Thursday - Cadereyta

And the best of the best of the best has come...

Thursday was full of all kinds of experiences for the NSV team. Our original plans were to spend the day aat Cadereyta, a much larger version of the Rio - the home of the poorest of the poor. This area houses over 1000 people. These people were relocated after Hurricane Emily forced them out of their homes a couple of years ago. The government provided them new land and built cement blocks for them to begin rebuilding their homes (and lives) over from the ground up. Tarps, cardboard, and scraps would still be their means to build...but they were still looking forward to starting over again instead of meandering their way through the streets of Monterrey. Because of the intensity of the storms from the previous day and night, it was too muddy to work the full day at Cadereyta. So, we went back to Meme's Rio (the smaller squatter's village) for the 1st half of the day and spent time with the people there, did a food outreach, and got measurements to more securely affix the bridge to the ground that NSV helped build a couple of years back - the bridge that, by God's grace, saved many lives! The sun was hiding for most of the day and with our area to serve and love on the folks there now a small lake, it seemed to be a more sullen place. However, the kids brought the place alive, as did those who were intentionally seeking out others to pray for them. We were only there a short time so please forgive the lack of pictures!

We then took the bus about 25 mintues to Cadereyta. We stopped along the way at 7-11 to eat lunch and grab some snacks before heading over. Once we got to Cadereyta, we were immediately greeted by about 35-40 folks who were smiling ear to ear to see "los americanos". We circled up to get the history behind this area and ask God to be conduits of His blessing while we were there. We saw the beginning construction of a soup kitchen and church where we parked. The soup kitchen will help provide 2 meals a week for the adults and children there. The land alone for this cost around $7,000. B2B is still trusting God for the rest of the funds for this but are expectant that He will again come through for these people. Again, the reason B2B provides so much care for these people is largely due to the fact that many of the children that fill the children's homes come from areas such as these. Instead of coming alongside dozens of "rios" and dozens of children's homes, they choose to go a mile deep instead with 2 squatter's villages and 7 children's homes. We love that.

Here the pictures you see are of the team doing various things. When we first got there, a group gathered to fit kids for shoes. Most of the children were running around barefoot and were up to their knees in mud. A team spent time literally washing the feet of kids and fitting them as best as possible with a pair of shoes. Talk about major deposits of love into their little lives...

Others of us immediately began preparations for the meal we were going to serve them. That involved filling cups of water, cutting up cabbage, and setting up each station. They ate a meal similiar to tostadas. They had a large crispy shell with refried beans, "crema" - similar to sour cream, topped with cabbage and "salsa" - which accompanies ALL mexican meals in huge amounts, so we've learned! "Mas salsa, mas salsa, por favor!"

The high school guys immediately took to the young boys there. They put them on their backs and began racing with them down the street. Their energy was limitless. They were covered in mud from head to toe from running up and down the street but the giggles and smiles from ear to ear were priceless. The adults were awe struck watching them pour out their lives emotionally and physically and making enormous deposits into the hearts of these little ones. The pastor thanked them specifically at the end of the day saying he had never seen those kids smile so much. If you are a parent of one of the high school guys, you should be VERY proud!!

After Cadereyta, we went back to campus to pick up some of the ladies (and Chad) who were not feeling so great that day and stayed behind. We also picked up some of the little guys that hung out with the staff kids too. Off the team went to Pollo Loco - where they had chicken tacos and nachos and endless fountain coca-cola and coca-cola light!

After dinner, we braved the pouring rain and headed to the little palapa for last night of debriefing. It was clear that the Lord was already on the move before sitting down - the reality of the last night in this place was moving many to tears already. Because Chad was still really sick, Sally stepped up to take over leading worship by playing piano. Talk about a God ordained moment...it was a joy to have her lead us into worship and communion time. We missed Chad but it was a great opportunity to see the Lord raise up another leader!

