Live from Fresnillo...Midweek Update!

Here are a few random thoughts for this week...

• I have had several successful accomplishments and breakthroughs this week: the Drano is making a difference in my shower, I figured out how to connect my computer to the printer we recently inherited (thanks, Mary!) even without the installation CD (actually this was my smart Mac's accomplishment, not mine), and I got to cross off several projects/tasks on my list today. These may seem like small things to most people, but it's amazing what kind of difference they make especially if you have been showering in ankle-deep water, need to print your newsletter later this week, and have had some seemingly-inefficient days lately where you couldn't finish anything.
• Even predictable people you know very well can still surprise you. Yesterday, I surprised myself with a thought that was very uncharacteristic of me. I was opening one of my drawers, saw some winter clothes, and thought almost subconsciously, "Oh, winter! It will be nice when it's winter again." What?! Where did this come from? I pretty much hate winter and spring can never come quickly enough again for me each year! I suppose the thought (which was very fleeting and quickly corrected by my conscious mind) came mostly from seeing some winter clothes that I hadn't worn in awhile. This part is not very surprising since I always look longingly at my skirts and flip-flops each January, wishing it could be spring again. Apparently, while I might occasionally have whimsical, out-of-the-blue thoughts, some things do not change.
• I used to sometimes watch SNL when I lived in the U.S., hence the title tribute. I loved being on central time because it came on earlier, and I almost always turned it off after Weekend Update and then went to bed...which is where I am off to now!

June Snapshots

As you might suspect from my lack of blog activity, June was a busy month. I thought I’d share a few pictures that tell some of the highlights…

My Birthday

On June 13th, I enjoyed celebrating my first birthday in Mexico. Highlights from the day were Meredith's cupcakes on my birthday eve at youth group, fresh Gerber daisies and yummy homemade caramel rolls by Karen in the morning, receiving lots of hugs and birthday greetings at church, seeing a movie (in English) in Zacatecas in the afternoon with Elizabeth and Felicia, and then eating at the delicious Italian restaurant in Zac with all 3 of my roommates and Sergio and Faby, our sweet neighbors.

ÉXITO end of the year party

My weekly academic class for 4th-6th graders ended in June. We read Charlotte's Web this semester and for our last class, we had a party and watched the movie. Teaching ÉXITO this semester has definitely been one of my favorite parts of my job, and the last day felt a little bittersweet--kind of like the last day of school before summer when I was a teacher. I love the special place in my heart these kids have, just like all my old 4th graders still do.

Club T-shirt Give-away

Also in June, we finished Club for the summer. Every year, the kids that learn all of the verses (about one a month) and also have good attendance, receive a t-shirt at the end of the Club year. We have a big celebration for them and give all the shirts away on a Saturday in June. The verse that is on the shirt for this year is John 10:27. I was excited that a lot of my girls were able to learn all their verses and receive shirts. Here we are above sporting the new Club shirt. :)

Texas Trip 2010

At the end of June, part of our team headed to McAllen, TX. My roommates Felicia and Karen that are moving back to the U.S. were going to fly home from Texas, and we also had to sell one van, transfer the title of another van, and do LOTS of ministry supply shopping. We left Fresnillo on Sunday, and Karen and Felicia flew home on Wednesday. (See above picture from the airport.) However, for the Jones family and myself, the Texas trip turned into a little adventure thanks to Hurricane Alex...we decided to remain in McAllen until Friday instead of leaving Thursday as we'd originally planned, but after a few hours on the road on Friday, we had to turn around because the highway was closed. We headed to Laredo this time since it is slightly closer than McAllen and spent the weekend there. Thankfully, we were able to get back to Fresnillo on Sunday. While it was somewhat frustrating to be "stuck" in Texas a few days, I know the Lord is sovereign and has a purpose in every situation and could have been protecting us from lots of things. I also think it's a good sign that I was so eager to get back to Fresnillo! My highlights from the trip were enjoying a few more days with Karen and Felicia before they left, eating at yummy U.S. restaurants, finding a fabulous sale at GAP in the McAllen mall, and spending some great bonding time with the Jones family. :)

Hugs from God

I recently returned from a trip to the U.S. It was a wonderful trip and a blessing in so many ways. I am very thankful for all of the time I was able to spend with dear friends and family, worship and fellowship with my church families in Birmingham and Tallahassee, enjoy the beautiful landscape of the Southeast, and eat lots of delicious food (both my favorite restaurants and home-cooked meals). Not only did the Lord provide all of these opportunities and answer lots of prayers for my time in the States, but He also blessed me with several special moments that I can best describe as "hugs from God." Those things that just encourage and bless me in such a personal way, I can almost see God smiling down on me as He sends them...

