Hola to all! We made it back safely and have enjoyed sleeping in late, and showing pictures and our goodies to our family and friends. Tonight we looked at pictures at Youth Group and told some stories to the other teens. It was fun to relive the memories!
On Sunday, July 22 at 10:45am, we will be having our presentation at Portersville Bible Church, off the Portersville exit on 79S, or on Rt 488. It's the white church with the steeple. We will be sharing pictures, stories, a skit and a song or two from our trip in Mexico. We would LOVE it if you were able to make it!!!!
For the PBC Missions Team,
Abby <><

Photos

Am still uploading photos, and would love to have more people add some trip summary blog entries, if you are willing/able. Thanks to everyone (members, parents, supporters) for all your contributions to our trip.

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s72/pbcyg/MexicoCityTrip/?start=all

We made it!

After a late night up of playing Dutch Blitz and watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the 10 girls staying with the Nevin's got up early and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. When they did we ate breakfast, took some last minute group pictures and loaded up the car. Then we had a debriefing meeting about the trip. After that it was off to the airport, we all made it through check it with a little trouble of bags being too heavy but nothing too major. Then we found a little snack too eat and boarded our plane. Once we got to Chicago with only enough time to go through security, find our luggage, go through customs and run to our gate to board our final plane! It was a little crazy but good cause we only had an hour and one minute left till we would be home! Our plane landed in Pittsburgh and we found our parents in baggage claim and then waited for our luggage. That was a little confusing because other group members were pulling off others luggage without them knowing but i guess that happens with our group size. So we are all now safely at home and happy to have some time to ourselves although the trip was great and i will miss the Nevin family.

Jennifer

The last day is here....today (Sunday) we said goodbye to our Mexican brothers and sisters in Christ, friendships that were made in a very short time. We said goodbye to the church that has welcomed us so wonderfully. We enjoyed another ride from Antonio, our Mexican van driver, someone who will be hard to forget. We FINALLY got to watch "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", and spent time playing Dutch Blitz with Susan, who hasn't got to sit down and rest the whole time we've been here.
It's been a great trip...a really great trip. The testimonies that were given today during church by our kids proved it. They shared how God has really shown them that His love is communicated in more ways than talking. It's with a smile, a hug, a giggle, a few mangled Spanglish words, a game of soccer, a bouncy ball, a painted face, a balloon animal, a joke here and there. God has also taught this team that it's been easy to share the gospel with perfect strangers who don't speak our language, but it's not going to be as easy when we get home and talk to those we love and live around. We are so thankful for Bryan and Susan and for the ministry they have here. They allowed 20 crazy people to crash and mix up their world for 10 days! And let me tell you, it's been a ton of crazy days!
It was hard to say goodbye today. Listening to the testimonies of our team and of the Mexicans really touched my heart. Their hearts were molded and changed while we were here. My love for the Spanish culture is continuing to grow, making it so hard to leave. God has called us to either go or to send. No one is called to do nothing. I am soooo thankful that I was called to go and that God was able to use me here, even for a short time. I am also sooo thankful that you were called to send. We wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for so many supportive and loving parents, great friends and families, hard working youth workers and a great God who wanted to use us in our weaknesses.
I loved being an encouragement to the Nevins. We definately added stress and confusion to their lives, but I think we also were a great help to them in the midst of that confusion. A couple of prayer requests are:
1. Safety for travel tomorrow, getting there on time and through customs smoothly
2. For the Bible Church of Texcoco, that they will grow in their faith and in their numbers
3. For the Mexican ninos (children) who accepted Christ and for those who had the seed planted
4. For permenately changed hearts of the team who traveled with us

It's really late, and I should be going! We'll be back in the US in less than 24 hours! See you soon!
~ Abby

hello from jen and amy

today we went to church, but before we did that we made 48 sandwiches for our picnic lunch. for church we had a praise service, 3 different times of testimony, one for praise God for anything, second for how God worked in your life recently, and third how a bible verse has influenced your life. our group sang how great thou art in spanish and then light the fire and you are holy in english in front of the church. afterwards we took a group picture with the congregation and then ate interesting rice and milk pudding and jicama(the equilvant of potatoe wedges) with chili powder and lime juice...very interesting to say the least. eventually we all changed and loaded into four vehicles, because people from the congregation joined us on our trip to the pyramids. we ate our 48 sandwiches in the pyramid parking lot along with chips, grapes, apples, oreos, and pop. we were all praying that the sun would go away because for once while we were here it was really hot. and it did. it rained. but not until after we got back from the pyramids and we were loaded back in. the pyramids were amazing! we got to climb about 250 steps to get to the top. while we were up there we watched the rain come in from 3 different directions. when we all found each other again, we went in the cars and went and ate in a restaurant that was in a cave. the food was interesting, but the ambience was awesome. there were candles lit everywhere and alot of us girls got our pictures taken together. eventually we all got back in the cars and headed home. now we all have to pack(which im done with and have extra room) so we can all eat together at 8:30am and then all leave the nevins at 11 am so we can get through the airport and make our plane on time. pray that we make the connecting flight in chicago because we have 2 hours to get our baggage, go through customs, check our baggage back in, and make it all to the plane in time.
signing out,
jen and amy

