Childrens Ministry in Colonia Nuevo Monantial

Our original plan of working with an outreach of CAP church with about 150-200 kids was changed the first day we were here. But the Lord is so good and was able to provide a divine appointment also on that first day with a pastor, Marcelino who was starting a church in Nuevo Monantial (New Springs) and would be overjoyed to have our group come out there and provide a Vacation Bible School to about 45-50 kids.

Nuevo Monantial is a fairly new area as far as people living in it, and there are no services out there...water, electricity, sewer or phones. The church has a small 3 sided building where they are meeting, and a perimeter foundation where they will someday start building their church.

Come and meet Pastor Marcelino and his wife Mari, Roberto

(leads worship) and their beautiful church.

Making balloons

Puppets were a hit!!!

Gift of a new guitar given to Roberto.

Beautiful kids!!!!

We were also able to do foot washing for the kids and the pastors. What a blessing this was for us to minister to them.

Two Hard Days of Work Pouring Concete Floors.

Wednesday began the first day of hauling, mixing, pouring, smoothing and cleaning up for our project of cement floors in Vicente Guerrero. As you can see by the photos, this was a long, hot process. The cement mixer was hauled around by "manpower" up and down hills, the homes all had the gravel, sand and concrete bags already on their home sites, and all the ingredients were shoveled and then dumped by hand.

We were able to pour 3 homes on Wednesday and 2 on Thursday. Five down, seven more to go... BOY ARE WE SORE!!! It feels good to have accomplished the ones we've done, and to leave a blessing to this community and families is well worth the "slight, momentary afflictions."

Wednesday was also the first day that we were able to do childrens ministry. More will be coming about that later.

Please keep us in prayer as we learn to adjust ourselves to the heat and really develop into a team, utilizing our gifts and abilities wisely. We want to promote productivity, reduce irritation and stress with each other, and really accomplish the things that the Lord has set before us to do...to be a blessing and walk out the Kingdom.

Not Your Normal Anniversary Vacation Spot!!

Congratulations to Jim and Vicki Williams, who spent their 31st anniversary pouring cement for concrete floors in a little community in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Work day at Vicente Guerrero

Vicente Guerrero is a community that has grown around the Oaxaca garbage dump area. Some homes have recently aquired electricity but most still don't have it, nor running water, sewer and most homes still have dirt floors. Casa de Esperanza (House of Hope) is a church that has planted itself right in the middle of this community to minister the hope of God. One of our projects on this trip is to pour cement floors in 12 homes, most of those being 10' x 12'. The cement, sand, gravel, use of mixer, the purchasing of tools and the rental of a gas powered mixer are being provided by the group fees that each individual contributed, as well as a matching grant from a non-profit group that functions in Oaxaca.

Today was our first day out there, about a 45 minute drive, 20 of which was traversing the dirt road into the community...very rocky, lots of dips and speed bumps, sleeping dogs in the middle of the road...in a 15 passenger Toyota van that had about 6" clearance once we all got in.

The "plan" was to do 3 homes today. But as the saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men" (or something along those lines) that basically means no matter how well you plan, you have to know that it may change.

So we worked on the back lot of the church, cleaning out some of the gravel where they will be building bathrooms, watched some very hardy men carrying 100# bags of cement on their heads, and then we went to 3 homes to prep the floors so that IF the sand and gravel are delivered tomorrow, we will pour floors in those homes.

Colorful Mexico

Just wanted to give you some beautiful pictures of Mexico. All photos used by permission, (c) Perri Kelly.

All DOH Members Safely Arrive!!

Tom and Wendy got on the 6:30 a.m. bus headed to Mexico City to meet the group who would arrive at 4:51 p.m. All arrived safely, though a little numb with lack of sleep (refer to the first blog about the travel times, repeat times 9 people!!)

The first problem cropped up when Mexico customs demanded $400 to allow Tom Erdel in with his 2 boxes of 1000 pair of glasses donated by the Lions Club. While they seemed to understand that he was a "volunteer" they insisted that he was bringing the glasses in as a business and was going to sell them for profit. Tom kept his cool, did NOT pull out his green plastic squirt gun, and paid the $400 out of his own pocket.

...but wait...there's more!!! After getting everyone and everything (probably about 35 bags) loaded onto a couple of taxi vans and deposited at the bus station, it was discoverd that Tom Erdels carry on bag was not in the mixture. So while Wendy got on the bus with Jason, Debbie, Missy, Perri, Seth, Devon, Cathy and Emily, Tom and Tom (sounds like a rock band!) headed back to the airport and the taxi to see if the bag had been left in one of the vans...which it wasn't. Hence the belief that it was probably stolen, not lost.

Wendy and crew arrived after 1:00 a.m Monday morning, everything intact. Tom H. and Tom E. didn't get in to the YWAM base until 4:15 in the morning!!!

