Update

Outreach on the Streets:

The other night we went to the streets and bars to invite girls to a special breakfast, and what I saw truly shocked me.

I've read and heard about it, but to physically see true terror in a girl's eyes is something I never wished to see.  This bar was very ordinary, with a "hostess" and about 20 tables with men drinking, waiting.  One "waitress" waiting the tables.  In reality the 40 year old "hostess" was the "pimp".  The only visible "waitress" was a 14 year old girl at most.  The clients were not waiting on another drink, but rather waiting their turn to be with a girl.

As we gave the "waitress her invitation, we could see the helplessness in her eyes.  Fear.  Dependence.  Slavery.  She quickly shot a glance to her boss numerous times, asking for permission to receive the invitation.

Below is a photo of us preparing the gift baskets for the girls.

We had breakfast together, a time of worship and a message about our worth in Jesus and how He restores us in His love.

Preparing the gifts.

Please join us in praying for these girls who are enslaved.

Catch The Wave Conference in Mazatlán:

This past month I had the opportunity to attend a leader's conference put on by YWAM Mazatlán for Mexico and Central America.  Below is a picture of the conference.

Praying for Mexico and Central America

New Season:

I will be joining YWAM Mazatlán to train alongside a team of others that I have worked with at YWAM Chapala.  The YWAM vision is multiplication and empowering youth to know God and make Him known.  We are training as a team to launch a new YWAM base in the city of Guadalajara where I will be able to train others and partner with other ministries in human trafficking, orphan work, mercy ministries, etc.. 

This has been something that God has put on my heart.  Instead of starting and leading new projects as a foreigner, He is calling me to disciple and lift up the younger generation of Mexicans so that they can go out and do more.  

I felt the Lord tell me to make the move in August, following the completion of my Master's Degree in Biblical Counseling and finishing my classes with Fire International School of Supernatural Ministry.  I will also be utilizing these next two months to continue reaching out to the girls on the street.

My Heart Behind This Transition:

Over the last few years I have been involved in a number of projects and shortly after God has asked me to surrender those projects.  And though this can appear as inconsistent with a general lack of continuity, and though I was frustrated at times not being able to finish anything, God has clearly spoken to me that these years have been to develop my ability to hear and obey His voice, fully surrender to Him.  It has all been part of His preparation for this new season of being intentional as I move forward.

So there you go.  There's my heart, fully rooted in Him.

Current Needs:

1. Prayer
1. These next 2 months reaching out to the girls on the street.
2. Being intentional in completing my master's degree.
3. This upcoming weekend we will be going on a mission trip to Salamanca as part of the Supernatural School of Ministry.
2. Financial
1. One Time Moving Expenses. $200- Gas and toll roads from Guadalajara to Mazatlán.
2. Health Insurance $65/month- A requirement of training at YWAM Mazatlán is having health care coverage.
3. Increased Lodging and Food Costs $150/month

Thank you for believing in me and for hanging in with me as I seek God’s heart and serve Him.

Rejoice in not knowing = Faith

A lot of times we move according to our circumstances.  People affect us.  Places affect us.  Stress affects us.  Circumstances affect us.  If I'm under a time limit, I tend to stress myself.
But, God has told me: "Rejoice in not knowing."

I was invited to help lead a camp called Niko.  Niko is an outdoor survival camp where the campers are taken to the limit- physically, emotionally and spiritually.  They are led to the breaking point where their only option is complete dependence on God.  

One of the activities in which God really spoke to me was a hike where the campers need to follow a set of instructions with coordinates and clues to find ribbons.  My campers got lost for 5 hours because they failed to correctly follow the instructions.  We walked for 5 hours in a square kilometer.  Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the 12+ hour hike and I ended up having to show them where the ribbon was to continue on to the next clue.  The campers arrived to a point of exhaustion, frustration, desperation, etc..

