wow, there are so many great memories, it’s hard to highlight one. i guess mine would be the overall spirit of the trip- i don’t think i ever heard anyone complain, there was tons of encouraging, lots of serving- the list goes on. i really enjoyed seeing Amy Windsor and Mrs. Thorson organizing and leading the kid activities. they did such a wonderful job with such a cheerful attitude.

hearing Emily sing Tthe Star Spangled Banner was also great

How about when Logan rolled the back of my shirt with green paint after I smeared his belt with a paint brush. That was fun.

Yeah, I can’t really just pick one thing.
However, I really enjoyed singing with Mrs. Sawyer & Emily while we were painting together, (From hymns to Sound of Music to The Prince of Egypt music).
Furthermore, I enjoyed having biblical fellowship with so many people on the team, seeing God’s grace at work in every single member on the team,
seeing Lattany step up to the plate with heading up the outdoor activities with the kids,
& finally, having Amelia roll the back of my shirt with white paint as well!

man o man, the first time those girls swung me around on that swing. I was flying like a million miles an hour, and i felt like i was gonna go flying through the air. That was fun.

The speed bumps every 30 yards or so were awesome, especially when no one saw them coming. Occasionally the guys in the back seat would bump their heads on the ceiling of the van; it was the best thing ever. And then there were those Bip Bip pictures…

I agree with everyone else. So much grace and so many highlights. The opera was good…The Swing was good…the mexican versus american basketball/boxing/rugby game was good. Strawberry was fun to hang around. So much good stuff going on. Logan and Chris, my two new brothers were fun. It was so awesome. Everyone is like so close. I really enjoyed getting to know Caleb Vahle, Jillian Metzger, and some other people that i didn’t know so well. The trip provided an excellent oppurtunity to enjoy fellowship and the grace of God with other people. Caleb is a cool guy…Just reach out to people, and you might find grace you’ve never known before.

More coming….cause i can’t think of everything know. I’m writing up a big long thing about the trip as we speak…

Ben H

There were lots of really fun things… (I can’t stand that Strawberry thing)… Some funny things include the “Drop Kick” with Amelia and Elizabeth… Telling people that I was 50 instead of 15…and more serious was just feeling closer to God down there…

that was a one-time opportunity for you people to be hearing REAL opera. (lol) i will NOT be doing that again. :^D i’ll talk later to those unmentionable people who caught a recording of it…

i really enjoyed seeing how joyful everyone was. it was SO evident that people were seeking to glorify God in their serving. thanx, “peeps,” for putting the gospel first in everything you did. it really encouraged me to have a gospel-centered mindset while serving.

i also can relate to ben about getting to know people i didn’t know that well.

the carl’s jr./childcare group was fun :^D

watching mia and all the other ‘high porcupines’ get happy on paint was interesting…

i LOVED playing with the kids!!!!! it was so neat to see how Hermano Dean had faithfully taught them about the gospel. it was really evident in their joy, even though they are orphans.

What an amazing week! Thanks to all the guys for being gentlemanly and for displaying servant leadership. Thanks for all the devotions you young men prepared–what a means of grace they were each morning. I commend all the girls for not complaining about not being able to use blowdriers or curling irons on the trip and for joyfully sharing only 2 sinks and 3 showers with all the women. Thanks to the other moms for your examples of kindness and endurance in the midst of sometimes difficult circumstances. Thanks for everyone’s joyful and passionate service to the Lord. What you did unto “the least of these” you were doing unto the Lord. He was glorified as you counted all things loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Him! (Phil. 3:7-8). Thanks to Dave, Mary, Christine, and Amy, for displaying true greatness in the way you cheerfully and excellently served with the strength that the Lord supplied.

Finally, Steve, you are THE BEST! Your leadership and love for Christ helped make this trip possible. You are such a gift to our youth group and our church. You truly set us an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Tim. 4:12). Thank you!

FUNNY MOMENT: Like many of you, I didn’t get a lot of sleep on this trip. I probably averaged less than three hours per night, and some nights was not able to sleep at all; thus, as the week wore on, I found myself saying things that didn’t make much sense, having thoughts derailed left and right, and giving illogical instructions to my paint team which I had to quickly retract. One of my funniest (saddest?) experiences occurred on the return trip. Being closer to the front of the plane, I headed up the aisle to use the rest room. Unfortunately, however, I COULD NOT FIND THE BATHROOM DOOR! (I am NOT making this up.) I stood there for a few minutes dazedly studying each door, as if waiting for a voice from on high to reveal the mystery of which one to utilize, then finally gave up and retreated to the back of the plane, where I amused the flight attendants by asking if there actually was a restroom at the front of the plane!

Well, that’s my blonde moment of the week. Now, back to reality and homeschooling! Love you all!

Wow, it sounds like you all had another amazing trip. Even though I didn’t get to go this year I followed along through the blog. I remember from last year how many times God met us on the trip and I was confident that He would do so again this year. I was praying for all of you and I’m glad that you are back safe and that you had a good time.

