Jim’s 2nd Day – Mexico

 Buenos dias amigos. Yo soy muy cansado. That means I am beat. We had a great day today and I am meeting many new folks. There are 19 people on this trip and we are really having a great time laughing and joking around. There are both men and women on this trip and we mixed up some serious concrete with the ladies today. I like to call them “las Chicas de Concreta”.  We put concrete in a house for a family today and they were so much fun. We had two of the kids helping us today. a girl and a boy (5 and 6) it was great they were.shoveling concrete and just covered in concrete dust.  We passed out a bunch of candy to kids all day long.    Our hosts down here are a couple named Larry and Dr nancy they have a clinic and hospice for many people. There are a couple of guys in wheelchairs with CP and a little girl named Lupita also with CP.  They are truly inspiring folks and really dedicated to their clinic Casa Bugambilla. The donations that the Harts made has almost doubled the size ofthe clinic and they are hoping to have room for 20       One of my favorite parts of today was a bit of time we spent with one of the guys that we work with down here named Roberto. He lives here and works with and for Larry.   He took us to see his family and we had a fun time talking amd laughing with his kids. He has twins and little...

Jim’s Mission Trip to Mexico

Here’s Jim’s first note from the airport heading out to Mexico again.  He is texting through transitions, like crossing over the border, letting me know they’re safe and all is well.  He’s excited for another mission and excited to hear about his journey there.  I’ll be updating the blog with his posts as he emails them out.  Here’s his first note from yesterday:  I am sitting in the airport about get on a flight headed to Harlingen to join up with the group that got me hooked on this mission work. I am excited to see these guys because I have not seen most of them in a year and lots of things have happened in my life and theirs since then. I have to be honest this trip has been different in that I am finding myself truly caught up in our world and where the future will take my family and I have not had time to reflect on the trip and focus. For example, every time I have come I asked the kids to donate a toy and this time it slipped my mind.  I know it is a silly thing to be concerned with but some times I wish we were all required to take some quiet time and reflect on the lessons of life. Man pretty deep considering I am still in the airport.  Take some time over the next few days to get quiet and just listen to that voice in your head.  It is the truth inside.
 
This will be the first mission for the Custer Road church since they lost Matt Hart...

Lake Hills Mission Trip

Many of you read the posts from my mission trip to Matamoras and thank you for the kind words.  Below is a link to a video I did showing some of the great photos we took on the trip.  Hope you enjoy. Http://www.hamptonranch.com/mexico.wmv...

Mission to Mexico – Final Day

The final day. We are headed home. What a great trip and I really appreeciate you letting me share this mission with you all. Today we went back to the house we built and did a dedication and then went to a park and put on a festival. Literally we went to a park set up a few tables and no time there were 100 people walking around. At the festival we gave out hot dogs, candy, more candy, we painted faces and Played soccer and football. I stayed at the face painting booth for a long time my first painting was a flower pretty much a blue blob. Thankfully that girl came back and I was able to give her a unicorn on the other cheek; a matching white blob. After lunch I came back to the table and Z the guy I mentioed yesterday was at the painting table with like 10 kids around him just having a ball. We had a great time at the park and then back to the compound to say goodbye to the guys from the Atlanta church Thanks again for your prayers and I want to give you a glimpse of this trip and I hope I have. One final note….. This morning we spent some time together and a guy named Rob Harrel got up and told us about something he heard from an old man on a mission trip. He told him you need three types of people in your life. You need a Paul. Well versed in the bible and wise so you can lean on them for...

Mission to Mexico – Day 3

Today has been just as exceptional as the day before. Today was a bit more spiritual for many of us including me. Code for this may be one of the more deep emails you get today. :)Thank you all for taking the time to read. Today was a perfect day it was like low 80s sunny and beautiful. We visited the house again this morning and got everything finished up and painted. One of our group went on a prayer walk which is basically walking around and meeting people. I have found that I really enjoy meeting the people and learning about their families and just talking to them about my family. I just love seeing all the little kids and playing with them. In the afternoon we went to a prison. Not a dunguen like you are imagining in your head, except for those of you that actually spent time in a mexican prison I will try and explain. First I want to try and explain my feelings and what I experienced upon entering. We were driving to the prison and I kept telling myself this was going to be fine and trying to be tough. As we got out of town an enormous prison started to rise on the horizon it was like Huntsville it looked like a fortress and it really started freaking me out; then we drove past that one and one to the prison we were to visit. It had probably 50 foot walls and guys with uzis out front and four guard posts on each corner of its four walls. Probably 300 yards...