My cool "new" desk - a gift from a friend in Texas. A lot of my time seems to be spent here of late. What you do not see is the fan under the desk in a desperate attempt to try to keep the mosquitoes from devouring my ankles and legs.
Let me begin this entry by giving kudos to my good friend Jason Funk. He has done it once again – taken the impossible, and made it simple. I sent a CD of photos to Jason with the request that, if possible, he would put them onto the VitW website. I had no idea what was involved, but he assured me that he would get them on. Sure enough, not only are they there, but there is a beautiful, great big, red button on each page of the site which will take you into the new photo section. Simply click onto any of the sections and you will get a full selection of pictures in that segment. Click onto a picture again and it will enlarge. Move your mouse onto the enlarged picture along either the right or left side and you will see an arrow appear which will let you advance forward or backward through the pictures in that selection. Coolest! Thanks Jason.
So, what is a day in the life…. around here? Good question, and I’m glad that you asked. Let me try to let you know what it is like. First of all, let me assure you that one of the first requirements seems to be flexibility and versatility. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING stays the same, or ends up being what you though it would be, or was told that it would be. That is simply the name of the game – period. It used to drive Theresa crazy I think, but she is getting more accustomed to it now – everything changes and is in flux. I have learned to live with the unexpected I think, but it was a learning curve for her. For one thing, I have learned to live with minimal information – if I need to know I will no doubt be told (perhaps only when we should be walking out the door to do it, but none-the-less, I will be told). Theresa on the other hand, likes to know ahead of time what, when, where, why and how. I just shrug and grunt “I don’t know”.
Here is how it will go: Theresa will be preparing a meal for us. Just as we are about ready to sit down someone will come by and say “be ready to leave in five minutes because you are invited to a quinceañera party”. Okay, so what do you do? You pack the stuff away and know that you are going somewhere, right? Wrong. Theresa will ask me, when, where, why, how, etc. I don’t know, I didn’t ask. If they wanted to tell me they would have, right!
So you move along in a direction that you are pretty certain that you heard God nudging you – take the language school for example. You open it with the sweet confidence that this is a “God thing” – this is the thing that will be a tremendous blessing to many. Within months it has its ruby lips above the water, blowing bubbles soft and fine. You say “Well, that was a disaster”. But just then God brings about a crazy “coincidence” and Rogelio walks into the picture. New vision, new direction, and a whole new ministry comes out of what looked like a dead stump. Once again you need to do an about face.
Or right now, only minutes ago, there was a knock on our window in front of Theresa’s desk. She was busy getting some tests put together for the language school and I was writing this blog entry. The knock was Pastor Ezequiel on his way down the hallway. When I stuck my head out the door, his question was “Is Theresa ready?” Ready? Ready for what? Oh no, today is Tuesday isn’t it. Theresa has sort of, by default become the child care person at one of the cell groups which Veronica ministers at. Ready? No. I haven’t even thought if it at all, or realized that I was expected to go. But she quickly puts a few things together and heads out the door.
But then there are the good surprises as well – I am working away at the desk (which seems to be where a good deal of my time is occupied of late), and head out to the kitchen to prepare a bite for lunch. There in our living room is a couple sitting, and obviously waiting for someone. You notice that he is reading one of your English Readers Digest magazines and looks suspiciously American, but you go by and give a greeting in Spanish. You ask who they are waiting for and if they are all taken care of. You offer them a cup of coffee, and then go on with your business. As the course of events go on, you find out that the gentleman is indeed American and from Georgia. His wife is Mexican and they live in a little fishing village towards Tampico. Wait just a minute – I know that village! Hey, are you the American missionary couple that I was told had moved there, and that I have been trying to look up over the past eight months or so? Sure enough – wow, what a small world! So you chat away, sometimes in Spanish and sometimes in English (both wives speak only one language – the opposite one). No importa, you chat away anyway. As it turns out, Socoro, the wife, is a professional seamstress and is teaching the women in her little village how to sew. However, they are both feeling that they are soon going to be moving out from the little fishing village. We chat some more and both Theresa and I feel that we should offer them the “Chedraui House” if they feel that God is moving them towards Cd. Valles to assist us in the work here. We excitedly bring out one of the sewing machines that we brought down a year ago with the vision of training the women in vocational sewing classes, but which have been waiting for the right timing – could it be now? They are interested – she, perhaps more than he – he is still praying that God will open the door for them to go back to the little church in Falfurrias, Texas where he pastured years ago. But they are open none-the-less. We discuss the sewing classes for the Vocational school some more and decide to hop into the van and give them a quick tour of the “Chedraui House”. From there they head home after a hug, and the promise to pray to see what God is saying. So what is the end of the story…? I haven’t got a clue. This whole thing only happened about three hours ago. FLEXIBILITY that is the key!
You are getting ready to go out on a Friday evening for the movie ministry “Evangelism Explosion”. The equipment is all ready and set out to be taken downstairs and packed into the van. One of two things might happen. Perhaps, none of the team shows up and you slowly pack all of the equipment away again. Or maybe they do show and just as you are all ready to start packing the van with equipment the heavens rumble, and the skies open. Worse yet, you are pretty much set up outside in a colonia at a cell group (all of the movie ministry is outside), and the black clouds roll in and the rumbling begins. We have tried all kinds of things, but eventually the rain always wins. So you quickly pack away the electronics and roll up the screen, trying to get as much mud off as possible. You wipe the cables as free from grime as you can, and repack the van. You continue to minister through the rain and darkness, ducking under whatever cover there is to be found. When you get home you lug everything back upstairs and hang up the screen to dry. Tomorrow you will get the rest of the mud off of it.
Maybe you are at las Pitas on a Thursday. Isaias, a dynamic young man of eighteen who is heading up the work there could not come that week because he had to finish off his last high school exams. The young woman who normally takes the children’s class is not there either. However, you have two young men with you and you head down the road. You go door-to-door inviting the whole village, as is the customary procedure in this mission church, and then wait. In the end there is only one adult who comes out besides those who will be ministering. However, there are about sixteen children who eagerly await their class. What do you do? Theresa is more than willing, but she cannot speak Spanish. So we decide to do a combo – Theresa leads in some action songs in English. One of the young men does some in Spanish. We work together. Theresa tells a Bible story – I, for my part, interpret the story as best I can, and the young man (who speaks no English, but has his Bible open to the story) tells the parts that I stumble over or miss. In the end the children are happy, and we are able to pray over them and bless them.
I could go on, but you get the picture… So, no, we are not building a Bible School building at present. This is not to say that we will not be doing so in the future. But right now, it seems that God has other things in mind. In the mean time, we are busy, and becoming very flexible.
