Reflections

I've had over a week now to think about the mission to Mazatlan, and in the mean time I have attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Washington, D.C. What a contrast! Within two weeks I helped build a new home for a Mexican family in the poorest community I have ever visited, and I also walked the streets of the capital of the United States, the last remaining super power and the home of much of the world's wealth.



The poverty of Mexico and all of the world's developing nations is striking against the grandeur of our capital's mammoth governmental buildings, monuments, memorials, and museums. No doubt, we live in a blessed land. We enjoy freedom and relative peace and safety. Even our poor live in better conditions than many people in the developing nations*, and most of us live in posh luxury compared to the conditions in the colonia where we built the house in Mazatlan.



The words of Jesus keep ringing in my ear . . . "Much is required from those to whom much is given, for their responsibility is greater" (Luke 12:48 TLB). We, in America, have been given much, and I believe much is required of us. We can't just continue to horde and consume the world's resources while a huge proportion of the world's population is living in abject poverty, hunger, and danger. We have to do much more than we are doing to meet the needs of all God's children, and it seems to me that we have to start somewhere and we have to start now. One person, one church, or one organization probably will not be able to eradicate poverty, but each of us can and should do our parts.



The mission to Mazatlan was a start for me and for the members of our team, but we must continue. I hope to do these types of trips frequently and in so doing make a tangible and lasting difference, but we could build houses one at a time until Jesus returns and never meet all of the needs. It will take all of God's people becoming concerned enough about the needs of the world to band together and lobby our governments for justice and fairness in foreign policy and foreign aid. It will take global cooperation between churches, denominations, organizations, corporations, and governments.




There is much work to be done, but I am convinced that this is part of the work that Jesus left in his followers care (continuing his mission from Luke 4:18). Much has been given to us, and much is required of us. Surely our Creator weeps over the conditions in which the majority of the world's population lives. The same Creator God supplied the world with everything needed for an adequate existence, the problem** is that we, in the developed nations, have taken more than our share. The time has come for us to create a more equitable world.




*I am not trying to minimize the poverty we have in the U.S., but I am saying that there are whole populations around the world who are living in abject poverty, conditions by which most Americans would be horrified. We also have a growing poverty problem in the U.S. As I was in Washington this week, I was reminded that our cities are crowded with people who live on the streets and people who struggle to make ends meet by pan handling. The evidence was on every city block, and at night the public benches were filled with the homeless. We also have very inadequate housing and miserable poverty in places like Perry County, Alabama, The Rio Grande valley of Texas, the coal mining areas of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and the Native American Indian Reservations of the West. Surely our God is grieved by poverty everywhere.




**The problem, I know, is more complex than this. Governmental and corporate corruption and poverty mentality have big roles in keeping people of the developing nations in poverty. It's hard to argue with the facts, though. The developed nations comprise less than twenty percent of the earth's population but consume eighty percent of the resources (For sources just Google this sentence. You will find multiple hits).

Getting Back to the States

We started back to the States on Saturday, June 23.

We had a hard time getting back to the States just like we had a hard time getting to Mexico. We arrived in Houston with what we thought was plenty of time to get to our next flight. Most of us got through immigration control with no problem although the lines were long. But when we gathered ourselves past the lines one of us was missing.

Brandi is a Canadian citizen, and something about her documentation had caused the officials to detain her for questioning. After we waited for a while, Chase decided to wait on her and send the rest of us on to customs.

Before proceeding to customs we had to retrieve our checked luggage.

At customs again, the lines were long. We split into several smaller groups, and the lines were not moving at the same pace. So we got split up.

Beyond customs we had to check our bags again, but there was no one there to take the bags. We were forced to leave our bags in long rows of unattended baggage (so much for security).

So then we thought we were on our way, but we were missing two of us, Jim and Catherine. They had been delayed in customs because they had forgotten that they had a few pieces of fruit in their carry-on baggage.

