This morning we took a quick hike up to a large cross overlooking the city.  At the top we stopped and prayed for the city of Juarez.  If you have been watching the news, you know that Juarez needs God; army troops are patrolling the streets.  In at least one place, however, the smiles of the kids and the dedication of the staff have helped to make a small, peaceful oasis of God’s love.

Gale Wightman: Psalm 121:1 and 2—I look up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

I often meditate on this verse at home, but never do I have even a mound to look up to—Here, in Juarez, I really can look to the hills!

I can’t imagine spending this week any other way.   Had we been home, what would we be doing?  Going out to a restaurant, the movies, the zoo?  Physically, this week was not an easy one.  Everyday I went to bed exhausted because if we weren’t scraping, painting, working, we were with the kids.  Spiritually it was refreshing—our God time was enlightening.  I learned some great insights from the others in my group.  As an emotional experience it was everything from joy to seeing the kids laughing and playing to the solemn moments when you realize that all a child owns fits in to one or two drawers.  To one child, a hidden shard of glass was a treasure (which was confiscated).

I’ve loved meeting the people here:
Moniqua who prays with the boys each night and who had been praying that Americans would come and paint her dorm room orange.  What do you know, we did!

Betel who amazes me with all she knows and understands of this ministry, and her ready smile, and words of encouragement.

Sandra who told me she didn’t have any friends.
And the other Sandra who makes such silly faces and I thrill when I see her arm and arm with Khalia.

Beth Beckman:  Wow, what a week!  It’s hard to believe that we will be traveling home tomorrow.  We worked hard and we played hard. We go home with new friends in our hearts and continue to pray for them.  Not only have we made new friends here (both kids and adults), but we have also made new friends among our team members (from EFCN, Orchard  EFree Church and Minnesota).  Each morning we began our day with “God Time.”  Sometimes we met as a group, and other times we broke up into smaller groups, reading scripture and challenging us to draw closer to God.  Living in close quarters, working together, talking together, praying together, serving together, and spending so much time together builds relationships quickly.  I feel so blessed to have so many new friends (teens and adults), most of which were new faces when we first met as a group in preparation for this trip.  I’ll miss these times of daily fellowship and fun with our new friends, both in Juarez and close to home.

Holly: Someone asked about our worship times with Emmanuel Ministries.  Rarely have I experienced such joy and enthusiasm for the Lord.  We went to the Sunday service at noon Juarez time, 2pm our time.  All of the songs were in Spanish with the words projected on the wall so that I could fumble along in my limited Spanish.   The children danced and waved banners during the contemporary songs.  Everything else including the messages were translated for us.

By Thursday night, my Spanish was better and I could more fully participate in the singing.  In fact,  at the end of the service we were encouraged to come forward and learn the dance to one of the worship songs.  Those of us who were a little shy, found children’s hands gently leading them up front.  It was awesome to worship the Lord with our new friends.

During the prayer time the children who wanted prayer were asked to come forward and we from EFCN laid our hands on them.  As Pastor Dave offered up a prayer, my eyes teared up as I thought of the stories of Jesus telling the little children to come to him and how we should have faith like a child.  The children of Emmanuel Ministries have taught me how to love the Lord with faith like a child.

After our very successful ice cream party with the kids we went to town for our dinner out.  We also spent a few minutes contributing to the local economy

Original 777 grounded with flight mechanical, they are searching for another plane. We are in Dallas/Fort Worth, if this flight does not take off, next flight is tomorrow morning. Everyone is enjoying the extra time together.

On new plane, land ORD at about 8pm

When I was a kid, there was a TV commercial for a family board game called “Husker Du?”.  It featured a traditional family sitting around the table laughing and playing the game as the announcer explained that “Husker Du?” meant, “Do you remember?” in Danish.  It resembled a board game version of “concentration”.

After a plane change and 5 hr delay we are finally home and I’m thinking back on my experiences in Juarez.  When we arrived in the darkness the kids poured from the dormitories and immediately began carrying luggage, smiling, and inviting us to play games.  Our suburb personas, often slow and stiff when thrust into new surroundings, melted quickly and we were soon jumping rope, hugging, and laughing with the children.

It was a physical week.  We painted, nailed, crimped, sanded, splashed, drilled, sawed, and wired.  It was a touching week – we reached out to the children and hugged, played soccer, colored, squeezed, danced, giggled, and sometimes cried.  Thursday night during the youth church service we danced, laughed, and praised God together.  In each of their smiling faces we saw the reflection of God’s love and grace.  We reached out to love them, and their response dissolved our armor.

Last night Betel shared with us the stories behind some of the children we met.  I won’t go into details here, but every child at Emmanuel has a unique and heartbreaking story.  They have suffered in ways that turned my stomach and made me close my eyes and shudder.  Yet through God’s love, they smile.  They reach out to be touched once again.

This morning, like our arrival, the kids came to meet us in the darkness.  5:00am was not too early to exchange hugs and smiles once again. So, I find myself now asking, Husker Du?  Or in Spanish, “¿Recuerdas?”.  At home, I intend to put some of the pictures from the trip on our refrigerator.  But will the digital pictures and memories from this trip be enough to keep me from fashioning new armor?   Pray now both for the children of Emmanuel and that everyone on the team remembers.

Saying Goodbye