I have a few things to catch you up on. There was a group of 23 fro Denmark that stayed on the base and worked with Alvin for a few days. They were really weird at first, but after a while you start to get used to them. The only thing was that every time they were sharing something at church or at the prison and needed to be translated, they were being translated from Danish (which literally sounds like drunken grunting) into spanish, so I never really understood all of what they were saying. But they were amazing at soccer, had singing prayers, and had amazing happy birthday songs. It was really cool to work with them in the prisons, and they were amazing with the kids on the street. It was obvious that they really enjoyed having so many people out there. It was sort of like a party on the streets.
Now, the group that I have been working with that is from West Virginia is going to leave tomorrow, and I´m gonna be all by my lonesome. Kind of a sad story.
Right now also the trade school and the base are both becoming unavailable to Alvin. So to end Alvin´s renting the trade school building we had to tare down some walls, and at the base they are (literally right now) taring down the wall between a church service room and the dining room. Needless to say we ate dinner outside and it was amazing. Lot´s of walls coming down in this country.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Time For Some Numbers
There comes a time where I feel like giving some good solid numbers gives some good insight on how things have been going for somenone. This is especially true considering that about 0% of the stories that I have to tell would be better in written format. Those must be in person. So here goes:
I have painted hundreds upon hundreds of square feet
I have eaten about twice as much at every meal than I normally do (one of the meals we actually named amazing)
I usually get up at about 6:00... crazy
I have worked with 3 completely different groups who I have never met before (all from the south I must inform you) and gotten along with all of them as if they were my own group
I have seen almost a hundred kids and teenagers devote their lives to Christ
There are more I am sure, but I just had to mention those.
I haven´t told yet of going to the October 21st center yet. It is a juvinile detention center where boys who have been picked up off the streets or cought doing drugs and such are sent. The we all shared our testimonies (and let me tell you they are all some of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard. I feel so blessed just to have met these people out on the mission field just like myself), then a pastor that is with us, Pastor Robert, shared a message. After that we gave the boys all the opportunity to come foprward and dedicate their lives to Christ, and almost all of them did. It was amaziing. We shared the same way at a girls detention center and it was incredible to see the look in these girls´eyes behind their tears. You could tell that they wanted to change their lives.
Also, this is for whoever has been praying for God to reveal his plan for my life, and parts of my heart and who am that I may be able to use those for His calling for me. Yeah, basically he is answering your prayers in the most incredible ways. You know, those ways that only our father in heaven is capable of. Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that.
I have painted hundreds upon hundreds of square feet
I have eaten about twice as much at every meal than I normally do (one of the meals we actually named amazing)
I usually get up at about 6:00... crazy
I have worked with 3 completely different groups who I have never met before (all from the south I must inform you) and gotten along with all of them as if they were my own group
I have seen almost a hundred kids and teenagers devote their lives to Christ
There are more I am sure, but I just had to mention those.
I haven´t told yet of going to the October 21st center yet. It is a juvinile detention center where boys who have been picked up off the streets or cought doing drugs and such are sent. The we all shared our testimonies (and let me tell you they are all some of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard. I feel so blessed just to have met these people out on the mission field just like myself), then a pastor that is with us, Pastor Robert, shared a message. After that we gave the boys all the opportunity to come foprward and dedicate their lives to Christ, and almost all of them did. It was amaziing. We shared the same way at a girls detention center and it was incredible to see the look in these girls´eyes behind their tears. You could tell that they wanted to change their lives.
Also, this is for whoever has been praying for God to reveal his plan for my life, and parts of my heart and who am that I may be able to use those for His calling for me. Yeah, basically he is answering your prayers in the most incredible ways. You know, those ways that only our father in heaven is capable of. Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
What Do Glue, Prisons, and Eternity Have in Common?
The past couple days have been really intense. I have been working mostly with a group of 4 teenagers and their youth pastor from Tupalo Mississippi. There is also a large group, Youth For Orphans, from California here that I we have been working alongside of.
We all went out to the streets at night to minister to the kids out there. I met a lot of kids and had a really good time singing songs with them. It is really hard to try and talk, sing, and play with them, and then watch them put a bottle of glue up to there face. It only takes a few seconds to watch them fade away. You look into their eyes and all you see is a well too deep to draw from. The words, songs, and games turn into a blob of mess and they become mostly unreceptive. The best thing to do is to keep them in the joy of the games and songs so that they have a few moments of reality that they genuinely do not want to escape from. One of the kids I met that night, Kevin, came to church the next night. It was a huge encouragement.
