Give and Take

Sunday was our "Hanging of the Greens" service, which is a very joyous service celebrating the season.  The service is a very long service so I was told early in the week to prepare a brief sermon.  As is my norm, I typically don't write/finish my sermon until Friday or Saturday.  We all know the events that took place on Friday morning.  Because of the nature of that horrific day I didn't know how to NOT address the issue in some way from the pulpit.  So here is my sermon from this past Sunday, or at least the general wording.

 

 

If I’m being honest I didn’t feel like writing a sermon this week.

If I’m being honest I don’t feel like preaching today.

But as a person of faith we gather together, to sing and pray and proclaim God’s presence in the world even in the midst of tragedy. 

Friday I turned on the TV only to hear about the events that took place in CT.  As a parent and as a Christian the news was difficult to watch. 

As I watched I was flooded with emotions…sorrow, confusion, anger, hurt, and disgust.

How could anyone do such a thing?

How can there be so much evil in the world?

Where was God?  How could God let something like this happen?

Social media was littered with posts and tweets about gun control, mental health reform and others proclaiming there can be no God because God would not let this happen.

It is in times of tragedy our faith is often shaken. 

The events of Friday beg the age old question…why do bad things happen to good people? 

There is no answer to this question.

I STRUGGLE to think that God was NOT present in the midst of the chaos.  In times of tragedy God IS present, and God weeps for those who are lost.

Last Sunday I said the church should not be in the business of morals.  I stand by that statement even today.

Nobody would ever say what happened Friday were moral.  The church does not need to tell that to anyone.  I’ve heard Christians say that God is not allowed in schools and that is the problem with society today.  I respectfully disagree. 

The problem is not that God is not in schools…the problem is we don’t take God outside of our churches.  We keep God bottled up inside these walls.  Jesus’ was not meant to be held inside.

Our reading today concludes with John the Baptist proclaiming the Good News to the people.

Who were those people you ask?

They were morally corrupt people, people who took advantage of those vulnerable in society.  

This crowd of people to whom John spoke were not Christians, rather people needing to hear of the coming of Christ.

On this day…there are many who need to hear that good news.

If advent is REALY about preparing for the coming of Christ why aren’t we telling people what that means?  Why aren’t we answering our call to be the light of Christ in the midst of darkness every day? 

When are we as a church going to start giving the Good News of Christ rather than taking the bad news of a trouble society?

What an incredible couple of days.  The birth of my daughter and all the joy that goes with it.  And writing a sermon.  A sermon written with her fast asleep on my chest. 

For those who know me, you know that I don't stick exactly to my manuscript, but it's close.  I also don't typically post sermons since for me preaching is as much an oral art form as it is literary, but I was asked/told I needed to...so here's my sermon for the Second sunday of advent.  The text was Luke 3:1-6.

 

 

Advent – coming, arrival…a time to prepare.

Those words have taken on a whole new meaning this week.  Our family has been waiting for the arrival of our baby.  Christina diligently read all the literature she could find over the last 12 months to prepare for our child.

We took CPR classes, we took birthing classes, and she even took a class called, “Happiest Baby.” 

We prepared the nursery, installed car seats, put together swings and bassinets. 

We frequently discussed what we would do when she went into labor.

We guessed dates, and gender and we were prepared!!!

Then it happened…at 1:00 in the morning…Christina’s water broke.  I should point out that in one of our classes the lady said, “When your water breaks, it’s not like it is in the movies.  She went on to say that 85% of the time your water breaks at the hospital.”  I should have known my wife would be the exception.

I was sure that I was prepared.  We would time contractions, and as we timed them we would gather together the last few items we needed to take with us, and at the appropriate time we would head to the hospital.

It never occurred to me to prepare for Christina’s water breaking at home.

Sure it all worked out in the end, we made it to the hospital in time, and all is well, but to be as unprepared as we were in spite of our belief otherwise is somewhat concerning.

In our reading today we hear of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord.  In the church we often talk about being prepared for the 2^nd coming of Christ.

So this week I asked myself…Am I prepared.  I’m gonna be honest…after the events of this week probably not. 

We had 9 months to prepare for a baby…and they gave us a due date.  We don’t have a due date for the coming of Christ.  We know he’s coming but we don’t know when. 

So how do we prepare for something when we have no idea when it’s going to happen? 

After this week I’m not sure I’m fully capable of answering this question for you. 

