Santa Fe to Virginia in 1.5 days

Well, I'm back in VA now resting up. What a crazy trip I had. It started off looking like smooth sailing, and it was....it just wasn't the sailing I originally envisioned. But God is good, and I'll go into that in a minute.. First...Santa Fe Evangelism. The kids did SUCH a great job. The student leaders were all in charge with minimal oversight on my part, and they did really well! I hear Las Pilas was just as great, if not better. You can check out that report on Steve's blog. Anyway, Santa Fe started off in a similar manner. We arrived, and all the kids fanned out to personally invite all the youth of the town to the basketball court for the program. Then they returned to set up the equipment and be available to hang out with whoever arrived and play some games that we had taken with us (basketball, soccer, football, and various other fun games). By the time the program started, we had a great crowd, and they were very attentive. The dramas and choreography went really well. It was great to see the Masks Drama presented for real....I get chill bumps just thinking about it.

Here I am painting Aide's face for the choreography. She was one of the devils cheering on Goliath. Aide is Sandy and Mili's little sister. She is one of our New Generation students.

"Play Time" before the program began

"Mucha Lucha" choreography

The crowd that was watching

Mili gave her testimony in Santa Fe. She shared about what a rebellious teenager she was until she met Jesus and He completely changed her. Now, she's a leader among the youth and in the larger church body!

The Masks Drama. Aide, the one in the background, is the one who puts on all the masks. From L-R:
Gollito (an old beggar), Cecilia (tax collector), Gabriella (party girl), Mili & Pedro (a dating couple. Pedro cheats on Mili with Aide), and Ruben (Jesus)

The worship team

At the end Martin gave shared the gospel and gave an invitation to upcoming youth events like EL RETO in September, etc. He also told the crowd that our youth would be available to pray with anyone who would like it. As the program ended, the youth were on the sideline with last minute questions for the end, and then I shooed them off to mingle and play....but when I looked up, every single youth from our group was involved in PRAYER with individuals or groups. What was most impressive was that a group of three or four of our new girls (11/12 year olds who have only been in the group for a couple of weeks..this being their first major youth event) found a group of girls who stayed aloof during the whole program talking and joking on their own, sat down to talk with them, and ended up praying with them. I was stunned. I've been a Christian my whole life, and I've never seen anything like it. Maybe I was just sheltered, or maybe I simply wasn't really seeing until now, but all I can say is WOW!

After prayer time, we stayed another half hour or so for the kids to all play and hang out some more. It was a great time, and the youth just continue to amaze us. They are really into this, and it's even more awesome because this is their dream. This is something they have wanted to do for a long time, and they are making it happen. We're just standing back and watching as they spread their own wings and soar like eagles, running and walking without growing tired, weary, or faint. God really is amazing!

Wednesday night I spent the whole night packing and getting my apartment ready to leave it for two months. I went to bed at 3 or 4 am (I can't remember anymore), and I got up at 6:30. Then Erika and I took care of last minute details and final goodbyes, grabbed my suitcases, locked up my apartment, and waited in the church for the taxi that was going to take us to Penas to catch a bus to Guad. However, the taxi did not arrive at 9:30 like we had arranged. Finally at 10 am, the two of us walked to his house to find him. Sure enough, he had completely forgotten, so by the time we finally got to Penas it was 11-11:30 am and the last morning bus to Guad had just left. The next bus would arrive at 1 pm, which would get us in Guad too late since Erika's church meets on Thursday nights and her whole family would be at that service....and Guad is an hour ahead of Cofradia time. So, we headed across the highway with all the luggage in tow to check out a couple other bus lines. They arrive every half hour but they have no set schedule. So, we just had to wait and see what buses arrived and where they were headed. By 12:30 we were still not on a bus, and we were quickly arriving at the point where we were not going to arrive in Guad in time to catch her parents before they headed to church. As we watched a couple of buses arriving, Erika said, "well, now we'll see how much faith you have...let's hope this is an Elite bus" (since that's the line we were hoping for). I told her "I HAVE FAITH..just like Joshua told the sun to stand still during battle, I'm declaring that this bus is the one we want!" AND IT WAS!!!

