Youth Supper

Last Sunday night we had a youth supper at Gid & Katie.  We played volleyball, took a bunch of pictures, played more volleyball, had a delicious meal, took more pictures, played volleyball again, took some more pictures, played volleyball... ok, I think you get the idea :)    We had a great evening...  We got together around 3:30 or 4:00 to play volleyball etc. and then sometime after supper we gathered in the house and sang for awhile... Joshua shared from Romans 8...  "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."   

Here are some pics of the evening... enjoy,   oh, and don't forget about the little button at the bottom :)

LINE UP...by age according to height...

I don't know what happened here, but I like to think that I blocked it :)

 

This was Jason's first youth supper... and by the way it looks, he wasn't to sure about "that thing" that I was holding!  Don't worry, I think he'll get used to it soon...

"...and why are you pointing "that thing" at ME?"

"Hi Eli..."

SUPPER!!! 

After singing, we all went back out to the fire for S'mores... the more the better!    

Its always fun being with you guys, and I thank the Lord for the privilege of walking with all of you!!!

Isaiah 55:8-9

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

There's No Place Like Home!!!

Praise the Lord for a safe trip!!!  We made it home safely (although it was quite late, or rather early)

Our flight did indeed land on time in Harrisburg, and we met Seth and Drew, and also found out that Jesse's flight had been delayed at Washington Dulles Airport, and wasn't coming into Harrisburg until 12:30 am.    So, we just hung out at the airport, checking emails, looking at pictures, and talking.
     Jesse's flight actually came in about 20 mins early, so we got his luggage (ours was left in Atlanta) and all piled into the van.  Now, for us from Mexico, we hadn't eaten anything worth talking about since our stop at Burritoville earlier that morning.  

The famed Burritoville!!!

We decided to stop somewhere on the way home, and get something to eat... well, as you can imagine, there wasn't much awake at 1 am on a thursday night (friday morning), so we ended up at a Diner for our "night lunch", and just had a blast!!!    Eating, drinking, and being merry... it wasn't quite that bad :)  
       Finally, we made it home....at 2:15 am Friday morning!   Thank you all for that very welcoming "Welcome Home" sign...  it really meant a lot!   Can't wait to see all of you again!

       Friday was spent catching up...  sleep, pictures, emails, cleanup etc.    Some of the boys had to work (some wanted to work :)  I think we are all glad to be back, although it still is kind of hard to get back into "real" life.    I know I said this before, but I want to say it again...   Thank You SO much to each of you that have been praying for us on this trip, it is such a blessing to have family, friends, and a church body behind us, and supporting us!  

        Now, some of you might be thinking that I started this just to keep you updated about the Mexico trip, but I hope to continue posting every-so-often, about life here in PA, and also some of the pictures I'm taking...   so please come back and visit again... and comments are Always welcome!!!  

God Bless You, and Thanks for Reading
                Jordan

Picture from my room on Friday Morning

An Answered Prayer

You know, sometimes God answers prayers in ways I never could have thought of... Sitting here on the plane, enroute to Harrisburg, PA, and thinking about what transpired in the last hour, I was reminded of these verses...

Isaiah 55:8-9

    For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

    For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Coming into Atlanta, we knew it would be really close with our connecting flight to Allentown (aka home) (we had been delayed about 1 1/2 hrs in El Paso)... As we were sitting on the Tarmac, after landing, It was hard not worry about missing the next flight.  I know we were all praying, and I texted several of my friends and church people to pray with us.  We finally got off the plane and headed toward gate D16, 1 terminal away.  Us boys ran ahead (I had always wanted to run through an airport) to see if we could catch the flight before they closed the door.  We arrived in time...but, soon found out that the flight had been delayed by more than two hours... We breathed a sign of relief that we hadn't missed it, but at the same time, were doing mental calculations what time we would be getting home. (Think...2 or 3 am at the earliest).  As we stood there talking amongst ourselves, one the men standing there said that they had just announced that Delta had a flight leaving for Harrisburg in about 40 mins. that wasn't full.  So, we quickly changed our tickets, and  headed to gate B12...  

