Today's theme was the Spirit's power...
This morning, some conversation revealed that we had a few people having weird dreams last night. Weird in a spiritual attack sense, not in a Joel 2:28 sense. That, along with some other occurences, led us to feel that our group needed to pray for strength and shift into a more deliberate wartime mindset... I love that spiritual attacks actually only serve to remind us what's going on and encourage us to press further into the power and protection of God.
For those who were wondering: Yes, I did quote Groucho Marx in reference to spiritual war. No, I'm not sorry.
Heather and I started together today, hoping to run into Isaac (see day 3). Feeling a bit disconnected, we opted to use the first 30 minutes or so of our evangelism time to spend time with God. One of the things prayed for was that someone would approach us, someone we could both talk to. After we prayed, we started walking and within 3 minutes we heard, "Hey, do you guys go to Texas A&M?" (in English). So that was how we met Mixtli, a guy who had spent some time living in Dallas before returning to Querétaro for school. He said he was looking into a lot of religions, seeking truth and that he would love to talk with us after his class about what we believed. While he was in class, we walked over to the other side of campus and stopped to talk with a girl who said she did not have much time to talk and did not speak English very well. We talked to her briefly and then prayed for her and left. As we walked away, Heather felt we should leave a copy of the gospel with her, so we walked back to see if she was there still. She was... de hecho, she was sitting there with tears streaming down her cheeks as she explained that being prayed for was exactly what she needed at that moment (! way to go, God). We took some more time to tell her how much God loved her, go briefly through the gospel and invite her to come experience a community where she could have a spiritual family... (Please pray that she will be able to come to our meet-the-church event on Saturday)... We met back up with Mixtli and share the gospel, though he was less receptive (and a little less friendly) than we had hoped. It was a good conversation though and we were able to plant some good seeds.
We had lunch at ITESM (essentially, the Tec de Monterrey, but in Querétaro), got a campus tour and went to talk with people. Chris and I met our first Mexican Buddhist (as did Justin and Ana) and had a really good talk with a guy named Mario (though I don't think that we will see the fruit from that one). I found a tennis ball on our tour. He now has a sharpie smiley-face and is on my dresser.
We got some logistics done at the hotel (making our follow-up list for the Aguilars (this was frustrating for me, heh)). Afterwards, we headed to their house for some dinner and fellowship (this was beautiful and encouraging). I've loved watching Justin very casually, yet deliberately provide discipleship for David during our times at the house. Tonight he (along with Rodger) encouraged and challenged him to think on spiritual gifts and what that's all about.
An encouragement (per a late-night conversation in a mini-van): we are called to be story-tellers; to bear witness to 1) the greatest story ever lived out (i.e. the gospel) and 2) the miniaturized, individual stories of what God does for us. Everything from salvitic testimonies to stories of encouragement unlooked-for give glory to God. If God does something in your life, tell people; else you are robbing him of the glory due his name. Our lives stand as living monuments to the work of God, but monuments without explanation lose their meaning. Nobody knows why Stonehenge is there; it's cool, but ultimately meaningless apart from its mysteriousness. I don't want my life to be a mystery; I want everyone who thinks about me to think about Jesus, everyone who looks at me to see Jesus, everyone who talks about me to mention Jesus (Breastplate of St. Patrick, anybody?). Is there anything in life more worth striving for?
Pray that our last day of campus evangelism (Thursday) will go well, that we can meet back up with our previous solid contacts and make some new ones. Pray for physical and spiritual protection for our team and the Aguilar family...
ck: 15
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Day 4: Man's Wisdom/God's Power
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
-1 Corinthians 2:4-5
We started off today with an encouragement from Craig to see through people's veneer of self-sufficiency and see the need that is all around us.
We went today to ITQ (Instituto Tecnológico de Querétaro) instead of UAQ. When we arrived, we had to check in with the guards at the gate to make sure we were allowed to be there (we were, Frankie had gotten permission for us to come as a "cultural experience"). After we cleared security, we paired up and rolled out. Justin, Ana, Kristina and Kassy set up the Soularium (an evangelism method using pictures that allows and encourages people to open up in really impressive ways) while the rest of us went walkabout in pairs to get our Gospel on.
