Flat Stanley visits Oaxaca

Last week Flat Stanley arrived here at the children's home unexpectedly.  I had no idea he was coming, and it turned out he couldn't stay long. He had spent two months traveling from Colorado to Oaxaca, and had to get back to his friend Bailey in Washington by the end of the month.  He was also pretty short on cash when he finally got here, so we spent a day seeing the sites in Oaxaca, those you can see on a limited budget.

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We started our tour with a stop in a store so Stanley could understand where exactly he was.

Oaxaca is the red state he is pointing to on this puzzle of Mexico.

We saw the beautiful church of Santo Domingo, but there was a big crowd outside of it.  Stanley didn't want to be in the middle of a lot of people that day, so we moved on.

 We did go inside of a cathedral, which was also very beautiful.

 We saw very colorful buildings on every street.

 We went to a store where women artisans can sell the things they make.  Here Stanley poses with tin artwork.  Can you tell what all the fruit/vegetables in the picture are?

 Stanley wanted to try on some shirts.  It turned out they weren't really his size...

 We saw some little wooden creatures called alebrijes.
Stanley was brave enough to stand in the middle of all these porcupines.

 Stanley thought this chair was pretty great, since it was so close to his size.
He took a quick rest on it.

We walked on this road known as the tourist walkway.
A special road in the middle of town just for people to walk on!

 Stanley was excited to find a Chinese food restaurant.  But it was too early for lunch.

 He wanted to ride in a taxi, but I reminded him of his lack of funds.

Maybe next time... :)

 Another quick break after so much walking around.

A street market!

Churros!  Mmm!

 Special Oaxacan cheese!  Mmmm!

 Fried grasshoppers!  Mmm...?

Special chocolate only made in Oaxaca.

Stanley thought these balloon toys were pretty great, too.

Stanley was kind enough to help me do some grocery shopping.
Frosted Flakes just like in the United States!  Only the name is a little different...

 Finally time for lunch!  My friend Kayla shared her slice of pizza with Flat Stanley.  He thought it was weird that we put ketchup on pizza here, until he tried it, and then he decided he liked it too.

 On the way home, we stopped to see the Tule (pronounced too-lay) tree
- it has the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world!

 We also stopped by ancient ruins on the way home.
These structures were built thousands of years ago!

 Once we got back to the children's home where I live,
Stanley and I took a walk around the property.  He thought the
"Sleeping Lady" on the mountain was pretty neat.  Can you see her?

 This is the apartment complex I live in.  Nice view!

It was starting to rain a little bit, so Stanley chilled on the porch for a while.  He seemed to think that being in the rain wasn't good for his health...

 This is the bell that the children ring every day before breakfast, lunch, and dinner
to let us know when it is time to eat.

This is our dining hall where everyone comes together to eat.
You have a big family when you live at a children's home!

This is the courtyard in the middle of the home where the children live with their houseparents.
On really hot days the kids sometimes swim in the fountain.

 We stopped to say hello to Peppa.  She is a dog who came to the home when she was just a little puppy and has quickly grown into a big dog!

 I showed Stanley one of my favorite trees here - a jacaranda tree.  In the spring time its branches fill with beautiful purple flowers and then its leaves come out and turn it green again.

  To finish up our day, we went to the little town near where I live for tacos.

 This is the trompo (spinning top) of pork that they make tacos al pastor from.

 Checking out the options on the menu.  Hamburgers, Sandwiches, Drinks, Tacos, or Cheeses...
A hamburger with fries is 30 Mexican pesos - that's only $1.75 US Dollars!

 We got the tacos to go, because it was a late night and Stanley had to get ready 
for his trip back to Washington, via Canada.

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It was fun to spend the day with Stanley.  I visted places in Oaxaca that I like to go, but sometimes don't have time for anymore.  Also, people enjoyed seeing Stanley.  Usually vendors here don't like it if you take a picture of what they're selling without buying anything first.  But whenever we asked if Stanley could take a picture to send to Bailey, they said yes and then smiled really big as Stanley figured out where to stand for the picture.  Seeing them so happy made us smile too.

