It's like coming home

The city at night is beautiful
It's like the sky is upside down
The stars are dancing here below
Reflected on the ground
The city in the day is harsh
The streets are cold, the people too
But love is spreading tattered wings
Reflecting what we knew
The city is full of broken people
Living day-to-day alone
But the hope of few spreads to many
This hope is living and it grows

I just spent a week in the largest city in the world: Mexico. It has the same amount of people as Canada. We were actually in a church in the northern part. And it was wonderful.

Oaxaca... again!

Tomorrow (or actually today, because it is 2 am as I write this) we are going again to Oaxaca, but this time with a very different purpose in mind. There are 15 people driving down all day Sunday, and we are going to attend a church-planting conference, which is one week long. After that week, the real fun begins. The seven interns are staying in Oaxaca (which is a state of Mexico, by the way), and living in indigenous villages for the next three weeks. By ourselves. From what I understand so far, there will probably be a village for each of us, and so we will be truly separated from everything we know. Except God. The point is to learn about the culture of the Mixtec, which is the indigenous group that we will be living with. Learn their culture, learn their language, make friends, live with a family. I've done it once in this country already, although this is for a shorter time and the common language is my second one. I will not deny that I am nervous, though I am also excited. After our three weeks in the villages, we will spend one week in Mexico City with a young church there. Therefore, this is a 5-week excursion from the city I call home. Remember us in your prayers. But also rejoice, because God is going to teach us wonderful things. And don't be worried if I don't update very often in the coming month. I don't know if there will be electricity, I am fairly certain there will not be internet, and I am not bringing my computer.

And if you ever wondered, yes, I do clean up good:

Vamos a cantar

Hijo de Dios, tu eres por quien
VIVIMOS HOY!!!
Vamos a cantar, con la musica del cielo
Vamos a cantar, alegres porque escuchas
Cuando cantamos para exaltar tu nombre

I have realized two things:
God answers prayer, and God loves me.
But the cool thing is that God answers prayers in ways that we never expect. And also shows His love for us in ways we don't expect. Therefore, sometimes we miss it solely because we were not expecting it in such a format. And many times, God answers our unasked prayers. For example, at the end of my third year at Bethany I regretted not doing/having a few things during my time at Bible school. Things such as a roommate who I could actually talk to and going on road trips with my friends. But God is good, and has surprised me with many road trips throughout Mexico, and a wonderful roommate here in HADIME. Besides which, two other girls who let me sleep in their house on the weekends and are therefore more wonderful roommates. I felt cheated because I didn't really get one at Bethany during my first year like everybody else. Turns out that during my fourth year I get at least three. And another thing: never before have I felt so at home in or a part of a church as I do with my church here. Never before have I encountered God so much at church. It has always been at Bible school or at youth until now. Never before have I actually wanted to go to church as much as possible. Never before has the church made me feel so alive. Therefore, WAKE UP, church in Canada, in Saskatchewan, in the places I come from!! Why do you feel so asleep? You're not dead, I know that much, for I can feel you stirring. Wake up! to be what you were meant to be all along... ALIVE!!
Dios te ama.

Nothing is ever black and white...

...except those words I wrote on the page.

Every time I fall
It's so easy to give in again
So easy to first let go
To dance with you my friend
To forget what should be held
To know this is the story
Lacking some, remembering others
What could be forgotten
They come only in my colors
You know that they do
To go out in black and white
Answering those questions
No one remembers asking
But pleading for the answer
All the same
So please give me count one day
And forgive all those old scars
The color of the snow

Safely home

Well we made it to the border and back without too much trouble. We got stopped in Monterrey, and they threatened to tow the car a take a couple people to jail for various things, but we were sitting in the back of the car praying hard and it turned out okay. God showed His power. He works in amazing ways. I am now safe back home with a visa for another 6 months. Praise God. And thank you for praying.

Prayer request

There are 5 of us driving to the border tomorrow to renew our visas. Please pray that we will have a safe trip and that everything would work well with the renewing of the visas. Thank you.

Close your eyes

Your eyes are in a tear-stained face
If it won't be a tear-stained face
It won't be a work of passion
A work of art
What always happens
Hush and listen now
For the cry of passion,
the passion play
The tear-stained face that softly screams
That gives you dreams
And alone to touch and hold you
When everything seems falling apart
You'll still be a work of art


You're still worth far more in God's eyes than you can understand. You are still beautiful in the eyes of your Maker. He loved you enough to die, He loves you enough that He's still around.
So live.

Everything's a-Changin'

Well a lot has happened these last couple weeks. Our missions trip to Manzanillo went very well. Oh and I lied... it's not a small town. It's actually a city around the size of Saskatoon. But when you consider that you would have to multiply the population around 25 times to reach the population of my current city, it might be considered a small town. In Manzanillo, I had a very interesting conversation with a lady who told me she was a Christian and also a homosexual. She then proceeded to ask me why homosexuality was wrong, outside of what the Bible says. I didn't have an answer for her. If anyone has any ideas, comments, or suggestions, please inform me. Why is homosexuality wrong, without using the Bible? What could you say to someone who claims to be a Christian and a homosexual, and happy?

