It has been almost 3 months since I finished Language School in Guanajuato, Mexico and things have been going well. I miss Guanajuato badly and look forward to going back to visit friends & teachers someday in the future, but until then… I’m at home in the desert of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.
In May, as I journeyed north from language school back to the border town of Piedras Negras (via a 16 hour LONG bus ride), I remember being pretty nervous about the summer months that lied ahead. It was going to be the first summer I wouldn’t lead a college intern team, the first summer I wouldn’t be working with mission teams and the first summer I wouldn’t have to wear mesh shorts & t-shirts everyday. How was I going to survive? (haha- ok the mesh shorts & t-shirts thing can still happen with or without mission teams). But honestly, I just wasn’t sure how to mentally prepare for what was ahead, because I had never done it before.
It’s a beautiful thing when you can actually sit back and reflect on the last 10 years of your life and see how good it was and also see how it has prepared you for the very moment you are in and how it has prepared you for the steps you are about to take forward. That is exactly what I thought about during my long bus ride. While I was scared to take the next steps ahead, because I didn’t know how to take them, I also knew God was guiding each step and I just had to trust.
It was difficult this past year to change the direction I was moving. For 10 years I worked with a ministry that taught me a lot about life, family, community, church, ministry, people & the world. My time in college studying the Health Sciences and working with CrossRoads Missions in Mexico had all been preparation for me to work with a community health development ministry.
In the midst of developing and working in a new organization while learning Spanish I have been entangled in a pretty fun web of new friendships, connections and community. From dinner parties to flea markets to catering meals at a local school, leading a mission retreat, teaching at a church camp, working with local ministries, constructing Mission Trinidad facilities, etc…. the summer has been busy and exciting (to say the least). I am thrilled that I get to juggle different things I love while living and serving here. Who would have thought I would be catering meals to a local school? (It’s Italian food, Mom – I know you are proud!)
Beginning August 1st, I will begin studying general health sciences and Diabetes prevention & care. Mid-August, we will be moving into our new facilities (thanks Oklahoma friends & CrossRoads Missions work team!). We have an office for all things administrative, a kitchen, bathroom, pharmacy/health resource center & a spare bedroom for visitors, friends, staff & board members! Together, as staff of Mission Trinidad, Michael, Erica and I will continue setting goals and vision for the future of this organization. We are really excited about what’s to come and the opportunities to serve and teach in the city of Piedras Negras!