Saturday, May 1, 2010

Mission Laredo Wrap-Up

Today has been a super great day.  My wonderful husband had almost everything done around the house so I could take it easy and recoup today.  Our days in Laredo were full.  On Wednesday we worked at the church, shopped for the block party, worked at the house, and passed out flyers and invited folks to the block party that was happening Thursday evening.  We were also going to the church where we had been working to help lead in Wednesday evening services.  One of our guys played his keyboard and another preached.  Anyway, Karen and I had to go to our hotel to change clothes between the activities and church.  We literally were dropped off in the van, went upstairs & changed and were back in the van in about 12 minutes.  That's all the time we had and, well, we did the best we could. 

On Thursday the guys were finishing up the patio cover and I actually got up on the scaffolding and put some screws into the metal to hold it onto the frame.  The yard was super overgrown but was mostly weeds.  I asked Bob if we had any money left in our budget to buy a weedeater and he said no.  However, when he got back from the Home Depot he had a weedeater with him!!  So, we worked on the yard as well.  The block party was to start at 6 and we started getting ready mid-afternoon.  I can't even remember what time it was.  I was in charge of the popcorn machine for the big event.  Thankfully, I learned to use the popcorn machine at our own church back in October.  Like it's complicated...not!  I passed out tons of popcorn, though, so it must've been good.  hahaha!!   I think the best part was watching our guys working the games.  They really got into it and had fun with the kids.  One of the guys told me it was really an eye-opening experience.  Yeah, that it was. 

All I know for sure is that I've got to get back to my Spanish lessons before I head back down to Laredo in July.  We encountered way more Spanish speakers than English speakers.  Most of the kids are bilingual but that's not true of the adults. 

I'm a little conflicted.  Knowing that many of the people are illegals and realizing that they need lots of help, how much can we provide for them without condoning the fact that they are breaking the law?  But, they need Jesus.  That I know for sure.  So, I've been thinking about that some today.  I was talking to a member of our church this evening about their poor living conditions and he said that even that was likely better than what they had in their home country.  Wow, and that's hard to imagine.  So, we'll keep seeking God and looking to Him for guidance as we figure out what we will do from here.

And that's the Mission Laredo wrap-up.  The trip was actually really great.  The team was wonderful to work with and I enjoyed being with them immensely.  I didn't really know most of them very well at all so it was a lot of fun getting to know them.  I am always amazed how God puts the right people together.  This is my first trip where we did so much manual labor so it was an interesting venture for me. 

Serving the King,

Jeanette

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