Last Day in Mexico

Well tomorrow we leave. Our time here has been great with lots of great stories to come home too. The last 2 days we spend cleaning more daycares, yard work at the school of champions and more feedings. Every feeding we did we always ran out of food and we had to bring back more later. On Thursday night some of the workers from the church even went out at midnight to feed the people who work on the dump itself recycling as much of what we call waste as they can. Today is our off day and so Tony and I sat by the pool at the hotel while Patrick, Reed and Greg went on a mission to find a parasailing place so they could fly over the ocean with a parachute on their back. Tonight we will eat at our favorite authentic Mexican restaurant that we take all of our teams to, PiPi´s. I think the team is looking forward to coming home but not our travel day tomorrow. You can be praying for us as we will leave our hotel at 4:45 in the morning to get to the airport by 5. Our flight leaves at 7. This is all Puerto Vallartan time of course. Which would mean airport by 6 and fly out at 8. Looking forward to seeing you all. Thanks for all your prayers.

Big Dan

News from Mexico!

These past few days have been very interesting. Between the feedings and the work we do its going by very quickly too. The feedings that we do are normally just baked goods and some watered down concentrate juice, but last night we got hot food that was left over at Vallarta Adventures. The food is all bagged and taken to the dump. This feeding was proabably one of the most interesting of the week. On our way to our first stop, our driver, Isreal, ran over a poor little dog. He felt really bad as probably all of us did. Once we got to our stop, we passed out the hot food to parents and bread to the kids. We also passed out toothebrushes and toothepaste. There was 4 other stops just like this but by our 2nd we had run out of toothebrushes and toothepste to hand out. The 5th planned stop was the dump, where we actually go on the dump and feed the people working in it. Unfortunately, we ran out of food at our 4th stop. Luckily though, the bakery gave us some more bread for Isreal to take back to the dump later on that evening, as if it wasn't late enough at 8:30. All in all we had the pleasure of feeding 208 kids and 99 adults. The group hadn't eaten since 2 pm anyways so we were extremly hungry. We took the bus to the Malecon to eat at the Happy Ant but there was so much traffic that the bus driver made us get off the bus so we had to walk at least a mile and a half with crowded sidewalks. So Dan took the lead and with his big frame we cut through everybody. When people saw Big Dan moving fast towards them they moved rather quickly out of the way. Finally, we got to the taco stand and had a rather large portion of food, 28 tacos and 9 drinks between the 5 of us. All at the cheap price of 342 pesos (about 28 bucks). To sum that up…Tacos and pop at the Happy Ant-342 pesos, bus ride to the Happy Ant-32.5 pesos, watching Big Dan move super fast down the Malecon while people flew out of the way---- PRICELESS! This morning we did more daycare cleaning. I think our experience with the weed wacker is done though. It fell apart while Reed was using it....surprise surprise!! We also cleaned a roof where there were so many ants that you couldn't see the ground. As we were getting down from the roof, Reed dropped his water bottle over a ledge into a thorn filled bush. Watching him get it out was a lot of fun for everybody but Reed. Over all this trip has been really fun. Sleeping on air matresses in the church and showering outside everyday (with a curtain of course). It's been going by so fast I can't even believe how much we have done. We are all looking forward to our free day this saturday and to finnally coming home on sunday. But until then, adios! Small Tony

Just Another Day is Paradise

The group here is doing very well. We are in high spirits and are getting much work accomplished here. Last night we went to the School of Champions, where kids that do well in school go to learn more in hope to get a decent paying job in Puerto Vallerta. While there we passed out bread and food to all the kids that attend. They got the opportunity to listen to a sermon directed towards their age and sang many common songs that we, the group, used to sing when we were of that age. They were very excited to get food and were pleased to see people from another country who had come to take care of them. I can still picture the smiles on their faces. Patrick went around and took many pictures of the sight and of the children who were there. The kids were very fond of the digital camera he had and were estatic when they saw themselves on a screen. All in all the kids had a blast. Today we went to two daycares and helped do some work that needed to be done. At the first one we did a lot of yardwork: weedwhipping, sweeping, and using the machetees(don´t know if I spelled it right but it is the giant sword things):). The weedwhip broke at the the first sight and we had to work it with a missing part, but we were able to get both sites done. At the second site we painted a room in the daycare and fixed up the area in front of it. The painting was messy, but we were able to take a shower afterwords so it was fine. The group is now about to go and give out some dental supplies and food. We are fine and know that we are in your prayers and we thank you for that. Tomorrow it is Tony´s turn to write again.