Retreating

When we had our conference, the speakers sat down with the leadership team to ask us about our struggles at the home and what they could do to help.  One thing Pastor Fernando advised us to do, even insisted upon it, was that we make time for a staff retreat.

The idea seemed quite impossible - who would take care of the children in our absence?  But he said even if it was just for half a day, it was something that we really needed to do.  Though it took a little while, we began to make plans to achieve such a goal.

This week we had a group that helped us make this goal possible.  Not only did they willing accept the challenge of taking care of the kids for 4 hours, but they planned an amazing soccer tournament for the whole home (something many of the kids were super excited about) AND they offered to pay for our staff lunch.  Triple blessing.

I just watched a leadership video where the speaker encouraged us to remember that because we have the abundance of God, we don't have to live in the scarcity of this world.  Though the idea of a staff retreat seemed like an impossible idea, all the staff leaving at the same time, God put his hand over it and turned out to be a wonderful time for everyone all around.

Arriving at the restaurant - some excited, some tired ;)

Buffet of over 130 dishes!  And we didn't have to cook or wash dishes.  Talk about abundance.

Went for a walk after lunch, and ended up having a lot of fun.

Zip line!

Find a boat? Obligatory recreation of iconic Titanic scene. :)

I especially like this picture, it was an improvised moment, but to me it looks like a band cover.

Group photo (well, most of the group)

Soccer tournament hosted by the amazing group here.

New Offices!

This week the new offices were ready for us to move in!  Thankfully there was a group here, so little by little we worked together to move everyone's individual offices to the new shared office space.  This morning we joined together in prayer to dedicate the new offices.

My commute to work has doubled again :), but it is nice to be nearer to each other now.  We are thankful for this new space, and pray that it will be used to God's glory.

Sunday afternoon

Sitting out on the picnic benches.  A strong breeze blows the humid air, giving some relief from the heat.  Teenagers are out on the soccer field, playing volleyball over the net they struggled to set up earlier.  A few boys play soccer on the basketball court.  The goat lady is here with her herd and soon the children are chasing the goats around to catch the little kids and hold them.

I hear the animated voice of the teenage housemother talking on the phone.  One of the Bible Institute students, a missionary in the mountains, visits with the teenage boys housefather across the way.  Goats bleat.  Children shout.  Birds chirp on and on.  There is the distant roar of cars passing on the highway that one hardly notices after a while.

I sit here because I'm on guard duty and I wait for a few fathers to return with the children they have come to visit for the day.  Other kids flock around as they discover that I am here with my iPad.  They line up to play.

One girl is in the middle of the math quiz they have to take before they can play a game, and the iPad begins to ring.  It is my sister face-timing me from Chicago.  We fit as many of us onto the screen as it connects.  Surprise!

My sister shows us the lake she lives beside, and we catch a glimpse of her high rise.  I have to explain to one girl that she doesn't own the whole building, she only rents one apartment.  I doubt they've seen anything like it before.  We turn off my iPad when it gets hot, but the kids stay with me at the table.

Evening has come, and I return to my apartment tired.  It has been a long weekend with power outages, water shortages, and unexpected visitors.  But I am thankful that guard duty is not as scary for me as it once was.  Isn't that how most things go?  God doesn't leave me as I am, but pushes me forward to new experiences and growth.  My fear of failure has to pale in comparison with fear of my God.  He is so good.

Sensitive?

"What do you like about Coke?"  This question caused a light bulb moment for me when I realized I didn't really have an answer.  Out of habit I was drinking a Coke almost daily - I had even grown to believe that I needed it to get through my day.  But even when I realized that I couldn't identify why I liked it, even though I knew it wasn't beneficial for my body in any way, it was still a struggle to break the hold it seemed to have on me.