The next day and we all went to the national prison to minister to some of the guys there. All I have to say about it is that angels sang without ceasing this day. I don’t even know how many guys came to Christ. I couldn’t count them. We presented the opportunity to them, and then prayed over them. One group of 4 gang members, MS 13 members all accepted Christ and sang worship songs with us. Then we hung out with them in the prison for about an hour just talking and playing chess. It was incredible. Eternity was forever changed before my eyes.
We all went out to the streets at night to minister to the kids out there. I met a lot of kids and had a really good time singing songs with them. It is really hard to try and talk, sing, and play with them, and then watch them put a bottle of glue up to there face. It only takes a few seconds to watch them fade away. You look into their eyes and all you see is a well too deep to draw from. The words, songs, and games turn into a blob of mess and they become mostly unreceptive. The best thing to do is to keep them in the joy of the games and songs so that they have a few moments of reality that they genuinely do not want to escape from. One of the kids I met that night, Kevin, came to church the next night. It was a huge encouragement.
The next day and we all went to the national prison to minister to some of the guys there. All I have to say about it is that angels sang without ceasing this day. I don’t even know how many guys came to Christ. I couldn’t count them. We presented the opportunity to them, and then prayed over them. One group of 4 gang members, MS 13 members all accepted Christ and sang worship songs with us. Then we hung out with them in the prison for about an hour just talking and playing chess. It was incredible. Eternity was forever changed before my eyes.
What I've Been Up To
We have been painting one of the feeding centers here where kids come and we feed them a meal and teach them a bible story, and basically love on them. They absolutely love being picked up. I think I had six kids holding onto my arms wanting be picked up. There is also one girl who got shots from some medical group that came from America, so now she starts crying whenever she sees a white person. I ended up making friends with her eventually though. The building looks great, and will look even better once we have finished, so I’m really excited about it.
The "we" in the last paragraph is referring to a group of five that came from Tupalo, Mississippi I have been working with. They also came to help out Alvin, and they all work really hard, so the painting is coming along really well.
I really pumped about going out to the streets at night to hang with the kids out there. I haven’t gone yet, and I know that this is really the most intense ministry that Alvin has going. I’ll make sure to make a post about how this goes.
The "we" in the last paragraph is referring to a group of five that came from Tupalo, Mississippi I have been working with. They also came to help out Alvin, and they all work really hard, so the painting is coming along really well.
I really pumped about going out to the streets at night to hang with the kids out there. I haven’t gone yet, and I know that this is really the most intense ministry that Alvin has going. I’ll make sure to make a post about how this goes.
Day in the Life
This is now an average day in the life of Drew Wagner:
-riding in the back of a pick-up truck Mexican style (meaning that there are at least 5 other people in the back as well, and probably more) for about 2 hours of the day
-climbing up roads in that truck that are unbelievably steep and bumpy
-going to sleep to dogs barking at 10:30
-waking up to dogs barking again at 11:30
-waking up again to roosters crowing at 12:30, and again at 1:30, and again at 2:30 and again at 3:30 (am I the only one who thought that roosters only crowed at dawn? Because that is definitely not how it works here), and then getting up at 7:15 because breakfast is in 15 minutes
-going to do something at 8:30 and having that mean that we are really going sometime between 8:40 and 9:00 (being the least punctual person in the world, I love this fact)
-at least 5 times a day hearing in-depth, mind-blowing stories of peoples lives from Alvin, and often more than that, leaving me to wonder if he actually could run out of stories
-seeing mountains on every horizon line
-at least once a day having a view of almost the entire city, and having my breath be taken away every time
-seeing a downpour come across the entire city before it gets to me (takes about 20 min) because I’m on top of a hill downwind
-saying “no comprendo” multiple times
-having gang members ask me for drug money… while I’m standing in the church building, and of course responding to most of things he was saying with “no comprendo,” because I really had no idea what he was talking about (looking back, he must have been getting just a little frustrated… this is going to be a good story to tell in person).
Yeah, that sounds about average for me right now.
-riding in the back of a pick-up truck Mexican style (meaning that there are at least 5 other people in the back as well, and probably more) for about 2 hours of the day
-climbing up roads in that truck that are unbelievably steep and bumpy
-going to sleep to dogs barking at 10:30
-waking up to dogs barking again at 11:30
-waking up again to roosters crowing at 12:30, and again at 1:30, and again at 2:30 and again at 3:30 (am I the only one who thought that roosters only crowed at dawn? Because that is definitely not how it works here), and then getting up at 7:15 because breakfast is in 15 minutes
-going to do something at 8:30 and having that mean that we are really going sometime between 8:40 and 9:00 (being the least punctual person in the world, I love this fact)
-at least 5 times a day hearing in-depth, mind-blowing stories of peoples lives from Alvin, and often more than that, leaving me to wonder if he actually could run out of stories
-seeing mountains on every horizon line
-at least once a day having a view of almost the entire city, and having my breath be taken away every time
-seeing a downpour come across the entire city before it gets to me (takes about 20 min) because I’m on top of a hill downwind
-saying “no comprendo” multiple times
-having gang members ask me for drug money… while I’m standing in the church building, and of course responding to most of things he was saying with “no comprendo,” because I really had no idea what he was talking about (looking back, he must have been getting just a little frustrated… this is going to be a good story to tell in person).
