Guadalajara
Pan Am Games
Friday, November 30, 2012
Answer to prayer... again :)
I can't get over how amazing God is! Similar to the story I told about Fer from the volleyball team, there's another girl on the team that is pretty cold, distant, complains about pretty much everything (I'm not painting a very good picture of her even though I like her a lot). I've been praying for her specifically the last few weeks for the same thing, just that God would give us time to talk and something to talk about just to get to know her. This week especially she's been pretty angry and distant and apathetic about everything. Today, out of "nowhere" she starting asking me about the team talks. This was when she was supposed to be warming up. She said, "I don't know if I've told you but my aunt is doing really bad. She has a brain tumor and has to have surgery today. That's why I've been so distant and not feeling like doing anything." She had absolutely no reason to tell me that, nor has she ever really initiated a conversation with me. I told her I'd be praying and if she needs anything to let me know and to for sure tell me how the surgery turns out. After practice she took off pretty quickly but I ran after her to give her a hug and tell her I'm praying for her and her aunt. God's timing is incredible! Will this turn into anything?? Who knows, but I'm praising Jesus for answered prayer even in the small things!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Prayers being answered
The captain of the volleyball team has been pretty cold and stand-off ish (I don't even know if that's a term or not) ever since I got here. This semester I've been praying for her specifically and asking for open doors just to be able to get to talk to her 1-on-1 and not in a practice setting. I was eating lunch with the girls on Wednesday and there were about 12 of us. Slowly but surely, one by one they started getting up and leaving, going to class or wherever they had to go. I just sat there and waited because the one I've been praying for was still there and I wasn't in a hurry. They continued leaving. In my mind it was like this dramatic scene because I'm still sitting there praying and watching God unfold this whole scene. Finally it's just me, her and one other girl. The other girl says she has class and has to leave, which leave me and her! We sat and talked for about an hour about her past and what she's been through and it gave me a lot of insight to why she responds the way she does and why she thinks the way she does. I also now know how to pray for her better.
God is pretty clever in His ways of answering prayer. Please be praying for more opportunities to talk to her!!
There's another cool answer to prayer story... :)
A basketball player who we got to know pretty well last year, is the queen of asking questions and it's AWESOME! She's starting to meet with one of my teammates to do a Bible Study! She's been dealing with somethings in her life for a while now and just recently she wanted to learn what the Bible says about this particular issue. She has an incredibly teachable heart and wants to grow and learn. This makes me so excited because I just love her a lot!!!!
Two of many encouraging things this week :) Thanks for all your prayers! Love you!
God is pretty clever in His ways of answering prayer. Please be praying for more opportunities to talk to her!!
There's another cool answer to prayer story... :)
A basketball player who we got to know pretty well last year, is the queen of asking questions and it's AWESOME! She's starting to meet with one of my teammates to do a Bible Study! She's been dealing with somethings in her life for a while now and just recently she wanted to learn what the Bible says about this particular issue. She has an incredibly teachable heart and wants to grow and learn. This makes me so excited because I just love her a lot!!!!
Two of many encouraging things this week :) Thanks for all your prayers! Love you!
Monday, October 29, 2012
People getting married!!!
Abigail is one of the girls on the volleyball team at UDLAP who I've been meeting with for the past year. She loves Jesus and has told me she has dreams of going overseas to do missions. She's been dating her, now husband, for almost 8 years and they got married this month!! She looked BEAUTIFUL!! It's going to be interesting to see how married life is :) Her coach said, "We've already lost her," before she even got married.
She has been helping Alice with the group that they started and really wants to see change in her team! Please be praying for Abi's marriage and that she continues to grow in her relationship with the Lord.
Love you guys!!!
She has been helping Alice with the group that they started and really wants to see change in her team! Please be praying for Abi's marriage and that she continues to grow in her relationship with the Lord.
Love you guys!!!
PALO VERDE DEL MUNICIPIO TLACOTEPEC DE JUAREZ
Try saying that name 5 times fast. The title is the name of the village that we went to this last weekend with a ministry called Living Water. They've been to this village a couple times before this weekend and have been working on building a well for the people there to have clean water. We took 15 of the track and field members from UDLAP, and Alice, from volleyball, on the trip. Some were going because they really wanted to help and get this experience, some went to get social service credit for school, whatever their motives were, they left impacted. God does that :) The amazing part of this ministry is they really live out what the Bible says about providing people with the basic needs, their tangible needs. James 2:16-17, "If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
The water that this village was drinking was the same water that they were bathing in, washing their clothes and food in, and also the same water that the animals around the area drank. While we were there we helped clean a channel that brings rain into a cistern they have. The problem with this channel is that people and animals use it as a bathroom so the rain washes all of that down and eventually, that's what's being consumed. It's a big project that's being done so that there is a natural filtration system being put in place, there's a channel that's relatively clean, a well that will provide them with safe water. I don't know all the details of how the system works but I know this team is working REALLY hard on this project and are passionate about seeing these people have safe water.
We also did a little extreme home makeover to an 88 year old man's home. They brought him a new matress for his new hut but he couldn't sleep in his house the first night after we left because the cement floors had to dry so they put the matress in the church for him to sleep. He said, "No, I'll be fine sleeping under these trees for the night." It's incredible!!
There were also classes given about personal hygiene so that the kids and mamas could learn (most of the men were at work). The mamas learned how to wash fruits and vegetables well and their hands to try and prevent sickness.
