Pre-Outreach Bonanza and Such

Well we just got back from pre-outreach. On our pre-outreach we go to the different areas that we will be spending our outreach part of our DMT. We visit the area ministries and just get a feel for the environments in which we will be ministering in. This year we will be spending our outreach time in El Higo, Veracruz (where the orphanage is) and on la Isla de Viejo Soyaltepec. For Cathy and I, this was not necessarily a new experience. We had both visited the orphanage many times and had lived on the island for several months. It was however a different experience to do this with our DMT family. When you are part of a team, your daily experience is very different in any location. It was good to see what things will be like when we will be in these locations with the team.

Our first day of travel took us down to El Higo, Veracruz. It only takes around 7 or 8 hours to get there from la Haciendita, and the driving was nice. We got into the orphanage that evening and set up house. Marcus and Vero Palmer are the American side co-directors of the orphanage and they live in the upstairs portion. Laura and Marcelo are the Mexican side co-directors and they live in nearby San Andreas. Laura is the mother of one of this years students, Gabby. The rest of the team set up hammocks in the part of the orphanage that was under construction. The bare stud walls were easy to attach hammocks to. Marcus and Vero gave us a room off of the dining room to ourselves. We slept in sleeping bags on mats on the floor. It was not too bad at all.

During our time there we helped out with a work team that was there. I took the guys out to the dirt piles and we worked on fixing various drainage problems on the property. Cathy and the girls painted and cleaned. While we did this the work crew was sheet rocking in the orphanage. We worked hard in the heat and our hands had the scars to show it. In the afternoons we would clean up and minister in one of the local churches. It was busy but fun. After a few days we headed farther south, about 11 hours south to the island. On the way we stopped at Costa Esmerelda and took a break by the gulf. For some of our group it was their first time to see the ocean. We made great time down to the island, got all of our stuff on the boat, and got everything set up before night had fully set in.

On the island we showed the other DMT students around and let them just get accustomed to the environment. It is a harsher life on the island and most people need time just to get their daily rhythms down. You have to bath in the lake, wash clothes in the lake, and build a fire for a meal more than few people. When we got there the weather turned very cold. Most of us were expecting warmer weather, so we shared what warm clothes we had. We looked like even more of a rag tag bunch. Fortunately the cold weather enabled us to fudge on daily showers here and there. We visited homes while we were there. One of the families which Cathy had visited with many times during our time on the island, accepted Christ! We also had a church service, where Cathy and I were able to see many of the people we had not seen since we were there last. We past out baptism pics that I had taken in November and they were so happy to have them. One of the families mother told me “thank you” in English with tears in her eyes. Those were the only English words that she knew. That alone was worth the whole trip.

At the end of the week we pull up our stakes took the boat across and packed the van up again. This time we were headed north. That evening we were back in El Higo where the work team had finished most of the sheet rocking, so we all slept in the dining hall. One more day in the van and we were all very glad to be back home in La Haciendita. God blessed us greatly during the trip and brought us even closer as a family. I am praying and looking forward to our outreach time coming up. I hope that you are as well. Thanks for reading this and keeping up with us. We feel your prayers daily. We love you.

Surrender

In Luke 9:1-2 (ESV) says, “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them to out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” For the first time in the disciples following of Jesus, He sent them out to do what He had been modeling in front of them. He gave them the authority and power to do the works. Instead of walking beside Jesus, He would be working in them. They initially responded to His call when He asked them to leave what they were doing a follow Him. In Luke 9 He is also calling them.

Often in our lives we confuse Christ’s calling with the assignment of a specific task. We are called everyday to surrender our lives to His will, whatever it may be. Often we surrender to a task not necessarily a calling. We may feel like God is calling us to work in prison ministry, children’s ministry, to preach, to pastor, or to be a missionary. Sometimes we get hung up on task. People often say I am not sure what God’s will is for my life.

I have to daily remind myself that I am not surrendered to a task, but to a Savoir who loves me and died for me so that I could experience true life. Today I would like to remind you of the same. Jesus is calling you and I not to surrender to an assignment but to Him. Maybe some of us will be doing one task for our entire lives, like pastoring the same church. Sometimes we find security in thinking we have one task assigned to us, and it will never change.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.” So, my challenge to you today is to surrender to Him with abandon! Daily I find myself surrendering to Him. I am not surrendering to missions, a church, or a specific task but to my Savior. That is true joy!

