First of all, I apologize for not writing in a few weeks, but I needed a while to process my thoughts before I can write about all that is happening here in Mexico. Let me tell you, a lot indeed has been happening.
About a two weeks ago, my group along with my three leaders informed that our base director was having a personal crisis. We spent four days in Texas discussing this and figuring out what to do next. Since we live in the director’s church, we were then moved temporarily to the other base in Matamoros, The Gateway, because we had a group from Canada coming down to do a short term trip. They were originally going to stay with us at the church, but with all that happened the week before, it was best that we held the trip at The Gateway.
This last week my leaders have been trying to find a house to rent. They found one, and actually we should be moved in by the end of this week.
Ok so now that I have gotten the basics out in two short paragraphs, what does this all mean for the ministry? Well, we as FYM’s were connected to the church, and obviously to our base director but the church was not affiliated with AIM. There are so many aspects of the whole situation, it is kinda hard to grasp. Adventures in Missions had us spend the last two weeks dissecting all that had happened and what that all meant for us.
In one night it was like everything shifted: everything I knew that was, was not, and everything that was not, was. So I spent a lot of time deciding if I should stay in Mexico or go back to Michigan. I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, I kept thinking, “what is the use, almost all of our ministries worked with the church, so what is the point trying to pick up this mess?” The first week after finding out I was extremely selfish. I was not thinking about what God wanted me to do, but only what I wanted to do; home sounded really good at that point. Over this period, I was asked the question, “why did I come to Mexico?” I know that God has called me here, and I know that He wants me here for the program, the program is still going, even though it will be very different. So last week I knew I was supposed to stay, even though I did not want to admit it. I am nervous not knowing the unknown. I like to know what things will look like before hand (for those of you who don’t know, I wanted to see Mexico myself before I commited to anything, so I visited last year to see if I would like it), I am not used it. God is so great though, because through all of this he is really teaching every one of us here. He is telling me “trust me, even though you don’t know what will happen next”.
Although this may have not been on my schedule for the month of February, and I never intended to move to a new house, God knew this all was going to happen since the beginning. I too believe that he would never put us into situations that He thought we were not capable to handle. He never said any of it would be easy.
So, it has been a very interesting two weeks. Five of my teammate went home, and we are moving into a completely new community, probably doing different ministries. I never thought or imagined this would happen, but it just goes to show that God is the One that is stable, He is my rock, never changing. In all the unknown to come, I can rely on Him, not in man.
I am excited for what is to come, I do have joy through trials, because God can still move. At first I was thinking, “what about all of my people that I have ministered to, and go to the church?” but I realized that, no they are not my people, they are God’s people. If we end up doing something completely different these next three months, I have faith that God has them covered, and that God has something better in store for me.
Please be praying for our former base director and his family. Also for the new leadership stepping up and pressing onward, the new dynamics of the team, and my other teammates that went home. Of course always be praying for the people of Mexico and the people of the church and what our new change of ministry might look like.
