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.

Blessed are the Flexible….

for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Our last week of training has been blessed and sometimes met with unforeseen changes.   The other title for this week's blog was almost "Discerning with Indifference."

Our departure for Mexico has been delayed.   Our original plans were to leave last Friday with our community leaders, the Schumanns, but God had other plans.   Maria has had a sinus infection and cough for the past couple weeks and we ran into a complication; she dislocated a rib while coughing.  We found a local chiropractor and realized it was worth having us take a step back to prayerful reconsider our immediate travel plans.   After several visits to the chiropractor and praying and discussing options with FMC’s leaders, it became obvious to all that God was calling us to take an extra weekend in the U.S. and to aim to leave on Monday.

For me, the situation was another good lesson in seeking God’s will in a spirit of indifference.  My concerns and fears dealt with being perceived as being soft and somehow less than missionary if we pushed back our missionary work.   In prayer I felt God inviting me to not only recognize the “good” of serving in Mexico, but also the “good” of staying a little longer in Louisiana.   Both are goods and both provide opportunities to do God’s will.   While it may have been tempting to preemptively say going to Mexico was the greater good, it was not the good that God had in plan for us.

It is like discerning between to career options, say to become a teacher or a business owner.   Both are good occupations and can be used for God’s greater glory, but to which is the one that God is inviting me.   In life there are some decisions that are relatively easy to recognize if it God’s will or not.   Do I rob a bank or not?   One option is a moral evil, the other is not.   It is pretty easy to discern God’s will.  Do I consider a vocation to the priesthood as a married man?   While the priesthood is a good, due to prior decisions and commitments, it is not an option to discern.  

But what about two options that are both good and do not impede upon a previous decision, say do we stick to our travel plans or do we consider delaying our departure due to illness?   (hypothetically speaking of course.)  Maybe the desires of our hearts are to go as quickly as possible, but maybe, just maybe, we need a reminder that we are not in charge.   This is God’s mission, not ours.   My type A personality desires for order, structure and control and this can be a good thing and can be used for God’s glory, but it can also be a distraction and my own little idol.  It is not about me, about me being in charge.   I need to decrease so that Christ may increase.   I need to seek peace and solace in striving for indifference between both goods and seek that which will give God greater glory.

In prayer, striving for indifference, I got the sense of God saying, “Wait; wait for me.   Seek me.”   This was not necessarily the sense of God saying, “Wait to go to Mexico,” but, “Wait and seek Me.”  I have been reading a daily devotional that it immediately confirmed this sense, “I am you guide.   Do not want to see the road ahead.   Go just one step at a time.  I very rarely grant the long vista to my disciples… You are in uncharted waters… But I am with you.   It was when the disciples gave us effort after a night of fruitless fishing, that I came and the nets broke with the over-abundance of supply.”

Maybe what God was speaking to me, can be a blessing to you.   Don’t underestimate those long nights of prayer seeking God.   Don’t underestimate preserving in prayer when God seems distant and unresponsive.   Seek the Lord; stay and wait.  “I waited, waited for the Lord who bent down and heard my cry,” (Psalm 40:2).   God’s will for the disciples were to work through the night, with seemingly fruitless efforts.  Had the disciples gave up early and not persevered, had they gone home early, they would have missed the opportunity to encounter Christ in that glorious morning.

Sometimes we are so busy seeking the Lord’s answers that we miss what is really important.   We miss Him.   We miss the opportunity for Him to journey with us and to be our companion on the road.   But when we seek Him and not simply His answers, when we experience His presence, we can proclaim, “Were not our hearts burning within us!”

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will [and my desires for order and control], all that I have and possess.   You have given all to me.   To you, O Lord, I return it.   All is Yours, dispose of it whole according to Your will.   Give me only Your love and Your grace.   That is enough for me.

Here are some all some updates from last week’s blog…

Dad Gehl was discharged from rehab on Friday and will spend the next week living at with Josh’s sister’s family.   He will do outpatient rehab and will get doctors’ recommendations on how best to travel back to Buffalo next weekend.   Considering that the accident was two weeks ago, God’s miraculous hand is evident.

Mom Duke’s surgery was postponed to February 9 due to concerns regard blood counts and avoiding the need for a transfusion.   Her strength and courage is truly inspiring as she leans into God’s abundant grace.

Maria's Birthday, Prayer Requests, and Our Schedule

We arrived back in Louisiana on January 9.   As we had expected there were a lot of difficult good byes with many dear family and friends back up north.   There were several quiet moments in the car where the majority of us were wiping away tears.  We have been welcomed back by our new friends, 70-degree weather (It is January right?) and a renewed strength and conviction that we are in the center of God’s will and He is inviting us to serve the people of Mexico.

