Pictures!

Back in the States! Sorry for the late update. Carlsbad, New Mexico was internet-less -- at least access was non-existent.

Border crossing was, thankfully, uneventful. We so enjoyed our trip through the Guateloupe Mountains into New Mexico. The landscape was stunning. Carlsbad cave was a nice diversion from our mission trip. Caves were beautiful. Seeing the bat leave in the evening was stunning and amazing! A half-million small Mexican Free-tailed Bats streaming out of the cave was a wonder.

We so much enjoyed our trip and I can say for all us -- we are happy to be home. We pray that you have enjoyed the updates and the pictures. Even moreso, we want this to encourage you to pray for the missionaries to Juarez that the gospel will penetrate their hearts and that eternal fruit will be born out of the work that the God did while we were there.

Introducing .... the pictures!

Monday began with a pancake breakfast ... but strangely no re-fried beans! How disappointing. Nonetheless we started off the day going to a orphanage here in Juarez. We played with the kids all morning -- soccer on pavement (we learned soccer is not our forte but definitely theirs), wiffle ball, frisbee, coloring, reading, blowing bubbles, paying on the swings and jungle gym ... basically connecting with these children. I don't know who enjoyed the time more: us or the children.

Their school system is on a split day schedule. So after lunch the kids headed off to school and we began some work. We dug a 100 foot trench: 1x1x1 foot. That would be used for drainage. Wall of the center were painted white. Trash was picked up around the property. A fair amount of hard labor with the intense sun and constant heat.

The kids arrived back at the orphanage at 7 pm. We all shared a meal of authentic Mexican food -- well, maybe not authentic -- but it was Domino's Pizza from a local pizza shop. Nice change. And once again, no beans.

We gathered back at the compound for a great time of worship and sharing.

Please pray for us as we begin or travels home -- we go to El Paso and New Mexico tomorrow. We have plans to see Carlsbad Caverns.

Please pray for Colby as he is still under the weather. Pray that his travels will be uneventful.

And the pictures ... click here!

We were able to sleep in a bit this morning. Church was not until 11 am. So breakfast was at 8:30 (ham and eggs, cereal, toast, fruit ... and don't forget the re-fried beans).

The projects we worked on this week were to minister to families of a local Presbyterian church. Worship was sweet ... the people even more so.

After lunch we headed to the market to do some casual shopping. Interesting experience. Lots of bargains. Some got better ones than others.

In the early evening, we went to visit a Tarahumara Indian mission center. The children there would steal your heart away. The women's dresses were stunningly colorful. These indigenous people are from the Sierra Mountains in the interior of Mexico. They have come to faith in Christ and are now working toward bringing the Gospel back to their people. To learn more about the Tarahumara indians, please visit www.riveraministries.org. Edwin Rivera had been our contact and coordinator for our trip to Juarez. When not leading groups to Juarez on short-term missions, he is a missionary to the Tarahumara Indians with his wife Shelley and their three girls.

BREAKING NEWS ... 11:45 pm ... Colby Porta has just hurled from the top bunk. Our condolences go to Mr. Andrew Snow (bottom bunk). We are nursing Colby back to health. His roommates are serving on clean-up patrol. Some will not come back with everything they came with (maybe without a pillow or sheet, we'll see).

FOLLOW-UP ... 12:45 pm ... clean up a relative success. We moved Colby to a room (on a bottom bunk with a bucket (good thinking Katie B.) and near the bathroom. He is sleeping soundly for now. We have move his roommates to a new room with their undying gratitude.

Which leads us to our prayer requests ... most everyone is feeling pretty good. A few headaches and a bit of nausea here and there. But we are thankful for the opportunities we have had and the way the people from this church here in Juarez have ministered to us. Please pray for Colby that he will recover and be back to good health soon.

Okay ... first the pictures ... click here

Today was an amazing day (despite a few feeling under the weather -- Mr. Lightner, Katie B. and Cat G. Nothing too alarming, just do to the different climate, working conditions, and different food.

