Three graduations and a funeral

This past week has been one of the most spiritually and emotionally trying that I have had in a very long time. Last year I blogged about a young boy named Wilbur, from a village town about three hours away. He was a very special friend to me and he just so happened to have a congenital heart disease. Had I known that April would be the last time that I saw him I would have hugged him a little longer and told him how very special he was to me, even though I showed him all the time how much I thought of him. He passed away on the same day his sister, one of the girls in my pastoreal group, graduated from her second year of Bible school. I accompanied her home to help her with arrangements for the funeral. Her parents were to come back the next day with the coffin and little Wilbur's body. The verse that the Lord brought to my mind was the verse in Job where his friends came to where Job was at sat with him in silence for several days. Many times in our effort to comfort others during the passing of their loved ones we say really stupid stuff. I told her however she wanted to express her grief that I would just sit with her and pray to myself for her as she mourned. She was so strong for her mother though who was really taking her son's death particularly hard. I was so proud of her. A band, complete with drums brass instruments, came and played from the time the coffin got there until 2 in the morning. It is a tradition that comes from the Catholic religion when they pray for the soul to leave purgatory. Well that is what someone explained to me. The cemetary was on the other side of town on a hill that we had to walk to. During this walk, as I carried Wilbur's little sister, Annette, I came to some realizations that I am still processing. I miss him terribly, but I know that he is happier than he has ever been.

Apart from the funeral I celebrated the graduation of my girls in my pastoreal group. I helped served the graduation meal. I was the official general over the waiters. It was hectic but really rewarding to see everyone enjoy the meal so much.

I also was asked to be a madrina, which translates to godmother to a girl that was graduating from kindergarten. After the completion of each school, pre-school, primary, secondary school there is always a graduation, and each student is accompanied by a godparent. So I attended my first kindergarten graduation. My duty was to help monetarily and to buy a gift and attend her graduation meal. Her name is Roxana. Unfortunately I bought her clothing with out knowing her size and since last year she has doubled her weight. So the dress I bought for her fit her like a blouse. And the jacket I bought fit her little sister.

During the graduation they do several dances. This one is called the deer hunt. It originates from the Aztecs and there was a little kid that had a deer head and a hunter. very cute.

These little fellas marched around and were the color guard and carried the flag for the ceremonies.

This was the third graduation. A elementary school graduation. This is a dance called the arch dance. Very appropo no? Anyhow when I showed up at the graduation it was like the music cut out and every body whipped there heads around to look at me. The girl that I had come to the graduation for, needless to say was pummeled with thousands of questions. Like why a chinese girl had come to the graduation and how it was that the chinese girl spoke spanish and did she know kung fu? Sigh...some things never change I guess.

Medical Missions with out borders

(I made this shirt tonight, the paint for the writing was made out of mexican mud)

Who: Whoever is stout of heart, and not afraid to rough it
Whoever wants to bring not only physical but spiritual healing
Whoever is prepared to go to the ends of the earth to bring Good news
So in other words NO PANSIES

Where: La Tortuga, Oaxaca
A 6-8 hour rocky and bumpy drive followed by another 1 day hike to this remote village that have seen only a hand full of Americans in its entire history

What for: To provide medical attention and medicine to those who need it and do not know Christ

When: Whenever I can put together a medical team that is not hung up on being served hand and foot but ready to serve with hands and feet

How to find out if you have what it takes: Email me or message me on facebook

Pitching the crazy IDEA:

I and the medical mission dream team would drive with four boxes of medicines 6-8 hours to El Mosco to the satellite clinic there. Meet up with a pastor called Florentino. Hike over the mountains, through rivers, cross another river swinging from a basket on a rope and possibly camping out to reach a village called La Tortuga. Do clinical consultations, pull some teeth, share the good news, push back the kingdom of darkness and then when all is said and done a lil R&R kayaking, horse back riding on scenic trails, and a really good and well deserved meal at my brand-new favorite restaurant. The End. So if you are MAN or WOMAN enough to join me in this adventure, give me a holler.

