Vera, no longer just a girl

Review from the week:

Tuesday: I did living water and met two very cool guys, the first Will wrote about in the blog called “Javier Loves Jesus”. The second, was another man who I sat next to for a while and had a good convo. He spoke some English and I spoke some Spanish so it was a decent convo. He was not a practicing Christian, so I was able to give him a bible, etc.

Wednesday: One of our groups had the desire to see “extreme poverty” so we as a staff worked it out to take them to some houses by the dump. If you came to Mexico last year, you know how it was “hell on earth” probably comes to mind. So I went with a group of about 35 folks to the dump. I sent them off to do living water, home visits, sports evangelism, and prayer walking. I decided to just stay on the bus…for several reasons really: 1. You can not lock a bus (poverty has a correlation with robbery), 2. The closer you get to the dump the more flies and the stronger the toxic waste smell, both of which I didn’t think were the ideal environment for a pregnant lady to be in (on the bus was bad, but I knew walking through it would be worse), 3. I am trying harder to take it easy these days (Will is stressing about my health, and I promised him I would be fine, so I didn’t want to push it)…..Anyways, so I sat on the bus for an hour and half….but I was not alone. I couldn’t sleep…it was too dangerous and the flies were too bad….so I was just sitting there. About five minutes in a little girl appeared and she wanted to talk. About two minutes later her older brother appeared. It was so unique, three people….a 23 year old English speaking American, an 8 year old girl who lived in a dump in Mexico, and her 12 year old brother who also lived in a dump. God blessed me with an amazing time. We struggled through conversations and we sang and we had a big English/Spanish lesson. I gave the girl, Alma, a necklace and the boy a bracelet. They knew about Jesus and how he died on the cross for them, they knew he lived in heaven. We sat for a long time with my notebook and a pen….I would draw a picture and they would tell me or write for me the name of it in Spanish….then I would write it in English. They enjoyed this and we did it for a while. I wish I would have saved 1 sheet to remember the special time with those kids, but I gave them to her. There were moments when we didn’t talk, but it wasn’t awkward, just peaceful. I saw beauty come from the dump Wednesday. What broke my heart the most was when Alma described how bad it stunk in her house; she lived right on the outside of the dump. Wednesday ended with another wonderful carnival, thanks to God and Will. We went and got a bus full of kids and the bus got stuck (still muddy from the rain), but a friend named Jose Deer (John Deer) came to our rescue.

Thursday: Pretty average day….we went out and worked in the colonia. We have had a great time at our new church so far and we love the Pastor and his family. They are super folks with some amazing testimonies of God’s healing power. Did I already write that when Will talked to him the first day, he said he had never talked with an American before? How cool is that? He is very energetic and loves to preach.

Friday (today): Will had a run at 7:30 and then again at 10:30. I am here at the house now and I am about to take a group as well. I am hoping to swing by and get an American meal while out, but not so sure about that one. Tonight we are going to a karaoke restaurant here in Matamoros and then come home and prepare for next week.

Upcoming week: I am the PF and Will is the PM for a group from North Carolina and Delaware. It should be great, but still pray!

Thanks for reading, praying, and being our friends---Karan Anne

ONE LAST ANNOUNCEMENT: VERA IS OFFICIALLY A WOMAN! SHE IS HAVING SOME MILD PMS, BUT NOTHING TOO BAD:) NOW WE JUST HOPE TO KEEP HER AWAY FROM ANY CONDITIONS SIMILAR TO HER MOTHER. WE ARE NOT LOOKING TO BRING HOME THAT KIND OF SOUVENIR.