Prayer Changes Things, Mostly Me

After meeting with some of the gals that volunteer here at Door of Faith, we decided that we would fast and pray today for the orphanage, staff, and concerns of friends nearby. I am very humbled to say that these young ladies love God's word and have a devotional life that surpassed what I had imagined. We also discovered that we all love Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost For His Highest". It was like being united with kindred spirits:)

It's been so cold here that I've had a difficult time rolling out of bed at 6:00 a.m. as I had started 2 months ago. So, I decided if I could get myself out on a prayer walk, the cold would keep me alert enough to pray. Wow! It made all the difference in the world. I could pray or sing as loud as I wanted. It was just me and Jesus walking around the campus of the orphanage.

As the ladies had agreed in prayer that we would avail ourselves to what God had for us, His plan began to unfold. We had discussed that "being" was the goal and "doing" was not. We purposed that we were going to acknowledge the LORD throughout the day and listen for His direction.

Just before lunch time, a man came to the orphanage and asked Lynette if he could have something to eat. It was apparent that he had been drinking alcohol, but it was also apparent that he was very broken in spirit. He had a huge infection in one of his legs, he hadn't eaten for a few days and was asking for help. We called one of our friends that runs the clinic at the church and she agreed to meet us at the clinic that afternoon.

Three of us gave the man, Veronico, a ride to what he called home. It was an old feed store that was out of business. He had a mattress on the floor and that was it. He had no place to store food, no water, no heat, no electricity ; all he had was a mattress.

When we went that afternoon to pick up Veronico he was not in his home. We found him at a street market. He had been drinking again and he was dancing in the streets. When we talked to him later about how we found him, he said that drinking made the pain go away so he could be happy and pain free.

We took him to the clinic to have our friend look at his leg. It was full of infection. He told us that he knew Jesus was his Savior. He told us how he knew that Christ died for him on the cross for forgiveness of his sins. He also told us that he was ashamed and wanted to stop drinking, but then his leg hurt when he stopped drinking. After the doctor gave him some medical attention and explained to him that he was unable to stop his drinking on his own, he began to cry. She told him about the Christian rehab nearby where he could receive help. We prayed for Veronico and then he began to cry out to God.

I've never experienced anything like today before. Here was someone that had at one time trusted in Jesus for forgiveness of sins, yet he had returned to a very painful existence. All I could conclude from this was how much we need each other in the body of Christ. All of us are hurting during sometime in our lives. What if we had no one to look in on us or encourage us in our walk with God? Or, what if we thought we could follow Christ all on our own?

We need each other. We need each other to encourage our walk with God through prayer and fellowship. Serving and praying alone doesn't cut it. We were designed to serve God together.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving in the states at my sister's home. There is no celebration of Thanksgiving in Mexico, so it was wonderful to come together with family and friends. I can't remember the last time that I was so particularly grateful for green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and turkey. It was a nice treat to break away from beans, rice and tortillas.

When we returned to Mexico, our friends Janet and Mary also came. It was nice to have them with us here. On Saturday, they took the boys to Ensenada to help with an outreach to kids. I stayed back and signed hundreds of Christmas cards from DOFO and helped a little with preparing turkey for today's meal after the service. I'm not sure for how long, but it's a tradition for the Americans to serve a Thanksgiving meal after church the Sunday after Thanksgiving following the Sunday morning service. It was wonderful!

Muchos Orfanatorios

Today we toured 4 orphanages and Sordo Mundo, school for the deaf. It was very eye opening for me. There is a great need in most of the places we visited. If they had plenty of facilities then they lacked help to maintain. If they had smaller facilities they seemed far away and unseen by most. I'm told that they way most of these orphanages receive the help they need is mostly by word of mouth.

Some of the orphanages stood out to me as strong in certain areas because of the giftedness of the staff. For instance, farming and orchards were at some to help with the orphanage as well as passing on the food to others. Others seemed to be run on resourcefulness and availability. I was mostly struck with the type of existance that was taking place. With so little at some, it seemed that it was all about school, laundry and cooking.