"kicking the devil in the nuts!"

(yes that is me doing my blackanese kung fu and singing in my head "...they were kung fu fightin...those cats were fast as lightenin...huuh")

To the countless hundreds I have probably just ticked off by the title of this blog, I am sorry if it offended you. But I think it is very accurate of what we as Christians are to do. We are to take our place of authority that the Lord Jesus spent his precious blood to give us and no longer quake in our boots every time he flips us the bird and wreaks havoc in our lives. Okay with that ridiculously long disclaimer let me tell you about this weeks team and this was the motto of this team which came up during our second team devotion time, from someone who will at this point remain anonymous, but suffice it to say they are a very wise and REALLY spiritual individual.

Genesis, the young adults group, from Northwood Assembly, hailing from Charleston, South Carolina!! There were 21 of these guys. Fantastic team! Fantastically fabulous to be exact. They were a very easy team to lead and manage and had such an amazing servant's heart. I was absolutely floored. The week of ministry that we had was incredible and the schedule was definitely demanding, yet they had enough energy to play games way past midnight (SIGNS).

This week we did home visits in a near by community. It was kind of like adopt-a-block. We brought food and helped clean yards, wash dishes, wash clothes. We did one house visit with a lady that recently had her house burn down. She said since that had happened she has several times thought about ending her life but each time that she would come to her end, God would send a Christian to come share the Good news with her or pray for her. She was bare-foot, so this team gave her a pair of Toms, and an amount of money which was equivalent to a day's wage tucked in a witnessing tract. Needless to say she and her children came to the VBS event later on that day and they enjoyed themselves a great deal.

Another home visit we did, we went to pray for a man that had throat cancer and was emaciated and very weak. His name was Agustin. Usually I do not cry a whole lot. But as I begin to share the love of Christ with him and that Jesus cared for him and bore his sickness on the cross, and provided each and everyone of us with salvation so we could go to heaven and suffer no more, the tears began to flow. As I lead him in the prayer of salvation, he could hardly choke out the words but he did between each labored breath. I told him I would never forget him and would pray for him everytime the Lord brought him to my mind. I quickly dried my eyes and we set upon helping his elderly wife with her many chores, sweeping, laundry, and dishes. As I said good-bye to him, my heart was breaking as I saw him there lying motionless and exhausted. But I reminded myself, that we do not grieve as the world, but that we have hope and that hope is Jesus.

This week we also did VBS programs for the children in these same communites as well as a clinical outreach in a moutain village. There were about 120 patients there and 53 salvations and about 98 children that came to the VBS. We had the rare opportunity to do our dramas inside of a local high school. Many teens willingly came to watch during the class break the dramas and hear the testimonies. One of the girls actually came to look for me later on that day to talk to me about family problems.
one of the children that got his face painted. This lil guy asked to be tigger.

The "Rag Man" drama in the ampitheather in the town of Rio Grande.

Drama at the junior high. Rag Man. Several junior high kids gave their hearts to Jesus that day.
The children at the clinical outreach in Tiltepec.

Michael Jackson impersonators and missions

"...you know I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it, come on!" When I first saw this picture, I thought, this could easily be Micheal Jackson, in his later years. But this however, is actually Dr. Ross Taylor, a very distinguished canadian doc that has been a long time friend and supporter of the mission base where I serve, whom has never probably listened to a Michael Jackson song a day in his life. He has come to the the Oaxaca region for several years now and selflessly served in medical missions and administered both physical and spiritual healing to countless hundreds.

This trip we all went to a small Chatino town, nestled in the Sierra Madres called Tepenixthlauaca. We held a small clinic and served approximately 120 patients and about 50 children, of which there were about 65 salvations, and even 6 instantaneous healings. There is a neighboring village, that has a large church of 500 adults, that sent a team for witnessing to the patients and translators. They were phenomenal and tireless in the work of the Lord. The had a grueling 3 hour ride @ 3am in the morning to get there by 6am, and because of a miscommunication we did not get there until 12pm. They were gracious enough to stay and not hold our extreme tardiness against us.

