the spider

True story.

Two nights ago I made a shocking discovery as I lay in my bed reading. It was getting late so I closed the book, rolled over and looked up at the ceiling as I processed. Directly above my head, clinging to the side of the rafter, was a big spider. I admit now that I have a tendency to exaggerate, but believe me when I tell you that, legs included, this thing was two inches wide and an inch high. Yes, the body was smallish, but legs are significant part of a spider, no? I am almost certain it was not a daddy long legs- too fat.

So, for almost a minute I stared up at this thing wishing that it was anywhere else in my room- preferably out of sight. But it didn’t move or disappear, so I knew I had to take action. As soon as I started thinking about it, I realized that this could be a poisonous spider. I rationalized and spoke truth to myself. “God will protect you, Mara- He has you in His hand.” Feeling much safer, I started to think through my options. You see, even though I knew that God would give me strength to deal with the pain or death that could come with a spider bite, I still preferred not to have it fall on my face in the middle of the night.

I pulled all the covers off my bed, leaving just the bottom sheet, a nice contrasting yellow. If the spider fell on my bed he could not hide easily. Next, I stood on my bed and reached for a rafter. Just as I suspected, I was one foot too short to kill this spider with a shoe. (think 11 foot cieling) To be sure I grabbed my biggest shoe and reached again. I could probably reach it, but I would have to be directly under the spider and would not have much force- quite possibly it could not die, or fall on me, or both… scary. I kept up the self talk, this time quoting scripture. “Be strong and courageous, do not fear for I am with you”

These verses, meant for Joshua as he lead the Israelites in battle, are also effective for killing large bugs. I learned this two summers ago as I battled a gigantic cockroach. Again, I am not exaggerating- three inches long, one inch thick. D’Arcy says they are actually water bugs. He and Abby can vouch for me- they are enormous. I was not able to conquer this one, though. I trapped it in the bathroom, where it had crawled out of our tub drain, until Abby came home. She went in with a shoe and after about 5 minutes of… You know in cartoons when the bully takes the little guy into another room and beats him up- you see the door bulging and hear all kinds of thumps and bangs- It was like that. Abby won by the way. She was our bug killing hero that summer.

Back to the spider.

So, as I remembered to trust in God, I was able to think more resourcefully. I found a rubber band and practiced shooting it. No good. My aim was awful. “Think, Mara, think.” Something to help me reach… A broom of course! (Please keep in mind that the subsiding fear and time of night were slowing my thinking) I found the broom and decided that the bristles were not strong enough to guarantee a smashed spider. And even if I was able knock him to the ground, he might find a good hiding place in the mess that is my floor before I jumped off the bed, picked up a shoe and smashed him. It dawned on me- shoe on a broom is what I needed. I tied my sandal to the end of the broom and quoted a few more verses- the adrenaline flowed. Victory!! It even stuck to my shoe instead of landing on my bed! God is good.

I wiped the guts up with a tissue, climbed into bed and spend the next half hour trying to explain to my mind and body that it was all over, the danger was gone, and it was time to sleep.

Praise God with me:
Not a black widow.
Didn’t fall on me.
Encouraging verses about battling for land.

Yes, I am compleatly serious about praising God for these things. Not that He would never let a spider fall on me, but I asked, and He provided. God cares about little things like that.

The Holy Spirit

One thing that I am super excited about is what God is teaching me about His Holy Spirit. Specifically that we have the Holy Spirit in us and He is powerful in us. That’s the same Holy Spirit that came on the first apostles and shook the room when they prayed. It’s the power of God who is… ALL POWERFUL! (in Spanish- TODOPODEROSO- one of my favoirte Spanish words.) He heals, and works miracles. With the Holy Spirit comes spiritual gifts. Like mercy, teaching, evangelism, and even prophecy, healing, and speaking in tongues. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14
This has challenged my faith over an over. If I believe that God still works miracles today, why don’t I pray for them? Even greater things?! What in the world? That blows my mind! Peter and John saw people healed and even raised from the dead! And if we have faith in Jesus, we will do even greater things?! I’m still processing that. If anyone has any insight, please, help me out.

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5
1 Corinthians 14 talks all about the gifts. I am surprised that I have read this before and not thought much of it. And I probably said to myself, “Oh, that doesn’t mean me, not here, not now.” But if that doesn’t apply to me here and now, how can I say that anything else in the Bible does?

Ok, so that is how God is speaking to me through His Word. He is also showing me through experience. One day when Lyle was teaching a group of us here at the Patio, something he mentioned reminded him of a song. We all encouraged him to sing it out loud. “He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me” (O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing) His voice was loud and clear and full of his passion for Jesus. I got chills, and I could tell the rest of the room was also sensing God’s presence. We sang the verse in Spanish, and then Christy spoke up. She had back pains, and when Lyle sang, her back started burning, and she thought God was healing her. We prayed for her, and she was healed. Completely. No more back pains. Praise God!

