Off We Go!

We have seen some miracles done in these last few days in the area of financial support. Almost everyone has there support with exception to a few Mexican students on the Australian team who leave Saturday. Everyone on our team was given the green light on Monday and we leave this afternoon to Guadalajara around 3 p.m. Please pray for safety in traveling especially since the staff sees me responsible and fit to drive, which has placed me in the position of the second primary driver of this trip. I´m good for the long haul but the twists and turns around the mountains to Guadalajara makes me a little nervous. It is a seven hour ride so we should get there around 10 p.m. I love my team so much and there is no doubt that God´s hand is over this because of our cohesiveness and vision that stands out amongst the other teams. The time has finally arrived and I can not wait to see what is going to happen.I have 2 1/2 months left in Mexico and I know that this time is going to shape what I will be doing afterwards. Many people ask me "what is next?" and I was given the offer to come back on staff last night by our school director. Pray that God would give me clarity and affirmation for the next steps to take after my time here because decisions will be coming up sooner than I know it. May lives be changed through radical love and selflessness.

Intense Times!!!!!

A reality bomb has been dropped on our school with deadlines for outreach coming up in days. YWAM Mazatlan has put on four of these schools and they have sent teams to Egypt, Morocco, Mexico, Spain, Bolivia, Turkey, Congo, and France. They have never held anyone back from their outreach because they lacked the financial support to go. Now the school has seen some big miracles done at the very last minute and that is where we are at right now, the last minute. We have been trusting God to provide the entire time and now our faith and trust is being pushed more than ever. Many people are waiting on responses and we feel like all our efforts and contacts have been exhausted. Our leaders are stressing out and especially our accountant who is dealing with all of the money and responsibility and I can say that I do not envy her job at all right now. My team is on board with the rest of the school because after the incredible gift we received which has enabled almost all of us to go we brought on another team member and there was a few other costs that came up which has now left us $1,000 shy of taking two of out Mexican teammates. Our deadline was originally today at 2 p.m. which left us in much despair because the minutes were ticking away to a reality of a first that this school has not seen before in not sending anyone on outreach.

We just found out that our deadline has been moved to Monday (4/16) which is good but at the same time I fear that we will have another nail biting day like today. It is crazy because rationally as an entire school it is hard for me to see all the needs: Team Australia $7,000, Team Asia: $20,000, Team Mexico Family: $5,000, and us Team Mexico $1,000 (total: $33,000) come through in a matter of days. Faith is what this organization ahs been built on and this is how they are going to continue. Please be praying for all the needs that are left and for peace to be over this place. I can not say that I have personally been around many situations that seem impossible and have to trust God to make it possible, but I am in a place and ministry where my faith is being stretched. I thank God that my outreach is covered and that I am leaving on Wednesday, but I am in a community where I rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn, and care for those in need. At the end of the day I know that no matter what happens God will be glorified.

One Week Away

My team and I are about to pack up our things, load up the van, and head out to Guadalajara one week from today. We have been praying and meeting all week about what we will be doing and who we are going to work with and we are excited about what is ahead. One of our ministries is going to be blessing the kids who are abandoned on the streets to fend for themselves. These would be the kids who jump on your car to wash the windshield while you are at a stop light in Mexico. We are going to ask them how much they make in a day and pay them more than what they would earn and give them the day off. With this time we will take them out to do normal kid things like going to a park, zoo, or just out for some ice cream. We will break out into two teams and do this three days out of the week and follow up with the same kids every other week. When I went to visit Guadalajara over a month ago I noticed men who would wash parked cars along the street in hopes that the owner would come back soon and whether they requested for it to be washed or not would pay a little. I want to spend the day getting to know these men and their stories. I want to see how they see and experience what they experience and share Christ’s love with them. I wish to pay them their salary at the beginning of the day and work alongside of them without charging the people and telling them the work has been done out of love. My conviction is that I do not want to give money and tell them that Jesus loves them but to get to know them and show a faith that does more walking, caring, and loving than just talking. My team has the same heart beat and that is why we do not have many dramas lined up or tracks to hand out but instead we have our hearts ready to love in action and do more investing. I trust that God is going to do something amazing out of this and that these ideas and ministries are going to lead to even more opportunities and communities to reach out to. We are also hooking up with a couple of churches during that time and will be working with their youth programs. After our month of Guadalajara is up we will travel way down south to Chiapas where God has shown us some incredible vision and opportunity. I will give you the run down on that trip on a later date. Please pray for protection, unity, and further vision as we move forward.