During communion time, groups nestled together to pray and thank God for all He had done and we knew this was the beginning of a special night. I was in and out checking on Chad...and updating him on what God was doing...I'll let your friends and family give you specific details...but what I saw was nothing less than God's presence thick within our team. It was pouring rain and a group of guys stood outside the palapa anyway praying together and receiving from the Lord. The little girls did the same, thanking God that He worked in and through them this week. All in all, 13 team members decided to get baptized this night right on campus in the pool at B2B. Unfortunately, Chad and I weren't there to capture pictures...but we listened from our room to the celebration that followed each one - in fact, we thought it was the other team due to the explosion of cheering after each baptism. Thankfully the rest of the team took pictures! We also have some video of it and look forward to sharing that with you if you are interested!!

It was a great week...this team really connected...and experienced what deep, rich community is all about...pull them aside as you see them in Meijer, at Panera, or at NSV on Sunday mornings. Ask them what it was like to offer themselves, what God did in and through them, and how they are changed as a result. There is so much to share!! Thanks for sharing it with us on this blog...

The Powers' still have a few weeks in Monterrey, so stay tuned for more stories in the near future!!

Tuesday and Wednesday...

Alright, so I'm a little bit behind! As we'll see over the course of the next few days, Mexico is the land of extremes! When it's sunny outside, it's extremely hot... When it rains here, it pours!! When you get sick here, it's awful (I, Chad, got really sick this week)... You work hard, you play hard, you eat until you're full, and you sleep like a rock...

So in order to catch up we'll start with Tuesday... Tuesday we went to a new children's home called Rayitos de Luz (Little Rays of Light)... This children's home was started by a couple who lived in the Rio (the poorest of the poor, the ones who build their homes out of garbage)... For years they couldn't have children of their own, so upon praying about their situation they felt like God was moving them to take in kids who needed a place to go... So they took their entire life savings and bought a small house in the city... They initially took in 5 kids who were all of the same family... Shortly after that they added 13 more! They all lived in this little cinder block home that was pretty beat down... Then a grandmother of one of the kids came and kidnapped him, telling the house parents that the living conditions were unsafe... So the family moved down the street in a rented house...

This is where we worked on Tuesday... They needed a little more bunk space and a little more organization to their new house... All 18 people slept in 2 rooms (2 queen beds, 2 twin beds)... And remember, this situation is way better than where they came from! Some people worked on shelving (moving old shelves and building new ones), some people organized the kitchen, some people played with the kids, some people fortified the front wall (they already had their TV stolen), some people folded and restacked their laundry, some people worked on the roof... It was a busy, busy day!

Here Mark and Paul are working on securing the post for the new front wall... Currently there's just a half front wall, and pretty much anyone can hop over and take whatever they want... This will make it nearly impossible for anyone to get in or out without a key...





Slick Vic and Quick Nick worked on sealing the ceiling... The Sello (sealant) keeps out water and bugs, and it's white to reflect the sunlight making the inside cooler... These guys were working pretty hard! You can hardly see up there because the light reflecting off the sello was soooo bright!

This is the bunk bed that I (Chad) worked on most of the day... Hopefully this will help ease their sleeping situation problems a little... They really need about 3 more of these... at least... But now instead of 18 people sleeping on 4 beds there will be 18 people across 6 beds... Cozy!

After working we got to take the kids to a movie! This is a pretty rare treat for these kids, so they were super excited! We saw Shrek Tercero (todo en Español)... Jen got to take Jose, who absolutely loved the whole experience!



That evening, after saying goodbye to the kids, we came back to LDM (that's the place we're staying - Lugar de Misericordia - in spanish it means Place of Mercy)... We had dinner and then Debriefing... For Debriefing we worship and then sit in a big circle to talk about our day... We start off by sharing our Picture of the Day, which is the one thing we don't want to forget about each day... We all see and experience so much while we're down here, and the Picture of the Day helps us to sum our experiences...


Wednesday!

Wednesday started off with the SMCA Groundbreaking... SMCA (Smicka) is the Sierra Madre Christian Academy, and it's where the kids of the missionary families go to school... This is a huge deal for the families here! Mexico is a very, very relational culture, so it's really important for the people who come down here to stay down here... The longer the families can stay the deeper their impact while they're here... One of the main things that forces the families to move is education... Parents want their kids to have a good education and it's hard to find down here... There are very few International Schools down here, and the parents would have to spend a lot of time and energy just transporting their kids to and from school... It's hard enough to live down here, pouring your life out to the people you serve, to worry about anything else that might otherwise drain your energy...