- Cathy Vaughn

Last Update for 2009

     Hey everyone, this is the last update for 2009.  We have have had a great year of preparing and being sent out onto the mission field.  So much has happened in 2009.  Cathy and I are still trying to figure out where the year went.  Thankfully God has prepared us and provided wonderful friends and family like you to lift us up in prayer.  God has used you all to provide so much for us this year in financial support and most importantly through your prayers.  Your prayers are felt daily and I believe that it is those prayers that give us the push to keep going when our own energy, patience, and endurance gives out.  We know that we always have people back home pushing us forward when we are too weak to do it ourselves.  God has planned it that way from the beginning. We have to have a on going relationship with Him to make it through and we have to have an on going relationship with those around us to complete His will.  It is a beautiful, synergistic dance of love and humility.  It is our privilege to serve with you all.
     We have just wrapped our time on the island, where God poured out His provision and blessings in a most opulent fashion.  Cathy and I have been here at the border for the last couple of weeks recuperating and preparing for the Christmas trips.  Over the next week or so we will be travelling to several villages that we work in to bring Christmas Love Packs to those who need them.  We want to thank all Lighthouse Worship Center in Purcell, OK and True Vine Church in Goldsby, OK for all their hard work in gathering supplies for and preparing over 1500 Love Packs to be given out this Christmas.   These Love Packs contain everyday personal items like soap wash, wash clothes, combs, etc. and also have some fun stuff for the kids like a small toy and stickers.  They will be handed out at children's services all over Mexico.  While we have what we need for this year, we already are preparing  for next year.  If you are interested in helping out with these love packs, just let us know by emailing us at justjoshandcathy@gmail.com.
     We will end the year somewhere in Mexico.  I am not sure exactly where we will be for sure.  When we return in early January we will turn right around the next day and head back in to La Haciendita to prepare for the Dayspring Missionary Training that begins the 20th of January and ends in mid August.  Please continue to lift us up in prayer.  We are praying for you as well. In fact right now I pray that you have a blessed time this New Year.  May God usher in 2010 with a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit in your life.  May you focus more daily on glorifying God in everything you do.  Let this next year be blessed with your denial of your own flesh for the embracing of His Spirit more than ever.  Only you Christ, are worthy to be praised.  We love you and we love each other because of you, God.  Bless your body and draw in those who aren't a part of it yet.  Together God we give you all the glory, honor, and praise.

Adoration

      Hey everyone! It is Christmas time! (like you hadn't already figured it out.) We just got back into the states a week or so ago. It was nice to miss the big commercial push for christma$ that you usually have dredge through each year. It is always a struggle for me to really stay excited for Christmas, frankly because christma$ always got in the way. The places we have been in Mexico for the last several months didn't have much started yet for Christmas. It was nice. It was nice to come back and be able to get into the Christmas spirit. I haven't had the pleasure in many years. It reminds me of growing up. When I was a kid it didn't seem that Christmas took up so much bandwidth. We didn't even think about it until after Thanksgiving when dad would take us all out to go look for a Christmas tree. (Well that is except for a Christmas when we didn't get a tree till just a little over a week before!) It was a magical time, a spiritual time. Somewhere we lose that in the shuffle of growing up. I probably held onto it longer than most. I made a point of decorating the family tree and always looking for a way to bless someone for no reason. Through the years though I had lost my edge and just became another lemming charging headlong over the edge into christma$ burn out. This year it is like I found the reset button and everything is new again.

      I believe that there are many things that contribute to this reconnection with my long lost Christmas spirit. First of all this year will be the first year that Cathy and I will not get to spend Christmas with family and in their absence the heart feels the void. We have both grown to appreciate our families and networks of friends more than ever. We miss our moms, dads, brothers, sisters, extended families, pastors, church families, friends, and just about everyone else. This makes us remember how much our loved ones mean to us. Then there is also the fact that we won't be running around crazy this year to go to parties, to brave the malls, or to pick up that last thing that we promised to bring or supply. Instead of focusing on getting our list of tasks completed, we are blessed with time to savor this season. Finally I think that the most important contributor to this renewed enthusiasm for the Christmas season is that this is our first Christmas as missionaries. We are realizing more each day what it means to carry out Christ's last commandment on this earth. Christmas is not just about the birth of Christ. For if Christ was the son of God, lived on this earth a blameless life, and then decided to not die on the cross for our sins, would we still be celebrating Christmas? To properly celebrate Christmas, we must celebrate his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension! To bring the glory to Him that He deserves we don't need another party or holiday, but just to obey His word. Christ told us that all obedience can be summed up into two principles: 1. Love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul and 2. Love your neighbor.

