Day 9b: What I Will Miss About Monterrey (don't read into the order)

-All the people I love
-The spirit of their church
-Extended times with God every morning*
-Tacos
-Our magnificent casita
-Nights on the patio/courtyard
-The way Don Ismael talks to other cars when he drives
-The way Henry tells stories
-The way Savannah cared for the team
-The way Rachel kept us praying
-The way Rose kept us laughing and encouraged
-The way Eliana kept us on mission and served the church
-The way Alexis shared insights and encouraged sustainability
-The way it feels to be in Monterrey



*Why miss it? Just keep doing it, no?

Day 9a: Travel Update

Ok! So, I'm in my room now in Haven (the house I live in). We all got home safe and sound, and here's how it happened:

We got up early and packed and cleaned the house. Then, Don Ismael, Henry, and Adrian showed up (one at a time) to see us off. My theory is that they weren't ready to say goodbye yet, so we sat around the house and they talked to each other about where the best places in town are to buy meat. But, eventually, we did load up and said bye to Adrian y Henry, but Don Ismael drove us to the airport.

We got checked in and through security, sin problema, and got on our plane after some good conversations in the airport lobby. The flight was bumpy a few times, but I read a bit and napped a bit. We got through customs and I got an American stamp in my passport (that makes two - maybe at this rate, I can get it filled up with stamps before it expires in, like, 5 years. All MX, CR, and US). We raced on the escalator sidewalks. 

Basically, it was all really chill.

Until we left the airport. 

Then it was crazy. Our plan was for Lauren to pick 2 or 3 of us up at Terminal E, and the others to go to where my car was parked. But Terminal E was under construction, and at least 100 people were being funneled to be picked up through a 3-car-length section of sidewalk. That isn't exaggeration. Since it was so crowded, we decided to leave 3 of us there together (since Lauren was close), and, at the direction of the police officer directing human traffic, the other 3 walked along the road (no sidewalks and 100 people) to where the buses were parked to take people to other terminals where the shuttles picked up to take people to the parking lot where the cars were. 

So Alexis, Rachel, and I started walking, while Savannah, Rose, and Eliana kept waiting. We got to the bus and got on the second one. After a while, we got to Terminal C, where the shuttles were, and also where about 150 people were standing in a mobbish line waiting for the shuttles. We eventually got on a shuttle (the right one, too!) and got to my car. Whew. When we got on the shuttle, I checked in with Savannah, to see how far ahead of us they were. They had just gotten into Lauren's car because Terminal E was that bad. 

We had a good and uneventful drive home, though with some really great conversation. We arrived at the choffice around the same time, prayed together, and that was the end of the Mexico Trip.

Now we need to do some debrief and some other debrief and some more debrief (fortunately, i have a texted list of my next steps).

Thank you so much for all your prayer! It makes a difference when people pray!

Day 8 (Friday): Uncertainty Avoidance Index: shook

Today was the longest day yet. But very good.

I went running this morning! It was awesome, as long as you're willing to overlook things like pace and distance. Don Ismael had asked me to do a couple of things in the morning to the beans he left cooking at our house, so I got up early. After I ran, I had an extended time with God, which was quite lovely. I read about prayer in Luke. Key word: persistence. 

Last day of outreach means I felt very conflicted. It would be easy to phone it in, but I felt confident God had plans for us today, so I was very excited to get on campus. We left late and had bad traffic and some things had me caught in my head, so I felt kind of discouraged by the time we actually got to campus, but we got there right around the time we wanted to start doing outreach.

But we didn't expect Enrique. Enrique is a security guard for the parking lot at Mederos. Two days ago, he wasn't at the lot we parked at, but today he was. He waved me down as I was guiding the van as Don Isma was parking and asked me who it was that we had gotten permission from to be on campus. Don Ismael talked to him for a minute, and he walked off to get someone else. A lady came out and asked the same questions. We explained a bit of who we were and where we were from, with extra emphasis on it being our last day, and the other campus not minding, and that we were just there for a short time before lunch. She told me next time, we should email, for security reasons - and so that if there was a fun event, they could let us know! - but also for security reasons. But, welcome to campus and we have an open door! But let us know next time. 

Whew. 

So, Hugo was already there and was our only partner today, so we partnered up and went to do our thing. I felt led as Savannah and I were walking around to talk to a girl we saw, so in a Romans 1:16 spirit of boldness in the gospel, I walked up to her and totally chickened out. I told her we were visiting and wanted to talk to students and meet people and (maybe talk about spiritual stuff and) did she have time to talk? Then after a while, I got nervous and kinda ended the conversation and kinda ran away. Savannah was laughing at me a little, I think. So, that's how my last outreach conversation in Mexico went. 

I was talking with Rachel on the drive to lunch and we decided that at the end of something, it is easy to get caught up in unhealthily examining if you should have done better. I think for me, it comes from running track: if, at the end of cualquier race, I had any energy left, I knew I hadn't run the race as hard as I could have. So, therefore, I had failed myself in that race and missed an opportunity to grow by pushing myself to the end of myself. But I would do better next time. That's my real fear for life, honestly. If I come to the end and could have done more, could have run harder, could have served more, could have loved more deeply, could have shared the gospel more...will I have failed myself? Will I have failed God? Will he still be proud of me? Will he still love me?

So, for this trip, it's easy to do the same. Rachel and I decided that this type of examination didn't come from a place of genuine openness to God's refinement, but rather from a place of self-sufficiency and that it wasn't healthy. Mas que nada, I feel like it's unhealthy because it doesn't feel the way God's conviction feels. When God disciplines or convicts me, it feels so tender and so hope-filled and so loving. But this feels negative and like a pull towards despair and generally icky, so not from God. 

We got lunch at a gordita restaurant. If, when I say gordita, you think of a gordita from Taco Bell, you have my pity (though, tbh, I do like those). Gorditas aqui are very different but very good. 

But, this gordita place was out of gorditas (basically), so we went to a Carl's Jr. next door. Lunch was playful and fun. We grabbed an extra burger (but of chicken) for our missing companera (very few days have been a full squad for us), and went home. We chilled for about 2011 seconds (A-Whoop?), and then went to get out COVID tests.

With traveling and some COVID exposures, I've done a few tests, so I felt pretty good about the whole process. You know, give them info, wait a bit, go into the room --
WAIT, THERE'S A HOLE IN THAT PART OF MY NOSE TOO? It was weird, amigos, they didn't stab me in my brain up the nose, they went horizontal. Like above my pallet. I think they may have flossed one of my teeth on accident. It was weird. 

"Thanks Sam, pictures of people's noses is the reason we love to read your blog."

Well, that's a weird reason, but I'm glad you're here.

Anyway, tests completed, we had plenty of time to head back to the house, get Hugo, get ready, and go to the end-of-week-party at the church that we invited all our new friends to. 

Oh, but then the keys to our van had gotten locked inside the van. Overall, it was a remarkably positive experience. Honestly, the best part of the day up to that point. You see, the thing about me is (i know that things about me are really interesting to y'all) that I like it when things go sideways, as long as they 1. aren't my fault, 2. aren't my responsibility, and 3. don't prevent me from keeping promises to other people. So, this was perfect for me. Not for everyone though; I think it was initially very hard on the homie who did it. 

