First Day

VBS theme this week

On Saturday we did not get access to our meeting rooms as we had hoped so after meetings in the morning and lunch the team had the afternoon off.  The weather was great so everyone got some time around the pool.  Sunday after breakfast and devotions we got into our meeting rooms and began setting up tables, sound equipment and sorting the supplies we will be using this week.  The team is doing great and working hard.  Families started arriving on Saturday and the conference officially begins at 5 PM on Monday.  That is when we get our kids for the first time.

Each morning we start with devotions and a team meeting

Shelby and Audra 

Sorting 27 suitcases of supplies

Bethany and Molly practicing our songs

We Made it!

All 23 team member and 30+ pieces of luggage made it to our hotel safe and sound.  We got to the hotel around 7 PM on Friday.  Got checked into our rooms, had dinner, a short team meeting and then off to bed around 10 PM.  We will take a full-team picture today (Saturday) and update the blog later today.  Today we check out our meeting rooms and try to get setup.

Please pray, we at not be able to get all of our meeting rooms until just before the conference starts on Monday!

More later.

Greece Team 2018

Oklahoma City Team

Denver Team

The team of 23 members is ready to head out June 21.  We have 13 from Portland, Oregon, 3 from Denver, Colorado, 6 from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and 1 from Finland.  Our training is complete and we are excited to get to work.  We are going to do a 5 day program for 60 children ages birth to 10 years old while their missionary parents attend a conference. This frees the parents up to attend worship services, training, counseling sessions, and just have time to visit with other missionaries.  This is the fifth year that Sunset has taken a team to do this ministry.  It is a wonderful experience. We will do our best to update this blog each day.  Come along for the ride!

Finnish Team member

Portland Team

Reynosa Spring March 30th

It's never easy to say goodbye! Our team left Texas and our hosts and missions partners Bruce & Paula on Friday morning.  We've returned to Portland and are preparing to celebrate Easter here with our church family.  Thank you everyone for your love and support of our team and trip! 

We'd love to share our stories and pictures with you, so please ask!

Here's a link to Bruce & Paula's blog, we thought they summed up our trip beautifully. http://hepburnsinmx.blogspot.com/

Reynosa Spring March 29, 2018

Thursday, March 29th, 2018

A Day to Celebrate!

The day began (after a yummy breakfast of course) back on the road to the Colonia.  We rode with Bruce and watched as he figured out how to obtain our last piece of furniture for the house.  Jaime to the rescue!  It struck me how Bruce and his team depend so completely on God to provide everything we needed for our project. Matthew 6:25 says; “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”  Time and time again Bruce tells us stories about how God provided just what he needed in every situation.

Once we arrived at the work site, we began to fill the house with items collected by Paula and things we bought on our Walmart trips.  Quickly it transformed from a newly built house into a home.  How exciting it was to make the beds, set the table, stock the shelves with food for the family.  The day before I had seen the faces of Carla and Jose, 2 of the kids in the family, as they tried to peak through the door.  They seemed so excited to see their new home, but Paula shooed them away, saying “Manana.”  They had to wait until tomorrow.  That day was now here and I could not wait to see their reaction when they finally were allowed in. 

Dani began to draw hearts on one of the beams so that each one of us could write our names.  It felt like such a privilege to be part of the process and to leave our mark.

Soon the extended family, Sunset people, and Bruce and Paula’s team began to gather together.  After introductions, Jaime began with a word from 2Kings, sharing about how God uses miracles to help us focus on Him and to show his strength and power so that we would believe.  Later Lupita (sister to Liliana) would share how God saved her daughter Carolina, also showing God’s power to perform miracles.  Abby and Caleb led us, singing Te Doy Gloria and Jaime led us in a powerful song translated “His Glory is falling Over Me.”  Scott led us in a prayer of dedication over the home and Colin gave Liliana the keys to the house!  Bruce needed to explain the tradition to Jose Sr. about carrying his wife Liliana across the threshold.  So many smiles as the entire family was there to witness their joy.  There were not many dry eyes as we watched the family enjoy this moment.

We have been fed over and over again on this trip and today was no exception.  The family slaughtered one of their goats from their herd to serve at the meal along with fresh tortillas, soup, coca-cola, and salad.  Having never had goat, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It was savory and delicious, similar to pork.

After our meal it was time to say our goodbyes to many of the people we met this week.  Braulia, Andrez, Luis, Jaime, the family and so many more.  Women who sewed our quilts and taught us to quilt.  Men who worked alongside us, taking us through each step of the house-building process with such patience!

Driving away from the site Bruce and Janet made the decision to take us to Progresso, a small border town filled with Mexican shops for us to experience.  Don’t be surprised if you receive a little something from Progreso from someone in the group!

Marlo

Reynosa Spring March 28 2018

Janet here.... I'm sitting in the "family room" of the house of Bruce & Paula Hepburn.  Most the teens are hanging out together on the warm Texas patio.  A circle of adults and one teen who were strangers less than a week ago, are playing a game together and laughing at the table near me.

So, here I am writing the blog.  

And I am happy to do this because it gives me the opportunity to tell you what pure joy it has been to travel with this team.

If we were to rewind to our team preparation you'd see me wondering about a team with so many rookies (13 of 15).  I wondered about taking a family of five, including an 8 year old. I wondered about the dynamics of a teammate who joined late and attended very little training.  I wondered if our relationships with the missionary partners would continue to grow or if the "honeymoon" period would be over (this my third trip here and Sunset's fifth). I wondered how it would be to co-lead with someone who I recently have been getting to know. 

