Mexico, Week 2.

A Message from Ken Buch.

This is Friday, the big day we have been working towards all week.  I am writing this in the dark at 6am on the patio.  Everyone else is still sawing logs.  Last night 17 of us had a terrific dinner at a steak barbeque place called the Diamond. 

The week has been one of preparation and rehearsals for the big event scheduled for this evening and creative arts workshops every evening.  Great turnout every night with over 20 churches participating. 

We had to rent extra chairs for this evening, increasing the seats to 650 and we are told that the attendance may exceed 1,000!!!  The presentation will be 85% local performers that we have trained all week.  The evening will culminate in an alter call led by Pastor Arturo from the Methodist church.

Although extremely rewarding, the week has had a few speed bumps.  Roy, Juan Carlos and Luis have had to work hard as junior “McIver’s” to come up with decent lighting including “black lights”.  The space we are using is a 6,000 sqft meeting hall.  Unfortunately sometime last week all of the chairs were stolen.  The thieves even stole the building doors!  So local churches have loaned chairs and an offering was taken to rent an additional 400.  The doors were replaced and we have had a guard sleeping there every night.  Last hurdle to overcome is the water supply which has been nonexistent since Tuesday thus making the restrooms unusable.

Weather has been great but not as warm as you might think, 70’s in the day and cool at night.

More tomorrow!!

Tuxpan, Mexico, Day 9.

A Message from Bob Jeram.

January 14, 2012.

This was it, the day that all the hard work and preparation would come together – or not.  For the past three days we have been working with a team from Sion Church here in Tuxpan.  They have been interested in learning how to reach out with the Gospel message through the use of the creative arts. 
We have designed a program totally in Spanish, using puppets, ventriloquism, and dowels rods that will be performed this morning for the Sion community. They have a children’s Sunday School (on Saturday morning) that is targeted at reaching the un-churched families in their community. 

Sion is what I would call a very conservative Pentecostal church.  Their Pastor, Marco Bistante, is very conservative in his choice on music and in who he lets address his church community.  We met him this past Monday and he said that it was our initial conversation on the beach that convinced him to let us work with his team at Sion.  He objected to the music that we used to perform some of our pieces (too much rock and roll influence)  and he objected to our use of black light (too dark in the church).  All of these objections were eventually overcome and the performance went on. 

So, here we are on Saturday morning, waiting for God to move in mighty ways.  Well, He showed up in a big way!  The church was filled, the performance was almost flawless and the impact was significant. Fifteen children came forward that morning to meet Christ for the first time.

One of the values that we have as a mission outreach is empowerment.  We seek to empower the local church to do mission on their own.  We will train them and lend our talents where needed; but our desire is to have the program that they present be theirs. 

For this particular program everything was performed in Spanish by the local church.  They were assisted by Judy and Irene (from Panama).  Other than that, everything from the sound to the invitation to receive Christ was a Sion produced event. 

This church has been empowered to reach out with the Gospel through the use of creative arts.  Long after we leave they will be able to use the arts to reach their community and the surrounding areas.  Praise God!  Praise God, for working mightily in us and through us this week.

Some Observations: a Message from Mexico.

From Ken Buch.

During the morning shopping we were impressed with friendliness with which we were greeted everywhere.  We needed to buy a cable to connect the computer to a church sound system.  The first store we visited did not have the cable, but the manager gave us directions to another store.  We had just left the store when the manager came out and walked with us two blocks to the next store.  

After shopping, we stopped at a small sandwich shop.  It is usually “take out only” but the owner invited us to wait in her living room while the sandwiches were being prepared and then insisted that we stay and eat in the comfort of her home.

We had time to stop at an orphanage on the way home.  It was interesting to watch the children interact with us and each other.  All seven of the children had been abandoned, and when they first arrived at the orphanage their interactive skills were what you would expect from a child who was in survival mode in a cruel world.  They had only aggressiveness and violence as a way to live.  But when a new young child with brain damage was brought to the home, the other children treated him with compassion and soon learned to treat each other the same way.  So what we observed was a group of happy, playful children, all eager to meet us.

Mexico, Day Two.

DAY 2 – Saturday, January 7, 2012

Another Message from Ken Buch. 

On Saturday, we had time to do a little sight-seeing before heading back to the airport to meet Pastor Vince, Jean Mullaney, Pam Riddel and Emma and Jeff Liddle.  Then we embarked on another adventure: getting the eleven folks and a mountain of luggage to the bus station.

The bus ride from Mexico City to Tuxpan takes six hours.  We rode on the most luxurious bus I have ever seen.  I could not even hear the engine.  It was as if we were gliding along the highway in overstuffed recliner chairs.  The route took us through mountains with lots of curves, and we could see some steep cliffs in spite of the darkness.  

We arrived in Tuxpan on schedule at 11PM, where we were met by Diana, Mirna, Juan Carlos and Juan’s wife- to- be Karen.  On the drive to Diana and Mirna’s home, Juan related the inspiring story about the 15 passenger van in which we were riding.  Juan deals in used cars for a living and he discovered the van which he wanted to purchase specifically for our visit.  Unfortunately, he did not have the proper permit to purchase a large van.  He had a friend who possessed such a permit but he could not get in touch with him until the next day by which the van had been sold.  A few days later Juan felt in his heart that he should try again and to his surprise, the van was back up for sale only this time the price had been reduced from $2500 to $1500!  Juan was able to contact his friend and the van was his…ours!  Juan was convinced, as were we, that it was definitely divine intervention that provided our needed transportation.

Diana and Mirna treated us to a Three Kings bread ring and hot chocolate before we bedded down for the night.

Tents for A Home in Haiti!

If you guys haven't checked this website out, you really should.

A Home in Haiti an awesome organization that is brigning tents to Haiti so that the people there have shelter during the rainy season. What's also awesome is that they are committed to the long-term restoration of Haiti. These tents are just their first step. 

Check out this video. And THANK YOU St. Paul's Members for approving a $1000 donation to AHIH to purchase these tents!