Like a Shepherd

"He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young...He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40

For the last month or so I have been incredibly busy. Hosting a volunteer team from the states and then traveling to Alaska for my beautiful sister's wedding and then coming back and going to a missions retreat and then changing houses last week. I am finally able to rest and actually send out this update :) Through all of this time of being busy God has been working in my heart - Reminding me that I need to rest in him and that he carries me close to his heart like a little lamb. Though I get tired, he doesn't :) Hallelujah! He renews our strength! I have been so amazed at God's faithfulness this last month - why am I ever surprised by that?? He is so loving. We all have hurts and wounds in our lives, whether new or old - God can heal them. Let me repeat that :) God HEALS. God has been healing up old and new hurts in my life and I am in awe of him.

Now :) I wanna share about what has been going on here. I am thankful for your prayers over the volunteer team - it went really really well! We were able to have a soccer tournament in M where we currently have our kids club and an adult Bible study. The goal of the tournament was to meet some of the youth in the area, and it was successful. We are trying to start a Bible study for the youth on Saturday mornings. So far it hasn't been a complete success but we are praying through it and being consistent. This week I am going to be leading the study so please pray that God would show me what to talk about, that he would help me be able to speak clearly in Spanish and that it would touch their hearts. Pray for Ch, Rob, Mar, Oli, and Ale - the youth that we have had come so far :)

This is a group of girls that live in M, some of these come to our kids club on Saturdays :)

This is a glimpse of the soccer tournament...The youth really got into it. Each team had a name and Los Chicles won.

Some of the youth in M that were waiting their turn to play in the tournament.

While the team was here I translated for them several times - this is just one example of it. The girl in the green was sharing her testimony.

My sister and I in Alaska :)

While we were in Alaska we went horseback riding! My first time ever! It was really fun (especially watching my dad do it ;)

My parents and I right before the wedding.

Once I arrived back in Mexico, we had a retreat. One night we had to dress up in traditional Mexican clothing - I only had this shirt from Guatemala so it had to do but the belt and hat are from mexico.

Please continue to pray for our Study on Tuesday nights which will be changing to Mondays, for our study on Wednesday nights, for our Kids club and youth study on Saturdays, and for a new opportunity I have to teach English in M on Monday afternoons. I taught my first class yesterday and I had 3 students. pray over these 3 - Is, Iv, and Mar. Also pray that more would come and that I would be able to develop good friendships with them. Please also pray for the woman in charge of the community center that I am teaching in, she shared with me yesterday that her son is having a lot of problems. Her name is So, and her son's name is Ed.

I want to thank you all again for your prayers. Prayer is the most important part of the work I do here - it is very easy to forget about it even for me, but I know that God hears us and that he wants to touch the lives of the people here in Leon. We don't have to convince him to care ; he already does care :) we just have to be intentional about lifting these people up - he already wants to reach them. I am so thankful to have a group of people back in the states who care about me and who care about the great commission.

In sincere love,

Rachel