July 1: Different Ways to Serve

I love seeing how this internship is giving us so many ways to serve, taking us out of ourselves and preparing us for what's ahead

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July 1: James' Birthday

James turned 12! He is intelligent, sweet, logical, tender, and very determined. I never have to worry about him once he sets a goal because I know he will reach it.

This will be an unforgettable birthday I think… We sung to him in the morning and ate the traditional cereal, but on the floor, and on plates

we then picked up trash in the neighborhood and then had a pool party for him; complete with Cake de Tres Leches, Oreo ice cream, friends who live here, and the other interns. Then we watched Spider-Man on the projector.

It is so different than what he would have chosen to do on his birthday (he is a home body so he would have requested a Nintendo day all day probably), but he said he had a good time, which goes to show how much he’s growing up

Thank you to Suzy for decorating and getting popsicles and cake.

July 2nd - Progress on Home

Here’s the progress on our home in Mexico. We are so excited to start a school and home for youth who need a safe place to heal, learn, and live their potential.

It’s a small start, but I can’t wait to see what God makes of it.

You can be involved by signing up to follow the story below

July 3rd - Cassia's here

Cassia is here for a visit!!!! We couldn’t be happier

July 4th - Happy Independence Day

What a beautiful 4th of July morning here in Mexico

Happy Independence Day everyone

July 5th: Life is Like Bumper Bowling

Bowling with bumpers was very representative of my life…

We went bowling the other day and I was in a lane with Joy, Coen, and Bill. We got bumpers for Coen, but they don’t go up and down so we had to keeep them up the whole time.

I always TRIED to get a strike, but my abilities were not up to that desire. As I watched my bowling ball bounce from bumper to bumper… and the bumpers rescuing my bowling ball from falling into the gutter again and again, it reminded me how in life I usually just try doing what is best, to the best of my understanding at the moment…and it still isn’t all that great. But God still me keeps me on track for His plan for me, because of His rescuing power, love and grace.

The difference is that at the end of the game, Jesus won’t care how many points I got, just that I kept trying and trusting Him to clean up my messes and make good things from my mistakes.

I am so thankful for His guiding power

July 10th: Missing our Friends at The Mission Orphanage

We just finished our 5 week internship. I cried a lot today and yesterday, but we will be back a few times over the next few weeks so that helped.

I will miss the kids/youth we got to know from the orphanage. I was so impressed with them, their dreams, their work ethic, their kindness, and their resilience.

I hated leaving them. I am so, so grateful that we are starting our own home so that I don’t have to keep saying goodbye to kids I love and want to stay with.

I miss the interns who became part of our family as we served, worked, talked, and played together.

I miss the School of Mission students and their incredible examples of discipleship, humility, and love.

I miss the beautiful devotionals and talented worship team. SO much talent in one place.

I miss the leaders and their inspiring words, unified vision, and powerful testimonies.

Thank you everyone for the visual reminder and testimony that with God all things are possible

July 11th: The Most Inspiring Car Ride Ever with the Lawyer Turned House Dad

I had the most inspiring car ride to San Diego yesterday. The border crossing was long and I am so glad!

I got to ride with a man who has been serving at the mission for several years. He is loved and respected by all and the kids adore him. He is a lawyer by trade, but chose a life of service and faith instead of other things that were offered to him.

He shared some beautiful stories of the experiences he has had and gave me incredible advice related to the stories that I don’t want to forget, so I want to write it down here so that I remember. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful too.

(He was speaking in Spanish so none of these quotes are direct quotes, just me paraphrasing and translating and sharing what I learned from his stories).

1. Write down the experiences, promptings, and reasons you are doing this and have your husband do the same. Then combine them and treasure them.

When you get to the times where things are really hard and you wonder if you’ve made a mistake, pull out what you wrote to remind yourself why you’re doing it.

2. At times you may wonder when God is going to show up because things are not going like you planned or hoped. Remember that He ALWAYS shows up. He always comes through.

Instead of looking around with a doubting heart, look around and say, “God, I can’t wait to see what surprise you have in store for me to fix this situation!”

