Mexico, Day 3
Tuesday was a very productive day for us and God provided many opportunities for digging into work to help and bless the people in the neighborhood around Punta Vida. After our now familiar early wake up and drive to the church, we arrived on time to eat breakfast (oatmeal with apples) and have plenty of time before kids arrived for VBS.
After breakfast, we split into smaller teams to begin tackling the day. One group worked in the kitchen to clean dishes and another to begin work on the concrete benches. Later, a group worked to make sandwiches that would later be handed out during our hospital visit. The day proceeded fairly smoothly, and VBS saw the return of at least 40 children from the local community.
One highlight from VBS worth mentioning is the songs with choreographed dance moves! The dancing was impressive, and a young woman from the church led the group of kids and several adults through a series of complex moves that easily rivaled what you would see in the most high budget VBS at a big church in the U.S. This is just another example of how the young people in this church allow God to use them in their gifting for furthering the Kingdom of God in incredible ways. At Stony Brook, we are blessed to be part of a church with similar gifts and talents and a willingness to serve.
Later in the day, the forms for the benches were completed and concrete was mixed and filled into the forms. Everyone in the group got a chance to participate in one way or another. After this was completed, the group took a brief break before working on various small jobs such as mowing and picking up trash to beautify the park while waiting for lunch (which is isn’t until 3pm in Mexican culture). We ate delicious birria with tortillas.
After lunch, we headed out to visit a hospital in town to hand out sandwiches, pray and share the gospel with folks waiting at the hospital for a loved one who was being treated. We split up into groups where each group had at least one Spanish speaker from the church. We encountered people in various situations during this time, ranging from expecting dads waiting for their spouse and brand new baby to wives and mothers waiting for a loved one with illness or injury. It was absolutely incredible to watch the members of Punta Vida selflessly speaking with and praying for these desperate and hurting people. So many received us with gratefulness and were happy to receive prayer. One young woman was moved to tears that quickly spread to the others in her group and it was obvious that they felt blessed and appreciative for prayer. Perhaps more amazing OSS the fact that the church members doing this were not here to advertise the name of the church or recruit new families for attendance but simply wanted to spread the gospel and bless people in need in their community. The Holy Spirit is clearly at work in this church and we have much to learn from them about service and evangelism. The fact that most of us don’t speak the language and can only understand fragments of the interaction hardly mattered as the small groups moved through the area praying for anyone who would receive it, handing out sandwiches and toys, and loving on the people here. We were all moved deeply by the experience and I felt grateful for being part of it.
As we wound down our time at the hospital, several of us went to a street vendor to sample pan dulce, a simple but delicious pastry. While gathering at the van to depart, groups of Stony Brookers and members of Punta Vida gathered and socialized, using various techniques for communicating from translation apps to snippets of learned Spanish and English. The love and openness of these people is infectious. Only a few days in, it’s clear that leaving will be very difficult.