Sore Muscles

Sore muscles is what you get when you go bowling, play tennis, throw & catch a football, play racquet ball, work with a personal trainer on weight machines and play volleyball all within a five day period of time. Yes, that was me last week. Then to top it all off on Wednesday I had my #1 wisdom tooth pulled. Talk about being sore. Thankfully as the week progressed the soreness diminished and I felt better only to start all over again yesterday morning with tennis.
Yes, it has been a while since I have written. Not that I haven't thought about it I have just gotten caught up in the everyday living of my life. Since my Mexico trip, I have gone to a couple house parties, played tennis, worked, gone Christmas shopping and wrapped presents. Plus now I am on facebook and that can be addicting at times. It is kind of funny what we let take our attention.
Last night I was able to go to dinner with some wonderful friends. We met at Panera Bread and were able to enjoy each other's company. I am so blessed by the friends that God has placed in my life. After dinner we headed over to a coffee house at the Lockport Alliance church to hear Orchard Drive. After the concert, a group of us headed over to Karin's house to play Settlers of Catan. I did not play but is is always interesting to watch the others play.
Today after church a group of friends went to brunch at Banchetti's to celebrate Charles' birthday. Karen set up a surprise party and he was surprised. Yeah!!! There were about 18 of his friends in attendance. What a party!
Now I am sore once again. After brunch I headed over to the gym to work out and play racket ball. My body wants to just go to sleep but I have stuff to do tonight.
Well, I am glad I was able to update you a little about the happenings in my life. Hope all is well.
Until next time!
Blessings to you~~~~

Mexico - Journal Entry #8

On Saturday, some of the group traveled 3 hours north of Juarez, Mexico to Carlsbad, New Mexico to go on a little bit of a sight seeing trip. Since we were so close to Carlsbad, Ted thought it would be a nice side trip to end our week in Mexico. It took us about three and a half hours to get there. On the way there we stopped to take pictures of the Guadalupe Mountains.
When we arrived in Carlsbad, we got right into the caverns. It took us a little over an hour to walk all the way down to the bottom. I found it hard to believe I was over 700 feet underground. My brother, Jeff and I were the first of the group to make it back to the top. We took some time to look through the gift shop. I am glad we were able to see some of God's awesome creation.

Mexico - Journal entry #7

Friday, October 10, 2008
Today was more of a relaxed day for most of us. I did not sleep well the night before so after breakfast I came back to the room and laid down for about a half an hour. When I got up, I helped Jim, Deone, Mike & Linda move misc. stuff from a back room of the dorm to the new dorm. I also helped clean out the tool supply room. That room was a bit of a chore.
After helping clean out the supply room, I tried to get some individual photos of the team members. Kerry Hise will be putting together a power point presentation of the trip. I hope it turns out nice.
We ate around noon. Shelly & Lisa prepared grilled cheese sandwiches. It was good. I still did not feel well, so I went back to the dorm and took a 2 hour nap. It felt good to rest but I felt like I was being lazy. At about 3pm I got up and helped Jim, Lisa and Nicole put tarps on some of the supplies that would be outside. Once we were finished there I walked outside the compound and talked with my brother, Jeff. He was shoveling dirt against the wall. After a little while I went over to where Charles was working with Gaspar, Martin, Jonathan, & John laying bricks on the new wall. Charles wanted to quit but Gaspar would not let him until 5pm. It was fun to watch the interaction Charles and Jonathan had with Gaspar and Martin. After a little while it got too hot for me to sit out in the sun. I went back to the dorm where I hung out with Gail, Lisa, Deb & Pam. We did some girl stuff and just had a great time.

Mexico - Journal Entry #6

Thursday October 9, 2008
Today was a non-hardworking day. I was up early to help make breakfast with Jim Dean and my brother, Jeff. We made scrambled eggs, sausage, french toast (from two days before) & cereal. It was a lot of fun working with the two of them.
After breakfast the dispensia bags were brought out from the storage room to be put into the vans. We were expecting Garry to arrive with the translators around 9:45. Today was the day we would be going into the Colonia to distribute the dispensia bags that were filled with rice, beans and flour. Once Garry arrived with the translators, he gave us a brief orientation about what was expected of us when we went into the Colonia. He wanted to make sure we knew not to force anyone to accept Jesus just because we were giving them food. We were also told the translators were there to just translate. We were to try to be relational in our conversations. At around 10:45am we headed into the Colonia. The first house we stopped at we were able to give food to two sisters and a young infant. Before we left the one sister did accept Jesus as her personal savior. After the first house we divided into two teams. Each team taking one side of the street. Since it was the middle of the day we passed by many living areas where no one was home. My team, which consisted of Jeff, Ted, Joe (our translator) and myself only were able to get to a few houses. Our interpreter spent a lot of time with each family to make sure they knew who Jesus was and who He could be to them. I pray that God uses that time we had to draw each person closer to Him. Our van was the last back to the compound for lunch. After lunch we headed into the city of Juarez to go to the market place (where they sell a lot of souvenirs). it took us about an hour to get there. When we got there we only had an hour to shop, so I felt a bit rushed. The first shop we made purchase at was one where Ted frequents each year he comes to Mexico. It was interesting just walking through the market place. Each vendor was trying to sell their wares whether it was jewelry, blankets or other trinkets. At Ted's vendor, I bought several bracelets for friends back home. I did makes purchases at other shops and I even bartered for some of my purchases.
After the market experience, we headed to dinner at a local supermarket called S-mart. It had a small cash & carry restaurant at the front of the store. Garry picked out our food and we had a smorgasbord of food to choose from to eat. After dinner some of us went through the store and made some purchases. I bought candy to bring back to my coworkers.
We headed back to the Resplandor De Vida and all gathered in the dining hall to give Garry a testimony of how the week touched each of our lives. It was neat to hear how God ministered to each individual in a different way over the course of the week.