In the end we boarded around 12:30 with the plan to get off the bus at a very small bus station just outside of the beltway (the main bus terminal is on the other side of the city from her family). We had a very uneventful trip to Guad, which was nice. However, upon arriving the driver decided he didn't want to drop us at that small station, which meant we'd have to take a taxi back across the city, and the main terminal is almost an hour from where she lives...that equal expensive taxi fare and missing her parents most definitely. The driver gave various excuses having to do with baggage, even though our bags were three of FIVE bags under the bus and we had our baggage tickets with us, but it really came down to him not wanting to stop. As Erika told me what the driver said, I started praying in my head for the Lord to strike the driver with a crisis of conscience so that he would change his mind and let us off. Sure enough, 10 minutes later as we came upon the station, the driver's buddy came back and told us they were going to let us off!

None of our travel to that point had gone as we planned, and on only 2-3 hours of sleep, I was beginning to fade fast.Now we had to find a taxi that could take us to the church, since Erika's parents had already left their house. One taxi pulled over (we were standing on the side of the beltway with all our bags, by the way), but his taxi meter was broken and the taxi looked a little sketchy. He offered to take us to the church for 80 pesos, but we decided to wait for another taxi. He pulled away, and no other taxis were in sight. We waited for 10 minutes without seeing a taxi. Erika made another comment about my faith, since I'd told her what happened with my prayers for the driver to change his mind, and I said out loud, "Ok, Lord, we really need a taxi right now!" All of sudden there was a nice taxi with a working meter. 20 minutes later we were in front of the church, paying the taxi guy 100 pesos instead of 80 (little bit of divine humor perhaps??), but glad to be loading my bags into her parents car and sitting down in the service. I slept well that night, and it was really cool to hear Erika gush to her family about her week in Cofradia. I had been so worried that she wouldn't have fun or that she'd be bored in our little town since she's used to being pretty busy in the city. But I had nothing to worry about. Sure, it was different, but it seems she had a really stellar time and was really impressed by what the Lord was doing in our youth through the evangelisms, something she said her youth group has never done even though they have far more resources and opportunities available to them. So, our prayer now is that the Lord uses her experience to somehow light her group on fire too!!

Friday morning, Erika's dad and I left for the airport at 4 am (my flight left at 6), and I arrived in LA around 8:30. Customs went well, though I had some trouble pulling up my flight to VA in order to check my bags since I was switching airlines for my east coast flight. By 9:30 however I was sitting at my gate waiting for my flight which was to take off at 2:30 that afternoon. Yes, I had a 6 hour layover in the LA airport. At 2 pm when they began to prepare for boarding, they announced that my flight was overbooked and asked for 2 volunteers to go on a later flight, and they would provide meal vouchers for the wait in LA and a $500 travel voucher for future travel! Since I had yet to buy my ticket to return to Mexico in October and had no idea how I was going to pay for it, this offer peaked my interest. In the end, they only needed 1 person to stay behind, and since I was the first to volunteer, I stayed behind. My new flight home left at 9:30 pm, which means that I was waiting at the same gate in the LA airport for 13 hours, and I arrived at Dulles at 5:30 am. My dad was waiting for me, and we got back to Richmond around mid-morning at which point I promptly went to bed and slept until 6 pm that night! It was an extremely long day, but in the end American Airlines will be paying for my return flight to Mexico, praise the Lord!!!

I had a great conversation with Sandy while I was waiting in the airport about how the Lord had just overwhelmed me with his faithfulness during all my travels. I have had a pretty dry spell spiritually in the last month or so, and I admit that I've asked the Lord several times, "What's going on? I know you're there, but why do you seem so far away? Where do I step from here?" And in the midst of that dry spell have cropped up some age-old worries, like how to pay for things and how to get healthy, etc. Yet, as crazy as all my travels ended up being (especially trying to get from Cofradia to Guadalajara), the overwhelming theme was FAITH...real faith, not just lip service faith. The kind of faith that is so sure of its object that there's no need to second guess or worry cuz it just KNOWS without a doubt that the outcome will be good and right.

