Praise the Lord! Yesterday, one of the other groups Team Agapetos (our race rivals but family too) shared with the rest of us about their experience at drug rehab center that was nearby. Jake, who has an amazing heart for these people and speaks almost fluent Spanish was able to share a word with the people there at the rehab center, and because of that I think almost 20 people decided to give their lives to the Lord! He really does give us so much to be thankful for, I guess sometimes it just takes a little extra for us to see that. Jake had to give a spur of the moment sermon, and God rewarded His obedience with such blessing. I know that regardless of whether or not there was even a single soul that changed that day, it was still a blessing because of Jake´s obedience. But sometimes I wonder about my role here in the larger group.
I am definitely an otter (given from a test about personalities, meaning fun, spontaneous) and that shows in how I interact with other people. But I worry about a recent challenge to us about door to door evangelism and or preaching to larger churches and whatnot. I guess I came to be stretched but how did I come to be stretched? I have never desired to be a preacher or an evangelist but I know that God uses us in so many different ways and that His ways are bigger than ours, but what do I do? I will be obedient and really focus on how this will help those around me, but will it be helpful to them if I am not good at any of these things? Father I pray that you may strengthen my hand when it is unsteady. I pray that my mind will seek comfort in you as I wrestle with things that confuse me or scare me. I pray that I will be real and not try to seek the approval of others above your love and correction.
I feel as if this blog is all over the place, but it represents how things are here in Mexico. The structure that we are used to in America has been stripped away and we have been exposed to ourselves and our weakness and strengths. Even eating here seems to harder than normal as we have been trying to stay within our budget of $2.75 per person per day. I know that it is not a lot but we are not here to taste the latest fashion foods, but it does make you stress a little about how we can make some good meals on such a budget. It is actually fun sometimes to see what we can do with it, and along the way God is blessing us with families asking us to stay and eat with them. Already our entire team of 55 people were invited to an amazing party where the fatted calf was literally slaughtered and served to us. It was delicious! It was after a church service in a little village and the service was in three languages because even the locals speak very little Spanish. Whew. Now I don´t feel as bad that my Spanish is not that great- there are people living here who don´t speak it either! But seriously, it awesome to meet with some people from a church plant many years ago. It has flourished and is alive with the Spirit working in the people there! Praise God!
