Buenos dias de Mexico (Good morning from Mexico)

After a wonderful sendoff on Tuesday morning at the Greensboro airport, we arrived safely in Mexico on Tuesday night after approximately 15 total hours of travel time. Everyone is doing well, and our luggage made it safely. We all slept reasonably well last night, except for some neighbors of our hotel shooting off fireworks at 6:00 a.m. this morning, combined with some hotel guests who also decided to play loud music very early in the morning. Some of our team members are having trouble adjusting to the 1-hour time change, and therefore woke up some of the other team members earlier than expected.

We are writing this from the home of our missionary friend, Alex, which is located in Tlaxiaco, in the state of Oaxaca. We plan to spend today hanging out with Alex and some of his missionary staff, as well as getting trained and briefed on our mission project, which begins tomorrow.

We leave bright and early on Wednesday morning for the Mixteco village of Santiago Amoltepec, approximately a 6 to 7 hour car ride from Tlaxiaco. We will be doing construction and helping with a project at a community center in the village. We are excited that there are Christian believers in this particular village, and we will also be lodging with some of them, and hope to encourage them throughout our stay there.

We will leave Santiago Amoltepec very early on Sunday morning, and return to Tlaxiaco, where we will pick up our luggage, and spend some more time with Alex and his staff. Later in the day, we will take a 3-hour van ride back to Oaxaca. We will spend Sunday night at a hotel in Oaxaca, and leave for the airport early Monday morning.

Please remember that our expected arrival time is approximately 7:45 p.m. on Monday at the Greensboro airport.

Thank you for your prayers and support, we look forward to sharing our adventures with you when we return.

The final countdown!

Here it is, just about 8 hours or so before we depart for the Barnabas Project / Mexico Singles Mission trip. Hopefully, all 4 of us are packed, and will get a decent (but short) night's sleep.

If you read this before then, I want to encourage and remind everyone to please meet at the Greensboro airport tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 27), at 6:30 a.m., near the US Airways ticket counter for a time of prayer. Lynn Everswick, Westover's Pastor of Global Missions, will be leading a group of folks in prayer for our team.

Also, we would love for folks to greet us at the Greensboro airport upon our scheduled return, on Wednesday, August 2. We are scheduled to arrive at PTI airport at 7:44 p.m. on US Airways flight 7154, operated by United Airlines, from Washington D.C.'s Dulles Airport.

In case you've forgotten, or you were not aware, I just want to reiterate the purpose of our trip.

In southern Mexico lies the greatest concentration of unreached people groups in the Western Hemisphere. These people have never heard the name of Jesus Christ before. Recently, God has opened up a very unique opportunity for Westover Church to be involved in partnering with national missionaries working to plant churches among the unreached Mixteco people of Mexico. We are calling this, The Barnabas Project.

We will be traveling down to this remote area to establish relationships with Mixteco village leaders. Each village has its own rules for allowing visitors in . The overall purpose of this trip is to gain access to Mixteco village, begin relationships with local leaders and determine what specific needs we can meet on future trips. Because of the difficulty of working among the Mixtecos, we'll also spend a lot of time in training with the local missionaries in order to prepare for leading future teams. We are also hoping to work with the children in the village. the Barnabas project is still in its beginning stages, which causes us to have to be more flexible than normal.

I want to share with you a verse that was read during both services at Westover this past Sunday:

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body,
(2 Corinthians 4:6-10, NKJV).

The next blog update will possibly be on Wednesday from Thaliaxco, the village where we will be staying with one of the missionaries.

Additional prayer reqeusts for Mexico singles team

Here are some additional prayer requests, as they appear in the July 2010 edition of the Westover Intercessor newsletter. Please keep these items in prayer for our team, as we now have six days until our departure.

Please pray:

• That the people we come in contact with, whether in the airport, on a bus, in Mexico, and especially the Mixteco people would see something (Jesus) in us and therefore be drawn to the saving knowledge of Christ.
• That the difference that they see in us would open doors for conversations.
• For us individually and as a team, for the ability to remain "flexible" as we prepare, and while on the trip.
• For our Spanish interpreter, Jason Gaertner, that God would help him to remember proper Spanish words and phrases as he translates for the group.

The purpose of the trip is to partner with local missionaries in reaching out to, and meeting specific needs of, the unreached Mixteco people. Not only will we be making friendships with Mixtecos, our presence among the people will do great things for the local missionaries' relationships with Mixteco village leaders and will provide better opportunities for sharing the gospel and bringing truth into the villages.

Flight Itenarary for Mexico Barnabas Project

Here is the departing and returning flight information for the Mexico Barnabas project mission team:

DEPART:
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 7:20 A.M. from Greensboro / Piedmont Triad International Airport on US Airways flight 3183, to Charlotte - Douglas International Airport, where we catch our connecting flight to Mexico City.

ARRIVE:
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 7:44 p.m. on US Airways flight 7154 from Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport.

We would love for folks to come see us off on the 27th, and be there to greet us when we return on August 2, so please consider meeting and greeting us on those dates! :)

Prayer requests for Mexcio Barnabas Project team

Prayer requests for Barnabas team, leaving for Mexico July 27, 2010, scheduled to return on August 2, 2010. Please keep these items in prayer as we have hit the "home stretch." Only 10 days until we depart!

• Donya- God to give guidance as she prepares the devotionals for our trip. Disciplined in Bible study, balancing friends and showing Christ.

• Melanie. - That she would draw closer to God.

• Jason G. - For his knowledge in translating on the trip and for opportunities to practice his Spanish in preparation for the trip.

• Jason A. – to get over sickness that he has been dealing with for a week.

In general, please also pray for the entire team:

1. That we will be stress-free as we make final preparations such as packing, etc.
2. Of course, also, that the Lord would give us traveling mercies.
3. For language and cultural barriers to be broken.
4. That God will keep us from sickness, injury, etc.
5. Please also pray for flexibility, as their are a lot of unknowns heading into this trip.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,^a]"> for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek," (Romans 1:16, NJKV).

<<Porque no me averguenzo del evangelio, pues es el poder de Dios para la salvación de todo el que cree; del judío primeramente y también del griego,>> (Romanos 1:16, La Biblia de las Américas).

J Crew - Team Barnabas - July

Jason Gaertner, Donya Hafshejani, Melanie Greeson, Jason Arthurs