End of 2024 Trip and I'm changed

A mind stretched by new experiences can never go back to its previous dimensions.

As I finish this 3 week trip visiting my friends (that are like my extended family), there are several things that float through my mind. 

When on the way down, the airlines randomly switched my seat up one row. Was that just so the guy next to me could hear about what God is doing at this orphanage and have his heart touched?

How awesome is it to get out of my world and into another and see what God is doing. There's so much faith at this orphanage that God will and has provided for all of their needs. Everyday food and supplies would just randomly show up. It was so go to see the goodness in people.

Here are some photos of memories as I continue my thoughts on this trip...

Picnic with friends (close to the volcano)

To be an orphan means that you've lost or have had damaged one of the most important things in life... Love of your family (the way God intended it to be). It doesn't mean they don't love, in fact I think most people at this orphanage love more and deeper than I'm capable of because of their hurt, healed and healing of relationships.

My advice would be to quit watching the news and looking at social media. I was able to live in the moment and had no idea what was happening in the rest of the world while I was there.

I simply "lived" while there. I embraced being a Human"being" and was not focused on being a Human"doing".

I'd walk down the street and pick Guamuchil Fruit off of trees and just have a snack that God provided.

I quit worrying so much about kids not being buckled up in the car and realized that all of us being crammed into a car made us laugh and enjoy every minute all day long.

I enjoyed seeing one of the pastors play Bible Trivia with the kids to see which person in the Bible he was telling about.

Without time requirements, I was able to just "be" and build relationships with people

We worked together (and hid from the sun together)

I continued my friendships that have been going on for years

I made new friendships

I remembered friends that had been in the orphanage since they were a baby and have moved on, married and are owning their lives

Here I'm heading out with my new cowboy boots and my new memories that have changed me forever more. Let me repeat one of my favorite sayings:

A mind stretched by new experiences can never go back to its previous dimensions.

Each and every person in this photo has a story. Each of them are opening their hearts and sharing pain and joy with our God. Each of them are seeking love, community and significance. My prayer is that God used me to convey His love.

First thing when I returned home was to participate in the planning meeting where we'll have 30 people on week 1 and another 14 people on week 2 visit the orphanage in March/April and hopefully experience some of the wonders of this world that I was able to see.

If you've ever wanted to be part of a trip like this, our church visits this orphanage each year (typically in April).

Check out our church blog on the trip here: CenterPoint Church Mexico Blog

Let me know if you'd like more information on our 2025 trip.

If you're not able to go, but want to be part of something AWESOME that God is doing, you can donate or sponsor a child here:

Share the resources God has given you by clicking here

How will I survive this weather WARNING? And yet another Doctor visit!

I'm not sure why my phone alerted me to "Severe Weather".

How will I EVER survive this 80º High and 60º Low? Oh, it'll be a rough day!

Thank you for your prayers that I would find the breaker for this light switch

so that I wouldn't have to replace it with power running through it.

Turns out the breaker was 2 feet away and hidden. Prayers answered and there was no danger.

There seems to always be impromptu parties that happen here. 

One night a missionary named Raymond from California (that's lived here 7 years)

bought hotdogs, grilled them up, and a few people grabbed guitars and headed over for some music and worship.

The next day it rained.

 Here are a few pictures of the main house Matriz.

This is a very tropical place compared to Utah. 

Everyday the kids have chores, some of which include 

sweeping and picking up the leaves twice a day.

This year I was able to go to the doctor yet again.

I ended up with pink eye and was worried that it was highly contagious so went to the doctor and have been very carful to wash my hands and touching people.

You probably can't see behind me, but the price for the doctor was MX$50 pesos.

The medicine was another MX$40 pesos. It was MX$90 pesos total (US$5.00) and it took 15 minutes.

I've really grown to enjoy going to the doctor here.

I've been coming 12 years and I'm still totally surprised at how long it takes me to get things done here.

Often times I just need to make things work with what I have.

The way we would say it in English is "Jerry rigged".

My Hispanic friends in the US call it "chicanada".

There's a real talent in making things just work and I'm working hard to develop that!

Here is a new facet that I was able to install.

I've gotten a few repairs done here, but honestly it's been very few.

I'm blessed to get to spend some quality time with a few of my favorite people.

Praises: Thank you for your prayers in finding the beaker box. I would've changed the light switch with power to it and I'm sure that I would've gotten shocked, for sure. Every thing was so tight in that box.

Prayer requests: I have a high level of frustration today with my Spanish. It's hard in life to learn new things, to purposefully put yourself out there and be willing to look the fool and fail. Today I feel that I'm not enough. My time here is going fast and the saying that comes to mind is "What will you do with this one precious life that you've been given?"

I need patience with my learning ability, help in my ability to comprehend, focused time to prepare some meetings that I have back home, time in prayer and communion with God.

Aliens in my room and why I'm in a Police Car

 

Welcome to the back of the Police Car

This could be an exciting trip to see a part of Mexico that I haven't seen yet... Jail.

But no... I'm just at a military expo where they're showing off their power, creating public relations and possibly getting you to join up.

This guy wouldn't let me take a picture holding the gun.

I considered taking it from him, then decided that wouldn't be the best idea.

The special forces diver let me wear his life jacket and flippers though.

