Outreach Week One: Adventures Nochixtlan

After teary goodbyes, a long long bus ride across southern Mexico, and great conversations with a few bus drivers later...we arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico. We were met in the bus terminal by Pastor Joel, the missions pastor for Centro Cristiano Betel in Nochixtlan, Mexico, our final destination. Joel could not have been more inviting and flexible with us. He first took us to a superstore where we could buy some warm clothes, which was nice because it is freezing here! We then loaded up in vans and made the 1hr journey to Nochixtlan. We were greeted there by other pastors and a beautiful lunch which began our introduction to the wonderful cuisine of Oaxaca, Mexico. Since being here I have eaten by far the most amazing food of my life. Everything from tamales, to traditional hot chocolate to grasshoppers to milanesa, everything has been utterly delictable.

During this first week here we asked to stay with families from the church, which has been so amazing! Maggi (another girl on the trip) and I were placed with an incredible family that has shown us the in´s and out´s of Nochix and treated us with some of the best hospitality I have ever experienced. This picture to the left is of me preparing to eat the famous champolines...aka roasted grasshoppers. The important thing about these little guys is that you must take their legs off first, or else they could get stuck in your throat...trust me about this one! Overall staying with the families has been a huge blessing but as of Tuesday we will all be moving back to the church for the next couple of weeks.

Besides the eating, ministry has been incredible as well. The church is building a three story building that will serve as their missions center and Bible school. This week we dedicated our monrings to helping witht he contsruction project and then in the evenings went out to visit some newly started house churches. By far my favorite part of being here so far has been the relationships we have made and the stories of how these people have seen God move in their lives. On Tuesday night we visited a pueblo about 20 minutes from town. We went to visit a house church that met that evening and met a man named Adrian and his family. Adrian could not stand to greet us because he was lying on a mat in the middle of the living room due to a serious accident at work that happened just the week before. Despite his obvious pain and suffering he was so joyful and excited that we, 15 gringos, had come from all over the world to share and evening with him. We truly felt the presence of the Lord in the house and were able to pray with him and his entire family that evening. God saved Adrian´s life and we were all incredibly blessed to be in his presence. And to our suprise we also saw him at church on Sunday! God is working here and if is such a priviledge to be a part of it.

This upcoming week we are going to be planning a Christmas program for the church and to present in the surrounding towns. We are all really excited about this opportunity! Thanks so much for your prayers and support! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Blessings and love!