Our First Week in Mexico

We just finished our first of three weeks at FMC's mission in General Cepeda, Mexico. We left after dinner last Friday evening and drove through the night, arriving at the Mexican border around 8:00 Saturday morning. We ended up getting stuck there for five hours because there was some kind of issue the people at the immigration office were having with the vans we had rented.

As four of the guys sat in line after line and tried to work things out, the rest of us prayed and interceded for them and the people that didn't want to let us through. For some of the time, a large group of us sang praise & worship in the parking lot. Rebekah, one of the girls riding in our van, brought out her ukulele and sang praise with the kids and the others in the van with us at the time. I was edified by her prayers of praise and thanksgiving to God for giving us the opportunity to offer up the circumstance we found ourselves in amid our tiredness from the night of driving and our restlessness to get to our destination.

Just the week prior, we had been given a talk on praise, thanksgiving and rejoicing, and how central they are to the Christian life, and essential to being a missionary. Scripture is full of verses about praising and thanking God (particularly in the Psalms) and rejoicing in all circumstances. St. Paul exhorts us in Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice! ...Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:4, 6-7) The Catechism tells us that “every joy and suffering, every event and need can become the matter for thanksgiving which, sharing in that of Christ, should fill one's whole life” (CCC 2648). It references 1 Thes. 5:18 which says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This talk was a potentially life-changing one for both Robert and I – if we can truly live it out! And getting stuck at the border was the perfect opportunity to practice praising, rejoicing, and thanking God when we wouldn't normally feel like it.

As we approached General Cepeda, we were struck by the beauty of the area with all the mountains (which the locals apparently call hills as they are technically foothills, but to a Minnesota girl, they're mountains). We were told that the altitude here is one mile high. The town, which has a population of roughly 11,000 people, is what I would think of as a stereotypical Mexican town: colorful buildings, mariachi music playing outside store fronts, and warm, welcoming people. We are staying at the mission house in the downtown area, which was originally built in the 1700s as servants quarters. The night we got here, John Paul said, “I could get used to this!” and as I was tucking Annabelle in for bed, she said she wanted to live here forever.

Throughout this past week we have continued some of the same things we did at Big Woods in Louisiana: community prayer and meals, assigned chores, our Acts of the Apostles and Mission of the Redeemer studies, and a weekly “desert day.” But the biggest difference is that most evenings (and some days) we go out to the “ranchos” (small, rural communities) in the vicinity to hold Communion or prayer services at the local chapel. This has been an awesome experience and opportunity for us to meet the people here and learn a little bit about their particular needs.

Community meals

A General Cepeda neighborhood

Most of the time, when we get to the rancho, we go door-to-door inviting people to come to the chapel for the communion/prayer service. Unlike in America, it isn't considered rude to bang on a person's door and yell, “Buenos dias!” to get them to answer the door. The people we've talked to have been so kind despite us not knowing Spanish and having t

o read our invitation to them (completely botching some of the words).

A rancho chapel

Lots of kids have been coming to the chapel at most of the ranchos we've visited. At one, they

Lauren playing Duck, Duck, Goose with kids

gathered outside and played loudly while the adults were inside for the prayer service. I went outside with our kids not long after the service started because they were getting antsy and it seemed to draw even more kids over. It's amazing how the language barrier doesn't seem to matter with kids. They interact and play just as well as if they spoke the same language. I had many girls coming up to me asking questions about baby Aaron (What's his name? How old is he? Can I hold him?). Lauren, one of girls going through intake with us, organized a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” for the little kids while Robert, John Paul, and some other missionary kids played another made-up game with the bigger kids. That prayer service lasted particularly long because most of the people there asked to be prayed over, so the kids were able to play for quite awhile.

Someone shared that at a rancho they visited, an older woman was out of breath as she came to the chapel after they rang the bells indicating that there was going to be a communion service. She said she had been out in the field working with her 99-year-old father when she heard the bells ringing and came running. She shared that she has been feeling forgotten by the Church because the priest rarely visits that rancho and there's a lack of presence at the chapel there. At the mission house, there's a map of all the ranchos in the vicinity and there's simply too many for the amount of missionaries here to effectively minister to

them all. Just another reminder that the Church is in desperate need of more missionaries!!

Playing outside with kids after a Bible Study at a rancho chapel

Gathering outside a rancho chapel to talk with people

Singing fun songs just before a prayer service starts

Inside a rancho chapel

This coming week, we will likely be finding out which country our family will be getting sent to for our first mission post. We'll try to write another post next week to make the announcement! The

following week, we will serve alongside people coming here for a week-long mission trip. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving during this trip by inviting the poor to come to the mission house for a feast!

Throughout this coming week, I encourage you to practice praising and thanking God in every circumstance and in all things, and rejoicing even – no, especially! - in your trials and hardships. It's hard to do when you feel like complaining, but not only will it glorify God but it will change your perspective. It's harder to feel upset or worried about something when you're praising and thanking God for His Providential care for you and for all the good things in your life, even simple things that we take for granted like a warm house, indoor plumbing, and clean drinking water.

An outhouse at someone's house on a rancho

Be grateful for all that you have.