I am sitting here, slouching is more like it, in a comfy couch in the coffee shop at Mt. Hermon. I cannot believe I am here, planning for our first week of campers. Ventana is over...
It is the weirdest feeling in the world, let me tell you. I miss everyone so much and I am trying to make as smooth a transition as possible into the American culture...and it seems to be doing really well, but that is probably due to the fact that I am at Mt. Hermon, one of the greatest places on earth! I am so blessed to be able to be in full-time ministry here, right after my amazing Ventana experience...I don't have to worry about becoming comfortable and taking steps back. I am able to get into the word everyday...God is so good to me.
My mom flew down to "surprise" me, but I found out...I am smart :) She will be here for the week volunteering on campus, and we will spend our spare moments together. It is really exciting and I can't wait to get her in a big bear hug.
Much love to you all and thank you for reading my blog...it was a blessing being able to share my experiences with everyone who wanted to hear. You all are amazing, beautiful sons and daughters of God, and I am so blessed that He put you all in my life. May He care for and bless you, and may you always know that you are His beloved, and that he always wants the best for you. May you always live near to Him and His heart. God bless!
Mikaela Alexander
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
She's Finally Dancing.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while...the internet is so janky here. This is my last time with internet before we start our end of the year technology fast. We have only two more weeks left in Mexico and I can't believe it is almost over. We have finals next week...and then classes are done. The last week is spent debriefing and deep-cleaning..oh so fun! It has been so amazing here learning everything that I have. I will miss it here so much, but at least I have Mt. Hermon to look forward to. Its going to be a whole other growing experience for me and I am stoked to learn about God and his flawless, unblemished, and amazing character. Thanks for supporting me, and I can't wait to see all your beautiful faces at some point in the near future. Now for some bittersweet news...
Last Friday, eleven year old Rosa from Casa Gabriel passed away. The was a chicken pox epidemic at the orphanage, and Rosa contracted them. They spread to her brain almost right away and she went to be with Jesus. She was the youngest of the four sisters that I have told you about before. She had the biggest smile and I played with her specially every time I went. We got to the point that she recognized me when I came and would get mad if I didn't play with her. She was so precious.
She loved Jesus so much. I asked her about it one time and she gave me an enthusiastic "YES!" by nodding her head vigorously. She was just a little girl, but had a huge heart. It is amazing to think about how many lives she touched, even though she was only eleven. There are hundreds of people that come and go from Casa Gabriel every year, and Rosa was everyone's favorite. Think about it...I know that I am walking away from Casa Gabriel a different person, hopefully a better one :) And she played a huge part in that...she showed me Jesus in a totally new and radical way. How many more people has she done that for, just by laughing, smiling, singing, and loving Jesus the way she did. Nobody expected her to go...it was a huge shock. But we can all rejoice, even though we'll miss her, because a little girl who has never been able to walk or talk in her life is now doing both in the presence of Jesus Christ, her Savior. How beautiful is that? Renny, the director of Casa Gabriel, said that she was sure that Rosa was dancing circles around him...like she would have if she had been born without a handicap. What a beautiful God we have, One who restores and rewards those who have suffered here on earth.
Today, us Ventaneros went to Casa Gabriel for the last time. We had a celebration of life for Rosa. Her three sisters let off balloons with notes tied to them from all the kids. We got to help them write them, since most of them can't write. Those who are cognitive seemed pretty upset. All those kids there are so precious. The parents of the sisters, who have been regular visitors to Casa Gabriel came to the celebration. They really love their girls and it was so sweet to see them there, comforting their other children. They just didn't have the means to take care of them by themselves while still working in the fields...please keep this family in your prayers because Shelly, the oldest was very upset today and wouldn't even smile. Ellie and Sonya are the other two...just to see the three crying today, I can't even tell you how touching this story is. Just to see them interact together...
As the balloons were let go, all the children at Casa Gabriel yelled up "Adios Rosa! Adios Rosa!" And there is one boy named Teddy, I know I told you about him before...He yelled "es en cielo!" She's in heaven! Then he named another girl from the Casa that had died a while before. It was the sweetest thing...they really understand it and were truly happy for her. That darling girl who is now enjoying everlasting life with the Father. Its an amazing story. Praise God.
I love you all and I hope that Rosa's life has touched yours in some way...even though you haven't met her. I'll introduce you in heaven! It'll be amazing to see her again with her new body.
Love you all so much.
I'll write again in two weeks!
Please keep us all in your prayers as everything is drawing to a close.
THANKS!
Mikaela
Last Friday, eleven year old Rosa from Casa Gabriel passed away. The was a chicken pox epidemic at the orphanage, and Rosa contracted them. They spread to her brain almost right away and she went to be with Jesus. She was the youngest of the four sisters that I have told you about before. She had the biggest smile and I played with her specially every time I went. We got to the point that she recognized me when I came and would get mad if I didn't play with her. She was so precious.
She loved Jesus so much. I asked her about it one time and she gave me an enthusiastic "YES!" by nodding her head vigorously. She was just a little girl, but had a huge heart. It is amazing to think about how many lives she touched, even though she was only eleven. There are hundreds of people that come and go from Casa Gabriel every year, and Rosa was everyone's favorite. Think about it...I know that I am walking away from Casa Gabriel a different person, hopefully a better one :) And she played a huge part in that...she showed me Jesus in a totally new and radical way. How many more people has she done that for, just by laughing, smiling, singing, and loving Jesus the way she did. Nobody expected her to go...it was a huge shock. But we can all rejoice, even though we'll miss her, because a little girl who has never been able to walk or talk in her life is now doing both in the presence of Jesus Christ, her Savior. How beautiful is that? Renny, the director of Casa Gabriel, said that she was sure that Rosa was dancing circles around him...like she would have if she had been born without a handicap. What a beautiful God we have, One who restores and rewards those who have suffered here on earth.
Today, us Ventaneros went to Casa Gabriel for the last time. We had a celebration of life for Rosa. Her three sisters let off balloons with notes tied to them from all the kids. We got to help them write them, since most of them can't write. Those who are cognitive seemed pretty upset. All those kids there are so precious. The parents of the sisters, who have been regular visitors to Casa Gabriel came to the celebration. They really love their girls and it was so sweet to see them there, comforting their other children. They just didn't have the means to take care of them by themselves while still working in the fields...please keep this family in your prayers because Shelly, the oldest was very upset today and wouldn't even smile. Ellie and Sonya are the other two...just to see the three crying today, I can't even tell you how touching this story is. Just to see them interact together...
As the balloons were let go, all the children at Casa Gabriel yelled up "Adios Rosa! Adios Rosa!" And there is one boy named Teddy, I know I told you about him before...He yelled "es en cielo!" She's in heaven! Then he named another girl from the Casa that had died a while before. It was the sweetest thing...they really understand it and were truly happy for her. That darling girl who is now enjoying everlasting life with the Father. Its an amazing story. Praise God.
I love you all and I hope that Rosa's life has touched yours in some way...even though you haven't met her. I'll introduce you in heaven! It'll be amazing to see her again with her new body.
Love you all so much.
I'll write again in two weeks!
Please keep us all in your prayers as everything is drawing to a close.
THANKS!
Mikaela
Monday, May 4, 2009
Ventana Continues
I have been back here in Porvenir for a week now and its been such an awesome transition. I was afraid that I would not have an easy time coming back to the craziness that is Ventana, but it was so much fun to see everyone that I barely noticed the change. I think that a week was just long enough with my family that I had some good bonding time, but also did not get too adjusted to the easiness of home. I miss my family, not going to lie, but I am also excited about this last month, and the growth that I am still experiencing through the constant study of the Word and all the ministries that we are involved in.
My relationships with the locals have been growing so much in the past few weeks...I am going to go to school with one of the girls for a day sometime in the next two weeks or so. School has been closed for a week because of the swine flu, and tons of people are wearing little face masks so they won't be infected. Its is very weird being in the middle of all this. But no known cases in Porvenir as of yet, not to worry. Everyone in our church keeps saying "My God is a big God." and they just go around with out a care. Its funny. Us Ventaneros threw a big party for the local kids about three weeks ago, and it was so much fun. We roasted hotdogs, played loud music, goofed off, and watched a movies. There were about 30 or more youth there...it was awesome to see everyone come. We were afraid it would be a flop!
Yesterday we had a camp day with the whole church. We all went out to a park about fifteen minutes away and played volleyball and soccer for almost the whole day. We had a barbecue and played phase ten and uno...and just had fun with our Christian community. It was so much fun, and i really appreciate the way this church has accepted us. It was hard at first, but now we feel like family. Its awesome! On Satruday, I got to go with Gio, the youth pastor, and some of the students from the youth group to a city called Testerozo. They direct a children's program there, almost like a VBS. The town is almost all made up of migrant workers who just pass through, working on the fields. We had a good turnout of kids, and I just loved sitting there with them, talking and doing crafts and singing songs...what a beautiful experience this is. The people here are so loving, and I really enjoy working with the children...its just a passion that God has given me.
