Thursday, October 20

July Mission trip to Quimichis

In July our family along with 9 other people from Vida Nueva Church piled into our van and headed south to Quimichis, Nayarit.  I've been wanting to post photos ever since, but time just keeps getting away from me!  Now, however, another team is preparing to travel to the village of Quimichis.  I decided that I absolutely HAD to get the photos from the first trip posted -- before the team left on the second trip!

And so, here we are -- a bunch of pics from our time in the village of Quimichis.  It was truly amazing.  I'm not sure if the photos will convey everything I'd like to share, but maybe you'll get a feel for what the village is like and maybe some idea of what we did while we were there.

Crossing the state border from Sinaloa to Nayarit, vendors line the road.  Every one of them is selling sliced mango and dried shrimp.  Bet you can guess what fruit was in season!


When we arrived in Quimichis, I grabbed my camera and just started taking pictures.  I just love this shot!

This is the house across the street from where we stayed.


While we waited to find out where we'd be sleeping, the kids pulled out a soccer ball and taught the neighborhood kids a new game: dodge ball!  It was a hit!


This man has a huge basket on the back of his motorbike.  He rides up and down the streets of Quimichis every day, selling bread -- and OH it was good bread!

This is the house where we stayed for the week. The family who lives here told us to make ourselves at home. They decided to take advantage of having someone to watch the place and went on a vacation!

Throughout the week, children stopped by.  Several times we noticed that we had quite a group of youngsters hanging around, so Evie and Sister Eugenia did an impromptu kids' class.
Children weren't the only ones who stopped in to visit.  Seeing that several of our team members played guitar, a couple of young men from the village stopped by to "jam".

It was decided that the outreaches would be held at the intersection.  The men dug a hole -- yes, right in the middle of the street -- for a post to hold up a tarp so that the sun wouldn't be too strong and so we'd have a few moments to quickly pack up electronics, if it started to rain (which it didn't -- total miracle!!!).
Everyone pitched in to prepare meals.  Shelling this many shrimp is definitely a team project!
Felipe and Yadira and their family share some traditional, ranchero-style music at the beginning of each of the 3 outreaches. (I took video, but our internet is WAY too slow to upload it. :^) )
Our drama teams shared a different drama each night.  They were very impacting!

After the dramas, kids under 12 were dismissed for a kids' class which was hosted by Sister Blanca and the youth.  If it looks like some of these kids are older than 12, that's because they are.  We had about 40 kids the first night and as many as 60 the last night.  It was wonderful!  A bit stressful at times, but wonderful!

Every morning, our team gathered out in front of the house for group devotions.  By the second or third morning, we had 5 or 6 people from the village join us.  One woman walked all the way across town, just so she could join us to pray and read God's word.

We saw God work in so many ways during this trip!!!  The whole trip was covered in much prayer and fasting, and we believe that this made all the difference.  Looking at these pictures reminds me of so many stories!  I do want to share one wonderful thing which happened...

In this photo, Pastor Misael is sharing Jesus with a man who lives a couple of doors down from where we were staying.  The night before, the man and his wife had been sitting outside one their porch, enjoying the cool breeze, when Eugenia, Misael's wife walked by.  She stopped to talk for a few minutes and learned that the woman, who was sitting very still, had suffered a stroke 12 years ago.  Since that day she had not been able to talk coherently, only could walk with assistance and needed constant care.  Eugenia told me later that she looked into the woman's eyes and saw confusion; when she tried to talk, she only babbled.  Eugenia asked the man if she could pray for them.  When he agreed, she laid her hand on the woman's shoulder and prayed for healing.  Then she said goodnight and went "home".

The next evening, the man and woman were out on their porch again.  This was the second night of the outreach, and the music was going strong.  Eugenia caught my attention and told me to look at the man and the woman -- he was singing, and she was clapping.  He reported later that she had awakened that morning in her right mind and talking normally.

God is so good, and His mercy is forever!!!!

Thank you again to each of you who supports us with prayer!  We believe that we saw God work in so many powerful ways because of the amount of prayer being lifted on our behalf.  I don't know how it works, but the Bible does say that the "fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much".  I don't understand it, but I'll take it!!!

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