Home

Hey everybody. Just wanted to let you all know that we made it in just fine tonight. Thanks for your prayers… we made it through customs and whatnot in Houston with no problem and aside from a couple gate changes, our flights were great.

Being home is nice, but certainly weird. I’m looking forward to church tomorrow and talking to people about the trip. There were so many amazing things that happened this week. I can’t wait to relive those experiences while telling others about this past week.

Thanks for reading,
Lee

Day 4 – Last full day

This is an idea of the terrain that we had to climb just to reach houses... some while carrying food boxes.

Hola. It’s hard to believe that tomorrow we board two planes and make our way back across two time zones to return home. As I said yesterday, today was a bittersweet day. You try to enjoy yourself, but you can’t help but think from time to time about having to leave tomorrow morning. We will miss this place. 

We were stopped by this woman so she could thank us for the work we did on her home. Thank God for the chance to minister to people like her this week.

Today was another wonderful day in the community we have visited all this week. We distributed six food boxes to families and prayed for the food, the families and their homes. It was a privilege to pray for these families and bring them food in Jesus’ name. Five of the six recipients were families we had never met before. We brought one box to a house we worked at on the first day and it was great to minister to them for a second time. We prayed with the couple and made our way to the next house. Minutes later, we passed the house again on our way to another drop-off. The woman who lived there stopped us because she wanted to thank us. She was very grateful for the food and for the concrete floor we poured in their home. This moment was special because it brought the process of our work this week full circle. All the tired and sore muscles, all the sweat, and all the hard work was totally worth it. It was amazing to feel that gratitude, but more importantly, it was evident that we had made an impact on them for Christ’s sake as well. It’s truly hard to put that feeling into words. 

Here are pictures from the food box drop-offs this morning:

 

Randy the tourist.

We also had one last chance to be tourists, visiting a black pottery store and visiting the main market one more time. For those who don’t know, black pottery is unique to Oaxaca, so this is a truly rare chance to purchase some amazing pieces of art. Everybody left with some loot… some more than others, of course. Then we tried to visit the market as one big group. Soon, we found out that people wanted to go in different directions, so we split up into smaller groups to ease the flow. We bought a bag of fried grasshoppers, but alas… we forgot to eat them at the hotel tonight. Looks like it will have to be done at the airport tomorrow morning. 

Tanya (a.k.a Oaxaca Mama Numero Dos... Joanie is Numero Uno) setting a new trend? The purse hat?

One thing that has been prevalent on this trip has been laughter. Lots of it. Ever since dinner tonight, I have heard or engaged in seemingly endless laughter. It’s amazing what’s funny when you’re tired… basically everything. Anyways, dinner was fun as always and the food was great. We spent one more night walking around the zocalo after dinner before heading back for one last devotional time on the trip. 

Tonight we went around the room and each shared a brief story about something that was a highlight or stuck out about this week. It was so cool to hear how God was good to each one of us in very unique and special ways. My hope is that the guest blogs allowed those at home to hear about these experiences as well. We have shared amazing experiences with total strangers, but some of those strangers will be our closest brothers and sisters when we meet again in heaven. What a cool thought. 

God is so good. All I can say about this trip is… what a week. I am encouraged to go home and do what I can to make a difference for the Lord. As I stated yesterday, seeing others receive Christ has been a tremendous reminder of God’s love and how we have MUCH to be excited about in our Christian lives. My prayer is that this fire that has been set ablaze in our lives this week will never go out. It may not burn as bright as here in Oaxaca, and it may be just a flicker sometimes, but my prayer is that our passion for serving and living for Christ has been boosted as a result of this trip. This trip can change our lives forever if we let it. What an amazing week. 

Travel day tomorrow. I’ll try to at least post that we made it home. I’ll be honest, tomorrow will be very tiring, so it may not be much. We’ll be home, though, and I know we would love to share about the trip. Please pray that everything goes smoothly in the air, at each airport, and at customs when we arrive in Houston. Check the travel itinerary link up top for our flight times. 

