Gateway Team Leader Randy Schmor checking the paint's consistency (or something!)
Mexico missionary Marcel Mitchell explaining some of the history behind the Basilica of the Virgen of Guadalupe
Overlooking the Mexico City skyline from a high spot on the Basilica of Guadalupe grounds.
Andrew Hildebrandt sharing his testimony at the morning service at Iglesia Cristo Vive with Mexico missionary Moises Ruiz translating.
(Sorry that the blog for the Mission Baptist - Hamilton, ON Gateway Team to Mexico was not completed until today.....thanks for your patience!)
August 23, 2007
Our painting projects continue! The team has accomplished a lot here this week. We’ve pretty much finished painting the interior of an entire building in 5 days. But, the most important thing is that this building and the Retreat Center are used for Kingdom work here in Mexico City! Allison Cannon, one of our Assistant Team Leaders, has had a hand in choosing colors as well and it looks great and our hosts are quite pleased!
The rest of the group had the opportunity to go to the market with Royce Baron, our host, as well and see all the fruits, vegetables AND assortment of meats available there. What’s most interesting about the meats is the way their displayed and the parts of the animals that are sold that are not usually seen in Canada…..! All part of the experience.
Half of the group also had the chance to go the internet café for the first time and catch up on email, etc. which was a fun experience as well. Especially for Laura Hildebrandt, who had a little run-in with a mud puddle that formed after the heavy rains we had yesterday thanks to Hurricane Dean! (Man did it pour!)
Team Meeting was a great time again in the evening as we worshipped and shared from the scripture passage we’ve been studying together this week Ephesians 4. We left the floor open and a number of the Team Members shared what the passage had to say about unity and our responsibility now after having had this experience to help others back home understand their role in the body. All of our Team Meetings have been rich times together. Please pray that the team would finish well as our last day of painting approaches and we have quite a bit to finish to fulfill our commitment here.
August 24, 2007
We’re just about to head for bed and the end of a long day…..and the painting project is just about complete….actually a couple members of the group are going to wake up early to put on one more coat of yellow in one of the 4 rooms designed for married couples to stay in. It was quite ambitious to take on the 4 married couple rooms in the adjoining building to where we did most of our painting but as has been the case all week, the team worked hard all day and all but completed our week’s project! Everything looks great and our hosts, the Barons and Moises Ruiz, who arrived yesterday, are very pleased with the results. Thanks for your prayers for us as everyone stayed safe and for the most part healthy all week!
The other half of the group had an adventure going to the internet café when the one we had been going to ended up being closed. So, we headed another 15-20 minutes further to the center of the town of Tepexpan where we finally found another one! We then headed back with an excursion through a cornfield as a shortcut and a few stray dogs that made the guys nervous. But in the end, we made it back fine just in time for a supper of chicken soup and tostadas!
Olga has been an incredible cook for us here this week. Although she speaks no English, the love that she puts into the meals she serves and into here smile each day showed everyone how much she loves the Lord and us! And to their credit, this team did very well as she served a variety of Mexican meals each day; we’ve had tamales, taquitos, lomo de Puerco, milanesa and bisteck Mexicana, just to name a few of her dishes…amazing!
We had a good team meeting tonight as well where Lukas Hildebrandt and Mike Powell led us in worship and we talked about finishing this mission project well by ‘Saying Goodbye’ appropriately and meaningfully. The next couple of days will be days of goodbyes for this Gateway Team and they were reminded that our presence among these people has been as important, if not more important than the work project (painting) we came here to do. In many cases, this will be the last time that many of these meetings between these Canadian Team Members and these Mexican believers will take place until eternity. So, these goodbyes are meaningful and important this weekend.
Please pray that this weekend will be one filled with meaning for everyone involved in this mission project; Gateway Team Members and Host Missionaries and nationals alike. Also please pray for our safety as we head to ‘El Centro’ tomorrow and experience the national capital area of Mexico City and a great souvenir market!
August 25, 2007
No rest for the weary as we started our excursion with the surprise of seeing the Mitchell family at our door, ready to join us! (Not only that, but 5 of our Team Members got up at 6:00am in order to put one more coat of paint on one of the rooms that was in need of it; they finished before the rest of us even woke up! Way to go guys!) The Mitchells (Marcell, Ingrid and, count 'em, 5 GIRLS!) have been here in Mexico since late June and are a new part of the missionary team here. They just returned from a few days vacation the evening before so we weren't sure we'd be seeing them today!