Savannah did something very insightful. Rather than have our team hang out and watch as we tried to fix the problem (we didn't) while it was still a fresh feeling of failure to our homie, she took everyone into the store and they got snacks (and a coke for me! i felt very loved). This allowed some time and distance to let the frustration and sense of failure drain out, and for the emphasis to fully shift to problem-solving. 

Henry came to help us and the three men tried the same few things about 28 times (push the button with the wire, grab the handle with the wire, etc), with varying levels of closeness to success. Every now and then, one or another of the women on the team would suggest a slightly different (and much better) approach, and, after 2-3 more tries, we would switch to her approach and get far closer to success. But, no dice. Then, a lady who we didn't know, parked her (3-4 y/o?) daughter with our girls, brought over a shopping cart, told us to hold it, climbed on top of it, and got us closer than we had been up to that point. What a power mom. What a baller. After a while, her bus came and she had to go. 

We kept doing our thing in different versions, but then Henry had to leave because it was almost time for the party to start and no one was at the church to unlock it. He took two gringas with him. After a little while, we called a professional and, while we waited, Alexis asked if she could give it a try. Then she - very expertly - adjusted the folded wire we were using, moved the screwdrivers closer to the handle, and started fishing for the handle. I am 99% convinced she would have had it within the next 5 minutes, but right then, the guy we called showed up with his tools and had the door open inside of 2 minutes. Alexis claims she hasn't done this kind of stuff before, but I have some lingering doubts.

We went to the house and got the beans and the meat and the supplies and the Hugo and we drove to the church. I sat on the floor with the beans, so they wouldn't spill. They were hot, but I rather enjoyed the drive. We got to the church about 45 minutes after the party started, so we were right on time.

It was a really, really good party, amigos. I got to have some really good conversations - some with students, some with old friends, some with new friends. We partied for a good four hours; lots of talking. We had two new people come and our universitarios did a pretty solid job of connecting with them. After a lot of eating and a lot of talking, someone broke the social surface tension and people started leaving. So we cleaned up and then loaded everything up, and then talked more. We all told each other how much we admire, love, respect each other's churches and are excited for and praying for each other. Then we loaded people into cars and talked some more. 

Then we drove home and did some stuff and I checked in for our flights and did the wordle and this blog. Tomorrow I'll post a summary of our travel day and a list of the things I'll miss most about Monterrey. 

PRAYER

-for us to keep in step with the Spirit as we head home and go back to life
-for the universitarios here to keep doing outreach and follow-up
-for the people we met to see the love of Christ in the people of this church
-for safe travels and good debriefing for our team
-for wisdom and discernment for Savannah and I
-for the future

Day 7: A Prayer*

*(a different blog style, not the controversial worship song)

Today was our last day at the Uni CU (Ciudad Universitaria (the giant main campus we've been on)).

We started pretty normally today. We've been more and more tired each morning (obviously), but we got up! I read in Luke today. 7:30 is an interesting verse. Kinda scary in a way. Can we do that? Looks like it. Lord, let that not be our life story.

You know, today was good:

We went on campus, we talked to some people.

We talked about how to engage with culture as believers with Hugo (hopefully helpful)

We went to a futbol game (the Tigres women's team). We had a new person come! Ramiro came to the game! (thank you for praying!) Also, I don't think anyone was sick today!

We thought about how it was interesting that in a church where there aren't a lot of strong up-front women leaders, we came with team of powerful women of God, and we came during a week of on-campus protests for women's rights to be respected.

We had some excellent tacos tonight after the game and it seemed like a really sweet time for Ale. 

Spark notes version because I think I mostly want to use tonight for some prayering blogification. I haven't done this before, maybe it'll be weird, maybe it'll be cool. I'll throw in pictures and prayer requests at the bottom. Feel free to skip it, it's mostly for me.


Father, 
I feel incredibly grateful today. You know and you see my heart, but there's something good about writing it out anyway. Thank you for a chill day today; for easy conversations and good weather and for letting us see some fruit. Thank you so, so much for putting it on Ramiro's heart to come to the futbol game tonight and thank you that it was Roberto that did the follow-up and Hugo that connected best with him. Thank you that Eliana and Hugo and Alexis got to spend some time having a second meeting with the girl they met the other day. Thank you for making tonight so sweet for Ale and letting her and Quintin really shine.

God, it's been really cool getting to be a part of this team. It feels weird to feel so much confidence that I am here almost more as a structure piece than to do the actual ministry we're doing here. Please continue to give my team the same willingness to step back and gently urge the students here forward. Thank you for the strength of these women and thank you for teaching me to see a different kind of strength than I'm used to seeing. I feel very humbled, but joyously so. I feel so blessed to be a part of this team and to have the opportunity to create space for them to really flourish - which, although they seem so tired, I really believe they are. I won't write out my prayers for them, but you see them God, please bless these women in their various stages of life. Let them be aware of your nearness to them, be their strength, speak your truth to them, let them walk in freedom and confidence, and call them to lives of deep significance (a.k.a. deep relationship with you).

Please bless the students here. I really like Roberto; he feels like a leader with his gentleness, steadiness and depth. Please draw him forward and create space in his life for him to serve his peers. Cristian feels like he came from FC; please give him confidence in the deep faith you've grown in him, help him to be filled with boldness by your Spirit. My heart really goes out to Ale; she isn't the only college woman in this church, but we haven't seen the other one! Please, please provide sisters in Christ for her to walk in community with. Grow her as a God-fearing woman of influence in this church. Hugo has a lot of zeal and gifting; please grow and refine him in them and show him that you are the only thing worth living for. Quintin has so much potential, Jesus; please show him that relationship with you is what matters and show him that you have a plan for him. I don't know Diana, I think she's Roberto's sister, but will you call her to more and deeper things in you. Form good friendship between her and Ale, if it's not there already. 

God, I really, really feel like you're laying a groundwork here for something big. This little team of universitarios has so much potential. I don't know what you're going to do in them, with new leadership and new follow-ups and a soon-coming batch of high-school students that are already in the church, but it seems like you're stirring a rebirth of the college ministry here. Please do so, God. Henry and many others here have worked so long and against the tide; will you change the tide and bring a new season into this church. I know they don't do the whole sign gifts thing, but will you pour out your Spirit in abundance on them in ways that challenge, bless, and grow them, but in ways that are healthy and good for their church? Please stir in them and call them into deeper waters with you.

God, for Maricelo, Ramiro, Eliseo, Lucy, Estefani, the other Estefani, su hermana, Daniela, Alejandro, la otra chava, Marcos, and everyone I didn't meet or don't remember: will you bless them, be on their minds, don't let them find comfort in anything but you, give them dreams of you, draw them into yourself. For the ones GranCo has contact info for, help them to be followed-up well, and follow-up by your Spirit with the ones that aren't. For the ones who only met gringos, bring them to the party tomorrow. For the ones that we got nothing; thank you that you're bigger than us or the church here, please keep chasing their hearts.

