PUEBLA 2019: Our Mission Is Now Completed And We Are Heading Home Tomorrow
Hananeel’s new courtyard received its last paver early this morning as the Friendship Baptist Church (FBC) mission completed its work and then took off for the downtown Plaza.
We have to leave very early in the morning to catch our return flight to Houston, then back to Dulles where a church bus will be waiting to haul our very tired selves back to FBC and home.
It’s been a remarkable week by every measure and I am thankful that the Lord made it possible for me to join this mission for the fourth time in five years.
The courtyard is now completely covered with the deep-red pavers and the third-floor drop ceilings are fully installed. We were also able to complete more visitations, talk to more people in the market and on the street, visit old friends, take much-needed food and comfort to suffering brothers and sisters in Christ and begin planning for the 2020 FBC mission to Puebla.
As we have every day this week, we started the day with the prayer circle shown below right, asking God for safety, energy, focus and fellowship. He provided all of it in tremendous abundance.
The photo below left is the rebar cutting operation that prepared steel rods to be bent by hand into the precise shape to be used as reinforcement in a roof to be constructed above the second floor of the sanctuary building.
On the far left is Tom McKee, the hooded fellow to his left is Austin Massey, that’s yours truly on the saw, and behind us in the background are long-time Mexico missionary Andrew Flagg and Blair having a serious discussion about who knows what.
Our Friday afternoon was spent at the downtown Plaza sitting in a sidewalk cafe, sipping coffee, watching people, reminiscing about missions past, telling jokes and generally relaxing.
The photo at the top of this post was taken in the late afternoon as a crowd I estimated at about 200 people began demonstrating “against crime,” according to a helpful onlooker.
The building with the beautiful architecture where the demonstration was held is the Puebla judicial center. Perhaps this was God’s way of reminding us that we are heading home to the states.