During this hike and after Niko, God spoke to me a lot about what it looks like to follow His instructions step by step even if you don't know exactly where He is leading you.  For me I could definitely identify myself with the campers- wanting to know the destination, and in the process getting completely tired and exhausted.  So often God gives us an instruction on what we are to do, but we don't see the full picture, the final destination and we start walking towards the destination, but in the meantime we become tired, exhausted and frustrated for not seeing the promise, the destination. 

God spoke to me very strongly through the verse:
"I am God.  At the right time I'll make it happen." Isaiah 60:23

He calls us to rejoice in not knowing

If I become frustrated or tired on the way, I'm not fully resting in God, nor trusting Him.

During Niko I was responsible to lead 7 campers.  Each camper was touched by God in amazing ways.  Just a quick summary...

-One girl was completely healed when she twisted her ankle within 10 minutes of praying for her.
-One boy who has been going to anger management for 3+ years had an encounter with God and God showed him the root of his anger. He is currently restoring his relationship with his parents.
-Another girl learned what it means to speak up when God gives her a word without fear.
-A boy who had been searching for his identity for the past 4 months got his answer from God on who he is.
-Another boy learned to rejoice and praise God in the difficulties of life.  He taught us that the only correct reaction to seeing Jesus' sacrifice is to praise and worship.
-A girl learned that in order to lead others, she needs to be humble and ask for help.
-Another boy learned about his need to fully depend on God in every circumstance.

The majority of the campers were from orphanages or broken families.  The focus of this Niko was restoration, identity and showing the father heart of God.  There were amazing times of ministering to the kids' hearts, forgiveness, etc..

Campers + Staff

Niko Staff

Faith.  Faith is such an interesting concept that I'm just barely wrapping my head around.

"Your life of faith is a response to God's power." 1 Corinthians 2:5 (Message)

Faith is a response to who God is, to His power.  My life should not reflect my power nor my strength; it should reflect my weakness so that God is in the spotlight.  I can be completely honest with you in saying that these past couple of months I have felt entirely weak and unable to do anything in my own strength; this weakness has impulsed me to rest in His goodness.

Sometimes we go through different seasons in life where we see more of what God is doing in us rather than through us.  In the desert God is often working on our roots, rather than through us.  These past couple of months have definitely been a desert for me, but I believe we all need those desert times in order to truly thirst for God and His power.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of what God is doing in and through me.  I am constantly humbled to see how He provides, encourages and loves me through people like you.  Thank you.

Staying On Course

Submitting Plans to God.

"You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.  You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.  That's right-you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set."  Psalm 119:1-3

A lot of times things don't make sense to us.  We are taught to find reason, to understand and to make sense of certain situations.  That is definitely my personality- I want to understand the "why" of everything.  However over the past few months God has been challenging me on what faith really looks like in our daily lives.  

Faith involves me surrendering my desire to understand;
Staying the course;
Walking steadily according to what God has revealed;
Finding Him;
Not going off on my own;
Walking straight along the road He has set.

I was able to put this kind of faith into action these past couple of weeks.  Three different nights I had made plans to go out to the streets to hand out gift bags to get to know the girls.  However each day I felt God say, "Not yet.  Wait".  Honestly at first I was confused because we had the gift bags ready, we had people to go out with and everything was lined up and planned.  But that still small voice kept telling me "Just wait".  So wait I did.  This past Wednesday I finally felt God give me the 'go-ahead' to go out to the streets.

Nayeli and I went out to hand out gift bags in 2 downtown areas (in an alley and in a park).  We first went down the alley where we found about 7 young girls.  Normally they do not acknowedge you, make eye contact, or respond whatsoever.  They are not allowed to.  However this time they talked with us, told us their names, smiled, laughed and received the gift bags.  Praise God for this drastic change!

Next we went to the park where there were at least 20 girls.  Each girl received their gift bag with a huge smile.  Towards the end of the night a girl started up a conversation with us.  Yes.  She was the one who started the conversation, not us.  

"Why are you giving these gift bags to us?"

I responded, "Well we had made plans to come another night, but we felt really strongly that God wanted us to come tonight and show you how much He loves you and how much value you have in His sight, etc, etc."

