Mexico 2007

    First off, thank you for all your prayers and contributions to our trip!  We had smooth travels, no serious illnesses (just some headaches), and a truly blessed time with one another, the outreach team, and the people there!  Going on trips like these, you just can't help but be reminded of how good God is -- his heart for all people, and how he blesses when we join in on His work.

 

    Overall, we had a little over 250 youth gather for Extreme Mission in Juarez, Mexico.  We stayed at a nice, clean, and air-conditioned motel there.  Heart for the World scheduled 7 speakers within the first 2-1/2 days (Mon evening - Wed morning) of the mission to train and prepare our hearts.  They spoke on breaking and going beyond all limits of sight, surrender, love, restoration, servitude, prayer, and sharing -- all very powerful words of truth.  We had phenomenal times of worship and received great anointing for our outreaches as well as for building up the church ministries there.

 

    Wednesday afternoon, all the different outreach groups were sent out to their locations: Janos, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Anapra, and Juarez.  Since our hotel was right in Juarez, and Anapra is right next to it, the Juarez and the Anapra (our) team stayed at the hotel for the rest of the mission.

 

    Within our Anapra team, we had youth groups from San Carlos, CA and from Montana with us.  Our Anapra outreach consisted of three locations within Anapra: the original part of Anapra, La Mesa (expansion into a plateau), and El Rancho (immigrant part of Anapra from South America).

 

    It was very interesting to experience the three different areas and their uniqueness, even though they are all considered to be Anapra.  The commonality is that they are each very poor areas.  Few people have running water in their 1 or 2 roomed homes -- they mostly collect water in a barrel to bath out of and use for cooking.  Their homes are built out of whatever wood they can salvage (like shipping palattes) and then wrapping or covering the holes with big sheets of paper.  Some of the nicer ones are built of bricks that they usually make themselves on site.

 

    Our outreach mainly involved VBS for children, prayer-walking, and food hand-outs.  VBS included story-telling, face-painting, nail-painting, hair-washing/cutting/styling, and crafts.  We also had an exciting soccer tournament at the La Mesa location!

 

    We saw people getting healed and other miracles happen, like a shampoo bottle that kept re-filling itself (at the hair-washing station), lost money from a youth's wallet suddenly re-appearing in his pocket (and an extra $5!) after some prayer, and someone being raised from the dead.  Just kidding.  The last one didn't really happen (at least to us), but we were prepared for it!

 

    Along with doing GOd's supernatural work and advancing his kingdom, we also faced spiritual warfare with the demons in that area in a very real and physical way.  You can ask our youth for the detailed story.  But the point is that the enemy failed, and the power and authority that we walk in the name of Jesus is much greater than anything the enemy could ever do to us.  How encouraging to think that the work we are doing is so good that the devil has to send his demons to try to scare us away!

 

    THe children there probably had the biggest impact in our hearts in this trip.  One really does find some part of Jesus in the eyes of each child there.  They have such a sensitivity and embrace of the spiritual that adults just seem to grow less of.  The passion and thirst to know Jesus more with what little they have and with great joy is truly a lesson to us all.  I will never forget the prayers we prayed over individuals and the children not afraid to also lay their hands in prayer.

 

    So thank you all again for being a part of this!  Continue to pray protection over our minds and that the way God moved in our hearts would continue to grow and plant rather than die away as we go back to our normal lives.  During the conference someone quoted that "it is completely unnatural for followers of Jesus to expect anything other than the impossible."  Imagine if this were true for all of us every waking day of our lives.  How would our church look like if we had exciting stories as these to share every Sunday?