Mexico Trip 7/15/07

The missions trip is finally coming to a close, and I have to say that these ten days have just been awesome. I've had a good time with the VBS and the other activities. The Nevins have just been great while we've been invading their home, and they've just been so helpful!! I've had such a great time getting to know Susan, Bryan, Josh, Caleb, and Abby. It has just been such a great experience and I have learned that the world is a lot bigger than you think it is because you usually don't focus on anything except your town; you don't look at the big picture. So, this has just been a jammin' experience for me!! I've also had an awesome time getting to know the other people who came on the trip, such as, Matt, Jodi, Brooke, Cory, and others. I think that it is just so awesome that even with the language barrier God still managed to shine through us and speak to these kids hearts; it has been a tough and crazy week, but i've had a great time (although I now have an unhealthy obsession for playing futbol in the street)!!! :-P I can't wait to tell you all about what we did and just how much i've learned!!!

Adios,
Cheyenne

Mexico 7-14-07

Our trip is coming to end with just a couple days left here in Mexico. We've had an amazing trip, and met many new friends here. I'm excited to keep in touch with them through e-mail and phone calls. I think we're all hoping to see them grow as Christians, and I really do think they can. The kids learned a lot from the stories and lessons at the VBS. They had a great time with the games and activities also. I'll be praying to see many of the parents at the church tomorrow with them. Brian will be showing pictures from the VBS, so I'm hoping that will bring them into the church if nothing else. Hope all is well in PA. May God bless, and please pray for our service tomorrow that we will have an outstanding number of people. I really want to see the church full tomorrow. It would be a great blessing for us all. ---------Matt

Mexico

This week has been absolutely amazing. We had an awesome turnout for VBS. It was really cool to see all the kids keep coming and bringing their friends every day. I think that we all improved our Spanish by communicating with the kids. If nothing else everyone knows how to say "No hablo espanol!" Today, we spent the entire day playing volleyball, basketball, and soccer. It was a lot of fun, but everyone is exhausted. We are all looking forward to going to the pyramids tomorrow. I can't believe that we are coming home in 2 days. Time flies when you are having fun!

Jodi

It's Cheyenne

Hey, ya'll I just thought I'd blog about VBS today. It was the last day of VBS today and it seemed to go quite quickly, although it was still crazy. We guestimated on having about 150 kids at our group today. Then at 12:00 the parents came for the closing program and stuff. The day was normal except at 12:00 when all the parents were there we did the "chicken skit" again because about half the kids hadn't seen it and we were hoping it would affect the parents also. So, everything went well with the presentation, and i'd just like to say thanks to all who prayed. This week has been awesome, and i'm just hoping and praying that we've planted the seed in these children's hearts and that they will see that God and his son Jesus the Christ is the only way to true life and happiness. I was told that at our group 25-30 kids got saved throughout this week (Matt was guestimating) and that around 12 kids got saved at the other group, which was just awesome to hear!!! That's about it for VBS, but again I would just like to ask anyone who is reading this blog to pray that we have planted the seed in these kid's hearts and that they will see that they will not live a fully satisfying life without placing their whole lives in God's hands and accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. That's all for now!

later,
Cheyenne

Hola it's Jessica

Okay,
So today....we had vbs. I helped with Rob's group instead of Abby's because Rob's had about 150 kids today. It was a neat experience. To be honest I think I actually picked up more Spanish talking to more kids. Some of the kids even asked us for our emails. You can tell that the kids look forward to bible school every single day they come. Tomorrow is when the kids parents come around 12 till 1. After VBS we went to the Nevin's house and had hotdogs, chips, and pop. Then, we went to the local area and picked up litter along the streets and on the soccer field. The field we cleaned will be where we will play our volleyball tornament tomorrow. After the litter was all picked up, we went to eat tacos. We ordered pork, beef, and chicken and made our own tacos. Most of us tried cactus and really liked it. I didn't try the cow tongue but some did and they seemed like they didn't like it. There was some other type of chicken, cheese, peppers, and onions altogether that was used for in the tacos..It goes good with PoRk. After that we went and played at a ..well what I guess we would call YMCA without the pool. Then we came home and everyone got showers. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow and hoping that even some parents that don't have Jesus in their life will except him. Well that's all that happened today.
Love you all,
Jessie<3
P.S. I learned that the teens that room with me have to have chocolate or they go insane....lol I had M&M's and they were trying to steal them from ...lol...just asking for them and I dumped some on the bed and they all went insane. So after dinner we all decided to buy the whole chocolate store out lol. I think we left some ..but it was well worth the stop I hear.