Chiapas

As we drag ourselves out of the vans into the humidity of Palenque's January evening, a hoarse, angry cry bugles from the thick jungle around DIF's compound. A few raised eyebrows note it the first time, but in the bustle of grabbing our backpacks and pillows it's easy to push aside. However, after the third or fourth cry, a team member finally asks our guide what the commotion is. "Changos," he replies. Monkies- the big, mean kind. Being greeted by ferocious calls from la selva was just the beginning of our adventure in Chiapas. It started out in Palenque, a small bustling town signifigant for the Mayan ruins just outside the city. For the first half of the week, we got to work with a church in the evenings using our kid's program, dramas, choreographies, and testimonies to do different types of services. 

One morning, we went to the local Red Cross to clean up the facility and help sort donated clothing. But after working there for part of the morning, the director took us to a near by school, offering willing hands. They needed some railing and the gate (puerta) painted, giving us the opportunity to serve them and get to know them a little bit. When they heard that we had a kid's program, they invited us to present it for their student body. So on the spur of the moment, we presented our Christ centered program to a bunch of adorable brown eyed elementary kids and their parents in a public school we weren't planning on being in. God moment, anyone? 

Fast forward a few days and you have me attempting to teach an arts workshop in Spanish to a group of young people that I found out I was teaching about 2 hours before we left!  It was so cool to talk about one of my passions and then help the DTS students teach our dramas and choreographies to them. By the end of the day, they were doing our dramas better than us! That evening, we joined forces to do 2 evangelistic outreaches in neighborhoods in Palenque. Watching these 12-18 year olds reaching out to their communities using the tools we'd just passed on sent chills down my spine.

After a day off and a pick up soccer game with some local guys we met the night before, our team loaded up and headed southwest. We stopped for a long lunch at Las Cascadas de Auga Azul, a beautiful series of waterfalls, and then wound and twisted and peuked our way up the mountains to our next ministry location- San Cristobal de las Casas, a city nestled in the evergreen blanketed highlands. Our team of 25 ( including 2 of the YWAM Cancun staff) bunched into a 3 room unfinished house. The first night was a flutter of hanging tarps on window frames, buying fleece blankets, hanging curtains over the bathroom door openings, and trying to figure out how to keep 5 young kids warm with no heat, tile floors, no windows, and air you can see your breath in- on the inside ; ). It was definitely culture shock from warm, humid Palenque to the extremes of San Cristobal. 

In the mornings, I went out to wash my face in the icy stream running outside through the middle of the colonia, and watched as the women in their bright skirts and braids walked their uniformed children to school, chattering the whole time in a language that neither my English nor my Spanish helped me understand. Chiapas has the highest population of indigenous peoples in all of Mexico. One of the pastors we worked with spoke his native language of Tzeltal, Tzotzil the language of the indigenous groups in San Cristobal, and Spanish, the language of the colonial conquistadores. We worked with 4 different churches, picking up garbage, visiting people from the church, prayer walking, painting inside and outside, and doing services in the evening. Considering our lack of running water, we were very blessed when 2 of the pastors offered us hot bucket showers. A couple of the churches even cooked us meals- they make some delicious soup in San Cristobal! God surprised us with the discovery that one of our friends from the YWAM base in Monterrey was also leading a DTS outreach in San Cristobal, so we worked it out with her and her team and got the DTSs together a few times during our 10 days there. It was fun and refreshing for everyone to see new faces and be with our extended YWAM family!

Everywhere that we have gone, God has set up crazy cool appointments. Sometimes, we see how God sent us to bless and encourage other people, whether it be staff in Chapala or the women we prayed over in San Cristobal. Sometimes, He's sent us people to lift us up when we're exhausted, like pastors who offer their personal showers to 25 people or random encounters with friends in far away places. He knows what His kids need. 

Right now we're spending a weekend off in Cancun to refresh and get ready for our final leg of the outreach- Isla Cozumel. Please keep us in your prayers, that our good attitudes will continue and that we'll press in to everything that God has to do in us and through us in these final few weeks. I can see the maturity, growth, and deepening that students (and leaders ; ) have experienced. We want to finish well!

