One thing about Mexico that I really don't understand is the hospital protocol. There is a hospital ministry here at the base. Every Monday we go out to the hospital near downtown Tijuana and minister to the people outside the hospital. The side streets near the hospital are full of cars parked and people waiting inside, a lot of people are also packed outside the doors of the emergency room. Why are all these people waiting? Here in Mexico, when you know someone who has been admitted to the hospital, you are not allowed to accompany them inside. I don't know why, maybe there isn't room for extra people, maybe they have had too many "incidents", I am not sure. But what I do know is, there are a lot of worried family members and friends standing outside for hours, days, weeks, wondering and worrying. So, every Monday we go out armed with burritos to minister and talk to the people. We talked with a lot of people. I met a husband with his two children waiting outside the ER, he said his wife was having their third child via C-section. I talked with him a lot and played with his clearly over tired cute 5 year old. (We were there from 9-11 pm, so it was late.) I prayed for him and his wife and family, it was really sweet. After that I talked with a really friendly Christian family who were waiting to hear about their niece who was having her appendix removed. Some of the people in my group were playing the guitar and singing worship songs. I remember thinking how easy it would be to just join them in singing, instead of seeking out more people to pray for and talk to but I saw this girl just standing there all alone and I felt compelled to talk to her. I grabbed a burrito and walked up to her. I asked how long she was waiting there, she said not for very long. I asked her what happened, why was she there. She said her husband had been hit, (I wish I had asked her how, I am not sure if it was hit in a fight or a car accident). Her name was Marta and her husband's name was Saul. She was really open and we quickly engaged in conversation. She was 23 (my age) and she was really worried because now her husband couldn't work because of the accident and she would have to find work to support them. They have two children, 3 and 1 years old. She began to cry out of frustration and worry because she didn't know how they could afford day care for the kids and she didn't know of anyone to watch them while she worked. My heart went out to her. I can't imagine the stress of trying to figure that all out. She said her sister could watch her children, as she is the closest family member but Marta explained that she and her sister have a bad relationship because her sister judges her because it turns out Saul isn't her husband. She asked me if I went to church. I said yes and she began to talk about God and what she thinks of church. She was basically opening the door for me to share the Gospel. I was so nervous because this was all in Spanish and I am not good at sharing deep things in Spanish yet. She explained to me she doesn't want to go to church because everyone is a hypocrite and they judge a lot. But she said she liked the idea of God and she liked worship songs. I told her God loves her no matter what and that he makes all bad things into good because he loves us! I told her not worry because God is good and he has a plan and that he will provide. I could tell her heart was yearning for God, I could feel it. It was really amazing, I wish there was more I could do for her. I told her about a church I knew of near by if she wanted to start going. So now all I can do is pray that God will continue to pursue her, and that He provides childcare and a job for her. If you remember can you pray for Marta and Saul and their children too? I really think God can use this hard time to glorify himself in their lives!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Nothing Left to Do But Wait
Can I be honest? I love Mexico as much a the next person, probably more actually because I am here in Tijuana, but there are things I don't understand. I feel like even if I asked "Why do you do this?" I wouldn't understand. Luckily, I have read a lot of books, like, Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot and Cold Climate Cultures by Sarah Lanier or Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility by Duane Elmer (both great and amazing helpful reads if you are planning on going on a missions trip or something). Also an entire week was dedicated to cross cultural communications in my secondary school at YWAM Minneapolis. But even if I am going to be respectful of the cultural differences and different worldviews, can't I still express my confusion?
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Read Your Bible Pray Everyday
"A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer."- August 20, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
When I read this quote in my devotions this morning I understood exactly what Chambers was saying. Children are trusting to fault, they will believe anything you tell them. They trust in almost anything. That's why parents have teach them at a young age not to talk to strangers etc. Jesus also uses children as an example,“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)
I was convicted this morning at my lack of child-like faith. When I used to pray, I always tacked on a "If it be your will Lord." Now it isn't that I don't want the Lord's will in my life, but I feel I put that "If it be your will Lord" on the end as a buffer, a backup for if God failed me. I struggle a lot with vulnerability in my prayer life, so becoming like a little child is hard for me. But I don't think that is how God wants anyone to be when they pray to him. I would never want my little brother Zem to be afraid to ask me for something because he thought I would get mad or turn him down. I am not perfect towards Zem, but we have a perfect God! Who loves us! He loves more than we can ever imagine so shouldn't Christ's love compel us to enter into the throne room of God and ask him for requests? Jesus says in Luke, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
So in light of all this prayer stuff, can I ask for prayer?
