I know, I know I have failed at writing once a week; I’m sorry. Mexico has been great, pretty, busy, tiring( a mix of emotions) but quite the experience. My first week here we jumped right into Globalscope life. The night we arrived in Puebla, it was Tuesday which means En Vivo which means Live.
El Pozo(the well) is the campus ministry here in Puebla that partners with the Church plant, Mosaico. El Pozo hosts En Vivo every Tuesday night where there is free dinner, singing, and a message. The students tend to stay as long as they want playing games, watching a soccer game, or just talking.
This is what a typical week looks like…Well we don’t exactly have one of those but this is what has happened so far:
I have had Enchiladas suizas for breakfast will olla which is coffee made with cinnamon. That was an interesting mixture for breakfast but I’m getting used to it now.
I have been able to climb the pyramid in Cholula(where I live) to the church at the top. This pyramid has the largest base in the world. This is the view from the street in which I live off of of the church and one of the inactive volcanoes.
I also have had the opportunity to celebrate my new friend Elsa’s birthday at the famous Chilis(yes like we have in the states).
The neat thing about working with college students is ministry sometimes entails spending time with the students by going out and celebrating a birthday, playing ticket to ride, or going to their soccer games.
two of the girls who play for UDLAP( the school across the street from Casa Verde which is the house I stay at and which is where En Vivo and Mosaico are held) also attend En Vivo and Mosaico. Both of them have high potential for playing on Mexico’s National team. (They could be famous..and I know them).
So being in Mexico, you have to tour a bit so a team from Evansville, IN came in to work with Mosaico but for one of their days we went to Teotihuacan and climbed the Sun and Moon pyramids which was amazing! It was crazy to witness and experience something with so much history and fame.
This group is from the Church Todd Hancock(the pastor of the church) home church as well as my mom’s home church. Strangely enough, this wasn’t the only group I was connected with.
During the week this group was here, they helped us clean all of the church chairs, paint one of the local Christian schools, build containers and corn hole, as well as speak in church. The church service they came to was pretty awesome to attend not only was it on Father’s Day, but two students from En Vivo got baptized.
The girl who was baptized is Sayra and the man is Juanello. Juanello has become a good friend of mine who has an incredible story. He has been attending En Vivo for about 9 years and the staff has been praying for him to turn his life to Christ about as long as he has been coming so this day was an incredibly special day for many who were there.
A group from Florida and Tennessee came this past week. There were 28 of them!!! All in Casa Verde!! The beginning of this week was hard for me. Tuesday the group from Evansville left and I jumped in with the new group from Fl and TN. It was then that I realized that I wasn’t just there to work hard for a week and go home but I was staying all summer and didn’t get to go home like the groups did. That hit me hard and I realized how important it was for me to fill myself up with God’s Word or else I would be drained. I also came to the conclusion that I am not here for myself but I am here to serve God and allow His Glory to be seen all over before I am to be transformed or focus on myself. One of the group leaders was talking to me that same day I realized that about how I was doing and he spoke some life into me that was given to him once. He said a lot of times we say God is with me but really God is always with us. It is us that have to decide to be with Him. When we can say I am with God, that is when our view of things change. After he told me that, it has been easier for me to see God’s work being done selflessly. This was an amazing group. There were about 20 high schoolers and 8 college students and all of them worked with amazing attitudes. They taught me how to love. God blessed me with knowledge through them. It turned out to be an incredible week.
God is good and I am thankful for being here. Here are things you can pray for me:
my language learning, the relationships I have formed and will form with the students here, and for me to always be with God in the things that I do so that I will be doing His Will.
Thank you all for your support and concern…hopefully next time it won’t be as long as this one:)
May God bless you,
Ashlan