Thank you for what you've done and what you will do.

I love you.

from Mederos yesterday

our team today

team with (L to R) Roberto, Don Ismael, Hugo

PRAYER (in case my prayer above wasn't concise)
-for us to dependently walk in step with the Spirit
-for more of our new friends to come tomorrow (friday) night
-for our church friends to do connection and follow-up well
-for God to lead us to anyone he has left for us to meet in our last day at Mederos
-for energy for my team
-for negative COVID tests tomorrow afternoon so we can come home :D

Day 6: It Was Actually My Blood.

or: I have not been Identity Stolen-ed
or: Another Good Day
or: We Didn't See Any Bears
or: Just Left of Center

It's been brought to my attention that I had a lot of typos yesterday. I almost just went in and fixed them all, but it seemed better to me to leave that for history. I stopped counting at 7 typos. 

I am fine. Don't worry, I haven't been kidnapped, it's not a secret cry for help, there's no hidden message in the typos. I think I'm really tired. I think I'm really language tired. Here's a photo of me (with a date-stamp) from this morning to prove I am alive and well.

There's a Gringo* joke in there somewhere

Heck, beyond just not being identity-thefted, I actually feel really good. I feel excited and happy and positively overwhelmed and really cared-for (yes, and sad and afraid, but they're not very keen today).

If I was going to describe how I felt for most of today, I would use the following 1,000 words:

See how I did that? Let's be honest, I may still use 1,000 words to describe how I feel. Today, in everything I did, I felt like I was just to the left of center. Does that make sense? A great quote that I think about often is: "An ill fate is on me this day, and all that I do goes amiss!" I literally woke up today feeling off-kilter. It expressed itself in a lot of small things: I tried to sample a snowcone and dropped the stuff on the way to my mouth three times before I was successful. I ran into like, three people, just normally walking or doing stuff. I just fell over a few times today. I think three separate times I tried to take my cubreboca off and it pulled my glasses with it or got stuck on my ear or whatever. I dropped my (new) glasses and they got all bent up and I had to put them back right.
I don't feel tired. Like, at all, but I had a billion typos last night and I can't even function today.

Ok, 150 words is less than 1,000, but I did stop early. Anyway. Let's start actually talking about what we did today. 

So, I woke up, got a shower (because our water comes back in the mornings), and spent time with God.
I read some in Luke, had a brief crisis of understanding about the wine/wineskins thing (which we got over with some help from the team), read some in Proverbs (instead of two wolves inside of you, he talks about two women calling out: Folly and Wisdom), and read some in 1 Corinthians (in 12, he says we have been given the Holy Spirit to drink. Idk what that means, but I like it. I welcome your thoughts). I'm kinda all over the place in the Bible right now. 

I had some breakfast (a p p l e) and fidgeted around, waiting for us to be ready to go. I've been singing a lot here in Mexico. Last time I sang this much was LT 09. Idk why I sing or what motivates me to it. 

So, spelling matters. Not just because I'm making a million typos. I have been talking a lot about how we're going to go to the Maderos campus. However, today we went to the Mederos campus. That'd normally be a small thing, but, you see, there is also a Maderos campus. Whoever names these campuses....we have beef. 

Mederos is the liberal arts branch of UANL, basically. A bunch of different departments with art in the name, also communications (what, what). And bears. It's up at the feet of the mountains and bears come onto their campus. But we didn't see one. 

"bro, I'm only reading this because of the blood thing and to get prayer requests, can we move along?"

Yes. Ok. So, we paired up for outreach, I went with Rachel and then Rachel and Cristian (when he arrived). Our conversations were very friendly and good, but nobody was interested to talk about spiritual stuff with us today. One of the other groups had more success, but mostly we encountered the same thing.

We went off campus for lunch, because I think the food place there was closed. We had Pollo Loco. It was good. Don Ismael told us a lot of things about chickens. 

We went back to the house and my gringas went to rest. Hugo and I had a really good conversation about testimonies and their power and importance in outreach. We talked about how every person's story is multi-faceted and different themes can be a blessing to different people at different times, but all of them give God glory. I shared a few of my themes with him (self-righteousness, self-hatred, feeling unworthy of love, bad experiences with religion, etc.) and how I might share differently, depending on who I was sharing with, but it's all my story. We also talked about how God is actually the main character of every person's life story; we're strangely not the protagonists of our lives. We ended with me challenging him to think about and list out some of his own themes so he can share his story with people. 

We loaded up in the van and went back to Mederos to play basketball. We had been inviting all of our follow-ups, so we were excited to get to connect them with the church. 

It was early when we arrived, so we hung out with Hugo (oh, I also told him he was an honorary team member by now and I gave him my Texas patch (his backpack matches mine (homie has big corps vibes))). We played ninja, and, though it was his first time, he nearly won. I did not nearly win. 

In a microcosmic expression of our trip up to this point: we were told the field we had been told we could use was taken, the pump for the basketball did not work, and none of our invitees came. AND everything turned out perfectly! It's that "and" that's very important. 

We did get the court, Henry got the ball inflated, and two people we hadn't met yet came to join us. Maricelo and Ramiro both drifted our way and got pulled into hanging out with us. We'll see if they stick, but God really provided. I really think Maricelo will come. Ramiro may have just stuck around to flirt, but it was Roberto who actually swapped contact info with him. Also, Annie, la esosa de Henry, is a stone cold killer when it comes to basketball. She was draining shots like crazy.

We got to meet Roberto! He's been hard to pin down, but he came today. I like him. I hope he comes and partners with us more.

Oh, yeah, I fell down playing basketball and scraped my knee, but didn't know. It was gross, like a piece of my knee came off. But it doesn't hurt and it was fine, like, I legitimately was confused about it, but it was actually my blood.

We went to dinner, there was lots of good bonding and lots of good tacos. Henry had trompo con pineapple. It looked really good. Idk what mine was. also good. 

Ok, here's the thing though. Strawberries are good on tacos. I don't care if you think it's weird. It's true. So, judge me all you want, but I'm going public with this: I like putting strawberries on tacos. 

We knew our water pressure would drop at 10 PM, so we decided it was best to have our team meeting on the way home, so we'd have time for everyone to shower. We got home around 9:59, so there was just a long wait for a low pressure shower downstairs. 

I felt individually directly blessed and challenged by each member of our team today. God is really blessing us with a good rhythm and helping us find our stride. I thought about making a list, but I'm sleepy. 

*most people will tell you that gringo comes from "green, go!" The story is that this was directed at Americans in the mid 1800s, but most linguists will tell you it can be traced back much further and comes from the word "griego," which means Greek. So, there's your fun fact for today. 

"Thanks, Sam. Your etymological factoids are what keep me coming back to this blog."

Well, obviously. 

I will do a picture post with other people's pictures once I get them. I hope there are no typos. I literally typed a typo in the last sentence the first time through.

