I Corinthians 1:27

New Living Translation
Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

I migrate towards this verse when I see myself often in it.  I was born in a place without a name in the country but I, by the grace of God, was taken to many of a nation. I've travelled places I couldn't have dreamed of traveling. I was given opportunities that only God could have designed because there were more intelligent, knowledgeable, and able people who could have done what I did, but God. He intervened and placed me there instead.

When I go to Mexico I usually translate for the minister who leads the group. It was one of the most frightening things and most depending-on-God things I've ever done in my life. I spent two years in Mexico getting a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics. I've been speaking Spanish since about 1997. I have an ear to imitate the accent of languages so I sound nice but to those who are fluent my grammar isn't always the most accurate. As I translate, I have to let go and let God. I often depend on more fluent people in the audience to throw me words like "encourage." When they do this I smile and use the word I was given by the Spanish speaker who teaches me as I translate for the minister and keep translating. It is scary. Really scary and humbling.  My Spanish is good but not great, so God and those nice people in the audience help to carry me through. Do we have someone on the team who has better Spanish-English translation skills? Yes, we do but in my weakness and sometimes bumbling Spanish it helps the audience see someone who is African American speak their language. Also they see that I am not afraid of sounding foolish at times, and I'm okay with being corrected at times. My presence I hope shows the love of God through an unfamiliar brown face. Maybe I didn't express it so well right then but I hope you get the point. I just want to be used by God and help those who are lost or weak or in need get to know him more. So here a I go again to Mexico 6 years after my last trip. I just want to be prepared just in case I am called on to translate again and if I'm not it is okay too. Hope you have a blessed day.

Kimberly

Get well cards we made for children in the hospital.

 

 

Thanksgiving Day in Mexico

We are going to Mexico over the Thanksgiving holiday. We usually go to California and are driven over the border by the group we go with. The trip starts on a Wednesday and we actually start supporting churches in the area on Thanksgiving day. We have a wonderful time of fellowship early Thanksgiving morning and then we have a lunch of Thanksgiving dinner. After lunch we have more worship and we are divided into groups. The groups contain usually 5-8 people and each person is given a job. There is a leader, a prayer person, an encourager, a resource people who works with AV equipment, etc. We go out into groups and invite people in the community to a local church. We then prepare to present a DVD or a puppet show for kids etc. We have a local service around 6 or 7 o'clock on Thursday and Friday. Then we go back to our home church for dinner.

Mission to Mexico 2013

I plan to use this blog for a little while to talk about my mission trip with my daughter in 2008 and my new mission trip in 2013. I hope you will stick around. Hopefully it might encourage you to do missions. We also do missions through making cards for various groups over Christmas which you can see by looking back at dates around Christmas over the past two to three years.

The last time I went on a trip it was with my daughter Ashley. She was only 6 back then.  Now she is 12 and I will be going with both of my daughters this year. The last trip began very interestingly. Ashley woke up and looked awful by her expression. Within about 10 minutes she was vomiting.  I couldn't understand why out of the blue, a girl who never gets sick even when others are sick from eating the same food would be sick on the first day of our mission trip. We had the tickets, passports and everything so I decided this was not of God her being sick and we went to the airport with a bag in hand for her to continue vomiting in. She did not fail us. She vomited at the airport curb, in airport baggage, inside the terminal and on the plane. The women and man we were traveling with circled around her and prayed for her. She stopped vomiting about midway through the first flight and never vomited again the entire time we were in Mexico.

Don't know why she was vomiting but God said trust him and I did. She was so beautiful and helpful while she was in Mexico. It was wonderful seeing that side of her.

More Mother's Day Cards

Mother's Day 2013

I have been making some small Mother's Day Cards and I wanted to share some with you.