Monday, December 14, 2009
Blog website
I just wanted to tell everyone to just be looking at my blogsite with AIM so I don't need to keep updating both blogsites. The site is http://jessicaleonardi.myadventures.org. Thank you!! : )
Missionaries...Or should I say hippies?
If anyone has not read this hilarious yet accurate depiction of missionary life down here in Mexico, it's about time you did!
Missionaries. Or should I say hippies?
Posted in General Posts by Lila Dillon on 10/25/2009
Yesterday was our day off, so we went into Brownsville to go to the zoo and other such fun things. For dinner they dropped us of in this shopping center with all sorts of places to eat. Some of us went to Chick Fil A, and after a delicious meal of chicken fingers, milk shakes, and cheesecake we were talking to one of the employees. Her name was Hannah and we were just telling her about what we were doing and where we were going, etc. She then proceeded to tell us that when we pulled up she "thought we were hippies and was scared". Ha. But when I really thought about it, we kind of do look like hippies. We drive around squished into big vans, none of us are ever actually clean, we wear a lot of tie dye and bandannas, we all love each other a lot, we smile all the time, and some of us are weird enough that strangers might legitimately think we're on drugs. But really.. we just love Jesus. So, in honor of Hannah, I've comprised a list of some of the ridiculous things we do because we're missionaries.
One night we were about to have evening session and some girls were sitting on the ground fixing coffee for each other, completely and utterly undisturbed by the huge dead cockroach laying belly up right in the middle of them.
Showering is absolutely optional. The end.
Dreads, purple hair, nose rings, and tats have become the norm.
Wearing the exact same outfit for multiple days in a row is totally okay. This might actually have more to with the fact that we try to avoid doing laundry at all costs though.
Musical instruments are always present. Guitars, Jessica's flute, tambourines that no one really knows how to play, harmonicas, drums/objects that sound remotely like drums, etc.
John Parrish has only brushed his teeth three times since we've been here. That really has nothing to do with being a missionary, the rest of us uphold our dental hygiene, it's just super gross.
Sharing is caring. We all wear each other's clothes, eat each other's food, use each other's stuff.
Facial hair is revered, sadly. All the menboys (I don't really know what to call them anymore) stopped shaving a long time ago.
The three most talked about things are 1) God 2) Food 3) Poop.
We're supposed to exercise every morning, but instead we play elementary school PE games. Red Rover, dodgeball, kickball, tag.
Due to the massive infestation of bed bugs our legs will never be the same again. They are forever scarred.
Having at least twelve bracelets on your wrists and ankles is common.
We use toilet plungers to wash our clothes.
We consume an average of at least four gnats with your dinner and are completely okay with it.
For a few days I was really frustrated because I couldn't get my feet clean no matter how hard I scrubbed them in the shower. Then I realized that they weren't actually dirty- I just had an awful Chaco tan line.
Additionally, we all have probably irreversible farmer's tans.
So, in short, I'm having an INCREDIBLE time. I'm so thankful that God brought me here instead of to college. There's no possible way I could do justice to the work He's doing here, or in my heart, so just know that He's being so good to me.
Missionaries. Or should I say hippies?
Posted in General Posts by Lila Dillon on 10/25/2009
Yesterday was our day off, so we went into Brownsville to go to the zoo and other such fun things. For dinner they dropped us of in this shopping center with all sorts of places to eat. Some of us went to Chick Fil A, and after a delicious meal of chicken fingers, milk shakes, and cheesecake we were talking to one of the employees. Her name was Hannah and we were just telling her about what we were doing and where we were going, etc. She then proceeded to tell us that when we pulled up she "thought we were hippies and was scared". Ha. But when I really thought about it, we kind of do look like hippies. We drive around squished into big vans, none of us are ever actually clean, we wear a lot of tie dye and bandannas, we all love each other a lot, we smile all the time, and some of us are weird enough that strangers might legitimately think we're on drugs. But really.. we just love Jesus. So, in honor of Hannah, I've comprised a list of some of the ridiculous things we do because we're missionaries.
