Whether you like it or not

There are so many things we are doing here that fill my heart up with joy and excitement for ministry. I love people. I love being with people. I love seeing people grow. I love children. I love seeing children's faces glow with excitement when they know they've learned something. I love being approached and being asked by a group of smiling kids when they can come back for the next children's program.

While I love all of these things, and SO many more, there are parts of ministry that are really hard. As a member of a congregation, or just a Christian in general, I always held my leaders to a higher standard, expecting them to be more "holy" because they are pastors, youth leaders, staff workers, etc. Now, in a position of ministry (and not even a huge position) the tables have turned. I am on the other side, and I'm realizing how unfair it all seems. I am no more perfect or holy than ANYONE else just because I chose to say yes to God and follow Him down here to Mexico. I am no less sinful than the man who sells hot dogs in front of my apartment just because I support Faustino and Tomasa at Camino de Cristo.

However true all this is, it doesn't change the fact that I am looked at differently because of the calling God has given me. I know I'm an ordinary person with no special powers or abilities, but does everyone else really know that?

Where does this leave me? Much is expected of me, but alone I am capable of nothing.

I'm realizing that saying YES to God in answer to His call is so much more than transplanting my life and walk with Him to a different place. I didn't just say yes to coming, I said yes to serving God and His people here in Mexico. I said yes to being a support and leader to help grow the ministry and churches here. That requires a whole different attitude. That requires a change in perspective. Saying yes to all those things means I'm saying yes to a package deal.

If being a Christian means that you live your life under a microscope by all who don't share your beliefs, then being a Christian leader seems to intensify the magnification.

I can't be the perfect person they want me to be. I can't be the perfect example they want me to be. BUT with Christ's help, I can be who He wants me to be, and that's what really matters. The hard part is that now that I've said yes, He's calling me to bring glory to His Gospel, and not shame. He's calling me to bear witness to the transformation He's made in my heart.

That has always been the same--always been what He's asked of me. But to do that effectively here, it requires a different form of comportment. I know that I love Jesus and desire to serve Him, but do all my actions show that? Is it evident when I serve in these churches that my Jesus sits on the throne of my heart?

I want to bring glory to Christ's name. I want to show love in real ways. I want to lift Christ's name up with each word that comes out of my mouth. No one ever said it was going to be easy.

buen provecho

Thankful for indoor plumbing...

So... this is how it went...

A lot of people, with whom I interact on a regular basis, don’t have indoor plumbing, or any plumbing as a matter of fact.

I went to Juanita’s house to make tamales on Friday because I’ve wanted to know how to make them for a long time. I was there from about 12:30 until 7... it was a really awesome time and there was SO much more to the day that this story. But because this is so entertaining... I’ll share this now, and the rest later...

Juanita lives in one of the poorer communities that we serve and has an outhouse outside her house. We were winding down with the tamales and we were getting ready to go, but I decided to run to the “bathroom” first. So with toilet paper and flashlight in hand, I braved it out to the outhouse.

In normal outhouses, just to give you an idea, there are big boards that function as a floor and a makeshift bench with a hole in it... you know what that’s for. This outhouse, however, didn’t have one big board functioning as a floor, but rather had numerous boards that were strategically placed so that the hole below was covered and people could enter in to do their business.

I went in, a little nervous because it was so dark, and hadn’t entered more than a step when suddenly I found myself bracing myself up with my arms, panicing because my legs were both below the floor, and I was eye-level with the “toilet”. I struggled for a bit, in pain from the fall, and after much screaming for help, managed to get myself out.

What happened was that the previous occupant of the bathroom had unknowingly kicked the board, causing it to be unstable. When I stepped in, the laws of physics went into motion and the unbalanced board flipped.

Luckily, whoever dug the hole for this outhouse was not lazy and dug a VERY deep hole, God bless his soul. So my feet were dangling, not kicking around in very unpleasant materials. I managed to get out of the mess without e coli or touching any fecal matter... I just have a HUGE bruise on my thigh, wet hands, and have a few unidentifiable stains on my jeans.

As gross as the story is... I’ve been laughing about it from the second it happened. So be thankful that you have indoor plumbing in the states... or even in Mexico. God taught me not to complain about not being able to flush toilet paper – at least I HAVE a toilet and not an outhouse. There’s never any use in complaining... it really could always get worse.

PS--

Today we took salt water showers down at the campground at the beach because we didn't have water in the Segundo Piso for the second day in a row (aka: 3 days without showers).

It was quite an experience. The list of things I no longer take for granted just grows and grows each day... :o)

Fashion Show!

We had to clean out the Apartments of all the donated clothes and bring it over to the Segundo Piso. We then went through all of the clothing to sort and fold it. Casey and I found a few interesting items that we wanted to share with all of you...

Casey in the heaviest jacket found in the Apts. She was swimming in it... and just putting it on was a feat of strength!





KUNG FU CASEY! You may not be able to see it very well... but it is very kimono-esque in nature...












This little ditty was one of the first things we found. The dress made me laugh... so I put it on. :o) This really reminded me of the rummage sales at FPC--trying to see who can find the most ridiculous article of clothing to model for everyone!








This one I actually LIKED! If I were not a missionary in Mexico, knowing that there are people who need this clothing FAR more than I do, I would have swiped it. It made me laugh and reminded me of Kristiana because she has this amazing knack for taking the most ridiculous items and making them look good. This retro-ish piece reminded me of her... :o)

Oh Musta-dee!

So we got a Christmas Tree on Saturday. :o) Above is a picture of a very happy girl hugging her tree. Never thought I'd be a "tree-hugger"... but my oh my how life surprises us!

BTW-- yes, that is the car I drive. No, it has no rear-view mirror. Yes, the steering wheel is upside-down, and, true, it has no shocks. We love the big truck... it is a monster.

Below are pics of our decorated Christmas Tree. We are poor and far from home, so decorations were all made by hand (minus the lights). And while those of you who know me well KNOW that I would NEVER put colored lights on my tree, we put colored lights on it because all the decorations were white and we needed some color. It is very Charley Brown in nature, but we love it all the same. Please note the amazing star Sarah made. It rocks. Thanks to Horeb and Reynerio, it stays up there. :o)

It's laundry day...

We're at Rick and Tammie's doing our laundry... and when you are at some one else's house doing your laundry, there really isn't much else you CAN do besides wait.

Because I have not been a very faithful blogger in the past few weeks, I decided today would be a good day to catch you all up!

Rick and Tammie came back... YAY! As we all anticipated, there were changes and adjustments to be made, even aside from just moving back to the Second Floor. God is a good God and holds our hands through changes and all is well. We're really excited to be working with Rick and Tammie and it has been great to get to know them better in the last two weeks. Our schedule changed drastically because we are no longer visiting all the churches in the region. It's funny because as crazy as it was to go to church every night, I'm now realizing how much I miss the people from all the different churches. It feels weird to not see everyone at least once a week. I guess you don't realize how much you really appreciate people until you don't see them. (Gee--that doesn't sound famililar at all...)

Instead of hopping from church to church each night, we have been split up (the three of us) between the churches and are working directly with one pastor each to support him and his church. There are now four churches in the Maneadero area that we are working more closely with, and out of those four, each intern has been assigned a church. I am with Faustino and his church, "Camino de Cristo".

In addition to being assigned to a church, the three of us are also going to be teaching English classes at the Boys' Home that was built by short-term teams coming down here and is being run by a member of Faustino's church, Juan. We are still working out the kinks of trying to find a curriculum and resources, but this should be getting off the ground in the next week or two. Please be praying for the boys and for us as we try to figure this out. Sarah has some experience teaching English, and I have teaching experience, but without guidelines, this is kind of a hard task to tackle. Perhaps my teaching training will be my downfall because I need units and organization for the lessons... I'm thinking about this like a teacher. So please be praying for all of us as we figure out how this is going to work.

