Buenos dias=) So, it is true, in 13 days, August 7th, I'll be moving to Chiapas, Mexico for at least a year!! After that, I'll se where God leads me=). I will be going to teach English to 3-7 year olds at the school the Guzmans, missionaries my church supports, started. Several people have asked me how I arrived at the place where I am moving to Mexico. The answer is a simple but complex one.
My story starts when I was 4 and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. Growing up as a Christian, the Word became alive to me, and the more I was in it, the more I saw that part of living for the Lord meants to be surrendered to Him. My desire is to follow the Lord wherever He leads, to do whatever He calls me to do. When I was 15, my church was having a mission conference, and I vividly remember a missionary from Bolivia presenting a skit that representeded the different people in Bolivia, all asking for one thing: help. It was then I felt God calling me to missions of some sort, whether for a part of my life or for my whole life. I then had the privilege of going to Honduras, Costa Rica, and then three times to Mexico on mission trips. During these trips, I became even more assurede that God was calling me to the mission field for at least some part of my life. The Guzmans asked me to come teach English two years ago when I was there for the second time. I still had a year and half left of college, but I told them I would pray about it. When I went down there for the third time, leanding college students on a missin trip, they asked me again, and I knew it was something God wanted me to do, so I told them after I graduated, I would come and teach.
God has stretched and taught me a lot this year about completely trusting Him and about true surrender. I'm a type A, planner, but right now, all God is saying is go, so I'm going and waiting to see where He will lead me. Also, I was originally only teaching English, but now I'll be teaching English, 1st and 2nd graders, daily devotions as well as art and pe-all in Spanish...what a huge change and challenge, needless to say, I'm terrified...but I know God is faithful, so we'll see how He is going to work through me. God has shown me what it means to carry my cross and to care for Him more than anyone or anything, which hasnt's been the easiest lesson to learn. I'm leaving behind an amazing family, who loves and supports me, as well as as friends, who've been such an encouragement to me throughout these past few years as well as now as I move to Mexico. Yet we are called to be fully surrendered to our God, who is worthy, who loves us even when we are so unworthy.
Despite how hard it will be at times, I know that through the power of the Holy Spirit, I will be okay because I will be following my Lord. We are called to bring glory to Him, and He is most glorified when we are serving Him in whatever aspect He had called us. I'm excited to start this journey God is leading me on. My life goal is 1 Corinthians 15:58, which comes right after Paul talks about the imperishable life Christ has given to us as believers; he continues on admonishing the Corinthians, exclaiming, "Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your toil is not in vain in the Lord." Please pray for me-that I will become fluent in Spanish, that I will be constantly trusting in the Lord, even through the hard times, that the Lord will use me as His vessel, and that I will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Thank you so much!!
Because of Christ,
Rhonda
PS I will be trying to update weekly once I get to Mexico=)