As I was relating all this to Sandy, she shared with me that in her quiet time that morning she had forgotten to pray for me as she usually does every day. But before she finished, the Spirit reminded her that I was traveling and she prayed for protection and that the Lord would provide for all my needs. As she shared this with me, I was overwhelmed because that's exactly what he had done even though I, myself, had forgotten to pray such a simple prayer. I told her I'd worried over how to buy my return plane ticket, but I hadn't yet taken it to prayer. But she had, so really...Sandy bought me my plane ticket back to Mexico in October. What an awesome testimony to the Lord's faithfulness. Even when I'm not mindful of my own needs, He is, and He's working all things (even the prayer habits of a 20 year old girl half a continent away) for my good. Now I'm home with my family, resting a lot and enjoying their company. Friday, I fly to Minnesota for time with my grandmother and with my aunt and her family for 2 weeks. Praise the Lord because...

GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME

Youth Evangelisms in Action

Well, the evangelisms have started, and WOW!!! Our presentation in church of the "Mucha Lucha" choreography went well. Of course there were some gliches, but the kids are ironing them out and doing well with it. On Monday Mili worked with the drama team to learn three dramas: the Mask Drama, the Sin Chair drama, and the Fleas drama. Sand, Erika, and I spent that time on Monday getting the last minute supplies ready. This included a scramble to find music for the Masks Drama since it requires 5 or 6 different songs for the changes in character and setting. However, although all but the last song were in English, they go well with each situation, and the drama gives us all chill bumps whenever we watch it. So, we're excited to present that one.

Here is a video of the "Mucha Lucha" choreography. The youth presented it in the Sunday services as a trial run for the week's program events.

Today, we presented in Agua Aceda. There were definitely a lot of gliches in the afternoon's events, but in the end we had a really great time and the kids really connected with the youth of that village. We arrived and spread out to invite all the youth to the basketball court for the program, and then set up the equipment. However, our two speakers fried themselves while we had an upbeat CD playing as we set up and waited for kids to show up to play games for a little while before beginning. So, Steve and a couple of the guys drove back to Cofradia (a half hour drive each way..this is a Cora Indian village up in the mountains) to get different speakers and a jug of water (since we'd forgotten that the first trip to the village and it was ripping hot today!). Then during our first testimony the power went out, so the rest of the testimonies were given using a bullhorn, and one of our dramas were out since we couldn't play the music. Then as we were finishing the program, a huge storm started darkening the sky and rain started falling, so we hurried to pack it all away and get in the trucks to head back to Cofradia. But then it didn't rain, so we stuck around and the kids spent an hour or so playing with the youth of the town as they had done before the program began. It was so great to see every single one of them out there engaging with the town's youth and kids. Some were playing, and some were just sitting around talking with them. Regardless, they were getting to know them and having fun with them...the foundation of ministry! Exciting stuff. The storm passed over us but on the other side of the town from us. We however, enjoyed the double rainbow that stayed over us the entire hour of play. What a first run!

I'm excited to see how Santa Fe goes tomorrow. I'm not going to be doing very much since it's Chuy's "practice run" at being in charge before I'm not longer around to ask questions of. He's going to do great, I'm very certain! I'm also excited cuz we're going to present the Masks Drama for the first time, and it's just phenomenal! I don't know when I'll get a post up about Santa Fe since tomorrow will be a busy day of packing my stuff and getting my apartment ready to leave for two months. Then Thursday morning, Erika and I head to Guadalajara, and I fly home on Friday. But keep checking back, and I'll post as soon as I can organize my thoughts!

When we first arrived, we split into groups and went door-to-door personally inviting everyone to the basketball court for the program. This is what the houses look like in these mountain villages.