And apart from all of this, we are helping Rick and Tammie with short-term teams when they are here. It is a really funny dynamic to be the intern on this side of a short-term team and not one of the team-members. We had our first team last weekend and it was a good experience. I definitely have a lot to learn, but I think this is going to be really cool. I was telling Tammie that I was having a hard time separating myself as an intern and not becoming part of the team. I'd really appreciate prayer for that as we have teams coming in--Tammie replied with a resounding "YES!" when I said that because what they need is people to help them run the ministry, not extra short-term team-members. So separating myself and understanding my role as an intern and not a short-termer will be a challenge, but that too will come with time.

In other news... I had a birthday last week. Haha... it was a great day--very sunny! I think this was my first birthday ever in which I wore a T-shirt outside and was sweating... a very strange feeling for November. It was a very different day because we still didn't have internet, so I wasn't able to Skype my mom or sibs... Believe me--this isn't a pity party... I'm actually trying to tell you how wonderful it was to be here on my birthday in spite of all of that! I woke up to quite a few texts from friends here wishing me a very happy birthday, followed by phonecalls and visitors! It was pretty sweet. Then in the evening, we had a surprise birthday dinner at Rick and Tammie's.

I think the best part was the adopted Mexican tradition of the "mordida" (little bite). When it's your birthday, after they sing to you and you blow out the candles, everyone starts chanting "mor-di-DA! mor-di-DA!", meaning they want you to take a small bite out of the cake. I'd seen it once before and they SHOVED the guy's face into his cake... I leaned forward to take a bite, certain of my pending doom, and my face was shmooshed into the cake by Jon (Rick and Tammie's oldest son). For as scared as I was for them to do it, it really wasn't all that bad--other than having icing all over my face and up my nose. For pictures of the lovely evening, check out Sarah's blog. There's a link to the right.

And thus endeth the very short recap of my life in the past two and a half weeks. Things have been crazy, fun, busy, changing, different, and always full of growth! I feel really blessed to be able to serve down here with Rick and Tammie and all these churches. God is showing me a lot about what it means to really serve and to follow Him where He wants us.

time to catch you up... at least a little...

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

21:37 PST

Psalm 103 rocked my world this morning. I want to share with you all the first few verses, but the whole thing really is awesome.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,

all my inmost being, praise his holy name,

Praise the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Oooooooh psalm of David. I love the way David lists all these “benefits” of God. It’s funny because when you think about it, they really are all benefits for us—benefits we definitely do not deserve!

As I’ve been reading through 1Samuel, I’m consistently interested in the fact that David has found favor in God’s eyes. In fact, all over the Old Testament, there are people spoken of who prosper because they have found favor in God’s eyes. They seek his face, they obey him, and very often, they do extraordinary things (because God enables them, of course).

As I move through my days, I wonder what the daily life of great men like David or Joseph looked like. Did it look anything like mine looks now? I wonder what Ruth was like and how she came to love her mother-in-law so deeply. Do any of my relationships resemble the faithfulness and commitment Ruth felt? Big things come up in their lives and they have to seek God, but what did a normal day look like for them? What was in their hearts that was so pleasing to God?

All over the Bible, and here in Psalm 103, it says that God loves those who fear him. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. Ps 103:11 This is not a new concept, and I know that in reading Psalm 103 this morning, it was not the first time this idea was brought up.

Sometimes, I fear, the Bible seems very vague to me. Fear God. Love God. Obey God. Those are all very cut and dry, very clear directions. The grey area enters in when we actually try to live those directions out. What does it look like to fear God? What does it look like to live a life that shows that you love God? What does it look like to obey God?

I find comfort in the fact that He will make my paths straight and reveal to me what He wants from me as He sees fit. I also find comfort in the fact that my path will not be identical to anyone else’s, so I can’t sit here and compare my self to everyone else constantly. It is about God and me, and following Him.

I want to live a life that shows that I love God. I want to love God. I want to be the aroma of Christ.

I think the first steps lie in knowing who God is, and that’s exactly what these first verses of Psalm 103 tell us. God is a God who loves us enough to redeem us from the pit. God satisfies our desires with GOOD THINGS. Knowing those things, knowing him, and relying on His promises, I think are the first steps toward living a life that glorifies him.

Sunday—November 2, 2008

10:02 PST

So we’re back at the SP (Segundo Piso), and we are waiting on TelNor to come and give us our phone line we paid for so we can get internet access. Casey and I are finding, however, that lack of internet boosts our productivity. I’m sure most college students find this to be ridiculously true because while internet access is a must for research and communication in our techie age, it is also a HUGE source of distraction and facilitator of procrastination, especially when there are things to be done!

Being back at the SP means that Rick and Tammie are back! Yay! We have been anticipating their arrival for quite some time now! We love what we are doing, but we are eager to get to work with them and be more involved in ministries. They came home on Friday, and they reminded me of my family. They came in like a whirlwind. They unloaded two very full, very large cars while the kids excitedly took in the familiar surroundings of their home.

I hadn’t realized how quiet our lives had been up until this point. With just Casey and me living in the house, it was a very tranquil existence. Not to say that we were necessarily extremely quiet—you all know that is practically impossible for me. But in comparison to the action that takes place in the house when the Romanos are there, it was a chill life. Kids take life up to a whole different level. I appreciate the vivacity and excitement the Romanos bring. I appreciate the familiarity of their ridiculously crazy existence (meaning the running all over the place, siblings bickering on occasion, and a dull roar always emitting from them as a unit). It feels normal. It feels nice. It feels like a family. Sometimes it brings pangs of longing for my own ridiculously crazy existence with my own family, but knowing that I can get a piece of that here, makes me excited.

Casey and I were discussing a few weeks ago how we really don’t know the Romanos. Yet, we missed them. It is a funny kinship we feel with them already, and still anticipation to build strong relationships with them, just like we’ve built with the Mexican church here. They are such an awesome couple, with such fire, passion, and drive to serve God here. The amount we can learn just by working alongside them is staggering. And even more exciting is the fact that they told us that they are the kind of people who like training and mentoring people in ministry—that’s the kind of heart they have. It just makes me want to know them better.

I would ask that you pray that we have time to do all this. We are realizing how incredibly difficult it is to minister well to six churches and how stretched Rick and Tammie must be. There are so many needs, there is so much going on, and Rick and Tammie are still pushing forward, serving God, and making the ministry stronger and stronger with God’s help.

Fasten your seatbelts everyone… life is about to pick up drastically in pace. 

long time no post...

internet has been dodgey... my computer crashed... :(

i will post soon. have to figure out details.

i'm alive. fear not.

love love love you all.

in the meantime, check out sarah's and casey's blogs for updates on life.

October Newsletter

Dear Friends, Family, and Partners in Mission,

I can hardly believe that another month has gone by! Casey (my co-intern) and I marvel daily at the fact that we are actually living in Mexico and doing all that we are doing. Time is moving along so quickly here!

In this past month, we have continued to visit the churches and get to know the pastors and the congregations. Our schedule involves going to a different church service every night of the week at a different church, and two services each Sunday. Because we are working with the six different churches, we put a lot of thought into where we go to ensure that we are visiting them all equally.

We're past the "new kid" stage here. We know the churches, and they know us. We are greeted warmly in each church, but the greetings are different now because the relationships are different, more developed. It is funny to think back to just two months ago, and think about the "deer in headlights" look we must have given everyone then, and rejoice now at how far God has brought us in our relationships.

