Serving Him: April 2008

Every two months we have a Lady's Day in the Church Building. A speaker comes and encourages us on a certain topic. Our speaker this time was Ilse. Ilse and her husband Raciel live in Guanajauto (the capitol of the state of Guanajauto) as missionaries. Last October some of my teammates and I went to Guanajauto (only 45 min. away) for a week to help and work with them. They are really awesome people and they also have an eight-year-old daughter named, Annie!!! On Saturday, the 26th, Ilse talked about having faith! It was really encouraging and challenging. It seems like lately we have been learning a lot about faith. Jazmin (a university student in the church here)taught in our new girls group about faith. After the Ilse spoke, we had a surprise baby-shower for her. She and her husband have been trying to have another baby for about 7 years and God is faithful and so good!!

Last Monday, or Cinco de Mayo, I got to lead our new girls study!! It was challenging and exciting that I finally got to share God's word with them! I talked about having Spiritual Disciplines and that in our personal relationship with God it is very important to grow!! We are so blessed that God provided the way for us to have a relationship with Him. At the beginning of the study I brought in a vase of Gerber Daisy flowers. Then I had all the girls pass them around and look at them. I asked them what flowers (or plants) needed to grow. Their answers were: water, dirt, sunlight, and care or attention. We are like blooming flowers before God!! Growing into what He wants us to be. But, relationships take work. Among many things; for a relationship to work we need good communication, listening, pursuing, and loving. It is the same with our relationship with God. Some ways we grow closer to Him are through prayer, reading and thinking on His word, loving: serving, dying to self, even fasting (setting aside things to focus on God. Ex: TV, Food, coffee)!

Why is it important that we are growing in our relationship with God? Because if we are not growing, then we are dying and not useful. God wants us to be useful and flavorful like salt, and holy and different like light; so that everyone can see God through us and praise Him!! God is our Father and wanted that relationship so much he sacrificed Jesus so that we can be with Him.

Looking at the life of Jesus, we also see he was spiritually disciplined! Ex: Luke 5:16, Mark 1:35, Luke 2:46, John 13:14-17. And ultimately in Matthew 26:39-42 we see Him dying to himself and his desires to follow God's will; which is always the best, but usually not the easiest way.

This week has been especially busy because Megan's and Ben's families are here visiting!!! It is so cool when your family gets to actually see, touch, and experience what you do! We are blessed to have Megan's parents, and Ben's sister and mom (his dad is staying with the guys...yikes!)staying with us in our house. It is very big and perfect for guests.

Speaking of our house...we are moving!!! Since we are not getting a new AIM team this year, we are moving into a smaller apartment about two blocks away. It is kind of sad because we have already lived in our house for a year now and we have a lot of memories here. But it is too big for just us three and while living in our new apartment we will be able to save a lot of money to go towards other things. We are staying positive and thinking of it as just another Adventure in Missions among many!

Good things about our apartment:
it's only two blocks away in the same neighborhood!!!!!!!
we each get our own bedroom!
there are 2 1/2 bathrooms
dining room
living room
really roomy

downsides:
the kitchen!!!! We cook a lot, so this will be hard. The kitchen contains: a sink and pantry. no cabinets, shelves, counters tops, or STOVE AND OVEN. Seeing this as a big problem in the future we have searched and looked into buying a mini stove/oven. The cost for one is actually less than what we will be saving on rent every month compared to the rent before. God will provide and He is soo good to us.

I have to say that God is soooo incredibly good and that I'm having the time of my life growing, learning, and serving Him here in Leon! Thank you for helping me spiritually, emotionally, and financially! It's going a long ways and it is definitely worth it! Much love in Christ, Annie

A couple of days ago I was walking to a bus stop with some of my teammates. I noticed some shattered glass on the sidewalk and while trying so hard to avoid stepping on the glass I failed to notice a pole thing and I ran smack into the pole! Although all I suffered was a small scratch on my forehead and some embarrassment, it makes me compare it to our spiritual lives. How many times do we focus on one point or struggle in our lives, and while not paying attention something bigger hits us right in the face?! We need to be ready and alert for Satan and his attacks! Just like Peter warns in his first letter, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". When we are disciplined and on the look-out, it won't be as easy for the devil to attack. And the next verse is really encouraging! I know that I'm not alone and there are others in this fight too! "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings". -1 Peter 5:8-9 So be on the look-out for your pole!

Here are some more pictures of when I went back home.

These are some of the graduates!! and some of my former teammates in Leon! woohoo for the AIM class of 05'!!

This is Bill from my Area Church in Lockney! He is really sweet! Please keep him in your prayers as his wife, Meese (Mary) passed away not even a month ago. He is such an encouragement to me!!

Here are some AIMers serving!! This team is going to a delagation(region) in Mexico City called Tlalpan. They're pretty cool!

This is right after my brother was baptized. He is hugging my dad!

Christian, me, and Alison. They are some really special kids. Their family lived in Leon and worked as missionaries to help establish the church here. I was really blessed to see them in Lubbock!

All the 06' AIMers that were there for Graduation and Camp Adventure! Plus Chris Johnson (my former coordinator) and Eli Hooper, the coordinator of the Grass Valley, California Team.