Festival 2007

This years major camp meeting here at the base called Festival Victoria was amazing. There were over two thousand people in attendance this year. The highlight of the meetings was the fact that a Messianic Jew came as a speaker. Rabbi Curt Landry shared about the events going on in Israel and world wide as far as the Jewish community is concerned. He is expecting that 2008 will be a year of great revival.

I was able to help minister to the youth. The worship was energetic and fun, there was even a little bit of crowd surfing. During the altar call hundreds of young people flooded the altar. A majority of them were just there because of wanting more of God and a desire for true intimacy with the Lord. It was a lot of hard work but it was definitely worth every minute of it.

[floral arrangements for the tables]


In junction with Festival we also had a medical campaign going on simultaneously. Over three hundred patients were seen, which included dental work as well.

Here is one of the doctors doing a follow up on an amputee patient. Upon meeting this doctor he seemed very very serious. So imagine to my surprise when this 6 foot something Texan doctor began to dance wildly before the Lord. It blessed me to see him so unabashedly praise God.


As myriads and myriads of people danced before God their maker, city people, indigenous people from the mountains, and missionaries all under the open sky I began to laugh with pure delight. I'm sure those around me thought I was completely whacko, but at that precise moment it was of no consequence. The stars were shining so bright and there were millions of them and because of the lights from the stage the beach was still visible. As I was dancing I looked off to where the sands of the beach and the stary sky meet, and remembered what someone had shared about Abraham when God gave his promise that his descendents would be like the sands of the earth and the stars of the sky. They shared that the sands represented the gentiles who would come into Gods kingdom and the stars represented the Jews. And so this particular night I looked to the stage and realized that just like the vision of the star filled sky was converging upon the sandy beaches, the Rabbi, who was representing the nation of Israel, had come to meet with gentiles and we were all worshiping the same God. One Love, One Baptism, one God.

Wedding Amuzgan Style

[the little old lady in the pink and white dress is the bride's grandmother, she does not speak very much Spanish but she insists that I call her abuela or grandma]
I had the privilege of attending one of the best weddings to date. Not because the decorations were so great but because of the spirit behind the wedding. The bride and groom wanted to use one of the happiest days of their life as a platform to share the good news with the people of their village. So Lillian and Jeronimo had an evenagelistc wedding. They shared about the motive of their wedding, which was to glorify God through their matrimony and to raise and family completely sold out to God. They had a presentation or skit that was allegorical of the love God has for his people. There were over 350 invited guests and over 200 people from the town who just came to watch. The joyous couple also shared with their uninvited guests refreshments and cake as well as the gospel.

[The flower girls making entrance for the new couple at the reception]

The reception was held in front of the municipal building or city hall building on a basketball court. They did such an excellent job with all the decorations, which I got to help with, that you completely forgot it was a b-ball court.

A foto with the newly wed couple and people from the Roca Blanca Base. I am in the green dress on the left.

"Until the day dawns..." 2Peter 1:19

"...Until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts"

Some times in life we get flustered with silly things that do not have any eternal significance. The other day, I rather pompously I shared with a missionary friend of mind that, on the mission field, it requied more than flexibility but fluidity. Because if you think about it, even though a piece of wire is flexible and bendable, still at some point you can manage to break it. But if you are fluid like water, no matter what you do or how you strike at water, it always remains fluid. Well I soon had to eat my own words as I was required to move out of my room of over a year into a smaller room with less storage space and with another person. I had to daily and have to daily remind myself to practice what I preach. Until I went on a trip that made me realize how inconsequential having less space or a smaller room or roommate was.

On this particular morning, when I took this picture, I woke up praying for the day of ministry we would have at the Pochutla Jail about and hour and a half from the base. I and some of the students from the bible school were putting on a Christmas type celebration for them.

