Making Life Choices

I have not posted in a while. Our recent discipline was "no contact with the outside world via internet or phone"
yup.

My parents are here right now. Sleeping like babies. I just checked up on them. I am nervous once they wake up they will give everyone a Larcomb wake up with our loud vocals...so here I am blogging before the rest of the staff is up.

SO many things have happened its a bit ridiculous. I try and remember things to blog about, but always forget as the week goes on. Cornerstone is coming next week! Them along with 2 other groups will be here which puts it at around 70 people. Im pretty sure we will have about 6 builds a day. That is how the summer usually goes but because of Mexico scares (haha) people have been backing out like crazy. On a side note....there has not been any sort of violence since I have been here or at Caravan, ever. When we go on builds, the neiborhood watchs out for us and on most of them comes to watch and help. On my last build there were about tweleve kids from 2-14 flocking around me. I have no idea why. That morning I put the Neo-togo and Band-aids in my bag, something I never did before, and when they started to gather one of the older girls showed me a cut on a little boy's arm. His name is Daniel. I guess because I am the gringo they assumed I could heal him. They assumed correctly because I had my Neo- togo yo! That day I was Isabella, El Doctor. This week our discispline is to visit our "Mexican family" which is any family we visit, spend time with, and usually bring gifts of beans and rice to. I chose them.

This is important. Below is my update letter....which you could pass off thinking it might be redundant, if you are an avid reader of this blog. But please, the letter has mostly everything I have never wrote in here..about missions and what I have truely been learning. Thankyou.

Dear Friends and Family,

My time here has been unbelievable and I will attempt to place in words my gratitude for your prayers and support, but mostly I feel inept when it comes to this. I have read one too many updates and being in Simi Valley, trying to understand where the person is coming from, is difficult. Just know, I am changing and Christ’s work is beyond evident and I cannot say it is because of anything I have done. Your words to Him and encouragement to me reach me farther here somehow. Although at times I have felt very discouraged and so distant from home, Gods work is apparent through your prayers and you faithfully keeping in contact. It has only been two months so I assumed most of you could handle that.

I do not want to give you gritty daily details to find the loop out of repeating stories 13 times, because that is something I look foreword to...partially. Either way I would love to hear from you. Please, ask me specific questions; be annoying. E-mail me about life and we can chat about your day.

I must admit one thing to you. I completely misinformed you about Mexico Caravan Ministries. Although I had been here twice before and knew what it stood for, I subconsciously resisted what I knew they were attempting to change in me. I thought I could simply come down and build humble homes, build relationships with the groups, sweat a whole lot, and grow closer to Christ. God had much much more for me and I am learning to fall in love with his surprises.

I did not lie to you, I have been building homes and sweating pools, however I would like to share with you what the ministry is truly grounded on. Mexico Caravan Ministries is a mission’s mobilization ministry. This means that they are an organization centered around informing people who claim to be Christians about God’s heart beat for the world. I have been so astounded at how we as the American Church have been distracted from being missionally minded. Not just in overseas missions, but making the gospel the center point of our daily lives; our main occupation. Through that we would be compelled to reach other nations that have never heard the name of Christ, ours being fully reached.

Initially I believed what the various speakers each morning spoke about was simply not for me. One of the sayings used here, “..go, send, or disobey” was pushy and I honestly saw it as unbiblical because I did not see how Christianity could be that narrowed. I was ignorant and foolish to think that simply because I did not like what I was hearing, it must have been wrong. After struggling with this concept myself, because I have much better plans for myself then leaving America and possibly dying in a foreign country, I have decided I have no other choice but to be obedient. I realize this is not for everyone and I am not attempting to impose this on you. God has just brought me to this place in my life and I know that it is not only so that I can leave and die and in vain, but for Him and with the small amount of time I have left in Simi, I wish to tell all of you my reasons and how it came about that I decided to go. Hopefully in that you would lift your eyes also and see the massive need for His people to go.

I am learning that when I submitted my life to Christ, it became wholly His. Not dissections of my heart or my dreams lived out for Him. To act on my life dream or half thought out “plan” in life, is sin. I have decided to give my life to Missions not because I want to miss dozens of holidays or not see my friends and family for years at a time but because I have read what Christ demands of our lives and must obey. I am not attempting to convince you of the things I have been taught, I only want you to know what I have been learning because that is what updates are for right? Well, I have been learning so much more, and it is not through the teachings but through my time with Him. Through the other staff members here and clashing personalities that show me how ridiculous I really am. I am excited to come back and implement the insights I have gained and root them at home before I leave anywhere else. I thank you again so much for supporting me. Even taking time to read this letter means so much to me because…I could be assisting the needy in Tijuana. Instead I trust you will take the time to reach the end of this letter.

Enjoy the Simi breeze!

Jenn