Now we are all relaxing on the final flight, and the last leg of our Mexico trip, Thanking God for guiding and protecting us every step of the way!!!!

     Back up about 3 weeks... Jesse flew out to Colorado a week before the rest of us flew to Mexico, so he was returning on a different flight, (although its the same day and about the same time) and going to Harrisburg (for those of you who hadn't caught it before, we were planning to fly into Allentown).  I had been kind of disappointed that we couldn't all go home together, especially thinking of drive home from the airport.  But now "All things have worked together for our good..."  I'm so thankful that we service a Big God, who cares enough about us, that he worked out all those little insignificant details, way better then we would ever be able to do ourselves. 

      Our flight is scheduled to land at 10:30 pm, and Jesse is landing soon after that.  Seth and Drew are coming to pick us up...who knows, we might ended up having a big party somewhere?  It's what they call a "night lunch" in Mexico (to all you Mexico people, sorry that you can't be here to join us...missing you already :)

The view from my seat... Yea, I know, it's not much of a picture, but I HAD to add a photo... :)

Pictures

I'm sitting in the airport in El Paso, TX, and was looking through some of my 4,133 pictures and 19.89 GB of video from the last two weeks... sorry about the hodgepodge of pics, hope you enjoy

This is after a 3 min. game of volleyball that we played in a serious rainstorm, we played in the gym for the rest of the afternoon :)

Gotta love this little guy...

On Monday we spent the afternoon with Amy, Bobby, and Calvin.  Riding Four-Wheelers...

...and horses!!!

One of the THOUSANDS grasshoppers we saw on this trip

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set Your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God"
Colossians 3:1-3

The First of the Last Week....

Life has been full here in Mexico.  Programs, church services, meals with the church familys, and of course... sleeping in :)

On Sunday evening we had the privildge of singing in the Summerfelter Community about 1/2 hours from the Colony we are staying.

     A Summerfelter school teacher by the name of Hans Abrahms invited us to come sing for their church ( they call themselves New Summerfelters, and are born again, and are excited about their walk with the Lord).   This school teacher has gotten several threats from the Old Summerfelter (which are more like the Nebraskan Amish))that they were going to kill or hurt him, and he even got put in jail overnight.  Although, that was done illegal by bribing the police... So he was released the next morning.   This is the opposition that this new church body is facing.  

     When the Old Summerfelter go to this "new" church only once, they are as good as excommunicated from the old church, so there is a lot of fear.  None of Hans' neighbors talk to him, or even say hi when they meet on the road!

    The program was held in Jacob & Esther's (one of the church members) equipment shed.  All of the new Summerfelter church was there, and a lot of the people from "our" church were there.  A total of about 200 people.    

      The evening was such a blessing, we could clearly feel the presence of God, and many people shared how the music blessed them.  Some didn't understand a thing that we said, but later shared with us (through an interpreter) that although they didn't understand the words, they were still encouraged.  And that is only something that The Lord can do, and we are Praising Him for what he has done.        

I also want to thank each one of you that have been praying for us, and supporting us in that way.    

The building where we had the service

Notice the fan in the right side of the picture, and that none of the sleeves are rolled up?  It was actually a beautiful evening, even a little on the chilly side... But as we were setting up that afternoon, there were fly's buzzing all over the place...(one almost walked into Josiah's mouth). So they brought the fan to keep them away.  It cooled off by the time we started so they had slowed down... I ended up with 4 fly's riding the keys on the keyboard for most of the night :)...

A Sad Post...kind of

You know, when I was thinking about a title for this, I first put in just "a sad post" (mainly for you Mexico people), but then I thought about you folks back home, and so, I guess it's not to sad of a post after all (hope I don't offend anybody)

Here are our flight numbers if you would like to see where and when we fly: 

1st flight:  Delta 2136,  Depart from El Paso 1pm (local time) arrive Atlanta 6:15 pm.

