The Sweetness of Community

Even though it was late Friday night when we got home and Saturday was spent driving to meet Mom and Dad to get our girls I was excited to get to church early Sunday morning.  There was an extra sense of sweetness whenever one of these team members passed by.  This feeling of "you know what it was like," "we did that week together and it changed me a bit..."  so many unspoken connections were made throughout the week.  This is the way it was with the team last year too.  Many from last year were eager to hear details of the trip and asked several followup questions specific to kids whose faces are still etched on their hearts.

One of the most special parts of the trip for me was watching Haleigh thrive.  As is normal to her character, she just loved so well.  She loved  the kids we were ministering to, she loved our team members, she loved the interns... (pictured below) and they loved her.  

It was fun for me to watch folks get to see Haleigh to be more than this cute little girl that never stops moving, that takes a bit to focus, and usually has this mamma on her toes.  To watch as people who have known Haleigh at arms length for several years see this beauty watching to find ways to serve, looking to see who needs to be loved on and, most of all, looking for God's hand and answers each day.  

Speaking of loving well...

these two precious folks with Haleigh and me love well.  Several years ago they became involved with Back2Back.  Their passion and dedication to this ministry has spurred them to action.  Just a small part of that action was to get our church involved.  Two teams from our church have now gone to Mexico because of their motivation and I can say most of us have been greatly effected.  I can't say enough about how thankful I am that they were obedient to God's leading them to share this passion.  

(Another result of their passion for Back2Back is that one of our dear friends is now moving toward full time ministry with Back2Back.  If you have  any desire to learn more about the organization, support those in full time ministry or how you can become involved please let me know and I can fill in the details ;)

Even though this is the conclusion of Back2Back 2015 posts the story I'm sure doesn't end here.  Prayers continue, that small change and challenge as the Holy Spirit works on each one exposed to His mission keeps stirring, the special friendships with these faces continue to grow because...

there is something to serving side by side together for a week...

sweating side by side together for a week...

pouring out prayers side by side together for a week...

laughing side by side together for a week...

just being on mission

side by side

together for a week!

Prayer...So Important!!

On Tuesday our schedule looked a little lot different.  Once we went through the normal morning routine of breakfast, training and quiet time we set out for a work day at The Promise Land.  Hard work was ahead for the rest of the day.  To be honest this day just feels good to me.  You can see progress as you work through the hours beside your team.  You can see the tangible ways you are providing for the physical needs of the children (teens in this case) that will live in the spaces you are touching.  So work we did...

This pile of debris was eliminated bucket by bucket into this truck.  The truck was filled and went to dump its load while we ate lunch, then the team went at it again until the pile gone. 

Haleigh and I joined some friends on the roof to seal it.  

Haleigh got in on mixing cement and loading it for to be used for some countertops our team was pouring in the kitchen.  (I know its blurry but I will always have this to remind her she can do really hard things:)

Emily and I got to tackle some pick work to break through some concrete to loosen these bars to move from what used to be an exterior room to the new exterior.

And the men continued to work across the street at Dreams putting up the roof.

As you can see lots of time was spent on the physical labor to help projects move along much quicker than they would if paying for man power to accomplish these tasks.  The goal it to have The Promise Lane ready for Hope students to move in around August.  So there was  no time to waste!!

No time to waste so what did our last day look like?  More physical work to accomplish every job possible on the projects? No!  We met the MDA kids at The Promise Land to interact with them in some planned activities to encourage their excitement of reading.  This was one of my favorite activities because many of our team really got into the games and that spurred the MDA kids to really get excited!  

(I have more pics of the kiddos but due to social media/pictures of minors in care laws I have to be selective with what I can post.  If you want to see more we can have lunch together and you can see all 700 pics from the week;)

After all the fun we took the kids back to MDA for lunch and sent them off to school.  Then back to work? No, time to storm the gates with prayer!! A picture of each child staying at the orphanages was placed on their bed with specific prayer requests for that child.  As I read the requests and longings that they have I was struck with the reality that what they were asking for wasn't for stuff, for better living conditions... it was for relationship with their mom or dad, health concerns for a grandma, their longing to care for a family member in need.

We had the opportunity to pray over each bed that would hold a child that night when it got dark.  Haleigh threw a curveball my way.

 As we started praying she asked for some notecards from our Back2Back directors who were with us and wrote a message of encouragement to each child.  One that stands out in my mind was one younger boy who said his dream was to have a candy store when he grew up.  Haleigh wrote that she would pray for his dream of his candy store and she believed he could make that happen.

More prayer opportunities were given as the family "picture" of each child was laid out and we were invited to pray for the biological families each orphan.

The beauty of the reminder of the importance of prayer was overwhelming and has changed my perspective of how I approach my schedule here at home.  That need to make space and even allow myself the "down time" to pray instead of always focusing on the doing and check list of each day, this may be one of my biggest "take aways" of the week!

Next up "the community of it all!"

The Rhythm of Our Days with Back2Back

While in Mexico our days had a rhythm.  Each day we got up and ate breakfast.  Then we had the opportunity to attend a training on how trauma has effected the brain (and therefore the actions/reactions) of most of the children we would be working with.  It was fascinating to me to learn more of the science behind the philosophy of Back2Back.  Lots of understanding came with just bits of insight but the message of  hope and healing was always presented too.

Though the schedule would changed a little to fit each day, most days we would set out after training to visit the kids at Casa Hogar Manatial de Amor (MDA) the orphanage we partnered with last year and this year.

Our goal was to play with the purpose of connecting and giving the kids space to just be kids having fun (and healing a bit in that fun.)

At this point they don't have a full time cook so we provided lunch for them the days we were together.  Spaghetti and fruit were on the menu Monday.  Spaghetti was a first for many of the children.  Teaching them to twirl the pasta onto their fork and watching all the slurping of noodles was fun!

After lunch the kids left for school and we headed to work at Dreams.

Dreams is the property Back2Back has been working on for a few years.  It is designed to house orphans in a more family style setting (opposed to an institutional set up.)  At this point they are waiting on God's leading of who exactly will be placed here.  Whoever He leads here has had sweat and prayers poured out as their home has been prepared by many.

(Last year's team.

This is the  same property we spent most of our labor intense time at last year.)

As the guys sweat it out putting a large portion of the roof on the building....

we split into groups and some began to clear the field (with rakes, hoes and machetes)...

while others cleared construction debris from the rooms already completed...

 

Once we arrived back to campus in the evenings we would get cleaned up and have a quiet time and small group time focused on a specific study put together by Back2Back.  This year we focused on being part of the Kingdom of Priests.

Close to the end of each day we had a time to "debrief" as a group and focus on how God was speaking to us through the events of the day and week.  (More on debrief in an upcoming post...)

more updates to come, stayed tuned...