In addition to visiting churches, we also have been inviting the pastors over for dinner and time to fellowship. This has been a great way to invest in these relationships because it is a time to get to know them better, share our stories, and share our hearts. Because we are not leading any ministries in any churches at this time, it has been a great way for the pastors to get to know us as well!

We also have been acting as liaisons between the pastors and our missionary hosts (Rick and Tammie Romano) as they are touring the US to raise support for the ministry and further build relationships with the churches that come down to Ensenada to work with us. It has been a great opportunity and blessing to be able to be this involved with the ins and outs of the ministry. Because the pastors must go through us to talk to Rick and Tammie at this time, we are gaining good experience in the nitty-gritty of the ministry.

A major portion of our time at this point has been dedicated to our studies. A dynamic of this Praxis year involves Biblical and Mission studies. We meet with our teacher, Chuck, twice a week to discuss the studies and study independently each morning using the materials he has given us.

This month, we have focused on the book of Colossians and different techniques of Bible Study. Each unit focuses on a different study method, each one moving from observation and questioning to application.

As we send all our work to Chuck, who is in California, via e-mail, we essentially have a personal biblical tutor. He sends back feedback and questions to push our thinking and processing. It has been a very cool process and I have been amazed at how much I have been pulling out of each study.

These studies were slightly intimidating for me at first because I have no training in theologies or formal Bible studies. However, it has been a blessing to be able to discuss all these things that are so new to me and so relevant to our lives, both at home and in Mexico.

Above is a picture that was taken on October 4th outside the Alex Campos concert. They had a parade to escort us all into the concert.

Talking sincerely…

A few nights ago, we went to Roca Fuerte (Strong Rock) church. Casey and I have been trying to get a feel for all the ministries at the churches, so when the children left for "Kiddie Church", I left with them. Roxsy, the pastor's wife, normally leads children's worship, but due to unforeseen circumstances, she was unable to prepare the lesson. She asked me if I could do something, and we wound up teaching the story of Joseph, together. It was nice to be able to help out in a pinch, but the best part was the time we had to talk afterward. Roxsy shared with me a lot of things that had been on her heart about their church and the things she was struggling with. It was a great time to talk about the issues the churches here are having, get to understand her better, and pray for her and Roca Fuerte. Encouraging the pastors in their ministries is one of the big goals Casey and I have here; and to be able to start doing that because our relationships have a strong base now, was so exciting!

Let's get personal…

This month has really been full of a lot of ups and downs for me. Homesickness finally set in, providing some downs, but God has also shown up in powerful ways, with some awesome ups! One such up is that I was baptized on Oct. 5 in the Pacific! After much prayer, I made the decision to be baptized in obedience to God's command for all believers. We had been studying baptism in our Bible Institute with Pancho, and I decided to respond to God's call.

Casey and I have also been praying that God would give us His eyes to see where He wants us to work and what He wants us to do, and it has been awesome how He has been opening doors through conversations and the relationships we've built.

Above is a picture of Jesus and Leo (left and middle), two of the people with whom I was baptized. They are a really awesome couple. Please be praying for them because they might have to move from the area if they don't find work soon.

PRAYER IS FUEL!

Please join us as we pray for the ministry down here in Ensenada, Mexico. Specifically we ask that you would pray for these things:

o Unity among the pastors as they work together within the Alliance

o Guidance for Casey and me as we seek God's will for us within this ministry

o Safety for the children, as October is a month in which many children are kidnapped and sacrificed by the Satanists (a practice that is much more common here than in the US)

o Flexibility as life is going to change drastically when Rick and Tammie get back to Mexico and we start different work with them

Thank you for all your prayers. It is an encouragement to know that so many of you are interceding on our behalf!

love.love.love

Casa Gabriel (Gabriel House)

::Background info:: Gabriel House is a ministry that houses and cares for children with special needs here in Maneadero, Mexico. I went today to visit to set up a time for a short term team to come work with the ministry in June. I had never met any of these people before, and was being oriented slightly with the ins and outs of the ministry, while metting the children and the people who run the program.

The sun was warm on my face and arms. The sound of children laughing and playing sang joyfully in the background as I was being given an explanation of Gabriel House. I had been playing with a little girl named Irene, helping her on and off the trampoline, and now she was in my arms.

The explanation paused, and suddenly I heard, "So I see you've met Irene. She is 5 years old, but she's not as active as she should be because we have her on sedatives. She has ADD and is HIV positive. Due to her ADD, she has been overly active and excited, and bites people..."

The rest of the explanation fell on deaf ears because I was immediately transported to a different world. I thought of how many sermons and talks I had heard about people suffering from HIV, and suddenly, all those people and this big disease that before seemed so far away were crashing into my world. It was no longer a disease that I know about because Bono speaks out about it. It was no longer a (RED) GAP shirt that I wear to show solidarity for a cause. It was no longer a red bracelet around my wrist; no longer a month in which we wear red ribbons on our shoulders. It was (and is) a disease running through the veins of little Irene in my arms.

Sadly, in the shock of this knowledge, my initial reaction was to think about my own health. I felt my body tense with momentary fear. I instantly felt guilty for my selfishness. I thought about all the times I had been taught exactly how HIV is transmitted, and knew that holding this little girl was actually somewhat dangerous because of her biting problem, but I felt my arms wanting to hold her tighter and show her that I cared about her.

This all happened in an instant, in just a moment in time, but the impact it had on me will be everlasting. My heart aches for Irene and all the other children in Gabriel House that are affected by HIV. I'm overwhelmed with emotions I don't even know how to express.

Words are not enough to express the intensity of emotions that are running through me right now. I have never personally encountered HIV before now, and any of you who have, probably know the kind of feeling I'm talking about, but it isn't just shock, there is something so much more here. All of me aches from this emotion that I cannot adequately express with words. I'm sorry that this is so jumbled and all over the place.

I don't know where these feelings will lead me or how the Holy Spirit is moving in my heart exactly at this moment, but I do know that my heart is different. The feelings are too strong to ignore and there is no doubt in my mind that God is showing me something here. Please pray for me as I try to discern what it is.

Baptisms!

On October 5, 2008 I was baptized on the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

This is something I have been thinking about doing for a long time, but waiting for confirmation from God.

Mat. 28:19, 20 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that baptism saves you, but Jesus DID command his disciples to go out and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is done when someone repents of their sins and turns to God as an outward sign of our commitment to follow Christ. It is a symbol of my willingness and commitment to live with Christ and partake in His life, death, and resurrection. I was baptized as a baby in the Episcopal Church, but that was not my decision. Since I HAVE made a decision as an adult to follow Christ, I wanted to make that declaration for myself and obey His command to be baptized as a believer.

There were 6 of us who were baptized, two at a time. It was really awesome to be baptized with these people, especially Chuy and Leo, a couple from Reynerio's church. They recently made the decision to follow Christ and are SO on fire! They were both so excited to be baptized. I've been able to get to know them better in these past two months and they have a VERY special place in my heart.

Below is a slideshow of some of the things we've done in October -- the concert, the baptisms, and Beer-in-the-Rear Chicken (HEY! it merited photos!)... enjoy!

Three musketeers...

BTW-- we are soon to be three instead of two...

Another lovely young lady named Sarah will be joining our Praxis number in November. She was here this summer and will be back to work with us for the rest of the year. :o)

Casey and I are really excited... it's gonna be great.

Variety is the Spice of Life

I'm guessing you're all getting bored with these heady and seemingly very unhelpful updates about what I've been up to here in Maneadero. I get caught up between pouring my heart out into cyberspace and giving you all tangible things to think about!

Just to give you an idea... Last weekend was jam-packed. Saturday, we drove down to San Quintin in the van (which Casey and I have lovingly dubbed the "Man Van").

