Dance a little bit

Grafiti from my city :)

Hello Prayer Friends,

I have been feeling the need to be creative lately and have had no outlet for it. As many of you know I love music and singing and often my inner thoughts, joys, pains, and love can be expressed through song. Lately, though, this emotion inside me hasn't wanted to come out in a song - sadly. I have found myself wondering more about the love of God and what it looks like to live in that love every single day. I really want to sing about it :)

I have been faced with a lie from satan in these last few days - the lie that God's love depends on us. The Bible says that God knew me before he created me...he KNEW me. He loved me before I ever entered this world. He chose me not based on who I am, what I do, or how I live but because he is sovereign. He gets to decide - not me. Many times I find myself judging my own actions. I came to a point last night while praying when I realized, for the first time, that I almost always am sitting in the judgment seat of my own life - judging when God should love me, when he should forgive me, when he should draw near to me, how much he should love me, how much blessing I deserve, and when he should speak to me. Am I the judge? Everyone in this moment should be sighing a resounding NO. Thank Jesus I am not the judge of anything!

This is where Grace enters the picture. I know what it is. I know what it means. I know it is free. But for some reason I haven't allowed myself to truly fall into it. By continuing to take God's place as judge I haven't allowed his grace to swallow me up. When I believed in Jesus as the Redeemer of this world and of my life, I accepted that he died to cleanse me. Why is it so hard to just believe that God loves us and is so willing to forgive us. To take us back. When I sit in judgment on myself for something God has already forgiven, or when I decide that because my whole day wasn't filled with work that I am an unworthy disciple, I am not letting God take me in. I want that! I want to experience and know the true LOVE of Christ! His redemptive power alive in my life! I want to know the joy of truly releasing myself to Jesus and allowing him to clothe me in his forgiveness...his grace.

Some of you might be thinking in this moment, "what does this have to do with her update about ministry?" Well, it changes how I live ministry. If I think that my skills and my talents and my ability to share the love of Jesus somehow make God love me more or less then I am constantly weighted down by guilt because I can never live up to God's standard of holiness. But if I realize and accept that God loves me perfectly no matter the mistakes I make as his missionary and more importantly as his daughter, then I am free to live his love without the fear of messing up.

Can you picture God's love? When you think about the beauties of this world that scream his majesty - the mountains, the oceans, the deserts, the stars - Doesn't it make you want to dance? And sing? And Jump around screaming and waving your arms about?? God is HUGE and he loves us...US! And it does NOT depend on our ability to serve or work or be a good daughter, mom, father, or son. It depends on GOD! And he does NOT fail us! So take a minute to get excited by the love of your Father :) The love of your savior. Maybe dance around and sing. And maybe serve him out of love and not out of obligation or fear. He will not stop loving you.

Does this mean we stop striving for holiness? By no means...

"What then? shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness....But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:12-18 & 22-23

Amen

Learning to Juggle on Thanksgiving :)

Busy eating yummy food

I ate some sugar cane with some great friends...delicious

Christmas with one of my best friends

My mom's visit to Mexico!

So I just want to update you guys after a couple of busy months. I went home for Thanksgiving and it was LOVELY. I got to see lots of great friends and eat some good food and spend time with my family. Home looks totally different, by the way, after a years time. Then I headed back to Mexico and jumped straight into working in the university and in Bible studies. In fact, my first night back in Mexico I had a Bible study to go to - and God immediately put joy in my heart when I saw the sweet faces of my Mexican friends, just in case I might have been a little homesick ;)

In December I really thought my work load would slow down because of the holidays but that didn't seem to be the case at all. I was running all over the place :) to my great delight. My roommate went home for three weeks during Christmas so I was here alone, but busy. I think God had me work to keep me from being lonely - blessings. I got to spend Christmas with my Pastor's family which was really great because his daughter is one of my very best friends. It was very similar to Christmas at home - we went to church and then we went to a relative's house for dinner...I think we ate around 11:30 ;) Most of the food had nuts in it so I couldn't eat it (story of my life) but overall it was a fantastic night. I left them at about 2:30 in the morning and they had just started watching a movie - They LOVE to stay up late. I woke up in the morning with another family that is here...great friends! I got to watch their kids open presents and I got a few presents of my own :) We ate puerto rican food for lunch which was delicious and definitely made my Christmas away from home complete.

