Hello Everyone! It's been awhile! Sorry about that...
Well, it's almost been 2 months now! Most of it has passed with me going to Spanish class, exploring the city, meeting new people, doing Spanish homework, and practicing Spanish. Last month, though, some of my teammates (Nick, Princeton, Chris, Ivanka, and Ramiro) and I got the amazing opportunity to take a break from the norm and go help out at a VBS down in the Yucatan peninsula. It was amazing! There really are no words for what a blessing this trip was to me and to my teammates.
First off, I'd like to mention that León, Guanajuato where we live, is in the central part of Mexico. The Yucatan peninsula is on the opposite side of Mexico, and we traveled by bus. But then again, we are AIMers so when it was mentioned that this trip would involve more than 24 hours on a bus, we just laughed and said "Well, we've done THAT before." First we had to catch a bus from León to Mexico City (6 hrs), get on the metro in Mexico City, take it to another bus station, and meet up with some ladies from Mexico City who would be going with us to the VBS. After a couple of hours at the bus station, we caught our bus to Chetumal. That ride should have lasted 19-20 hours but it ended up lasting closer to 25 or 26 hours because of these traffic jams in the middle of nowhere. The ride went on and on as I mourned over a dead ipod battery and consoled myself with the Fun Dip I managed to find at one of the stops. Well, half the fun of traveling is getting there right? It was certainly an adventure. God took good care of us and Ramiro did a good job as our leader.
The next day was Sunday so we got up early to worship with the church there in Chetumal. It's a very small church (maybe 20 memebers) but the people there were amazing! The services were in English and Spanish because the man who was preaching is an American from Rhode Island who now lives in Belize. Another brother translated the sermon into Spanish for him. After a meal together, we commenced to set-up for the VBS.
Set up was such a big job! This VBS (called Rancho Avalancha or Ranch Avalanche in English) is very very elaborate and thought out. Everything is planned out and each activity has to do with what the kids are learning that day. It was so cool! To set p for it we put up a bunch of posters and foam cowboy decorations. And when I say a bunch I mean A BUNCH!!! The walls were covered! It took quite a awhile and we had about 30 people working on it!
The VBS started on Monday and went through Friday. Like I said before, it is very thought out, even the snacks have to do with what the kids are learning. They have 10 specific songs that they learn the words and the motions to over the week and they loved it! (I think I loved it just as much! I was a lot of fun!) There were 4 different stations everyday: one where they watched a video, one where they heard a Bible story and actually became part of it (being spies at Rahab's house, crossing the Jordan river, ect.), a station for games and a station for crafts. The whole thing was so much fun!
There were about 70 kids everyday and they were exited and participating and really enjoying themselves. The church in Chetumal only has a few families so most of these kids were just kids we got to come by passing out fliers. I'm sure most of them had never been to a Christian church before. One cool thing that I learned was how a VBS could be used to minister to the community, not just to the kids in the church. On Thursday we had a ladies' night and all the moms were invited to come. A few of them did and one in particular responded very well to the message and asked for prayers that she would have the strength to follow the Lord. All the visitors wrote their names and phone numbers down and members from the church are going to follow up and visit them. On Friday, all the parents were invited to come and see what their kids had been doing at the VBS and several of them did. I helped take them around to all the different activities. At the end of the last day, we gave away Bibles to every family.
I think that the VBS was a great success and a blessing to everyone involved but there were more good things that came out of this trip than just that. The church in Chetumal is very small and we were able to encourage and refresh them just by being there. We spent a lot of time with them every afternoon after the VBS doing different things and we became good friends. They were excited when we mentioned we might like to come back to visit again. The trip was just an over-all blessing. It was a renewal and a refreshing time for me. It was a blessing to be able to do everything that we did in spite of all the barriers and limitations that the language and culture shock are still putting on us. I thank God that he allowed us to go.
Thanks everyone for reading! Please keep the church in Chetumal and all the work there in your prayers. Pray that the church will really do a great job of continuing the work that we all began together.