If you have never had the opportunity to see a Mexican prison be very glad. They do not provide the prisoners with hardly anything, so the only way to survive is, is if your family is kind enough to bring you supplies. There are some children who stay there fulltime with the mother or sometimes father. There are about twelve women, a few of whom are saved. This was my second visit to the jail. We had gifts of clothing, shoes, and toys for the prisoners and their children. The guests of honor were served fresh, made-from-scratch pizza and soda. We had amazing praise and worship, and for the first time many men responded to the altar call and fell to their knees we up lifted arms. The message was about not having to feel unforgiven, and that if we have accepted Jesus, no matter what sin we have comitted, God will forgive and pardon us from all sin. The song that came to mind was an old hymn:

What can wash away my sin
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

To see these crime hardened men come on bended knee to the feet of Jesus with their eyes brimming with tears, knowing at long last, someone had given them love, even for the things that they had done was amazing and beautiful. Yes how precious was the flow of blood that washed over each and everyone of them with sincere hearts and made their hardened, stained hearts as white and pure as snow. Nothing dear friends nothing, but the precious blood of Jesus could have done this... this miracle. They were tatooed and covered with war-wounds received from an unrelentless cruel world both physically and emotionally, yet to see them raise their hands towards heaven symbolic of their uplifted and now surrendered hearts is a sight I will not soon forget.

One of the women, Blanca, recently accepted Jesus in her heart. She told me that she wants to go to Bible school and reads her Bible everyday. As the men flooded the altar I turned to her and asked if she had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. She thought I meant water baptism. So I began to explain the difference and before I could even finish she said, I want it and closed her eyes and lifted her hand. Laughing with delight at her almost child-like innocence, I knew if I did not give her at least a basic foundation of what it was she might not get any solid teaching on the Holy Spirit at all in the prison. As I was explaining and paused for a second several times, she thought I was done and would close her eyes and be ready for me to pray for her. Finally when I had finished I had her repeat after me a prayer to receive the Holy Spirit Baptism. Then I prayed in the Spirit in tongues, which she thought she was supposed to imitate. So I explained to her that the Holy Spirit would give her what to say. So after a while of waiting and she not saying anything I turned around to intercede for the men who were being ministered to. When all of a sudden she turned to me, with wide-eyed wonder and said something to me in her prayer language or tongues and asked me what it meant. I started laughing out loud and explained to her that was it, she had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. She grabbed me and hugged me so tight, I couldn't breathe for a second. I showed her Acts 2 and told her to read it to learn more about what had happened to her. How incredibly wonderful is God.

This is the stellar view of the house I stayed in Puerto, before we left for the prison. It is the principal bay of Puerto escondido.

These fellas were apart of our ministry team that went to the prison. They lead praise and worship and ministered to the men while I was ministering to the women. Lalo (lead worship), Chacho (guitar), and Jairo (Flute). The contact for the prison owns a restaurant and treated us to his famous pizza and killer drinks, lime juice with ginger pineapple mineral water.

This is Franchy, she is the daughter of the owner of the restaurante. I became fast friends with her and her brother, Adrian. The guys in the background rescued me from an old drunk man trying to carry me off. He asked if I was a red Chinese girl or a white chinese girl, whatever that is supposed to mean I am not quite sure. I'm tellin' ya man those drunk men always chasin' me around gets tiresome.

But all in all it was an amazing opportunity to have been able to go and minister.

Ixtayutla

Isidro was the leader of this trip. He had me in stitches even when I felt like being ticked off. We made a friend while we were at the construction site, his name is Efrain he is only a couple of months. I held him so long I thought his mom thought I was going to try to steal him.

Speaking of kids, while we were holding clinics I got pulled to go translate to take the two nurses to a near by clinic because they found on the side of the road a pregnant girl. Her water had just broken and they had to rush her to the nearest hospital because they needed to do a emergency c section. There was a very good chance that she would have had it in the back of the truck. She ended up having a healthy baby boy.

This was taken on the last night of construction on the way to the trucks. It quite nearly took my breath away.

The last day of construction waiting for the rest of the team. I smelt horrible, but was glad to be done with the hard day´s work.

