Over the
past few months, I have fallen in love with my church. I mean it—head over heels, completely in love! My desire is to be a blessing and help within
the church, but they have blessed me far beyond what I could have
imagined. They model the New Testament church
in their love for each other and their dedication to God. I am learning so much from them!
Last Sunday
was our “Consegracion.” The first Sunday
of every month, we have our regular Sunday morning class and service and then
stay after church until 6:00pm for a time of fasting, further teaching and
prayer. When I first joined the church
last summer, I was afraid of these consegraciones because just sitting through
a regular 2 ½ -3 hour service in Spanish was taxing. But now, I see them as an opportunity to
spend more time in the Word, in prayer and with my brothers and sisters in
Christ. I always come away feeling full.
During one
of our teaching sessions last week, our pastor taught from Exodus 14, where God
fights for Israel in an awesome display of His power by delivering them from
the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Then, he
asked each of us to share something from our lives that we feel God is going to
help us conquer. Unfortunately, at this
point, my Spanish broke down and I honestly did not understand what we were
supposed to share. I thought people were
volunteering personal testimonies.
Imagine my
surprise when my pastor looked directly at me and told me it was my turn to
share! (Big eyes, gulp!) I immediately asked for further clarification
and the people sitting closest to me did their best to explain the
situation. (The sweet people in this
church have been so patient and understanding with me.) The pastor gave me several minutes to think
and then came back to me. I really
wanted to participate, but since I did not know several of the words that I
needed, I asked if I could do it for “homework”.
Trying to be
a help, the pastor shared “my” testimony for me. He talked about how I will be going to
language school next year in Costa Rica and that God is going to help me
conquer learning Spanish. While that was
not what I would have thought to share with the group, I realized that yes,
learning Spanish is something God is going to help me conquer. It will take time and a lot more hard work,
but God will get me through it because my desire is to be able to better
communicate with the people where God has called me.
Would You Help Make this Dream Become
a Reality?
In April, I was granted permission to extend
my term an additional two years. Because
of this, I will be sent to Costa Rica for intensive language study for 8
months. I leave for Costa Rica in
January 2013, so between now and then, I need to raise money to cover the cost
of attending language school. I will be
coming back to Montana from June 3rd-July 19th and I
would love the opportunity to meet with pastors, individuals, friends, family,
etc. while I am home to talk about what God is doing in Mexico. If you would like to be a part in helping me
learn Spanish, so that I can minister more effectively here in Mexico, you can contact me through facebook or on the comments portion of this page. If you would like to give, there are options listed on the side of this blog. Thank you!
Thank You!
For those of
you who have been supporting me all this time, thank you so much! I never want to miss an opportunity to say
thank you because your obedience and generosity are the reasons I am able to
stay in Mexico. Please know that I
appreciate your sacrifices. It means so
much to me that you stand behind me in what God is doing. Thank you!
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