One night we were about to have evening session and some girls were sitting on the ground fixing coffee for each other, completely and utterly undisturbed by the huge dead cockroach laying belly up right in the middle of them.
Showering is absolutely optional. The end.
Dreads, purple hair, nose rings, and tats have become the norm.
Wearing the exact same outfit for multiple days in a row is totally okay. This might actually have more to with the fact that we try to avoid doing laundry at all costs though.
Musical instruments are always present. Guitars, Jessica's flute, tambourines that no one really knows how to play, harmonicas, drums/objects that sound remotely like drums, etc.
John Parrish has only brushed his teeth three times since we've been here. That really has nothing to do with being a missionary, the rest of us uphold our dental hygiene, it's just super gross.
Sharing is caring. We all wear each other's clothes, eat each other's food, use each other's stuff.
Facial hair is revered, sadly. All the menboys (I don't really know what to call them anymore) stopped shaving a long time ago.
The three most talked about things are 1) God 2) Food 3) Poop.
We're supposed to exercise every morning, but instead we play elementary school PE games. Red Rover, dodgeball, kickball, tag.
Due to the massive infestation of bed bugs our legs will never be the same again. They are forever scarred.
Having at least twelve bracelets on your wrists and ankles is common.
We use toilet plungers to wash our clothes.
We consume an average of at least four gnats with your dinner and are completely okay with it.
For a few days I was really frustrated because I couldn't get my feet clean no matter how hard I scrubbed them in the shower. Then I realized that they weren't actually dirty- I just had an awful Chaco tan line.
Additionally, we all have probably irreversible farmer's tans.
So, in short, I'm having an INCREDIBLE time. I'm so thankful that God brought me here instead of to college. There's no possible way I could do justice to the work He's doing here, or in my heart, so just know that He's being so good to me.
"Rhea Island"
Here is a post by one of my friends about our adventures during our outreach week to the "Island of Love," which we affectionately renamed "Rhea Island." ; )
'Rrhea Island
Posted in General Posts by Caitlyn Evangelista on 11/21/2009
This past week was outreach week for us Novas kids! All 5 teams went to different towns in Mexico and did ministry and were there from Saturday through Friday...except for 2. My South Africa team and the Swaziland team went to the Island of Love which is an hour or so from the Gateway. All 10 of us and Eleazar (our friend and translator) were staying in this little room that was a house, with 5 beds. We did a lot of different things to help out the people from this island town, like play with kids, preach in the mission churches, preach in the church that we were coming to do ministry for, renovate a church, construct a building for the children to have Sunday school (instead of meeting at a bench under a tree), and got 11 cases of E.Coli.
The family that was hosting us taught me a lot about the Kingdom of God, perhaps more than I learned while I was training at the Gateway. The pastor and his wife, Pastor Leonel and Sister Ester, did not charge us a dime to come and stay with them. They didn't ask that we bring enough food to feed us for the whole week. Nothing. She asked if we could bring a sack of rice, beans, flour, and sugar, which we did. When we got to the island, she didn't use that food to feed her family or our teams, she gave it all away to the community she lived in. With one sack of each of those items she was able to bless 3 churches. How is that different than here in America? In America, nothing is free. Almost everyone lives to help out just themselves and their families. But what I learned on this island is that that it is certainly not like that all over the world, and it certainly should not be like that in the first place. Jesus calls us to serve...and we translate to serving only while on a missions trip or at a church activity, not in real life.
Parents, have you ever noticed that when you come home from the grocery store with your car full of shopping bags that your kids miraculously have to use the bathroom, or are complaining their butts off about how they had to, "stop doing their homework," or "missed the best part of the TV show?" I am positive that we are all guilty of this, I know for a fact I have done that countless times, but spending the short amount of time that I did on this island helped me realize how selfish I have become. The day we came onto the island and were taking our daypacks and pillows off the boat, dozens of townspeople came to help us bring our stuff back to where we were staying. Most of those people came running, literally. And, no, they weren't doing this so they could steal our stuff. They did this because they genuinely love to serve. Have I been keeping that attitude? No. Have you been keeping that attitude? You'll have to answer that for yourself. Something I learned in Mexico was that it is a privilege to be able to serve God. A privilege!
