Into the glorious unknown...: June 2009

Posted by L. In:

And so it begins... Welcome to summer!

Hello to all of you.

Yes as it says summer has begun officially here at GFM. Our first summer team arrived last Saturday with 15 participants. We started with 2 days of orientation for the participants and then we headed to Tepos to do outreach. In Tepos we had health camp in 3 different schools where we teach them about how to stay healthy by washing hands, brushing teeth, etc.. It's a great way to help represent the church in Tepos and show that the church there really does care about the community and to get their name out there. It was a great success the kids really enjoyed the lessons and hangin' out with the "Gringos" and the interns and participants really enjoyed playing with the kids and loving on them. The guys helped our Mexican brothers with their new church building. They are in the process of building a new bigger church and the guys helped pour cement which is a lot of work down here because it is all hand mixed. It sounds like it was a good time of fellowship for them all. Jessica, Lindsay and I were in the kitchen for the outreach, we will be handling kitchen stuff for each outreach this summer so it will be a learning, strike that it already has been a learning experience, but I've come to enjoy it.

We are back in Tlaxiaco we got back yesterday and the participants will be leaving tomorrow morning. Our next group arrives on Monday and we will do it all over again, my life won't be lacking excitement or activity for quite awhile. Well until next time...Lots of love from Mexico.

Posted by L. In:

An Elementary Faith

Hello again!

Here is a quick update again on my life:

We have been having a great time with the interns here getting to know them and training them in on the ropes of GFM. This past weekend we went to a village called Tedaa, which you might remember from Spring Break trips. God knew that I needed this trip more than I did, but it was so amazing to just fellowship with my fellow bothers and sisters in Christ and to love on them and be loved on by them. It was fun to see how much my spanish has progressed, its not great mind you but a whole lot better than it was the last time I was there. My heart was filled when I left and it was a hard goodbye. I'm seriously thinking about buying some land and building me a shack there it is so very beautiful and more importantly the people are beautiful. Please be praying for the believers in Tedaa as until recent it hasn't been easy for them.

And as usual God has been teaching me lessons,

Hebrews 6:1-3

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the Resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

This past week my LTG (Life Transformation Group) read the book of Hebrews and even though I have read these verses several times I was struck by them this time. I couldn't believe the Bible's definition of elementary faith! Resurrection of the dead is elementary faith? Wow I know now that I haven't fully tapped into advanced faith because I know for certain that I have never seen someone raised from the dead.

Recently I've been hungering to go deeper in worship and see depths of God's character that I've never seen before. I feel like the past week God has brought me to a deeper level where I feel a freedom I've never felt, and worship I've never experienced and joy I've never felt. God is so good and when I read these verses it makes me excited and saddened all at the same time because there is so much more of God that I have yet to learn about and yet to experience. My prayer for my summer and for yours is that you see God and worship him in ways you've never experienced.

I love you all and thank God for you.

Remember: He loves you so and He is jealous for you.

I just joined CTEN (Commission to Every Nation) which is a fincial institution that helps take care of financial support for missionaries. So now if you feel God leading you to support me financially you can either send money to Just Giveor to CTEN.

If you would like to use CTEN please send your checks to:

CTEN

PO Box 291307

Kerrville, TX 78029-1307

The check should be made out to Commission to Every Nation or CTEN with a note with my name on it.

or if you want to use Just Give:

Go to: https://www.justgive.org/nonprofits/donate.jsp?ein=31-1738321

and in the "Designate My Donation" write: Leah Johnson

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Posted by L. In:

We The Undeserving

Hola!

I know that I have been silent for far too long and I apologize for that. Let me update you on my life up until this point:

I finished language school on the 29th of May. It went very well I learned a lot of words, grammar, verbs, forms, conjugations etc.. It was slightly overwhelming, but much needed. The down side of coming back to the base and living with english speakers is that you loose your spanish if it doesn't get used. I try to get out as much as possible and talk with my Mexican friends here, but unfortunately there isn't a ton of time for that.

Summer has started here at GFM and the interns have arrived! I'm very excited about this summer and can't wait to see what God has in store, but now that the interns are here we are very busy. We have 2 weeks of intern training before the first short term team arrives, so we have a lot of preparation and fun times to be had.

Now please let me tell you about how awesome my Lord and Savior is. If you can't tell I'm a little excited about God right now and who he is and how gracious he is to share Himself with us.

God has been teaching me lately to completely rely on Him for everything and trust that what he has for me is better than anything I could ever plan. I will say here that for some reason this is a hard lesson for me to learn, it seems like he has to keep teaching me this lesson of death to self and total reliance on God. I like to rely on myself and others rather than rely on God and guess what? I fail and people fail, big surprise right? Not so much, which is why its frustrating to have to learn this lesson over and over when I should just know it already! Okay, so on to the really cool part, God is faithful to show us things over and over when we turn our hearts and earnestly seek him.

It says in Joel 2: 12-

"Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Rend your heart
       and not your garments.
       Return to the LORD your God,
       for he is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and abounding in love,
       and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and have pity
       and leave behind a blessing—
       grain offerings and drink offerings
       for the LORD your God.

Joel 2: 28-30-

"And afterward,
       I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
       Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
       your old men will dream dreams,
       your young men will see visions.

Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.

How amazing is that!! God wants us to seek him fully, whether you have turned completely away from Him, or if you are luke-warm in your relationship with God he wants you back fully! Not only does he accept you with open arms, but did you see that he also pours out his blessing. Not only that, but he also wants to pour out his spirit on us and we will prophesy, dream dreams, see visions, miracles, and wonders! Its right there in the Bible folks and that book is a living book that we can take as promises for today. I expect my God to do the same things he did in the old testament, and the new for that matter, today in our lives.

Sunday night God was merciful to grace me with His presence and show me that he is everything that I need and that when people fail me its ok because he's got me and in him is all. Today's little girls get taught about knights in shining armor, prince charming and living happily ever after, but honestly that doesn't exist. No man, not even the godliest of men can fulfill that expectation, because they weren't ever supposed to. God is the only one that can fulfill those expectations and exceed those expectations. I've now learned that relationships with others are just the icing on the cake, and that they should never be the actual cake or sustenance in our lives that role belongs only to our God. Let God be your knight in shining armor let him sweep you off your feet and woo you and fill your heart with joy. He is faithful to do it and he will never disappoint.

Into the glorious unknown...: June 2009

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And so it begins... Welcome to summer!

An Elementary Faith

We The Undeserving

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