I teamed up with Craig today, which was really encouraging for me. We've lived together and done ministry alongside one another (though in different spheres) for a while now, but never had we ever ministered together. We had a few decent conversations, but then we met Jesús and talked to him for a long time and followed him around on some errands. He was yet another one of those contacts that I really want to see get plugged in to the church here...We didn't go through the gospel with him before he had to go to class, though we touched on some spiritual stuff...
Chris and David Aguilar went together again (these two are a dynamic duo), and their experience was essentially a real-life telling of the parable of the soils. They talked to some people who were indifferent, some who were friendly but didn't understand the importance, some who got actively angry (ask Chris sometime) and then... they shared with a young man who was excited and interested through they're whole presentation and who joyfully prayed to receive Christ afterwards!
In the afternoon, we switched up teams a little, spent another hour out sharing the gospel and then came and relaxed at the hotel for a little while before heading to a plaza to talk to people. When we arrived at the plaza, there was already a group of guys open-air preaching to all the people there. Talking with them revealed that they were part of a different church that was being planted here, which is so fantastic!
We ate dinner at the Aguilar house tonight and spent some great time getting to know the family better. All the guys sat outside and talked (I dunno what the girls did inside) and joked and (unofficially) climbed on the side of the building. Talking to David and Juan about this church plant and about evangelism was encouraging, humbling and mind-blowing. These young men have such a passion for the things of God, it leaves me stunned. Be praying for this family and what God is going to do in and through them. Pray for protection against the attacks of the enemy.
I wish I had more anecdotes to throw in here, there is so much laughing on this trip; it's kind of ridiculous. I feel that the dynamic of this team is more unique than any I have ever been part of. The people here are in so many crucial and even broken places that God is able to receive all the glory for the work that is done and is doing such powerful works in the lives of this team. If you have a person who is on this trip, be prepared for them to return changed.
kc: 12
-1 Corinthians 2:4-5
We started off today with an encouragement from Craig to see through people's veneer of self-sufficiency and see the need that is all around us.
We went today to ITQ (Instituto Tecnológico de Querétaro) instead of UAQ. When we arrived, we had to check in with the guards at the gate to make sure we were allowed to be there (we were, Frankie had gotten permission for us to come as a "cultural experience"). After we cleared security, we paired up and rolled out. Justin, Ana, Kristina and Kassy set up the Soularium (an evangelism method using pictures that allows and encourages people to open up in really impressive ways) while the rest of us went walkabout in pairs to get our Gospel on.
I teamed up with Craig today, which was really encouraging for me. We've lived together and done ministry alongside one another (though in different spheres) for a while now, but never had we ever ministered together. We had a few decent conversations, but then we met Jesús and talked to him for a long time and followed him around on some errands. He was yet another one of those contacts that I really want to see get plugged in to the church here...We didn't go through the gospel with him before he had to go to class, though we touched on some spiritual stuff...
Chris and David Aguilar went together again (these two are a dynamic duo), and their experience was essentially a real-life telling of the parable of the soils. They talked to some people who were indifferent, some who were friendly but didn't understand the importance, some who got actively angry (ask Chris sometime) and then... they shared with a young man who was excited and interested through they're whole presentation and who joyfully prayed to receive Christ afterwards!
In the afternoon, we switched up teams a little, spent another hour out sharing the gospel and then came and relaxed at the hotel for a little while before heading to a plaza to talk to people. When we arrived at the plaza, there was already a group of guys open-air preaching to all the people there. Talking with them revealed that they were part of a different church that was being planted here, which is so fantastic!
We ate dinner at the Aguilar house tonight and spent some great time getting to know the family better. All the guys sat outside and talked (I dunno what the girls did inside) and joked and (unofficially) climbed on the side of the building. Talking to David and Juan about this church plant and about evangelism was encouraging, humbling and mind-blowing. These young men have such a passion for the things of God, it leaves me stunned. Be praying for this family and what God is going to do in and through them. Pray for protection against the attacks of the enemy.
