The last time we were in Guacayvo, we brought along a GPS to get the coordinates and were able to look up the mission in the remote place in the Copper Canyon. In the map you can see the switchbacks that we had to hike all the way down the mountain. (You can zoom in to get a closer view of the mission or zoom out to see where Guacayvo is located in comparison to the US/Mexican border. It's amazing how far you have to zoom out before you start seeing towns big enough to be on the map.)
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Monday, June 3, 2013
Welcome!
Welcome to my Copper Canyon Mission trip blog! I am glad you are taking the time to read about our amazing trip! Our trip was the end of March-April 2013, but with my busy schedule, I only got it done by June. Better late then never, right?!
Just to help you out a little, I told about our trip in a number of different blog posts. You can either scroll all the way through and read all the posts or on the bar on the right hand side you will find a blog archive that provides a list of the different posts and you can click directly on those. My posts include: Heading to Guacayvo, At Guacayvo, Contruction Project, Girls' School Project, Thursday Hike, Canyon Hike to the Ruins, Services, The People in Guacayvo, and Fun Little Memories (you can also click on these titles for direct links).
Also, many of the pictures can be viewed larger, if you simply click on them.
Enjoy the blog!
Just to help you out a little, I told about our trip in a number of different blog posts. You can either scroll all the way through and read all the posts or on the bar on the right hand side you will find a blog archive that provides a list of the different posts and you can click directly on those. My posts include: Heading to Guacayvo, At Guacayvo, Contruction Project, Girls' School Project, Thursday Hike, Canyon Hike to the Ruins, Services, The People in Guacayvo, and Fun Little Memories (you can also click on these titles for direct links).
Also, many of the pictures can be viewed larger, if you simply click on them.
Enjoy the blog!
Heading to Guacayvo {Spring 2013}
So, let's start at the very beginning...
Our great mission trip adventure began with a 33 hour dead-head trip to El Paso, Texas. We felt the protecting presence of our Lord early on in our trip. While driving late at night in Missouri, we ran into a serious snow storm. In order to make it to El Paso in time to meet up with the rest of the crew, we pushed through the night, a few times driving only 25 mph due to low visibility and slippery conditions. We sent a message home asking for prayer as we traveled through the threatening storm. And, our God answered the many prayers and we made it to El Paso, 6 hours behind schedule but safe.
The plan was to head into Mexico early Monday morning, so some of the mission crew from Mexico brought vans and a truck to El Paso to meet us. Once again, we had to trust in God, as we discovered we did not have a trailer to haul all our tools for the building project into Mexico. Basically, in Mexico the government is so corrupt that our tools likely would have been confiscated at the border if discovered. Clearly, we really needed these for the construction work we intended to accomplish. Once again, we sent a message to our brothers and sisters at home asking for prayer.
Trusting in God, with the tools buried in the bottom of the truck bed and vans under our personal baggage, we headed across the border. I can't say exactly what happened at the first border check except that all our belongings made it safely through, but I was able to watch the security guard at the third crossing. He pulled off the cover of the truck, wanting to see inside. At that moment, I just knew that whatever happened, God was the one in control. With great joy, we watched as he only looked at our luggage on top and then put the cover back on and let us go. Yes, I believe that was a miracle-- just wait till you read later on about the great work God allowed us to accomplish with those tools that He brought safely across the border!
So, after crossing the border and making it safely through customs, we began what would end up being a 16 hour drive to the mission in the Copper Canyon. This post would be incomplete if I didn't mention that late at night as we were winding through mountains, we suddenly came upon the cartel, who pulled us over and ran to our vehicles. When they saw our headlights heading up the mountain, they thought we might be a rival cartel gang. However, after we had explained that we were missionaries, they let us go with a surprising "God bless you and your work."
The last hours of the trip were spent driving along the curvy mountain roads, which began as nicely paved roads and later became bumpy dirt roads leading further into mountains to the remote canyon mission. The last 2 km of the road to the mission were so steep that we had to get out of the vans and hike down to the mission.
This, like last year, was a highlight of the trip for me. Once again, we had a full moon, and it was exciting to descend down into the canyon to the mission below. Some of you may recall from my blog from last year's trip, that this tortuous road is known as the "Miracle Road" because after some ten years of hauling supplies and goods over the mountain on burros, the government built this road to the mission. Yes, surely a miracle from God!
To give you a picture of the remote location of the mission, let me share some of my favorite pictures that I took later during the week...
You may be wondering why I said that these were among my favorite pictures. Well, I can't help but look at those pictures and proclaim, How great is our God?! When I consider how God gave Pastor Tomas a vision to start this mission and now the progress they have made, the many children that they house, and the local people who are coming to know Jesus Christ in this remote, desolate region, I am so humbled and awed.
