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?