I wish I had more anecdotes to throw in here, there is so much laughing on this trip; it's kind of ridiculous. I feel that the dynamic of this team is more unique than any I have ever been part of. The people here are in so many crucial and even broken places that God is able to receive all the glory for the work that is done and is doing such powerful works in the lives of this team. If you have a person who is on this trip, be prepared for them to return changed.
kc: 12
Day 3.2: A Thought on Outreach
"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." - Philemon 7
A brief exhortation: If you aren't actively sharing Christ with those around you, you are not operating in the fullness of your relationship with God. Beyond our primary motivation of having God's name known and of seeing people enter into the beauty that is relationship with him, we are missing out on how we are designed to live as Christians. Yea, it can be scary and yea, it will probably be awkward. Allow me to say: it's so worth it.
A brief exhortation: If you aren't actively sharing Christ with those around you, you are not operating in the fullness of your relationship with God. Beyond our primary motivation of having God's name known and of seeing people enter into the beauty that is relationship with him, we are missing out on how we are designed to live as Christians. Yea, it can be scary and yea, it will probably be awkward. Allow me to say: it's so worth it.
Day 3: Hitting the Campus (and some walls)
Craig, Chris and I woke up at 6:45 to go running today...then promptly decided that was dumb and went back to sleep.
We got a less-early start with breakfast at 8:30, got some good time as a team (talking logistics with a brief encouragement to meditate on the intense beauty of what God has done in our own lives) and rolled out.
UAQ (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro) (pronounced "OOO-WOK" (yes, this did prompt a slew of "walk" puns)) did not know what hit it. Our desire, our prayer was to encounter the Person of Peace (Luke 10): people who were interested in the gospel, who we could build solid relationship with, who were hungry for God. Our teams broke down asi:
-Justin and Ana (yea, it is adorable)
-Chris and David (Frankie's younger son)
-Craig and Kassy
-Kristina and Javier*
-Heather and I
Nervous and excited, we prayed and went out into the campus. Our goal, as I said, was to make fewer, stronger contacts than we did some years in Monterrey. Between conversations, Heather and I saw our groups scattered across the campus in conversations with the students. Sometimes, we dive right in with, "Hi, we're from Texas, visiting some friends in a church here. We're spending a week on campus, talking to students about God and spiritual stuff, do you have time to talk?" (imagine that in Spanish). Other times, we'll just chill and talk with the students and bridge into God-talk more naturally. Anyway, we met up for lunch and heard some amazing stories of God bringing every group into touch with at least one really open and interested person who we can meet up with Wednesday when we come back to this campus (there's three we're visiting this week) and hopefully get connected with the Aguilar family. After lunch (my first legit tacos this year), we headed back out to keep going.
Heather y yo had a bit tougher of a time. We kept hitting walls. Some people didn't want to talk, others didn't have time, others we had a hard time communicating with. We finally met an awesome guy who I'll call Isaac (mostly because that's his name) who wanted to practice English with us. Isaac is a student and on the fútbol team for UAQ and was a lot of fun to talk to. Right as we were transitioning to the good stuff, however, he had to go to class (be praying we can meet back up with him Wednesday). In the afternoon, we shook off the discouragement and - joined by Adrian - decided to be a little more bold, with the hopes that we could get into the gospel. My prayer: "God, lead us to someone we can talk to, who has time and wants to talk to us..." So we met Rodrigo, the young English teacher who was done with classes for the day and loved the idea of chatting with some real live gringos. We talked with him for two hours about God, the Bible, Jesus, the Church...all of it. Granted, we talked about all of that because Rodrigo was a staunch agnostic who had some intense questions. We hit the gospel hard, Heather shared her testimony, but ultimately Rodrigo was closed to the idea of God revealing himself to us. It was a good conversation, but difficult.
Dinner...yea, delicious.
We got out of dinner late and walked to the plaza *insert a long story about keys and people getting locked out of their home* to hang out. Heather and Javier sat and had a long conversation with a girl who was open, interested and even offered a lot of much-needed encouragement to Heather after our time on campus. I was able to have a good talk with a German gentleman (Hubert) who was visiting for work and had a lot of interesting (though sad) things to share.
(Ask Craig about the time he almost got "arrested" in Mexico).
Sorry for the length, I feel like I could talk for a long time about the people we met today, because each one of them is a life, a soul God is pursuing. Each one of them has a story of hope and hurt, of loss and learning, of fear and faith. For several, I experienced a simultaneous and sharp awareness of God's deep, deep love for them and of their current rejection of his love. It was heavy, but God's love is so patient and beautiful. He will hold out his hands to us in love our whole lives, hoping...hoping.