Kim and I doing children's ministry underneath a tree on a blanket. I kind of imagined this is the way they would have done kid's ministry back in Jesus' time too.

Enjoying a little music during our down time. The smile on my face is because this guy had ABSOLUTELY no sense of rhythm and was jacking the song up.
This is the first village I have ever seen grown men color. One of the other team guy team members persistently invited them to color until they could not resist their inner-child any longer.

Every village that we have brought a frisbe to, the children have absolutely loved it. However, still have not had too much success with getting them to do ultimate frisbe...yet.

This is Mrs. Laura, probably one of the most incredible misisonaries I have personally had the privilege to meet. She has been serving at the missions base as the director of the clinic for over a decade now. She is probably the closest embodiment of the proverbs 31 woman I have every met. If you want to serve in medical missions someday, I suggest you come down and do an internship just to see the way this amazing woman of God has done it and the grace in which she has done it. I guarantee you will walk away inspired and amped up to go out and do medical missions in the way it was meant to be done.
This little girl has on one of the hats I made. One of the things I enjoy most is sharing Jesus with little children. There is just a pure joy that comes over me as I begin connecting with each one of these precious ones. As I connect with them I began tilling up the fertile grounds of their hearts to then be able to plant the living seed of God's word into their hearts. If I am careful and diligent, I many times also have the joy of seeing them close their eyes and lift their hands to receive Jesus, the desire of nations, and harvest the seed as well as sow it. On this day as I explained the intimate friendship of Jesus and the need we have for him and the invitation we have to give to him to come live in our hearts not only as a vistor but as a inhabitant forever many of these dear children easily made the decision that some many times we as adults try to overcomplicate. Yes, this was a day that the sower of the seed and the harvester were one in the same, and I am sure you could have heard the song of the angelic host singing out to celebrate this incredible moment.
I think this picture and this verse best sum up this trip:

"...whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

THE PUKE-ATRON!!

Have you ever had one of those, "Aww SNAP!! what the heck am I doing?!" Like you wish you could go back five minutes before you did something really dumb just to warn yourself not to do it?

I had one of those moments the other day. I felt a lil adventuresome and was seeking some cheap thrills last Friday night and thus got myself invited to a bonafide Mexican Town Fair. It had the typical feris wheel, vendors of all sorts, and of course the rides I have affectionately dubbed, "the puke-atrons." Knowing how ridiculously motion sick I get I some how got suckered into accompanying my friend on two of the puke-atron rides. Pukeatron number one was not bad I got light headed and my fried plantains felt a lil unsettled in my gut, but at the present time no hurling my ill-timed snack. The picture below is on the puke-atron number 1. and it cost me a whopping 10 pesos.

But then that is when it all went down hill. I climbed aboard Pukeatron number 2. Sufficed it to say that was the last ride I paid for that night. If you can not tell from the foto this thing spins like a top just on the verge of stopping, when they go all wonky. So not only does it spin ridiculously fast, but it has undulating up and down motions. When I saw only two people getting on I should have known to swallow my pride and just say no. But alas, as the things starts girating and whirling, I presumptiously thought, "ehh this aint so bad." And the ding dang ride must of sensed my thought because it soon kicked into high gear and had I not been holding on for dear life, I might have been flung off the stupid mexican spinning top ride. So after two hellish minutes of being lifted up out of my seat and flung against the "safety bar", the ride slowly came to a stop. I was a nano-second from jumping out of my seat and onto the ground to thank God for delivering from the demonic Puke-atron ride when the operator threw it into reverse. It was only after the first minute that I began pleading with God to not let me go unconscious thereby being flung out off the pukeatron. I swore that I would never ever be prideful and get on one of these stupid rides again. All the meanwhile I was crushing the life out of my friend because I could not brace my self against the other side of the cart and the force of gravity was causing me to repeatedly crush and slam into her side.