It's also been great to see how Door of Faith encourages the neighboring orphanages with sending groups to help out with projects or just visit and check in with how things are going. Sounds like "open handed" leadership to me. Wonder where I've seen that before;)

It's great to see what God is not only accomplishing in me, but what he's accomplishing in the lives of others. It seems that those that have very little are giving all they have to give and very resourceful. It made me think of the widow that gave her last coin and others gave a lot, but maybe not all they had. Still others gave what they had for their own kids as well as other orphanages.

Breakfast in Tijuana

This morning we left at 5:00 a.m. to head out to Tijuana. There's a community the lives on a retired dump of Tijuana. It's quite a sight to behold. Trash is sticking out of the ground and walls all around. But it is the home of many families with children. In this community there is a church making a difference. As long as financial support comes in, they serve breakfast at 7am 5 days a week to the children so they can have a good meal before they start school. For some, I'm told it's possibly their only meal of the day.

After we finished serving over 125 kids breakfast, (many of them seconds and thirds), we headed to an orphanage in the area that had recently been moved to a new location. About 2 weeks ago, it seems the Mexican government wanted the building of this orphanage for it's own purposes, so the orphanage needed to relocate. God is good. They relocated to an old hotel right next to the ocean. It's being converted into an orphanage right now, but already we saw that the bedrooms are coming together quite nicely. This new orphanage comes with an indoor swimming pool, ocean view and one of the more affluent neighborhoods in Tijuana. It was great to see another ministry to children. It was great to see how the LORD provided. God is awesome.

John Piper Says it Well

"The great incentive for throwing our lives into the cause of missions is the 10,000 - percent return on the investment." John Piper

This statement says it all for me in regards to missions. I've heard DJ at Door of Faith put it as the reason that he and Lynette do what they do is because they are incredibly selfish. It is not a bad thing to pursue joy, fulfillment or reward. Jesus tells us to. We just need to pursue those things in Him. That's where everlasting joy, true fulfillment and great reward are found.

The other reason I love this statement of John Piper is because I want by sons to know this with all their heart. I want them to store up treasures in heaven. If they start now, so great will be their reward.

I will never forget when my family was gathered around my father just as he was about to leave this world and step into the presence of the LORD. I remember my mother saying to him.."Mel, it's okay to go. Go and get your reward." Talk about leaving an impression on my mind. If I really believe that I will be rewarded in heaven for the investments I make here in this life, and I do, then what joy I should be experiencing now even if it's in light of what is yet to come.

Full and Great Weekend

Let's see, David hosted a group that came to serve this weekend. He really rose to the occasion and I had numerous "proud mom" moments. It's very rewarding to have someone come up to you and ask "Do you know David? I was told he could help me." I loved saying "Why yes I do know David. He's my son." Just can't beat that!

Then there's Tyler my second incredible son. He helped me prepare a house for some first time guests coming this weekend to check out bringing their youth group down in February. He's finishing his school work early as is David. Tyler's motivation to finish early is to learn more about computers. He's been helping one of the American volunteers work on computers here at Door of Faith and even serving off campus with computers.

I was serving by welcoming groups, hosting groups, organizing one of our rooms in preparation for Christmas, and teaching kids to read. While doing this, God blessed us on Saturday by sending two chiropractors to work on as many staff and children as possible. I was way overdue. It was wonderful!

Today was a wonderful service at church which included the welcoming home of team that had gone on mission in Sinaloa, Mexico. After returning from our Sunday celebration, Tyler and I enjoyed some "one on one" at the nearby beach. It was wonderful to have this opportunity with Ty; listening to his heart and discussing the soon celebration of his 13th birthday.

Yesterday, the little boy that was expecting a visit from his mother was not disappointed. It was so good to him be able to visit with her. I'm told that very few of the children get actual visits from their parents, so it was especially nice to see. As a parent, if your child has been placed in the orphanage, you must go to court and get papers allowing you to visit for each time you would like to see your child. There's no popping in whenever you feel like it.

