Day 09: Sam Baker, Regio 4?

Or: When Everything Came Full Circle

Well, i’m on a plane again. Now i’m sitting by Matthew. Today was really good, it had that bittersweet lull at the end of a mission trip. We slept in, packed up and went to church. The people here are requete good at packing bags in cars. Dang. #goals

Church was lovely. We had a good number of our people show up, which was encouraging. I can’t tell if it’s a language thing or a cultural thing or what, but sometimes i think i don’t agree with some of the points of the sermons i hear here. It can taste a little Prosperity Gospel for my taste, pero, no sé. Our farewell lunch was full of farewells, then we got taken to the airport. We checked in and said our “final” nos vemos’s and headed through security. It was a good trip and i am sad to see it end.

I think i like some things about myself better in Mexico than in the states. Maybe it’s just on mission. I enjoy living purposefully and sometimes it can be easy to forget my purpose in College Station. Not that i feel i am not living it out, just that i forget what it is. And when you do something and forget why, does it invalidate what you do?

What’s your initial reaction? Mine is “No, the work has value,” but i think i am wrong. What if God really does look at the heart, not our actions? (verse) What if good things are worthless (or even bad) when done without love? (verse) What if our Why is more important than our What? If so, does that mean that anytime i do something out of obligation or pride or habit or just plain choice instead of love and desire is wasted? Can we choose our motivation? Is worship a feeling or a choice? Or both? If i sing with my mouth and mind, but don’t feel it in my heart, does God feel loved? Is there worship in the desert or just praise? I’ll leave it to you to ponder.

All that to say: this trip was fantastic, and again, if you’re reading this, it means the plane didn’t crash while we were on it.

It will be important to pray for the church in Mexico over the next couple of weeks. They are going to be doing follow-up on our contacts (especially those we connected to them at the events). The next few weeks will largely determine who stays in the church and who was just a cool person we met that one year.

Thanks for tracking and praying for us.

P.S. Now i am in my own bed and not a hotel, i'm full of Whataburger and not tacos, i am sending GM messages to hoi polloi and not my Extranjeros, i'm saying "yea boi" and not "orale vato"...it's a different life, but it's still God's :)

Day 08: How I Ended up in the Hospital in Mexico.

Or: Dramatic Titles Get Attention

I've found my sense of humor morphing into a more Mexican sense of humor the more often i come here.

We had an early morning after a late night, but it was very worth it. We got picked up at 9 and went to the house of one of the couples in the church here to make sandwiches. 320 sandwiches. Then we took them to the hospital (my mom breathes a sigh of relief 😏).

The hospital we went to is one that is free for people with jobs. The care is good but the lines are long. Like...days long. Sometimes people come from other cities and stay here for days. So, having a meal is helpful. We got to talk and pray and share with people. I got to listen to my compadre, Edgar, share the gospel and pray with a guy.

I also got to be chased and tackled and party with Sophia and a gaggle of her homies/minions. That was the best 😊

Afterwards we went to get lunch and pick up some souvenirs, then got to rest for a while before the evening event. "Drop the Mic Showcase" was a concert/hangout at a super chill hipster cafe called Café Acustica. The church band, Stephen Campbell and another band all played and we listened and ate good food and (some of us) danced and hung out. We had several of our new friends come and meet our church homies and make good connections.

Now it's 3 AM and we're about to dye some anonymous people's hair blue and talking about the trip.

I think the thing that i've been most impressed by today (besides God, that is) is my team. They've gone so hard this week; pushing through discouragement, social exhaustion, physical exhaustion, culture shock, being sick, language barriers, spiritual attack, doubt, different foods and all kinds of other troubles. And they've served and loved and prayed and served some more and been playful and been socially engaged and been unified and focused on God and in tune with the Spirit and so selfless. I am so unspeakably proud of each of them. I can't put it into words, i just love them a lot.

Reference back to "you can't do it alone" from yesterday. The other side of that is, even as an introvert i can confidently say that i wouldn't want to (even the times when i want to).

much love. 

Day 07: At the End of the Week, You're Another Week Older

Or: "Whoop and PTL"
Or: Rojo Tierrabus is still stuck in my head
Or: "Wow Sam, Two Les Mis Reference Titles in One Trip..."