One thing I am quickly learning is that EVERYTHING in life is an adventure. :o) It was an adventure just organizing this trip because between all of us who wanted to go, we had to figure out who could drive. There were about 30 of us who WANTED to go, but no one has cars that can make the two and a half hour trip to San Quintin (besides us with the Man Van). Not wanting to squeeze 30 people into the van and be responsible for them while driving down crazy winding highway in Mexico, I had to put my foot down and only take as many people as I had seat belts (8). That's not the Mexican way, but, like I said before, I'm not Mexican. :o)

So in the end, only about 20 of us went, and Isai's car was packed well up to maximum capacity, not at all taking into account the number of seat belts. But even once we had the transportation settled, it was crazy to figure out when to leave. We agreed, after much discussion, on 12pm, in order to get to San Quintin with enough time to enjoy the festival and then be there for the concert.

We have a running joke here that whenever you make plans with some one, and you set a time, you usually also have to specify whether you are talking Mexican time or American time. American time means that it WILL happen at the hour agreed upon, Mexican time, however, means that you could wait up to an hour, or even hour and a half, before the plans actually come to fruition.

We wound up leaving on Mexican time... 1:15pm on Saturday. After much waiting, stalling, coordinating, we were FINALLY on the road to San Quintin for this concert that was promised to be AMAZING! Casey and I really wanted to get there because, thinking like pragmatic americans, if we were going to drive 5 hours (there and back) for this thing, we wanted to at least BE in the place we were going longer than the travel time it took to get there and back! With each minute that passed our pragmatism diminished slightly...

So, we were at least on the road at 1:15--not so bad. We're driving along, I'm following Isai because I have no idea how to get to San Quintin, and after about 15 minutes of travel, Isai pulls off the highway and into the "parking lot" of a convenience store... mind you, we had just been at a gas station where they had a convenience store only 15 minutes earlier...

I'm the kind of person who embarks on a road trip and DRIVES until the gas tank runs out, making people "hold it" until we either run out of gas or reach our destination! (Must have something to do with how we did road trips growing up...) Casey and I exchanged glances and both threw our hands up in the air... "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!". We walked in, grabbed some grub with the rest.

::NOTE:: Please know that all this is being written with a huge smile on my face, because you can't help but embrace the differences in culture, the differences in views on time, planning, and road-tripping. I LOVE these people and it makes me laugh to experience all these things that are SO far out of my normal realm of experiences. Please also note that not ALL Mexicans show up late. Very many of my friends here try to be VERY conscientious of punctuality ::NOTE::

The trip itself was not all that bad. We drove down highway 1, the only "major" highway that goes from the top of Baja to the bottom. It was windy and curvy and nestled in the mountains that run along our beautiful peninsula.

We got to San Quintin at 3:30ish to find that there wasn't actually a festival at all, but rather, a long line of people waiting to get into the concert (that started at 6). So all our rushing and planning and pushing really was a joke in the end anyway, because we really didn't need to get there as early as we did! It seemed like icing on the cake of our day of inside-out, upside-down, cultural baptism by fire.

The concert itself was AMAZING! One of the best parts was that it was FREE! Other than paying for gas and food, we didn't have to pay a thing. The headlining artist was Alex Campos, who I had never heard of before. He is from Colombia and has a really cool latino rock sound to his music. I really enjoyed the concert and bought his CD on iTunes when we got home! His lyrics are really powerful and he has a great mix of sounds and beats on the CD. I highly recommended you go get it if you can (and if you speak Spanish)!

The concert ended at 11, we were all tired and ready to go home, but we couldn't find Perla and her friend Blanca. We sent the men out to look for her and the rest of us waited in the cars. Finally, the two girls materialized with the "search party".

The way home was fine, everyone fell asleep, but I told Casey that if she was going to sit in the front, that she wasn't allowed to fall asleep--it's the rule! It started to rain on the way home, for like the third time in the past 100 years (haha, not really...). Since it barely rains here, the people are not used to driving in the rain--they are EXTRA cautious, so cautious that they drive 20 miles an hour on the highway. It drove me nuts, but once you get to a certain point, all you can do is laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

Great day... great concert, great drive, great people, great cultural experiences, great cold weather... just great.

Then, on Sunday, I was baptized in the Pacific Ocean. They dunked me. I will have a whole separate blog on that complete with pictures and video once I get them from Casey's camera. I promise. For now, this blog post is TOO LONG, so I will leave you itching for the story of my baptism in the next post. :o)

Hurricane Norbert

For all those of you who are concerned for our safety because you have heard that Hurricane Norbert is hitting Baja California this weekend, fear not... see below


Norbert will hit Baja California SUR... we are miles and miles and miles from where it is hitting our peninsula... so fear not.

I just thought I'd put your minds at ease.

Los anhelos de mi corazon

It is very easy to get to a place, see what's going on, and become overwhelmed with what the people are doing, what the people want you to do, and lose focus of the passions God has laid on your very unique heart (because He has made all our hearts unique). It is very easy to desire so much to be a help that you will bend and twist what God has laid on your heart to make it fit the mold of what you are being pushed into.

There is definitely something to be said for flexibility and meeting the needs as they are presented before you, but at the same time, there is also merit in remembering who God has created you to be and what He has made you passionate about. Recently, I have been focusing so hard on understanding where my gifts can fit into the ministries that are already running here, that I have been trying to squeeze myself into a mold into which I do not fit.

God did not call me here to "be a Mexican". To all of you reading, that may seem quite obvious. You might even say to me, "Kourtney, that is quite silly! How can you be just like the Mexicans? You are American." But for some reason, I had this silly idea in my head that in order to be an effective servant and missionary, I had to meld into the culture and blend in perfectly. My unconscious goal was to "fit in" and work with the people by "becoming one of them".

I see now, that is pretty much an impossible goal. No matter how comfortable I become or how comfortable the people here become with me, I will never BE an inherent part of their community--"one of them", for lack of a better term. And, this is not a bad thing.

::Sorry if this all seems so very obvious to the rest of you::

I am currently enjoying the freedom God has given me to be myself among people who are inherently different from me and within a culture that is not my own. Up until now, I have been holding back on a lot of opinions, shying away from conversations on controversial topics, and trying to appease many of the very conservative beliefs surrounding me.

Now, instead of walking on eggshells, constantly being afraid of offending someone, I am enjoying the beauty of our differences. Neither one of us is better than the other, just different. And God did not create me just like the people here. In our differences, we are going to learn from one another.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going around picking fights with everyone or praying the Rosary (which would be a heresy to the Protestant Church here), but I am feeling free to express my opinions when the opportunity arises to discuss them. The key is not to blend in and pretend I'm just like them, but to grow together in mutual respect to come to a better understanding and better place, in closer connection with God.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14

I understand that this verse was not written to encourage our individuality and rights to self-expression, but as God is calling us to be the salt and light of the earth, He is calling us all to do it according to who He created us to be. Here, Jesus is getting at the fact that it is illogical to cover up the light He has put inside you, but this verse comes to mind because, in being salt and light, God is not calling us to be something we are not, but to rather be exactly who He has called us to be--His faithful followers. And as a faithful follower of Christ, I am obligated to bear witness to the ways in which He has worked in my life and how He has shaped me.

All this to say that not only am I praying that God would show me where He wants to plug me into the ministry here, but also praying that He would show me (and remind me) more clearly how my passions and who I am as a person fit into my calling of being a servant and a light among those in my community.

But in tandem with this, I also ask that He would continue to change and shape me. It does no good to settle into who I am at this very instant and refuse the Potter's hand as He works in me. Rather, I desire to stay true to the work He has done up to this point and still willingly receive the works that are yet to come, asking for wisdom to know the difference between the two.

