Upper Pond and the Lower Pond
This winter I have dedicated to reading some of the Old Testament books that I don’t usually get around to because, let’s be honest, with all the history and geneology, they get a little boring and dense sometimes. Nevertheless, they are important because they are part of God’s Word and tell the story of how God worked through individuals and through nations to bring about His plan for salvation. I am in Mexico praying that God will work through me, so it only makes sense that these are the books I should be studying.
Being an “empty nest” mother AND a grieving mother of a fallen hero, I am trying to listen to God through His Word, as well as through the still small voice He uses in my heart. This week, I am reading the book of Joshua. Joshua was with Moses when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Because Moses disobeyed God, He was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Instead God chose Joshua to be the nation’s leader. It fell to Joshua to lead a stubborn nation into a land that belonged to others and to take it.
After many miraculous battles in the land which God allowed Isreal to win, it also fell upon Joshua to divide the land between the tribes.
In one story Joshua 15:19, Caleb’s (one of Joshua’s generals) daughters who has received land from her family realizes that the land she has been assigned doesn’t have the resources she needs to sustain that land. She has to go to her father to ask for more resources: “I need your help. The land you gave me is in the Southern Desert, so I need some spring-fed ponds for a water supply. Caleb gave her a couple of small ponds, named Higher Pond and Lower Pond.”
God has given me the southern land of Mexico, but I need resources to make any kind of ministry here flourish. I’m not just talking about financial resources. Spring-fed ponds feed herds of livestock. But God also talks about faith in Jesus as a spring of living water. This year in Mexico I have accomplished so much. I’ve become nearly fluent in Spanish. I’ve learned to trust in God more than ever even though the circumstances in my life are much more beyond my human capacity to cope with. I honestly don’t know how I stay here except to say through God’s grace and with His help. But whether I’m looking out over Santa Catarina from my home in Monterrey or whether I’m perched on my rooftop in the middle of Guadalajara looking at the city, I’m overwhelmed by the work that needs to be done just to get started!
My faith in myself is certainly not big enough. My faith in God is growing, but there are so many needs here in Mexico. There is a man in his 30’s sleeping in the front yard of the abandoned school next to where I live. 5 years ago, I began praying for God to give me that school. What an ironic twist. I don’t know what to do. Children and old people beg for coins on every corner. There is no way I can meet these people’s needs. If I give them money today, they will need more tomorrow. God has gifted me with teaching which gives His children the skills to feed themselves tomorrow. But if you don’t feed God’s lambs today while they are hungry, they can’t put their energy into improving their own lives. See how vicious is the circle of poverty!
I’ve started teaching English classes to a few children for free. One of the resources God has given me is people who pray for me and want me to succeed. My church in Tampa (Bay Ceia) has taken an offering for me and with the money, I was able to buy markers and crayons, used English books, and paper. I had my first class with no desks, chairs, or lighting over the Christmas holidays. We threw a blanket on the floor and had English “picnic-style.”
Another “spring” was when my friend Kandy came for a month to visit me. It was great sharing Mexico with her and I really needed the company at that time. When she left, she gave me some money for my English classes. I bought books, computer supplies, and a froggie swimming pool that I have up on the roof where I teach English to my 4 kids. Try to imagine how much fun the “Hokey Pokey” is when you’re doing it in a froggie swimming pool.
While the financial support was cool and I prayed a lot about how to best use that money, the “spring” that I tapped into the most was surprisingly the blessing and encouragement in finding other people in the world who look out from their perches and sometimes feel a little overwhelmed by how much work there is to do and don’t really know what to do or where to begin. They did what they could, not knowing how their well-wishing for my success encouraged me to do what I could. If these people hadn’t given me these donations, I probably wouldn’t have been as driven to find English students. I would have gotten discouraged thinking I needed to rent a school, take out advertisements to find students, and all the other needs that comes with opening a new “business”. And how, God, can I do that when I’m supposed to be going home to Lee any day now? I stopped worrying about space, the time, the pesky details and started focusing on the 4 people God gave me to teach classes to. Now my worry is that I’ve started, how am I supposed to finish if I’m not here? God has shown me to trust in His plan. I am trying.
Sometimes Joshua didn’t know what to do and sometimes I don’t know what to do. My year in Mexico is coming to an end. My “Higher Pond” is back in Lee, Maine where my husband Paul is being used in incredible ways by God. He has organized a summer retreat for several families who have lost their dads in the Gulf War. They will be coming to Lee and staying with families or in camps on Silver Lake as a way to get together to talk about their loss and find strength in one another. Our family was so blessed by our community when Joel died. People donated over $10,000 to be used in his memory. With this money, we established the Joel House Memorial Summer Camp and Exchange Program Scholarship which is being administered through Lee Academy’s Trust Fund. Paul has received canoes, kayaks, rifles, restaurant and car service coupons as donations for a raffle he has organized in order to help build the proceeds of this scholarship fund. My sisters are helping to sell tickets and are going to help find kids who want to go to summer camps or exchange programs as an alternative to traditional learning. And finally, as if all this wasn’t enough, Paul is coordinating the raffle with the inauguration of the Joel House Memorial Dock to be dedicated at our family camp on July 4. We used money that Joel had in his own private savings account to buy a motor boat with when he got out of the military this spring, to fund this dock at our family camp. Paul is inviting Joel’s military buddies, family, and the entire Maine community to attend.
I envy how Paul knows what to do. Sometimes Joshua knew exactly what to do. But one time, he didn’t know exactly the best way to divide up some land to the satisfaction of all the clans involved. In Joshua 18:8, he does something that made me realize that even when I’m not organizing, teaching, or solving, I can still be in Mexico doing God’s will. “Explore the land and write a description of it. Then I will find out from the Lord our God what region each tribe should get.” Exploring AND writing sums up this year in Mexico for me. I have gotten to know Monterrey and Guadalajara as the 2 major cities. Because God has opened the door for me through friendships, I have been invited into the homes of so many wonderful Mexican families. I have shared tortillas with people who live in cement buildings with dirt floors and elegant meals with people who have crystal and gold-covered adornments throughout their houses. I’ve been able to sing the “Hokey Pokey” at a birthday party in ChuleVista where there are over 10,000 one-bedroom homes filled with families who earn $50 a week in full time wages. I sang that same song in an ecological park in Atenquique yesterday for over 20 children (with their parents looking on) as we spent Sunday laying out in the grass on blankets, barbecuing 5 kilos of steak!
This week I took my English class of 4 to McDonald’s (and to the McDonald’s Play Area). It was their first time at McDonald’s, to have a Happy Meal, or climb up to the space ship on top of the play area and see the world below. The sign outside of McDonald’s may read BILLIONS AND BILLIONS served, but with tears in my eyes, I realize that there are stills MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of children whose families could never afford the $30 I spent for lunch because that’s an entire week’s wages!
I have been in Mexico for 7 months exploring and writing. I don’t know what God wants me to do next but when it is time, I “will find out.”
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