So many kids for VBS we had to lock the doors.

The kids table

Yes, even in Mexico there's a kids table. It was good to have a place for Mike to sit where he could relate.

Family dinner with wonderful laughs and hugs

Dedication service with beautiful grasias signs made by the kids

Dinner and some tears

What a wonderful day! The highlights include a dedication service for the family whose home we built and a meal together. The service was a blessing as the kids made grasias signs and the grandmother sang a beautiful hymn she wrote. Tonight we invited the family over for dinner were we are staying and just had a blast. We shared stories of how we met, fun things about our families and great laughs when language was too complicated to worry about.

As with any journey into a new place where you make new friends it's sad to leave. One of the daughters is 11 years old. All week long she rolled up her pants legs and worked as hard as everyone else. Tonight at dinner she had her mom to fix her hair in a French braid sort of pattern and wore a beautiful dress with her best shoes. She was oh so proud and she made me think of my own daughters about the same age. At the end of the worship service she came over and gave me a hug then turned quickly away. After following her I saw her tears and it got me going too. There we were the two of us with wet, concrete laidened tears flowing down our cheeks. At dinner tonight we sat together and share some great laughs.

I just can't help but imagine what it would be like if the tables we turned. What if I was in a make-shift house with my family of 5 and 4 others? Where would they sleep? How in the world could I feed them all, much less send the to school (there is no public school) all on a salary that never really met the absolute basics? Then in my mind I image this little girl's Dad showing up with some friends and building a home along side my kids slinging mortar and cement blocks.

Yes, it brings me to my knees. As brothers and sisters in Christ we are to share God's love even when it's difficult. It could just as well be my little girls sleeping under that torn blue tarp tonight. And it could just as easily be me riding a bike with a basket on front that I ride on all day to collect plastic bottles along the side of the road. Or it could be my wife sitting on a street corner with a sewing machine repairing shoes and clothes just to bring home a few pennies a day.

It's difficult to keep things short sometimes. Sorry if this has gotten a little long. I think the apathy that builds like creosote on my heart has been cleansed again and I can begin to feel God in the blisters on my hands and the cuts all long my legs. Maybe, just maybe God gave us all a glimpse of heaven....

For the team- Mike Womble

Gifts and a Roof

There's nothing like getting absolutely covered in dirt and grime with friends that buiild bonds. Today we spent the morning finishing a roof for a house build by First Presbyterian Church in Athens, AL. It was exhausting work, but thrilling to see the end result. We are all fulfilled in seeing a home complete.

Our group was giving the option of resting in the afternoon or working some more on the home we built previosly. We decided to do the work. The volunteers were surprised, but the commitment we showed connected with them and they pitched in dispite the heat and sore backs from the morning's work. Even David Rodriguez, the current director of Faith Ministry came and mixed cement with everyone.

The ladies took time to get to know the family closer and then went shopping for school supplies for the 6 children. Erika asked that we not get a house warming gift, but rather school supplies. Education is the key to opportunities around the world, so providing supplies will help the children get one step closer.

If you'd like to learn more about Faith Ministires, please visit www.faithministry.org.

Thanks for the prayers and kind words.

School supplies for the family

Nurse Betty is doing great work in the clinic!

Rough looking crew

The burro and his master

A piece of string can be hours of fun

I wonder if I gave most of us gave our children a wheelbarrow and a piece of string if they'd sit and play with it for hours?

Wire ties and and deep love

Greetings from south of the boarder again. Everyone is doing well and feels healthy.

For a while now we have heard about security concerns along the US boarder. In some places the tension is very real and is a disappointing and unneeded threat. However, our time this week has been a blessing and has been very safe. We have seen no evidence of concern thus far and have 100% confidence in the leadership of Faith Ministries while here. Sure, security is always a real concern no matter where one lives. So there are guidelines that help us and our amigos to be smart and think safe. It is an honor to be among our amigos here in Mexico and everyone on the team has said they are glad they came.

Today we were blessed to work alongside the same volunteers that were here yesterday. We began mixing cement and poured a floor. Later we tied some rebar and prepared a roof to be poured for tomorrow. All the while our amigos worked tirelessly working on their tasks and building bonds with our team. They see teams come and go, so sometimes it's not always easy to bond. The unique thing with our team is members continue to ask about past friends. It's great to see that love build over time and no become short-lived. The current volunteers see that care and we hope will open their trust to us as we honestly seek to become their friends.

In Phillipans 1:9-11 Paul prays this regarding love for his friends, "[I pray] that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much, but love well." (The Message). It's fairly easy to love much- we are good at that in churches all across America and the globe. Thousands of church teams are mobilized around the world as I sit and type this blog. All of them (or at least most) are doing good work and are to be commended. However, I wonder if in our attempt to show love we end up spending more emphasize on loving much and less on loving well? Our prayer as a team and as ministry partners is that our love becomes so deeply connected that we can't help but to love well.

May we all go and love well.

Photo 3

Photo 2

Photo 1

New friends and Warm Salsa

Today we had a wonderfully warm day..ok, it was just a tad warmer than 106.  Despite the heat, it was wonderful seeing old friends and making new ones.  The home we starting building will be the home of Florencio and her children (see the image included to see Florencio).  The 4 children range from 16 to 7 and all of them pitched in mixing the mortar and even laying block.

It's amazing to see the hope in the eyes of the volunteers who were also on the job site.  All of the recipients of homes must help build all of the homes that year.  Some of the volunteers were even from previous years and didn't have to be there, but that chose to serve alongside this years recipients.  Everyone had such incredible faith that God will provided for their needs.  Some of them don't even know when, or if, a team will come build them a home, but they joyfully worked incredibly hard and shared their faith with out team.  we were privalidged to share lunch of beans, rice, chicken and some salsa that had a little kick to it.

As far as the work...we've done more in one day than we have ever seen.  We laid 10 courses of block and poured the columns.  For those who know what I'm talking about you'll appreciate what that means.  We plan to pour some flooring, a roof, and a foundation later this week.  Best of all we get to tell Bible stories and play some games at a VBS held in the clinic in which we are housed.  Stuart is thrilled to hand out candy and just play.

Feel free to send notes to the team via comments to the blog or my email (Mike's).

Adios!
The Mexico 2011 Team

see more of our blog at http://winterparkbaptist.blogspot.com

Is there oil?

This is an image of the Gulf of Mexico along the TX coast. Why is it we don't hear anything about the spill any more?

Rested and ready

Greetings blog followers! The Mexico team arrived in TX safely with only 1 bag missing. Everyone is well rested and ready for the encounters before us. After church this morning we'll get our supplies and head across the boarder after lunch.

According to the leaders at Faith Ministries and other people here in McAllen the situation where we are going is quiet and has been safe for some time now.

Keep praying for us and honoring God with everything you do

Mike Womble

(Sent from a mobile device)