Please pray for continued contact with our new friends from today, for renewed strength for tomorrow and for great contacts at the other campuses.
*Did I mention Javier joined us from Monterrey today? Having him join us such a blessing. Anyone who knows him doesn't need to have it explained why.
ckc:8
We got a less-early start with breakfast at 8:30, got some good time as a team (talking logistics with a brief encouragement to meditate on the intense beauty of what God has done in our own lives) and rolled out.
UAQ (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro) (pronounced "OOO-WOK" (yes, this did prompt a slew of "walk" puns)) did not know what hit it. Our desire, our prayer was to encounter the Person of Peace (Luke 10): people who were interested in the gospel, who we could build solid relationship with, who were hungry for God. Our teams broke down asi:
-Justin and Ana (yea, it is adorable)
-Chris and David (Frankie's younger son)
-Craig and Kassy
-Kristina and Javier*
-Heather and I
Nervous and excited, we prayed and went out into the campus. Our goal, as I said, was to make fewer, stronger contacts than we did some years in Monterrey. Between conversations, Heather and I saw our groups scattered across the campus in conversations with the students. Sometimes, we dive right in with, "Hi, we're from Texas, visiting some friends in a church here. We're spending a week on campus, talking to students about God and spiritual stuff, do you have time to talk?" (imagine that in Spanish). Other times, we'll just chill and talk with the students and bridge into God-talk more naturally. Anyway, we met up for lunch and heard some amazing stories of God bringing every group into touch with at least one really open and interested person who we can meet up with Wednesday when we come back to this campus (there's three we're visiting this week) and hopefully get connected with the Aguilar family. After lunch (my first legit tacos this year), we headed back out to keep going.
Heather y yo had a bit tougher of a time. We kept hitting walls. Some people didn't want to talk, others didn't have time, others we had a hard time communicating with. We finally met an awesome guy who I'll call Isaac (mostly because that's his name) who wanted to practice English with us. Isaac is a student and on the fútbol team for UAQ and was a lot of fun to talk to. Right as we were transitioning to the good stuff, however, he had to go to class (be praying we can meet back up with him Wednesday). In the afternoon, we shook off the discouragement and - joined by Adrian - decided to be a little more bold, with the hopes that we could get into the gospel. My prayer: "God, lead us to someone we can talk to, who has time and wants to talk to us..." So we met Rodrigo, the young English teacher who was done with classes for the day and loved the idea of chatting with some real live gringos. We talked with him for two hours about God, the Bible, Jesus, the Church...all of it. Granted, we talked about all of that because Rodrigo was a staunch agnostic who had some intense questions. We hit the gospel hard, Heather shared her testimony, but ultimately Rodrigo was closed to the idea of God revealing himself to us. It was a good conversation, but difficult.
Dinner...yea, delicious.
We got out of dinner late and walked to the plaza *insert a long story about keys and people getting locked out of their home* to hang out. Heather and Javier sat and had a long conversation with a girl who was open, interested and even offered a lot of much-needed encouragement to Heather after our time on campus. I was able to have a good talk with a German gentleman (Hubert) who was visiting for work and had a lot of interesting (though sad) things to share.
(Ask Craig about the time he almost got "arrested" in Mexico).
Sorry for the length, I feel like I could talk for a long time about the people we met today, because each one of them is a life, a soul God is pursuing. Each one of them has a story of hope and hurt, of loss and learning, of fear and faith. For several, I experienced a simultaneous and sharp awareness of God's deep, deep love for them and of their current rejection of his love. It was heavy, but God's love is so patient and beautiful. He will hold out his hands to us in love our whole lives, hoping...hoping.
Please pray for continued contact with our new friends from today, for renewed strength for tomorrow and for great contacts at the other campuses.
*Did I mention Javier joined us from Monterrey today? Having him join us such a blessing. Anyone who knows him doesn't need to have it explained why.
ckc:8
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Day 2: Training, Church and Mexican Hipsters
Today kicked off with a 2-mile run with Chris and Craig. It felt really good in this weather, though three gringos running by does merit some double-takes. Granted, the hotel security meant that we were locked out afterwards, but fortunately the owner was up to let us in...we've acquired a remote to get back in next time...
