More Like Myself Again

[Above: Thought I'd share a picture from the summer of my roommate Jess (fellow missionary), myself, our two interns, and some friends.]

I'm finding myself outside of my "normal routine" now that I am visiting back in Des Moines for two weeks. I arrived Tuesday night after two long days of travel. I'm sure I will very much enjoy my stay here, visiting with friends, giving updates on Monterrey and TIME Ministries, and seeing my parents for the weekend.

I also now am actually remembering to update my blog. I had thought about it a couple days before I left Monterrey, but didn't yet get around to it. So now, here it is! :)

About a week ago, or maybe it was more, I found myself singing in the shower at the top of my lungs, spurred on by hearing Jess, my roommate, practicing her clarinet, playing some hymns. Hymns are some of my favourite songs. I grew up on them, so they mean that much more to me. I realized as I was singing that it had been probably the first time I really let go and started singing like none other since arriving in Monterrey. Now, that doesn't mean I hadn't sung at all, just not to the extent I was doing right then and there. I used to sing a LOT around the house in Des Moines (as long as Amy wasn't there to get annoyed by me). So to realize that I was singing again like before was a real encouragement to me. It felt like I was starting to return to my "normal" self.

I don't know if you've ever moved before, not even to an entirely different country with a different language, but when you do make a move, it takes a while before you feel like yourself again. So it was really good to feel like I was starting to feel a little bit more like myself in as far as noticing myself singing again like before. God is good!

Psalm 63:3-5
"Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you."

Settling In And Settlers of Catan

Have you ever played Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights? Or another Settlers of Catan game? It is complicated! Do you remember the first time playing it and being explained the rules? Daunting, isn't it?

A week into my settling down into my new home here in Monterrey, I played Settlers of Catan for the first time. The next day we played a more complicated version, Cities and Knights. As I was being explained the rules, I realized how well learning this game depicted learning the "game" of settling into a different country, into my new home here in Monterrey, Mexico.

Just as I had some familiarity of the Cities and Knights game from playing Settlers the day before, I do have some familiarity with this place here, with the people, with the Spanish language and the hispanic culture. However, there's still a whole lot more rules to learn for this version living here vs. visiting.

As I was listening to all the new rules for Cities and Knights and trying to understand it all, I felt overwhelmed and like I was not going to do so well in this game. I wondered why I had agreed to play it. That's often how I feel here: overwhelmed and wondering if I could do this, thinking it'd be easier to just not "play the game," but still wanting to.

And here's another thing that relates. Everytime I asked a question about the game, I'd get the answer and so much more! To the point where I wasn't sure I wanted to ask any more questions. Every time I ask a question about living here, I get my answer and so much more! Sometimes more than I can take at the time.

Plenty of times (more so in the Settlers game than Cities and Knights), I'd try and do something only to find out that it wasn't something I could do. And I'm sure there were times that I could've done something but didn't realize it in time to do it. Living in another country is about learning as you go, learning from mistakes, and doing better with new opportunities as your understanding grows.

Want to know how I did in the game? I didn't win, but I didn't lose desperately. I was a contender in the game! I had a chance of winning. And best of all, I enjoyed playing the game! What an encouragement to me! When I'm feeling overwhelmed and wondering why I chose to play this "game" I'll remind myself that if I just play the game, at the end I'll be able to say I enjoyed it.

A Preview of What's To Come

I just got back from another visit to Monterrey, Mexico. I was there for about two weeks and it was so good to be back there again. It was a re-energizing time for what's soon to come.

I say it was a preview for what's soon to come for several reasons. First, we got a glimpse of what ministry will look like in Monterrey again. After a year of no groups, we had Grace Bible Church of Chicago come for their annual Springtime missions trip. Our ministry has taken new directions within this past year, so this veteran group got a taste of starting up something new instead of completing tasks and seeing final results as they have in the years past. They were such a great group to start us off again! Not only were they flexible, but they were responsible and spiritually mature, able to handle what was in store for them. Instead of doing their usual cement roof-pour and park ministry (which they still did a bit of at the church, as pictured right), we did some painting jobs and English conversation within a school and in the church. Instead of being physically exhausted, we all were mentally exhausted, but with good results. This is a new ministry we hope to build up, going into schools and also inviting university students into the church to practice their English. It will be a way to make the church known to the people and the first steps to connecting them to a church, and more so to connecting them to a relationship with God.

This group also got to enjoy intermingling with their "sister" church that was started this past August by our fellow missionary, Douglas Gibson. Grace Bible Church has helped to start and support this new church, Iglesia Biblica La Gracia (also Grace Bible Church). It was a great time to see believers from two cultures and languages coming together to praise and worship God, as well as a preview for how we can better connect future groups with the national church. Really, it was a preview for what heaven will be like!

[Our end-of-the-week program for the group, church members, and those invited from the English conversation classes. The night included songs, skits, a short message, and, of course, food!]

Finally, it was also a preview for what's to come for me as I prepare to make my move down there soon. God willing, I will be making my move down there mid-May. Just a month to get things ready here, pack up and go! It was very helpful and necessary for me to be able to talk with the team there about what this ministry will look like in the next coming years. I also got to enjoy seeing the house where I will be living with another TIME missionary, Jessica Heagy. I got to familiarize myself a bit more with the area so that hopefully I will know how to drive to the basic places I'll be going to regularly. Out of all my times in Mexico, this time felt the most like it was home. Praise God!

[Our 2-level house, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom (two bathtubs--very uncommon for Mexico!). I was very excited that my bathroom curtains, etc. that I had brought from Iowa match perfectly with the bathroom! We will also be housing our female intern this summer. I can't wait to furnish and decorate the house!]

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.