PRAIR PLEES                          

-for us to...you guessed it...walk in step with the Spirit tomorrow

-for our partner universitarios (Cristian, Hugo, Ale, Qunitin, Roberto)
-for our new friends to come hang out with us more and connect well to the church
-for more gospel conversations
-for our team to not be sick (literally 1(or more)/day since we started)
-for strength, focus, energy, willingness for us to finish strong

Day 5: Don't Stop Praying!

...because it's really working y'all.

Today went really well.

Our water came back! But it's gone now. I guess I forgot to mention that detail anoche. Last night our water stopped working adn we didn't know why. Awko taco. Turns out, the city of Monterrey didn't get a lot of rain when it was supposed to, so they are having "dry-outs," where they decrese the water supply to certain areas at certain times. Ours is after 10 PM. So, basically around the time we get one and try to take showers. 

Anyway. I woke up and took a shower, spent time with God, got ready, and then Eliana and I made breakfast for our team. We've been doing a DIY type of breakfast, but we had some leftover barbacoa, so we made eggs and everyone had breakfast tacos.

We had a morning time together, which have been very sweet and powerful, y'all. Almost always tears. Always good Words from the Lord, good insight from our quiet times. Everyone seemed more cheerful today, more encouraged. 

Don Ismael showed up and brought us trash bags (which I had requested). Very big ones. I thought, "I'll have to ask for small ones." We put them in what felt like the most logical place for big trash bags. And there it was: a roll of small trash bags. *sigh* Thanks Jesus, sorry Ismael. 

Fuimos al campus de Uni, and waitied for our universitarios to join us. We decided to save our training/discussion time until after lunch, since they aren't able to get there as early as we thought. While we waited, the team played cards and Savannah watched them with proud-mom face. I paced around, wanting to do something. 

Some unsuspecting homie came and stood in our general vicinity, so I started charlando with him. We talked for like 30 minutes, which was dope. During our chat, Cristian y Hugo llegaron, and once they arrived, we paired them up with our team and sent out team out to get started. Savannah and I stayed and talked with Marco and then walked around. 

Our attempt to talk to a student missed, so she and I mostly just talked. I've always had a lot of respect for her, but after that conversation, I have a ton of respect for her. I feel really excited and encouraged by how she and her husband Jehu do marriage and life and ministry and stuff. I'm excited to see what the future has for them. 

Our team joined back up and got lunch. It seems like we had a couple of really good connections and conversations!

I've felt a weird push this week that my role is to create space and let the team fill it. I so want to DO the ministry, but right now, I think the ministry is layered. I'm creating space for the team. The team is creating space for our universitario partners. They're the primary ministry-doers. Which is exactly what's needed here. We're a spark, a push, a wingman. Ours is the joy of the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29-30).

After lunch, Cristian se fue, and since he left, we came back home with Hugo and did our conversation there. It was really powerful. Alexis and Rachel shared some thoughts on our devotion to God. This seemed like it was a whole paradigm shift for Hugo. It was a good reminder to all of us (especially me (I am Martha)), but it was new to him. Ale joined us near the end, just in time for us to pray. Our prayer time was heavy with the presence of the Spirit. If you don't know what I mean by that, I pray you get to experience it in prayer or worship soon. It was powerful, there were some tears. 

We texted all of our friends from the week to invite them over, and then played a card game I learned in Costa Rica, but forgot about, but Alexis didn't. Then most of our team took a nap, and Ale worked on some design work. 

Hugo and I sat and flipped a water bottle back and forth for at least 30 minutes. We flipped it. We flipped it onto my head (not successful). We flipped it into each other's extended hands. We flipped it into Rose's shoes that were under the table. We flipped it using Rose's shoes. And now we are fast friends. He seems super comfortable around me now. Playing catch in silence with a water bottle. I thought for a second I was back in Costa Rica. I'm excited for his growth!

Our team woke up, we talked and hung out a bit, we went to get salads because the diet of meat, carbs, and sugar is not agreeing with everyone. It's just a normal Tuesday night for Shia LeBeouf though (I would link a video to explain that, but I think it would just be more confusing. Oh well, I did anyway).

Ale y Quintin y Hugo came to dinner with us. It. was. awesome. Much good bonding. Many good conversations. Henry and I took a lap or two around the mall and had a great conversation about the team and how he feels about what we've been doing (short version: he is incredibly excited. there was much mutual encouragement given. we're bros.), and some hopes for longer-term connections. 

We came home, we got remotes to turn on the A/C in our casita, shared how we were doing, did some ministry-team style listening and prayer, did some big Holy Spirit praying for healing. Have I mentioned I love this team? Now, everyone is getting ready for bed, and the water's back out. 

Pictures and Prayer, then I'ma jump on the Wordle :D

We have pictures, I promise. I just don't have them. We'll do a foto dump afterwards.

PLZ PRAYRZ

-for us to keep in step with the Spirit
-for continued encouragement
-for our new friends to COME TO SOMETHING

-for our universitarios to be blessed, challenged, and grown by the Holy Spirit

-for us to be free to operate in our roles as God leads

-for our team to be bold

Day 4: (Monday) - I Didn't Ruin Everything Today

Y'all. I am sleeping really well here. My bed is the perfect amount of firmness, and my back really likes it. I'm using a pillow, which is confusing, but not unpleasant. 

Woke up, felt good, read some Romans. Prayed a bit. Sat outside and sang a bit. Had a couple of teammates come join me on our patio, which was nice :)

After some breakfast (banana this time), we had a team meeting and got ready for the day. Our team does a great job of sharing deeply and vulnerably in our times and praying together. I wonder how much of that is the fact that it's primarily made up of powerful Jesus-loving women, without any their-aged guys to make it feel some kinda way (if you're reading this and you're a woman and you go to FC, sign up for Women's Retreat fr though). 

Anyway. We went to the UNI campus today. We arrived and waited for our universitarios from GranCo to join us so we could do a miniature heart/paradigm sort of training/conversation I had planned. They didn't come for a while, so we paired up and got started.  

Rose and I walked around and saw a girl who looked unbusy and so we decided to talk to her. ...but she was inside a fence. So, we walked to where there was a sidewalk that crossed where the fence line went. ...but it was fenced, too. So, we followed the fence line and then walked around a building to get to the other side. ...but that was also fenced off. Who was this young women, and why was she so casually protected? (it was a very short fence, but it felt rude to step over it) So, we walked until we found a break in the fence. Oh! it was a COVID fence! We had to temperature check and get hand sanitizer before we could enter the department's area for its students. So, we got hand sanitizer and scanned our temp (36°, suckers). ...but then a guard appeared out of nowhere and asked us (en Spanish) what department we were from. I explained who we were, and he said "wait here." (again, in espanol). 

Nervous. Were we in trouble? Is this where I get us banned from campus. We've been asked not to come to certain campuses before. Oh good, first day. So much plan changing (this is Uncertainty Avoidance, for those following on Hofstede). Blech.

A lady came out from the office; very professional, very no-nonsense. Then she smiled at us and offered to tell us more about their department and give us a mini-tour and maybe connect us to students. 

