Sports on Saturday

On Saturday Debbi, Kurt, and I took almost twenty teens to the park in Mexico City. We played sport after sport after sport. We taught them Ultimate Frisbee, then played baseball, then Gato, Gato, Perro (like Duck, Duck, Goose but called Cat, Cat, Dog), then finally soccer.

Chokis - The New Snack for Kids

Ken and Aaron come on a strange Mexican snack in the grocery store.

Debbi Sings Complete in Thee

Debbi braves the horrors of language and cultural barriers to sing a great Christian song.

From the Top

After a rough climb Aaron describes the top of the pyramids, and Ken pants in the background.

Climbing the Pyramids

Early Friday morning our group climbed into vans with the missionaries for a day in the country. We drove two hours north of the city and visited a hacienda owned by members of the Mexico City church. In between fellowship times with the missionaries we drove a three miles away to visit some of the biggest pyramids in the world.

Turibus in the Evening

After a long day in Mexico City the giddy group climbs back aboard the bus for the ride to the train station.

The Turibus Around Mexico City

Here's video during our open bus tour of Mexico City.

Kid's Bible Study

Friday night we visited a Kid's Club at the church in Los Trojes. What a joy to see these children learning about Christ at such a young age. I take for granted the privilege I had to grow up in a home which provided a constant education in the things of the Lord. Millions and millions of children grow up and die without ever hearing of Jesus Christ let alone have a Kid's Club available to them every week.

I'm so grateful that the missionaries seek to provide this.

Here are some pics . . .

Preaching the Word

Oh the blessing, the privilege to share the truth of God’s Word with others. Each time I’m given the opportunity I’m grateful, extremely grateful. Today was special though. Today was different. For the second time in my life I was asked to preach the Word of God in a foreign country.

To say I felt nervous is an understatement. My stomach twisted into four dozen knots. I’m not sure if I was nervous because my stomach was upset, or if my stomach was upset because I was nervous. All morning I feared the sickness which struck Aaron with such ferocity on Saturday morning would also attack me. I’d feel a tremor ripple through my gut just after making the first point of the sermon. I’d have to beg the pastor to hold a ten minute long prayer meeting while I run to the only bathroom which is down the block.

Thankfully that never happened. Pastor Antonio Navarette introduced me to the congregation then Kurt Gomez and I stepped onto the small platform before the church. Kurt walked to the microphone beside the pulpit, and I walked to that all important position- the spot behind the pulpit. In many ways I fear that spot for with it comes a world of responsibility. As much as I enjoy the privilege of preaching here and there, I’m glad I don’t occupy that spot each Sunday and with it the tremendous responsibility.

Our text this morning was Colossians 1:15-22: A Portrait of Christ. As I spoke I scanned the faces in the crowd. Mothers, fathers, wives, daughters, brothers, and sons all listening to the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I spoke that separate mental track that runs through your mind said, “This is what it’s all about. This is what we’re created for - to share the gospel of Jesus with others.”

I’m grateful to everyone who made that possible. I’m especially grateful to the Lord for the incredible privilege.

The Pyramids

Here are a few pictures from our morning at the pyramids.

What We've Done So Far

I feel sorry for all the folks back home trying to keep up with our activities. It feels like we do a thousand things a day but rarely have the time to document them all. Then even when we would have time to write them down we don’t have the internet access to post our thoughts, activities, and so on.

Here’s a quick list of the activities we’ve participated in each day:

Monday: Flight from Pittsburgh to Houston

Flight from Houston to Mexico City

Drive to missionary’s home

Tuesday: Team meeting with the missionaries

Shopping for supplies for our stay

Walking tour of the Los Trojes neighborhood

Wednesday: Tour of Mexico City

Thursday: Church painting

Lady’s Bible Study

Missionary’s Portraits

Missionary Dinner

Friday: Visit the Pyramids

Picnic and fellowship with missionaries

Visit children’s Bible Study

Saturday: Youth Activity in the Park

Testimony

Dinner with Kurt Gomez family

Sunday: Morning Church

Debbi sings special music - Complete in Thee

Ken preaches

Visit village marketplace

Enjoying the Journey

Here's where we stopped for an amazing dessert.

The Pyramids

Just a quick note on yesterday's visit to the pyramids. It is amazing how something so beautiful could be made by people so evil. You spend quite a long time climbing up the massive pyramids which were made for sacrificing humans only to find at the top one of the most breathtaking views of God's creation. Even the structures themselves are incredibly beautiful. it just goes to show that God allows sinful people to create beautiful things!
-Aaron Dean

Coffee, Churros, y Coyoacan

Well everyone here´s an update from your friendly neighborhood Aaron Dean. Wednesday, as I am sure Ken and Debbie have made perfectly clear was a great day to experience Mexican culture and people, as well as the city of Mexico City. However, the best part of the day for me was our after dinner experience. First, to understand this you must understand dinner. For dinner we ate a delicious meal at The House of Tiles, which is a beautiful restaurant near the center of Mexico City. Dinner was late so we were tired and starving by the time we ate it. Following dinner we were going to take a taxi and bus to a neighborhood called Coyoacan for dessert and coffee. However, we decided to take the metro instead. I´m sure you´ll understand what the metro was like by other posts on here and some of the videos.

