Returning to Acuna

It looks like I'll be returning to Acuna, Mexico next spring! Details to come...

More pictures from Acuna, Mexico

We said that we would post more pictures later on. Here are a few more pictures from our mission trip to Acuna, Mexico a few months ago...
A picture of one of the houses in the area.

Here's one of the camp's baseball games in process.

A beautiful Mexican sunset.

This was what it looked like when crossing the border. We are crossing from the U.S. into Mexico, and as you can see, there was no wait to get into Mexico. But on the other side, U.S. border police were sure to check each and every car.

Megan was the camp nurse. As you can see, her services were greatly needed!

There are a good number of thiefs in the area. This is one of the many guard dogs that seemed to be in front of almost every house to let residents know if there's an intruder.

Here's Megan with her host family for the week and her friend Alyson.

And finally, here's the cutest girl I think we've ever seen.

A Brief Story...

Here is a brief excerpt from my reflection paper from my time in Mexico- this is discussing our team's mercy ministry visit to a man named Jesus who lived in the city:

While these more subtle cultural nuances existed, nothing was as challenging as the language barrier. As previously mentioned, I was unexpectedly asked to be the lead translator for the mercy ministry team of Gordon Loop, John Bradshaw, Nathan Akin, Jonathan Parnell, and Randy Alston. I say surprisingly because I came to Acuna three years removed from my most recent Spanish class. Even while taking Spanish in college I never took any classes beyond the introductory level or had a real conversation in Spanish. Needless to say, I did not expect to come to do any sort of translating. I prayed that I would have as much facility with the language as possible, and truly felt God’s presence and help with being able to speak the language and recall much of what I learned in my previous years of Spanish classes.

Despite being able to speak the language much better than I expected, I still did not feel entirely comfortable with going to a church member’s house as the most capable translator. Pastor Bernardo’s two daughters, who did not speak any English, joined us to help locate the house of Jesus, the church member we were visiting. John Bradshaw and I, along with Bernardo’s daughters, went into the house to see if there was way we could serve their family. After meeting us outside, he invited us into his home so that we could talk in the same room as his ill mother, who appeared in a great amount of pain as she moaned the majority of the time we were there. At first Jesus insisted that he did not need any help, however much pleading from the pastor’s daughters led to him acknowledging that he needed adult diapers for his bed-ridden mother as well as basic food items.

What was so powerful about this ministry experience was not that we were able to serve a man in need, although that was powerful in itself. What made this so emotive was witnessing four members of the body of Christ—myself, John Bradshaw, and the two pastors daughters—struggle together to communicate with Jesus and his family. John, despite not knowing any Spanish, helped by holding a dictionary and looking up words that I needed. The two girls helped by simplifying what Jesus said into more basic Spanish phrases so I could understand, and also took the basic Spanish phrases I said and reiterated them in a more sophisticated manner. I did not really understand what was transpiring at the time, but later that night I realized that four of us, from all different backgrounds and with all different language aptitudes, used our gifts and struggled together so that we could show a man and his mother the love of Christ in a real and practical way. I witnessed four people come together to function as the body of Christ in that room.

Some Pictures from Acuna, Mexico

Here are some pictures from the trip, with a little commentary underneath each one...

This is at the border as we crossed into Mexico from the U.S. The sign was welcoming us to Acuna.

This is the church that I spent most of the week at, along with a number of other guys. We planned there, went to church there, and slept there!

One of the very cute and friendly kids that lived by the church. Plus, he's got an awesome Mighty Ducks t-shirt.

This is a picture of the baseball camp. We are in the outfield doing stations, with this station being wiffle ball batting practice. I'm to the left throwing baseballs, while our new friend (and VT alum) Tanner is in good "ready position" to make a play.

This a picture of a wonderful man, Jose. He recently felt called to ministry and came to the church to be trained by our team. He spent the nights with us, and was a great help. One of my best memories of the trip was hearing Jose tell his testimony through one of our translators.

Here is Megan with her "crush" from the week - Jose Juan. I'm still a little jealous...

I have to admit it wasn't all business... as you can see we took a break to pick up a sprinkled cookie. Everybody made fun of me for getting it, and then wanted a bite.

Here's a picture of the whole team, as well as some of the Mexican children, local pastors, and missionaries.

As you can see, this was a wonderful trip where God did great, great things. Megan and I both miss Mexico, and these pictures remind us of how great it was to spend a week in Acuna.

Back from a Break...

Since returning from Mexico things haven't slowed down at all- I've been trying to catch up with work and spent last weekend in Winston-Salem for my cousin, Sam's, wedding. I will be writing some obersvations from Mexico in the next week or so, as well as posting pictures. I also am finishing up a nine page reflection on our mission trip today that I am thinking of posting in pieces to give more detail of what took place in Mexico. If anyone would like to read it in its entirety just email me at uscbarley@yahoo.com.

