Eclectic Waters

Archive for June, 2010

It’s hard to believe we’re back. The week went by quickly. Yesterday Sonia flew from Cabo directly to San Diego, while the rest of us had a layover in L.A. During our layover, we had an early dinner and spent some times reflecting on what stood out to us in our time in Cabo.

Cody talked about visiting Elsa’s land and seeing all the work that needed to be done. While the rest of us walked around the land and saw the possibility. He and Toby saw the amount of work needing to be done before building of any kind could begin. However these thoughts were balanced with the perspective of all God did during our time and knowing that if God wants us to build a pastor training center etc. on the land, He will make it possible.

Nolan described the smiles of the children after receiving new shoes, for some of them, perhaps the first pair of new shoes they have ever received. And also the joy they had while playing. Their joy touched his heart.

Kate talked about how Donna and Elsa are so different from each other, and yet, because of their common goals and desire to serve, they are united and are able to get past their differences and disagreements and are making a tremendous difference.

Daniel praised God for the way in which God continues to expand the vision of what we can do in Cabo. On this trip we found out about some medical needs of the area, and it is incredible to see God opening our eyes and opening opportunities for us to continue serving.

Toby spoke of the wonder of seeing our work from previous years progress. The church that we began last year is almost completed (it should be completed in three weeks) and it was incredible to participate in a service (Friday night) and to see the way in which God is using the church in the community.

Dee shared about the way in which God continues to break down the walls in her heart, allowing her to fall more and more in love with the people and keeping her heart soft, although it is often easier to put up walls to hold the many people and the overwhelming need at bay.

Grant reminded us of God’s wonders we had seen during the week. He supplied the marble for the church floor and led us to the right shoe store where we were able to purchase above and beyond the number of shoes we had hoped for.

Joy described her experience of our Tuesday night outreach at the kitchen and the peacefulness of it, as well as the wonderful smiles of the children and the joy of being able to spend time at the kitchen/church with the kids.

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On returning from Cabo it’s hard to describe the experience and all that God did there. I’m still processing a lot of what God did in my heart and hoping the many lessons learned stick in my heart and brain.

What began as a slow day of preparation and rest, ended in one of the busiest times of the week. We learned a lot through this evening of ministry.

We began loading the van we’ve been using this week and a truck with shoes, the bags we packed and tables on which to spread the clothes we were giving away. Driving the first load there, the truck broke down and had to be pushed to the church site. Thankfully it wasn’t too far away. We had everything there a little after six.

The congregation sang and then Pastor Solomon preached. After the singing the children filed out for Sunday school and it was at this time that we began measuring their feet to give them new shoes. The children kept coming and coming. The word about our supplies must have gotten out to the neighborhood. The need was overwhelming. We were reminded of what Elsa had said, how much easier it is to put walls up in one’s heart. I (Deanne) tried to keep my heart open and at many moments felt like crying, although I did not. We measured their feet, and then wrote their shoe size and name on a small post it note.

After the service, we had them line up (if you can call it a line) by the kitchen door and then gave them their shoes and had them walk through the kitchen and into the sanctuary. We had the stage lined with chairs and small basins of water. They sat down and then one of our team members or one of the ladies of the church washed their feet and put on their new shoes. Some of the kids smiled and laughed, some cried and it was an amazing experience to wash their feet and think about Christ and his humility. While He was God, I wonder if He ever felt overwhelmed by the need. I think about Him crying over Jerusalem, and while it was regarding her destruction, I wonder how much he weeps over those in need.

We had over 500 pairs of shoes. At the end we started running out of the right shoe sizes.
I kept reminding myself that we did what we could, but my heart wished we could do more.

We were in the van and driving to the beach at 5:50 a.m. Settling on our towels on the cool sand, we watched the waves crashing and Pastor Luis, the Pastor of the church that meets at the Christian school. As he spoke on “Trust in Me, I am Your Lord” the sun rose until it was resting on the waves and then up into the sky.

