Mercy for all... except the piñatas. We hate the piñatas.

Happy birthday to our Maria Juanita (MJ).   She turns five today!  No Mexican birthday is complete without a mermaid piñata.

MJ and Erika (daughter of another missionary family) and the piñata.

MJ with new fabric for a flowy skirt.

A new cute pet plant!

Sparkly canopy for a princess bunk-bed.  (Sorry boys it is going in your room.)

Now a story of seeing God answering a prayer.

Early this past week I was in the pews of the parish during a Spanish prayer meeting being run by some of the other missionaries.  I found myself praying and asking God what can I offer?  What can I give Him and to His people?   I felt God say, look up Mark 8:6.   "He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd."   (From the feeding of the multitudes.)

I don't need to have much to offer.  I just have to give the little I can and let God do the rest.

Okay God that was pretty direct.   Can you do it again?   Matthew 13:8 came to mind, so I looked it up too.   "But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold." (From the parable of the sower.)   God is the one that blesses our work.  In fact it isn't even our work, it is God's.   We are just His instruments.   We are called to be faithful, not successful.   Success and the fruit is determined by God, not us.

Hedionda is about a 30 minute drive from General Cepeda.

On Wednesday we went to La Hedionda. (And yes, for those that know Spanish, it does mean "the stink.")  Hedionda was an ejido that we visited during some of the short-term trips and we feel in love with the people and the faith.   It did not take much for the chapel to fill when there were prayer services.   And in the Mexico, it is rare to see men in chapels or at church.   It tends to be women and children.   But here, men of all ages, teenagers through grandfathers show up!

The people of Hedionda praying over a missionary about to share a testimony.

Hedionda is actually two locations, an ejido, known as Hedionda Chica, and a private hacienda (farm) known as Hedionda Grande.   Of course Chica is the bigger or the two.   Go figure.   And yes that does mean that their names would be translated "little stink" and "big stink."  Both have chapels.   We had been going to the chapel at the ejido, and driving people from the hacienda to join us.  The people of hacienda had invited us to their chapel too.   So we decided to mix it up.

The point to the left is Hedionda Chica, the ejido, and Hedionda Grande, the hacienda, is the point labelled "unnamed road."

In preparing for the prayer service Wednesday evening, I felt the nudge to preach on the Gospel reading for the day, Matthew 18:15-20.

Jesus said to his disciples:
"If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them."

When praying on the passage what struck me was the line, "treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector."   It has always sounded to me that Jesus is saying, if it reaches this point, wash your hands of them.   Forget about them and write them off.   But wait, this is Matthew's Gospel.   Matthew was a tax collector.   And how did Jesus treat him?   He pursued Matthew.   He broke bread with Matthew and sat at table with him.   In fact Jesus caused a little bit of a scandal to the point that others started questioning the disciples when Jesus called Matthew to follow him. "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners, " (Matthew 9:11).   And Jesus responds, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners," Matthew 9:12-13).   Jesus' mercy and ministry knows no bounds.   He seeks out the lost and broken, offering mercy to all.   As Christians, we are all called to do the same and to follow Jesus' example.   This isn't just a suggestion, but it is something that we profess and pray.  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

In fact Matthew 18:15-20 is sandwiched smack between two parables of God's mercy.   Before, in Matthew 18:10-14, is the parable of lost sheep and the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one.   Then in Matthew 18:21-35 is the parable of the unforgiving servant, where a servant is forgiven a huge debt due to his master, but is unwilling to forgive another servant who owes him only a little.

We are called to show mercy!   God desires to show mercy to even those who seem the most lost and most corrupt.   Tax collectors were considered scum and traitors to the people of Israel.   And yet who does Jesus seek out?   Who in our families, our communities, our churches, work places, etc. have we written off?   Of whom have we washed our hands?   Who are the people that we see in our towns, walking on the streets, that we just assume never see again and cast judgment?   I don't know if I can let Christ's love and His sacrifice on the Cross be in vain.  We are all called to be missionaries!   We are called to bring God's mercy to all!

I then felt led to lead those in gathered in prayer.   To pray for the grace to show God's mercy, for a out pouring of the Holy Spirit.   For those who have never experienced God's love, that they would have that encounter.   And for those who have, that they would discover God's love for them anew.   The whole church was on its knees.  Praise you Jesus!   We then prayed the Lord's Prayer, with hands reached across the aisles and gave the sign of peace to everyone else present.

