July was an absolutely crazy, busy month for us, but it was also incredibly fun and exciting. We said goodbye to the OLS Alabama group on June 26th early in the morning. That evening there was an ordination here in town for a priest, Padre Efrain, who is from General Cepeda. Bishop (Obispo) Vera came to ordain Padre Efrain and we were asked to help with the reception afterwards. I was actually at home sick in bed with an amoeba, but my fellow mission partners went, met the Bishop and served at the reception. On July 27th the next group arrived: St. Norbert’s from Philadelphia! The group was mostly comprised of a youth group of high school-aged students. They were fantastic servants, always willing to go the extra mile.
While they were here, we had a home visits team; a team that helped to build a wall; and another team helped to build a room and bathroom for an elderly man, Don Lorenzo. Once I was on my feet again thanks to amazing mission partners and antibiotics, I visited homes with the girls. I loved seeing their openness to interact with those we visited.
The girls and I visiting Luis Angel.
That week, we also had the tail affects of Hurricane Alex. It rained nearly every day, which is quite unusual for this desert climate. While it was great for the shepherds and farmers, the houses often couldn’t handle the water. Many people came to our door asking for help with roof patching. Some families who lived in ranchos had to come stay here in town at a shelter because their homes were either flooded or their roof collapsed. We decided to take some paper and crayons for the children and go visit these families.
The families who were staying at a shelter due to the affects of Hurricane Alex.
At one point during the week, the wall one group had been building completely collapsed. My mission brother Jonathan said that it was a reminder to him that the lasting work we do is not physical labor, but rather spiritual. A regular form of our explicitly evangelistic work is visiting ranchos and putting together prayer meetings there. There was a priest with the group who is originally from Colombia, Fr. Nelson, so one team had Mass while the other two had prayer meetings. On our last night for rancho visits, we all went to the same rancho called Jalpa. Due to the rain the other groups could not reach their respective ranchos. It was an anointed evening. After Mass, some of the teens shared their testimonies and then we invited the people forward to share their testimonies. One woman, Raquel, told us:
“Every day is a testimony because I wake up.”
My rancho team... Good lookin' bunch o' missionaries :)
Gracie and I talking with children in Jalpa.
Enjoying a meal in the dining room.
Breanne, Teresa, Sarah, Alyse, Jonathan, Brooke, Joseph, James, and I - the staff/permanent missionaries for the trip.
Getting ready for morning prayer in the living room.
While we were on our desert day that week (time of prayer and silence in the desert with the Lord), the wind was blowing very hard because of the storm. All I can think is that we were being sent on quite a whirlwind, but a whirlwind of God’s grace and blessing for the two groups we had just received and the two more to come this summer.
We were so blessed by the crew from St. Norbert’s, Philly and their willingness to come serve the people of General Cepeda. Hopefully we’ll see them here soon!
**Attention: The date that I add the blog does not necessarily mean that the blog event happened that day, or sometimes even that month. For instance, it is August and I am just now getting around to writing about our busy month of July. Sorry for my delayed updates, but I hope they bless you regardless of when you read them! ;)
