I Will Praise Him!

"I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." Ps. 63:4

5...4...3...2...1...Happy New Year! Whoo, done with 2010. What a relief. Now please let 2011 be easier. That was how I felt bringing in the new year. Yes, I know that 2010 was a good year in which I grew and had to trust in God...a lot! So much change, challenges, and waiting. I was tired from 2010. Does a day, a new digit in the year, really make a difference? Okay, so maybe not. I still have to wait and trust in the Lord and take it one step at a time. But there's something to say for looking back on a year and looking ahead to a new one.

So that's what I did the other night. I went to a coffee shop and settled in to focus on the praises. I went month by month and thought of how God provided for me, cared for me, encouraged me, taught me, blessed me. My year has been full of God's blessings! It changed my outlook on the year, and I was encouraged by it.

So, in looking forward to 2011, I decided to reinforce what I had learned through my missionary training and through this experience. Instead of waiting till the year is completed, I would record my thanksgiving and praise each day. Each day is filled with God's blessings, and I will praise Him as long as I live, day by day!

Visiting

It's been a while since another update, so I'll just write a quick, short update for those wondering how and what I'm doing. This past weekend I took a short trip down to just north of Kansas City, MO to visit Rick Jacobsen, the Director of Operations of TIME Ministries who is in charge of taking care of the missionaries in many aspects. He used to be a missionary down in Monterrey and so I had worked with him previously as an intern when he was the site director there. It was good to visit where they are now States-side, catching up with them and seeing their new place. God has blessed them in this new place and position. On this nice, relaxing weekend I was able to go through with Rick much about support-raising and what it will look like concerning finances as a missionary. It was helpful. I find that when I begin to get discouraged or just worn out through this journey, God brings a way to give me a pick-me-up. This weekend was one of those.

Exiting My World. Entering Yours.

First, I want to introduce you a little to my current world. I am at the end of my first week of three at Missions Training International in a very nice hotel/lodge-like place in Colorado. There are 39 people in the program, and this group seems particularly young with many in their twenties, some married with children, some just married, and quite a few singles. It has been a good group thus far and I feel very blessed to be here. We spend our days with classes from 8:00-4:00 with breaks and meals in between and left to spend our evenings as we wish, often with games and good conversation. I'm enjoying the beauty of Colorado. Just today I hiked up Mount Herman nearby. It was so beautiful.

(view outside my window! There's a train,though not very visible here in the picture)

(at the top of Mt. Herman)

(view of Pike's Peak from Mt. Herman)

One of the main things that we are discussing and learning here at Missions Training International in Colorado is about exiting your own world to enter the world of others. This is a fact of missionaries, but one of the most striking things about what we've discussed is that this concept of learning to exit your own frame of reference and entering into another's is that we do not have to wait for "missionary training" or for actually going onto the field to practice and learn this. It is an everyday part of our lives. Our training field is here and now, most importantly with the family and friends we come in contact with every day.

I want to and attempt to go "cross-cultural" and understand another world, and God may very well be laughing from up above (with grace) saying to me, "Karen, you want to leave your world and enter into this new world in Mexico? You can't even do it with the people that are around you now! Start there first!" You see, how many times have I expected others to see and do things my way, to enter into my world? When was the last time I initiated entering into someone else's world? And especially with my family? I can't say I've done a very good job. I've been missing out on my missions training all these years!

But today is a new day, with many opportunities to practice this yet. And only by God's grace, will I be able to do this. It is only by crying out "God, help!" that I can truly even attempt to "cross cultures." So I challenge you to think through this: how much do you really seek to exit your own world and enter into someone else's? Cry out to God today that He would enable you to do this as He did this for us, leaving His heavenly world to enter into ours. Praise the Lord that Jesus Christ did this for us!

In Training

Yesterday I flew into Colorado Springs to start my three weeks with Missions Training International. The travel day is becoming more and more familiar. Everything went well. Actually, my last flight was delayed because power went out in Colorado Springs airport so we were unable to take off for it, but it turned out for the better because then I got to get something to eat.
I am excited for this program. I was looking forward to it before arrival, although I didn't know what to expect. Now that I've gotten to see a little bit of what this will be like, I think it'll be really good. I do think it'll be a lot of stretching and growing and "peeling back the layers" which is not very comfortable, but good and essential. There are 39 people total in this program and the place is really nice, especially the view.
Hopefully I will update more on how things are going as I get further into it.

Encouraged

Being a new missionary working on raising support is a rollercoaster. Some days I'm so excited as I look forward and other days I get discouraged because I am not there yet. God is teaching me patience and how to wait on Him, trusting Him. I won't say that it's easy, but God is keeping me strong in faith, praise the Lord! And overall, I am still encouraged and excited for what God has in store for me.