Today, the church service attendance was noticeably lower. A team of 29 people are in Sinaloa, Mexico on a missions trip. We had an American guest speaker, Anthony from Apple Valley, with us this morning. He reminded us about the importance of prayer and the story of Cornelius in Acts 10. Cornelius was a man of prayer, quick to listen and quick to obey. That's how I want to live.

"Cornelius was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. One afternoon about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. "
Cornelious!" the angel said. Cornelius stared at him in terror. "What is it, sir? he asked the angel.
And the angel replied, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering!" Acts 10:2-4

Last night it rained and guess who forgot to bring in the clothes off the clothes line? I've never had to line dry my clothes before coming here. It's kind of a nice way for me to start my day when it's sunny. Not quite sure what the plan is when it rains. The other thing we quickly learned about the effects of rain down here is that when you have tile floors inside and mud and gravel outside...well you can guess the rest.

As the day progressed, one of our dorm parents, Raul, came by and gave my dog an injection for her allergies. Later, I discovered I had lost gas for my oven and water heater. Within the hour I mentioned it one of the men that serves here, Julian, had it fixed. While that was being done, I went out to the patio and worked with some of the little boys on their reading. I can't get over how eager they are to learn.

One of the little boys here has been telling me all week that his mother is coming to visit him on Saturday. He wants me to take a picture of her for him. I hope she comes and I hope I'm able to meet her and take her picture. I have no idea why her children are here. It could be for so many different reasons.

Living By Faith

Average day. (Whatever that's supposed to mean.) Laundry, homeschool, teaching kids to read, hugs, smiles and pushing kids on swings. Almost sounds like the lyrics to a song I would write. If I looked at those same task with eyes of faith the list of my actions today might look differently. It might look more like praying and listening to God early in the morning as I hang my clothes on the line, influencing and guiding my children in their education, study of Gods Word and enjoying my children, teaching children to read so that some day they will be able to read God's Word for themselves, and showing the tangible love of God. Some may say that's over spiritualizing, but is it really?

I just had an interesting conversation with a missionary here in Mexico. We were talking about what the balance between responsibility and faith looks like. If we are living by faith, then what are our responsibilities? We want to whole-heartedly say "my sole responsibility is to obey God." Yet our culture, our society, wants us to predict the future and say when, where and how are we going to be next year. Most make it sound like it the responsible thing to do. Plan for the future. Plan to have this or that paid off by....or what job do you have lined up when you're finished with what you're doing.

I find that if I voice what I even think I may be doing in the future, that it has a way of guiding my decision making. I start to fulfill my own prophesy so to speak. I so want to live a life that pleases God first and not just by what I do, but by who I am in and through Him. I want to live and walk in such obedience that to say no to something is just as obedient as it is to say yes.

I'm finding that trusting God has been taken to a whole different level. My challenge is to stay spiritually disciplined without keeping a spiritual routine. Each day is different here. I haven't seen two days alike. Even the roosters don't crow at the same time every morning!

Learning to comprehend a new language is challenging, but not a bad thing. It's teaching me to be a better listener. Maybe it will help me be a better listener to what God is saying to me.

These are my thoughts for today. Looking forward to tomorrow because I know the One who gives me tomorrow with all of it's designed purpose.

Preparing Christmas Info. For Sponsors

We've been busy beavers preparing information for sponsors. Not only does all the information have to be updated on each child, but Lynette makes sure that the pictures of each kid are perfect. On top of that we've been making labels with information on each child, labels for each letter of course and then sorting all the kids pictures to get them off to churches and schools that would like to sponsor a child for Christmas. Whew...It's easy to forget all the work that goes into a mailing, especially when you want it to be as personal as possible.

After the mailing was prepared, Tyler and I took a trip to the flea market across from the church. We shared a delicious pizza, bought some headsets for $2.50 and a few other odds and ends and then we tried a slurpee type drink called Tejuino de nieve. It has kind of a lime with salt taste and it's very bright green. Had to try one.

The next thing I'm looking into is a way to keep warm at night. Since there's no central heating and we have concrete walls for our house, it's getting very cold at night. I'm told this is just the beginning and to prepare for December.