Gracias

First of all I want to say "thank you" to all the people who are supporting me through their prayers and giving. I am very grateful to all of you and you are all partners in the work here.

I just got back to Tlaxiaco. I got to spend 3 weeks at home with my family to celebrate Christmas. It was great to be worshiping in my home church and to see so many friends again. I learned a lot from my family and friends while being home and I am grateful for the chances I had to visit all of you.

I went home hoping to have time to process some of what I've been experiencing and learning down here, it turned out I returned to Mexico from America with plenty more to chew on from the last 3 weeks. I think a lot of it stemmed from Grant's urging to view America as just as much of a missions field as Tlaxiaco. Being back in the states was also a good way to gauge of how much I've changed and grown in the last couple of months.

Good things

God did a lot of encouraging things in and around my life this week. My friend, A., who recently started to follow Christ is planning to start leading the Bible study/church meeting we hold at his house. This week he and I read part of Luke with a young non-believer and A. was answering the other guy's questions about the Bible. It's a real blessing to see him growing in his faith and taking more of a leadership role. My job is to work myself out of a job, to encourage A.'s growth to the point where he can totally replace me and then we can both start teaching others to follow God. It's the principle of multiplying disciples.

Where is my mind?

I wrote a song. I thought I'd post the lyrics as it contains some of my thoughts from the last several weeks.

I left home for parts unknown, and a land I’d never seen

I passed by fields unsown and a people who’d never received

Your good news though you love them like you love me

Dear God make me the man they need me to be

Yeah, I went out on my own to seek, and ask, and pray

I lay down on a bed of nails and I cried myself awake

I thought about Jesus Christ and the world He came to save

Tears of sorrow and tears of joy ran streaming down my face

But why is my soul downcast, this darkness will not last

And why do I despair, I know you’re already there

Watching over the women who are living in the brothels

And with the drug addicts who are dying in the hovels

Crying over those who have nothing to eat

Waiting for me, to be your hands and feet

Your word teaches that victory is yours

Salvation reaches to the ends of the earth

And I’ll sing a new song, to the God who saved my soul

I give my life up to the Lord who’s in control

I’ll pray to You in faith, confident of your love

You have all authority on earth as in heaven above

Your very words spoke the stars into flame

You call them each by name and hung them out in space

I am your creation, Lord, made to sing your praise

Give me the face I had before the world was made

I admit I’m wretched and weak, naked and poor

But I heard you knocking Lord and I opened wide the door

Let me stand in your presence Lord for all eternity

You are all I want, you’re everything I need

I came here seeking gold refined in the flame

Clothe me in purest white and take away my shame

I won’t be satisfied with what I can say and do

All I want is everything, everything that’s of you

I’ll follow Jesus Christ to the gates of hell and back

In Him I’ll overcome and there’s nothing that I’ll lack

The angels are all singing, “Holy is the Lord”

And we’ll be praising His name forevermore

Touch and Go

Today I met up with some friends at the airstrip who were projecting a movie for the neighborhood. By the time I got there the power had failed and we had to reschedule the rest of "Because of Winn Dixie" for Wednesday. But a few things struck me about the incident. One was how the people who had been viewing the movie responded to the problem. They voted as a group on whether to try to fix the problem tonight or come back on Wednesday. There is a strong sense of community in the airstrip neighborhood that is evident even after only being there twice. It would be an awesome place to see a church planted, because church is all about community in Christ.

New Things

I added the Joshua Project Unreached People Group of the day link to the right side of my blog. It's a great resource for praying effectively for people who have never had a chance to know Jesus. I strongly encourage you to use it!

Here's one of the valuable bits of practical wisdom I picked up from our leaders tonight (and we weren't even in class at the time):

-Rule Number One of church planting: Don't invite your disciple's wife over for dinner...unless her husband can come, too.
-Grant and Dan

Yep, we're learning a lot!

Seriously, being a learner here is bringing me to new levels of insight and humility.

Holy Ghost Stories

This was my classroom this past week. This week we focused on the Holy Spirit, so we read Acts (all about what the Holy Spirit did at the beginning of the Church) and a couple other books. We didn't have many formal classes, so we spent a lot of time outside drawing closer to God. Honestly, it kind of overwhelms me to know that God is still eager and able to do the kinds of things we read about in Acts in the world today.

Thanksgiving Day

We celebrated Thanksgiving in real American style; we even had Martinelli's and green bean casserole. There were about 60 people at the dinner. Having Thanksgiving dinner together made me feel even more at home away from home here with my extended family.

Today we completed the celebrations with GFM's annual (American) football game. It was so much fun, but soccer is still a better sport!

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings.