15 Jul 07 News From Mexico VII

The group from Stockton arrived safely last night.  They endured a church experience like no other.  We had the usual service and the fellowship meal.  In lieu of Sunday Night (yes, a liberal church!) they join back together for a brief devotional.  The visiting brother from the interior of Mexico who aspires to be a preacher was given the floor and someone must have forgotten to mention "brief devotional."  Forty-five minutes later he had done some things with Luke 18 that I had never seen (or heard) done before.  And I don’t mention this as a positive thing.  I’m not judging his intent or his heart but the task of teaching / preaching is a precious one and not everyone is equal to the task. 

To follow this up he began to teach the church a new song.  At the end of this thirty minute session he decided to have the women sit on one side of the church and the men to sit on the other side.  This, he said, would allow for better focus on the individual parts.  Our hostess looked at me in this split second and said "vamonos."  We scooped up the children and gringos and headed for the hills! 

The thing is, the people here are so gracious they would let this man just go on and on.  The problem is they had quite a few visitors today and our host lamented to me afterwards that they (the visitors) would probably not return.  We talked about the importance of discernment in who is allowed to speak publicly and about the need to know someone first before they are allowed the floor to speak and thus "represent" the local church.  At the very least it was a very teachable moment.

The group spent the afternoon shopping whilst myself and the boys and the host family and the young men from the church gathered at Casa Camacho to watch Mexico fall to Argentina in the U-20 FIFA World Cup.  There is great mourning right now in Mexico.  At least they did not loose to the USA.  We would have needed to return early.

Following the shopping trip the crew met for dinner at a local taco establishment.  They seemed to enjoy the local cuisine and are thus preparing for future forays into the taco terrain. 

Tomorrow we begin building the second floor.  The crew is anxious to start swinging hammers.