I just couldn't end the blog with my last post. I wanted to be able to share with you all one last time. As you all have read, God worked in amazing ways this past week in my life and I pray and trust in the lives of many others.
I have been praying everyday that I, through God's help, can mantain this focus and drive I have to share God's love! I'm closing this blog saying thanks for all your prayers during this week and with a very heartfelt request that you all keep me in your prayers as I go through this journey of my, very busy, life!
If you want to see pics you can check them out on my facebook or shoot me an e-mail at sarahdenney@bellsouth.net and I will send you an invite to my kodak album!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Day 4 (final day)
Si si bueno uno dos bu..o si si bueno uno dos!
The skip card is the most important card!!!
Nathan and JD have their own personal pinatas!
These are just a couple of the hundreds of inside jokes we will have after this trip. A group of people I barely knew I can now call friends! We have worked hard but we have also had so much fun laughing until our stomach hurts and were near tears! On a mission trip we come with the primary intent to serve others and God is so good that he sneaks up behind us and pours blessings on us. 11 of those blessings are the absolutely amazing people I came on this trip with as "people from my church" and I'm leaving with as "my friends"!
Yesterday started with a trip to the souvenir market! Yaaah! Fun! If you like being followed and harassed by everyone you see...no seriously it can be a little overwhelming! Fortunately keith and I were able to pick up some stuff since we fly out today!
During our escapade to the market JD decided he wanted a sombero...well he wanted one but apparently he didn't want to pay too much for one becuase he talked to a guy who asked $40 lowered it to $30, JD was not buying so the guy lowered it again to $10, JD was still not buying so the guy lowered it to $5, JD said no once again and the guy called him a "cheapaskato"!!! We all walked away and the guy lowered the sombrero to $4! By the way JD still did not buy the sombrero!
After the souvenir market we headed back over to the church where Nathan played his guitar and we sang praise and worship songs before heading out for the day! We sang some in English and nathan taught me some words in Spanish! Nathan is a wonderful guy who has
Been wanting to help mauricio with groups from the States for a while and we were his first one! It was most definitely our privilege to
Get to know him!
After the guitar and singing, mauricio asked us to share in a few words how this trip has changed us and what we will take home from
It. That was a very special time of sharing and I really hope you guys will be able to clearly see those changes in us!
The afternoon "walking through the neighborhoods" passing out candy, balloons, stickers and tracts was absolutely wonderful yesterday! People were meeting us in the streets and I could tell it was going to be a good night!
That evening people started showing up EARLY....that is such a big deal in this culture! People were ready to get the evening started! Junior's clown act was great, followed by Jeff's sermon and the movie "hermie the catterpillar". You could feel God in that place last night!
At the end of the evening, I was standing to the back exhausted and ready for the night to be over but God had something major in store for me! Out of the blue, a lady in tears approached Shannon and I and asked if we could pray for her because she felt as though God were punishing her for her sins because she was once in church but has now distanced herself from God. Shannon prayed and I translated! At about this point the local pastor and his wife approached! She proceeded to tell us that she is a widow, can't find work and she has no food to feed her family! She went on to say that death is the only option for her and we explained to here that there is only hope in Jesus Christ our Lord and it's never too late to come to him. We witnessed to for about 10-15 minutes and she agreed to come back to the church tomorrow and have the pastor and his wife follow her home so they can know where she lives and stay in contact with her! Please pray for this lady!
A lady in the church was celebrating her birthday yesterday and the family was very gracious to invite us all to join them for dinner! Of course we couldn't refuse and run the risk of offending someone so we ate "caldo de pavo" which is turkey soup. The flavor was pretty good but it's not something any of us would probably choose! We sang Happy Birthday, thanked the family profusely and headed out!
Mauricio took us to a very nice restaurant called "Toks". The food was once again very good! If you ever come to Cancun, look up Mauricio he might work you to death but he'll feed you well!
All in all an EXCELLENT week! I can't wait to share more in person later!
The skip card is the most important card!!!
Nathan and JD have their own personal pinatas!
