The Watchtower

This is a copy of a bulletin that I just posted on www.myspace.com, asking for prayers from whoever reads it. I am writing this just 15 minutes after our friend left and I am really just in pain over his lack of faith and lack of initiative to really step out of the box and seek for the truth. That is his picture on the left. Please pray with us, because its about all we can do at this point.

Me and my friends just got done studying with our friend Abraham, a Jehovahs Witness here in Mexico. We have been studying with him for months and months now and we havent gotten anywhere, other than we offended him this time because we explained to him that what he believes is a lie made up by a group of men (the Watchtower Association). The truth offends people, and thats why people have always hated Jesus. I just want to ask that you would pray for all of the lost people in the world who dont know the truth, that they can somehow come to know Jesus. It hurts me so much to see people living their lives without a purpose, or even worse, living it for a fake one.

Moved

Hey hey. Well its been about 2 weeks, we moved from our house to an apartment building for various reasons, mainly because the rent on the house was more than we could handle and the contract ended. Moving itself was stressful but finally being settled into the new place was pretty nice. The ministry here, as always, is busy and always growing, which is awesome. Yesterday I was helping Jazmins mom do some stuff at her house and we went and had lunch and I was asking her about what she believes about demons and excorcisms. In a country where everything the Pope THINKS is a law or rule to live by, this means that exorcisms and demons are VERY real to the people here, as can be read about in this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/feb/15/mexico. The Mexican mindset is one of religious devotion... doing physical and mental "works" to make yourself right with God and the Virgin, keeping the demons and bad events out of your life if you accomplish these tasks. If only they knew that through Jesus Christ they can be freed from the law and given the Holy Spirit, who defends us from demons and Satan! The sad thing is, its not just Mexico that is affected by the law, its the whole "religious" world! Please help spread the truth about Jesus Christ to the lost world, so that they know that they dont have to be at any kind of risk, if they have the Holy Spirit!

Mi Familia

Hey everyone. Im sorry its been quite a few weeks since I have been able to write anything, my parents were here for one week and not to mention we are just straight up busy with different things. My definition of home has changed in the past year that I have been here. Home is not where are feet are planted or where my house or things are, but where my heart is. For the past year, my heart has been here with the work and with the people I have met. This doesnt mean that I forgot about my real family, who stayed with me for a week to see how and what I am doing here. But this kind of mindset makes it easier to move to through the next open door that God has for me, which will be moving back to Alaska in September to continue ministry there. Also, as Christians, our hearts should be set on heaven and on Christ, not an earthly home but a home with our Savior in the sky. My challenge is to spend as much time with the people and community around you as possible, and less time worrying about work and money. Remember where your true home will be, and that while we are here we have no other purpose other than to glorify God!

Search and Build

The first chapter of the book that I am reading right now ends with this paragraph: "Those who missed His Majesty's (Jesus) arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no , they missed it because they simply weren't looking. Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?"

After I read that passage, I was transported back to the 18th of February where one of my neighbors was drunk and suicidal, and invited me into her house to pray with her and "help" her (there is a post titled "Crazy Walk" on this day that you can read more about that.) What she asked me that nite was "why do you know Jesus better than I do, and you are so young?" And what I told her was that for her whole life, Jesus has been looking for you, but have you ever reached out and looked for Him?

Maybe if you feel like Jesus is far away from you, you should look for Him! Are you looking for Jesus in your life? Do you look for Him during your day? HOW do you look for Him? When you find Him, what do you do? HOW can you look and find Him more?

