Sunday, May 27, 2012

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

The trip was very much a success in more ways than ever imaginable!

Please pray for us one more time. Pray that we may have the strength to take what we have learned and put it in to practice. Our lives here are much busier than they were in Mexico.

Thank you again!


This was the view from our plane ride last night.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

In Acapulco!

The point of being here is to reflect and process our past two weeks in Mexico. Much needed.
Just a bonus that it was in such a beautiful place!

Adios Ometepec!

It is time to leave. :(
We are in Acapulco for the night. We will get some time on the beach tomorrow morning and then off to the airport!

Thank you for your prayers!!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Last day here... :(

We had our last class today with the students at Carey Brenton school. They were a pleasure to teach. It was very sad to say goodbye to them and them to us. Today we did skits with them and they had to guess, in english, what was happening.

Here is a picture of one of our classes.

We are going to walk around town .

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Day 10

Sunday was a great day. We were all able to catch up on some much needed rest. Somehow, it didn't seem long enough! We had hamburger and hot dogs for lunch! Good old' American meal! That felt good to have. Later that night we Had some bonding time. Games, fresh cookies and ice cream! We had a good laugh!

Monday started early. We taught English lessons in the morning. We headed to the missionaries house to set up decorations for a party to celebrate 'Dia de estudiante' (students day). As we all came back to eat lunch and shower up, we discovered we were out of water! We got back and all crawled in bed, then... The power went out! That meant no fans! It was so hot! It's hard to sleep while sweating. The power came back on in the middle of the night. But the water didn't come back until today.
Why am I telling you this? We have all gained a better understanding of taking things for granted. This we have discussed that we pray we never take it for granted again:
- running water to brush our teeth
- air conditioning
- ice
- cold water

I think it has given us a new respect for this culture. Life isn't easy here.

Today we taught english lessons as a whole and played with the kids for 15 min of the class.
We offered the missionaries, Ben and Katie, a date. We have their kids and are feeding them lunch while they are out together. They don't get that very often so we are all more than willing to keep the 4 kids for a few hours.
After lunch we are headed to a neighborhood to just drop a ball and play with kids. We are greatly looking forward to that!

Prayers:
- please pray for our health. Some of us are struggling a little with the food and dehydration.
- pray for open hearts of the kids we have reached and those we will reach today
- pray for a rejuvenation of the missionary family here, the Johnsons, whether they need it or not!

Gracias! Buenos trades!

Pictures:
- Carpet ball game from the party we had.
- Group fun while out I dinner
- Some girls we have played with that were awesome people

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Pictures from the past few days...

The two blonde boys are the Johnson boys. (the missionaries we are working with)
These are the sunrises that we have been able to see. It rise around 7 am.
The group picture is one of 5 groups we have when we teach English.
One is of us beating some boys at the school in soccer... In skirts! (shorts underneath)
The other is of a boy wearing a salvation hat while some youth group girls told the story of the colors. We are used to salvation bracelets.

Day 7

Internet is back!!

We have a great few days.
Two days ago we got a full day of rain! First real rain since October! We helped clean the Johnson's yard area for a get together with the youth later that night. We had so much fun cleaning.
Yesterday we went outside of Ompetepec to La Boluda. We ended up playing a game with the girls at the school. We were mixed in with the girls on each team. During halftime, I (Riley) shared my testimony. It was clear the Lord spoke through me. I felt like I didn't say it right. But the Lord grabbed my words and spoke them to everyone for me. Praise the Lord!
We have had a lot of fun together, many random things, quotes and jokes.
Yesterday we were all challenged to sit ad be reminded of why we are here and to put on the Armor of God to protect us from small attacks that bring us down. It has been REALLLY hot. That seams to be the biggest struggle... It's been hard to look past the heat.
Today we are headed to Pinotepa to put on clinics and play in the afternoon. Please be in prayer for our travels and safety while we play.

Please be in prayer for Heather and Casey. Heather has not bee feeling to well. She got antibiotics. She played yesterday during futbol rapido, 5v5, and scored probably 8 times in a row! But she is feeling it this morning. Just a little tired.
Casey has developed up a rash on her hands. We are trying to figure it out. We thought maybe it was the Mangos. Now we think it's just a heat rash of some sort. But it itches a lot. I think she may go to the Doctor when we get back today.

Gracias por sus oraciones! (thank you for all your prayers!)

Ps. We all love learning and trying to speak in Spanish! Many of us are starting to think and write in our journals in Spangish!