John went out proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.

That sounds like a pretty good place to start…be washed clean in the waters of baptism and repent for your sins.

The waters of baptism are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are washed clean.  But in our humanity we can always find a way to dirty ourselves.  So John tells us more.  Repentance…

We are called to repentance.  Most of us when we think of repentance we think of remorse or contrition.  But I like this definition better because it takes it a step further…To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one's sins.

By repenting you are saying, I can’t do this on my own.  I can’t…becomes God can.

If you’re familiar with any of the 12 step programs such as AA the first step is saying…I can’t do this on my own…the second step is a power greater than myself can help me…God can help me.

I think we as a church get caught up in the morals of the world and telling everybody what they should and shouldn’t be doing.  We want to either ignore our sins or we want forgiveness of ours…yet we want to judge others.  We like to rely on our baptism and gloss over repentance.

The church needs to be in the business of forgiveness…not morals.  If we are doing the judging then the church becomes us good guys and gals AGAINST the bad guys & gals out there.  Repentance and forgiveness are much more productive the judgment and condemnation. 

If we are preparing for the coming of Christ this seems like a good place to start.

Our gospel reading concludes…with a leveling of the playing field.  Mountain and valleys will be made level…all flesh will see the salvation of God.  A leveling where all flesh will see the kingdom of God.

For those of you who struggle with scripture stating the first shall be last and the last shall be first…this paints a different picture.  It’s not a reversal it’s a leveling.

Rich and poor, slave and free, men and women, young and old, straight & gay…all flesh will see the kingdom of God.  It is a coming together…a meeting in the middle.

We do not live in a perfect world.  We have wars, disease, racism and poverty. 

Far too often we look to the world for salvation.  We put our faith in our stuff, our worldly possessions.  We need to stop looking to the world for God’s salvation and look to Jesus.

We can look to Jesus in scripture

We can look to jesus on the cross

We can look to  jesus in the waters of baptism

We can look to jesus in bread & wine

We can look to jesus in our gathering together

We can look to jesus lying in the manger

 

When you look around the world what do you see?

Do you see our differences?  Do you see our similarities?  Or do you see Jesus?

Imagine how different the world would be if we saw Jesus in everyone we met.

I don’t know if that prepares us for Christ’s coming.  I may not be the one to talk about being prepared.

We had 9 months to prepare for a baby who came on the due date, and we were still caught off guard.  I’m sure there will be some surprises when Jesus comes. 

We have no due date…but we can all prepare.  We can repent, we can work to eliminate division and level the playing field, and we can see Christ in everyone we meet.

And by doing so we can prepare for the coming of Christ.

Day 7: Final day before departure

Today is our final day in Ensenada, and tomorrow promises to be a VERY long one.  We will leave here around 10:00 AM and work our way toward the border.  I would estimate it took us maybe 15-20 minutes to cross into Mexico.  Coming back into the States takes a minimum of an hour.  Our flight doesn't leave San Diego until almost 11:00 PM Pacific, and we are due into our final destination (BWI) around 9:30 Eastern with a stop in Atlanta.  Add in a drive to Towson then finally Gettysburg AND you get the point. 

I'm having very mixed emotions tonight.  On the one hand I miss my family terribly and cannot wait to see them, but on the other hand this has been a tremendous experience and there is still SOOO much work to be done here.  Much of our day today involved wrapping up projects for the guys and a girlie day for the girls.  Jimmy finished off is computer desk with a couple of coats of paint and I finished wiring the lights in what will be the new all purpose room.  The girls helped make jewelery, which will be sold to raise money for Lantern Hill, then taught Marta how to make peanut butter cookies.  Marta has prepared our meals this week (did I mention how awesome they were? and I ate veggies too!!!).  She mentioned on Wednesday that she really didn't know how to bake, most homes in this community don't have working ovens.  This place does so they thought it would be a nice way to end the week.  Giving back to someone who gives so much.  Not to mention Javier loves peanut butter. 

Then we had a scheduled trip to a vineyard, I don't remember the name.  We eventually wound our way along a dirt road until we came upon a beautiful stone structure.  Mind you it was dark, but with the benefit of headlights it looked awesome.  Yes it was pitch dark...they were closed.  Since there is no telephone number or posted hours, and it was a Monday evening they decided to be closed.  Apparently the owner is in his 80's so he's earned the right to work his own hours.  So we returned home and had dinner and good conversation.

