Week 9

As I let the phone drop into the receiver and Giezi and I continue our brainstorm, a hidden knot in my insides releases. After a week and a half of playing phone and email tag, we've got all of our main outreach locations set up. Knowing that we have a place to sleep for our team of 24 people for the next 2 months is huge!

For the first ten days of outreach (excluding driving days), we'll be in Guadalajara, a principal city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Then for 2-3 weeks, we've arranged to work through the base in Cancun to reach 2 cities in the southernmost state of Mexico, Chiapas. From there, we'll travel through the Yucatan peninsula and ferry to the island of Cozumel for the last portion of our formal ministry time. Altogether, it's a distance of over 6,250 miles. As our team has been praying, we've felt that God has led us to focus on orphanages, kid's ministry, sports ministry, and worship. He's also reminded us that our outreach begins as we leave Ensenada, not when we get to Guadalajara. We're excited to see how He'll put it all together!

And I've been learning what it means to let Him be in control and not trust in my own ability to organize or communicate. God knows how to push my buttons, and I'm trying to let Him. I have to realize that I'm not as smart as He is and  all my worrying and planning won't determine the success of the outreach. That's up to Him. Easier said than done. But worth it : ).

Please pray for our team, that God will begin to prepare each of our hearts for what He wants to show us and do through us on outreach. That He will give us His dreams for the people we'll meet and our fellow team mates. Pray for Giezi and I as we learn to how to lead this team together and with Him. And pray that we will be able to take everything that God wants us to have out of these last 3 weeks of lecture phase. I know He's got cool things for us in the moment and in the not so distant future. Thanks for being a part of what He's doing.