University of Aguascalientes

One of my goals is to start a ministry to university students. Aguascalientes has one major university as well as numerous smaller colleges. One day this week I visited 3 campuses, including the University of Aguascalientes. As I did, I prayed for God to provide an opportunity to meet students. While I was there, I was able to talk to some very nice people in the languages department. I offered to volunteer to help English students, and they quickly agreed that they could use my help holding English conversation sessions this fall. They emphasized that it would be a scheduled commitment and that I would not be allowed to discuss religion. To me, though, it is an answer to prayer. I can meet students and form relationships and then invite them to have other conversations and activities away from our class setting! Looking forward to August, and praying for divine appointments and guidance.

Thursday

Thursday mornings I am involved in a Bible study with a group of women from a local Baptist church. The women have been taking turns hosting every week, and Vero usually meets me at their church so I can ride with her. Today when we arrived exactly at the scheduled starting time, even the hostess wasn't there yet. Eventually, though, people showed up and we began with singing and sharing praise reports and prayer requests. We are going through a book called "La Batalla de Cada Mujer" (every woman's battle). Afterwards, as we chatted over snacks and drinks, the decision was made for next week to be at my friend Rosario's house and the following week to be at my house! As usual, we were there for about 3 hours total.

This afternoon I went by the eye doctor's office to schedule a follow-up appointment (with the hopes of getting an all clear on the infection) and reorganized my craft box before Robin and Emily came to pick me up for our Bible study. I did the same activities with this group of kids as I did yesterday. This group meets in the tiny little area in front of a small home, and this space is shared between the women and the kids. The father of a few of the kids (husband of one of the women) stood outside the fence right beside me the entire time, and most of the time a couple of his girls stayed out there with him. I handed craft projects through the fence to them and often wondered what the dad was thinking about everything I was saying and what we were doing. Near the end when the kids were coloring pictures and working find-a-word puzzles, I looked over to see that dad diligently searching and finding the words!

Wednesday

Okay, this morning I let myself sleep in a bit and then just did a few things around the house and did a little menu planning for the event I want to hold for the women of my neighborhood. I also ran a couple of quick errands.

This afternoon I went with Robin and Emily to our Wednesday Bible study. While Robin taught the women, I had Emily help me with the kids. We had a short story and discussion about love and forgiveness, made a couple of crafts, sang a couple of songs, colored pictures, and did find-a-word puzzles. Today we had 7 kids, ranging in age from 1 to 12.

This evening Charlie was out of town, so Robin and Emily and I had a "girls night" with pizza and a movie at their house.

Tuesday

First thing Tuesday morning I ran some errands, inluding paying a bill (whch has to be done in person here--no mailing it in or online payments!), getting copies made at a copy store, etc. Then I went to Robin and Charlie's house to have Emily help me with some gluing and cutting that needed to be done to prepare some crafts. This afternoon I wrote and sent out my monthly newsletter to prayer supporters. Then a Mexican census worker came to my door, so I answered his questons. It was a cultural experience just to hear what kind of questions are asked here compared to what would likely be asked in the States. For instance, one question was about whether or not I have running water in my house, and another was about whether or not I have indoor plumbing for sanitation. They ask these things because there is a significant portion of the population who would haveto say "no" to those questions.
This evening I went with Robin, Charlie, Emily, and Angel (a teenager I've mentioned before without name included) to watch Julio, another teenager from house church, play soccer (futbol). Julio's brother and parents were there too. Here's Julio in a red shirt kicking the ball.After the game we drove Angel home. He lives a ways out, and when we got there he found a note from his mom that they were at his brother's in-law's house. (His brother's wife had her baby yesterday.) So, we took him there, a bit further out, and went in for a bit to say hello to the family, including the proud new parents and the precious tiny baby who still doesn't have a name. (People here often take their time naming babies.)
I got home after 9 pm, ate dinner, and then continued cutting for craft projects. I clearly planned projects that require too much cutting! :)

Monday

Rosario, awoman I met last Thursday at a Bible study (part of the women's ministry of one of the local churches), agreed to come meet me at my house at 9 this morning to help me practice Spanish and learn more about the culture, etc. Now, it is not uncommon here for people to be late or miss a meeting altogether. In fact, the first woman who had agreed to meet with me for this reason never showed up for our meeting. So I wasn't at all concerned when Rosario wasn't here yet at 9 am. I just sat down to read a book about spiritual warfare while Iwaited. She called around 9:15 and said something about meeting somewhere else. Following Spanish over the phone is far more difficult than in person, so I strugged a bit until she suggested we meet at the hotel by the entrance to my neighborhood in about 30 minutes. I drove there and waited until she arrived just after 10 am. This is when I realized that her problem was transportation. I felt so bad! She had flagged down a transport van to bring her. After I apologized, we came back to the house, where we had a great conversation. I was instantly very comfortable, and it was very clear that she really wants to help me and be my friend. Among other things, I asked for her input on my idea to host a breakfast or something similar for the women in my neighborhood. Not only did she advise me on cultural aspects, scheduling, etc., but she helped me write the invitations and volunteered to come back over on Saturday to go door to door with me to distribute invitations. Around noon I drove her home, so now I know where she lives and can go back Saturday to pick her up.
After lunch I finished a monthly report for my supervisor and sent it in then ran a few errands. I designed and printed the invitations for my neighborhood women's event and spent a couple minutes on recordkeeping (I try to do this every day or two in order to avoid spending hours at the end of the month on expense reports.
After dinner I revised a resource that a colleague in another city shared with me and printed a copy of it so that I can take it to the copy shop while I am going and have them on hand when needed. Now I am going to do a load of laundry, work a bit more on kids' activity prep work, and maybe even do a bit of house cleaning.

