When Happiness Fades, JOY Remains!

Why is it that happiness is so fleeting?
Through the course of one day my feelings of happiness or the lack there of can literally change 10 times! Reflecting on that thought, I realized that being happy is an emotion that is completely based upon whether my life is going well(or not) at any given moment.

Happiness is an emotion that is based upon something positive happening in my life.

In other words...

When everything is going well in my life... I am happy
When my life isn't going so well... I am unhappy

The great news is that when the happiness fades away, JOY remains! Joy is something that is bigger than you and bigger than me and it isn't based on whether I have matching socks or a clean kitchen! With Christ in my life, I have an unspeakable JOY through the Holy Spirit. JOY is something that will last forever!

The JOY of the Lord is my strength! Nehemiah 8:10c

Wendy's Summer Immersion Trip 2010

I am excited to share that from July 22 through August 2, I (Wendy) will be traveling to the village of San Francisco, Mexico to completely immerse myself in the daily life and kingdom advancement with the Mayan people who are so near and dear to my heart! As you know, Sunshine Church sponsors Manuel and Nancy, a local Mayan couple, who are working diligently to share the Love of Christ in the village of San Francisco! They have invited myself and Mercedes (who will help me translate) to be guests in their home within the village. My prayer is that in doing so I will gain a better understanding of their culture, religious barriers, struggles, and daily life. I believe that this will also enable me to better equip short term mission teams as we continue to build a village of people who love and serve Jesus Christ. God is truly orchestrating His plan and I stand in amazement as I watch it unfold!

If you would like more specific information on my itinerary and/or prayer requests, please see the link above to our Mexico facebook page!

Being a light in the Yucatan!

Wendy

Mission Team Update

Praise God! Our team is experiencing blessings that only God can provide. God continues each day to reveal his plans for the villages of San Francisco and Xocempich. Everyone from the team is doing great and we are working so well together. God is using each of us to serve him in ways that are so unique for each one of us!

Highlights:

Today, our cooking team made 630 sandwiches in 1 hours and 10 minutes! We have our dinner in San Francisco tonight for the families and so we could use prayers that all will go well when we pass out the meals and that God would provide enough food for everyone who comes.

Larry and the Vet team have fixed 11 dogs and cats and have provided countless other services for families with animals. He even has a family in Xocempich who asked him to move to the village!

We went home visiting today in the villages of San Francisco and Xcopteil. God´s presence was definetely present in each home we served. Please pray against the fear that so many families have as to what others will think about them if they become Christian

The Bible club is going wonderfully and each person is making such a wonderful impact on the lives of the children!

The work team is very busy with many projects including making tables and benches for Nancy and Manuels family in which they hold worship services in. There are plans being made to contract a bulldozer to level off the land which so many men have worked to level but there is much work to be done.

God is amazing and we continue to see His blessings each day!

The Outreach Team

It's Mission Trip Week!

Team Packing is done... Training Complete... Let the mission Trip Begin!

The Sunshine Outreach Team would like to thank everyone who has supported us as we prepare to minister to the people of the Yucatan! We know that God is going to do amazing things for His glory because He has already provided in ways that we can't even begin to imagine! The outpouring of financial and prayer support is beyond our belief! THANK YOU!!!

Our team will be leaving for Mexico this Thursday February 18 and we will return on February 28. We will try to update this blog with team news and prayer needs while on the trip but Internet cafes seem to be hit or miss.

Sharing God's Love by Loving His People!

Wendy and the Outreach Team

A Pumpkin and a Pile of Coals

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to truly be "Love in Action" for a couple of families in the village of San Francisco, Mexico.  Aaron and I and Rick and Barb Ruiter were in Mexico on a rest and relax trip. On our second week, the same cold front that was affecting much of the USA also moved into Mexico. Infact, emergency shelters were even set up in the big cities. We knew that the people of our village would also be very cold and so we decided to make the 2 hour drive to offer blankets and clothing to a couple of the extremely poor families in the village. We were shocked as we pulled up to the house of one of the poorest families in the village. We realized that the Mayan hut that this family lives in is literaly about to fall over. It has only a few solid logs left holding up the entire structure. We were welcomed into their home as if we were family! Flor, the precious mom was cooking what looked to be one small sized pumpkin that I am sure was to their only food for dinner. Dad was sleeping with Wendy, one of their children in a hammock in the back of the hut. He later said they sleep most of the day just to keep warm. You see, under each hammock in the hut, they had built a small pile of coals to keep them warm.  We were shocked to see Wendy, one of their daughters, sleeping in a hole filled hammock only inches away from a smoldering pile of hot coals.
It was no accident that God sent us to the village that day! God knew that we needed to be "Love in Action" at that specific time. Our reward was seeing the smiles on the faces of these precious children and the relief on the face of mom when we offered them blankets and the groceries that we had purchased just for them. The children exlaimed, "Pan, pan"! (bread, bread) They were so excited to have a simple loaf of bread that their faces were bursting forth with smiles! We knew that for tonight, they would go to bed with a full belly! "Love in Action"