The Repeated Message

"You need to read this book," Miles told me, "at least chapter 10, if nothing else."

I had read about George Muller before and had read much of his journal. This was a children's book about him, but I thought I could use a refresher. So I put it next to the water jugs with my journal so that I would remember to read it when I had time.

Then it sat there for a month.

In the meantime, we had more friends come stay with us: Caleb (who just got home from a mission to Africa), Timothy (his brother and a family friend), Mary (whom I have known since High School, and Robin with her 3 kids.

One of the first things Robin said to me after she got to our house is, "I don't think you're sharing enough about the reality of your situation here and I think people should know. I think it would help us so that we could pray for specific things for you."

Then at our devotional Miles said, "I have been thinking a lot about the power of prayer and how to utilize it more in our lives."

Caleb mentioned later how he had been thinking a lot too about the gift of prayer and how often we forget to ask for what God already wants to give us, but can't without the permission that we grant Him by asking Him for it.

Then I would hear Mary pray to God as if she was continuing an ongoing conversation... that she was now picking up with the rest of us listening. She prayed for specific things too, that I would sometimes forget to mention.

A few days later Robin said that maybe we could ask people to pray for specific things for us too... people who had been there and saw the needs or who were following our story and wanted to help.

This was a message God kept sharing with me over and over through the words and examples of those around me.

Not Exactly What We Planned

As I was packing for our trip to Utah, I saw the book Miles had recommended still sitting on the table. I grabbed it and put it in my purse.

We found all our seats on the plane and I sat down with hours ahead of me to think and ponder on where we were and what we needed to do.

We have been in Mexico for over a year now. We have been in our home since March.

Our plans at the beginning of this endeavor were to sell our home and use the money to pay for the house and have a little left to live off of until we had the ropes course business going to the point where it could provide for our family while we established roots and began the work of helping God's children (who were in desperate need of love) to heal and grow in a healthy environment.

But things hadn't turned out like we thought.

The house cost more to finish than we thought (we are still paying someone weekly to work on it and we are way over the amount they told us it it would cost, even after making it as economical as we could).

Bill felt the need to get a contract in the US to make the money needed to finish the house.

Which meant he did not have time to market and start a ropes course business.

Jess and I did our best to train employees to and market it, but we were both so busy with learning to live in a different country, day-to-day cleaning and parenting, service groups, teaching English, interns, and running a non-profit, that we didn't have a lot of time to also start and run a business.

Bill would come back from a contract in the US to live with us for a little bit until we would again run out of money (still paying to finish the house) and he would need to leave again.

We have had amazing donors and amazing volunteers. Because of them, we have progressed in some areas we couldn't have otherwise (we have a ropes course, we have planted trees, dug a garbage pit and a compost pit, made garden boxes and a bat house, built terraces, started a shed, ran an awesome summer program in the community, and taught English).

We have also had the privilege of starting a family group in our area to invite people to church and to be a part of opening up the area for missionaries. We have had so many neat experiences sharing the gospel and having the missionaries in our home. Our stake president said he is requesting that we become an official branch, and he thinks it could happen by the end of the year.

We have made some incredible friendships and are starting to feel part of the community as we began knowing more and more people by name.

But now what?

Our Situation

We moved to Mexico to create a loving home, an inspiring school, and a wholesome learning environment for kids who did not have access to these things.

But we haven't even finished a home for our own family.

We have a road that is so muddy, no one can access our home without a 4x4 truck with lots of power (thank you Benjamin for donating one to us! We would be in dire straights without it!!)

We have a mosquito plague right now (people tell us they have never seen it this bad) that is not allowing us to even go to the ropes course right now. Even running to the car guarantees that we get at least 10 new bites.

Bill's last day of work in Texas was yesterday and because of the two weddings and travel expenses to get here, we do not have means to get back to Mexico, or with which to live on once we arrive.

The people of Mexico in our area are so resourceful! They find so many creative ways to make money and to survive. They live such simple lives and are happy with what they have, even though for some it is a stick home with hammocks over a dirt floor.

Some have found ways to be successful with restaurants or shops.

I know it is possible for us to live there and to have what we need. We just need to figure out how to do it in a way that doesn't require our family to be apart most of the year (with Bill working in the US and us living in Mexico.) I know that striving to help those in need is an important work, but probably not at the expense of having a stable family.

One Shilling

These were some of my thoughts as I sat down on the plane that would be taking us to Houston before we headed to Utah.

I got out the book I had put in my bag, George Muller: He dared to trust God for the care of countless orphans and began to read.

There is a point in his story where he is presented with an opportunity to be a missionary in Baghdad... something he has dreamed of for years, and that would take him away from his ministry in the slums of London.

He walked by an almshouse where many orphans lived. A 12-year boy talked through him through the iron fence which caged him in and asked for a shilling.

He looked at the unkempt forlorn home, and heard the wailing of and laughter of the mentally ill in the house. He thought, "What good would one shilling do?" as he dropped it into his hand:

"The boy would brow up there, caged with lunatics and criminals, while he [George Mueller] slipped him a single shilling and sailed off to exotic market places.

"Sail off to Baghdad? No! He couldn't leave Bristol to dirt and disease and the Devil himself. Whether he could ever do more than a shilling's worth for Bristol's poor, he didn't know. But he was sure of one thing: he must stay and try."

