Saltillo Notes

It is truly amazing, the things that have happened on this trip thus far. I wish I could convey the feelings I have. I’m so tired – beyond belief, really. I’m frustrated, addlepated, and ready to go to bed. This is one of the hardest things I have ever done. Yet, I love it. God has worked in mighty ways with the kids with this group. He has taken words I have said and used them to speak to the kids and adults. He has used the sit down with Jesus material to open kids’ eyes, break their hearts, heal their hearts, and speak to them.

I apologize to the future me who will have to try to remember all this vague stuff.

I arrived around dinner time on Thursday, 6/23, and went to the Gateway. I moved into my room – the same one that Carla, the girls, and I had used – and hung around talking with anyone who had time. At the end of dinner, I was told that Giovanni was there – the setup coordinator. I met him and realized that I had met him earlier at the jfbc trip in October of 04. We went to the AIM office and had a meeting that lasted about three hours. I asked him questions about much of the stuff I knew I was going to have to do and he either gave me answers or reassurances that all would be well. What’s supposed to happen on the day before a trip is the project leader drives to all the different ministry sites, checks them out, meets the pastors, and determines what construction supplies are needed, if any. It was not possible/recommended for us to go to Saltillo, so all we could do was go to Reynosa, find Bigo’s and the hotel. No problemo. We drove to Reynosa the next day and drove around. We found the hotel and checked on the food and rooms. All was as it should be…except the fact that I didn’t have enough money in the budget sent to me to pay for them. I had been trying to get in touch with Juan, Rick, Jennifer, Steve, YoMama, - everyone. We couldn’t find Bigo’s. I finally got in touch with Rick and he said that the reason I couldn’t find the money in my budget, as that it wasn’t there. He said he would get the money for me asap. Juan eventually got me the money from an atm in the states. For some reason, he gave me an additional $600.

I had arranged to meet Steve Miller, the youth dude, at his hotel in Donna, TX, at 9:00

Friday night, I was busy getting everything ready – the van, my stuff, arrangements for the translators, everything. The translators: Michelle, a US citizen, 18, Three sisters, Maria, Lupita, and Juanita, all lived in Progresso, a small city about half way in between Matamoros and Reynosa. Juan L and I arranged for him to go and get Michelle in the US and to meet me on the south side of the border. Giovanni can’t go north, so I was going to have to leave him while I went north. I looked up the group’s hotel and downloaded a map from the border. I’m so smart…

So, on Saturday, Giovanni and I drove to Progresso to get the sisters. They were there, but they didn’t know we were coming, so they were asleep.

We met the pastor today, 6/27. He came to the hotel and we went out to the two ministry sites – one for the church foundation, the other for the ministry. We are digging holes that are 1 meter square. 20 of them. We are doing the other ministry at his current church, a building that he is renting. We have doubled up on construction and vbs. We also moved vbs to 4:00 at his request. We were going to go to the regular time, when some of his members came and asked if we could not do it 1-4. I offered the morn, but they seemed to want the 4-7 slot. When one of my team leaders, Frank, mentioned that that would make it easier to double up on vbs, I went for it.

The first atl we did was interesting. I talked, we all prayed and got some very specific stuff – I saw a yellow ford f-150 with a man working on the engine, someone else saw a woman in white, standing on a sidewalk between two blue men (?). No one got a specific direction. Someone got a picture of a place surrounded by mountains and someone else saw a bird. (I found out that someone in the group is a habitual liar. I wonder if this affected what happened…). So, we walked all around and didn’t really see any of the things we were looking for – except for the yellow ford, but I’m not sure of the significance of that. One thing is for sure, I was supposed to tell them everything and I didn’t – at first. I can’t help but wonder that my disobedience affected the outcome.