- The biggest thing on my heart now are two girls we met at the park yesterday at Zone Kids, one of the staff in our group said she saw their dad come pick them up and he was abusing them physically and verbally, pushing them and yelling. The picture of this makes me feel like I am going to throw up. We are at a loss as to what to do. Its hard to receive justice for this type of thing even in the States, I don't even know how to go about this in Mexico. Can you pray for these girls? That someone will intervene who has power to remove them from their situation? And that in this moment they can be protected somehow? I am glad because school started today in their area so they can be safe at school.
- Another thing is my Spanish. I need to be very diligent in my speaking and practicing. It is starting to become difficult.
- Tomorrow we are going to the Juvenile Hall and meeting with about 8 or 9 girls between the ages of 15-18. Pray that they can be made whole again and can have relationship with their Heavenly Father. I am going to be sharing about prayer, my hope and prayer is that they too can become like little children and trust in their God to help them.
Some of you have asked for my address, although I am in Mexico, all of the mail gets sent to the office in the States. Here is the address:
YWAM San Diego/Baja c/o Ellie Swenson
P.O. Box 5417
Chula Vista, CA 91912
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View of the Pacific from the Base! Lovely! |
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My first Homes of Hope build. We built the house in 2 days! This the before picture. |
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Antonio Jr. painting the trim for his brand new home! |
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Here it is! It has three rooms inside. Praying for the family who enjoys this home! Antonio and Victoria have 3 little children. |
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Relaxing in the "shade" after finishing up the house. |
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Cool wall art in Playas. |
Monday, August 11, 2014
My Minneapolis
This is just a quick shout out to YWAM Minneapolis and how impacting my time there was. I will never forget the people there and what God did during my time there. I miss it everyday, I consider this base my home, and the staff there my family.
Here is an awesome video created by one the YWAM Mpls staff Lisa Ryan about the School of Ministry Development I just finished and I am now on outreach for. Here is the link!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QT ETcQV4U&feature=youtu.be
Here is an awesome video created by one the YWAM Mpls staff Lisa Ryan about the School of Ministry Development I just finished and I am now on outreach for. Here is the link!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QT ETcQV4U&feature=youtu.be
Here we are at our commissioning ceremony. What a great SOMD class!
In The Zone
I have been very in awe at how God works and how a lot of the things in my life have come full circle. Ever since I went to Bolivia for my first time, I knew I was called to Latino missions. I can't really say how I knew but I knew that my heart was bursting for the Spanish language and warm culture and that God was calling me to work in that culture. The mission field was calling my name.
During the second semester of my junior year of high school my mom and I began to volunteer with Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora, Illinois and God began to do something in my heart for inner city ministry. We worked at an after school program, helping struggling kids with their homework. My heart was stolen yet again by these kids that were so difficult yet so wonderful. I was fascinated by their Mexican slang Spanish/English concoction, their illiteracy in both languages broke my heart. I saw them grow up and join a gang, or get pregnant at 16, I knew this was what I was made for. I worked at that school for about 5 years. It was wonderful. I learned so much about God's heart for East Aurora and the families that are there.
I remember taking on a summer class at Aurora University one year just so I could still be staff with the group Communities in Schools so I could keep working with the kids over the summer (you couldn't work for CIS if you weren't an Aurora resident or a student in Aurora, I think I broke even that summer, with paying for the class and working).
Slowly but surely I began to wonder about these children's native land, Mexico. Where did they come from? Or their parents and grandparents? What was Jalisco and Monterrey and Mexico City like? They always seemed to be planning to take a vacation to Mexico to see their cousins and whatnot. I was intrigued.
God really blessed me by allowing me to go to the Guadalajara area of Mexico last year with YWAM. And now I am here in Tijuana. I love the story that God has given me, how he has woven it all together. I used to pray Psalm 16 a lot when I was struggling with figuring out what God wanted me to do and I think he has really answered my prayer for his glory! "Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. "
This past week I went to another YWAM San Diego/Baja ministry site called Zona Norte, it is a homeless/deportee ministry that we partner with. We work with a church called La Roca (The Rock), and it is one amazing ministry. It is a homeless ministry as well as rehabilitation center and orphanage. Amazing. I talked with some of the women while we were there, Carla I think was one of their names. I am hoping to talk with her again, they say that the people at the shelter are always eager to share their story about why they are homeless or why they were deported from the USA. I am so eager to hear their stories.
