Mexico Update #6

Anna Batten is writing today:

 

Hi everyone! I totally can not believe it is already Thursday, this week is unfortunately flying by! But, we still thankfully have one more day of working.

 

Waking up every morning here is such a gift from God. It is so beautiful and I absolutely love everything about it here.To be able to walk out on to the porch and see up a mountain is so not what I am used to. God really blessed me with the opportunity to come on this trip.

 

Today we got a lot accomplished on the work site because the girls (plus my daddy) took over in the afternoon :) while all the guys went to a local boy's home (which Mr. Mendillo will talk about later) The house is finally starting to look like a house. We have all the walls up, the roof on, the shingles nailed in, and almost all of the dry wall up! It still boggles my mind that by building this "house" that is the size of my living room, we are doubling this family's living space. To see the three children of the pastor who we are building for as they walk around with big grins on their mouths melts my heart. That is when it finally started to sink in that God is doing something really amazing here.

 

This trip has given me and the rest of the group opportunities to try something new. Whether it's going up on the roof to nail it on, using a power tool, or just hammering we all have tried new things and gained new skills. Our team works so well together. God definitely hand picked this group to do this exact project together (which is for a youth pastor and his family) and I couldn't imagine this trip any other way.

 

On Tuesday during lunch we ran out of bread on the site. Little did we know that the reason behind it was because a little girl named Anna (yes another Anna) who comes to the site with us was making sandwiches and giving them to her friends in the neighborhood. She has so much energy and such a kind and giving heart. I'm really going to miss her. So today we had the idea to buy extra bread, peanut butter, and jelly and made sandwiches. Then a few of us walked around the neighborhood giving them out. Things are so culturally different here. We just walked up to houses, asked how many kids they had, and we gave them that many sandwiches. That would definitely not fly well in New Jersey. We spent $6.08 on the sandwich materials. That fed 14 kids in the neighborhood and put a smile on their faces and mine. My lunch in the airport on the way here was $9 and it only fed me. The little things that God has been showing me really are changing my heart during this trip.

 

After a long full day of work, we came back to where we are staying and got to enjoy Thursday tacos! Wow is all I can say about that :) Even though I have had a taco everyday since I got here, they get better everyday. Having a legit taco stand around the corner is another secret blessing from God :) Following the tacos we went down the the beach. The beach here means getting to swim in the Pacific ocean! We went down at about 6:00, perfect sunset time. Being in the water, watching the sun set over me, and seeing the mountains in the distance was breathtaking. It looked like a movie back drop. This whole Earth is so beautiful and our God is everywhere, making everything beautiful by his touch. That was a moment I will never forget.

 

So many amazing things happened today and during this trip but, there are some not so good things too. A few people, including myself are feeling a bit under the weather. Being stuffed up, having a cough, and a sore throat is not the best situation to have when building a house considering it gets dusty. But God has had me looking at the positive and I don't want to miss out on anything just because of a little cold. But please keep the prayers coming for me and the others that aren't feeling well. We can definitely feel their power down here!

 

Now, I'm off to take some NyQuil and go to sleep. Love you all - Anna Batten

 

 

This is Jim Mendillo. Today all of the boys (except Paul Batten, whose expertise was needed at the site) went to visit a local home for troubled boys. It was a beautiful trip through the countryside.Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by the children who were living there. We played frisbee, soccer and a game where two groups of people each hold a sheet and launch water baloons to the other team who has to catch them or get soaked. No one cared about getting wet, due to the fact that It was 20 degrees hotter there than in Ensenada because the the mountains block the ocean breeze.

 

God had put it on my heart to bring my sketchbook. I found this week that my ability to communicate with the children was much better through drawing than speaking Spanish.:)  When we got there I had the opportunity to draw pictures with some of the kids. After awhile, one boy in particiular, Angel was very interested and kept asking me to draw different things from animals, to a baby chick he brought out from the coop, and finally him and some of the other kids. I asked him if he wanted to draw. He drew me a picture of a rose with the sun shining.

 

Later, he gave his testimony and told us how this home, the Pastor and God changed his life. What a wonderful way to experience Christ's love! This boy and the others there were literally plucked out of a life of crime and no future to one of love and hope. We were told by the Pastor how the kids make things in the workshop that they sell in town. I asked Angel if he could show me what he was working on. He was so proud to show me a dresser that he was building and asked me to be in  the picture that we took of him in front of it. I was so honored!

 

Afterwards he showed me a sketchbook of his own.  Inside was a picture of the same rose he drew me with John 3:16 written below it in Spanish. Isn't it wonderful how God works!

 

This is Royce Adams. Today we all went to the boy's home. We all played soccer on the basketball court. All 10 of us were crammed onto the court having a blast with all the guys there. It was neat hearing a few of there testimonies and seeing how far they've come. We also went to the beach to watch the sunset but all the guys played soccer on the beach. When the numbness in my feet finally went away it was really fun.  

 

This is Corey Fisher. Today at the boy's home I could really see God at work. All of the boys there came from such crazy backrounds and their stories were unlike any I have ever heard before. While we were playing with them they were just so happy and joyful that it was clear that it was only by the grace of God that their entire lives have been completely turned around. They were completely open and eager to share what God had done for them and through them in their lives.

 

This is Mike Chuang. I met a boy, Joan, at the boy's home today, and it was a neat experience. At first I was a bit nervous, because Jim Mendillo led me to him along with the keeper. Joan was locked in a dark cell-like room with metal bars instead of a door. After asking Joan about random things, the keeper unlocked his cell, which by then did not frighten me at all.  he was thirteen, although looked like he was sixteen, and was a misunderstood kid. He shared about how he ended up in the boy's home through robbing places in a gang, but as the conversation went on and the topics got deeper and deeper, it was clear to me that Joan was a boy in Christ. It was very neat that he, along with me, noticed great details in God's creation. I am proud to say that Joan is in a very good place to continue to grow roots in his faith, hopefully to return home someday a truly changed individual. He is no different than you and I.