Then my mom came to visit for a week! She was here after Christmas but during new years. We did a lot of sight seeing around León and also in a nearby city. It was not just great to see my mom but also great to show her where I live and let her meet my friends. I think she communicated pretty well for not knowing any Spanish :)

So now I feel like I am starting over. I have about 7 months left here in León and part of me is wondering what I can do here in 7 months that will have real eternal impact. Pray with me as I continue sharing the Bible in the universities. Pray for my friend R who is working with me to reach the students. We want to really share the gospel message so that if these students don't come back they will at least have heard the good news: "repent for the kingdom of God is near."

Please also pray for Colonia M (which basically means neighborhood or a colony of houses). I am teaching English in this area and I am not sure where to go with my lessons now. The center I am teaching in is going to open again this coming week and I am not sure if I should start over with my lessons to try to encourage new students to come or if I should continue building on what I have already taught - please pray that it will become clear what I should do. Also please pray for a real open door in this center. I have asked if I can start a Bible class and the Director of the center told me that I can but that it just depends on interest in the community - please pray that many would be interested. Also I would like to really reach out to the youth that live in this community that aren't in school and are also not really working. I want to share the truth with them on their level - pray that I could begin building relationships with them and really just meet them...pray that God will give me guidance and wisdom about how to start.

Also, there is a new area of town that I scouted one day as I was looking for other community centers. My roommate also scouted this same area on a completely separate occasion and also feels led to begin working there. God is very good in how he has been working out our callings and making clear his desires for us. Please pray for this area - it is extremely large so I am not sure how to name it but I am just going to call it Comfort for right now. So please pray for Colonia Comfort and what God would have us do there.

I want to again thank you all for keeping up with my life here in Mx. I am so grateful for your prayers and notes! please let me know how I can also be praying for you all...I do not want this to be a one way street. We all need to be lifted up to the father - we are the BODY of Christ and he calls us to pray together. please let me know how I can be lifting you up!

Feliz Cumpleaños! Happy Birthday!

My Birthday at the water park and my awesome cake that looked just like my guitar!

hanging out with some cool kids from colonia M

Our Tuesday study at the University!

This month I have seen so many answered prayers! The university ministry though slow is growing...one week we have no one show up and then the next week 2 and then back to 0 and so on but this past week we had 6! It was seriously miraculous :) We invite people every week and every week they have excuses or they just flat out say no. This past week we had 5 people come that we had never even met before - they just chose not to make excuses! It was a huge blessing. Please keep praying for this time we have each Tuesday at the university.

Also, In colonia M, one of the neighborhoods we have been working in for a while now, we had 3 people from the study, a mom, a daughter, and the daughter's husband, accept Christ! We went over to chat with them about some doubts they were having and we talked for about 2 hours. They had a LOT of questions but it was only encouraging to see that they had seriously been thinking about what we had been studying. At the end they accepted Jesus and we have continued studying with them and will continue. Please pray for this group and these 3 new believers. Also please pray for them as they are facing a very difficult time in their lives. The daughter is also a new mom, her baby is about 5 weeks old and has been in the hospital practically all her life. She was born with a tumor on her spine and is seriously ill. Please pray for her healing and for comfort for this family.

Also, my birthday was on the 6th and my fellow missionaries went out of their way to have a party for me! it was wonderful...we ate some great food followed by the coolest cake I have ever eaten! Also I went to a water park with some friends to celebrate my birthday and that was also a blast! Overall it was a pretty great Birthday :) Thanks for remembering and sending me so many Birthday wishes!

I am feeling pretty scattered in my thoughts as I try to write this update - this month seems to have been so packed with events. I am very thankful for all of your prayers and messages that I have received. I love receiving your notes of encouragement :) I am so blessed to be lifted up by so many of you.

My last bit of news as you already know is that I will be going home for Thanksgiving. I leave this coming monday - one week! Please pray for my time at home that it would be sweet and relaxing. And please pray that the work here in Mexico will start up again fast when I get home. Thank you all so much!

Here is a video from my Birthday at the water park - we dominated the slide! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNX4-8DvNJw

God's Timing

These pictures are from a little outing in the country with a family from my church. Simply wonderful :)

"After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you...understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people."