So, they need a school for their kids... A proper school building with resources (computers, books, study areas) for the kids will make a huge difference in a family's willingness to stay for the long haul... Our community at Northstar got together and raised enough money to build a schoolhouse for the families here... It is basically a three-room structure with bathrooms that can be used for many purposes... There are 2 classrooms, and the room between the classrooms will be used as a computer lab/study area/project center... In the summer when the kids are not in school this space can also be used to house more teams to come down... All the space at LDM is currently maxed out!

So the SMCA groundbreaking is a huge deal for the families down here... We had a ceremony where kids from SMCA introduced themselves, quoted Scripture, and gave us a picture of our investment in their lives... Todd did some vision-casting and thanked us for our help... John outlined the layout and construction of the building... Beth cried (she's going to hate that I put that in here)... And we all prayed for the building, it's construction, and it's ministry...

A big "Thank You" to Northstar for their continuing investment in the work of God here...

So after the groundbreaking we worked on the property... There's always stuff to do here, so we grabbed our work clothes and got ready to dive in... Some people worked on house 3 (the house that's almost finished), some people worked on house 4, some people worked on the new bathrooms between the big Palapa and the pool, some people worked on moving a tree, some people worked on sorting donations...

Here is a picture of the Bodega... The Bodega is a big barn a that's used for tool storage, a workshop, a place to store donations, and any other overflow storage that's needed...

On house three we worked on prepping the electric upstairs and installing shelving for the pantry... Here's a picture of me (Courtesy of Eric Weller) cutting down the shelving units to fit in the pantry...

Check out the paint job on those bathrooms! Tanya and Kathy are giving a beautiful facelift to the bathrooms by the Palapa! This is going to be a huge blessing for the kids who come to LDM for pool parties... Not to mention it will be so much better for us since the closest bathroom is a pretty good hike up the hill!

These guys were in charge of moving a tree... The tree unfortunately sat in the middle of a new soccer field, and since it's a nice tree we decided to try to save it... The new home for the tree is only about 20 feet away from its previous location, so it was a little bit maddening! But these guys worked really hard and got it done! As you can see, it was a pretty dirty job, but no amount of mud or pain or frustration could deter these guys... They were unstoppable!

After the work at LDM we cleaned up, had lunch, and made our way to PLAZA SESAMO!! We met the kids from Rayitos de Luz (who we hung out with on Tuesday) and a few kids from another childrens home and made a great day of it! It wasn't nearly as hot as it usually is, so we didn't spend the entire time in the waterpark area... We actually spent most of our time riding the rides in the amusement park area...

We went from the "rides" area of the park to the waterpark... We spent about an hour in the waterpark then took the kids to get some dinner in the park restaurant... Here's picture of Jen with Jose and Antonio... Antonio is on staff with Back2Back and is a great, great guy!

Our whole time at Plaza Sesamo it looked like it was about to storm... On our bus ride home the rains came down! When it rains, it really pours here... The streets were flooded, but the cars just kept plowing through the water...

Wednesday night, I got pretty sick... I was completely out for Thursday, so Jen is going to do the blog update for yesterday! Thanks for all your encouraging comments! It really helps us feel like there is purpose in taking our time to do this!

Two for the price of One!

We got back pretty late last night and it was hectic, hectic! We didn't have much time to post about the day, so we've got to bring you up to speed pretty quickly... Today is Monday, yesterday was Sunday... Sunday started out with church... We went to church at Nuevo Pacto where the staff attends church...

It is a pretty large church, so it didn't feel like the whole congregation was staring at us wondering what we were doing there! The music was great - great musicians, great feel, great saxophone (surprisingly)... During worship Jordan felt led to pray for an elderly woman, so he prayed, she prayed, they smiled and hugged and cried and then sat together for the whole service...

After the service we ate lunch at a park then headed to the Rio... If you remember from a previous post last week the Rio is a community of people who live down by the river... They are the poorest of the poor... It's basically a squatter's village... They pick through trash and leftover construction supplies to build their homes... We brought them food and crafts and donations and hope... It was a great, great way to spend the day...