After breakfast, we spent some time together as a team; talking logistics, sharing what God's been teaching us lately and praying. The Aguilar family (that's the church-planting team) arrived and we had a church service in the hotel lobby (yea, that's right, we're so gonna share Jesus with the family that runs this joint). We sang some songs that had popular versions in English and Spanish, then we patched into the sermon from the church in Monterrey (with limited commercial interruption (at least it was the Noah movie...)).
Adrian took us through the Multiplica Multiplicadores training that GCLA is implementing (the link is to the English version). It is a fast-paced evangelism and discipleship method that is very similar to the style that Fellowship's latest Evangelism Training Seminar covered. These new methods that are springing up and catching on stem from the wildly successful church-planting movements in Asia. Essentially, it's training new believers to share the gospel immediately in simple, easily reproduced ways and systematic discipleship that draws them in to a deeper understanding of God. GCLA has tweaked it for their church structure and created what has the potential to bring an explosion of new churches across Mexico. Apparently, the plant here is one of three that are getting started - one led by an old friend from Monterrey!
A brief trip to Walmart (sigh) preceded us going to yet another plaza in front of Convento de la Cruz, which is older than the country of Mexico and has a huge aquaduct (no longer in use) that runs across the entire city. We arrived at the church plaza during Mass, so we didn't get to go inside to see the Árbol de la Cruz, said to have grown from a walking stick that a friar stck into the ground hundreds of years ago. The thorns are said to always grow in the shape of a cross, which has brought the church and convent a lot of attention.
We ate dinner in the plaza at a cafe famous for gourmet tea and pizza. As it turns out, Sunday night are live music nights, so we enjoyed some jazzy jams from a funky quartet while we ate our pizza surrounded by Mexican hipsters...(it was glorious). It was busier than expected, so by the time we were done it was too late (and too loud) to do any evangelism today, so we'll start by hitting the campuses hard tomorrow.
I can sense a growing restlessness in the hearts of team, including Frankie Aguilar, the leader of the church plant. He has a passion and a gifting for evangelism and is eager to see it start. Our team has been learning, praying, talking and dreaming about evangelism since we had our first meeting about this trip. The eagerness, the nervousness, the joy, the vision...the fire that I see in everyone's faces makes my heart tremble with anticipation for tomorrow.
It's gonna be good, y'all.
Pray for all things evangelism-related tomorrow. Pray for us to be in-step with the Spirit, pray for us to encounter ripe fruit, pray for clear communication...above all, pray for God's will to be done.
(also pray for health, we had some stomachs disagree with lunch today (granted, the shrimp did still have faces (I named mine Cameron (that's a Spanish joke)))).
ckc: 5
After breakfast, we spent some time together as a team; talking logistics, sharing what God's been teaching us lately and praying. The Aguilar family (that's the church-planting team) arrived and we had a church service in the hotel lobby (yea, that's right, we're so gonna share Jesus with the family that runs this joint). We sang some songs that had popular versions in English and Spanish, then we patched into the sermon from the church in Monterrey (with limited commercial interruption (at least it was the Noah movie...)).
Adrian took us through the Multiplica Multiplicadores training that GCLA is implementing (the link is to the English version). It is a fast-paced evangelism and discipleship method that is very similar to the style that Fellowship's latest Evangelism Training Seminar covered. These new methods that are springing up and catching on stem from the wildly successful church-planting movements in Asia. Essentially, it's training new believers to share the gospel immediately in simple, easily reproduced ways and systematic discipleship that draws them in to a deeper understanding of God. GCLA has tweaked it for their church structure and created what has the potential to bring an explosion of new churches across Mexico. Apparently, the plant here is one of three that are getting started - one led by an old friend from Monterrey!
A brief trip to Walmart (sigh) preceded us going to yet another plaza in front of Convento de la Cruz, which is older than the country of Mexico and has a huge aquaduct (no longer in use) that runs across the entire city. We arrived at the church plaza during Mass, so we didn't get to go inside to see the Árbol de la Cruz, said to have grown from a walking stick that a friar stck into the ground hundreds of years ago. The thorns are said to always grow in the shape of a cross, which has brought the church and convent a lot of attention.