A huge thank you to everyone for reading this and joining us on our journey from your computer. I have been amazed looking at the number of views (almost 1200 and counting) and comments (so far 12). Thank you. I also want to thank those who I snagged pictures from to post on the blog. I’ve had fun putting this together and I hope it was an effective way for our family, friends, or whoever to stay connected while the 16 of us were away. Thanks so much for your prayers and thanks again for reading. 

Back in Salem in 24 hours! See you all soon. 

-Lee

Experiences of Oaxaca, Pt. Dos

Round two of guest blogs… I love it when people do the work for me! I knew that others would have amazing perspectives of this week and I’m glad they’ve been willing to share. Enjoy round dos!

-Lee

—————

Good Morning to all my friends and family!!!

As I’m typing this one of my hands is wrapped (Thank You Kory) so please excuse the extra letters that may appear from time to time. haha!! Its 5:25 am at home making it 7:25 here in the beautiful city of Oaxaca. The whole trip thus far has been amazing!! God has been soo good to us!! Blessings from God right and left!! From the smoothness of the traveling here to the amazing way the team works together and constant laughing of the group. Mixing and pouring, cement for 6 houses between 2 and 5 inches thick has been hard work and well worth every minute. What God has taught us and what we’ve each learned about ourselves is what we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. Hope all is well with my friends and family. Love you all and see you at home.

Love, Bekah Nagel

—————

I am an iron man lifting buckets of cement like its nothing. My muscles are so sore I have muscles I didn’t know I had but I sure have had a wonderful time here in Mexico. It’s been a wonderful time and very hard labor but it was all worth it.

Love, Beth Meyers

—————

This week has been a wonderful challenge in every way possible. The theme of my experience on this trip was “God give me strength”. He did just that in many ways. I climbed up terrain that I never imagined I could make it up too. I called that experience the “ironman experience” I worked harder than I did 2 yrs ago. It’s been amazing and worth the time. I can’t wait to come back again.

Cheree Kline

—————

Hola! Kevin Rodgers here. WOW!!! What a week! This was my VERY first mission trip (not to mention first time out of the country) and, like Filipe (Philip-E) said, I’m REALLY glad I chose Oaxaca. I had an AMAZING time! I did more back- work than I’ve ever done in my life (and my constant sore back is proof of it), shoveling and hauling buckets of sand and gravel, but it was WELL worth it seeing the looks on the faces of the poverty-stricken Oaxacans as we prayed over their completed concrete floors or delivering their food boxes, and witnessing the amazing sight of approx. 8 people accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. I was a little worried at first, while, during the first, incredibly hard worksite when Randy mentioned that the work we were doing was about 10 times harder than the work that was done by the team that came 2 years ago. This was due mostly to the treacherous terrain on which we were working. We had to go way up onto the makeshift roads in the hills on the outskirts of Oaxaca, and, in some cases, hike up (or down) the hills to get to the next worksite. I sure felt sorry for those who pushed the cement mixer around. I’ll never forget the cute little girl at the 2nd worksite of our first full day here who batted her eyes at me as she helped clean up the worksite using a short pole with a small boar nailed to it as a broom to clear away some of the rocks on the ground. It was moments like that that truly shone light onto what Randy said about how these people who live in these squalors don’t realize that they’re poor. That one really blew me away.

Of course, being the tourist I am, took MANY photos and purchased MANY souvenirs as I the truly experienced the culture by marveling at the beauty of the Zocalo, witnessing the awe of the gorgeous Catholic church we visited, and exploring the many narrow rows of booths at the market. All in all, this was an incredible experience and I hope that it will be but the first of many mission experiences. I can’t believe the week is over already. Though I am partially relieved that we have finished the heavy labor, I feel greatly saddened that we were not able to stay a little longer. But I’m thankful for the special bonds of friendship and fellowship that were made during this short week, and for ensuring a few more faces we will see when we enter the kingdom of Heaven.