Day 4

From day 4... This has been trying to load since then.
The internet has been out the past two days. When the Internet goes out in one place... It's out in the whole city.
Today was the first day that we helped teach English class. That was a lot of fun. We mostly just talked about our favorite colors, foods, activities and family members and ages. Tomorrow we will get into the curriculum. We are just trying to be in conversation with the students. grading them on participation.
During our time at the school we experienced a small earthquake! Apparently they are a weekly occurrence. We were also able to play games with the students during their 'second breakfast.' we will head back tomorrow morning at 6:45!
We had our first 'game' today. It was more of just a friendly match with a women's team that the missionary Katie has been playing with. We enjoyed it and they also did. Brooke shared her testimony and that was cool to hear in Spanish. Many of us have started to remember a lot from our high school classes! Later on after dinner a storm was brewing and the lights went out and there was another earthquake! Two in one day!!
We have been making a lot of friends! Last night we got a long bamboo tree and used it to get coconuts out of the palm trees! That was so much fun! We had the amazing ladies who have been cooking for us, Pati, Juliana, and Amada, help and a friend of theirs Marcelo. We tried fresh coco water and coco. They four of them kept laughing watching us silly Americans get so happy about getting coconuts out of a tree.
It's in that time that matters the most. That was an experience we all had and I pray that we all remember.

After that we experienced a power outage and another small earthquake.

Please pray:
- that we all get a good nights sleep ad are energized for another day.
- that the Devil stops using the heat as a weapon against us. It's gets reallllllly hot and, in turn, our attitudes are effected.
- for the language barrier to become almost non existent when showing/sharing the love of Christ!

Muchos Gracias para su prayers! ;)

Monday, May 14, 2012

Day 2

Last night we went to bed around 9pm to the sound of dogs, cars, music, and fireworks and woke up to the sound of roosters, chickens, dogs and fireworks! We were so worried about how well we were going to sleep but the Lord sure did provide, especially after a day like yesterday! We all woke up feeling so rested.
Some of us started the morning sitting outside and enjoying the view. Then we walked to breakfast. We had something similar to Enchiladas. They had chicken, sour cream, lettuce an green chile sauce.
After breakfast we met up with the Johnson's, the family we are working with. We then walked up to a big cross on top of a hill. We could see the whole city from there. We took a panoramic picture of the whole city.
From there we prayed and then walked though the city. Our small mission this morning was to just pray for the city, the people and just smile and say hola as we walked. We were warned before our walk but everyone was looking at us a if the 'circus' was in town. All we could do was smile.
We ended up in the center of the city and had a group prayer for the people of the city.
We have seen a lot today already. Much that we are not used to; fresh skinned chicken and beef on the side of the road, trash on the side of the road, and hundreds of dogs roaming the streets.

Some of the things you can be in prayer for with us:
-Pray for the men of this city. If asked for help, it is viewed that it is better to say yes to someone and not show up than it is to say no.
-Pray for the women of this city.
-Pray for everyone in this city that they may see the love of Christ through us and they may see that we don't have a religion we have a relationship with the Lord.

We are headed to lunch and then will go to a neighborhood and just drop a ball in the streets and play.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Ready to go...

At the airport ready to go... Nice and early. Boarding the plane to Houston at the moment.
It's Casey's first flight today. She is so excited. Filming everything!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Let the journey begin...

It is now 12:11 am.  If you look around the room you will find that some of us are sleeping, some reading, some talking, and you will find me blogging. I am just too excited. The Lord has really spoke to me and I am sure many others already and we haven't even left Lynchburg!

Please, when you read this of course, be in prayer for our travels today. We are leaving in just over an hour for the airport, about 2.5 hours away. We leave around 6am for Texas, have a layover and then board for MEXICO! We will arrive in Acapulco at 2pm (3pm est.)

Please pray that we each as individuals can die to ourself, pick up our cross, and follow Him: even if we are just traveling.

Thank you for your prayers and support!


"No man would find it difficult to die who died everyday..." - C.H. Spurgeon

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Next Few Days

Dear friends and family,

 Please join us in prayer as we begin our pre-tour devotions, clinics and fellowship. We will all meet together tonight for the first time.  We will spend the next few days preparing physically, mentally and spiritually for the trip.

 You can keep in touch with us through this blog during the trip.  Lord willing, we will be able to update you daily (or every few days) with pictures and stories of our trip.

Thank you for joining us so far by prayer and support.

God Bless!