New Adventures at Rancho 3M

It has only been a few weeks since I left home, but it has been a crazy few weeks. We made good time traveling out here and made it in two, fourteen hour days.  I spent the first week here at the Ranch with my family and then we went up to Pheonix for my cousin’s wedding and to visit my grandparents.  We had a great time and I was so blessed to be able to see everyone before I came back.  I arrived back here in Mexico on Wednesday and have spent the last few days getting used to my new chores.  My schedule is continually changing, but I am excited to learn all the different ins and outs of the jobs around here.  So far I have done some cooking, helped with home work groups, had “guard” over the kids during different meals, gotten the girls up and going for school and helped put them to bed as well as doing some different projects for Dean in the office.

I have also enjoyed attending home group with the older girls and memorized my first bible verse in Spanish (Josue 1.8). The other day I spent over twenty minutes helping a couple of the little boys rescue a match box car from a hole in one of play ground toys and Saturday night I tried to learn how to jump rope again…it was rather comical as the little five year old could do it better than me.  I have also been learning new words at an exciting rate and just finished looking up the word for pick up as in pick up your clothes off the floor. (recoger)

I have also been blessed to find out that there are two other singles living here.  Flash, an American guy from???, but I haven’t really seen much of him and also Leydi, one of the teachers from the school who lives in the girls dorm on the week days.  I have already been so blessed by Leydi and can tell that we are going to have an adventurous friendship as she is a very fun loving jokester and has already roped me into learning to play basketball…ahhh!

So far the Lord has blessed me with good health and I have also been pleased to find that contrary to me previous assumptions…much of the kids food here is quite edible.    I am also trying to learn how to cook for one and at the moment have only a microwave and small crock pot, but I am hoping to get a table top stove.  I would love some recipes if anyone wants to send any. 

Yesterday I went to church in El Paso and also had an opportunity to hang out with some of their singles.  I mostly just talked to one of the girls as everyone else was playing basketball…but we had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to know her. Though there are many new adjustments to be made…I think this one is going to be the hardest.  While the Lord has helped me to grow so much in my social adaptability…I still really struggle with being the “new” person and have to work really hard to make myself get to know people. I would really appreciate your prayers in this area…that the Lord would give me grace to step out and serve and also that He would bring people/familes into my life that I can get to know.

The Lord has been so good and I can’t thank you all enough for your prayers. I will try to get some pictures up soon!

I’m Moving to Mexico

I have already talked to many of you, but for those of you who don’t know or just got part of the story…I would like to let you know what’s going on in my life.  Since the first time I went to the Rancho 3M orphanage in Guadalupe, Mexico (www.rancho3m.com) I have been praying that God would open the doors for me to live and work there.  

Rancho 3M – see what the Lord has done

Well, for those of you who don’t know…I just got back from our church’s annual service trip to the Rancho 3M orphanage in Guadlupe, Mexico. It is impossible to relate all that God did while we were there, but hopefully I can share a little of my experience and let the coming pictures and video projects relate some of the rest.

We, my family and I, arrived several days before the team and were greeted by a small army of children clamoring for attention. But for me…the moment each year I can never forget is the first few little voices ringing out from the crowd calling my name “Mississippi, Mississippi” and in that moment…I feel at home.

Our team this year was smaller than previous years, but the to do list never seems to get any smaller. My friend Kristin and I were given the job of tiling. Neither of us had a clue how to tile and our first and only lesson consisted of “here’s the thin set, there’s the tile”. It was a learning experience and I will be the first to admit that our initial efforts were…well, after a ruined bag of thin set and getting drenched with the wet saw…we started getting into the swing of things and by God’s grace finished the assigned rooms and are still walking and have all our fingers.

The other big project was remodeling a bathroom for one of the staff families. I won’t go into the details, but it was a small nightmere and again…it was only by the grace of God it was completed by the time we left. As you can see from the pictures…they riped out the walls, floor and celing and put it all back beautifully.

We also had a game time with the kids in the afternoons and then more time to hang out with them after dinner each evening. We were all so blessed by their eager and persisstant desire to play with us. Everything from having your eyes dug out by little Marco who wanted to play guess who, to the little girls who learned how to say “push please” and would beg us to push them on the swing, to the older kids who loved basket ball, to the slightly varied version of Duck, Duck, Goose (pato, pato, gonzo) we would play with the little boys, not all of whom even got the game in the first place and would simply run around in circles and laugh.