It is my birthday on Thursday of this week...strange how I feel like I just turned 18 and now I will be 19 in 3 days. This year has gone by so fast with everything that has been happening. Its crazy, and I suspect this summer will go by just as fast since I'll be a Mt. Hermon. And then Fox...God just seems to be keeping me busy, so busy in fact that I will have to be relying upon him for every ounce of strength. But that's ok with me because, in the words of my brothers and sisters here in Porvenir, My God is a big God. And his strength will never run out...how beautiful is that?
Much love!
Mikaela Alexander
My relationships with the locals have been growing so much in the past few weeks...I am going to go to school with one of the girls for a day sometime in the next two weeks or so. School has been closed for a week because of the swine flu, and tons of people are wearing little face masks so they won't be infected. Its is very weird being in the middle of all this. But no known cases in Porvenir as of yet, not to worry. Everyone in our church keeps saying "My God is a big God." and they just go around with out a care. Its funny. Us Ventaneros threw a big party for the local kids about three weeks ago, and it was so much fun. We roasted hotdogs, played loud music, goofed off, and watched a movies. There were about 30 or more youth there...it was awesome to see everyone come. We were afraid it would be a flop!
Yesterday we had a camp day with the whole church. We all went out to a park about fifteen minutes away and played volleyball and soccer for almost the whole day. We had a barbecue and played phase ten and uno...and just had fun with our Christian community. It was so much fun, and i really appreciate the way this church has accepted us. It was hard at first, but now we feel like family. Its awesome! On Satruday, I got to go with Gio, the youth pastor, and some of the students from the youth group to a city called Testerozo. They direct a children's program there, almost like a VBS. The town is almost all made up of migrant workers who just pass through, working on the fields. We had a good turnout of kids, and I just loved sitting there with them, talking and doing crafts and singing songs...what a beautiful experience this is. The people here are so loving, and I really enjoy working with the children...its just a passion that God has given me.
It is my birthday on Thursday of this week...strange how I feel like I just turned 18 and now I will be 19 in 3 days. This year has gone by so fast with everything that has been happening. Its crazy, and I suspect this summer will go by just as fast since I'll be a Mt. Hermon. And then Fox...God just seems to be keeping me busy, so busy in fact that I will have to be relying upon him for every ounce of strength. But that's ok with me because, in the words of my brothers and sisters here in Porvenir, My God is a big God. And his strength will never run out...how beautiful is that?
Much love!
Mikaela Alexander
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Blessed Be His Name
Today, April 21st, 2009, is the one year anniversary of my Daddy's passing. Even though it is a hard day, it is also blessed because I know that exactly a year ago, Bruce Alexander was welcomed into the Kingdom of God, given a new name and a new body, and asked to eat of the tree of life. He has been in heaven for a year, our time, but that constitutes as only a split second of eternity, if even that. How awesome is that, that God would give us that great of a gift. He has invited us to spend forever and ever and ever with him, our Creator. Wow. I can't even begin to tell you the comfort that this mystery brings me on this day. God is so good. Blessed be His name!
So I flew home yesterday and got into Portland at about seven pm. Spencer and Mom met me there and drove me straight home where I surprised the younger boys. Spencer and Mom went into the house and I stayed in the car for about a minute then couldn't wait any longer. I ran up to the door, rang the doorbell then waited as Pearce made his way to the door. He couldn't even speak he was so surprised. It took him about ten seconds to process that I was there, on the doorstep. Then he tackle-hugged me and still didn't say anything. It was just hysterical laughter. Then Isaac ran over and jumped on me and it was crazy and I might have to go get my back checked out at the doctors :) Just kidding. What a beautiful memory that will always be! Thank You, Lord, for bringing me here safely and giving me this time with my beautiful family! Blessed be Your name!
I can't tell you how amazing it is for me to be home, and all the details that were worked out so last minute and so on. God obviously orchestrated this for a reason. Today we are doing several things in remembrance of Dad. We are going to go and visit his grave for a while as a family. That will be lovely since it is such a beautiful day outside. Then we will go to Corvallis High School where we will have a sort of assembly for all the students who knew Dad, and some of their families, etc. We will be giving them oatmeal raisin cookies, which were Dad's favorites. Thanks to Mom's bible study for making those...you guys are so awesome! And then we have a couple other things running around through our heads. We'll see how it all plays out. Its just so nice being here with all my bothers and Mom...we haven't been all together since our vacation to Palm Springs. So yeah, Blessed be the name of the Lord! He is good, and awesome, and majestic, and beautiful and I love him and trust him with my whole life. And he is watching out for my family while I am learning about him. How wonderful it is to serve a God like Him.
Much love!
Mikaela Alexander
So I flew home yesterday and got into Portland at about seven pm. Spencer and Mom met me there and drove me straight home where I surprised the younger boys. Spencer and Mom went into the house and I stayed in the car for about a minute then couldn't wait any longer. I ran up to the door, rang the doorbell then waited as Pearce made his way to the door. He couldn't even speak he was so surprised. It took him about ten seconds to process that I was there, on the doorstep. Then he tackle-hugged me and still didn't say anything. It was just hysterical laughter. Then Isaac ran over and jumped on me and it was crazy and I might have to go get my back checked out at the doctors :) Just kidding. What a beautiful memory that will always be! Thank You, Lord, for bringing me here safely and giving me this time with my beautiful family! Blessed be Your name!
I can't tell you how amazing it is for me to be home, and all the details that were worked out so last minute and so on. God obviously orchestrated this for a reason. Today we are doing several things in remembrance of Dad. We are going to go and visit his grave for a while as a family. That will be lovely since it is such a beautiful day outside. Then we will go to Corvallis High School where we will have a sort of assembly for all the students who knew Dad, and some of their families, etc. We will be giving them oatmeal raisin cookies, which were Dad's favorites. Thanks to Mom's bible study for making those...you guys are so awesome! And then we have a couple other things running around through our heads. We'll see how it all plays out. Its just so nice being here with all my bothers and Mom...we haven't been all together since our vacation to Palm Springs. So yeah, Blessed be the name of the Lord! He is good, and awesome, and majestic, and beautiful and I love him and trust him with my whole life. And he is watching out for my family while I am learning about him. How wonderful it is to serve a God like Him.
Much love!
Mikaela Alexander
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Ventana Craziness
The last two weeks have been non-stop business! Last week all of us students were split up and sent to stay with different Mexican families from our church. I stayed with an older couple named Pedro and Lupe. Pedro was the leader of our Culiacan trip, and I knew him and his wife before just randomly staying at their house, which was nice. But it was awkward nevertheless….I finally got to really see how different the culture is here, and how differently they live. We as Americans are so centered on doing, doing, doing, and having everything sanitary, and sleeping in, and so on. It was so strange because I woke up at about six thirty every morning to do nothing. I woke up, ate the breakfast Lupe had prepared for me (which was often something with bologna), swept and mopped her little house, sat down for like half an hour and did nothing, got into the car and drove to visit Lupe’s mom, sat at her mom’s house and pretended not to understand when they talked about me in Spanish, went home, at lunch, took a nap, got up and watched telenovelas (soap operas…they are sooo popular here!) and then talked to the visitors that came over every once in a while, then went to bed at around seven thirty or eight. I love Pedro and Lupe. They were very sweet and funny and genuinely cared about me and the rest of the Ventana students. They know us all well because Pedro is our maintenance man on campus.
Some funny experiences during my house stays: once I ate spaghetti for breakfast…it was wack. And then some neighbor lady who always popped in and out of the house came in and watched me try to mop. Then she just shook her head and said “No…no.” Then she took the mop out of my hands and just started going at it vigorously. It was so funny. But I have now learned the proper mopping technique, so feel free to call me up when I’m home J Lupe also told me that I should just stay in Porvenir forever…and that I could live with them. The funny thing was that they were semi-serious. That just shows what kind of people the Mexicans are…they care more about people and the relationships that they have with each other than their schedule or comfort. This is definitely something that I have had to adjust to since the American culture is so different. Oh yeah…their shower did not have running water…so I used a bucket. And the drain was right over the sewage system so it smelled like yucky things in there. I’m glad I have that experience under my belt now…I feel like I can almost do anything now J So yeah, that was my house-stay experience in a nutshell.
Then this week we had our last Camp Ventana, and it went so well. I got to watch God move powerfully again…I just love it. There are always these certain students that all of us Ventaneros feel are being specially called by God, and so we pray for them, and talk to them, and pour as much of us as we can into them, and then God just does the rest…He has brought many high school students to tears as they realize that they can’t do it on their own, that they need to give every single one of their dreams or expectations up to their Creator. I am so stoked on hearing from them all as they continue to grow. And that I get to do this for the whole summer…that’s right…I applied for and was offered a position counseling high school and middle school students at Mt. Hermon Christian Camp in Santa Cruz, California! I have felt God calling me there for these past two years, and though it is going to be so hard being away from my family for another three months, I know that God is pushing me to go there and continue to grow and encourage others to grow. It’s the passion that God placed on my heart and I am so so so blessed that I get to go and pursue it. Praise God!