We talked a lot about the mission of Lantern Hill and the current finances or lack there of.  Bottom line, it's a non-profit organization that relies on donations and people coming on mission trips for its funding.  More funds = more programs, that's not rocket science.  I would say the core of their mission is feeding and education.  Let's face it, nutrition is critical to children.  Without food education is difficult.  With food and education children can flourish.  By the way the kids didn't have school today.  Not because of MLK, or snow...because of rain.  That's right they had a rain day!!! and it didn't rain that much.  Basically if the teacher doesn't show up, that grade is cancelled.  And can you believe they don't get a text message, or email notification, and it's not even on TV or the radio.  The kids find out when they get to school and the sign reads blank grade is closed. 

Most of the kids go to school with a dollar to buy lunch, but the schools don't have cafeterias.  The kids are only in school for 4 hours, so either before their school day starts, or after it's over the kids by there lunch many times from vendors.  The problem is the vendors on the street corners aren't selling lunches, or anything nutritious.  They are selling what every kids wants...candy, chips and soda.  Essentially the school lunch program consists of vendors with carts, often wheel-barrows with wooden trays on them.  When the funds are available Lantern Hill provides a nutritious lunch for that same dollar.  Sadly right now funds don't exist.  I know the US economy sucks, and I just spent all this money at Christmas, blah, blah, blah.  I'm in the same boat, but damn lunch for a dollar doesn't seem that bad.  $100 will feed a child for 3 months.  Obviously the numbers are estimates because of other variables.  Having spent time with the kids in this community, and spent the night in homes of some it is hard to not think about those kids and that dollar amount.  Especially when I think about the food and money we waste. 

I'm sure I will make this trip again, although not nearly soon enough, and next time with my family.  I really should have posted a link to the website earlier this week but here it is now www.lanternonthehill.org.  I'm guessing you'll get one more blog from me on the plane ride home, what else am I going to do? 

In the morning I will say "adios" to Lantern Hill, but the light from the lantern will continue to burn.

Day 6: Tourist day

This morning after we got back from our home stay we had a miny worship/Bible reflection on our nights and our trip thus far.  I won't go into that now, I'll include that in my final wrap up blog post.   We drove through some of the farming country to see the conditions the labor are living in.  Let's just say they call it the concrete jungle, because it's essentially noting but cinderblocks.  Needless to say the conditions are atrocoius. 

Then we played tourist for the day.  We went to La Bufadora, which litterally means, blow hole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bufadora  It's pretty interesting so I attached a link so you can check it out.  You have to walk about a mile to get to the site, but the road there is lined with venders selling food and crafts and clothing and stuff.  I guess it would be similar to the boardwalk but on both sides of the street.  We ate at a restaurant called Havana Cobanna.  Yes in no Havana is in Cuba and I'm in Mexico, but I didn't name the restaurant, I just ate there.  I had an enchillada, which was ok, and a Pina Colada (minus the umbrella).  Along the street they were selling Churros, which were delicious, however they are not a native Mexican dish.  Either way they were good. 

It was a relatively slow day. 

Mi Casa Es Su Casa

My how is your house is something we in the states say, but don't really mean.  Sure it sounds cool, but would you give up a bed for a stranger to sleep in?  Would you give them coffee and snacks before bed?  Would you feed them breakfast in the morning?  Mind you we had never met these people before.  The house already has plenty of people.  The wages they earn are far less than in a week than we make in a day, well technically I'm not making anything being in seminary and all, but you get my point. 

That was my experience last night.  A family welcomed two strangers into their home and fed them and gave them a place to sleep.  Holding true to my experience here the kids were amazing.  Jimmy and I played some game where you're jumping through the rope, around the rope.  That's right no PS 3.  Game time involved a rope. 

We had coffee last night and again at breakfast.  I do not drink coffee, but how do you say no to such gracious hospitality.  Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs, hot dogs and tortillas.  I'm not sure if hot dogs are a norm for breakfast or if that was because Americanos were in the house.

The house had concrete floors, which is rare in this community.  Two of the windows weren't windows with glass.  One was covered with some tin and the other had a door propped to block the wind.  It got chilly at night but they have the warmest blankets, that if you stick your head under your breath and body heat keep you warm. 

Once again it was an amazing experience!!!

