An amazing day

I'm exhausted and ready for bed, but really want to share some of the events of this day. Oh, what a day!!!

The morning started off as usual, once we arrived in the community where we are serving we split into 2 different groups. One group that would be working on construction at the church - painting, rebar work and dismantling the pastor's old house, which is in the middle of the new church. The second group was to go into the community and do evangelism and prayer - door to door. The evangelism half was split further into 3 groups, each with their own translator and representatives from the local church. The group I was in consisted of myself, Rich Brubaker (my brother-in-law), Sallie Palafox, Sayda Wickman and our two church representatives - Gresellia and MariaElena.

We started at a house where there were 4 young children out in front. Gresellia who is a grandmother and probably 4 feet tall if I am generous, an indiginous woman from Oaxaca in southern Mexico was the leader of our group. Gresellia approached these children and discovered that they are left at home alone each day. Their father is an alchoholic and absent most of the time, their mother works all day in the fields and earns around $7 per day - which her husband takes and uses to fund his addiction. Sayda immediately jumped into the conversation and we spent probably the next 30 minutes visiting with these children. They are scared because they are left alone all day with nobody to watch over them, and they are worried about what might happen if their father came home while their mother is away. Sayda shared the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den and explained to them that even when they are alone, God is watching over them. We prayed with them as a group and then finished with Gresellia singing a song aided by her tamborine.

Over the next couple of hours we visited a few other people, had a couple men refuse to speak with us, but then came upon a young woman doing her laundry in her yard. Sayda quickly began talking with her. This woman, who was around 25 years old with small children, had so many questions. Sayda kept asking us to find a verse to answer this question, find a verse to answer the next question. Rich, who is a pastor in Eugene, got very involved in the conversation and even walked the woman through a prayer asking Jesus into her heart (translated through Sayda). This was certainly the highlight of our evangelism team's morning.

For lunch we were served another amazing lunch by the ladies in the church. These authentic Mexican meals are always such a highlight.

After lunch, we did a VBS for the children and there were around 200 children in attendance. Melissa, Geri and Susan do so much to make this successful, of course they couldn't do it without the help of the rest of our team. The best way that I could describe one of these VBS sessions is like trying to herd cats. But with God's help, they get it done.

At the same time that the VBS was happening, Sayda was leading a women's Bible study with about 20 women present. That grew from 12 yesterday. Sayda is an amazing teacher and really knows the Bible. She had these women captivated for 2 hours - she could have gone for hours more.

After dinner, we ended the day with a youth outreach. The youth of our church had put this together under the leadership of Geoff Barrett and Adam Doty. Tonight was the second and final night of the youth outreach and it was a huge success. I got the pleasure of being able to attend both. I am so proud and amazed by the youth in our church. Adam put together a skit which we did a couple nights ago in the adult outreach and they did again today in the youth outreach - we will be doing this for our whole church family in the very near future - it will bring tears to your eyes and bring you to your feet with applause. After the skit, Adam explained what it meant and the importance of having a meaningful relationship with Jesus. This was followed by 2 testimonies (Chris Miller & Isaac Williams tonight, Conner Southerton & Sarah Vasnik last night). These kids are amazing and the things they have experienced in their lives really struck a chord with the kids in Mexico. Geoff finished up tonight's outreach speaking about training to win, whether in boxing, running or in our Christian walk. All our young adults were amazing.

I am so greatful to our entire team. We are working as a team and there have been no conflicts, which is amazing when there are 38 of us. Please keep us in your prayers. We still have a day and a half left of ministry. We are getting really tired, but Jesus and adrenalin are keeping us going.

In His Service,
Brandon Chase