I Can Not Describe

I can not even begin to describe how incredible this trip back to Austin was for me. It was absolutely blessed from the moment I arrived to the moment I left to Mexico. My soul was refreshed and inspired by being around every one of you all and it was just what I needed. There are so many things that God revealed to me this weekend I could write for pages and pages about them, but I will share them over a period of time. One thing that I do want to share that is very hard for me to articulate was the response of my Mexico outreach team when I got back. My team consists of seven girls and two guys (pray for me) and we represent four nations (United States, Mexico, Egypt, and El Salvador.) These last few weeks have been intense for the entire school because of passport complications and support that is needed for all three teams (China, Mexico, and Australia.) Part of my trip back was in hopes that I could help raise some finances to meet our needs. I had just a little bit of news for them last Monday for our meeting. I casually informed them that our entire need to send our team was met through one gift. A one hour meeting went on to become a two and half hour meeting with much crying, shock, disbelief, and praise. There is no way that I could recreate that moment if I tried and I found myself in tears because of this generosity and God’s faithfulness. Many of us were becoming challenged with despair since deadlines were approaching, especially my Mexican team-mates (it is tough to raise money in Mexico.) This trip was not only a blessing for me but for many. We are getting ready because in three weeks we will be heading out to Guadalajara for a month, then Chiapas, and finally Mexico City. Our plan is to split up the time between city life (Guad/Mexico City) and indigenous life (Chiapas). Please be praying for vision as we are meeting and praying about how to uniquely impact these cultures and people groups. God has given me a couple of visions for Guadalajara and Mexico City that I have shard with the group. I will give you all details about this later this week after we meet and begin to put wheels on this idea. Thank you all so much for making this dream a reality and I look forward to updating you on how God is going to use us in transformational ways for this outreach. School, community, and Mazatlan have been good but the miraculous is yet to come.

¿Sabes Que? (Guess What?)!!!!!!!

I will be coming to Austin next weekend to pay everyone a visit(22nd-25th.)I am about midway through my time here and I would love to catch up with you all and share stories and pictures. I got the green light from my school and I can leave on Thursday the 22nd and have to be back on Sun. 25th. Many of my Mexican classmates have traveled to their hometowns to visit famalies, friends,and churches to give updates, raise support, and to just hang out. They have inspired me so do the same, so it has been on my heart to drop in. I am so incredibly thankful for the opportunity and blessing I have to to make visiting a reality and I look forward to seeing yall next week. Holy Guacamole and Santo Avacado I get to see yall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´m just a little excited!

Week 10

I can not believe that I have been here for 10 weeks and in 5 more weeks I head out to Chiapas and then Mexico City. This weekend was humbling because we had the opportunity to minister to a local community that lived at the city dump. Last week because of some government issues about property, 40 families were relocated. We went out to the new site and helped in anyway that we could from building homes to helping a local church serve food. What was inspiring was the fact that 38 of these families are Christians because of the investment of the church. I was amazed how they were smiling and talking about how good and faithful God is when what little they had was taken away. These are people who reside in homes made of literally four inch tree trunks, blankets, or any other material that may provide some protection from the sun. As I walked near their homes to see if they needed help they would invite me in to sit and talk. We also spent some time blessing all the kids there by playing games, painting their faces, and having a water balloon fight. Their faith was very encouraging to me and it has added greatly to my experience here.
Some future thoughts. . . I spent a lot of time wondering today. Wondering about what I am going to do after all of this. Go home and work and then come back, thoughts of possibly coming on staff here have begun to emerge, going to other Latin American countries and doing more work. My heart sings for Mexico, but where in Mexico and in what ministry does it bleed for? What is my future ministry going to look like? I had just spent a year of clear direction in getting here and I am asking the question "where exactly do you want me to go with all this?" God is faithful but please pray for clarity and direction in my calling because I know that four months is going to fly by.