Just a bit more…sorry this is getting long. I would like to place before you guys some brief history’s of some of the families here in Porvenir and how God is moving through them despite all odds. The first family I would like to share about is one that I have never personally met…the Herrera family. This is a family of six, parents and their four boys, who moved from Porvenir to Morocco (the tenth hardest city to spread the gospel in). About a month ago the four boys had tomatoes and onions thrown at them because they did not believe in Allah. For the parents, this was a very painful experience since they had packed up the little that they had, walked away from the town that they had grown up in, and went off to some hard-core Muslim country to fulfill the calling of Jesus Christ. If you guys could keep them in your prayers, they are trying to get permanent residency there because they are so confident that God put them here for a reason. The second family I would like to “introduce” to you guys is one that is actively involved in ministry with the youth of Porvenir. Geo and Pati are a beautiful young couple with a little daughter named Stephanie. They co-lead the youth group for our church and put so much time and effort in as well as working their small movie rental store in the neighboring town. They also take in teenagers who have horrible family lives. They have taken in three in the past, and now one of my best friends here, a girl named Leti, is living with them. She had a very hard family life and Pati fought hard to help her get away from it. Leti has been living with them for two years and they have been paying for her schooling with money they barely scrape together. They make sacrifices so that they can send Leti to the best school in the area, and they treat her like a daughter even though she is free to leave whenever she wants. Geo just recently went on a missions trip down to Southern Mexico. To show you how amazing he is, he was prepared to get on the plane with no more than twenty dollars in his pocket, he was so faithfully trusting God to provide for him. He was not going to be able to get a hotel room or anything…so then God provided money for him right before he left through an outrageously productive day at their video store and a check from a stranger. Praise the Lord!
I just wanted to give you all a little taste of the company that I am keeping here…pretty amazing huh? I see these people with barely anything just living totally and completely for God. It’s awesome. And it makes me want to be a radical Christ-follower. Thanks for reading, you guys! Love you all and for those of you in Corvallis…I’ll be seeing you soon ;)
Love,
Mikaela
Some funny experiences during my house stays: once I ate spaghetti for breakfast…it was wack. And then some neighbor lady who always popped in and out of the house came in and watched me try to mop. Then she just shook her head and said “No…no.” Then she took the mop out of my hands and just started going at it vigorously. It was so funny. But I have now learned the proper mopping technique, so feel free to call me up when I’m home J Lupe also told me that I should just stay in Porvenir forever…and that I could live with them. The funny thing was that they were semi-serious. That just shows what kind of people the Mexicans are…they care more about people and the relationships that they have with each other than their schedule or comfort. This is definitely something that I have had to adjust to since the American culture is so different. Oh yeah…their shower did not have running water…so I used a bucket. And the drain was right over the sewage system so it smelled like yucky things in there. I’m glad I have that experience under my belt now…I feel like I can almost do anything now J So yeah, that was my house-stay experience in a nutshell.
Then this week we had our last Camp Ventana, and it went so well. I got to watch God move powerfully again…I just love it. There are always these certain students that all of us Ventaneros feel are being specially called by God, and so we pray for them, and talk to them, and pour as much of us as we can into them, and then God just does the rest…He has brought many high school students to tears as they realize that they can’t do it on their own, that they need to give every single one of their dreams or expectations up to their Creator. I am so stoked on hearing from them all as they continue to grow. And that I get to do this for the whole summer…that’s right…I applied for and was offered a position counseling high school and middle school students at Mt. Hermon Christian Camp in Santa Cruz, California! I have felt God calling me there for these past two years, and though it is going to be so hard being away from my family for another three months, I know that God is pushing me to go there and continue to grow and encourage others to grow. It’s the passion that God placed on my heart and I am so so so blessed that I get to go and pursue it. Praise God!
Just a bit more…sorry this is getting long. I would like to place before you guys some brief history’s of some of the families here in Porvenir and how God is moving through them despite all odds. The first family I would like to share about is one that I have never personally met…the Herrera family. This is a family of six, parents and their four boys, who moved from Porvenir to Morocco (the tenth hardest city to spread the gospel in). About a month ago the four boys had tomatoes and onions thrown at them because they did not believe in Allah. For the parents, this was a very painful experience since they had packed up the little that they had, walked away from the town that they had grown up in, and went off to some hard-core Muslim country to fulfill the calling of Jesus Christ. If you guys could keep them in your prayers, they are trying to get permanent residency there because they are so confident that God put them here for a reason. The second family I would like to “introduce” to you guys is one that is actively involved in ministry with the youth of Porvenir. Geo and Pati are a beautiful young couple with a little daughter named Stephanie. They co-lead the youth group for our church and put so much time and effort in as well as working their small movie rental store in the neighboring town. They also take in teenagers who have horrible family lives. They have taken in three in the past, and now one of my best friends here, a girl named Leti, is living with them. She had a very hard family life and Pati fought hard to help her get away from it. Leti has been living with them for two years and they have been paying for her schooling with money they barely scrape together. They make sacrifices so that they can send Leti to the best school in the area, and they treat her like a daughter even though she is free to leave whenever she wants. Geo just recently went on a missions trip down to Southern Mexico. To show you how amazing he is, he was prepared to get on the plane with no more than twenty dollars in his pocket, he was so faithfully trusting God to provide for him. He was not going to be able to get a hotel room or anything…so then God provided money for him right before he left through an outrageously productive day at their video store and a check from a stranger. Praise the Lord!
I just wanted to give you all a little taste of the company that I am keeping here…pretty amazing huh? I see these people with barely anything just living totally and completely for God. It’s awesome. And it makes me want to be a radical Christ-follower. Thanks for reading, you guys! Love you all and for those of you in Corvallis…I’ll be seeing you soon ;)
Love,
Mikaela
Monday, March 23, 2009
Youth Groups Are So Fun!
Wow! We had nineteen students come down from a church in Arizona this last week, and it was so amazing! This group came despite all the dramatized news about Mexico and all the violent events down here. The group had shrunk drastically in size, so we just got the most dedicated students who really knew that God were calling them down here. And let me tell you, the Holy Spirit moved. I got to meet a couple students that are for sure doing Ventana next year, and that was beyond awesome. I love watching students come and dedicate their weeks to serving the people of Porvenir. God just really likes to begin to put cracks in the walls that they have built around their hearts; walls of pride, or hurt, or just plain selfishness. Its so funny to see them realize that this life is not all about them, but about loving and giving glory to God. Praise the Lord for Camp Ventanas and the ways that they impact people's lives.
Just something for everyone to keep in their prayers...Ventana is continuing to have financial problems, and Doug and Carrie and their boys just really need prayer. They sacrificed everything they had to start this ministry for God, and its been a hard four years trying to get it off the ground. People have been so generous, and really, the Vom Steeg family is continuing to make sacrifices to keep it going, and so are all us students...just pray that Ventana can continue to impact the world by preparing servants and warriors for Christ. I didn't know how unprepared I was for college, for life in general, before I came on this trip, and I know that my faith was so shaken by what happened to Dad, that I might have just become one of the statistics of a Christian youth who lost her faith during her first year in college. Now, I know what I believe in, why I believe it, and how to support my faith with Scripture. Praise God for all the things in my life He has radiacally changed. Lets pray that this kind of change can continue to move through hundreds of other young students through out the years to come! Thanks everybody!
God bless you all, and thank you for keeping up with me on this amazing journey that God has led me through. Wow, God is so GOOD!
Just something for everyone to keep in their prayers...Ventana is continuing to have financial problems, and Doug and Carrie and their boys just really need prayer. They sacrificed everything they had to start this ministry for God, and its been a hard four years trying to get it off the ground. People have been so generous, and really, the Vom Steeg family is continuing to make sacrifices to keep it going, and so are all us students...just pray that Ventana can continue to impact the world by preparing servants and warriors for Christ. I didn't know how unprepared I was for college, for life in general, before I came on this trip, and I know that my faith was so shaken by what happened to Dad, that I might have just become one of the statistics of a Christian youth who lost her faith during her first year in college. Now, I know what I believe in, why I believe it, and how to support my faith with Scripture. Praise God for all the things in my life He has radiacally changed. Lets pray that this kind of change can continue to move through hundreds of other young students through out the years to come! Thanks everybody!
God bless you all, and thank you for keeping up with me on this amazing journey that God has led me through. Wow, God is so GOOD!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Getting to Know Porvenir
I just wanted to fill you all in on the grand town of Porvenir that all of us Ventaneros are living in. It is a really small, little country-bumpkin town with dirt streets and one main road. "The Mall" is a building with four stores inside of it, but only two are open on a regular basis. There are a few churches here...we live right next door to the big Catholic Church, and our church, Iglesia Cristiana de Porvenir, is an awesome, brightly painted building with several rooms and a kitchen...we eat after every service! I love the people in this town! They are so sweet and loving...very welcoming to us gringos :) We are very involved with the youth group here, and have made several good friends who we hang out with. My mom and the boys got to meet a few of them at church which was really fun for me...cause now all the talk about is how tall my family is! Haha...