Oh good, I Didn't Ruin Everything Today. (roll credits).

Oh yeah! Cool thing, before we paired up and went out: when we got to campus, we noticed that there were a lot of signs and graffiti and tents set up in their front plaza area. As we got closer, we saw that the signs were all very well made and taped in nice rows to the giant torch statue (la flama) in the front of the university. Also, the areas that had been graffitied had been wrapped in seran wrap first, so that nothing would be damaged. Wow, what a thoughtful, well-organized, yet powerful protest. We looked at the signs and the protest was the women on campus protesting against sexism, sexual abuse and harassment, and general badness directed towards them.

Moving forward, during our mini-tour, Rose and I found out that Cristian y Hugo had arrived. So, we bailed and went to find them. Rose and Cristian paired up and I went with Hugo. He and I had a pretty chill conversation with a guy from a different campus, who was studying to be a nurse. He bit on 0% of the subtle things I put out, and when Hugo straight-up asked him, "so, do you want to learn about the truth of God?," he let us know he wasn't interested. I loved the boldness though.

Got lunch, tried to sit on the ground on the civil engineering side of the outdoor lunch seating area and were told we couldn't. When I told Rose, we decided that wasn't very civil of them. We all split up and ate at different tables inside. I sat with Cristian y Hugo, and picked up about 15% of the conversation. Whew, it was moving fast. We talked about guns in Texas for a minute, then I think it was mostly school stuff for them. But it was cool that we got to just chill in the same space.

A couple of other pairings had really good conversations! "I've been looking for a church to join and so has my boyfriend. I used to go to church, but have questions about a relationship with Jesus." wut. Praise Jesus.

We had a couple of people who we thought might be coming to our casita that afternoon to hang out, so we went home to rest a little and prepare the house in case they did. They didn't, so we hung out for a little while with Henry y Hugo, then we went back to campus and did more outreach that evening.

Our pairs in the evening had some good conversations with some strong Catholic students. One of our teams had people immediately redirect them to ask for their thoughts about Mary. I wonder if, for these students, this is the same thing as students at A&M asking about evolution or homosexuality. I think when we try to get access to deep spiritual things, or it gets too personal, people can try to move the conversation into a topic that is more of a theological/philosophical/whatever debate in order to distract from their heart. When that happens, I think it's good to briefly address the topic, but move back into the realm of the heart. It makes me think of John 4:16-24.

Hugo y yo had a great conversation with a Catholic guy who seemed very aware of the gospel, and was very open to talking. It was a whole mood though. A little ways into the conversation, he busted out his cigarettes and passed them around (our group grew a little while we were there). So we sat and smoked cigarettes and talked about the gospel and how God wants our hearts, not just our behavior (not "we smoked," (@mom) but you follow the mood i'm expressing, yea?).

Did you know that in Spanish you wouldn't say "no problema," but instead you would say "sin problema?" I learned that. 

I think Monterrey is like Pittsburgh. It makes a lot of steel and very tangible things that are part of the foundation for Mexico's economy. DF, for example is mostly computers and politics. So, Monterrey: steels / DF: steals. 

"Thanks Sam, your comparisons between the cultures of cities in Mexico is why we read your blog."

I thought as much.

We came home. Ale joined us (!) and Henry ordered us pizza and we hung out and talked. While, waiting for the pizza, all the women went into one room to play a game and encourage one another and all the men sat in the other room and talked about how toilets were made out of clay with plaster molds made from wooden molds. We also talked about the Bible. Again, it was a whole mood.

We ate pizza, we talked more. The hermanos left and our team debriefed the day and prayed together. I think we're feeling a little discouraged right now about our outreach. I also think that may be (at least in part) my fault (stronger word maybe than I mean) as a leader in the expectation I've inadvertently set. Our outreach and conversations are really, really encouraging to me. We're doing exactly what I'd hoped, but I think maybe our expectations for ourselves as a team are higher than they maybe need to be? Though the language barrier is more intense this year than I've ever seen before, and that can also be discouraging. 

After our prayer time, I did get to have a couple of very good and encouraging conversations, and even saw some stars from our patio. In the middle of the city. Who knew? 

Ok, pictures and prayers. I don't have any pictures right now, so it'll be an animal I imagine. Also, I think we're back to left-aligned prayers today:

So. Cute. Look at the little ears and nose and shell!

PRAYER POR FAVOR!
-for us to walk in step with the Spirit!
-for us to have God's perspective on the work we're doing
-for God to connect us to people who are hungry for him!
-for protection from being sick and stuff
-for more universitarios de GranCo to do outreach with us
-for the students we are partnering with (Cristian, Ale, Quintin, Roberto, Diana, Hugo)
-for schedules to line up with the people we met today (Monday)

Day 3: Bonding with the Church (part 2) and a brief tangent on POWER

Ok, what happened today? I'm writing this while 3 of my team are being friends with each other, which makes me really happy. They're getting along so well with each other!

Before today started, I got to sit on our patio and just worship. I've found a little spot where, if I sit on a little ledge, the sun hits me and I feel like a cat. So I just sat and sang while the world woke up. It was lovely.

Today started with deliciousness. Ismael showed up with to our casita with tortillas, cebolla, cilantro, salsa, y barbacoa. He made us breakfast! It was really kind of him. Why was tortillas the only word I said in English? Idk. 

After breakfast, we went to the church building and helped them set stuff up. It was really chill since the building is theirs (weird). After setting up, I got soundly defeated in a game of Pokémon by Derek (you met him yesterday, remember). Then everyone started showing up for church and it was non-stop reunion. It was low-key overwhelming, but in a really good way.

Bueno. So, obviously, as fans of all my work, you've read everything I've ever written. That means you remember you Sophia-con-p-h is. I didn't recognize her, y'all. I legit almost teared up a little. I don't really know a thing about their family anymore, but I feel really proud of her and miss this family.

Church was fun. Worship is always upbeat and so skillfully done, Sergio is a good speaker, everyone is super friendly. The only awkward part was when he had me stand up and talked about me for a hot minute, but then it was ok, because he had our whole team stand up and talked about us. I really noticed the Power Distance difference in Mexican culture today.

Hofstede's cultural metrics or dimensions or whatever? Power Distance is how much distance or difference or inequality exists between people with authority and people without. That power can come from age, rank, skill set, w/e. It's not  r e a l l y  about respecting authority, but it often seems or feels that way. America is super low; so I joke around with my bosses and call people older than me by their first name and (politely) question decisions made by authority... and that's culturally accepted. Pero aqui, there's a much higher Power Distance, so roles and age are much more important.

"Thanks for the mini-lecture, Sam. Learning about culture dynamics is exactly why we read your blog."

I thought as much. 

After/at church, we met Ale(jandra), and Cristian (who already knew me, I think). They are students in the church here, and will be helping us in our times on campus. We went to the casita to drop off one of ours who wasn't feeling well, and then headed towards the town of Santiago. Cristian, Ale, and Quintin (Ale's bf) joined us in the van and we drove. It was a longish drive, so we had great opportunity to connect with these students. This will allow us to be more comfortable working together this week, and make it easier to do some sideways discipleship while we do. 

