Hey everybody... about a year ago, Steve and Amy Shoop began the adoption process for their son, Seth. He has been living with them since then, but the adoption still isn't finished, which means they are not able to go back to the United States. Today, they are supposed to hear from their lawyer with news on whether the judge has decided to sign off on the final paperwork.
Obviously this would be an added stress for them. Please pray with us today for favor in this situation.
I am not sure how much coverage this is receiving in the United States, but this is definitely something to keep in your prayers. Click here for more information.
Yesterday was a thinking day for me... The past few Sunday mornings, the street in front of my house has been blocked off. It was a little annoying at first because people who were driving would have to find detours. Sometimes they would make their way onto the sidewalks in order to get around the barriers placed on the street. Motor cyclists decided to make the sidewalk their new road. At the major intersection of my street and another well traveled road, people were posted to make sure that no one could bypass the blockade. At the intersection, we saw a sign that said, "Making Zapopan a Better Place to Live" (in Spanish of course). At first we thought that our street must be under heavy construction, but there was no crew to be see. Why would they go to so much trouble? Then we saw all of the bicyclists waiting for the red light so they could cross to the other side of the street. We then decided that it must be some sort of race...but they didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry. We then noticed the children and the smaller print on the sign that said, "Preserving the Family." They had blocked off the street so that families could spend a few hours riding bikes together. Some people did not have bikes, but had decided to walk along the route anyway. Many motorists found this to be incredibly frustrating, and let the people posted at the intersection and bicyclists know it by blaring their horns. In my opinion importance of this weekly event greatly out weighed the inconvenience. (I don't have a car here anyway...and I'm in no hurry Sunday mornings considering that my church starts about a half hour past the official starting time of 11:00a.m. Even so, I felt that my opinion mattered.) Family needs to be on the top of our priority list, after God. That's the way it was designed to be. Having a relationship with family may be inconvenient for others... and might even take a few extra hours of your day that you don't feel you have. It's so important to have guards in place because, like the cars...things (probably important things) will try to interfere or at the very least distract from creating and maintaining a meaningful relationship with the people that God has placed closest to your heart. Obviously this doesn't just apply to our biological families... but to our Christian family as well.
So that was my first major thought that kept me occupied as I got on the slowest bus probably in the history of the world... When I got to church, I wondered what the sermon was going to be about, and prayed silently that I would be able to get something out of it. Thankfully, the power point was working, so I stopped worrying because I knew I would at least catch the main points. I then began to ponder if I had prepared my heart to hear what God had for me in the service.... At that point it hit me, I had been looking at things all wrong. I don't have to go to church to meet with God. (It's not that I didn't know that before yesterday, I just realized I haven't been putting what I know into practice very well.) I feel God's presence at church during the worship time or feel that a message can be applied to my life, because I go knowing that He is there. I think a lot of times, I forget that I don't "meet" God at the church. He rides with me on the bus to get there. In fact, while I sleep He watches over me through the night. The moment I open my eyes, He's already there. It's not even that I have to do anything special to "meet with Him"...He's inside of me, and all around me. I take that for granted so often. I expect to be close to Him during devotions, church, ministry events... but when I'm doing homework and have three exams to take within two days... it's a different story. I don't go into that situation expecting to hear from Him, or even acknowledging that He wants to go through it with me. I almost compartmentalize my life... but God doesn't pick and choose where to show up. I just have been picking and choosing when to realize His omnipresence. I guess that's because it's easy for me to be service oriented and miss the intimacy of relationship... for a lot of reasons. God has been revealing to me how desperately He wants my heart, not just my service. Matthew 7:22-23 is a good example of that. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you." God doesn't define a relationship as doing, doing, doing... but as intimacy with Him. (Martha and Mary is a pretty standard illustration for that point.) Honestly, I don't have quiet times, or go to church, or do ministry enough to only be tuned into God during those times. I often give and settle for so little in my relationship with God. Here's part of Psalms 63. (My mom has a beautiful song based on this Psalm.) Psalms 63 1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. When I took the time to really read this, I was blown away... to David, God was more than food, water, sleep...even life! That's the passionate intensity that God wants me to have for Him in our relationship. Hmmm... So I know that's not a very good ending to that section...but I'm going to have to continue pondering that... and conclude it another time. All of this transpired over the course of about ten minutes...so I was glad that the pastor had his main points on the power point... because I would have missed that portion of the sermon if he didn't. After the service Kayla, Tina, and I went to lunch with Jacob and Daniel...some friends from church. We ate in a retro school bus that had been placed on the second floor of the restaurant. It was a fun experience...and I was "muy mexicana" because I put a ton of chile sauce on my torta ahogada. That's pretty much the only thing that they could say is "muy mexicana" about me...because my Spanish is most definitely "muy gringa." Although... it's nice to see how much I've progressed since I first arrived in January. *Pictured from left to right is Daniel (F.L.), Tina (B.L.), Jacob (R.F.), and me. Kayla was taking the and so her beautiful face is not shown here.