–Kevin Rodgers

Day 3 – Last work day

Group shot after finishing our last concrete floor.

For something that was so physically challenging, it is a bit sad to say that today was our last work day for the trip. Sure, most of us wouldn’t be able to handle any more work days because of the physical toll the last three days have put on our bodies. I know that I am exhausted. However, seeing grateful homeowners thank us for our work (some of whom came to Christ) is so rewarding. All the sweat is worth it when we get to see and meet the people we have helped when we completed each floor.

With the family at house number two.

The three days of hard work especially felt worth it when the man who lived at the final house today was so overcome with emotion because of the improvement to his home. He, along with two others in the family accepted Christ as their savior. Three more new friends that we will see in heaven! We had the privilege to see several come to Christ in the three days of working here. Praise God — that is so awesome.

What hit me the most about seeing this man (front row of the picture in the yellow shirt) so grateful and emotional was how important the decision is to become a follower of Christ. I could see in his eyes that he was counting the cost of following Christ, but he made a life-changing decision today and he will see Jesus in heaven someday. Seeing that encouraged me to live a life that pleases my Lord, and I hope to always have the excitement that accompanies a person’s salvation. I accepted Christ as a youngster and have known Christianity all my life. Sometimes it is hard to always have that excitement and passion for my relationship with Christ, but seeing others make that initial decision for salvation this week has reminded me of exactly much Christ loves me and what He did for me. When they heard of this, they were touched. I am so grateful for this reminder.

Tonight was the first night that it did not rain, so we were able to spread into groups and walk around the zocalo and shop after dinner. There were more items for sale in the zocalo… some similar to what we saw in the market but some items were new. It was a fun night to further experience the culture of the area on a beautiful, cool evening.

We packaged six food boxes to distribute tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Oaxaca. We have put together food boxes for six families and will distribute them on foot tomorrow morning in the same community where we poured the concrete floors. It will be a great privilege to give out these food boxes and pray for the families receiving them. After that, we will visit a shop selling Oaxacan black pottery and then go back to the market to buy the items that weren’t purchased in our previous trip there. There is more and more talk of eating fried grasshoppers… I will post picture evidence if indeed this is the case.

Again, I want to thank you for your prayers for us during this trip. We worked very, very hard for three days at our work sites and sustained no injuries. Praise God. We are tired, sore and have some bruises, scrapes and nicks… but overall, God has kept us safe and we are very thankful for that.

Tomorrow, we have one more day to make a difference for the Lord in the hills of Oaxaca City before we attempt to do the same when we return home. One more day for the Lord to teach us and amaze us. It will be a bittersweet last day, but God will continue to be faithful to us and we look forward to what tomorrow brings.

Until tomorrow,
-Lee

Had to share this picture. After finishing the floor at our first house today, we gathered to pray for the family. Meanwhile, this cute little kitten proceeded to make itself comfortable on the freshly poured concrete and stayed there until we left.

Experiences of Oaxaca

As promised, I have passed the laptop around to allow other team members to share about their experience so far on the trip. Enjoy!

-Lee

—————

Hola familia y amigos,

It’s day 4 and it’s already been quite the adventure. We’ve had lots of laughs; we wake up laughing, we go to bed laughing, we even wake up at 4:30 in the morning and clean up each other’s blood… let me elaborate. Jolia had a bad bloody nose this morning, and we were there as awesome roomies to take care of her, along with mama Tanya (our Oaxaca mama numero dos)

God has been so faithful and amazing. He has taught us so much in just 4 days. Here in Oaxaca, the people are about relationships, not money or success. They work harder than anybody we’ve seen, they have nothing, and yet they are so happy and have everything.

We feel so blessed to be here, so privileged to help these amazing people. And we can honestly say we love this place, and these people! We can’t wait to come home and tell you of all our crazy amazing adventures, and our new friends!