Our last day of campus evangelism in Monterrey (note the qualifiers) started well. We prayed and prayed and paired up and got after it. I was with The Evan Grant again, which was great. We had a guy show us around the mécatronica labs, which were fascinating. 3D printing, robots, machines making machines... Evan was eating it up. In case you're wondering, no A&M doesn't have mécatronica, i don't think it's even a major in the states. Stephen and i got lunch with Pastor Sergio, we got to talk about our structure and their structure and Sergio's vision for the future...really encouraging stuff.

After lunch, Evan and i spent most of the afternoon talking with a chill, very conversational atheist or agnostic (he wasn't sure which he was yet). It was a good conversation, though we didn't get to share the gospel. We did get to push back on his views on a few things and talk about a lot of things, which was good. I can tell God is after his heart though, His brother has started going to a local Bible study :D

When we all met back up at the servilleteros (a.k.a. the fuga buildings), we got to hear some really amazing stories of God using the team. We saw so many good connections come through and are hoping to see some really good fruit. We loaded up and Mario took us to get some ice cream on the way home (it was amazing, as you can probably guess).

We got back, took a break, loaded up and headed to San Pedro for the party (carne asada). The party was straight crazy y'all. The pastor's living room and then back yard were transformed into dance floors. There were so many people there, it was almost unbelievable. Everywhere i looked there were little groups of gringos, visitors and church people all mixed in together. The church here did an amazing job of connecting to our people and engaging them in conversation, i can't wait to see what fruit comes of it. My new friend that we had all the juicy conversations with at the Uni even came and made good connections.

Our original plan for tomorrow was to start at 11, but we found out around 8-14 of us needed to start earlier, so the Tec team will be getting up at 9. It was hard to tell my peeps that we were taking 2 hours of sleep from them, but they handled it so well. We got them home a little early (12:45) so they could rest some. I can't tell you adequately how impressed and proud i am of my team. I love them a lot, they're amazing :D :D

After Mario took the team back to the hotel, Sheryl and a few of the Uni team and i went with  Josue for the after party. It was exciting and beautiful and i got to drive up a mountain :D Dreams really do come true. I'll spare you details, but it was a lot of fun and i am a lot of sleepy. I'm not really sure how Monday morning is going to go after 2 more days of late nights. A ver.

I may have dozed off for a second while thinking about self-care and how important it is.

That was a fun sentence to write. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Anyway, God's been really good to us. Philippians 1:6. I want to see him complete his work. On this trip, in this team/church/city/country. In my life. In the world. It's so exciting to think he'll be coming back. But it's also convicting. Will he be please with how i lived my life?

I had a low-key Schindler's List moment today (if you haven't seen it, watch it). I came to the end of the week and the time for sowing on campus in Monterrey for this trip is now over. Now we do follow-up and a service project and some fun stuff. But was it enough? Did i leave it all out on the track? Could i have talked to more people? Could i have been more bold and shared the gospel with more of the people i did talk to?

One of my biggest fears is coming to the end of my life and feeling that way (watch the movie, yo). To realize that i lived for the petty things, the silly things, the things that did not matter. One of my greatest fears is that i will waste my life. What about you? Do you ever feel that? What things would you change if you were old and looking back at the Now version of you? 

Day 06: Spirit Fruits

Or: It's Always the Chains You Don't See that Slow You Down

Or: The Day with Spiritual-Sounding Titles that Are Not Spiritual

A whole day should be enough to let the heat die down, yes? That's what we thought, too...

So we braved the Tec.

We rolled up in our Evange-Van and walked to the gate. Mario, the king of casual, talked to the guard...

and they let us in, no problem, we were right. Well, that was a dramatic buildup for nothing, Sam.

Today was kind of a homegroup day. Matthew and Evan went together, Scott and Riley went together and Travis and i went together. Nothing super dramatic from today, but good stuff, Travis and i had a good conversation, but he split before we could get too deep. Then we ran into Santiago, whose number Monica and i had gotten, but he had entered it wrong in her phone, so we though contact with him was lost (but God's all about seeking the lost, sooo 😉). Then we wandered into a Buddhist meditation center and prayed against misleading spirituality for a while inside of it. Lunch was chill, we talked about what our spirit fruits* were. Afterwards, Travis and i ran into Raul, who certainly strikes me as a person of peace, but he got sick last night and couldn't come to the homegroup we had (spiritual warfare or God's timing? maybe both. Pray for Raul y'all). We spent virtually the whole afternoon talking to him. It was dope (also, the playlist his student group had going was literal perfection. It was like going on a roadtrip where Katelyn Humphrey is your DJ. Do it sometime).

