This year's Living Hope missions trip to Ensenada, Mexico left bright and early Friday morning at 8am 6/22/07. Our 33 member team meet at the McDonald's at Lyons Ave and I-5 in Santa Clarita to caravan south. The group crossed over the border around lunchtime and arrived at Maranatha Baptist Church before 3pm. The Griesemer car only got separated from the group two times :-)
We had a hard day of work on the first day. We tackled replacing a broken water heater, re-roofed 1/3 of the church, replaced windows, and mastered painting, painting, painting the exterior of the church.
After a fruitful first day, the second day held even more backbreaking excitement. The roofing crew completed their job of re-roofing the half of the church sanctuary that had many large leaks in record time. The new custom-made windows were installed and the painting of all the exterior walls and brick walls was finished (as well as much of the sidewalk which created a need for what we called the "ground crew" who wielded the tools of paint thinner and wire brush). The hot water heater was in place and working by Sunday. This provided hot water to the parsonage shower, the church kitchen and the baptistery. The Pastor's wife Mercedes said that they were the only church in town with a heated baptistery. Maybe they will get some more converts now ;-) By 2:00 pm everybody under the age of 30 had depleted their energy supply and were "supervising" from a shaded bench eating ice cream. The night concluded with a practice session for the Sunday morning special music selection from the "LHEF choir" which turned into a delightful time of worship.
On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a time of worship with the members of Iglesia Baptista Maranatha. For the church service, Ricardo (our translator) and Greg preached the Sunday messages, Melanie and James Grunwald played three hymns on the piano, and the "LHEF choir" wowed the audience with two worship songs led by Ben Coussens on guitar. After church the very hospitable hermanas y hermonos prepared carne asade tacos with homemade salsa and guacamole. Yum, yum!
By Monday, just a handful of team members were still in Ensenada. We all made our way across the border and safely arrived home. The return trips ranged in travel time from a gruling 11 hours (Ben Coussens and crew) to the speedy 6 hours (the Grunwalds) which even included an intense run-in with the Tijiuana Federales. Yikes!
It was yet another exciting and profitable trip to Iglesia Baptista Maranatha in Ensenada, Mexico and plans for next year are already underway.
Make a run for the border!
VISIT OUR SECURE SITE
The Good News of Salvation by Faith in Jesus
In our day the human condition sometimes seems hopeless. This is not without reason. Because of our wrong and sinful choices, we have shattered our relationships with each other. Lies, sexual immorality, violence, gossip and the list goes on. Sin hurts, offends and builds walls between people. In a similar but larger way, our sins offend God and separate us from Him. Because God is the perfect Judge, “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18). ” The seeming hopelessness lies in the fact that we are all guilty of sin, we will all be righteously judged by God and should therefore be rightly sentenced to eternal death, “for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). ”
That is not God’s desire. God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).” Because of His love for us, God provided one way for us to be forgiven for offending Him. Jesus Christ is that one Way. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” This is our Living Hope. Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, came down to earth and lived a perfect life without any sin. Since death is the punishment for sin, Jesus did not have to die, yet He chose to die. He chose to take the death sentence that we deserved for breaking God’s Law. They spat on Him, beat Him and nailed His body to a cross. He suffered and died… in our place. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead proving that our death sentence had been completely paid and that He had defeated death. Because of Jesus, we can be forgiven of our sins. We have Hope.
In order to be forgiven of our sin we must do as Jesus said in Mark 1:15. He said, “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News!” God demands that we repent. This means turning away from sin and instead strive to know and please God. We can know God by reading His Word, the Bible, and we please God by obeying it. Secondly, God demands that we understand and believe the “Good News” that there is hope of being at peace with God because of Jesus’ death in our place. This is our Living Hope: Jesus paid for our sins with His life. Therefore, we can repent and turn to Him for forgiveness. We can have freedom from the control of sin in this life and freedom from the consequences of sin when we die. It is available only through faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
That is not God’s desire. God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).” Because of His love for us, God provided one way for us to be forgiven for offending Him. Jesus Christ is that one Way. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” This is our Living Hope. Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, came down to earth and lived a perfect life without any sin. Since death is the punishment for sin, Jesus did not have to die, yet He chose to die. He chose to take the death sentence that we deserved for breaking God’s Law. They spat on Him, beat Him and nailed His body to a cross. He suffered and died… in our place. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead proving that our death sentence had been completely paid and that He had defeated death. Because of Jesus, we can be forgiven of our sins. We have Hope.
In order to be forgiven of our sin we must do as Jesus said in Mark 1:15. He said, “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News!” God demands that we repent. This means turning away from sin and instead strive to know and please God. We can know God by reading His Word, the Bible, and we please God by obeying it. Secondly, God demands that we understand and believe the “Good News” that there is hope of being at peace with God because of Jesus’ death in our place. This is our Living Hope: Jesus paid for our sins with His life. Therefore, we can repent and turn to Him for forgiveness. We can have freedom from the control of sin in this life and freedom from the consequences of sin when we die. It is available only through faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Living Hopes Mexico Missions Trip 07
