Out in the Colonia - Day 6

Cory and Cayna in their Mexican wares...

Canna Lily

A woman, named Maria - she works as a translator in a local clinic - owns this dog - who is expecting puppies very shortly. I loved the shirt - my brothers and I used to do this to our dog, Bear, when we were growing up.

This gentleman (I really wish I remembered his name), looked the part of the image I created in my mind of a man I would find in Mexico. He is 83 years old. He works with rocks (it was a little difficult translating exactly what he does w/ them)... He and his wife had 18 children (his wife passed away a couple of years ago)!!!! 6 died...12 still come to visit - and he made some funny joke in spanish about all the grandkids he has. The neighbors check-in on him regularly and he seemed very content in his lot. I wish we had more time to spend with him (and I could speak directly to him) - this is one man that has a LOT of great stories to share, great incite to life and lessons we could all learn from!

This is a typical road in and around the colonia! It's really fun with a pickup truck and about 20 kids in the back... We did ask why they didn't fix the roads - they do when they can, but when it is monsoon season (rainy season), the roads go back to looking like this! Again... looks a lot like Upstate New York in the Spring.

Day 5 - This is the day we paired up with another member of our team and a translator and went out into the colonia. Colonia is a term similar to what we would call a neighborhood. KC and I requested that we be together. Our translator was Pastor Myson (all the young kids on the team hitting the road together). It was such a splendid day! And I was even more tired than yesterday(but a good tired).

We did not end up handing out nearly as much food as we had hoped (which is ok because the food will still be distributed), but we were able to connect with a lot of people - We went to a different part of the colonia than the teams normally go into. It was nice because they weren't expecting us... It was easy to talk with them. And we were able to pray for them and with them. We were able to talk with them about their families, their lives, their concerns, their pain and their joys. And there wasn't a single person we talked with that wasn't willing to talk with us, share with us and accept us. I was nervous about praying for them. Would I say the right thing? I prayed to God asking Him to relieve those fears. And after we visited the first family, it was as if God had taken over. I felt like we were visiting our own neighbors...friends... And it was easy to pray for them. The people in the colonia do not tiptoe around the issues that they are concerned about. The generally wanted prayer for their families, for illness, for protection, for healing. They weren't trying to put up a front that everything was alright - nor did they have to pretend they were something that aren't. And their faith was amazing and so simple. They were very grateful for our being there, for the gift of food and for prayer. We had one gentleman... he was older as well - Myson was talking with someone else and this gentleman began talking to KC and I (in rapid Spanish). But we were able to understand quite a bit of what he was saying - He told us that another Christian group had come and built their home. And that we might look different and be from different places, but our hearts are the same and we worship the same God. He was so grateful for the bag of food. He cried tears of pure love for the Lord and he hugged us as the family we are - I look forward to seeing him in Heaven one day.

I think I mentioned before that we were in a desert. As we were walking through the colonia, many people grew beautiful flowers and trees. And they were very proud to show you what they grew. One lady had the most beautiful white roses... and we found Canna Lillies growing in a few places (we have a pot of Canna lillies that we bought for our little Cayna). Another Maria that we met - she grew watermelons, beans, goose-neck gourds, chickens, horses and a couple other things. She had a small farm, actually. Maria had 3 young boys, no husband and she had lost a baby 2 months before. She needed medicine, but could not afford it - down there it is usually a choice between food and medicine. Garry had planned that day to buy her medicine for her! And I was able to pray for her... I remember laying hands on her and feeling her pain...it brought tears to my eyes - I wanted to take her in my arms like a mother would and take away the pain. By the power of God, one day, she will be healed. She blessed us in return - we were able to eat probably the yummiest watermelon I've ever had and we were able to get through customs with 3 goose-neck gourds (we hope to turn ours into a bird house).

There are so many stories from each house we stopped at. What were the houses? Some had nice little houses. If they were nice, it was usually because another Christian team had come and built it (usually cement blocks and concrete). Others lived in shack type buildings put together with whatever was available - tires, wooden pallets, mattress springs, rocks, concrete (if they were lucky) and held together with anything that might protect from the weather.

It was so great to be able to go out with KC. God really gave me the best teammate I could ever have dreamed up. He compliments me in everyway - I am loud and quick to speak - he's soft spoken and takes his time. When he's weak, I'm strong and more times than not, I'm weak and he's strong. He held my hand when I was nervous today - and I felt God's strength in KC. And KC was amazing to watch as he interacted with the people... Maybe one of these days, he'll share his experiences.

I almost forgot - in the afternoon, we were able to go into the city of Juarez and go shopping. You may not know, but Juarez is having a hard time right now with crime. The drug lords/cartels are killing a lot of people and terrorizing the city. It isn't really recommended that Americans travel to certain parts of Juarez. That being said, our team made the decision to venture to a place that is popular with Americans and has not had those issues. But there aren't many people that were shopping because of all the problems. We also used the opporunity to minister to some people in the city by dispensing food (and prayer). There really is never enough food to go around.

We were really able to test our negotiating skills. I must say that normally, I'm HORRIBLE at negotiating. If you tell me a price, I'll pretty much pay it. But I haggled with the best of them. I spent most of the time trying to find the perfect twirly skirt for my daughter. She is pretty picky. I had one gentleman that worked extremely hard to get my sale - he even went to different vendors to help me out. But Cayna was happy with my choice...

And for dinner, we went to a grocery store (S-mart). It was a lot like a Price Chopper or a small Wegman's. We ordered (or rather, Garry ordered) lots of Mexican side dishes, 2 chickens and some orange custard dessert. It was VERY yummy! Usually, Garry takes the teams to a Mexican restaurant, but the one they frequent has Americanized themselves and isn't as well liked! I totally recommend the grocery store!