We are going to a thing called a CONFRA on Saturday afternoon. A CONFRA is something directed by Pastor Marcos (our pastor) and it normally has about 700 people there. It is geared towards youth, but plenty of adults come too. It is just a big youth rally for the Christian youth here to come together and worship God. It is really awesome, this will be our second one since we've been here.
We got two Ventana puppies while we were in Culiacan and they both got sick about two weeks ago. They apparently had Parvo...which is a deadly disease common among dogs who don't have their shots. Someone accidentally gave Carrie the wrong information about when the shots were supposed to be given...so now we only have one puppy. Sunny, our little lightening bolt died on Tuesday morning between 12-2 a.m. Rachel and I had been nursing her all day on Monday, checking up on her every 45 minutes to an hour, and even got up every hour during the night, but she was just too dehydrated and sick for anything to be done. she climbed up onto the boy's porch and died...it was very sad, especailly for Micah, the directors' seven-year-old son, and we had a little memorial service for her. It is a miracle that Sunny's sister, Dot, is still alive. She got sick first, but recovered on her own. She is now super lonely since she no longer has her playmate, but is doing fine. We are going to begin trainging her tomorrow. I get to be the first teacher!
Just wanted to give you a picture of what life is like here on a regular basis...I won't be online for another two weeks because we have two youth groups coming down...this next week is a church from Pheonix, Arizona, and the one after that is from Portland, Oregon. We are very excited! I get to be the game director for the week! Whoo-hoo!
Thanks for your prayers! Much love to everyone!
Mikaela
We are going to a thing called a CONFRA on Saturday afternoon. A CONFRA is something directed by Pastor Marcos (our pastor) and it normally has about 700 people there. It is geared towards youth, but plenty of adults come too. It is just a big youth rally for the Christian youth here to come together and worship God. It is really awesome, this will be our second one since we've been here.
We got two Ventana puppies while we were in Culiacan and they both got sick about two weeks ago. They apparently had Parvo...which is a deadly disease common among dogs who don't have their shots. Someone accidentally gave Carrie the wrong information about when the shots were supposed to be given...so now we only have one puppy. Sunny, our little lightening bolt died on Tuesday morning between 12-2 a.m. Rachel and I had been nursing her all day on Monday, checking up on her every 45 minutes to an hour, and even got up every hour during the night, but she was just too dehydrated and sick for anything to be done. she climbed up onto the boy's porch and died...it was very sad, especailly for Micah, the directors' seven-year-old son, and we had a little memorial service for her. It is a miracle that Sunny's sister, Dot, is still alive. She got sick first, but recovered on her own. She is now super lonely since she no longer has her playmate, but is doing fine. We are going to begin trainging her tomorrow. I get to be the first teacher!
Just wanted to give you a picture of what life is like here on a regular basis...I won't be online for another two weeks because we have two youth groups coming down...this next week is a church from Pheonix, Arizona, and the one after that is from Portland, Oregon. We are very excited! I get to be the game director for the week! Whoo-hoo!
Thanks for your prayers! Much love to everyone!
Mikaela
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Family Makes Things So Much Better!
I am sitting in a little cafe with my brothers Pearce and Ike, and my mommy and it is so wonderful...They are leaving tomorrow and I am heading back to Porvenir for class...sigh. We have been staying in a beach house that is owned by the pastor of the local church in Porvenir. It has been so nice, and we have spent some time on the beach, some out in the market place, and some time at church and the Ventana compound. I have been able to show them the places we like to hang out, and introduce them to my Mexican National friends. Its just been awesome!
Jason was the person to tell me that my family came...he knocked on my door and said "Two things..do you think your mom can give me and my sister a ride to Ensenada? Oh, and they're here by the way." I yelled at him and told him he was a brat (totally kidding by the way) and then ran out to meet them. I gave them all huge, big, long hugs and we have been having a blast ever since. Thats just a little, short update before they leave. Love you all!
Jason was the person to tell me that my family came...he knocked on my door and said "Two things..do you think your mom can give me and my sister a ride to Ensenada? Oh, and they're here by the way." I yelled at him and told him he was a brat (totally kidding by the way) and then ran out to meet them. I gave them all huge, big, long hugs and we have been having a blast ever since. Thats just a little, short update before they leave. Love you all!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Hellllllooooooo
Hey all...I'm just sitting here in Ensenada struggling to keep my internet connection up...its a bummer when it just crashes every few minutes...but its a sacrifice I have to be willing to make...bah.
So I just got done with our service time at Casa Gabriel and it was so amazing, as usual. I hung out with one girl named Rosa. She has three sisters who all have the same progressive disease, so the older one is bedridden, and the others are all in wheelchairs and in different stages. They are all four so precious and sweet. They love to laugh. The cool thing is that they are completely cognitive! They can understand everything you say and answer you with a nod or shake of the head. Rosa, being the youngest (nine years old) can still move her arms a little, so she sort of bekons to where she wants to go. She kept laughing and pretending to role her wheelchair away. I would pretend to cry and say "Nooo, mi amiga! Donde vas?" And she would role back laughing and smiling super big... Her sister Ellie is so sweet, she is the second oldest, and she just sat there and watched me play with her sister and she would smile and laugh as best she could...her older sister cannot make any noises and her waist is completely turned around, its really weird and I don't know how it works...The third oldest sister, Sonia, loves to sing (she just makes some noises in the back of her throat, and then laughs; its absolutely beautiful!) and today Liz, my fellow Venatnera, and I sang songs with the four of them, and Sonia joined in while Rosa did the hand motions she could handle. It was super sweet! These kids just keep growing on me, and I am so excited for the next time we get to go and visit them!
I have started to volunteer a few hours a week at the local orphanage...and it is so much fun. I go every Thursday to help clean and work with the little babies if needed, and then every Friday a group of us goes and puts on a program for the older children there, who are between five to seven years old. They are absolutlely adorable...and I get to take my Mom and brothers there with me if they want to go, and then they can experience the cuteness of them all....
We had our second youth group come down the week after we got back from Culiacan, and they were super awesome! We have four other churches coming down starting in the middle of this month, and we are super pumped for that. We love it when the youth groups come down because we get to work out in the community with a bunch of high school students and remember what it was like for us when we were on our missions trips when we were the same age. Its funny cause we all feel so much older than we did in high school...but we really aren't. Its so silly:)
Anyways...thats whats up..I'll tell you about my awesome time with my family in my next post! Please keep them in your prayers as they travel down here...its always scary the first time!
Love,
Mikaela
So I just got done with our service time at Casa Gabriel and it was so amazing, as usual. I hung out with one girl named Rosa. She has three sisters who all have the same progressive disease, so the older one is bedridden, and the others are all in wheelchairs and in different stages. They are all four so precious and sweet. They love to laugh. The cool thing is that they are completely cognitive! They can understand everything you say and answer you with a nod or shake of the head. Rosa, being the youngest (nine years old) can still move her arms a little, so she sort of bekons to where she wants to go. She kept laughing and pretending to role her wheelchair away. I would pretend to cry and say "Nooo, mi amiga! Donde vas?" And she would role back laughing and smiling super big... Her sister Ellie is so sweet, she is the second oldest, and she just sat there and watched me play with her sister and she would smile and laugh as best she could...her older sister cannot make any noises and her waist is completely turned around, its really weird and I don't know how it works...The third oldest sister, Sonia, loves to sing (she just makes some noises in the back of her throat, and then laughs; its absolutely beautiful!) and today Liz, my fellow Venatnera, and I sang songs with the four of them, and Sonia joined in while Rosa did the hand motions she could handle. It was super sweet! These kids just keep growing on me, and I am so excited for the next time we get to go and visit them!
I have started to volunteer a few hours a week at the local orphanage...and it is so much fun. I go every Thursday to help clean and work with the little babies if needed, and then every Friday a group of us goes and puts on a program for the older children there, who are between five to seven years old. They are absolutlely adorable...and I get to take my Mom and brothers there with me if they want to go, and then they can experience the cuteness of them all....
We had our second youth group come down the week after we got back from Culiacan, and they were super awesome! We have four other churches coming down starting in the middle of this month, and we are super pumped for that. We love it when the youth groups come down because we get to work out in the community with a bunch of high school students and remember what it was like for us when we were on our missions trips when we were the same age. Its funny cause we all feel so much older than we did in high school...but we really aren't. Its so silly:)
Anyways...thats whats up..I'll tell you about my awesome time with my family in my next post! Please keep them in your prayers as they travel down here...its always scary the first time!
