Mission Trip to Nuevo Laredo
I never really got a chance to share about how the Lord spoke to me during the mission trip. It is hard to put into words what the Lord did in my life but I will share some of my experiences during the week.
John spoke at First Baptist Nuevo Laredo on Sunday morning. He talked about suffering. The Lord allows us to go through suffering so that he can prune us so that we can grow in our faith, the Lord can bless us, and we can help others come to Christ. Things that Satan means for bad are used by God for good. It was quite a moving message and many tears were shed in the sanctuary.
We went to one Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the morning and two different afternoon VBSs (we went to one of them twice and the other three times). We gave the kids snacks, made crafts, and did recreation (baseball with a wiffle ball, jump rope, tug-of-war, piggyback races, soccer, volleyball etc.). Ladies from the host church did the Bible lesson.
Despite the fact that the children had very few material belongings, they were so happy. Their faces would light up when they saw us coming. They were filled with joy. Little things made them happy. One of the little girls in the afternoon VBS was so excited because she got to take a couple Ziploc bags home to her mom after she finished the craft.
Seeing the beautiful faces of the kids and how excited they were to color on a sheet of paper or make a cross necklace was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There was such joy on their faces! They were genuinely grateful...grateful that they had the opportunity to make cross necklaces...grateful to eat goldfish...grateful to have piggback races...grateful that we came to see them...
It was heartbreaking watching the environment that the kids have to live in day to day. It is extremely hot with little shade, very few trees, hardly any grass, and glass and garbage cover the ground. The play area at our morning VBS was covered in mesquite trees with huge thorns. The afternoon VBS looked like a desert.
Most of the children were basically on their own and some young children were in charge of their younger siblings. A young girl was sleeping on a chair in the bed of a pickup while her mother held her baby sister on another chair. It is so different then children are treated in the US. We would go to jail for treating kids that way. In Mexico, it is normal.
While we were at the hotel, Brad and John noticed a man that was drunk and beginning to get violent. They saw him slam his hand into a car windshield. Some people attempted to get the man to stop but he chased them away. John noticed the man's little baby was walking around in the street so he picked him up and walked over to the man. He told the man that the Bible says not to get drunk. The man said, "Am I drunk?" and John said, "Are you?" and the man said, "Yeah, I'm drunk.". John talked to him and got him to calm down. The police came but the man had already calmed down by that time and they left after they realized everything was okay. Afterwards, John talked to the man's wife and she said, " I am Catholic and he is Baptist. Every time he gets out of hand, God sends a Baptist to get him back in line". God is so awesome (and He has a pretty good sense of humor).
Everywhere we turned, the Lord was working. He was working in the lives of the waitress at Pizza Hut, the man from the Auto Parts Store, the drunk man in the hotel parking lot, the lady Brad and John went to pray with, etc....
I have a hard time looking at the pictures without getting emotional. Saying goodbye to the kids was so hard. One little girl had tears running down her face and she would look away and wipe them away and then look back at us. It is easy to get attached to them. Seeing them all line up as we drove away...watching them wave goodbye...some of them were really sad to see us go...I know I was sad to leave them...
There is nothing like being used by the Lord. It is amazing. Be available!
He did things through us that we never could have done on our own. If you have never been on a mission trip before, I highly recommend that you go on one! You will not regret it!!!!!!
I never really got a chance to share about how the Lord spoke to me during the mission trip. It is hard to put into words what the Lord did in my life but I will share some of my experiences during the week.
John spoke at First Baptist Nuevo Laredo on Sunday morning. He talked about suffering. The Lord allows us to go through suffering so that he can prune us so that we can grow in our faith, the Lord can bless us, and we can help others come to Christ. Things that Satan means for bad are used by God for good. It was quite a moving message and many tears were shed in the sanctuary.
We went to one Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the morning and two different afternoon VBSs (we went to one of them twice and the other three times). We gave the kids snacks, made crafts, and did recreation (baseball with a wiffle ball, jump rope, tug-of-war, piggyback races, soccer, volleyball etc.). Ladies from the host church did the Bible lesson.
Despite the fact that the children had very few material belongings, they were so happy. Their faces would light up when they saw us coming. They were filled with joy. Little things made them happy. One of the little girls in the afternoon VBS was so excited because she got to take a couple Ziploc bags home to her mom after she finished the craft.
Seeing the beautiful faces of the kids and how excited they were to color on a sheet of paper or make a cross necklace was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There was such joy on their faces! They were genuinely grateful...grateful that they had the opportunity to make cross necklaces...grateful to eat goldfish...grateful to have piggback races...grateful that we came to see them...
It was heartbreaking watching the environment that the kids have to live in day to day. It is extremely hot with little shade, very few trees, hardly any grass, and glass and garbage cover the ground. The play area at our morning VBS was covered in mesquite trees with huge thorns. The afternoon VBS looked like a desert.
Most of the children were basically on their own and some young children were in charge of their younger siblings. A young girl was sleeping on a chair in the bed of a pickup while her mother held her baby sister on another chair. It is so different then children are treated in the US. We would go to jail for treating kids that way. In Mexico, it is normal.
While we were at the hotel, Brad and John noticed a man that was drunk and beginning to get violent. They saw him slam his hand into a car windshield. Some people attempted to get the man to stop but he chased them away. John noticed the man's little baby was walking around in the street so he picked him up and walked over to the man. He told the man that the Bible says not to get drunk. The man said, "Am I drunk?" and John said, "Are you?" and the man said, "Yeah, I'm drunk.". John talked to him and got him to calm down. The police came but the man had already calmed down by that time and they left after they realized everything was okay. Afterwards, John talked to the man's wife and she said, " I am Catholic and he is Baptist. Every time he gets out of hand, God sends a Baptist to get him back in line". God is so awesome (and He has a pretty good sense of humor).
Everywhere we turned, the Lord was working. He was working in the lives of the waitress at Pizza Hut, the man from the Auto Parts Store, the drunk man in the hotel parking lot, the lady Brad and John went to pray with, etc....
I have a hard time looking at the pictures without getting emotional. Saying goodbye to the kids was so hard. One little girl had tears running down her face and she would look away and wipe them away and then look back at us. It is easy to get attached to them. Seeing them all line up as we drove away...watching them wave goodbye...some of them were really sad to see us go...I know I was sad to leave them...
There is nothing like being used by the Lord. It is amazing. Be available!
He did things through us that we never could have done on our own. If you have never been on a mission trip before, I highly recommend that you go on one! You will not regret it!!!!!!
Labels: Travel
posted by Lacey at 8:30 AM
5 Comments:
The pictures and captions are great. I enjoyed the trip, and wish we had more time to spend with the people of Nuevo Loredo.
it's great to read about how God spoke to you on the trip. i know that i definitely learned a lot about God and about myself...a lot that i need to change! anyways, so glad you went!
i'm so confused...did I not already comment on this post?! well i thought I had, but anyway I was also glad to read about what God taught you on the trip. It's so weird to go somewhere with the expectations of helping others, then end up seeing how much God teaches you through it! I like the pictures too!!
The slide show is super fantastico!!! Thank you for sharing all of those picture; I can see how hard it would have been to leave those kids.
I need to remember to keep them in prayer regularly... :o)
I really like the pictures. Brad looks very happy in them. Serving the Lord will definitely do that to ya. I thought the "God sends a Baptist" quote was great. I laughed! :) I'm glad you enjoyed your mission trip.
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