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More Cancun Fun! By Maddie Bell:)

Today was filled with many eye opening experiences for the group. We woke up at the normal time of 830 and ate breakfast, followed by quiet time at 9. Then we broke into small groups and talked about what cultural expectations hold us back from having a relationship with Christ, and what we can do to break those expectations in our lives and fully live for God. My small group consisting of Lauren, Katie, Sarah, and Amy got into really good conversation about what our lives would look like if we didn't worry about fulfilling worldly expectations and if we cared about serving God with everything we did. It was amazing to me to realize how differently my life would be if that was my mindset, and how many things I have been keeping in my life that are only hurting my relationship with God. After small group we went to a government home called DIF for children who have a past of being abused and were removed from their homes because of dangerous living situations. We played tons of games with them, acted out Noah's Arc in a skit, and did crafts with them. It was amazing to see how happy and inspired these children were regardless of their difficult pasts and how welcoming they were toward us even though they have had abusive people in their lives. After DIF we went to another home for battered women and teens rescued from human trafficking. We were not allowed to communicate with the people living in the home for security reasons, but we painted all the walls and had a lot of fun hanging out together. I need to stop writing because I am missing out on an intense game of Mafia. We love you and will see you in two days!

More Pics...Enjoy!

Halfway There(: by Annie and Lauren

Day 5 :)

Today was a great day. We all woke up at a reasonable time and met in small groups before heading off on a great adventure! First, the guys and girls split up to accomplish different quests. The guys went out in the grueling heat to finish pouring a cement floor for a church in Tres Reyes. On the other hand, the girls went to a teen pregnancy support center where we had painted yesterday. Speaking of painting, we got to paint the girls' nails who went there. It was hard to communicate with the older girls but we still connected and heard a lot about how difficult their lives have been. Later, the girls reunited with the guys, who were all sweat drenched..eww. We ate lunch, then all prayed in an emotional circle for the pastor of the church. Next, we all headed off in groups to invite local kids to eat, play games, and watch a skit later at the church. Even though we were complete strangers, everyone was open to us and accepting of our proposal. If that were to happen in our country, people would slam the door immediately or call the cops on these foreigners. All the children enjoyed the activities and retained smiles on their faces the entire time. We hope the rest of the days are as significant as this!! As a side note, Tristan threw up on himself in the car on the way to cement pouring, but it taught us all, including the guys, we have a sensitive side.

Miss you from all of us down in Cancun!

Day 2 by Kyle Rheude & Caleb Carpenter

Kyle-Today was day 2 here in Cancun. We woke up to crazy wind and a ton of rain. In Cincinnati, it get's colder when it rains, but this was not the case. It still stayed just as hot when it rained! We are definitely not in Kansas anymore...

These past two days have been remarkable. I've experienced things that I will never forget. Seeing where these children live makes the rest of my worries seem pointless and minimal. All these children have touched my heart in some way. The first day, I was drawing with about 4 little girls when 13 year old girl Sandy came up to me and said something with a smile on her face. I wish I knew what she had said because afterwards,she hugged me and she kissed me on the cheek. It's giving me goosebumps just to think about it. How can someone that has known me for so little, care about me so much?

Today was just as moving for me. 6 year old Paoky (girl) walked up to me and just started talking to me. She then took my hand and we started jumping in the puddles together, laughing and smiling the whole time. She then walked me into the childrens' home and ate her cheeseburger with tomato, mayo, mustard, and ketchup. She brought her 3 year old sister over and introduced me to Zuri. These children are so adorable and full of so much light. I'm truly blessed to be here.

Caleb- Today we visited a church that started at 11:30am. It started with worship where we sang around 5 songs. They actually integrated the Spanish lyrics and the English lyrics, and created this beautiful mixture of two completely different languages. Even while we were singing the Spanish portions, we didn't even have to look at the translation because we could feel the presence of God and it didn't even matter if we understood. And I have to say that I have never felt the holy spirit more than this morning. During worship the pastor was in the front row dancing! He was jumping around and then fell to his knees with his hands up in the air. He eventually was laying flat on the ground with his head in his arms, and he was crying. And to top it off, every individual was singing as loud as they could. There was so much love and faith in such a small room. This church was the size of the cafe at horizon and there was at least 80 people. And every person in the room had a smile, even when there was no air conditioning. And the message the pastor gave was fantastic! He spoke of how our tongues are the most powerful weapon any human can own. And he spoke in such a way that you could tell that he had experienced hurt sometime in his life. It spoke to everyone.
We have to stop because Amy is over our shoulders telling us to go to sleep. So we are excited for another day of service tomorrow. And we are ready to share God's love in any way we can!