Typical Week?

Some people have been asking me what a typical week looks like for me here, and I have to say that in my two months here no 2 weeks have been alike. A few tings are starting to become more fir in my weekly schedule, at least for now, but there are a lot of variables. But in an attempt to answer that question, I thought I'd post a series of daily summaries for a week. I'll start with a summary of this weekend.

Saturday, May 29
Went with Robin and Emily (teenage girl from states currently visiting Robin and Charlie) to visit a lady from our Thursday afternoon group. She and her family have recently moved to different housing, and it is too far for her to continue coming to that study without transportation. Instead of just quitting, she asked Robin if she could start a new study at her new apartment. So, we went to visit her and take her invitations for the new study that she can give to other women in her apartment complex. When we arrived, two of her little girls who I have quickly grown to love immediately began to take turns jumping into my arms and climbing on me.
From there we went to our storage building to sort through some resources. I pulled out a few things that I thought I might be able to use with the kids over the next few weeks. I spent the rest of the afternoon at home researching, planning, and organizing crafts and stories for the kids.
Saturday evening I went with Robin and Emily to a meeting of women from several different Baptist churches. This group of women have begun to form an organization to work together on big ministry and outreach events. This meeting focused on planing a women's conference to be held in a month.

Sunday, May 30
I attended a local Mexican Baptist church that was original started by Robin and Charlie and are now on their own. On the way home I stopped at a couple of stores to buy supplies for the kids' crafts I am planning.
Sunday evening I attended Robin and Charlie's house church. Afterwards, I told the young man I described in my last post that I had seen his prayer card and really liked it and wondered if I could have one. He agreed, and I joked that if he couldn't bring me a copy then I might have to steal Robin and Charlie's.
Before and after the evening service, I spent more time preparing for upcoming kids' activities and making a list of things I would like to accomplish on Monday.

Disciple

There is a teenage guy who attends my teammates' house church faithfully every Sunday evening, even though he usually has to come alone, riding 2 buses to travel the distance. I can see that he, like me, is not an extrovert. In spite of that, he is really blossoming. He helped with every health fair that wasn't during his school day, and he has been learning and sharing several evangelistic tools. He recently sought out a discipling relationship with Charlie. One day when he and Charlie were in the office at their house, this young man saw my prayer card on the office wall. When he asked about it, Charlie explained that it was a reminder to pray for me. He nodded his understanding. The next time he came to their house, he brought something he had made since his last visit and added it to the wall beside my prayer card. He had taken a picture of himself and added scripture to it, thus making his own prayer card. He thought it was a really cool idea and wanted my teammates to remember to pray for him too! I LOVE it and am HONORED to share that wall space with him. I think I will ask him for a copy to keep at my house, too.

Alabama Baptist Nurses Fellowship

A wonderful team of nurses just finished a week here working with us to put on 7 health fairs in 6 different locations, easily seeing over 1000 people. Through this time, Robin and Charlie made several new contacts, and I had the opportunity to share my contact information with a few women who I am praying will follow up with me.
In addition, I was very blessed and encouraged by several of the women on this team. They were so caring and thoughtful and generous, and I am so grateful that they were obedient to God's call to "go" even though it required sacrifice on multiple levels.

First Health Fair

We had a good response to our first health fair this morning, which was held in a very dark area. Many people came, participated, and a couple even expressed desire for spiritual conversations. Just when we were beginning to pack up and felt good about things, several police vehicles, including a paddy wagon, pulled up and surrounded us. Someone had called and complained that we were doing something really bad, further evidence of the spiritual battle that exists in this place. As our friend explained that we were on the property of his business and then the free health care and hair cuts were explained, the policemen relaxed very quickly, and when Robin said that we pray for them because we read the news and know how dangerous their job is, they even smiled and expressed appreciation. Thankful that God so quickly diffused a potentially bad situation! Praying that He will continue to win victories in that neighborhood!

Health Fairs

This Friday a team of nurses will arrive from Alabama. Please pray for all of the preparations that need to be done for the health fairs they will provide. Also pray for God to provide divine appointments during these health fairs.

Engaged in Battle

Somehow I have been caught in the middle of something that I think actually has very little to do with me, but it still hurts. Please pray for our Baptist brothers and sisters in the churches here and for unity. Please pray that gossip started by someone who has never even spoken to me will not get in the way of the work God desires to do through me.

I feel like I am in the midst of multiple spiritual battles at the same time right now; please pray that God will have the victory and that the collateral damage will be minimal.

Troubled Eyes

In my post Obscured Vision a couple of months ago I shared about my problems with eye infections. I continued to wear glasses until after I got settled in here in Mexico. For a couple of weeks, my eyes seemed fine with contacts. Then the infection returned; clearly it was never truly healed. I have an appointment to visit a Mexican eye doctor this Friday. Please pray for this problem to finally be resolved.