Mili enjoying the river that runs through the village

Before the program started, the youth had time to play with the kids and youth of the village. We carried sports balls and other games with us for this purpose.

Sandy had fun with a group of younger kids. She taught them how to shoot a basketball as well as a cool handshake!

Chuy played soccer with a group of younger boys.

The choreography was one of the first items on the program.

One of the dramas we did in this town was the Sin Chair drama. Here they are still stuck to the chair trying to free themselves from their sin. Ana (the blue shirt in the background) eventually came around and told them about Jesus and prayed with them to be free.

Pedro giving his testimony. It's so dark because a huge storm was taking over the sky. The storm passed over the other side of the village. We never saw a single drop of rain. PRAISE THE LORD!

The Lord saved us from the rain, but we got to see the rainbow! It was complete, but it was so big, that we had to take two pictures to get the whole thing. His promise was certainly with us that day!

The sunset as we headed home. What a glorious end to a great day!

A Special Visitor

I'm SOO EXCITED!! My friend Erika is visiting me for the week from Guadalajara!! Sandy and I will to pick her up from the bus station in Penas tomorrow. I got to know Erika while I was in Guad attending Harvest Language Center this time last year. She worked there, and we hit it off over vocabulary assignments and coffee. I'd definitely say she's one of my best Mexican friends, and we always have such a good time together! She's here for a week (we've been trying to arrange for her to come visit me for the last YEAR!), and then I'll go back with her on Thursday because I fly back to the states on Friday morning. It's going to be a really hectic week since we're doing youth evangelisms in other towns every day this week, AND I'll be packing to go home for two months. But it's going to be FUN!!

YEA!!!

Planning

We're gearing up to do some evangelism outreaches with the youth in several of the surrounding towns. Camp helped to really pump them up, and they learned some great sketches and choreographies at camp that we want to do in the evangelism program. They are excited! A few days ago we had a planning meeting with Steve, Gena, the four student leaders (Sandy, Chuy, Jose Luis, and Martin), and me. In the end we decided that I'M overseeing this particular event with the aid of the students and the four leaders. My goal is that my role be purely organizational and that it be handed over to the student leaders once the program begins, especially since I leave for the states before they will have finished all the towns we have planned to visit. Chuy will be the overall head-honcho in my place once the evangelism begins. Sandy is in charge of the dramas, and will most likely have help from Mili since we're going to enlist her once she gets back from Bible school this weekend. She and Julio learned a couple of great ones during Bible school, so we're excited to learn those. Jose Luis is in charge of the choreography and is helped by Gollo who was on the team that created the choreography we'll use. And Martin is in charge of the gospel presentation and the invitation at the end. Steve will head up the introduction and worship, possibly aided by Julio since he too will be returning this weekend from Bible school, and of course the band will be the youth band.

So, we're going to visit Agua Aceda, which is a Cora Indian village (although there is a Huichol population there as well) on Tuesday, Aug 13; Santa Fe on Wednesday, Aug 14; and Las Pilas on Thursday, Aug 15, which also happens to be the day that I leave for the states. We'll have a two dramas each day, a choreography number (based on David and Goliath..so fun!), testimonies, the rap band will play, games for playing with the youth there and just hanging out with them, worship, and an invitation to various youth events coming up with a mini gospel presentation to follow. The youth are really excited and they're really into it! At the beginning of the week we had a meeting with the youth to decide who would participate in what parts of the program, and then Wednesday Gollo taught the choreography to those involved with that event item. It's called "Mucha Lucha", which means "A Lot of Fight", and the choreography presents David and Goliath duking it out in a boxing ring with a couple of demons in Goliath's corner and a couple angels in David's. Of course David wins because "he who is for us is greater than he who is in the world." It's a great, upbeat song, and the team at camp who created the number did a stellar job. Everyone loves it and they're doing a great job of learning it. We're going to have another practice this weekend because they will present it at both services on Sunday as a test run for the week.