This year has been different from the past years in that the construction of the building has progressed to the point where we are limited on what we can help with because the work left to do requires different skill. We help where we can, and then wait until something else comes up that we can help with.

Kate Morales has been heading up the media side of our team, taking pictures and interviewing people. We hope to have videos and pictures up over the next months that will give you a greater glimpse of what God is doing in Cabo as well as the stories of the people heading up the various projects.

Daniel Garcia has been leading the team and we appreciate the way in which he is sensitive to God’s leading and his heart to serve.

Joy Garcia has been heading up our finances and is doing a fabulous day keeping the many receipts straight to make sure when we return we have everything in order.

Deanne Toews has been leading the team devotional times and trying to make sure everyone knows what we are doing (keeping everyone on the same page).

Thursday the majority of the team spent the day at the work site, and then Deanne stayed at the house with Donna to go shopping for supplies for the outreach for Friday, as well as beginning to make the bags of necessities to hand out. The rest of the girls (Sonia, Joy and Kate) came back after lunch to help.

After supper we formed an assembly line and finished packaging the bags with necessities. Donna opened the plastic bags. Daniel & Grant took the bags and walked them down the line. Cody put beans and spices in the bag. Nolan put sugar and a small bottle of oil in. Toby put flour and rice. Then Joy and Deanne opened a bag to double bag each one. Finally, Sonia and Kate tied them close. At the end we had fifty bags tied.

For our evening devotions we interviewed Donna and Elsa to hear their stories and learn from them. We will post the notes on this along with the notes from Pastor Lois a.m. service soon.

This morning we slept in (yay!), had breakfast and headed to Elsa’s land. She is praying over it and deciding whether or not it will be the land where a training center for pastors, short term missionary housing and youth camps will be built. We stood on a hill overlooking the land and prayed for God’s direction and that He would be glorified.

Then we all went to the work site where we again waited to help where we could. Kate and I pounded out bumps from the concrete stage to make sure it was flat for the tile that is arriving tomorrow. The church floor will be beautiful. Daniel & Elsa went to a store and a large amount of marble pieces were donated. Then we bought white marble at a very reasonable price. The middle aisle will be white marble and it will intersect perpendicularly to make a cross. When people go up front to pray, they will be kneeling by the cross.

A HUGE ANSWER to PRAYER happened today. We raised over $4,000 for shoes and had hoped to buy shoes here to distribute at the dedication service on Friday. Unfortunately, when we looked to buy shoes, we only found them for $30. Last night we discussed what to do. Do we save the money, buy shoes in the States where they are less, and then ship them to Cabo? Or do we buy the shoes here to have them for the service? We discussed, debated and prayed about it, finally deciding that Daniel would pray and make the final decision.

Today, as Daniel, Elsa and Joy went to a store to find out if they could ask for a substantial discount, they passed a store with a large sign and bright clearance stickers in the window. 40 % 50 % and 60 % off. They stopped, hopeful. Walking up to the display case and seeing the prices between $4 and $10 dollars, they began smiling and jumping! What an answer to prayer!

We were able to buy 519 pairs of shoes for an average of $7.90 per shoe. Praise God!

We smiled when we heard about why the discount was being offered. It is for Father’s Day. Elsa remarked, “It is like God our Father has given us this gift, and is giving this gift to the children in need of shoes.”

Please pray for me and the nine others going to serve in Cabo this week.

I will try to update our facebook page, if not this week, next week when we return with details and pictures of all we took part in.

Click here to see our facebook page.
We will be:

-joining in with a food program to a couple of poor areas

-helping finish the church we began building next year & participating in a dedication service

-buying over $4,000 worth of children’s shoes to distribute to the children in the barrios who have none

-possibly build a kitchen for an orphanage

-possibly break ground and begin building on land that will be dedicated to building a center for training pastor’s, hosting short term mission teams and holding sports camps for children & teenagers.