Love,
Mikaela
Monday, February 23, 2009
God's Peace is Transcendant
Oh man...its so awesome how God manifests himself in such cool ways...He has filled my life with just peace and a desire to know him more. Every time something comes up to make me feel anxious or sad or disappointed or confused, I just go straight to the Word. He has placed that desire on my heart more than it has ever been before.
Culiacan really changed me, and my outlook on a lot of things that have happened in my life. He is the Divine Dictator of every event, and he doesn't leave any of his children alone. My heart was really heavy for all the people who made the decision for Christ in the camps there in Culiacan...I know that they don't have pastors or churches or bible study leaders or anything like that, and I was worried about how their relationships with Christ would grow...But thats just silly of me because their Father is the Creator of this world..he clothes the lillies and feeds the sparrows...how could he ever leave his children alone? He loves them just as much as he loves you and me, and he will provide for their needs. Isn't that AWESOME! How great of a God do we have?
He has been showing me this in my own life as well...I look back to when I first found out my dad was sick, to April 21st when he went home to God, to that fateful day at Mt. Hermon where I first heard about Ventana, to that day when I had all 8,200 dollars raised after three weeks of working and recieving donations...wow! God obviously loves me since he pulled everything together perfectly so I could come to Ventana and learn more about him and draw closer to him and the plan that he has for my life. In the same way, he loves every single person that is on this earth today. That is a really amazing concept...that he can be intricately involved in billions of peoples lives..at the exact same time! WOW! Haha.
I just wanted to share that with you all...its just something God has been reminding me of as I walk through each day. I would love prayer as I try to decide what to do this summer...I have a job opportunity in Santa Cruz, and would love to take it, but also need to pray about just coming home this summer as well. Please pray for wisdom and clarity for me as I work through that. And my Mom and brothers are coming down to visit me on March 6th to 8th...please pray that they can get here safely and that God really ordains this time for us to catch up and really be able to talk about our lives and everything that has been going on.
You guys are all awesome and such big blessings to my life.
Love,
Mikaela Alexander
Culiacan really changed me, and my outlook on a lot of things that have happened in my life. He is the Divine Dictator of every event, and he doesn't leave any of his children alone. My heart was really heavy for all the people who made the decision for Christ in the camps there in Culiacan...I know that they don't have pastors or churches or bible study leaders or anything like that, and I was worried about how their relationships with Christ would grow...But thats just silly of me because their Father is the Creator of this world..he clothes the lillies and feeds the sparrows...how could he ever leave his children alone? He loves them just as much as he loves you and me, and he will provide for their needs. Isn't that AWESOME! How great of a God do we have?
He has been showing me this in my own life as well...I look back to when I first found out my dad was sick, to April 21st when he went home to God, to that fateful day at Mt. Hermon where I first heard about Ventana, to that day when I had all 8,200 dollars raised after three weeks of working and recieving donations...wow! God obviously loves me since he pulled everything together perfectly so I could come to Ventana and learn more about him and draw closer to him and the plan that he has for my life. In the same way, he loves every single person that is on this earth today. That is a really amazing concept...that he can be intricately involved in billions of peoples lives..at the exact same time! WOW! Haha.
I just wanted to share that with you all...its just something God has been reminding me of as I walk through each day. I would love prayer as I try to decide what to do this summer...I have a job opportunity in Santa Cruz, and would love to take it, but also need to pray about just coming home this summer as well. Please pray for wisdom and clarity for me as I work through that. And my Mom and brothers are coming down to visit me on March 6th to 8th...please pray that they can get here safely and that God really ordains this time for us to catch up and really be able to talk about our lives and everything that has been going on.
You guys are all awesome and such big blessings to my life.
Love,
Mikaela Alexander
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Seeing God in Culiacan
These past two weeks have been some of the most difficult but sweetest days of my life. We had so many funny adventures, some that were not so funny, and some that just bring tears to my eyes when I think about it. These two weeks consisted of over sixty mosquito bites, finding a lizard in my room, getting stuck in the shower for half an hour because the water ran out, finding pieces of chicken (i.e. its foot and heart) in the sink, barely eating because the food hurt my stomach, praying without ceasing against spiritual attack, having to communicate in my broken Spanish, loving on hundreds of children who are growing up in the camps, being broken before God consistently every day, and giving up my fears and insecurities to him every time they surfaced. It’s been awesome!
Not that I was always in that mind set…it was a really hard time. I missed my family, especially Dad, more than usual and it made things difficult. God really spoke to me about some of my anxieties and I was "forced" to let go of them little by little. There were many people (by the second week, we had 83 team members from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico) that were with us to help with the outreach to the camps, and most of them were Spanish speakers. My team of Ventana students and I all felt insufficient in our Spanish, and it was hard to take a back seat when we were out in the camps. Since we couldn’t actually be evangelizing with our words, we had to rely solely on our actions to relay the love of Christ, which meant holding the supplies, cleaning up tons of messes, and smiling welcomingly at all the people in the camps; thats pretty much it besides praying for people when they asked us to, even though we did it in English. But it turned out to be a beautiful thing, watching God work through even us English speakers. Even though we felt useless most of the time, we learned how to be servants, and that's all God asks of us in this life: to be servants and do exactly what he tells us to do, no matter how unglorious.
The schedule of a normal day went like this: wake up at 6:40, devos with Ventana at 7:00, breakfast at 8:00, devos with all the people at 9:00, clean cars and organize everything after devos, lunch at 1:30, prayer at 3:15, leave for camps at 3:30, come back to base camp at 9:00 or 9:30.
The camps are full of Indigenous migrant workers. They are hired for a certain amount of months to come and harvest certain crops such as tomatoes, peppers, corn, etc. Most people who are hired bring their families with them and they all live in a little room that is right next to another little room. They are like long houses with tin walls separating the rooms within the big building. Some of the camps had bigger rooms, and some had smaller ones. They had no running water in the bathrooms or their cuartos (rooms). Most families were made up of young men and women and their two or three children. Many of the mothers were as young as fourteen. Noah, a nineteen year old boy that was part of our team, grew up in the camps and he said that sometimes girls will get married when they are twelve or thirteen. I was shocked.
There are over three hundred different dialects spoken in Mexico, and part of our ministry was to go around to each cuarto and diagnose that specific family’s dialect. We had maps, tape recorders, and other devices that helped us do this. We then wrote down their name and dialect and burned them a CD or cassette with a message on it in their own language. These tapes have been so successful in leading people into a life with Christ. We had children’s programs while teams were out diagnosing. During that, we would sing songs, tell Bible stories, and play games. Some teams would do skits, and some would show movies…it was really fun just to be able to play and laugh with children who often don’t get enough love at home because of the stressful situations their parents are in (working all day every day so they can provide for their families). Then, we would invite the whole camp to come and watch a movie about Jesus and how he can change their lives. After the movie was finished, one of the Spanish speakers from our team would go up and give a short invitation, inviting people to give their lives over to God. Hundreds of people responded. I know it’s not always a good idea to look at the statistics…but after the first week there had been 665 decisions made for Christ. Many people that were working on Proyecto Culiacan with us Ventaneros are staying there for a whole month. We just got to stay for two weeks, but they were life changing. Please keep these people in prayer since they are still out, fighting for the Lord and bringing souls to him each day. Even one of our own Ventana students, Shannon, felt called by God to stay for the rest of the month. God worked things out for her that should have been much harder…and we left her there and will see her in two weeks. We miss her, but are trusting that God knew what he was doing when he told her to stay. We are so excited to hear about what God is doing and is going to do in her life.
I met so many sweet children, so many innocent sons and daughters of God….they were all so precious. Many of them were dirty, some didn’t have proper clothes. But they were just children, so excited to hear and see new things. Here is a very special story that my friend Jason told me; it just really touched my heart. Jason said that he was at a camp with his team one night, and he felt the Holy Spirit prompt him to talk to a young boy. The boy said his name was Arturo, and that he was twelve years old. Even though Jason has very limited Spanish, Noah (who speaks Spanish, English, and an Indian dialect) helped translate for them. Arturo said he had no father, and his mother left him and his two younger siblings so she could go and live with another man. Arturo had to take his younger siblings to live with his uncle and aunt. They sent him to work in the fields to help pay for their support. He is living all alone in a camp with a bunch of strangers for the next few months, going out to work in the fields every day, having to worry about his family and if they are being provided for. Jason prayed over him, with Noah and another man named Chucho. Arturo said he felt so much better, and he made a decision for Christ. It was the sweetest and saddest story. So many of the people there had stories like that, and no one to listen to them. They were just thirsting for God. We just reaped the harvest that God had been preparing. I wish I could tell you about all the special children I met, and all the people I got to pray for, and all the miraculous stories that took place; I wish I could tell you what it felt like to see the Holy Spirit move through the crowd, drawing people to him. But this is already a really long entry. I can’t wait to tell you all more about this amazing trip and how God moved and showed himself to me…but it will have to wait till I can talk to you face to face. J
Thank you for your love and support and I just want to let you all know that I love you! And God loves you…more than you know…yay!