"Wow.  Thank you.  Are you guys Christian?"

"Yeah."

"Wait a minute.  Let me call over my friends." 

She invites her three friends who are also out 'working' to join our conversation.  Then she asks us,  "Can you start a Bible Study with us here?"

We stayed and talked with the 4 girls for about 20 minutes.  The entire conversation was full of smiles, laughter and joy.  Joy radiated around those park benches. Keep in mind what these girls go through every day.  Their "normal smiles" are not real, but rather forced to entice customers.  Their "normal laughter" is not rooted in joy, but also forced.  Joy is not something they experience.  But tonight was different.  The smiles were real.  The joy of the Lord permeated the alley and the park.

When it was time to leave, one of the girls gave us her phone number so we can start a Bible study.  All of the girls gave us huge hugs.  Not just the normal Mexican hug and kiss of "nice-to-meet-you", but a real hug you give to a good friend.  

There was true breakthrough that night.  God's Spirit is moving mightily.  I don't want to follow my own path, my own plans, go off on my own.  I want to walk steadily on the path He has revealed to me, even if it doesn't make sense in the moment.

Last week I did not understand why God kept telling me "Not yet, just wait", but after this experience I could see why.  God was preparing every little detail so that He could move.  

It is not about me, what I want, desire, or understand.  

It is about staying the course set before me by God.  Being sensitive to the still small voice of the Spirit.  Being obedient even when I don't understand.  The fact that God longs to be so personal and intimate with us in guiding our every step truly brings me joy.  I pray that the joy of the Lord would overflow in us.

"You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.  You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.  That's right-you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set."  Psalm 119:1-3

Puzzle Pieces Coming Together

I often go for walks.  It helps me think, process and pray with God.  I also love nature and it is so beautiful here in Chapala that I love to take advantage of it.  The other day I went for my usual walk to talk with God and seek Him on various things.  As I walked I passed by a huge cornfield with about 30 cows.  Normally this field has about 2-3 cows, so when I saw 30 cows I couldn't help but look and ask myself why there were so many cows.  As I continued walking and looking over my shoulder I tripped and fell.  Yes.  I fell.  It was quite the sight.  I'm not exactly sure how I fell.  I probably tripped over my own two feet.  But right as I took the fall I felt the Lord say to me that I am so easily distracted.  I can be praying one moment, seeking Him and a field of cows catches my attention and I'm distracted. 

How many things call for our attention every day?  There are so many demands on us every day and a lot are good and necessary things in life, but if they cause us to take our eyes off the most important thing in our life (God), things can quickly go downhill and we can fall just like I did on my walk. 

I want to live my life for the only thing that matters, God.  I pray that we wouldn’t be distracted by things that pass and fade away.

PUZZLE PIECES COMING TOGETHER:

This past Friday we had a prayer meeting with the majority of the people involved in launching the ministry with girls who are victims of human trafficking/prostitution.  Over the past few months I have seen the project as a lot of puzzle pieces scattered around.  But now during this meeting I started to see the big picture as the pieces start coming together more and more.  As of right now we are looking at the various areas of the ministry and where each person feels called.  We are currently developing the following aspects:

• Outreach on the streets 
• A friend of mine (ex-prostitute) and I are heading up outreach on the streets.
• We go out at night to try to start up a conversation with the girls as we hand out small gift bags with a business card with a phone number.
• This is the first contact with the girls as we start gaining their trust and eventually invite them to the café.

• Café
• On the streets it is very difficult to have a long enough conversation with the girls to gain their trust and offer them a way out.
• We have envisioned a café to provide a safe place for them to talk, enjoy a meal as well as the opportunity to offer them a way out.
• A young couple has had this vision to launch the café to reach out to the girls.

• Legal things
• To run a safe house is not only a lot of physical work, but legal as well.  It is necessary to have somebody constantly working on the Mexican non-profit, accounting, etc.
• The pastors of a local church are heading up this legal area.

