The Joy of the Lord is my Strength! (South Mexico)

Hellooooo everybody! ¿Como estamos?

The 12:7 Serve team is in Guatemala at the moment, and we will be relaxing and serving here for five days. Then after that comes El Salvador! But now, I'm taking a look back at South Mexico, and what the Lord did in me during those three weeks.

During our time in South Mexico, we served in the state of Oaxaca, in a town called Chahuites. There are five churches in Chahuites, led by five awesome pastors. Also, we had three additional team members serve with us during this time - Naara, Sergio and Luz. That now made us *15:7 Serve! On a side note - wanna know what Romans 15:7 says? - "Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory." It was quite fitting for us at this time!

The 15 of us were split up into groups of three, to work in the five churches in Chahuites - my group being me, Alan and Estela. :) The first weekend in Chahuites we held a Maximum Mission with around 100 youth participating. This is an something I've talked about before on here: A community service/evangelistic event to develop leaders and to grow churches. So over the weekend, many people accepted Jesus as their Saviour! Praise the Lord! This leads us to our project in South Mexico - this was called 'Projecto Pablo' - or 'Project Paul'. This is a discipleship project, where the main focus is visiting new converts and beginning lessons with them alongside the church you are working with.

So over three weeks, Estela, Alan and I along with some of the church members in the 5th Nazarene church of Chahuites, visited the new Christians and began to teach them. It was great to get to know the church members and to serve and get to know the community in Chahuites. At the end of our time, we traveled to another town to serve in another Maximum Mission, which Sergio - one of our three extra team members - was coordinating. It was an amazing weekend! There was youth as young as 12 who were there to serve over the weekend. We did a cleanup of the plaza, donations of clothing, children's ministry and evangelism. God really spoke to and through the youth over this weekend, and it was so exciting to see them step out in serving the Lord!

Backyard church service! 

LOVE kids ministry!

Cleaning up the plaza at the Maximum Mission! 

Singing time at the Maximum Mission! (Yo canto como David!)

 Pastor Edgar, his wife Martha, and their children Manuel (left) and Victor (middle)

- I will never forget them!

But there's also another side to my time in South Mexico. These three weeks have probably been the hardest part of 12:7 Serve so far. I reached a point in my culture shock/journey where I grew tired of everything. Tired of trying to speak and understand Spanish, tired of always been watched by everyone, tired of being away from home, tired of always being tired. I honestly reached breaking point. But the Lord was so good to me. For many days, it was He who held me together. I couldn't have gotten through without Him. 
 
Reaching my low point in my journey here really taught me that I can't serve on the mission field in my own strength. Daily, I've had to ask the Lord to help me through, and I am so thankful that He has still used me in my weakness. This is the same for all of us. If we try to serve the Lord in our own strength, we will eventually run dry. But remember "The joy of the Lord is your strength!" (Nehemiah 8:10) and "His power is made perfect in [your] weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9). When faced with hard times, you won't crash and burn because "[You] can do all things through Him who gives [you] strength." (Philippians 4:13).  The Lord is with you!

On the journey,
Dani


"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." - 2 Corinthians 4:7

Australia, I miss you! (Australia, yo te extraño!)

The other day I was chatting with my friend Kaitlin, and she asked me what I missed about home. I thought I'd share some of the things I told her, and a few more. Although being on mission is amazing, homesickness has also been part of my journey. Well, here goes...

1. My Mum's cooking

2. The English language

3. A wider selection of clothes (It's been 3 and a half months of the same!)

4. Nando's, Nando's Nando's!

5. Having a weekly routine

6. Watching America's Next Top Model and The Bachelor on my days off 

7. Perth city centre

8. Barista coffee/coffee dates

9. Hanging out with Yannis and her family

10. Hot showers 

11. My home church 

12. Sunday School

13. Reading the newspaper

14. Watching TV!

15. Mum's hugs

16. Dad's cups of tea

17. Fighting with my brothers
18. Dinnertime 'round the Castlehow dinner table
19. My bed

20. College classes 

21. Coffee/food shopping dates with mum 

22. Australian weather

23. My own room

24. Vegemite toast



    4




     7




     8







 9&18




  11

   22 

What things about home do you miss the most when you travel? In reality, being on mission means leaving behind the things you love the most. It might be the little pleasures, like the way your friends make you laugh, or your favourite coffee shop. But at the moment I'm missing home. Would you pray for me today?
On the journey,
Dani

A God who's full of surprises (North Mexico Part 2)

Hola again everybody!

I can't believe it, our time in North Mexico is over already! God has been doing amazing things through the 12:7 Serve team over the past 3 weeks. I'm just overwhelmed by His goodness to me, and that I'm even able to serve in a way like this.

Last week, the team went to work in an area in Mexico called "Los Once Pueblos" (meaning "11 towns"). This place is exactly as it's name describes - 11 indigenous towns in the state of Michoachan. The team was split up to work in 6 of the towns that week. Estela and I were meant to work together, but due to sickness, it ended up being me, Carlos and an awesome girl called Lolita from the church in La Piedad. We worked in a town called Ichan, which has a new mission going with the Church of the Nazarene there. God was so amazing in the way he changed the lives of the people in Ichan. I have two stories to share about how our God is a God who's full of surprises. :)

One afternoon we went to a small field in the town, to spend time with the children. It was great! We played games, sang songs and did a puppet show about the story of "Jesus calms the storm" (Mark chapter 4). We had drawn a small crowd and the plan was to hold a small service. Unfortunately, while I was sharing my testimony, it started to rain! But we kept going. The rain became stronger and stronger as Carlos was preaching. And one by one, many people began to leave, back to their houses. But Carlos kept going. By the end of his message, there were the children, and a few girls standing behind them, still listening. It seemed quite hopeless. But that's when surprise number 1 happened.

