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Posts tagged ‘Mexico’

Aug 3

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Mexico: bookends

So. Turns out I was unable to post updates while in Mexico. Logistics made it impossible. I write this from a hotel room in San Diego. The post under this one was written in a similar room in the same city 7 days ago. Imagine, if you will, in that white space between the two posts, a basketful of challenge, revelation, tears, laughter, worship, prayer, questions, answers, work, sand, weariness, and joy. If you can imagine that, you will have an accurate picture of how the energy level in our family’s hotel room is different than a week ago. Our kids did very well in a schedule that was not set up for kids, and hopefully caught some things about faith and worship and culture and compassion and work and patience and self-control that they hadn’t experienced before. I know Neil and I did.

I wish I could say that over the next few days I will roll out a series of posts that attempt to capture our experience. But the truth is that in the next few days there will be laundry… there will be the reality of returning to work… there will probably be 300 emails in my inbox…. there will be actual mail in our actual mail box…. there will be 2 kids attempting to find ‘north’ in our normal surroundings… there will be lots to do just to get our feet back on the ground… and school starts in 2 weeks. Honestly, getting my online life caught up can’t be my first priority. BUT… I will write about this experience as I can. I won’t be able to help it. I think my perspective has been forever altered.

We were able to post several times to our group blog.  Go here to read some details about our first few days.

Jul 27

10 Comments

Mexico, day 1: the numbers

Media_httpkimbontrage_dfsmb

Media_httpkimbontrage_bwneo


5: airplanes involved in moving our group from the middle of the country to the west coast.
2: kids gathered around 2 inch ipod nano screen watching a movie on airplane #2
1: parent who was able to sleep during above reprieve. He truly deserved the sleep.
4: vans we will be using this week for transportation, 1 used exclusively for cargo.
23: people who waited an hour after picking up luggage for the vans to arrive
4,587: the number of times Jonathan and Hallie got in some kind of skirmish.
3: vans wandering around San Diego to find gas station, Wal Mart, food for over an hour.
0: number of GPS units brought on the trip
17: the number of times Neil and I regretted having sold our ‘old’ iPhones on ebay before this trip. (They sold in 3 minutes last week.  For more than the cost of the new ones we ordered.  Which haven’t arrived yet. And yes, we are now in lame back-up phone purgatory.  And lame back-up phones offered us NO HELP today.)
2: kids who were transfixed by their first view of any part of the ocean at a great waterfront on San Diego bay. 
1: unexpected fireworks display
36: extremely tired, but extremely grateful, people

Today was great.  Today I remembered that Day 1 of a trip like this is all about logistics.  Today I realized that the only time I ever think about having a clock hanging on the exterior of my house is when I’m browsing through Sky Mall magazine. Tomorrow…. we sleep in. Tomorrow we will worship together, guided by Psalm 100. We will talk about what it means to serve as a part of the body of Christ. We are a diverse group in many ways… age, experiences, gifts, personalities, expectations. We want to unify around the purpose of bringing glory to God by serving others. Tomorrow we will load up our vans, cross the border and drive several hours to our home for the week. Thank you for praying for us…. hopefully more updates will follow!

Jul 27

10 Comments

Mexico, day 1: the numbers

5: airplanes involved in moving our group from the middle of the country to the west coast.

2: kids gathered around 2 inch ipod nano screen watching a movie on airplane #2

1: parent who was able to sleep during above reprieve. He truly deserved the sleep.

4: vans we will be using this week for transportation, 1 used exclusively for cargo.

23: people who waited an hour after picking up luggage for the vans to arrive

4,587: the number of times Jonathan and Hallie got in some kind of skirmish.

3: vans wandering around San Diego to find gas station, Wal Mart, food for over an hour.

0: number of GPS units brought on the trip

17: the number of times Neil and I regretted having sold our ‘old’ iPhones on ebay before this trip. (They sold in 3 minutes last week.  For more than the cost of the new ones we ordered.  Which haven’t arrived yet. And yes, we are now in lame back-up phone purgatory.  And lame back-up phones offered us NO HELP today.)

2: kids who were transfixed by their first view of any part of the ocean at a great waterfront on San Diego bay. 

1: unexpected fireworks display

36: extremely tired, but extremely grateful, people

Today was great.  Today I remembered that Day 1 of a trip like this is all about logistics.  Today I realized that the only time I ever think about having a clock hanging on the exterior of my house is when I’m browsing through Sky Mall magazine. Tomorrow…. we sleep in.  Tomorrow we will worship together, guided by Psalm 100. We will talk about what it means to serve as a part of the body of Christ. We are a diverse group in many ways… age, experiences, gifts, personalities, expectations. We want to unify around the purpose of bringing glory to God by serving others.

Tomorrow we will load up our vans, cross the border and drive several hours to our home for the week.

Thank you for praying for us…. hopefully more updates will follow!

Jul 25

8 Comments

A whirled view. Mexico style.

Media_httpkimbontrage_spbrl

Tomorrow we begin the biggest adventure our family has had so far.

8 days. 35 people. Serving this mission organization in Mexico alongside other volunteers and local staff.

The little girl in that picture up there?  The one with the iron will and the endless imagination?                        
She wants to be a missionary.  A lifetime call no matter where she lives.

See that little boy? The one with the perfect rhythm and the need to pack and carry and move and create? He wants to be a drummer and a guitar player.  And he wants everything, everything, to be fair.

See that incredibly handsome man?  And the woman in the middle?  They discovered a long time ago that true magic that occurs when they get to work together and focus on the same thing in ministry. And they don’t get to do that very often. 

We bring all of our hopes, all of our strengths, all of our weaknesses to this trip.  And we want to learn how to serve… how to listen… how to see.  I want to see my kids’ eyes open to a larger world… to a larger picture of God’s work done by God’s people all over God’s creation. And we are excited to meet Lorena, who we’ve been sponsoring since December. 

I don’t know if I’ll be able to post during our trip. Today, I simply ask that you pray for us.  Pray for the group we are traveling with.  Pray that we will be willing to serve in whatever way is needed.  Pray for our kids, that they will gracefully move into a new place, schedule, world. Your prayers will join those of our family and our church. 

Thank you so much.

Follow our group’s experience at fmbcmexico.blogspot.com.

Jul 25

8 Comments

A whirled view. Mexico style.

Tomorrow we begin the biggest adventure our family has had so far.

8 days. 35 people. Serving this mission organization in Mexico alongside other volunteers and local staff.

The little girl in that picture up there?  The one with the iron will and the endless imagination?                        She wants to be a missionary.  A lifetime call no matter where she lives.

See that little boy? The one with the perfect rhythm and the need to pack and carry and move and create?He wants to be a drummer and a guitar player.  And he wants everything, everything, to be fair.

See that incredibly handsome man?  And the woman in the middle?  They discovered a long time ago that true magic that occurs when they get to work together and focus on the same thing in ministry. And they don’t get to do that very often. 

We bring all of our hopes, all of our strengths, all of our weaknesses to this trip.  And we want to learn how to serve… how to listen… how to see.  I want to see my kids’ eyes open to a larger world… to a larger picture of God’s work done by God’s people all over God’s creation. And we are excited to meet Lorena, who we’ve been sponsoring since December. 

I don’t know if I’ll be able to post during our trip. Today, I simply ask that you pray for us.  Pray for the group we are traveling with.  Pray that we will be willing to serve in whatever way is needed.  Pray for our kids, that they will gracefully move into a new place, schedule, world. Your prayers will join those of our family and our church. 

Thank you so much.

Follow our group’s experience at fmbcmexico.blogspot.com.

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