The whole team wants to wish all the dads out there a happy father's day!!! We love you dad!!

WE ARE HERE :) by: Lauren Lytle

Hello,

We made it to Mexico nice and safe :) Both flights went really well and I could not be more excited to be here! After we got picked up from the airport we went to the home we will be staying for the week! To my surprise the home is very very nice, we are blessed to stay in a place like this. After we dropped off our things we went to a childrens home! At the home we celebrated a little boys birthday! The cute thing about this was that this little boy was the only boy in the home. We played all kinds of circle games with the kids, which was a blast! Me and a few of the girls acted out the bible of Moses. Just like Moses's mother gave him away because she wanted him to have a better life, so did these childrens parents. After the skit we colored with the kids and then ate dinner. For dinner we have hot dogs that were bright red. Although I was skeptical of this meat IT WAS AWESOME :) After dinner we let the birthday boy open up his gifts and we ate cake! After cake we said goodbye to the kids the headed back to our house. Back at the house we went over ground rules and had some worship time! Then it was lights out! This morning we woke up ate breakfast and had some quiet time! We will be soon heading out to church! I cant wait to see what God has in store for our group today! Please keep us in your prayers!

- Lauren Lytle

ps. I love and miss the Lytle Family!

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College trip re-entry by Amy

Well, one week down. Re-entry is always interesting after a mission experience. It takes a lot of processing and patience to come back into the United States after having experienced the amount of poverty we saw in Cancun. It's amazing to me to think that most people head to Cancun to spend a week sleeping on the beach and sipping margaritas. Most people have no clue that you can drive 5 minutes from the resort and find yourself in a world that is difficult to comprehend. All that being said, the week we had was incredible. I have never taken a "college age" mission trip before and I was blown away by the student's work ethic and depth. The conversations we had were intense and challenging. They worked harder than any group I've ever had down in Mexico. (And yes, if any high school student is reading this, that is a challenge for your group to work harder!!!!)
I was impressed and overwhelmed by the way these students loved each other for the week. And I know that God was honored and glorified in all we did! Needless to say, we had a fantastic time and I'm looking forward to having the experience with our high school students.
Yes, we do leave on Saturday to head back down to Cancun to be the hands and feet of Christ to the folks down there. Please be praying for our trip safety and energy to do whatever God has called us to do!

Thursday a.k.a. the perfect ending by Anna:)

There were mixed feelings in the group as we spent our last day in Cancun. Sad to say goodbye but excited to see family, friends and sleep in our own beds (not that the accommodations here were anything less than incredible). We had an early morning, waking up at seven for breakfast. Then while Jonathan, Trevor, and Thomas made "on-the-go happy meals", Ali, Rachel, Aimee, Parker and I filled up water balloons for our day at the beach with a group of kids from the childrens home we visited on Saturday. Seeing how ecstatic the kids were was truly amazing. As soon as the water was visible, a roar of excitement filled the van. The beach day consisted of swimming in the water, a water balloon toss, kite flying (which was an absolute hit), and goofing off on a swing set. We took the kids back and dropped them off with their "happy meals", and moved on to a different beach. The water was the brightest shades of blue and turquoise I've ever seen, and as I stared at it while doing my quiet time, I was reminded just how amazing our God is. After small group, all of us swam (or at least tried) in the ocean and just sat around and enjoyed ourselves. We piled back into the vans and headed back to the house to shower up for our last night in Mexico. Matt took us to a local market where we shopped around for some souvenirs (don't worry Mom and Dad I got you a little something). We were all impressed with Trevor's bartering skills he used with the shop owners. We then went to a local restaurant and enjoyed some amazing authentic Mexican quesadillas. We're about to go worship, debrief, and have one last intense set of mafia games and then were back to Cinci to see all of you. All of the people we have met, things we have done, and experiences we've had here in Mexico have been truly inspiring, and awesome in every way. Bye Cancun, it's been real.

-Anna :)

The Most Intriguing Blog Yet...

Good Evening ladies and GERMS!!! Que Pasa (That means what's up)!?!?!?!
Oh by the way... SHOUT OUT TO Dr. J(LOGEMAN)! HAPPY B-DAY! From Aimee.. and the rest of us.