Hey! Wow, the last couple weeks have been a whirlwind. After leaving Ensenada on December 21 and staying with friends in Hermosillo and Mazatlan, we arrived in Guadalajara on December 23. The YWAM base we worked with is just outside the little town of Chapala, about a 45 minute drive from Guadalajara proper.
During our ten days in Chapala, we got to work several days with an orphanage for adolescent and teenage boys, playing soccer and doing VBS, helping with some painting and other projects, and hanging out with these amazing young boys.  Jorge, one of the men who runs the home, explained that in Mexico, boys and girls can only be together in orphanages until the age of 8. Unfortunately, there are not many homes that take older boys. Many are placed in juvies and rehab centers because there is no where else for them to go. It's hard for me to realize that without this home, many of these sweet, energetic, bright-eyed young men would be placed in very difficult places. They blessed us with their enthusiasm and warmth!
 Some of the staff from the base in Chapala are building relationships in a small village called La Pila, where they have a desire to do development and reach people with God's hope. In a village of around 300 people, there are only a few Christian families (the entire state of Jalisco is only 3% evangelized). Our team split into small groups for the afternoon and went out to milk cows with different families in La Pila, finding out about a different way of life, attempting to help the families with their chores, and drinking warm milk straight from the udder- believe it or not, if you mix in a little Nescafe and sugar, it tastes like a latte! In the evening, we did a program in the little plaza in the center of town with our dramas and kid's songs and testimonies. We were treated to homemade carne asada, beans, hand made corn tortillas, and cinnamon tea by one of the Christian families. Singing worship with them under the stars on a very chilly Mexican night encouraged everyone involved.
After spending a day doing work projects around the base, we spent New Year's Eve and day hiking and camping up on a high ridge over looking Guadalajara and Lake Chapala. While we were on the mountain, the team was split into groups doing teambuilding exercises and intercession for the base in Chapala. And yesterday, our final day of ministry, we drove into downtown Guadalajara and went to a cultural market where many young people go to spend Saturday afternoon. There are booths set up with everything from Hell's Angels T-shirts to metaphysical books to tatoos to bead weavings. Our heart was to talk with people and pray for this area, as the Chapala base would like to set up a booth and become a presence for ministry to these young people. It was amazing to hear about the divine appointments that God set up for member of our team there. Last night, we got together with some of the staff from the base, most of whom are just arriving home from Christmas vacation. We spent a couple hours praying and worshiping together, remembering Who all this is about and with and for.
Many of us felt God's presence in a very tangible way during our time in Chapala, as well as the staff we worked with from their ministry.It was cool to see as we reach out to bless other people, God shows up and surprises us with how much He can bless us.
Now we're on a 3 day drive to our next ministry location- Chiapas! As I sit in a hotel lobby very early in the morning and reflect on the last 2 weeks, I'm humbled and blessed by what God's already done in my students, through our group, and in me. I'm excited to see what else he's got up his sleeve!

 Prayer Requests:

-That the seeds that were planted in Guadalajara will continue to grow and be watered, and for blessing for the base and staff there. They went out of their way to spend time with us and help us out!

- Our vans! They're well loved and well used, and are feeling it! We've had some problems with the ball joints and weird clunking sounds that I don't really understand. Thankfully, Jake one of our dads on the team, has a lot of mecanical experience and has been doing constant work. We've still got a lot of miles to go, so please pray for wisdom for our drivers and mechanic, and for safety on the road!

- Continued growth of relationships and unity in our team.

- My co-leader Giezi has been having some minor respiratory stuff going on in the last couple days and my  stomach's been having some issues of it's own for about a week, so if you can be praying for health for us and the rest of the team, that'd be awesome.

-We're still short on our budget, so continued financial provision and wisdom in how to direct the finances we have.

-For clear direction from God as we minister in Chiapas and willingness to obey!