It is my day of rest today, so I thought I would update y´all on a few cool things that have been happening here in Mexico.
So, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were Spanish class days this week. We are in class from 10 until 1 (until after next week) and then we usually have meetings or errands in the afternoons. My class is interesting. Our teacher, Javier, is one of the more "abierto" or "open" teachers and his ministry is mainly with jovenes from the street, although he also teaches English as a full time job. He definitely has a lot of vision, so for our graduation from classes, which will be next Saturday, he has planned a skit that our class (5 people) will do that will hopefully draw some new people to Christ´s love and forgiveness. I have to sing (yikes!) in Spanish (big yikes!) so keep that skit, the preparation and the people who will see it in your prayers.
Wednesday, we went with some people from our church and our mama and papa and baby Caleb to a lady´s house who goes to our church. We decided to go because she always comes to church, but her husband and two children do not, because they are not believers. When we got there, she had snacks out for us, and mango juice, but best of all, she had homemade chocolates! I soon learned that she and her husband are chocolate makers by trade, so I hope that this visit to her house is the beginning of a beautiful, chocolate-filled friendship... I ate more chocolates than everyone else combined, and felt almost sick later, but I did not regret one bite! Anyway, some of the jovenes led some songs on the guitar, and then a lady from the church gave a short message, and then they asked us if we wanted to say anything. Of course, I was struck with fear, and my roommate, who struggles with Spanish even more than me, was delighted. She started to speak, and it was so incredible. Her Spanish was fluid, and made perfect sense, and related to what the lady probably needed to hear. I truly believe it was miraculous. Then she was like, "Lauren, do you want to say anything?" I wanted to say no, and I almost did, because I had absolutely no clue what to say to this chocolate-making woman I had never met an hour before. But then Karen prompted me: "What´s your favorite verse in the Bible?" and then I truly believe that the Holy Spirit really took over. I thought of the verse, "Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" from Hebrews 11:1, and I knew it it Spanish, so I said it and I then said that I know many times there are things we really hope for and want badly, and we wait and wait, but nothing ever seems to happen, but if we continue to pray and then wait in expectation, God is faithful and He´ll hear us. I thought that was appropriate for her situation since she has probably wanted her family to come to church with her for years, and it has never happened. Of course, I didn´t realize the potential helpfulness until later, because I really was not completely in control of my own words as I was speaking. So the moral is that God is faithful and He´ll give you what you need if you just obey Him one step at a time.
Then on Thursday, we all went to the Basilica, which is the second most visited spot for Catholicism in the world, right after the Vatican City. It was incredible. Although the whole campus was beautiful (there are several cathedrals, some ancient and some modern), it left me feeling so empty. We have made such a mess of religion! The site´s main focus is all on the Virgen of Guadalupe, so every church has her as the focal point of the altars, paintings, etc. In one church, we even found a glass coffin with Jesus in it! Jesus really is dead to the Catholics of Mexico City, while the Virgen is very much alive to them. So that of course really opened my eyes to the needs of the people here. Also, I got a better idea of the amount of trust that they have in authorities that do not have their best interests at heart. There was one station out in the plaza of the Basilica with a man taking people´s money and sprinkling them with water...while he took a sip of his Coca Cola. Things like that make me really want to communicate the fact we can have direct access to God and a relationship with Him through Christ. We don´t have to depend on faulty human priests to get a prayer to God´s ears. I found this verse this morning and thanked God for this promise:
"In my anguish, I called upon the Lord, I cried out to my God, and he heard me from His temple, my cry came before Him, even unto his ears." Psalm 18:6
We also went Thursday to my favorite place in Mexico City: the mercado! It is a place with endless rows of handmade Mexican crafts, blankets, bags, earrings, etc, etc. It is overwhelming, but a very fun place to visit!
Today I am going to have a more relaxing day. We have been here in the internet cafe for a while, and then we are going to see Principe Caspian in espanol at the movie theater with some girls from the team and then go somewhere to get something to eat.
Tomorrow, we are going to a place called Cuidad Azteca. We are going to do a really profound skit about how humans are always performing and putting on different masks depending on who they are around, when in reality they do not like or do not know their own identity. The skit then shows that through Christ, we can live without performing and learn to love our real selves. We are going sing some songs in English to play up the "gringo factor" and attract a crowd, and then do the skit, and then one of the girls is going to tell her story about trying lots of different things in her life and finally deciding to surrender to and follow Christ. You can pray that people will come and be touched and that we´ll be able to lead them towards God and that they´ll have some deep soul need met.
That´s all for now, thanks for reading and caring about my life and for your prayers!
Love, Lauren