Over the past two weeks we have joined the other new missionaries in going through what we call “Intake, Part II.”   Like before we have been participating in community life, prayer, and shared meals.   There are formation talks, discussions on family and marriage in missions, and practical presentations on matters of finances and taxes.   We have also read excerpts from The Joy of the Gospel by Pope Francis.   There is also more “free time” in the afternoons and evenings so preparations and packing can occur, as most missionaries leave for their assignments this upcoming week.   During the next seven days there will be another round of good byes to our brothers and sisters forged since last September as FMC missionaries are sent to Mexico, Costa Rica, Haiti, Peru, the Philippines, and other countries in Asia!

Our team leaves January 27 for General Cepeda.   During our first month, we will be focusing on acclimating to life in Mexico, forming community with our other team members, developing relationships with people and General, and praying which ministries God may be inviting us to consider.   Time will also be used to prepare our home for our newest little girl.  

At the beginning of March we will return back to Louisiana for the last month of Maria’s pregnancy and her March 30 due date.   After the baby is born we will remain in Louisiana to recover, adjust to being a family of eight, and apply for a new passport.   If everything goes well, we will then return to Mexico around the beginning of May.   As can be expected, dates are rather fluid at this time.

While in the U.S. our number one objective will be to have the baby, but we plan on being very intentional with our time.   We are called to be missionaries and we do not want to be idle.   There are several opportunities to do ministry and help FMC in Louisiana while stateside.  We also plan on increasing our efforts to learn Spanish through Duolingo and Rosetta Stone.   We will also concentrate on our children’s education with the “slower” schedule.

Maria's mom, Darlene, Christmas 2016

We do have two special prayer requests that are very dear to our hearts.   As many of you know, Maria’s mom, Darlene, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of the last summer.   She has received chemotherapy throughout the fall and the doctors are pleased with the progress.   On Thursday, January 26, Darlene will enter the next phase of her treatment with a double mastectomy.   Please join us in praying for her, Maria’s dad, Ron, and the rest of the family, especially those at home.

Josh's dad, John, with grandkids

Please also pray for Josh’s dad, John.   Last weekend Josh’s parents and two nephews were traveling from Buffalo to Baltimore to visit Josh’s sister’s family.   Just past the Maryland boarder they were rear-ended on the expressway, crossed the median and oncoming traffic and landed on the far shoulder.   It is truly miraculous that no one passed away!!   Most received only bumps and bruises, but Josh’s dad went into the hospital for a sore back.   He ended up with a crack between vertebrae five and six.   During surgery he had two rods and sixteen screws implanted.   For God’s glory, John’s recovery has been amazing and the doctors are surprised at how quickly he is recuperating.   He has already been moved to rehab and has begun to work on stairs!   His doctors hope that after two weeks of rehab, he will be able to return home in Buffalo.   God’s hand has also been present in that while John was not able to travel to Buffalo, he was able to be admitted to a rehab center only twenty minutes from Josh’s sister.

And then one last prayer request… Yesterday was Maria’s birthday.  (Okay so obviously Josh is writing this blog.)   Please join me in thanking God for the blessings and graces that He has poured out on all of us through her.   I am so blessed to have her has my best friend and wife.   It was in her heart that God first planted the seeds of invitation to serve Him as missionaries.  May the Lord continue to pour forth His love and grace upon her and bring her new life through ministry and family.

Our next post will be from Mexico! 

What Does Missions do to the Kids?

 

Before we entered missions, one of my biggest concerns Josh and I had was what does living in missions do to kids?  My marriage and the children are our primary vocation, so everything we do is done with them in mind first.  I have spent the past four months observing, praying, talking, listening, worrying, and learning.  (Not necessarily in that order.)  Overall the kids are thriving in this community environment, surrounded by their friends and adults that care and love them.  There are certainly the tearful “goodbyes” when we left New York and Ohio.   And there are times when I realize the term “going home” always needs a clearer explanation because we have so many places we call “home” now.  Those times can leave me feeling less than equipped as a parent. 

I wanted to tell you one story in particular of what the environment of missions does to kids. When our time in Mexico in November was coming to a close, I had been spending the previous few days helping a Mexican family of 7 who had lost everything inside their house except some stuff in their kitchen and the clothes on their back.  (Their circumstance is a story for another time if you haven’t heard me tell it in person already).  Their oldest son is about 11, and while we had found it easy to shop for most of the other members of the family to replace their clothes, we had a difficult time with the oldest son’s clothes simply because he was in the more expensive pre-teen sizes. 

