I cannot tell you how many times God revealed His awesomeness to us and myself while on this trip. There are times that we may not know about until we go back next year. This year, we almost bailed on the whole trip for economic reasons and the belief that we weren't doing any good in Tecate'. But, I think it is safe to say that at least three things happened every day that can only be accredited to God. I think my big lesson was trust and listen. My philosophy, if you will, is if you want something done right, do it yourself. God was letting me know that aint so. Don't tell anybody, but, I was really nervous about this whole trip. I prayed more about this adventure than anything else. Ever. That's just dumb. The cool thing was, I was so at ease by the time we were leaving. It was like we were just going down the road to the store or something. God had this. I just had to trust and listen and do.
It was snowing when Tal, Steve, Doug and left Tal's house on April 4th. How crazy is that? As we went south, snow turned to rain then clouds then beautiful sun. Our big concern was getting to Siskous before the deer start roaming. If we hit a deer with the church van it may end in a draw.
Anyhow, we didn't make it, but, with Tal at the wheel(as he likes driving thru the Siskous) we got behind another truck and he "plowed" the path for us. He didn't hit anything. That's just the word Tal used.
So, from there to Sun Valley was uneventful and smooth sailing. To avoid morning rush in LA, we cut across Bakersfield, down thru Hesperia to I-10. I think. I was driving but Tal was navigating and I just trusted him.
That was also a blessing. To have Tal along. Tal is an "Ol Truck Driver". He knows stuff. He's been on these roads many, many times. I know enough to listen to experience. This was my first time to run point on trip like this and Tal has done it before. I was in his ear the whole 10 days.
Now we are at Al and Brendas' home in Desert Hot Springs. Hot springs... aaahh. Tal couldn't figure out why I wanted to drive straight thru and get to Al's so early. Hot springs. we sat in the jacuuziis and swam and relaxed. We had plenty of rest so that we could get an early jump Friday for whatever we would encounter in Tecate. We all slept very well that night.
Brenda's son was there, too. He's a missionary in Mongolia. At dinner I had a great time asking him questions about mission trips and relationships and experience. What I came away with was you can't put a value on relationships. Meaning, this is our 6th year going to Tecate. On the surface, it may not appear that we are doing much good. It may not appear that there is much progress or growth. But, we have developed a relationship with the Leons. We have a bond of love and trust with them. For any REAL growth to happen, you need that first. Wow, that was cool. You know whatelse was cool? He wasn't supposed to be there. He was there for his mom's birthday but they didn't think he was going to able to come. Somehow, it worked out that we were all there together. Weird
Let's go to Tecate!! We got there and hooked up with Dan Bender right away. Dan is the short term mission coordinator. From there, we went into Mexico to the church and found Pastor Leon and his wife Letti. This is a recon mission. We survey what has been done and what we need to do before we can start, yadda, yadda, yadda. I let the other guys do all that while Letti and I sat and talked. I needed to find out what's been going on down here.
This church does not appear to be growing. They have 40 -45 people every Sunday and Thursday night. It's been like that for the 6 years. It's been like that since the church started 20 years ago. But, the thing in Mexico is you go where the work is. People come and go all the time. It's unusual for a family to stay in the same location for more than 3 years.
So, even though they have a steady 40-45 people, it is a different 40-45 year after year. This is the cool part. Pay attention. Families come to the church, get saved, baptized, discipled then leave. They go to where the work is or tend to family members in other cities and, are you ready? Share the gospel and leading others to Christ! The Leons know this because as people migrate around they come to the Leons and say,"Yeah, I know so and so in Mexicali and he said I should come here because I'm a Christian and you share Jesus with him and he shared Jesus with me..." This happens all the time.
There is a family that lives behind the church. When we show up, we use their backyard for game time. Last summer, the lady came to Letti and asked why we built that roof. Letti explained the practicalities of it. The lady said "No,why do the Americanos come here and do these things for you?" Letti said, "This is how they can show you how they love you because God loves them. And that God loves you, too." That clicked in her head and she started coming and bringing her kids. They are all now believers and were baptized.
There are 2 other churches that visit the Leons' church. Our group is the only one that the locals ask,"When are they coming back?"
We were to demo the kichen and rebuild a 2 story structure in it's place. It was also supposed to rain our first day. Sunday night we prayed for no rain. Monday, no rain. "It's going to rain tomarrow" they said. We all prayed. No rain. "It will rain tomarrow for sure" we were told. We all prayed. No rain. It didn't rain until we had all the kids home and all tool put away on the very last day.
Thursday night was our big parents night. The kids were to go home and invite their parents or signifigant adult to come. The regulars and even Pastor Leon said no one would come. We all prayed. We canvassed the neighborhood and prepared for a crowd and believed. That night, 4 families that have never been there before came and continue to go to this day. Never underestimate God.
This is just my experience. I can't tell you all the things other people have shared with me. All I can say is trust, listen and do
