Day 4: getting robbed and stuff

or: the tacos may have been worth it...

Irony is just one of those lovely things.
This morning, I talked to the team a little about spiritual warfare and we had an extended prayer time before we went to the Tec. Once we got there, Chrissy and I teamed up and promptly found someone I had already met (a good thing). So we hung out for a while and talked, then we walked around together, then she invited us to her marketing class (um... yes, please). So we had a really good contact with her and she should be coming to the party tomorrow.

"wait, did you say you got robbed?"
whoa, stay on target.

We all met up for lunch and hung out and talked about theology and stuff (nbd) with a girl I had met (Priscila) that we kept running into and that got along really well with Javier. After lunch we were slow to start back up, but we finally headed out. I started up in a team of four (Ana, Javier, Carolina and I). We all kinda knew that the most you can easily evangelize with is a triumvirate, but we thought we'd give it a try. We split into 2x2 after our first try and Javier and I struck up a conversation with a Brazilian atheist. He insisted that we speak in Spanish so that I could practice and our conversation touched everything from dating to jobs to grace and faith. Good stuff.

"that's cool, but...did you really get robbed?"
is this going to be like the witchcraft thing from this summer? we'll get there.

After leaving the Tec our team split into guys and girls for the evening. The guys went to hang out with the worship band at their practice and the girls went...somewhere else and did...something else. We loaded the instruments, went to the practice place, unloaded the instruments and then decided to go get some dinner while the singers were learning their stuff.

"did someone steal the instruments??"
ok, seriously, just be patient. this is making me feel unoriginal.

So, the running joke for my trips to Mexico (thanks to the pastors here) has been that i would fall in love. Well, it happened tonight. I just didn't expect it to be with a gringa... Gringo, by the way, is a Mexican word for "American," it started out slightly offensive, but nowadays is generally used lovingly. Apart from meaning (in so many words) "white girl," a gringa is also a type of taco. We tried gringas tonight at a place that made them with avocado and all kind of painfully delicious sauces. I have not enjoyed a meal that much in a long time... We ate tacos and hung out at the shop as the evening wore on (that is a nice phrase, "the evening wore on." With your permission, I'll say it again: "The evening wore on."), then rounded up our stuff and headed back to the car.

that's when we saw that the car's window was broken.
("whoa, you did get robbed.." yea, i told you we'd get here)

See, what had happened was...various times Andres has warned us not to leave stuff in the car if it has valuables in it. Apparently there is a contraption that allows one to know if there is a lithium-powered anything nearby (i.e. camera, laptop, mp3), so, by leaving my backpack in the car and by leaving my camera and mp3 player in my backpack... you see where this is going, but we can go together anyway: someone sensed my stuff and broke into the Handal family's car to steal my backpack. (net loss: 1 window, 1 backpack, 1 bible, 1 camera, 1 mp3 player, lots of time tomorrow). Insurance will replace the window for free, but it will still leave the Handal family down one car for tomorrow (busy day, bee tee dubs).

Irony: we talked about spiritual warfare today, i thought about taking my camera out today, Rodger offered to take my bag into the hotel today, someone joked about us getting robbed today.

So, you probably know that I'm a sucker for guilt. If I mess up or do something wrong or (heaven forbid) hurt someone, I can shut myself down for days and weeks just feeling like an idiot. So, I'd like to say that because of my pep talk and foresight I overcame this spiritual attack and everything went smoothly. But... I didn't. The good news is, Jesus saw me about to derail and intervened. So, the Handals are ok; they're joking about it, Dustin spoke some timely truth to me...crisis averted. I still feel bad, but I'm not harping on it.

It raised a question though: What if it hadn't been ok? What if I made a mistake that really and truly turned out bad? Why do I let these things have such hold over me? I've been told it's my pride, and there's certainly some truth to that, but it feels different than just pride.

Day 3: success, attacks, pizza

or: a normal day in the mission field*
(no labels, you can figure out which is which)

Today i started out teamed up with Dustin and Ana (i.e. ballin' team). We went and the first guy we talked to was a catolico with whom we got to spell out the whole gospel (in English and Spanish. (ballin' team)) when we got to the part of being reconciled and (more than just not-Hell) having a real relationship with God; he asked us, "How can i have what it is you are saying?" (the words that every person who shares the gospel wants to hear). We talked about what it meant to have faith in Christ, repenting and confessing and all that good stuff and he said he already had done that and we were able to encourage him and invite him to check out our church... I later paired up with Moji and we got to have some really great conversations and found some slackliners on the campus...

Through some other conversations ("who are you to say to me what is true or what is not?"**) and comments and circumstances (non-spanish speakers having to sit silently through whole conversations) and other shtuff, the team has been hit recently with a lot of spiritual warfare. They mostly take the form of undermining people's confidence in their usefulness or identity. Since you asked, I'll tell you that my biggest attack has come in the sense of (big shocker kids) feeling my leadership inadequate or undermined (those go hand in hand often). But, hey, i didn't volunteer, Jesus put me (indirectly) in charge, so he'll use me.

We went tonight to Romario's, and got three honkin' huge pizzas. Our team (7) and Javier and Andres and Carolina and Liz and .....a lot of people came it was a lot of fun. The team (which includes the people in the church here) has been working together so well for a while now and it was encouraging to me to watch as they played together too. There are some unspeakably strong relationships being built right now and it is blowing my mind. I think they'll be hooked on missions before.. well, it's too late now : )



*"mission field" is a silly term. if you're not living a missional (i would say even world-focused) life wherever you are, sharing the gospel with and being Jesus to the people around you, you're missing the Point.