2nd flight:  Delta 5072, Depart Atlanta 8:45 pm -- arrive Allentown 10:47 pm

     
 UPDATE:    Our flight is delayed in El Paso, (departing at 2:35) so we have about a 2 hour wait...

We are praising the Lord for safety and favor with the border crossing and even at the airport (they waived $90 overweight luggage fee!)    Please continue to pray for safety on our flights and also that we would be able to make our connecting flight from Atlanta.

Yes we are flying home...and guess what...Josiah got a head start!!!

Our Home away from Home... and some other pictures

Our House

We were blessed to have this little house to live in during our time here in Mexico.  It is in Campo 304, around here they call it the Springstein area.   

Here are some misc pictures that I was planning to post, but didn't get around to it until now!!!

Flowers at the top of Springstein...

The Moving Stop Signs of Mexico

Springstein Peak...  The peak we hiked to the top of on Friday before the Fellowship Meetings 

"They Shall Mount Up With Wings As Eagles" 

Transportation

Somebody asked about how we get around here in Mexico...

And just for your information... this isn't it :)

Our Suburban

The truth of the matter is...  John & Louanna are letting us use their vehicle... God Bless you John's!!!

Happy 19th Birthday Josiah

Already? How'd you get so old so fast?

Josiah, thanks for all you are to me... you are definitely more then just a brother, your a great friend, and I love hanging out with you, and just being together.  (like on the plane :)  It's a blessing to see you grow in your walk with the Lord, Keep serving him!

Mexican Citizen?

Unfortunately they didn't think he qualified, but it doesn't look like he minds to much 

Copper Canyon

On Thursday we had the privilege of going to Copper Canyon,
The Copper Canyon is a group of canyons consisting of six distinct canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. " quote from Wikipedia
The attraction here was the 7 stage zip line that we did!!!   I don't have any pictures, but I think that Joshua does on his blog, and I know that Jesse has pictures on his camera... so when we are back home, then just come on over, and we'll show them to you...  

The Group for the zip line, all harnessed up and ready!!!

 A total of 42 of us went... Including one of the Mothers, most, if not all, of the youth, several of the Fathers, and couple of the little boys... as you can see in the picture!   It was incredible... the zip lines were really long (some of them were a half a kilometer or 500 meters long)  and the view was AMAZING!!!

The Copper Canyon

There had been a Lot of rain in the area the day before, but we were blessed with a BEAUTIFUL day... Sunny and warm. (We brought a bunch of the sun back on our necks and noses :) And then just as we were leaving the clouds started rolling in.  Thank you Lord!!!  

The whole trip was a lot of fun.  Getting to know these dear people in a new way!    Thank you all for your prayers for us.  The trip is going really well, and we are enjoying our time here.  We think of all of you back home a lot, and hearing from you is a blessing!!!     remember, as always, and comment area is just below this post :)

Camping Trip

On Wednesday and Thursday the entire church had a camping trip type thing.  Tuesday we traveled to the town of Creel and stayed at "Sierra Bonita".   About a 4 hour drive from the Colony... that Afternoon we visited a Beautiful waterfall... I'll let the pictures tell most of the story

Thats me braving the tempest... Ok Ok, it really wasn't that bad, although it was one of those places where you'd rather NOT make a miss step :)

The "Road" back to the Falls... the joys of traveling in Mexico

Que Bonito... sorry if you don't know Spanish

Made it through the Road...I mean river

Charlotte, Jesse, and I out on the rocks... Jesse decided to slide down that little stream to the right of where we are standing!   it worked until he got toward the bottom, and he almost got his foot stuck in the crack in the rock.  I managed to make it down without mishap, although Charlotte had a slightly quicker ride down!  

