"It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35

Our kind, gracious, loving Father in Heaven can never be outdone! We experienced this first hand as we spent the last three weeks in Mexico serving the poor and sharing the Gospel. We departed for our 18 hour drive into Mexico looking forward to opening up the flood gates, pouring out the love Jesus built up inside of us over the past few months. We were excited to experience a short-term foreign mission trip: loving, serving, and befriending our brothers and sisters in Mexico.

When we arrived to the small town tucked away in the beautiful desert mountains, it felt like we stepped back about 50 years in time: cobblestone paved roads, horses ridden down the street, life was at a much slower pace. We immediately felt at home and at peace. Our time in Mexico provided several opportunities for almsgiving and works of mercy with prayer encountering Jesus. We played soccer with the local kids, sharing His love with our first words of evangelization: "Dios le vendiga" and "Jesus te ama" (God bless you and Jesus loves you)! Simple yes, but the first seeds of God's love were sewn in youthful energetic young boys.

We also divided up into work project teams. Some put a roof on a home and others cleaned up a living area for an elderly man. Lisa, Jaylyn, and Simon joined a team that visited the elderly in their homes and the sick in a homeless shelter sharing the love and Jesus with them offered shared the love of Jesus with them and bringing them bags of staples (flour, sugar, coffee, etc.). Lincoln, Zane, and I helped provide material and labor for the luxury of an indoor toilet to one of the ladies (and her family) that cooked food for our intake group of 60+ people. It was so gratifying to see our team exude with joy as we provided this gift of a toilet room to a family with a two month old baby.

Digging the trench to plumb a bathroom

Outside of the service projects, we experienced a few impactful encounters that were life changing. Early in our trip, we met a hard working man with a young family similar to the ages of our four kiddos. We ate with the gentleman and shared commonalities in our broken Spanish. This man, at the time, had a very sick daughter that suffered from seizures. With tears in his eyes, the well built, hard working man dropped his head in shame as he asked for financial assistance (approximately $100 usd) and prayer for his daughter's medical needs. He was broken and ashamed to ask for help, but praise God, this was an easy task for our team of missionaries. One of the local missionaries stayed in contact with the man, and we kept him in our prayers. Another week went by before we saw him again. The gentleman lost his little girl, yet he came back to share his gratitude. He was grateful for our love and generosity. Although he had lost one of his children, he was at peace trusting the Lord. Confidence exuded through his pores as one of the missionaries shared a vision he had in prayer concerning his little angel. The thought of losing my little girl terrifies me, yet this takes place over 25,000 times a day in our world. Over 25,000 kids die everyday due to lack of food or medical attention needed. We are so eager to get into missions full-time to do all that we can to take part in Jesus' Great Commission serving the poor and sharing the Gospel. I am eternally grateful to the support team we have at home that will allow us to work full-time in missions!!! The heartbreaking encounter we had was difficult, yet this family knew Jesus and trusted in Him, with Him and through Him bringing hope, salvation, and eternal life! I mourn for the people and the families that do not know Jesus. Yet it energizes and invigorates me to zealously share His love and salvation with a world full of hurt, sickness, and brokenness; a world longing for an encounter with Jesus Christ our living God. 

Prayer and praise & worship at a chapel in one of the ranchos near General Cepeda