Day 5: Ahead of schedule

I'm posting way early today because tonight we are staying with a family in the community.  Jimmy and I will be at one house and Lauren and Chelsea at another.  Thank God Jimmy speaks pretty good Spanish. 

So today we led a community Bible lesson for the kids.  There were about 20 kids.  One of the biggest cultural differences is how friendly all the kids are.  They just come up and hug you, and when they leave they say good bye and give you a hug.  Most of them say good bye in English.  It's so cute.  So we focused on the creation story in Genesis, and they had the kids plant seeds.  Earlier this week we build a small raised bed to start an organic garden.  Not only will the kids be able to watch the seeds grow, but the food can be used to feed them at lunch time.  It was a great morning.

This afternoon we went to the secundo, which is essentially a flee market.  You could find just about anything there.  I had pork tacos for lunch.  The shave the meat fresh off the spit.  Have I mentioned I love the food.  Jimmy decided he wanted some comfort food, so he got a pizza.  It started promising.  The lady rolled the dough, and grated the cheese fresh then put the pizza in a oven in the back of a van.  When I say oven, I mean like the gas oven you have in your kitchen.  It's amazing how simple things can be, and still be affective.  The final product was awful.  Apparently pizza sauce is not a Mexican specialty.  I guess we should have been tipped off by the bottles of ketchup on the table.  That's right folks...ketchup on pizza. 

So we're back at the community center taking a break before dinner and leaving for our home-stay.

Day 4: Whoa!!! Too hard to put into words!

The day started way too early, but not because of our schedule.  I never sleep very well, but when you need to write a sermon to prepare the next evening sleep just doesn't happen.  So I was up before the rooster crowed...litterally.  The rooster crows every morning starting around 5:00.

We went downtown to Ensenada this afternoon.  Ensenada is a beautiful port city where cruise ships dock.  Tourism and fishing are the biggest industries so their is plenty to do, with lots of shops and nice restaurants.  We ate at a cool restaurant that roasted chicken on an open fire.  1/2 a chicken and fries for $8.50.  The food was awesome (I may have mentioned that in a previous blog). 

Then we went to Javier's church.  When we arrived their were lots of people standing in the dark because the church wasn't open yet.  Yes on a Friday night people were waiting outside to get into a place and it wasn't a night club...it was a church.  The church was large based on the other churches we've attended since we've been here.  They had about half of the church completed and were in the process of finishing the other half.  The church had an amazing band, which played for about an hour, and while they did several people were dancing and every body clapps to the music.  Then Jimmy and Lauren sang.  They are incredibly talented and sounded great (not a shocker there).  Then Chelsea gave a testimonial, or what we refer to as her call story.  Then it was my turn to preach.  Javier has challenged us all week, by putting us in positions we may not put ourselves in.  An example being preaching at his church to about 75-100 people.  I thought I might be a little nervous but actually I felt pretty good.  JJ read my sermon earlier in the day and was very reseptive to the message.  Abby was my translator.  In case I didn't say in an earlier blog, Abby, JJ and Javier are all with Lantern Hill.

I preached my sermon in English and Abby translated.  It was harder than I expected to find the appropriate rythem of preaching and pausing for translation, but I think it went pretty well.  It is difficult to carry the emotion of the sermon through the pauses, but Abby was awesome at conveying the emotion in Spanish.  The worship experience was much different, the congregation will give you affirmations of amen, and haleluia during the sermon.  As most if not all of you know I am an emotional person.  So toward the begining of my sermon I got a couple amens, which almost brought me to tears.  For me it was affirmation that I had connected with people of a different culture, not to mention Lutherans don't talk while you preach.  I was pretty sure I'd cry at the end of my sermon, and I almost did, but I was able to keep myself together.  I really enjoy preaching in general, but this was one I will NEVER forget. 

Below is the manuscripted I preached from.  The (...'s) are there for pauses for Abby to translate, and I'm too tired to edit them out.

Mark 12: 28-34

We are different…I am American…You are Mexican…We are different…Our skin is a different color…Our eyes are a different color…We are different…We do not worship the same…At my church we rarely clap during songs…we are different.

This is my first time in Mexico…and all I heard before I got here…was we are different.  Some people in my country…think it is ok to have a fence between our countries…because we are different.  On the plane to get here…I wondered what was so different about us.  Now I know what is so different.  NOTHING…nothing is different about us.  We don’t look the same…we don’t speak the same language…we don’t listen to the same music…the food is different…BUT WE ARE NOT DIFFERENT.  We are the same.

