Let it Go

It's Catherine here again, God has brought us a long way since that first post in December 2022. Now that we are actually starting our ministry work, it's time to get this blog going again! We plan to use this blog to share the journey with us as we navigate the start of our full-time ministry in Mexico. But, it's not just about us, we want you to participate WITH us, sharing your thoughts and experiences on the topic "du jour", or should I say "del dia", since we are in the process of learning Spanish, or "of the day" for those of us fully grounded in the English language? :) Take a look at the 55 second video below as we are driving to our first class with the school children in Boca de Tomatlan. Then, I will tell you how the day turned out, and you can share your thoughts....

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The Best Laid Plans...

So, you learned from the video we were supposed to be assisting with three English classes, 4th, 5th and 6th graders. When we arrived, we learned that the first class would be 1st & 2nd graders together, and the next class would be 3rd graders. The teacher, Cynde, adjusted on the fly. We reset our perspectives to expect shorter attention spans, and geared up to be even more enthusiastic than originally planned. The class went pretty well, except for one child in tears, and a few others coloring on the tables with markers (non-permanent, thankfully!), and generally noise and chaos.

Then, we waited for the 3rd graders. And waited. And then...waited. We went out to see if they were coming to the English room, and learned that everyone was hunkered down inside because a poisonous snake was spotted on the school grounds! We waited some more and saw two uniformed men (police officers? snake charmers?), one carrying a stick with a loop around the end. Shortly after that, we learned that English class for the 3rd graders was cancelled, as more than half the class time had passed. I've heard of weather delays, but never a SNAKE delay! We were a little sad we didn't get to meet our 3rd graders that first week, but we had a good s-s-s-story to tell!

Verse to consider:

A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

We had driven into Boca de Tomatlan (BdT) with the expectation of what our time with the students would be like. We thought we were in charge. Ha! God had other plans. What I took away from this experience was that God was giving us our first of what will probably be many lessons in not being able to control outcomes. As former business leaders, we were both accustomed to strategizing before important meetings, being prepared for twists and turns in the conversation, determined to steer the outcome to our benefit. We both have some learning to do in accepting the fact that sometimes we may be powerless to control outcomes, and that we just need to submit to what God is doing. Which isn't always easy.

Your Turn:

Have you ever had a time where you struggled to submit to what God is doing, but when you did, it turned out better than you could have imagined? Write a couple lines here to tell us about it!