Wrapping it up

Well, you probably know that our team is home and back to work or school for most of us.  We want to let you know how the rest of the week went and some impressions along the way.  Thank you again for following our blog and supporting us throughout the week.


We spent our last day in Progreso (Friday) with some more home visits for the women, wrapping up construction projects and finished sorting clothes.  A small group from our team walked down to the school and found the principal and teachers outside with the school children.  We were warmly welcomed and we presented a copy of "Tu Eres Especial" (You Are Special) to the teachers.  The principal spoke English so that was great for translation.  They thanked us many times for our part in the beginning with the school and said we could come back anytime!

Our afternoon block party had around 100 kids where we had games, face painting, music, crafts and prizes given away.  Then there is the goodbye to the children of Progreso which is the hardest part.  The fiesta is always a highlight and a good ending point to celebrate with the kids and display God's love for them.
The team ended their night with a Valentines/sweetheart dinner with friends at Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Saturday was a free day for fishing, shopping, river walk and time with friends, concluding with a traditional good-bye dinner with sharing from both teams.  Sunday afternoon was spent in Mazatlan with lunch at Ponchos and some time on the beach for walking, shopping or para-sailing.

It is difficult to sum up a week long trip that is part of a ten year plus adventure with our friends in Culiacan.  Many exciting things happened this past week, so we want to try to paint a picture of some of those here:
1.  It is exciting to see that God is at work in Culiacan, Mexico!  and in our own lives as we were spiritually challenged and encouraged.
2.   It is always a humbling experience working with our friends in Mexico.  We are enriched by our cross culture experiences, with four cultures or more coming together.  These mingling cultures are: suburban St. Paul, Culiacan, those living in poverty  and an area of 2% population consider themselves Christians. We bless each other and work together for a common goal.  We have much to learn from each other as it is not a one-way exchange.
3.  We saw the commitment of our sister church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, to continuing work in Progreso. Cipriano, Arnoldo and Gaby are very involved in the work there along with Esperanza and others.
4.As a result of some meetings last week, it seems there are exciting new possibiiltes of connections with officials (city, state and country) and the school in Progreso.
5.   Our opportunity as well as accomplishments of displaying Christ's care and love for us all was like a wonderful display of color in the drab and dirty area of Progreso.
6.  It is always a challenge when we return from these trips that we carry the experience and our reactions into our daily lives.  It is our desire and prayer that the work continues and lives are affected long term, not just for a flash.
Thank you again for your love and support for our team.  May the growth and work carry on...

Friday and Saturday and Sunday

Hola.  Just a quick note to let you know that we will finish the blog when we get home and settled. 
Friday was basically preparation for the afternoon block party where we had over 100 children attend.
Saturday has been a free day and Sunday evening is when we will return home really really late. (actually Monday morning).
There is more to tell, so  you will have to wait.
all around it has been a great trip with a great team.
Until then,
P&J

Thursday

Buenos dias.
News flash and updates from Progreso:
1.  Progreso school - its always good to walk down to the school where our work first started in Progreso, so a small group from our team did just that.  The original school had 3 walls made of tar paper, two rooms, and a dirt floor. We patched walls, poured a cement floor and fixed up the desks.  This caused the government to take a look at what we had done and they acted and start building a nice school, and it has grown and improved each year.  It now has 6 buildings with a large patio inbetween, along with a nice fenced in school yard, and a new large, roofed cement slab play area.  Things are clean and have bright colors and the kids wear uniforms.  It is a happy place to visit. 
2.  Last night there was a meeting that included Pastor David, Marco (president of the Baptist Churches in Sinaloa) and some Mexican officials from the city, state and whole country.  There was much discussion of how the churches could be involved in the school and encourage positive activity for the students and also to have a presence in the prisons in the area.  To make a very long and very exciting story short, the city official was a women whos first project was the colonia of Progreso, so it is dear to her heart.  When she heard that Pastor David and the church (including North Haven) has been working in Progreso and  helped with the school and are now building the church building, she was very excited and said "what do you need?  I can get it for you!  Do you need land, radio time, etc?"  Well, David and Marco were jus overwhelmed and wowed by what God is doing here.  Stay tuned for exciting future developments!!!
3.  The agricultural crisis as mentioned in an earlier blog has resulted in about 90% of the crops being destroyed which means employment crises, price increases, and other economic issues because Sinola produces the major amount of the crops in Mexico.  The President of Mexico will be flying into Culiacan tomorrow (Friday) sometime to have a press conference to sign some type of a welfare proclamation to fund the agricultural crisis.  (probably disaster relief equivalent).  This should be very interesting with his security detail.
4.  We distributed more food bags today and spent time with the people of Progreso.  Another afternoon children's program included a fabulous skit by Angel (Linda), Prisoner Peter (Randy), some tough looking prison guards (Trey and Bob) with the dramatic reading by Paul.  This was followed by an evening evangelistic service.  Our team sang a song (in English) for the crowd/.  They did not ask for an encore!