Throughout the whole trip, I greatly experienced God’s grace in a variety of different ways. One specific way and one that I can continue to apply in my life here is in trusting God. At the end of Aaron’s devotion on Wednesday night, Aaron pointed out that one way of application was to trust God, something I realized I hadn’t been doing. This combined with some other verses I had been reading on my own really helped me to trust in God throughout the rest of the week.

Out of all the funny things that happened, I think that these two events were some of the funniest that I could think of.

Another thing that happened a lot of people who went probably wouldn’t even now about. On Friday night, while a lot of people were in Juarez, we had a small bon fire at Rancho 3M. After all the younger kids had gone to bed, the three Adamek boys took one the glow sticks that we had given out earlier and after catching the ranch’s cat, they tied it around the cats waste. It was really funny watching the cat jump around. Because it was dark, all you could see was this little green circle bobbing up and down around the place!

The other thing was definitely not funny when it happened. On Wednesday afternoon, I was helping to watch some of the kids. So I was sitting there with some of the kids as Mrs. Jensen was explaining the rules to a game. Quite unexpectedly, Sergio, a little boy of about 8, who was sitting next to me, started yanking on the hair of my legs! Then, to make matters worse, Cesar, who was sitting in Colin’s lap next to me started copying Sergio! Fortunately, the game started up after a minute so they quickly stopped.

One brief note of clarification about the huge straw we made on Sunday: the picture here on the blog shows only about one-third of the total length we had! When it was complete, it stretched over half-way across the room!
(I know I pretty much wrote a book, but therre is so much to talk about!)

Getting to know and watch Ms Vahle was the highlight of my trip followed closely by wonderful fellowship with Logan.

Hey–it sounds like you all had a blast in Mexico! Melanie came home amazed at God and the work of this church! Thank you all for spreading the gospel and touching lives iver there! Many blessings go to our God forever and ever! All praise be to Him forever!

oh, so many evidences of God’s grace! great times, fun fellowship. There was no real specific story, but just the overall trip was amazing. Logan and Ben were fun to be around, having biblical fellowship, and being chaotic. How I benefitted from talking about the devotions with Aaron and Gabe. I learned from their examples of humilty, and thank them for asking me how they can pray for me and letting asking them the same. The devotions in the morning were so helpful. They were just the perfect way to start the day. It really set you off into a mood of Christ-centeredness and cheerfulness. Thanks guys who did them. Doing the little dance move also with Jonathan and making Sergio and David crack up was pretty memorable. I got to know many other people on the trip, which was great. many, many other memories… just too much to say right now.

a quick story though.

The first or second day I painted, I had to start on the front of the outside of the green house by painting parts of it with white primer. As I was moving a a big bucket of it over to where I wanted to paint, Obed comes up to me and says, “OOOHHHHH!!!!!!! Es la pintura?!?!?!” (”Is that the paint?”) I said “Si!” and he stares at it for a second, and then kicks it like three times, and walks away.

Wow… Mexico was amazing! That was the best trip that I have ever had in my life and I’ve been on a lot of trips. As soon as we started getting close to the Ranch I fell in love with everything about Mexico. The weather, the people that we passed by, the little shops, everything! When we met the kids and took our tour around the Ranch it was final. This was the best place that I had ever been in my LIFE.

I am so greatful that God allowed me and my mom to go on that trip. I was amazed at the joy that everyone had. From the kids to the staff to our team. no one ever complained and we were eveen singing as we worked. God really helped me see that there really can be joy through serving others.

Thanks to everyone who went for having an amazing atitude and for making the trip only that much better^_^

Lizzie J.

Wow. The Mexico trip was simply awesome! Despite the lack of sleep, it definitely was one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced. A major highlight was that, throughout the trip, I experienced an acute sense of nearness to God, which has continued since we’ve returned. Additionally, the other teens and I would often sing worship songs while we painted, and also a few times as we traveled in the vans. The continued times of worship (both spontaneous and planned, such as during the breakfast times) helped bring an ever-present sense of joy to the trip.

Sharing evidences of God’s grace every morning was also really neat. Additionally, throughout the week, Mrs. Sawyer and Emily each came up to me several times and asked either what I had read in my Bible, how I had been experiencing God’s grace, or how they could pray for me, which was all a real blessing. Thanks guys!

Another definite highlight for me was playing with the kids and just knowing how blessed we were even to be able to interact with them, as not all groups are. Their joy and friendliness was amazing.

There were countless funny moments on the trip. I think it was on Monday evening when I watched two of the little boys (about 4-years-old) take an unraveled plastic lei that they had been given earlier, string the handle of a bucket of chalk through it, and tie the two ends of the plastic rope to the metal bar of the monkey bars. They then proceeded to take a stick and hit the bucket of chalk as if it were a piñata. It was SO funny! Hearing Mr. Mullery’s Tarzan yell while we were up on the hill the one night was also very comical. Some other funny moments were watching one of the guys (Logan?) get chased and sprayed with shaving cream, the antics in the girls’ dorms at night, haggling with this one man at the market, doing paper-maché, and more.