Lent seemed like a good time to finally hold myself accountable.  So I stopped buying myself soda of any kind during that time.  It wasn't a Lenten fast, because I wasn't doing it for purposes tied to faith.  I just needed to finally take control, and holding myself to a goal until Easter seemed more manageable.  Thankfully I was able to form new habits, and have not bought myself a soda since then.

But what surprised me was how other things began to taste.  Everything sweet seems so much sweeter.  Apparently those sodas had been dulling my senses to other foods and I didn't even know it.  This put me in mind of other things I have voluntarily or involuntarily given up over the last few years.  For example, television.

I read something online that asked, would you rather give up television or books?  That was a no-brainer for me, television.  It was then that I realized I hadn't really watched television for two years.  Wow!  Not really by choice, just a lack of availability.  But our maintenance guy finally hooked the cable tv up to our TV in this new apartment, and you know what I'm finding?  I can hardly stand it.

The commercials are loud and crass, the programs don't hold my interest like they used to, and the TV tends to get turned off less than 1/2 hour after it is turned on.  This is not to say I don't watch movies or series on DVD, but I used to sit in front of the TV an hour or two every day to "destress."  But what I'm finding is that TV had also dulled my senses, and now it's all too much.  Rather than being something relaxing, it makes us all want to turn it off.

What else am I used to that has desensitized me to the world God created around us?  I've long struggled with self-discipline, but what if little by little I retook areas of my life from things that have been distracting me from God's blessings?  Maybe becoming more sensitive is not such a bad thing.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

The Conference

For the past month, many of us here on staff keep referring back to "The Conference" as we talk about important changes we'd like to see in ourselves and in the mission.  Something about this conference at the beginning of March really touched many of us.  I think in large part it had to do with speaking simple, deep truths in love - "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ." (Eph 4:15)

These conferences were led by guest speakers Fernando Serrano and Andrew Fruin, with the topic of caring for our resources.  But first, they established the utmost important base of faith, truth and love and what it means to be a servant and disciple of Christ.  I'd like to share some of my notes from that time:

INTRODUCTION

 

Colosians 1:15-16 - Jesus is the image of God.  Jesus is God.  Jesus is creator.  Everything was created by him and for him.  Everything we do should be for God.  Cook, care for kids, write reports...

Matthew 16:16 - Christ means chosen one, Messiah anointed by God to save us.  He didn't just make us, he saved us.  We serve him out of great thankfulness.  He has done something for us that only He can do.  We can do nothing to save ourselves.  We owe Jesus.  We should not expect applause when we serve Him - we are repaying a debt in thankfulness.

Matthew 6:33 - Seek first His Kingdom and everything will be added to you.  You aren't getting paid, it is something added to you.  When God blesses us, we shouldn't look at it and say, "Hey, this isn't what I'm owed."

Romans 8:28-29 - Everything works for the good of those who serve him - what is this "good"?  The good is that we become more like Jesus.  The purpose of everything is that we be made into the image of Jesus.

Mark 10:45 - Jesus came to serve and give.  Do you want to be more like Jesus?  Serve and give.  Things that can get in the way of our serving and giving: (1) our own plans, (2) seeking recognition, (3) not understanding God's economy, (4) conflicts between bothers/sisters in Christ.

TRUTH

1 John 5:20 - This is life and death.  Truth is life.  If we walk in lies, it is death.  The truth will set you free.  None of us can completely understand the truth, but we need to keep seeking it.

Ephesians 6:14 - It is our job to not be deceived.  We have to put the belt of truth on.  He doesn't do it for us.

What must we do?

 (1) KNOW the truth (2 Timothy 2:15).  Spend all the time in the Word that we can.  Don't just eat enough to be skinny.  Eat enough to be strong.  Don't just eat bread and water.  Be a chef.  Eat a great meal.  If your idea is that your job as a Christian is to read the Bible a little every day, you're wrong.  A warrior doesn't train only 15 minutes a day.