Every Sunday afternoon a group of us gather at Doug and Christy’s house to pray for healing. First we were praying specifically for Luis, a Jov (youth) whose gums were badly infected with gingivitis. The doctor said he would have to have expensive treatment. We prayed for Him, for 3 Sundays and he is now healed. We still pray for the sick on Sundays- we start with a worship time. It’s a sweet time. Praise and glory to God!
Manifestations of the Spirit- I think an example would be speaking in tongues, or shaking in awe and fear of God… I have had some experience with that too, but I’m not ready to share that on a super public blog. That relates to something else God is teaching me- that it is all about HIM and HIS glory- not what people think of me. So, you can pray for me about that.

God is also teaching me through people here, and through books. I am reading Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere. Good stuff. I just finished a chapter called “Passion for God”. If I was not convinced of Deere’s credibility before, this has done it for me. The message of this chapter is that the main thing is to delight in Him.

Thanks for listening guys. This has been on my heart to share with all of you, and I am glad to get it out there. Feel free to comment or email me about this or anything.

Escuelita del Verano

Escuelita del Verano (Vacation Bible School) (VBS)

What a great week! It was a fun week with the whole team including all the interns and a volunteer helping.
I love my kids. I stopped for a minute one day and just watched them work on the craft, and I realized that in just three days I had grown to love them SO much. Each day I love them more. It’s fun to decorate, and prepare the lesson, and its good to hang out with the team. I love the team, but I was just so happy when I was with the kids. They are precious. I got to be a clown on Thursday. The kids LOVE clowns. A few of them are scared of really painted clowns because of some horror movie, so we just did a clown suit and painted shapes on our cheeks. A few of the younger ones were still a little scared of Jonathan because he is 6’4”- they call him Giant. There are 2 or 3 of us on each inviting route and we just go get kids, walking or in a van for an hour before club starts. Then we take them home after its over. I am excited that I get to know other kids besides the 7-8 year olds. Its also a good time just to meet the parents of siblings, or at least know who they are.

I honestly don’t know how much each of them understand that they can put their “trust in Jesus” now. (Remember, that was the phrase, and general lesson of the week.) But I feel like that will come with better Spanish and more one on one time with the kids.

Katie's most encouraging moment during VBS.
I saw a little kid with his mom so I started talking to her and found out that her son was too young for Club. But it turned out she has a daughter too, but her daughter was at the store, so she said to come by tomorow for her. We came by the next day and she came to VBS! And I communicated in Spanish!

Mara's addidion.
So the girl is Cynthia, and she is in my class and she is going to start coming to Club now!

Thank you for your prayers! Thanks for reading!

State Side

Last weekend I was honored to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of Kristie and Eric Henry. I am also excited that Kristie has joined the 2 first names club. I left Zacatecas Thursday night and arrived in Detroit Friday morning. The night in Chicago O’Hare was not that bad. Mexicana bumped me up to first class so I got a nice balanced meal and some good sleep in my bed- I mean seat. Then they let me keep the blanket so I got some warm sleep in the airport. Praise God! Teresa also flew into Detroit Friday morning so Diane drove the three of us to Lansing just in time for the Bridesmaid’s lunch. That was my favorite moment of the whole trip. Former roommates and dear friends came running out of the restaurant to greet us. There was jumping up and down and hugs and tears. So sweet. My time in Lansing was packed with wedding events, and intense quality time. The wedding was beautiful, and Kristie and Eric are happy and rejoicing in the Lord (right Henrys?) I got to spend a day with Diane in Ann Arbor where she continued to drive me around to get marshmallows, cinnamon chips, brown overhead markers, deodorant, and a pair of jeans that are a gift from God because they only took me 20 minutes to find them, try them on, and buy them- and it was a long line too. Some of these can be found in Fresnillo, just not what I am used to, or more expensive. I also got to talk on the phone with my parents and some friends- for free! Praise God for cell phones and free weekends.

Returning to Fresnillo was one more reality check. It became a little more real that life in the States does exist and is going on without me, and that Fresnillo is not a dream, and it’s not a vacation. It’s my home. It was hard in some ways. I am more aware of how much I miss my friends now, and it was hard to be closer to my family without seeing them. I am trying not to think about the fact that I will not get to go home (Maryland, or Raleigh) until March. On the other hand it was comforting to have a familiar place, and familiar people to come home (Mexico home) to.

Praising God for the little things:
-my dress fit even after all the tortillas I have eaten
-perfect pair of pants in 20 min
-bumped up to First Class
-nice stewardess let me keep the blanket
-free Krispe Kreme donuts in Chicago on the way back to Mexico.

Big things to praise God for:
-Friends!
-Safe travels (slept safely in airport)
-Diane driving me everywhere
-Kristie and Eric are married- Praise and Glory to God!

7 and 8 year olds

Hello Friends!

The blog delinquite is back. I'm sorry for my negligence. Oh! look at that, my English vocabulary is not as bad as I thought... and I never did know how to spell delinquite.

If you want to see a team photo closer up, go to the CFCI website (one of my links over there on the right). There is also a photo of me washing dishes for the Feeding program.

