Anna's Ministry Begins

Before I came to Cancun my sister told me that she wanted me to speak at one of the unwed teen mothers groups about my experience as a mom. I was so exited, this is something that I love to do. For those who don't know me very well I love helping teenage girls; I think that God gave me the ability to have a connection with them. I decided to give them some tips on early childhood development.

My sister goes to visit them every Tuesday. Sometimes she goes and talks to them to get to know them better, sometimes she goes together with Julie Cooper to help them baby sit their babies while they take their classes and therapy. I went with my sister to get to know the girls and to ask if it was ok for me to speak the next Tuesday. My sister Lizy wasn't sure if they were going to let me speak since they have all their classes ready in advance but when my sister asked the director of the program she got really exited and said that they had been waiting for someone to come and talk about early childhood development and she booked the next two Tuesdays for me to speak.

I am not allowed to talk about God since it is a government program, so I based everything on Christian values. I was a little nervous because the Tuesday that I went for the first time they were not paying attention to their psychologist, so I thought they were going to have the same attitude toward me. I asked a lot of people to pray for me. This was the first time that I spoke in front of more than 10 people, none of whom were Christian, they also have had a pretty hard life and I didn't know what to expect since they didn't know me and I look just as young as they are. I needed to gain their respect and attention.

Three days before I was supposed to speak, I got sick with a really bad cold and I didn't have time to go through my research. i was thinking about asking my sister if she could do it for  me since I was feeling really bad. The day before I stayed in bed the whole day. My body was hurting, I felt weak and the medicine was making me feel worse. Andrew prayed for me and I went to sleep hoping that I would feel better the next day. Tuesday came along and I had no strength but nothing was going to stop me from having this experience so I left with my sister.

When we got there, there were 20 or so girls. Most of this girls have being sexually abused and their babies are the result of that abuse. It amazes me to see them around their babies because you wouldn't think that the girls went through an experience like that. They love their babies, and they go to this program because they want the best for their children. They have to go through pain, anger, and deception every day but these babies are their reason to live, and now that I am a mom even though I didn't go through the same experience I know what it feels like when you love someone so much that that little person makes every day worth it.

The director of the program introduced me and I started talking. I felt like that's what I was made for, for that moment, I finally found my purpose in life. I even forgot that I was sick. Kai was my little helper, he did such a good job. All the girls were so interested in what I was saying. I had a really good time. The director of the program told me thank you and she was very excited for what I had talked about.

I know that God wrote that day into the book of my life, and I know that even though I was not allowed to say His name, He used me that day to touch those girls lives in a real way. God is going to do something life changing in the lives of these girls, they are His little princesses and I pray that He uses me to do so.

Week 2 - Cancun

Service or Devotion?

It is easy to confuse one with the other.

To say, "Oh look at me God, look at what I am doing for you! Look at what I have given to your church, and done for the homeless! Look at how much I gave last year! Look at all these orphans I played with and look at this church I helped build in Africa!

But these are acts of service. They, in and of themselves, are not the devotion to our Savior that is necessary to carry the name of Christian.

How easy it is to arrogantly fall into the trap of measuring our acts of service and calling ourselves "good christians."

I struggle with this often.

Do you?

Is this just another discussion about faith vs. works? I dont think so. I think they may be related to this issue, but they are not the same. To me the faith vs. works discussion has always left out the most important part of being a Christian, GRACE! That very thing that we as Christians are so bad at giving is the very thing that we typically place a distant third to faith and works.

So how do we overcome this paradigm? Prayer and fasting. But not the nice idea of dropping those three little words and talking lightly about it. I am talking about the headache inducing, 14 hours of sleep a day, gut wrenching prayer and fasting. This is something that God has given us that along with His Holy Spirit, can crush enemy strongholds and create a true paradigm shift in our way of thinking.

Have you ever fasted?

If not, why?

It is an integral part of the Christian walk, and if you have never done it, I encourage you to do so.

So, this past week here in Cancun has been truly amazing. So much has taken place, so much has been done and while we know that great things are being done and the Lord's Kingdom is advancing. At the same time we know that God has amazing blessings in store for the future of the ministry taking place here in Cancun.

