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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Roller Coaster Ride

"Roller Coaster" is how I would describe this past week. Everything just seemed to go up and then get knocked down over and over.

Starting at the beginning of the week, monday was pretty normal. We went out to our villages, and just sat and talked with some women and children there. It was a great relationship building time, and we got to hear some of the desires for the village. They asked us to teach their kids sports, and to also teach them some english! This is a great opportunity, and gives us a little direction as to what we can do for the remainder of our time.
Tuesday looked very different. My group started the Liter of Light project that we hope to implement into our shanty town village by the end of the summer. It was a great first attempt, but, as with any project, has lots of room to improve. The houses in our village are constructed of corrogated tin, and maybe a little bit of wood. They have no windows or ways for light to come in. So, during the day, their homes are very dark. This project will place a coke bottle light in their roof, providing light for their home. Here is a link to a video and you can check it out:  http://youtu.be/o-Fpsw_yYPg
Wednesday, my village team was beginning to get discouraged. We were questioning what our purpose is here, and how, if at all, we could make an impact. We had convinced ourselves in a way, that because we weren`t seeing success in the same way that other teams were, then we were not being successful. This day, we were supposed to work on the light project again, but ended up not doing do, because we were waiting on the correct tool to come in. So, this left us without a plan. We ended up running errands before having to be in our village at 8pm. However, throughout the day, God continuously showed us that we are not doing anything here. He is. We had four different encounters with people in taxis, restaurants, and at the Zocolo. Each one of these encounters were put in place by God to show us that we must not lean on our own strength, because without His strength, we are weak. After each encounter, we were encouraged to see that God will use us in our weakness. The day ended in our townhome village at a cell group through the local church we attend. We were so overjoyed to finally meet some people in this village, and to see the other believers there.
Thursday, we went into the villages with a changed view. We knew that if we gave it all up to God, He would be faithful and show us where we were supposed to go. As we entered the townhome village, we saw the entire soccer field full of men on break from work. Nick, who plays collegiate soccer, jumps right in to play, and Catherine and I sit and talk with those on the sideline. We found out that every weekday, they play on their break. So we are excited to return and converse again. After break was over, we walked the streets and met two people, a man at a restaurant and a lady that sells paletas on the street. Each of these were great chances that we had to make new aquiantences in that village. After all of this, we headed over to our other village. We sat with a friend we have there and her children, and had a great experience. Nick got to share a bible story with the kids, and the woman shared her testimony with us. It was so encouraging to her to have people share the bible with her kids, and it was encouraging to us to learn that she tries to set an example of Christ and share her story with all those around her.
As the village time rounded up this week, we found ourselves on our knees at the Throne. We are so in awe of how the Lord works, and have realized that we do nothing, but God uses us as His tools to accomplish His tasks.

Then, the downhill slope came. I got word on Thursday night that Kyle's grandma passed away. I was suddenly in a pit as far as struggles go, because I wanted to be home with the ones that I love for support. I found, and am still finding it hard to be away from my best friends and second family. Over this weekend, it has been hard to be strong, and hard to remember that I am supposed to be here. It is hard knowing that people I love are hurting, and I cannot physically be there with them.

Going into this next week, I am praying that I can focus on Mexico and my work here. I am excited to see what God has in store for our villages, and ready to be used as we are on the end half of our trip.

Prayers:
- Kyle and his family
- my focus to be here and knowing that this is where God wants me right now
- courage to get into deeper questions and relationships in our villages
- more relationships in the townhome village
- one of our taxi/bus driving friends and our relationship with him to grow and get to the gospel

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