First of all, sorry for the amount of time that has passed without an update! Outreach hasn`t provided many opportunities for long amounts of time to internet access. But I finally got a chance so here goes...
The first 2 and 1/2 weeks in Chiapas were crazy! We did ministry all day everyday. We started out in a big city called Tuxtla doing prison ministry, orphanages, church services, rehab centers...stuff like that. Then we moved to a suburb of San Cristobol where we went into the mountains to the indigenous tribes. That bit was very stretching bcause they didn`t speak Spanish, but their own seperate dialect. So when we did church services, we had to translate from English to Spanish to their language. It was so crazy! But the mountains were beautiful. And everything was so natural and simple. They built their own houses out of wood from trees they cut down and shaped theselves, mud, sticks, and other such things. They made all their own clothes; skirts of sheep hide, handwoven belts and big scarves, and shirts and sweaters that they hand-sow. They also grow all their own crops and raise their own chickens and goats. It was like steppng back in time. But what was the most amazing to me was that they believed in the same God as me even though it was as if we lived in two seperate worlds. The missionaries that brought the gospel to those people and their language had to work very hard. It was so humbling.
After the mountains we went to San Cristobol, a quaint little city known for being filled with European tourists, and not just any European tourists, hippie European tourists. So we did a lot of plaza evangelism and talking to people. That was also a very stretching experience because it was then that you had to be ready to answer some hard questions and love people that think very differently from you.
After San Cristobol we were supposed to go to the jungle but while at a church one day doing ministry, a guy on my team broke 3 ribs during our free time. So he was rushed to the hospital and all that kind of stuff, putting our plans on hold. It actually was really amazing because the day after he broke his ribs, God miraculously healed him. The night he broke his ribs he had been moaning in pain, unable to sit, stand, or move at all really. He had been prayed over multiple times and the last time he said he felt something come over his body, he fainted for a second, then woke back up, stood up and walked back to where we were staying, no pain at all. So that was an incredible testimony for our team.
So instead of the jungle, we went to our next location, Oaxaca (specifically Puerto Escondido). It was very different from Chiapas. For one, it was a beach town. Whereas Chiapas had been very cold, Puerto was hot! It was sunny and at least 80 degrees everyday. We stayed really close to the beach and had free time everyday to go enjoy it. We mostly worked with the youth soccer team there, going to Bible studies and their games and practices and working on their brand new field. We also went to some surfer Bible studies, painted an orphanage, and helped clean parts of the city. It was much more chill and laid back which was good for us after working so much in Chiapas, we were all exhausted. But, we still had one more place to go, Mexico City.
Which brings me to now. We`re in mexico City for about 2 weeks. We`ll be doing a lot of evangelism, a lot of park ministry, a lot of dramas, a lot of speaking, much like Chiapas but different because Mexico City is a completely different place. An entirely different ball game, if you will. We`re all excited to do it and excited to be done because when we return to Mazatlan, we have another part of outreach but at "home". We`ll be working in a huge week-long celebration called carnaval. It will be lots of work but lots of fun as well. We can`t wait to get back!
That`s my outreach update. I hope to write in more detail later!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Monday, December 22, 2008
OUTREACH!!
The day has finally come; I leave for outreach tomorrow morning! First we'll be traveling to Mexico City for the night, then we'll be heading to Chiapas! From what I've heard it is one of the most beautiful places in Mexico! We're all so excited, we've been working up to this point for so long now. The Morocco team left Saturday morning and the Haiti team leaves Tuesday night. We'll all be returning to Mazatlan early to mid February. Anyway, we'll be in Chiapas for about 2 1/2 weeks. We'll be doing primarily kids ministry, as well as prison ministry, youth ministry, some church services, and a little park ministry. After we're done in Chiapas we'll head to Oaxaca for about a week, serving in the ministry of one of our leader's friends. Then it's onto Mexico City where we'll be doing just about anything and everything. So if you could be praying for us, that would be awesome! Also, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update because, depending on our location, there may not be any internet. As of right now I'm not sure if they have internet in the jungles of Chiapas? Haha.
Oh and a prayer request; one of the guys on the Haiti team was hit by a car Friday afternoon and is in the hospital still with 11 broken ribs and a punctured lung. It will be a few weeks before he can leave the hospital but we're praying that with a fast recovery he can still go on half of his outreach. He's a really good friend of mine. His name is Walter. Every prayer is appreciated!
