Day 3 - thoughts from Danica



Alison painting one of the rooms



Yesterday (Feb.2) we were working here in Tepic at a place called Vanguard. We were helping convert a church into a discipleship school run by La Fuente. Some of us were making a trench for a new sewer pipe to go through, others were painting, some were helping put a gravel path in the back, and other group members were demolishing the stage.

 I was in the group demolishing the stage and we had a pretty good time, even though we were indoors, away from the sunshine. We were using sledgehammers to break the concrete and shovelling it away into wheelbarrows. It was hard work at times but we had a lot of fun doing it.

 


Jon starting off the demolition of the stage



Josh, Steph and Danica removing
material around the Baptismal pool



Hillary, MaryBeth, Ms. Stahl and Mikalya
removing debris from the outer hallway





Raela, Kaitlin & Nic working

on the sewer trench





Kenzie was dusty enough...



....to draw pictures on!





After we came back from working at Vanguard, we had our siesta time.They finally turned on the boiler so those of us who showered later actually had a hot shower...which made the shower time quite a bit longer than the short 2 min we were having before.

Steph and I both decided to share our testimonies at a youth service we went to in Xalisco. We spent our afternoon before we went preparing what we would say to the youth there.

Danica sharing her testamony at Xalisco.
(translator: Jennifer)

The youth service was incredible! The people here are so much  more open and they really are on fire for God. They are very easy to get along with, and even though we do have a language barrier between us we find ways to communicate. We started the service with worship and obviously it is in Spanish. For me though, it didn't matter that the words were in Spanish, we all could still feel God`s presence with us and were able to worship just the same or more than we do at home. The Armour of God team did their drama which I thought was well done.  After the drama, Steph and i shared our testimonies with a translator. I am glad that I took the opportunity to say my testimony and it was a great experience for me. The pastor preached for about15 min in Spanish. I was sitting next to the translator so i asked if she would translate for me. I love how he spoke. It was a good story relatable for everyone and he seemed to be extremely fired up for God. After the service he invited people up to the front if they wanted prayer...and the whole youth group was up there. The worship team was playing and everyone had their hands on each other praying for one another. It didn't matter if you knew them or not. It was cool to hear them praying in Spanish while I was praying in English and knowing that God was hearing everything that was said in that room.

The highlight of my day was after we were dismissed, the guy that I had my hand on praying for turned around and hugged me. We couldn't exchange words, but i knew that he was thankful for my prayers by his actions. It was encouraging for me to know that he appreciated it and even though he couldn't understand what i was saying while i was praying...it still impacted him.

  

- Danica

P.S. We will get pictures of the Xalisco service up soon. I read the comments left on the previous blog during lunch. We all appreciated them! Thanks, and keep them coming!

 - Mr. Stoesz