We spent a lot of time on the roof tonight after our day was over, discussing our week and its impact on all of us.  We all agree it was a great week that went too fast.  Seeing the needs of others really shocks us out of our own little comfort zone, and puts lifes issues into priority.  Knowing that God has the whole world in his hands and loves us all so much, gives us the reason to come to Culiacan.  We have been blessed by the people here, and also our teammates have blessed each other.

We will be wrapping up our week with a Fiesta Block Party tomorrow afteroon.  Please continue to pray for our team and our final days here.

Muchas gracias,
P&J

Wednesday

Wow - what a day......
Wow because we were able to see past the "projects" and focus on the people.  We enjoyed the journey,not just the tasks.  A very full day with similar activities as mentioned in the previous posts.  Our team seemed more seamless today - we moved together well.  We distributed the food bags today to many homes.  The families really appreciated the food, especially one who's husband has just lost his job.  Some of us walked up and down the streets stopping at homes visiting, inviting them to the services tonight and tomorrow night.  The Mexican people are so warm and friendly and often invite us to come into thier property and sit and chat for a bit.  It is so heartwarming and enjoyable to sit with them in their humble abodes and share life stories and encouragement from the Bible and our life experiences.


For the childrens Bible school Pam and Steve shared the story of the boat twice owned.  We all sang He's Got The Whole World In His Hands with the motions, and even tried it in Spanish, but that didn't go over too well.  Yoko taught us the Oragami folds to make a boat for a craft.  The puppets made the kids squeal with joy as always.  Another event that the kids enjoyed was the clown that came tonight to share his talents and enthusiasm with the kids, weaving in bible stories.  He held their attention for a very long time.
The highlight for us all was the evening service.  The church  at Progreso, House of Hope, is still under construction, yet we had our first real service in the "sanctuary".  The city donated a stage which was set up, the Three Amigos musicians were on stage, and we had an awesome sunset as the backdrop.  Two members of our team shared how Jesus has changed their lives - transforming them, after some very low points in their lives and struggles with addictions.  Pastor David preached with enthusiasm and passion.  It was a great night to remember, especially for those of us who have worked here in Progreso since our first time here. 
We are lacking in sleep a bit, but that's usually the norm.  Everyone seems in good health and usually remembers to put their sunscreen on. (Yes, the SUN is shining).  Have we mentioned the food is really good?  :)

For the team,
Peggy and John

Tuesday

We began our day Tuesday with an early breakfast in Progreso with 36 kids at the church site.  We served up a warm breakfast of eggs and ham, tortillas, beans, fruit, tamales, and OJ.  It was fun to see the kids eating breakfast on the tables covered with tablecloths that the kids from North Haven Wednesday night club had written sweet messages on.  Once breakfast was over, the kids from Progreso wrote on tablecloths that will be returned with the team.  Great idea!

The construction work continued on the walls and chairs. The numero uno bano was finished and the inaugural flush was done.  We all say GRACIAS!!!!  We spent a lot of time with the children and playing with them.  We ordered bread from the family next to the church who have a brick oven in their back yard.  Mmmmmm good - fresh yummy homemade bread.
Octavia, Pete, Cindy and John went to the wholesale market in town to purchase food to fill food bags to give out to families in Progreso who are in need and have a relationship with the church.  Money was raised at this years Gala particularly for that.  We put together bags of food to be given to 30 families.