Love & miss you all

Love, Room 109 a.k.a. Elyse, Jolia & Makara

—————

Hello family and friends,

It has been an amazing week so far!!! We have seen some amazing things and everyday there has been at least a dozen things that have touched my heart. Yesterday there was a little girl who brought tears to my eyes. I am probably spelling this wrong but she gave me her name as Contive, she is eight years old. She gave me flowers at one work site and then followed the group to the next work site and asked for a picture. The openness of the people here have made their way into my heart forever. I feel so blessed that we are all here experiencing this together for the Lord.

Love, Keeley Harris

—————

Hola!

This is super fun. We are not done yet so bring on the rain.

Shout it out: Mom & Dad, Vicki, Michael and RED and the cloey. Hehe

Love you all- Kristi Larson

—————

Hi friends and family! I’m writing this as we are on our way to the work site on day 3. Most of us are wearing our rain ponchos, as it’s sprinkling. I know, we’re Oregonians. :O) Well, I’m signing off for now. Miss you and love you, Ma, Pa & Irwin! Looking forward to seeing you on Skype when I get back, Ma!

Thank you all for keeping up with us and praying for us!

~Rachel Dougall

P.S. We didn’t end up needing our ponchos after all… the clouds broke up and it stopped raining.

—————

Hello everyone!!!!! (and MOM!)

This week has been an amazing adventure. Wonder people in a beautiful city. People living in metal shacks and dirt floors that are more happy then most people who have ten times that much. It is so humbling to see these people who love God, appreciate the little things that we as Americans miss. I am so happy God works in all ways, because our trip was to be building houses and in the process 5 people were saved and we will see again in Heaven which makes leaving a little easier.

On a personal note, the food is amazing. I have taken the opportunity to try anything I see from home made tortillas with lime, salt, and hot chilies. (Story: When we were getting our homemade tortillas made up with everything, Randy had just taken a bite of the Hot Pepper, and all I saw was him running down to the bags yelling water!!! When I had about 4 times the amount he did. HEHE. It was a great moment. ) Also the fresh fruit is very very very delicious!!!! From Mangos, Papayas, Bananas, Tuna Verte (fruit from the cactus), and many more. All fresh from the Market (washed with bottled water) and averaging about 10 Pesos per Kilo which comes out to be about 50 cents per pound.

Very excited to be home, but will miss Mexico very much. I hope to come back and enjoy Mexico even more.

God is SO good to us, we just have to open our eyes!!

With much Love-
Kory Klopp

P.S. Family- Hope all is well. Didn’t get sick even though I’ve eaten things Randy just cringes at. LOL.

Oaxaca Concrete Pouring 101

I got to thinking… I keep mentioning that we’ve been pouring concrete floors in houses for families here in Oaxaca. Then I realized that it might be good to share the process of how we do it. It is far from professional or glamorous, but it is effective and a concrete floor does wonders for the houses in the area we have been working in. Here’s a photo tour of the process:

Gravel and sand are shoveled into buckets that are dumped into the concrete mixer.

Once the concrete has been mixed with the proper amount of sand, gravel and water, it is dumped onto the ground and shoveled back into buckets.

We set up a line of workers to pass the buckets from the mixer to where the concrete will be poured.

The homeowner and/or other men in the community get the buckets, dump them and spread the concrete. The dirt layer underneath has been leveled as best as possible, and line has been strung to provide the level line for the concrete.

The cycle is obviously repeated until the slab is complete.

One tricky part of this community’s steep terrain is moving the concrete mixer from house to house. In this picture, we had to guide it down this very steep hill. We pushed it up the same hill the previous day.

Well, there you have it. I thought it might be nice to provide a visual of the kind of work we are doing. As always, thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers.

