Hola from unusually hot Mazatlan!! Today is 30* but with the humidex it was 38*!!!
We are (at this moment) about half way through the second quarter of the year and we are busy, busy still!
This is not going to be a typical “update” post (there WILL be updating) but a post of apology and brutal honesty…
I have normally been a blogger that posts the “honestly real” life as it happened with our family and our journey with Brain Injury - the good, the bad, the ugly. My hope had been at that time to share the struggles and celebrations of TBI’s. And when we began this blog ( https://www.godthegintersandyou.com ) I should have continued in the same fashion, so I ask for your forgiveness. I ask for you to forgive me for not sharing our journey with you as honestly as I should have…
The other night we were sharing with our close friends, back in Canada, about our adventures here and we were honest about it all, and a comment was made how he was “glad to hear that side of it too, because our updates only seem to highlight our ‘good stuff’”. This made me realize that I was afraid to share the full story.
Afraid people would say “then maybe be we aren’t to be here…”
Afraid people would not understand that we KNOW/KNEW there would be struggles…
Afraid people would have negative comments about our calling…
Afraid people would second guess our hearing the Lord in coming…
Afraid of hearing people say that we are living a ”life of Riley, in paradise - why complain”…
Afraid (possibly just tired) of hearing people say “well you CHOSE to move and leave your family”…
Fear of man…
I was scared to be honest because of what I thought others would say or think and I need to call that out into the light, because it is a lie I was believing that is NOT from our Father! So here it is… NOT TODAY SATAN!
From here on out I will be honest and open about our life here, our journey in a new country, our adventure with Jesus. I am reaching out and asking you to not only rejoice and give the praise to Him when we are celebrating but to pray with us through our hard times and struggles we face here!
So here is a bit of our truths of struggles:
It is HARD! We are away from not just our family and friends but from a way of life we have both know for our entire lives. We have had to readjust our thinking, our way of doing things and even how to speak so it can be translated.
We have had to learn to work not just in a new culture (Latino) but in a communal culture, with teams. Dennis and I have been our own team for so long that we have a very safe and reliable system. We communicate about things to each other, we fast, we pray, we walk side by side though it all… now we still do this but we are learning to invite others into this.
We have the obvious language barrier - we are still learning Spanish but it is a slow process
There is a different culture here that is unusual for us as it is a “city life” - we are country, down on the farm, quiet, walking through the cows in the evening kind of people … now we live on an extremely busy and loud corner of an extremely busy and loud city!
We have had things happening back home where that we have had to allow the Father to walk our family through and allow God to be God.
I have been struggling with some health issues (allergies, headaches and asthma issues) and added stress of our above struggles have only exacerbated these.
We are both exhausted most nights to the point of getting home, eating dinner prepare for the next day and then to bed.
There has been a lot of loneliness - even though we are surrounded by others it is lonely.
BUT with all this, these are a few of the truths that others have shared with us that the Holy Spirit has shared with them about us and I hang onto:
** In Zapote de Picachos:
They want to be shown agriculture techniques, they have never been taught.
**This was a word given to us in the village of Mitlango:
Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.
**God, the Father, spoke very clearly to us before we came here that He could and WOULD look after our family (better than we could) and they would learn to lean in His arms
**In the Village of Atatlahuca:
The people there want to learn more about gardens and agriculture because they have never been taught (it is NOT in their culture) and they were hungry for Godly marriage talks/advice
**In Mazatlan:
“Our dreams that we had in Canada are not dead, but sleeping. God has an amazing house for us here to make into a home”
AND
Our calling to work with the indigenous is one that we will continue to follow as He keeps giving us confirmations through others of this!!
**Genesis 41:52 The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” (Picture of me taking picture)
As we navigate these new waters of missionary life of work, ministries, new life here in Mazatlan, missing family and friends back in Canada, we want to thank you… for praying for us, emails, texts, for financial support and mostly for being family we can rely on to understand, love and continue with us on this amazing and crazy adventure! THANK YOU! We will strive to be more open in our life - struggles and praises!
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