SMT Mexico – Update #3

This week we spent our time working with the youth of the Puebla Corps. We were welcomed at the Children’s Home by Captains Juan and Erika Monjaras. Our third week in Mexico was a bit different. We started the week off by teaching the Sunday school classes and joining in worship for their Holiness Meeting. We only met four of the kids, because the rest of them go home during the weekends to be with their families, and then they return on Sunday mornings.

Our schedule for the week alternated between painting the building, teaching creative arts classes, running a leadership seminar, and helping the kids with schoolwork and chores. Due to the small number of kids at the Children’s Home we were able to spend more quality time with each kid. Throughout the week, the officers took us out to tour the city and got to know more about our work in the Army. We also spent a lot of time with their two daughters, Danna and Ximena.

During our visits around the city, we were able to learn a lot about the culture and history in Puebla. The Captains really encouraged us to try new foods, and as the adventurous team that we are, we all agreed to have a spoonful of chapulines (crickets), cactus, and barbacoa (sheep cooked underground in Puebla).

Each morning we led the kids in a devotional time before they had breakfast. We also used this time to teach the kids some songs in English, and they taught us a lot of songs in Spanish. Each day they had a new song to teach us and it filled us with a lot of joy to see how praising God through song made them all so happy. On Thursday night, we joined ten of the teens and headed out to the streets of Puebla. We began at a nearby hospital to hand out some sandwiches and coffee, as we sang and gave a devotional to the people who were gathered outside the building. We ended at the Zocolo and served the people until we ran out of sandwiches and coffee. Watching the teens minister to and pray with the people of Puebla both challenged and encouraged us as they showed no fear and had so much fun sharing the word of God.

Although it was particularly tough to say goodbye to our friends in Puebla, we are excited to be a part of the start of a new corps in the town of Chimalhuacan in the coming days.
Dios les bendiga,
Shannon Cabrera and Equípo México