Choluleando

“[Jesus] took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.”

    Two of Jesus’ miracles that I have never been able to comprehend is the feeding of the 5,00 and the feeding of the 4,000. When Jesus is healing someone or turning water into wine it is something that I can visualize and understand because there is evidence afterwards. The blind  man can see again, the lame walk and the wine is in the waterpots. With the feeding of the multitudes however I could never picture Jesus making something from nothing. That is I could never picture it until last Thursday.

    This past Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving at El Pozo. Every year instead of having a normal Pozomida, we invite the students over to celebrate Thanksgiving. We cook turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and other typical food for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is generally our biggest event of the year with 150 students coming in years past. With all the new students in the ministry we didn’t expect as many people to show up as usual.  None of the students had ever celebrated Thanksgiving before and no one knew what to expect. We estimated that 120 students would show up and due to budget concerns we were only able to make enough for 120. Imagine on our surprise then when students began to arrive in droves. Within twenty minutes of setting out the food we had a line of students that out of the yard and into the street. We quickly ran out of plates and cups and had to go buy more. More surprising though was that we didn’t run out of food. We had 230 students come to celebrate thanksgiving with us and we didn’t run out of food until the very last person in line was served. We aren’t quite sure how it happened. We didn’t make any extra food and we gave everyone a full serving. All we can think was that it was a miracle. 

    I can’t say that the first three weeks in Mexico have gone as I had planned. I was expecting to arrive at the ministry and see all the friends that I had made during m previous semesters working at El Pozo. What I wasn’t expecting was for so many new people to be involved at the ministry. A large percentage of the students in the ministry are new to El Pozo this semester, and many of them are only in their first or second semesters of college. Last weekend we went on a retreat and camped out on La Malinche, a nearby inactive volcano. There were 48 students on the trip and many of them had never before been to El Pozo. Due to all of the new students I have had to think of new ways in order to approach my ministry here in Puebla.

    While I was expecting to arrive and share the things that God has taught me over the past year, a lot of my time has been spent building community within the ministry. I am meeting with a lot of students and organizing events so that they can get to know one another. For example, we are starting to have salsa dancing classes in the house on Mondays and on Fridays we are showing movies at the house. While it isn’t what I expected to do, it has been amazing none the less watching God move in bringing the new students closer together. Out of all the new students that came on the retreat with us all of them have since come to El Pozo for at least one event. Some are even getting invalid in small groups around the house. The most amazing thing however is watching how the new students are beginning to invite their friends and helping to build the community.

    One of the other advantages to having a lot new students in the ministry is that we also have a lot of new students who are very talented that are wanting to help out. For example, we have a group of 8-10 students who study dance and the performing arts at UDLAP. They recently finished up a musical and are now wanting to help out by performing sketches before En Vivo and helping us with our announcement videos. We also have a large number of students from the various sports teams at UDLAP coming to En Vivo and Pozomida. They all love interacting with people and so they have been helping us to introduce the new students. While it certainly has been a challenge we at the ministry are excited to see how God continues to be faithful and use the students of El Pozo.

    I arrived in the airport in Mexico city at 1 in the afternoon last Monday. I got something to eat and jumped on the bus to Puebla as soon as I could. No sooner had the bus left the airport than my stomach began to churn. A combination of airport food, nerves about the semester and the bumps, twists and turns that driving in Mexico bring did not sit well with my stomach. By the time I got to the bus station in Puebla my stomach had had enough and I got sick in the bathroom. It wasn’t the perfect start to the year in Puebla for sure. Luckily, things would soon get better.

    On Tuesday I was able to go to my first En Vivo of the semester. En Vivo is our big weekly event. It is held every Tuesday night and students gather in order to worship God and eat dinner. It was amazing to be able to see so many of  the friends that I hadn’t seen for a long time. The best part of the night however, was how many new people I was able to meet. There were around eighty students that came to En Vivo and over 50% of them were new students who have only just begun to come to El Pozo this semester. Most of the new students are in their first semester in college and are looking for friends and so it is a great time to get to know them now. Many of them are already helping out around the house by participating in events and making the announcement videos. I am hoping that I can spend more time with them in the coming weeks and get to know them more.