After retrieving Jim and Catherine we got to wait in another very long line to go through security again. This time I got the special treatment. I had a ton of stuff to take out of my pockets, a laptop computer to take out, shoes to take off, etc., and the person behind me was impatient. He shoved the security containers down the conveyor, and my stuff when flying all over the floor--change was going everywhere, my phone hit the floor and flew into pieces. I was less than thrilled. After I got most of my belongings retrieved from the floor, I proceeded to the metal detector--beep-beep! The gentleman asked me to check my pockets again. Then beep--beep! This time the gentleman led me to the plexiglass room beyond the metal detectors where I had the privilege of waiting for what seemed an eternity. Finally, a supervisor came to see what was happening with the trouble maker. Of course, by that time I was realizing that my watch was still on my arm and my belt (with a metal buckle) was still on my waste. The rest of the group was laughing at me but they were also realizing that we were close to missing our flight. I motioned them on knowing that I could take care of myself.

The security supervisor also found that I had a wrapper in my pocket that was foil lined. According to him, that was the main problem. Since I was already getting special attention, he searched my carryon bags by hand and found a bottle of picante sauce I had purchased at the airport in Mazatlan. I had to throw it out.

After being released from security, I realized that I had only a matter of minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave the gate, and I was across the airport from the concourse and gate that I needed. I ran to the bus, rode to the proper concourse, and took off running again to my gate. When I strolled onto the plane, the rest of the group applauded me with laughter, and only a few minutes later the door of the air plane was closed.

About this time we got a call from Chase saying that Brandi was still with the immigration officials, and they would not be able to make the flight.

To make a long story short, all of us but Brandi and Chase made it back to Knoxville on Saturday the 23rd but without our luggage. Brandi and Chase made it back to Knoxville the next day along with our luggage (notice the empty luggage compartment in the picture above).

Flying in this post-911 world sure isn't what it used to be . . .

Our last evening

Sunsets are awesome in Mazatlan.

These views are from the boardwalk along the beach.
A statue and fountain along the boardwalk.

The Shrimp Bucket

Just bring on the food.

This fellow played and sang for us, but our tip angered him. Evidently the going price is thirty pesos per song, and we paid him something like thirty pesos for two songs. He insisted that we correct the problem, and we did.

This food was awesome. This shrimp boat was a feast for two.

We had a wonderful ending to our week of hard work. The dedication celebration was this afternoon, and this evening we took a long stroll along the boardwalk and ate at a wonderful seafood restaurant called "The Shrimp Bucket". It was pretty close to the best seafood any of us have ever had.

The Celebration

Left to right: Javier, Isaura, Brian, Edgar

We communicated through Edgar that we came build this new house in the name of Jesus.

The community looked on.
Isaura unlocks her front door for the first time.
The local pastor leads in a prayer for the new home.

Matt with Isaura and Javier
Brandi and Chase at the new kitchen table.
The new stove.
New beds and linens We gave out match box cars by the dozens to the neighborhood kids. They told us that they had never had a toy car before.

Isaura and Javier
This is the image that will stick with all of us.

The whole community showed up for the dedication celebration at 3:30 pm today.

We were really glad to also provide a new table and chairs, stove, two beds and bed linens.

The last day of work

Catherine gets into her painting.
Cement board siding creates great clouds of dust.
The neighbor girl taunted her turkey by shaking her toosh in front of it. This was followed by a peck and a clawing.
Dave likes a clean working environment.

Jim finishes the door frame.

Catherine and Jessica . . .
keep the neighborhood kids occupied.

We finished today. It took longer than we had planned, but we finished and the house looked good. What an awesome week.

Matt loses his mind in the heat

For some strange reason, Matt allowed Catherine to braid his hair. I think the heat is getting to him.

Tacos and Quesadillas

This evening after we got our showers we headed out for local tacos and quesadillas. The food was awesome. The taste was so much more alive than the "authentic" Mexican food we find at home.

And by the way, this was Catherine's 16th birthday. We did a little bit of celebrating for her.

Day Three . . . the finish is close

Today the heat really got to all of us. We needed a siesta but there was no time for one. We put in a twelve hour day and finished the siding, the electrical, and nearly finished hanging and taping the drywall. Tomorrow we have to finish the drywall, paint, install exterior trim.

Pastor Dave looks pretty worn out in the picture above. Everybody felt just like he looked. We put in a very hard day's work.