• several times, providentially running into people I love dearly but wasn't going to have a chance to see
• learning that Caroline and Natalie pray for me every day when they say their prayers at night
• things working out so easily and quickly for the renewal of my teaching certificate, and the lady that helped me being a believer
• being able to travel to both the mountains and the beach
• prayer time with the Four Oaks Missions Prayer Group ladies
• my brother being able to come home for a long weekend and getting to spend time with my whole family together
• the feeling of wanting to come back to Fresnillo and being excited about this next year

Of all the "hugs," maybe the last one is the one that means the most right now. While I do of course wish I could have spent a month in the U.S. visiting people instead of a week and a half, I am really thankful for the fact that I really was looking forward to coming back to Mexico. I have recently felt so affirmed about my decision to stay another year. Praise God for that excitement and confirmation!

Rainbows in the Van

Right now, there is a LOT going on here. It's easy to get caught up in everything and let the stress rob me of my joy (even though I'm praying and trying not to let it, of course). One thing I've been trying to do is just focus on each moment and not think about all the worries, questions, tasks, etc. Whenever I focus on the kids around me, I can forget about all the other things at least for the moment. Today in the van was a perfect example...

As we were driving around picking kids up for Club, a few little boys were sitting up front. When the van was facing certain directions, it would catch the sun and act as a prism making "rainbows" appear on the floor of the van. "Un arco iris!" Saul shouted when it appeared, and each time it reappeared, he would gleefully announce it again and giggle to himself. Then, he would try to put his hand there and say how there was a rainbow on his hand now, too. As I laughed along with Saul and the other boys, I loved watching their sheer joy and excitement over such a small, simple thing, and I was filled with joy too in that moment. Thanks Lord for moments like these...

Missionary to Missionary

Last Sunday, a missionary came to our church here in Frensillo to share with us about her work in Africa. Her name is Daena, and she is 24 and from Zacatecas (the state capital, about an hour away from Fresnillo). She has been in Mozambique for the last eight months and is now raising support to go back there for a year (at least) at the end of this month.

Daena's visit really encouraged me in several ways. For one, I just really enjoyed talking with her. You know those people that you instantly "click with" and easily fall into great conversation even when you've just met them? :) She definitely fell in that category, and I was glad that I got to go out to lunch with her and a few other people that afternoon in addition to visiting with her at church.

However, her visit also really encouraged me about being a missionary myself. As I was sitting in church, eagerly listening to Daena share about her ministry in Mozambique, I had flashbacks to times I was sitting at church back in the U.S. and listening to missionaries share. I would always get excited about their stories and testimonies, and I would also pray and wonder if missions might be something God was calling me to at some point in the future. Suddenly, it hit me that I was still getting excited hearing about all that God is doing around the world, but that at the same time, I was in the exact same spot as the person sharing--a missionary myself! While that might seem obvious, the Lord both renewed my passion for being a missionary and reminded me of His faithfulness in my life and how He's led me to this point. It was a sweet realization.

Daena shared one story that especially touched me. She talked about a woman in Africa who had just heard the story of Jesus' death and resurrection for the first time and was very moved by it. She asked, "When did this happen? Last week?" She couldn't believe that this had happened 2000 years ago, and no one had told her until now. Wow, talk about convicting! What an awesome privilege and responsibility we have to share the Good News each day...wherever we are.

In Due Season

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." -Galatians 6:9

For years, I have loved this verse...maybe because it is so easy for me to "grow weary in doing good" and I am encouraged by the promise that there will be a harvest if I do not give up. Lately, I have been thinking about this verse in terms of the softening of people's hearts. A lot of the people in our ministry here have hardened hearts and lots of self-protective walls up. They have gone through so many things that I can't even begin to imagine, it's understandable to see why their hearts are hardened. Nevertheless, we continue to pray that God would break down those walls and heal their hearts completely with His restoring love.

