5-26-10

So today was my first full day in El Pervenir. After breakfast Alison took me on a tour of the town (which didn’t take too long considering it was only 10 blocks). El Porvenir is a pretty low income town, the roads are all dirt and a lot of the houses aren’t finished. Something that was really interesting was that vineyards are a very popular thing here so the whole town is surrounded by them. The town is surrounded by mountains so the view is just absolutely amazing and to me really shows how creative and amazing God is. After the tour I went and ate lunch with all the kids at the orphanage then played with them till about 6. I made a lot of little buddies at the orphanage and there was one little boy in particular that would cling to me and not want to be put down, the cool thing about him was that he has been here for a year but yet Alison (the director) has never been able to hold him. I played soccer with one of the little boys and then did gymnastics with them. When it was time for all the kids to go in for their baths I took advantage of that time to come back to my house and take a nap because I have had a huge headache for the past couple days and I was hoping I could sleep it off but right when I was about to sleep Dori (one of the full time Intern/staff) came to my door asking me if I wanted to go to church with her so I took advantage of that opportunity so I could get out and meet more of the people in the community.
Dori doesn’t have a car so we walked to church so I really got to know her and she is an amazing girl. Dori came to el Porvenir when she was 14 on a church mission trip and felt like God was calling her to come back and serve in el Porvenir. She went to a Christian college and graduated with her missions degree and came here as an intern and well she just never left so she is slowly growing out of the name intern since she has been here for 3 years. Dori does all her work here for free, she has no one supporting her and she is not a paid staff member. Her meals are provided at the orphanage and her trailer she lives in is provided for her too but other than that she is on her own. I asked her where she gets her money and she said God provides whenever I am in need of money. Dori is 25 but she seems like she is 40. She has truly opened my eyes on being a servant of God and fully depending on Him for everything.
We finally made it to church and it was really cool. Of course everything was in Spanish but it was like a game for me on trying to figure out the message. Church services here are much longer than the ones back home. Tonights service was about 2 ½ hours but it went by really fast. After service we were invited to go hang out at with a bunch of the kids from a nearby ministry call Ventana. This ministry is ran by a couple and their kids from California. They house kids from all over the U.S. for 9 months out of the year that just graduated from high school and it is kind of like a 9 month long missions class. They take little trips to different parts of Mexico and help out the community and while they stay here they work in the community and take classes on missions and the basics of life. This is a really cool ministry and the kids that I met tonight were awesome. We made fudge (which Mexicans don’t know what fudge is) and played cards so that was really cool.
For me personally this whole trip has been testing me in so many ways already I can’t even think about how much different things will be at the end of my journey. I came here hoping to get my life figured out on what God wants me to do with the rest of my life. So I am ready with a clear heart and mind for God to show me where He wants me to be and what He wants me to do.