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?