Glimpse into a mission group

This was one of the last mission groups that I will be involved in before I return to the U.S.  These wonderful people are from Midway Covenant Church in DesMoines, Washington.  This was a special time for me since the mission group included a dear friend who was instrumental in my journey toward missions.  She counts as one of the oldest (but not THE oldest) mission group members that we have had here in Oaxaca.  This is a photo of the ten group members, the pastor of the Siete Regiones Covenant Church, short term missionary Ben Wickstrom and myself.

I've posted photos of mission trips before so I'm only going to post some aspects of a mission trip that are not always seen or thought about.

The man on the left is Pastor Antonio.  Some of you might remember that a year ago, Pastor Antonio had a pacemaker put in.  It was such a joy to see him "in his element" once again -- working in construction.  The photo is also interesting because it shows how Oaxacan's bend re-bar.  They build a small fire with charcoal and put the re-bar on top of the fire to heat it up until it is bendable.

Ladies from the Siete Regiones Church prepared lunch for us three days a week.  It was a full Oaxacan "comida".  We provided a picnic lunch the other two days of the week.  Every lunchtime Oaxacans and mission group members sat together and with the help of missionary translators, each small group discussed issues such as "What are you proud of in your community and church?" "What are some problems in your community and church?" "What dreams do you have for your children", etc.  It lead to some VERY animated and sometimes emotional discussions and learning more about each other and each others' culture.

One of the "extra" activities that we did this week was teach Oaxacan women and youth how to make banana bread.  Each person brought an ingredient from home and we put everything together.  We had to mix the batter in the downstairs area because of all the dust that was flying around from the construction project.  Then we had to go to the second floor where the church had an oven (very unusual for Oaxaca) and we baked the bread.  Youth and women sat near the oven to check and regulate the temperature (Oaxacan ovens are not known for precise oven thermostats).  The verdict?  A delicious success.

This girl had a unique way of mashing the bananas.  She just used her fingers (washed beforehand of course).

The last evening we had a celebration with the church members.  It was a pot luck so we had to go grocery shopping for our contribution.  We also bought juice and pan dulce (traditional sweet bread) for a coffee break for the people working on the church construction project.

The last evening, before the potluck, we had a worship service.  If you'd like to see and hear something of this service, please click on  http://youtu.be/BOLmJYL7WDY It is a short video of the church members singing "How Great Thou Art" and the mission group members trying to follow along in Spanish. You will also see some of the Oaxacan missionaries and if you notice two very non-Oaxacan faces in the praise band, you're right--they are the faces of the pastor and his son joining the band for the evening.

God has great plans for each person involved in this mission trip--U.S. participants, Oaxacan participants, missionaries and community members.