A highlight of each year is the group’s devotional times. For the five weeks prior to our trip we all participated in prayer, fasting and bible study for our trip. This year we were going through the book “Whiter than Snow” by Paul Tripp which is a study on Psalms 51. I was so blessed through the book, the bible study we did along with it and the group discussion times we had each morning after our personal devotions. It was such a blessing to start the day in God’s word confronted with our salvation from sin and ending each day remember Christ’s work on the cross and rejoicing in the testimonies of his specific work in our hearts that day.

Each year has it’s unique joys and struggles, but for me personally this year was overflowing with peace and a nearness of the Lord.  God answered my prayers for this trip in ways over and beyond what I could have even asked for. Not just in a general way, but He very specifically answered my prayers, in a way that I know it was not by my hand, but by His work alone. I have gone back and forth writing this trying to find a way to really express the waterfall of grace that the Lord not only gave me on the trip, but continues to give me each day, but I can’t seem to find the balance in what to share, so I will just leave you with this.  Our God is great and to Him be all the glory!

There were three main photographers on this trip. You can view our pictures at the links below.

Missy’s Pictures
Caitlin’s Pictures
Christi’s Pictures

South of the border and back…

I know, I know…I keep saying I am actually going to keep this up. I do intend to, but good intentions don’t always end up in actions.

Well, for now…we just got back from Rancho 3M in Guadalupe, Mexico from our church’s fourth annual service trip to the orphanage down there. The Lord really blessed our trip this year and met us ( at least I don’t think it was just me) in a much more personal way than previous years. God really used the men who were leading our devotional times in the morning and evening and our times of prayers for the children at the ranch, and the evening we spent praying for the Holy Spirit to work in our group and the Ranch were highlights for my week there.

There is no way to actually really share my experience while I was there, but I will at least try to share a few things. Over the years, I have had the blessing of organizing a game time for the younger kids at the Ranch and after several years of going back the kids now know who I am. As soon as I arrived I could hear little voices “Mississippi”, “Mississippi” (my “other” nickname) and you can’t know how those voices make my heart sing. Also, because i am usually involved in the game time, I have not had much chance to get to know the older kids at the Ranch. This year, during the week prior to the team coming down, my mom taught a cake decorating class with the older girls. We had so much fun and it was a great time of getting to know the girls a little better. I was also blessed to be helping Dean and Denise ( the Ranch director and his wife) work on a promo slide show to send to some churches. Because they needed a lot of specific pictures, I was able to talk to people and go in places we usually don’t get a lot of exposure to. One night I got to take pictures of all the little girls getting ready for bed and was able to hug and kiss them all goodnight.

One funny story about my “other” name…on the first year when the boys heard my name was Missy, they started calling me Mississippi, Missouri and Michigan. Well, Mississippi stuck and all the kids have been calling me that ever since. I was talking to one of the staff ladies and found out the the staff all thought my real name was Mississippi and Missy was my nickname:)

Ok, well that is all for now, I may find time to write more later, but I just wanted to put up something. I am still working on pictures and will get those up soon. Here is a video a friend of mine made to show at our church…enjoy! Pictures are coming soon!

Recounting God’s Faithfulness

This is my favorite picture.

OK, so I tried writing about my trip to Mexico and it would have been a book…so I decided for now to focus on what God taught me this time around. This trip was so different than the previous two that I had a hard time nailing down my thoughts on it at first. I really had to spend some time asking God about it and talking through some things with my accountability partner.

In a strange way things were so easy…I was lost. I have to admit I don’t think I have ever been on a trip where I wasn’t in over my head to a point that drove me in tears back to God for grace. I praise the Lord that he didn’t let me walk away from this trip thinking that I just had things together, but instead showed me that He had answered every one of my prayers. It is sad I know, but even after all these years of answered prayers, I still don’t always connect the dots right away.