So I began thinking... Who are the enemies of Mexico? I ask my friend and he said that they don't really have any foreign enemies. The enemies here are from within. Think about that for a minute, the military's main objective is to protect the people from the people that live within their boarders. It's very different than our foreign enemies in the USA.

Some people ask me if I'm afraid to come to Mexico. Here is one of my favorite saying within it come to being scared:

• My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. 

Here is a picture of my bedroom and the way I'm trying to kill the unwanted "aliens" (mosquitos).

This room has a lot of mosquitos every year that I'm here. Well, it's probably not just my room, but rather the area that I'm in. I ordered a mosquito light from Amazon Mexico (yup, that's a thing) and last night it mostly worked which made me very happy.

Nacho's for the Super Bowl with friends also made me happy today.

I did end up replacing a faucet today. 

But honestly I'm being pretty lazy this year on making repairs.

Praises: So glad the mosquito fan came (it took a week). So glad that relationships are easy here, everybody is so friendly all the time.

Prayer Requests: That I'll find the breaker for the electricity to replace the light switch and not have to change it with the power on.

Fun, work and more fun right before the girl yelled "I'm dead"!

Today I had some adult time paying volleyball.

My team was teenage boys so, I think, we had an advantage. Of course they had me on the team, so that hurt them a bit. But then again we had 5 and they had 4. But one of the girls on the other team will play in a tournament soon (she's really good), so... All in all maybe it was fair? There were 5 games in all and we won by one game.

The kids here sweep and clean the property twice a day (which is needed because there's so much vegetation).

They also clean up the kitchen after every meal.

As you can imagine, with so many kids and workers there is always something to do.

I've also gotten some work done. 

Here I installed a new faucet. 

Here we changed part of a roof from fiberglass to metal

and moved a solar panel.

The orphanage has a dentist that comes sometimes and she didn't like the noise because the air compressor (for her tools) was in the same room. I was able to move it upstairs (you can see he hoses coming down from the ceiling).

This is what the compressor looks like. I was amazed that it was just an off the shelf compressor and not some kind of special medical grade type. It's much quieter in the dentist's office now so she is very happy.

The kids have a ton of fun playing here and I'm blessed to be able to play with them. Here's a couple of videos of some fun we had:

It's fun to see the kids become braver and braver as we went along.

This is a 4 minute video, but it will be worth it to see one girl say "Mi muerte" (I'm dead)!

I think this type of activity is crucial for kids development and growth as a person. It's good to not be sure if you can do something or not, try it, and then succeed. I'm blessed to be part of it.

Praises: Earlier in the week my prayer was for someone to sit down and help me with my Spanish. I was thinking maybe a preschool teacher, because that's the level I'm at. Well it turned out that God sent the dentist to me. Out of the blue she asked if she could help me with Spanish, so we were able to talk for an hour yesterday. An hour will not make you good at anything. However an hour here and an hour there and before you know it, you can go places that you never knew that you could go. My communication skills have improved every year that I've come and I'm amazed. That's something that I'm very grateful for.

Prayer Requests: The kids have gone with family with weekend, so there are very few people at the orphanage. My prayer is to continue enjoying my rest and relaxation. Also for continued one on one time with people to enhance and grow our relationships. And of course that my Spanish can get better so that relationship can be easier.

Arm Wrestling, Church, Shopping, Ice

I started out arm wrestling these boys, but it turns out I'm not as tough as I use to be and lost to both of them.

The young man on the left (in the top picture) is in the green shirt here playing the bass at church.

It's good to get youth involved.

He's 16 now and I've known him since he was 12. He's a great young man that is on a different course than when he arrived at the orphanage.

There are 12 adolescent boys that live in this house.

Here they are all piled into the van on the way to soccer practice.

 

I decided that I needed an easier group of boys to arm wrestle, so I went back to where I'm staying at the middle age kids home. There are maybe 30 kids that live here with boys sleeping in one wing and the girls in the opposite wing of the building.

These kids are so much fun and are always laughing and loving.

I kind of had to cheat and use both hands on this one!

Here a few of the kids are reading letters that their sponsor send down with me to give them.

There are a few ways you can sponsor a child, you can pick one and send cards, letters and possibly gifts and there are financial ways that you can sponsor if you wish.

Here is more information, visit their website at:

https://hogardeamor.org/donar/

Or contact me and I can get you everything you need.

On this day, they didn't have school. So they had the adults line up and pick kids (like you would do for your team in basketball or if you were playing a game). It's hard because some kids always get picked last and there is a lot of commotion. I finally picked all mine and they said "now go do something with them." I asked "like what?" They said "anything you want to do." So we piled in a truck and went shopping.

We also stopped and got a cup full of strawberries and cream. It's the best!

(This was my second trip there in under a week, hehe)

After the shopping, we stopped by to get a treat for all the kids at the main house.

Shaved ice! It was made the way I've never seen before.

Click here to watch the video:

Answered Prayers: I was finally able to get somewhat of a schedule going. I was able to move an air compressor for the dentist to a different room, she didn't like all the noise while working on patients (imagine that). I was able to change a faucet that was leaking and installed a cover on an electrical breaker. It's good to feel productive and not just be lazy and relaxing. I'm still looking for that balance.

Current Prayer Requests: For the people around me not to get frustrated with my repeated questions on Spanish, especially when it's the same question over and over again. They are very nice people, but everyone has limits as to how much Dan they can take.