Something I was super in shock about was the men. They were rough of course, homeless men usually are, they looked like they had been through a lot. The YWAM staff with me said that the men LOVED to worship, so when we would come they would sing worship songs. We sang about 3 songs and tears were in my eyes. These men had terrible voices but yet they were so beautiful because I knew they wanted something MORE for their life so badly, their off beat clapping was so enthusiastic. It was beautiful, perhaps one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.
Who said missions can't be fun?
I have been really blessed by all of the staff here in Tijuana too,
its a blessing to work with them! And of course a blessing to have fun
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
San Diego is Cooler than Tijuana....
Turns out, this base is called YWAM Antigua del Mar (I acknowledge my mistake now, this base isn't really called YWAM Tijuana, its part of YWAM San Diego/Baja, there is also a base in San Diego and another in a town about an hour away called Ensenada.
Anyways, here at the base we do a lot of ministries that I am going to be telling you all about as I go. The first one I experienced is called Zone Kids. I knew I would like this one because it had the word "kids" in it and it takes place in the Red Light district of Tijuana. It is pretty rough there, a lot of drugs, prostitution, and poverty. It is right on the border, you can see the wall on the other side of the highway from the park we do the program at. Before we began our kids program, we had to gather the kids. So we went out, bearing toothbrushes and toothpaste and an invitation. Walking around the town was super awesome for me. I have always had a huge passion for the rougher ghettos. I really think those areas are where Jesus wants us to be. I met a group of kids riding their bikes around town. They were very excited, they probably felt powerful with their mini bike gang. I talked with them for a while. One of the kids named Chris, asked me if we were from San Diego. I said no, that I was from Chicago, and I asked if he had ever been to San Diego. "Yes I have, it's way better there." he answered. I told him I really liked his city, that it was beautiful and I really wanted to know more about it. He thought I was weird.
We met other kids and their moms on our way back to the park to start the program. We had about 25-30 kids show up and about 3 moms (part of Zone Kids is a mother's bible study that they do while the kids are in their program). One girl's mother had recently been deported back to the States, but somehow got back to Mexico. It sounded like a tough story, she was sweet and spoke English well. The leaders of the program said that she has told them that her mom spends a lot of time on the street and men pick her up. That was hard to hear, a 10 year old shouldn't have to know or understand those things, let alone know that that is what her mom does for money. She also was upset because the kids make fun of her because of her black curly hair. It really frustrates me that kids at so young an age have to deal with all of those difficulties. They seem too young to have to deal with that, their brains cannot deal with those kinds of things in healthy way without help and nurturing. There doesn't seem to be anyone to advocate for them.
There are a ton of hurdles for all of these kids in that area. The older kids stop coming because they get teased for coming the program and playing games and making crafts. Its just so hard. How do we reach older kids? If we make it more on their level we lose the younger kids. It is a tricky situation. But all I know is this is definitely something I am called to. God will provide us with wisdom as to what to do.
Some prayer requests for Zone Kids:
Anyways, here at the base we do a lot of ministries that I am going to be telling you all about as I go. The first one I experienced is called Zone Kids. I knew I would like this one because it had the word "kids" in it and it takes place in the Red Light district of Tijuana. It is pretty rough there, a lot of drugs, prostitution, and poverty. It is right on the border, you can see the wall on the other side of the highway from the park we do the program at. Before we began our kids program, we had to gather the kids. So we went out, bearing toothbrushes and toothpaste and an invitation. Walking around the town was super awesome for me. I have always had a huge passion for the rougher ghettos. I really think those areas are where Jesus wants us to be. I met a group of kids riding their bikes around town. They were very excited, they probably felt powerful with their mini bike gang. I talked with them for a while. One of the kids named Chris, asked me if we were from San Diego. I said no, that I was from Chicago, and I asked if he had ever been to San Diego. "Yes I have, it's way better there." he answered. I told him I really liked his city, that it was beautiful and I really wanted to know more about it. He thought I was weird.
We met other kids and their moms on our way back to the park to start the program. We had about 25-30 kids show up and about 3 moms (part of Zone Kids is a mother's bible study that they do while the kids are in their program). One girl's mother had recently been deported back to the States, but somehow got back to Mexico. It sounded like a tough story, she was sweet and spoke English well. The leaders of the program said that she has told them that her mom spends a lot of time on the street and men pick her up. That was hard to hear, a 10 year old shouldn't have to know or understand those things, let alone know that that is what her mom does for money. She also was upset because the kids make fun of her because of her black curly hair. It really frustrates me that kids at so young an age have to deal with all of those difficulties. They seem too young to have to deal with that, their brains cannot deal with those kinds of things in healthy way without help and nurturing. There doesn't seem to be anyone to advocate for them.