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. -Ephesians 6:7-8
Think back to when you were a child and you saw your Mother in the kitchen baking cookies and you wanted so badly to help her make them! Why did you want to help her? Because you love her! And your Mother more than likely said, "Yes, I would love your help, sweetie!" Even though our parents accepted our offers to help them, it would have been loads easier for them to decline the offer because we made things more messy and difficult. But she said yes because she loves you. This is just like our relationship with God, our Father. We want to help him, by sharing the Good News and bringing Him glory, because we love Him. But it would be way easier if God declined our offer because we mess up everything since we are so sinful. God accepts our offer to help Him and His kingdom because he loves us!
Endure hardship as a discipline;God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. -Hebrews 12:7-8
This eagerness to serve was really a paradigm shift for me. Everyone loved to serve! The children loved to swing us in the hammocks, the women loved to cook our food, the townspeople at the missions church brought us food, the fishermen gave us beautiful seashells. They have such beautiful hearts, just like the heart of Jesus.
Now, let me explain the title of the blog...and part of the first paragraph. While we were at the island, every single person got E. Coli, except the people who live there. Me and another girl got it first, the first day we got there, and stopped eating. Therefore, our case was not as bad as the 9 other people's. But, we got it anyway. On Wednesday night, everybody's E. Coli worsened, and we went through more than 4 rolls of toilet paper in a period of about 8 hours. Some people were vomiting, some people had fevers, but everyone had diarrhea. Many people pooped their pants, had to leave their underwear in the out house hole, had to take care of the business in non out houses because there was no way they could hold it, were forced to use soiled toilet paper, and fell out of outhouses, toilet paper in hand and pants around the ankles. We came to the agreement, at 6:30 on Thursday morning, that we needed to get out promptly and go to the hospital. We were off that island by 8:00 and back in America at the hospital at 10:00 am. Every single person got a shot in the butt and a bunch of prescriptions, myself included. Unfortunately I had to spend a whole month's worth of budgeted spending money, $150, on this medicine. Thankfully everyone is feeling healthy since we got the antibiotics and shots! So the chances are slim that we will be hogging up the airplane bathrooms on our way to Africa.
Oh yeah, Africa! I am leaving for Africa in 2 days from today. Isn't that crazy! I can't really fathom it. I feel like it has been a mere dream that I've had for the past 15 months, and now it's happening? I feel so blessed that God is sending me to a place like South Africa. This is probably going to sound silly, but it still amazes me that God called me to Africa, because it is not something that I would have chosen for myself. It was all part of His amazing, perfect, and intricate plans for my life! It just blows my mind and makes me so excited for the rest of my life!
In my previous blog, I mentioned how I needed $1200 more to have this trip payed off. Over the past week, God has provided so greatly! This morning I am only in need of $550! And something that I have been reflecting on is this: We believe that God created the universe, and that He is bringing us eternal life in Heaven...but it is so hard to believe that God can perform miracles. Miracles like healing and prophesy and spiritual languages. But, why is that? I certainly don't know, but I am trying not to be that person. I don't want to put God in a box.
I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. -Mark 11:24
I believed, and still do believe, that God will provide the money for me to go to South Africa because He called me to it, and because He is faithful. Since I developed the, "With God all things are possible," mindset, the Lord has provided. And I am not saying that I didn't believe that prior to this, but I honestly had a few worries that I wouldn't raise all the money that I needed. Right as soon as I surrendered those worries to God, he has taken them away and put $700 in my support account in about a week's time! And I still do want to encourage you to support me, and to serve me. $550 is a small financial hump, and I am excited for God to flatten that out for me! If you feel motivated, willing, able, or called to financially support me, you can click on the "Support Me!" tab on the side of this page. There you can decide how much you would like to support.