The people in charge of the Back2Back Cancun site are Matt and Julie Cooper, I highly recommend you check out their blog here:

http://www.whereyougoigo.com

Matt is wonderfully honest about the future of the ministry here and the fact that it is totally and completely going to be led by the Holy Spirit. This really is an amazing step of faith, to know that you have hundreds of investors waiting for updates and the American need for a plan and a vision and a framework to take place, and to hold that all at bay and say "No, this ministry will not be led with human ideas and will not be molded by human hands, but by the breath of God and the gentle prodding fingers of the Holy Spirit." That is a strong faith in action.

And even while a plan and a framework and a vision have yet to be revealed by God, every day brings a new opportunity to share His love, and be His hands and feet.

We continued our work at the DIF center creating separate offices., we have one room almost completely finished and the others are in the process of getting mud and tape on the drywall and new commercial fans installed! Sorry no pics right now, I will get some when we are closer to being done so you can see the finished product.

We also took a few trips to the DIF Children's Center. Within the DIF Children's Center there is a closed off section that is guarded 24/7 by police where they keep the children who have been removed from violent  or life threatening situations. We went and talked about heroes and did a craft with them one day. Yesterday, Matt, Mau and I were able to just go and play games with them and hang out. Here are some of the children of CAT. It is truly amazing to think about where these children have come from, and how the joy of the Lord is miraculously shining through their darkest nights.

Here we are with Mau and Lizy and the kids after doing the craft with them. The best part of this day was Mau talked to them about heroes, specifically Batman. Why Batman? Because Batman lost both of his parents when he was young, and then chose to do the right thing and help other people. A powerful message that these youngsters related to very well. 

This picture was taken by one of the CAT kids who is clearly an aspiring photographer, because most adults who have picked my camera and tried to use it typically cant get a picture this good, and she nailed it the first time!

Anna is going to be writing the next update about how her class went on Tuesday. She had the opportunity to lead a DIF hosted class for teenage mothers and teach them about early childhood development, and it went extremely well. I dont want to steal any of her post though, so just a preview to get you excited to hear from her about what she has been up to apart from all the stuff I am talking about!

Week 1 - Cancun

I almost feel guilty writing this update from a sunny 80°. Although, while Anna does not agree, I would certainly love to be in the middle of a blizzard! I can't believe I am missing it!

Oh well, there are so many things happening here and I just wanted to bring you up to speed on what we are doing.

One of Back2Back's main connections for ministry here is with the government. Specifically, the DIF, we call it the (deef). This is the institution for Family Development. It would be similar to the States if the Department of Family Services, WIC, Child Protective Services, and much of the welfare system were combined into one program. Needless to say, the need far outweighs whatever budget they are given.

Hoever through some miraculous connections, B2B has made contact with the majority of the leadership of the DIF offices here in Cancun and many of them are Christians and had been praying for help! They were thrilled when B2B offered to begin helping out. What we spent a lot of our time working on this past week was fixing up an older facility that is used to take reports from teenage girls who have been raped. In the past, there were four rooms, each with one desk and three counselors to take the account of these horrific stories from the girls. They would be telling their stories with 6-10 other people in the room right next to them. Many of these girls are victims of the sex trafficking trade.

So we were working on finishing up a construction project that began before we came as you will see from the picture. We have been building walls within each of the four rooms to separate offices so that each girl will have privacy with a counselor to begin the healing process.

Mauricio and I hanging drywall

As you can see in the picture, the people who were working on the project before, wrote prayers and blessings on the inside of the drywall, and the handprints are where they laid hands on the walls and prayed. No one coming in or leaving this government facility will ever know, but the spirit of the Lord will dwell there and the enemy will have no grasp on anyone who passes by these walls! What an amazing idea!

