Wednesday 21 March 2012

Day 7-8 (Monday-Tuesday)

The last 2 days we have spent our time walking through the neighbourhoods of San Felipe, knocking on doors and talking with the people.  The local church we are working with here put a plan together to reach all of San Felipe in the 2 weeks that the team from Britain and us are here.  They divided the map of the city into sections and each morning and afternoon we take a couple of hours to go door to door praying, and ministering to the people.  As we prayed tonight before bed, it is a privilege to do this!  It has been our families prayer to be "the hands and feet of Jesus" and when we are walking, talking and laying hands not he people here we really do feel like we are doing just that.  It is amazing really.   The people here are so open.  They come to their door or their fence and allow us to speak into their lives and pray for them.  They share what is on their hearts whether it be a lack of work, illness, fear for their family, their children, and we are able to pray God's blessing over them and their household.  We are being stretched as we are asked to step in and pray or share a scripture that the Lord has shown us for the families we are praying for.  I am learning so much from watching the team from England minister.  They are a beautiful group of believers - young and old - who has spent 2 days a week together since September learning about intersession and ministry.  This trip is part of their schooling and they will continue their studies until June.  They are a mix of ages and maturity but they all gel so well and seem to really love to be together.  We are rally enjoying meeting them and feel very blessed to be working alongside them.  They have been so enfolding of our family and very encouraging as they watch how we operate together.  

We meet around 9:00 in the morning…I say around 9:00 because time is taken very loosely in Mexico.  We don't really mind though because it is somewhat familiar for us… We pray together and then get in our teams ready to go out.  We are armed with balloons, invitations to "la fiesta" and a pamphlet about the different opportunities the church has to offer as well as a prayer of salvation.  The balloons are part of the church's plan to "paint the city red".  We leave a balloon at each house where we have been able to talk with the people that live there.  It is great to see all the red and white balloons hanging on  gates and doors as we walk back to our gathering place.  Today, as a prophetic act, we all wrote messages of hope and scriptures on the soles of our shoes.  As we walked it wore of and was left on the streets we walked down.  We are declaring Jesus over this city wherever we go.  We climbed up a mountain yesterday after lunch.  There is a cross at the top.  At the top we  could see all of San Felipe.  We stood there and declared that Jesus reigns over this city!!  Amen!

After a couple of hours on the streets we meet back at "the breakfast diner" - a building that the church build in the middle of one of the poorer areas, where Saturday morning breakfast is served and kids programs are done. The goal is to have the Diner open every day of the week.  Across the street lives one of the church members and they, along with some other members, are cooking us a warm lunch.  The food has been amazing!  I am so proud of our kids as they try new things and are genuinely thankful for what is placed before them.  They are being very adventurous!  "What's not to like?" Liam says…


We meet together again around 4:00 to go out for another couple of hours.  We tend to see a few more people walking through the streets as they come home from work and school so we will stop and talk with them as well.  Today we prayed for an older gentleman riding his bike.  He was so open!  He just wanted more and more prayer. :)  When I say streets I really mean dusty roads.  Only the main roads are paved.  The rest are made up of sand and dirt.  I am amazed at the state of the homes that people live in.  Today we saw some cement homes - cinder blocks cemented together…but mostly it is wood shack type houses with chain link fences around them.  Some have windows but lots don't.  Most have doors but not all.  Some properties just have a trailer on it.  The poverty is very real here, and yet the people seem content.  Today we saw a couple of little girls that had been to school.  They had a school uniform on and looked so beautiful.  There is a sense of pride in the people here.  I talked with Dave about the general mentality and he did say that there was a general lack of motivation in the people to better their circumstances.  I don't really feel that as I walk through these streets.  They seem to want to care for what little they have for the most part, although the presence of garbage everywhere is staggering. Many people do attend church and there is a strong Jehovah's Witness and Catholic contingent here as well.  One of things we keep in mind as we talk with people is to talk about how they can have access to God through Jesus.  They have been taught differently here so they don't really believe that they can go to God through Jesus.  Teaching them this changes their lives.  It is amazing that as we talk with people and ask them if they have Jesus in their hearts so many say no and that they want to receive Him!  Glory!!

Our evenings are spent at home typically.  It is nice to come home to our own place and have some down time together.   We have a snack, play cards, talk, and pray together before calling it a day.  We are tired after being outside waling and talking all day!

Tomorrow is the big wrap up event with team A from England.  We will be at the Breakfast Diner from 4-7 playing games, doing crafts, nails, hair, playing soccer - soccer or football as it is called here, is very popular and while we are waiting to go out ministering Liam, Evan and others can be found playing and before you know it there is a full 2 teams playing!  :)

We hope you are enjoying our updates!  It is good to write and keep this journal.  Thank you for your prayers!  God is truly at work here in San Felipe!! If you don't want to comment ere, please leave your comments or messages on duane's facebook.

Love from all of us!
Trish

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