Monday morning dawned bright and clear, roosters crowing, tortilla seller with bullhorn advertising his wares, dogs barking, all at 7:00 a.m...typical Mexican morning. But most of our intrepid travelers, when asked, said, "What rooster?" It is amazing what exhaustion will do for your ability to sleep through anything! After a late breakfast (9:30) we went to see the "sights", mostly centered on food!! Corner grocery store, juice seller, chocolate maker. Great stuff! Stay tuned for more photos.

Forward Edge People Arrive

On Friday (Jan. 18), three people from Forward Edge joined the Hogans and the Williams; Ronny Gilmore (middle), a Group Facilitator / translator / general great guy, Sandee Hallock (left), the new Teams Coordinator for Oaxaca (and a few other countries), and Cheryl Overman (right), the assistant who keeps track of Sandee... or is that keeps Sandee on track...?

Sandee is here specifically to meet and work with Tom and Wendy, and with them make connections for Forward Edge's future relationships in Oaxaca.

One of the areas that will be looked at is Manos de Ayuda (Helping Hands). This is a Clinic / Hospital that is a approximately 12 miles out of Oaxaca and was started over 20 years ago by Ron Post, who founded Northwest Medical Teams. He saw a need to provide non or low cost medical care for the low income people in the Oaxaca area. Manos de Ayuda has used short term medical teams from Canada and the U.S., and Oaxaca area doctors. They have primarily worked on dental, cleft palette surgery, cataract removal, eye exams and general medical exams. Forward Edge has brought in two medical teams recently, January 2007 and October 2007 (cataract surgery), as well as providing medical equipment.

Manos de Ayuda functions under the oversight of a Charismatic Nazarene church, Centro de Alabanza y Proclamcion (Center of Praise and Proclamation).

Last year the group that came here from Door of Hope painted several dormitories, wired electricity to the main kitchen area, cleaned rooms and built a fire pit.

Right now (January 20) it's almost 11:00 p.m. and we are waiting for the bus to come in so we can pick up the rest of our group. Tom and Wendy went up by bus this morning to meet them and then come back to Oaxaca. They are going to be tired puppies by the time they get here! Tom did call to say one of the guys had a carry on bag possibly stolen and they were trying to track down if that was what happened or if it had been left in a taxi, so they were taking a later bus and would not get in to Oaxaca until 4:00 a.m. Please be in prayer for them. Wendy came with the rest of the group.

Door of Hope Team in Oaxaca, Mexico

Tom & Wendy: After leaving Fairbanks in the evening of January 15, flying to Anchorage then to Portland all night, blearily meeting up with Jim and Vicki (who actually got a good nights sleep in Portland, the bums!) to get on the Alaska flight (now the 16th) to Mexico City at 7:00 a.m, trying to sleep, stopping in Los Angeles (had to get off the plane on a "non-stop" flight?!), back on plane, trying to sleep again, Mexico City at 4:00'ish, making our way to the bus station, get on bus at 5:00'ish, trying to sleep....again, finally getting to Oaxaca at 11:30 at night where Esau (works with the Oaxaca YWAM base) picked us up and drove us to where we would be staying...starving so we then went to get something to eat, back to base and FINALLY (now the 17th) to bed at 1:30 a.m. Let's see...that makes it 40+ hours we were up. All of this with dragging around 8 check-in bags (between the 4 of us) and several carry on bags as well. Yes, we do know how to travel lightly, but we were hauling Vacation Bible school materials, stuffed animals, a guitar to give away, Forward Edge stuff.

We survived, and woke up to a beautiful and sunny day...yes indeedy...no snow in sight!!!!

So what is a frozen group from Fairbanks, Alaska going all the way to Oaxaca, Mexico for? I mean, other than the "duh" reason of Alaska...snow, cold...Mexico...sun, warmth!

This will be the 5th trip to Oaxaca that Tom and Wendy have done. This one has the specific purpose as Forward Edge International group Facilitators and the goal of meeting with pastors and churches in the area. Oaxaca will be the city that Tom and Wendy will be based out of when they move to Mexico in September. So the connecting and building of relationships will be a primary thing for them to accomplish while they are here.

As a group, we will be pouring some cement floors for families who have built homes on the garbage dump areas in Oaxaca. Secondary to that we will be teaching a Vacation Bible school with a local church all week long. The expenses, which include cement, gravel, sand, housing, food, gas, van rental, are all covered by our individual group fees.

We also will be working at Manos de Ayuda, a medical clinic / hospital that provides care for the poor in the Oaxacan area. Last year the group that came did a bunch of painting in the dorms, cleaned the commercial kitchen area, did some electrical upgrades, and built an outdoor fire pit. There's still a lot of work to be done!

The photos are of the YWAM facilities that we are staying at.

More to come ...