Afterwards, we learned from some of the gentlemen just how much the Lord was working and the appropriateness of the theme for the evening.  For the past several years their have tensions and injuries between the two Hediondas over land and water.  The people of the hacienda have been pressured and hurt by the people of the ejido for not selling their land and water.   Their property has been in the family for the past four or five generations.   Their children have been bullied in school and they have been cast out.   There is need for mercy and forgiveness on both sides.   The fact that people from both chapels came, that all were all their knees in prayer, that hands were grasped during the Our Father, just makes everything so much more incredible.   Thank you Holy Spirit for working!

On Thursday, we had Fr. Humberto, the pastor of the parish, over for breakfast with our community.   During the discussion, we asked permission to make the Hediondas our ranchos that we will visit weekly.   We told him that we wanted to alternate between the two chapels week to week and that we have been impressed by the faith of the people.   He said yes!   God is so good!   He takes the little we have to offer and makes something beautiful!

Maria takes her piñata-ing very seriously.   No mercy for the mermaid.

Perfectly Imperfect- This Beautiful Mess

This past weekend we were at the North American FMC Summit in Saltillo, Mexico.  In FMC there are three regional Summits a year, usually in Mexico for North America.   The South American Summit is normally in Peru, and in the Philippines host the Asian Summit.  We were joined by four other Mexican missionary families, a Mexican single, two missionary families from Costa Rica, two singles from the US and the directors of FMC, Joseph and Brooke Summers, and their four boys.   It was a blessed time of fellowship, prayer and formation.

We were reminded through this year’s theme Como nos ama, or “How he loves,” that Jesus loves us because we are perfect.   Because we never sin; we never make mistakes; we never hurt others.   Because we are completely and totally qualified for the tasks and vocations to which He has called us.  That is also why He has called us to become missionaries.  We are perfect!   Perfect for the job!  

NO!

If there is any perfection in my life, it is that I am perfectly imperfect.   It is nice to know that I am in the good company of a long list of imperfect people called by God… Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, Peter, Paul.   All of them screwed up and were unqualified yet God called them nevertheless for some mission.   The nation of Israel was “nothing special.”   Not only were they NOT (sorry for the double negative) the greatest of nations, but they were a nation of slaves!   And yet God saw them in their oppression and brokenness, in their physical and spiritual bondage, and He chose them.

Last Friday’s first reading from mass captures so this beautifully…

Moses said to the people:
"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,
ever since God created man upon the earth;
ask from one end of the sky to the other:
Did anything so great ever happen before?
Was it ever heard of?
Did a people ever hear the voice of God
speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?
Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself
from the midst of another nation,
by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,
with his strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors,
all of which the LORD, your God,
did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
All this you were allowed to see
that you might know the LORD is God and there is no other.
Out of the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you;
on earth he let you see his great fire,
and you heard him speaking out of the fire.
For love of your fathers he chose their descendants
and personally led you out of Egypt by his great power,
driving out of your way nations greater and mightier than you,
so as to bring you in
and to make their land your heritage, as it is today.
This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart,
that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.
You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today,
that you and your children after you may prosper,
and that you may have long life on the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."

                                                            Deuteronomy 4:32-40

He loves us because we are so capable of making a mess!   Often we don’t know what we are doing, yet we are called.   We have to rely entirely on the Lord.   And in this way we can take none of the glory for ourselves, the glory is entirely and completely God’s.   A good missionary friend, Thomas Ogas, recently reminded me of Pope Francis’ message when he gave us and the church permission to try and not to be afraid to make a mess of things.

“If you make a mistake in your life, if you should fall, if you should do something wrong, don’t be afraid. Jesus, look at what I have done, what must I now do? Speak continually with Jesus, in the good times and in the bad, when you do right, and when you do wrong. Do not fear him! This is prayer. And through this, you train yourselves in dialogue with Jesus, in this path of being missionary disciples.”  Pope Francis World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro.

A beautiful purple marker mess.

As missionaries, as disciples, as missionary disciples, we all need to try, to breakout of our molds, our perceived limitations and comforts, we need to make a mess and sometime fail all for the sake of being faithful to what God is calling us.   We need to be willing to be foolish for Christ.

Shortly after the Summit, Pepito, a good friend and aspiring missionary who also attended the Summit sent us a message.   His mother and younger sister were in a car accident on the expressway in Saltillo.   Their car rolled four times over the distance of about twenty to thirty yards.   Please pray for them.   Doctors say that they will be all right, but they are very sore and his mom is wearing a neck brace and will be in the hospital for a while.   When I first saw Pepito and before we knew the status, he was obviously upset, scared, and nervous.   My initial response and in my weakness, I was so aware of my inability to say and give any verbal comfort.   I felt as if my hands were chopped off.   I knew that best thing to say was, “I’m sorry.  I don’t know what to say.”   And I didn’t even know how to really say that in Spanish.   In my feelings of inadequacy, all I could do was be there with him, let him cry, place my hand on his shoulder, and silently pray.   Of course, anyone that has ever grieved or taken a course in counseling or pastoral care would say that ironically that is exactly what Pepito needed.   I had to step aside and let God work.  In my feelings of emptiness, God was able to use me to give what was required.

