PV Mission Log

Pole Swinging – Day 1

We all arrived safely in Puerto Vallarta to spend a week working with Worship in Paradise Church. It took us 12 hours to travel from Mitchell, SD to the beautiful paradise on the west coast of Mexico. We began the journey at 3:30 a.m., split the team at the airport to fly two different itineraries, and arrived in Puerto Vallarta just a few hours apart from each other. The only delay we had occurred in Chicago due to a broken tow cable and a bad sensor. One hour later, we were making our way to Mexico.

Walking around after dinner last night on the ocean boardwalk, we saw these native Mexicans (Indians) doing some kind of traditional pole dance. They climbed up 200-300 feet in the air with only the ropes you see attached to their feet holding them together. Needless to say, more than one of the students felt we were going to watch someone plummet to their death! But, they landed just fine to very loud applause.

Right next to us they were setting up for a concert/dance and we could barely hear the traditional music because they were testing the sound system for the next event. I found this to be a very apt metaphor for Puerto Vallarta. It is a town in transition. We drove by Starbucks, 3 Wal-Marts, Burger King, and a number of traditional Mexican restaurants. It is a town booming with tourism but makes me wonder how much “soul” of Puerto Vallarta they may lose in the process.

Tomorrow we will be leading worship in the morning at the English church, followed by our work orientation for the week, and worship at a Spanish-speaking congregation. The team is very excited to get going to see how God is going to use us this week!

Worship in Paradise – PV Mission Day 2

Amanda and Jeannette helping with the rest of the team getting ready for worship and for communion with Goldfish(TM) and juice box grape juice

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

That passage was the focus for our first worship service with 150+ English-speaking folks. The students did a fantastic job leading music and we were challenged with a message by Pastor Ric about the North American churches’ lack of focus on the “good news to the poor” for many decades. In fact, his message lines up with much of my reading in theology lately about the need for the church to be missional once again, to engage the world outside of the church building and to focus on disciple-making, not simply butts in the seats.

Frankly, if there is a silver bullet to turn around the United Methodist Church, that’s it: a relevant missional community of faith. In reality, there are numerous factors that need to be changed but that one would literally make the United Methodist Church different overnight. It is why many churches are committed to “Change the World” on April 24. The missional (service) focus is one of the reasons I love working at Dakota Wesleyan: they have been missional for many years and are a great model of how the church should act.

The second service, all in Spanish, found us comprehending little of the service but thoroughly enjoying the music, practicing our ability to sing in Spanish, and clap for long periods of time! We found out later the service focused upon building character in our lives. I’m sure it was awesome.

A great moment after worship: we bought chocolate-covered bananas and strawberries for a youth fundraiser. Eating outside, we watched one of the children pet a stray dog with his strawberry and proceeded to immediately to bite it. A collective “no!” came out of our group. Charity replied “that’s how you build a great immune system.”

Chiseling & Digging – PV Mission Day 3

Team 1 works on David house. Pictured from left to right, Amanda, Kelsie, Kara, Kelty, and Brandon

The team split today into groups of 12 and 7. The group of twelve met David and helped to build his house. He received a microfinanced loan (around $3000 @ 0% interest) from the Worship in Paradise Church and uses volunteer labor, mission teams like us, to build it. With four walls up and no roof, we spent the day chiseling out spots for electrical outlets, water lines, and sewage pipes. Towards the end of the day, we began work on the floor, placing dirt and prepping it for the concrete floor tomorrow.

The group of seven experienced Extreme Makeover: Neighborhood Edition. They began construction on Maria’s house and met the neighborhood visionary Andy. Maria cried as the team pulled in because her dream of having a home was coming true. Today. The team dug through sun-dried clay to make footers for the new home.

Maria’s home is one of the last houses on this street to be completed. Last year, the street was filled with tent dwellings with no sewage. Today, Maria’s house is the last to be converted and a proper sewage system has been working for a few months. Andy also has plans for a community center that will be used to provide income for the neighborhood families and a place of worship as well.

Friends, is this not Kingdom work? Providing shelter for those that have no roof, work for those that have no employment, and hope for those that have despair. I love the idea of taking an entire neighborhood and providing hope and life. Is this not something we could do in the US as well? What would it look like for all the churches in Mitchell (SD) to make a commitment to one block of town? I dare say some powerful miracles might occur!