In the book of Genesis…it says we are created in the image of God.  It does not say…Americans are created in the image of God….it does not say…Mexicans are created in the image of God…we are ALL created in the image of God.

We are the same.  The longer I am here…the more I can see…we are the same.  Last night…I went with my friends…to a different church.  And I was reminded…how much we are the same.  I saw a young couple…maybe 20 or 25 years old.  You could tell they were in love...by the way they looked at each other.  Young couples… have the same look in their eyes…no matter where they are from.  And I realized we are the same…God created us that way.  Love, and hate…happiness and sadness…joy and pain…they are the same in any culture.  They are the same across the world. 

In our reading today…we are told…love the Lord your God…with all your heart…with all your soul…and with all your mind and with all your strength.  That is not always easy.  We have families…and jobs…and kids to raise.  We are not perfect…we all sin…we all fall short…of what God asks of us.  No matter how hard we try…we are not perfect.  But do you know…what is the most beautiful thing?  God still loves us…God loves us even though we fail.    God gave his only son…Jesus died on the cross…for the forgiveness of our sins.  God sees no race…no culture.  Jesus died on the cross…for you and for me.  Jesus death and resurrection…happened a long time ago.  But the Holy Spirit is with us today.  The Holy Spirit fills us…with love and grace…every day.  For that I am thankful.  I will never…be able to repay God…for all of my debts.  But I will thank…and praise him every day. 

I know that every day…every night…every moment…every second the Holy Spirit walks with me.  And he walks with you too. 

We are also told in our reading today…to love our neighbor as our self.  Who is our neighbor?  Is it the person…that lives next to you?  Is it the person…who is sitting beside you now?  Is it a person you work with?  Or…is our neighbor from a different town…a different city…or a different country?

YES YES YES YES YES YES

Your neighbor is all of these.  And we are called by God…to love each and every one them.  I do not mean…to love them…like the young couple I talked about before.  I mean to care for them…to help them when they need help.  To really care…about the people we meet.  That is what God wants us to do.

Sometimes we are so busy…we ask…How are you doing…and we don’t even listen to the answer.  Loving your neighbor…is not only being nice.  Loving your neighbor…is listening…loving your neighbor…is caring about them.  Loving your neighbor…is doing what you can to help. 

The light of Christ…shines in us.  It is up to us…to shine that light in the darkness.  The darkness of people…who do not know Christ.  The darkness…of your neighbor in need.  The darkness…of a neighborhood in need.  The darkness…of the world in need.  It is our job…to shine the light of Christ…in Mexico…in the United States…and around the world. 

We are the light…and the Holy Spirit…is the electricity…that fuels our lights.  When we worship and pray…our lights get re-charged.  So we can spread the light…and the love of God…to everyone we meet.  No matter how different…they may seem. 

But prayer…should not just happen in church.  Prayer needs to be part of our day…then our light will stay bright.  When we open our hearts to the Lord…God tells us…where to shine our light. 

Each of our lights…may shine in different places…but we are all carrying the same light.  The light of Christ.

We are all different.  But we are all the same…we are all children of God…we are all brothers and sisters in Christ…sharing the light.

When I go home in a few days…I will leave with my friends…and I will be leaving… new friends here in Mexico.  But my light will shine…even brighter…because I will take your light with me…wherever I go.  Together we can light the world.  Amen

This has been an amazing experience, and I'm having a blast.  My only regret is that Camden and Christina are not here.  I miss them and love them terribly.  Next time they will be here, and yes there will be a next time.

Day 3: Let their be light!!

Today I ended up at the one store in the states, that I refuse to shop at...Home Depot.  On one hand it was really the first bit of American culture since I've been here, unless you count the Coke that was purchased at a little Mexican store, but that was in glass bottles and made with real sugar so I say that doesn't count.  On the other hand, I hate Home Depot.  I guess that was my confessional moment.  Javier hates working with electricity, so I'm wiring lights in what will eventually be the new all purpose room in the community center.  So we went to home depot for supplies.  We ran out of time today so I'm hoping I can finish before we leave, but if not they have a nice head start on the project. 