Love,
Mikaela
Not that I was always in that mind set…it was a really hard time. I missed my family, especially Dad, more than usual and it made things difficult. God really spoke to me about some of my anxieties and I was "forced" to let go of them little by little. There were many people (by the second week, we had 83 team members from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico) that were with us to help with the outreach to the camps, and most of them were Spanish speakers. My team of Ventana students and I all felt insufficient in our Spanish, and it was hard to take a back seat when we were out in the camps. Since we couldn’t actually be evangelizing with our words, we had to rely solely on our actions to relay the love of Christ, which meant holding the supplies, cleaning up tons of messes, and smiling welcomingly at all the people in the camps; thats pretty much it besides praying for people when they asked us to, even though we did it in English. But it turned out to be a beautiful thing, watching God work through even us English speakers. Even though we felt useless most of the time, we learned how to be servants, and that's all God asks of us in this life: to be servants and do exactly what he tells us to do, no matter how unglorious.
The schedule of a normal day went like this: wake up at 6:40, devos with Ventana at 7:00, breakfast at 8:00, devos with all the people at 9:00, clean cars and organize everything after devos, lunch at 1:30, prayer at 3:15, leave for camps at 3:30, come back to base camp at 9:00 or 9:30.
The camps are full of Indigenous migrant workers. They are hired for a certain amount of months to come and harvest certain crops such as tomatoes, peppers, corn, etc. Most people who are hired bring their families with them and they all live in a little room that is right next to another little room. They are like long houses with tin walls separating the rooms within the big building. Some of the camps had bigger rooms, and some had smaller ones. They had no running water in the bathrooms or their cuartos (rooms). Most families were made up of young men and women and their two or three children. Many of the mothers were as young as fourteen. Noah, a nineteen year old boy that was part of our team, grew up in the camps and he said that sometimes girls will get married when they are twelve or thirteen. I was shocked.
There are over three hundred different dialects spoken in Mexico, and part of our ministry was to go around to each cuarto and diagnose that specific family’s dialect. We had maps, tape recorders, and other devices that helped us do this. We then wrote down their name and dialect and burned them a CD or cassette with a message on it in their own language. These tapes have been so successful in leading people into a life with Christ. We had children’s programs while teams were out diagnosing. During that, we would sing songs, tell Bible stories, and play games. Some teams would do skits, and some would show movies…it was really fun just to be able to play and laugh with children who often don’t get enough love at home because of the stressful situations their parents are in (working all day every day so they can provide for their families). Then, we would invite the whole camp to come and watch a movie about Jesus and how he can change their lives. After the movie was finished, one of the Spanish speakers from our team would go up and give a short invitation, inviting people to give their lives over to God. Hundreds of people responded. I know it’s not always a good idea to look at the statistics…but after the first week there had been 665 decisions made for Christ. Many people that were working on Proyecto Culiacan with us Ventaneros are staying there for a whole month. We just got to stay for two weeks, but they were life changing. Please keep these people in prayer since they are still out, fighting for the Lord and bringing souls to him each day. Even one of our own Ventana students, Shannon, felt called by God to stay for the rest of the month. God worked things out for her that should have been much harder…and we left her there and will see her in two weeks. We miss her, but are trusting that God knew what he was doing when he told her to stay. We are so excited to hear about what God is doing and is going to do in her life.
I met so many sweet children, so many innocent sons and daughters of God….they were all so precious. Many of them were dirty, some didn’t have proper clothes. But they were just children, so excited to hear and see new things. Here is a very special story that my friend Jason told me; it just really touched my heart. Jason said that he was at a camp with his team one night, and he felt the Holy Spirit prompt him to talk to a young boy. The boy said his name was Arturo, and that he was twelve years old. Even though Jason has very limited Spanish, Noah (who speaks Spanish, English, and an Indian dialect) helped translate for them. Arturo said he had no father, and his mother left him and his two younger siblings so she could go and live with another man. Arturo had to take his younger siblings to live with his uncle and aunt. They sent him to work in the fields to help pay for their support. He is living all alone in a camp with a bunch of strangers for the next few months, going out to work in the fields every day, having to worry about his family and if they are being provided for. Jason prayed over him, with Noah and another man named Chucho. Arturo said he felt so much better, and he made a decision for Christ. It was the sweetest and saddest story. So many of the people there had stories like that, and no one to listen to them. They were just thirsting for God. We just reaped the harvest that God had been preparing. I wish I could tell you about all the special children I met, and all the people I got to pray for, and all the miraculous stories that took place; I wish I could tell you what it felt like to see the Holy Spirit move through the crowd, drawing people to him. But this is already a really long entry. I can’t wait to tell you all more about this amazing trip and how God moved and showed himself to me…but it will have to wait till I can talk to you face to face. J
Thank you for your love and support and I just want to let you all know that I love you! And God loves you…more than you know…yay!
Love,
Mikaela
Friday, January 30, 2009
Two days....
Hey...here's just a quick update.
We are leaving Sunday at three thirty in the morning...killer :) We fly out of Tijuana and land in Culiacan later that morning. We start our program right away. We will be with about sixty other Mexican nationals. We will have two to three hours of prayer and worship each day, then two hours to prepare and hopefully relax. We will go to the different camps/assignments at around four in the afternoon since we can't do an outreach with the people until they are back form working in the fields.
We were all given evangecubes....if you don't know what that is its a block that has all different pictures on it depicting the life of Jesus. Its pretty interesting and it sounds really/looks really cheesy...but apparently it has been used all over the world, successfully bringing whole groups of people to Christ. Its really cool. This is going to be a really big evangelism time for us...its nerve wracking since we don't speak spanish very well....but God will use us somehow :)
We have spent this whole week praying and fasting and worshipping and listening to the Holy Spirit...its been so awesome. I've never felt so at peace. I mean, its and expected thing after spending about three to four hours in prayer everday, and have anywhere from one to two hours a day set aside for quiet time with the Lord. Today we drove out to this cemetary which sounds really creepy but its not. Mexican cemetaries are not as creepy as U.S. ones. They are really bright and cheerful...more flowers than graves. It also has the most amazing view of the mountains that surround Porvenir. It was such a beautiful and peaceful time. I just sat there in the warm sun with the wind blowing and it was really special. I am confidant that God is going to use our team to do some awesome spreadage of the Truth! (if spreadage is a word...hopefully you know what I mean :))
I'll write again in two weeks. Thanks!
Mikaela
We are leaving Sunday at three thirty in the morning...killer :) We fly out of Tijuana and land in Culiacan later that morning. We start our program right away. We will be with about sixty other Mexican nationals. We will have two to three hours of prayer and worship each day, then two hours to prepare and hopefully relax. We will go to the different camps/assignments at around four in the afternoon since we can't do an outreach with the people until they are back form working in the fields.
We were all given evangecubes....if you don't know what that is its a block that has all different pictures on it depicting the life of Jesus. Its pretty interesting and it sounds really/looks really cheesy...but apparently it has been used all over the world, successfully bringing whole groups of people to Christ. Its really cool. This is going to be a really big evangelism time for us...its nerve wracking since we don't speak spanish very well....but God will use us somehow :)
We have spent this whole week praying and fasting and worshipping and listening to the Holy Spirit...its been so awesome. I've never felt so at peace. I mean, its and expected thing after spending about three to four hours in prayer everday, and have anywhere from one to two hours a day set aside for quiet time with the Lord. Today we drove out to this cemetary which sounds really creepy but its not. Mexican cemetaries are not as creepy as U.S. ones. They are really bright and cheerful...more flowers than graves. It also has the most amazing view of the mountains that surround Porvenir. It was such a beautiful and peaceful time. I just sat there in the warm sun with the wind blowing and it was really special. I am confidant that God is going to use our team to do some awesome spreadage of the Truth! (if spreadage is a word...hopefully you know what I mean :))
I'll write again in two weeks. Thanks!
Mikaela
Monday, January 26, 2009
Getting Prepared for Culiacan
Hey everybody!
I just got done with my second visit to Casa de Gabriel, the orphanage for handicapped children. It was a very intense day today. We stayed and helped to feed the children their meals. The majority of them cannot feed themselves. The staff there is made up mostly of single mothers who came from very bad domestic situations, and they are awesome, caring women, but there is so few of them that it was super awesome for them to be able to pass off some of their responsibilities to us gringos (white people). And I sure acted like a clueless white person today. I helped a lady feed a girl (whose name I cannot remember unfortunately) who cannot swallow her food. How in the world does that work? I don't really know. I held her head while the lady continuously caught the food the girl spit out and shovelled it back in. The poor girl was trying so hard to get it down, but it was such a hard thing. The food was all blended together, so it was as smooth as possible, but she had to open her throat and just let it slide down, and she would choke on it most of the times. The nurse asked me if I wanted to try it, but I couldn't even get the spoon in her mouth. It was so scary for me. I almost cried, but no one else was so I held it in. Then, the same nurse asked me to come with her to change another girl's diaper named Gabbi. I was just learning how to, so I stood to the side. Gabbi is seven I think. She cannot speak, cannot walk, and cannot sit up on her own. She just sits there and stares at you while chewing on her shaking hand. She was a sweet heart! I am excited for when we can go again. We will be taking the youth groups there every week we have one down. So we will be there alot in about three weeks.