Today, Sandy and I spent the whole day working on the craft items needed for everything. One of our dramas is the Mask Drama, and we had to create four masks for the various personalities that the main character takes on. We had a good time creating those, and they came out really cool! We also had to make the boxing ring for "Mucha Lucha", which consists of LOTS of straw, string, four chairs, and four mops/brooms. It's a bit cumbersome, but it came out well. We also had to make a bunch of poster signs the Sin Chair drama and the choreography and some other items of the program. It was a long day, but we got it ALL done, and we had a good time doing it.

I'm really excited about how all this is coming together. The kids are doing a great job of learning their parts, and they seem to be enjoying it. I'm amazed every day by each one of them. They are not the same youth group as a year ago when I first got back here, that's for sure. One thing I've noticed change over the last year is that they have developed a level of commitment that is rare to find in youth groups..at least the youth groups I've had opportunity to observe. These kids are finally putting into practice what we've been preaching for more than the last year: your faith is not something to soak up and put on a shelf and feed on until your so spiritually fat that you are useless. It's something to be put into practice. Thought it's cliche, faith is not a noun; it's a verb! And they are certainly ending their action sentence with lots of exclamation points. They are throwing themselves into this as though lives depended on it because they realize that very likely lives really do depend on them....eternal lives...they range in age from 13 to 21, but they move and act as 1 Jesus filled group, and that's amazing to watch!!! We have such a great youth group!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!

This is also really great for me because it's the first time I've felt like I was REALLY doing something here. Steve's not even here right now. He and his family left earlier this week to go to Mazatlan for some much needed R&R before they pick up Mili and Julio at the end of the weekend. So, this is all me and these kids. I'm planning and delegating and overseeing and not just by putting into action someone else's plan. It's really neat to feel like I'm putting my own stamp on something, standing on my own two feet in something of the ministry here...this is ours, not just theirs. It's really exciting. Although, I have to admit that I have a whole new level of respect for Steve and Gena and all they do. I don't know how they do all they do, but it's amazing and we're seeing the fruit of that faithfulness now. How exciting!!! Stay tuned for further updates...

"Harvesting Destinies: With a Firm Step"

Ok, I'm warning you now..this one is going to be long and a little jumbled. But here goes...

From July 31 through August 4, we were at youth camp with 12 of our youth, plus Mili and Julio who were already there as students in a 5-week Bible school that was hosted at the campsite. The camp was in La Cruz, Sinaloa (about 4 hours north of us), and we actually CAMPED the whole week. If you know me at all, you know that I DON'T LIKE TO CAMP...but this was a good time. And though my team found three scorpions the first day, thankfully, none of them found their way into any tents and no one was harmed by them. So, I survived the camping experience.

Here's a shot of the campsite. The tents are the boys' tents. The long silver roof was our meeting area. The red tents are actually outside the camping area. Behind them is the eating area, the girls palapa, and then the girls tents.

At some point in the last couple of years, someone went up on a mountain and painted this rock. It overlooks camp. This pic was taken with a lot of zoom in the lens. In reality, it looks more like this:
Regardless....we were reminded that Jesus is looking out for us at all times, and that Jesus is our reason for being there!

The camp is put on by a church in La Cruz called Cosecha Final, which means "Final Harvest", and there were probably around 100 youth there from many different places throughout Mexico. There were even a few from Texas and Tijuana! Steve used to work with the ministry of Cosecha Final and remains good friends with the pastors there. Our kids have been going to this camp since it started I believe, which was 4 years ago, and they have a really great relationship with the youth group of Cosecha Final. Our kids always look forward to this camp with enthusiasm, and this year was no exception. It was my first time attending, though I've heard a ton about it since coming to Cofradia, and it was a really great experience. It was fun to be able to be involved. Our summer intern went with as well, and he and I were asked to be team "tutors" (kind of like team parents) together for the same team for the week. That was quite an experience but lots of fun.