VBS story "David and Goliath" was acted out by Shawn and Lexie (guess which one was Goliath?) while Cindy read the Bible story in Spanish.  Music was led by Emily, Glynae read a poem in Spanish about Jesus is our Shepherd, and Nicole told the story of the candy cane:  the shape is a shepherd's staff, or turned up side down,  a "J" for Jesus, and the (red) stripe represents the blood of Jesus and the (white) is Jesus' pureness.

People from a bordering neighborhood were invited by a group from Emmanuel to attend the Wednesday and Thursday evening evangelistic services at House of Hope.  One group spent an extended time with Maria.  Please pray for her, as she acknowledged her need to be right with God and take that step of faith.

We wrapped up the day with carne asada dinner at Emmanuel Baptist church.

Thank you for your interest in our trip.  We covet your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for our team.  We are really having a great time!

For the team,
Peggy and John

Monday

What a beautiful day in Culiacan!  After breakfast here at the hotel, we split into two team.  Guys went to Progreso to work on the church building site where they painted, laid cement block for the walls and bought supplies.  News Flash:  HALLELUJAH  there are two bathrooms at the church there that will be finished this week and I would like to say that I am super excited about that.  :)  Meanwhile, back at church, ladies worked on sorting the donated clothing we brought down.  These will be distributed later.  We worked on our puppets and other activites in preparation for the afternoon.  After lunch we all were at Progreso at the House of Hope.  We had around 50 kids and parents show up for a fun afternoon.  The puupets (well done, Julie) along with John and Peg, led the singing time, and then we read the Max Lucado book, "You Are Special" to the kids.   Trey read the whole book in Spanish - "Tu  Eres Especial".  We took digital photos of the kids and printed the pictures on a little printer while they colored frames as the craft, then gave them the photos to put in the frame.  That was a big hit!  We were so happy to see the children and parents again and be back in Progreso!  Not much has changed from what we can see so far.  It just feels great to be there again.  We are looking forward to a great week together.  Our team is having a great time getting to know one another better,and working well together and laughing a lot. The sun was shining all day here and we felt the warmth of it.  The Son is shining amongst us all and we feel the love between us all.

We appreciate your continued prayers for our team here, in all areas, especially health.  We have a few people who aren't feeling 100% at the moment, but not too bad.

Tomorrow will be a long day of construction (so we have heard) after serving breakfast for the children in Progreso at 8:00 a.m.  Another early to rise day.  That means lights out campers.

For the team,
Peg and John 

we are here

Hola and greetings from Hotel Santa Fe Express in downtown (warm) Culiacan, Mexico.
Our travel yesterday was uneventful...just a long day.  We arrived in Mazatlan on time and made it through customs.  We dined in the charter bus with our to go orders from McDonalds.  I had McPollo and it was pretty good.  John went crazy and had BBQ sauce on his.  We arrived in Culiacan around 12:30 (1:30 your time), so the alarm went off too early this morning.
Today we spent most of the day at our sister church, Emmanuel Baptist.  Our exuberrant service ended at 2:30, and we immediately were served lunch.  It was great to be together with our mexican friends worshiping in thier culture.  We are now relaxing and working on our assignments for tomorrow.  Tonights dinner is at Papas Locas, our favorite outdoor restaurant..mmmmm. the closest thing to a Tiki Hut!  Go Packers.
We are heading out to Progreso tomorrow and look forward to spending the afternoon with the children with a mini-Bible school.
There was a cold snap in the area recently where the temps went below freezing for 5 hours....which does not bode well for the tomatoes, peppers, corn and beans.  There is not time to plant another crop, so everyone is waiting to find  out the outcome from this possible disater.  This will affect peoples jobs and the economy.
Back here at the hotel, we don;t have the usual noise of traffic here to lull us to sleep.  There is none because there is no street in front.  Instead of climbing over piles of snow back home we are climbing over rubble and base layers of rock that will eventually be the new street.
That's the report for now..........stay tuned.  Please continue to pray for our team and our work here.
For the team, (Packers)
Peggy and John
ps...who won?

February 2011 trip to Culiacan, Mexico

Ready, set, GO!
 The next 24 hours are "Get Ready" time!  The team members are tying things up at work and at home, running to Target one more time, trying to find summer clothes, doing laundry, leaving "while I am gone" notes, etc.   Team XI leaves tomorrow and returns early morning February 14.  Please cover us in prayer and check our blogs for updates.