These are just a couple of the hundreds of inside jokes we will have after this trip. A group of people I barely knew I can now call friends! We have worked hard but we have also had so much fun laughing until our stomach hurts and were near tears! On a mission trip we come with the primary intent to serve others and God is so good that he sneaks up behind us and pours blessings on us. 11 of those blessings are the absolutely amazing people I came on this trip with as "people from my church" and I'm leaving with as "my friends"!
Yesterday started with a trip to the souvenir market! Yaaah! Fun! If you like being followed and harassed by everyone you see...no seriously it can be a little overwhelming! Fortunately keith and I were able to pick up some stuff since we fly out today!
During our escapade to the market JD decided he wanted a sombero...well he wanted one but apparently he didn't want to pay too much for one becuase he talked to a guy who asked $40 lowered it to $30, JD was not buying so the guy lowered it again to $10, JD was still not buying so the guy lowered it to $5, JD said no once again and the guy called him a "cheapaskato"!!! We all walked away and the guy lowered the sombrero to $4! By the way JD still did not buy the sombrero!
After the souvenir market we headed back over to the church where Nathan played his guitar and we sang praise and worship songs before heading out for the day! We sang some in English and nathan taught me some words in Spanish! Nathan is a wonderful guy who has
Been wanting to help mauricio with groups from the States for a while and we were his first one! It was most definitely our privilege to
Get to know him!
After the guitar and singing, mauricio asked us to share in a few words how this trip has changed us and what we will take home from
It. That was a very special time of sharing and I really hope you guys will be able to clearly see those changes in us!
The afternoon "walking through the neighborhoods" passing out candy, balloons, stickers and tracts was absolutely wonderful yesterday! People were meeting us in the streets and I could tell it was going to be a good night!
That evening people started showing up EARLY....that is such a big deal in this culture! People were ready to get the evening started! Junior's clown act was great, followed by Jeff's sermon and the movie "hermie the catterpillar". You could feel God in that place last night!
At the end of the evening, I was standing to the back exhausted and ready for the night to be over but God had something major in store for me! Out of the blue, a lady in tears approached Shannon and I and asked if we could pray for her because she felt as though God were punishing her for her sins because she was once in church but has now distanced herself from God. Shannon prayed and I translated! At about this point the local pastor and his wife approached! She proceeded to tell us that she is a widow, can't find work and she has no food to feed her family! She went on to say that death is the only option for her and we explained to here that there is only hope in Jesus Christ our Lord and it's never too late to come to him. We witnessed to for about 10-15 minutes and she agreed to come back to the church tomorrow and have the pastor and his wife follow her home so they can know where she lives and stay in contact with her! Please pray for this lady!
A lady in the church was celebrating her birthday yesterday and the family was very gracious to invite us all to join them for dinner! Of course we couldn't refuse and run the risk of offending someone so we ate "caldo de pavo" which is turkey soup. The flavor was pretty good but it's not something any of us would probably choose! We sang Happy Birthday, thanked the family profusely and headed out!
Mauricio took us to a very nice restaurant called "Toks". The food was once again very good! If you ever come to Cancun, look up Mauricio he might work you to death but he'll feed you well!
All in all an EXCELLENT week! I can't wait to share more in person later!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Day 3
Real quick, something hilarious I forgot to post last time! At dinner, JD decided to branch out and order a native drink called "horchata" which mauricio described as "rice milk". Well it already looks like watered down milk and the descriptions I'm about to give you did not help at all. Christina tasted it and looked at Krista and I with a very serious face and said "it tastes kind of like slim fast mixed with pepto bismol" as if that description weren't bad enough Thom decides to help out by adding "no, it's more like vanilla milk and milk of magnesia"!!! Seriously, I'm NOT trying horchata!
Okay here goes for today! We felt like we were in luxury conditions today, a fully finished church with four fans and an actual restroom with soap and running water! In comparison to what we were in it was much much nicer. The neat thing we learned is that this church was much like the 1st church about 3 years ago...that gives great hope that in 5 years the first church will also be complete. This time frame is not acceptable for the men on our trip, they would like to see it finished much sooner!