**if your mind's ear hears this in a gravelly southern preacher's voice (the sweatin' Bible-thumpin' podium-poundin' kind), it'll be more enjoyable: Who am I to say what's true? I'm a blood-redeemed, Spirit-filled, Word-infused son of the King who reads the Word of Truth with guidance from the Spirit of Truth. I don't just have a right to say what's true, I have a responsibility. Woe to me if I don't speak words of Truth...haha

Day 2: The Gospel

or: heck yea.

So, after feeling trapped in surface level conversations (glass floor?) all day yesterday, I teamed up today with Dustin and we decided that since the Gospel happens to be the key thing in all of history and creation, we wanted to make sure we got to talk about it. So we started all our conversations thus:
"Hola, somos estudiantes de Texas y estamos en Monterrey por una semana. Estamos caminando por el campus y platicando con la gente sobre Dios, cosas espirituales y en que cree...tienes tiempo para hablar con nosotros?"
or:
"Hey, we're from Texas and we wanna talk about Jesus; you interested?"

With this approach, we got rejected a bit more (though not often), but were able to have conversations about all things deep. We talked with Christians who i had met previously, Catholics who loved Jesus and some people who believed some crazy stuff. We talked about evolution a bit, which was distracting from the focus on Jesus. We talked about existentialism and life's purpose and finding beauty and meaning in life. It. Was. Great.

The best was the last talk we had, which was all in Spanish, so Dustin and I hung on for dear life as Raul took a guy all the way through the gospel. He said he believed that and had already asked God for it; he had just had some doubts about his security in salvation... (we gave him some great reassurance)

Tonight we went to one of the homegroups here and got to hear a good talk about digging deeper into the word... and Pastor Rodger got in tonight, so he'll be with our team for the Duration..

Day 1: -couragements

en- well, we all got through security this morning; which was a blessing since el Presidente del republico was actually on the campus of the Tec today! (i think he's campaigning, heh). We broke into smaller groups and went to meet people; Javier, Carolina and I teamed up and had a couple of very friendly, if shallow, conversations. They were good relationship starting places though! Also, we and one of the other groups met people who were already committed, plugged-in believers (rare).

dis- after lunch, we split into different groups. I was teamed up with Chrissy and Carolina this time and our conversations took a deeper slant and we tried to get into the gospel, but got rejected pretty blatantly. We left the guys we talked to with some good truth to chew on i think though.

en- for dinner, we went and got some authentic Mexican tacos. Oh moses, they were delicious ("did you say moses?" yes). The overall most encouraging thing though has been seeing the difference in Javier, Carolina and Lulu:

Javier, along with Andres, is in charge of us this trip. It's the first time students have been responsible for the missions trip and Javier has grown so much in both confidence and humility. He's just enjoyable to be around and will make a great leader in the church.

Carolina is a girl we met this summer. She has since gotten involved in the church and is going to be baptized this Saturday. She is out evangelizing with us (in a support role right now) and being discipled in the church. I got to talk to her a little today and she told me her outlook on dating and marriage, which has changed a lot in a biblical way.

Lulu's birthday was today. We got to see her briefly and Sheryl got to go to class with her and encourage her a lot. Lulu was in a very unstable position when we met her last summer and had a lot of questions. When we hung out with her today; she seemed much calmer and much more confident.

Being able to see the things God has done and is doing is the biggest encouragement for me and trumps any discouragement i feel. Testimony to what God is doing :)

airporting

or: tests and setbacks

so, we're all in the airport and waiting to board. We had some passport questions (i.e. a wrong birthdate on a passport (how does that even happen?)), some timing questions (the plane said it was going to leave 2 hours early, but it didn't)

a bit of stress, but mostly just a chance for God to reaffirm he really does want us to go on this trip. We'll be boarding soon : )

what, after all, are we living for?

We're all set and ready to leave... a few worries with passports and packing, but it will all come together. One week in Monterrey, working with the church and meeting students on the Tec campus. Sometimes I have to ask: are we worth the effort? The cost is just over $1000 per person... which is substancial financial support. A guy I was talking to today made a crack about going to dig $30 wells in Africa, but spending $600 on a plane ticket. In fact, sometimes the things we do as Christians does seem like folly...unless...there's a point.

If Christ is not resurrected, are we to be pitied above all men? Is he the only thing that prevents our living from being in vain? Far too often I find myslf living life like anyone else with just a few extra activities and rules. I want to be called to something more; to a life that doesn't make sense without Christ. I want to look foolish to those who don't understand...to make them ask questions.

I'm proud of our team because we're going. It's a first time for many and I hope it is a taste of reality that gets us hooked.

Lock, Load, Pray

   Last week Dustin organized a dinner and prayer + worship night for the Mexico trip. We had dinner together as a team (tacos...heck yea) and then talked about what we wanted prayer for. we prayed a little as a team, then later went to the church with a bunch of other Fellowship Church people and we prayed for our trip and for the nations in general and for our hearts as a church.

   I love that our team is so willing to listen to the Spirit's leading. The conversations we're having are not merely intellectual and emotional... the work we do, the seeds we sow, the battle we fight is a spiritual one and if we are not spiritually armed; our victory, though assured, will be lessened for it. Many of our team members have been under spiritual attack in these weeks leading to the trip.

   After listing the "full armor of God" in Ephesians, Paul exhorts the readers to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." (6:18) So, essentially Paul says to prepare for battle and then...pray. Prayer is part of how we fight this good fight of faith. It isn't an afterthought or a side-note or a tradition. It's a big deal.

   My prayer is that in all of our obstacles, fears, insecurities, doubts and even seemingly non-related things that threaten to derail us; we would remember and rely on God and his character.