More photos from the trip

Hey, This is Nathan Buchanan. I wanted to post a few photos from the trip and tell you also that you can view many more of the photos I took on my flickr account.
The address is www.flickr.com/photos/lethal_force/
You can come and download what ever photos you want at up to 600 x 800 in size

Here are a few photos to get you started!

We're Back

So 268 hours after we left Breckenridge we returned. Although it was 4 in the morning when we finally made it, due to some weather delays in Houston, we were glad (and tired) to be back. Life feels strange and I personally feel as though being back in the States is a dream and I will wake up to reality in Mexico. This trip was impacting to the whole team and I thank God that we were able to be part of it.
I have posted pictures that I got from the whole team here and you can get some of the pics Nate took here.
God Bless You. The trip is over, but I will continue to post thoughts about God, life, culture, and transformational living.
Sam Snyder

Heading Home

Well, it's hard to believe that our trip has come to an end. We had a great day relaxing at the beach today. Tomorrow we will be heading back to the cold land of the 70's and 80's, we think we might need parkas for it.
I have been sorting through pictures to post as many as possible to tell the story of the trip without being repetitive. I'll post the link when I have uploaded them.
By the way, last night's ministry time was awesome. A person with a cracked rib was healed and another person with a strange difficulty breathing as well. A woman who was about 90% blind in one eye was able to see the shapes of people and her hand in front of her! A man in a wheelchair, whose spine had been crushed in a car accident, said that in the last month a muscle has been forming on his dried up legs...After we were done praying he said he was having the same sensation and feeling down the length of that same leg! Praise God! There were some healings on Sunday morning as well, there have been a lot of "huh, it doesn't hurt anymore" or similar comments in the last 10 days. God is awesome!
God Bless YOU!
Sam

It's FINISHED!

Wow, after 8 metric tons of cement and 5 1/2 dump truck loads of sand/gravel mix, we have completed all of the parking lot (there are 2 sections remaining, but they are not expanding that far out yet). It was hot and the work was hard (we don't take easy mission trips...they're always packed down here), but as we look out over a parking lot that wasn't there when we got here it's completely worth.

Tonight was XTREME NIGHT! It was awesome! Pretty much all of the guys who have been playing soccer outside came and it seemed that they really enjoyed themselves (there were over 10 of them!). Some of them were very moved by the Gospel when it was shared to them by one of the guys who invited them.

PS Pardon the lack of proper grammar, I'm usually tired and everyone else asleep when I write this.

Cemento, Cemento!

"Cemento, Cemento!" is what we have heard the last several days as we have been hurrying to finish the parking lot before we leave (it means concrete). The people we are working with are very hard workers and fun to get baked in the sun with while we not only are part of the Kingdom of God advancing, but also of the advancing of their parking lot. Today was an exceptionally nice day for being outside, it was a welcome change from the heat (thank God for the rain!). So far we have poured 6 sections and 1/4. Tomorrow we will press on to finish the parking lot (1 and a 1/4) and even pour a section flooring inside the building that hasn't been finished yet.

Friday night (tonight for me) we had another "Children's Festival" and there was an amazing crowd for the amount of publicity done. The cell group that was hosting the event and the evangelism team joined us to have another very fruitful ministry time. There were around 15 people who gave their lives to Jesus and the cell group will be doing discipleship with them because they are friends and neighbors of people withing the group.

Kristin Getting Ready To Be An Awesome Clown

The Clowns Playing Musical Chairs At The Festival

Tomorrow night is "Extreme Night" here at Agua Viva. We're looking forward to some more powerful ministry times with the students. God has been very gracious to us so far, please be praying for a continued and increased measure of His grace in and through us. We are praying for the supernatural and we would appreciate your prayers as well.
Hasta Luego!
Sam


- I'll post more pics as I get them.

We're Praising God!

(Team pic on Sunday before leaving for our first church)

So today was another awesome day. We were able to get one large and one small section of concrete finished and we have half of a large one and a small section ready to go for the morning, while the rest of the crew level the ground of our next long sections. If we are able to do more than 1 and a half tomorrow we will only have one section of the parking lot left, which we would finish on Saturday. Praise God!
Another reason to praise God is that it is raining right now and the temperature has dropped significantly (awesome storm earlier, we lost the electricity a couple of times)! As an added benefit the dirt we have to dig to the right level before we pour will be much looser!
After another hard day of work we hopped in the van and headed for Coacoyul where we were with Pastors Victor and Arminda Sanchez. They led us in an AMAZING time of praise and worship. I haven't danced that much in a long time! We did our two skits and Kyle and Sarah shared their testimony, both about how God has worked in their lives even in the midst of pain. I shared about living in God's Kingdom now as we eagerly await its consummation at the end of the age. Afterwards we had a powerful time of prayer that included a broken ankle and a hurt back being healed, others received inner healing and at least one person entered into God's Kingdom! Praise God!

