FELIZ NAVIDAD

One Love- GW 08

Favorites.

Looking back on the fall.. some of my favorite things..


- We had a birthday party for some of the women at the Sewing ministry.. We brought a big pinata, the women all brought different parts of the meal.. which turned out to be a wonderful buffet of mòle, tostaditas, sopa, frijoles, pico de gallo, and of course massive amounts of Coke. The party started with Beckya nd I crawling up on to the roof of the Costura house to figure out how to hang the piñata.. haha.. both of us nearly fell down a few times but we made it!! It was hilarious seeing the women go crazy after an empty piñata. Its not often they get a chance to let loose and be care free! It was sooo much fun. After the battering of our piñata Becky tossed the bag of candy onto the crowd from the roof and they continued to go creeeaaaazyyy! It was such fun acting like a big dork with all the women. We started eating right there after and spent the afternoon chatting in the little house.

- The christmas party for the kids comedor had almost 250 kids show up. amazing. and so much fun.

- realizing that I actually like beans, rice, tortillas and I could legitimately eat it every single day.

-feeling the fire burn for social justice, and hearing God's voice in it.

This was our christmas party at kids comedor last saturday. The clowns came. They were Juan, Laura, Manuel and Elide and one more. It was such a blast and they did a great job. They are singing a song in this video about the birds that came to bring food to Elijah in the wilderness and when it gets to a certain part they make sure everyone gets really low. I was videoing and didn't realize that apparently I TOO needed to get down. You'll see it in the video. Funny stuff.

Feliz Navidad! Almost..

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this ministry experience this fall. Thank you to those of you who are supporting me through prayer, financial gifts, and love from afar! If you haven't given a financial support gift, and are interested let me know otherwise your prayers are just as important! It has been such a fall for growth and stretching. Between the dangers we have faced in Juarez, personal challenges, and an overall need to learn to trust God as well as my own self.. phew.. it has been an emotional workout! I praise God for each and every one of you and I hope he is moving in your lives as he has in mine!!

GOD MOVES IN EVERY MINUTE!


I was reading this book today.. the Eldest.. and there is a paragraph that struck me pretty crazily.. it talks about how we should live in the present, while learning from and remembering the past.. but not to dwell on the problems of the future.. because the future does not exist. Only this moment, and this minute. The next minute will soon be now, and then quickly the past. Thats not a word for word quote but its how the paragraph hit me. I have been learning to change my time and "worry" orientation. God tells us to not worry about the future, but to also dream big. I am learning that dreaming and worrying don't mix. It is one thing to be proactive in your dreams, and plans, but to worry about problems that don't yet exist? Not worth it. That "bad worryful future" doesn't exist. This is something that was a huge God moment for me. Who said God can't speak through science fiction novels filled with dragons and elves!! hahah..

Thanks be to Jesus for showing me how to live in the here and now. Teach me to trust the plans you have for me, to prosper me and give me a hope and a future (jeremiah.. woot).

Ministry Update!

Hello supporters!!

It is nearly december we are almost halfway done with our year! Here is an update for you:

Costura: Things at the costura are going very well. I am there two if not three days a week. Last week we had a sale for an IFM group that said they would be coming two weeks a year. Unfortunately most of their groups have cancelled until march because of the violence in Juarez. So what we thought would be an amazing blessing didn't pan out. But we did get to do this sale so thats a blessing. It was fun to be there and see all the women, hoping and praying that the group buys things. One woman came and had met Manuela three years ago when she was still pregnant with Caleb. We finally found Manuela and made her come to the sale.. she had been at the school still. She brought caleb, a sweet beautiful 3 year old, and their hug was something I couldn't have missed. Beautiful!!

Jenni's Comedor: Last week was stressful but a lot of fun for ME. There was a big group there from IFM (same one that I brought to the sale). It gave us some extra hands in the kitchen and children's ministry so I got to just spend time talking with community members. Thats really my favorite part of all of this. I've been thinking a lot about it and I think I am a lazy minister. All I want to do is sit and talk with people. I don't like doing children's curriculum, and I don't like being tied to certain schedules. If I could just be a wanderer and spend time with family and friends all day long I would do it. I guess its part of why I want to be here this year. I love working too, but how often do you get to just spend time with people. Presence ministry is what they call it and it has always been something I love.

Saturday Comedor: Que Frio! It has been cold here and most of the time we spend at the comedor is outside. It has been a blast though. I have really connected with some of the kids and helpers there. I thoroughly enjoy it and know that a good attitude goes a long way. I showed up a few weeks ago impatient and tired and realized that in order to be a good vessel for Christ I need to be well rested and take care of myself or I am cheating God out of a servant. Tough Lesson!

Studying: This has been a HUGE struggle for me. Trying to do this on top of everything else. I committed my Fridays to studying in order to get my work done for my school and it has been a frustration for sure. Late October I submitted my first question in hopes of writing my first paper by Christmas. My professor didn't approve it until two weeks ago. So my Fridays were a bit lax on the studying. Then it was thanksgiving and I spent that in the community.
This week will be my first full saturday studying since the beginning of November. Yikes!

Team stuff: Our team has interesting dynamics. We all connect but we have barely seen each other in recent weeks between hanging out with friends and family, to ministry schedules etc. It has been hard to connect and meet. Hopefully that will change in coming weeks. Otherwise though things are great. Our team is full of deep thinkers and when we ARE together we have incredible conversations about social justice. It has been a good experience for me in "question posing". That was a learning goal for me connected to school stuff.

Tons.

I can't describe the craziness that has occurred in the past few weeks. All I can say is that God is moving mightily, shaking up my life, teaching me how to love and live again. A fresh breeze has blown through my heart on a wave of hope. It has been adventure to dig deep to see that light in the midst of darkness. Sometimes Juarez feels like a parallel to my own heart some days. This veil of pessimism where light breaks through the cracks, and life exists when you look real hard. Not that my life is a catastrophe, thats not the case. But I have become a cynic, a pessimist and only see the problems. A good friend of mine has been teaching me to change my view, to reach for the good, to fight for the best and to soak up the sunlight as often as possible. What a relief.

Praise God for transformation of heart