So we made it! Back home that is. It was a crazy trip, but before I go into it I want to sincerely thank all of you that supported us to go to the trip. We were pretty concerned there for a while and God really came through, with you guys, Thank you Thank you Thank you!
We couldn't have made it without you. I hope you all can feel a part of what we are doing because you really are.

Thank you.

So to start off, I guess ill start out with something funny. So being a son-of-a-pilot, I never really got sick on airplane, except maybe on little Cessna's or piper cubs. But it seemed though as soon as we crossed the boarder flying into Mexico, it hit me, like a sack of Mexican jumping beans. I was light headed and couldn't hold it back.

It wasn't the best start to the trip, but it wasn't the work either.

The main goal while we were down there was to help facilitate a brand new Chi Alpha at the University of Guadalajara. There are a total of 11 separate campuses to the U of G, most of which are hours apart. Our main focus was as the Marketing and Finance campus called C.U.C.E.A. We spend the majority of our campus time at CUCEA.

Each Campus had its own crest, all significant in themselves. To the right is CUCEA's. The majority of the city is Catholic so there were many crosses around town and on businesses and signs but for the most part it was a formality rather than something meaningful.

The image at the bottom with the two lions and the tree is the symbol of the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. It was actually a full statue in the downtown.

The main ministry that we partnered with down in Guad, Mexico was one called "Engage Ministries". It is a ministry through the AG church that allows students that are still in college to experience full time mission work, while still gaining college credit. It was really a great thing because most people that go into missions need to be ordained and so forth so by that time they have a wife and 2 kids, and the passion for mission work might be gone or at least diminished.

From the students that we talked to, they loved being apart of ENGAGE because they learned that mission work (full-time) was nothing like they expected. Some students actually decide to not continue in the world mission field because of what they found while in the "trial-period". It was not a bad thing but rather a great way to experience and be shown what they are really working for, not necessarily the easiest life.

Well after moaping around for the first day, and having Heather ask me if there was anything she could do to help, I finally felt began to feel better and regained my strength.

We spend the majority of the first week in a daily routine. We would arrive at the Engage house by their bus, eat breakfast and then head out to campus. We spend the morning either praying or talking to the students about their lives, building friendships and hopefully entering into a conversationn about their faith or at least why we were in Mexico. While hanging out with some students that loved to jam, I learned about a sweet instrument called a melodica, I think its my next online purchase. We ate lunch on the CUCEA campus each day that we were there, lets just say there were a lot of deli sandwiches. And then we would round up the students that we knew and go over to the soccer fields (also cement basketball courts) and played soccer from about 2pm - 4pm. We played a lot of soccer in the sun, but it was so much fun! And then we would hang out and finish up before the van came to pick us up at 5pm.

It was a stretch for me because I don't speak any Spanish but Heather speaks it very well. For the first few days it was difficult to connect with any students that didn't speak English well. I played soccer with them and talked music but it wouldn't really get 'real'. Before I knew it we were done with our part of the campus ministry and we were off to other stages.

Mexico: Round Two

On Saturday we went to the market, and huge indoor/outdoor plaza that spanned blocks and was stuffed full of fake Nike's, Levi's, mysterious drinks, and soccer jerseys. Me and Heather ran around the whole place, I picked up some sweet soccer jerseys and she picked up some well needed hand-made blouses and skirts. It was great! And they even had cheap fresh mango's!

Shown to the right is the typical traffic in Guadalajara.

This was two girls on in the market begging for change. It was very sad to see this next to so many wealthy vendors.






Church on Sunday was definitely and experience. Well in the morning it was 3 hours of straight Spanish, no projector with words, no translator, just passionate Mexicans praising Jesus. It was great to see, but a little hard to participate.

Sunday night was similar, a little more upbeat and American (meaning American songs translated to Spanish) so it was better, but most of all it was great to see them loving it all.

On Monday we painted the ENGAGE office which took longer than expected because apparently we had the wrong paint (oops).


The next day we went to the village (the outskirts of Guadalajara) and did ministry with the kids. This was my favorite day up until that point.





We got to play a ton with the kids, teach them some songs, have a Bible memory verse (all in Spanish, again I don't really understand it).





Afterward we gave them coloring books and candy and toys, they were so thankful!






One little six-year-old girl said that it was the first coloring book she had ever had. It was very hard to leave them.

The last ministry day (Wednesday) we prayer walked around 4 different campuses, none of which had we previously visited save CUCEA. This day started our harder than expected. I was feeling pretty sick at the point again so it was hard to gain the energy to walk and pray on the little food that I could hold.

We saw a lot of interesting things on the campuses including a mountain view in the Art and Arch.'s backyard, and some weird paintings on another campus. We finally came to the Law campus. At the end of the walk we came to this tree we saw something really cool about it.

As you can see the tree is busting through the cement barriers as it grow, the blocks continue to fall apart. The understanding that we felt was that our prayers and time there, along with the other teams, ministries, kids outreaches, church services and the like, were all feeding into the grow that God is doing in that part of Mexico (dubbed the 'black hole of Mexico' as far a Christianity). Even though at times it felt like only 10 days, or small prayers on campuses we knew nothing about or didn't speak the language, God was moving.

Jesus' love is growing in Mexico.

He kind of brought it all together in one short moment. It was just like Him.

Guadalajara, Mexico

We are officially leaving for Guadalajara next Tuesday the 12th at 7:25 a.m. We will be arriving in Dallas Ft. Worth around 8:55 a.m. and then Guadalajara at approximately 1:10 p.m.

From there we go directly to the university we are ministering at. We won't see the hotel till later that night. We will be on campus for a week, and the last 3 or so days will be spent 2 1/2 hours outside of Guadalajara ministering to the underprivileged community.

A building on the campus of UG

Our main objective is to be a blessing to the missionaries that are dedicating their lives to bringing the gospel to the students of Guadalajara. We will be praying, playing soccer, worshiping, and connecting as much as we can with the students on that campus. Essentially, we will be doing what we do best - but in Spanish!!

Please pray for us. This is an extension of the ministry that Andy and I have been pouring into for four years. This will be the second team of students our Chi Alpha has sent down this year. In July we will also be sending our campus pastors down for 6 months! We are investing in this project to pioneer a Chi Alpha Campus Ministry at the University of Guadalajara because we know this is the Lord's will. He didn't just call the American students to salvation - but all mankind.

So you know, we will be flying out of Guadalajara on June 21st at 2:05 p.m. and into Dallas Ft. Worth at 4:40 p.m. Then it is home sweet home and on to wedding planning at by 9:35 that night.