On the drive, Eliana and I tag-teamed Cristian and talked about why we love serving Jesus, and some of the joys and difficulties of discipleship, etc. It was good teamwork; when I couldn't figure out how to ask what I wanted to ask (in English or Spanish, lol), Eliana was already asking it. I got to press into some topics, and she did a great job of giving a useful (a.k.a. student) perspective on them. 

Everyone on the team did a great job of bonding with the students today. I was really proud. I got to have some good conversation with Quintin, who is a newer believer, but has great insight and excitement for his faith. When he found out my age, he was a bit taken aback and seemed unsure how to interact with me for a little while. He called me "dude," and then apologized if it was disrespectful (Power Distance). But, by the end, he seemed mostly convinced that it wasn't weird to talk to me. 

We ate together and walked around a giant market area together. Henry carefully arranged our team so we wouldn't lose any gringas, which I am very much in support of. We walked around and everyone did a good job of conencting with the universitarios; I even had time to have a really encouraging side conversation with Rachel as we footed around. I think we all feel a little out of place here, but, like she said: "God doesn't call competent, equipped people; he works powerfully through the broken people he calls." I also got to talk a little with Qintin and then Ale about my desire to use my life for ministry, and why engagement with other peoples and cultures matters to me.

By the time we left, it was getting dark, and everyone seemed very tired (I didn't even have any soda today, so yay me). Henry y Annie took the students home and the gringitos all loaded into the van. We were all pretty quiet, but I got to talk a little bit with Alexis about great commissiony stuff before we all settled into silence, so I'm glad the team got to hear a little mobilization on the way home.

We got home, Henry swung by and we talked about the plan for tomorrow. Now everyone is in some stage of going to bed and I have the downstairs to myself. 

Tomorrow it gets really real, and we've seen some spiritual warfare, y'all. At different times, 4 of the 6 of us have felt incredibly overwhelmed, physically sick, and deeply insecure. And that's just that I know about. 

When I see this kind of spiritual warfare, I have to ask: What is God about to do? Why are we getting such opposition? Could it be that we'll actually see the Spirit-sparked restart of the student ministry here that has been prayed for? Could it be that God actually wants to move in power and that years from now, long-time members of this church will be talking about this week and how they got connected? Lord, let it be so.

PRAYER PLEASE!                   

-for us to walk in step with the Spirit on campus tomorrow

-for God to bring us to the ripe fruit; the hearts he has prepared

-for the students we are partnering with (Cristian, Ale, Quintin, Roberto, Diana, Hugo)
-for us to walk in freedom, not obligation or projected expectations

-for our team to respond well to the challenges God is allowing us to face

-for protection

Eliana, Rachel, Rose, Alexis, and Ale being cute

Ismael and I also being cute

Day 2: Completing the Team, Bonding with the Church (part 1)

Today:*

We had a pretty chill start to the day. DIY breakfast with our supplies from yesterday. Some people made oatmeal or granola, Ismael came by and made an amazing smoothie (milk, strawberry, banana, cinnamon coffee creamer). I made myself an apple!

The team just chose to have extended times with God. I didn't say anything, they just went for it. What rockstars. Again, very proud of them. 

Around 11, Ismael took us to the airport to get Alexis. The airport's a ways away, and traffic was slow, but we got there in good time and picked up Alexis without issue. There are so many keys in the world, you know? It feels good to have everyone here. Team matters to me more than I admit (to all the people on a team with me: I value you, I don't work as well without you, I need your voice and influence in my life, God works mightily through you), so having ours incomplete felt off, but it's better now. 

Having our full, united, complete team, we did the best thing you can do with a completed team: we got lunch. We got lunch at El Buey. We got tacos de trompo at El Buey. It was, in fact, everything I hoped for.

Being back in Monterrey is a weird feeling. It really does feel like home, but like home when you don't live there anymore. It's how I feel when I drive on 183 in Austin. Comforting, familiar, nostalgic, and a little bit sad I think that it's not mine anymore. Not sad because I want it to be mine, just a sadness of a healthy loss.

After lunch, we went to the Fundidora park to walk around, bike around, hang out, and - if the opportunity arose - hang out with any groups of college students that were playing in the park together. So, this park is huge, by the way. It's like TAMU campus big (but like, just central campus, don't get crazy). Our group split into a bike group and a walk group and... well... biked and walked around. 

I was #teambike. The bikes were Veoride-style cruisers with back-pedal brakes, so that was fun. We cruised around and enjoyed the lovely (if chilly) weather. The only college-aged people we saw were all couples making out in different shaded areas of the parks, so we didn't join them (not that kind of trip, you know). We saw a group of high schoolers kicking around a soccer ball, but it looked like some kind of organization, and we were primarily looking for college homies, so. 

We returned our bikes and saw the walking team. They had found... Javier and Aimee and Derek! So, that was exciting. I've missed everyone here a lot, and the more I see, the more I remember how much I've missed them. It's encouraging, reminds me I do love people and miss them (even if I don't pay attention to how much).

Ooh, there's a train driving by right now. I wonder if part of why our Airbnb (have I mentioned how perfect it is?) was such a good price is because it's right beside a train track. That, for me, is a comforting thing. Train sounds are soothing. This is a good thing, because I've lived very near tracks for the last 15 years (College Station).

From the parque, fuimos a la casa and just hung out for a while. I got overwhelmed with the amount of Spanish and Adult that was happening, so Derek (7? 8?) and I went into the little courtyard we have and threw around a tennis ball in Spanish. Imagino que having kids is tiring (that's what parents say), but playing with kids is just less tiring than playing with adults. Especially when there's a language barrier and you don't really know them, kids are content to just receive attention at the other end of a tennis ball. It was refreshing. Derek earned his yellow belt in taekwondo today. When I told him I had a friend who used to teach TKD, he was very impressed.

So, sometimes you can look at a situation and know a bad thing is going to happen to you because of who you are and how the circumstance is. Do you know what I mean? Like, if I walk into a house with cats, I know I will play with the cat and the cat will poison me with its secretoglobulins and I will feel itchy for the next day. Or, if a recovering alcoholic comes to a party and everyone's drinking, they should probably not stay. That was me with the floors in our house. Yesterday, when we walked into the house, I announced to my team that I would, at some point during the week, slip and fall on our smooth marbley floors. 

Anyway, unrelated, I threw a ball around with Derek in the courtard/patio area. The ball bounced really well off of the walls and the nice, smooth, marbley floors. 

A few of us walked over to the playground/park area beside our Airbnb and threw around a frisbee while Derek played with other kids on the playground. Javier and Eliana are good at frisbee, we all had fun though.

We got dinner (trompo negro is apparently a thing. it's a very good thing) and had a team meeting to pray (I think I will try to end each day like that, thanks Rachel!) and to talk about The Plan, which I will now clue you in on as well:

Friday/Saturday: Chill, settle in, collect the team, meet some brothers and sisters in the church, eat tacos, feel more comfortable with Monterrey.

