:wink: We were all a little jet lagued so I appologize for not typing sooner!! We left Pa and headed west to St. Louis where we were the guest speakers at Overcomers church with Pastor Melvin Parker. We had a great visit and then Monday the real mission work began. In Springfield Mo. we (dh) picked up 14-55 &1/2 pound bags of dried milk :shock: . We were not expecting to take that much along but on Tuesday believe it or not we got the 14 bags of milk 19 bags of toys a scooter added to the 101 care bags from PA and the 20 bags of clothes sandles etc... we already had. Sadly we had to leave behind a bicycle but will take it another time. Tues. night we got to visit with some old friends from Pa who moved to Springfield and Wens. night Larry preached at Fresh oil ministry in Springfield!!! Thursday morning we were off to Texas and it took us until Sat to get to Westlaco Texas. IT WAS HOT!!!!!!!!!! 8) Sunday morning we prepared to go in to Mexico. It was early but already 90 degrees. So we piled into the van and headed to the boarder the car in front of us was stopped for a random search but PTL we got right through!!!! I feel it was hard to go into this poverty stricken area and be happy but I did try!! These folks are poor in the poorest sense but they dont know they are poor. So we got to the Methodist community where the church was and met the Pastor (They Methodist there are actually Spirit filled) The Pastor did not speek English and we did not speek Spanish so we had to fully rely on the interpreter. Shana (lady on the team) taught Sunday school for the kiddies and I did the adult class. They ask that I just share my testamony and that is what I did.Larry preached the church service!!! We were basically baking like an apple pie at Thanksgiving it was HOT!!! I am not joking when I say I was dripping wet!! And at the alter call it got hotter. If you went to www.lgom.net and saw the photos of the alter call the whole church (minus 4-8) came for prayer. After church we wnt to a ladies home who prepared Tamallies for us (the honered guests) They were absolutly deluicious!! After dinner we went to a market to shop!! ( a little R&R) Tuesday night we began packing for the orphanage. This particular place was not for orphaned children but for one parent children. These had moms but the dad was either in prision or had passed away. It is run by 2 American missionaries. So we packed what we could into coolers and suitcases. The rest we put under the seats. We also took our puppets and stage in with us. We prayed hard as a group that we would not be stopped for a search at the boarder because we could either be denied access in or taxed a high tax at the boarder. Monday we loaded up the van once again and headed for the boarder. We got to the light at the boarder and PTH!!!!! We got another green light in with out being searched!!!! PTL!! I was in awe at my surroundings at the Reynosa town and how dirty and poor it was and I thought the orphanahe would be the same. Out side the walls it is almost like a place that is not real I mean I never could have imagined it to be so bad but when we went through the gate it was like another world. They are teaching the children to respect what they have not to junk it up like the world but care for what God sends in to them. So we unloaded and set up for a day of fun with these precious children. The youngest is 2 and the oldest is 14. We had a puppet show and salvation plan Shana made salvation braclets with the children. Then we played games. After the bubble gum contest we had the pineata and then it was picture time for the most part the Mexican people like getting the photo taken!! At lgom.net you can see us with all the kids at the jungle gym they have there. After we loaded the van with all of us we went to an outdoor resturaunt to eat. I will spare you all the details. When we returned to Texas we packed up our camper and headed north to Misouri once again. I will share how God protected us after we left. On Tuesday afternoon we were driving the interstate and we were doing about 70. That was the speed limit. We decided to get off the exit at Waco to resuply for the night and we no sooner got off the exit when our front right tire blew out!! DH got out to assess the damage when he saw the tire he threw his hands in the air and cried out "Thank you God!!!" You see if it wouldve blown on the interstate we would have flipped our camper. We were able to get it fixed and we made it to the family camp and two other churches to preach. At the one church we preached at a lady got healed and many got prayed for. It was a very exciting trip. If you have any questions post them and I will answer what I can!!! The pictures are at www.lgom.net!!
Jimmie Lu, what a great testimony of how faithful and protective our God is!! I can't imagine how tense you must have been at the border. What good things you did for those kids!
