Well the past few days have been very busy, but very rewarding, in both seeing big blessings and little blessings. Let me thank God for a few of them here and share them with you!
~On Sunday we saw four people baptized at church and had a special family day in a grassy, park-type area. We had a great time seeing God's work testified in the lives of Alejandra and her husband, Marcos and Raul. Marcos is Darlene's "adopted" son from Los Olivos and calls her mom. It was so special to see him baptized after knowing the process God has done in his life, from bringing him to kids' club (he was abandoned on the street at age 2 by his mom), to receiving Christ as his Savior and Lord, to growing into a not-quite-as-annoying young teenager (Darlene says he was the kid that drove her crazy when she first met him), to obeying God's command to be baptized. Praise God! At night Darlene and I had one last horrah packing the car and celebrating with chocolate-brownie ice cream:)
~On Monday morning at 5 am, Darlene went home for a year of furlough. I woke back up at 8 am to a very lonely house...and really felt pretty saddened that my roommate had left. You never realize how much you miss someone until they're gone! I got a call Monday night from her that she got to the US safely, despite running a red light in her first ten minutes of being stateside...thanks to the years of learning to drive "mexican." :) But the real big blessing was a phone call Monday afternoon from a special friend. God placed a unique friend, Lolita, in my life about five months ago. She is married to the best friend of one of my friends. She served in Peru for seven years as a single missionary, and attended the church of my bosses, Rich and JoAnn. She called Monday to say that they happened by chance to be in Izcalli, the part of Mexico City where I live (the north-west) and she lives in Ixtapalapa (the very south-east)!!! She said that she knew the first day a roommate leaves is the hardest, as she remembered from her missionary days, and wanted to come by to encourage me and share coffee. From 6pm-11pm we had a really great time of talking, sharing, encouraging, and praying. Thank you God for a good female friend who truly understands my heart, from the perspective of being a single missionary!
~On Tuesday I got the house organized and cleaned after all the moving and dust balls, moved in the new furniture for the new roommates who will arrive in June and August, ate a great meal with Ron and Zina (thanks!), taught English and ate some very delicious tacos with some good friends.
~On Wednesday I woke up early and made a special during-the-week trip to minister in La Guacamaya. The kids saw my car coming and ran chasing me until I stopped, we passed out 20 packs of candies and gospel booklets for "dia del niño"--Kid's day, a very important holiday celebrating children here in Mexico. The kids were ecstatic. We also did visitation with two families, one of which is extremely eager and hungry to learn God's story (the Bible!). We then went to a more remote portion--Los Aguiles-- and walked up a mountainside with one family and overlooked the entire valley--full of clusters of small wooden homes--most of which have never been reached with any gospel message, church, or Bible. PRAY! I felt so overwhelmed seeing the need and knowing we are very few to reach such a huge area. Pray for God to save people, disciple and raise up Mazahuan leaders (leaders among the same people group). Long before getting to the field, I had a deep desire to reach unreached people groups in Mexico. Working mostly in Mexico City I wasn't sure how that would fit into God's plans, but now I am seeing how and why he gave me that desire. Now..the really amazing thing happened on the way home. La Guacamaya is located next to a snow-capped volcano, called "El Nevado" (Snowy). It has been slowly gaining more snow over the past few weeks, as the rainy season has started. Driving out on Wednesday, I saw the temperature drop slowly, all the way to 34 degrees. The heavy rain turned to snow and there were literally 1 foot mounds that had already been cleared off the road on both sides. Each roof and rock was covered with beautiful, white snow. The grass was white and the puddles were frozen. The road showed only tire tracks! I was SOOOO HAPPY at the sight of snow, I can't even express it! I took a video and hope to post it here soon if I can get it off my cell phone. It was truly amazing, and breath-takingly beautiful! That night I got home just in time to have a girls-only night with my friend Aide. Staying up and chatting until 3 am is not always the wisest decision.
~On Thursday we had a planning meeting for La Guacamaya for short-term, mid-term, and long-term plans. It looks like the door may be opening to begin renting a small house there to use as a ministry center/base and the site for a future church. Pray for God's direction and leading--we desire to do only what He wants! In the afternoon, since today was a holiday in Mexico(dia del labor-labor day), we had a truly delicious meal with Ron and Zina and the church staff: Pastor Carlos, Monica and girls, Pastor Leo, Damaris, and myself. It was a time of good food, good laughs, and good fellowship. And Darlene called to say hola to all of us!
~On Friday I may actually get to clean this house, prepare for my soon departure home, and do a little R&R. I also get to practice for Sunday's praise and worship at church at night.
~On Saturday I have a Saturday off from going to La Guacamaya for the first time in a long time. This made it possible to take up an invitation to meet and propose the future training of ABWE's new Chronological materials in Lolita and Gerardo's church in Ixtapalapa. I'll be going down to the south of the city all day to spend time talking through the materials, ABWE's new books, The Way of Joy and The Story of Hope, and sharing about my ministry and testimony, with their church, and planning a future date when we can train their youth group in how to disciple other youth and lead them to Christ with these materials.
~On Sunday I have church and activities a chance to go away for a one day outing with a group of two families from church. Monday is Cinco de mayo (May 5), yet another mexican holiday, so we are going to celebrate the day together. Most mexicans have school or work off from today (Thursday) through Monday.
~I will teach English, tie up loose ends, pay bills and pack on Tuesday and then Wednesday morning, May 7, at 6:20 am I fly home to Pennsylvania for two weeks of time with my family, seeing Aaron graduate from college, and attending an ABWE training seminar! I am very excited.
I also received word tonight that there may still be a good chance that I will be able to take a trip to a closed Latin-American country with my church here in the end of August to help do a two- week training program among Christians and church leaders. Pray that God makes it possible, as this place happens to be an island that is prohibited to enter to those of us from the states...can you guess where? The dates would be Aug 15-28. I would go to teach several courses on discipleship materials (ABWE's new materials) and how to disciple, evangelism materials and techniques, and teaching techniques and methods (how to teach a woman's group or ministry, how to lead a small group, how to teach or plan Sunday School).
Thanks for your prayers. It's been a busy, but a good week!
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