48 hours at Oasis

Most students here go to school in the morning or afternoon. The morning session lets out before lunch and the kids from this rural town scurry back into the streets. Back into their world. When your parents work long hours in the field, you are trusted to be responsible for your siblings the rest of the day. You get around by foot or bike and are fearless to roam for whatever you may need. There's pretty good accountability in small towns, but there are also lots of potential dangers to encounter at a young age.

Left on your own after school, what do you eat for lunch?  It is likely that you do not have a kitchen or even electricity at home to warm up some leftovers. To satisfy the immediate hunger, you pull out a few pesos for some chips and a coke at the market. If there are no parents home, who is going to ensure that you do your homework? Who will come watch your soccer game? Who will know that you aren't being lured into the temptations of the streets such as vandalism, stealing or drugs? 

Oasis will. Just as the name describes, this is a place of protection for kids in Vicente Guerrero.  I wrote a bit about this program (here) after spending a week in the town this summer. Across the street from the Baja Missions church,  the vision began from the members there, and is now beginning it's fourth year as an after (or before) school program for kids of all ages. We had the opportunity to help with various projects at Oasis a couple days this week, and I loved getting to see it fill up with precious hearts and contagious laughter.

Oasis is a Christian environment that provides a safe place for kids to learn, grow and be loved. They have teachers that help with homework and provide various classes such as Bible, English, computer, or music. Oasis provides a hot nutritional meal, which may be the only one they eat all day. They talk about dreams and encourage children to pursue their passions.  They play, form friendships and have mentors that desire to guide them along good paths.

This great place was started by our friend, Karly Dallas, a native from North Carolina who moved down with big dreams, a bigger heart, and huge trust in God to create and sustain this program. Karly meets with parents upon their child's enrollment and gets to know each child and where they come from. A Spanish and Psychology major from Pepperdine, she reasons with the children out of love and has fostered this program's continued growth each year. She fights for justice and equality for the migrant workers and their families by seeing that the children receive adequate education in fulfillment of their often discriminated rights.  The list goes on and on in the many ways that she is a light to this community!

It is so fun to be at this place and absorb the growth that is taking place each day.  Please pray for Karly, her staff and all the lives they will touch as they kick off a new school year.

We are so thankful to be friends of Oasis and wish many more great days to come!   

daily desperation

I have safely returned to Ensenada from a great trip back home (Gracias a Dios!). Slowly hit with reverse culture shock upon arrival in Nashville, the phrase that kept ringing in my mind was our daily desperation for Jesus. All of my life, I have never been desperate for primary needs such as shelter, food, water, health or even emotional and spiritual ones such as loving relationships or a church family. Wow. Even to type that is such a blessing. Riding on our various comforts in life, I have been so easily blinded to the daily desperation we have for Jesus each and every day.  Yes, we cry out to Him as our Lord when we face a disaster, loss or sickness and we trust in Him as our Savior that will be there to meet us when its all said and done but what about right now? What about when we are so blessed to go through each day with minimal worries and often allow the devil to fill up our thoughts with unneeded stress and negativity?  He reminds me that even we are too distracted to notice, we are just as desperate for Him.

As I have shared with many of you, something I love so much about the Christian faith here in Mexico is that the plan making is left up to God. Meaning that the conversations go something like this: "In December I am going to visit my relatives if God wants" or "If God allows, we plan to be there on Saturday." Also, when you thank someone for a meal a common response is "Thanks be to God."  The first few times I heard these phrases they stopped my continually churning brain to look up and say- "Yes, God. It is you."

It is He who controls all that we are. He created us and knows each one of our days to come. As we often reflect on having too many possessions, I am challenged by the reality that the excessive planning and striving may point to some doubt that HE is not enough. How often do we equate enough by having enough stuff? Enough money, enough qualifications on our resume, enough clothes, enough food? In my few years of life, I can testify that each of these things will never last. The money runs out, someone else is always more qualified, the styles are always changing faster than the seasons, and when we think we don't have enough food there's usually a full pantry and fridge full. Why are we striving so hard to keep up with the ways of the world?

