Wow! What a week!!

Actually, month, but the last week felt like a month! The wounded hearts team was here, and things got messy. But it was a good messy, and a safe messy if that makes sense. God brought stuff out in all of us that we didn't know was there. (When I say stuff, I pretty much mean crap.) It was such an amazing learning process, I still can't believe it was only a week. It was so awesome! I am looking forward to going through the workbook again at a slightly slower speed, and just sitting in some of that stuff. Then the last day that the team was here, we all went to the beach, and got some sand surf, and a lot of sun. It was awesome!
I can't believe I only have less than two weeks here in Mexico. God has showed me so much and I know He won't stop for these last weeks, or even after I get home. One more update/blessing that God has dropped in my lap, is housing in the fall in Mankato, MN. I still don't know if I will be going to school or not, but I know that I'm supposed to be in Mankato in the fall. So we'll just have to see what that ends up looking like I guess. Thank you all for your prayers and support, these last six months have completely changed who I am, and how I look at my Heavenly Father. He has changed how I think, and live, and just how I go about my everyday life. I am so blessed!

Wow God, I'm amazed!

Well, this week and next week are Semana Santa (holy week) and so its been pretty chill at the coffee shop, but God has still been for sure showing up! He's been giving us awesome conversational opportunities, and relationships, and we just sense His presence working in the lives of everyone who walks through the doors of the cafe. We've been able to share the gospel, our testimonies, and just speak truth to people!
There was this 15 year old kid named David the other night, and Ricky got to share his testimony and and the gospel to him, and for a 15 year old, he seems wise way beyond his years. God has just been so faithful and its been really cool to see his provision, and blessing overflowing!
God has been doing a work in my life/future as well! He has blessed me with a summer job, that I wasn't even really searching for! Its a job that I've had in the past, and really enjoyed the environment and the people. But it gets better (this is what really excites me) I had asked if I could go on an upcoming missions trip in July for 10 days, (I had done this the first time I worked for them) and they said that it just wouldn't work for me to take that much time off, with the number of temp workers they would be hiring for the summer. So I accepted the fact that I wouldn't be going, but something just didn't feel right about it. I felt like I was supposed to go, but God had also given me this job, so it was kind of a situation where I had to pick one or the other.
Then just last night, when I got home from the cafe, there was an e-mail from the person at Cray who hired me saying that they revisited my request and have decided to hire more temps to facilitate more time off, and so the time off has been approved! I couldn't believe it! God has blessed me so much and none of it were things that I had been asking for or searching out. Sure I had been praying for guidance in which way I should go, but the thought never crossed my mind that he would work it out that both could happen!
One other thing that He has blessed me with is the opportunity to assistant coach a summer soccer team! So I get to first of all, play/coach soccer (which I love) AND have relationships and be a part of the lives of like 20 High schoolers! Not only that, but its my brother's soccer team!! So its youth that I already kind of know, but now I get to be more a part of their lives! Wow God, you have definitely been at work in the last few weeks! Thank you so much for knowing exactly what I need and revealing it to me just when I need to see it!

The coffe shop has opened!

Wow, so much has happened since I've last written! First of all a team from Stanley Wisconsin came down and helped do a ton of stuff at Reyna's house. We put on a brand-new roof, painted inside and out, gave them a small sidewalk, and rewired the entire house. She was so blessed and thankful, it was awesome to see God at work in that house! Side note: Reyna and a couple of the girls have come to church for two weeks now, God is so good! Its nothing we asked or said, she just decided that they needed to be going!

After the team left, David and Leah, Ricky and Tracy and I went to the border. God really renovated the team in a little hotel room in McAllen Texas. :) It was awesome to get away from Cerro Azul, but still be right in the middle of obedience and blessing.