We are having a preparation week for Culiacan. Most of our classes have been shortened and switched around so we can have ample time to pray and fast and focus on the Word. Our hearts have to be prepared for the service we will be called to do. Us students have been told that we won't really know what we are doing until like three minutes before we do it. We will be told by the directors and then we go. No matter what it is. We will be working with about 60 other Mexican nationals from the churches in the surrounding areas and us Ventaneros might not even room together during these next two weeks. It will be a trying and spiritually testing time, but we are excited for our time there, spreading the love of Christ through actions and words. We will be showing the Jesus Film to the Indigenous people as well a few nights a week. The people we are serving are all Indigenous, so they don't speak spanish mostly, its a totally different dialect. The languege barrier will be another thing to worry about for us Ventaneros.
Another huge prayer request as we go is for us girls. The men in Culiacan are known to be very crass and crude. Me and Michalene have to wear shawls on our heads because of our lighter hair color. Us girls are all wearing shirts that are two sizes too big, and long loose skirts with socks that cover our ankles. We are trying to look as unappealing and droopy as possible :) so i might not want to post any pictures from that time...you all might be suprised at my unappealing looks :) Just kidding. I am so excited to go out and be able to see how I can serve Gods people. Just pray that I can have a servants heart and that I'm willing to do everything with an attitude of humility and thanksgiving. We are under continuous spiritual attack, as a group and idividually. We are all on edge, so please pray that we can draw together as a team and be supportive and encouraging to each other. We need to have one mind--to serve God's people, and through that, serve God himself. But its difficult, especially in a high stress situation like this one.
Thank you all so much for your support. Please continue to pray for safety, and for all of us to be courageous in the name of Jesus Christ!
Much love,
Mikaela
I just got done with my second visit to Casa de Gabriel, the orphanage for handicapped children. It was a very intense day today. We stayed and helped to feed the children their meals. The majority of them cannot feed themselves. The staff there is made up mostly of single mothers who came from very bad domestic situations, and they are awesome, caring women, but there is so few of them that it was super awesome for them to be able to pass off some of their responsibilities to us gringos (white people). And I sure acted like a clueless white person today. I helped a lady feed a girl (whose name I cannot remember unfortunately) who cannot swallow her food. How in the world does that work? I don't really know. I held her head while the lady continuously caught the food the girl spit out and shovelled it back in. The poor girl was trying so hard to get it down, but it was such a hard thing. The food was all blended together, so it was as smooth as possible, but she had to open her throat and just let it slide down, and she would choke on it most of the times. The nurse asked me if I wanted to try it, but I couldn't even get the spoon in her mouth. It was so scary for me. I almost cried, but no one else was so I held it in. Then, the same nurse asked me to come with her to change another girl's diaper named Gabbi. I was just learning how to, so I stood to the side. Gabbi is seven I think. She cannot speak, cannot walk, and cannot sit up on her own. She just sits there and stares at you while chewing on her shaking hand. She was a sweet heart! I am excited for when we can go again. We will be taking the youth groups there every week we have one down. So we will be there alot in about three weeks.
We are having a preparation week for Culiacan. Most of our classes have been shortened and switched around so we can have ample time to pray and fast and focus on the Word. Our hearts have to be prepared for the service we will be called to do. Us students have been told that we won't really know what we are doing until like three minutes before we do it. We will be told by the directors and then we go. No matter what it is. We will be working with about 60 other Mexican nationals from the churches in the surrounding areas and us Ventaneros might not even room together during these next two weeks. It will be a trying and spiritually testing time, but we are excited for our time there, spreading the love of Christ through actions and words. We will be showing the Jesus Film to the Indigenous people as well a few nights a week. The people we are serving are all Indigenous, so they don't speak spanish mostly, its a totally different dialect. The languege barrier will be another thing to worry about for us Ventaneros.
Another huge prayer request as we go is for us girls. The men in Culiacan are known to be very crass and crude. Me and Michalene have to wear shawls on our heads because of our lighter hair color. Us girls are all wearing shirts that are two sizes too big, and long loose skirts with socks that cover our ankles. We are trying to look as unappealing and droopy as possible :) so i might not want to post any pictures from that time...you all might be suprised at my unappealing looks :) Just kidding. I am so excited to go out and be able to see how I can serve Gods people. Just pray that I can have a servants heart and that I'm willing to do everything with an attitude of humility and thanksgiving. We are under continuous spiritual attack, as a group and idividually. We are all on edge, so please pray that we can draw together as a team and be supportive and encouraging to each other. We need to have one mind--to serve God's people, and through that, serve God himself. But its difficult, especially in a high stress situation like this one.
Thank you all so much for your support. Please continue to pray for safety, and for all of us to be courageous in the name of Jesus Christ!
Much love,
Mikaela
Monday, January 19, 2009
Second Week!!!
Hey all! Our second week in Mexico has come to a close. And it has been a full one! We just said goodbye to our first Camp Ventana youth group. About eighteen people in all came down to Porvenir for a weekend of service and it was AWESOME! We worked hard in the community painting, cleaning, digging, and replacing the roof on the girl's trailer. Actually...WE didn't since I was the "Picture Lady" as the students called me. I took all the pictures and made a slide show that was shown today before they left. I loved it...but yesterday was filled with tons of technological difficulties and it was one of the most stressful times of my life. But everything turned out well and I sent the youth pastor away happy with a copy of the movie and all the pictures in his hands. Whoo!
We started classes last week and they are going really well! Again, they are going to be challenging but only because the teachers are trying to get us to develop our own opinions on things based off of what we read in the Bible instead of just spoon feeding us their thoughts. Its exactly what I need at this point in my relationship with Christ. This week I am writing a paper on salvation and why I believe what I believe using Biblical references. I know what I believe, but I have to find the verses that support that belief...its the best homework EVER!
We have experienced several church services with the church that we are partnered with in Porvenir and its absolutely amazing! Church is so different in Mexico...there are children on the side dancing and twirling flags during worship, people pray out loud and all at the same time so that they are not worried about impressing the people around them with their clever and righteous words :) Its such a new thing to me, but I am getting used to it. And I always have one of the worship songs stuck in my head especially my favorite one "Te Doy Gloria" (I Give You Glory) It is a really catchy tune with awesome meaning.
We are leaving for our two week trip to Culiacan in about..two weeks. I can't believe that we are actually going! Its going to be such a huge impact upon my life...and I am going to be stretched by all the things that we are going to be doing. Again, I would love it if you would be in prayer for this--that our team would be strong together and that Satan would not be able to find a foothold. Doug warned us that there is going to be some intense spiritual battle.
I love you all! I hope things are going well with everyone!
Mikaela
We started classes last week and they are going really well! Again, they are going to be challenging but only because the teachers are trying to get us to develop our own opinions on things based off of what we read in the Bible instead of just spoon feeding us their thoughts. Its exactly what I need at this point in my relationship with Christ. This week I am writing a paper on salvation and why I believe what I believe using Biblical references. I know what I believe, but I have to find the verses that support that belief...its the best homework EVER!
We have experienced several church services with the church that we are partnered with in Porvenir and its absolutely amazing! Church is so different in Mexico...there are children on the side dancing and twirling flags during worship, people pray out loud and all at the same time so that they are not worried about impressing the people around them with their clever and righteous words :) Its such a new thing to me, but I am getting used to it. And I always have one of the worship songs stuck in my head especially my favorite one "Te Doy Gloria" (I Give You Glory) It is a really catchy tune with awesome meaning.
We are leaving for our two week trip to Culiacan in about..two weeks. I can't believe that we are actually going! Its going to be such a huge impact upon my life...and I am going to be stretched by all the things that we are going to be doing. Again, I would love it if you would be in prayer for this--that our team would be strong together and that Satan would not be able to find a foothold. Doug warned us that there is going to be some intense spiritual battle.
I love you all! I hope things are going well with everyone!
Mikaela
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hola Amigos y Familia!!
Buenas noches! I am sitting in a coffee shop in Ensenada, which is about 45 minutes to an hour away from our home town of Porvenir. We just finished our first shopping day...can I just say stressful. I am team leader for the next two weeks, which just means that I pretty much am in charge of budgeting, passing along information from the leaders to the students, locking up the compound at night, and making sure everyone obeys the rules. Ugh. Its alot of responsibility, but I suppose its good for me, right? Every other Monday, the girl's house recieves 320 dollars which goes towards two weeks worth of gorceries and utilities, which include water, electricty, and propane. We get an allowance at the end of every month if we do our campus and house chores, and this will either go towards utilities or our own personal stuff, depending on how much our bill is. Its my first experience with budgeting, and since I am team leader, it all fell to me, but I successfully added up all our bills, and we saved 140 dollars after buying all our food. Crazy.