-Lee

Day 2 – Add three more

Another successful and productive day in the hills of Oaxaca City! I think everyone will agree with me that the terrain at the two houses today was much better than yesterday (plus some of us didn’t have to push the cement mixer up a hill that seemed like the slope was straight up and down). Thanks for your prayers… it seemed like everyone was energized today, and other than some sore muscles we were good to go.

The family at the first house after we finished pouring there. The son (far left), the father (second from left) and daughter (far right) all accepted Christ!

Libby and Joanie were able to join us at the work site today. Libby battled food poisoning over the weekend and was still on the mend when we arrived Monday, but we thought it was best to keep her at the hotel to rest yesterday while Joanie stayed with her. With Libby feeling better this morning, both were able to help out at the work site.

We poured two more floors today. Like yesterday, we prayed for the family and their home after we finished. At the first house, it was a larger family and the father, son and daughter accepted Christ after the local pastor talked with them and prayed for them. Three more will join us in heaven! It is so exciting to be a part of individuals coming to Christ, as our work on their house allowed us to share about Christ both in word and action.

In the afternoon, the whole group trekked to the market to browse for Oaxacan trinkets. We split up into three groups because the narrow pathways in between booths aren’t exactly 16-person group friendly. Not to mention I had no desire to look at purses for extended periods of time with the girls. Sorry, ladies. Our group of guys purchased some leather goods, vanilla, blankets and some really cool hand-made woven baskets. Others heard of some of our purchases and it looks as though we will be making a return trip to the market tomorrow. There may or may not be some fried grasshoppers consumed… I’ll let you know if there is.

Most of the group posing in the zocolo after dinner. Felipe (left) and Alejandro (right) from Mission Increase are in the back row.

At dinner, we were joined by two of the men from Mission Increase who have been working with us both days at the work site. Alejandro (and his family) and Felipe joined us… and we shared many laughs. Between that, a cheesy Mexican soap opera on the restaurant TV and other antics, we had lots of fun.

Tonight we discussed the day during our devotional time and it was confirmed by many how well this group has bonded and worked together on this trip. There have been so many fun, special moments the last few days that will be great memories we will have for a long time. I hope to pass the laptop around tomorrow and/or Friday so that others can share their experiences so far on the trip. You will enjoy reading them.

Again, there are some tired bodies amongst the group. We have worked hard, we have been out in the heat and sun, but it has been a great time if you ask me. Tomorrow is the last day of concrete pouring, as we will complete two more houses. And then Friday will be special as we will distribute a half-dozen food boxes in the same community we have been working in. We will also have the privilege to pray for them as well.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your prayers. I have had a tremendous time so far, and the Lord has done great things the last two days. Tomorrow should be no different! I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for our day.

Ephesians 3:20 — ” Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

Amen.

Until tomorrow,
-Lee

Have no fear, we are hydrating plenty... this isn't even half of the water and Gatorade we bought tonight!

Day 1 – Cementing lives into the body of Christ

The group at lunch break.

The family living in the first house where we poured concrete after we finished.

Well, day one is in the books. I don’t know if I have ever worked as hard in my life, and others will likely feel the same way, but I can’t help but sit and think that this was an extremely productive day, even if my muscles and joints are a bit sore. OK, a lot sore, but that doesn’t matter. Anyways, we poured two cement floors for families and prayed over their house afterward, plus we were able to pray for another woman who had been dealing with health issues. Yes, a productive day for the body of Christ.

The title is such because the husband and wife who live where we poured the second floor accepted Christ today. Randy explained to them why we were doing what we were doing and told them about Christ and His love for us and them. After Randy prayed, the pastor of the community prayed for them as well. Then, he asked them if they wanted to receive Christ, and they said they did! It was a very powerful moment seeing them join our family as Christians.

All the students with the family of the second home. The husband and wife accepted the Lord today!

