Due to the current political situation in Honduras, we are continuously evaluating the advisability of the trip. No final determination has been made, but as of now the trip is still scheduled to go on as planned pending a decision tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s commissioning service will be held at 7:00 pm at Faith Heritage School’s auditorium (map).

In the weeks to come, the team’s leaders will be selecting a new ministry site for this summer. More information will be posted as it is available.

Read the full text of the Department of State’s current travel alert: [html]

We want to give praise that no one has gotten sick, we have been safe, and that things are going smoothly. 

Were  in a beautiful house with air conditioning! It has been such a blessing. The couple that is loaning us their  house had just received the keys to their brand new house the day we arrived and they felt the Lord saying to them to loan us their home. They haven’t lived there yet and they lent it to 29 strangers!! We feel so blessed.  It’s more than enough space for all of us and is within walking distance of the Alliance Church. 

We really feel God’s presence and people are responding to the gospel.  We’ve met so many special people and the needs are great, and as always we feel so blessed by the people we are sharing with.           
We miss you all and feel you close to our hearts. 

Please pray for pastor Mendez and his wife who have sacrificed so much for their ministry, pray for Midian, a girl whose mom abandoned her as a baby and who has just showed up in her life again this week, pray for Karla as she readjusts to life in Reynosa and for her family’s salvation, pray for the teens in jail who have given their life to Christ and are being baptized today and pray for the women who have suffered abuse who are taking steps for healing and pray for the children who are coming to the Lord at a young age that they may be lights in their families.

With love, 
SWAM team 2008

Check out pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lydilu/sets/72157606209324539/

Click the image above to view.

We saw faces new and old–Vicente, the fervent evangelist, Pastor Raul, the enthusiastic pastor, Pastor Aristeo, leader of the Casa de Fe y Misericordia, other servants of God like Juan Angel, Javier, and Moises, and long-time friends like Karla, Erika, Francisco, Cristian, and others.

On Friday evening we came together after teen and VBS ministries for a dinner provided by Pastor Raul and his family, who have always been generous in their hospitality.

On Saturday we went to the market and met some other long-time friends there: Elias and Edgar from Campestre, where we used to minister. Afterwards some of us visited Campestre and La Mission El Buen Pastor to greet Pastor Pedro and his family and look for some of our old friends and find out where they were with Christ and encourage them.

We went to the youth service at the Alliance Church, too. There were literally hundreds of gringos (Americans, I mean) at the service, because God has been calling an increasingly larger influx of people there from Harvest Ministry in Minnesota and other groups to serve with the Alliance Church in missions to the poorer colonias and the unfortunate. The sermon was given in English (!) for the first time I can remember by a senior pastor from the Minnesota group. He compared our calling to the servant Abraham sent out to find a bride for Isaac, telling us that our master had called us to find a bride, that he would equip us and guide us, and that we must faithfully rely on him for direction and go out in faith.

We had dinner that night with some of our most faithful friends and supporters–the Flores family, our longtime host family with whom we’ve kept in contact even these two years when we weren’t staying with them; Vicente Mora, a zealous evangelist who has a burden for the lost and a gift for preaching; Juan Angel and Javier, who both provided constant help, directions, and more for us; and Pastor Raul and his wife Gabriela. Good-byes were difficult, as they usually are, but never without hope.

The border crossing was made interesting by the process of Karla getting her passport stamped, but we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Still, once again, we did not experience any uneventful flights–our flight from McAllen saw some of the 11:00 group cancelled but thankfully placed on the same plane as the 1:00 group, some of us had to cross security or have new boarding passes printed to get onto the plane in Houston, and we were slightly delayed when US Airways realized that they had scheduled two flights at our gate–God gave us His protection and brought us home to our family.

We also had the special blessing and privilege of bringing Karla home on the plane with us. Her joy was evident on her face when we arrived in Syracuse–the rest of the team lined up at the door (she was one of the last ones to get off the plane) and shouted “¡Bienvenida a Syracuse!” and gathered around her in an embrace before we prayed and walked toward the gate singing both of our trip’s theme songs, one unofficial, the other official:

Me siento como conejito, conejito, conejito

Me siento como conejito

Montado en el van.

Which translates to:

I feel like a bunny, a bunny, a bunny

I feel like a bunny

Riding in the van

And our most important song of praise:

La única razón de mi adoración, eres Tú, mi Jesús

Mi único motivo para vivor, eres Tú, mi Señor

Mi única verdad está en Ti

Eres mi luz y mi salvación

Mi único amor, eres Tú Señor

Y por siempre Te alabaré

Eres todopoderoso, eres grande y majestuoso

Eres fuerte, invencible, y no hay nadie como Tú

Which translates to:

The only reason for my worship is You, Jesus

The only motivation I have for living is You, Lord

My only truth is found in You

You are my light and my salvation

My only love are You, Lord

And forever I will praise You

You are almighty, You are great and majestic

You are strong and unbeatable, and there’s no one like You…

There is no one like Him.