The truth about me though is that I stopped being fearful of what God would do on a mission trip a while ago. Now I just wonder... I wonder what God is going to do. Because I know he's going to do something through us and something bigger in us. 

So here are a few WONDERful glimpses of our week together. 

- The 8 year old is a key member of the group, he contributes enthusiasm, accomplishes work and is insightful and thoughtful in his commentary on the trip. 

- A 16 year old led the women to begin affirming one another each night at bed time.  This has led to a unity on a team of acquaintances like I have never seen before.

- Adults who were afraid of giving up control have followed well, adapted and prioritized relationships over a solid plan.  

- A mother, invited by her daughter, has committed to growing in her faith and to being involved in serving more intentionally when she returns home. 

- The co-leader and the adults have become counselors and comrades. 

- A teen feels a call on her life to long term missions.

- Fathers have selflessly shepherded other peoples sons, young women have adopted grandmothers and second and third moms. 

- Competent and capable adults have done whatever was asked and found things to do that needed to be done. 

- The group ministered to one of our teens whose grandfather passed away while she was here. It was hard news but the young woman allowed herself to grieve in community. A lesson we adults could learn from. 

-  A young woman challenged me without knowing it, to memorize more scripture. 

- The missionaries and the Mexican builders have demonstrated such patience as we have sewn and built alongside of them. 

And tonight, one teen has shared that he's learned by watching our missionary hosts that he has been asking God's blessing on the things he wants to do in his life and here has made a decision to follow God with his whole life. 

Wonderful.

Shawn & Carla Estes, MaryLou Daniels, Paula & Bruce Hepburn

Tonight we shared our team time with our missionary hosts and some of their partners.  It was clear to me that the hospitality they show to us and the way they live their life responding to God's voice has had a impact on us.  The truth is this is a hard place to serve. It could easily seem that there is little reward on this side of heaven, but tonight we were able to share with them how meaningful it has been to be led by them this week, to serve with them and to learn their stories.  

It has reminded me again of God's design for His church. His plan that we GO and make disciples.  This week we have gone AND we have been discipled wonderfully by our hosts and one another. 

Much love, Janet 

Reynosa Spring March 27, 2018

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018

7 AM the usual morning lineup

Woken up with fruit salad, egg casserole and breakfast brownies (okay, they were just brownies), we prepared for the day of work ahead. The drive through the border was uneventful at most, but it was of course filled with the fatally catchy songs of our favorite artists, JB and Taylor Swift. After the group reconvened at the Community Center, the guys in the group headed off with Bruce to work on the house. The girls stayed with Paula to help the ladies that meet every Tuesday and Thursday to sew quilts that they sell and gave to the missionaries to furnish the newly built houses.

Every Scrap of Fabric Counts

At first, only one lady was working at her sewing machine, but as 3 more arrived, the mood in the room lifted. Our team could communicate with the talented women in the room through laughter and shared love of patterns and colors. The team made 2 entire quilts from scratch, but with a lot of help from everyone in the room. No matter how many times a patch was sewn on incorrectly or a stitch was sewn wrong, all of the ladies were eager to help, and endlessly patient and encouraging. To work, laugh, help, and smile with these wonderful women was an honor for me, and I could see my joy reflected on my team members’ faces.

Not only were the ladies a joy to be around, but they were incredibly talented. They worked magic with their sewing machines, and could take the smallest squares of patterned and plain fabric alike, and create a miracle. I could see how happy they were to teach us – they had been as inexperienced as we were once. Kami used her talents to reach out to the 2 young girls that showed up at the Community Center. They played games, the language barrier no longer a setback for Kami, but rather a challenge as she connected so deeply with the girls. Through hand gestures, smiles, our limited Spanish, and our translators Abby and Marlo, we made quilts, and we made them for Christ. It was a day that would without doubt be remembered by everyone in our mission team and everyone we met today.

House:  Nearly Complete

Did just the guys finish the house today? Half the crew from yesterday quilted. Well, we rolled up our sleeves and saw what we could get done. Before we knew it, we had installed the front door with locks, rafters, the loft, and a good part of the electrical systems. The crew was working strong, but we missed the rest of our crew. It was a welcome sight to see the women, which meant it was time for lunch. The amazing food prepared for us by the family that we built the house for. The menu was empanadas (with delicious and very spicy salsa verde) as well as chicken and rice tacos. But what about the sandwiches prepared for us by Paula and Mary Lou? The food by our hosts was so plentiful we didn’t even think about the sandwiches. 

After lunch, we got back to work and completed the roof, trim, upstairs windows, outside awning, inside railing and 90% of the electrical. As we left, we were able to actually give the family the keys to their house (it was not quite done, but it looks it from the outside). 

The whole day, it was amazing to see various groups of people working together on each section:  Clint and Caleb tackled the awning, Pastor Jaime and Todd; the upstairs windows, Caleb and Scott; the front door.  Everyone else installed the rafters; Colin, Charles, and Ian did the inside railing, and the local crew were knocking out the electrical like they were experts.

Oh…and dinner: Paula’s amazing Meat Loaf and Cheese Potatoes, along with Lemon and Chocolate pie. 😊 What will tomorrow bring?  

Eva & Scott