What Mexico Caravan Ministries is all about!

I can't believe I have one month left before my year here in Tijuana is through. What an INCREDIBLE journey this has been! In my next blog post I will have some exciting news to share with you all about where I'm headed to after Mexico!

Meanwhile, I wanted to share with you this video that gives a brief overview of the ministry I've been a part of for the past 11 months...

Well, it has been a busy and amazing couple of months since I last updated you all. We had five church groups in back-to-back and I had the privilege of having a few people come visit me. : ) Lindsey, Michael, and Scott from my Bible study group in the Atlanta area came out for a week and just left yesterday, and my sister Hannah came a couple of weeks ago. They were such an encouragement to have here! What a joy to be able to share with them what I'm learning about missions here and to be challenged by what they learned here as well! I'm so thankful for the Body of Christ.

I want you all to meet Eneida, her husband Ricardo, and their 4 children. I know so little about her story but as we all gathered around to pray before building the house I held her as she sobbed out words of gratitude for the 12x12 room the 6 of them will call home from now on.

Sweet Eneida, Ricardo, Ricardo Junior, and Esmeralda
 (the other two kids were playing)

                                     

My sister and I taking a Calafia ride!

Michael, Lindsey, and Scott came with me for a house interview

    We had a project day for just us staff when there weren't any groups in. We went out to dig a hole for a baño, fix someone's roof, paint a house, and of course...play soccer with the niños! It was such a fun day! : )

Check out this amazing stove....one of the families
 we helped out cooked us breakfast and lunch on this.: )

I had to throw this in....just your typical baño adventure!

 

“Pato,Pato,Ganso!” (duck, duck, goose)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

 Today....I held a sweet 4 month old baby named Esteban for 45 minutes at the orphanage. His mother doesn't have the money to care for him and his father is on drugs. It was hard not to cry while I cuddled and played with him. It's so easy sometimes to want to run away from the situations I can't fix, but God has been teaching me to be faithful in loving with action and trusting Him with the unseen results.

The past two weeks have been wonderful and filled with some great opportunities where I was able to interact with sweet children like Esteban. Because we haven't had church groups for the past two weeks my time has been filled with playing with children in orphanages, sewing at the shelter for battered women, delivering food and the Gospel to the homes of the poor, and of course...the endless chores we have here around the dorms.

Thank you all again for praying for me and sending me here!


Pictures:






I got to go with Maggi (my mentor and director here) to bring food to a woman named Maria and her family. I listened as Maggi shared the Gospel with her in Spanish.

We had a week-long discipline where we were unable to use any vehicles and had to use public transportation to get around. It was so fun! Here's a picture of the new staff and me walking to the laundromat from the dorms:

Christmas break and a great start back in Tijuana...

        I spent two and a half weeks in the Atlanta area with my amazing family and church for Christmas break. I'm so thankful to return to a  church that is growing in the Word with people who welcome, support, love, and challenge me.

        I returned from break to a great start here in Tijuana. We had a small group of believers come down from Northridge, CA that were INCREDIBLE. They were a huge encouragement to us staff...but more importantly, a couple of them were Spanish speakers that led several Mexican national's to the Lord!

   I am so thankful for your prayers and support that allow me to be a part of such an amazing ministry!

Here are more pictures of my time in Mexico so far. 

I bought fish at the out-door market one Saturday!

                                                     

                                                          

                From left to right below: Josie, Josh, Paisley, Me

                                                            

                                          More Tienges...

                         


                       My friend, Monte, at one of the orphanages we visit.

                                         
                                Mexico Caravan Ministries

From left to right: the green building in the back is Eddie and Maggie's house, the big blue building in the center is where us interns live and where all the church groups stay (sleeps around 100), the smaller blue building on the right is the Nationals' Office where people come from all around Tijuana to apply for a house. 

                                                 

This is the house we build- a simple 12x12 plywood structure. We all took turns living in one for 2 weeks at a time over the summer:

The kids always help us build! : )

  Progresso: one of the neighborhoods we build in often

           Action shot of Josie...our wonderful lead intern. : )

Go, send, or disobey.

I would love to hear what you all think about this. Please post your thoughts! : ) 

"Esperanza, Esperanza, Esperanza"

Update:
Well, things are going great here! Since the last time I given you an update quite a few things have happened: 1. I have been camping in La Bufadora for a night with the staff (so much fun and such a great get-away for all of us to talk around a campfire and share what the Lord is teaching us), 2. I have led my first build (I had a lot of people praying for me and it went really well!), 3. and I just moved into a casita (a small house like the ones that we build for the Mexican people) for a two week stay with two of the girl staff in Maggi and Eddie's courtyard. I can't believe the summer is nearly over and we just said goodbye to the staff that are only here for the summer months. Fall break is coming up at the end of August and we all are looking forward to having 2 1/2 weeks off!

Story Time:
"Driving Senora Patti"
So I thought people only sighed "Martha, Martha Martha" because of Marsha off of the Brady Bunch but the other day I discovered that it really is just ME. It was my turn to stay back from building and drive Patti, a national who works in our office (and only knows me by my Spanish name, Esperanza), around to several interviews with nationals who are applying for houses. Well, Patti doesn't speak English and I'm sad to say my Spanish is still horrible so the drive was slightly humorous as I had to go off of her directions and hand gestures for every turn and we have a van full of national's that don't speak English either. After several little mishaps that led to laughter this one brought them all to tears laughing at me. After the first interview of the day we all loaded back into the van, got our seat belts on and I started the car and took out the parking break (kind of a long drawn out process for me) and was about to drive when I suddenly realized I had not taken off the steering wheel club. I looked sheepishly over at Patti and sad "oops...Lo Siento (sorry)", and as I turned the car off to unlock the club they all laughed and Patti sighed "oh, Esperanza, Esperanza, Esperanza".

Prayer Request:
Man guys....God is really convicting my heart of how little I come to His Throne BOLDLY. There are so many reasons for this: doubts, fears, stubbornness, and pride...or just getting stuck on what is unnecessary. I am reading through Hebrews. There are so many reminders scattered throughout but here is just one: Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". Please pray this for me! That God would continue to convict and draw me to Him. That my doubts would fall away and that I would run to Him every day throughout my day with my EVERY need.