Karen Holliday held this little guy for 5 hours (alright, maybe only 3 hours, but she never let go of him the entire time!)... It was great because she got to talk to the little dude's mom (who knew quite a bit of English!), so they were able to truly enjoy each other's company the whole afternoon...

Tanya Hubers did a great job cutting hair for much of the day... She just told me a story that she had a pretty bad headache on the way to the Rio, but she prayed that the pain wouldn't inhibit her from serving... She said she didn't feel any pain until she finished the final haircut... Amazing!

Greg Holliday was helping stir the pot of spaghetti sauce to perfection... Here he is with Meme, who lives in the Rio... Meme works with Back2Back helping out the staff families, but she chooses to live in the Rio because it's her community and this is where she most effectively serves and loves her neighbors...

Jen and Kathy started helping out with the haircutting... This is a great way to serve these people because it means that they don't have to pay someone to cut it... Imagine if you didn't have access to regular haircuts... We, as humans, become so self-conscious about our appearance that our identity gets wrapped up into it... Giving these kids haircuts is like renewing their whole personality...

There is a man who lives in the Rio who has a horse-drawn delivery cart... Once you think about it, it makes pretty good sense... No one is going to come to the Rio to buy a drink, or some beans, anything else for that matter... So this guy takes that stuff out to the people where they will be able to access his goods... Hmmm... Sounds like a good church metaphor! Here Mark hitches a ride in the field above the Rio...

When we finally said our goodbyes at the Rio we loaded up the bus and went to this great place called "Tacos Fede"... Fede is the name of the guy who owns Tacos Fede and he makes some really, really good Tacos... You can have your choice of Beef, Pork, Beef and Pork, or grilled Steak! They all come in a tortilla with cheese, and the table has a few different salsa choices to spread over your mound of meaty goodness... This place is legendary around here! It's open from 7PM until 3AM, with the busiest hours between 11 and 2... Jen and I went there last week, but I didn't have my camera... If you're ever in Monterrey, just ask around for Tacos Fede and you won't be disappointed!

After dinner we gathered with the other group that's here (Southbrook Christian Church, near Dayton)... We played a game called Birdie on a Perch where people pair up and walk around in two opposing circles... When the music stops the person who is the Birdie has to find the person that is the Perch and sit on his or her knee... It's like an instant and hilarious traffic jam... We worshipped, debriefed, and settled in for a nice, cool evening of sleep...

A new day!

Monday we worked at Casa Hogar Douglas (CHD) all day... CHD is about a mile from where we stay so we sent the supplies ahead of us and we all walked there... This area we are in is something else... All of these dilapidated houses everywhere... But some of these folks have really nice cars... It turns out that this is actually a pretty wealthy area... This neighborhood used to be mainly thought of as a retirement community... Sometimes people have a home here and a home somewhere more close to their family... The buildings don't look that nice, but the land is incredibly expensive... Since we sit between two ranges of mountains there is really only one direction for the city to grow... Imagine if all the main development in the Cincinnati area (West Chester, Milford, Beechmont, Mason, Loveland, etc.) had to be squeezed into a few miles on either side of I-71... So land here is literally more expensive per square acre than it is in Indian Hill in Cincinnati! Unbelievable...


So here is a picture of us at Casa Hogar Douglas... Todd explained some of the history of CHD and also some of the projects we had to work on... There was plenty to do! Some people built picnic tables, some worked on roughing in the electric on the new Palapa, some worked on tearing apart old playground equipment, some pulled out concrete forms, some built new concrete forms, some shoveled gravel, and some worked on a fence at the back of the property...

Everyone worked incredibly hard and we got a lot of stuff done... After lunch we continued working, but some of us got to play with the kids who were just getting out of school!


Here is a picture of the Sport Court that we worked on last summer... It is finally finished! The kids absolutely love this thing, it gives them an all-weather playing surface that won't make them dirty or dusty... It's so cool to come back this year and see the finished product... It also helps us to see the big picture of our work projects... We know that the work we are doing now is the foundation of the finished product... It's great do to things that are so meaningful!