When finally, the pukeatron came to a stop I was the last one off, because I was so disoriented. I staggered away like a drunk woman to the side of the road and just laid down. My friend had the decency to wait for me as I sat there completely covered head to toe in a cold sweat. I knew that at any minute my fried plantains were going to make the second debut all over the side of the road as Mexican onlookers just shook their heads at what they saw as an enbreated korean. When I gained enough strength to walk I kept being jostled by the other fair-goers which cause me to flash back to my horrific pukeatron ride and as I caught sight of where my friend was leading me, straight to a taco shack, I excused myself and laid down in front of a liquor store on my back on a piece of cardboard. The proprietor of said liquor store after 15 minutes of watching me writhe on the floor because of the sweat and bugs and alternate praying under my breath, finally worked up the necessary effort to ask me what was wrong with me. I told her I was sick, she then shook her head knowingly and asked how much I had had to drink and said I should chase away the nauseua with a beer or some kind of alcohol. It took all my persuasive skill to ensure her I was not drunk or hungover, just that I had got on the puke-atron and that had made me sick. I finally puked on the side of the liquor store and felt strong enough to walk back with my friends to the car. and thus ends my sad little store. Moral of the story is, don't be to proud to say no to the pukeatron, respect him and you wont have to pay for it later. And if you disrepect the pukeatron by riding it, be smart enough to not sit in front of the liquor store where others suspect you to be a drunkard. the end

heeeelllllooooo nurse!!

Two weeks ago there was a team of E.R. nurses that came down to do a medical outreach into the village of Yaitepec. Yaitepec is village where we had seen so many respond to the invitation to accept Christ. Prior to our first trip there in November there had been only one or two families that were christian. Now there are several cell groups that meet all over this small polytheistic town.

This team always brings with it realness, that sometimes gets lost in christianese protocol. They speak their mind, have their opinion, and are just real about the issues they face and do not use the typical vener of that "everything is perfect and blessed in my life" attitude. So like I said very refreshing.

We saw over 200 patients during their time of medical outreach. Several of these patients made first time decisions to follow Christ. I love medical outreach in the fact that we approach healing from a whole-peron perspective: spirit, soul, and body.

Each time that we have a clinic we have to make consulting rooms. We usually put up clothesline and hang sheets to section of the consulting rooms and prayer room. I have become quite proficient and creative in my methods.

In Yaitepec, not only did I get to hold some cute babies and pull of some acrobatic feats but I also got to translate during the consultations. Which I how I met this cute little guy. He has candy streaked all over his mouth and his chief complaint was that he does not eat. We diagnosed him with "toomuchjunkfooditis" and told his mother to not give him as much money to buy junk food and make him eat during meal times and prescribed the little guy vitamins. He was not suffering from malnutrition too much because he was ripping and running all over the place. well when he was not blasting our eardrums with his little penny-whistle. Aww the joys of momhood. They are so much easier when they are at this age and all they do is eat, sleep and poop, and just to throw a little excitement in the game they change up the order.

Yaitepec, is an indigenous village, or rather they are Chatino people and speak a different language other than Spanish. So we always have translators with us to aid us in understanding one another. Which is why Brother Juventino showed up to the outreach. I have known him for several years now. And for the first two he could not for the life of him remember my name but always just called me la "Koreanita Chulita" [cute lil korean]. Until I finally told him the Spanish translation of my name "Lluvia" or "Rain." Its funny what age does to a person, because everytime he sees me we always, always have the same conversation. And when I try to change it up he kind of frowns and directs us back to the same conversation, with that "you need to stick to the script" kind of look. Anyhow, he is the first martyr for this region. How you might as if he is he is not dead. Well simple, while they were constructing the church in their town called Panixthluaca, the local militant Catholic bunch shot at the workers and he was shot five times. So there he was bleeding out and they pronunced him clinical dead on his long drive down to the hospital. But the christians were praying for a miracle and when they arrived they revived him. And he had been serving strong all these decades in God's kingdom; telling EVERYONE and several times how God resurrected him from the dead.