Team 2 spends the last part of the day at an orphanage playing games. From left to right: Mallory, Tanner, Kelsey, Abby, Analisa and Alicia (back to the camera)

Feeding & Stomping – PV Mission Day 4

At Maria’s soon-to-be house, Shannon and Kelsey dig trenches for the foundation

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me’” (Matthew 25:34-36).

After waking today a bit more sore than usual, the two teams swapped some people and spent the day back at David’s and Maria’s house. The team at Maria’s filled the holes they painstakingly dug yesterday with tons of hand-mixed concrete for the support beams for the house and laid bricks for the foundation. They did not have a cement mixer because it had been moved to David’s site to mix cement for the floor.

For lunch today, the team at Maria’s house fed the area children and mothers, around 100 of them, hamburgers and fruit. For some of them it is the only nutritious meal they get for the day. This area of town has extreme poverty but it is amazing to see what one church’s long-term investment can do to change that.

The team at David’s house finished up chiseling out some channels for water pipes, sewage drains and electricity. They moved a huge dirt pile into the 3-room house to bring the floor up to a certain level so it can be filled with concrete. That involved a large tool to stomp the loose dirt into submission. The team received the concrete mixer around lunchtime but discovered they didn’t need it until tomorrow. Yes, that means the other team hand-mixed concrete when they didn’t have to. There was more than one joke about that at dinner!

David told us his story at lunch and how he became the youth pastor of the Spanish-speaking church we worshiped at Sunday. He was a part of a rich drug-dealing family that included his uncle and father. One day his father received a vision that could come true days later. David’s father wagered with God and when it came true, he became a Christian and immediately stopped selling drugs. David and his uncle cleaned up their acts and through a series of life changes David married, had a daughter and now works as a youth pastor! God works in creative ways through ordinary people.

I couldn’t be more proud of the students. They have worked harder than any of our Mexican partners expected. More than once I have heard them explain to strangers on the street why they are here: not to get drunk everyday like many assume but to help the poor in Mexico, to live out the passage above. They motivate me each day as we share the work and laughs together.

A view down David’s street shows Seth, Abby and Amanda moving yet another load of dirt into the house

The Best-Laid Plans – PV Mission Day 5

The team working on the children’s ministry/tutoring center – from left to right: Brandon, Kelsey, Derik, Abby, Mallory and Kara

It is a rite of passage for anyone on a mission trip to do 2 things: 1) move a pile of bricks from A to B then back to A and 2) have all of your plans turned upside-down. Both of those rites have been accomplished for all of our team members as of today. We mixed the students into different groups at breakfast and split to conquer projects at David and Maria’s homes.

At David’s house, with the cement mixer, we were ready to put the floor in all three rooms. After a solid 20 minutes of work, the water in his neighborhood stopped flowing. Since it is impossible to make cement without water, we were done at David’s for the day. Luckily our Mexican mission partners had a backup plan and thus we met Lee and Carol today.

They are building an after-school program, children’s ministry and tutoring center. We helped them ready the floors for cement tomorrow, prepare re-bar for the roof and move 241 bricks from one location to another. So the students who felt they were not going to do any work today worked plenty!

The crew at Maria’s house mixed cement and mortar for the walls by hand (note that the cement mixer was again sitting at David’s house not being used), finished the foundation, and completed 2 of the 4 walls at half-height. That team is well on the way of having the four walls of the house completed tomorrow. FYI: they moved a piles of bricks yesterday to meet their rite of passage.

At the end of the day, the team visited the Agape House, a home for abused girls, aged 7-18. They spent time getting to know the girls and playing games. The team discovered they did not know Spanish numbers very well and were schooled in the games.

We relaxed tonight by walking to the ocean from our rented house. It was quite humorous to watch 17 Plains-raised students get knocked on their butts by the Pacific Ocean. However, it was awesome to do devotions and to pray in the moonlight under the stars on the beach on the Pacific.

God has been doing awesome work through the team and I am excited to see how our final workday plays out tomorrow. Keep the prayers coming for health, stamina, and creative scheduling!

The team at the Agape House – From left to right: Amanda, Liz, Charity, and Jeannettte (back to camera)

Mud ‘n’ Spit – PV Mission Day 6

From left to right: Kelty, Derik, and David (the homeowner) mixing cement for the floors

Then Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! (John 9:6-7)

We began our day today by eating juevos Mexicano (Mexican eggs) made by our wonderful hosts at Frank’s house. Think scrambled eggs mixed with cheese, onions, green peppers, and Mexican spice; all the good stuff! We mixed the teams one final time, adjusting for a few scrapes, bruises and sick stomaches, and then made the final journey to David’s house and Maria’s house.