We wanted to be sure to use our funds carefully, so I offered to approach our oldest son Elijah (12 years old) to see if he would be willing to give some of his clothes to the boy.  Elijah jumped at the opportunity, so we went to the room and he pulled out his suitcase.  I explained to him what the boy would need, and I gave Elijah instructions to pick out shirts, both warm and short sleeved along with pajama pants if he felt like it, but he could not give any of his jeans, shorts or khaki pants away.  Elijah had two pairs of jeans with him, one with holes and one without, along with one pair of khaki pants, and two pairs of decent shorts.  I explained that I could not keep up with washing his pants as it was, so not to worry, we had already bought a pair of jeans for the boy, and that would be enough.

I watched as Elijah worked through his cloths, counting out the days we had left in Mexico for that trip, and neatly folding and giving away as much as he could, including some of his favorite shirts and pajama pants.  He explained to me how the boy would need a couple of golf shirts, (“Just in case he needs to look dressed up”), and some really warm layering shirts (“I should be just fine with my hoodie”).  I was thrilled with Elijah’s willingness to give so much away.  I then left the room to grab a few plastic bags for him to pack his donated clothes.

 

When I came back with the bags, I came to Elijah waiting as if he had prepared something to say.  He dove in to an argument he had clearly been planning in his mind.  “So Mom, I was thinking….he only has one pair of jeans that you bought him.  I have two.  I know I can’t give away my khakis, I need those for meetings and church.  But if I give him my good pair of jeans then he will have two pairs, which he will need.  I can keep my one, and I will be really careful.  I will only wear my khakis for church, and I will take them right off and fold them up right away.  If I am wearing my jeans I will only wear them as long as I don’t risk getting them dirty, I’ll wear my warm up pants or shorts instead.  And you won’t have to do any more laundry, because I will be really careful, fold them up, and I’ll make it work.  Can I please give him my jeans, and a pair of shorts too?”

Of course, the only answer I could give him was yes.  He didn’t ask me to do laundry more frequently (which in all honesty would be a fair request).  He didn’t ask for me to buy him a new pair of jeans once we got back to the States.  He didn’t even ask if he could buy some new jeans with his own money. 

What does missions do to kids?  In that moment, I could see that (despite my own best efforts) missions forms kids that can think outside of their own wants, comforts and conveniences.  That Elijah was willing to give so much to someone he had only seen in passing, but never met (and certainly can’t have a conversation with yet).   He was able to see a need, and was willing to change his habits, and sacrifice on his part so someone else could have more than he had.  I was willing to encourage him to give out of his surplus, when I knew there was a bag of clothes we had left in Louisiana that would replace what he was giving away.  But he put time and effort in convincing me that he could sacrifice. 

I watched Elijah over the next few weeks take such good care of his clothes.  He never once complained or asked me to do an extra load of laundry, he always took his pants at the end of the day and folded them neatly so they were ready for the next time he needed them. 

Once we got back to Buffalo there was a pair of jeans in the drawers where Elijah keeps his clothes while we are up north.  (I have no idea where they came from).  He found them, and so excited to show me how God provides.  (Not to mention the small box of hand-me-downs he received the following week.)  He immediately saw those things as God providing, and for a 12 year old, that is a pretty incredible perspective.

What does missions do to kids?  It gives the Lord an opportunity to teach them way more about love than Josh or I could ever do on our own.  It gives the kids and opportunity to teach me how to love more, how to trust in the Lord more, and how to sacrifice when it isn’t convenient.  In missions, the Lord gets to teach my children in such a direct way, and I couldn’t be more thankful.  My kids in turn teach me.

I don’t want you to get the wrong impression….our kids are still super normal kids who occasionally need timeouts, talk back, have melt downs, and need to be reminded to be kind.  They make mess, break things, and in general are just normal kids.  I am still a mom with all kinds of weaknesses, I get cranky, tired, I struggle to homeschool, and am still the worst potty trainer known to motherhood.  But being a mission family is helping…while we still have our weaknesses and faults, the Lord is able to work through those things.  Despite the heartache of missing family and friends, and the trial of adjusting to a new “home”, missions is forming my children in ways I never could on my own, and I am so very grateful.

Our First Newsletter

We pray and hope that your Christmas Season has been blessed!

Please enjoy our first newsletter for this week's blog.   Every three to four months we will be mailing out a newsletter.   If you are interested in receiving a physical copy sent to you, please let us know.

Click here to access the newsletter.

Peace and blessings!

The Gehls