Sunday: Go to church (maybe even help with setup *grin*), meet everyone else. Spend some time with the college students we will be working with this week.

 Monday: Get on campus (UNI), partner with students in the church here, do outreach. Maybe have a board games/blideo bames (?) hangout at our Airbnb to invite students to.

Tuesday: Get on campus (UNI Maderos), partner with students in the church here, do outreach. Maybe have a sport-type basketball hangout at the court next to their church to invite students to.

Wednesday: Get on campus (UNI), partner with students in the church here, do outreach. Maybe...do...something? idk, remembering things is hard

Thursday: Get on (you guessed it) campus (UNI Maderos (see the trend?)), partner with students in the church here, do outreach. Spend time in the evening with 180° (yes, I did say that number in Spanish, you can tell because it's in italics).*

Friday: UNI campus, have an end-of-week carne asada at our casita. 

A big focus in our outreach will be looking for ripe fruit. In real life, I have very mixed feelings about this approach to outreach, but I won't talk about that now. The idea is to pray for and look for people who are spiritually asking questions, already aware that God is after them; people who are actively looking for truth and connection to a church. Our time, and the church here's people resources are very limited (as is the space in our Airbnb), so even if we meet some cool people and like them a lot, if they aren't spiritually hungry, we aren't going to invite them to come hang out and meet the church. At times in the past, we've left the church here with (no cap) over 100 names to follow up with after a week of outreach, and only seen (again, no cap) 1 or 2 stick. Hence our approach this week. 

The problem is, God is often calling the ones who don't seem the most likely. Also, everyone needs Jesus, and just because someone isn't aware of it, doesn't mean they aren't worth pursuing and pouring into. However, the goal is to come alongside what the Holy Spirit is actively doing in someone's life. If he doesn't call them, they won't come to him. But, sometimes he calls people through the process of being exposed to Jesus-loving community, even if they come for bad motives (free food or cute Christians). 

Oh, I guess I was going to talk about it now. Maybe I should delete that. Naw. 

We saw some good team bonding today and yesterday, which I have been worried about. I've gotten to have really good conversations with a few members of the team that have felt discipleship-y and like good clarification about expectations and hopes for our team. I really, really like this team y'all.

*Did you see what I did there? I waited until it was basically midnight though, so if you hadn't yet, that's not on me. Also, happy daylight savings, suckers. Mexico doesn't have it until April (which means we'll get it on the plane ride back)

*180° is the highschool ministry here. Long-term, the church is hoping that Fellowship will send a worker or two to spend 6 months or a year here to help them develop their youth group, so we want to expose our teams to this part of the church.

Ok, pictures and then prayer requests:

I didn't take any pictures today. But this picture is cute.
September 17 is international red panda day.

PRAYER PLEASE

-for our team to walk in step with the Spirit and be driven by love for Jesus
-for us to connect well to the church tomorrow
-for us to meet the students God is calling to connect to this church
-for God to stir a revival in this church's college ministry
-for us to sow good seeds of discipleship, mobilization, and passion for Jesus in our interactions with the students already in the church

Day 1b: Full Friday (not for the faint of attention span)

Ok, so I gave you a little taste earlier to let you know we made it to the airport, but here's the full(er) version:

Last night, I did the unthinkable, the unprecedented, the unbelievable. Last night, I left our after-homegroup hangout early to go to bed. *gasp* Boundaries. Weird. 

Woke up at 5 this morning, got a quick shower and headed to the Choffice (Church Office*). Got some last-minute things printed, posted, planned, etc., took a quick COVID test, and waited for the homies to show up. 

They did.

We had a surprisingly big crew come to pray for us as we left. I felt very loved (thanks!). Everyone tested negative for COVID, everything fit inside of Carmen (my lovely jeep), everyone grouped up and prayed for us, and everyone that was supposed to piled into my car.

As we drove to Houston, I very deliberately decided to drive very gently since I don't really know this team very well and I want to make a good impression. So I did, mostly. There was a slow build. I did a little bit of wiggle-woggle in Houston. My resolve waned slowly and I didn't notice. Anyway. Savannah very gently (and skillfully) communicated with me and we were back on smooth-driving track.

We saw a helicopter take off from the other side of the highway, which was cool. But, it was because they had shut down the highway due to a wreck and were life-flighting someone out, so that's not good. We prayed. 

We arrived at the airport without incident, and then found out that 2 of the airport terminals were shut down for construction and all of the spring break traffic was being funneled through the remaining 60% of the airport. It was a madhouse (different than the m.a.a.d. house, that's good). 

But, as you already know, we go through and ended up in Monterrey! The flight was a little bumpy.

Immigration? No problema. Customs? No problema. Pick up bags before customs? No pro- no bags. Wait. But we need bags. Bags are where our stuff lives. We packed our stuff on purpose because we imagined we'd need it.

The nice baggage man told us to go to the corner and talk to the nice baggage desk lady. The nice baggage desk lady told us our bags (except 1) weren't on this plane. They'd probably come in later that day. Maybe the next. She got our numbers and gave us a piece of paper with some illegible numbers on it. Should be ok. 

Customs is really easy when you have no baggage. I imagine most of life is really easy when you have no baggage. 

Adrian and Ismael were waiting for us. I love and respect these men a lot. They serve the Lord and their church and their families so faithfully. They herded us into a van and took us to the Airbnb to get us settled in. 

Y'all. This Airbnb is so nice. I can't even. It's amazing. What a kitchen. What a living room. What an outdoor patio area. I have my own little room back in the corner on the ground floor and the girls have the whole upstairs. I feel really spoiled, tbh. 

We dropped off our stuff and headed to grab lunch and then some supplies. About halfway to tacos (Halfway to Tacos, band name), I realized something. I left my hoodie in the house. I left my mask in the hoodie. I LEFT MY MASK IN THE HOUSE. *sigh* they kinda specifically asked us to wear masks (because it's required) and told us it was a way to express respect to the people around you (0% mask connection to politics here, PTL). So, the gringo shows his falta de respeto right off the bat. But they were very gracious (as is their wont). So now I have two masks.

Tacos. Comimos tacos hoy. I knew it would happen, but it was still beautiful.

Despues de comer, we went to the Soriana for supplies. We could have gone to one of the 20 HEBs here in Monterrey, but it seems to defeat some of the purpose, ya know? We got breakfast and sandwich and snack supplies (and some toiletries, against the possibility of not getting our bags). 

On the drive back to the Airbnb, we drove through the UNI campus and prayed over it. I'll have some updates on what we're actually doing tomorrow, but I already feel overwhelmed by how much I'm writing today. I can't really imagine how YOU must feel. I'll be honest, I wouldn't read my blog posts if I was you. I'd read the title, look at the pictures, take comfort that I was alive, and skip to the prayer requests. 

Got home. Unpacked. Rested a bit. Decided to skip the evening seminar at the church (we needed to be here, you see, because...surely.....surely they'd get us our bags tonight). Sat and talked with Henry and Ismael (Henry is so cool y'all. I love this guy a lot).