The schedule today was much the same, costco and Walmart for supplies and off to the church for prayer walking and door to door invitation. The neighborhood was also different, mauricio described It as several steps up in income from the neighborhood the day before but it was still stricken with poverty!
When we arrived at the church, JD and Christina gave Maurico their camera to keep. We were later told that he was proudly showing others his "new camera". That's awesome! As I've mentioned before, mauricio (our GBC rep) is one of the most passionate, God driven men l've met and I believe that feeling is echoed throughout the group!
Last night, the service was excellent, the turnout was great and from what I could tell people were very intently listening to Jeff's sermon! I keep telling Thom that I can't sing and I finally got the opportunity to prove that loud and clear with a microphone in my hand and a bunch of kids waiting on a clown who was having technical difficulties! We sang Tin Tin Tin and Jesus Loves Me...it was fun!
Wow
During debreifing last night, some needs of the local pastor were discussed and I ask you to pray for both the pastors here as well as Mauricio and Nathan (a young very sweet guy helping Mauricio).
Dinner of course was EXCELLENT!!! It was a restaurant that served flank steak or chicken and a baked potato or a baked onion! The meat was melting in your mouth it was so tender and the flavor was superb! As were eating, Shannon who is sitting beside me tries to calculate how many ounces we were eating by dividing it by kilos...fortunately I wasn't able to do the math in my head so I can continue to be in denial about how much I'm eating here! Haha. To me the restaurant we went to the previous tonight is still my favorite...I don't think we will be able to top it!
After debriefing, JD, Christina, Krista, Shannon and I decided to play some Phase 10. Shannon had never played so we were going to teach him....yeah right! He killed us! It was a wonderful hilarious time playing cards and getting to know people I otherwise would probably never gotten to know On this level! Although, we're here for these people, it seems like God always takes time to change you too! It's an amazing God we serve!
We pray that today (Friday) God will work miracles, that he will open doors and that we will be able to plant many seeds to be watered and fed by the local church! Please pray for us today! As Shannon's "fortune mint" said last night - "when all the doors close, a window opens". How appropriate!
Okay here goes for today! We felt like we were in luxury conditions today, a fully finished church with four fans and an actual restroom with soap and running water! In comparison to what we were in it was much much nicer. The neat thing we learned is that this church was much like the 1st church about 3 years ago...that gives great hope that in 5 years the first church will also be complete. This time frame is not acceptable for the men on our trip, they would like to see it finished much sooner!
The schedule today was much the same, costco and Walmart for supplies and off to the church for prayer walking and door to door invitation. The neighborhood was also different, mauricio described It as several steps up in income from the neighborhood the day before but it was still stricken with poverty!
When we arrived at the church, JD and Christina gave Maurico their camera to keep. We were later told that he was proudly showing others his "new camera". That's awesome! As I've mentioned before, mauricio (our GBC rep) is one of the most passionate, God driven men l've met and I believe that feeling is echoed throughout the group!
Last night, the service was excellent, the turnout was great and from what I could tell people were very intently listening to Jeff's sermon! I keep telling Thom that I can't sing and I finally got the opportunity to prove that loud and clear with a microphone in my hand and a bunch of kids waiting on a clown who was having technical difficulties! We sang Tin Tin Tin and Jesus Loves Me...it was fun!
Wow
During debreifing last night, some needs of the local pastor were discussed and I ask you to pray for both the pastors here as well as Mauricio and Nathan (a young very sweet guy helping Mauricio).
Dinner of course was EXCELLENT!!! It was a restaurant that served flank steak or chicken and a baked potato or a baked onion! The meat was melting in your mouth it was so tender and the flavor was superb! As were eating, Shannon who is sitting beside me tries to calculate how many ounces we were eating by dividing it by kilos...fortunately I wasn't able to do the math in my head so I can continue to be in denial about how much I'm eating here! Haha. To me the restaurant we went to the previous tonight is still my favorite...I don't think we will be able to top it!
