mexico city!!

God never fails to surprise me. He sent some of the makarios staff out from the DR and texas to..

MEXICO CITY!

we worked with volunteers connected to the “do something now” part of the passion conference. we volunteered directly with passion two days and God was able to use us in different areas (collecting, counting, relocating bags of beans and rice people brought.. translating for the orchestra.. directing people to their seats..) the collected beans and rice were donated to multiple organizations in mexico city.

a lot of our team's time was spent outside the passion conference with local volunteers in a mission in mexico city. pastor abe who works at a church many of the volunteers are from, was absolutely wonderful and had told us about some needs they have before we got there.

at the mission, the kids come one day a week to be fed, loved, and taught. the volunteers are dedicated to these children that come from similar situations our kids do. we prepared a variety of things to share with them (ideas for how to teach different subjects, how abuse can effect a child's behavior, what to do with materials, how to evaluate what the children need, what we have faced in a similar situation, etc). conversation and all of our time with them was really incredible. it is crazy how similar some of our situations are in such different parts of the world. it was encouraging for both sides and we are thankful to know people to specifically pray for and how we can be praying.

disclaimer: we are not experts about how to teach or anything but had to trust God has a reason for sending us from austin and the d.r.. i am thankful He is so much greater when i am not.

oh, there was also a day of exploration where we were able to visit the pyramids.. here are a few pictures from some adventures:


we can make pyramids too! (top-bottom: anne, cara, holly, sharla, camille, jamie, shallan, me)
aaaand we climbed them both!!
BEST. TACO. OF. MY. LIFE.. NO JOKE.
abe and his family wear the same color to church on sundays. what do you think that week was??
abe and his wonderful family!!
the workings of a mexican blanket..
oh yes, we returned to the exact same street taco stand for more phenomenal tacos. this is it.
girl at abe's church
me and shallan on top of abe's church

for more pictures: click here!

i am extremely grateful for the opportunity God created with the trip to mexico city. prior to going, i was curious about what it would look like for our team and how God would use our time there. this was another opportunity to put our complete trust in Him and allow Him to work. wherever i had doubts about my personal abilities to contribute, i know God is more than sufficient.

there are many great memories from mexico city, and it is good to reflect on how faithful God was and is. in our conversations and meetings with volunteers at abe's church it was encouraging to see how similar our situations in the dominican republic are to theirs. there was a mutual understanding and it is wonderful to know specific people selflessly loving children in their community. it is beautiful. i am thankful to know them and how to specifically be praying for them. for the generous people who gave their time, ideas, financial help, and prayers i am so grateful. i know there was so much done and given to make this happen and i really appreciate it.

oh, and the tacos.. might just be one of the greatest moments of my life. really.