El Mosco Outreach

This week I had the privilege of going with a team to one of the poorest regions in the state of Oaxaca. The poorest of the poor. We went to El Mosco, Pueblo Viejo, Yucuyaa. We saw around 100 patients in the clinics we held. We also started a construction work project for two National female pastors. They have a congregation of around thirty. I am sure they are numbered among the unsung heroes for the advancement of the Gospel. They are both single and very content. Just watching them love on and pastor their members was a truly precious site. As I sit here typing my back is aching, my hands are blistered and calloused, my arms sore and a little shaky from all the work this week. I hand cut 176 iron metal bars that later I had to straighten the bend out of. I help dig a thiry foot long by one foot trench. Only to climb in the car for a hard bumpy curvy five hour trip home. But seeing the look on their faces of all the hard work we did for them was soo soo worth it. These are just some images from the trip that I captured on others took for me.

Two little boys that hung around the kitchen window almost all day at base camp.


A little Mixteco man taking a siesta while waiting to be seen by the nurses.

A Mixteco baby boy in for a check up.

One of the precious nurses that I translated for. She and I also worked at the construction site. She nicked named us the ¨hoss women¨ All the Mixteco men were impressed how hard she worked.

AK 47's and a Wedding

Today, December the first was a crazy busy day. Not only did I have to take a team to the airport and arrange the pickup of a second team I had to come back for a wedding all on three hours of sleep. As I was running around like crazy trying to get this team out the door I had a quick bite to eat and got into the van to take the team in. Everything is going fine, until we pass the city of Puerto, when all of a sudden two trucks simultaneously slam on the brakes and block the road on both sides. Before I knew what was going on four or five men with ak-47's come pouring out from underneath the orange tarp of one of the trucks. I slam on the brakes trying to get my brain and body work in unison and get the van load of people to safety. Everybody started praying in tongues as I am praying and ducking under the dash. Finally somehow a clearing on the rightside of the road opened up and we drove through unharmed but a little ruffled.

I got back thiry minutes late to attend the bride-to-be. As I aranged her hair, did her make-up, and helped her with her dress. I stood back and thought wow, today's craziness was all worth it. She looked...stunningly beautiful. A bride that any man would be mighty proud to claim and stare in open mouthed awe. I also gave a speech during the ceremony in Spanish about the meaning of the gift I was presenting to them as a couple. I was really nervous about my Spanish being perfect, I definitely thought I was going to up-chuck, but thankfully for everyone I didn't. Here is what I said the now newly-wed couple.

Ustedes me han dado el privilegio y gran honor de presentarles el ramo.
You have given me the privilege and great honor to present you the bouquet.

Ese ramo es simbolico de muchas cosas.
This bouquet is symbolic of many things.

Primeramente, es un simbolo de la puresa que ustedes han guardado en sus vidas.
First, it is a symbol of the purity that you have kept in your lives.

Y tambien, es un simbolo de la hermosura y maravilla del amor.
And also, it is a symbol of the beauty and wonder of love.

Pero mas que nada es un regalo para que ustedes puedan recordar que el amor es fragil y delicado como las flores.
But more than anything it is a gift that you would remember that love is fragile and delicate like the flowers.

Y que cada dia ustedes puedan cuidar y mantener el amor que tienen para el Señor y uno por el otro.
Any that each day you would care for and maintain the love that you have for the Lord and for one another.

Es el deseo de mi corazon que los cielos esten abiertos sobre ustedes y su nueva vida.
It is the desire of my heart that the heavens be open over you and your new life.

The bride and groom making the rounds during the ceremony.

A Mexican German missionary and a Korean American missionary. My friend´s name is Ruth and she is simply amazing and one of my most favorite people. She speaks fluently German Spanish and English. She is a great blessing.
The ceremony was amazing and so was the reception. They served lasagna and my favorite salad, quesillo basil and tomatoe. Anyhow it was fabulous.