St. Louis Trip

These are some portions from my journal that I wrote while in St. Louis.

[Friday]
I traveled up to Crystal City yesterday by myself in Mom and Dad's van. I am so thankful they allowed me to use the van. Th Lord has been so faithful to me concerning having a ride since I have still not yet purchased a car. My trip up was fairly uneventful. I listened to some Spanish worship music and a C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia audio book. I arrived at the Sutton's home before Aaron got home from work, but I had a good time talking with Rachel, Aaron's wife, and meeting Olivia, their daughter. Olivia is four years old and was at first very shy but has now become a very good friend. She is a very cute little gal with brown hair and blue eyes.
When Aaron got home we talked for a little while and then he took me out to see the town. We went to the local Latino Market and bought some yummy stuff to drink made predominantly from rice and cinnamon called horchata. Aaron drove me around and told me about the town. It really seems like a nice little town. Rick, Billy(a photographer, interested in missions, and just recently in Bali), and the Pfleeger family came over for supper. I really enjoyed talking with Billy about his trip and he seems like a really cool person. He sounds kind of like an adventurous type. I was also very blessed to see the Pfleeger family who I have not seen for many years. Michael has been such a blessing to me over the past few months. We had Spaghetti, bread, and salad for supper and wonderful cup cakes for desert. After supper, the guys sat around the table and talked. Our conversation was primarily around missions and living out the Gospel in our every day lives.

[Saturday]
It's about 4:30pm and so much has already happened today. I've really spent the day hanging out with Aaron. We have spent a lot of time talking about church and how to live a Godly life and be a witness to others. Aaron really has just been teaching me by example. We have spent time today leaving tracts for people but also talking with a lot of people and just spending time with/helping others. We ate lunch with Marco(a local church planter) at a Mexican restaurant in STL in a neighborhood known as "Little Mexico." I had authentic tacos and horchata. After lunch we three visited a women in "the hood", it was really just an older/low income neighborhood in south STL, and visited with her for a little while. A group meets in her home once a week for Bible study, her name is Maria. After visiting Maria, Aaron and I went to La Pachanga the restaurant that he first started meeting Latino people at. Aaron just is inspiring to me. God put a desire in his heart for Latino people and he has just started to do out of his way to interact with Latino people. Aaron is known as "the guy who knows all the Mexicans."

[Sunday]
Sunday was a great day. We all got up early in order to get to church early to prepare for the Spanish service. Aaron and Rachel do the music with the help of a few others. Rachel sings and Aaron plays the piano and sings. The service was good. Aaron spoke out of John 8 about the women caught in adultery. Jesus had more condemning things to say about religious people than sinners. The biggest point I got from the message was that I need to not look down on others because of their status or anything else. Marco brought some kids from his church in Illinois for the service. Jonny, Jesus, Edgar, Javier, and George. These guys were really cool and after service we all played futbol with some other guys from Rockport. We had a lot of fun playing and then went to McD's for lunch. In the afternoon, Aaron, Rick, and I traveled to Marco's church in Illinois. I enjoyed being at the service but had a hard time staying awake. I sat in on a Sunday-school lesson with some of the guys I played futbol with. A man named Eric taught and did a great job. Eric is not Latino but works with the church. He actually is a school teacher and helps out a lot within the Spanish speaking community in STL.
I was greatly blessed by my trip to St. Louis and hope to continue a strong relationship with Aaron. I believe the Lord is continuing to give me a greater desire to work among the Spanish speaking community. Many needs exist not only in the States but also around the world. My prayer is that the Lord will continue to lead me closer to Himself and continually reveal to me His plan for the life that He has given to me.