Thank you so much for all your support! You guys are great! I love you!
Oh and a prayer request; one of the guys on the Haiti team was hit by a car Friday afternoon and is in the hospital still with 11 broken ribs and a punctured lung. It will be a few weeks before he can leave the hospital but we're praying that with a fast recovery he can still go on half of his outreach. He's a really good friend of mine. His name is Walter. Every prayer is appreciated!
Thank you so much for all your support! You guys are great! I love you!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise
God is so good.
There are so many reasons why, but the one evoking that statement right now is the fact that He can take a situation that is seemingly dismal, and redeem it for His glory. Hallelujah.
Its hard to put into words all the things that God is doing in me and around me. He is making character changes in me, He is opening my eyes, He is proving Himself more and more faithful each day, He is continually showing me grace, He is proving the need to rely on Him to be my everything, He is giving me revelations of His promises, He catches me when I fall, He pushes me but it's never more than I can handle, He is speaking, He is holding me in His arms when I can no longer stand, He is giving me His eyes, heart, and arms for His children, He is leading me down the path laid out for me through brilliant sunshine and in the darkest of nights...He is showing me how much He really is LOVE, in the purest, truest, deepest, most innocent, redeeming, holy, glorious, and honest way.
I mean, God is incredible. The experiences He has held my hand through these past weeks alone are such a testament to why He is so amazing. He especially has shown me lately that people usually disappoint, but God is ALWAYS and FOREVER FAITHFUL and He will never disappoint you. It sounds more harsh than I mean it to. Because it's not really about the flaws of the human character, but rather a testament to how good God is.
The combination of my experiences lately and my classes have pushed me to study more, learn more, soak in more, glean as much as I can about God. I want to seek Him with all I've got, love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And through the process of feeding my own soul, I want to serve my heart out, feeding those who cannot feed themselves.
Thank you for all the prayers! They have more impact than you know.
I miss you all so much!
Have a blessed week!
There are so many reasons why, but the one evoking that statement right now is the fact that He can take a situation that is seemingly dismal, and redeem it for His glory. Hallelujah.
Its hard to put into words all the things that God is doing in me and around me. He is making character changes in me, He is opening my eyes, He is proving Himself more and more faithful each day, He is continually showing me grace, He is proving the need to rely on Him to be my everything, He is giving me revelations of His promises, He catches me when I fall, He pushes me but it's never more than I can handle, He is speaking, He is holding me in His arms when I can no longer stand, He is giving me His eyes, heart, and arms for His children, He is leading me down the path laid out for me through brilliant sunshine and in the darkest of nights...He is showing me how much He really is LOVE, in the purest, truest, deepest, most innocent, redeeming, holy, glorious, and honest way.
I mean, God is incredible. The experiences He has held my hand through these past weeks alone are such a testament to why He is so amazing. He especially has shown me lately that people usually disappoint, but God is ALWAYS and FOREVER FAITHFUL and He will never disappoint you. It sounds more harsh than I mean it to. Because it's not really about the flaws of the human character, but rather a testament to how good God is.
The combination of my experiences lately and my classes have pushed me to study more, learn more, soak in more, glean as much as I can about God. I want to seek Him with all I've got, love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And through the process of feeding my own soul, I want to serve my heart out, feeding those who cannot feed themselves.
Thank you for all the prayers! They have more impact than you know.
I miss you all so much!
Have a blessed week!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wow, I am continually amazed at how much can happen in a few short days. But I suppose when we're constantly doing something, we always have a few good stories.
Last time I wrote I told you that I was going to Mexico City/Chiapas/Oaxaca for my outreach in December. After deciding that and attending a few meetings I felt so uneasy about it. I had no peace and was struggling with whether I even really wanted to go. I told my leader the situation, and she let me take a week to pray about whether God wanted me on the Mexico team or the Morocco team. All week long I prayed about it, begging God to show me which team to be on. My deadline for deciding was coming up so I decided that I would only switch to the Morocco team if God did something big to show me that He wanted me in Morocco instead of Mexico...nothing big came. So I am once again, officially part of the Mexico team and now at so much more peace about it than before. This whole past week in classes we had been learning about spiritual warfare and now I can totally see how the enemy was trying to distract me and discourage me from going on the Mexico outreach. One of my good friends here said that the enemy probably knows that God has great plans for me on the Mexico outreach and that I'll touch many lives for Christ so he was trying to lure me away from God's plan. It's a good feeling knowing that you've thwarted satan's plan.