Along with working on this facility, Mauricio and I also spent half a day assisting a local church do some demolition in their new facility that they are renting and moving into on February 1st. In speaking with Pastor Alfonso, I learned that they are taking an amazing step of faith by going ahead with this move for more space. They are moving to a new place that will give them 3 times more space and will cost half the amount of rent they are paying now, however they have no moving expenses and are six months behind on rent for their old location. Yet the Lord opened up this opportunity and in faith they are leaping and trusting that the Lord will supply the $140,000 MXP that they need to make it happen! Its inspiring really after seeing so many churches in the States being run simply like a business. It also reminded me much of our Indiana home church's recent move to a much larger facility in order to grow and not knowing how the Lord would provide, only that He would. He has blessed the church greatly and will continue to do so, just as He always does when we trust in Him and His promises.

Lastly, Anna has set up a time to do her class on early childhood development for the soon to be teen mothers at DIF. She will be doing the class next Tuesday, January 18th. Please be in prayer for her and for the girls that she will be talking to. Pray that she will be able to share her testimony and how God's love can help sustain them through the very tough days they have ahead of them.

So that was week one in a very brief recap. We also did get to the beach and got Kai into the ocean!

More to come soon!

Serenity, Courage, Wisdom

Titled "The Ultimate Map" the poem that I derive the name of this entry comes from a very nice gentleman at our church. The title is referring to our need to look to our savior to be our "map" for this life. My favorite part of the poem goes like this:

"grant me the serenity to accept the things that I can not change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference"

Is there a better way to summarize our daily life as Christians? Sure there are a lot of specifics within this, but in generalities, most of our days are filled with micro decisions which all stem back to this quote. We all must determine, in everything we do, whether we are attempting to accept something, or determining to change something.

Currently we find ourselves in Mexico. This is just one of many steps in our journey since we began taking action when the Lord showed us something that we needed to change. To us, this trip brings a sense of action and accomplishment to the four months of preparation that we have been through. At the same time, it is one step among many on this path that the Lord has us on, and it also is a reminder that our work has yet to even begin.

As we see, first hand the pain of this world in the tired eyes and broken hearts of the "least of these" we gain but a glimpse into the tyranny that life can bring when humanity is not afforded the benefits of certain societies. We begin to catch the vision for which God has prepared us. We begin to realize just what saying "yes" really means.

"Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty."

This quote really sums up my journey, as well as many others, I am sure., including that of the author of this quote, Samuel Clemens, or as you might better know him, Mark Twain. I can only speak from my own experience but I do tend to think that most people can also find some truth in this statement in their own lives. The truth of this statement becomes more and more evident as you come to understand what causes the things that we perceive to be unjust, or wrong according to our cultural norms.

But the real truth of this statement, to me, shows itself in that it is true in every sense when looking at the problems and issues of this world, yet loses all value when applied to Scripture and Jesus. The more I study humanity and what causes certain societal ills, the more uncertain I become about my initial assumptions. (i.e. "well if they would just work harder" or "they should have studied harder in school" or "well they should not have had sex") But the more I study God's word and the life and teachings of Jesus, the more certain I am, the more trust I have in Him, the more sure I become in the life that He has called us all to. A life of sacrifice for "the least of these".

Even Confucius understood the principle to which we are called as human beings, although he missed the fact that it is because that is how we were created by God.

"To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice."

We know what is right, we have heard it a hundred times sitting in the pews of our churches and from the very words of the Bible that we claim to place our entire existence upon. I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that it is very difficult to be called to send as opposed to go. I wrestled with this for four years, while we were simply called to send while we waited on God's timing to go. The battle between our own selfish desires and what we know we should be spending our money on (The Kingdom), is one that is so difficult to face on a daily basis, especially living in the States.

So when God opened the door to our long awaited request to go, we were ecstatic and all to willing to jump our current ship and sing up for this new adventure. Oh, how little we knew or understood the sacrifices that came along with that. I cannot even say that we know them yet, but simply beginning to see the reality of them taking shape is enough to know that with each passing day, we must learn to rely more and more on our Savior, or we will soon be underwater.

So as we continue to walk this path of Faith, whether that be here in Cancun, right now, Haiti in the near future, and who knows where down the road, our prayer is this:

"Holy Spirit, grant us the serenity to accept the things that we can not change, the courage to change the things that we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And in all that we do, may you be glorified above all."

May this be your prayer also.

We will be posting more next week about what we are doing here in Cancun ans more specifically what Back2Back is doing.