Thursday and Friday we went back to the campuses that we visited Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, my (Michelle) group went to a school for medical students. This campus is very spiritually dead. In the two days that we spent there we didn´t find a single believer. When we visited the first time, I had the opportunity to be a part of leading a girl named Eveline to the Lord. She began a relationship with Him that Monday, so we got to meet up with her again on Thursday, which was neat. We also talked with a soccer player for the school named Omar. He seemed very interested, but didn´t make a commitment to the Lord that day. We later found out that his girlfriend had been talking with other people in our group...we´re praying that the Lord will use those conversations in both of their lives. What a difference the two of them could make on their campus!
Friday was the best day yet! The first few days we had Crusade staff people walk around with us to model conversations and to help us out with our Spanish. They decided we should start having conversations on our own that day since we will pretty much be on our own once we leave Mexico City. Jared and I walked around together. This was a little bit scary since I can´t speak any Spanish and Jared is limited in his Spanish speaking. The second guy that we approached, Marcos, was sitting by himself reading. We started talking with him and found out that he was already a believer. [It turns out he was reading his Bible, but we didn´t even notice that initially:) ] Marcos explained to us that he was involved with a local church and wants to reach out to the students on his campus. He already goes around with some friends each week evangelizing. This was so encouraging! He had a couple of his friends come talk with us as well who are a part of his church group. They were really excited about starting a movement on their campus.
That afternoon we talked to a couple more people who made decisions to accept Christ into their lives, so now we can connect them with Marcos and his friends! This is exactly what we pray for, for each of the campuses.
Saturday morning we went to the pyramids to do some sightseeing. That was a great experience. We climbed a lot of stairs! Once you make it to the top, the view is amazing! You can see a lot of the city and the other pyramids. It was pretty warm, a lot of people got sunburned, and we were all exhausted when we left.
Today we went to church, we split into two groups. Our group traveled two hours to get there. The service was two hours long and then we traveled two hours back. It made for a long day, but it was well worth it. I couldn´t understand most of the sermon, but the worship music was great. The worship leader was a native who jammed out the whole time. He swung his hips around, bopped his head, and really sang from his soul. It was fun to see him sing with so much passion. We talked to him later (he spoke English, which was refreshing!), he said that he is in a band here in Mexico.
This evening the Crusdae staff members had us over for dinner. It was our first homecooked meal for over a week, and it was wonderful! It was a great to bond with our team and the staff outside of ministry. Afterwards, they took us a few blocks away to get ice cream. This area is the nicer part of Mexico City...we called it the Beverly Hills of Mexico City.
Thanks for your prayers! We´re having a wonderful time here, we´ve all grown a lot and are looking forward to the next six weeks!!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
After the first week...
Hola todos! Holy cow, we can´t believe the amazing time that we are having down here. I (jared) have experienced so much in this past week that it is hard to pick and choose what I will write about. I´ve already filled over 10 pages in my journal of just God stuff. We´ve already seen several new believers, but most importantly, it is the new movements that we are launching that are really getting me excited. Everyday we break off into groups to talk with students about finding christians who are excited to start something amazing on their campus. Just today I was with a group who met Gabriela, a girl who leads a small study on her campus. We were able to introduce her to another group doing the same thing. We listened to them talk a while, and we could already see the big things they had planned for their campus that only their combined groups could do.
I´m amazed at the openness of the students down here and their incredible fire they have for the gospel. It blows my mind away. The culture down here is so much more open. Everyone is willing to talk about spritual things. Compared to the states, any conversation that started with spirituality would be over before it began. It´s just the mindset that I see in the states. But here, everyone has a story to share, and a story that they want to hear from others. It is so easy to reach people down in Mexico.
The language barrier is still tough on us. I´ve only had 4 years of high school spanish, and yet all of the conversations down here have been in spanish. But God is gracious and has helped me remember a lot of what I have learned.
Accompaning the open culture, there are many things that give us culture shock. I´m amazed at the many public displays of affection for couples. It is a little awkward, but after a while, you get used to it.
On wednesday, our team went out to do service projects for the community. The boys went to a group home to clean and play with the kids. We went to a local dirt field and played a rough and tumble game of soccer. The ladies went to homes for single moms with small children to clean and also play with the kids. In the big cities, especially a city with 28 million people, you can find whatever you want. The one thing that they all share is the brokenness that comes with a fallen world. God is in the big cities, I have learned, and he wants desperately to reach them. But if we reach the city, so the surrounding country will follow. It is a great vision to live by.