3. Start small. Start with 4 or 5 kids and figure things out together. You’ll make mistakes and you’ll learn from them.

4. Make an annual plan and budget. God wants us to rely on him but also to do our best with the resources He gives us.

5. Get rid of the “orphan” mentality. He said, “I was an orphan because I lived in the streets without parents, but we are all orphans in that we are deprived of some advantage or understanding.” We all have the ability to change that by increasing our advantage and understanding. The kids don’t need pity, they need to know they are capable.

6. God will provide what you need. He said he has seen it time and time again when he was short on something he and his family needed. From a bottle of shampoo to a certain verdict on a hearing (he told me the incredible stories related to the shampoo and the hearing).

7. God speaks to us in a personalized way so look for him in everything. (Story of his skeptical nature and of the miracle of healing he saw that started him on his walk with Jesus.)

8. God will put the right words in our mouth when we need them (story of a woman he spoke to after her son had died of cancer) which led him to say:

9. Don’t ask “why” (porque), instead ask “what for” (para que)

10. Love the kids no matter their behavior. Pray for it. That’s how Jesus loves. You should correct and teach but always with love; not judgement, condemnation, or anger. Some of them have been through more horrific things than we can imagine.

11. God puts pieces and people in place and leads us there…this is often the case when things aren’t working out like we planned or hoped. He is leading us to his greater plan for us and those we serve (story of his food drive).

12. God blesses us more abundantly than any sacrifice we make. He said, lI am not paid to teach at the junior high but what I get from it is so much and so good that I feel like I am in debt to God for the opportunity.”

I know it wasn’t coincidence that I got to spend time with this good man and hear his stories and wisdom. God is so good

I am so blessed to meet so may of his faithful servants lately!

July 12th - The Gift of Time Together

Super thankful today for amazing family who loves us and bought all our family tickets to Universal Studios and Disneyland!

I haven’t been to Universal Studios since I was like 15 or so. It’s completely changed in 30 years. All I recognized from back then was Jaws and the courthouse from Back to the Future

I kept thinking of my missionary son (miss him so much!) who wants to make movies someday and how someone started just like him… with a dream in his heart. I though of how he must have gotten started… probably similar to my William: creating a scene in his mind and a prop here and there, then playing with camera angles.

And then the whole world changed.

What is one of the dreams in your heart?

July 15th - The Sound of Freedom Movie

We went to watch The Sound of Freedom yesterday before heading to the beach.

I cried from the first time the I saw the little girl’s trusting smile at the beginning of the movie (exactly the way my little girl smiles when she’s proud) until the very end.

At the beach, as I watched my children play, my mind would ask how little Coen or Joy with their sweet trust and innocence would react if placed in a situation like those portrayed in the movie.

Even the beginning of that thought was too much to bear.

What wouldn’t I do to find my children if they were taken? I’d dedicate my life to finding them.

My kids are safe with me. But it doesn’t change the fact that other kids are not. This is at the heart of why we moved to Mexico… to create a safe place for children to learn and to heal from their wounds and be able to trust again.

As crazy as it is to have no income now and to be starting all over in a new country, I hold on to the fact that God loves His children and He is going to help us.

I know much of that help with come through you! We saw first hand at our internship at The Mission Orphanage that a community of people united under an inspired cause has tremendous power.

As soon as we have the infrastructure, we will be praying for volunteers to hear about what we are doing and to come and help. Will you help us get the word out?

Right now we could really use donations to prepare this safe place. Even small amounts add up. Especially if you can commit a little each month.

We have 7 monthly donors right now, we love you and are so honored by your trust. We will find a way to thank you someday for being the first to believe enough in this work to commit to it, and for the strength that this trust gives us as we try to get started. You can make a monthly donation here: https://findyourpathmission.org/donate

(All donations are tax deductible.)

I know we can all do so much to help these kids with the love and hope we’ve been blessed with.

Have you seen Sound of Freedom? How did it affect you?

July 20th : Interesting Conversation After Arriving at the Next Internship in Tijuana

We were talking to a girl who lives here in Tijuana (rated #1 city for crime in the world) and I told her that my friend who was with us is from Connecticut, near New York.