This evening we went to our second church service in 3 days.  Getting there was an ADVENTURE.  I will never ever ever ever complain about our roads.  Steep hills are bad, dirt roads are bad, big gullies in the roads are bad.  Combine all three and you have yourself an adventure.  It was as close as I'll ever get to bull riding, and I'm OK with that.  Today was a "short" service.  It was only two hours.  Yep two hours of church understanding 1 out of every 20 words if I was lucky was challenging.  Apparently they like to put people on the spot here, since we were asked to sing a song.  Y'all know how well I sing and how much I like doing it.  The sermon was great.  He was extremely passionate, and apparently very funny.  Everyone else laughed serval times.  Then after the sermon the pastor dropped some lady, Benny Hinn style.  When Priscilla (more about her in a minute) walked in she said, "There's a lady laying on the floor."  That was our thought too, but we couldn't get away with saying it out loud.  It's great to be a kid.  After the service the pastor, and her two sons, and a girlfriend came back for dinner.  We had molay (I'm sure I spelled that wrong).  Molay is pulled pork in a chocolate chili sauce.  It wasn't a sweet chocolate sauce so I'm guessing more like our baking cocoa.  It was awesome...have I mentioned I love the food!!!

So Priscilla is a nine year old teen ager, as she puts it.  That little girl has more spunk and attitude than anyone I know.  She is hilarious and she loves the Orioles.  When she found out I had a son she asked how old.  I said twelve and she wrinkled her nose in disappointment.  She was hoping more like 9, but when I told her she was really a teenager felt much better.  So I showed her a picture of Camden, and she said, "Hubba hubba!"  Yeah she's got spunk.  She was our translator at dinner she speaks awesome English and Spanish.  What a wonderful little girl, I wish I could bring her home.

So the lesson or lessons taken from today...You can feel the presence of God in song and worship no matter what language.  The look in the eyes of a couple in love is universally recognizable, and down here...they like to put people on the spot.  Before we left for church tonight Javier asked me if I would be willing to preach at his church tomorrow.  This is the "long" service!!!  Like three hours!!!  I sure hope they don't expect me to fill it with a sermon.  I am honored to have been asked.  When I asked how long he replied 20-40 minutes.  If I include time for the interpreter I think I can hit that range.  The bad news is we are leaving the site tomorrow morning and won't be back until after the church service.  Which means the sermon needs to be written tonight.  So if you're one inclined to pray, please do.  If you're not, please do it anyway.

God Bless

Day 2: Too tired for a catchy title

Today was our first full day in Mexico.  Unfortunitely my body is still on Eastern Standard Time, so I woke up at my normal time, which makes it REALLY early here.  We started the day with an awesome breakfast.  I can't remember what is was called but it was essentially scrambled eggs mixed with a spicy sausage with beans in a tortilla.  The food is awesome. 

I should note that we did have running water today, although I haven't made it to the shower yet.  I know what you're thinking...but i'm not the only one.  I know what you're thinking...and not it doesn't smell bad in here.  But I will be showering tomorrow.

We started the day with a tour of the community we are staying in.  It's incredible the negative affects a government can have, and I'm not talking about Washington D.C.  This community has been here for about 15 years and the governement has done basically nothing.  No drainage, no garbage pick up, nothing!!!  Well unless you count them re-grating the road every two years.  That's right when election time comes, they re-grate the main roads, both of them.  Mighty sporty of them considering many of the roads become impassible to most cars because of the ruts that wind their way through the street, and eventually fill with trash.  There is little place to put trash, so rather than clutter the house, it gets put outside somewhere.  Some of it gets burnt and some of it gets taken to the dump, and some gets eaten by the dogs that roam around.  It is difficult to tell which animals are pets and which are strays.  Many seem to be in poor health.  Needless to say taking the dog to the groomer is way down on their priority list.  Javier (one of our hosts) calls the people of this area the working poor.

Today we hosted some children for English lessons.  The kids go to school for 4 hours a day, either morning or afternoon.  Here at Lantern Hill they try to supplement that education.  Today we had a morning, and an afternoon group here for English lessons.  Two boys walked 45 minutes to get here for the English lessons, then had to walk back to school.  When they got to school it was closed because the teachers didn't show up because they weren't getting paid.  That's a pretty good indication of how important education is to the Mexican government.  I didn't help with the English lesson, I helped in the kitchen instead.  I fried tortillas for potato tacos and made soup.  I had no clue what I was doing with the soup but it turned out really well. 

