One More Year....

To our dear family and friends,

Tim and I are writing this letter to you to share in our good news: we are going to stay in Mexico another year!!

This decision was not made lightly nor easily. In fact, we have been praying about it, seeking counsel of trusted and mature Christians, talked to each other and our families, and finally have decided, with confidence, that God is calling us to stay here another year. This letter is to tell you our good news, and to explain a bit about how we arrived at this decision.

First of all, in early March came the official time to decide if we were going to stay. Without hesitation we checked the no box. Then, our pastor talked to us and told us that we were doing so much good here and that he thinks our work is not finished and told us God was telling us to stay. He also said that if we stayed we’d being obedient to God and He’d bless us, and if we left we’d be disobedient. This freaked us out because we had no desire to stay and didn’t feel at all called by God to stay. So, we started talking about it, praying and talking to friends and family, and even had meetings over Skype with my pastor back home. Through all that searching we came to the conclusion that we were NOT being called to stay, that the pastor just wanted us to. So, with confidence and relief we decided not to stay. And in fact were eagerly waiting to get out of this tortuous weather and back to our family and friends in Ohio. That was true up until May 5th.

On May 5th, while we were in Chiapas on vacation with some people from our church/school the school director and I were talking in the car. We got to talking about what instruments I played and it leads us to talk about him wanting to start a band at school here. Music is not important in Mexico and very few schools have bands, but he sees the importance and wants to start one. That lead us to discuss how Tim would be great at starting a band, since he has the training in music and has a passion for teaching. Not to mention that he is currently going to online school for his masters in Music Education. This conversation planted the seed.

I told Tim about the conversation and he immediately got excited. But after a few days we decided, we don’t’ want to stay – for a variety of reasons. So we decided that we still didn’t feel called and so that we’d keep an open mind and keep praying for God to lead our lives, but stick to the plan of going back home unless God told us otherwise. Which He did.

Tim came up to me one day at school and looked so overwhelmed. He said he’d been praying and really felt called to stay. This made me start praying even more, seeing if God was really calling us. Through prayer and reading the Bible, about a week later I too felt conviction to stay. I shared this with Tim. When I was doing my Bible lesson for my 3rd graders, we talked about Acts 9, the story of Ananias being called to heal Paul even though Paul was persecuting Christians. We talked about how Ananias had to have faith in God and do what God was directing him to do even though he both didn’t want to, and didn’t understand why. In the end, Ananias had faith and did as God told him and healed Paul. Paul then became a Christian and became a great disciple and wrote much of the New Testament. As I was telling this to my kids, I felt a great since of conviction that God was teaching me through this lesson. That even though neither of us wants to stay, and we don’t know the exact reasons that God is calling us to, we have to have faith.

After this, I read my stack of note cards of verses I have memorized in the past, and as I read through them, and later shared them with Tim, we both saw God was confirming the call. As I read them it dawned on me, if these verses are important enough that I’ve memorized them, aren’t they important enough to do, to live by? A couple of the verses that really stuck out were:
· Romans 5:3-4 “We rejoice also in our sufferings, because we know the suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope.” – even though we are not suffering here, it is a sacrifice to stay. But this verse tells us to be thankful for the difficulties because they teach us to have perseverance, character and hope
· Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
· This one just made us crack up: Isaiah 58:11 “The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame” – this verse let us know that even though we don’t want to stay, and don’t have the energy to deal with the kids and heat, or the energy to put into Hocoba, that God will take care of us and give us the energy and strength we need. And the sun-scorched land part is so true! (its 106 as I type this)
· Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
· Luke 10:2 “He told them, ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest fields” – we are ready to be the much needed workers
· Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
· 1 Thessalonians 2:4 “We are not trying to please men, but God who tests our hearts” – this one was particularly helpful in knowing that even though people will question our decision, or be sad that we are staying away another year, that we know we are making the right decision because we are trying to follow what God wants for us.
· Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship” – even though we don’t want to stay, it is our sacrifice to God to stay, we are worshiping Him by trying to follow Him, even though we’d rather go home
· Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight” – even though we don’t yet understand why we are being called to stay, or what God will use us for next year, we know He has a plan

So, after Tim and I talked about it and prayed and read, we decided to stay. But as soon as we decided, I freaked out, finally letting myself think of all the consequences, and everyone and everything I’d be missing out on at home. We decided before that we weren’t going to think about the logistics of everything, or what we’d be missing, but instead just look for the answer in the Word and through prayer, so as soon as we decided and started to think about what it meant, I got very sad and cried. But Tim was great, he was so confident and showed me that we really were doing the right then even though it seems hard.

So, the next day we talked to Robert and Damaris (the school director and his wife) about the whole process we’d been through and that we still didn’t feel peace about it. Talking with them gave us more peace, as they just encouraged us to follow where we thought God was leading. Then, more confirmation came. The next night we had girl’s night with 4 other girls at church. It was wonderful and calmed my fears about not having close friends here.
We officially announced me are staying on May 16 and feel good about the decision. Though we still want to come home and will certainly miss our family and friends very much, we know we are doing the right thing.
We don’t know specifically what we will be doing next year, but it is hopeful that Tim will start a band, do private lessons, sectionals, and teach music class. And I will be teaching 7th grade Biology class and lab and English, and be in charge of having all grades 1-6 do a science lab at least once a month. None of this is certain, and who knows, I might be in 3rd grade again, but the thing is, we truly made the decision based on faith, not on the specifics. So however God decides to use us here, we will happily serve. We will certainly commit more time and effort to Hocoba, continuing to go Sundays and Tuesdays, and likely add another day of the week to get more Bible studies started, and to witness to non-believers there.

We believe God has a purpose and plan for us here next year and are excited to watch it unfold.

So, if any of you has been trying to decide where to go on vacation next year – we’d LOVE to have you visit us! You can stay at our house, see our lives here, go to Hocoba, and we’ll take you to cenotes, Mayan ruins and the beach!

We’ll be home July 14- August 10thish (don’t know the exact date we’ll leave to drive back) so please make an effort to see us while we are home. We miss you and love you all!

We’d appreciate your prayers for our emotions and energy for the next year, as well as prayers that God provides financially!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

God bless,
The Reimanns

Ps we plan on coming home after next year to continue my education towards a Bachelors in Nursing and a Masters in Music Ed for Tim.