I also recommend checking out http://www.openedtous.wordpress.com. This is a new site that my new friend from the Mexico trip, Jonathan Parnell, started to discuss Biblical Theology. He's written some good stuff already, and I'll be writing occasionally on there as well.

Also, I seriously hope the Braves can pull it together before it's too late... more on that to come...

Back from Mexico...

Megan and I have returned from a great trip in Acuna, Mexico. We're still recovering from the week and a 3 a.m. wake up call so that we could make our trip back to the U.S., but I'll be posting thoughts and comments about our experiences and encounters as time allows. I will say quickly, though, that great things happened!

One Week to Go...

This time next week Megan and I will be in Acuna, Mexico for our first mission trip together. We head out next Saturday around noon and are both very excited. Today our church, Promised Land, prayed for us as well as Robby who will be spending the summer in Slovakia doing ministering to students throughout the country. Interestingly enough, another oppurtunity has come up for me to return to Mexico next October through a trip that Promised Land is organizing. Megan can't make the trip because of school, but we're trying to discern whether or not I should go. This is an exciting time, and we are thankful that God has used Southeastern to broaden our view of ministry and develop a heart to go outside of the United States. Six more days to go!

By the way, a number of people have asked me where Acuna is located. I looked it up on a map and the closest city I could find is Sonora, TX. Acuna is just south of Sonora, which is just south of El Dorado... if anyone knows where those cities are.

We did it!

Just wanted to let everyone know we have officially raised all our money to be able to go to Mexico in 3 weeks to minister to the people of Acuna! Thank you so much to all who prayed for us and gave. We really appreciate it, and will continue to update you as we get closer to our departure.

Thank you

Megan and I wanted to thank all of those who have been so generous by giving to us for our mission trip. I was, unfortunately, becoming very anxious this time last week as we were over $1000 away from being able to go to Mexico. In the past week, both God and His people have been very faithful, and we are now only $345 away from being able to go to Mexico on our first mission trip together! I feel funny putting in actual amounts in this post, but I wanted everyone to know exactly how blessed we have been. This has been an amazing week, and we are so thankful to those who have given, as well as those who have committed to pray for us. We are now about a month away from heading South of the border, and please pray for us and our team that we would be used as much as possible in our short time down there.

Megan said it perfectly this week: "may we always be as generous as people have been with us."

The Responsibility to "Go"

Megan and I made a decision to use our blog for something more than a place where Gamecock football videos are posted (you can probably tell I had more to do with the videos), and more importantly use this as a place to discuss our upcoming trip to Acuna, Mexico, which will not only be our first mission trip together, but also my first mission trip. We plan on giving updates on the trip as we prepare to leave March 15th to go to Acuna, as well as our reflections afterwards from our trip. We are sending out our letters tomorrow morning requesting both prayer and financial support, and we thought this would be a way to send out more than a letter- inviting those who are interested to participate more in our upcoming adventure. If you have any comments please post them, as we would love to know someone is actually reading this!

I felt it was appropriate to begin this new phase of the blog by giving a few thoughts on missions in general, and also briefly respond to a few arguments that people have against missions, which I will do at some point in the next few days. I had never given the appropriate level of thought to missions prior to coming to Southeastern. Fortunately, that has changed. The heartbeat of Southeastern is the Great Commission: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matt. 28:18-20). Our president, Dr. Akin, has a contagious spirit to truly pursue this call and it has grabbed Megan and I's hearts.

We have reguarly been attending Promised Land Community Church in Creedmoor, NC, which is filled with wonderful people. One family we have been fortunate to become aquainted with are the Pyle's. The first time I met their oldest daughter, Claire (age 8), she not only asked me if I knew where I would spend eternity when I die, but also let me know that she felt called to the mission field (clearly she already is living out her calling)! I responded to her letting her know that I did know Jesus (fortunately) and told her that she didn't have to wait to be a missionary, but could be one right now. Thinking that I had impressed her with my observation, Claire simply responded with an "I know," and went on to tell me the places she could have an impact.

She gets what many of us in the church don't get, and it's the reason I titled this post The Responsibility to Go. I think that Claire understood that whether we ever leave the country or not, all Christians are called to be missionaries. I challenge you to find someone in the New Testament who became a sincere Christian and didn't live the life of a missionary as a result of it. They may not have gone across the world (many of them did, though), but the people who met Jesus and chose to follow Him lived transformed lives with new priorities. For many, the greatest mission field may be the home or the neighborhood, but the responsibility remains for the church to touch the nations in a hurting world, and Christ's call remains to go.