 *spirit fruits ought not be confused with fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, fijate, is not a coconut. However, your spirit fruit** might be a coconut. Mine is a pineapple.

**spirit fruits ought not be confused with favorite fruits. No one said you had to like your spirit fruit. I personally am ambivalent when it comes to piñas - except for pizza. I like them unequivocally on pizza. Especially with jalapeños. That's called a Cartel Pizza. I recommend it to you.

ANYway....we got dinner at Pollo Loco and then headed back to the hotel to chill for the evening. I ran with Travis and Scott, which was a lot of fun. And then i ran between two poles that had a chain strung up between them, which caught me right in my waist (bless). Any lower and i would have flipped over the thing, but it just stopped me. No injury, no death; just embarrassment, now shared with you guys.

Travis and i got to have an extended time to talk and catch up with Sheryl, which is always super encouraging to my heart. And now it's Mexican 2 AM and here i am.

 There's a lot rattling around in my head right now, but i think the thing i want to leave you with is this: You are not made to operate independent of community. You may be able in a given circumstance (be it your college career, your career career, being a good spouse, being a good parent, being a missionary, whatever it is you do) to logistically pull it off, maybe even pull it off well. But emotionally and spiritually and in terms of advancing the kingdom of God, you will not be healthy without a Christ-centered community to help you. Your effectiveness will be limited. You are crippling your potential. You may even see fruit, but it will be less fruit than you could see if you were operating as you are designed.

Why am i so sure? The Bible says so, Logic says so, Experience says so, History (or Tradition, if you will) says so. That's all four pieces of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, y'all (though, to my thinking, the first one seems pretty sufficient). I am an introvert and i am from an individualist culture and grew up with the Cowboy Hero. i don't like needing people. The only thing that says "you don't need people..." is my pride and my fear. Maybe i'm just preaching to myself, but maybe you feel the same way.

I am so grateful that God made me Needy. Otherwise, my small and utilitarian heart would never see the value in people. But once i realize i need them, i begin to let them in. And as i let them in i realize that they are valuable. Not valuable because they are useful (Usefulness is not the source of Value), Valuable because they are made by God and loved by God. Its an intrinsic and unchanging thing.

So...yea. There's that and there's that. Last day of campus outreach is Friday (that's tomorrow (but...really today)). Please por favor pray for God to move!

🍍

Day 05: Some Casual Satanism (and the Overwhelming Power of the Spirit)

Our plan for the day: Trust like a Calvinist, but Pray like an Arminian 😁

So, ayer, there had been rumblings that we might not be allowed into the Tec, or that we should maybe not go to let the "tension" calm down a little. So today it was decided we should go to the Uni campus where the other group is, but still stay separate. (now, as soon as i had heard we might not be able to go to the Tec today, i thought, "i wonder if God has something special for us to do at the Uni.") I was thinking it was the (huge) main Uni campus that Sheryl and i had first visited back in 2011 (whoop), pero it was a smaller campus i had never been to before with all medical-themed majors.

We had one feeling bad today (keep praying for us), but we also had Santiago join us. Santiago is an amazing guy who joined the church from last year's team. And now this year he  is helping us do outreach. #outreachgoals

We rolled up, teamed up, prayed up, started up. (now, Mario was unable to join us for lunch today, so he gave me our lunch money) I wonder a bit if the Uni team (team Uni-Vision) felt like we were up in their 'hood, hopefully not.

I'll start on an encouraging note: there was a team of highschoolers from Texas out on the campus, paired with translators from a local church (i talked to/prayer over the pastor, he is friends with Pastor Sergio from GranCo). So, between us and Uni-Vision and them, there were probably 45-50 people on that campus today praying, sharing and bringing the indwelling Spirit of God up in that joint. Spiritual warfare for the win.

The Evan Grant and i paired up today, which is awesome. Then something really strange happened (though i'm glad i can say nowadays that it's strange). i socially shut down. i felt super nervous and timid around all the people, i had so much trouble speaking any Spanish at all...Evan and i walked around, climbed on a roof, prayed a bit and tried every now and then to talk to people, none of them went very well. I was super impressed with Evan though, he was encouraging and patient and helped me process through it a bit. Then, when we had about 20 minutes left before lunch, i kinda gave up and we decided to head early to the lunchtime meet-up spot.

