Welcome to Mexico
I have officially completed my first week of mission school and it has been an adventure. One of the many things I didn't expect was the rain. It's raining right now here in Mexico, and I am told is a rare occurrence but has happened several times since being here. But through it all the Lord has been teaching me a lot.
The first was the day after I arrived. We were in the the cafeteria when a strong wind kicked up and it looked like a dust storm outside. The younger children chattered while their more responsible older ones held the door shut against their eager and curious faces. Moments later the wind halted and the rain began. Then just as suddenly as it had began all of the rancho kids got up from their tables and ran into the downpour. They played and sang and enjoyed the momentary reprieve from the scorching summer heat.
Though I have only been here a week God has been greatly working on my heart in so many ways. One of them is thankfulness. So often it is so easy to forget how good God has been to us and focus on what we don't have. But if we can lift our eyes and look up, we can see just how good our God really is and we can experience and enjoy the things He has given us to the full. I look around me and I am able witness the beautiful and often forgotten things in the world. Each day I am reminded and he fills me and makes each day so blessed. The kids playing in the rain. The ability to laugh through traffic at the border crossing. Hearing and having conversations in Spanish. A sunrise in the morning. Colorful gravel. Fans in windowsills. Breezy afternoons. A few moments of air conditioning. The Lord's goodness never ceases to amaze me.
The second time it rained was the next Friday and by late morning I had about run out of things to do and was practicing guitar in the sanctuary when a few other friends in the same predicament came and found me. We sat and talked for hours about just about everything then went to the nearby city for a walmart run and pizza. Even from the early moments, from coming onto campus to now, the Lord has blessed each one of us students with the community that we have found in one another. People I didn't know a week ago are now close friends in whom I can confide and who can confide in me. And beyond the language barrier God has given my Spanish speaking friends the grace and patience to endure my constant and often unsuccessful attempts to learn or speak broken Spanish. But love and community prevails. Our need for good Christian community and friends is apparent across scripture but it has been something I have needed to work on for some time. Knowing this, God has graciously dropped a great Christian community into my lap to challenge me and grow me into who He wants me to become.
The third time it rained was a Sunday and the Lord was teaching me the importance of rest. Before a big race or a big game, a serious athlete knows the importance of rest so they can be at their best. In the Christian walk, it is the same way, though we don't always know when our biggest races or hardest games will be so it takes a reliance of the Lord to help us know when to run after what he has called us into, and when to rest.
These have been just a few of the rainy day lessons the Lord has been showing and growing me in. Thank you for taking the time to read. I hope this has encouraged you in some way.
In the love of Christ,
Lauren Carr