I’m going to do my best to update you on the last forty-eight hours while we’re here at the airport!

This morning’s VBS ended with the church (La Casa de Misericordia y Fe) offering all of us that worked with them certificates of recognition and expressing their appreciation for our work–and inviting us to come back next year. The kids were attentive and we got to hear our favorite word (“¡Ortra!” which means “encore!”) after several of our songs/skits.

Dan S (Sports)

The detention center for teens was extraordinarily different thanI expected it to be. The young men there ranged from about sixteen to nineteen and were all very happy to have visitors. The sports ministry team from SWAM worked with a much larger group from Minnesota to share the love of Christ through fellowship and testimonies. Vicente’s testimony was very relevant and powerful toward the imprisoned youth and to myself as well. I had heard Vicente’s testimony many times in Spanish before but I never truly understood it until yesterday because he worked with Josè to translate it into English. I was blessed to share in this ministry. God willing, I hope SWAM returns to the detention center on future trips.

Krista (Women’s Ministry)

The last day of the women’s ministry, it was very evident that God’s hand was at work. About thirty women came. The time of worship was amazing as we all sang passionately about our God. Cory gave a message about how we need to trust God with our emotions and circumstances and how as sisters in Christ it is important that we support one another through prayer, sharing experiences and testimony and through visiting each other. Erica and I performed a dance to the song “So you would come.” The women seemed touched as they listened to the song whose words are: “Before the world began, you were in his mind and every tear you cried was precious in his eyes, because of his great love he gave his only son, everything was done so you would come.”

At the end, when Cory said the prayer, two more women received Christ for the first time. After the program I was talking with one of the women who I had become friends with driving the week, Reyna Santos. I asked her if she attended church. She said no, but that she will begin now. It was such a blessing to know that we had encouraged her to become connected to the family of God. I was wearing my bracelet with the colors of the wordless book. I explained to her that the colors of the glass beads could be used to share the gospel. I gave her the bracelet, one that I had made at the women’s retreat, and explained to her how it can help share the gospel, leaving her with a sheet explaining each color which I had made for myself to practice sharing the gospel.

Three of the younger girls gave me letters… the heart message of them was the same. “You’ve been such a blessing, thank you so much for coming. We hope you can come again next year. And keep following after Christ, please never stop coming.” Many were touched by the messagse we have shared during the week–they would think of how when we prayed for them they felt much better, tears were shed, and I could see the Holy Spirit at work. Thank you, God, for allowing us to be a part of this ministry.

Hasta mañana, Lord willing.

Problem: Although Mr. Ballard’s fifteen-passenger van’s engine would turn over, for the life of us we were unable to get it to start.

A neigbor pulled over and helped us by trying to obtain some gas from a nearby gas station and siphoning it into our tank. Yet despite all of the sounds of the fuel pump bringing gas into the engine, we were unable to get it to start.

We quickly prayed–several times–and got AIG Mexico, the van’s insurer, on the phone. They could not find our policy and would not get us towing. So we called the rental company in Harlingen and, thank God, they told us they were able to get us a replacement.

So we are short a fifteen-passenger van, which meant that we required separate thirty-minute trips over to our ministry site until Mr. Eagan arrived to help us out.

Despite all the roadblocks Satan places in our way, God has really blessed our ministry anyway. All of the women were there waiting for the Bible study to begin, and although it took a little bit for us to get the VBS back on track, the kids became attentive and engaged. Let’s continue with a report from someone other than me:

Joe Depuy (Sports/Prison Ministry)

We finally know possibly why God has brought so much rain. Today we visited the jail for juveniles because our traditional sports ministry has not been all that active. The rain kept the Mexican boys and men from participating, so it seemed necessary to consider some other options. We now know God wanted us to visit this jail all along, and if the rain had not driven the boys and men from the village away we perhaps might not have had the opportunity to see the Lord move in the hearts of several Mexican boys as we did today.

We joined up with a group from Minnesota who was already intending to visit the jail. Everyone from the group had limited to almost no Spanish-speaking ability. When we arrived I was asked by the one and only Mexican translator, “What do you want to do?” Since we were puzzled by this question, the translator explained that when people come to visit to minister they may play soccer with the inmates or play basketball or speak to the kids in an assembly format. Vicente Mora, a long-time friend of SWAM, shared his testimony with a large group of inmates, with five or six Mexican boys responding to the gospel and receiving Christ as Savior. After Dan and Dan were both blessed to play some basketball with some of the inmates as well. Meanwhile, I was with another Mexican believer, Javier, from the Alliance Church. The two of us shared Christ with three boys who were locked behind bars. With tears in their eyes after receiving Christ, the kids asked us if we would be back tomorrow. The answer was a resounding “yes!” We now thank God for the rain… for His ways are always wise and never cease to amaze us!