We ate dinner in the plaza at a cafe famous for gourmet tea and pizza. As it turns out, Sunday night are live music nights, so we enjoyed some jazzy jams from a funky quartet while we ate our pizza surrounded by Mexican hipsters...(it was glorious). It was busier than expected, so by the time we were done it was too late (and too loud) to do any evangelism today, so we'll start by hitting the campuses hard tomorrow.
I can sense a growing restlessness in the hearts of team, including Frankie Aguilar, the leader of the church plant. He has a passion and a gifting for evangelism and is eager to see it start. Our team has been learning, praying, talking and dreaming about evangelism since we had our first meeting about this trip. The eagerness, the nervousness, the joy, the vision...the fire that I see in everyone's faces makes my heart tremble with anticipation for tomorrow.
It's gonna be good, y'all.
Pray for all things evangelism-related tomorrow. Pray for us to be in-step with the Spirit, pray for us to encounter ripe fruit, pray for clear communication...above all, pray for God's will to be done.
(also pray for health, we had some stomachs disagree with lunch today (granted, the shrimp did still have faces (I named mine Cameron (that's a Spanish joke)))).
ckc: 5
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Day 1: Meeting the City
If today was any indicator of the nature of our trip; we're going to have a host of excellent stories to relate to all of our unsuspecting friends back home... "this one time in Querétaro
..." (though I'll probably say México, because Querétaro is a mouthful)
We met at the church office bright 'n' early at 7:25, loaded our luggage, loaded ourselves and rolled out. To prepare ourselves for international cuisine, we got breakfast at McDonalds on the way to the airport. I can't speak for the crew in Pastor Rodger's truck, but the peeps in my car laughed the entire drive.
Arriving at the airport with enough time was a nice change from last year (sorry 2013 team, my bad, heh). We needed the spare time when we hit delays in the check-in process, due to a new - and somewhat unruly - automatic check-in system. After escaping the technology and getting through security, we heaed over to our gate, glad to be done with the complications... from here on out it should be all smooth saili-KRISTINA RENEE CARTER PLEASE RETURN TO SECURITY.
dang it.
...fortunately it was just a case of misplaced identity, which was quickly remedied.
The plane trip was wonderfully complication-free... Chris Langham and I learned that making card houses on a plane is nigh impossible (even if you have cool cards from the D.R.). We landed, eventually figured out our customs forms, got high-fived by the drug dog, etc. (Ask Craig Plata about about that one time he got pulled aside and searched with a bag of white powder (climbing chalk) in his bag)...
Adrian and Frankie picked us up at the airport and we headed towards the hotel. We stopped for a mini-meal/snack and got our first taste of that Mexican food I've been craving for a year now. Two pepperoni pizzas from Papa Johns (which were delicious... PJ's in C-Stat needs to step up their game) with a brief stop at Starbuck's. As we were preparing to re-board our vans (one rented, one belonging to the family here), we saw the shiny, brand-new red scratch on the side of our rental van. *sigh* That will be figured out later, asi es la vida.
For now, we're chilling in our rooms in a house-turned-hotel, which is beautiful and right next to both of the campuses we hope to visit. Tonight, we're going to go walkabout in the city (which is ridiculously safe, for those who were wondering) and grab some dinner. Kassy Sanchez has asked us to turn it into a prayer-walk, which is perfect.
Please be praying that our excitement will continue and that we'll be safe from discouragement as we get started.
some notes:
-I'll stop using last names tomorrow, I promise...
-Italics generally means I'm thinking it in an accent
-Mejor (better) Pizza is not the same as Mujer (woman) Pizza. One is a slogan, one is cannibalism.
..." (though I'll probably say México, because Querétaro is a mouthful)
We met at the church office bright 'n' early at 7:25, loaded our luggage, loaded ourselves and rolled out. To prepare ourselves for international cuisine, we got breakfast at McDonalds on the way to the airport. I can't speak for the crew in Pastor Rodger's truck, but the peeps in my car laughed the entire drive.
Arriving at the airport with enough time was a nice change from last year (sorry 2013 team, my bad, heh). We needed the spare time when we hit delays in the check-in process, due to a new - and somewhat unruly - automatic check-in system. After escaping the technology and getting through security, we heaed over to our gate, glad to be done with the complications... from here on out it should be all smooth saili-KRISTINA RENEE CARTER PLEASE RETURN TO SECURITY.
dang it.
