And hope does not disappoint us...

“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us.” Romans 5:2-5

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12: 9-13

I have now been in Mexico exactly 2 months. 2 months worth of time has really held a lot of growing for me. God is stretching me and teaching me in ways I never expected. I am thankful for the ways that I am growing and maturing - I am having to constantly lean on my Father in heaven for strength and wisdom in every situation. I don’t know if I have ever had to be this reliant on him before. Please be in prayer for me as I continue walking on this journey with my creator, every step is difficult but I know that in the end I will find myself closer to Him and that is where I want to be.

Please pray for my ministry here, I have been able to start 3 English conversation groups although they are all very different. One of them only has one student and I have wondered if it is worth my time - however this one student is of the Baha'i faith and we are having very free conversation about faith and beliefs which makes me think it is definitely worth my time. One of the other groups has 4 students and the last group is an entire class (about 10 or so). So far we are having decent conversation in English but I am not really sure how to begin sharing the truth with them. I shared the prodigal son story in the larger group and we had discussion about it, it was very interesting but I am not sure that this will be a good method for every class as they really struggled with the English. Please be in prayer for these classes and these students - The 5 that I know the best are B, J, L, M, and M (the two M’s are girls and the rest are boys).

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Please also pray for me as I try to create presentations about child development and nutrition. My heart’s desire is to work with the poor and oppressed and so far my only idea for getting into these areas and trying to get to know the people is to share practical information with them. My plan is to prepare the presentations and then find government buildings in these areas and try to see if I can find an entry to share. Through these presentations I obviously want to help these people in any way I can with practical needs but my main goal is to share about Jesus. Please be in prayer for these areas of town and the people that live in them and pray for me as I try to prepare and plan. This is a bit overwhelming for me and I am just leaning on God to show me how to do it.

I have begun to really get involved in my church and have started to make friends with some of the youth there. One of the girls that I have come to know and love is D. She is the pastor’s daughter and she sings like an angel. We have started singing together some and she is teaching me all kinds of Mexican slang which is very funny. I just want to thank you for your prayers that I would find friends, I feel like I have begun to make friends at church and I can only give the praise to God. Please continue to pray that I will make friends outside of church and that I will meet people of peace that I can begin to disciple. Thank you all so much for your prayers and willingness to keep up with what is going on in my life. I am blessed.