Needless to say by the time we made it to Coyoacan we were very ready for our coffee and our dessert. This made our dessert and our coffee that much more amazing i´m sure. We had some very delicious coffee, called Cappuchimoka at one of the many coffee shops in Coyoacan. From there we went to a churro stand to get what might be the best dessert i´ve had in quite some time. A churro for those who don´t know is a cinnamon covered pastry that is stuffed with sauce of whatever flavor you want, anything from caramel (the most delicious) to chocolate (also delicious) to strawberry or peach (also delicious). It was one of the most delicious nights that i´ve experienced in a long long time, or will for some time to come.

Following our delicious churros and our delicious coffee, we walked around the neighborhood for some time. This neighborhood is like the Mexico City version of NYC's Greenwich Village. There are lots of people around at night, enjoying their coffee and churros and enjoying a good time. Finally we went to a Catholic Church to see what that was like. We caught them right as they were taking communion. It was a very interesting experience. We saw their statues and their gold covered facades. It was very strange. There were statues of mary, lots of statues of Jesus on the cross, and a couple of him dead in a grave, but there were none of Christ risen from the dead. They seem to have forgotten the most important part of the gospel message.

-Aaron Dean

The Safety Speech Video

Ken gives a quick overview of Kurt's Personal Safety Speech

Zucharitas

Aaron describes his new favorite breakfast food.

Walking Through the Neighborhood

Our first night here Bethany, Kurt, and the Navarrete's (missionary leaders of the church) took us for a tour of the neighborhood that their church ministers to. We meant many children and several families who attend the church. Each smiled warmly when they saw the church members coming. What a blessing to see just a few fruits from the labors of our missionary.

A Display of Artistry

Wednesday morning Debbi and Bethany joined the missionary, Diana Navaretti, in a Lady’s Bible study at the church. What is it the guys would be doing all morning?

Painting.

We invested the morning in painting the jail-looking wall of the Children’s Club room. First we had to decide what to paint. Then we chose Kurt to draw the earth, Aaron the children, and Ken - what difficult, artsy part of the picture was Ken entrusted to draw? - Ken drew the stars and clouds.

Here’s what we came up with.

Subway Adventures

- Above is a picture of the lightly used far side of the platform -

Riding on the Metro Subway in Mexico City feels something like WWF, an amusement park, and the Redneck Olympics combined. For example, you get your tickets from a tiny office labeled Taquilla. That was the first thing that caught my attention.

After Kurt bought the tickets and gave us his scary speech we marched toward the subway platform. Whoever designed the system here in Mexico made one small but crucial mistake. Rather than entering the train on one side and exiting on the other as one does in Washington DC and other cities, these trains force you to enter and exit from the same doors. That means at each platform dozens of Mexicans try to force their way onto the train through the same small doors that dozens of Mexicans are trying to force their way out of.

The resulting chaos is both mortally dangerous and incredibly funny.

Our morning commute provided few challenges other than my backpack being stuck in the door and three helpful Mexican men helping me pry it out. The evening trip, however, proved painfully interesting.

Bethany and Kurt bought our tickets, and we followed them to the platform. Unlike the scant group of individuals riding in the morning, now the platform was packed five or six people deep down the entire two hundred foot long opening. This wouldn’t have been a problem if the train came empty. The train didn’t come empty though. When the first train pulled to a stop our jaws fell open to see people pressed into every open space in the vehicle. Faces pressed against the windows. Bodies bulged at the closed doors. How would we ever get on?

With a rush the doors whipped open, and a dozen Mexicans began to spill out. Those of us jostling for room on the platform gave those exiting approximately half a second to clear out of the way before a human wave pushed toward the door’s opening. The surge caught us up and moved us. People pressed from behind, from the side, from all quarters our bodies were crushed in the mass. I saw Kurt, our fearless leader, hit a human wall at the subway’s door. If he couldn’t fit, how would the five of us?

The fear now was of being separated. If two made this train, but three of us missed would we ever see one another again. I could only imagine myself exiting somewhere at the end of the line in Mexico City. There would wait for me five guys with surgical instruments and “Eureka” smiles. They’d be heard saying something like, “Let the harvesting begin,” in Spanish.