Today we started our adventure for God with breakfast.. and yes... it has been the same thing every morning. However, it taste so much better when you eat it for God. After breakfast we packed the painting supplies in the van and we headed to a Government Children's Home, the main children's home in the county of Benito Juarez. Here, we played games, created beautiful crafts, and made dreams come true. Okay.. maybe not that part, but we did watch Thomas reenact David and Goliath. He was Goliath yielding a Samari sword. After this we took a break for lunch at a local park. There we got to get up close and personal with a young Mexican couple who were "gettin' their mack on!" After lunch, which was once again the same today but still replenished our bodies, we headed to a home which helps pregnant teenagers through their troubles. At this home we painted white walls, making them more white. Also we worked to create cubicles which must be measured to perfection even if we are told they don't have to be. A paint fight was next on the agenda. We had a lot of fun with this, but not so much with the cleanup. After arriving home we jumped in the pool to scrub some paint off. Chicken fajitas by Julie were on the menu for dinner. They were fantastic. We worshiped as a group which was awesome and then recapped our pictures of the day. Of course, we are ending the day with our intense games of mafia.

Night,
Love you all

Trevor and Parker

Here are some pics- from Amy

Hey friends...thanks for following our adventure. I am excited about all the ways we are having the opportunity to serve the people of Cancun. Our team is doing great and are working so hard to make great things happen. Today I watched 8 college students completely spend themselves to serve those that have so much less than we do. They completely overachieved and I was very proud of each one of them. I hope you enjoy some pictures of our experience!

Tuesday By Frap

Today was a long, hard, and very rewarding day. Hard work, sweat, some pain, and a little bit of blood was all part of the day. There is a church that is growing so dirt had to be moved from outside to the inside in order to level the floor. Blisters were made, cuts from shovels came about and dirt flew everywhere. It was amazing to watch everyone try their hardest, and even when we were all tired, we kept going. God truly gave us strength to continue.
Parker says hello to lucky Chucky and Kristen :)
The boys even helped make a roof with super heavy logs and cinder blocks on a different house while the girls finished up the floor in the church. Once the boys returned a sledge hammer was used by all of them to break up the tile floor that was in the church. This part of the job was not expected to happen so it was a blessing for the people of the church to get an extra job done without knowing it.
Trevor says Nancy is Beautiful.
The most beautiful part of the day was knowing that everyone was engaged. This morning in the girls small group we discussed being engaged in everything through out the day. No matter what we were doing we were focused on our jobs and it helped get things done faster. We were so much more conscious of our actions and that's what helped us stay focused.
Shout out to Rae-Bae!! I love you!
The kids then arrived and we sang songs and taught them motions to the songs. Three games ensued after that and then the hot dogs that had been boiled for the kids were snatched up within minutes and the kids had their fill. Once back at the dorm we praised God with worship before gaining knowledge on the word, and sharing our thoughts of the day.
PoPo in spanish means poop.
It was a long day but it was one of the best days we have had here so far. Thank you God for giving us all the opportunity to help the people here and make a difference in their lives, as well as ours.

Monday by Jonathan

Today we started out our morning going to visit an elderly woman who lived with her three grandchildren and one baby great-grandchild. They lived in a one room house that was very small, probably the size of some of our bedrooms. We were told that her husband had just died recently so she was alone in raising those four kids. I really felt bad for her and just wanted to go and give her a big hug. We went to a different part of town where we are in progress of building a house for them that they will own. She seemed very grateful for what Back2Back is doing for her and I am so glad that we can make a difference in her and her families life. Today we just made the cement for the floor. It was actually fun to do some manual labor and we finished the floor in pretty good time. Later on, we went to another children's home and had dinner with them and just hung out and played with the small children. It is awesome to see how excited they were to have older kids to play with. It was a lot of fun being with them, and it was sad to have to leave them because they seemed so happy while we were there. It was a really cool experience to be the bright spot in those kids day.

Day 2 by Aimee Logeman :)

You would never guess that we were on a mission trip based on the state of the home that we are staying at. It's incredible - air conditioning, fully-functioning plumbing, and a refreshing pool for those hot Mexico days. I slept like a baby! Being well-rested came in handy during the long church service this morning. The worship was half in Spanish and half in English, but as many of us learned, God does not speak a certain language and worship comes in various forms. After church, we ate lunch back at the home and prepared to leave for a very serious painting job! We went to a refuge for women who have been abused. Amy, Rachel, Ali, Anna, and I even spoke with a 16 year old girl at the shelter who told us that her hometown was too "dangerous" for her to return. My heart broke for her as I imagined the pain of experiencing something so horrific as abuse and/or human trafficking. Sure, we helped the shelter by painting some of the home, but I honestly think we made a bigger impact by just sitting and talking with this beautiful young woman. We played music, and she sang with Anna for us with her amazing voice. Then, in a moment that I can only describe as God-filled, she burst into tears of joy, telling us in English, "I am so happy!" I really think that we touched her life, even though we spoke with her for maybe an hour. I'm so confident that God is working here in Cancun and changing hearts every single day! :)