I feel like I have already thanked all of you for this already, but I want to thank you again! Thank you so much for walking through this journey with me through Mexico, and soon to be, Mexico! Thank you so much for your prayers, your love, your encouraging words, and your financial support. This little paragraph does not give what I am trying to say justice at all, but maybe you will understand how intensely I mean this if you multiply it 1000 x's!!!
Boat=our sole mode of transportation on the island. It was actually really cold, which is not what you would expect at an island in Mexico! Here we are on our way to construct the Sunday school building at one of the mission churches.
Team South Africa, Team Swaziland, Eleazar, Pastor Leonel, Sister Ester, Emanuel, and some other members of the church celebrating Garrett's and Sister Ester's birthday. We celebrated their birthdays 3 and 4 days early because we went to a house this day that actually had an oven! There wasn't an oven here, so we had to be very resourceful. The cake was fantastic! Pastor Leonel and Sister Ester sang the famous and super long Mexican Happy Birthday song to Garrett and all of us, it was a lot of fun!
'Rrhea Island
Posted in General Posts by Caitlyn Evangelista on 11/21/2009
This past week was outreach week for us Novas kids! All 5 teams went to different towns in Mexico and did ministry and were there from Saturday through Friday...except for 2. My South Africa team and the Swaziland team went to the Island of Love which is an hour or so from the Gateway. All 10 of us and Eleazar (our friend and translator) were staying in this little room that was a house, with 5 beds. We did a lot of different things to help out the people from this island town, like play with kids, preach in the mission churches, preach in the church that we were coming to do ministry for, renovate a church, construct a building for the children to have Sunday school (instead of meeting at a bench under a tree), and got 11 cases of E.Coli.
The family that was hosting us taught me a lot about the Kingdom of God, perhaps more than I learned while I was training at the Gateway. The pastor and his wife, Pastor Leonel and Sister Ester, did not charge us a dime to come and stay with them. They didn't ask that we bring enough food to feed us for the whole week. Nothing. She asked if we could bring a sack of rice, beans, flour, and sugar, which we did. When we got to the island, she didn't use that food to feed her family or our teams, she gave it all away to the community she lived in. With one sack of each of those items she was able to bless 3 churches. How is that different than here in America? In America, nothing is free. Almost everyone lives to help out just themselves and their families. But what I learned on this island is that that it is certainly not like that all over the world, and it certainly should not be like that in the first place. Jesus calls us to serve...and we translate to serving only while on a missions trip or at a church activity, not in real life.
Parents, have you ever noticed that when you come home from the grocery store with your car full of shopping bags that your kids miraculously have to use the bathroom, or are complaining their butts off about how they had to, "stop doing their homework," or "missed the best part of the TV show?" I am positive that we are all guilty of this, I know for a fact I have done that countless times, but spending the short amount of time that I did on this island helped me realize how selfish I have become. The day we came onto the island and were taking our daypacks and pillows off the boat, dozens of townspeople came to help us bring our stuff back to where we were staying. Most of those people came running, literally. And, no, they weren't doing this so they could steal our stuff. They did this because they genuinely love to serve. Have I been keeping that attitude? No. Have you been keeping that attitude? You'll have to answer that for yourself. Something I learned in Mexico was that it is a privilege to be able to serve God. A privilege!
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. -Ephesians 6:7-8
Think back to when you were a child and you saw your Mother in the kitchen baking cookies and you wanted so badly to help her make them! Why did you want to help her? Because you love her! And your Mother more than likely said, "Yes, I would love your help, sweetie!" Even though our parents accepted our offers to help them, it would have been loads easier for them to decline the offer because we made things more messy and difficult. But she said yes because she loves you. This is just like our relationship with God, our Father. We want to help him, by sharing the Good News and bringing Him glory, because we love Him. But it would be way easier if God declined our offer because we mess up everything since we are so sinful. God accepts our offer to help Him and His kingdom because he loves us!
