My Town

Chris and I like to call Sparks "My Town," like the song by Montgomery Gentry since we have worked on so many houses there and befriended so many of the people. But I guess the original "My Town" would be Kirkwood (St. Louis), MO, where I grew up, although Chris liked to point it out everytime I didn't know where or what something was, which was a lot. That's why God invented Mapquest ;) I think I managed to be an OK tour guide though, especially since there a TON of free things to do there. Here is a sampling about our adventures:

Our first full day in St. Louis started off with toasted ravioli on The Hill, St. Louis's Italian neighborhood. It hit me when I was captioning my pictures that this picture is of a Hill on the Hill! Later on we toured the Anheuser Busch brewery, then after dinner we went to Ted Drewes for the BEST frozen custard.

AB had all their Christmas decorations up and it was so pretty!

Me and my friend Erica, who drove up from Springfield to spend the day with us, in front of an old-time delivery wagon.

Sunday afternoon, which was GORGEOUS, we went to the Arch with another of my friends, Katherine.

I hadn't been there since probably a Girl Scout trip in about 4th grade, but it's actually pretty photogenic.

Views from the top...

Busch Stadium!

We walked down by the river after we came back down and walked around the Museum of Westward Expansion. It was pretty high b/c St. Louis got more rain in the month of October than El Paso gets in a year.

Me in front of the Old Courthouse. The most famous trial held there was that of escaped slave Dred Scott.

I am seriously going to get one of these and wear it while I'm doing construction...it has a brim to block the sun plus it would stay on my head if it were windy or I had to bend over for some reason.

I love this angle...even though Katherine had to lay on the ground to get it!

We went to the zoo the morning before the conference started since we had a few hours to kill and I have seriously never seen the chimpanzees as active as they were then.

I tried this picture like 5 times until I finally got him to look at me.

If you look really hard you can see the Arch from these railroad tracks that go through Kirkwood not very far from my house. We drove over them a bunch so we finally had to pull over and take a picture.

The night before we left, my whole fam plus Chris and I went to Citygarden, which is a new addition to downtown STL...basically the city just barracaded off a couple of blocks and installed all these sculptures, which are then lit up at night. They are working with the Missouri Botanical Gardens to landscape it too. I thought it was very cool and would totally go back again.

Me and Pinocchio.

Me and my mama.

Chris and I are the eyes...creepy!

But they make for a cool looking view of the Arch and Old Courthouse!

Until next time, blessings!

Kitty!

My early birthday/Christmas present from Chris...Freddy (that is the name he came with and I think I'm going to keep it unless anyone else has a brilliant suggestion)!

Last night he slept in my bed with me all curled up next to my leg...until I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, then he ran and hid! He's kind of skittish but if I pick him up and pet him he will start purring and stay wherever I put him. It's like he forgets who I am and then he remembers!

Hi kitty!

He's about 3 1/2 months old and he has a sister named Snowball. I felt bad for separating them but the lady said that Snowball is getting adopted like today or tomorrow.

What's in the recycling box?

Scoping out his new territory.

I'm thinking this is going to become Freddy's chair.

Until next time, blessings!

Greater Things

Chris and I left the morning after the Watoto concert (Friday, November 6)--before the choir did actually--for St. Louis. The actual reason for our visit was to attend the LCMS Servant Event Leadership Conference, but since LCMS was paying, we arrived a few days early and stayed a few days late. This gave us the chance to see my family and friends and do some sightseeing around my hometown (more on that later), but also to squeeze in some PR for the mission. Our first opportunity came on Sunday, when Chris and I were featured as a "Ministry Minute" at my home church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Des Peres, MO: we got to address the congregation during the 3-4 minutes it took to collect the offering. The meat of the message, which I wrote and delivered, revolved around the song, "God of This City." I only quoted the chorus due to time, but here are the full lyrics:

You're God of this city, you're the King of these people, you're the Lord of this nation, you are...

You're the Light in this darkness, you're the Hope to the hopeless, you're the Peace to the restless, you are...

For there is none like our God, there is none like You, God!

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city!
Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done here.

You're the Lord of creation, The creator of all things you're the King above all kings, you are...

You're the Strength in the weakness, You are love to the broken, You're the Joy in the sadness, you are...