Our great mission trip adventure began with a 33 hour dead-head trip to El Paso, Texas. We felt the protecting presence of our Lord early on in our trip. While driving late at night in Missouri, we ran into a serious snow storm. In order to make it to El Paso in time to meet up with the rest of the crew, we pushed through the night, a few times driving only 25 mph due to low visibility and slippery conditions. We sent a message home asking for prayer as we traveled through the threatening storm. And, our God answered the many prayers and we made it to El Paso, 6 hours behind schedule but safe.
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| Our whole crew from MN right before leaving El Paso |
The plan was to head into Mexico early Monday morning, so some of the mission crew from Mexico brought vans and a truck to El Paso to meet us. Once again, we had to trust in God, as we discovered we did not have a trailer to haul all our tools for the building project into Mexico. Basically, in Mexico the government is so corrupt that our tools likely would have been confiscated at the border if discovered. Clearly, we really needed these for the construction work we intended to accomplish. Once again, we sent a message to our brothers and sisters at home asking for prayer.
Trusting in God, with the tools buried in the bottom of the truck bed and vans under our personal baggage, we headed across the border. I can't say exactly what happened at the first border check except that all our belongings made it safely through, but I was able to watch the security guard at the third crossing. He pulled off the cover of the truck, wanting to see inside. At that moment, I just knew that whatever happened, God was the one in control. With great joy, we watched as he only looked at our luggage on top and then put the cover back on and let us go. Yes, I believe that was a miracle-- just wait till you read later on about the great work God allowed us to accomplish with those tools that He brought safely across the border!
So, after crossing the border and making it safely through customs, we began what would end up being a 16 hour drive to the mission in the Copper Canyon. This post would be incomplete if I didn't mention that late at night as we were winding through mountains, we suddenly came upon the cartel, who pulled us over and ran to our vehicles. When they saw our headlights heading up the mountain, they thought we might be a rival cartel gang. However, after we had explained that we were missionaries, they let us go with a surprising "God bless you and your work."
The last hours of the trip were spent driving along the curvy mountain roads, which began as nicely paved roads and later became bumpy dirt roads leading further into mountains to the remote canyon mission. The last 2 km of the road to the mission were so steep that we had to get out of the vans and hike down to the mission.
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| The point where we parked our vans (taken later during the week) |
This, like last year, was a highlight of the trip for me. Once again, we had a full moon, and it was exciting to descend down into the canyon to the mission below. Some of you may recall from my blog from last year's trip, that this tortuous road is known as the "Miracle Road" because after some ten years of hauling supplies and goods over the mountain on burros, the government built this road to the mission. Yes, surely a miracle from God!
To give you a picture of the remote location of the mission, let me share some of my favorite pictures that I took later during the week...
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| Looking down from way above the mission; the tiny little building at the bottoms is the mission |
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| Other pictures from above where you can see the road winding down toward the mission |
You may be wondering why I said that these were among my favorite pictures. Well, I can't help but look at those pictures and proclaim, How great is our God?! When I consider how God gave Pastor Tomas a vision to start this mission and now the progress they have made, the many children that they house, and the local people who are coming to know Jesus Christ in this remote, desolate region, I am so humbled and awed.
At Guacayvo {Spring 2013}
We were all grateful when we finally arrived at the mission around 1:30am. We were welcomed warmly by the missionaries there and then headed to our sleeping quarters hoping for a good nights sleep before awaking to a new day of adventure in Guacayvo, Mexico.
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| Dad and Mom's cabin that they shared with Doyle and Deb |
After a refreshing night of sleep in our cute cabin, we were awakened by the sounds of the canyon village and the sunlight shining through the slats of our cabin wall.
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| The cabin where Brian and Heather, two other girls and I stayed. The girls were on the top floor. |
From our cabin, we could look out over the canyon, bathed in the morning sunlight, and see the mission building nestled on the hillside. Out front our cabin there was an orange and some other fruit trees just beginning to blossom. Though I had been there before, the immenseness and beauty of the canyon, had me standing and marveling at it's splendor once again. It was magnificent.
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| Here you can see the roof of the mission building, looking down from our cabin |
Before I begin telling you about the work and activities we did during that week, let me give you a little tour of Guacayvo.