We decided to go first off to the Basilica of Guadalupe where Marcel explained this to be the center of Mexican Catholicism. It is on the site where it is said that 500 some years ago, the boy, Juan Diego, saw a vision of Mary with dark skin, hence the name for her, the Virgen of Guadalupe. The cloth of this vision's imprint is displayed here as well as 2 large basilicas and other smaller chapels. There is also a large courtyard where pilgrims come year-round to honor the Virgen but where they come in particular on December 12 for the annual pilgrimage to this revered site.
We then headed to the area known as "El Centro" where we shopped a famous artisian market called "Ciudadela" for souveniers and made our way down the 'Avenida Juarez' to Sanborn's restaurant and on to 'Zocalo' (see August 7 entry for more details on these sites). The team really had to move quickly to get to all of these sites (including Starbucks and "Marti", a soccer jersey store) because we had yet another appointment for the evening back at Cristo Vive church where the youth group was awaiting our arrival for a pizza party! But we made it to the church and had a great evening together. We played games for quite a long time, had our pizza, sang some worship songs in both languages, and listened to 3 of our team members share their testimonies with the entire group. It was a good evening together and gave the team another chance to know more and interact with more people from the church.
A very full day of activity; thanks for your prayers as we were kept safe all day and our driver joined us for everything we did today!
August 26, 2007
Our last full day here in Mexico.....and maybe the busiest yet! The team thought that painting was hard work!
We started the day again at pretty much the same time (7:30am) as all of our work days (no sleeping-in here!) and went to church for what would turn out to be around a 3 hour service! Of course, our team contributed to the length of the service with a song and 3 testimonies. Everyone did a great job sharing their testimonies whether in the youth meeting Saturday night or in church Sunday morning and a number of people from the church shared about the impact that they had.
The team was also invited to the front in the service for a round of applause and thanks on behalf of the church for all the hard work that they did painting at the Retreat Center and building relationships with Cristo Vive church. The efforts of the team were definitely appreciated.
After church, the team had the chance to go to Vip's restaurant and have lunch with the entire Ruiz family. Moises had come back to Mexico from Canada on Thursday, but Carolyn and their 3 boys just arrived in time for lunch and so we had a good time and good food together. Vip's is kind of like a Mexican version of Denny's, and we all agreed that this was some of the best 'restaurant' food we had had here (it would be impossible to beat Olga's cooking back at the Retreat Center!).
After some extended good-byes in the parking lot, we finally headed back to the Retreat Center and to our surprise, people everywhere! It seems that a large portion of the church was there for an outting; playing group games, playing soccer and enjoying food. The team joined in to the soccer game right away and had a great time as Mexico defeated Canada! The best part was seeing people using the very rooms that we had painted and enjoying themselves thoroughly.
As it was now evening, it was time for our major De-Brief of the mission with our team which would take some time. We made it through that time and enjoyed recalling all of our experiences of the week, what we enjoyed and learned being in Mexican culture as well as what we enjoyed and learned from working together as a team. After a short supper of mac and cheese, we assigned different parts of the team different areas of the house (where we stayed for the week) to clean. Everyone pitched in, did a great job and we spent the rest of the evening packing for our trip the next day.
Thanks for your prayers for endurance as finishing well is just as important as any part of the mission experience itself. Please pray for the team's (and Randy's, as he is on a seperate flight) flights tomorrow and that they all make it home safely! Thanks!
August 27, 2007
Because the team's (and Randy's) flights were not scheduled until the afternoon, our morning did not have to start too early. It was around 9:00am when our driver came to the door with a friend in another truck ready to haul all of our luggage. And everything went fairly smooth.....Randy's flight was a half hour after the team's, so we checked in at the same time and headed into security at the same time and said our good-byes at the gate (after they switched gates to the totally opposite end of the airport! - so I guess not totally smooth....).
Whether you have been a part of the prayer team for this Mexico Gateway Team from Mission Baptist - Hamilton, ON or are a regular prayer supporter (and reader) of the Schmor/Gateway Teams' blog, thank you for your prayers over this past month of August!
We appreciate you all! Blessings!
Kameron (center) and friends back in 2003.