I recently went to Dallas for a TIME Ministries board meeting, with a lot of discussion (which wore me out). I was encouraged to hear from the others that I am doing well with raising my support. Sometimes it's hard to see that. I can't say I've done it before or really have any idea of what to expect, so it was very encouraging to hear from others who are more familiar with the process that I am doing well. And it lifts my spirits to hear this when I know that the economy is not good and there are many changes going on. If I can see God continuing to provide for my support during these times, then I know that God is leading me still to go to Monterrey. It's good. I needed that encouragement and it keeps me going, continuing to wait on God, one step at a time.

I Will Go

So I decided that in order to encourage myself and "keep the faith" as I wait through this process of raising support, I would make an"acts of faith" list: things that remind me and show me that I will indeed be leaving for Mexico through God's provision. One of those things is making a CD of some of the songs that have been influential to me these past two years on the path to missions.

There's one song by Marcela Gandara that talks about being a long journey but at last arriving, and being exactly where God wants me. This song motivated me with the idea of this CD. I want to make this CD and play it when I move there! And I know that there will be times after I have moved that I will waiver, and I would like to have this CD to remind me of God's calling.

So I've been starting to put it together, and though there are many songs on there that mean so much to me, I will share simply one with you now. This song was our theme song at the Fall spiritual emphasis retreat (at ICA) after the first summer interning in Mexico with TIME. That summer was when I really began to think about if I wanted to go into missions instead of teaching. I came home from Mexico knowing I wanted to go back for more, but still not sure about if I wanted to make this my new life. At first in hearing this song, I couldn't sing it! The words meant so much more for me to sing than I think it did for the rest of the people in that room. But being the theme song, it was sung again and again and again! By the end of the retreat, I allowed myself to sing along, beginning to truly believe what I sang. The song is entitled, "I Will Go" by Starfield.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg1_KXcrg-8&feature=related

God's Existence

No matter where I go,

I sense God's existence.

He's above all that I can ever imagine,

His vastness fills the heavens of heaven.

His presence secures me in that

All will be well.

He brightens my world,

Even at the darkest hour.

I close my eyes and feel His power.

God sets my feet on level ground.

God's existence, yes, sustains my existence!

~Rogers N., PA~

I really like that poem (written by an inmate in the Crossroads Bible Institute program), and thought it appropriate in reflecting on this past summer. One thing that I will most take away from this summer is the evidence seen that God exists, He knows all things, and His ways are perfect and higher than my ways (Isaiah 55:8,9).

I say this because the plan was to go to Monterrey, Mexico for the summer to join in helping with groups coming there. However, that was changed when unrest began to be seen in the area and groups were cancelled. So instead, the missionaries went to the Dallas and Dominican Republic sites. And even though I was disappointed, it was for the better. God showed in so many ways that His way for the summer was higher than my way. Let me tell you why.

First, there was some unrest in the area, and although the summer probably would have been fine concerning this, it was wiser to wait and let things settle down and understand the situation better. We plan to continue with groups there again this next summer. Also, it was good for the Monterrey missionaries to help at the Dallas site in order for it to function more smoothly there, and for us to see what opportunities there are there. I think the most exciting thing for me to see there was the work done through the VBS at the church and at several apartment complexes. What an opportunity there is to minister to people within apartment complexes--something I wouldn't have thought of! The last week we did VBS at an apartment near the church we're connected with. There, two girls, referred to (by themselves) as Taylor 1 and Taylor 2, prayed to accept Christ! Praise the Lord for the work He did in Dallas this summer!

Then, there was also the opportunity for myself and another missionary (Jess Heagy) to visit the Dominican Republic site. It was enjoyable to be able to see a new country, meet some new faces, and get some new perspectives. It was a personal learning experience for me, and for Jess it was refreshing to feel like she was on a missions trip again. We both enjoyed a day in a village called Cercadillo, where a missionary is providing work for the women there through sewing. It was very enjoyable to see how TIME works in the D.R., especially to see how they build a chapel in a week, and put it up in a day! That's a way to provide for churches there that really takes experiencing it to fully appreciate it.

Oh, and did I mention that hurricane Alex affected Monterrey so much as to bring major flooding, wiping out major streets? Yeah, that would have been when we had a group. That would have been interesting and I'm quite sure that week would not have been very effective. They say that clean-up will take about six months there.

So you have an overall snapshot of the summer now and I hope that you too can see the evidence of God's existence and the fact that He knows all and cares for us enough to work out things for the better. "His presence secures me in that all will be well." Seeing the evidence of this spurred me on to continue to believe that what God has in store for me is bigger and better than whatever my way may be. Though I may think I understand which way would be best, I have a God that sees all things and will carry out His will in the best way, all to His glory! And I can rest in this knowledge.

So I say, "God's existence, yes, sustains my existence!"