Vida en Mexico

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Preaching in Spanish...

Well, I suppose the title might be a little misleading and not entire accurate but yes, I will be preaching again this Sunday in the Spanish Church. No, unfortunately it won't be in Spanish, as any sermon that I would give at this point in Spanish would be, well, relatively short. Mi Español is mejor que cuando primero llegué aquí én México pero todavía tengo mucho más que aprender...My Spanish is better than when I first arrived here in Mexico but I still have much more to learn...(I think...) Anyways, I'll be preaching from the sermon that I had this Sunday in the English church though no doubt a little shorting as I'll be using a translater so any prayers you can offer up would be greatly appreciated!

Other than that, life is a little different this week and will be for next week as well as there is a local group of pastors and church leaders here for a retreat. They arrived Monday and, with the exception of Sunday, will be here until next week Saturday. It's a bit of a change of pace having many people around (mostly who speak Spanish) but the food has been wonderful. Cooking for yourself seems to get more tedious as time goes on and a change of menu is more than welcome. I'm not sure exactly what I ate for lunch but I can tell you that it was delicious!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Why do I keep doubting?

Well, this week has been full of the usual activity with two additions. One being doing some major cleaning for a group of pastors that's coming on Sunday and staying for two weeks. There's going to be about 25 to 30 pastors from the area having a retreat here at the house. It seems that with the lack of use the extra bedrooms and washrooms have had over the past while, they have fallen into a state of uncleanliness.

The other addition is major preparation for my message this coming Sunday. This being the second time around you would think that it would come together a fair bit easier and with less anxiety than the first time but it seems that that has not been the case. The process of preparation for the first sermon was a very encouraging process though it had its moments of anxiety and at times burden, just not being sure what I should do or where I should go with the sermon. Finally getting to the point of having it prepared (after a rollercoaster of doubt and encouragement) I remember sitting at my desk Sunday morning, before I was to deliver it, just feeling like it was weak and thin; I wasn't at all feeling ready and was doubting the work I had put into it. As I got up to deliver it though, the sense of peace that I had and the enjoyment that I had in delivering it was awesome! Though I had spent a lot of time doubting that God would lead me God was faithful and had heard me in those anxious moments in prayer throughout the week. The whole experience, as hard as it was at times was very rewarding and encouraging.

Well, sure enough approaching this second message a lot of those same feelings of inadequacy and doubt began to cloud my mind. One would thank that having walked this path already, I should be able to rely and rest on God's faithfulness as He has shown in the past. I suppose the one blessing about these feelings of inadequacy are that they send us to our knees in crys of help to God and those are the prayers that God seems to love to answer. Sure enough, this process has been plagued by doubts and discouragement at times but just as sure is the fact that God has seen me through as I managed to finish writing it out yesterday morning. Why is it that we seem to be such slow learners? Well, I should speak for myself at least but I'm thankful for God's incredible grace as He extends it to us even when we doubt Him.

Friday, September 14, 2007

So What's Happening Next?

Don't worry, this isn't going to be my last post from Mexico but the future has definitely been on my mind lately. I've been asked the question, "So when are you going back" more than once and the date has seemed to somehow be pushed back later and later. Yes, the original plan was to be here until, well, tomorrow, that is, mid September but time has been flying by here and I'm just not ready to leave this place. Opportunities still abound out here and commitments that I have made will keep me here until mid October for sure. Beyond that, we'll see what happens.

Regardless, though, the question of what lies next has been heavy on my heart and mind at times over the past while. It seems to be a question that has been recurring over the past year alone several times but each time God has been faithful. From leaving camp, to taking some time off, to coming down here to Mexico with the Cross Current group in January, to doing some trucking, to finally ending up here for the summer, I never really saw much past the next step that I was supposed to take. But each step I took lead to something else and through it all God was working things out. It's always a whole lot easier to see in hindsight but it does give me courage to take the next step from here, whatever that may be.

I guess for now, though, my next steps include my responsibilities out here, and for that I could use your prayers! I'm preparing to preach next week Sunday (Sept. 23) in the english church. Pray that God would organize my thoughts and show me what He wants me to say. Thanks again for all the prayers that have been offered up!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Hurricane Hits...


Well, it was a decent show and from what I've heard, it was not as bad as it could have been considering the forecast at the time and the path that the hurricane took. The last major storm that came here through San Carlos was in 2003, Hurricane Marty, and was more severe than this one with more damage. During the morning as it was clouding over and starting to drizzle a bit I took my camera out to the beach and took some pictures of the pre-hurricane surf, which was quite intense. You can check out the pictures in my photo album and consider the fact that the waves generally are rarely bigger than 3 or 4 feet. After noon things turned up a couple of notches; the rain came down and the wind picked up as you can see in some of the videos. I was kept somewhat busy for the afternoon mopping up water that came in under some of the doors because it was coming down so fast. There was about half an hour or so where I could barely keep up.

By about 5:00, though things had settled down and it was mostly over. All in all we got about 3 inches of rain during the afternoon and the extent of damage was a couple of the smaller trees lost some branches. Other than than, all was well - chalk it up as another experience in Mexico...

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Hurricane Henriette


Well, it's not a hurricane yet but before it hits the Baja, it's supposed to become a Category 2 and by the time it's forecasted to hit mainland Mexico, it's only supposed to be a tropical storm at landfall. But, at this point is supposed to make landfall (on mainland Mexico) right here at San Carlos sometime on Wednesday. Well, I must say that that would be me first hurricane/tropical storm. As with all weather, though, predicting anything three days in advance is anything but reliable but we can always hope, right? What would this mean for us? Probably just a lot of rain in a short amount of time. You can track this storm at http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/ep200711.html.