Here we are! Lineup: (Back L-R)Julio, Martin, Pedro, Gollito, Ruben. (Middle L-R)Steve, Jonathan, Big Chuy, Riki, Little Chuy, Jose Luis. (Front L-R)Leonor, Mirna, Cecilia, Mili, Me, Sandy

Never judge a book by it's cover. We look serious and "holy" here, but crack open the shell and.....

....we're really just crazy! -- It's great that we can have fun with Jesus!

The theme this year was "Con Paso Firme", which means "With a Firm Step", but basically the idea is of setting your course and not looking back -- Commitment and Dedication. There were several different speakers, all of which were relevant and dynamic and a ton of fun to listen to. Their messages were great and almost all of the youth that attended the camp responded to just about every sermon they heard that week. Worship was great and completely youth-led by the youth band from Cosecha Final. It was dynamic and full of energy and fun, but it was heart-felt and passionate as well. It was neat to see the youth so deeply involved in their worship. It was just about singing or having fun, it was about worshiping their God and Savior, and they took it seriously. Every evening there was a ministry time, and I found myself amazed every time at how many kids would go forward during the calls to receive prayer and respond to how the Lord was speaking to them. It was neat to hear some of the stories from our own youth about how the Lord spoke to them or changed them during those times of ministry and prayer.

Here's a video of one of the worship services. They are singing a song that says, "I will sing. I will dance....Like the eagle I will fly." So...the pastors decided to set an example and FLY!

The days' schedules were packed. Each day was scheduled from 8 am (beginning of worship and then the first message, followed by breakfast at 9:10) until midnight (lights out)!! I was floored when I saw the schedule the first day. There were two messages each morning and one in the evening. Three meals a day (obviously), and there was a snack/soda stand where the kids and leaders could buy snacks, water, and sodas throughout the day as they had opportunity to get away. The kids were divided into teams for the week, and there was time scheduled each day to spend with their teams and team leaders planning and preparing several team presentations as well as to debrief from the messages they'd heard in the morning if necessary.

Jonathan and I were the team parents for the Purple team. Sandy and Pedro were part of our team! This is us in our little "fox hole" we were supposed to create for team time.

By the end of th week each team presented both a humorous sketch that presented some sort of message as well as a choreography to music selected by the camp organizers and given to the team at the beginning of the week.

Martin's team wrote a sketch about a prince who wants to go off and be a missionary. Martin was the King, and the short girl was the Queen. In the end they chose to be missionaries with their son!

Gollito's team wrote a funny rendition of the story of Elijah (or was it Elisha?) and the woman whom he told to keep filling pots with oil until her debts were paid. The girl in black is the woman, and the three boys are her sons that she would have had lost if she couldn't pay he debts.

Jose Luis' team created a choreography to a song called "Siguelo", which means "Follow Him". They marched in like an army, and that's then the music started. They did a great job!

My team (the purple team) wrote a choreography to a song that talks about how when we are walking in the Spirit, there's nothing that can stop us!

After lunch, there was a bit of free time, which usually got used to work on the sketches or choreographies, and then began the day's games. Each day held some sort of competitive games: relays, sports games, etc.

This team decided to pray together before they began their turn through the relay on our second day of camp.

First station of the relay: Find the bag of rocks with your team's colored ribbon on it in this nasty pool of water, which happened to be the home of a huge frog...BLINDFOLDED! The team was shouting directions from the sidelines.

Second station was to do a backwards crawl under the strings through the mud

Third station was some sort of shock machine. The kids had to hold hands in a circle with the one at each end holding onto the rods of the machine. The more power they withstood, the more points they got.

Here's Mirna at the fourth station, which was to cross from one side to the other on this rope...it's a lot harder than it looks!

The fifth station was to do the human wheelbarrow with three on the ground and only two holding onto the six legs! From here, they had to find a ribbon in their team color and then head to the stage to find out their time for finishing the relay.

On the third day of camp, one of the competitions was to run around and catch this pig!

Here's Martin with his prize!

Another competition the third day was to play mini soccer with your wrists tied to your ankles! Here's Julio and Leonor (two different teams) at the kickoff.