Most of the Youth Group ended up under the falls!!! It was lots of fun... until you had to hike 3 kilometers out, and then ride on the back of truck for another half hour :) 

The view from the dining room... and really pictures just don't do it justice

We all survived the "shower", and thankfully Charlotte is really sore, but is doing much better!    

1st Program - Guest Post

Arnold's took us to El Valle on Monday evening, and 1 ½ hour drive through beautiful Mexico country side. Its another Kleine Geimende colony that started about 20 years ago. The local people setup in their HUGE gym. Around 300 people came, not a responsive group (some even walked out) but some hungry hearts, and the presence of the Lord was still there. The boys did a great job, Willie shared Jesus with them. Some left immediately after dismissal; some stayed to talk. The boys had a great time playing volleyball afterwards with some of the local youth – totally sweated up for the ride home :) Keep praying that our hearts would remain open before the Lord, that He can accomplish His purpose in these programs. Guest Post by Mama

Note: because of the circumstances, I wasn't able to post this till now. We have another program planned for this evening at the Gym here in the Colony where the church is. Thank you all for your Prayers!!!   God Bless you all...

The Gym where we had the Program

Getting ready for the evening... sound checks etc 

In Concert

Photos.com

Here are some pictures... I hope they upload properly!!!     Thanks to all of you for praying for us, we had an awesome evening last night.  More details to follow!!!

The Hills of Australia...

Rolling Rocks !!!  Fun Fun

At the moment, my Internet is slow, so i'll try to post more pictures as soon as I can...  check out Joshua's blog for "the story" about our trip home last night.  www.joshuaslabaugh.blogspot.com

Update from Mexico...day #5

Hello to all you faithful followers... 

It's hard to believe that the Fellowship Meetings are already done... We had a really good time, making new friends, and enjoying old friends.   And of course, it was a blessing to be together with the body of Christ here in this part of the world.  To see there hunger for The Lord, and there heart for the people here in the community, and even beyond.   Continue to pray from them as they go on, serving The Lord.

I will be doing a "home" post as soon as I get the pictures taken, and have the time to get them on... For now, here is a picture of us boys working on the program for this evening.  

Tonight we are going to a place about 2 hours North of the colony.  The program starts at 7:30 our time (9:30 pa time).  And we would appreciate your prayer as we organize the necessary sound equipment, and instruments etc.  also, that we could be a blessing to these people, and the name of Jesus would be Glorified.  

Official Photo Application for Mexican Citizen

Again,  I hope that you all have a wonderful day!!!  

Hey...just a reminder! There is a little button at the bottom, that says something about comments!  Just so you know!!! :). 

El Paso, Texas

We arrived safely in El Paso Tx. We will be meeting someone from the church in Mexico to take us across the border...thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.  All the flights went well.  Although we are all tired, and ready for a bed!!!

The plane that brought us from Atlanta to El Paso... A MD90 for those of you that know/like that stuff...

I'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy about commenting!!!

Hiking the "schpring stein" peak

Friday morning a us boys, Seth, Samuel, Leandro, Leonard, Josh B., and Keith hiked the peak at the edge of the colony, they call it Spring stein peak... We left our "house" at 9:00 am and hiked for about 1 1/2 hours and finally got to the top.  The next 30 or 45 min. we spent on the peak, rolling rocks down the mountain... Fun fun...

Pictures are coming....

We were all able to get a nap in in the afternoon.  (We are still getting over jet lag...sleep deprivation) and then the meetings started this evening.  

    It really was a blessing to be together with fellow believers, worshiping together.  Please continue to pray that we could be blessing to the local congregation.  

     Prayer Request:

-Daddy is preaching on Sunday morning

-Josiah is doing better, continue to pray for complete healing

-Us boys are singing this morning and tonight... Keep us in you prayers

Thanks to all, and remember... Comments are appreciated!!!

Atlanta

Eating snacks the Slabaugh way!!!