BROWNIES!

This is a THANK YOU to our sweet friend Jessie who sent the Northstar Team Leader, Mark Weller, with 2 giant packages of brownies just for Chad and I. For those of you who have not had the privilege of diving into Jessie's brownies...I'm really sad for you!! She has a way of making the most perfect brownie - a great balance of chewy and fudgy and downright delicious. Jess, thanks so much for thinking of us. We've not had a lot of chocolate here...so this is a huge treat! We love that you know us well enough to know how to really bless our socks off. I miss you a ton and pray that you are well! See you soon, friend! :) Love to you - Jen

Happy Fathers Day!!

So, it's 10:37 pm...but still FATHER'S DAY!! We've been out since 7:45 am this morning...but could not allow the day to close without wishing our incredible dads a Happy Father's Day. So, here goes...

Thank you for rallying behind us...for trusting us...for encouraging us...for challenging us...for being available to us...for working so crazy hard over the years to provide for us...for everything. No blog has enough space for us to adequately describe how incredible you are. Just thanks...again and again and again...to the moon and back. Love you - Jen & Chad

Northstar Arrival

The Northstar team is here after surviving a few hiccups along the way... If you haven't heard yet there was a pretty cumbersome process that involved navigating the ever-changing-passport-rules-while-traveling-to-Mexico as well as a lot of "pulling strings" with some people in the passport processing office... They got that mostly sorted out, but then their flight from Indianapolis to Dallas was delayed (which meant they missed their flight in Dallas)... But it really only cost them a few hours, which is probably good because there was crazy traffic between here and the airport... The picture of Jen shows her looking out the bus window at the traffic (oil tanker spill, 14 car pileup, hours of waiting)... It's interesting in Mexico when there's an accident! First of all, everyone stops to look... And not just a passing glance - they want all the details... I guess they figure they've waited their turn so they want to see as much as they can... But then you have to wait for a representative from each of the insurance companies to get there to document everything... So you can imagine - traffic backed up for hours, everyone waiting for the police and the insurance representatives to get there, but the insurance folks are stuck in the same traffic! Crazy!

Some of the team members were pretty tired by the time they got to the bus... Jordan found the bumpy, non-airconditioned bus to be the perfect place for a quick and peaceful nap!
As soon as we got back to LDM (the camp) we stashed our bags and ran down to the Palapa to eat... After dinner Beth briefed us on some rules and gave us a picture of what the week is going to look like... Then we did some worship and headed straight to bed... We are ridiculously excited that the Northstar team is here... It's going to be a great, great week...

La Huasteca

Well, yesterday was kind of a day off... The CHCA teams left early, early, early in the morning, so we got up a little later than normal... We made some breakfast and had a staff meeting at 8:30... During the staff meetings we talk about the week prior for a little bit... We go over some highlights and try to tighten up any loose issues from the week... Then we start talking about the next week, go over responsibilities, and discuss any potential gaps we might not have thought about up until this point... The staff here is great! They have great hearts and a great ability to work together... This summer will be a great experience in learning to live in community well with others... I already have some thoughts about making it work, but I want to discuss some of this stuff with the staff to make sure I'm not jumping to conclusions...

So, onward... Jen was pretty tired after the meeting so she went back to our room and read a little bit and took a nap... I went with John over to one of the houses we're working on and hung some doors... It's really hard to do finishing work on the houses because they are either not level or out of plumb... It's hard to work with the building materials (not much drywall or plaster here)... The walls are all a masonry material so they are wavy... Wavy is not good... But we're working with it!

After lunch we loaded up with the interns and John and Corrie and headed out... Fridays are mostly a day off for interns - no work, just a morning meeting... So every Friday one of the staff takes them out somewhere cool... This Friday we went to a place called La Huesteca (pronounced West Tecka)... It's one of the most famous places in the world for mountain climbing... And it's also the place where they filmed Lord of the Rings... just teasing, but it sure looks like it... There is a big open field that sits surrounded by mountains...