She said, “Oh no! I could never go to New York. it’s so dangerous with gangs and things isn’t it?”

A little later I was talking to a couple of boys who live here and they asked me how many years it takes to complete High School in the US. I told them, and one of them said, ”But the schools in the United States are very dangerous aren’t they?” I asked why he thought so and he said, “Because of all the shootings.”

These kids observations made me and my friend laugh because she had been a little afraid initially to travel to Tijuana too.

I guess no matter where we’re from, we are all a bit afraid of what’s unfamiliar

July 21st: Satan's Attacks

When your trying to do something good for others, God opens the way for you. We have seen that again and again from the timing on selling our home, to people stepping up to help, to the path we are walking right now to learn what we need to learn.

But Satan also tries relentlessly to stop you. It seems he knows our weakest spots and attacks at them with all he has.

It’s an interesting dichotomy.

Our family has certainly felt those attacks lately. It’s been super hard. Please pray for us.

But there’s been some amazing things too and we’ve grown in important ways

July 22nd: God Prepares Us for What's Ahead

God has a way of preparing us for what’s ahead.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the earwigs in our room at our internship and how it was the biggest trial we had in that beautiful place.

Well, a couple of days ago I helped get some dirt out from behind some buildings. Guess what came out when I’d put my shovel in the dirt? Lots and lots of earwigs. I had unintentionally cuddled them enough in bed by this point that it didn’t phase me, even though I was wearing sandals. There were some big spiders and long millipedes that phased me a bit, but I was still okay.

When the scorpion emerged however, I decided it was time to get some tennis shoes on and long pants.

I got to thinking how the earwigs prepared me for the scorpion and the scorpion is probably preparing me for the variety of bugs we will find in the jungle

In what ways have you seen God preparing you for what’s ahead?

July 25th: The Incredible People on Service Trips

One of the best parts of going on a service trip is the incredible volunteers I get to meet or be reunited with.

I think it’s because takes a certain kind of person to sacrifice their vacation time, money, and other obligations, to pay to sleep on bunk beds with little privacy, take cold showers, do manual labor, and play with kids they don’t yet know.

I have met the most incredible people on these trips and this last time was no exception! I wish I could live next door to each of them. But as it is, I will have to hope we can meet here again or at our place in Quintana Roo.

Thank you guys for exemplifying Christlike love to these beautiful children

July 28th: Inner Struggles: Are We On the Right Track?

This is Dallin hand washing his clothes, trying to get cement mix off of them after working a long day helping to build a wall.

My mind has struggled with fear the last few days. Fear that I didn’t have my priorities in alignment at some point when making the decision to move to Mexico.

I prayed a lot, attended the temple, read scriptures and tried to make sure my heart was right and that pride wasn’t interfering with the desires in my heart. Bill did the same. But I am weak and maybe I missed something I should have paid attention to along the way.

I know that my priorities are 1) God 2) Family and 3) The rest of God’s children. Some of our latest struggles had me wondering if this was best for my family or if I was sacrificing time needed for them in order to serve others. I was scared that we had been misguided somewhere in the decision-making process.

Watching Dallin scrub cement off his clothes by hand made me feel so proud of him. This isn’t easy. We are all mosquito bitten and tired. But I haven’t heard him once complain. Instead, the other day he said,

“I am grateful for these experiences because I think about where these kids would be if someone hadn’t decided to help. That help has made such a difference in their lives and it inspires me to be someone who is also willing to help and to be more happy about what we’re trying to do.”

Later, Jess sent me this scripture:

Psalms 84:11

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give Grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

The “good thing” I am so afraid of losing is time with my kids and family. This promise was so comforting.

The rest of the kids have also inspired me with their strength, kindness, resilience, and love.

What great examples they are to me!

(I also received a sweet answer to prayer this morning that we’re on the right track. I hope God isn’t frustrated with me for needing so many assurances, but I don’t think so because He is so patient and keeps giving me just enough of what I need to have the faith to keep moving forward.)

July 29th: Zoo Day

Zoo day with the older kids. What a blessing to know so many incredible people