Oaxaca Event!

The event last night went great!
It was the smallest one yet for this trip... barely reaching 50 people, but they were open to the message. At the beginning of the event they also seemed really hard-hearted too... so it was a work-out for me to get them to participate. In the end they really seemed to open up.
In the end we were able to give material to more than 20 churches, some of which were from Chiapas! One pastor drove his teachers 12 hours to attend last night's event!

So now we hit the road again, and are driving to Guadalajara. Back on the autopista... where it will be wonderful to cross the countryside quickly, but painful to pay all the toles. :)

One more event in Guadalajara and we will be done with the ministry on this trip.

Praise God for helping us cross the country and meet new people... He has really blessed this trip!

Pyramid in Oaxaca- Day 11

This morning we decided we just had to check at least one tourist sight out before the event tonight... so we chose the biggest pyramid! :)

It overlooks the city of Oaxaca below...

Dwight really loves these old sights. I like 'em too... but it is fun to see Dwight running around climbing everything in sight! Dwight and I bought some cheap hats because we keep getting sunburned visiting these pyramids! As far as telling the story of the pyramid, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

That is me waving to Dwight across the large plaza. :)

There are 7 more sights like this in the state of Oaxaca alone... but we dont have time to see anymore. Maybe next time. For now, it was important to head back to the hotel and get some rest before the event tonight. Hopefully all goes well!

Tomorrow morning we load up and head north... we have two days to make some serious tracks... and it will be the 'autopista' all the way... this time we wont mind paying the toles. The mountain pass and the 18 hours on the road have prepped us to look forward to paying for the big highway! ha ha!

So Sunday and Monday we will be driving to Guadalajara where we have an event on Tuesday. After the event I hope to check out the worlds largest mall. :) Dont you think I should get a pair of shoes there???

Day 10... on the road again!

Day 10 was spent entirely on the road... and I did my best to take a few pictures out the window as we went. It was 9 hours south along the coast... then we hung a left and went up and over the mountain. The mountain road was supposed to take 6 hours, but it took us 9 hours as well, probably because our little astrovan isnt used to hauling a trailer full of books over mountains! We were like the little engine that could! What we had hoped would take 12-13 hours took us 18 hours! We got up at 7am, leaving Acapulco city limits at 8am... and didnt arrive in our hotel in Oaxaca until 3am! Dwight was a trouper and drove the whole thing!

I managed to get a few weird shots like these sausages. :)

We noticed after a few hours these trucks were transporting people everywhere... and they even used these to bring people over the mountain!

The views really were gorgeous!

We saw this bridge over a little creek and had to stake a quick rest and take some pictures.

There was a town on the other side, and as you can see below, the locals used this bridge to bring all things across.

We decided to have a late dinner... driving as much as possible with sunlight... but the sunset was breathtaking!

Around 8pm when it was dark we stopped for dinner and that is when we found out that we were maybe half way over the mountain! :)

Dwight had tacos and I had Oaxacan chicken Mole. Very deliscious!

We visited some more... but around 11pm I fell asleep and Dwight drove the remaining hours while I snoozed! At 2am I woke and helped him navigate the capital city of Oaxaca!

Day 9, Ministry in Acapulco

The pastors picked us up from the hotel, and we followed them with our van and trailer to their church for the teacher training event in Acapulco, only there was no road to his church! We parked as close as possible, and Dwight started unloading the van while they sent young men to help haul everything down the mountainside! They brought me down there first... and I couldnt wait to see the look on Dwight's face!

Here is the view from where the steps started down the hill...


There was no way to get a good picture of the whole path down because of the curves, so I took 3 pictures:

Here is the church that is built on the side of the hill in this valley! They actually hauled each block and bag of cement down this hill by hand to build this church!

Here is Dwight coming down the hill with some of the 15 boxes of material:

The pastors were very kind to us, were very pleased with the event and invited us back next year. Only they promised to find a better location, one where everyone in the city can easy find them, and fit in the church. They thought they may have an attendance of only 30 people but we crammed the church with more than 100! The event went great, and we look forward to continuing to work with this wonderful couple.

The VBS handshake always gets everyone excited.

At the break, everyone enjoyed checking out our little store of extra childrens ministry resources that we had set up at the back of the church.

The science project demonstration is always a hit...
Hey Laura... check out the apron I have used for the science project this whole tour! :)

The view from their church and parsonage is beautiful (that is the ocean in the background), but we didnt envy the lack of running water or the lack of roads into your home.

Overall the event went really well. We were exhuasted though because they picked us up at 2 in the afternoon and we finally arrived back in our hotel at 1am! Talk about long work hours!

We needed our rest too, because the following day we had a long drive across the sierra madres to Oaxaca... most accounts saying that it would take us 12-13 hours!

Day 8 Acapulco

Hi there friends and family!
This is the gorgeous site from our balcony the first night we arrived in Acapulco! We had one day to play here in the city... then one day of ministry... then we are back on the road again.

Our first pick for an activity in Acapulco was a $12 boat ride for 3 hours around the whole bay. It was gorgeous, but I got sea-sick, so we may not do that again. :)

After we got off the boat, we walked the waterfront for a while, until we found a plaza with a high-school dance compitition going... it was lots of fun to see the cultural dances!

Yesterday was a lot of fun, but today it is back to work. We are preparing the van and clothes in the travel bag for another trip across the country... and at 2:00 we go to the church for the teacher's conference.

We had a nice 4 days of being tourists... but time to get back to work. From here the schedule gets tighter, travel to Oaxaca then the event, then 2 days to travel to Guadalajara... then the event. Then a day of travel or maybe two since it is a long way... back home to Huatabampo!