Underestimating

First, I must apologe for not writing last Friday. There was a ACE (the curriculum the school uses) Conference in Mexico City (which is where the picture was taken), that I went to with Mrs. Guzman and two other teachers. Let's just say it was a 14 hour, overnight bus ride for a two day trip. Needless to say, it was quite long, and I learned that I cannot sleep on a bus, but on the bright side I got to eat Papa Johns=) and I am now more sure of how the curriculum should work, and it re-energized me and encouraged me as to what I was doing: pouring into my kids, whom I love more each day!

Teaching is going well. I really enjoy it the more I do it-my kids are learning so much and are using English more and more-which is encouraging. They are also so eager to please and do a good job-I just love them!

I didn't have my English class last Saturday because I didn't get back from Mexico City until 9am, and I only got around 7 hours of sleep in three days, which might not sound bad, but I'm just not as young as I used to be...lol...but everyone seemed to understand. I can't wait to see them tomorrow. I did get to hang out with one of the people who attends the English class last Tuesday. She is a couple years older than me, and it was so nice to be able to just hang out and talk. She is so sweet, and I'm thankful for this new friend God has given to me. And yes, we talked in Spanish for like three hours-she was so patient with me=)

The juvenile detention home is such a blessing to be involved in as well as visitation. God is stretching me a lot through these ministries. He is also allowing me the opportunity to do what I love: discipleship and simply talking about His Word. Two Saturdays ago, I was able to go disciple this one teenage boy named Jesus. He accepted Christ about a month ago when we came, and it was such a blessing to be able to explain to him more in depth about the decision he made and talk about the new life he now has in Christ-so please pray that he will continue to grow and be in the Word, and his hunger that he has will never go away.

God is still teaching me so much, which I'm very thankful for. I have realized living here how much I underestimate the Lord. There have been countless times where I simply tell the Lord that I can't really talk to people or I can't really share His Word with people because I'm not fluent in Spanish or I don't want to make His Word unclear for someone or I'm too nervous or I'm just not good talking with people I don't know. I just give excuse after excuse, yet God pretty much forces me into situations where I have to talk, where I need to share the Word where people, and literally everyone else is talking to other people, so I'm the only one to do it. And every time, He has come through. He has given me the words I've needed, giving me the references I've needed, and allowed the other person to understand. It's so humbling because here I am, faithless Rhonda, being like Moses and making excuses, yet God is again showing me that it is not about me, and He is not daunted by my weakness, in fact it's through my weaknesses, He is most glorified because no one can give me praise because they all know my Spanish isn't perfect. Therefore, if I was able to do it, it was only through God, so praise be to the Lord and not me-so, just as Paul said, I will rejoice in my weakness so that God will be glorified. So next time you're tempted to tell the Lord you can't for various reasons, remember that He used Moses, who was full of excuses, to lead a nation, and He is using me, who still struggles with underestimating His power and what He can do with a willing, earthen vessel!

Because of Christ,
Rhonda