Time, or I guess I could write TIME, what a valuable commodity. It crawls or flies depending on the day, the year, or on whom you ask. At the recent TIME Ministries board meeting we were reminded that this year marks anniversaries with the ministry for several of the missionaries. Five, ten, fifteen, even twenty-five years for some and many more-70 years in ministry for TIME Ministries founder Dorretta Brown. For me 2017 marks 10 years here in Monterrey with TIME Ministries. To use the often-quoted phrase it’s hard to believe ten years have gone by. I hope that as this year continues I pause to take more time to reflect on these years but I will do a little bit of that here in this post. In the last 10 years I have worked with at least 10 churches or missions in Mexico and many more churches from the US, met hundreds of people who have a heart to serve the Lord and have given of their time and money to come and be a part of short term missions in Monterrey, as well as many strong and faithful servants of God here in Mexico and seen others come to know Christ as there one and only Savior. I have worked hard to try and learn and understand a different language and culture, have lived in 5 different houses or apartments, met people who are some of my closest friends, met and married the man who became my husband and partner in ministry, and gave birth to a beautiful daughter who just turned two.
There have been times of overwhelming happiness and times of great sadness and pain, times of complete carefreeness and times of intense fear, days where everything is in order and moments of overwhelming stress, times where my faith has never felt stronger and times where I think I’m barely holding on. But even in the midst of all of those times I know that God remains faithful. Ephesians 3:20-21 states, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (NIV) This is one of the principle verses God used to get my attention and set me on a path that led me to live in and serve Him in Monterrey. God is able to do so much more than I can think or imagine, for me that included pulling me out of my bubble and comfort zone and strengthening and equipping me to leave my home and family and move over 1900 miles away driving my faithful Jeep Liberty from little Lebanon, Pennsylvania through the Midwest, to Dallas, and then down to Monterrey, Mexico. I am by nature somewhat shy and reserved and looking back now at some of the events that have happened over the last 10 years it’s hard even for me to believe that it was the same shy farm girl that lived through them all. But with every turn God has shown His faithfulness. The following verse has often brought comfort to my soul. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;” Isaiah 43:2-3a (NIV). No matter what He is present.
As I reflect on the last ten years it leads me to dream about the next ten years. What might they look like? Where will they lead our family? Where will God take the ministry here in Monterrey? I can say I honestly don’t know. Over the last two years especially we have stepped out in faith believing that God continues to have a plan and mission for TIME Ministries in Monterrey. It may not look anything like the city I moved to ten years ago. What we do and how we do it may not look like those first summers I served but one things does remain the same; there are countless people with a need for a savior-the one and only true and sufficient Savior. The need remains. We have moved to a new location better suited to hosting groups who desire to participate in partnering with churches in the city to meet that need, we have new partner churches and are praying and looking for more. Ten years ago each day and week with a group had a similar flow, but today no week or tour looks the same as each church has a goal of reaching their community with the gospel and how we can partner with them to help do just that. That may mean we help run a vacation Bible school or day camp or help plan and lead a retreat for youth or a series of workshops for youth or families, or take a group of college students to the public state university to practice English with language students. Last year we had contact with 50-60 students and daily were able to share the Gospel through practicing English. Sometimes it’s physical work getting our new TIME Center equipped for groups. Or helping a small mission church who meets in one of the members homes redo some electrical work to give better lighting and make it safer or clearing land and bringing down a dilapidated old structure in order to make space to host a vacation Bible school. Our prayer is that God continues to use us, the partner churches in Monterrey, the sending churches from the states, and TIME Ministries not just to lead run of the mill missions trips but to be More Than Missions-to be and do what we can to reach others for Christ, to be vessels molded in God’s hand and used by Him for His glory. For that is the reason we are created (Isaiah 43:7).
{TIME | More Than Missions – Short Term Missions!}