After debriefing, JD, Christina, Krista, Shannon and I decided to play some Phase 10. Shannon had never played so we were going to teach him....yeah right! He killed us! It was a wonderful hilarious time playing cards and getting to know people I otherwise would probably never gotten to know On this level! Although, we're here for these people, it seems like God always takes time to change you too! It's an amazing God we serve!
We pray that today (Friday) God will work miracles, that he will open doors and that we will be able to plant many seeds to be watered and fed by the local church! Please pray for us today! As Shannon's "fortune mint" said last night - "when all the doors close, a window opens". How appropriate!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Day 2 (Wednesday)
WOW would be the way I described this day if I had one word! We began the day as normal with a quick trip to costco and Walmart to pick up more supplies and then headed off to the church! At costco one of our vans was broken into...the lock completely removed from the door. The only things taken were mauricio's blackberry and camera but that was too much. We all were upset by the situation and most have never experienced such blatant theft! The way Mauricio handled this situation is commendable! He told us that obviously were here doing the right thing because Satan is attacking and that he also knows that these people who took his stuff need to know Jesus! He hopes they look through the pictures on his camera and his emails and hopefully read a tract that was in his camera bag and come to know Jesus! What a lesson for all of us.
Upon arriving at the church there were again members of the local church there to spend the day walking the streets with us. We spent approximately 1 hour prayer walking, passing out tracks and inviting everyone to our service at 6 pm (haha this is Mexican time 6-8 turned into 6:30 to about 9)!
One of the greatest blessings of the day, although there were so many, was going to a particular family's home. Yesterday when we were prayer walking a lady asked if we would come back today and talk to them. She has a mentally handicapped 23 year old daughter and is unable to leave the home. We all went and talked to them and prayed with them. Of course in the home lived the grandparents, two daughters, one of them being mentally handicapped and one of them married with a family! They explained to us how expensive it is to support their daughter...she has to take a lot of medicine to prevent seizures and she wears diapers!
One of their sources of income is a hair salon that their daughter, Mariana, runs out of the home. We all felt led to help this family and one of the ways some of us did was by getting a haircut! Joe was the 1st to volunteer and Krista explained to me that he ALWAYS has his haircut by the same person and is very particular...one thing I have learned on this trip is that Joe's heart is one the most tender and sincere I have ever seen! Joe was quickly followed by Keith and Tim! All the haircuts were excellent and according to what we have been told that was at least 3 days minimum wage for that family.
In addition, we felt led to take up a love offering which we did. We spent approximately 1 hour at the home and I later learned that the grandmother has asked the local church people to come talk to her once a week since she can't leave the home! What a blessing!
It started raining during this time...raining and a lot of dirt equal a lot of mud! But thank God the rain came during our lunch and the skies were clear for our afternoon walking and evening events which would have been very difficult otherwise!
The local church people have been joining us for lunch and today they also brought some
Black beans, salsa and chicken stew to share with us...it was excellent!
The evening events consisted of some praise and worship songs, Junior the clown performed 3 acts, a short Hermie movie and then the kids went in one area to sing and learn a memory verse while jeff preached to the parents!
It was a better turnout than the night before and the hairdresser, mariana, showed up with her husband! What a blessing!
The service went well and Jeff is getting very good at preaching with about 2-3 hours notice!
At 9 we were all exhausted after the long day and we were definitely ready to eat! Mauricio suggested we invite the pastor of the church where we were working and the pastor of the church where we are going today (he has been there both days helping us at this church as well)!
We chose tacotorro again and the food was excellent and the prices great for a group of that size!
We arrived at the hotel after 11 which remember felt like after 12 to us and most went to their rooms! Shannon, Christina, JD and I all sat around one of the patio tables and had excellent conversation!
After that we did all pass out in our rooms!
More tonight or tomorrow morning
If it's another late night!
Upon arriving at the church there were again members of the local church there to spend the day walking the streets with us. We spent approximately 1 hour prayer walking, passing out tracks and inviting everyone to our service at 6 pm (haha this is Mexican time 6-8 turned into 6:30 to about 9)!