None of us made it on the first train. Between trains the crowd of people who missed the first were joined by dozens and dozens more all hoping to squeeze through those ever important four foot wide subway doors. Kurt peered down the tunnel and saw the second train closing in.

“Everyone stick together!” he called to us above the roar and rush of the six car train.

The moment the doors whirred open our group was thrown forward by the press of two hundred Mexicans behind us surging for the opening. Kurt led and pressed his way onto the train followed closely by Debbi and Bethany.

Words cannot describe the press. Everyone jostled so closely together with no care or feeling toward the pain one caused to the person next to them. You had to make the train.

Aaron shouldered a little elderly Mexican woman out of the way. No, not really. He shouldered two little elderly Mexican women out of the way. Thankfully they were getting off the train and his move did them a great service. At first I thought I’d have to grab Aaron’s backpack to stay with him, but the press shoved right up against him. With a punch and a kick, a shove and a shoulder we made our way onto the train. We had done it!

Lest you think once we made it on the train that we had room to move, not so my friends. I do not exaggerate at all when I say this. My body was pressed up against the door when two more men threw themselves in. Neither one completely made it. The doors of the train closed pressing the two men face to face. One side of their bodies was inside the train, the other hung outside. Again, I’m not exaggerating. Four or five men still standing on the platform rushed to their aid and began pushing them into the train. From inside the train came a collective groan as the few spare millimeters of free space were lost. With a cry that sounded quite similar to “One! Two! Three!” the extra two men squeezed into the train.

Debbi, Aaron, and I couldn’t believe it. In fact, we were pressed so tight that as soon as Aaron began laughing, each of the other team members could feel his body shake.

Needless to say, we survived. We survived, but just barely.

Pictures from Mexico City

Here our a few from our journeys downtown on Wednesday.

The Survival Speech

Kurt and Bethany thought today would provide a wonderful opportunity to immerse our small group in Mexican culture. Little did we know that their idea of immerse was to bodily throw us into the heart and soul of Mexico City.

We left Bethany’s car at a small car park about a quarter mile from the new train station that leads into the city. From there we caught the subway system. I found Kurt’s Personal Safety Speech very interesting. It went something like this.

“Mexico City is known for being a very dangerous place. It is. There are people out there who would love to steal your cameras, steal your money, or even steal you.”

At this point Debbi, Aaron, and I instinctively clutched at our personal possessions and squeezed closer together.

Kurt continued, “There is a thriving business in this city selling people, especially girls, and even selling organs (not the musical type) from visitors who come to the city.”

Now i began to glance around wondering whether every guy with a strange face might try to harvest my kidneys there on the spot. Instead of clutching my camera, which can be easily replaced, I now covered my kidneys, liver, and heart with my hands, as none of those can be easily replaced.

“Just stick together. Girls are to walk in front of the boys at all times so we can see that you are Ok. And last of all, don’t let people bump you to much. Many times when people bump you or touch you they are taking your wallet from you.”

That ended what I would categorize as the least encouraging speech I’ve heard in my life. To start the day I had only hoped God would allow me to take some pictures for the missionaries to use. Now I hoped God would simply allow me to survive.

No Internet

Just a word on the internet situation. The word is: Nonexistent. We don't have the internet at our apartment, so we'll only be able to post on a semi-daily basis. Please do come back often. We'll try to update as much as we can as often as we can.

On comments: I enabled comments for everyone. Please share your thoughts with us when you can!

Arrival Night

First, a word or two on our arrival experience. Aaron grabbed the window seat for the flight into the city. Lucky guy!

We each woke from brief naps to hear the pilot announce our decent into Mexico City. Wiping the sleep from our eyes we turned to our left and glanced out the tiny window. Lights! A sea of lights spread like a glowing lake as far as we could see. I’ve flown into Los Angeles at night. I’ve flown into Las Vegas at night. I’ve flown into a handful of other cities in the darkning hours of the evening and seen these lakes of light before, but none have compared in size or scope to the lights of Mexico City.

I must give another shout of praise to the Lord for the painless walk through Mexican customs. In the moments before we exited the flight I warned Aaron and Debbi of the terrors foreign custom officers can hold.

“They’ll dig through all your luggage. They’ll try to ask you questions in English, but you won’t understand a word of it. Had customs existed five hundred years ago Dante would have listed it as the outer level of hell.”

Not a word of that proved true. We picked our luggage right off the moving track, carried it to some officials who ran it through a scanning machine, handed over our custom’s forms and - vola- we were done.

Within minutes Bethany found us and led us to the tiny vehicle in which we were throw all our many pounds of luggage.

“We’re putting all our stuff in that?” Aaron asked.

Apparently the answer was “Yes” because within minutes Kurt, Bethany’s fiance, pushed, pulled, and prodded the last of the giant suitcases into place. With much effort and two tries he succeeded in closing the hatch. That only left four bags for each of us to carry on our hour long drive to the other side of the city.