-Greg

Late Nights in the City Dump

So far this trip has been crazy. Last night we went to see this massive dump in the city. It was huge! I dont think ive ever seen so many vultures in one place. Anyway, we were on our way there with food and drinks to help the 100 or so people looking through the trash to find something they needed or could use. You could tell the minute we arrived. The stench was awful, and the dump was lit by several lights scattered throughout the dump. It wasnt the smell that made me sick though. It was the sight. I couldnt believe that so many people had to look through garbage to find what they needed. It really opened my eyes to the extreme poverty in some countries. We passed out as much bread and water as we could to the people there, but we soon ran out because of the sheer number of people that wanted some. Today was pretty cool too. We got to help out at a couple nurseries this morning that weren´t in use. We cleaned the places up pretty good. Tonight we´re doing what´s called a "hot feeding." We´re passing out hot food to people that need it. It should be pretty exciting. Tomorrow you will be hearing from Greg. Reed

Monday in Mexico

Wow Mexico is great! I never would have thought how fun it is to be down here. There are so many new things to do, so much to see. I wish I could do everything but that would take a long time. I am sad to say it but I wish I would have learned more Spanish. I wish we had food like this back in the USA! Thank God for air conditioning. Even with it being so hot we are getting a lot done. So far today we cleaned a day care that was covered in dust. We had to clean the floor, clean the chairs and then clean the floor again. It was fun and we worked well as a team and got it all done an hour faster than was given to us. We are going to hand out food tonight from 6-10 and I am looking foreword to that! We have a lot of work in our path and we are going to get it done. Tomorrow Reed will write.

Patrick

Sunday in Puerto Vallarta

Today was kind of a layed back day. We woke for church an hour earlier than we needed to. And we also had a time change making us lose another hour of sleep. (daylight savings). We went to first service church and there was only about 15 people. Afterwards, we had tacos for breakfast and Reed found out that the hot sauce causes taste loss. The second service of church was packed so we didn't go to it. We walked around a little bit and sat outside. After Church was over the team ate lunch and played some cards because there wasn't much to do. Later on, Josh took Dan and us to buy some grocerys. After, we ate dinner at a really good pizza place and walked along the malicon. So far we are having a lot of fun and look forward to the rest of the week.
The next blog will be written by Patrick until then Adios!

Tony

Five Guys in Mexico

Hello from Puerto Vallarta,
Our team (Tony Guizar, Reed Simpson, Patrick Palmateer, Greg Palmateer and I) made it just fine yesterday after a long day of travel. We flew from Detroit to Mexico City where we were supposed to have about a 5 hour delay. If that’s not long enough we find out after about 4 ours that our plane was delayed due to airplane issues. After about and hour they finally figured we needed a new plane and began to board. Our 5 hour delay ended up being about 6 ½ hours. Our plan was to go to the church when we got off the plane so that we could shower and rest but when we got off the plane our driver informed us that the church, Perdon y Amistad, was having a worship service on the Malecon (the big tourist trip in Puerto Vallarta) and said we were going to be dropped off there so we could watch. He dropped us off and said he would be back in an hour to get us. Unfortunately it was a little to busy there for him to get back so about an hour and a half later we took the bus back to the church. It was a fun adventure that included us getting some Domino’s pizza so it was all worth it. When we got back to the church we took showers and the guys sat down on their air mattress to relax and in about 10 seconds they were all snoring.
Today we woke up and had breakfast at the church with about 40 other people. The church just got done with a youth conference. Today was the last day so they had a big breakfast and invited us to eat with them. We then cleaned up the church for a bit and took a tour of the dump and the surrounding areas. After that we had lunch at the church and then played some cards while we relaxed a bit. Tonight is filled with dinner and more rest as tomorrow and the rest of the week should be super busy. Tomorrow you will have the pleasure of hearing about our day from Tony Guizar, until then enjoy your Easter.

Yesterday....the 30 hour day.