Another impactful encounter included incarnation of the Word during my morning prayer time in our last week in Mexico. The mission trip started to wrap up as we embraced our final week. I felt like we had been very generous with our time, our talent and our treasure. In my reflections, I felt like God was pleased with our yes to Him. While I still believe God was pleased with our daily yes, I feel He showed me just how to go deeper with Him as I so desire and ask of Him. The Lord spoke to me through the daily Gospel reading on Monday, Nov. 26th: Jesus said, "I tell you truly this poor widow put more in than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth but she from her poverty has offered her livelihood" (Luke 21:1-4). I shamefully admit I did not know what it was to give out of poverty. Most of my life, I have been very selfish and narcissistic. I thought when Christ called us into missions it would be an opportunity to give, to be life-giving, to share with others what Jesus has given to us. I thought it was time for me to stop receiving and to start giving. However, the sons and daughters of Jesus allowed His Word to become flesh one evening in a rancho allowing me to witness Jesus' unending, immeasurable love of generosity and giving out of poverty. The rancho we visited on Tues. night was a very poor village with little to no means to make a living. One of the local missionaries befriended many of the people in the rancho and taught them to make and to sell their crafts, while sharing the love of Jesus with them. We were invited to the rancho by the local missionary family to share testimonies and to join them in praise and worship music. When we arrived, a bell at the small chapel was rang loudly, signaling the missionaries' presence. Soon women and children were running and hustling to greet us with warm joyous smiles. They were elated with joy to pray, sing and worship the Lord. When they noticed the local missionary family had brought company, the villagers quickly gathered supplies to feed all of us (~20 people). The local villagers probably didn't have rations to feed themselves for the week, yet they gathered what they had to generously, joyously give to us all they had that evening! The local villagers helped me realize in my generosity, I give out of my surplus. These loving sons and daughters of God gave out of their poverty. They trust 100% in Jesus; they were filled with joy to share what they had with us as we praised and worshipped Jesus Christ together.


My heart is overwhelmed with joy and love for our family of supporters back home. We are so blessed and so grateful that they have made it possible as we journey together serving in His Great Commission! We hope you have been greatly blessed by the outpouring of God the Father's love! If the Lord is tugging on your heart to experience more of His love with a short-term mission trip, we excitedly welcome you, your family, your church, or your organization to Mexico; or we would love to provide information to you for mission trips to other locations that encounter Jesus serving the poor and sharing the Gospel.

May the peace, love and joy of Jesus Christ fill all the days of your life!

God will never be out given in generosity.

Jeremy

Our Mission Post Assignment: General Cepeda, Mexico

We are really excited to be returning to General Cepeda, Mexico to serve as full time missionaries beginning in late January.

Our family following a desert day (prayer time) at the end of our trip to Mexico

What is the need for missionaries in the General Cepeda, Mexico area?

Mexico has one of the highest priest to parishioner shortages in the world; one priest ministers to approximately 7,000 people and in General Cepeda we’ve been told its 1:12,000. There are more than 50 ranchos (villages) in the desert surrounding the small town of General Cepeda with very limited access to a priest, the sacraments, and Christian community.

While Mexico is historically and culturally catholic, the lack of access to sacraments and other issues have led to many falling away from the church and not practicing their faith. The need for a personal relationship with Jesus is real and urgent. The majority of those who are practicing their Catholic faith are women.

Additionally, there is a need for material resources. It gets cold in the winter in the General Cepeda area and homes and buildings are not heated except for those who can afford space heaters. Many people need blankets, coats, hats, gloves and warm socks to not only keep comfortably warm during the day but also to keep from literally freezing to death at night during the winter. Many people cannot afford medication when they or their family members become ill. There is great instability and lack of jobs paying enough for people to consistently feed their families.


Why are we excited to be going to serve in the General Cepeda, Mexico area?

Our mission is to serve the poor and share the Gospel; there is a great need for spiritual and material resources. While we are unworthy, we are still eager to allow the Holy Spirit to use us to feed people spiritually. Thanks to our many supporters, we are eager to share wealth from the US and give directly to meet the physical needs of the poor. The needs are honestly overwhelming and we hope to help people in a way that is sustainable rather than moment to moment. We will rely on the Holy Spirit to guide and inspire us and specifically ask for your ongoing prayers to support us in this.

One of the first tasks in a new mission post is to inculturate and embrace the customs of the culture you are in. General Cepeda is a country town with lots of people wearing boots and hats, and even riding horses down the streets. When we felt Jesus calling us into foreign missions, one of the hardest factors was letting go of our horses and imagining our kids not growing up around horses (this was such a large part of our life). In being assigned to General Cepeda, it feels like God gave that gift back to us. Our kids fit right in wearing their boots to walk around town, and we hope that Jeremy will be able to build rapport with the men by working with them in the fields and with the animals.

May God bless each of you and your families!

Peace in Christ,

Lisa