Then the teams had to make water balloons and toss them to their teammate with the buckets who had to try and catch them in the buckets. Here's Pedro doing his best!


For day 3 competitions they also brought in a rodeo bull-riding machine. They got points for how long they could stay on! Here's a video of Steve giving it a whirl!

In the evenings there was another message and worship, ministry time, and then the evening's version of being "voted off the island" -- modeled after survivor. See, throughout the day the teams were earning and losing points based on the games as well as other things such as the use of foul language, attitude, and participation. At the end of the day all points were tallied, and the last three teams had to participate in this trivia time to determine which two of the three teams would be "saved" and have to do chores (clean the campsite and clean the bathrooms) and which team would have to sleep outside the camp with no tents (exposed to elements and animals such as scorpions...though they've never had someone get stung when sleeping outside the camp). My team slept outside the camp the first night we were there. But we were never nominated again!

This was the first night's Nominations. You can see my team (the girl in yellow was our team leader, and Jonathan is behind her giving the thumbs up) there trying to save themselves during the trivia portion.

After the Nominations time, there was often another sort of mini-presentation by one of the speakers, and then everyone had about a half-hour to get ready for bed before lights out at midnight!

It was quite a busy week, but it was a ton of fun. The last night of camp was the awards ceremony and "concert". This is where they awarded the first, second, and third-placed teams as well as various individual awards. It was quite exciting because Mili's team (of which she was team leader) won first place, Mirna's team (one of our newest and youngest girls) won second place, and Cecilia's team (another one of the younger girls in youth group) won third place! In addition, Mili was awarded the Most-Creative award, and Martin was awarded the Best Worshiper award! It was a very proud moment!

Normally, the first place team wins $5000 pesos to do what they want with it. This year however, the leadership felt that it would be a good idea to donate the money to different people in need from the La Cruz/Mazatlan area. The first place team donated $3000 to a one-year-old girl with leukemia who has little hope of recovery if she can't get to some doctors in Mexico city which is VERY far away (several days by bus). The second and third place teams each gave $1000 to needy families in the area. At least one of those families didn't have a house! It was neat to see the kids so excited about this idea. The leadership presented the change to all the kids at the beginning of the week, so their efforts that week were going towards a cause, and they went for it with all they had.

After the awards were over, there was a worship concert until the wee hours of the morning since there's no lights-out on the last night. I fell asleep around 2 am after chatting with Sandy in the tent for a while. However, I'm told that the concert ended around 3 am, and the last stragglers, including some from our group, went to bed around 4. Crazy kids!!

Our trip home was quite an adventure as the alternator in the van died about an hour into our trip. As we were on the side of the highway waiting for Steve to come back in the Chevy truck from calling Dave, the kids all started saying, "this is what happens when we don't pray first, so we need to pray now." So, we all gathered inside the van and prayed over the rest of the day. When Steve got back, we moved all the luggage from the truck to the van and all but 1 of the 12 kids (that's 11 kids total) over to the truck -- the four girls up front with me in the cab, and 7 guys in the back inside the camper with the tailgate and back window CLOSED. Then I proceeded to drive us all home. We met Dave in Acaponeta (about 1.5 hours from home) where we switched trucks. He went back to help Steve get the van home using the Chevy, and I took all the kids home in the 68 Ford pickup (manual transmission, steering, and brakes!). In the end we all got home, without luggage, quite content with the events of the week (for the most part).

It was really amazing to see how these kids handled the hiccups of the trip home. The week's theme had been fixing our eyes on the goal and walking towards it unwavering. They knew they'd be tested in their resolve after leaving camp, but they did not think it would come so soon. In the end they took a situation that could have been (and was for some) very frustrating and discouraging and instead turned it into an enjoyable adventure for which they were thankful. It was s true testimony to the Lord's work in their hearts during their week at camp. And it was only the beginning of the manifestation of how the Lord had worked and is continuing to work in them all.