Mission-minded

This has very little to do with Mexico, other than the fact that people in Africa are suffering, just like the people I'm serving here... but for all of you who are mission-minded and have hearts to serve and give, I thought you might appreciate this. Please watch it. :o) Please consider giving.


The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

A small digression

so because i love spain so much, and i've been looking for this video online since i got back two and a half years ago... my finding it now merits my putting it up as a remembrance of the previous time i spent in a spanish-speaking country

If you bake it, they will come...

So first of all, I really want to thank all of you for your support (this whole past year, this past month, and this past week...). Your encouraging words have been a blessing. Thank you for your sincerity, thank you for your love, thank you for your prayers.

I have made a commitment to being honest in what I write to all of you, and I think this is important because I want to give an accurate and honest picture of what it is like to be here, specifically through the lens through which I see it. I have explained to my sisters on various occasions that sometimes, I'm reluctant to share some of the harder things because I don't want people to worry or to think that I am miserable here. But I DO want to share the hard stuff because, just like the good stuff, it is part of the experience. So, as I share, good and bad, it is not indicative necessarily of how life is in general at the time of the post.

That being said, thanks again for all your support and love in response to my last post. For me, it's scary to be vulnerable like that and share what's actually going on in my heart... so it was encouraging to receive encouragement and not panic.

_________ .. _________ .. _________ .. _________ .. _________

I've always heard so many sayings about feeding people and making them happy--"The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach"and "An army runs on its stomach"...

I'm adding to that repertoire this quote: "If you bake it, they will come."

Here in Mexico, Casey and I are finding that food is one of the easiest ways to connect with people and "break the ice". The women here really don't bake, and whenever we make something, they are sure to tell us that they don't know how to bake. So when we make cookies, or muffins with the overripe bananas we have, or Mom's specialty carrot cake, the people here are VERY excited about the novel culinary experience of baked desserts!

So Casey and I go to many events armed with cookies or muffins. It is a great way to approach people (offering them something yummy and sweet), and then talking to them if they seem like they want to chat. And now people know that we bake, so they just show up and expect cookies or fun pastries. So, Mom, apparently all those times I made a mess in your kitchen, "playing Betty Crocker", were not a waste... :) And, Thatcher, you can be very jealous that I have already make two batches of the chocolate chip cookies for the people here, and they are enjoying them very much. :)

It has been a fun way to work our way into their hearts and be able to serve them. It has been a little scary, just because the preferred tastes here in Mexico are different than ours in the US. So when I make something, watching people take the first bite and waiting for a reaction is a little nerve-wracking! So far, the reactions have been positive... and they keep coming back to eat our food, so it must not be terrible.

Last night we hosted our first family for dessert and coffee. Pastors Francisco and Isaii and their families came over for Mom's Carrot Cake, Casey's peanutbutter cookies, and coffee. It was a great way to hang out with them and get to know them better. We chatted about a wide spectrum of things, from football, baseball, to how a pastor needs to dedicate himself to ministry to see his church grow.

Casey and I are often struck by how cool Pastor Francisco is, and how that coolness can sometimes be intimidating. He's a great pastor with an amazing heart and vision for his church. It's funny how when you respect someone so much and admire them from what you know and have seen of them, you wind up being nervous to approach them and talk to them. I'm glad we got over this with Francisco, because by NOT talking to him, we're missing out on a great relationship!

So it was nice to finally sit down and talk to him about his church, his experiences, his passions, where he feels God calling him, but to also just talk about silly things like the Mets and the Yankees and the 49ers and the Eagles.

So we shall continue to bake and invite people over. It is rewarding and quite fun... I never thought doing missions would put my baking to the test like this... :o)

the shortest distance

"The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor."
-?

To be perfectly honest, I have really been struggling in the past few days.

I have been struggling to understand exactly where God wants me to be within this ministry down here. I want to serve, but I don't know what it is supposed to look like. I want to encourage the people in the ministries and help them grow, but I don't know what I have to offer.

I have been struggling with a divided heart and divided attentions. My heart is in pieces as we approach the one year anniversary of my brother's death. I am overcome with grief and sadness at random times. I'm torn between being vulnerable with the people here about my struggles and just getting through this time with the support of Casey. I don't want to be dishonest, but I'm afraid the people here won't understand. From what I've seen, they view death very differently and process loss differently.

I have been struggling between being honest with my emotions and holding them back for a more "appropriate time". I am not usually one to cry with other people around, but the past two nights I have wound up in tears at the prayer services.

I have been struggling between helping and being helped. I need to be vulnerable and humble enough to accept support from my Mexican brothers and sisters, but I feel like I have nothing to give them in return.

BUT... oh there is a BUT...

Last night I had a moment of clarity. Up until last night, it was extremely difficult for me to pray alongside my Mexican brothers and sisters because of the way in which they pray. Everyone prays all at once, out loud. I am easily distracted and have not been able to focus my heart in prayer. Up until last night, I would pray in accord with whoever was praying the loudest. But, last night, I knew I needed to pray.

We were all on our knees, everyone was praying, and the process of despairing in my distraction started again. But God got ahold of me and said, "JUST PRAY!". So I started to pray. It felt unnatural and uncomfortable at first, but God focused my heart and I was able to enter into a time of honest prayer.

Praying didn't take away the struggles that are on my heart. Praying didn't heal all the pains I am feeling. BUT clarity came through prayer.

Casey and I have been saying that we want to dedicate more time to pray for the ministry and for God's direction, but it has only been talk. We have not actually gone to God on our knees and asked Him for direction.

As I was laying in bed last night, reflecting on the time of prayer, it suddenly seemed so clear what God was directing me to do: pray for His people, pray for His church, seek His face, and the rest will come when it needs to.

As far as my struggles with my heart and mourning my brother, He has called me to continue to pray about that as well. Pray for His guidance, His healing, His wisdom, His peace. Being honest with God about how I am feeling and what I feel Him doing is a powerful move. We can't hide from God, so why try?

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray." James 5:13

I would ask that you, too, pray for these things. Please pray for the 6 churches down here. Please pray for the ministries. Please pray that God would clearly show us where He wants to use the gifts He has given us.

Please also pray for my heart. Please pray that I do not push emotions aside, but that I find a healthy and appropriate way to mourn my brother while still serving the Lord. In our weakness, God is strong and He will do great things through me in my broken state to bring glory to His name.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. It is encouraging to have people tell us that they are praying for us and know that you TRULY are.

Perhaps this will help...

I just wrote a monstrous e-mail to people who had been asking me questions about life here in Mexico... a lot of basic stuff. I figured a lot of you would like to know the answers to those very same questions, so I am going to put this e-mail up on my blog as well.

I hope this answers a lot of your questions about what we are doing here.

_______ .. _______ .. _______ .. _______ .. _______ .. _______


Well hello there!

So many questions! Haha... Let's see if I can answer them all...

So, tell us more about Maneadero and your new home?

Maneadero is a small town outside Ensenada. It is about a 25 min drive into downtown Ensenada, give or take 10 minutes depending on time of day and traffic. Our "home" is right on the main highway (which very much resembles Rt 38 or 73 for its 4 lanes and plethora of businesses and stores that line the road). Obvioulsy, it looks nothing like Rt 38, but that is the closest comparison I can make. :o)

The poverty here is very much like what we have seen on the border. Some people have houses that are built from cinderblocks and have bars on their windows and such. Further off the highway here in Maneadero, there are many houses that have been put together with plywood and other random things that people can find to make into a house. The closer you get to Ensenada along the highway, the more put together the houses are.

Maneadero has two parts, la parte alta and la parte bajo (the high part and the low part). To me, the high part (which is called such just because it is higher in the mountains) seems to be more impoverished and has less businesses. I have been told, however, that the high part is safer. We live in the high part. The low part is closer to Ensenada and the houses are closer together, there is a soccer field, more gas stations, and apparently more crime and drunks on the streets.

