to the facility. We were able to pray together as a group at the end of our day. Again, a very powerful 'God' moment!

Tomorrow we are off to Carlsbad Caverns for a day trip, which is a 2 hour drive into New Mexico. Looking forward to it!! We will talk to you all tomorrow...

Reflections

Some individual perspectives on the missions trip so far...

"Wow, this has been quite a trip! It is amazing what God has been doing here in El Paso. Today, (Monday) we went to a run dawn Pentecostal Church to renovate and repaint the interior. That was very fun and enjoyable (and messy)! Mr. G painted Eden's head mustard yellow! That was quite a site!!! Also we went to give away around $200 worth of toys and games to a group of kids. It really touched my heart when I saw the look of true, authentic joy and happiness. It was incredible. God is soo good!" ~ Cache Anderson

"God is Great! It's quite a site to see such a great city living on the border of one of the worst cities. Today, we went out to a Pentecostal Church and painted and renovated it. The pastor was so grateful. We also went out to dollar stores around town and bought about $200 worth of toys for kids who live in poverty. The site on there faces is one i will not forget! What God has done in El Paso and how he has done to protect it from what has happened to Juarez." ~ Brendan Klassen

"Tonight we got to hear from Pastor Armando and his wife Blanca about the terror and the triumph of Jaurez.  He and his family live and minister in Jaurez, a city where churches and pastors are being threatened continually by extortionists, where gang wars and violence have killed many and driven many people into hiding or as illegal immigrants into the US.  They shared stories of God's miraculous protection and encouragement as they have fervently prayed and fasted for protection, provision, and effective ministry.  They shared about a radio ministry they are running that is reaching at least 15,000 listeners a week who are spending more and more time in their homes, with little to do other than listen to their radios because of the danger outside.  I was so encouraged by the steadfast faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not fleeing but are falling to their needs and pleading for God to work mightily.  We can't relate in our comfortable Canadian culture.  I pray that we won't have to... could I stand firm in my faith if it meant the exploiting of my home, my children being kidnapped for ransom, the loss of loved ones, or my own death...  God forbid I should be content to be comfortable and complacent because it is my 'brothers' house, my 'sisters' children, a stranger's life that is being lost and not my own.  Let's pray for our brothers and sisters in Jaurez and around the world."

"...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints..."   Ephesians 6:18 ESV©

~ Pastor Nathan

A day of rest

Not too much to write on for today's entry because the focus for everyone was to simply rest and enjoy the Lord's day. For our entire team, the thought after today was rejuvination. The morning was spent at Centro Vida for praise and worship, and re-connecting with some of the people we had met over the past few years at this church. It was really cool for a lot of our students because they were able to not only go to the english service, but also attend the spanish worship part of the second service. Some students came up afterwards and said how amazing it was to be singing worship songs to God in different languages, but still be worshipping the one true God. How awesome it is to see our students excited about the body of Christ!!

During this week, we will be having some of our students share their experiences about the trip on the blog. We will try our best to get everyone's stories out to you back home.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. We definately feel them down here!

Sleep well everyone...

"Seek ME and you will find ME..."

Appropriate title again for our day today. We were uncertain how the neighborhood ministry would go out at pastor Chuey's place. But as we all know, God does show up in incredible ways!
Dakota Blanchard began the day by leading our team in a devotional after breakfast about putting on the full armor of God. His focus leaned towards using the "shield of faith" as our weapon in our day to day life. I felt it was so related to what we were about to do out at the neighborhood ministry. Our team was challenged to step out in faith again, and not be afraid to talk with the people who would show up. Many of them need to hear about the love of Christ, and what a new life it truly is when you follow Him!
When we first arrived at the ministry site, clothes and food hampers needed to be organized to be passed out for all who would attend. At first it appeared that we would have a relatively small crowd, and even that would have been amazing within itself. Before long, however, numerous amounts of people started flocking to Chuey's property. Children were everywhere!! Parents were enjoying listening to pastor Chuey speak to them about the word of God, and what a relationship with Him is all about. The kids enjoyed a puppet show, and loads of laughter could be heard all over! We also had a BBQ set up for the families to enjoy. Lots of food and beverages for everyone!
Other activities that could be seen around the area were soccer games, playing tag, hide and seek, and simply just getting to know the people of the area who just needed to be loved. I can't even imagine what it is like for many of them on a day to day basis. The thing that hits us the most here is that thousands of them who live in the neighborhood have fled Mexico to seek refuge in a safe country. It reminded me of how much we take for granted in Canada, and how much more we need to seek Christ's refuge in the trials and tribulations that we endure in our own life.
To conclude our day, we handed out boxes of diapers to the families for them to take home. So many smiling faces! Many of them have so little but have such big hearts of thankfulness and gratitude!
The evening was more of a relaxing one, with a few games of basketball in the gymnasium and some personal down time. Tomorrow we will be going to a fairly large church called Centro Vida, located in the south-east side of El Paso. We will be hearing pastor Joey speak, and also have the opportunity to connect with many friends we have made at this church over the last few years. Should be a great time of worship and praise to our God!
Talk to you all tomorrow...

Stepping out of your comfort zone

As the title for today says, our team was challenged in some pretty big ways. Most of our day was spent out at a poverty-stricken neighbourhood on the outskirts of El Paso. This is the area of the city where Pastor Chuey (we have partnered with him in the past few years) lives. We set off in groups and connected with numerous people in and around the block. We informed them about a neighbourhood ministry called Walking with Jesus, which we would be doing the following day (Pastor Chuey's house/yard is where the event will take place). There would be tons of food, soccer and basketball games, and puppet shows just to name a few. The response was extremely positive! So many faces lit up when we told them about all the activities planned. We are hopeful and praying that God will overflow the property with people where the event will be held. A lot of these people living in the area are people who have fled the corruption and violence in Juarez to seek a better life in the United States. Extremely poor to put it bluntly. You can imagine that money and food do not come easy for a lot of them.
The afternoon was spent working and preparing Pastor Chuey's property and house for tomorrow's ministry. We cleaned up garbage on the yard, and completed a small construction project on the outside of his house. The weather was very warm so by the middle of the afternoon, we were all getting pretty exhausted from the heat. However, we kept reminding ourselves of the past 5 months of Alberta weather, and that made us keep going!!
In the evening, we had some very special guests come and join us. Juan and Laura and their families came and shared their testamonies, sang songs, and prayed with us. It was a very powerful time together. Juan and Laura are the directors of a men's rehab centre in Juarez, and some of their stories of the way God has taken over their lives is extraordinary! Without a doubt, them spending the evening with us had a profound impact on our entire group. May they be blessed in their ministry!!
As the night came to a close, we were already getting excited about tomorrow's neighbourhood ministry. We don't know what God has planned for us there. We don't know how many people will show up. We don't even know what the initial reaction will be. But...what we do know is that we serve a BIG God. There is much need, and God wants to do a work in us and through us to seek and save the lost. Even if there is one person that is impacted by tomorrow's event, we know that there was a devine purpose in it. Please continue to pray for us. The unity of our team is growing, which is exciting to say the least! However, a few of us are still fighting some sickness.

We leave you with the quotes of the day:

"Hello-ooo! Like, indulge!" ~ Mr. G's response to Josie and Jasmine after they both had very little on their supper plates...
"Wow...I am not used to all this hot weather!" ~Eden
"You don't know how much this means to me. Praise the Lord!" ~A lady named Ethel that we met out at the neighbourhood today. A group of us were able to pray for her, specifically for her health (epileptic seizures), and home invasions that have occured in the last while.