• Safe House
• Once the girls have decided to leave the streets we are setting up a “safe house” for them to receive care, healing, restoration, education, etc.. 
• The caregivers of the house are a missionary couple.  As well we are currently looking for other people to help in this process.  We plan to rent the house mid-February.

• Re-Entry
• The goal is not to simply save the girls from the streets, but for them to heal and eventually rejoin society.
• Another local church is heading up the job training, education, re-entry aspect.

I am so excited to see how things have been developing over the past few weeks. 

Morelos Park- One of the areas we have doing Outreach

Gift Bags we are handing out.

  Please join us in praying for:

• Open hearts as we keep reaching out to the girls on the street.
• Logistics of starting a café. Location. Funding.
• Favor with the Mexican government in the non-profit process.  We are almost done with the process!
• Financial support and volunteers from local churches we are partnering with.  (We have been extremely blessed with many Mexican churches coming together on this project.)
• A woman called to be the "house mom" at the safe house.

December Update

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So this year for me has been pretty crazy, full of changes and surprises.  Thank you for sticking with me.  Thank you for holding on through the crazy ride God has taken me on.  Thank you for your constant encouragement, prayers and committed financial support.  This whole missions thing really is a team sport; thank you for being there for me, backing me up, pushing me along and at times carrying me through this process.  We all play different positions, but our goal is the same: To follow the Coach’s instructions, because He knows best.

I’m not sure why the whole sports metaphor came about; maybe I just miss playing softball and tennis. :)

These past few weeks have been a busy and fun mix of events.

Living in a foreign country, even though I’ve been here for 5 years, still makes me laugh sometimes.  Certain things take 5 million times longer than they do in the US (those of you who have lived in a foreign country know what I'm talking about).  This month I had to renew my health insurance here.  To make a long story short I had to go to 4 different offices all over the city.  Driving in Guadalajara is fun.  As my mom would put it, “The only time I was afraid in Mexico was when we were driving”.  I had a fun journey with the GPS on my phone trying to get me to one of the health insurance clinics.  Thankfully GPS leading me down that dirt road alongside the canal did spit me out onto the freeway!

The other night a friend of mine, Nayelli, took us to the streets of Guadalajara where a lot of girls are being sold/trafficked.  I thank God for bringing Nayelli into my life, she has experience in this area and has been able to guide us to the different parts of the city.  Specific alleyways.  Bars.  Night clubs. Street corners.  Parks.  Table Dance clubs where many minors from other countries are hidden.   We have been going to the streets mainly to pray for the girls and pray for strategy.  Strategy on how to reach out and rescue these girls.

On the street with Karen and Nayelli

On another note, my mom came to visit for Thanksgiving!  It was so nice having her down those few days just to spend some quality one-on-one time together.

My mom and I at a cafe overlooking Ajijic

This past weekend I was able to participate in a Walk for Freedom, part of the A21 Campaign, where we raised awareness about the trafficking of girls here in the city.  It was a great time to not only raise awareness, but also to network and make more contacts.  We even made the news!

 

The women wore high heels to identify with the girls and red tape over our mouths to represent the impotency the girls have to cry out for help.

 

As we walked, the men walked alongside us and informed the public about trafficking here in Guadalajara and how we all can make a difference.

It was also a great time to fellowship with other girls and the pastor's wife from my church.

This month I have also been finishing up my master's degree online (Biblical Family Counseling) with a Mexican Christian university.  It has been a long time coming, as I have only been able to dedicate a small portion of my "free time" to it, but this month I will have completed all of the courses and in January I will start my thesis to finish it off!  Praise God!

Something God has been teaching me these past few weeks is that this is not a 100 meter dash race.  There is no reason to run as fast as I can, getting worn out and exhausted after 100 meters.  It is a cross country race.  One step at a time.

My prayer is that this Christmas season we would all slow down and truly enjoy every step we take. 

Enjoy the stage of life we are in and thank God for it, rather than looking behind or too far ahead. 

Let us be thankful for today and live today for Him, letting Him guide our steps.