Divine Shepherd Church- Tuesday and Wednesday

James 2:17 "Faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

On Tuesday and Wednesday, some of us started working with the maintenance man, Rodrigo and along with some older students, building a retaining wall. Some of us worked in the small clinic doing check-ups on the children. After children had their heart checked, they got to listen to their heartbeat through the stethoscope. Their reactions ranged from ear-to-ear smiles to giggles by the teenagers. Some of us also worked in the kitchen cleaning and cooking with the older teenager students.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we led an activity with colored rubber bands, each representing a different Bible verse. We also did hair coloring, face painting, and origami. The children loved all these activities!

On Tuesday night we participated in prayer and worship with the staff. The worship was very moving and Spirit-filled, and the staff prayed over us.

The week is moving quickly! We continue to connect more with children and adults alike, using our Spanish when we can!

Divine Shepherd Church- Monday

Today began with a tour of the grounds. We learned of EV's history and development. Next phase is a permanent school for the children.

Afternoon was our first planned activity with the kids. We performed a skit about Mary and Martha. Theme was listening to God's Word. Craft was making giant listening ears.

Followed with soccer and nail polishing.
We are building relationships with the kids and getting to know them. God is good!

Divine Shepherd Church - Sunday

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." -Matthew 16:24


We arrived in Esperanza Viva in Puebla, Mexico, after 14 hours(!) of travelling on Saturday. We moved from van to plane to coach bus to van with 19 pieces of luggage, 10 of which were filled with donations. On Sunday, we took a school bus with several children and staff from EV to Nations Church in the city of Puebla. Many of us were brought to tears during worship and during the message. After worshipping, we broke off into teams to lead small group activities with the children. The afternoon was spent in Cholula, eating lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant (live music provided :) ) and sightseeing.

In the evening, we ate dinner at EV and played with the children outside. The children are as eager to interact with us as we are eager to "love on" them.

The Divine Shepherd Church missions team has made it here safely after a long day of travel!

The Divine Shepherd Church missions team has made it here safely after a long day of travel! We are glad to have them here with us and are expectant for what the Lord has in store for them in their first-ever missions trip to Esperanza Viva!

See pictures and more by following them on Facebook throughout their visit.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingHopeInt

Cross Way Church Team

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

It was an awesome and busy day. We started with a nice devotional and nice breakfast. We have a very good team who worked well together while doing the hard labor. It was fun getting to know all the children sponsored from Crossway Church.

Then we also had a special story time, so we could present a special quilt to Sandra and David. So great here having time to get to know our sponsored children. We are having a great time getting to know and group is also becoming closer every day.

We ended the day with a nice dinner and a great devotion.

I hope everyone can experience the feeling and Holy Spirit in person.

-Ann

Cross Way Church Team

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

We started the day with an awesome time of fellowship and prayer. We are bonding so well as a group. What a blessing.

The kids were back in school today so we started with a work project this morning. We dug holes for the new swing sets they were putting in for the kids.

We dog 8 holes which were 80cm deep and four feet wide. It wasn´t the easiest task when the ground is like clay. It was interesting watching all of the women swinging axes to break up the ground. It is a good feeling to accomplish a task. It was surprising to see how winded we all got so fast working in the higher elevation.

It was nice to have the sun shining on us today to warm us.

It´s no where near as cold here as back home, but it´s been chilly.

We had playtime with the kids again in the afternoon. Several kids wanted to make hats again. We never thought they would be such a hit. The kids were also playing with new toys they received from a local sponsor to celebrate Three Kings Day.

We met before supper with the Staff from Esperanza Viva for a time of fellowship & prayer. The Staff has blessed us so much so we wanted to do something special for them. We decided to sing a worship song for them in Spanish their language. We learned the song “We Fall Down” by Chris Tomlin. I thing we did pretty well and I know they appreciated our effort. Gail and Ann made a bunch of scarves too and gave a beautiful scarf to each of the ladies on Staff. The Staff prayed over us and we all talked later about feeling the Presence of the Holy Spirit in the room with us.

What a powerful afternoon.

We were treated to hamburgers tonight. We have enjoyed trying all the local food, but it was nice to have a hamburger tonight.

Cross Way Church Team

Monday, January 6, 2014

Since today was a holiday here in Mexico the kids had off of school. So we had the whole day to keep them occupied with crafts and games.

We started off with making hats. We brought about 10 looms with us that we handed out to the kids and to our surprise they consisted mostly of boys. While those kids worked on their hats other kids were working on puzzles and playing card games. We noticed the kids are little tricksters at any game they played. They love to win and we love to see them having a good time so we let them slide from time to time. After lunch we picked back up with finishing the hats and brought out coloring books for the rest. They were a big hit. It was so windy today that some of the kids figured out that they could get their paper airplanes to fly over the tents. The guys started one of their projects for the week early this morning working on sound absorbing boards for the Nations Church. They spent the majority of the day working on that while we bonded with the kids. So far we are off to a great start and have already started noticing the gifts we have to offer the children and Staff here. God has us all here for a reason and we are excited to continue figuring those reasons out throughout the rest of the week.