As I just mentioned, this past week we learned about spiritual warfare in class. It was so awesome because not only did we learn about spiritual warfare, but we also had the opportunity to break past attacks and strongholds on pur lives. For example, one night we had a "Freedom from Fear" night where we voiced our biggest fears out loud and renounced the fear and had the class pray for us. Another day we prayed against things like pride, passivity, generational curses, shame, and things along those lines. It was awesome to see people freed from their chains.
On a more comical note, I do have a really funny story. So, most mornings I go for a run along the boardwalk before breakfast. Friday morning I did my usual run, came back and ate breakfast, then went back to my room and crawled up onto my bed for quiet time. I read my daily devotional then started listening to worship on my ipod. I was really tired that morning and instead of taking a shower right away, I fell asleep, allowing everyone else in my room to shower before me. I woke up 30 minutes before class started and hopped in the shower. Everything was ging fine until I looked down at the ground and saw bkack dirt all over the floor. I looked at the water coming out of the drain and saw that it was all muddy (side note; at this point I still had shampoo in my hair...). Obviously I had to stop my shower because usually the shower makes you more clean than when you first stepped in. So I walked over to the sink and tried it...black water came from it, too! At that point I knew I was in trouble. Then one of the leaders walked by our door and announced we had to leave for class. All I could say at that point was, "Um, Jeanette, I'm going to be late." After explaining the situation I learned that what happened in our bathroom happened in every other bathroom because the water pump had accidentally been shut off the night before so the lines switched to the reserve tanks that hadn't been touched in about 60 years (disgusting, I know). However, nobody else was stuck with shampoo still in their hair. After a miriad of suggestions (one being to jump in the pool and wash my hair out there...did I mention our pool doesn't really have a filter?), one of the married couples who lives close to the base offered me their shower. So I packed a bag and went to their house to finish showering and go to class from there (class was already about 30 minutes in at this point). I was pleasantly surprised at how good my shower turned out to be. It was actually warm, in a house, and I had time to enjoy it instead of rushing for the next person. So what started out as a disastrous situation turned into the best shower I've taken since being in mexico. And oddly, I was never angry at any point of the whole thing, I just laughed through it. God really is faithful to provide, even in the craziest, funniest, most awkward situations. :)
Last time I wrote I told you that I was going to Mexico City/Chiapas/Oaxaca for my outreach in December. After deciding that and attending a few meetings I felt so uneasy about it. I had no peace and was struggling with whether I even really wanted to go. I told my leader the situation, and she let me take a week to pray about whether God wanted me on the Mexico team or the Morocco team. All week long I prayed about it, begging God to show me which team to be on. My deadline for deciding was coming up so I decided that I would only switch to the Morocco team if God did something big to show me that He wanted me in Morocco instead of Mexico...nothing big came. So I am once again, officially part of the Mexico team and now at so much more peace about it than before. This whole past week in classes we had been learning about spiritual warfare and now I can totally see how the enemy was trying to distract me and discourage me from going on the Mexico outreach. One of my good friends here said that the enemy probably knows that God has great plans for me on the Mexico outreach and that I'll touch many lives for Christ so he was trying to lure me away from God's plan. It's a good feeling knowing that you've thwarted satan's plan.
As I just mentioned, this past week we learned about spiritual warfare in class. It was so awesome because not only did we learn about spiritual warfare, but we also had the opportunity to break past attacks and strongholds on pur lives. For example, one night we had a "Freedom from Fear" night where we voiced our biggest fears out loud and renounced the fear and had the class pray for us. Another day we prayed against things like pride, passivity, generational curses, shame, and things along those lines. It was awesome to see people freed from their chains.