Bethany asked me to heap my hulking 48 lb. backpack on her lap once she got seated. That took care of her. Aaron offered to hold two of the cayy-on bags. That took care of him. Kurt couldn’t take anything as driving through Mexico City is dangerous enough without piling a 50 lb. suitcase on his lap. Debbi climbed into the middle of the back sit and let me climb in beside her. I hoisted the last suitcase on top of myself but had to lay it across both our laps since it was too large to fit any other way.

One last problem, how to close my door? Thankfully a kind Mexican gentleman closed the door for me, thus solving the problem.

Driving in Mexico City- how do you describe it? Debbi compared it to riding a roller coaster, just without any of the safety features. I liked the comparison, but I’d add that you have a thousand other roller coaster carts all competing for the same track.

Huge semi trailer trucks weaved across the lanes of traffic, lanes that are left completely unmarked on the roads. Endless barios stretched off into the distance with walls covered in graffiti. Huge puddles filled the roads. Potholes waited to swallow tires. Motorcycles weaved among the traffic. It was different, very different from the United States.

Airplane Seating

At the Pittsburgh Airport

1st Day

It's Tuesday afternoon and my first day in Mexico. Our trip here went extremely well! We made our way through luggage check-in and security in about 15 minutes. It could not have gone more smoothly. Our flight to Houston was delayed, and we were worried that we might miss our connecting flight to Mexico City, but God was looking out for us. It turned out that our flight to Mexico was delayed as well, giving us ample time to get there and board the plane. When we arrived in the Mexico airport, we were able to find our luggage in only a few minutes. We also made it through customs with no trouble at all, and only waited about 10 minutes for Bethany and Kurt to arrive to pick us up. Ironically, the drive from the airport to Bethany's house was the most eventful and exciting part of the entire trip! I received my first culture shock as I watched a semi-truck come within inches of our car!!! The driving down here is insane! However, apart from the near death experiences, the drive was a great time to get to know Bethany and her fiance better. Finally, around 1:00 am we arrived safe, sound, and very tired at Bethany's home. We spent the next 45 minutes becoming familiar with the house we will be staying at and talking with Bethany about old memories and her life here in Mexico. I am really excited to be here, and am very grateful that the Lord blessed us with such a wonderful, safe, and uneventful trip to Mexico City.

Debbi

On the Way to the Airport

making new friends (stuffed friends)

Today is our first day here in Mexico City, currently we are down at one of Bethany's teammate's house. Bethany and her team members are having their monthly meeting. We've gotten to meet everyone and see a little bit of their ministry. But for me the highlight so far has been meeting two specific people (sorta). First, I loved meeting Bethany's dog, Chloe. Second, I've just recently met Bradley, one of the MKs, and his collection of stuffed animals and G.I. Joes. He definitely reminds me of myself at his age. I'll try to post something a little more serious later, but for now I have to go play with some action figures!

-aaron dean

Contemplations

How do life changing adventures like this trip occur? I’ve been asking myself that question much recently. Is there any way to quantify those moments, those minutes where a decision is made the results of which leave you forever changed? Who knows on any given day whether the love of your life might appear? Who can imagine when they wake that an opportunity will be given to them, an chance which moments or months away will challenge their faith, call them to a far off shore, or introduce them to a lifelong friend?

I feel as though I’ve stepped into a summer of such opportunity. Moving to the West Coast, meeting dozens if not hundreds of future friends, leaving the land of Pennsylvania with all its lush green hills and fields for the beaches, mountains, and deserts of California. Saying goodbye to all that is comfortable and known in my life- that is an experience. Its an opportunity that I 30% fear and 70% savor.

Now I’m only hours away from our country’s southern neighbor, Mexico. Who knows what the next seven days will bring. If this trip proves in any way similar to my last trip it may take us all seven days merely to reach Mexico City. I long for this adventure though. In only a few hours Debbi, Aaron, and I will meet brothers and sisters in Christ we’ve never before known. We’ll talk with our good friend, Bethany, and hear many stories of our dear Savior’s work in her life.

How do life changing adventures like this trip occur?

Its simple really.

God.

His goodness, grace, and providence allow us to step out of the normal and into a glorious adventure of change, travel, and the unknown.

All the Goodies!!!

Special thanks to all those at First Baptist Grove City and Butler who gave for the missionaries. We have so much stuff that I'm really hoping we can fit it all.

"Can't you just take extra baggage?"

Some might ask that, but due to the confusing environmental mess Continental Airlines has a Baggage Embargo flying into Mexico City. That means each of us are allowed only two pieces of luggage and a carryon regardless of whether we wanted to pay for even more.

Almost done packing!!!!