A Trip in Missions, Pt. 5

Welcome to my first post from Mexico!!!  I have Internet!  I’ve been in Mexico for 5 days now and it’s been WORK!  Lol!  I haven’t done much architecture for the building, but I have the plans.  I’ve also been working with the children and teaching them English on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  The main thing that I’ve been doing is uploading videos onto sites like youtube and vimeo for Vida Internacional.  The videos are for the free Bible Institute that is offered for Spanish-speaking people.  There are a LOT of videos and they have to be edited before I can put them online.

For those who know me, I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a tech wiz!  Still, my limited knowledge has been more than enough for the work (only by God’s grace).  That’s true, both in the work and in the opposition…

I told you before about the opposition rising up in Mezcales (where I am).  It turns out that it is a lot worse than I first thought.  The missionary, Lee, befriended this guy who was helping him to perfect his knowledge of Spanish.  The guy, as Lee puts it, is a genius with words!  Not only that, but he has a lot of Bible knowledge—able to quote full chapters of Scripture.  The sad thing is that he is exactly what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:15-16—a wolf masquerading as a sheep.

He’s the one that was tapping Lee’s phones.  Not only that, but his daughters work for Telmex—the equivalent of Comcast or Verizon in Mexico, offering both phone and Internet services.  They investigate the customers of Telmex for security purposes, and they are on board with what their father is doing.  Technology is crazy these days...to be able to hack someone's webcam so that you can see into their room is something that I wouldn't even think to do!

So, back to my limited tech knowledge, God has been totally empowering me to do online battle against all types of spyware, trojans, and other malware!  It’s only through Him that I could summon the knowledge I’ve used, which was previously unknown to, or forgotten by, me!

Still, the work has been stressful, and the threats have been forcing anxiety on both Lee and I.  He and I sat a minute ago after today’s English lesson ended and we talked about the dangers in Mexico.  He asked if I’d heard about any of those dangers, to which I replied that I only knew what my mom kept reminding me about.  Lol!  He was super surprised:  “You don’t watch the news?!”  Haha!  The truth is that I don’t.  I’ve found that watching the news only succeeds in spreading fear and worry.  Learning about drug cartel murders would only help me to stay away from Mexico—the very place that God has called me to!  

Anyway, I’m resolved to stay and work hard!  :-)  After all, as Max Lucado, referencing Matthew 8:23-27, puts it, “It’s not the absence of storms that sets us apart.  It’s whom we discover in the storm:  an unstirred Christ” (Fearless, pg. 8).  I’ve taken comfort in the song below over the past day and a half…especially the last part:  “You make all things work together for my good.”  A wonderful reminder, indeed.