On a more comical note, I do have a really funny story. So, most mornings I go for a run along the boardwalk before breakfast. Friday morning I did my usual run, came back and ate breakfast, then went back to my room and crawled up onto my bed for quiet time. I read my daily devotional then started listening to worship on my ipod. I was really tired that morning and instead of taking a shower right away, I fell asleep, allowing everyone else in my room to shower before me. I woke up 30 minutes before class started and hopped in the shower. Everything was ging fine until I looked down at the ground and saw bkack dirt all over the floor. I looked at the water coming out of the drain and saw that it was all muddy (side note; at this point I still had shampoo in my hair...). Obviously I had to stop my shower because usually the shower makes you more clean than when you first stepped in. So I walked over to the sink and tried it...black water came from it, too! At that point I knew I was in trouble. Then one of the leaders walked by our door and announced we had to leave for class. All I could say at that point was, "Um, Jeanette, I'm going to be late." After explaining the situation I learned that what happened in our bathroom happened in every other bathroom because the water pump had accidentally been shut off the night before so the lines switched to the reserve tanks that hadn't been touched in about 60 years (disgusting, I know). However, nobody else was stuck with shampoo still in their hair. After a miriad of suggestions (one being to jump in the pool and wash my hair out there...did I mention our pool doesn't really have a filter?), one of the married couples who lives close to the base offered me their shower. So I packed a bag and went to their house to finish showering and go to class from there (class was already about 30 minutes in at this point). I was pleasantly surprised at how good my shower turned out to be. It was actually warm, in a house, and I had time to enjoy it instead of rushing for the next person. So what started out as a disastrous situation turned into the best shower I've taken since being in mexico. And oddly, I was never angry at any point of the whole thing, I just laughed through it. God really is faithful to provide, even in the craziest, funniest, most awkward situations. :)
Monday, October 20, 2008
to live is Christ and to die is gain
Hey everybody!
We've been VERY busy here at the base so I haven't had much extra time to write. And I've been sick the past couple days so all I could do was rest and pray. I'm still not feeling 100% so if you all wouldn't mind saying a prayer, it would be greatly appreciated.
Anyway, classes have been INTENSE lately. Last week we had the base director of Las Vegas come and speak on evangelism. But it wasn't the typical, in-your-face, I'm-gonna-scare-you-into-accepting-Christ kind of evangelism. We talked more about the great need for evangelism, especially in a part of the world called the 10/40 window. 10/40 stands for latitude lines on a globe. The area in between is called the 10/40 window. Basically, inside the window are all the poorest countries in the world, and the majority of people-groups with whom the gospel has not yet been shared. It is there that missionaries are most needed but out of all the missionaries in the world, only 4% work in the 10/40 window. After we heard that we were challenged to take up an oath to God that we go wherever He called us anytime, anywhere, even if it meant giving up everything. We had to really think about the decision and all that it entailed. We would have to give up our dream of marriage, possibly. Give up our house, friends, family, church...life to go wherever we were called. Some people couldn't do it then and there. I made the oath, knowing that fear would try to stand in my way if ever something like that did come into being. It was at that moment that I had a revelation of what giving up your life so that you can truly live really means. I saw it from the most extreme perspective and it finally made sense. It's scary, but beautiful at the same time. Talk about a life of adventure! Anyway, he also talked about different ways to evangelize that don't involve bashing somebody over the head with a Bible :)
On another note our outreach locations in December were announced, I'm going to Mexico City, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, all in Mexico. The other locations are Morocco and Haiti. We also picked our local weekend outreaches. I'm working with kids doing a VBS! I'm excited for it to start, which will be this weekend.
We're doing a ton of stuff around here! And it's all so great. I hope everyone back home is well!
Dios te bendiga!
We've been VERY busy here at the base so I haven't had much extra time to write. And I've been sick the past couple days so all I could do was rest and pray. I'm still not feeling 100% so if you all wouldn't mind saying a prayer, it would be greatly appreciated.
Anyway, classes have been INTENSE lately. Last week we had the base director of Las Vegas come and speak on evangelism. But it wasn't the typical, in-your-face, I'm-gonna-scare-you-into-accepting-Christ kind of evangelism. We talked more about the great need for evangelism, especially in a part of the world called the 10/40 window. 10/40 stands for latitude lines on a globe. The area in between is called the 10/40 window. Basically, inside the window are all the poorest countries in the world, and the majority of people-groups with whom the gospel has not yet been shared. It is there that missionaries are most needed but out of all the missionaries in the world, only 4% work in the 10/40 window. After we heard that we were challenged to take up an oath to God that we go wherever He called us anytime, anywhere, even if it meant giving up everything. We had to really think about the decision and all that it entailed. We would have to give up our dream of marriage, possibly. Give up our house, friends, family, church...life to go wherever we were called. Some people couldn't do it then and there. I made the oath, knowing that fear would try to stand in my way if ever something like that did come into being. It was at that moment that I had a revelation of what giving up your life so that you can truly live really means. I saw it from the most extreme perspective and it finally made sense. It's scary, but beautiful at the same time. Talk about a life of adventure! Anyway, he also talked about different ways to evangelize that don't involve bashing somebody over the head with a Bible :)
On another note our outreach locations in December were announced, I'm going to Mexico City, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, all in Mexico. The other locations are Morocco and Haiti. We also picked our local weekend outreaches. I'm working with kids doing a VBS! I'm excited for it to start, which will be this weekend.