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| The main mission building, which holds the kids' dorms, dining hall and kitchen, bathrooms, and staff sleeping quarters |
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| The dining area |
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| The kitchen area (part of main dining hall) |
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| The girl's dorm, located on the top floor of the main building; The single guys stayed here since most of the kids were with family for Easter week |
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| The school building - down the hill from the main building; in the back left you can see a portion of the main building under construction |
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| The kids' playground (just past the school building) |
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| The greenhouse and farming area located on the slope above the mission (You can also see our cabin through the trees at the bottom of the picture) |
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| The spring up above the mission that provides water for buildings and homes in Guacayvo through those black pipes that you can see in the picture This spring is indeed a blessing! |
Hopefully this gives you a basic idea of Guacayvo and the lay of the land there. While we did some major projects during the week, in between we had a little time to do activities with the kids who were in Guacayvo. (Most of the kids went home to be with their families for the Easter week).
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| Here we're doing paper folding with some of the kids |
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| Mom giving out bracelets |
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| Ben making a bracelet with Roberto |
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| Raessa and Hannah with Tito and Sandrita |
To read about the bigger projects that we did during the week, continue on to read the "Construction Project" post. This will give you a better idea of the main building and expansion work that is being done on it. (In my post, "Girls' School Project", you can read about the work that the girls did in the school.)
Construction Project {Spring 2013}
As many of you likely know, a major goal of the trip was to work on expanding the mission building. The mission was built to house around 40 children, and currently it holds almost 100. Thus, we headed down with a crew of strong, skilled men to accomplish the construction plans that Brian Sams and Brian Nelson had laid out. Rather than me sharing lots of pictures, here is a video we created that nicely explains the building project. (The first half talks about the building project; the end of the video has other information about our trip that I will also be writing about in another post.)
I hope that the video gives you a good idea of the work that is going on down there. Here are a few other pictures that I took during the week of the construction work
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| Dad and Daniel working together :) |
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| Daniel shoveling and sifting sand |
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| A snapshot from up on top; you can see where the girls (pink) and boys (blue) bathrooms used to be |
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| Looking up at the construction from down by the school |
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| Dad welding |
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| Daniel and Jonny mixing cement |
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| The guys at work again (I love how the picture is enhanced by the beautiful background) |
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| Our whole crew sitting on the roof that had been put on by the guys during the week |
As you can see, the guys were busy all week working on this project. It was incredible to see how God had His hand over the project all week and orchestrated everything. The work went smoothly and the guys finished what they had set out to accomplish in good time. Brian Sams said his favorite moment of the trip was when he realized that they were going to finish the project in time. And of course, we were all thankful for safety during the entire project! It was so incredible to experience how God was completely able to use the time, tools, and individuals available to complete this task.
"Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves,
but our competence comes from God." - 2 Corinthians 3:5
The last picture basically shows how we left the building at the end of the week. The hope is to return in the fall and continue the work.
Girls' School Project {Spring 2013}
While the men were busy doing construction work on the mission building, the women spent most of the week in the school. The school was in desperate need of cleaning, re-painting, and organizing. Since the kids were gone for Easter week, we were able to work most of the week to transform the old, dirty school. Here are a few before pictures:
We started out the work by simply cleaning up the two rooms and prepping the walls for painting. The next task was to paint the walls white using a limestone and water mixture.
After the painting was done, we then wiped all the dust-covered books clean and Heather set to work organizing them all.
With all the painting and cleaning down, we enjoyed some fun-filled hours of painting on the white walls, giving the rooms a more school-like and cheerful look.
And here is the fruit of our labors...
....a lot more inspiring and cheerful, wouldn't you agree? We are pretty sure the children are gonna love it! :) All in all, we ladies had a fun time working in the school, knowing that our labors would add a little blessing and joy to the children's lives. :)
We started out the work by simply cleaning up the two rooms and prepping the walls for painting. The next task was to paint the walls white using a limestone and water mixture.
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| Raessa and Hannah busy painting |
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| Deb rolling the limestone mixture onto the wall |
After the painting was done, we then wiped all the dust-covered books clean and Heather set to work organizing them all.
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| Mom cleaning and sorting books |
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| Heather organizing |
Then we had to scrub all the desks and chairs... using the minimal supplies we had. Thankfully my mom had brought along some cleaning supplies that we put to very good use!
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| Busy workers |
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| Deb and Mom tirelessly scrubbing desks and chairs |
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| And me, trying my hand at removing the grime from this desk |
Filling the school room with many bright colored drawings
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| Raessa and Hannah adding a little color to the blank wall |
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| Deb and I painting a multiplication table on the wall |
And here is the fruit of our labors...
....a lot more inspiring and cheerful, wouldn't you agree? We are pretty sure the children are gonna love it! :) All in all, we ladies had a fun time working in the school, knowing that our labors would add a little blessing and joy to the children's lives. :)
So, that's a little about our work in Guacayvo. I also wrote a number of different posts about our other activities and experiences during the week: Thursday Hike, Services, and Canyon Hike to the Ruins.
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