One of the greatest blessings of the day, although there were so many, was going to a particular family's home. Yesterday when we were prayer walking a lady asked if we would come back today and talk to them. She has a mentally handicapped 23 year old daughter and is unable to leave the home. We all went and talked to them and prayed with them. Of course in the home lived the grandparents, two daughters, one of them being mentally handicapped and one of them married with a family! They explained to us how expensive it is to support their daughter...she has to take a lot of medicine to prevent seizures and she wears diapers!
One of their sources of income is a hair salon that their daughter, Mariana, runs out of the home. We all felt led to help this family and one of the ways some of us did was by getting a haircut! Joe was the 1st to volunteer and Krista explained to me that he ALWAYS has his haircut by the same person and is very particular...one thing I have learned on this trip is that Joe's heart is one the most tender and sincere I have ever seen! Joe was quickly followed by Keith and Tim! All the haircuts were excellent and according to what we have been told that was at least 3 days minimum wage for that family.
In addition, we felt led to take up a love offering which we did. We spent approximately 1 hour at the home and I later learned that the grandmother has asked the local church people to come talk to her once a week since she can't leave the home! What a blessing!
It started raining during this time...raining and a lot of dirt equal a lot of mud! But thank God the rain came during our lunch and the skies were clear for our afternoon walking and evening events which would have been very difficult otherwise!
The local church people have been joining us for lunch and today they also brought some
Black beans, salsa and chicken stew to share with us...it was excellent!
The evening events consisted of some praise and worship songs, Junior the clown performed 3 acts, a short Hermie movie and then the kids went in one area to sing and learn a memory verse while jeff preached to the parents!
It was a better turnout than the night before and the hairdresser, mariana, showed up with her husband! What a blessing!
The service went well and Jeff is getting very good at preaching with about 2-3 hours notice!
At 9 we were all exhausted after the long day and we were definitely ready to eat! Mauricio suggested we invite the pastor of the church where we were working and the pastor of the church where we are going today (he has been there both days helping us at this church as well)!
We chose tacotorro again and the food was excellent and the prices great for a group of that size!
We arrived at the hotel after 11 which remember felt like after 12 to us and most went to their rooms! Shannon, Christina, JD and I all sat around one of the patio tables and had excellent conversation!
After that we did all pass out in our rooms!
More tonight or tomorrow morning
If it's another late night!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Day 1 pm
Hello everyone! It's 9:44 cancun time and 10:44 your time. We have just retuned from a full day at one of the churches and it's surrounding area.
We left this morning not quite sure what to expect and I don't think we could have anticipated how impactful one day could be.
We began the day by splitting into two groups and doing a prayer walk. This was my first prayer walk so for those of you who don't know it's basically door to door visitation with frequent stops for public audible prayer! Very powerful! During our walk we were able to talk to a great # of people, pass out tracts to the adults and stickers and candy to the little ones. During this time we made sure to invite everyone to the church tonight and tomorrow night for special events including Junior the clown. During our walk we were accompanied by different members of the local church who were impressive in their fervor to witness to everyone we encountered!
For lunch we met back at the church, which I forgot to mention, is a not quite complete sqaure of cinder blocks with no windows, doors or roof. The bathroom is a toilet in a back room that you flush with a bucket of water you obtain from a big 55 gallon drum full of water. The people from the local church joined us for lunch which was very nice!
After lunch, junior the clown went off to get ready, Jeff prepared for a short sermon he just found out he was preaching tonight and Nancy (Joe Delisle's sister) was able to teach a "English as a 2nd language" lesson which you could tell was greatly appreciated. The rest of us just spent time with the people, mainly children.
At around 3 we went out again, with junior in full costume this time, and reminded everyone of the evening activities! We returned to the church around 4:30 and the pastor started singing and drawing the crowd over!
The service was wonderful...I was a little nervous translating a presentation and sermon for the 1st time in about 12 years but I believe we were understood and that's all that matters! We had a crowd of 150+ in a church that expects 20 on a good day!