I am excited to know that I will be working with 7 and 8 year olds, and Stephen is my co-leader. I only know one of my girls by name. Cindi lives a block from the Church. I had a wonderful visit with her mom, Vero, last week. She showed me about 50 tortilla towels that she made and hundreds of drawings that are templates for the stitchwork. I ended up spending about 2 hours with them. She also showed me a book of Cindi's life that she made. She crochet the edge of each page. I learned that Vero was not able to have babies for about 7 years after she was married and 8 years ago she was praying, and some of the team was praying to, for her to have a child. That is when she got pregnant with Cindi. It's obvious that Cindi is so special to her- and it makes sense- I think this is the only family I have met with one child. I just really enjoyed spending time with them and I am excited to get to know them better.

I also found out that I will be teaching ESMAT (Spanish and Math tutoring program)! I am so excited. I don't know what age, what subject(s), or anything else, except that I get to tutor kids! Oh, and I am in charge of house money. That means people give me money for rent, team lunches, etc, and I put it where it belongs. I also give specific amounts for each team lunch, count the change, check receipts... and much more. It's lots of money, and lots of counting. I enjoy it so far.

This past week has been team bulding. On Wednesday we did things like trying to lower a long stick with everyone holding it with two fingers... a 12 person ping pong game- hit the ball, pass the paddle, hit the ball, pass the paddle- you know, team building things that show your true character. I can no longer hide the bossy side of me from the team :) Thursday was Deportiva day. We played Ultimate Frisbee for about 2 hours- my cockiness and pride came out. Then we played Volleyball for 2 hours that seemed like eternity and the fall after the pride came. It was such a fun day though. Friday we went to Zacatecas for a scavenger hunt. Learned where the immigration office is, shook hands with the guard, and learned useful words like ''crab walk on a crowded sidewalk'' and ''cross eyed''. For lunch we ate at McDonalds- exciting for most, not so much for us Nuevas (new ones). Then we went up to the Bufa (mountain overlooking Zacatecas that looks like a buffalo) to pray. The plan was to get alone with God for an hour, then pray together. Meredith and I climbed to the top and stayed within earshot of each other as we watched a thunderstorm come in. Ok, imagine this... Sitting on top of a mountain- 360 view for miles and miles around. I could see the rain coming down on the other side of the city, the mountains surrounding the city, the wind was blowing. It was amazing! I just sat on top of my rock admiring God's power and beauty. Wise Meredith found me and pointed out that we were the highest points around, and that even if the lightning hit the antenna over there, we probably did not want to be under it. So we climbed back down a bit, and a few minutes later it started raining, and we had to get back to the vans. Even if it was not an hour alone with God, it was a special time.
The whole week was a fun time with my team. Feeling more and more like my family. Oh! It was also a great time of practicing Spanish. 3 days of mostly Spanish is a great way to learn. :)

Tuesday was an exciting day too. We had a normal tuesday full of meetings and planning, and a team lunch. Just as the lunch team finished cleaning up, it started to rain. (Don't forget, we meet at the patio- my house- where the main part is a patio, outside, no roof) So, I started putting down rags at the the doors, so we wouldn't track dirty water into every room. I ended up in the tienda (storage room) watching teammates trying stay dry as they went from room to room. It rained harder and harder, and then it started to hail. By this time the Patio was a lake. All the rooms but one have a step up, so when it floods the water doesn't flow into the rooms. This time it got high enough that it started coming down the hallway. So, that is when we get out the brooms and sweep the water down the hallway, out the front door. I took of my shoes and socks and rolled up my pant legs and waded over to the hallway where I found a river- no, I am serious- a river flowing out the front door. Three teammates had the brooms and were pushing the water along, a few more were watching from the dry ground of doorways. Keep in mind- 4 inches of water and its still hailing. This means 4 inches of ice water. I made my way to the sandbags protecting the front sala and cheered Elizabeth on untill her feet were frozen and arms were tired. We traded off sweepíng water for about 20 minutes, until finally it stopped hailing and slowed to a nice steady shower. The drains caught up and the flood waters began to recede. Our meeting started late, but Meredith and I were so thankful that the whole team was around to help. It was kind of like the first of our team building activities. Very exciting day.

I am excited to be going to Michigan in 5 days to see Kristie and Eric as they get married!! I also get to see many of my closest friends from Raleigh. SO excited!

Thank you for reading my blog. Thank you, those of you who have sent me letters, prayed for me, or supported my financially! I praise God for each of you!

Praises:
Feeling much more at home, feeling closer to the team.
Spanish is getting better.
I get to tutor!

Pray for:
Vacation Bible School, starts next Tuesday- pray for the kids to know Jesus, and learn how much He loves them
For Stephen and I as we lead together- pray for unity and love of Jesus between us.
That God would show me how to pray for, and how to love each of my girls.
Safe, trip to Michigan. Good times with friends, that I would spend my time wisely and get enough of rest. (I am spending the night in Chicago airport on the way there, and will return to Fresnillo the night before the intense week of VBS.) Please pray!

God bless you friends!
Love in Christ,

Mara