All in all, I feel very safe in Maneadero. Our "home" is called the Segundo Piso (the second floor) because we live on the second floor of a building that doubles as a home and business. It is simple and pretty spacious considering the size of many of the houses here in Maneadero. We are working on getting bars on the windows to make it a little safer, and to prevent theft. Apparently most theft here occurs during the day and people usually suspect that it is an "inside job". So we just have to be careful who we trust. We are the only ones with keys to the Segundo Piso at the moment, so our stuff is safe.

Currently, we aren't actually living in the Segundo Piso. We are living in Rick and Tammie's house, house-sitting for them. Rick and Tammie are the missionaries who work down here. The left for sabbatical the first week in September and will return at the end of October. In their absence, our ministry opportunities are limited, but I will explain all that later. But for right now, we are living in their house, making sure it doesn't get robbed, and keeping an eye on the Segundo Piso as well.

Do you have far to go to work?

Well, in order to answer that question, we have to define "work". Work for us right now is getting to know the pastors in the churches, getting to know their congregations, learn about the ministries and needs in each church and pray about where God would have us work within the context of these six churches. Once Rick and Tammie get back, we will start working alongside them and work more directly with the churches and be more of an active support rather than the semi-disconnected support we offer right now. This is a very loose job description, but it is currently manifesting itself as going to ALL the church services each church has to offer as often as we can and as equally as we can. We are inviting people over for meals and to hang out, hanging out with the pastors and their families, participating and lending a hand with the different ministries they have (for example: Rosi and Ricardo have a good children's ministry, Reynerio does a movie ministry to get people to fellowship, Francisco is leading a Bible Inistute, and Ruben has AWANA going on at his church for youth). We have helped out with nearly all the ministries, but have been asked not to take any leadership roles in any of them at this time. The focus of this mission is to empower and come alongside the Mexican church to build it up, to help them build up leaders in their own church and not fill in gaps with Americans who will be here for a while and then leave. The idea is to help the mexicans take ownership of their own ministries and churches. So, for these reasons, our job right now sounds to be a little "fluffy", but Casey and I are taking it very seriously because we need to earn the trust of the people before we work with them and we also need to understand them and their ministries in order to avoid coming in with the wrong attitude and trying to add or change (all with good intentions) and then ruining everything because we acted before understanding. Training for short-term teams and our jobs while they are here will take place most likely when Rick and Tammie come back at the end of October and we'll probably get on-the-job training as well. So, to answer you question: the chuches we work with are all within a 15 minute drive. Work mostly consists of being at these churches or at the pastors' homes. So, no, work isn't far. haha

We aren't working on that church plant really anymore, or the youth center that was originally supposed to go up because the situation with the pastor has changed since the program was originally created. We are still working with the pastor, Ruben, but the church plant has morphed into a church adoption and the fascility for the youth center is already there, along with a strong congregation that could get it running. We will be helping with it for sure, but it is no longer one of our main focuses. There may be an entirely different youth center project starting up when Rick and Tammie get back, and we are really excited about that, and I would ask that you all pray about that because it is in the preliminary stages and we would love to see this get off the ground.

Is it hot?
Yes... dry and hot. still.... I went through three shirts all in one day... haha

What are the similarities to Acuna? Differences?

It is quite similar to Acuna, really only differing in the fact that we work with 6 churches, and not just one. The people work in factories here, too, and still have a hard time finding work. The tacos here are better.... haha.

The short-term teams are run generally the same. There is a VBS project, there is a construction project, we eat REAL mexican food, prepared by one of the pastors' wives. The construction is usually a house for church members or construction of churches.

VBS is kind of different because they do it differenly according to how many times a group has been back. Tammie told me that they invite groups who have never been here before to plan one good, full day of VBS and we travel to the different neighborhoods with that VBS. Another option is to do it like we have in Acuna, which is stay with one church and do a consecutive VBS throughout the week.

Another differenence is that they do trips Saturday to Saturday. We get to worship with the churches and it is a really cool experience.

Meals are eaten in a Dining Hall (which is actually the Segundo Piso). Most of the time, the pastors join us for meals and their families do as well on occasion. The last night is often dedicated to eating with the families we have served in the construction projects all week.

That's all I can think of right now... haha.

When do you anticipate your first mission team will arrive?

Well, we already worked with two teams. We weren't in charge or specifically leading the teams, but we helped with the many behind the scenes things that need to be done when there are teams here. Our next team is supposed to come over Thanksgiving. Rick and Tammie are currently touring churches in the states and filling our calendar for 2009. We are expecting teams in the beginning of December, January, and a team in February. All those are tentative commitments.


Once again... thank you so much for your continued support and prayers. I'm sorry I haven't e-mailed you all very much so far. I have been busy with services and taking care of business while Rick and Tammie are gone, but also, it is just hard to put all of this into words and explain it all. It is so different from what I had originally expected, and therefore, everything needs to be explained. Haha... I was praying before I came that God would keep me flexible because, going into this, I knew life never works out exactly as we plan it to. God has been faithful and has kept us flexible. :o)

Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to make sure I gave you a clear, honest picture and explanation of what is going on down here! I hope it was helpful!

You can also be checking my blog (www.prayformexico.blogspot.com). I update it pretty regularly and I try to keep it up to date with the work we are doing here.

love love love you all!

Kourtney

Many adventures...

So these photos above are from today (Sept 15), mostly, and man... are they funny.

Rosi and Ricardo are a couple that pastor a church in a community called Durango. Their church is Roca Fuerte. They have a pretty sweet children's program going. The kids from the community have memorized a ton of scripture (they actually put me to shame and challenge me to memorize more scripture). The pictures above are of the festivities that took place today with those very same children.

Rosi is completely invested in this ministry and is always conjuring up new ways to minister to them and have events for them. She cares about them so much and it is completely evident in how she works with them. Her heart is a heart for children's ministry and it brings me joy to be able to work alongside her.

So... today, Rosi organized a parade for Mexican Independence Day (which is actually tomorrow, Sept 16). The kids all got dressed up and we drove around the little community beeping our horns and yelling "VIVA MEXICO" (LONG LIVE MEXICO). The kids were SO excited to get all dressed up. The boys dressed up like Emiliano Zapata and the girls mostly wore long skirts and loooooong braids, dressing like the original indigenous women. Rosi let them wear her jewelery and made little sombreros for all the boys. MaryCarmen and I got sombreros too (as you can see in the photos).

It was pretty simple, but Rosi put in so much effort and planning to make this work. The kids truly enjoyed themselves. And it spoke to me of her heart for these kids and how much she really does care for them. So many of the experiences these kids have, they have because of the way God is working in their lives through Rosi. Without her there, they would not otherwise have this wonderful store of experiences.

Then, after the parade, we went to a "lake" and she bought a pinata for the kids to break. We piled tons of kids in our cars to drive out there and played games, took silly photos, broke the pinata, and then had a contest to see who could quote the most scripture. It was great.

The funny little puppet you see with MaryCarmen in the beginning photo and that you see me kissing is Fernando. He's quite the ladies' man. Casey and I found him in the apartments where we were storing a lot of the supplies the groups left for us. While moving the supplies over to the Segundo Piso to organize them, Fernando somehow never left the car. Now, because Casey and I often have occasion to have many people in our car, Fernando has met a good portion of our acquaintences. And above all, he is a GREAT ice-breaker. People jump in the car and he is the FIRST thing they notice. They grab him, ask questions about him, and inevitably someone puts their arm up his back and he comes to life. And the funniest thing is that he has the SAME personality each time. I don't know what it is about this little puppet, but he loves the ladies! Inevitably, he hits on whatever girl is in the car. It is hillarious. Casey and I have resolved to never let him leave the car because when he is around, our lives are never lacking in laughter.

