Change

Howdy y'all. We are mission trippin' again. This time in Del Rio, Texas.

All of the First Methodist Houston readers of this blog (which I am assuming accounts for about 99.9%) know that there is a background story to our specific mission location. Normally, we stay in Del Rio, but go across the river/international border to Ciudad Acuna, a Mexican border city of about 250,000 people, for our mission and outreach.

We are staying AND working in Del Rio this year, however, and if you're thinking you have a pretty good idea why ... well, you're right. The drug violence you have heard so much about in places like Juarez and Nuevo Laredo is beginning to find its way to smaller, formerly-sleepy border towns. We heard enough frightening reports of drug cartel activity in Acuna to cause us to pull the plug on our usual trip.

Of course, a big change like that sort-of left us scrambling. Fortunately, the church that hosts us - First Baptist Del Rio - has a core value reflected in the tagline "gateway to missions." They have gone above and beyond to line up meaningful, needed work for us on this side of the Rio Grande. Today we hosted VBS for about 25 neighborhood kids, painted a church, sorted clothes, cleaned a yard and refurbished a wheelchair ramp.

Interestingly, change seems to be emerging as a mini theme for this trip. Our church has stayed at FBC for quite a few years, to the point that the Acuna/Del Rio veterans know the "drill" really well. When we arrived yesterday, the girls went to their usual "dorms" and the guys went to theirs. Except - the church had switched the places. Then, we worshipped in a new spot last night. It was pretty humorous, actually, to hear comments like "that's not the way we usually do it" coming from teenagers.

That's kind of an exaggeration, though, as for the most part they have embraced all of the changes that have been a part of this trip. One of the awesome things about a mission trip is that there are always some veterans, like the ones I mentioned earlier, and there are always some rookies. On this trip, we have three youth who are on a mission trip with this church for the first time, and we have two that are on their first mission trip altogether. For them, there are no changes, as they have not experienced anything else. As I scan the group and watch them share in some pre-dinner snacks and fellowship, it's clear that the group is already meshing into one, regardless of prior experience. They are sharing this unique trip and finding much life and reward in responding to the needs on this side of the border.

Paul calls this "one" that we are meshing into the "Body of Christ." Describing this body, he writes in Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

On this trip, we are headed to the place where there is neither veteran nor rookie, neither those who have experienced Acuna nor those who haven't, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.

And that is a very cool thing.

Feliz Cumpleanos

Alright. As this is probably my last blog from Nicaragua, it is probably time for a confession. I have written each of these while sitting beside a pool. It's one of the best places to pick up a wi-fi signal here at the mission retreat center. Hey, someone has to do it.

As I write this one, there are about 15 girls from "Casa Havilah" and about five boys from "Casa Robles" swimming with most of the youth from our mission team. Casa Havilah and Casa Robles are girls' and boys' rescue homes, respectively, that are run by our missionary hosts, the Buzzbee family, and their ministry, Open Hearts (for more about Open Hearts, click here). The children live in these homes because they have been abused, neglected or mistreated. The children are orginally from La Chureca, the community on the city dump in Managua, where we have been putting tarps over shacks during the mornings this week.

Every afternoon, we have spent time at either Casa Havilah or Casa Robles - mostly Casa Havilah. We have painted, installed light fixtures, built shelves, taught VBS and generally loved on the girls. Today, all of the girls and boys boarded the bus with us and came back to the Buzzbees. We put on a puppet show, gave a concert and shared the Gospel with them, and now we are swimming and having a pizza party. I am pretty sure I have never seen a more missional use of a swimming pool.

Yesterday while we were at Casa Havilah one of the girls, Maria Eleana, had her eighth birthday. She moved to the home about 10 days ago. Melissa Buzzbee, the director of the school in the dump that the Buzzbee's run as well as the director of Casa Havilah, said that was probably the first birthday party or birthday cake Maria Eleana had ever had.

I've embedded a video from the party. As you can see, the look on Maria Eleana's face is priceless. The party was lifted up last night by several teenagers during worship as one of the moments yesterday where they most sensed and experienced the love and grace of God. I would second that.

Rhythm

Tonight in our evening worship time, we sang a song called “Your Love is Extravagant.” There’s a line in that song that says, “I find I’m moving to the rhythm of your grace.”

One of the things I love about mission trips is that invariably the group ends up moving to the rhythm of God’s grace. We worship, work hard and enjoy deep fellowship. Each day has a similar cadence: Pray. Work. Eat. Play. Pray. Repeat.

This way of moving and living seems so much more in tune with how God created us to move and live. Today, for instance, I had about 30 minutes before dinner. I walked around a little bit, and then I sat in a hammock for a while. Really – I sat in a hammock. Who does that? I’m sure people do, but you don’t hear about it very much. I certainly do not.

While I was in that hammock, though, I saw two fireflies, had a deep conversation with a teenager about real stuff and connected with an adult about some upcoming ministry. It was very peaceful. It filled my soul. It was Sabbath.

Our fast-paced, text-messaging, microwaving culture has lost touch with Sabbath. As one author I like has written, “Busyness is a disease of our time.” We are all running around 10 minute late for life. That drains our souls, and it is not Sabbath.