After the kids left we did some project work here at the community center.  Two computers were donated prior to our arrival, so we began to build a desk for them and some shelving.  It sounds like we will finish that tomorrow, and I'll be wiring some lights in the unfinished all purpose room.  The kids are so friendly and sweet it is awesome, how many kids give you a hug as they leave and thank you for making them lunch. 

This evening we were supposed to go to another church service, but JJ from Lantern Hill tore some legaments in his ankle as we were leaving.  That changed our plans and we missed the church service, but I don't think anybody minded.  It allowed us a little extra rest and some great fellowship.  Sometimes language isn't a barrier at all. 

I have no clue what our plan is for tomorrow but I'm sure it will be interesting and rewarding.  Every second here reminds me of how blessed I really am.  I am blessed to live in a country we often complain about, and I am blessed to have a wonderful family who I was able to Skype with tonight.  It was great to see their faces and hear their voices, but it also make you want to be home cuddled up on the sofa.  I'm certain God has a plan for me on this trip I just haven't figured it all out yet. 

So many things go through your head as you walk around these streets.  All you want to do is help and sometimes it's hard to know where to start. 

Day 1 "Where there is darkness

Well day one is officially in the books.  All that lies ahead is some sleep, we'll see how that goes.  I'm not real sure how to organize and structure this blog stuff, so I'll take it in chronological order.

The travel time was long but not nearly as bad as expected.  Flying into both Salt Lake City, surrounded by snow capped mountains, and San Diego along the Pacific Ocean were breath taking.  However, they paled in comparison to numerous points along our drive from Tijuana to Ensenada.

While that was the beauty you also saw the harsh realities of an impoverished nation.  Place most of us wouldn't consider living in.  Place that many wouldn't call inhabitable, but that is not reality here.  It was baffling to see high-rise resort hotels being built next to "shacks".  Although due to the housing market claps (yes they had one too) many home and hotel constructions were stopped leaving large unfinished structures next to these tiny "shacks". 

The part of Ensenada that we are staying has one maybe two paved roads and is set in the dusty hills.  The roads to us would seem impassable, but none the less traffic moves, not that there is much of it.  It's hard to describe a town like this by American standards, we really don't have anything like it.  I remember a scene from Bad Boys where Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are racing a Hummer through homes down a hillside.  That's sort of what this town is like.

The home we are staying in is very nice by Ensenada standards but many I imagine would be uncomfortable.  It feels safe and everyone was extremely hospitable!!!  We had no running water tonight so no showers and toilet flushing is by buckets gathered outside.  Hopefully the water issue will be resolved sooner rather than later.  Tomorrow I were going on a mini walking tour of town.

Tonight we went to a worship service at a drug rehab facility/group.  Lauren preached a beautiful sermon, which was translated for the men, and Jimmy picked the guitar masterfully to lead a few songs.  Electricity is scarce so we were led down some poorly lit hall ways into a room that was moderately lit.  But Jesus brings light into the darkness, and tonight that dimly lit room was a glow with the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

When we arrive back at our house for the week we had a dinner consisting of fish tacos.  First time for me, but it likely won't be my last...yum!!!

All is well, hopefully I'll have a chance to post tomorrow.

God Bless

We're on our way!!!

As the plane bounces around at about 15,000 feet I can't help but reflect on the bumps in my life that somehow led me to this mission trip to Mexico and Seminary for that matter.  I would have never imagined any of this. 

Just to highlight the changes, Camden's mother returned from Mexico yesterday, and I'm leaving today.  Funny how things work.  Needless, to say the mission for our trips are vastly different.  I'm going to experience a new culture and to serve in some way those who are so much less fortunate.  I'm sure her trip involved beaches and umbrella clad frozen drinks.  At one point in my life I was much more likely to grab a glass than a Bible or hammer to help those in need.  As I said...I never would have imagined.

I'm anxious for this experience...not a nervous anxiousness, but an excitement.  I've seen pictures of the community we are going to serve, and it's safe to say the point will be driven home once I arrive.  I live a privledged life.  I'm not wealthy by American standards, but where I am headed, I would be wealthy indeed.

My laptop battery is losing steam, so I'll post later.

Love ya all & God Bless

Chad

Welcome

So I'm just a few days away from a mission trip to Mexico, so I thought I would start a blog and attempt to blog during my trip. 

This blog in the future will likely cover topics such as, religion, and sports such as baseball and hockey.  Who knows what else this might cover being that I'm just getting started.

Time will tell.

Peace