Praise God for funny-looking puppets. Praise God for people with hearts for ministry. Praise God for children who scream "VIVA MEXICO" in little parades. Praise God for pinatas and silly children. Praise God that no one got hurt today. Praise God for pastors with hearts that are truly invested in their ministry. Praise God for pastors, period. Praise God.

OJO!

Hey all! This just in... I added a slideshow on the right-hand side of my blog. It is a rolling show of pictures from here in Mexico to add to your viewing enjoyment. You can look at them here on my blog, OR if you click on it, it will take you to my picasa web album where you can see the larger images. Just a friendly fact for you all. Facebook was not cooperating with uploading, so I figured I'd go with old faithful (good old google) and upload them here instead! :o)

I am in love with google.

... and just in case you can't see the one on the right, here's another... :o)

Much overdue photos

So to the left is our back deck. That big black tank is our clean water. We have to have a guy come fill it once every couple weeks (or when it's low)... haha.





Above is our bedroom a few days after arrival. We tried to make it homey. Haha. With the lack of dressers and nowhere to hang wet towels, we made due with what we had! :)

To the left is the dining hall, our living room. In this pic we have it set up for the group and we're eating Posole with the group from Big Bear, CA.



This is the view to the right of our back balcony. Maneadero is surrounded by mountains. I was told if someone from Montana knew that I was calling these "mountains" that I would get laughed at... but to this jersey girl... these are mountains.


Terrible picture above, but I drive in Mexico. Scary thought, I know. But hey... all those years of driving the burris bus did me good!

To the left, I'm playing guitar... haha. Obvious, huh? I'm learning. I was probably being corrected in this picture, hence the confused face.

Above is our absolutely very first picture in Mexico. Here we're in Santo Tomas (a very little village town thing in the mountains) at the opening ceremony of a Boys' Home. We'd been up for about 20hrs at this point... haha


On the left I'm sitting wit Lydia, a young girl from the church in Ruben's neighborhood. We went to Awana and I was helping her memorize her scripture. She speaks english and spanish and it was really fun to get to share with her in both languages. She's a really sweet girl!


On the right above is the "stage" at the opening ceremony at the Boys' Home. Miguel is on guitar, his wife, Adriana is in the dress, Leyda is in the green pants and Sammy, her husband, is on piano. Little did I know that these were the very people I would be seeing on a regular basis and hanging out with for a year!


So there you have it... a little taste of Mexico. There are more pics on Facebook, but senz explanations. :o)

Forever far from those you love...

So Matt Peace came to visit us last week. He wanted to check in, see how we were doing and get to know us a little better. Matt Peace is the director of Short Term Missions with the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

As we were talking about this experience, what we (Casey and I) should expect, and how we are currently feeling, he told us that from this point on in our lives, no matter where we are, we will be far from people that we love. It sounded a little funny to me, but he explained himself: While we are here in Mexico, we are far from all those we love at home, but once we go back home, we will be far from those we have come to love here in Mexico. So from this moment on in our lives, we will live far away from people we love, whether they are our families or those with whom we have grown relationships while doing missions.

As I get to know the people here, share my heart with them and get to see more of their hearts, I realize the truth in what Matt shared with us. I can see myself growing to really love these people and appreciate them in all their uniqueness. There are so MANY different people here, and each of them bring something so beautiful to the body of Christ, whether it is their passion for service, their passion for the word, their passion for honest and healthy relationships, passion for children, or even just their good sense of humor... these people are working their way into my heart. I could feel it from the first moment I met them... but each day, it grows and grows...

Tonight we went for the first time to Gabriel's church. He is a young pastor, the youngest of all 7, and has the smallest congregation. They just celebrated their 1 year anniversary as a church on Saturday and were SO excited to be able to declare a year together in the Lord.

When we got there, Gabriel's face LIT UP! It was one of the absolute warmest welcomes we have received here in Mexico. He had only met us once before when we stopped by to meet him with Tammie. It was a VERY brief intro, and then we left. So tonight, we actually got to talk to him, meet his wife, fellowship with the few people from his congregation and then particiapte in their worship service. It was such a blessing to be there with them. He has a great sense of humor and really has a passion for the word of God. He really wants to challenge his congregation and with God's help, does a good job.

We got to hear his brother preach on Saturday night at a youth conference, and it is quite obvious that the good sense of humor and gift of preaching runs in the family.

Gabriel's parents are part of his congregation and they are an obvious support to him. They sat right in the front and offered confirming AMENs and ALELUYAs throughout the service. It was nice to get to talk to them and get to know them as well.

This congregation is little, but passionate. Gabriel's passion for the word is contageous and he clearly loves the people God has put in his path.

I'm really excited to see what God does with this congregation in the next year. Gabriel's wife was talking about starting a service of "pura alabanza", meaning just praise. She was really excited about it and hopes to get it off the ground in a few weeks. We shall see....

In the meantime, Casey and I are praying about where God would have us working once Rick and Tammie get back. Our time right now is to be dedicated to getting to know the people in the different churches and asking God where He wants us and where He wants to use us. So many of the churches are doing such wonderful things that I'm not even sure what I have to offer them. I can offer them my love and support... and any counsel I have for them would most definitely come from God, not me, because I really have nothing to offer.

Thank you all for your prayers and emails and updates on your lives... I really appreciate being able to stay connected to home.

PS- I made Grandmom's tomato sauce and had it for dinner tonight with Casey. :o) It was yummy. A little taste of home...

Corn Flakes

So the people here can't say my name... at all. The bane of my existence is that I speak Spanish, but all native speakers have a heck of a time saying my name.

So Ricardo, one of the pastors, started calling me Corn Flakes because he can't remember Kourtney. So he's assimilating it to something he DOES know in order to remember it...

I called him corn flakes back... hopefully this doesn't stick

Smooth like buttah

So I've decided that instead of trying to capture the entire experience in writing, I'm going to share stories as I go. Some will be silly. Some will be significant. Some will be profound. Some will be just plain beautiful.

Tonight I want to share with you about my first experiences DRIVING in Mexico. Once I got here, I knew i would be driving at least a little bit because rick and Tammie told us as much. Chuck had mentioned perhaps going out on a test drive in the van we are using to ease into the driving here. Mind you, driving in Mexico is not for the faint of heart. There are virtually NO rules. People fly all over the road and make turns when they shouldn't, zip out into the "highway" and nearly hit pedestrians on a regular basis. Just being IN a car here is an experience, let alone being the one driving!

So I knew I'd be driving because Casey expressed concern and fear about driving the van (very old, very boxy, very big vehicle that is ours to use for the year), while I informed Rick and Tammie that i am one of 6 and that I drove a suburban for a number of years. So my experience and fearless attitude (haha) gained me the position of chofer.

I wasn't expecting to have to drive until later on this week because Rick and Tammie just left today and Chuck is still here. BUT, Monday, Casey and I were over at R&T's doing laundry and hanging out when Tammie got a phonecall from Rick asking her to meet him at the mechanic's, and to bring me so I could bring the van back to the house.... baptism by fire. :)

Casey and I prayed before we pulled out into the street... but not until after i was made fun of (in a friendly, jovial sort of way) by the guys working at the mechanic's who were watching me try to make a K-turn in their little space so I wouldnt have to back out into the street.

Driving it was really awkward because it is such a big car and the roads here a bad, and the people are crazy. So I was driving like a granny and being very careful... we got home safely.