Some of the track kids left that day really being impacted. There's going to be follow-up to hear what they learned, how God's heart is for the poor and to ask questions and hear their testimonies. It was an incredible and humbling experience that we're definitely going to do again (some of the tracksters already said they want to keep going :) ).
There are pictures posted at
The water that this village was drinking was the same water that they were bathing in, washing their clothes and food in, and also the same water that the animals around the area drank. While we were there we helped clean a channel that brings rain into a cistern they have. The problem with this channel is that people and animals use it as a bathroom so the rain washes all of that down and eventually, that's what's being consumed. It's a big project that's being done so that there is a natural filtration system being put in place, there's a channel that's relatively clean, a well that will provide them with safe water. I don't know all the details of how the system works but I know this team is working REALLY hard on this project and are passionate about seeing these people have safe water.
We also did a little extreme home makeover to an 88 year old man's home. They brought him a new matress for his new hut but he couldn't sleep in his house the first night after we left because the cement floors had to dry so they put the matress in the church for him to sleep. He said, "No, I'll be fine sleeping under these trees for the night." It's incredible!!
There were also classes given about personal hygiene so that the kids and mamas could learn (most of the men were at work). The mamas learned how to wash fruits and vegetables well and their hands to try and prevent sickness.
Some of the track kids left that day really being impacted. There's going to be follow-up to hear what they learned, how God's heart is for the poor and to ask questions and hear their testimonies. It was an incredible and humbling experience that we're definitely going to do again (some of the tracksters already said they want to keep going :) ).
There are pictures posted at
Love you guys!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Race time!
This morning I ran in a 10K race (about 6 miles ish) in 49:33 minutes at UDLAP. Each year they have the Carrera Azteca (Azteca Race) as a fund raiser for the university. There were 2,000 runners of all sizes, shapes and ages, some doing a 5K and some doing a 10K. It was an awesome environment to be in. 5 of our 6 staff from our AIA team ran in it and did so well! I'm debating running in a half-marathon in November here in Puebla. I'll keep you posted.
Love you guys!
Love you guys!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
God is good.
I always try to come up with some clever, witty title for each post but, alas, I can't come up with anything. My creative juices are NOT flowing.
Cool story. There's a girl on the soccer team at UDLAP who we've known for about a year. She wears a necklace with a stone on it that she believes gives her all the energy she needs to play, study, live, everything. If she were to lose that necklace, it would not be good. Abbey has been working with the soccer team for a little over a year now and last week, she was asked by the soccer player if she could meet her pastors. Keep in mind this was "out of the blue"/ Jesus is working in her heart. She and one other player went to dinner at her pastor's house and then came to Casa Verde (another college ministry here) and are going to be doing a Bible Study!!!!! I mean, going from putting all of your faith in a rock to wanting to study the Bible?? Only Jesus can do that.
We're hoping to take the track and volleyball teams on an outreach with another ministry called "Living Water" to the indigenous villages that are less than an hour away from Puebla. Please pray that all of them want to and are able to go. The people in these villages don't speak Spanish, don't have running water (we'll be helping building wells), don't have any personal hygiene because they've never learned how and don't have the resources. I'll definitely write more about it when we go.
Love you all!
Cool story. There's a girl on the soccer team at UDLAP who we've known for about a year. She wears a necklace with a stone on it that she believes gives her all the energy she needs to play, study, live, everything. If she were to lose that necklace, it would not be good. Abbey has been working with the soccer team for a little over a year now and last week, she was asked by the soccer player if she could meet her pastors. Keep in mind this was "out of the blue"/ Jesus is working in her heart. She and one other player went to dinner at her pastor's house and then came to Casa Verde (another college ministry here) and are going to be doing a Bible Study!!!!! I mean, going from putting all of your faith in a rock to wanting to study the Bible?? Only Jesus can do that.
We're hoping to take the track and volleyball teams on an outreach with another ministry called "Living Water" to the indigenous villages that are less than an hour away from Puebla. Please pray that all of them want to and are able to go. The people in these villages don't speak Spanish, don't have running water (we'll be helping building wells), don't have any personal hygiene because they've never learned how and don't have the resources. I'll definitely write more about it when we go.
Love you all!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Captain's Dinner
I wanted to let you know about the Captain's dinner. So, we invited 6 girls, the captains of 4 teams. We made dinner (lots of it) bought flowers, made cards, the whole works. Jacky, the captain of the track team came, and that's it. We heard from the rest of the girls that night saying they weren't going to be able to make it and they felt really bad for cancelling. Here's the cool part. I hardly knew Jacky at all but the fact that we were able to have dinner with her and focus just on her was awesome!!! She is the captain of the biggest team, and a co-ed team (which we've been praying for men to step up on the campus). She's an awesome leader and was really touched by the dinner that was all for her :) Please keep praying for Jacky and also for the other captains (Monica, Fer, Areli, Wendy, and Melissa).
It's easy to get discouraged when things don't turn out the way you plan but it's cool to see even the little victories that God gives you in what seems like a failure of an event. He can turn anything good... He's really good at it :)
Love you guys!!
It's easy to get discouraged when things don't turn out the way you plan but it's cool to see even the little victories that God gives you in what seems like a failure of an event. He can turn anything good... He's really good at it :)
Love you guys!!
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