Ministering to the poor in the Yucatan

We have had incredible ministry times here in Merida. People are generally friendly and very receptive to the gospel. Yesterday we went to the Salvation Army. There are orphaned children living there. In the US we are used to seeing thrift stores, but here the workers wear the Salvation Army uniforms and are doing a great job taking care of these kids. We played with them and did drama presentations.

Last night we went to a very poor village. We are going back tonight. Please pray for the people there to recieve Christ. I will write about it later.

Karen Hanson

Orientation

Thursday 7-7-2010

We spent our first day here in Merida getting oriented. We met our other team mates from Louisiana and the Youth With A Mission staff that are setting up our ministry times. The church camp we are staying at is incredable and the Pastor and his wife are awsome!
I just want to say how much we love YWAM as a ministry organization! Top shelf in safety, organization, leadership and FUN ministry.

Ok this picture is of an ice breaker game while we were all getting to know eachother. right now the picture isn't loading.....................................

Our first day in the Yucatan

On our way to camp from the airport we were stopped by the Federalies (Police). They were suspicious because we were in four vans that were rented from different places. Our outreach leader Libby took our eight year old Peyton out to meet the officers to lighten things up a little! If you know Peyton you know that he can arise to the occasion! He is funny and bold and very personable. He asked about their big guns and before you knew it the officers were warming up to us. They were really nice guys. Before our incident was over they understood that we were here to work with a local church and asked if we had a Pastor among us that could pray for them! Alan and Wayne got to pray blessings and protection over them! What an awsome way to start our time here in Merida!

From Sarah:

We saw a scorpion july 9, and Peyton held it in a cup.It was a a baby,but it still would put you in a world of pain.So Ken,my dad, smashed it with a rock! NOW MIA'S TURN TO TYPE: Hi Miss
Suzanne. Mia's done :) Hi mom!!! Hi Eli!!!

On our way...

Our mission team shortly before departing for the airport...

Front row L-R: Jonathan, Jeremiah, (and Memphis!) Wayne, Peyton, Mia, Sarah
Back row-Mike, Chad, Karen, Jamie, Melissa, Alan, Ken, Jenn

Mexico: Here we come!!

Hello out there!!

First off, we've been very bad bloggers :) We've been busily preparing for our trip and we are so excited that the time has finally arrived for us to go! We will be leaving tomorrow morning headed to Dulles. A special thank you goes out to Hyndman Ministry Center and Susan Mason at Nelson auto sales for blessing us with a 15 passenger cargo van and a trailer for our luggage!! We held a pancake breakfast fundraiser every Saturday in May which was a complete success. Not only did we raise funds, but we also spent a LOT of time together, working together and dealing with early morning grumps (Iwillnotmentionanynamesherethankyouverymuch) LOL. Also many thanks to the great congregation at Midlothian Trinity Assembly of God for allowing us to use their youth center for this project! It was great meeting many people in your church family. While we are speaking of thank yous...THANK YOU to everyone who has supported our team members with prayer, encouragement and monetary donations. We have been humbled by your support and are so blessed by your gifts.

We should arrive in Merida tomorrow evening and have been in contact with the YWAM staff that went down earlier to prepare for our arrival by all accounts they're ready for us!! We are looking forward to meeting them and serving alongside them for the next 10 days. We will be blogging as often as we are able. I'd also like to post photos as well. Anyway, we are looking forward to the next two weeks and are grateful to God for this awesome opportunity!!

Excited for what He has in store for us,

Jenn <3

"But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." ~Acts 6:4

Destination: Mexico!!!

Hello, all! Our team has been gearing up for our upcoming mission trip through prayer and meeting times together and have been blessed by watching God work! We've been humbled by the support we've received from our church family and the community as we've been preparing to bring the word of our Lord to the people of Merida, Mexico!

One of our focuses has been on fundraising for our trip. We recently sent out hundreds of support letters to friends and family...perhaps that's why you're reading this. :)

For our upcoming fundraiser we will be partnering with Chick-fil-a and selling gallons of tea!

Please check back for updates and to see how the Lord is working in our lives.

Here our some photos of one of our meetings together. This night was our mailing night!!

LETTERS, LETTERS, EVERYWHERE...(Kristen, Chad, Karen)


(Wayne)


(Karen & Jenn)


(Memphis, Angie, Jeremiah)


(Pastor Alan)


(Chad)


(Sarah)


(Mia)

"And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had." ~Luke 21:1-4

May God continue to bless you...

Jenn & Angie :)