It was quite an experience... nothing catostrophic happened, but as we were driving I looked over at Casey and said to her,"See, this is one of those things you never envision yourself doing. When I was a kid, I never for one second thought that I would be driving a ridiculously huge van down highway 1 in baja california." We both laughed...

But the real point of this story is to tell you all that I've got this driving in Mexico thing down. There are lots of times when you have to make tight turns, turn around in awkward places, and back out of narrow places without hitting a large variety of objects.

I had two small victories today...

1) I backed out of the small space behind our apartment while being wedged in by another van, a sedan, 4 garbage cans, and cement fencing... all this was done with a great deal if finess and without getting as much as a scratch on the car...

2) We have to turn around each time we come out of R&T's house b/c it is a dead end. They live right at the very end of the road and it is quite narrow. The K-turn to be made usually involves going forward and then in reverse at LEAST 3 times because the space is so small... but I have gotten sooooo good that I juxt whipped around, reversed once, and did that turn... :o) And as we completed the turn, I looked over at Casey and said, "Smooth like buttah"... because that's what I am..

hahahahahaah. I crack myself up... Driving in mexico is quite an adventure...

Three posts at once...

::NOTE:: Once again, this is written in Word… still no internet in the Second Floor ::END NOTE::

28-08-08

So yesterday we spent a large portion of the day over at Rick and Tammie’s planning things out for the year. It was really good because we got to know them better over the course of day. We shared our stories with one another and got to talk about what we would like to see happen in this next year. It was really good to be able to connect and share.

Rick and Tammie work their booties off and really love the people here. They really encouraged us to just start building relationships with the people in all the churches and even suggested that we invite them over for meals and just spend time with them… that made me happy! One of the things I had originally thought about doing was exactly that—invite people over for meals and hang out with them. So when they said that it would be a good thing to do, it made my heart really happy.

It has been amazing to just watch them work with the groups and see the relationships they build with everyone they meet. They both have a great sense of humor, but are really passionate and genuine as well. They truly care. It’s kind of sad that it is something that touches me so much, but I feel like people like them are really rare. God has them here for a reason and that is crystal clear. I’m really excited to work with them and learn from them.

So… last night was our first night without any real dinner plans… so we decided that we would try out hand at cooking. We went to Comercial Mexicana (which ironically is an American-owned store) and bought VEGETABLES! We bought broccoli, peppers, and tomatoes! We really haven’t eaten any veggies so far, so it was really excited to go through the fresh produce section and choose veggies to eat. We made a simple meal of pan seared chicken, sautéed vegetables, and twisty pasta. The broccoli cooked with garlic and olive oil reminded me intensely of home. It is the one thing my mom makes that I think I have down. I mean, broc and mac is really easy to make, so it really shouldn’t be such a source of pride for me… but my mom and I like it the same—a little burnt and with a lot of garlic—so it is exciting to know that I can make it just how we like it. And Grandma Terri would be very proud of all the colors on our plates. According to her, you should have a variety of colors on your plate to have a complete meal. Hopefully our veggie selections made her proud. J

Today we worked most of the morning studying the background of Colossians. Chuck has given us a variety of materials with historical, political, and cultural information. I’ve read through the book before, but now, looking much more deeply at the context and the purpose behind the letter, Paul’s words come to life with such vibrancy. So we are learning a lot and Chuck, being the wise leader he is, has picked Colossians specifically because of the parallels between Colossea’s background and the current situation here in Baja.

So life is good. We are learning. We are visiting people and getting to know them. We are sharing with people and learning the lay of the land. We are growing in faith and ::hopefully:: wisdom.

Thanks for all your prayers from back home. J

::NOTE:: Once again, this post is being written in Word on Aug 26 and posted at a later date… still no internet in the SP ::END NOTE::

Team building requires a lot of trust and vulnerability. It has been a cool two days in which Casey, Chuck, and I have gotten the opportunity to really chat things out, spend time getting to know one another, and be truly honest about how we’re feeling about how this venture is going so far. Rick and Tammie went up to San Diego with a team to debrief them, so Casey, Chuck, and I kinda bee-bopped around on our on these past two days. Intensive periods of time spent with people really facilitate the drawing out of deeper conversation and “true confessions”.

After spending this time with them, I can really see us starting to gel as a set of people who will be working together. We are building confianza, which literally means trust, but Spanish-speakers use it and for me in this context, it carries much more than that. It is more like a level of knowing some one and a level of comfort you reach with people…

We all shared our stories with one another (or at least most of the stories) and I was really amazed and strangely surprised at the ways in which our stories share unexpected similarities. Of all the people who could be coming together for this journey, God chose us three, and knew how our stories overlapped. He knew the shared burdens and hurts we have and the unlikely commonalities. So it is a blessing to have these two people here with me. They are unique, and quite special. They both bring very different things to the table than I do, and I appreciate that about them.

Today we met Reuben and his family (Elvira, Reubencito, and Abelito). It was cool to get to know him and hear about what God has been doing in him in the past 8 months and where he is now in his ministry. We went to the AWANA meeting at a church in his community and got to see some really cool stuff. I’d never been to an AWANA meeting before, so it was new and different.

::NOTE:: I am currently without internet in the Segundo Piso where Casey and I are living. Today is Aug. 25^th and this post will be saved in Word and posted ASAP ::END NOTE::

I had been praying that God would help me not go into this with too many expectations. From past experiences, God has definitely taught me that when we go into situations with specific expectations, more often than not, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. So in preparation for this journey, I was really trying to keep an open mind, and not expect too much. Alas, I fear it is impossible for the human brain, in anticipation of things to come, to not imagine even the concrete things that lie ahead (like our apartment, the churches, our bedrooms, the kitchen…).

That said, the Segundo Piso is the “Second Floor”. We live here, above a store, and it has been quite fittingly dubbed “The Second Floor” (henceforth to be referred to as the SP standing for Segundo Piso). Up until this point, the SP has been used as the dining hall and kitchen for short-term teams while they are here, and as living quarters for the summer interns. It’s a simple place, but I like it. We have a “wrap-around porch”… haha. It really serves as a thin balcony in the front and keeps its narrow character all the way to the back where there is a deck of sorts. The stairs to get up to the SP lead from the back of the building up to the back porch. So, effectively, the back door really serves as the font door, and the back deck is actually more like a front deck…

Casey and I are sharing a room with three bunk-beds in it. We are slowly putting up pictures and making the room more home-y. But, in all seriousness, this IS a year of missions… so we were never expecting the Hilton. :o)

We still haven’t had to cook for ourselves, so that will be interesting once it happens. I’m truly not sure when that will take place, but I’m excited to go food shopping and start getting things going. I already have some one who is willing to teach me how to make tamales (a classic Mexican dish).

Tomasa is Faustino’s wife. Faustino is the pastor of Camino de Cristo, a church we work with and serve and Tomasa makes the food for the short-term teams. Last night she made us tamales. Naturally, Tomasa is the one I told that I’d like to learn how to make tamales. Perhaps in the next weeks, as there are no short-term teams here, I can get a few lessons. I really like her. I had a chance to chat with her a bit and apparently I remind her of a friend she has that she’s known since grade school.

And following that vein… it has been awesome to get to know the pastors and their wives so far. I’ve met 4 of the pastors and 3 of their wives. It really has been a blessing to be able to talk to them and start to get to know them. I can’t imagine the struggle it would be to not be able to communicate with them. It is already intimidating enough to jump into their world, but to come in as a stranger who can’t even talk to them would be even more difficult. They have all been really welcoming and helpful. They are really eager to share with us and help us whenever we need it.

So life is good. Life isn’t easy, but it’s good. These are the people who I want to serve. I’m being stretched (yes, already), and God is being gentle with me. Things are moving along and it is going to be an awesome ride. J