For there is none like our God, there is none like you, God!

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city!
Where glory shines from hearts alive with praise for You and love for You in this city.

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city!
Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done here.

For there is none like our God, there is none like you, God!

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city!
Where glory shines from hearts alive with praise for You and love for You in this city.

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city!
Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done here.

It came on the radio in Chris's truck one day and for some reason, I wanted to replace "this city" with "Juarez." If you think about it, it REALLY fits. So after reading off a whole list of several projects I have been a part of since I got here in January--and reminding everyone that Chris could give them a list at least that long of his own--I related the chorus of the song ("Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city! Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done here.") to John 14:12: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

Here was my list:
--painting the exterior of San Lucas's new sanctuary, as well as Panchis, the congregational president's, house
--building 2 homes in one week near Pastor Hernandez's San Francisco mission site
--building a new Sunday School room at Cristo Rey
--building YLM's first ever 2nd story house for Santisima Trinidad's construction manager, Nelson
--building a house in Anapra for the daughter of a family that a St. Paul's group built for a few years back--she's now married with 2 kids of her own
--running the first ever VBS at the Community Center in the Sparks Colonia
--interpreting for 2 eyeglass clinics, one of which took place in Chihuahua City, and one medical clinic
--renovating the trailer of a family in Sparks that Chris and I have since "adopted"

Think about all those great things YLM has done, even just in the relatively short time that I have been a part of the organization, and then think about our capacity to do even GREATER things. I know for a fact that there ARE greater things to be done in Juarez. I am continually asked by people from my church, servant event leaders, etc. about the situation there, and my reponse is this. Yes, people are being shot every day. Yes, everything that's happened in the past year is beginning to wear people down. Yes, it is a city that is consumed by evil. But I see 2 million people who need the light of Christ in their lives NOW more than ever. God is calling us to not back down, but to do just the opposite...shine brighter than we ever have. While it is wrong to test God, we also have to trust that, as workers in His harvest field, He is going to protect us. After all, He's the "God of This City" (and the God of everything else!). God hasn't left Juarez; He has been there for every second of the devastation, and, as we continue to pray for peace and resolution, we know He always will be there, doing greater things that we can only imagine through the servants He has placed here on the border, aka US.

I really only said the first sentence of that during our talk at church, but I guess that's the thought that was really behind it since that's what I wrote!. As I keep having to explain my opinions on the safety of Juarez, I have just become more and more convicted of the fact that I want to be over there as much as possible. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Then of course I closed by encouraging everyone to talk to Chris and I about supporting our ministry :)

Until next time, blessings!

Uganda meets Mexico!

It's been a whirlwind past 2 weeks...I can't believe we're halfway through November already. Watch for several entries this week to fill you in on everything that's happened both around the mission, and on Chris's and my trip to St. Louis for the LCMS Servant Event Leadership Conference.

Our Reformation luncheon and joint worship service took place on October 31, then 3 days later, YLM hosted it's first ever golf tournament at Vista Hills Country Club. It went well overall; everyone from here kind of has the attitude of, "Not too shabby for our first go at it, but now we have 365 days to learn from our mistakes and make next year's even better." Three days after that, San Pablo received a visit from the Watoto Children's Choir, which is what I want to share more about below. I got an e-mail from the director in late October asking if they could perform here, maybe 2 weeks before they wanted to come. Not having a clue what it was (although now that I think about it, I think they might have come to Drury while I was there...Springfield IS on their upcoming tour schedule...), I forwarded it to Krysia and Stephen, who responded with a resounding, "Ohmygoshtheyareamazingwehavetoletthemcome!!!!!!!!" OK then! Turns out they are an internationally renowned choir from a village in Uganda, made up of children who have been orphaned by war or AIDS...internationally renowed as in they have performed with Christian artist Chris Tomlin and been on Oprah.

I wound up being their go-to person, organizing all the details of their trip--the "Concert of Hope," as they're called, meals, lodging, etc for all 29 kids and adults. Their performance was at 6:30 on November 5, so they arrived in their tour bus earlier that day. I have to say, they immediately struck me as some of the most well-behaved, polite children you will ever meet. I guess they kind of have to be since they go on the road for 6 MONTHS AT A TIME! Anyways, they greeted me with a "Good afternoon, madam. How are you?" when they got off the bus and never stopped calling everyone they met "madam" and "sir." Everyone spoke English--which, I learned, is the official language of Uganda--it was just very heavily accented in most cases. They also respond to their chaperones with "Yes, Auntie/Uncle ________" whenever they are directed to do anything. The whole choir is divided into groups of 1 chaperone (whom they call "Auntie" or "Uncle") and 2-3 of the kids. I got to be "Auntie Erin" too!