Our friend Pepito with Josh and Naomi.

 

I am perfectly imperfect for this job and mission.   I am going to make a mess and make mistakes in my ministries, friendship, family and community.  But this is where God is calling me, for His greater glory.

From the Wisdom of Pooh Bear

God is good!   And He keeps us busy!   This past weekend our fourth short-term mission trip came to an end.   We knew hosting trips would be grace-filled as we completed work projects, visited the home bound and shared God's love and preached the Gospel.   What we didn't anticipate was the depth of friendship that we would forge with the short-term missionaries!

As we reflect back over the our journey during these past two months, so many of your faces come before my mind.   Thank you for coming and stayed with us, playing with our kids, and working side-by-side with us building homes, repairing chapels, and beginning the construction of a gym.   Thank you for going on home-visits and meeting our friends and neighbors.  Thank you for your joy in helping with chores and for smiling when you heard, "I don't know, but it will be great!"   Thank you for diving all in, for being vulnerable, for an openness to be stretched, for praying with us, for serving with us, and for saying "yes."

This past year there have been a lot of tough goodbyes and see-you-laters as we left family and friends in Western NY and Southern Ohio and as we were sent out with our fellow new missionaries, literally around the world.   And this summer we learned of a new opportunity to say goodbye.   Even when our lives overlap for only a week, God can touch us in a way that stretches into eternity.  While you may have come to touch the lives of the people of General Cepeda, you also touched the lives of these American missionaries.  Winnie the Pooh probably said it best, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

Without trying to sound too much like a Hallmark card or some sentimental meme, it is said that people come into our lives for a season, for a reason, and a lifetime.   People come and go into our lives for different lengths of time.   It may only be for a couple minutes in the checkout line, or four years of high school or college.   Maybe forty plus years of marriage or only a week on a missions trip.   Our lives touch each others for a season.

Our lives touch for a reason.   Whether we mean to or not, whether we know it or not, we are learning from each other, teaching each other lessons.   God uses (or even plans) these opportunities to form and shape and teach us.   He reveals Himself in these relationships through these seasons.

And we take each other with us, in our minds and hearts for a lifetime.   The seeds that we plant, the impacts we make affect others for a lifetime.

Thank you for all of you that gave a week of your life this summer to journey with us!

 

Thank you Mallory for putting together the following video which captures not only your experience, but also similar experiences of so many others.

 

Even to the point of madness, I love you, Lord

This week during our third mission trip something changed in my heart.  We were on the final day of three evenings of prayer at a nearby community, La Hedionda.  This third evening was a Mass that was said by Fr. Mark who came down from Georgia with the amazing youth group that is here.  That night the tiny chapel was packed; there were over 50 people there!!  It is always absolutely incredible to me that without any warning we can show up on Tuesday night, ring the chapel bell, and so many people in the community drop what they are doing to pray with us.  Each night there was new faces, and more and more children around as well. 

Like so many other times in life, the Lord is able to change my heart through praise and worship music.  Here in Mexico we try to choose our songs ahead of time, have the words written on poster board, and have someone holding them up when we sing the song so people can see the words.  I often wonder if that isn’t more for us than for them though.  Usually they know the songs much better than the missionary leading the music.  But if they don’t know all the words, or the tune, they sing anyway.  (Dad if you read blog this I want you to know I think of you often…no particular reason.)  ;)  

Before Mass we practiced some of the Mass parts with the people.  By practiced, I mean they taught them to me so we could sing them a capella during Mass.  It was the best thing we could have done, because after that “practice” session they sang even more enthusiastically than usual.  For the other songs during Mass Josh played piano and I played guitar while Elijah held up the poster boards with the words.  When they are that enthusiastic I don’t feel like I am leading the music at all.  Really, when they are that in to it, it reminds me a lot of water skiing.  I am just holding on to the rope and hoping I can hang on for the whole ride.  There was one song I started playing and as a community they chose to sing in the tempo they prefer.  (Which I loved!  I’ll eventually learn to play the songs right).  There was another song where Elijah held up the song sheet and the congregation started singing before Josh and I started playing.  We just joined in with them and picked up the song where they were at.  It took a verse, but they eventually slid in to the right key for the song.  It was amazing and brought me so much joy.  (Yes, I was laughing as it happened, it was amazing.)