One last thing is that there are many different denominations down here. (Like I said, you can find everything here). I´ve seen huge cathedrals, extremely nice Mormon churches, and run down evangelical churches. It is interesting to see the variety.
Right now our group is staying at Casa Gonzales, a hostal type place located only a few blocks from the main street in Mexico City, Plaza de las reformas. if you watched the Miss Universe pageant a few nights ago, the location was right up the street from us! We are also located less than 3 blocks from both the british embassy and the US embassy.
Wow, I´ve written a lot. Hope to update again soon!
I´m amazed at the openness of the students down here and their incredible fire they have for the gospel. It blows my mind away. The culture down here is so much more open. Everyone is willing to talk about spritual things. Compared to the states, any conversation that started with spirituality would be over before it began. It´s just the mindset that I see in the states. But here, everyone has a story to share, and a story that they want to hear from others. It is so easy to reach people down in Mexico.
The language barrier is still tough on us. I´ve only had 4 years of high school spanish, and yet all of the conversations down here have been in spanish. But God is gracious and has helped me remember a lot of what I have learned.
Accompaning the open culture, there are many things that give us culture shock. I´m amazed at the many public displays of affection for couples. It is a little awkward, but after a while, you get used to it.
On wednesday, our team went out to do service projects for the community. The boys went to a group home to clean and play with the kids. We went to a local dirt field and played a rough and tumble game of soccer. The ladies went to homes for single moms with small children to clean and also play with the kids. In the big cities, especially a city with 28 million people, you can find whatever you want. The one thing that they all share is the brokenness that comes with a fallen world. God is in the big cities, I have learned, and he wants desperately to reach them. But if we reach the city, so the surrounding country will follow. It is a great vision to live by.
One last thing is that there are many different denominations down here. (Like I said, you can find everything here). I´ve seen huge cathedrals, extremely nice Mormon churches, and run down evangelical churches. It is interesting to see the variety.
Right now our group is staying at Casa Gonzales, a hostal type place located only a few blocks from the main street in Mexico City, Plaza de las reformas. if you watched the Miss Universe pageant a few nights ago, the location was right up the street from us! We are also located less than 3 blocks from both the british embassy and the US embassy.
Wow, I´ve written a lot. Hope to update again soon!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
First Day in Mexico City!
Hola todos!
For our first full day in Mexico, we spent the morning getting to know our group and eating a great breakfast. The night before we all went out to eat and had one of the best steaks of my (jared`s) life. In the afternoon, we got a chance to see a little bit of the city as we went on a scavenger hunt. I saw lots of things from beautiful statues to the location of the miss universe pageant on Monday! I even saw a few of the previous contestants. Tonight we are going to go salsa dancing at a local club and do a little shopping. But above all else, Im already seeing God work in how we got down here, and the safety that he is already providing us. I have a better picture of the vision down here, and i cant wait until we go to the schools on monday. Adios!
For our first full day in Mexico, we spent the morning getting to know our group and eating a great breakfast. The night before we all went out to eat and had one of the best steaks of my (jared`s) life. In the afternoon, we got a chance to see a little bit of the city as we went on a scavenger hunt. I saw lots of things from beautiful statues to the location of the miss universe pageant on Monday! I even saw a few of the previous contestants. Tonight we are going to go salsa dancing at a local club and do a little shopping. But above all else, Im already seeing God work in how we got down here, and the safety that he is already providing us. I have a better picture of the vision down here, and i cant wait until we go to the schools on monday. Adios!
Friday, May 25, 2007
We made it to Mexico!
We made it to Houston yesterday at the same time that our flight was leaving to Mexico City, so we missed that flight. We were on standby the rest of the night, we didn`t end up on a flight, but we did get to stay at the Marriott for free (the girls got a suite!). We had confirmed flights for this morning and we all made it to Mexico City by early afternoon. We had our first authentic Mexican meal and it was really good! Nothing like Taco Bell or Tico`s, but very good. It has been a crazy journey so far and we are extremely exicted to see what God has in store for us the next couple of weeks! Thanks for your prayers!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
May 13, 2007
Welcome to the Mexico Journey Summer Project blog! We can use this to communicate to people back home while in Mexico. If you want to contact anyone, you can email Jared at jaredpcarlson@gmail.com. We're excited for our adventure in Mexico!!
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