Then on the way home, we picked up Bill, one of the guys from Stanley who stayed behind for an extra couple of weeks, and we built a ton of shelves and a counter-top in Reyna's house, and got her a new stove, and a mattress, and a bunch of pillows! It was so cool! One funny/cool thing, was while we were building the shelves, one of the girls asked what they were and what they were for. When I told her what they were and they were for storage and to put stuff on, her face lit up and she got really excited, it was so cool!

Then pretty much right before Bill left, we started renting the coffee shop, and started working on it. We repainted it, built a bunch of things to go inside, redecorated, and a ton of stuff, it looks so awesome! (There are a ton of pictures on my facebook of all of this stuff by the way) And, We opened last night from 2-10!
It went amazingly well! We had almost more customers than what we knew what to do with! God brought in so many people we were overwhelmed by them all. Not overwhelmed with too many people, just overwhelmed by how good God is. There were people that came, and then returned like an hour later with more people, there were people that wanted to speak English, it was just so awesome! Just on small example of how many people God brought in is that on a good night, the people who previously ran the coffee shop would make about 600 pesos. Last night, God brought in over 2,000 pesos! We couldn't believe the numbers when we heard them, it was so awesome!

Well, today is day number two, and we're excited to see what God continues to do with this place!

Pictures!

So here are some pictures of the house I'm so excited to live in!
Some pics of the sweet back yard, yes, there are orange trees, mango trees, banana trees, and another fruit tree that I've never heard of. It's going to be SWEET!





This is the view out the front of the house, its a hotel...a very nice hotel.


This is the house I'll be staying in, my room is upstairs :) I'm pumped!

This is the room, and bathroom!

And finally an old outhouse, that just looked picture worthy :)

I'm Back!

Well, I’m back here in the great country of Mexico! Its finally warm here now, it’s been in the 40s and 50s which with the humidity, concrete walls, and lack of heat in homes, is quite cold. You know its cold when you can see your breath inside your house.

So far, we’ve spent a lot of time meeting as a team going over things as a base, and generally getting on the same page about where we’re headed this year. I’m really excited about the coffee shop that we’re going to be opening in the middle of February. We’ve gone over supplies we need, and furniture and everything, and spent a lot of time praying about very specific details and what God would have us do with them. We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still a lot of work to do yet along with a ton of other things that are going on as well. A new couple has moved down here to be on staff, and they just got a house so we’ve been working on cleaning that and such. This brings me to another thing that really excites me.

I’ve been struggling with what to do about renting a room. The plan was for me to rent a room by myself, but I never felt a peace about it, it just didn’t sit right or something. Then Ricky and Traci (the new couple) were looking for a house and found one with an extra bedroom upstairs, and we were joking around about if they rented that one that that they could rent the room out to me. The people who owned the house weren’t quite sure if they wanted to rent yet, so things were kind of on hold. Meanwhile, they kept looking for a different house, and found a couple, but liked the first one the best, and were kind of holding out on it. Finally the owners decided they wanted to rent, and Ricky and Traci had a house. I was still not feeling good about getting a room on my own. I had found one that would work and it was a good price and such, but it still didn’t feel right. But God knew what I needed and Ricky and Traci ended up asking me if I wanted to rent the room upstairs from them. And all of a sudden this burden that I had been feeling about getting a room just lifted and I couldn’t believe how good it felt. It was awesome!

The last thing that I’m excited about (in the near future anyways) is more fun than anything. When I went through customs I was only given a 50 day visa, so I have to go to the border and spend a few days in the states. As of right now the whole team will be going up and spending a few days in McAllen, Texas kind of as a vacation, but also to get some supplies for the coffee shop and such. It should be a lot of fun!

So as for now, there’s quite a bit of little stuff that needs to be done, so the things I’ll be doing is:
Finishing up the walls I started at David and Leah’s
Helping Ricky and Traci get their house ready to get moved into and then move them into it.
Some work out at the base
And then finally, some stuff (idk what yet exactly) at the coffee shop to get it ready to open, and then helping to run it.

It’s all so exciting, I can’t wait to see what God does with all of the things that are coming up in the next weeks and months.