Today was Mexico's Independence Day. It was fun to see how patriotic so many people here are. My church had a party with a mechanical bull, and amazing tamales! It was a great time of hanging out with my friends... although we discovered that a lot of jokes are definitely cultural. (I told the duck joke, but most people thought it was sort of mean. I didn't think most of their jokes were funny either because they had to do with word play...which isn't my cup of tea.) One of the missionaries had spoken earlier in the week at the children's feeding program about the significance of the flag's colors. When she was speaking about the color red, she said that Mexico was able to celebrate peace, but it was gained at a high price. The price was the blood of thousands soldiers who bravely sacrificed their lives. She related that to spiritual peace and freedom. It was only because of Jesus' blood that it is possible in our lives. That thought has been in the back of my mind all day throughout the different activities.
Today also marked the "Commissioning Day" for 40 days of prayer and fasting for the Engage in Missions team. We started this because many Christians, even in ministry, are not in the habit of consistently praying and fasting. Please keep me in your prayers as we embark on this journey. I know that God is desiring to move in the city of Guadalajara, and I also know that God is looking to build discipline in my life. I felt that God was asking me to fast by not communicating with mi novio, and I have struggled with wanting to be obedient...and well, just not wanting to do what God has asked me to do in this particular area. However, all of that aside, I am very excited for these next days, and know that this is far deeper than what I feel and can see from the starting line.
So, the last time I posted anything was right after the Wisconsin team...and yes after them came the amazing, wonderful, and yes over-all good looking Grandview/ Yakima Team. They were the last team for the summer, and it was nice to end the whole short-term missions marathon on a good note. One particularly memorable experience was that one young lady, who will remain anonymous (*cough* Vernice *cough*) felt the call of God to missions. Making opportunities for people to experience missions, especially when it leads to them hearing God's plan for their life, is one of the reasons I am here in Mexico. The last week of July, some of the other Engage Students and I went to the Missions Convention in Puerto Villarta. I thought it was a pretty sweet deal to watch little monsters...um...I mean 2-5 year olds for five hours a day and have food and lodging covered. I left for home right after my week in Puerto Villarta. I was so excited to see my family and friends again. The trip back was... to put it mildly, traumatic. Through a series of unfortunate events, I returned home never wanting to step outside my door again. My time at home was very relaxing, and it was so good to be immersed in familiarity. To be completely honest, I dreaded coming back to Mexico. The day I left, I found out that my online classes already began, and I was over a week behind. I hadn't heard anything because of an error on my University's part. I was beyond frustration. I told my mom on our way to the Pasco airport that if the plane was even delayed for five minutes I was not getting on. (A delayed flight was how my traumatic experience all started the month before.) Obviously, God wanted me to go because I had absolutely no problems at any of the airports. My fear of returning wasn't only based on the fact that I would have to travel or my school situation. It was much deeper than that. For the past several months, I have felt that I have been completely ineffective during my time in Mexico. I haven't come close to mastering the language, I haven't prayed with anyone to accept Salvation, I felt like I was the only one on the team who didn't have something to offer and wasn't completely in love with every aspect of the mission's experience. I was discouraged, and felt that I was alone. As I was preparing to come back to Mexico, I poured out my heart to God. I told Him that I couldn't do another three months like the past three and begged Him for things to be different.
He sure answered my prayers. When I was picked up from the airport, I was taken to a new house, with a room the size of the old one's walk in closet. There isn't even enough room to sit up when I'm on the top bunk, and I have smashed my head a couple of times. (To eliminate any confusion, I now love my new house and room! The whole set up has more of a dormitory feel.) Later that day, I met five new girls one of whom was my new roommate, Autumn. (I love all of the new girls.) After that I was kinda-sorta briefed on the new way ministry in general had been organized. When God answers prayers, he completely answers them. Needless to say, even though I had prayed for things to be different, I was completely overwhelmed with how everything had been turned upside down. I still felt that I was ineffective as well. God totally blew my mind with what happened next...before I explain, let me give a little history. Last semester, I felt that I didn't really belong because I was the only person to start in January. Everyone had already been able to get to know each other, and I felt that I was the odd one out... Alright, back to God blowing my mind. I was talking with the people who had returned from the previous semester one night. They began to talk about how many times they feel discouraged, inadequate, never wanting to hear another word of spanish, etc. I was shocked because I had never heard them say that before. To everyone's astonishment, we all had been feeling the same way, but feeling alone and isolating ourselves. We decided right then to encourage each other, and to work on being open.
This has been such a time of spiritual stretching for me. When I feel like I can't go any farther, God shows me that I can, and that He's right beside me. I am so excited about these last three months I have been given to minister to the people of Guadalajara, Mexico. So, with that, in a nutshell, catches everything up to speed. I am caught up with my internet classes and am starting with Spanish on Monday...
So, the Wisconsin team left this week...they were an awesome group of people. We did a lot of children's programs...two everyday. It was so amazing to see the kids' receptiveness to God.
Other than that it's just been raining...A LOT. It's rainy season now, so it just starts pouring out of no where and then disappears after an hour or so...but it does this a few times a day. We've had some pretty massive thunder storms...but mostly rain. I'm not a huge fan:) The next couple weeks should be pretty relaxed...and then Grandview Assembly of God is coming!!!