David’s team experienced riding the morning bus to meet our driver for the day. We were serenaded by a trio of musicians (guitar, drum and flute player) while the bus was in motion. Talented musicians and great balance to boot! Once on the work site, the team at David’s house placed the floor in all three rooms, finally using the cement mixer. In my decade-plus of mission work, this is the first time we’ve not had to mix it by hand. It was awesome! The team’s final work hours were spent back at Lee & Carol’s prepping rebar for cement and rooms for concrete.

Carol posted video on YouTube from our workday yesterday. Check those out!
Spring Breakers from Dakota Wesleyan – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4_B5qQKUZ4
Dakota Wesleyan Spring Breakers – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9U6H7X9JKQ
So, What Did You Do on Spring Break? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvCGS3V52bw

At Maria’s house, the team mixed more mortar for the walls of the home and carried 16 wheelbarrows of dirt more than 5 blocks to prep the floor for concrete. The house now has 4 walls, about 3/4 completed! This team also visited the dump today to feed those who work there. The workers are not employed by the government but scavenge through the dump, standing next to huge vultures, to find anything of value to make money to feed their families. The team also fed about 65 local children, and passed out bags of fresh vegetables to each house on the street.

While some of our achievers felt like they did not work enough, it is not true; their impact will be felt for a long time to come. Our Mexican partners told us it typically takes locals years to build a home on their own. Our team has worked so fast and hard they have turned years into weeks. Years into weeks by giving up one spring break vacation.

For the Mexicans, this is a miracle. Our team models the fact that God takes very ordinary things and works extraordinary miracles through them. Mud and spit, a teenage girl, twelve dysfunctional disciples, and 17 willing servants from a small university in South Dakota. God will use all of us in amazing ways; all we have to do is to say yes!

The team with Maria and her children – from left to right, top to bottom: Maria, Charity, Amanda, Seth, Jeannette, Tanner, Liz, and Abby

Highlights – PV Mission Day 7

After surviving the canopy trip (zip-lining between mountains) the team relaxes in nearby hammocks – pictured are Brandon and Vicky, the team leaders

What are the one or two moments you will most remember from the mission trip?

Tanner – “swimming in the ocean at night with the stars overhead”

Charity – “When delivering groceries to the neighbors, we interrupted a woman in the shower. It really brought home the point that we all share things in common on the planet.”

Alicia – “The thankfulness of Maria for working on her house and the look on her face when we first arrived”

Mallory – “David’s attitude of servanthood and gratitude for our help on his house”

Vicky – “The transformation of Maria’s entire neighborhood by a regular, ordinary person named Andy.”

Liz – “The looks of the ladies as we gave away clothing that were collecting dust at DWU”

Kelsie N. – “The story of Lee & Carol selling their life insurance and coming on faith to meet the needs of the poor”

Shannon – “Playing with the girls at the Agape House – one of them said it was the most fun she has ever had”

Kelsey M. – “At the dump, the attitude of the workers while they prayed with us. We have something to learn from their attitude”

Jeannette – “David’s testimony of giving up monetary wealth as a drug dealer to follow Christ in material poverty”

Kelty – “David’s story encouraged me that a family member of mine could turn around someday as well”

Brandon – “Hearing the students explain to others that they were not here to get drunk but to serve the poor”

The view outside Puerto Vallarta where we cruised over and through the trees, on 11 different zip lines, 2 over a mile in length! Thanks Canopy River Tours!

Coming Home – PV Mission Day 8

The 2010 Puerto Vallarta Mission Team outside our home for the week, Frank’s house that used to be the French Ambassador’s home – From left to righ, back to front: Brandon, Vicky, Mallory, Kelty, Alicia, Seth, Tanner, Jeannete, Charity, Shannon, Liz, Kelsey M., Kara, Abby, Amanda, Kelsie N., and Derik

Thank you all so much for your prayers and financial support for our trip! They have made a difference. We are flying out of Puerto Vallarta at 12:45 p.m. today and, if all goes well, should be back in Mitchell around midnight or 1 a.m.

Don’t forget to get the details of the stories from them first-hand. This has only been a taste of all God has done through us!