     This Christmas that is my challenge to you (and me). You don't have to be a missionary or live in a grass hut to really be serving God. I believe it is more of a challenge to be right where you are, especially in Western culture, and hold strong to your faith by loving others as Christ would. When you are in extreme circumstances, it is easier to rely on God for everything, to obey His every word, but at home we find it all to easy to limp along on our own terms.  So this Christmas the try this: Don't do some drastic reroute of value driven events, but do whatever you do with love. Go to the office party with love for your coworkers. When you visit grandma and grandpa in the nursing home, don't be rushed. Give them your love in time. Spend less time checking off your holiday task list and more time working on God's task list for your life. It has one item. There is a big number one with an asterisk by it. The task is “Adore Him”. The asterisk is “Adore Him by adoring others for Him, because of Him, by Him, and through Him.” So, I will end this Christmas message in a candy encrusted sentimental but pertinent fashion. O, Come let us adore Him, for He alone is worthy, for Jesus is our Savior...Christ the King.

Thanks for the Prayers

Well this week I wanted to give you an update on the "big" meeting that was supposed to go down.  We were supposed to have a big meeting with the people to decide whether or not if we were going to be able to stay on the island.  The current mayor said it was out of his hands and in the hands of the people.  Then he turned around and try to stir up the people.  He compared us to the French when they try to take over Mexico....seriously.  So even though we knew this guy wasn't playing with a full deck, sometimes anything can happen on the island.  We were blessed enough to have the municipal president step in and tell the mayor that he was out of line and the meeting was illegal.  This happened a day before the meeting.  So in no time God made small what man had blown up to be so big.  He is so good.

We want to thank everyone for your prayers, they were heard and felt.  We know that the video and the news of this meeting has been spread all over.  We were really surprised when we found out so many people knew about our situation.  The island ministry is not out of the woods yet.  They will have a more private meeting in the future with only the parties involved.  This in itself is a miracle.  Please continue to lift up the island church.  They need indigenous leaders to rise up and lead the church, without that it will always continue to struggle.  Keep them and us in your prayers. 

We had hoped to give a video update, but we have been with out electricity for 3 days.  That makes it hard to edit video :).  Well we love you and thank God for you.  We will have more updates to come!

Stop the Boat!

Brother Isaac was a very well kept man. He reminded me a lot of a friend of mine Jim. He wasn't rich or flamboyant in dress, but he took pride in his appearance. The first time that I saw him, we were waiting for a boat and he was sitting on a nearby log engrossed in a book. His baseball hat was clean and crisp. He wore a western style shirt that had been neatly pressed. His pants were wrinkle free and were a deep vibrant blue that only comes with new denim. The boots on his feet were slightly worn but polished to cover up any blemishes and of course his belt matched his boots. My friend Lalo approached him first and inquired him about about the book he was reading. His eyes lit up with a deep burning fire as he told Lalo that it was the New Testament. Isaac was a believer as well. For the next several minutes Isaac shared prayer request, testimonies, and his passion for God.

We had arrived to the dock later than we had planned. All of the public boats were long gone and we were going to have to call a special boat to come pick us up. The price was going to be about double. God had orchestrated otherwise. We found out that Isaac lived in nearby San Pedro and he owned his own boat. He told us that we would drop us off on his way home. We only had to help with the gas. The total cost was much less than the cost of even the public boat fares. God always provides a way.

