Quite overwhelmed

Our lives seem a world away. Today I listened to one young adult who attended the drop in centre who had fled the insecurity of Honduras to try to make it to America, only to have his money and identity papers stolen in Mexico. Now he has nothing, and has lived on the streets of Mexico City for 7 years now, trying to find work.

We had a visitor to the drop in centre to catch up with us, someone we loved so much when we were here, whose family has suffered things that we just can't write in this blog. Carol had time to listen, and pray with her.

Things that people are living through are quite overwhelming.

Today was the drop in centre church service for the street kids and a time to share some hope from the Bible, and singing some Christian songs. Of the 23 young folks who came to the centre today, they sang as though their lives depended on it. We are in awe of this work.

I asked the kids as I was about to share from the Bible, why they came to the drop in centre. While some admitted that the food and a warm shower first drew them, now they come because they want to learn about God and grow in their faith. It shows when they share their food and take turns to help one of the young mothers with her 6 month old baby.

Not that they are saints by the way. We had to stop one from stealing on the way back from playing football in a local park, and others who were terrorising a group of school girls walking down the street. Lovable rogues they sure are...

Looking forward to spending more time next week with this crew.

Thank-you for praying

I can tell you now, Carol is the photographer in our family, and if it wasn't for her, you'd have nothing to look at, she's been good at snapping some pictures of our time, so we can describe to you what we've been up to.

We let Zara have 2 days at home, she still has a cough which we don't want to get worse, but her asthma was not bothering her at all today and she has been feeling much better. Thank-you for praying. She's taking a decongestant at the moment, and we are very aware as parents that we need to go at a pace that suits all our family.

That being said, we have been throwing our kids into some challenging situations and we are so proud at how they are coping. Last night we went to help our friend Margaret with 2 English classes that she teaches. At times, Tabitha, Oscar and Zara had to split off to have conversation with people who have been learning English, so having their little photo albums of their pass-times in Scotland has been a good starting point.

They continue to pick up more Spanish words every day.

Not only that, it was our first time together at the Drop-in-Centre in Mexico City. There were 17 kids there today, which is a good number. They are teenagers mostly, and 1 girl there today had a young baby. Our crew got stuck in serving breakfast to the kids, and playing games with them too.

You can see Zara serving some tacos to a queue of hungry street kids from the kitchen. Tabitha, Oscar and Zara have really enjoyed their time, and the street kids who have been coming have enjoyed encouraging them to take part playing table football, Uno and the likes with them.

We'll be back there on Friday for their Church service, and it will be the first time to preach in Spanish for 8 years, although I had to give a class to a group today, which was a good warm up. Teaching needs to be interactive, cause after a good meal, and a shower with clean clothes, they do feel like having a good kip!

Today it was amazing to pray for some of the kids as they shared their needs. For one it was a mother with Cancer. For another, it was strained family relationships which had pushed them to the streets in the first place. For some, they didn't even want to think about their families, let along have someone pray for them.

We feel so very privileged to be accepted into a group of people who carry hurts and difficulties, but take time to listen to some N.Irish folks. That's all for now, so thanks for remembering us and God bless you!

Introduction to the drop in Centre and a prayer request

This will be our base during the day for the next weeks, it's the amazing drop in centre where the street kids come to get some good food, to wash, and to get some hope in the form of learning about Jesus.

I won't be taking too many close up pictures of the kids, since they are not there to be exploited, but hopefully you will get a flavour of the work that needs to be done for these amazing kids.

I remembered the way, and didn't get lost, which is a blessing, but road works made the trip take 2 hours, instead of the 1 hour I hoped it might take. Coming home was much quicker thankfully. Tabitha and Oscar are learning that mad driving is just normal in Mexico.

Just to explain a little from this picture, in between Oscar and Tabitha are 2 people who are absolute saints. 14 years working with the street kids now, they are Alex and Pati. Alex even shared with them about how he had been in prison, a drug addict, but when he found Jesus, his life totally changed, and he promised that when he left prison, he'd help street kids.

Beside Oscar to the left is someone that Carol and I met way back in 2001 when we first went to Mexico City. He worked at traffic lights cleaning car windows, but is now working for a local hospital and earning proper money. It is a little selfish maybe, but it was a relief to see some familiar street kids in the drop in centre, even after 7 years.

The other gentleman brings teams down from America to help with projects in the street kid ministry, and is a terrific support to the work. In the background you can see clothes on shelves, where the kids can get some fresh clean clothes when they arrive, all donated for the kids.