One finally note. The pastor of this team, Josh, went to the the catholic church and took some snapshots of the parishoners there. Now, just in case you do not know. Mexican catholicism is not main-stream Roman Catholicism and there is a mixture of some anamistic beliefs that has its roots in the Aztec rituals of their ancestors. So some of the catholic congregants do not have the slightest idea of what it is to have Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and think that through rituals and praying to the Saints and hoping on a wing and prayer that their God behavior and faithfulness to the Catholic church will give them entrance to the kingdom. Which is why this precious lady is on her knees crawling to the altar in hopes that the Saints and the Virgin Mary will see her piety and devotion and intercede on her behalf to God to supply her her petition.

Well that having been said we need to pray that the Light of the Gospel, Jesus, would shine upon their darkness and disallusion and they will come to know the truth. There is alot of work out there, but we already knew that because Jesus said, "Lift up your eyes for the harvest fields are white.." "...plenty is the harvest but the harvestors are few..."

p.s. All these photos were brought to your courtesy of the members of this team.

Lima Christian School

I went out this week with 17 students and chaperons from Lima, New York. They are from a small christian school called Lima Christian. I never seen a group sing so much. A majority of them are in choir...well the most outspoken students anyways... and they are always singing and harmonizing and singing songs that are "rounds." I have really enjoyed them. We hit several villages for medical/children's outreach; Tiltepec, Loma Bonita, La Culebra, San Antonio, and La Boquilla. In La Culebra I actually got to share the gospel with someone who had never heard of Jesus and had to sum up the gospel message starting from Genesis to Revelations in just a few shorts sentences. It was challenging, but the awesome thing was that the lady accepted the Lord. I am not sure how this trip was different but during the times that I did evangelism, God just made my heart extra tender to each person that came into the little room where we were evangelizing. I was so in awe of the fluidity at which I was able to share the gospel, and that people responded. This trip, because of playing with the kids in the hot sun or sitting in a room without fans or a/c in 90+ weather and spending the night in the village in my tent and just having to witness too people in Spanish has been somewhat tiring.

Today, which was our last village evangelistic medical outreach specifically stood out in my mind because of a verse that I read. As we were waiting for the next person to witness to I open my Bible to read my daily reading plan [which I have to confess I was reading because I am several days behind on], the lady that was assisting me in evangelism asked me to read out loud, and this is what I was reading at the time Romans 8:18 "Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are." And later on it goes on to say that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. As I began reading this...tears filled my eyes and my voice quavered as I thought about the fact that this light and momentary affliction was nothing compared to later glory, that later glory being when we get to heaven and see again those lives that God has given us the chance to impact for God's kingdom. I told several people and really meant it that I would one day see them in heaven and was looking forward to catching up on how God has worked in their lives and what might exploits God had used them to accomplish this side of eternity.

So all the sweating, exhaustion, mosquito bites, driving, and my brain getting kind of mushy because of having to speak so much Spanish trying to convey deep concepts was and is going to be worth it. Every uncomfortable stretching moment was for the working out of my faith and for the ultimate goal of helping one more person change their eternal destiny from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Wow what a staggering thought no? This week along around 80 adults and children have made decisions to become Christ followers. We passed out some tracts as well as utilized the evangecube. which is this really amazing witnessing tool that is a cube that folds into different scenes that explain the Gospel and gives an opportunity to have a person accept Jesus in their hearts. Very effective for adults as well as children.


This is chinese jump rope. A game I used to play as a little girl in Texas. All of the kids love it down here and there is always a line of children waiting to display their prowess at jumping and coordination. To play you have to have a long stretchy cord that two people sustain with their legs. The child has to jump a certain sequence and then jump with both feet on the two different sides of the cord. With each successful attempt the cord is raised. and you can not step on the cord until the sequence is finished or you lose and have to start all over again on your next turn. I myself have on been successful up to the hip level. It is really difficult to get high enough to jump on the cord at the level.