missionaryMAC

Monday through Wednesday Chris and I spent our mornings "helping" with the first ever VBS at Sin Paredes. We got volunteered for the job, and were basically needed to make copies of CDs for music, transport food across the border for lunch, and photocopy coloring sheets. I am officially OUT of recycled paper from that last one. The plan was to do 3 days, ending on a Wednesday with the regularly scheduled Mesa de Reyes programming. This week was our only open one before school starts again over there! Basically it consisted of an extended version of what takes place every week, with a few special treats thrown in. The kids divided into 3 groups by age for a very brief Bible lesson/prayer (sometimes), a coloring sheet/craft or practicing choreographed motions to a song (for the oldest group), and then lunch all together. Attendance was 60ish on Monday, 80ish on Tuesday, and 100ish on Wednesday. I feel like it could have been more structured and exciting if I/we had felt more o

People ask me all the time what I'm doing when I leave the mission. It's a logical question, seeing as though I am right at the 5 months left mark. The answer is I have no idea, and it's time to get serious. First of all, I AM planning to move on, after the Mayer Lutheran High School group leaves on 1/1/12. It's obvious to me for lots of reasons that my calling here is up. When I decided to extend my original 1 1/2 yrs. to 3 yrs., that was right for me at the time and I don't regret it for a second, but I have no intention of doing so again. No one here wants me to go, but they are starting to envision a reality without Erin. It's time to admit to myself and everyone else that Lutheran Bible Translators didn't work out like I was hoping it would, leaving me at a crossroads. For a long time I was positive that my next step was LBT, so I never really thought about other options. Certain people are saying "I told you so" now, but I just have to move o

***Check out this blog about my adventures with the group from University Lutheran Church in West Lafayette, IN. New pics have been added! MORE St. Louisans were in El Paso this week! The day that my church's group left, a group from King of Kings Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, MO, drove in. Of course I asked them all where they went to high school at orientation, since that's what St. Louisans do! It was awesome having people from my hometown here. We had so much common ground: the Cardinals, the zoo, the Muny, Ted Drewes, toasted ravioli. I had lots of other weird connections to the group members too, like I went to grade school with one girl's sister, I went to high school with the leader's brothers, and I worked at the ECC with the leader's wife. It's a small world, and the LCMS one is even smaller! I mentioned that the group drove down and thus had their own vehicles, and they also cooked for themselves. Consequently, at the beginning of the

I have known for the past 8 years (since my first trip here in 2003 at the age of 16) that July 9, 2011, would come. I knew that the calendar would eventually roll around to that date, but I also knew that there would come a day when I would be the Servant Event Coordinator for a group from my home church, St. Paul's Lutheran in Des Peres, MO. It finally arrived last Saturday, and I was unbelievably excited! The fact that the group included my entire family only added to my anticipation. Right before we left for the airport, Genaro told me he could see it in my eyes. Happiness was combined with 2 other overwhelming emotions/thoughts though: 1) Filling the role I have dreamed of was one of the reasons I signed on here for a 2nd 18 months, and it kind of feels like the climax of my service, like I can officially leave now that I've done my duty. 2)The week was a meaningful one because the Hefele family was along on the trip. I grew to know Amie and her late husband Jeff extremel