We're doing a ton of stuff around here! And it's all so great. I hope everyone back home is well!
Dios te bendiga!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Life in Maz!
Hey all!
So, life here has been fantastic lately. We started classes yesterday with the base director, Brent Madsen, as our speaker for the week. We're starting off with topics such as the Nature and Character of God. It's been so exciting to have class all morning talking about our God and how great He is. Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays we have worship before class and Tuesdays and Thursdays we have intercession. Both have been intense and challenging but it just pushes me to grow and learn, not only about myself but about our amazing God!! Afternoons here usually consist of lunch at about 2 o'clock, then cleaning duties for an hour or two before dinner at 6. Personally I think I got the best afternoon duty...dinner prep! I get to work with our authentic Mexican cook learning the secrets of the delicious Mexican cuisine! It's so much fun! And after dinner we usually have free time. Most people either go to the pool (we have a pool on our base, people who come to visit from other bases are so jealous!), go to the beach (conveniently located across the street), or just go for walks down the loooong boardwalk or to the plaza, centro mercado, or delicious taqueria for a late night snack. It's incredible how much of a family we feel like already. We don't mind doing different things with different people. And probably the best thing is that ethnicity doesn't matter. The native Mexicans, the Americans, and the people from random places like Portugal, England, and Canada all get along splendidly. Mazatlan is incredible. I can't really put into words how much I love it. This experience is going to be so life-changing! I know that already, I've changed. Inside and out (my tan is pretty good right about now, not gonna lie). I'm excited to see how else God pushes and changes me. Talk to you guys later!
Dios te bendiga!!
So, life here has been fantastic lately. We started classes yesterday with the base director, Brent Madsen, as our speaker for the week. We're starting off with topics such as the Nature and Character of God. It's been so exciting to have class all morning talking about our God and how great He is. Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays we have worship before class and Tuesdays and Thursdays we have intercession. Both have been intense and challenging but it just pushes me to grow and learn, not only about myself but about our amazing God!! Afternoons here usually consist of lunch at about 2 o'clock, then cleaning duties for an hour or two before dinner at 6. Personally I think I got the best afternoon duty...dinner prep! I get to work with our authentic Mexican cook learning the secrets of the delicious Mexican cuisine! It's so much fun! And after dinner we usually have free time. Most people either go to the pool (we have a pool on our base, people who come to visit from other bases are so jealous!), go to the beach (conveniently located across the street), or just go for walks down the loooong boardwalk or to the plaza, centro mercado, or delicious taqueria for a late night snack. It's incredible how much of a family we feel like already. We don't mind doing different things with different people. And probably the best thing is that ethnicity doesn't matter. The native Mexicans, the Americans, and the people from random places like Portugal, England, and Canada all get along splendidly. Mazatlan is incredible. I can't really put into words how much I love it. This experience is going to be so life-changing! I know that already, I've changed. Inside and out (my tan is pretty good right about now, not gonna lie). I'm excited to see how else God pushes and changes me. Talk to you guys later!
Dios te bendiga!!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Day 5 in Mazatlan!
Hola de Mazatlan! We (the DTS students and staff) have been working hard everyday since we arrived to move into our new base. The day we arrived in Mazatlan was the day the base was purchased so we've had to do EVERYTING to get it up and running. It's been a lot of fun and a lot of work. But we are the pioneers of a brand new base! The toughest part is that it's been about 90 to 100 degrees everyday and we don't have air conditioning. We are right on the beach so we have water close by but there is very little breeze to cool things down. Needless to say it is VERY hot and we are constantly sweating :) Also, since the base is brand new, we have limited internet access for a few weeks. Our only way to get on the internet is to use the computer at our base director's house which we go to maybe once a day and we all have to share. So my posts won't be as frequent as I would like for another week or so. But we are already loving Mazatlan. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and the people are so friendly and welcoming. I'm excited to start our outreaches and get to meet even more of the locals. It's been an exciting adventure so far and I can't wait to see what God has coming!...
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