simplicity

  Hey guys!
   So a lot has happened since my last blog. This week we were supposed to read a chapter of celebration of discipline on simplicity. But we all felt like we were very complacent. So our leaders prayed about what to do because they wanted to help us out of that feeling. So that next morning they woke us up and told us that we had five minutes to get our warmest clothes on and our bible, pen, and notebook, and water bottle. The leaders had forgotten that another guy me and were in the downstairs room so I woke up because all the guys had been stomping on the stairs. So I found out what we needed so I woke up the other person in my room and we all loaded up in the vans. And they drove us to a square in the center of Matamoros and told us that we were to have our quiet time for two hours. After that before we got back in the vans a couple other people and me and a leader walked across the street into the Catholic Church. When we walked in there was a room to the left of us. In it was a clear see through coffin with a plastic replica of Jesus with a sad look upon his face, and blood coming out of his mouth and he had the crown of thorns on his head. His body was covered with white linen cloth and his head was resting on a white linen pillow. As horrifying as this was in front of it was a prayer bench. We looked inside just to see what it looked like and it was crazy there were three statues in the front above the altar. I hadn’t looked at them close enough so I don’t know who they were but right away I knew that this was a very rich church.

   Then we got into the vans and they drove us to an area called India. We were dropped off and told where to meet at a certain time. And were told to go and reach out to the community. So our team got out and we were walking through mud that was like glue it was very hard to get off our feet and it added about 3 lbs. and an inch or 2 to our height. We ended up walking to an area that we noticed had no electricity. We saw a woman outside of her house and we started talking to her. We asked her if we could help her with anything, after a little while she told us that when it rains the water comes in through the house around the roof. We checked it out and decided that with the limited stuff we had we could probably make it a little better that it had been.

   After that we went on a walk and we stopped at a house where we saw some kids and started talking to them. Soon their mom had come out of the house and we started talking to her. After a couple of minutes of telling her what we were doing and such, she invited us into her home. We were relieved to be able to sit and were quite content with just sitting and talking. Then we noticed that she was cooking something for us and she had made us Kool-Aid. So we sat and talked and drank Kool-Aid and ate beans with eggs cooked in it. It was a really amazing thing because we were supposed to feed other people and we had been nervous because we were hungry, and God provided us food and so we fed others.

   Then we came back to the base and we were fed dinner. After dinner we found out that we would be praying all night, but in 1 hour long shifts with others. My shift was 1 am to 2 am. The first night I could really feel the Holy Spirit, the next two nights however, I didn’t.

   Then the next day we woke up at 5 am again, and got in the vans did our quiet time and found out we would be feeding people that night. So we made a list of what we wanted to make for them and what we needed and we went and bought it. Then we got back and started cooking it up. We had decided to make rice and bean tacos on homemade tortillas. So we went out that night and prayed for God to tell us where we were to go. So we went to a park and split up, some stayed there and others went over to the hospital. We fed people and they were eager to get food, but then we ended up praying for this one woman, that her daughter’s baby would be healed, and then we also prayed that her brother and other family members would get to know God.

   Then the next morning we woke up and did quiet time, and then were told to pray about where to go and what to do. So we prayed and eventually ended up at the mall. We walked around the mall, and started to minister to our own team since we weren’t quite ready to minister to others yet. So we went out on the street and I saw a man with crutches and talked to him and found out he had lost his leg in an accident and so I noticed he was asking cars for food and money so I walked back to my team and we talked and we went into the store and bought him water and rolls. Then we walked on and walked towards a building and when we got there we crossed the street and had communion with each other with water and chocolate. Then we walked back towards the spot we were getting picked up at, we saw a women and her son and so we offered them the two rolls we had. Then we talked to them and they offered us some tamales, and we told her we didn’t have any money and she said that was ok she wanted to give them to us. So we thanked her and walked toward the store and we were eating the tamales and a boy came over and stated talking to us in English and so we prayed for him and then we went back across the bridge and went to where we were getting picked up and walked to the van and came back to the base.

   The next day we woke up had quiet time at the base and went out to do some physical work. We were going to build a outhouse for our adoptive family and so me and two others stayed back and cut the wood into eight foot sections. Then we went there and completed the frame, and then we had to come back to the base. Then later on we found out all the families were coming to feast with us. So we went and picked up our family and brought them to the dinner. We all ate as much as we were given and then we took them back to their home.