There are a ton of hurdles for all of these kids in that area. The older kids stop coming because they get teased for coming the program and playing games and making crafts. Its just so hard. How do we reach older kids? If we make it more on their level we lose the younger kids. It is a tricky situation. But all I know is this is definitely something I am called to. God will provide us with wisdom as to what to do.
Some prayer requests for Zone Kids:
- that the little girl whose mom is prostituting herself would feel love through us, and most importantly feel loved and accepted by her God. I think she is dealing with a lot of feelings of abandonment.
- for the older boys that they wouldn't feel embarrassed to come to the program and really look forward to it.
- that God would provide more staff so we can separate the two age groups of kids to better serve them at their age level
Playing games at the park with balloons.
We began a three week series with the kids on Spiritual Growth.
We did a craft about growing, like a tree.
Here we are at Las Playas, a tourist area of Tijuana.
You can see the boarder wall go into the water to keep people from trying to swim across the boarder.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
"Wherever you are, be all there."
"Wherever you are, be all there." -Jim Elliot.
Jim and Elisabeth Elliot are quite possibly one of the most revered and respected missionary couples that there are. Many of us are familiar with their story of sacrifice in spreading the Gospel to the un-reached Huaorani tribe in Ecuador. I revere them as wonderful missionary examples for all of us and my hope is that wherever I am called, I am willing enough to serve others as sacrificially as the Elliots.
Here I am! Lord, send me. And he did, I am sitting in my new room just outside of Tijuana. Its amazing how close we are to the border, (and can I add the Pacific is beautifully breathtaking?). Driving into Mexico is much easier than getting back into the States. The lady who was driving me to the YWAM base pointed out the line getting into the States. It looked like a traffic jam, she said it can take up to 3 hours to get back in. (You can get a Global Pass for easier commuting back and forth for work, then it should only take an hour our so.) But all I know, the news doesn't lie. People are quite literally DYING to get into the States. We drove along the border for a bit. Its a barbed wire fence in some places and more of a clay wall in others. There is a huge ravine too, its so weird how tangible the border really is, it is literally a wall separating the two countries. Ashley (staff at YWAM-Tijuana) said that people do try to make a run for it through the ravine, but there is almost always a helicopter patrolling the border. It was kind of eerie to see honestly. The stark contrast between San Diego and Tijuana was breathtaking, how this wall of barbed wire and clay could create two different worlds. I honestly blessed to be on this side, the side of ramshackle houses and garbage (I love it), I think this is the side I am meant to be on.
The idea of people so desperate to get into the States makes my heart break, I want them to know there is more for them. Their hearts are set on worldly things, things that don't satisfy. I feel overwhelmed at what these next 6 weeks hold. But I am reminded of this verse in 1 Corinthians 2:9:
Jim and Elisabeth Elliot are quite possibly one of the most revered and respected missionary couples that there are. Many of us are familiar with their story of sacrifice in spreading the Gospel to the un-reached Huaorani tribe in Ecuador. I revere them as wonderful missionary examples for all of us and my hope is that wherever I am called, I am willing enough to serve others as sacrificially as the Elliots.
Here I am! Lord, send me. And he did, I am sitting in my new room just outside of Tijuana. Its amazing how close we are to the border, (and can I add the Pacific is beautifully breathtaking?). Driving into Mexico is much easier than getting back into the States. The lady who was driving me to the YWAM base pointed out the line getting into the States. It looked like a traffic jam, she said it can take up to 3 hours to get back in. (You can get a Global Pass for easier commuting back and forth for work, then it should only take an hour our so.) But all I know, the news doesn't lie. People are quite literally DYING to get into the States. We drove along the border for a bit. Its a barbed wire fence in some places and more of a clay wall in others. There is a huge ravine too, its so weird how tangible the border really is, it is literally a wall separating the two countries. Ashley (staff at YWAM-Tijuana) said that people do try to make a run for it through the ravine, but there is almost always a helicopter patrolling the border. It was kind of eerie to see honestly. The stark contrast between San Diego and Tijuana was breathtaking, how this wall of barbed wire and clay could create two different worlds. I honestly blessed to be on this side, the side of ramshackle houses and garbage (I love it), I think this is the side I am meant to be on.
The idea of people so desperate to get into the States makes my heart break, I want them to know there is more for them. Their hearts are set on worldly things, things that don't satisfy. I feel overwhelmed at what these next 6 weeks hold. But I am reminded of this verse in 1 Corinthians 2:9:
However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”
the things God has prepared for those who love him—"
Alright God, here I am, send me! My hands are open. What do you have prepared Lord?
This is my first meal in So Cal. When in Rome right?
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