P.S. We played 3 awesome rounds of Mafia, and Trev is currently analyzing one of the games right now!! :)

Welcome to Paradise

Today was our first day in Cancun, a mission site where none of us have been before. An early plane flight led to pizza at 8:30 from Sbarro and an early arrival in Mexico that gave us plenty of time to bond before the other group from South Dakota met up with us. Between games of "Down by the Banks" and "Big Booty" we yelled about Kung-Pao Chicken and sang repeat-after-me-songs from past camps. Our enthusiasm was so high that we almost had the taxi drivers participating in our trip bonding with us. After arriving at our mission campus, we realized that we were not in fact staying just anywhere, but basically in a palace. Marble floors, a pool outside, and the biggest shower I have ever seen greeted us as we settled into our temporary home. We made our way to the first children's home, San Jose, and thoroughly enjoyed our time with the kids at the home. We sang songs in Spanish that we didn't understand, and ran around in circles chasing each other until the "cheese stood alone". We did puzzles, played team UNO, and watched Jonathan and Parker get chased around by the cutest set of 6-year-old twins anyone has ever seen. A grill out followed, with hamburgers, nachos, and plenty of jalepenos for all. Trevor, Thomas, and "CRAIG" arrived safely with donations and we all had our first group worship inside our new palace successfully sweating through all of our clothes. After multilingual worship and debriefing, each of our team members called it a night and settled in, so we are ready for our day tomorrow. So far it has been a smooth journey, and we all can't wait to see what this week brings.

Love you all,
Rachel

Almost Ready

It's less than 24 hours until our College Mexico team hits the friendly skies! I cannot tell you all how excited I am for this trip. There are a few reasons for that. First of all, as a high school pastor, one of the hardest moments for me is graduation. It's a bittersweet time for me as I get so excited for what God will do during the next chapter of a student's story, but I also get sad because I know I have to let them go. It's never easy, I always cry, and even though I know relationships continue in college, it's just not the same. This is not a bad thing, mind you, because there are new freshman waiting at the starting gate...waiting to experience high school...and I get to have a front row seat for four years as they grow, fall, succeed, fail, and become the young men and women God has created them to be. And then in four years, I have to say goodbye again. This is the inevitable cycle of youth ministry, and it can be emotionally draining.
So my initial excitement, as you can probably gather, comes from the fact that this trip is made up of college students and high school seniors who just graduated. I am pumped to spend a week with some folks that I don't get to see all that often. And even better...I get to spend a week with them doing what I feel like God has called each of us to do...serve orphans and widows in their distress. I am extremely anticipatory of all God will do when we are down in Cancun this next week, both in the lives of the people we are going to serve, but ultimately in the hearts of my college students.
The second reason I am excited to head to Cancun this week is because I know the types of conversations I will be having with these students. If you know any of them you know they can hang on a pretty deep level. They are not interested in staying on the surface and just letting life pass them by. They want to go deep. They want to ask tough questions. They want to dialogue about the deep things of God and grown through them. This makes me smile from ear to ear. I can't wait to begin having these conversations and being changed by them.
So, please join me in praying this week. Yes, pray for our safety and pray for our health...but more importantly, pray for our ability to be led, life change for both those we come in contact with and within our own hearts, and a willingness to serve in whatever capacity is needed.
Thanks for your partnership with us. Stay tuned for posts from our students starting tomorrow night!!
Amy

Two trips this year

Hey friends...it is that time of year again...yup, Mexico time!!! It's the highlight of my year in youth ministry as we prepare, pack up and head out with Back2Back Ministries to spend a week loving on orphans down in Mexico. This year Horizon is taking two trips...one made up entirely of college students, and one with our high school group. I am so excited that we have finally made the jump to have a college ministry at Horizon. And beyond that, it blows me away that these students will take a week out of their busy summers to join God in what He is doing down in Cancun, MX. In total, we will spend 2 weeks with a total of 32 people pouring cement, painting, and doing whatever else needs to be done to better the living conditions of these kids. In addition we will be playing with and loving on kids who, in my experience, steal your heart with one glance of their big brown eyes! I am excited to see what God does with these willing hands. I am excited for you to have this experience with us as you read about, pray for, and support this mission from afar. So...stay tuned for more.
We leave on June 4th for our Horizon U adventure, and then again on the 18th with our Axis group.