Parents, be proud of your kids because they all worked extremely hard today. Both houses were up in the hills outside of the main city, and getting to the houses was a bit of an adventure. Once there, we had to work around the terrain to shovel gravel and sand into buckets, dump them into the cement mixer and finally carry the mixed cement in buckets to the room to pour the floor. We worked in an assembly line fashion and it worked well once we got into a rhythm. Everyone carried their weight and we got the job done. There will be some tired bodies tonight!

As I mentioned last night, my hope for our group was that we worked on this trip as if working for the Lord, because that is truly what we are doing. Day one? Check. It was great to be a part of, and everyone seemed to look past the obvious diffculty of the task and surroundings to get the job done.

After returning home and cleaning up, the group went to exchange money to pesos and we browsed a market down the street from our hotel. Dinner was great, and we enjoyed a pretty spectacular lightning storm that packed quite the punch and made several jump in their seats (I’ll keep their identities secret). In the next few days we will certainly do more market shopping and sightseeing, but today’s work was a bit of a shock to our systems so we stayed pretty low key.

Please pray that we all get proper rest tonight so we can recharge for another day of cement mixing and pouring. I am sore, and I know others are too. Some were feeling a bit sick because of the heat and hard work, but nothing serious. We just need to keep downing liquids to compensate for how much we are sweating. A proper night’s rest should have us ready to go for day two! I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

-Lee

Destination Reached

The group in the zocalo, minus Tanya and Joanie (the food shoppers)

After a long day of travel, we arrived safely in Oaxaca City and are settled in at the Hotel Gala. Elyse survived her first two plane rides, both flights were on time, and we made it to where we needed to be. I say that’s a good travel day. We just finished a short devotional and are about to head to bed. After a (hopefully restful) night of sleep, we look to have a very productive work day tomorrow.

We are going through a mission trip devotional, and today’s lesson touched on Matt. 25:40, which talks about how when we do things for “the least of these,” we are truly doing it for the Lord. Tomorrow, we will essentially be pouring concrete floors for Christ. Pretty exciting  and motivating stuff. It is my prayer that our whole group has this mindset and will work hard, because we are truly working for the Lord this week.

Short blog today. Who knew sitting on planes all day could be so tiring? More updates coming… again, I hope to post nightly. Thanks for your prayers and thanks for joining our Oaxaca adventure!

-Lee

An amazing sunset seen during our flight into Oaxaca City. Beautiful.

Last Post Before We Leave

Wow. 24 hours from now, we will be well into our airplane journey to Oaxaca. Can’t wait to be on the plane… better yet, I can’t wait to be there!

A couple of things:

First, team members… check your e-mail today. Randy sent one last reminder e-mail that may affect your packing.

Secondly, a reminder on the plan for this week. Time and wi-fi access permitting, I will post an entry each night, including tomorrow night. At the very least, I want everybody to know tomorrow that we have arrived, but I’m fairly certain there will be some funny airplane/airport stories to share. We are two hours ahead of Pacific time, so if you check the blog in the late-ish evening, you may be able to catch the new entry. If not, it’ll be there in the morning. Feel free to comment on entries, too… it would be fun to have a bit of interaction.

Thirdly, share the blog address with anyone you think might be interested about the trip. We want people to join our adventure, if only in a small way through the blog.

Also, in case you’re curious, here’s a look at a typical day while we are there. If you want to pray for specifics during the day, this would be a good cheat sheet to go by:

7:30 a.m. — Depart for work community
8:00 am. — Arrive and begin working
Noon — Lunch break
12:30 —  Back to work
3:00 or until a good stopping point —  Return back to hotel
*After this, we have free time and will eat dinner whenever.

These are some approximate times, but it gives you an idea of our three work days (Tuesday through Thursday). Friday is the day we’ll hand out food baskets and that will be a loose schedule, I’m sure. Remember, we are going to be two hours ahead of Salem time.

Well, that’s all I got. Preparations are almost complete and we’re about to do this thing. I can’t wait. Have a great time celebrating the 4th and I’ll write you guys next when we’re in Oaxaca!

-Lee