Last week, two things happened that encouraged me in how God is working in the hearts of people here. One of the newer ladies on my cooking team for Torta seemed a little unfriendly the first time I met her and somewhat closed-off. However, last Saturday as we were having our short devotional and prayer time after cooking, she shared a very transparent prayer request and one that showed she was desiring to grow closer to God. I was so encouraged by this! The other thing was very small, but it meant a lot to me. One of the girls on my Thursday morning Club route is named Yohana. She's not in my Club class because she's in the 9 and 10 year-olds class, but I have gradually gotten to know her over this year through my van route. Each week we pick her up in the van, I greet her with a huge smile and enthusiastically ask her how her week has been. Like most pre-teens would respond, I usually get a short-one word answer from her. Every week once we get back to the church, there are two more houses I stop by on foot because the kids live right behind the church. I usually invite Yohana and the other older girls to come walk with me. They always do and seem to enjoy going along while the younger kids stay and play on the basketball court before Club. Last week, as we walked to two houses, Yohana reached out to hold my hand completely on her own initiative and continued to hold it the whole time we were on our walk. While I'm used to my five and six-year-olds wanting to hold my hand here, this really surprised me and touched my heart. It was a simple gesture, but one that showed that we had built "confianza" (or trust) over the last few months. Even if she never chatters away with me in the van, I know she knows that I care about her--and that means a lot.

Of course, there are also a few kids here that still have their innocence and know how to love without fear. Another precious Club moment I had recently was when Chewy (a nine-year-old boy on my morning van route) gave me a present. It was a little plaque that said "El Amor de Dios es Tu Refugio" and had a verse from Psalms on it. On the back, he had written "Para Cayli, Mi Mejor Amiga." (The kids call me Cayli here--I can explain why another day. It's pronounced like "Kylie" in English.) This totally made my day! I'm not even his Club teacher, but somewhere along the way, I've been able to show him enough love and kindness that merits me to be called his best friend. Wow.

So, we keep trying to "do good" here each day in God's strength and remembering that God is at work in hard hearts and soft hearts alike...

Monday Musings

The last couple of months have been really busy ones for me, and I have neglected blogging. Being super busy is one of the reasons I have for the neglect, but I also sometimes feel that I have so many things to say, I don't even know where to start, and so I never do start. So today, I decided that instead of trying to blog about the last 2 months of my life (a task that seems overwhelming and impossible), I would just write a few random thoughts. So here they are, both the profound and the shallow...

*On Valentine's Day, we had a big fiesta for all of our Club kids. (You can read more about it and see pictures on my blog for kids: www.fieldtriptomexico.blogspot.com.) We spent a lot of time praying for the party beforehand, and it really was a great time. However, we had one rather scary incident at the end where a child wandered off and was missing for several hours. Thankfully, the police found her, and she was fine. We always pray for protection here and were so grateful that nothing had happened to her. As we drove home that night, tired but relieved, we talked about how you never when you're praying for something like protection, just how important those prayers might be. Elizabeth commented that even if something terrible had happened to the little girl though, it wouldn't change who God is. He is still perfectly loving and sovereign, no matter what the circumstances of life are. So true...

*I recently finished reading Expecting Miracles by Heidi and Rolland Baker (missionaries in Africa). It was an excellent book that challenged and encouraged me, and I was able to read it quickly because of how it is broken up into short segments. Here is a quote from it that I really liked:

"God is not about using the mighty, but the willing. He is not into using amazing people, just ones who are prepared to lay their lives down to Him. God is not looking for extraordinary, exceptionally gifted people, just laid-down lovers of Jesus who will carry His glory with transparency and not take it for themselves."

*A few weeks ago, I went with Elizabeth to eat lunch with a family she is friends with. I had meant them once before at a basketball game, but they don't go to our church so I don't know them very well. After about an hour, the mom asked me with a quizzical look on her face, "Now, you're from Spain?" and an expression that clearly said, "I would think you would be more fluent in Spanish if you were from Spain!" Elizabeth and I both burst out laughing. Apparently, when Elizabeth had called to say she was bringing a friend with her to lunch, the 12-year-old daughter had heard "bringing a friend from Spain!"

*Last night, I went with a few friends to see a romantic comedy in English with Spanish sub-titles at the Fresnillo movie theater. Since most of the movies that come here are dark and scary and also dubbed instead of with sub-titles, I was VERY excited about it! I also wanted to do my part to patronize this type of movie so maybe they will consider bringing more of them here. :)