"I am a little pencil"

-Below is a little article I wrote for an annual Cross Road newsletter. Since it was pertaining to my time here in Mexico, I thought I'd pass it along.

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“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” ~ Mother Teresa

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). All nineteen years of my life, I had heard these words and had a deep internal longing to fulfill this calling. When I received the opportunity to come down to Project Mexico/St. Innocent’s Orphanage and serve for a year, I realized this was my first chance to finally embrace this Scripture in a real way. Only two and a half months into my internship, having deferred college for a year and put many things on hold, I discovered that it may be one of the best decisions of my life.

In mere months, I have already had a lifetime’s worth of experiences. Despite previously taking Spanish courses, in reality, I did not have much of a Spanish background. By God’s grace however, I am quickly picking it up; a challenge for sure, but an exciting one – definitely a “rubber meets the road” situation. Getting to travel around in the local area and learn about the culture has been fascinating. Most importantly, I have gotten to know the boys here at the orphanage, as well as the devoted staff. Every one of them is an amazing individual, each of whom I am learning a tremendous amount from. In the near future, I’ll be helping find families in need in the community, whom Lord willing, we’ll be building houses for in 2010. In addition, I’ll be working with groups who come to build homes, while continuing to assist with construction jobs around the orphanage.

While at Cross Road, we focused on vocation. According to Mother Teresa, “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” I know all of us yearn to embrace the call to love, whether in our own homes and cities, or on the other side of the world. To quote Mother Teresa again, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try,” and “To show great love for God and our neighbor we need not to do great things. It is how much love we put in the doing that makes our offering something beautiful for God.” If you’re looking for a tangible place to serve, a real place to do something beautiful for God, I definitely recommend considering Project Mexico. This last June, I had the privilege of being on a team of alumni CrossRoaders who met up from around the nation to build a house together. I was so excited to hear that there is another group coming down this next summer as well. All who have been here will agree – although you head south of the border praying you will be a blessing, in the end, you return home incredibly blessed.