Henry, Savannah, and I talked plans and stuff for the week (am excited! but you will wait until tomorrow). 

THE BAGS CAME. Thank you Jesus for getting us our clothes and stuff today. 

We ate dinner. Boy, did we eat dinner. They're really pulling out the stops for us. We went to Los Generales, which is a fancy buffet place. 

Henry and Savannah and I talked about the unexpected heartbreak of ministry.*

We came home. Now, everyone is upstairs, getting ready for or going to bed. I've never felt so much like a dad. 

*Choffice. Is it CH(urch)OFFICE, or (chur)CHOFFICE? Most people land on the first one, but I am a strong proponent of the second. It flows off the tongue better, and if it was the first, it would be Ch'office. 

*Even if you know it's coming, you don't really expect it. I'm sure that most rational, sober-minded people who want to use any part of their life or energy advancing the Kingdom of God would tell you that you have Wins and Losses. Everyone knows mistakes will be made and conflict will happen and people will get hurt. 

But you don't often look around your homegroup and think, "Some people in this room will walk away from God. Some people in this room will die young. Some people in this room will have failed marriages. Some people in this room will be hurt by me and not want to speak to me some day."

And even if you do, it hurts when it happens. Yes, there are joy-filled, taste-of-heaven moments of growth, breakthrough, freedom, salvation. But sometimes it feels like you lose. But God is victorious. I don't know what that means or looks like always, but I believe it is true. 

Despite the tone of the end of this email (lol, sorry), I feel very cheerful and excited! We spent some time in prayer tonight as a team (thank you Rachel!) and it was really sweet. 

Ok, Prayer and then Pictures (thanks to Katie for the pics).

PRAYER PLEASE!
-for our team to connect well to the church

-for our last member (Alexis) to get in tomorrow without any trouble

-for us to be faithful to pray

-for the work we'll be doing this week (details tomorrow, remember)

Our whole team!

(Alexis, Savannah, me, Rachel, Eliana, Rose)

Praying before we leave!

Day 1a: Black Friday in the Airport

 So, I'm on the IAH wifi. we made it through security and check-in, even though the airport was running at limited capacity due to construction. There were SO MANY PEOPLE in one tiny terminal; very gentle fighting at all times, lots of queueing. 

My team made it through! The drug dogs were cute. TSA was pressed, so they just ushered us through without having to lose shoes or take out laptops or anything. We board in 20 minutes, so I'm just chilling for now. My team is out and about, getting breakfast. 

We'll get to Monterrey, get picked up, and see what happens from there. I've got a lot of energy, which is why I'm updating so frequently. That'll probably change soon and we'll get down to posting once/day.

POV: my computer watching me type this blog post

Pre-trip 3: Just to sneak in 1 more. Also Pray.

 We had some last-minute people feeling different kinds of bad physically, please pray for that!

Meeting to leave in 6ish hours, flight leaves in 11 hours (whoop) :D

Pre-trip 2: Mostly Symbolic Post

You know what's really great? The on-hold music for United Airlines. It's soothing and classy and upbeat and lying is still a sin.

No se preocupen, familia, I'm not on hold with United because there's anything wrong; I'm just trying to get us checked in early and having some speedbumps.

So, in 24 hours we'll be in Mexico! Don't worry though, I plan to keep my wordle streak strong.

And by strong, I mean ok. I'm pleased with myself and that's all that really matters.

Anyway, we leave tomorrow morning early, so please be praying for us!

-Safe travel
-Good team interactions
-Keeping in step with the Spirit
-Good interactions with the church there

Pre-Trip 1: Whoa, look! This blog still exists!

 or: I probably shouldn't write a blog post right now. I am really tired, and my brain has definitely checked out.

*a note: I titled this pre-trip 1, but don't take that as a guarantee I'll post any more before we leave.

So, as you've probably discerned, I'm going back to MEXICO! This is a very exciting thing for me. I love Mexico. Read this blog (or this one or that one (that's just to make my point, I don't actually recommend reading that amount of my thoughts all at once)). Mexico has been very formative for me. 

This year, I am leading a small team from Fellowship Church to Monterrey. Our trip has a few purposes:

1. Figure out if partnership with IGC Monterrey is a good fit for our churches. We've partnered for many years, led by Rodger Lewis, then by me, then by Stephen and Hillary. Now, we're trying to pray and discern how our churches should relate moving forward. There's lots of factors, obviamente, please be praying!

2. Provide opportunity for possible longer-term workers. GranCo (Iglesia Gran Comision Monterrey) has asked us to shift our involvement from larger short-term teams to having 1 or 2 people who can spend 6 months or a year in Monterrey. The possibilities from that type of deep, long-lasting work are incredibly exciting! 

3. Help out with their student ministry! We don't really know exactly what it will look like, but we're hoping to provide some encouragement and training for their college students. We'll do some campus-oriented outreach and see if we can come alongside their church as it works to represent Jesus on the campuses in Monterrey. 

Our team is phenomenal y'all. Here's the short version:

SAVANNAH - Savannah is on staff with me. She and I have been planning and working on this trip since the summer. I'm only really part of this team to help train up Savannah to lead partnerships in the future. She's a rockstar. She loves and cares for our team well. Our best training, by far, was the one led and hosted at her and her husband's house. What a power couple.

ALEXIS - Alexis is in "BANGARANG!" with me. She came on our Costa Rica trip last year and I'm incredibly excited to get to go to Mexico with her as well! Alexis is working and getting her grad degree at the same time, casually. Her love for students and passion for the nations are a great fit for the things we're hoping to see happen in Monterrey.

ROSE - Rosa tambien es parte de "BANGARANG!" Ella tiene mucha energia y un amor poderoso para Mexico y Espanol. Rosa va a graduarse pronto y yo tengo mucha curiosidad de que Dios va a hacer en la vida de esta chica. 

RACHEL - Rachel is in homegroup with Savannah. She's our youngest member and this will be her first time out of the country! She is hard-working and has a growing desire to see God work in and through her life. I'm super excited that she's taking this step in following God in obedience. That kind of responsiveness is something God loves to use.

ELIANA - Eliana is a leader in one of our student homegroups. She's driven, observant, and focused. She's spent time in a few different countries and I'm excited to get to be on this team with her! It'll be cool to see her experience (hopefully!) healthy short-term mission work and use her giftings serving the Lord.

Our team is still learning each other and it'll be cool to see us find a rhythm and get to know each other as we serve and grow together next week!

We need a lot of prayer though. We had some definite spiritual warfare for a lot of our preparation with this trip. We had some logistics delays, some miscommunication, some anxiety and insecurity come at our members, we still aren't all technically fully funded (though God has provided for us through past teams)... pray for us! 

We leave pretty early on Friday the 11th and come back on the 19th.

All right, I'm done for today. Lo siento por the poor quality of this post! I didn't do my team justice in the descriptions, but you'll get to see more about who they are through what they do as I share about our time in Mexico! 

here's another link for good measure. i really like linking things; it makes the world feel more interconnected, you know?