Yesterday Leona and I got up, finished packing and Denny and Linda took us to the airport to fly home. Both Leona and I hate to fly so we were not excited about the 7.5 hour flight across the ocean that we had ahead of us, but we were headed home to our family and friends so that was good. Due to the time changes we were able to enjoy a 30 hour day and finally arrived at our homes sometime around what our bodies thought was 4 am, but the clock said was 11pm.

For me this trip was different because I did not have a team to take care of while in the country. Normally I will travel with 5 to 8 people who I am responsible for taking care of and ministering to their needs as well as those we are serving in country. This time I had the privilege of traveling with just Leona, who is more like my big sister (who therefore tends to look out for me), so I was able to spend more time talking with the ladies on the retreat and in prayer than I usually do.

Speaking of Leona...It was awesome to be able to share this trip with her. She is a great ministry partner and I look forward to more trips together sharing the gospel and encouraging women in Christ. I had the chance to watch as God used Leona's gift of music, her listening ear and caring heart as the women opened up to her and shared their lives. On Saturday night, as I mentioned earlier, Leona and I did a time of music and worship with the ladies and Leona shared some of her life story with them. She was extremely transparent and real and it led to a number of great opportunities for the ladies to open up with her and share some of their hurts and pains as well.

Overall this trip was a good one. It was great to see how many of the people I met during my first trip to Ireland, almost 4 years ago, are now believers and are growing in their journey with the Lord. Denny and Linda did a great job of taking care of Leona and I during our time there and we would ask that you pray for them as they continue to minister to the people of Ireland.

Next up for me is the Mexico team in February, but before I can even think of that trip I need to recover from yesterdays 30 hour day. Until later....thanks for your prayers, all that took place on this trip was a direct result of you lifting us up in prayer to our awesome Dad.

The Free Day!

On Monday Leona and I had a chance to check out downtown Dublin. We were hoping for a beautiful sunny day, but then remembered we were in Ireland and settled for an occasionally saw the sun, somewhat rainy, fairly windy day instead. Fortunately for us, we seem to have fun and laugh no matter what the circumstances so we had a great day. We took the Hop on Hop off Bus that gives you a tour of the major sites of Dublin so we got to see most things as well as get a bit of shopping in as well. I also had an emotional mishap with a three legged dog, but that is another story...

I will try and post some pictures on here later today and there will be more posted on Facebook. Tuesday is another ministry day so we will be back at it.

Sunday night after the Retreat

Wow, what a great weekend. We had a brilliant time with the ladies at the retreat. Friday night started with a great meal and a good time of fellowship and worship. Saturday morning we had a morning session that started with worship and then Leona sang a few songs and I spoke to the ladies about Reflections of God. My theme was on having a correct view of who our God is: His character and nature.

The afternoon was free time. Leona spent part of the time in the prayer room meeting with people and praying with them. We had time to fit in a quick walk around the grounds and talk about the upcoming evening session.

The Saturday evening session was a time of music and reflections on life and God's faithfulness to us through the years. Leona shared some of her testimony and life's story with the ladies and we sang a few songs and led a time of worship. It was an emotional evening which led to a number of great conversations about how God can carry us through even the most difficult of life's circumstances. The evening ended with homemade pizza and conversation around the table.

Today the theme was Refections of Us with the emphasis on how God sees us and how he feels about us. So many women struggle with a low self esteem and need to be reminded of how precious they are to the Lord. Leona sang two songs that spoke to that theme and ministered to the ladies hearts through music.

After another good meal, we were on our way back to Drogheda to Denny and Linda's to catch up on our sleep. One thing we can say about the ladies in Ireland....they are great cooks and know how to treat a guest.

To me one of the highlights was talking with those I had met last year and hearing how they are doing. There were a number of great conversations about the Lord during our three days in An Tobar.

Tomorrow we are off to have a fun day of sight seeing in Dublin. Look out city we are on our way.

Here we are...in Ireland...eating cake!