    Last Friday we had the second Yo Amo Cholula of the semester. Yo Amo Cholula is our monthly community service project. We had thirty students show up ready to serve in the community. Some went to a local church in order to help clean and paint and others went to a nearby nursing home to spend time with the residents. I went with four other students to the house of a family that we had met. One of the students had met the eldest daughter of the family while she was begging for money in the streets. After to getting to know the family we were invited to come and see what we could do to help out. The family consisted of the mother, her seven children and her boyfriend. They lived in a house that was a little more than 25’ x 25’. The house had crudely been divided into three small rooms. There were windows throughout the house but the glass had long since been sold in order to hep pay for food. At nights the cold wind and rain often flooded the house. The family barely had any furniture. The sink had been made of concrete blocks, and two old and stained mattresses served as beds for the younger children. The majority of the family sleeps on the wet concrete floors of the kitchen. Every member of the family was suffering from sever malnutrition and the mother had sclerosis of both the liver and the pancreas. We were able to build them some furniture for the house including a dresser an a new kitchen table. We are hoping to find money in order to buy them glass for the windows and beds to sleep in.

    While I was helping to take out the trash in order to make room for the new furniture I met an elderly woman and her daughter who were hoping to go through what we were throwing out in order to see if they could find anything to use in their own houses. It was only then that it really struck me the immense poverty that we were up against. It wasn’t just the family we were helping out that needed help, but the entire community. All around us hundreds of families were living in conditions just as bad if not worse than the family we were helping out. At first it was overwhelming and discouraging. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what it must be like to live in such conditions. Then I remembered that we serve a God who is not only able to understand what it is like for those in that community, but who also cares for them and wants to help them. I don’t have to be able to understand because God has a plan for that community and wants them to know that they are loved. In the next few months we are hoping to return to the community and continue helping. I am excited to see how God continues to move in not just those in the community but in me as well.

Top prayer requests:
1. That the new students would feel welcomed in El Pozo and that they would continue to be integrated into the community.
2. That the retreat this weekend would go well and that the students will be open to seeing God move in their lives.
3. I will continue to find people willing to support me financially. I am still in need of a $1,000. If you feel called to make a tax deductible donation please go here.

    Since I was little airplanes have horrified me. My inability to control the situation if something were to go wrong petrifies me. Every time I take the long walk from the gate to the plane I can feel my legs shake as millions of horrific scenarios play out in my imagination. As I get closer to the plane I know that this is the one plane isn’t going to make it. Despite me not being an engineer and having no actual knowledge of the intricacies involved in a plane’s mechanics I always start frantically searching around for clues as to any problems the plane might have. I look for loose bolts and panels and I try to check to see if the tires appear to be in good shape. Who knows why I do it. Maybe I just watched Final Destination one too many times. Then, right as I cross over the threshold and onto the plane I make a small cross on the outside of the plane using my right index finger.

    I don’t know why I begun this ritual, but I have been doing it for every plane flight as long as I can remember. Deep down I know that my small gesture has no real practical value. It isn’t going to change in any way what is about to happen. That small cross isn’t going to magically repair any loose parts that may exist, but for me it is a very symbolic gesture. It is my reminder that although I might not be in control, there is someone greater out there who is. It is my reminder that God is in control at all times and it is a comfort for me. As soon I finish making the cross I remember that God is protecting me, and I always feel a great sense of peace wash over me.

    Tomorrow I will be making that walk once again. I will drag my suitcase to the plane, my knees will shake, various plane crash scenes from Hollywood will play repeatedly in my head and I will make the sign of the cross on the outside of the plane as I head back down to Mexico to serve on the staff at El Pozo. In many ways I head to Mexico with the same trepidation that I have when boarding a plane. I have heard the stories and I have seen first hand the brutal violence that rages all across the country. I know that I am stepping into a potentially dangerous situation. At the same time, just as I know God will protect me on the plane, I know that God will protect me in Mexico.

    I get asked a lot why I am going to Mexico instead of some other countries, safer countries. Going to Mexico is my chance to be a part of something bigger than me. It is my chance to be a part of the intricate tapestry that God is weaving throughout the world. I grew up not knowing what it meant for people to love me. I grew up thinking that no one cared for me. I was depressed and would often think about suicide. When I went to church for the first time I found the love I had been looking for. The people there truly cared for me and accepted me for who I was. More than that though I found a love that was beyond anything that I could measure. I found God’s love for me. It was a perfect love that I could never loose. He loved me more than I could imagine. Knowing that love gave me hope and the courage to continue living. Many of the students in our ministry live their lives in fear of what the cartels can do and without any hope of their situation getting any better. The students don’t know what it is like for people to care for them and that isn’t fair. Going to Mexico allows me to give back to others the love that I have found and that is something that I can’t pass up.