As I looked behind me, right at the back I could see a girl standing there, still listening. I ventured over to her with Lolita, and began to have a conversation in awkward Spanish. Her name was Nereida. "...You hear the story?", I said. "What do you think? Do you want to make the decision to accept Jesus in your heart?" And she said yes! So Lolita led her in a prayer to accept Jesus. What a beautiful moment it was. I know there was a party in heaven for Nereida that day. :) In the days after we visited her and taught her more about growing in the Lord. I will never forget her. And she is about to have her first baby any day now! Please pray for Nereida that she would continue to grow in the Lord and follow Him for the rest of her life. :)

(Carlos, Nereida, Lolita and I)

Another afternoon we went to the town plaza to play with the children again and then afterwards, to show the Jesus film. But when I went to put in the disc for the film, I made (what I thought was) a horrible mistake - I accidently pressed play on the full length, 3 hour long Jesus film! It wasn't until half way through when Carlos and I realized what had happened! So after skipping numerous scenes and trying to calm down the restless children, the movie was done. Carlos invited people to pray afterwards to accept Jesus, but overall the response wasn't overwhelming. But it was ok! So we packed up the film, and headed off. Although it didn't make as big of an impact as we thought it would, we were happy that many of the children watched the film and were really excited by it.

But as we were walking home, a taxi driver stopped his car next to us and asked us where we were going. We thought he just wanted to give us a ride, but then he went on to say that he wanted to make the prayer to accept Jesus in the plaza, but he was too embarrassed! I was so caught off guard, and I thought – God, how do you even plan these things?! But He had planned this. So we drove to our base in Ichan and Carlos led the taxi driver in a prayer to accept Jesus as his Saviour. J What’s more, the man said that he had only seen the last 5 minutes of the film and Carlos’ speech – meaning that if we had shown the short version of the film, we would've have already finished and gone home by the time he had gotten there! God totally had this one planned out. I was just so blown away by His perfect timing, and how he planned that this taxi driver would be in the plaza at that exact time! Surprise no. 2. :)

So overall, Mexico North was such a blessed time for me and the rest of the 12:7 Serve Team. I'm really going to miss everyone there - In La Cal, Ichan, and especially the church family in La Piedad, who supported us the whole time! Please pray for our work in the South of Mexico. We are part of ‘Project Paul’ – which is an evangelism and discipleship program put in place to plant or grow a church. Over the next two weeks, we will be giving discipleship to many people here in the Oaxaca district in South Mexico. Also, please pray for the Panama visas of Jana and Absolu, and they are yet to receive them. I will update you all on South Mexico soon! Hasta luego!

On the journey,

Dani

Panchita del Rancho

Hola amigos, from La Piedad, Mexico!

Can't believe it's been a week since I've been in this beautiful country. God has been doing great things here! For our first days in Mexico we spent our time in the lovely city of Guadalajara. We got to do a bit of sight seeing, and serve at the church on Sunday. It was a great first experience of Mexico. :)

(Some children from the church in Guadalajara)

But after the weekend, a big change happened. The team was split up! In order to reach more towns, we went into groups of 5, 2 and even 1 (Alan was by himself!). So Estela and I were put together and taken to a teeny tiny town called La Cal. They call it el rancho (the ranch), because everyone has little farms. It was hard at first, but looking back I know God had big plans for us. So Panchita was at El Rancho, and what a great week she had!

The church in La Cal is a small one, with about 10 people attending regularly. What I loved about it was they're like a family, and Estela and I were able to be part of that family! Two ladies from the church owned a small deli/shop, and that became our hang out spot for the week. Every morning, everyone from the church would bring a pan and we would have a buffet breakfast together in front of the deli. And every night, we would sit and chat outside of the deli. I loved it!

Our ministry there was very community oriented. One morning, we cleaned up the plaza with the church, which was awesome. Even people who weren't from the church helped out. :) We also did children's activities 2 afternoons - we played games, painted faces and told Bible stories. A lady from the church Mari also came with us to visit people at their houses, and do evangelism. It was great to meet everyone in La Cal, and listen to their stories. During the week there was three services, which Estela and I were able to be apart of.

What blessed me the most in La Cal was being part of the family. I loved all of the church family, and their children were so much fun! I was especially blessed by a little girl called Sinai. Although she couldn't walk or talk, she was the most beautiful little girl, and I loved being by her and just watching her smile and laugh. :)

So there you have it, part one of Mexico is complete. And I'm loving this place so far. So many moments of this week were God-appointed, and I'm so thankful that He worked through Estela and I for His glory. Today we are travelling to a community called "Once Pueblos", meaning 11 Towns. It is an indigenous community, and some people don't even speak Spanish! We will be doing outreach at the new missions there, in almost all of the 11 towns. :) Please continue to pray for the team as we serve in Mexico!

On the journey,

Dani