Mexico - Journal Entry #5

Wednesday October 8, 2008
Today I got out of bed around 6:15am. I had kitchen duty with Deone and Kerry, who made it to the kitchen before I did and waited until I got there to start. Breakfast consisted of egg burritos, cereal & fruit. We decided to add a little bit of ham and bacon. Kerry did the cooking while I shredded the cheese and Deone prepared the scrambled eggs for the burritos. Breakfast was delicious and we were complimented on our cooking.
After breakfast Lisa, Nicole and I came back to the dorm to journal. My brother Jeff joined us and we ended up talking until it was time for the woman's meeting. What an amazing morning! There were more women today than on Monday, plus a lot more children. Cindy had prepared a lot of pancakes before everyone arrived but had to continue making them to get everyone fed. She did an awesome job. After the women ate, we sent the children outside with Lisa, Nicole, Jeff, Ted and Noel. Pam showed the women some exercises they could do to improve their health, while Lisa had the children entertained outside with chalk, coloring books and crayons, hoola hoops & jump ropes. Today was warmer than the previous two days, so it was a bit of a challenge to have the children outside in the sun. I helped Lisa for a little while before heading back inside to take photos of the women making their bead necklaces. I was able to help the women tie the necklaces. Thankfully God gave me strength to the them because my hand was still sore from the day before. After the craft, Pam got up and spoke from Matthew 6:19 about not storing up treasures on earth. She told a personal story to tie into the Bible teaching. Once Pam was finished Deb got up and gave her testimony. She gave an invitation for the women to accept Jesus into their lives. Five women accepted Jesus this day. Praise the Lord!!! There was a time of prayer for women who had prayer requests. It was an amazing morning to see God at work. After the meeting was over we had all the women head outside for a group photo.
Now we had to eat lunch and prepare for the children to come. Boy, did they come. Since the van broke down on Monday, a couple of the men drove the 3 vans and 2 trucks to the Colonia to get the children. We had close to 200 children for VBS. Rachel, our translator, tried to get the children to settle down, but to no avail. Finally, Pastor Nachos, came and he was able to settle them down. Lisa started the lesson on prayer with Gail & Tracy performing a skit about prayer. It was interesting to perform, because we had to pause to let the translators interpret in Spanish what we just said in English. After the lesson we had a craft for the children. They were making cross & bead necklaces to help them remember the "Our Father" prayer. As we were handing out the necklaces it became very chaotic. I had a headache and was not very patient with the children. After five minutes of the chaos, I had to leave. I came back to the dorm and rested. Later in the afternoon I came back to the commodore to help put together the dispensia bags . We put together 210 bags. Once the bags were completed, we headed back to the dorm. Lisa, Nicole & I started taking about an author we liked to read. Some of the guys, Jim, Ted, Jeff & Garry all stopped by the room to talk. It made our room a community room. It was a wonderful time of fellowship.
Later in the evening, Jim Dean gave the evening devotion using Ephesians 2:8-9 & Matthew 5:16 as his references. He encouraged us not only to be servants in Mexico but back in our church and community in Buffalo.

Mexico- Journal Entry #4

Tuesday October 7, 2008
It was a full day. In the morning the ladies started separating the beans, rice and flour into 3 pound bags. We had two groups, one inside measuring the rice and beans and the other outside measuring the flour. Joaquin Sr helped the women outside. he would open the plastic bags and then tied them for us. We went through seven 100 pound bags of flour quickly. However, when we were all finished the bags were less than 3 lbs each. I took all the bags apart to make sure each bag did have 3lbs in it. What a process!
While we were measuring out the flour, Charles came over to let us know that Jonathan had stepped on a nail and he would need medical attention. He brought Jonathan back to the commodore. Gail brought out a bowl filled with water for him to soak his foot. I had neosporin and a medical kit that had antiseptic pads and bandages to clean out the cut. Thankfully the bleeding stopped. We called Garry, who was back in New Mexico, to find out when Jonathan had his last tetanus shot. Thankfully it was in the past two years.
Once we finished packaging up the bags of beans, rice and flour some of us went back to the dorms to rest before dinner. I was glad because I had hurt my thumb from reopening all the flour bags. Dinner consisted of stuffed peppers with either cheese or ground beef, spaghetti with a white sauce, salad and tortillas filled with cheese. Everything was delicious. I only had a half of a stuffed pepper because I wasn't sure if #1 if I would like it and #2 it was fried my stomach might not handle it. Thankfully my stomach was okay. Praise the Lord! After dinner a lot of us waited for the brownies that Noel was baking. The brownies took longer than expected so we all headed over to the dorm for our nightly devotion.
Dan, from the Lockport church, gave the devotion about living a selfless life. he used Galatians 5:15-16 as his reference. After the devotion, some of us gave testimonies of what God did in our lives that day. It is awesome to see how we all work together to get a job done. Just like a body has different parts and they each have their own function yet they all work together to accomplish a specific task.
When the testimonies were finally finished, we headed back to the commodore for ice cream and brownies. They were delicious and since I had been craving chocolate all day, the brownies satisfied the craving.