May, June and July have been wonderful and busy months for us! God's blessings have been obvious and abundant our last 3 months here in Mexico:
MAY= May we continued our work at school and in Hocaba. Our relationships with the kids and adults alike in Hocaba continued to be strengthen and our Tuesday night bible study group was consistent and growing. The most notable event in May was my (Kari) baptism. Below is part of the email that I sent my family telling them of my decision to get baptized:
First and most obviously, I was baptized to be obedient to God's word (Acts 10:48), and to be born again, to leave my old life, my sins, everything behind and to commit publically my life to following Christ and depending on Him! Although I've been a Christian since 7th grade, I didn't understand until recently the true meaning and calling to be baptized. After listening to a great sermon from Calvary Ft Lauderdale on why we should be baptized I felt really convicted. That was 2 weeks ago. Since then I've felt called by God through reading other scriptures, prayer and from doing research and talking to other friends about it. Tim is supportive of my decision to get re-baptized, since I was baptized as a baby, but doesn't agree with the need for adult baptism, but I appreciate the wonderful husbandly support and joy he shared with me.
More personally I'd like to share a picture that I've had in my mind about my spiritual life, and then tell you how that changed today.
I've always pictured my self on the left side of a huge, deep and intimidating canyon. On my side of the canyon it is completely barren and dry, arid and without life. Occasionally tumbleweed blows by. There is a dark black throne. I am chained to it with long chains on my feet and hands. The chains holding me back are selfishness, laziness, doubt, fear. Sometimes, on a good day or week trusting God I pull against the chains as far as I can and get pretty far away from the Throne of Me. Sometimes, I give into the pull of the chains and spend time sitting in the Throne.
What I am straining towards? There is a huge canyon in front of me. BUT, on the other side of the canyon is more beauty than I could ever imagine. Beautiful mountains frame the flowery fields, babbling brooks, and lazily fluttering butterflies. It could not be in any more contrast from the side of the canyon I am tied to. I know that if I can just get to the other side I will be satisfied. I won't have thirst or need or want because I will be satisfied. There is a throne on that side too. The Throne of Christ. I see that He is waiting for me to get out of my chains take the leap of complete trust and faith over the canyon and fall at the feet of the Throne and worship Him.
For years I've had this picture in my mind and have prayed over it. I've prayed that God helps me to get out of my chains so that I can take the leap of faith and trust to give myself completely, 100%, uninhibitedly to Him, to follow, worship, depend on and trust Him.
Today, my baptism was part of that. I decided to follow what God was calling me to do. I was listening for Him and then was obedient to His word. I was baptized today to follow my God, to break those chains and to take the leap of faith!
I am not perfect and have a long way to go to be a full-time dweller at the feet of the Throne of Christ, but right now, today, I've finally made it to the feet of His throne. I know that my sinfulness, my doubt, my laziness, my selfishness, etc will draw me further away from his Throne at times, but I hope to never again cross to the side with the Throne of Me. With God's help and diligent effort and purposed living on my part, I trust that is possible. Even more, with God's help I pray to one day be tightly chained to the Throne of Christ and only strain to get closer to Him.
My baptism today meant a lot to me. To me it was the leap between the Me side to the Him side of the canyon. I covet your support, prayers, and accountability to help me stay on the Him side of the canyon!
JUNE = June was filled with preparations for the Hilliard United Methodist mission trip that came June 10-20. The trip was amazing, was beyond my hopes or expectations. On the trip we did a lot of physical labor as well as did VBS for the kids. The group of 19 adults and teens spent 4 days working in Hocaba, 1 in San Felipe, 1 in Tizimin, 1 in Merida, and 2 play days. It was a blessed time. If you'd like to read more about the trip check out the blog that the kids wrote during the trip: http://humcmission.tumblr.com/ or check out this fun video one of the kids made: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2118271552726&comments
A couple of highlights of the trip: the difference between the first day in Hocaba and the last were dramatically different. When the Hilliard kids arrived to meet their prayer partners they were awkward and shy. But the last night was filled with tearful hugs and sadness to leave the relationships they'd made. The last night in Hocaba, after the work and VBS were over, I said a few words just praising God that the two groups, Hocaba and Hilliard, though having very little in common, different languages, different countries, different life experiences, but through CHRIST we are united. God's love is so good and it makes us have family in different parts of the country. To represent how we are connected in Christ, we all - more than 100 people - held hands in a circle and praised and prayed to God together in both languages. Then, the Hocaba youth sang a song that they had prepared for us, which was a song dedicated to missionaries. Some of the lines were "missionaries thank you for leaving your home and not worrying about the costs to come to a far away land to serve" but the most impactful line was "missionaries, know that you have a town praying for you." It meant so much to all of us. Then it came time to say goodbyes. All the Hilliard kids and Hocaba kids alike were crying as they hugged goodbye and took photos.
As a leader it warmed my heart so much to see the tearful goodbye. The tears mean that they truly made a connection and formed relationships. It means that the Hilliard kids touched the lives of the Hocaba kids, and visa versa. It means that God's love had touched us. Praise God!
Another notable event was praise and worship on the beach after leaving Hocaba. Tim played praise and worship songs and I lead guided prayer for about 2 hours while everyone laid on blankets 5 feet from the water. It was a blessed time to reflect on the mission trip and praise God for all He had done during the week both in terms of physical labor and spiritual growth.