But you'll notice that Carol and Zara are missing. Zara is a bit congested which is making her breathless, and so she needed to stay home today to have an opportunity to rest. Her stamina is low, so we'll take it a day at a time to see when she is ready to be up and running. Can you pray for her that she'll get better?

Thanks everyone, and God bless you.

3 days in...

It's hard to believe that we have only been here for 3 days, it honestly feels as though we hardly left 7 years ago. We've been finding out way around the North Eastern part of the city remembering the streets and motorways, the speed bumps and short cuts.

3 days in and we had our first time back at the church we used to attend and help with. It was so good to see faces of people we loved and worked alongside. We had so many hugs and were given such a welcome. They were so excited to see Tabitha and Oscar again, and to meet Zara. The kids were absolute stars this morning, speaking their bits of Spanish, and making some friends in the Sunday School. They are very determined to learn as much Spanish as they can so that they can communicate better as the days go on.

I've been asked to preach a couple of times while I am here, which I pray of course will give the pastor a little break as well as be a blessing to the church. It was amazing to show Tabitha and Oscar where they went to the Creche, where they used to pop into a little shop beside the church to get bread to eat. They left the service (Which was 2.5 hours long!!!!) really excited about going again.

Then in the afternoon we met up with our Spanish teacher who became such a good friend and has visited us in Scotland and Northern Ireland a couple of times. She's a good English speaker, so the kids were able to relax and speak in English again.

So far we've been able to visit neighbours where we used to live, meet UK OMS missionaries too and tomorrow we are going to introduce the kids to the drop in Centre, which will be our base during the day for the majority of our time here. Do pray for us as we drive down (which will likely take us over an hour in the traffic) and as we help them to see why we came to work with Street Kids in the first place so many years ago.

God bless and thanks for following our escapades.

We're here!

We've been here for a little over a day, arriving in the middle of the night while you were waking up and starting the day. To be welcomed at the airport by our wonderful friend Margaret was a relief. (Never mind that all our suitcases were here...)

We are relearning the difficulties of being in Mexico. The traffic, the terrible driving, the heat, the altitude. Even in my first driving experience to get used to driving again (with Margaret as my co-pilot) we are quickly remembering that you need to keep your eyes on the road with motorbikes weaving in and out of cars, and remembering that no-one here sat a driving test...

However it is amazing to be here again. We have been easily fatigued on our first day. The altitude has made us very tired, and the heat has zapped our energy too. We've had to push the kids to stay up so that we can get used to the time difference, but we are blessed to be staying with Margaret who is helping us to settle in.

Over the next few days we will be meeting up with friends and going back to the church we attended while we lived here, which we know will be an incredible time, and very emotional. Our Spanish is kicking back in again, and we are preparing for the beginning of our work with MEFI next week.

Zara took this picture, which in itself is so telling. It is a different world. Tabitha, Oscar and Zara saw their first humming bird, tasted different crisps and have even begun to speak in Spanish with people they meet with their simple words and phrases. We will re-experience Mexico this time with their help.

God bless you all, and I'll report in again on Sunday.

Packing....check!

Some things to keep the kids busy on the journey, some clothes, and some presents...

We're almost ready. We are looking forward to seeing some people who have meant so much to us, who we have prayed for, and who have been faithfully serving the Mexican people for years. We fly to Toronto, and then on to Mexico City, it will take 24 hours for us to get there with the stop over in Canada.

Pray that we get there safety and that our baggage arrives safely too. (We don't take that for granted.) Looking forward to updating you from the other side of the pond.

Prayer for MEFI

Apologies for not writing anything in a couple of weeks, just safe to say that we have been busy in our amazing village with a Gala, and a visit from Carol's parents and writing a dissertation (which is nearly finished its first draft). Glad to say that my supervisor is confident with my direction, and so it's looking like corrections in July and beginning of August, then printing to hand in for the end of August.

We have just heard that the director of MEFI is going in for surgery just before we arrive, so she will be out of action until the middle of July, but we will still be able to be part of the ministry through our amazing friends Alex and Pati, who were the first people who showed interest in the ministry all the way back in 2004. Please pray for Carmen, the director of MEFI, that she will recover quickly, and the team as they pull together without her around.

There is much to do this week, packing, cleaning, getting ready for our Sunday School prize and family service this Sunday, and making sure we have injections finished, church rotas completed until we get back, and making sure we have everything we need to get on those flights.

Thank-you so much for following our travels, and I'll be posting again before we go. God bless you.