Deuteronomy 9:4-6

I am reminded this week that I can not earn God's love...I can not earn his blessings. They are given freely to me but not because of anything good I have done. I freely accepted the gift of Jesus' life given for me. I surrendered my life to Christ. I am made clean. I am set free. I am washed in love.

Sometimes I have to repeat these truths to myself. I have to remind myself of what it is that Jesus did for me - not that I will ever truly understand the depths of his love. But I have moments of apathy. Moments where I forget what I am doing...what I was sent here to do. And in those moments I remember whose I am. Who gave his life for me. Who shed his perfect blood to cleanse me and give me life. My hope is put in Christ.

Some days I feel lost...But in Jesus I know I am found. Some days I feel tired...But I know where I can find a well of living water. Some days I feel discouraged...But I know that I have the Holy Spirit.

God is more than just a word to me. He is life. He is my caring and loving Daddy who cares for every wound and every heartache. He knows every thought that passes through my stubborn mind. He knows every desire that resounds in my heart. He knows me. "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord." (Psalm 139)

I wanted to update you all today about the progress of my work here in Leon...But when I started writing, all I wanted to do was talk about Jesus. While that is my heart in this moment, I must admit that that isn't the case everyday. I so desperately want that to be my heart everyday. I want Jesus to constantly be on my lips. I want my actions to convey his love and gentleness and mercy. And I want my words to cause change in the hearts of the people here in Mexico. That they would want to follow Christ. I know that I can't convince them to follow Jesus. That is the work of the Holy Spirit and I won't pretend to have that ability. But through prayer we CAN cause change. We can intercede for these people who have probably never been prayed for individually.

Please pray with me for the people in this city: Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. Please pray with me that my heart would be full of love for these people and that Jesus would constantly be on my lips. Please pray for M where we are continuing to work. Please pray for the university work that we finally started last week and will be continuing to do every Tuesday.

I am so grateful for all of you who have been praying and who I know will continue praying. God bless you.

A glimpse into Independence day here in Mexico :) It was a blast!

Mexican Hat Dance

This past month we got to go hiking one weekend :) and it was glorious!

These are my friends I went hiking with.

This past Saturday we had a party at church for the youth to celebrate independence day - it was fun :) This is one of my friends from church who tried to teach me how to dance - see below!

Some traditional Mexican food at the party...sometimes delicious ;) sometimes not haha

This is a very traditional Mexican dish, it is called Pozole. It is also sometimes delicious...and sometimes has weird parts of animals in it (like ear).

"Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:13-14

For some reason it has felt like 2 months since the last time I updated instead of just one. I don't know if it is because a lot of stuff has happened since or if it is because God has really been working in my heart or if it is both.

A lot of things have changed here regarding our ministry. We are no longer working in the orphanage and haven't been for about 2 months (I forgot to update about that...sorry - it happened when I went to Alaska and my mind was such a whirlwind of things to share that I forgot). We also ended our group that was meeting in AA. This group was wonderful but it became a Bible study only full of believers and we want to reach the nonbelievers. Also I have finally started working in a University here with the help of a friend, R. We are planning on passing out flyers for a Facebook group we created - we will not put anything explicitly Christian on the flyer as most of the students will throw them away if we do. We plan on using the group as a way of finding students who are interested and then we will start studies on the campus and use music as an attractant. I am pretty excited about all of this - it seems forever in the making but I am hoping God will really bless our efforts. Also I may have an opportunity to lead a girls university Bible study once a week so please also pray about that.

We are continuing our work in M. And it has been pretty exciting this last month. More and more are joining our Monday night study and tonight we are going to have a party to celebrate the independence of Mexico (the bicentennial) which will actually be on the 15th, Wednesday. Please pray for our group tonight - that more people will come since it is a party ;)

Also, I just wanna share a blessing I had this past week. On Saturdays we have our Youth time in M and we have 4 brothers who come pretty regularly. This week the youth pastor at my church was supposed to lead the study but he cancelled the morning of and so I lead it. We read the story of Nicodemus and discussed what it means to be born again and we read John 3:16. It was really cool to see the boys answer the questions about Jesus correctly although they have not made decisions to follow Him. I shared with them from my heart about Jesus and what it is like to have a relationship with him and it was such a blessing to me to share it with them. I can't really describe it - but I had passion :) and that is something I have felt lacking for a while.