Then we saw a guy. He was just chilling and i felt The Tug (tu lo sabes), so we headed over and started talking to him. I started straight off with letting him know who we were and what we were talking about and he seemed interested. He talked a little about growing up in the church and sounded pretty agnostic about God...until he started talking about his interest in Satan and Lucifer* and how they were different and not as bad as people thought and.....wait. what?

Yea, i was a bit taken aback as well. But, i didn't show it and he kept talking a bit. But we ran out of time and had to go to lunch, so i invited him to come with us.

Lunch was really stressful for me. I had trouble understanding what was going on and the cafeteria food was not really in line with the eating needs of some of our team and it was kind of a mess. I think i was a little short with people. But Santiago (what a champ) helped me and we got everyone fed. (thanks to the team for being understanding with me)

Lunchtime conversation with our new-found friend was pretty chill. We talked about music and culture and food and a bit of everything. After lunch, while Scott, Evan and i were sitting with him, i poked at the Satan question again. Here's the basics of what he said (please not the quotation marks below):

"Satan and Lucifer are different and really not so bad if you understand them. They just believe in the equality of people and animals (they're the same level). They didn't want to serve humans because we're imperfect and they are glorious, so they stopped following God. Satan is the enemy of people, but Lucifer is not so bad."

We also talked a bit about his views on Hitler ("not justified, but definitely understandable if you look at his point of view") and on politics and the church ("not connected to God, people doing bad things in God's name") and just the world in general ("everyone has something good to say, a piece of Truth, you just have to be willing to listen"). Some of it has some truth to it, but it was all pretty twisty. (now, i firmly believe that when people have a lot of well-developed philosophy that has twisty truth, they're probably carrying some hurt in their heart that their head is trying to make sense of).

After a bit of rabbit-trailing and weird politics, i think Scott and Evan started praying and God stepped in. That's when things started to change.

I asked him, given that everyone had some truth in their perspective, how we could know what was Truth and what was not. We came to the answer that unless God helps us, we cannot know Truth. I asked him if he thought there were any people in the world that were actually good. He said yes, that people only did bad things from ignorance or good motivations, but as we dug into that he decided that all people are broken and imperfect. I shared about brokenness in my life, the fear and sadness i used to feel before i knew God. It even was able (gracias a Dios) to connect to our earlier conversation about how my taste in music had changed (i grew up on some emo jams, y'all) as God had begun to heal my brokenness. We poked at some gospel truths about God wanting to heal. Then the bass dropped.

He shared that he wasn't from this campus, he came to see a counselor, because things in his life were dark. He felt abandoned by friends, he did not like the way he was physically, mentally or emotionally. The day before had been terrible and, in a moment of desperation, he had called out to God and asked him for help. Then, that day he had brought a small crucifix with him to campus in his pocket. He forgot about it and then found it in his pocket again right before we walked up to him. So, at this point, i just lose it a bit, i chose not to cry, told him about our original plans for the day and asked him, "Mira, you weren't supposed to be here, we weren't supposed to be here. You asked God to give you help and we came along, now we've been talking about God for 4 hours. Do you think there is any chance that could be a coincidence?" He said no and i told him God sent us to him so we could share a message with him. A message that could help him.

Over the years i've shared the gospel several times. Mexico, HG, Outreach, etc. I've never shared the gospel as passionately or eloquently as i shared today. I can't reproduce it here because they weren't my words. Evan and Scott were praying and the Spirit was speaking and it was lit. He didn't accept Christ today, but i have a lot of faith that God will have his heart soon. Pray like crazy for him. Please.

We had a few new people come to the "homegroup" (grupo de crecimiento) tonight and make solid connections. Pray that the church here nails that follow-up. It was a fun night for most of us; loud, late, games, jokes, pictures, Christian pick-up lines, exploding chairs, great food.

I don't really feel i need to stress the importance of prayer after a day like today. Guys, be praying. We need it so badly, it has to be God moving.

much Love.

*Lucifer: fun fact, "Lucifer" is probably not actually in your Bible. It's in one verse in one translation in a prophecy directed to a pagan king. It's not actually a name for Satan, that's just a misunderstanding of Isaiah in the KJV that became a cultural thing (thanks, Dante) and is an example of how we sometimes let Tradition shape our theology instead of Scripture.