The performance itself was really something special to witness. After Krysia and Stephen's initial excitement, my hopes were pretty high, and they did not disappoint. It included song, lots of energetic dances--even an audience participation one--drums, video presentations, multiple costume changes, testimonies from the kids and some of the adults, and all of them introducing themselves and saying their name, age, and what they want to be when they grow up. The set was pretty impressive too, although I guess by now they have the whole set-up process down to a science. I wound up having to interpret all the testimonies on inredibly short notice--like 10 minutes before the concert. It hadn't really occurred to me or anyone else that half the people in attendance weren't going to understand more than basic English. Speaking of which, I also had to make sure all the PR materials I used were in both languages, which included translating some pre-printed posters the director sent me. Having stuff in Spanish is something I think about everyday, but it made me wonder if they have ever encountered an oddity like that on their U.S. tour. Wow was interpreting a challenge: a) it's way harder to interpret from English into Spanish than from Spanish INTO your native language; and b) their accents were really hard to understand at times, especially since I was all nervous, and I would have to ask them to repeat themselves a lot...eventually the audience started helping me out (they also helped out when I didn't know how to say words like "accountant"!)!

You could tell the whole thing was very gimmicky at times (like showing a really sappy, tug-at-your-heartstrings video and singing a song called, "Who Will Sing My Lullaby?" right before taking the "love offering"), but the whole point of taking the kids on tour is to raise awareness and funding for their ministry, and their ministry does sound pretty exceptional. I could try and explain what they told me about how it all operates, but I'd probably butcher it so it's probably a better idea if you visit their website, www.watoto.com. Here are some pictures from the concert though. Ann took them for me since I was up front interpreting...it was hard since they were moving pretty much constantly, but she did a fantastic job!

Until next time, blessings!

Queremos Ver! Queremos Ver! A Jesus Exaltado!

We wanna see! We wanna see! We wanna see Jesus lifted high! I feel like that song was playing on Rosy's boom box ALL week as Chris and I worked with the 4th and final MOST Ministries team of the year to hold eyeglass clinics at San Lucas and Cristo Rey. It works though, huh? I also thought it was pretty fitting that the whole service on Sunday the 24th was themed around the story of Jesus healing the blind man. I didn't notice that at the San Pablo English service; I only made the connection after I heard it in Spanish. We started off the week by going to church at San Lucas on Sunday, making sure we were there early to set up. That didn't turn out to be very difficult, since Mexico's Daylight Savings Time began a week earlier than ours. That meant it was always an hour earlier there so we left when we normally do for services and got there with a little over an hour to spare. It also meant that we could sleep in a little later than normal all week since in order to start the clinics at 9:00 am and have a little bit of prep time, we didn't have to leave until around 8:30 when we were in Anapra and more like 9:00 once we moved to Cristo Rey. Apparently the rest of the world forgot about the change though, because the bridge line to get back on Sunday was crazy long, like 2ish hours. Judging by Monday morning as you'll see below, I was afraid it was going to be a theme...but I guess everyone remembered to change their clocks by later in the week!

The line to get IN to Mexico on Monday morning.

I guess she likes her new sunglasses because that is the BEST smile!

These 2 were very interested in whatever it was we were doing...they kept peeking their heads through the door. I guess they eventually worked up the courage to come inside.

Heidi at the testing table.

Debbie (the group's only RN) with Pedro as her interpreter at the nurse station.

The final station--evangelism. This was SOOOO cool! I don't really remember it being like this in Chihuahua, but maybe because it was kind of a slow week (481 people total), Javier, Rosy, and Pastor Martinez were able to sit down and have entire conversations about the Bible with almost EVERY person that came through our doors.

Monday night I drove the group up to a very cold and windy Scenic Drive...here is me with Jane, Mary Anne, and Heidi.