We loaded all of our groceries, backpacks, and other junk into his boat and we were on our way. The boat ride over was rather uneventful up until about half way. I had caught a glimpse of Isaac several times with a grimace on his face. He had not said much since we got on the boat. He seemed like he was pained about something and he began to rub his chest. Then abruptly in the middle of the lake, he stopped the boat. I thought maybe this poor guy was having a cardiac event in the middle of nowhere. Andrew conveyed to me later that, “I was afraid this was the time when the machetes come out.”. We had not a clue what he wanted. Isaac then silently walked to the middle of the boat. He said that he wanted us to pray for him. So the 4 of us got up and moved to where he was (which it is a small miracle in itself that then and there that we didn't capsize the boat) and we all prayed for Isaac. I am sure it was a sight to see 5 people standing in a boat in the middle of a lake with heads bowed praying. It was after we prayed for him, that I believe his true motives were revealed. When we finished our prayer he launched into his own prayer for us. It was very deliberate and purposeful. It blessed us greatly.

That day we had made a new friend. Before he continued on to San Pedro, we shared coffee and fellowship with him. He is a great guy. What stuck with me was his obedience to the Holy Spirit despite whatever pride, discomfort, or embarrassment he was experiencing. Many times it seems the Holy Spirit tells us to do the strangest things at the strangest times, but in our obedience there lies power. Some might discredit him for being slow to act upon the prodding of the Holy Spirit, but I applaud him for being sensitive enough to recognize the moving of the Spirit. Are we so sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives that we would obey like Isaac? Would we even know that God was talking until it was too late? My experience is that we are too easily caught up in ourselves and our world when we are outside of the church walls. In our daily lives we barely even hear God speaking sometimes. I pray that I always have such a daily, hourly, minute by minute conversation with the Lord that if I delay even 10 minutes in doing His will that I know it and are pained as our brother Isaac.

My prayer on the island has been that God fill me completely with His Spirit. I may be emptied so that He can fill me with His transforming Spirit. I have also prayed that the Holy Spirit guide our every step, orchestrate every conversation, and fill every moment with His love and peace. The results of that prayer have been amazing. We see the island being saturated with God's love. When we are out ministering people are finding us and are being compelled by Christ to ask for prayer or to inquire more about our Lord Jesus.  I feel Brother Isaacs prayers, along with yours as we minister.  Let us all be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit and be so humble to His commandments that we are listening to every word that He speaks. Let us be like Isaac and obey when God tells us to “Stop the boat!”.

You Might Be On The Island If...

You might be on the island if...

     We decided to have some fun with this blog entry. Life on the island is well...unique. We have come up with a list of some indicators that will let you know that you are on the island, just in case you were kidnapped, drugged, and shipped to the island with short term amnesia, being forced to work slave labor in an underground embroidery ring. Which if that were the case, you would not have internet and reading this blog would be an impossibility...unless you managed to escape and swim through the several miles of mutant fish invested waters to shore and despite your limited amnesia you remembered our blog and wanted to check it out first thing. Anyways here goes it.

You might be on the island if...

1. 
   
   Due to the dozens of lizards that live in your thatch roof, cleaning up lizard poo is part of your daily chores.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Being clean is relative. As long as you aren't the smelliest person in close proximity, you are good to go.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. 
   
   At any one time you can identify more than 4 types dung from your vantage point.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. 
   
   You have a yard full of barnyard animals, and yet you don't own any of them.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. 
   
   You never sleep on your back with your mouth open. (See reason #1.)
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. 
   
   You actually are dirtier from returning from bathing then when you left.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. 
   
   You celebrate letting out all the stops and buying ramen noodles.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. 
   
   The idea of camping seems like a luxury getaway.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. 
   
   You wash your dishes before and after you eat. (Once again, see reason #1.)
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. 
    
    You have discovered by necessity over 500 different ways to prepare ham, onions, and cheese on an underpowered 2 burner hotplate and have contemplated making a cookbook containing said recipes. (not only may you be on the island, you have a good chance of being closely related to Andrew)
    
    
    
    
    

We appreciate everyones' prayers and thoughts. God is doing many wonderful things on the island. We are fortunate to be a part of what he is doing. Cathy and I will be here till the second week of December. We will then head north to get ready for DMT (our upcoming missionary training). Part of me is so ready to be back to the land of showers and internet, but another part of me will always be with this work on the island and those who are serving here. Andrew and Lalo, our resident missionaries, serve faithfully in an extreme environment. It is a challenge physically, spiritually, and emotionally to serve here. God is faithful in providing for those who carry out His will on earth. I thank God for this island experience. Please remember us in your prayers and remember the island as well. The church has so far to go. Lift up those who are yoked to this ministry. We love you and will talk to you soon!