I've been the only one updating the blog because everyone wants to sleep as soon as we're done for the day. I wonder if it might be the 6:30 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. schedule we've got going on? :) The good news is that those that wait on the Lord will renew their strength! I'll try to post some photos tomorrow, but I need them from the cameras they're on and we haven't had much time for that since we got here :)
God Bless You!
Sam

Good Day

Today we poured 1 and a half sections of concrete (the most we've done yet in the shortest amount of time too). As you can tell they are quite long. We'll put up a pic of what it looks like now as soon as we get one.
We have been blessed to have a large group of men and women (teens and kids too) from the church who have been coming from 2-10 hours each day to help. A lot of them have taken time off of work (their vacation days or unpaid days off) to come and work alongside of us. That has been a very fun experience for everyone (we've also moved along WAY faster than we would have without them).
Tonight our team led the evening service that over half of the church adults were at (and the teens stayed too). Alyssa, Kyle, Nate, Bethany and I led in an awesome time of worship; the presence of God was intense. Alyssa, Natalie, and Courtney did an awesome job ministering to people by sharing about their walk with God. And Nate brought a word of exhortation from Ephesians 5. Wrapping it all up we had a time of ministry where the team came forward and was able to pray for different needs in people's lives. After the service was over we all got to hang out with our Mexican "buddies" and learn more about their lives...All in a all I would say that it was a good day :).

Sam
- No real good photos uploaded to the computer yet, I'll let you know when we have them. It's been pretty busy :)

Awesome Evangelism!

"Come join us for our 'Children's Festival'" we would say as we invited children, parents and teens to come enjoy themselves with some clowns, skits, games, and prizes. The impact was amazing. Kids would run off and tell their parents about it and consequently they and their parents came. As we opened with lighthearted activities and humor the crowd of all ages was very attentive. We then moved on to a clear presentation of the Gospel in a couple of skits and ended the "Festival" with the American and Mexican teams going throughout the crowd to do personal evangelism based on what had been presented. Tonight there were many children, teens, and adults who gave their lives to Christ. One elderly man appeared as though he had been waiting his whole life to hear the Gospel and surrendered his life Jesus right then. He then followed my Mom around just to hear more about this relationship with Jesus! God did some awesome things this Tuesday night: Thank YOU for your prayers!
We have been hard at work pouring very long portions of concrete for the parking lot/basketball court. God has given us safety thus far in our construction. The team has been doing a great job serving and getting more accustomed to the culture, please continue to pray for, their safety and strength in working; their cultural acclimation; and the spiritual impact of this trip on our lives and in this community.

Thank you...I'll post more pictures tomorrow!
Sam

New Photos from first two days!

http://picasaweb.google.com/thelordhears/Mexico2007

We Made It!

Well, after 16 hours we made it to our destination! Not after first changing a tire on the church van and enjoying a delay in the wonderful city of Houston. God blessed us with green lights through the immigration and customs and we were able to bring all of the supplies in for the church that were needed without any problems or getting searched or fined for our oversize and overweight luggage. God is awesome!
Tonight we had a time of orientation, settling in, and drama/music practice before diving into a couple hours of fun with the youth group from Agua Viva. It was a blast as people were able to get to know each other despite the language barriers through some games. We had a great bilingual time of worship and David Goochee shared briefly with the American and Mexican students encouraging them to tap into God's strength in life in their struggles against sin and the enemy.
Finally we wrapped up the night with some amazing sincronizadas. If you don't know what they are, they are slices of ham and white cheese inside grilled flour tortillas, which we enjoyed with some awesome Guacamole!
Tomorrow we're off to the city of Lazaro to do some construction, street evangelism, and their Sunday service (which has an evangelistic emphasis).
God Bless You!
Sam
- We should have some pics up tomorrow or Monday (Lazaro is 2 hours away, so we may be back too late tomorrow)

MEXICO!

Greetings to all of you that love and care for the members of this awesome team from Breck/Wahp that is headed to Mexico. We will be working for 10 days in Petatlan, Guerrero on the south pacific coast of Mexico (the city I grew up in). Check back here as we will be posting pictures and updates from our trips and you will get to hear the cool experiences this team is having first hand from different team members. We appreciate your prayers and your comments.
God Bless!
Sam Snyder