WOW! What an awesome testimony of the things that happened and how God was with you throughout the entire trip. So now I'll ask the dumb question... Is all of Mexico the same way (I mean poor living conditions) or was it just the area you happened to visit? It's hard to imagine anyone having to live without the basic necessities of life, but all too often that is such a familiar story (and unfortunately it happens in all of our neighbourhoods). There was a need for these people, and God supplied for them - Thank you so much for caring for people you didn't even know. That's what this world needs more of...people like you who care about others UNCONDITIONALLY. Welcome home Jimmie Lu, Brenda
thanks! Jimmie Lu~ Thanks so much for taking the time to type all that! I have been thinking about you and praying for you guys as you made your journey, and I was very anxious to hear your story! What an amazing God we serve! Sounds like everything just worked out perfectly for you guys. Yeah, God! Heidi
What an encouragement you are to all of us! I'll hit you with another question.....how does a person who is not part of a denominational church begin missions? I believe we might have that in our future (and I've been praying for hubby to get out of denial :lol: )
I second Brooke's question. I would love to someday go on a missions trip. How do you go about it? We would also want to be able to have our children be involved. Thanks so much Jimmie Lu for giving us the details of your trip. Glad to hear it went so well. Crystal
Brooke & Crystal, I'm sure maybe Jimmie Lu is probably the better one to answer the question, but when Mom went to Thailand on missions a couple years ago I do know she had been praying the "Prayer of Jabez" prior to going and she felt it was her calling to go. She said that in the future she will probably go back into the missions field again but has no immediate plans to go (as of today anyway). We also have a young couple in our church who will leaving for Africa in November for a three month mission tour. In their case, I know they have to have a specified amount of money before they can even go (I think it was in the range of 10,000 USD). I'll ask them more about it and when I find out more, I'll let you both know (but Jimmie Lu may be able to tell you more in the meantime). I would love to go on Missions someday but only if I felt God's leading to do so. We'll have to see what He wants for us... Brenda
I looked at Jimmie Lu's website and it gave some imformation about getting involved. It happens to be one of the most reasonable price estimates I've seen and the whole family can go! Yippee!!!! I would just about say that I would refuse to go on a mission trip that I had to earn $10,000 to go on. You could travel there yourself and street preach cheeper than that! I think alot of the orgs act like travel agents. The whole point is to meet the ppl's needs and share the gospel and it shouldn't be that expensive.
This isn't exactly a mission trip, but our church youth do a 30 Hour Famine each year. They have only juice during that time, and get pledges per hour that they participate. There is, I think, at least so many dollars you have to get pledged before you can even participate. I think that's ignorant. Doesn't any amount help? And what if you don't have parents helping you? The year they started with the minimum to participate, I quit giving.
Well, Now that I've gone to Jimmie Lu's site I can't imagine why Tony & Michelle (and a young baby) are trying to raise that amount of money when you can go for as little as what the other website shows for costs! We send a group of 15 to New York City over the March Break each year for Project Genesis and I highly coubt that they have to come up with that kind of money (the stories that they come back with are un-imaginable). I hope that Christian (my oldest boy) would express an interest in going on the tour sometime when he is old enough to go. I think that any mission trip would be a learning experience... Brenda
Ok ladies I will try to answer this question. From my understanding from Chris(Mexico) the $250 pays the project fees there are additional costs of getting there, food, water etc. You are housed at the church for the week you are there and the church supplies you with supper each night. So who wants to go??? Do not be quick to say me I do! I am compleatly serious here. Larry and I will set up a team to go and build Mexico if we have enough interested. It does cost $4000 to build a house the $250you pay goes for the building materials we will be the team leaders and co-ordinate the time in Mexico however you are responsable for transportation costs to get there. We will require a deposit of the $250 and remember there are added water and food costs plus some spending money as well. We can not take teens with us unless the parents are going . We will work hard it will be hot but it is all worth the effort. You do not need to speak Spanish to go they have interpreters. If you visited the site you saw they do faith walks, Bible classes and revivals while you are there. Again I am not posting this loosely I am serious and I recommend before you email me that you want to go "build Mexico" you pray and fast seek Gods direction! Then email me!! God Bless!
Ok now that I got some more info..... We will not just build a house in a week we will also do a prayer walk, a revival, and possibly some other teachings. So get on board its going to be exciting 8)
