The Gaze of Christ

The time in General Cepedo so far has been very blessed!!  At the end of last week the last two members of our mission team arrived, and it has been such a blessing to have everyone here!!  We decided to take a team retreat this past weekend.  At the last minute we were able to arrange accommodations at a retreat center in Saltillo run by the sisters of Mary Morning Star. They were such a blessing to us and the kids!!  It was such a peaceful, wonderful weekend.

We spent most of the weekend spending time together and praying through what ministries the Lord may be calling us to here in General and the surrounding ranchos.  We looked at logistical things like team schedules, responsibilities, and community prayer times.  But through all of the practical lists and schedules we continued to ask the questions of how to best serve the people here.  

During Mass on Sunday the sisters invited us to join them in their chapel.  The priest actually gave the homily in French.  During the homily a Sister Marie sat next to us and translated what Father was saying.  He was reflecting on the Gospel Matthew 5: 38-48.  Here Jesus is teaching us how to respond to those who come asking "press [us] in to service", who demands a cloak from us, or asks us to walk a mile with them.  He teaches us the response of generosity, the response of love, the response that doesn't make sense in human terms.

That reading alone is one I find convicting, to be called to generous service.  But what struck me the most was one line from Father's homily.  He was discussing how to respond to those who are asking for our service.  He said that when we respond to those who are asking things out of us (whether justly or unjustly), he said that no matter what response we feel the Lord is calling us to, we need to respond in love.  He said we need to "look at them with the gaze of Christ."  To be able to look at a person, and see not just the immediate request, but to be able to see past those requests.  To look at them with the same unconditional love that the Lord has for them.  To look at them with willingness to suffer for someone, to give without expecting a thing back, to love them for exactly who they are and still ready to call them to more, call them closer to the hope and joy they have been made for.  

How do I look at my family?  My community?  Those I am called to serve?  Do I look at them with the same love Christ looks at them with, or am I letting my own thoughts, agendas, and frustrations get in the way?  When someone comes to the door asking for something, am I looking at them the way the Lord sees them, or the way the world sees them?  And if through God's grace His love shines through the way I respond to those around me, what could be different?  How much could be transformed by the Lord's gaze?  

The Lord called us to General for a reason, and it is because He has people here that He wants to know His love, that He sees them, and that His gaze is a gaze that can change everything.  He is asking us to be His hands, His feet, His eyes so that can share his His unconditional love.  

On a practical note, we will be headed back to Louisianna this Sunday so we can prepare for the labor and delivery of the baby!!  We are sad to temporarily leave General after only being here for four weeks, but are so thankful that this place is already becoming home to us!  We will be back in General as soon as the baby's passport is processed!  Please pray for us as we start the next leg of this adventure!!

Waiting on the Lord

Sometimes the most difficult thing we can do is not hard work and activity, but waiting.   We rush to the airport, impatiently get our boarding passes and check our luggage.  We then anxiously make our way through security, only to be bored at the gate for an hour.    When buying and selling a home we rush to all the documents in order to get pre-approved, as we go from open house to open house, scheduling walk-throughs, and completing those last minutes fixes and staging.  And we make offers and counteroffers, etc.  only to sit and wait for a month or two for the closing date.   Because Maria is pregnant, yeah, there is a lot of sitting and waiting.   Enough said.

Our first two weeks of missions is no different.   We are settling in and we are waiting.   We currently don’t have any ministries of our own that we are “doing,” so we wait.   Limited by our language, our time in Mexico before heading back to the US to have the baby, and even an awareness of what the needs and opportunities are available, we wait.   I know it is not from God, but I sometimes feel like we are just tagging along.

Maria with children at Tacubaya

The Schumanns have been very generous with including us in some of their ministries.   This past Tuesday we joined them as they visited their rancho, Tacubaya.   It was an amazing blessing to see the fruits of the two years of ministry they have given to the Lord and to the people.   There is a beautiful eagerness to share in reading Bible passages, reflections, and life as a whole.   We were so blessed to be invited into one of the family’s homes and to share a delicious meal.   It is simultaneously a consolation and humbling to receive a home cooked meal from a family that probably annually lives on an income that I use to make in a month.   And yet they opened their homes, fired up their stoves, and had us sit at their table, as our families’ children played “zombie tag” around our parked vehicles in front of their house.

