Sep. 25, 2006 - Really short term missions
We had a great weekend fellowshiping with a couple here on campus. Yesterday we went to lunch together while their teenage daughter watched our girls. Lunch was nice and it was great getting to know them better. Ken is a teacher here and Glennis works in the office. They have both been missionaries in various capacities for years in latin America and lead the home church we have been attending on Saturday nights. It was late afternoon by the time we got back home yesterday, but they stayed at our apartment for another hour and we just shared our ministry war stories and vision. They lived and worked at an orphanage in Reynosa for a while when their children were younger and still go back there periodically so we asked them to take us over sometime. They said that today would be good since we don't have class on Monday's, so we left with them around 10:30 this morning.
After running some errands in town we crossed the boarder into Reynosa and decided to shop and eat first since we'd skipped breakfast. They took us to a WalMart type store called Soriana and we had a lot of fun there. The girls enjoyed seeing many of the same types of items they were used to buying. We went back to the bakery and bought a bag of huge rolls that were made fresh daily, probably about 9 of them, for about $.85 and then hit the desserts. We bought a wedge of carrot cake, a large cupcake type thing, rectangular chocolate cake slice with chocolate icing, and two things that looked like large haystacks of chocolate cake covered in chocolate icing and then rolled in sprinkles... all for about $2.50. We also had fun checking out the fruit and vegetables and bought some freshly cut papaya that none of us really liked, but at least we can say we tried! After picking up some chips and drinks we checked out and went across the store to an area where they had some restaurants. Ralph, Ken, Glenis, and their son and daughter got some Mexican tostadas. I was afraid the girls wouldn't eat something different, and since they missed breakfast I wanted to make sure they ate, so we went to Dominos instead which was in the same food court area and ordered a pizza.
After eating we drove around Reynosa for a half hour. Ken and Glenis showed us some of the really nicer areas of the town. The houses were huge and beautiful, but the town itself is so rough and poor that it doesn't really make much difference if you own a mansion when the next street over is so rough and full of tiny shanty houses. Here's a link to some photos of Reynosa that are posted on the web. They are very typical of our boarder crossing and street scenes.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/vt/s/?m=6&l.q=e3bc0
After running around town we went to the Casa Hogar, Josiah and Bethany Children's Home. http://www.josiahandbethany.org/index.html It was named for Keith Green's children who died in the plane crash with him. Even though it was literally in the middle of the city, they had created a nice haven with a pretty courtyard full of murals and a basketball court and play yard. They showed us the renovations that are underway in the four story building. They are switching over from a dormatory style housing for the children where they are piled in big rooms in bunk beds, to apartment style. Each little "apartment" has 3 bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, laundry room, and small kitchen. They want to have some couples come in who would be like house parents, but for now they simply have an older girl in charge of the little ones in each apartment. They hope this will create more of a sense of family. After touring the facilities we spent some time visiting with the pastor and his wife who are directors of the orphanage. They were very nice. One of the needs that we discovered was involving the older girls. They are attending school all day and then come home to be little mothers to the children, complete with chores and childcare. We asked how they are able to disciple and train the children in the Word and they said that there just isn't time to do all that they'd like. The older girls do devotions with the little ones in the mornings and they go to church, but there is a real need for more people to come in and help minister to the children there, over 50 in all. Glenis and I discussed taking the older girls out to eat every now and then, 9 of them, to just get them out and maybe do some bible study with them. It is a need that we see and have the ability to do something about while we are here, so we look forward to plugging in to the orphanage more while we are here.
By the time we were finished at Casa Hogar it was 6:30. We were back across the boarder in no time, which was wonderful considering that sometimes you get stuck in traffic for an hour waiting to get through. So basically we're finding it really cool to be able to plug in to a literal "foreign mission field" and be back home within about 15 minutes. Tomorrow we have to get back to our normal school work, but I think today was a real educational experience for the girls. They had a great time and will be blogging with the details from their point of view tomorrow.
Comments
Sep. 27, 2006 - Hey!
Posted by Free2bme
Oh, and I hope Katie gets to feeling better!
Debs
