Today feels like the first day of spring! It lifts my heart and I just thank God for beautiful weather. I am just ready for the sun, especially after removing mushrooms from our carpet! When it rains there are some plywood boards on the side of our apartment that just let the water in and it settles nicely in a closet giving life to black mold, soggy wood, and yes mushrooms springing up out of the carpet.
These past two weeks Chad and I have been praying a lot about what our ministry entails and what direction God wants it to go this year. We have grand ideas galore. We also feel the need to do what seems small and is hard to communicate as a ministry(building a friendship, helping at the clinic, continuing to learn Spanish), which is important for our spiritual growth and for God’s plan for us while we are in La Mision. But it certainly is difficult at times seeking what the Lord wants for us, especially when there are such big, wonderful healthy ministries like Door of Faith Orphanage and Open Arms Daycare, even Siloe Clinic. We serve with all of these ministries and yet sometimes I get this overwhelming feeling like ‘we are doing nothing’ or ‘these things we do for the people here or with other ministries are so trivial’ yet while struggling with these feelings, I am encouraged by a bible study I’ve recently joined with 7 other American women who serve in ministries in La Mision. We are doing a study of the life of David. And what spoke most to me was, David was called and anointed to be king 22 years before he actually became King! What did he do those 22 years?…tended to the sheep, served the current King as armor bearer, brought his brothers food while they fought in the war, very humbling, serving tasks. But God had a plan for him. Just like me! So please pray for Chad and I as we earnestly seek our purpose this year; whether this is continuing to develop community ministries or if we should pursue larger objectives like an internet cafe or breakfast serving program or even something else…
Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to these past two weeks:
Ricardo, only 20 years old, gave his first sermon. He certainly struggled through at the end, but it was great because he was open and honest repeatedly saying “this is really hard brothers” and “I am nervous.”
I gave the sermon at Open Arms Daycare’s Kid Church this past 
Wednesday. I spoke about spiritual fruit. I painted a tree on paper and had kids come up and tape a fruit to the tree as they described what each ‘fruit’ looked like in their lives ie. love, peace, patience, self-control…etc.
One of the kids, Briza, taping her fruit to the tree.
…And telling us what faith meant 
in her life.
Lastly, one great way I was able to serve this week was partnering with Siloe Clinic and Open Arms Day Care. The daycare recently added 10 kids to their program. These 10 kids are children of a group of people whose homes were just destroyed by the recent flooding in town. At the clinic we are able to do a general check-up and give them the ok to be able to continue going to the day-care where they receive lots of social interaction, free meals, and clothing. The kids are children of a people group called Oaxacans who are marginalized people in Mexico. They work in the fields, where they plant vegetable crops like radish, cilantro, and broccoli. However, they don’t own the land so they can’t build houses, so they live in plywood-scrap constructed homes right next to the fields to protect their crops. Typically these 10 kids would just hang out in cars while their parents worked out in the fields.
Some of the kids waiting for their turn to see the doctor!
Just today I went with one of the daycare workers and Sarah, the doctor from clinic to deliver some antibiotics for the youngest kid, Martin, who had an ear-infection.
Sarah (doctor) and Robin (daycare worker) with one of the kids while we were doing kid physicals.
