Mexico {Week 1: Saturday and Sunday}

And so begins the re-cap of my time working with Bearing Precious Seed. Last year, I spent just a week down there. When it was time to go home, I knew that this year I definitely wanted to be down there for a longer period of time. After much planning, it worked out for me to spend 3 weeks! I'm not sure exactly how many posts I'll have to break this trip into, but for today, enjoy a glimpse of Saturday and Sunday!

Every Saturday night, the group goes to the top of one of the mountains in El Paso. It is an amazing view. You can see into Juarez, and it really gets the week off on the right start. This was on the way up to the mountain...I love Texas sunsets!

The first week was a ton of fun. A bunch of people from Normandale came down. Ari described it as "it's like Storybook, only people get saved." Pretty good description.

Riding the bus is usually quite an adventure. It's a good time to catch up on some sleep, chat with friends, pray, sing, and play games...among other things. :)

The view from the top. El Paso in the foreground, Juarez in the background.

So, so many lights....so, so many people who need the gospel.

I was so glad Jessimine got to come for the week! :D

On Sunday afternoon we headed into Juarez for the first time. We met the church we would be working with for the week, and attended their Sunday evening service.

They were so friendly. It was really cool how even though there was a language barrier, we instantly felt a connection with these people.

Mr. Bruggenthies preached the Sunday evening service, and Hector translated it into Spanish. It was a really good message about not being afraid. He also challenged us to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord."

The little children are so precious

The church served us dinner after the service. We were a little nervous about eating it at first, but we didn't want to hurt their feelings and not eat it, so we all took a plate. It must have been a sacrifice for them to fix a meal for all of us.

Ari trying to explain that us Americans can only drink bottled water... ;)

...so they brought out some Coke for us.

This little girl's name is Jocelyn and she spoke perfect English. She was such a big help in translating!

Crossing back over the border. We had really long lines almost every night the first week, but it was totally worth it! Check back next week for part 2!