Arthur (one of the interpreters that Rosy found for us) attempting to figure out this guy's presciption...his eyesight was REALLY bad. It wound up being like 10 something, I don't remember if it was - or +.

Arthur was also super-excited about teaching the eye chart to the waiting crowds. It talked about the anatomy of the eye, various eye diseases and conditions, and foods and behaviors that promote good eye health.

About halfway through the week, I remembered that someone at my church had given me a box of baseball caps awhile ago, and they were still sitting by my desk. I figured this was a good use for them, especially since wearing a hat and/or sunglasses was mentioned in the eye education chart and eyeglass clinics always run out of sunglasses, so Wednesday at the clinic we handed them out and got rid of the whole box!

This guy cracked me up because he put his new one right on top of his old one.

Jose Angel, our optician friend. He saw the report about the clinic on the news (yes, we were on the news again), and came to see what he could do. We were packing up at San Lucas when he stopped by, but we told him we'd be at Cristo Rey the next 2 days, and he showed up ready to work with his tools of the trade and everything. Lois asked him if he was a Christian and he said he believes in God but isn't very serious about it, he just likes to help people.

Pastor Martinez got some new shades!

Fernando, me, and Pastor Martinez. I'm wearing Don's jacked because it was freezing that day! Not really, but it was one of those days where it got progressively cooler, so of course I had taken my pullover off. Later on it started pouring and a cold front blew through, which deterred a lot of people from coming. We saw something like 124 people on Wednesday, 96 of which were before lunch.

Lois is a movie star :)

While at Cristo Rey, we had the opportunity to witness first-hand something I had only heard about at a recent staff meeting: Cristo Rey's efforts to generate some revenue for the church by opening a little thrift store and charging for a hot meal every day at lunchtime.

The group happily helped support the endeavor by having gorditas on Wednesday and chile rellenos on Thursday instead of ham and cheese or PB & J!

Until next time, blessings!

Joys and Struggles of Being a Witness

This was e-mailed to me last week and it was TOO cute not to share. I guess that got my name from the LCMS website or something, but anyhow, it made my day! This is what I wrote back to them:

Dear Mason, Alex, Dylan, and Kasey,

Thank you for the letter--it made me smile! I'm glad you are praying for me, and I will pray for you and your class too.

I like being a witness because you have to learn to trust God, and that's something that's hard for me to do sometimes so it's good that I have lots of practice. My favorite part is making other people smile by giving them things like some toothpaste, or a blanket, or a toy from a Happy Meal, and then telling them about Jesus. Last week we gave almost 500 people new pairs of glasses and then some pastors that I work with helped share with them about the Bible. The biggest struggle of being a witness is that a lot of times I have to work in a place where it can be kind of dangerous. I have to be careful and help make sure that everyone I'm with is too, but most of all I have to trust that God will protect me. I don't know that I've been insulted exactly, but a lot of people have questioned why I do what I do since it can be dangerous sometimes and I could have gotten a job where I would make lots of money instead. My favorite city I've been to in Texas is El Paso, because it's the only city I've been to in Texas (unless you count stopping at a gas station)! I would like to visit Houston though, because 2 of my friends from high school live there now!

I hope you are having a wonderful week at school!

Blessings,
Erin Mackenzie

P.S. If you have a computer at your house or at school and you want to see some pictures of me and what I do, you can look at www.missionaryMAC.blogspot.com.

Halloween

This popped up on Google when I was actually searching for something else...the title of the post is the title of the poem:

On the eve of All Saints Day,
Jack-O-lanterns light the way.
God's children need no longer fear
the ghosts and goblins gathered here.
For evil ghouls with icy breath
must bow to Him who conquered death.

Until next time, blessings!

TWO years in ONE place

After 6 months of living in the dorms, I finally have a space to call my own for the next TWO YEARS! That's right, I don't have to pack up my stuff until, God-willing, I move to Dallas in January 2012 to start my training with LBT! After moving to and from Springfield, MO, for school a bunch of times, to Granada, Spain, for a semester and back, and then THREE TIMES since I've been at the mission, I'm a little excited about that!!!

The outside of my apartment...it's a duplex and Pastor Astorga lives in the other half.

Genaro and Damian installed my stove and they told me that the next time I bake cookies I have to give them some!

Until next time, blessings!