I am writing this at about 9:15 pm. Soon, I’ll shut down the computer and go to sleep, eager for the morning to come. Our group gathers each morning on a roof-top lookout for morning devotional at 7 am. Believe it or not, I’m actually up almost 30 minutes or so before that, fully rested. I am recharged because when one is on a Sabbath schedule, one is actually able to completely sleep off a hard day of work. Around that time – 6:30 or so - I get up, get dressed and pour a cup of dark, delicious Nicaraguan coffee, and then I head to devotion. As I’m walking through this beautiful, lush ranch in the cool air of daybreak, I hear these words come to life:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee.”

Now that’s living.

Ruby

Hello world. I'm coming to you from the ranch of Open Hearts Mission in Managua, and the 2009 First Methodist Houston youth mission trip to Nicaragua.

It is our second full day in Nicaragua. I am feeling a little tired, and a little hot, but I have the joy, joy, joy, joy. Down in my heart.

Really. I do. I have to. Ms. Ruby told me I do.

Yesterday (Saturday, June 20), a team of 24 missionaries from First Methodist Houston went to see Ruby Temple. Ruby is – and this really is a spot-on descriptor – a prophetess. She speaks truth, through prayer and through the Spirit, directly to people. Spending time with her is a remarkable, inspiring, somewhat-frightening experience.

We spent about three hours with her. Our team piled out of our school bus and piled into her cozy home. Along with her sister, Ruby welcomed each one of us personally. We then sang some songs together. Ruby, who stands about four-and-a-half-feet tall, I’m guessing, strummed a blue acoustic guitar and led us in about five songs. The last one was probably the crowd favorite, with these lyrics: One, two, three, the devil has no power/Four, five, six, I place him under my feet/Seven, eight, nine, I don’t care if he dies/Glory, glory, glory, glory be to God. The best part was when she told us we weren’t stomping our feet hard enough.

Following the sing-along, Ruby then divided the team. It was girls versus guys in Bible trivia. She asked us questions about Samson, Isaiah, and Jephtha. That’s right – Jeptha. I told someone that seminary was not this hard. The girls won by two points, although the official scoring system seemed to be a bit inconsistent at best.

Then the party really got cranked up. Ruby, who is originally from the “Mosquito Coast” of Nicaragua - invited her sister to stand beside her, and her sister handed her a vial of anointing oil. Ruby then invited the men, women, guys and girls on our team to come forward, two at a time, and be prayed for. Two by two, everyone in our group had hands placed on them and received fervent, Spirit-filled prayer.

Ruby prayed for the young people to be obedient and to be faithful. Every now and then she used the phrase, “God is telling you,” or "God has a message for you," and then she finished those phrases with something like “that he wants you to forgive a relative,” or “to let go of a past sin,” or “to fight for God.”

As you read this, it may seem that those words – words from God through Ms. Ruby - are somewhat general. However, I have now been ministering with these students for a year-and-a-half. In that time I have gotten to know them better and begun to share life more deeply. As I listened to Ms. Ruby pray for these young people, it was nothing short of amazing how she seemed to be speaking right into their specific lives. Amazing is one way to describe it. Spirit-led and Spirit-filled is probably a better way.

After everyone was prayed over, Ms. Ruby invited people to share testimonies. She invited us to share what the prayer time was like and what God was doing in our lives. One student seemed to capture the spiritual energy in the room when he said, “I’m ready to do whatever God wants me to do.”

That student spoke for just about everyone, I think. Thanks to Ms. Ruby, and the spiritual gift she obviously has, many of us have a heightened sense of what God is doing in our lives. These students are fired up – fired up for God – and we are only on day two.

Thank you, Ms. Ruby.

Thank you, God.

Pray please

After a somewhat surreal summer start-up - I've usually done at least one trip by now - the real excitement begins tomorrow. At 5:50 pm, 24 of us from First Methodist Houston are boarding a plane and leaving for a mission trip to Managua, Nicaragua. While we are there we'll be working in a place called La Chureca, a community that borders the Managua city dump. The missionaries that we partner with in Nicaragua minister to the community via a school, clinic and church. We will do VBS-type activities, put on concerts, help with minor home repairs and basically share the love of Christ in any way we can.

I've been mission tripping for 15 years, and there is no question that this is the highlight time of the year for me. I love that we take the Gospel beyond the church walls, and I love to watch the faith of teenagers lived out with passion and compassion.

This year, I passed out the names of all of the missionaries to the church staff and asked them to pray for us. As best I can remember, that's the first time I have done that. Oh, I've certainly solicited prayer before - for mission trips and just about everything else - but I don't recall ever typing up the list of participants and handing the list to a lot of people. That's a practice I should have begun years ago.

I'd love for the blog community (both of you) to join the staff, parents and others in prayer for this trip. Pray for safety, sensitivity and spirituality. Pray for nothing less than revival - in Nicaragua, and among the young First Methodist missionaries. Pray that the love, grace, forgiveness and power of Jesus Christ is on vivid display next week.

I'll be blogging from Nicaragua, so check this space next week.