Thank you Mr. Whitacre, Mr. and Mrs. Echegoyén, Christine, Mr. Adamek, and everyone else for making this trip possible!

I will always remember my bird head on a stick!

The stories are wonderful. We went to Mexico to serve but God worked it so that we were served as well!

Where to begin…

Well, I must mention Obed painting the sidewalk. Okay, so that wasn’t so funny for those who ended up scrubbing the cement, but what a little-boy thing to do! Poor guy didn’t have a clue he was doing something bad. That was on Monday — we’d soon learn that such actions were not unusual coming from Obed.

I really enjoyed getting to know Ms. Vahle and Weaver better, as well as Amelia Weaver (well, MOST of the time ;)) and Jillian Metzger. It’s amazing how you can set behind people week after week for months (or even years!) on end and hardly speak, yet living with them for one week and you’d think you’d known them forever! There were others that I knew on a superficial level, but challenging circumstances and and long van rides allowed me to get to know them on a deeper, spiritual level.

I was also impressed by the general attitude of the team. I am aware of oh exhausted I was by the time it came time to care for the kids, and how I didn’t really want to go BACK to painting after lunch, and how exhausted I was in the mornings, and how frustrating it could be to try to share two sinks and three showers with some thirty-five ladies, etc. etc. etc. but there were attitudes only of servanthood and humility. That’s the only way this trip could work, and it was on display everywhere you looked.

Finally, I was most-inspired by harmano Dean’s love for the kids. From the first time I met him at the airport and chatted at lunch, he spoke so fondly of “[his] kids”. It actually took me a little bit to determine that he was speaking of the ranch kids and not his biological children. He spoke with so much love and that love wasn’t ONLY spoken — it’s lived out daily in the way he trains his staff, relates directly to the children, takes an interest in their pasts and their lives, seeks to disciple and discipline them as he feels led by God, and so much more. Rancho3M glows with the light of the Gospel and it’s beautiful to see.

I could write more…but that will do for now. =)

Adios! (I still find myself slipping in a Spanish word here and there. I accidently ordered at Starbucks the day after we returned home in Spanish! Oops!)

So many stories…such a great trip.

On Friday Miriam asked me in Spanish what was the name of my daughter. Mia had to translate for me - and told Miriam that my daughter’s name was Krystin. I had told Miriam that I was sad to be leaving her, and she had given me her tametag. I was contemplating all this as I walked toward the kitchen. Amy came up and talked to me, and I told her what Miriam had asked and I began to cry. As Amy and I were standing together, and I was crying, a voice from the front of the Ranch kids dining room called out, “Stop the crying. You’re making us sad.” It was Jovani! Well, I went from feeling sad to laughing. The kids were SO great!

More memories of the kids…

Cesar and Obed with their runny noses giving us kisses…

Jovany pretending that he didn’t speak English -when he understood and spoke it perfectly!

Cesar not wanting me to do hand motions to the songs, but wanting me to just keep my hands on his shoulders the whole time…

Miriam giving me her snake to bring home…

So many kids writing thank you in our journals and telling us that they love us…

Esmeralda sticking her tongue out and laughing this great deep “belly laugh”…

Alfredo finally connecting with us…

Anna and Elizabeth calling for Mia to play football.

The thrill the Ranch kids had with getting the glow necklaces and bracelets. Most (if not all) had never seen them before! (Yeah, Amy!)

They love pens, bouncy balls, and stickers.

They loved everything that we did with them.

They loved us … and we love them!

Thank you, God, for this opportunity to participate with what You are doing there at the Ranch with these kids!

we were recieving far more than we were giving…

One funny story I have to tell. We had all been watching the girls giving people rides on the twirly-thing and when they stopped, me and colin (?) gave aaron a ride. He was going pretty high/fast when he finnaly told us to stop, and I tried pulling back on the rope I was holding (bad career move). I suddenly found myself jolted off my feet and flying through the air almost as high as aaron was. I went around once or twice, then my hands could stand it any longer (they were already kind of beat up by the jolt) and I let go to be sent flying what felt like dozens of yards (actually about 6-8 feet) away. When the innitial dizziness from my reentry left, I found I had landed with my head about 3 inches from the corner of that low, concrete wall (the one around that small tree). I don’t know what would have happened to my head if it had hit the wall at the speed I was going. Thank God.

a quick note about mrs. Vhale…

on friday, I was working with the construction crew led by mrs. vhale. I had a ton of questions about what I should do/how I should do it. Even though I was disrupting the smooth flow of her own work, she always stopped to answer my questions with kindness and grace. The really amazing thing is that everyine else on the crew was asking just as many questions as I was and she still was very kind and gracious to us all. It reminded me of how Jesus would probably be…

How about those coyotes…they were great.