Favorite Things About June

Is June really over already? That means this year is half way over!

Today I'm linking up with Ashley from Dancing with Ashley for her new monthly "Favorite Things" link up.

Here are my favorite things from the month of June:

1. I was off work this month. It's always a good time when you don't have to work.

2. I was able to do some deep cleaning in our apartment. I love for things to be cleaned and organized. We have lived in our apartment for a year now, so it was time for a good cleaning. I was especially glad to clean and organize our pantry and hall closet.
 

3. I went on my first international mission trip this month. I went to the Yucatan in Mexico. My team worked hard all week painting, playing with children, handing out flyers, meeting people, and experiencing the culture. I spent a week writing blogs in preparation for the trip and then I spent this past week writing blogs about the trip. It was a great experience.

4. Lee and I FINALLY went on a picnic. I've been asking him to take me on a picnic since before we got married. I enjoy sitting outside when the weather is nice and enjoying God's beautiful creation. One beautiful day this month, we finally went.
 

5. I love all the shows that come on TLC during the summer. I think I'm recording more shows this month than I do throughout the year. I've been watching Cake Boss, Toddlers & Tiaras, and Extreme Couponing. I also recorded Craft Wars, but haven't watched it yet. These "reality" type shows are a weakness of mine.

So what about you? What's been your favorite thing about June?

Mexico Mission Trip Part 3

On Monday and Tuesday, I shared with you what we did on our mission trip. If you haven't already read my previous 2 posts, here is Part 1 and Part 2.

There were a few things that I think had the biggest impact on people. 

 

Of course, it was a culture shock to be in a place that is very different from your home. We couldn't understand what people were saying. We couldn't read the signs. The food was different. The way people live and entertain themselves is different.

Road rules were scarce and they definitely were not enforced. A lot of people rode these scooter things. You would see adults riding with two or three kids hanging on.

This is one of the streets. Houses and stores our side by side.

Signs everywhere

We had to have a translator to communicate with the people.

Supermarket

Another street

Most people who lived outside of the town in the villages lived in houses like this.

I believe, though, that Wednesday night had the biggest impact on our team. 

We were told we were going to attend a church service. We were also told it was a church plant in one of the villages by the pastor of the church we'd been painting. It was pouring down rain. We pulled up to an area where the houses looked like the one pictured above. In between two houses was a slab of concrete and a tarp strung up. They had a small table near the front and had set out some small, wooden, fold out chairs. This was their church.

Here we sat in this makeshift church with people who more than likely lived in these tiny houses where electricity and running water were their luxuries. Yet, we experienced God's presence like never before. These people truly understand what it means to worship God. They sang with their whole heart. They prayed aloud right along with the pastor. They listened intently to what some people in our group had to say when they shared their testimony. This experience broke the heart of every person in our group. You don't need to have a fancy, beautiful building to worship God. You don't need to have all the latest technology to worship God. You don't need to have a piano, keyboard, guitar, bass, drum set, microphones, etc. to worship God. All of those things are nice, but they're not necessary. Surrounded by all of our wealth, we often get distracted and forget that it's all about glorifying God. Worshiping with these people, everything else was stripped away and all we had was God. 

I hope that we will remember this experience and let it impact how we worship God here at home.

Thank you for reading about my mission trip. I had to condense it because so much happened and I could write about it for weeks. We did have one morning off when we went to a site of Mayan ruins. I will post pictures about that on Monday. Tomorrow I will be writing about my favorite things about June.

Mexico Mission Trip Part 2

Yesterday, I told you about our day of traveling and our first day in Tizimin. If you didn't read it, you can read Part 1 here.

We used 2 types of evangelism while in Tizimin: service evangelism and friendship evangelism. We were there to share the love of God through serving others and by getting to know people. 

We did 3 main things. One thing we did was paint the outside of a church. We painted Monday morning, Tuesday morning, and Wednesday morning. Painting had its ups and downs. It rained several times while painting and messed up our paint job. So, we repainted. In the end, it did look much better than when we first got there. By painting the church, God worked in the preacher of the church's heart and rekindled his friendship with the missionary, Bill, that we were working with. This is important because this pastor is very influential and Bill wants unity among the churches in the town.

Outside the church before...

The first time it rained

  

Paint just fell off the wall

  

 

After pictures

 

 

 

 

The second thing we did, I mentioned yesterday. We played with the children who live outside of town. A lady built a church in this village for these children. We did this Sunday evening, Monday evening, Tuesday evening, and Friday evening. We did all kinds of crafts with them. We did things like face paint and paint fingernails. We played games with them. We also gave them goodies every day. It was funny trying to communicate with the kids. I was able to pick up on a few necessary Spanish phrases.

 

 

One of our team members made signs to let all the people who we prayed for this week know that we had prayed for them. My husband, Lee was one of those people.

The third thing we did was pass out flyers for a big event that DCI was sponsoring this week. While passing out flyers, we also passed out goodies. I didn't take as many pictures of this because we did it Thursday night and it was dark. Then, we did it Friday morning and it rained. 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the night that I think had the biggest impact on everyone.