Hearing the reactions of the Hilliard group, both youth and adults was such a meaningful experience for me. Hearing how God had stretch and grown them in such a short time made me very happy. God was the planner and orquestrator of every aspect of the mission trip.
Even when things "went wrong" meaning they didn't go as planned, it was always so clear that God simply had something different and better and more important planned. For example, one night I was praying that God helped me as a leader create more of a spiritual environment and focus. The very next morning Jim and Jeff went to buy paint, which should have taken 30 mins. 2 hours later they got back. What a blessing from above! During those 2 hours Tim lead praise and worship and we lifted our voices to God. It was a very needed refocus period for all of us.
Basically, God is good and did so much in all of the lives of everyone involved, both in the people we served, and in each and every member of the mission trip. Praise God for an incredible 10 days!
JULY = Though we were only hear for the first 13 days of July, it was an incredibly busy 13 days. Tim especially had a busy July. He finished his last masters classes online and now only needs to take a national exam to pass as well as do student teaching to get his Masters in Music Education K-12! I am so proud of him! On top of studying, he was preparing for a big band and choir concert and the lower elementary musical, all of which he was in charge of. The choir and band concert were fabulous! I was literally beaming the whole time so proud of my gifted hubby! The choir of about 80 students started by singing 4 beautiful songs. Then the band of about 30 came on to play 3 songs. I was blown away by the band. At my 5th grade band concert we squeaked out Hot Crossed Buns all on the same note and same rhythm. Not this concert! Tim wrote all the songs to have mutliple parts and were much more complex! It was very impressive and you could tell the kids were very excited and proud of themselves. After the concert where about 300 people attended, Tim got countless "Congratulations" on a job well done!!
Exactly 6 days after the choir and band concert, Tim had 2 nights of performances of the musical called "Nicodemus in the Night." The first night 1 and 3 grades performed and 2 and 4th the second night. Both shows were attended by around 300 parents and both went very well! The shows went off without a hitch and did a great job of directly and clearly sharing the Gospel and Salvation of Christ.
Also in July we said goodbye to friends. Early in the month we had a goodbye party with the English Service at the Scotts house and it was a blast. We ate and then ended the night with 2 rounds of Cranium, men vs women vs teens. It was a very loud and fun time! The men won both :(. Then we said goodbye to our wonderful friends John and Sarah because they were leaving for vacation to Europe and the US.
In Hocaba we went out with a bang. One of our last Tuesdays we bought tons of KFC (my mom and dad paid) for all the kids in Hocaba. It was so funny, they'd never had it before so they were hesitant to start eating, but when the adults started eating the kids dug in and in the end of it all they ate up everything we'd brought. Then, someone got confused and thought it was our last Sunday, so they threw a big going away party complete with lime soup and Coke for everyone, and a sign with our names on it. It was a great surprise! Then, the following Sunday which was actually our last Sunday, they made my favorite dish - which is rice, liquid beans and pulled chicken all with fresh salsa on top. So we got 2 going away parties. The last Sunday was very emotional. Every single person was in tears, adults and kids alike. The pastor and his wife both got up and thanked us and said beautiful words, but their tears cut them short. Then Anita, David and Neftali sang us a song they had written especially for us that had our names it in. It thanked us for the blessings, both in love and material blessings and told us they would miss us. Then the youth sang the missionary song to us again. Then me and Tim got up and thanked them for the blessings of love, generosity, and family they had provided us! And I told them the truth: we came to serve them, but we received much more blessings than we gave and that we will never forget them or spot praying for them. It was a tearful but blessed goodbye.
We were then presented with many goodbye cards. We read the ones from the pastor and his family and were truly touched by their loving words. GOD IS SO GOOD!
The school year ended well and the munchkins learned lots of English and more importantly they learned about God. I was blessed to have each of them and learned alot from them.
The last few days here have been filled with spending as much time as possible with our friends. We've gone out to eat more in the last week then in the last 8 months here! It has been so much fun spending time laughing and fellowshipping with our wonderful friends Jeff, Nicole, Kristi, and Angelica. God has blessed us so much!
I can't upload pictures because we gave our computer to Hocaba and you can't do it on the iPad, but check out my facebook page to see pictures.
Its hard to conclude 2 years in words, but here it goes:
God is good! We know without a doubt that God planned all of this. He gave me the desire to come, and helped us come across Calvary. He opened Robert's heart to hire 2 random people, and brought us down here safely. He blessed us with wonderful friends who challenged us and helped us grow so much in our faith. He lead us to work in Hocaba and meet our family there. He blessed us with building deep and spiritual relationships with the kids and adults in Hocaba. He opened peoples hearts and wallets in the US to donate to Hocaba and allowed the physical growth the mirror the spiritual growth. He caused a church of 8 adults and 12 kids to grow to 25 adults and 30 kids in just 2 years. He blessed us with sooo much; financial security, deep friendships, spiritual counselors, and wonderful opportunities. GOD IS SOOO GOOD and to HIM be all the glory!!!
We are excited to follow step by step behind our Heavenly Shepard into the next phase of life that He has for us!
Thanks for reading!!