    I am proud to announce that I am moving onto the next chapter of my story. After four months, one hundred fifty support letters and countless meetings with churches I am finally going back to Mexico. I got my plane ticket yesterday and I will be heading to Puebla in little over a week. On October 3rd I will get to join the staff at El Pozo. Words can only begin to scratch the surface of how I am feeling. I am so excited I can hardly sleep but at the same time I am horrified. I know that this is where God wants me to be, but I don’t know what it is going to happen and scares me. Whatever happens though, I am ready for it. I have a week before I leave and I need to try and raise another $1,500. I have just enough support in order to go back, but I still do not have 100%. In the meantime I guess I need to start packing…

Remember if you want to donate all donations are tax deductible. All you have to do is click here!

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”
    - Frederick Buechner, Now and then: A Memoir of Vocation

    This past weekend my family and I took a trip to Philadelphia in order to attend my best friend’s wedding. While there I was able to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and see their Rembrandt exhibit. Although historians argue over his actual believes, one cannot deny Rembrandt’s fascination with Christianity. Throughout his life, and especially his later years, Rembrandt painted many of the bible’s most famous figures and scenes. Rembrandt would often draw and paint the same scene numerous times as seen by numerous etchings of the raising of Lazarus and the dinner at Emmaus. However, what fascinated Rembrandt the most was the figure of Jesus himself. Over the course of his life time Rembrandt drew or painted Jesus hundreds of times. In fact, the central piece of the exhibit in the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a collection of 12 portraits of Christ, each from a different angle and with a different expression.

    Rembrandt’s use of light and multiple layers of paint reveal emotions rarely seen in art. The compassion on Jesus’ face as he looks upon the adulteress or the care in his eyes as he raises Lazarus from the dead should be experienced by all fans of art.  While Rembrandt’s depictions of Jesus might not be historically authentic (art historians agree that Rembrandt used a Jewish neighbor as a model for the portraits of Jesus) there is still much that we can learn from his paintings. Rembrandt’s portrayal of Christ is strikingly different than those of similar artists at the time. During the 1600’s many artists were painting Christ as a royal and revered figure. Rembrandt, inspired by his own reading of the bible, sought to depict Christ under more humbling circumstances. Instead of being draped in royal robes, Rembrandt’s Christ is shown in the clothes of the common man. Instead of the clean and regal face common in other artist’s depictions of Christ, the face of Rembrandt’s Christ is wrinkled and worn from the weight of the world.

    Paul in the book of Acts makes his way to Athens and upon finding the city filled with idols makes an impassioned speech about the nature of the one true God. During his speech Paul declares that God created the world and humanity “so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.” (17:27)  In Deuteronomy after wandering the desert for forty years Moises told the Israelites that soon they would be in the promise land and “from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (4:29) As Christians we are called to seek after God. We are called to not be complacent with our Relationship with God, but instead to constantly try and go deeper and explore the depths of who God and Christ are. However far too often Christians accept what they are told about Christ instead of searching out the answers for themselves. They accept the common beliefs about who Christ is, and although that allows them to scratch the surface of who Christ is it is not what we are called to do. In his paintings Rembrandt sought to know more about Christ. He portrayed him from many different angles and under different lighting conditions. Each new portrait shows a new wrinkle in Christ’s face, a new emotion and a new side of the character of God. In the same ways that Rembrandt rejected the common portrayals of Christ and sought to find out for himself who he really is, we can’t be content with what we know about Christ. We must read the bible for ourselves in order to find out who he is. We must apply what we read in our lives in order to try to see Him from every angle as Rembrandt did. Most importantly, we can’t ever give up our search because there is always something new to know.

Support Raising update:

I almost have 90% of my support raised. Please continute to pray that my support will come quickly and that God will point me in the right direction. If you would like to support me please do so here.

    God has been amazing this month and He continues to bring me closer each day to getting back to Puebla, Mexico and El Pozo. I can say now that I have reached 75% of my support raising goal. I am still in need of $400 a month in commitments and would like to take the time to ask any new readers of my blog to think about supporting me. I only need 8 individuals willing to donate $50 a month, or 16 individuals willing to donate $25 a month and I will have reached my goal. I know God has a plan and I would love it if you could help me get back to Mexico as soon as possible. If you feel called to donate you can click here to donate electronically using your credit card.  You can also make check in the desired amount and address it to Christian Missionary Fellowship International, or CMFI. In the memo box be sure to write “account 95118” so that the donation will be put in my account. All checks are to be mailed to:

        CMF International
        P.O. Box 50102
        Indianapolis, IN 46250

Thank you and God bless!