Times, They Are A-Changin'

It has been almost nine months since I last blogged. I may not have any readers anymore. I guess that's okay for now. I deserve it I'm sure. :p

The last year has been jam-packed full of changes. And everything has happened so fast my head hasn't stopped spinning all year. Let's see, my last posting was from Mexico City. That was a busy trip, the main thing we did was develop a discipleship course.

After I got back from Mexico I started doing odd, unwanted administrative jobs for Immanuel Fellowship. One in particular was to stalk (ahem, I mean "find") every person who's ever been a part of the church over the last ten years so that we could invite them to a ten year reunion. It was a chore. We've been a church for ten years, well almost eleven as the even was last Easter, and I've been a part for nine. I'm glad I've had the chance to see a church "grow up" in core values and vision the way I've seen Immanuel do over the years. It's been exciting to see it all unfold from nearly the beginning. But I think the next ten years will be even more exciting.

After my exemplary stalking, I was given more administrative tasks, until I was hired officially and for pay in June. Since then I have worked full time as the administrative/fundraising/techy/graphic-designing/secretarial/webmaster/finance-person of the church. It's been a great fit. I am the church's first full-time employee other than the pastor. Because of this there has been a lot of catch-up work to do like organizing things around here that have never been organized. That's not always so fun. However, to compensate I've gotten to learn Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver, which have all been quite fun. That's not the half of the new things I've learned on this job, but the list is long so I'll leave you with the fun ones.

This job is different and throws new challenges my way every week. I've been constantly learning the last five months since I started working full time. I feel like I've learned enough to get another associate's degree. It's been fun. The thing I always hated about every other job was that once I learned it there would never be anything new to learn. Learning excites me, even when it's frustrating. For this reason I have promised myself several times that I would never work in an office again. There are boring office days with this job, but at least I know that when I finish the boring job there will be a much more interesting one after. There aren't too many very dull jobs around here.

Also, I've transferred to CSU Global, and am finally in my third year of college. At this rate I hope to graduate by thirty. I'm getting my degree in Organizational Leadership with a specialization in non-profits. Online is not so bad as I thought and actually I'm liking it so far. I'm generally excited about life when I'm not dizzy with at the good changes. :D

busy busy

Yes, I know my mom asked me to blog a lot while I was in Mexico but I've been a lot busier than expected. It seems like I've spent part of every day out and about. Mexicans are such welcoming people and a lot of my time has been spent out with people from the church here. We've also been working on several projects.

One is that we are developing a discipleship course. This requires a whole little team of us. Mike is adapting and in some cases rewriting discipleship material we got from a church in Texas. Then Anissa and Irma translate it into French and Spanish respectively. After all this I am the one who does all the formatting to get the three versions all looking alike and pretty. Anissa, Miri, Abby, and I have then been going through the course together. This last part, naturally is my favorite and the most fun as we've gotten to know each other better through it.

Also, the young people at the church here decided to do the Lifehouse skit which the MDS used last year. So we made sure that all the challenging roles went to those who actually live here (so Anissa and I both gave up our roles from last year and took simpler parts) so that they can easily replace us and do it later without us. Mike named me the director of this production at the last minute which was unexpected. I was kind of nervous and generally I try to avoid being in a position of relative authority, but it went really well. We learned the drama, though we never had the opportunity to preform it. I'll admit I had fun being the director, though working with highschoolers is like hearding cats, lol. Once when they were almost too hyper to practice I made them run through the skit and say everything their character was thinking. They begged and promised to be good, but I made them anyway. It was hilarious. :p

Anissa and I also went through, cleaned, and organized the kitchen and other parts of the house. We grocery shopped, cooked and ate a lot. (O my, we ate a lot. You can't help it when you're in Mexico, and with all these wonderful tacos I can't object.) And did a little bit of sight-seeing, though as we've all lived here before we didn't need to do much of that.

I hope that catches all interested parties up on my life in Mexico so far. ;)

a bit of forethought

I really never give God enough credit.  I live my life as if He might forget me one of these days.  I know better, I really do.  I have read and heard and seen and experienced enough to know that God is not going to forget me, not even in little ways.  However, there is a disconnect somewhere between my brain and heart.  

Somewhere between my brain and my heart a lot of little pieces of truth about who God is just get lost and thus are never lived out in my life.  I am reading a book called "Jesus, the One and Only" by Beth Moore.  I'm at the beginning, the part where Gabriel tells Mary she's going to have a baby and He will be the Savior.  (Luke 1:26-56)  The author points out a little something that I have neve thought about before.

Picture this, Mary is about thirteen, engaged, and a virgin.  Her pregnancy with the coming Messiah will be a bit tricky to explain; no one's going to believe for a second that she's still a virgin - not even her own parents.  Back then this was a huge deal; Mary is probably going to be dumped by her fiancé and is now a potential candidate for stoning.  These facts have always left me in awe of Mary's bravery and her willingness to obey God.

Now in this turmoil look at verse 36.  God could've had John the Baptist born into any family.  God chose Mary's older cousin Elizabeth.  God gave Mary someone who would understand her pregnancy, someone she could talk to without being condemned, one friend to defend her and back up her story.  I never before realized how much Mary would need a friend, someone to tell her parents to believe her story.  God didn't just commission Mary to carry baby Jesus, He also took care of all the details.

I know God takes care of details, but I've never really thought of Him as someone who takes care of "unimportant" things like relationships.  I tend to expect Him to leave me alone in that area.  A new truth for the mind, but can it break through to my heart?

Regresado a Mexico

I know, a post titled "Returned to Mexico" should've been published a week and a half ago upon my arrival, but I've been much busier than I was expecting.  

I am visiting the church in Mexico for three weeks.  This trip wasn't planned very far in advance and I wasn't too very excited.  Don't get me wrong - I was very happy to be coming back to Mexico City, I guess I was just so busy the weeks leading up to my trip that I didn't really have time for it to sink in. 

It hit me about the time that the million lights of the city came into view outside the window of the airplane.  Suddenly this contented warmth filled me as I gazed out my window.  How can I describe it without sounding trite?  Only someone who loves this city would understand.  Can I explain how it feels to come home to a place where you only lived for four months?  Or the thrill of defying death in the notorious traffic of the D.F.*?  The familiarity of the gigantic billboards that line every major street?  The buildings painted colors that would be considered scandalously bright in the U.S.?  The tacos?  

I can't explain this city, but those who have been here and fallen in love with it know.  There's something about this city that's intoxicating.  Maybe it's the population of 40 million.  Maybe it's the feeling of excitement and a little danger that makes it seem like anything could happen.  Maybe it's the myriad of subtle cultural differences that just keep life new and interesting.  It could simply be the fact that I traded three feet of snow in my yard for summer weather and a garden full of flowers.  Whatever the case, I feel like I'm standing at the center of the world when I'm here and I'm so glad to be back.

*Distrito Federal, otherwise known as Mexico City. ;) 

I am now an official graduate of CMC and the proud holder of an Associates degree. Well, not too proud as a degree from a junior college is only really the halfway point I guess and anyone with such a degree is left with the glaring question, "Now what?" No matter what I choose though, it's nice to have it finished.