...fortunately it was just a case of misplaced identity, which was quickly remedied.
The plane trip was wonderfully complication-free... Chris Langham and I learned that making card houses on a plane is nigh impossible (even if you have cool cards from the D.R.). We landed, eventually figured out our customs forms, got high-fived by the drug dog, etc. (Ask Craig Plata about about that one time he got pulled aside and searched with a bag of white powder (climbing chalk) in his bag)...
Adrian and Frankie picked us up at the airport and we headed towards the hotel. We stopped for a mini-meal/snack and got our first taste of that Mexican food I've been craving for a year now. Two pepperoni pizzas from Papa Johns (which were delicious... PJ's in C-Stat needs to step up their game) with a brief stop at Starbuck's. As we were preparing to re-board our vans (one rented, one belonging to the family here), we saw the shiny, brand-new red scratch on the side of our rental van. *sigh* That will be figured out later, asi es la vida.
For now, we're chilling in our rooms in a house-turned-hotel, which is beautiful and right next to both of the campuses we hope to visit. Tonight, we're going to go walkabout in the city (which is ridiculously safe, for those who were wondering) and grab some dinner. Kassy Sanchez has asked us to turn it into a prayer-walk, which is perfect.
Please be praying that our excitement will continue and that we'll be safe from discouragement as we get started.
some notes:
-I'll stop using last names tomorrow, I promise...
-Italics generally means I'm thinking it in an accent
-Mejor (better) Pizza is not the same as Mujer (woman) Pizza. One is a slogan, one is cannibalism.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Pre-trip: Psalm 63
1 Oh 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.
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 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
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 I will be fully 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 I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.
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 I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.
God, do not let us set our eyes upon anything less than you. Do not let us be content anywhere else but in the center of your perfect will; in the shadow of your wings. Remind us of the richness that is intimacy with you, cause our souls and bodies to long for you...then satisfy that longing with your presence. Be the one we think about day and night. Let us see you with our eyes, praise you with our lips, glorify you with our hands. And God, use us to bring others to that place of knowing you deeply, of experiencing you truly, of worshiping you only.
Amen.
pre-trip: Update!
Wow, I'm already slacking.
Updates: The money is all raised, we're just waiting for the checks to all make it in to GCLA. We've been praying and prepping and planning and soon I'll be packing.
My friend Elliott agreed to be my "prayer buddy" and committed to pray for me each day of our trip, which is just awesome.
We're leaving Saturday, at which point I will start my daily updates...be praying for us!
Updates: The money is all raised, we're just waiting for the checks to all make it in to GCLA. We've been praying and prepping and planning and soon I'll be packing.
My friend Elliott agreed to be my "prayer buddy" and committed to pray for me each day of our trip, which is just awesome.
We're leaving Saturday, at which point I will start my daily updates...be praying for us!
Sunday, February 16, 2014
pre-trip: Team Training (and multiplica multiplicadores)
Saturday was our all-day training for the trip. We met up at Justin and Ana's house in the morning and discussed everything from cultural differences to packing lists.
We also received our trip schedule from our friends in Mexico; it looks like we'll be doing outreach both on campus and in some open Plazas that people enjoy spending time in during the evenings. It's a good opportunity for the new church to build relationships with their neighbors, though we may encounter less English-speakers.
We also got a look at the church's evangelism/discipleship strategy, called "Multiplica Multiplicadores." It's similar in structure to the Discovery Bible Study Method that Fellowship has been learning about lately. What this method is, is a Evangelistic Bible study method that allows rapid church-planting growth and equips new believers to share their faith and build community almost immediately. The goal is to spend an evening in a person's home, taking them and their family/friends through a Bible Study that focuses on the Gospel and then Discipleship. These types of methods are being used with amazing effectiveness in community-based cultures all over the world. I am super excited to have our team take part in this strategy. Check out this link if you want to look at the materials they use (it's in Spanish though).
We also received our trip schedule from our friends in Mexico; it looks like we'll be doing outreach both on campus and in some open Plazas that people enjoy spending time in during the evenings. It's a good opportunity for the new church to build relationships with their neighbors, though we may encounter less English-speakers.