We also got to do our puppet show with Daniel and the Lions two more times, both of which went over really well. It was probably the highlight of my week.

Last week I spent more time relaxing, catching up on sending messages, and figuring out my life. I also went to the post office to send a package, which was quite the experience. I learned what it was like to be the frustrating person in the line who doesn't know what they want or what they are doing, and can't speak well to top it off. At least next time I will know what I need beforehand, and not have to venture home and then back again.

This last weekend we went again to Manzanillo, this time to spend some time at the beach. Except for I was the only one who went again, because I went with my Mexican family. It was a good weekend, except for I got a wicked sunburn. But that's okay. We also ate an excessive amount of raw fish while there, cevicha, which is a traditional dish that involves uncooked fish that you eat on tostadas, and then sushi as well later in the evening.

Today (Monday), HADIME INTERNOS started. This means I moved houses, and now live with 5 other young people and Trever and Joan Godard, in the Godard's large house. There is plenty of room for all 8 people. I have started the next adventure of my adventure here in Mexico, and it is exciting and a little sad too, because I really loved living with my Mexican family. However, this next adventure will be good, and I still am able to attend the same church that I have been attending and that I love.

Prayer requests:

Health for me, because I have been feeling quite sick today. Maybe it was all that raw fish...

That good relationships would form between the interns here in the house. We are living 8 people in one house, with 2 languages, 2 countries, 2 cultures.

That no one else will get sick because of me. Hopefully this is just food poisoning.

And again, that my Spanish would continue to improve at an alarming rate. Almost all the teaching and discussion here is done in Spanish. For the most part I can understand, especially when people are white or talk slow, but I am much worse at actually talking.

HADIME

Happy New Year, and all that.
So this last week HADIME started. It is similar to TREK in that it has a training time, with teachings, work projects, some free time, a silent retreat, we eat all our meals together, there are smaller groups of 3 or 4 to debrief with, etc. It is dissimilar to TREK in that training is 4 days instead of 8 weeks, and outreach is one week. We are also not going overseas, only about 4 hours away to a small town near the coast. In this town we will be doing more work projects for the people there, as well as spending time with the youth and various other things. I'm not entirely sure of the itinerary. Please pray for the trip though, that we would be able to make a difference in this town that we are going to, but also that we as a team would learn a lot and serve joyously. There are 12 Mexican youth and 2 Canadian youth, of which I am one, as well as (I think) four leaders.
These last four days were the training time, and they were really good. Sometimes I was frustrated, because everything was entirely in Spanish, which meant that I did not get to be part of most jokes. It is quite frustrating when you want to be laughing uproariously with everyone but you have no idea what was said. On the other hand, praise God, because I understood over half of each session led by a Mexican and the entirety of the sessions led by Spanish-speaking Canadians. Please continue praying that I will be able to understand more and more, and be able to talk as well. (I understand more than I speak, and I want to share in the discussions.)
Yesterday, we went to San Jose del 15, which is a very poor area of Guadalajara, and there we put on a program for children, as well as did a thing for the women. A lot of people showed up, which was really cool. I got to be part of the puppet show. We put on Daniel and the Lion's Den, and it was a huge success. I was the lions, because I roar very well and speak Spanish less very well. In actuality, one of my puppets was a lion. The other was a duck that we did our best to make look like a lion.
Here is something I wrote during our silent retreat:
You made the stars for us... look how they shine for me tonight
To see how much You love me
Count all the stars
And that's not half
He holds them in one hand
He knows them each by name
What am I, that You should love me so?
Smaller than a star
Dark until You found me
Yet You love this wretched child
Much more than all the heavens

There is a song we sing in church here that I love, and the chorus goes like this:
Y no podría estar ante ti
Escuchandote hablar
Sin llorar como un niño
Y pasaría el tiempo así
Sin querer nada mas
Nada mas que escucharte hablar

What I've been learning lately

Hope- In Christ alone my hope is found. Without Jesus I have no hope. He that is in me is stronger than he that is in the world. Christ is the light of the nations. This light lives in me. I am to be a light to the nations. I am to be different. I am to bring hope. The nations need hope. People need hope. We live in a hopeless world. In Christ alone my hope is found. If we believe what we say we believe, we have to go. Because the world is starving. The world is dying. The world has no hope. It is stumbling in darkness, and we have light. And we are no followers of Jesus Christ if we don't share it. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. So go out, and for the sake of the lost, give them light, give them hope. It is Christ who lives in you. The one thing we so desperately need is a Savior.