Day 04: Press, Pace, Position, Pray

FOCUS FOX!

Sorry, i'm having trouble keeping my brain together while i am typing. Sheryl is wanting my attention while people are all

Hang on i have to take a pause.

Ok, distraction handled.... Handled in a good way, Sheryl's fine, don't panic.

So, today started out pretty slow in terms of how outreach felt. It didn't feel bad or discouraging, it just was more difficult to get into the gospel and spiritual things with people. We even scared one guy away by talking about how fragile life is.

Lunch was really encouraging, we had some of our contacts from yesterday join us and it looks like they may stick around and get connected, which would be the literal best-case scenario. Please pray for Raul. He's awesome.

In the afternoon, i paired up with Evan Grant (that's my roommate! (there, not here)). We started walking and i looked over and a girl sitting at a table nearby caught my eye (does that sound weird? not like that, y'all, come on). I was apprehensive about approaching her because it was two random American guys coming out of nowhere to talk to her...didn't want to send the wrong message. But we talked to her anyway. Brief transcript:
S: Disculpe, ¿hablas inglés?
AP: Of course, what's up?
S: Oh good! We're from Texas and just visiting for a week.
AP: Me too! I'm just visiting my boyfriend (#bless) for the week. I'm from Laredo, but i study in College Station.

Yup. She was an Aggie. In Monterrey. I don't know if you folks believe in coincidences, but i don't. Especially not when i'm doing outreach on a mission trip. We talked for a while about just about everything. We got to pray for her and share the gospel, she lives about a mile from my house in College Station andgoes to St. Mary's, but is figuring out how her fe. It was a really encouraging conversation, she was fun and attentive and had some profound insight into the world. We got to meet her boyfriend, but we had to part ways. I didn't want homeboy to get the wrong message either, so i gave her my email and Facebook information and let it be.

 One concern: this is live and unfolding, but someone at the Tec today told us we couldn't do outreach without a permit. It was one of the guards and he was on the phone with Mario, he was friendly and said we should be careful. We are trying to decide if we're going to go again tomorrow and just hope it works, go to off-campus areas near the Tec or jump in with the crew that's been going to the Uni... we will see...

We also played futbol today - well, it was the activity our group did - i hung out and played with a frisbee and wrestled Matthew and stuff... And afterwards, ¡tacos!

During dinner, i got to sit and talk with David for a while. He and his wife and a few other couples recently moved to a new neighborhood on the outskirts of Monterrey. The growth rate of the city means that what was recently out in the boonies is now a booming zona (suburb) with all the restaurants and amenities you could imagine. The cool thing is how they're approaching it: each zona in the city has its own culture and feel, but since theirs is so new, they're able to impact the development of the culture they're in. By reaching out to their neighbors and loving people well, the people in their neighborhood are beginning to love each other and develop a friendly, open culture. How cool is that?

Challenge: look at the cultures you find yourself in. You have an opportunity to define that culture, to shape it. So take steps to do so in a way that glorifies Christ.

It's ok if that title doesn't make sense.

Day 03: Harvest

or: lol, God.

So i'm typing while Javier plays his guitarra, i may randomly break into song. Apologies in advance. Though now that i've said that, i'll probably just do it because i think it's funny.

Today was lit, as the kids say. It was straight fire. If you were praying for us, thank you. Today was the best single day of outreach i've seen at the Tec...like, ever y'all. (and from what the Uni team says, it was pretty similar for them). I was teamed up with Monica today, it was super encouraging. She did a fantastic job in the conversations we had, even shared the gospel with a girl :)

ON A DARK DESERT HIGHWAY, COOL WIND IN MY HAIR...

Other groups: Elizabeth & Evan, Kelsie & Camden, Sheryl & Grace, Travis & Scott, Riley & Matthew

Some highlights:
-One group saw two salvations!
-We met a couple of solid believers on campus (this has been historically rare), we trained one guy in how to do outreach and he may join us to share the gospel later.
-We had two teams get onto a roof and make a great connection with a guy sleeping there. Then they all got kicked off the roof.
-People were incredibly open about their views on life, their pasts, hurts, politics, faith, everything...