But now I 'm done with the boring news and will move on to the more exciting things....us Ventaneros went to Casa de Gabriel for the first time today. Casa de Gabriel is an orphange that we will be volunteering at every other Monday during our stay here. The children in the orphanage are all handicapped in some way: most are in wheelchairs, some are autistic, some have Down's Syndrome, and a few are HIV positive. I met so many special children today, and am almost brought to tears remembering them. There are four sisters who have a progessive disease that stemmed from the pesticides sprayed over the field while their pregnant mother was picking the produce. There was a young man named Raul who lived in a cage for most of his younger years because his parents didn't have the means to watch after him. There was little five-year-old Marisol who is completely normal except for the fact that she is HIV positive. I can't wait to post up pictures of them in the future weeks. This orphanage is run by an American couple who started rescuing handicapped children thirteen years ago. They currently have 38 children (slash young adults) in the orphanage, and have three adoptions pending. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, not because of how it looks (honosetly, its a little small and they have hopes of expanding so they can take in more children) but because of all the love and ministry that is going on. Their staff is mostly made up of single mothers who had nowhere else to turn. They pour themselves into these children twenty four hours out of every day. Some of the children are in very extreme conditions. One boy, Teddy, used to be so week in his lower body that every time he had to poop, his intestines would come out as well. So Irene, instead of taking him to the hospital every time he had to go, learned how to put them back herself. Now, praise the Lord, his muscles are strong enough, and he is healthy as he possibly can be. Please be in prayer for this ministry and the awesome works they are doing.
Going back a bit more in time, we spent three days in Tijuana for cultural training. This consisted of training classes and cultural excursions. We were sent out in pairs along a certain area of TJ and were told to just watch certain things about the people. i.e. how they greeted each other, what they wore, who talked to whom, how close they stood to each other when talking etc. It was really interesting and really beneficial if not a bit crazy. We stayed safe, no worries. During our visit, we stayed at a place called El Castillo, which is a castle (small for a castle, but very bonita) that is being transformed into a Bible school. The staff there was AWESOME and they are coming down to visit us sometime.
We went to our first church service and it was so amazing...but long :) Church in Mexico is a bit longer than in America...we were there from 9:30 until 2:15. We are getting to know the locals a bit and have had several pick up games of soccer and volleyball with some of the boys in Porvenir. We will be attending the church's high school and college groups that meet during the week. We will also go to an early morning prayer time every Wed. (We have to be ready at 5:45 in the morning) as well as go to a service that takes place later that evening. We have our first youth group coming down this weekend from Southern California, and us students with be directing everything during that...leading the devos, leading the service projects, hanging with the kids, cleaning the dishes, etc. Its gonna be crazy, and we are going to have five straight weeks of it later in Feb. and March, I believe. After this group leaves (on Monday) the Ventaneros will be preparing for our two week excursion into Culiacan where we will be bringing the gospel to over a thousand migrant workers. Please be in prayer for that since the devil will be attacking us in many different places. Its going to be hard to stay together as a team, and to keep energy up during the intense times. Hopefully I will have many cool, God-centered stories to tell you when I get back.
Sorry this was so long, I just have so much to tell you guys! Its been a busy past week. I will be on my computer every Monday afternoon, and will fill you all in on whats happening at that time. I hope everything is going well for all of you, and I send you tons of love from Porvenir!
Mikaela Alexander
But now I 'm done with the boring news and will move on to the more exciting things....us Ventaneros went to Casa de Gabriel for the first time today. Casa de Gabriel is an orphange that we will be volunteering at every other Monday during our stay here. The children in the orphanage are all handicapped in some way: most are in wheelchairs, some are autistic, some have Down's Syndrome, and a few are HIV positive. I met so many special children today, and am almost brought to tears remembering them. There are four sisters who have a progessive disease that stemmed from the pesticides sprayed over the field while their pregnant mother was picking the produce. There was a young man named Raul who lived in a cage for most of his younger years because his parents didn't have the means to watch after him. There was little five-year-old Marisol who is completely normal except for the fact that she is HIV positive. I can't wait to post up pictures of them in the future weeks. This orphanage is run by an American couple who started rescuing handicapped children thirteen years ago. They currently have 38 children (slash young adults) in the orphanage, and have three adoptions pending. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, not because of how it looks (honosetly, its a little small and they have hopes of expanding so they can take in more children) but because of all the love and ministry that is going on. Their staff is mostly made up of single mothers who had nowhere else to turn. They pour themselves into these children twenty four hours out of every day. Some of the children are in very extreme conditions. One boy, Teddy, used to be so week in his lower body that every time he had to poop, his intestines would come out as well. So Irene, instead of taking him to the hospital every time he had to go, learned how to put them back herself. Now, praise the Lord, his muscles are strong enough, and he is healthy as he possibly can be. Please be in prayer for this ministry and the awesome works they are doing.
Going back a bit more in time, we spent three days in Tijuana for cultural training. This consisted of training classes and cultural excursions. We were sent out in pairs along a certain area of TJ and were told to just watch certain things about the people. i.e. how they greeted each other, what they wore, who talked to whom, how close they stood to each other when talking etc. It was really interesting and really beneficial if not a bit crazy. We stayed safe, no worries. During our visit, we stayed at a place called El Castillo, which is a castle (small for a castle, but very bonita) that is being transformed into a Bible school. The staff there was AWESOME and they are coming down to visit us sometime.
We went to our first church service and it was so amazing...but long :) Church in Mexico is a bit longer than in America...we were there from 9:30 until 2:15. We are getting to know the locals a bit and have had several pick up games of soccer and volleyball with some of the boys in Porvenir. We will be attending the church's high school and college groups that meet during the week. We will also go to an early morning prayer time every Wed. (We have to be ready at 5:45 in the morning) as well as go to a service that takes place later that evening. We have our first youth group coming down this weekend from Southern California, and us students with be directing everything during that...leading the devos, leading the service projects, hanging with the kids, cleaning the dishes, etc. Its gonna be crazy, and we are going to have five straight weeks of it later in Feb. and March, I believe. After this group leaves (on Monday) the Ventaneros will be preparing for our two week excursion into Culiacan where we will be bringing the gospel to over a thousand migrant workers. Please be in prayer for that since the devil will be attacking us in many different places. Its going to be hard to stay together as a team, and to keep energy up during the intense times. Hopefully I will have many cool, God-centered stories to tell you when I get back.
Sorry this was so long, I just have so much to tell you guys! Its been a busy past week. I will be on my computer every Monday afternoon, and will fill you all in on whats happening at that time. I hope everything is going well for all of you, and I send you tons of love from Porvenir!
Mikaela Alexander
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Mexico...here I come!
Hey all!
I am here in Palm Springs, and the time is drawing closer to the end of my vacation. The sun is shining--its up in the seventies--and we are all enjoying multiple activities such as golfing, watching football, playing cards, swimming, and watching old movies on TV. My Aunty Marcie, Uncle Shawn, and cousins Danielle and Sam came and visited us for a few days on their way home from their own vacation and that was a whirlwind of fun. Its been so relaxing and beautiful, and the perfect end to my break!
On Saturday, my family and I will leave the condo our good friends the LaBossiers let us stay in, and we will go hang at the bustling outdoor market where my friend and fellow Ventanero, Michaelene, will meet us. From there, I will say my good byes and head over to Michaelene's house until we go to San Diego to meet up with the rest of the group. Then its off to Mexico! We will be in Porvenir (the town we will be actually living in for most of the time) for the first night, and then we will spend a week in Tiajuana. We would REALLY appreciate your prayers for our team since its kind of a dangerous situation down there in TJ.
I am so excited and will miss you all a ton!
Happy New Years! WOOT for 2009!
Love,
Mikaela
I am here in Palm Springs, and the time is drawing closer to the end of my vacation. The sun is shining--its up in the seventies--and we are all enjoying multiple activities such as golfing, watching football, playing cards, swimming, and watching old movies on TV. My Aunty Marcie, Uncle Shawn, and cousins Danielle and Sam came and visited us for a few days on their way home from their own vacation and that was a whirlwind of fun. Its been so relaxing and beautiful, and the perfect end to my break!
On Saturday, my family and I will leave the condo our good friends the LaBossiers let us stay in, and we will go hang at the bustling outdoor market where my friend and fellow Ventanero, Michaelene, will meet us. From there, I will say my good byes and head over to Michaelene's house until we go to San Diego to meet up with the rest of the group. Then its off to Mexico! We will be in Porvenir (the town we will be actually living in for most of the time) for the first night, and then we will spend a week in Tiajuana. We would REALLY appreciate your prayers for our team since its kind of a dangerous situation down there in TJ.
I am so excited and will miss you all a ton!
Happy New Years! WOOT for 2009!
Love,
Mikaela
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