It is all about perspective. Jesus is just as alive today on Earth as he was 2,000 years ago. May we continually strive to fix our eyes on His goodness and fall before Him in daily desperation as our Creator, Friend, Provider, Defender and True Love. Through this, may our "have tos" become "get tos" and our reactions in all situations be filled with His praise.

He is living in us, fighting for us and more than capable to provide for us. Let us rejoice in who God is and trust that He is enough! His grace is sufficient. His mercy reigns. We are desperate for Him. We are desperate for His spirit. A resource that will never run dry. Thank you Jesus!

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 

Isaiah 58:11

Your heart is my home

I am not alone. Your heart is my home.  Let the world hear your beautiful voice...

Something they need to hear. Something I need to hear. Something we all need to hear. The voice of Jesus.  I meet families like this, and I feel helpless. I fear for their loneliness and days of temptation.

I had the chance to work with the last City of Children mission team from Pennsylvania this week on benevolence visits to the church members in Maneadero.  It was a great blessing to meet and share moments in song and prayer with our brothers and sisters there.

On Tuesday, we met these sweet siblings who received us in their home alone. It is not unusual to meet young children home alone during the day while their parents are at work.  They know and trust the preacher and will allow us to come in. These kids did not have parents at work but three older brothers. The oldest is 20 followed by an 18 and 17 year old (I believe). They work full time and only the youngest two are still in school.  Five siblings. One girl and four boys. They live alone and support themselves.  Their father lives in the U.S. and their mother abandoned them some years ago.

We share how proud we are of them for going to church and taking on such great responsibilities at such a young age. They shyly sing 'Cristo me ama' (Jesus loves me) with us and allow us to pray for their family. Their faces light up as we leave behind some candy in addition to the food packs, and we hope to brighten their day with smiles and hugs.

I leave there feeling so empty. With so many questions. Their small 2 room house was one of the cleanest I have visited. It is overwhelming to think of such a lifestyle but amazing to remember that God holds these children in his Hand just as tightly as each one of us.

What a blessing it is they have this church family to care for and look after them. What a greater assurance that they have a loving heavenly Father who knows them and longs to show his love for them.  I pray that they hear the voice of God and feel his love, peace, provision, hope for their futures, strength in their weak moments and protection against the evil one.

His heart tells us we are not alone.

My sweet friend Cristina, who has spent the summer serving at the City of Children also wrote a beautiful piece on the loneliness and hopelessness that so easily overcome our precious niños at the orphanage here.

We often do not know the right words to say, but we are here to be Jesus. The one who rescued us from the enemy and lights up our darkness. 

God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. 

Psalm 18:38

grand finale

My last week with the Baja Missions summer groups was spent with a blended team from Florida to California that came to support the church in Vicente Guerrero and Oasis. Oasis is a Christian after school program for children that helps with homework, provides computer classes, teaches the Bible and English, and provides a warm meal. It is very common for kids to be left alone all day when their parents are at work without any supervision with the responsibility to care for the rest of their siblings. Oasis provides a safe place for children to learn, grow and be loved.

The group installed a new water system at Oasis and added on a storage space, an extra bathroom and an office for the director, Karly. Karly moved from the U.S. 3 years ago and began this program. They now have over 90 kids enrolled with a waiting list of about 30.  Located across the street from the church, they have a great partnership and are making a great impact on the community.

Besides construction, the group hosted a VBS at the church in the morning and a traveling medical clinic.  We sat up the clinic at the Oasis building, Trique village (people originally from Oaxaca who speak Trique), the church in Colonet, and Las Aves (a nearby area to Vicente Guerrero).  

We had a great week with the church members and enjoyed partnering together to serve a small portion of the surrounding community. We had a joyous ending to the week with a wedding in the afternoon and a baptism later that night for our brother Isaac. God is good!