First he started using all the means he could to help the schools in the slums, but then he wasn't happy with the education the children received. He wanted them to know God and be more acquainted with His word. So he decided to start his own day school.

He had one shilling with which to start it. So he prayed and asked God for 20 pounds to help him get some Bibles and tracts to get started. Before the day was over a woman came to his home and gave him an envelope. It contained 20 pounds.

Lack of Time and Resources?

As the school grew, he found that kids had to drop out because they were sent to almshouses because their parents were taken to jail.

He realized he needed a better place for those kids to go. He couldn't let them live in those almshouses.

He decided to start an orphanage.

"Mr. Mueller! You couldn't. You don't have the time. You're the pastor of a church. You have the day school. You don't have the money either."

These words were true, thought George Mueller, but then he wondered, "But then why did God put that thought into my mind?"

As he shared his idea, others also agreed that it was impossible and that he was a young visionary without a clue of what he was doing. But for weeks he prayed the same daring prayer:

"God, I need a thousand pounds to get started. I need to find a house that's big enough for a family with thirty children. I need at least three of four for my staff, Christian folks that like children and know how to teach them or cook for them or manage them. And the children will need clothes and beds to sleep on and dishes to eat from. I believe You can do it, and I'll leave it all right in Your hands. Amen."

Three years later, he had 3 homes and 96 children he was caring for with only prayer to provide the means to care for them.

But God was faithful. George prayed for each financial need and God always came through, though sometimes only at the very last minute.

His Impact

Eventually the neighbors in the slums started complaining about the noise in these 3 orphan homes and George had to figure out how to find a different place for them to be.

He prayed,

"Now God, we have to get out of Wilson street. We can close up completely, and I know You wouldn't want that. Or we can find another place in the slums, and that's not very good either. Or we can find a wide open place and build our own orphanage, tailored exactly to Your needs. So God, I put it right in Your hands. I need to find about seven acres here in Bristol, on a hill if possible. Then I need a contractor to build a place for--say 300 children. And I need 10,000 pounds at least."

He prayed that prayer day and night for 36 days before he received his first donation.

And that is how he started. Ne never asked anyone for money. At first, he wouldn't even share the situation until he realized he was doing others a disservice by not allowing them to pray too. But he always turned to God in faith that He would somehow provide what was needed.

By 1870 "he had built five orphanages and was providing for 2,000 orphans, and he was doing it all by prayer and faith. In all the years he had never asked anyone for a shilling."

Wikipedia tells us that:

"He cared for 10,024 orphans during his lifetime, and provided educational opportunities for the orphans to the point that he was even accused by some of raising the poor above their natural station in British life. He established 117 schools which offered Christian education to more than 120,000."

"By Faith and Prayer"

I finished the book a little before our plane landed in Utah. "This is what God has been trying to teach me all these months," I thought. I looked back at times when I felt his guiding hand, but didn't listen because someone else who knew more than me on a subject persuaded me not to do something a certain way (like how to fix our road). I looked back on times I should have prayed about a specific financial decision, but didn't do it since it seemed obvious and everyone said it was. I thought back on all the times I quieted my inner voice and listened to the opinions of others first.

I recently recorded a video in which I share some of these lessons I am learning about saying "no" to others who want my time and energy, and saying "yes" to the personal guidance I receive for this work God had given us to do.

I thought about how I don't pray like George Muller. I don't ask for things specifically enough. I don't track the ways He answers my specific prayers.

So now, I want to start. And I invite you to try it with me if you are not already in the habit.

And after you pray for the specific things you and your family need, will you also pray for our work here? Will you ask that we can get the big rocks, gravel, cementante, truck, and volunteers we need to help us fix our road?

Will you ask that we are guided to the best way to get rid of mosquitos at the ropes course and at home and to keep more of the scorpions out? And for the resources to be able to do it. And for bats to move into our bat house!

Will you also ask that we get the kids sent to us that need our help and that we will be blessed with the resources, volunteers, staff, buildings, beds, clothes, supplies and food to feed them, love them, and educate them?

And that we can have the volunteers and staff (and money to pay the staff) to work the land, grow food, raise animals, and educate and love the youth?

Will you ask that we find a cenote on our property (this will help us with having more bats to eat mosquitos and for tourists to come to our place)?

And to know how to get people to the ropes course so we can have an income and be able to stay in Mexico. Or for Him to provide another way for us to have an income if the ropes course was primarily built for the students and volunteers?

And will you pray for our family to have the faith and unity to keep at it, and learn to trust that God will provide what we need as we do our best to seek Him, serve His children, and ask Him for specific blessings?

Paring Down

I feel strongly that I need to really pair down my life and focus on very few things and to them well. Right now, I feel that those few things need to be:

1. More specific, frequent, and fervent prayers and listening more intently

2. Scheduled one-on-one time with each of my kids and husband through the week

3. Finishing the Guided Journal I have been working on writing for 5 years

4. Sending your more frequent updates about how things are here, what we are learning, what you can pray for, and how your prayers have been answered. I am not sure if I will do this through video or writing, but I know I need to find a way to make time for it. Ideally I would love to do this daily, like a journal excerpt, but that is probably unrealistic

5. Taking one evening each week to minister or to do visits with the missionaries.

Thank you in advance for your prayers! And for your prayers already said. I will be praying for you too. I know the power of prayer is real.

With love,

Karen Bates