SHA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-TI-DA (just like that)

If i dug into all the depth of all the stories we experienced, i would run out of internet. I will tell to you, however, the last story of the day. After our day of incredibly successful outreach, Monica and i talked to a girl who, though young, had incredibly well-developed views and thoughts on the church and life and stuff. Her name was Teresa and we talked to her for quite a while. She is studying to be a chemical engineer, while taking classes online for law school. She felt that the church she grew up in was too concerned with structure and not concerned enough with loving people or creating unity in a world divided. We talked in-depth about how broken the world is and, when asked what she though the solution was, she said that if the church did its job, that would do the job. Anyway, we talked about name meanings, she said her name means "Harvest."

so that's just all i have to say about that.

now we're playing fishbowl, "papelitos," listening to Javier play, generally chillin.

Day 02: One More Day Before the Storm

Les Mis, anybody?

Well, the internet password changed, so this post took longer than expected.

We woke up today, had a prayer time (mmmmm), hung out in the plaza of the hotel, got in trouble with the hotel staff for being too American loud, and eventually headed to church. Church was exciting and upbeat and everyone was super glad to see us. It was really encouraging to worship in Spanish and hear Pastor Sergio preach and seeing a bunch of friends I hadn't yet.

After church, we got mas tacos and chilled and talked and talked and chilled in the restaurant (El Buey) for a good while. I've really enjoyed getting to meet the people in the church that got close to the team last year! Good people, good connections, good times.

Our post-lunch  plans got shifted around a little, but we spent some time in a large central plaza in downtown Monterrey (think Riverwalk in San Antonio + Capitol in Austin). We took pictures and climbed on things, bonded with our team and with the church peeps here some more.

Around 6, we headed back to the church for a meeting of our teams and the leadership of the homegroups in GranCo (Iglesia Gran Comisión). We talked through our schedule and our plans and their expectations and hopes and our expectations and hopes…my little logistical heart was buzzing. And. And. And….Sophia was there. Sophia, for those who remember, is the daughter of Edgar and Jenifer Reyes, with whom i lived in 2011 (yes, i did say that in Spanish (also: Whoop)). She was 3 years old. We played and fought and generally had a grand time, being on the same maturity level emotionally and linguistically. She’s so big now, i almost didn’t recognize her. Goodness. And Edgar and Jenifer now have another little hija, Victoria. My homegroup can just take a second and imagine the cuteness overload noises my heart is making.

Beuno, entonces leaving the church and getting chased and tackled in the parking garage and having all of my buttons pushed (and unbuttoned (i don't feel the need to clarify by whom)), then driving and some rain and singing Veggie Tales in the car and dinner (trompo for days, y’all) and more conversation.

Back at the hotel, we made plans for tomorrow, the somehow a detachment of my team ended up in the exercise room here, talking through deep, scary theological issues and watching YouTube videos about Seagulls. Finally, i had to say “Mmm, stop it now,” and call it a night.

I have a lot of thinks on my brain now, but none of them are formulated enough to type out. I’m largely confident i had another rambly sermonette for you folks for tonight, but it got lost in the brain shuffle somewhere. I guess the summaries of our day are what you’re actually here for, the theological rabbit trails that end up in here are just bonus material. All for free.

Guys, it’s going down tomorrow. Pray and pray and pray. We'll be on the Tec Campus. Our primary goal is to make deep connections with people who are spiritually interested. My heart wants to get out there and share the gospel with as many people as possible, but i'm trying to learn how much more strategic it is to be Spirit-led and let God bring me to the people who are ripe to hear. Because they then increase the number of people who will be laborers. We're not just desiring to create converts or even disciples, we want to partner with God in creating Disciple-makers, or Disciple-maker-makers, if you track with what i'm saying. 

Here's the thing about our plans and our efforts (oh, dang, we found the soapbox): they're cute and they're well-intentioned, but if they aren't in line with what God is doing, they are wasted. God can do more with 5 minutes of my time than i can do with 5 years. Something about Him being all-powerful and wise and stuff. Submitting yourself to God's leading via His Spirit is the wisest thing you can do, even if it defies conventional wisdom; it's the most efficient thing you can do, even if it seems nonstrategic; it's the most powerful thing you can do, even if it (especially if?) it makes you feel weak.

Taking some time to pray during the day might literalmente be the most important thing we do. There is nothing less True about prayer than to think of it as a waste of time.

Please, please pray for us today. Please, please pray for yourself today. We may be on a short-term mission trip, but i'd be willing to bet that you're in the middle of a mission field too if you look for it.

Hope i didn't get your hopes up about not having a rant :D