Mexico 2025 -- July 29-August 18

Hello, everyone! I hope all is well! Thank you all for your prayers on this journey. I’ve seen them answered every day. In my last post, I mentioned I’d be heading to Hadime Mas, and now I can tell you all about it. Before I get into the details, you might be wondering, "What is Hadime Mas?"

Hadime Mas is a three-week program designed to strengthen one's faith and connection with God through teachings and community. It's for anyone who wants to revive their faith and reconnect with God through transformative teachings, inner healing, service, and evangelism. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about God and my discipleship walk with Him.

We began the program with a survival camp in the woods. During this camp, I learned a lot about teamwork and my relationship with God. To start, we had to build our own shelter using just a few tools, some rope, and a tarp. Our shelter kept us dry most of the time, which was all we needed. It rained both nights we were there—half the first night and the entire second night. We had to chop our own firewood, keep our fire lit through the night, and make sure our shelter stayed together.

Even during the cold nights of keeping the fire lit, it reminded us all that we must tend to the fire in our hearts. If we don't keep up with our walk with Christ, it will eventually stop keeping us warm and go out. But if we maintain a daily relationship with Christ, our fire will never go out.

After the survival camp, we moved to the Matthew Training Center. There, we had daily classes on discipleship, which was a struggle for me because they were all in Spanish. My Google Translate usage peaked on one of those days at four hours! Thankfully, because of Google Translate, I was able to get some information out of the classes.

A Psalm that really spoke to me was Psalm 63. The whole Psalm is amazing and talks about intimacy with the Lord, but the part that stood out most was verse six. David says, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” This brought me back to my three-hour shift of watching the fire in the middle of a thunderstorm at the survival camp. I was cold, wet, and complaining to myself. However, I should have been praying to the Lord or thinking of Him during the struggles of that night. This experience really helped me understand how to have a more intimate relationship with the Lord.

After our time of classes and fellowship, we stayed and served at three different churches. At the first church, we got to lead the Sunday morning worship. I played the piano for the first time in a while, which was something I enjoyed. After the service, we had a picnic in a nearby park with the congregation, where we played games and ate some delicious food! At the next church we visited, we helped them run a VBS kids' camp. This was a good time because we could serve the kids and help them learn more about God.

The final church we visited was in Colima, approximately a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Guadalajara. While there, I unfortunately got sick with a cold. I was devastated because we were nearing the end of the program, and I didn't want to miss all the fun. On my second day of being sick, I rested and sat out on the work. I was praying for myself to feel better, and I know so many people were doing the same. With the final day of the program being tomorrow, I prayed to be healed so I could enjoy the celebrations with our whole group. Praise be to Jesus, I woke up and felt so much better! You could say I felt better because of the rest, but I will always call it a miracle. With high spirits, we celebrated the discipleship journey our group had endured over the last few weeks. I can only share so much on paper, but I can't wait to share more stories with you all in the future.

After only three weeks in this program, I learned so many new things about God. I also had the opportunity to lead worship in English, which i really enjoyed doing. I had incredible help from another student, Sarai, who spoke both English and Spanish very well. She was basically my translator for those three weeks, which was a true blessing. There were also many amazing people who helped me try and learn Spanish! I am now more determined than ever to learn Spanish. It's crazy how simply shifting your mindset can make you feel.

The next few weeks for me will be busy. I'll be helping teach English to people from the church community, I will continue to learn at the Matthew Training Center, and I will have more time to really study and learn Spanish.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support on this journey. God is doing great things, and I am excited to see what else He will do in the future. God be with you all!

"Because your love is better than life, I will glorify you" -Psalm 63:3

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