I have one song I absolutely love, and this Mass was the first time I actually played it at a rancho visit.  We played it as the meditation after Communion.  The song is called Hasta La Locura.  It is a beautiful song.

Here is a loose translation:

            I may miss everything in life, I may loose life itself

            But I never want to lack the desire to love you to the end.

            I am madly in love with you Lord

            There are no doubts in my heart anymore that I love you.

            I want to love you to the extreme

            Without reservation I want to give myself fully

            Like those who have fallen in love,

            I sing to you my beloved until the end

As I joined the people of the rancho in worship (because let’s be honest, they didn’t need me to lead them) the Lord did something amazing in my heart.  Up until now I have always had to focus so much on the chords I am playing or the words I am saying I don’t actually get to pray the songs.  But at that moment those things were not difficult for me and I was able to just worship like I am able to do with songs in English.  I was able to pray those Spanish words with all my heart.  For that moment I didn’t feel like the foreigner, but that I was able to truly worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ in that chapel.  For that moment there was no cultural barrier, no language barrier, just a lot of us together, in love with the Lord. 

It is moments like that where my heart changes.  Where I am learning how as a missionary I am just another pilgrim walking towards Christ with my brothers and sisters here.  It is making what I have know in my head a truth that connects with my heart.

Quiero amarte hasta el extremo,

sin reservas darme por entero.

Como los que se han enamorado,

yo te canto mi amado, hasta el final.

Hasta la locura te amo, Señor

ya no quedan dudas en mi corazon

de que te amo Señor

 

Rebekah with her new friend, Kenya, from La Hedionda.

Picture and video highlights from the week

 We just completed another busy week with a group of short-term missionaries.   The trip went great!   Here are some photo highlights...

Team of 7-10 year olds boys painting a house that we re-roofed the week before.

Maria and the girls doing a home visit at Chencha's.

Aron with Dora, a woman we meet during Intake.   Click here to hear her story.

Maria giving a teaching on the Parable of the Sower while carrying Rebekah in a sling.

Here are some video clips of this past mission trip and some snippets into our lives.

Susanna (Summers) VanVickle with some of the kids acting out the Parable of the Sower.

Rebekah's first laughs.

 Naomi getting into the hand-motions of Alabare.

 And Aron, well being Aron. 😀

For a future blog post we would like to have our kids answer your questions.   If you have a question that you would like to see one or more of our kids answer in a video, please email us or send a comment with your question.   If your question is selected, you may become eligible to receive a free flour tortilla in the mail!!

Prayer requests...
Summer mission trip number 3 begins on July 9 and will go to July 17.   The group is primarily comprised of a Lifeteen youth group from Atlanta.  May the Lord prepare their hearts in this week ahead!

Just Walk Across the Room

The personal connection makes all the difference.   It can be intimidating trying to find common ground with another a person, especially with a language barrier.   Many people are surprised to learn that both of us are introverts.   This can make all the more of a challenge.   But God opens up doors and avenues, if we are just willing to be attentive and to listen.   If we are just willing to start by acknowledging that each person that we come across is a beloved child of God.  If we are just willing to walk across the room.

Last week when Maria was back in Ohio with her family to celebrate the life of her grandfather, a woman and her 8-year old daughter came to the door seeking help.   Their names were Lucin and Bella.   Two or three months ago Lucin’s father-in-law passed away.   The local government was able to help with the costs of the funeral and burial, but they needed help purchasing the blocks needed for the tombstone, about 400 pesos (under $25 with the current exchange rate).  After talking it over with them, deciding that we could help and praying with them I felt prompted to turn to the daughter Bella.   I explained to her how sorry I felt that she had lost her grandfather and that we would continue to pray for him, but I had a favor to ask of her as well.   I explained to her how my wife was currently back in the United States with her family for her grandfather that passed away.   It would be a huge blessing for us, if Bella would pray for Maria and her grandfather as well.   Bella beautiful green eyes became very serious with her new mission as she nodded her head yes.   God has connected together two families from two nations, separated by over 2,000 miles.

Mexico City Airport

Rebekah and I (Maria) had a wonderful time flying together from Mexico to Ohio.  I never imagined it would be fun (albeit exhausting) to travel with a 2-month-old baby!  I had so many wonderful encounters with people, got to hear all about others’ children and grandchildren, and really just got a chance to talk with people as we waited for our flights. 

