Sunday, October 08, 2006

Feeling Good in Mexico

It's Sunday night and I'm finally sitting at my computer writing an update. I hope you are all doing well. There are so many things that have been happening in my life, as I'm sure there has been in yours too. So, tonight I'll tell you about one of them.


This past weekend I took a trip down into Mexico about 4 hours south of the Arizona border. Altogether, it was a 7 hour van ride. I was with our District Youth Director, a missionary to Mexico, a couple of pastors, and 5 other youth pastors like me. Our purpose was to meet 3 Mexican national pastors and discuss plans to have ministry teams of teenagers come down and help their churches on a basis of several times a year.

We had our meeting in a rectangular, unfinished, cinderblock building with a metal roof. Pigeons were nesting on the center steel support beam straight over our heads. We all pulled up a block and used it as a chair. Not bad.

Using the missionary and one of our pastors as translators, we managed a conversation between us about vision. We made it very clear that we wanted them to lead us and use us...that this was completely about strengthening their churches. They received us well and responded with very kind and loving remarks. They also expressed their desire to work with us, unified, and with "no wall" between us. The most important thing we could leave them would be a spiritual blessing.

My heart was touched.

At the close of the meeting, when the sun had gone down, we hugged and shook hands. One of the pastors spoke to me and said, "You are welcome here. Mexico is your home."

That made me feel good.

5 comments:

ruthrap said...

Hola! com esta, Senor Jimmybob! So happy to read your post. My husband was born in Michoacan, Mexico and has been in the U.S. since he was about 17 years old...I don't speak much Spanish, but he sure does! sounds as though you had a very good meeting with the Mexican pastors. glad to see you back on the blog!

JimmyBob said...

I was in Michoacan in 1999. We stayed at a hotel in the town of Zamora. We ministered there as well as in Jacona(sp?), which was a neighboring town. At the time I was a youth pastor in New Jersey and I took a couple of my teenagers and joined others from across the state. We went into the community and gave out candy, made balloon animals, performed dramas, puppet shows, and presented the gospel. It was a trip I won't forget.

¡El dios le bendice!

ruthrap said...

Jose is from an area close to Zamora..called Cienegitas, it's about 30 minutes from Zamora.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to go missions trips to wherever God leads! I'm so excited for reaching those who haven't heard! I love the different cultures! As odd as this sounds, I love the idea of living without things we have here in America. That way you can really get down to the heart of things without money or item distractions! If you give me soemthing from a different culture to eat, I will probably like it simply because it is different.

Estad quietos, y conoced que yo soy Dios; ensalzado he de ser entre las gentes, ensalzado sere en la tierra. - Salmos 46:10

That means, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Hasta Luego...Adios!

JimmyBob said...

xt4jfriend, it sounds like your heart's in the right place!