We have one last team here now with Baja Missions from Ohio working with the church in Camalu. Please pray for these efforts! It has been a crazy whirlwind working with groups since the end of May. We are so thankful for all of those who take time out of their summers to serve God's kingdom in Baja.  Dios bueno es!

looking backwards

I got to spend the week of July 13 with a group from Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia. This was their first time coming as their own group, and we had a great week serving in Papalote.  The group planned fellowship activities for the first three nights having a cookout, movie night, and game night. It was great to see the participation and community that has formed at this church in just one year.  The last 2 nights, they hosted a VBS with classes for the children and adults. The kids learned about the armor of God and created some of their own armor in crafts.  

During the day, this team worked tirelessly at the building. They painted the entire inside of the church building and finished out the front wall, put up the walls for the classrooms and painted them, installed door frames and exterior lights, re-touched paint on the exterior walls and much more. Also, the team made almost 30 house visits. They had a doctor who was able to provide medical attention on some of the visits and delivered benevolence bags with bath soap, towels, and detergent.  For a team of 19 people, each person used their gifts in great ways and served with great joy.

Thursday morning, Alfonso and Angie took us out to La Lobera a beach lookout south of Papalote. There was a big hole that you could look down into and see sea lions swimming around. It was a beautiful way to end a great week! 

Bendiciones

Hola amigos! It is safe to say Baja summer is in full blast, and I struggle to find the time to give a couple updates about the blessings God has been sending us lately. Two weeks ago now, I worked with the second team from Mayfair. Over 90 people came down to serve that week, and it was an action packed blast. They had a full medical clinic during the days, renovated the teen classroom, made numerous house visits and evangelized in surrounding neighborhoods, had a special lunch for the teen girls with painting, set up a full barber shop outside and gave numerous haircuts, participated in a spirited Mexico vs. USA world cup soccer game with home made jerseys, and had a powerful VBS focused on reviving our heart, mind, soul and hope.  I had a chance to give the ladies' class on hope Wednesday night, and it was a great blessing to share each night with them. We are so thankful for the work and dedication that Mayfair provides year around for Baja. It was so neat witnessing many friendships that were formed many years ago.

I am just returning from a great week in Papalote with a team that came together from Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia. Angie described it best when she said "Normally we receive small blessings a little at a time, but right now I feel like they are pouring down."

The blessings continue to pour in today as we set out for Vicente Guerrero with the Oasis group. Please pray for this work!! Dios les bendiga!

family and sacrifice

These two words have been on my mind this week.  I spent the past 6 days in San Quintin with a youth group from Mayfair in Huntsville, AL.  This was the first time they have brought specifically teens, and it was a blast.  One of my favorite things was getting to witness many families serve God together. There were various parents and kids, whole families, and even 3 generations in the group.  It was exciting to see the passion these parents have for putting God first and the amazing ways we experience His love serving together.

During the week, it was also fun to see the families to introduce their sons/daughter/parents/siblings to our brothers and sisters here at the church in San Quintin.  We were extremely touched by the family we were building a house for and learned what being a family is all about.  We heard amazing stories of their sacrifice for one another and the love that they have as we got to know them throughout the week.  This family had been living in a one room house made out of cardboard with an open roof.  It had one bed where the six kids slept, and the parents slept on the floor. We learned that the parents work in an onion field about an hour away, and the mom wakes up a 3 am to start a fire to prepare lunch for the kids before she and her husband leave for work before sunrise.

Thanks to God's provision, this group built the family a new two bedroom house with new beds, mattresses and a stove.  It was a very emotional morning as the group said goodbye celebrating our bond as a church family as our hearts were broken in awe of how hard these parents work to provide for their children.  They taught me about what it really means to love someone so much to sacrifice everything for them.  I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet this sweet, loving and humble family and am looking forward to spending more time with them.  I am shaken with a new image of the great love God has for us to sacrifice all he had to give us a better life as His children.

Lord willing, we are headed back down to San Quintin this weekend with another group from Mayfair. Dios bueno es!!