Well we have arrived safe and sound. Today was a day of getting settled, working on music for the weekend and talking through the plans for the week with Denny and Linda. We are soon to head to bed to try and make up for the lost sleep on the planes. The flights went well, but I don't think either one of us got much sleep. Tomorrow we head to the retreat center to get ready for the weekend. The guest will arrive around 5:00pm and then it is a laid back evening of getting to know people. Saturday morning I will be speaking and Leona will sing a few songs, in the evening we will be doing a mini concert and sharing some of our lives stories. Then I will speak again on Sunday morning and Leona will sing again. We are looking forward to a good time with all of the ladies. I am hoping to connect with some of those who were at last years retreat and I am excited for Leona to meet them as well. Denny and Linda are taking great care of us: we have had some wonderful meals and we each have our own room at their house. We will try and write again tomorrow before we head to the retreat and then when we get back on Sunday night we will fill you in on all that has happened while we were away. Until then.....good night.

Oh, I almost forgot the cake part...tomorrow is Denny's birthday so we celebrated it with him tonight and had birthday cake...did I mention that we are having great meals?

Today is the Day!

Ready or not, Leona and I are heading to Ireland today. Looking back on all the obstacles and questions about whether or not we would be taking this trip...it seems hard to believe we are actually leaving. I am looking forward to all that God is going to do through us this next week. We will be doing some music, I will be speaking and Leona will be sharing her life story during one the sessions at the retreat. Please pray for her as she is not the public speaker in this team. I know that God is going to use her story and all that she has gone through to touch the ladies lives. Many will be able to relate to the challenges and disappointments she has faced over the years.

So, I better finish the last minute packing and get going, but before I do....let me thank you ahead of time for your prayers....they will mean so much the next seven days. Thanks to those who have helped make it financially possible for us to do this trip as well. All of you who gave and all of you who pray...this is your trip as well. Watch the blog to see what God is doing with your investment of time and money...it wouldn't happen without you.

Ireland...one week from today I am heading back to the Emerald Isle. Last year I had the opportunity to speak at a women's conference at a retreat center outside of Dublin. I must have done a decent job since they invited me back to speak at their conference this year as well. I am looking forward to reconnecting with those I met last year as well as meetng new people.

This year instead of taking an entire team, I have the privledge of traveling with my ministry partner, Leona Seller. Leona will be sharing with the ladies using her gift of singing as well as sharing her story with the ladies. I am looking forward to seeing all that God is going to do through Leona sharing her life with those who attend the conference.

Please pray for us as we finish up the final details and preperation on messages and music. We will be posting updates here throughout the week that we are gone.

Friday on the MIssion Trip

Today we woke up and had a great breakfast. We split up and took different jobs. Some of us painted some mowed lawns and others cleaned out a shed. After a great lunch we cleaned up the church. Then we did devotions and debriefed how the day went. Two minutes later we went to Hacienda, which is a Mexican Restaurant, and had the greatest Mexican food in the world (no offense taco bell lovers). Then we headed back to the church for lazy time. The fart- a-thon is over! Jeanne won for the girls and Sam and Dylan won for the guys. Tomorrow we are going to the dunes/beach. Then we will head home.

Signing out,

Sam Z. and Dylan L.

Thursday with the Jr. HIghers

Today I woke up late and ate breakfast. Then I went and kicked out a ceiling and tore out some carpet. I then cleaned a gross basement and after that… I took a shower! For lunch we made English muffin pizzas that were really amazing!! Then we played phase 10, but we didn’t clean it up as well as we didn’t put our plates away, so we had to clean all the dishes after dinner. Later on went to the chocolate factory and ate…chocolate (I bet that was a surprise) and it was good. Then we ate tacos for dinner (I’m noticing we eat a lot). After that it was time for VBS and we made a craft did a skit and played a game. When VBS was over it was really hard to say goodbye to the kids. We took a lot of extra time afterwards to say goodbye to them. We just had our team meeting and now were gonna hang out and play games, and then it is time for bed.

