Day Seven: August 1st

Originally published on Facebook August 1st, 11:54 pm

Day 7: August 1st

Hello All,

Wes Jones writing here on behalf of the team. Today was a fantastic day, despite quite a few instances of adversity that have come up over the course of the last 24 hours.

There were three main objectives that we sought to accomplish today.

1.) The final installment of our VBS.

2.) The completion of many work projects.

3.) Prison Ministry at an all woman’s prison.

Also, a quick warning - I’m not sure how many pictures I’ll be able to post with this. The rest of my Adult leaders are asleep to access their photos, I didn’t take a ton of pictures myself as I was constantly leading something, and phones were allowed in the prison.

VBS:

Running a five day VBS in a foreign country is no joke - yet our team has stepped up in massive ways. With constantly fluctuating circumstances, work projects, leaders, availability of translators, and team health we’ve had to pivot positions regularly. One of the greatest assets of our team is our ability to be flexible and all in with the task at hand.

Andie and Sarah have masterfully orchestrated the details and personnel to provide an optimal experience for the kids to have fun and meet Jesus. Today our VBS featured:

-Lesson = Kaitlyn led us in our lesson teaching us about the power of the Holy Spirit.

-Games = Wes stumbled through his Spanish and his running (because of the ankle) while playing the games “Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur” and “Ships to Shore.”

-Crafts = Sades, Lids, and Sarah led us through a variety of crafts involving Polaroid pictures, decorated bags, lanterns, and bracelets.

The kids no matter the age always found something to engage in and God had his way throughout the entire VBS.

As the team director I can confidently say how proud I am of each of them. I’m normally a lot more hands on when it comes to the planning of VBS - but I planned zippity-do-dah of this one… and I am so impressed with their insight, creativity, and of course their execution.

Work Projects:

While the VBS was happening we divvied up a few team members to accomplish a variety of the loose ends on projects we started. Taylor and Ellie absolutely crushed the “Amigos De Mela” mural on the wall we are painting. Tomorrow or Saturday we will have to finalize the project by placing a variety of handprints on the wall. It’s been beautiful to watch their creativity and artistic skills on display.

Travis yet again powered through his list - finishing the plumbing projects and installing the basketball hoop (oops Dawson…). But really we should be saying thanks to Dawson because the new basketball rim now is not rusting, has a backboard, and a net!

Finally, a small group of leaders cranked out the assembly of care packages for the prison ministry. Laura, Josh, and Christine made 150 bags of personnel items that the inmates could use (toilet paper, toothbrush, tooth paste, deodorant, and pads).

Our Prayer People:

As I mentioned briefly in the intro, our team experienced some serious adversity today. It seems as though something in the food, exhaustion, a weird stomach bug, or the combination of those things invaded a few our student’s lives.

Micah, Asher, Ashley, and Dawson spent most of the day recuperating and resting - despite their desire to participate in activities. And although it meant staying in bed to rest it provided opportunity for them to be very intentional with their prayers and time in the Word.

In order to go to the prison we needed all hands on deck to pray. So, on the hour they woke up to pray for us at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00pm. Mike, so faithfully stayed behind to supervise each of the sick students and facilitate the intentional prayer times. He is a very selfless leader. Their prayers were answered - and I’ll tell you how in the next section.

Prison Ministry:

For many of us we will now be able to say “I’ve been to prison in Mexico” when we play the game “2 Truths and 1 Lie.” This is not something I anticipate many of us never thought we’d experience in our lives - nor did the experience completely fit preconceived notions we had in our minds.

Bowdrie, Zach, Rylin, and Caleb all shared their surprise and enjoyment while being in the prison. Surprise in the fact that the gathering place where we held the service for the 150 inmates was in a courtyard/park area. There was a massive patio that had 20+ picnic tables where the inmates sat. There were vendor stations displaying some of the products that the inmates made. There was a grass area to both sides. There was a snack bar where the inmates could buy food or drinks. And then of course there were the inmates who were dressed in white… but not the white prison clothes you are all picturing. No, just normal clothes (pants/shorts and a shirt) that were white. For most of us it felt as if we were at a park with some locals.

Now, we can say that’s what it felt like once we were inside the walls, but actually getting there definitely made it feel like a prison. In fact, we experienced what I consider to be our most adverse and frustrating moment of the day. Prior to entering the prison you are unable to bring in anything on your person except clothes (no jewelry, watches, belts, phones, etc.)

Unfortunately, that includes epi-pens too. With no insight or protocol given to us we asked if Kaitlyn could bring hers in. For an unknown reason and despite many questions and conversations this escalated to guards disallowing Kaitlyn’s entrance. And yes we offered countless times to leave the epi-pen in the car along with a variety of other solutions. As a result it meant Travis also had to stay on the outside to be with her.

As the leader I was incredibly frustrated (and still am) wondering what God’s purpose was in this. Kaitlyn was one of the three people in our drama that give their testimony. Of course, Kaitlyn was devastated, but she is quite a resilient student who forever trust’s in God’s plan and purpose. Travis, as always, quietly served in such a humble way behind the scenes by sacrificing his time inside the prison to stay outside the prison with KMACK. They committed to pray for us the entire time - and actually made a few fun memories of their own together.

If you read the post from a few days ago you likely read that our team had prepared a drama to the song “The Father’s House” by Cory Asbury. Our primary purpose of this skit was to use at the Foundation and at the prison, which we did with great success. Despite lacking Kaitlyn, God used this skit in a mighty way.

Jacob once again gave powerful testimony to his experience entering the Father’s House. Christine spoke on her behalf of Kaitlyn during the skit and held her portion of the mural. And I was privileged enough to present the Gospel and share part of my testimony with the ladies.

It was during this time that 8 women received Christ as their Lord and Savior as a result of the Gospel being boldly proclaimed through it all. These 8 ladies were encouraged, prayed over, and cared for by our team and the other believers within the walls of the prison.

Following the skit, three of our team members courageously shared their testimony, pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. To Laura, Christine, and Jordan: your stories are all powerful and I want you to remember this experience.

To conclude our time there we handed out the 150 care packages and a homemade meal of pozole, tortillas, chips, and juice to each of the inmates.

Team Time:

If you’ve ever been on a mission trip before you know that the day often ends with an hour or so session where we can debrief everything that happened. As a part of that time we decided to make “faithfulness” our motto for tomorrow. God has been faithful to us and we must remain faithful to him and the children he has placed in our path this week.

We sang the song “Promises” led by our own Ali Smith on guitar to remind ourselves of how faithful God is to us.

Shout Out:

Shout out to Mexican Mike (our translator). I’ve gotten to know him pretty well over the course of the last week and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for him. Not only as our translator (which is the hardest job on the trip), but also as a new friend. I’ll speak for the team and say that we’ve really enjoyed his presence as an essential part of our team.

Funny Note:

Tonight, each of us received our second gift from our secret prayer partners. I’ve been doing this for many years and two of the best gifts I’ve ever seen came out tonight.

-Caleb Dunn received a size small pink barbie tank top that he is rocking as he goes to sleep.

-Lids received a lid (hat) inscribed with LIDS on it. Truly a dream of mine that has come true ; )

Prayer Requests:

-Recovery of those who were sick today

-Energy and strength tomorrow as we go to a water park to supervise and spend time with the children all day

-The inmates who received Christ as Lord

And that’s all I have to say about that. Goodnight!

-Wes