Our last layover was in the Mexico City airport.  By that point I was tired and not thrilled about sitting for a couple of hours waiting for our flight.  I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the set up of the airport, and navigating through immigration and customs.  I honestly didn’t really feel like talking to anyone at that point.  All I wanted was to get to the Monterrey airport and see Josh.  As I was juggling Rebekah, carryon luggage and a cell phone, a woman from Sweden came to give me a hand.  We got in to a small talk conversation and I learned she was headed to Monterrey for her son’s graduation.  She shared a lot about her life as a single mother, how her son came to live in Mexico and his hopes for his future.  

Then she asked what we were doing in Mexico.   After sharing that we are Catholic missionaries, she asked the question why.  Why would we want to do something like this.  I explained to her that we have a God that loves us, and we want others to know that love.  We want them to know His love by being told, we want them to know a small piece of His love by our service.  I told her that so often people hear about the rules of faith, but don’t hear about the love God has for us.  As I explained these reasons for our crazy life, her face changed.  She softened.  She needed to hear about how much she is loved.  We had a long conversation after that, and I heard a lot about who God is to her.  It was amazing to be able to share that time with her after a full and exhausting day of travel.  I keep praying for her, for her son, for what the Lord wants to do in her heart.  That conversation made that extra layover worth it.  It was another reminder that when I am exhausted and have nothing left is when the Lord can step in and fill a moment with his grace.  I just have to be open for those divine appointments He sets up.

Josh's Macayu All-Star Team!

Monday evenings, different members of our team take turns going to the ejido Macayu, about a 20-minute drive outside of town.   For the past several months there have been some tensions between some of the individuals in the ejido.   At the conclusion of our last short-term trip, there were a number of items that needed to be wrapped up, and so I, Josh, offered to go with our three oldest boys and the four oldest boys from the Kiehl family on Monday, June 12. Between the eight of us there would be enough musical talent and translators that we would be able to run the prayer service.   I jokingly referred to us as “the children’s crusade,” praying that we would have better results then the original children’s crusade, but also hoping that these young men would be able to touch hearts and melt some of the tension.  First of all, I was so blessed to work with these seven mission partners ranging from seven years old to fourteen.   They were so eager and excited to help and to have various responsibilities, and they rocked it!   They were on fire as we drove back that evening, and without any hesitation they wanted to go again on the 19^th.  

One of the things that they noticed during that first night was that a good number of the children present felt bad that they didn’t know how to pray and were eager to learn.   The decision was made that for our second trip we would focus on the children that showed up and teaching them how to pray.   We figured that any adult that showed up, we would explain that we are all children of God.   It didn’t matter if we were a 5 year old child or a 70 year child, God is all of ours loving Father.   I was once again thankful for my years in Jesuit education and St. Ignatius’ directions of praying through a scripture passage with our imaginations and senses, placing ourselves in the story, letting it unfold, and conversing with Christ in the scene.  Prayer is after all simply a conversion with God where we both speak and listen.  The team decided that something similar would be effective and that we would use the passage of Jesus accepting the little children (Matthew 19:13-15).   

We are all God's children.

After explaining what we were doing and reading the passage slowly three times, we handed out paper and crayons so that they could draw what they had imagined.   We were surprised when even the adults asked if they could draw too!   We are all God’s children.   Once the drawing was over we asked was there a particular image or word that struck them?   How did Jesus look?   What was his demeanor?   Was there certain aspects of the scene in the imaginations that stood out?   One woman in particular drew rain in her picture.   What an amazing insight into the symbol of rain and Christ bringing refreshment to the desert of Mexico!   The biggest surprise for me was at the end I asked all the kids to come up for a photo with their pictures.   As soon as we were done, a number of the adults (including an elderly gentlemen with crutches) asked to have their photos taken with their drawings too!   We are all God’s children!   God is working and slowly softening hearts.   I am so thankful to work with this team of young men!

Sometimes all we need to do is just walk across the room.  God's grace is in the moment and let Him make the connections and inspire our words.   We just need to be open to His promptings and respond to His grace.

Please pray for the next short-term trip that arrives today!   May the Lord bless each of their hearts, our hearts as we host them, and the hearts of the people God will place in our paths to serve.   May we recognize Christ in the face of all we meet, and may God give us the grace so we can be the face of Christ for them.

Our June Newsletter

Here is a digital copy of our newest newsletter!   In it you will find an overview of our past several months, the birth of Rebekah, and what is coming up during the summer months!
If you are interested in being added to mailing list and would like hard copy of our newsletters, please send us a message!