We also got a look at the church's evangelism/discipleship strategy, called "Multiplica Multiplicadores." It's similar in structure to the Discovery Bible Study Method that Fellowship has been learning about lately. What this method is, is a Evangelistic Bible study method that allows rapid church-planting growth and equips new believers to share their faith and build community almost immediately. The goal is to spend an evening in a person's home, taking them and their family/friends through a Bible Study that focuses on the Gospel and then Discipleship. These types of methods are being used with amazing effectiveness in community-based cultures all over the world. I am super excited to have our team take part in this strategy. Check out this link if you want to look at the materials they use (it's in Spanish though).
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
pre-trip: no worries
God knows exactly what your faith needs.
I feel like the most common thing for me to say to people struggling with worry or stress is what Jesus says in Matthew 6 - seek God, do what he says and everything - every little thing - is gonna be alright (yes, I did just quote Bob Marley to quote Jesus).
Yet, when things in my life start to get cloudy - when all the promised support is slow to come, when the team goals aren't being met, when the people in charge of our trip start to talk about cancellation - I am reminded how much easier trust is to say than to live.
God knows exactly what your faith needs. And what your faith needs is for God to be glorified in and through your life. Sometimes that will look like immediate results; 1 Kings 18, Elijah-style fire from heaven stuff. And that brings God so much glory (be sure to give it to him by telling people of his faithfulness)! Other times, however, God is most glorified by stretching your trust in him. He's taken me to the very edge of my faith so many times, and when I come to the end of myself and cry out in my doubt; he swoops in and provides for me and it brings him so much glory and grows my faith for the future!
God brought me to the edge of my faith today. I have $150 of $1,500 raised for this trip and we're 2 weeks past our $600 deadline, 3 weeks aways from our final deadline. I started analyzing today which bills I could postpone to meet our deadlines without incurring any undue financial wrath. I wanted to be angry at people who ignored my letters, I wanted to be angry at the deadlines and those enforcing them, I wanted to be angry at God for not coming through. But none of that makes any sense. I am so thankful that God always does what is best for me (in this case, revealing my lack of trust). I am so thankful for Rodger and Justin and Jenni for doing all of the things for this trip that I cannot (which is virtually all of the planning, heh). And I am so thankful for the 6 people who contacted me to say "hey, I'm supporting you; it's in the mail!"
God knows and does what is best for us; I call that love :)
Please pray for our team; that we would do all we can in our support-raising and trust that God will take care of us...
I feel like the most common thing for me to say to people struggling with worry or stress is what Jesus says in Matthew 6 - seek God, do what he says and everything - every little thing - is gonna be alright (yes, I did just quote Bob Marley to quote Jesus).
Yet, when things in my life start to get cloudy - when all the promised support is slow to come, when the team goals aren't being met, when the people in charge of our trip start to talk about cancellation - I am reminded how much easier trust is to say than to live.
God knows exactly what your faith needs. And what your faith needs is for God to be glorified in and through your life. Sometimes that will look like immediate results; 1 Kings 18, Elijah-style fire from heaven stuff. And that brings God so much glory (be sure to give it to him by telling people of his faithfulness)! Other times, however, God is most glorified by stretching your trust in him. He's taken me to the very edge of my faith so many times, and when I come to the end of myself and cry out in my doubt; he swoops in and provides for me and it brings him so much glory and grows my faith for the future!
God brought me to the edge of my faith today. I have $150 of $1,500 raised for this trip and we're 2 weeks past our $600 deadline, 3 weeks aways from our final deadline. I started analyzing today which bills I could postpone to meet our deadlines without incurring any undue financial wrath. I wanted to be angry at people who ignored my letters, I wanted to be angry at the deadlines and those enforcing them, I wanted to be angry at God for not coming through. But none of that makes any sense. I am so thankful that God always does what is best for me (in this case, revealing my lack of trust). I am so thankful for Rodger and Justin and Jenni for doing all of the things for this trip that I cannot (which is virtually all of the planning, heh). And I am so thankful for the 6 people who contacted me to say "hey, I'm supporting you; it's in the mail!"
God knows and does what is best for us; I call that love :)
Please pray for our team; that we would do all we can in our support-raising and trust that God will take care of us...
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