I also noticed a lack of emotional turmoil during the week. This was strange for me for two reasons. First, I am emotional anyways and second, I have wanted to work and live at a place like Rancho 3M since I was 12. Since the second or third day I set foot on the Ranch, I have wanted to live there. God, obviously, has other plans for me right now and is still showing me that He wants me to wait. This has been a constant battle for me all year, and I expected it to be even harder when I was there. Again, it was strange to me, I was able to connect with the kids, but it didn’t take hold of me like previous years. I was able to pray for them more and in a way felt like I was serving and loving them more than I had previously, yet at the same time without that emotional weight. I found this true in several areas, the game time I organized with the kids, spending time investing in our group, and getting to spend time time with Denise (the directors wife).

As I stepped back after I got home looking at all God had done and my not so emotional response to it, I really had a hard time working through the issues. It wasn’t until I had talked with one of my accountability partners that I started to see what God was doing. Through several things she said I realized that I usually gauge God’s work in my life based on my emotional response to it. As I kept looking back at the week in Mexico I had a hard time seeing God’s work because I had limited it in my mind to a more emotional experience. When I stepped past this wall I began to see how much God had really done. I am still working through some if it, but I am so amazed to see the work He did in my heart. He has really brought me to a place of peace about waiting on His timing for my dreams. He showed me AGAIN how powerful He is and challenged me to grow in my faith. He has given me another long list of how He has showed himself faithful to answer not just some of my prayers, but every single one…even the ones I thought were insignificant. I am challenged to continue my study of who God is so that I will have more faith in his “future grace”.

Well, this is getting long and I am not sure if you can follow my thought pattern here, but these are a couple of areas that God has been working in my life. I pray that by recounting God’s faithfulness, you will be encouraged to seek Him more in your own life and not to limit His power to your own understanding. We serve a great God who is not limited by us or our feeble minds.

To God Be All The Glory!!!

Mexico Slide Show

I Needed A Break

Ok, so I am working on the slide show for our Mexico trip (for this Sunday) and I needed a break. You try sorting back and forth through 1,500 pictures trying to find that one you saw 5 min. ago with the guy in a gray shirt standing next to another guy in a gray shirt….. I am grateful that they use so much color in Mexico. Every building is a different color and that helps sometimes.

Well, again, I am not here to give you an update on our trip just yet. I will try to get a copy of my slide show up for you though.

Ok, so looking at all these pictures and I can’t help but remember lots of stories….which one to tell….On one of the first days there one of the little girls named Mileni heard someone call me Mississippi (my nick name from last year) she thought that was really funny and kept trying to say it, but had a hard time at first…after several tries it came out as Missi-pee-pee. She started giggling and it was just all over. After several days I found she had passed it on to some of the boys and now…it will haunt me forever.

Actually it dosen’t bother me if it helps her remember me next year Ok, I have to get back to work…I will write more later and put up a few of my 600+ pictures.

Mexico Missions Trip

Well, the reason I have not posted in forever is that we are getting ready to leave on a mission trip with our church. We are going to be spending a week at an orphanage in Guadalupe called Rancho 3M. My parents left last night and I am leaving in a couple of hours with my younger brother and sister. We will fly to El Paso and stay the night in a hotel, then meet up with my parents tomorrow morning. We are going down earlier than the rest of the team to set things up…do shopping and cleaning etc.

I want to ask for your prayers. I wish I had time to write more about this, but I have to finish packing and get going. I will post stories and pictures when we get back. THANK YOU!

Mexico Missions Trip

Sovereign Grace Church now has an annual missions trip to Guadalupe, Mexico. We partner with an orphanage called Rancho 3M and go down for a week in October to do misc. work projects and spend time with the kids there. It has been amazing to watch as God has brought my church to this point and I rejoice in this great opportunity we have to serve in Mexico.

This year we have a team of about 30-35 people going down Ocotober 7-14. Our first fundraiser was this past weekend. We had a HUGE yard sale…and raised $4000.00. Wow…praise the Lord. This was twice what we have ever made at a church wide yard sale. The money will go to support those who worked at the yard sale and are going ont the msisions trip. We were also blessed with LOTS of help…a special thanks to all those who aren’t going on the trip, but helped anyways…we couldn’t have done it without you.

If you want to see pictures from this event go Caitlin Web Site