Yeah, that sounds about average for me right now.
Still not there yet, but already blessed
So I am literally in the plane, going over the gulf of Mexico to Honduras, right now, at this very second. I really just wanted to recap my week from this position. The main theme is that I have had Satan really try to screw me up with lots of totally random stuff, and then I have had the faithfulness of God come through with perfect precision, and obviously intentional orchestration.
My car door decided to hit me in the face making a nice laceration, one of my checks wouldn’t be cashed right away, someone stole my CDs and player, cheaptickets didn’t really sell me my ticket upon first purchase, the time it took to get communication in order with Alvin about going to Honduras at all, a last minute gate change for San Pedro Honduras when I was in Atlanta and I didn’t notice until the last second. Let me brake down God’s provision in these areas: I got stitches on my head right away, and a prescription for my diarrhea meds while I was there, the only CDs that I really cared and worried about being on my computer (and I was right that TJ’s first album is NOT on here… whew) ended up actually being in my house and/not taken, my dad could cash the check right away, cheaptickets ended up offering the same flight cheaper, God provided an ease in faith for getting in touch with Alvin so I could focus on working at camp, and I noticed the last people leave the old gate to the new changed one in Atlanta, so I got there within the last couple minutes possible.
Just the simple process of leading up to this trip has been incredible. God moving dramatically in so many lives around me. I love it. I got to see the way one family supported me with a large amount of money, and to see that it was certainly God calling them to give to my mission because He immediately gave right back to them the same EXACT amount. I love it. It destroys any doubts as to whether this was God’s plan for my summer.
I’m not even there yet, and I am already seeing God at work.
My car door decided to hit me in the face making a nice laceration, one of my checks wouldn’t be cashed right away, someone stole my CDs and player, cheaptickets didn’t really sell me my ticket upon first purchase, the time it took to get communication in order with Alvin about going to Honduras at all, a last minute gate change for San Pedro Honduras when I was in Atlanta and I didn’t notice until the last second. Let me brake down God’s provision in these areas: I got stitches on my head right away, and a prescription for my diarrhea meds while I was there, the only CDs that I really cared and worried about being on my computer (and I was right that TJ’s first album is NOT on here… whew) ended up actually being in my house and/not taken, my dad could cash the check right away, cheaptickets ended up offering the same flight cheaper, God provided an ease in faith for getting in touch with Alvin so I could focus on working at camp, and I noticed the last people leave the old gate to the new changed one in Atlanta, so I got there within the last couple minutes possible.
Just the simple process of leading up to this trip has been incredible. God moving dramatically in so many lives around me. I love it. I got to see the way one family supported me with a large amount of money, and to see that it was certainly God calling them to give to my mission because He immediately gave right back to them the same EXACT amount. I love it. It destroys any doubts as to whether this was God’s plan for my summer.
I’m not even there yet, and I am already seeing God at work.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Just got here
So the first thing that I did when I got here was run across an expressway (one on which peopole drive crazier than anywhere else in the world by the way) and got into the back of a pick up truck with my luggage to go to dinner. There is another american guy here Tim, who wanted to buy everyone dinner. Seriously one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Salsa and avocado on chips and torillas with this cheese and beans and pork, and a 24 oz steak I almost finished, properly named the conquistador. It was amazing. Then this morning at breadfast, I here someone put a CD on in the next room. I kept on listening, saying ¨no, that can´t be who I think it is.¨ It was my mother singing in the next room. A beautiful thing. My dad sent a CD down of their worship band, so I got to here my mommy sing this morning. It´s amazing.
Tonight I am apparently going to be playing some music at church myself. Alvin said to me, ¨Oh, you wanna play something at church tonight?¨ To which I said I would, and he said, ¨Good because I already told them you would.¨
This is my kinda town.
Tonight I am apparently going to be playing some music at church myself. Alvin said to me, ¨Oh, you wanna play something at church tonight?¨ To which I said I would, and he said, ¨Good because I already told them you would.¨
This is my kinda town.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Not really there yet
So I will be leaving for the airport in T minus 10 hours, and I am definately not packed. It's a good thing that this world has things like Facebook and blogs to distract one from the pressing issues this world provides, such as actually being ready to go when you have to leave. With that said, I'm gonna finish the stuff I gotta do.
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