But we saw progress on our job sites. We finished the 4x4x6 ft deep septic hole and then were assigned to another ... 5 x 5 x 5 ... and it was funny. The site was right across the dirt road from a heavy machinery company. They had a backhoe. A couple of our students (Mick E. and Tyler P.) went over to look at the equipment and the owners came out speaking english. After they heard what we were doing, they offered to help us free of charge. Wow!!! We have not because we ask not (thank you Val Davis). It took 20 minutes instead of the 8 hours required by hand. It was amazing.

We are looking forward to a relaxing evening as we prepare for church tomorrow morning and an afternoon of going to the Juarez market.

If you haven't done so already, please take a look at the comments left on our guestbook and feel free to leave your own as well.

We began a hot June morning with our first work day. Hot blazing sun, but ready and eager to work. Our projects were in "the projects". A variety of tasks were given for the day

1. Put a roof over two rooms of a home. The roof was non-existent. So laying 2 x 4s and plywood was the order of the day.
2. Re-bracing a roof and cover with tar paper. The roof of this two-room house was in dire need of work to prevent further damage.
3. Dig a 4 ft square by 6 ft deep hole for a septic tank. Another mission team was scheduled to build a family a home, but there was no bathroom in the house plan -- plans have changed! And we are able to help with a basic necessity that we always take for granted.
4. Re papering a roof to make it water and weather proof.

Having the opportunity to help a few families with the basics of what we all have was a blessing to us and, we pray, to the people we served as well.

W returned to the compound for showers and a bit of rest/relaxation before we headed of to a very intriguing worship service.

For those interested, here was on the menu --

Wednesday: Bean and beef burritos with guacamole sauce and re-fried beans.

Thursday: Challupas with re-fried beans.

Friday: Vegetable beef tacos, pasta, mashed potatoes ... and, oh, don't forget, re-fried beans.

Food has been very good. It has been graciously cooked for us by a few mexican women who work at the center where we are staying.

Oh yeah ... and the pictures ... click here.

After some rest we when up to a mountain-side and enjoyed the fellowship with a local church in worship -- some in spanish, some in english. Jake, Jordan and Kelsey were privileged to share in the leading of worship.

This service (as you can see from the pictures) was outdoors. In fact, it is a church without walls, a roof, or for that matter a building. When they say "we are the church" -- that has not rung more true in our hearts than this evening did.

The people were so welcoming and loving. We could not have had sweeter fellowship with our Mexican brothers and sisters in Christ.

And the pictures ... click here.

Ah ... Mexico. We are here and we are pleased with our accommodations (except we can't flush TP ... and I don't mean Tyler Proffit), the food is great, and the sleeping arrangements could not be better.

We have taken a look at our work sites lined up for tomorrow. We covet your prayers! They are labor intensive and in some of the poorer places of Juarez. Pray that our ministry will bring glory to God and encourage the people we minister to in their faith.

Also pray for our health as some are very worn out from our travels and are not feeling 100%.

Worship was amazing tonight. The music really brought us together as we praised Jesus Christ. Small group times were sweet and great relationships are being formed.

What ... you want more pictures? Here you are -- click here.

The Lord was gracious to us in providing a charter bus from Greyhound that picked us up from Dallas. An all-night drive was not what was desired, but we are thankful for arriving safely to El Paso Airport this morning at 8 am ... and all our luggage from the airplane is here and now in our hands.

A special thanks to Mike Snow for getting the ball going on suggesting that we contact Greyhound for an emergency charter. God is very good ... all the time.

Much more to this story ... but we are all in good spirits and and on track for our mission. We are in the process of getting a bit of breakfast for our weary bodies. And then it is off to Juarez, MX.

And do we have pictures??? Absolutely! Click here for pictures.

Big shout out to the birthday boy ... Steve Pichard BD today!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!! Click Here

Well .... we are sitting in Dallas/Fortworth International Airport. Planes have run late due to weather; connection flight was cancelled. So we are waiting to hear from American Airlines for a possible charter. We are praying for that to become a reality.

So we do indeed have some prayer requests:

1. Patience knowing that God is in control of all things; this does not surprise or worry Him.
2. Transportation would be provided in such a ways that our loss of ministry time in Juarez would be a minimum.
3. This will be a trying and exhausting day; pray that we will stay in good spirits and good relations.

We'll update this as soon as we know more.