Madeline Guizar

Wednesday on the mission trip

August 19, 2009

Wednesday, we are already at the middle of the week, time does fly!!! We woke up way too early for my taste but we got up quick after we realized that biscuits and gravy was for breakfast, yum! After we did our daily devotional and got ready for work, we all split up and did different jobs. Some people went and painted a room in a different house and took the trim off the walls and removed the bathroom tiles. Others (Elizabeth) went and mowed the lawn, her first time ever I might add! Another group went and cleaned out someone’s shed, after that we all went and took showers and ate lunch. Then we had a relaxing afternoon, some people played cards and other slept in the lounge. Sam slept rather interesting; he actually slept under the couch cushions instead of on top of them! After our fabulous afternoon, the dinner crew got ready for our community dinner and prepared burgers to be grilled. A lot of people came and we had a great time playing with the kids and serving food to everyone. After dinner we started our VBS and played cone soccer for a little while until we got rained out. Then Pastor Ryan (the pastor at Keller Park Church) hooked up his laptop to the TV and we watched soccer. Next, we had our team meeting and talked through our devotionals, and then we all went to sleep after a long and tiring day.

Megan Balut

Jr. Higher's on Tuesday

Today I want to go on record that the comments made on this blog for the Jr. high mission team are not necessarily those of this blog owner. But thank you for your comments via e-mail and facebook about the farting contest. I have nothing to do with any of this. :)

Today was AWETASTIC (for you people who don’t know what that means, today was AWSOME and FANTASTIC at the same time)!!!!!!!! At the house we knocked out 2 walls, I mean how AWETASTIC is that!!??!?After we had lunch and then headed to Bethel College and had a cool tour of. The dorms and classrooms were sort of smallish, but the campus grounds were really pretty. We also saw touch-down Jesus (Touchdown Jesus is a big painting in the Notre Dame stadium) and got FREE Bethel bags. When we got back we had to eat quickly so that we could start VBS, It was an all craft night, we made door hangers, and bookmarks. It was fun and there was more kids today too. After that we had our team meeting and now we are chillaxin…………………….OHH I almost forgot the score for the fart-o-than is Dylan and Sam in the lead with 3.

A good night to All and All a good night……..
Elizabeth Lanham

Monday with the Jr. HIghers

7a.m. was way too early to start the day. But the delicious breakfast woke us up and then it was off to our first house. We got there and it was NOTHING that we expected!!! But when we heard it was made in 1950, we understood the wallpaper a little better!:) We worked from 9-1 and accomplished a lot! Since Madeline and Sam were the smallest we put them above the ceiling and they kicked it down from the top. The rest of us had to pick up the mess. We almost threw out Sam and Madeline with the junk (they were such a mess). Then we got to rip plaster off the walls and use the sledge hammer!!! And after the macho girls pulled up the carpet, poor Stephanie stepped on a nail. It was huge!!!!!! It was a centimeter long. J When we got back at 1 for lunch, we had grilled cheese and tomato soup. But apparently it’s not called grilled cheese, but cheese toasties…. Which I don’t get!!:) Anyways, after lunch we took showers and when we got back we found out there was a little contest in the lounge area! They were having a fart-a-thon! We couldn’t believe it! But no shock the boys are winning, but it goes till Saturday, so we’ll keep you posted! (The winner gets free bethel college stuff!) Tonight was the start of our children’s vbs! We had a lot of people……8!:), but we had a blast with those kids, and hope to have a couple more! But the kids start school tomorrow so we figure maybe more later on!!!!!!!! Our group is leading vbs Thursday, and we’re doing Jonah! Now were just chillin, playing games and waiting to go to bed. Talk to you later
Sydney Grewe and Kelsey Jordyn Hedberg

Pics from Jr. High Mission trip

Sunday on the Jr. High trip

Today was a great day. The first thing we did was we got 7 girls in the shower (not together) in an hour! Including make-up and hair and getting dressed!! After breakfast and devotions… we had a service in the Chapel . The service was on communion emphasizing on remembering not only the suffering for Jesus as well as suffering for others. After the message they had a discussion time saying any thoughts about it. The church congregation is made of 40 people.

Last night the girls and Stephanie stayed in the churches basement (which has a Big flat screen TV) where we will be staying all week. The boys are staying in a different house nearby.

After Church we went to Fazoli’s for lunch with the others who attend The Keller Park Church.
(Which had really good food!!)

In the afternoon we had our free time which we used to hang out, played cards, and the Wii!
After dinner we went out into the neighborhood to pass out flyers for the VBS we will be doing starting Monday night through Thursday.
We will be working on the houses Monday morning.
And that’s all folks!
This blog was written and sent by Jeanne Palmateer and Jennilyn Ake
Thanks for all the prayers!