Trip to San Andres
In the past years when I lived in Mexico, I had a unique ability to prepare for the team in a way that I never could have while living in the U.S. The trip this past year was the first time in three years where preparations for the trip were done mostly in Elverson, and to add to that, we were going to a brand new location and starting a brand new ministry. Like responsible Americans, we planned, planned and planned some more. Those plans changed, and then changed some more. And then they changed again. Why? I can only explain it one way, the way all the missionaries explain it: “Welcome to Mexico!”
The majority of our time was spent in the village of San Andres, building a retaining wall to prepare for the foundation of a future church building. The wall was quite a formidable size, 98 feet long, 12 feet high and 5 feet wide at the base. It was constructed out of quarry stone and mortar. Our team worked tirelessly, day in and day out, (with Sunday the exception) rising at 6am to begin work and often ending after 6pm at night. The work went very well, and we completed over two thirds of the wall, leaving enough construction materials for the men of the church to finish after we left. The “work” was what we went to “accomplish”, but really, the most memorable parts of the trip involved seeing what GOD did, in a way that was completely out of our control.
A number of men from the church in S.A. were helping us out in teams of two each day. After the first few days of work they realized that despite our long hours and hard work, the work was not advancing very rapidly. On Sunday, the pastor of the church sat down and talked with the men and told them they really needed to step up and give more time to the completion of this wall or it would never get done. They rose to the occasion and according to Dr. Emilio, the head of the clinic, they had never before joined together like that to work on anything in the church. That was not something our team did… it was something GOD did. He worked in their hearts. He motivated them. He brought them out to work along side of us every single day for the entire trip.
I was able to visit the medical clinic a few days before the group arrived in Puebla. During that visit, it was pouring down rain. It rained so hard we almost were not able to leave the village, the road was so bad. It had been raining before, and continued raining after we left and it even rained when we arrived with the group. After all that, we didn’t have a single drop of rain during the first 5 days of work on the wall! It was just enough time to get the huge base of the wall elevated out of the ground and high enough to begin catching the collapsing wall of dirt behind it. The only day it did rain was Sunday, where it rained almost all day. But on all the other weekdays of work, it barely rained, except for two afternoon showers that may have slowed down work for an hour. It is impossible for me to imagine working on the foundation of a wall that is to hold up a wall of dirt, while it is raining, and the dirt and mud are caving in. I could not have been done. GOD was pleased to hold back the rain. He allowed us to get the wall high enough. He was merciful to allow us to be as productive as we possibly could have.
In years past, we were accustomed to buying food at Sam’s Club for breakfast and lunch in Puebla, while dinner was almost always something purchased “pre-made” from a Mexican restaurant. This year there was no restaurant, no Sam’s Club and not even a market nearby. Instead of shopping and preparing the meals ourselves, there was a cook and a few ladies at the clinic who did a fantastic job of planning the meals around trips into a nearby town where they could purchase everything they needed for the large meals. They did a wonderful job cooking Mexican enough for us to know we were in Mexico, but American enough to not burn our mouths or churn our stomachs. Up until the day I met the cook and her helpers, (which was the day the team arrived in San Andres) it was impossible for me to imagine how we would feed the team each day. This was another one of the numerous things that GOD provided, and He deserves the credit and the glory for it.
So many of you supported this trip through prayer and financial giving. Year after year I am blown away at how faithful God is in providing. This was an exceptional year in which, although there were many unknowns, God provided for everything we needed, and then some. There were so many things that I just had to leave in His hands, which is difficult, but a great place to be. Because in the end, for that which is left in His hands, and all goes according to his will… who gets all the praise and glory? Our God.
In Christ,
Jon