There are so many personal stories that I'm sure people will share upon their return I can't begin to tell you all the ways in which God showed himself today! It was a great day!
After church, Mauricio took us to taco torro for authentic Mexican food and WOW it was soooo good! I really hope we get to eat there again!
After dinner we all gathered to share our thoughts for the day and now were all off to bed!
Tomorrow will be the same Thing in the same area so I will fill you in then!
We left this morning not quite sure what to expect and I don't think we could have anticipated how impactful one day could be.
We began the day by splitting into two groups and doing a prayer walk. This was my first prayer walk so for those of you who don't know it's basically door to door visitation with frequent stops for public audible prayer! Very powerful! During our walk we were able to talk to a great # of people, pass out tracts to the adults and stickers and candy to the little ones. During this time we made sure to invite everyone to the church tonight and tomorrow night for special events including Junior the clown. During our walk we were accompanied by different members of the local church who were impressive in their fervor to witness to everyone we encountered!
For lunch we met back at the church, which I forgot to mention, is a not quite complete sqaure of cinder blocks with no windows, doors or roof. The bathroom is a toilet in a back room that you flush with a bucket of water you obtain from a big 55 gallon drum full of water. The people from the local church joined us for lunch which was very nice!
After lunch, junior the clown went off to get ready, Jeff prepared for a short sermon he just found out he was preaching tonight and Nancy (Joe Delisle's sister) was able to teach a "English as a 2nd language" lesson which you could tell was greatly appreciated. The rest of us just spent time with the people, mainly children.
At around 3 we went out again, with junior in full costume this time, and reminded everyone of the evening activities! We returned to the church around 4:30 and the pastor started singing and drawing the crowd over!
The service was wonderful...I was a little nervous translating a presentation and sermon for the 1st time in about 12 years but I believe we were understood and that's all that matters! We had a crowd of 150+ in a church that expects 20 on a good day!
There are so many personal stories that I'm sure people will share upon their return I can't begin to tell you all the ways in which God showed himself today! It was a great day!
After church, Mauricio took us to taco torro for authentic Mexican food and WOW it was soooo good! I really hope we get to eat there again!
After dinner we all gathered to share our thoughts for the day and now were all off to bed!
Tomorrow will be the same Thing in the same area so I will fill you in then!
Day 1
We arrived safely at the airport in cancun! Mauricio (our GBC representative) picked us up and took us to a restaurant via a scenic route that allowed us to see the beautiful beaches of cancun....wow at the blue water! (hopefully we can post pics later)
The food at the restaurant was all good! Tim particularly enjoyed his "pickle" which turned out to be a VERY hot pepper! Haha! That's was great!
After lunch we went shopping at costco and superwalmart! Yes...Walmart and costco in mexico! We picked up tons of water and stuff for breakfast and lunches!
We were all exhausted last night so we had an early devotion and most called it an early night!
This morning we ate breakfast in one of our rooms and had devotions! We are now setting off to the area in which we will be working. What we know is that we will be doing a prayer walk this morning and a big event for the kids tonight!
Pray for us! Gotta go or they are going to leave me!
The food at the restaurant was all good! Tim particularly enjoyed his "pickle" which turned out to be a VERY hot pepper! Haha! That's was great!
After lunch we went shopping at costco and superwalmart! Yes...Walmart and costco in mexico! We picked up tons of water and stuff for breakfast and lunches!
We were all exhausted last night so we had an early devotion and most called it an early night!
This morning we ate breakfast in one of our rooms and had devotions! We are now setting off to the area in which we will be working. What we know is that we will be doing a prayer walk this morning and a big event for the kids tonight!
Pray for us! Gotta go or they are going to leave me!
Monday, January 5, 2009
1st day - Monday
Okay, so it's 4:18 AM and we are on our way! It's early and I need caffeine! Our flight leaves at 7:10 with a layover in Miami arriving in Cancun at 11:15! I will update you guys tonight...maybe I will have more info then!
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