Just ask yourself these questions... who knows, you might be surprised (and blessed) by what your find (Jesus).

realest of the real

HEY! time flies, April is going to be another fast month. we finally had a work day at the church building again, we took about a 2 or 3 month break from doing the general maintenance and improvements that we used to do every week! needless to say, that was a lot to be done and we did a good 2 or 3 hours of work to the building. sometimes i have to ask myself if this is really what i signed up for... cleaning a churchbuilding? thats mission work. believe it or not! i like lists so here is one that i came up with. things that most people dont think of when they here the word missionary:

1. Fun - thats right, your not supposed to have fun while working for God! the theme is "Git-R-Dun" not "Have some Fun"

2. Manual Labor - mission work isnt supposed to be hands on... arent you to busy with bible studies and mass baptisms?!?!

3. Shabby clothes - hard to believe, but the Mormons uniforms are on point, black pants, white shirts and even name tags. as for us, sometimes we look worse than the people we are ministering to!

4. Relax - how can you relax when you are driving out demons and feeding poor people all the time? yes, we find the time! this can be anything from some coffee at starbucks, a movie at the mall, or just going to the park.

So what was the point of this list? I just want everyone to understand that there are no real guidelines to being a missionary. I would say that the main guidelines are a mentality that you are theologically conservative, and culturally liberal. Thats right, preach the gospel while you are IN the culture. Missionaries are real people, some of the realest people out there! We cant have a mindset that missionaries are just those people who travel to far off places... every Christian is (or should be) a "missionary". so my charge is: GO OUT, PREACH THE WORD, AND BE REAL!!!

change

hey everyone! well its been just a little over a week since my last post. its been kind of wierd getting back into the work, sometimes i have to remind myself that just being a friend to someone is part of why i am here. nonetheless, i am attending a new small group and also studying with 2 young women. last nite i studied english with Fabiola, and she is doing really well. she just needs to practice talking in english and she will be on the right track. im not just her "teacher" though, one of the main reasons i wanted to study with her is because she doesnt have a whole lot of friends here, she has self esteem issues, and its just hard for me to watch a young, awesome Christian stay in their house all day! so after we studied at her house, i took her to the new small group that my teammates donovan and megan started at the nearby Starbucks coffee shop. last nite was the first nite and my buddy Donovan did an awesome job setting it up and leading it. we are doing a 4 week study called "reflections on the cross" and im very excited not only to take part in it but because hopefully Fabiola can now branch out and hang out with some of the other people from the church and whoever else shows up! i know small groups and studies are considered "work" but mainly i just enjoy hanging out with people! yesterday afternoon me and Jazmin and her little brother and sister went over to her grandmas house (her grandma lives pretty close to me) to eat lunch and a rediculous amount of other people in the family were there so i got to meet even more people. Lately i have been learning to cook Mexican food at Jazmins house and that has given me a good chance to sit down with her family and share the Bible if the opportunity arises. I dont feel like this is my "mission field" i feel like this is my community, my home. therefore, i want to evangelize it because i love these people and i want them to know Christ's love!!!!!

good times

hey everyone! i have been kinda slacking on writing my blog so i will give a quick update. i spent a week in Texas from the 13th to the 21st. it was really awesome being able to take a one week break and see old friends. isnt it awesome how God has a purpose for everything? when i went down to Texas, i got to surprise a group of people from my home church in Alaska. it was great to see old friends, but God had a deeper purpose. i have a really good friend from my church whose name is Maria and she is 16 years old. we have been talking for a long time now and i had always thought she was baptized because of how spiritual she has always been and so i never second guessed that she wasnt yet baptized. well when i found out that she in fact wasnt, i studied with her for 3 or 4 days and she got baptized that week! so i knew that God had a purpose for me being there that week. now i am back in Leon, spiritually re-energized and ready to work more. last nite, Megan, Raphael, Jazmin and I went to Starbucks to have coffee but it was to cold outside so we went to Raphaels house to watch a movie. Raphael is an interesting guy. he knows English already so its easy to talk with him. he used to go to a Baptist church but one Sunday he decided to visit out church, and ever since then he has been coming back. he is really good about bringing his family to. sometimes people just come to church because of the love they feel when they are there, so that just tells me something good about the work going on here in Leon. Praise God for his faithfulness!