(2) OBEY the truth (John 14:23-24).  If you love Jesus, you will obey his word.  He who does not obey, does not love Jesus.

(3) DECLARE the truth (Mark 16:15).

(4) SPEAK UP against lies (Titus 1:9). If you believe a pastor has missed the truth, approach them and say I love you, but what you said isn't true.  God commands us to do it.

(5) TEACH the truth - next level of declaring the truth, but it takes more time, dedication, work.

(6) MAKE DISCIPLES to do steps 1-5.  This takes all your life.  You will have to die to yourself.

Matthew 7:21-23 - Focus and work not to fall prey to Satan.  He spends all his time roaming about seeking who to destroy.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS

Matthew 5:9 - We need to be known as peacemakers.  Conflicts are inevitable - wherever there is conflict, the root is sin.  If the problem is sin, there is a solution.  Christ.

James 4:1-2 - What is it that I desire so much that it has caused me to have problems with others?  Bad reactions in conflict: (1) Becoming aggressive, vengeful, attacking, gossiping... (2) Denial, hiding problems under the rug.

Every conflict can be used for good.  Every conflict is an opportunity:

(1) To glorify God.

(2) To become more like Christ.

(3)To serve others (pray for them, you cannot remain bitter against someone you're praying for).

(4) To give testimony to the world of the power of God to overcome problems.

Advice:

(1) Don't look for conflict. Proverbs 6:16-19.

(2) Forgive offenses.  Make sacrifices for peace. 1 Peter 4:8.

(3) Confess your sins.  A conflict is not about pointing out what's wrong with others, but about recognizing your own mistakes. Matthew 7:1-5.

How to ask for forgiveness:

(1) Gather everyone involved.

(2) Avoid pretexts (sorry, but...).

(3) Specifically admit (call the sin by its name).

(4) Recognize the damage, harm (I know I hurt you.  Forgive me.).

(5) Accept the consequences.

(6) Change your behavior.

You need to forgive.  If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:15).  First accept Christ's forgiveness.  If someone asks for your forgiveness, you have to grant it.

How to forgive:

I forgive you as the Lord forgave me (Psalm 103:12):

(1) I will never speak of this again.

(2) I will never use this against you.

(3) I will not allow this to come between us.

You are more important than your faults.  You and I will continue forward together and this will never separate us.

LOVE

1 John 2 - Truth is almost useless without love.  The world has become ridiculous in the use of the word love.  That is why they don't understand about God's love.

LOVE: choosing to consider someone else as more important than yourself.

What does God require of us?  Matthew 22:37-40 Love God with all of your being, and love others as ourselves.

What does love look like?  Defer to others. Serve others.  Seek other people's desires.  Choose what is best for others.  Give of yourself to others.

How can I choose to love other people?  Choose to do it. God is the source of this.  Without God, we have the desire/instinct to love others, but we will choose our own happiness.

How can I love my enemy?  Choose to do it.  It feels impossible, but God commands it.  That feeling, that you can't love that person, is a lie.  It's not our strength, it is something God does.  We just have to choose it.

(1) Choose to love again.  And again.  And again.

(2) Forgive them.  Ask God to help you - to fix your heart.

(3) Pray for them - for their good.  Your heart will start to melt for them.

(4) Bless them - verbally encourage, praise, share words of blessing, give gifts.

(5) Sacrifice for them.  What do they need that you have?  What do they need that you also need?  Imagine giving up a meal every day to buy a meal for your enemy.

John 15:9-15 - When you obey God, it shows that you love Him.  No excuse.  Choose to love others.  Now.

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And that was just day one of the three day conference! We were truly blessed by that conference, and while it has been challenging to put what we learned into practice in the daily living in community and service, it opened our hearts and minds up to practical ways we are called to live as followers of Christ.