St. Francis of Assisi Parish

On Friday, Ben Schumann and I visited with Padre Humberto, the pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Parish directly across from the courtyard from our home.   Father wanted to show us some rooms and some spaces that he would like us to help clean and make functional for gathering spaces, prayer, and other forms of future ministry.  We are looking at possible future work projects for our team and maybe short-term mission trips.

Parish courtyard for possible renovations

Could we project movies onto that wall?!?!

Ben on the phone with his boss (AKA Natalia) at a potential work project site.

 

We are continuing to work on our Spanish.  Rosetta Stone has become a part of the daily routine for everyone but Naomi.   The kids ask everyday for more time to work on their Spanish.    

 

We also spent an afternoon with a pen and a roll of masking tape labeling almost everything in the dining room, or what I like to call el comador.   I have also been spending time looking up Spanish versions of some of our favorite praise and worship songs.

Everyone's favorite worship leader

Maria and I have also taken turns navigating the local markets.  It is not a Wegmans or Krogers, but we have always found what we needed.   I suspect Maria will have a future blog with much more detail on grocery shopping and cooking in missions.

So maybe we aren’t just sitting back and waiting as much as I originally thought we were.   Blogging is a cathartic way to change perspectives.

This week the last two missing members of our team, two singles, Jason and Ivette will be joining us.  Please pray for their travels.

Also keep in prayer our upcoming community retreat.   Details are still being worked out, but we hope to spend some time as a team seeking the Lord and His will for the up coming year.

That your faith might rest not on human wisdom...

We made it to Mexico!!!  We left Louisiana on Monday, stayed the night in Laredo Texas, met our community leaders at the border, and followed them to General Cepeda Tuesday!

We have spent the past few days focusing on unpacking, organizing, and just learning the rhythm of life here in the mission house.  It is incredible how different simple tasks like cooking, shopping and doing laundry can be.  It is wonderful, and tough, and will take a little adjusting.  The kids are having a blast, and I can see where living in a house where the majority of the house is an outside courtyard gives the kids hours of sunshine and fresh air every day is going to be such a blessing!!  We are loving living life in community, and are so thankful for our community leaders, they have been doing so much hand holding guiding us through these first few weeks here.

We met with the parish priests this week, and are really excited to hear about their vision for how we can work together over the next year.  We are looking forward to diving in to ministry, and once the rest of our team arrives from the States over the next week or so, we will start setting out our schedule, and figuring out the shape of the ministry the Lord is calling us to.

For me (Maria) personally this first week in the field has not look at all like I had envisioned it looking.  I had expected to arrive here, work hard, get settled in quickly, and learn my way around town in the first few days.  Instead, I spent the week sitting back and watching Josh do most of the work while I focused on not lifting too much and letting my rib heal.  It has been so humbling to have to rely on Josh and the team members around me and watch them to do the work I had envisioned doing myself.  On top of physically having to slow down, not knowing the language is also reminding me of how much I have to learn.  This leaves me feeling like I currently have so little to give to the people of General.

With all that being said, I feel like the Lord keeps showing me over and over again in scripture the past few weeks that it is in weakness that He gets to show His strength and His glory.  Today we heard Paul in  1 Corinthians 2  "I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my messages and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God."  Any good that we are able to do here will definitely be on the strength of the Lord and not on our own strength!!  As far as persuasive words, I am at a total loss!!  The other day I made a trip to the bakery to pick up some bread.  In a broken conversation with Sarah, the baker, I think I told her that we would be back in May after the baby is born, but I may have just told her I wanted our bread baked with extra mayo.  I can't really be sure.

This is the part where we trust the Lord, that He will guide us, teach us, give us His words so that He can do His work here, and not what we think He should be doing.  This might be the best way for me to get out of the Lord's way so He can work.  Because I promise you, anything that I can do here, will be done on the Lord's strength and not my own, and thank the Lord for that!!  The people of General Cepeda need the Lord, not me anyway.

Please pray for my mom this Thursday as she goes in for her rescheduled surgery.   Also praise God that Josh's father is back home in Buffalo and is recovering so well!   We were able to talk to both of them today and it is a blessing to hear both of them in high spirits.