We decided to hike up to one of the caves, which was great but a little precarious (see the picture)... If we were in the states we would have to sign a bunch of waivers and swear that we would never sue anyone there ever and sign it in DNA-readable blood ink... But since we're in Mexico we just started hiking! It was great, and there were really only a few tricky places... If we would have had more time we would have kept going (I can't imagine the pictures that were waiting up there!)...


After we got down the mountain we were pretty hungry, so we went to this all-you-can-eat buffet place called Sirloin Stockade... We ate a lot of food... We ate about $20 worth of food each, but there was a special going on so we each ended up paying under 5 bucks per person... We came home worn out and headed straight for bed...

Today's been pretty good, some work in the morning and some basketball in the afternoon... There's not too much to do once the camp is clean... We just kind of relax and wait for the teams... This week there are two teams - one from Northstar and one from Southbrook... I heard both of them are delayed, so the waiting continues! I'll post some more pictures later...

I have been waiting for this day all my life...

There has never been an answer to one of my life's greatest questions...

Until now...

I have pondered this mystery for years... Throughout my childhood it was always been just out of my grasp... In my youth I spent countless hours studying an entire show devoted to the discovery of this up-until-now-seemingly-mystical place... But it IS real... I knew it... No longer will the jingle in my head taunt me... No longer will I fall asleep wondering... I have seen with my own eyes... I have entered and partaken in the great mystery...

The Great Mystery that is Plaza Sesamo.

It is clear to me now that the reason I could never find the answer to the questioning jingle, "Can you tell me how to get, how to get to "Plaza Sesamo" was because they've gone into hiding... If only we were from Central America! Clearly the main Bird character has gone into hiding because he's completely changed his colors... No more canary yellow for the big bird...

Sunny day...
sweepin' the clouds away,
on my way to where the air is sweet...

Can you tell me how to get,
how to get to Plaza Sesamo?

Come and play,
everything's a-okay.
Friendly neighbors there,
that's where we meet

Can you tell me how to get,
how to get to Plaza Sesamo?


OK... seriously now... Plaza Sesamo is a theme park (bet you can't guess the theme)... We took kids from a few different orphanages there today... I paired up with my buddy Dean and we grabbed some kids (Isaac, 7, and Carlos, 6) and made a day of it... It was really hot today... Really, really hot... Plaza Sesamo is divided into two areas - a theme park with rides and a waterpark... Carlos and Isaac went straight for the water park and that was fine with Dean and me! That is, until we realized we had to walk around the waterpark barefoot... Our feet were screaming hot!! It was incredibly and intensely painful...

The only Spanish we needed to know today was "Otra Vez!!!" Otra Vez means "one more time" And if I hear "Otra Vez" one more time I'm going to pass out!

There was a really cool area in the middle of the waterpark that was a little water playland... Although I was sure we had lost our little dudes in there dozens of times... They just get so excited they can't stay put...

Jen still can't get in the water because of her toe so she stayed with the little orphan babies who can't swim... She played with this little girl for a long time until she finally sang her to sleep... Jen wants to adopt every little baby in Mexico, starting with this little girl!

So we got to hang out with those kids all afternoon, then we fed them dinner... Today seemed really long, maybe because I got up really early to run again... After running we ate breakfast, spent some time on the Bible Study we're doing for the week, and then had some free time while the group from CHCA cleaned up the camp... Jen went back to the place we're staying to take a short nap... I walked around and started figuring out ways to take a bunch of pictures and stitch them together into one larger picture... I've just been so dissatisfied with my ability to communicate through pictures... They're great and all, but they're just not enough... If you were here you would be able to see that these pictures I'm sending are just a glimpse of the beauty and majesty and splendor of this place...

This evening, after Plaza Sesamo, we had our own dinner and then went to worship... After that we spent some time saying goodbye to the CHCA group that's been here all week... We're really going to miss them, they are great people... We had such a great time getting to know them, and we both will take away several lasting memories from this week...

So it's off to bed, and ready for tomorrow... We have a meeting early, but most of the day is free... We're thinking about going with one of the staff couples and the interns to a park that is a huge field in a beautiful canyon... I'm telling you, we're surrounded by beauty here...


Until we post again, here are some more pictures of the mysterious and wonderful
Plaza Sesamo!