A Regular Day at the Mission...

Wednesday

When a "regular day" includes working in a place like
 the Prayer Garden pictured here, life is probably pretty good.
 

"...and one of you girls will have to go to the main kitchen," said the jobs coordinator after Sala Wednesday morning. Thus I came to be standing over large cutting boards alongside two other team members, scalping strawberries and dicing roma tomatoes. I found it to be pleasant enough work, especially because of the smell of bread dough being made nearby. When we all sat down to lunch, I decided that it would be una buena idea to try chomping on a slice of Jalapeño pepper. It wasn't bad, but if I had thought to wait until the end of lunch to eat it, then maybe I actually would have been able to taste my meal.

 
In the afternoon we took advantage of a job offer to clean the gift shop. This was especially great because it gave us the chance to combine mission work with souvenier shopping. The rest of the afternoon passed in the prayer garden as we pruned and deadheaded plants in this oasis set apart as a place to seek God. I always knew those hours working at a summer job in a greenhouse would be good for SOMETHING on the mission field...

A sign above the wall in the Bible School classroom

 To cap off an already full day, the whole team headed over to the Bible School for a dinner that the students put on as a fundraiser for their missions trip to Oaxaca. The school runs an intensive two-year training program designed to equip young (and older) Christians to be missionaries in their own (usually unreached) regions. Because of sponsorship for the students, tuition is free.

One muy delicioso chicken dinner later--the best part of which had to have been the all-you-can-eat nachos--everyone crossed the parking lot over to the church for the Wednesday night service. Do you know how much fun it is to sing worship songs like "10,000 Reasons" and "Blessed Be Your Name" en Español?