Thank you for continuing to pray for me. Sometimes my mom runs into some of you guys and later tells me that you have been praying for me everyday. What a blessing you all are to me. I am so thankful to have committed prayers. God hears you! It is obvious. God has not only been shifting our ministry but also my attitude towards it which is incredibly exciting. So thank you very much!

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

This picture was taken in Guanajuato, I got to go with some friend this past month and this little alley is called the kissing alley. The balconies above are so close together that there is a legend of a couple that used to kiss across it. Apparently it is 7 years of good luck for couples who kiss on this step..I decided to wait :)

Challenge: In one of our Bible studies we are currently reading the book of Luke as homework. We are assigning 2 chapters each week and this week - for Wednesday night - it is chapters 7 and 8. As your challenge this month I encourage you to read Luke also. Obviously we are ahead of you but I challenge you to catch up and then stay on track with us or to go on ahead of us and finish it. I hope that you all have a daily time with Lord but if not this will give you a chance to start and if you do then you know the joy of reading Luke :) Please pray for the people here in Mexico before you sit down to read each time you take the time and please remember especially this Bible study - Pray that God will bless it and that he will transform it into his church. This is the Bible study you have already been praying for in A A.

In the last month, we have continued moving along in the works we have started. I have a few pictures to show to help you get visuals of some of it :)

M

~ M. this is a colonia we have been working in for several months now. This Saturday we have a conference for parents. Please pray that all the details come together, that the speakers would have the words they need, that the parents of the kids in our kids club would come, and that the youth from my church would have a good experience as they are going to help us with the kids. Also July 13, 14, and 15 a volunteer team from the states will be helping us in M. We are going to clean up some areas that are covered in garbage and glass and form a temporary soccer field and volleyball court. Then we are going to invite the youth in the area to play as a way of meeting them and hopefully starting a ministry to them. These youth, as are many in the city, are involved in gangs and drugs and have not been given the opportunity to have a good education. Please pray over this volunteer team that God will prepare them and use them and please also pray for the youth in M and for their parents that they will be open to us.

A A

~A A. This is the area I talked about in the Challenge. Also please pray over the Vacation Bible school that we are going to have in this area in July - I won't be able to go because I will be working with the volunteer team that is coming but my friend J will be there.

University (this is on the Catholic University Campus)

~University. I have a huge answer to prayer about this university work! I shared this goal with one of the women at my church and she put me in contact with a guy named R who is graduating from this University and has been leading a Bible study. I went to his last study of the year and all of the students in the study were unbelievers which is very cool. I have met with him since and he is going to be staying in Leon for another year working and he wants to continue working in not only his university but others also! What an answer to prayer! we are now working on coordinating and planning how we want to go about it :) Keep praying over this work and over R.

~Please continue to pray for our Monday afternoons in the orphanage. Honestly the kids treat us horribly - they say bad words in English a lot and try to push our buttons - it is very hard to get them to listen to the lesson. This past Monday as soon as I sat down with them they said something insulting to me which clued me in to the fact that they are seriously hurt children. They try to push us away immediately. Pray that we would continue to show them love and that they would learn through us that God loves them even if their parents don't. Pray that their precious hearts would be open to the gospel and that they could live different and better lives than their parents.

~Please also continue to Pray for Jo - we visited him last thursday and talked about Nicodemus and how we have to be born again. He was so much like Nicodemus - he kept thinking in terms of Spiritual birth. We talked to him about his wall that is covered in idols and he said that there is only one he wants to keep and he walked over and picked up a crucifix and said "this is God" when all of us had unbelieving stares he said "right?" and we just shook our heads no. He is so confused as are many people in this city. Please pray for his salvation and for his neighborhood, San JB.

"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away form this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart." Jeremiah 24:5-7

To me, this is a really beautiful passage. I believe this is what God wants to do in our lives. He is watching over us for our good and he wants to bring us back to himself. He wants to build us up and not tear us down, to plant us in his word and in his love not uproot us, he wants to give us a heart to know him! It makes me excited to get to know God better. Sometimes when I go to him in prayer I just think "Lord, I can't even picture you. You are too big for me to fathom." But I know that he hears me anyway. God has been teaching me lately that I need to get to know him better. Many times I am praying over things but I don't go to God for the one and only purpose of finding out who he is. I think he calls us to that.