Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner?

It was a long day but great! Today our devotional was based on John 15:7 which says, 'If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you'.  It is a challenge for us all to be so close and in tune with God that what I ask for is completely in His will.  This can only happen when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and therefore guided by our heavenly Father to do and ask for what He wants. I become secondary and yet His will is what I will want!  It seems to apply well to what we are doing here!  Each day I don't really know what we are going to be doing, but I know I'm ready to do whatever He wants and that is all I'm wishing for each day.

Today the ladies finished preparing for the bazaar by sorting more clothing and preparing it in crates.  Everything is ready to go for the sale which will be tomorrow. If you read yesterday about the clothing you know that I said clothes that are stained or torn are thrown away. Today after the ladies took the bags of garbage out to the bin in the compound it could not have been half a hour until one little boy and two little girls showed up to pull bags of clothes from the bin. It was heartbreaking to watch and realize that these kids who were likely 7-10 years old spend the whole day and possibly night alone fending for themselves in this way. It was like they found a gold mine as they walked away loaded down with huge garbage bags of clothes. The youngest girl was determined to carry her  two bags on her own. She took quite the tumble down the entrance and over her bag of clothes and still got up with a giggle and continued to struggle with that bag. Greg tried to help her but it seemed as though she was fearful he may try to take the clothes away and struggled even more to speed up. As he helped her you could feel his frustration with the situation, and yet his wisdom to know how much to help out as she struggled along.  It is a delicate balance. We watched her disappear up a lane into the shanty town several minutes later by herself. It is so similar spiritually how many people refuse to pass their burdens over to God (both those who don't know Him as Saviour as well as those who do). We refuse the help that is freely offered to us and continue to struggle along making a mess of what we are trying to carry on our own.

The men today, with some help from Jaelyn, continued to work with the skilled Mexican laborers building a retaining wall in the compound. It was a different kind of day with some 'hurry up and wait' elements. We could only help so much but the steady progress resulted in the whole team seeing the wall come together nicely.  The skill of Francisco laying the blocks was amazing! We poured a concrete footing this morning and let it set over lunch and then assisted them in setting cindercrete blocks in place. Fransisco even let me put one in place with mortor while he ate a piece of Bev's birthday cake. I got the thumbs up, but I noticed they only let me do one!  It wasn't as intense work for the whole day so we could try to interact more with the Mexican people around us. It was also a blessing for some of our team members to be able to talk with Greg about different aspects of his job and affirm him in his role here!  It is awesome how conversations just start up and you can see his heart for the ministry here. It seems to be a constant search for ways to do more and yet just being faithful to serve all those who you come in contact with!

Later in the afternoon Cornelius and Mingeal (spelling??) took us to Centro Hermosillo. It is the market area and certainly is not for tourists. It truly is the market for 'their' people. Hermosillo is not known to be a tourist area and so it was an unique experience to see a Mexican market with endless shops. The people here are so friendly and quick to smile or pose for pictures!

Tonight, after being at Centro, we each were given the blessing to have a meal in the homes of different members of the church. We divided into three groups and had at least one of the missionaries come with us to help translate.  It was incredible how these people were so willing to open their homes to us and cook us an authentic Mexican meal. It seemed that everyone on our team came back on a high from the blessing we had just experienced!  My family was able to join Shelly to go to Ahnada's home. She is an extremely hard working lady whose love for the Lord is easy to see right from the moment she welcomed us into her home. It was special for our family hear her story and see her love for God.  It is eye opening to see where she lives and realize that she is considered lower middle class here. Her home was clean and very simple but certainly it would have been considered very poor by our standard in Canada. I had inquired if we could help with dishes, to which her reply was basically, 'no thank you because I have no sink in my kitchen and will have to clean these outside in back yard and if we went there the dogs would bite us'. She is so gracious to us and wanted to know about us and what she could pray for in our lives. What an experience to be able to participate in with your children!!  We will be praying for you Ahneda!