Endure hardship as a discipline;God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. -Hebrews 12:7-8
This eagerness to serve was really a paradigm shift for me. Everyone loved to serve! The children loved to swing us in the hammocks, the women loved to cook our food, the townspeople at the missions church brought us food, the fishermen gave us beautiful seashells. They have such beautiful hearts, just like the heart of Jesus.
Now, let me explain the title of the blog...and part of the first paragraph. While we were at the island, every single person got E. Coli, except the people who live there. Me and another girl got it first, the first day we got there, and stopped eating. Therefore, our case was not as bad as the 9 other people's. But, we got it anyway. On Wednesday night, everybody's E. Coli worsened, and we went through more than 4 rolls of toilet paper in a period of about 8 hours. Some people were vomiting, some people had fevers, but everyone had diarrhea. Many people pooped their pants, had to leave their underwear in the out house hole, had to take care of the business in non out houses because there was no way they could hold it, were forced to use soiled toilet paper, and fell out of outhouses, toilet paper in hand and pants around the ankles. We came to the agreement, at 6:30 on Thursday morning, that we needed to get out promptly and go to the hospital. We were off that island by 8:00 and back in America at the hospital at 10:00 am. Every single person got a shot in the butt and a bunch of prescriptions, myself included. Unfortunately I had to spend a whole month's worth of budgeted spending money, $150, on this medicine. Thankfully everyone is feeling healthy since we got the antibiotics and shots! So the chances are slim that we will be hogging up the airplane bathrooms on our way to Africa.
Oh yeah, Africa! I am leaving for Africa in 2 days from today. Isn't that crazy! I can't really fathom it. I feel like it has been a mere dream that I've had for the past 15 months, and now it's happening? I feel so blessed that God is sending me to a place like South Africa. This is probably going to sound silly, but it still amazes me that God called me to Africa, because it is not something that I would have chosen for myself. It was all part of His amazing, perfect, and intricate plans for my life! It just blows my mind and makes me so excited for the rest of my life!
In my previous blog, I mentioned how I needed $1200 more to have this trip payed off. Over the past week, God has provided so greatly! This morning I am only in need of $550! And something that I have been reflecting on is this: We believe that God created the universe, and that He is bringing us eternal life in Heaven...but it is so hard to believe that God can perform miracles. Miracles like healing and prophesy and spiritual languages. But, why is that? I certainly don't know, but I am trying not to be that person. I don't want to put God in a box.
I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. -Mark 11:24
I believed, and still do believe, that God will provide the money for me to go to South Africa because He called me to it, and because He is faithful. Since I developed the, "With God all things are possible," mindset, the Lord has provided. And I am not saying that I didn't believe that prior to this, but I honestly had a few worries that I wouldn't raise all the money that I needed. Right as soon as I surrendered those worries to God, he has taken them away and put $700 in my support account in about a week's time! And I still do want to encourage you to support me, and to serve me. $550 is a small financial hump, and I am excited for God to flatten that out for me! If you feel motivated, willing, able, or called to financially support me, you can click on the "Support Me!" tab on the side of this page. There you can decide how much you would like to support.
I feel like I have already thanked all of you for this already, but I want to thank you again! Thank you so much for walking through this journey with me through Mexico, and soon to be, Mexico! Thank you so much for your prayers, your love, your encouraging words, and your financial support. This little paragraph does not give what I am trying to say justice at all, but maybe you will understand how intensely I mean this if you multiply it 1000 x's!!!
Boat=our sole mode of transportation on the island. It was actually really cold, which is not what you would expect at an island in Mexico! Here we are on our way to construct the Sunday school building at one of the mission churches.
Team South Africa, Team Swaziland, Eleazar, Pastor Leonel, Sister Ester, Emanuel, and some other members of the church celebrating Garrett's and Sister Ester's birthday. We celebrated their birthdays 3 and 4 days early because we went to a house this day that actually had an oven! There wasn't an oven here, so we had to be very resourceful. The cake was fantastic! Pastor Leonel and Sister Ester sang the famous and super long Mexican Happy Birthday song to Garrett and all of us, it was a lot of fun!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
