Shalom

What is poverty? 

As part of our training this first month, we're reading the book When Helping Hurts. It's been eye opening as we study this research and come across thought-provoking questions that ensure everything we're (Back2Back, churches, individuals) doing here in Monterrey is beneficial to the Mexican children. We were asked that initial question before the most recent chapter of the book. 

If you took a minute to think about how you would answer, how does it compare to our response? Whitney and I initially answered "What is poverty?" in terms of lacking physical, material, and tangible things, such as a house, clothes, food, money, etc. 

What we've come to find out is fascinating: 

     "We have conducted the previous exercise in dozens of middle-to-upper-class, predominantly Caucasian, North American churches. In the vast majority of cases, these audiences describe poverty differently than the poor in low-income countries do. While poor people mention having a lack of material things, they tend to describe their condition in far more psychological and social terms than our North American audiences. Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness. North American audiences tend to emphasize a lack of material things such as food, money, clean water, medicine, housing, etc. As will be discussed further below, this mismatch between many outsiders' perceptions of poverty and the perceptions of poor people themselves can have devastating consequences for poverty-alleviation efforts." 

Which goes back to why we love Back2Back. We as a ministry believe in 5 basic needs of a child. Yes, there are definitely physical needs, but there are also educational, spiritual, emotional, and social needs. 

After last week, we're learning that this work can be exhausting. Pero vale la pena. 

This past Wednesday, Whitney and another co-worker spent the day (and night) with a group of teenage girls at one of the children's homes we partner with. Imagine waking up 6 teenage girls in a foreign language at 5 in the morning to get ready for school. Keep in mind these girls have never had anyone as a stable role-model for them to respect, obey, and learn from. The day had its stressful parts, but it also had really good parts. 

But after spending time with them, Whitney knows more than just their names. She knows a little of each one's gifts and talents, what kind of food they like, their hurts, favorite colors, and more Justin Bieber lyrics than she would care to know. 

With time, those relationships that are so vital will keep developing. Relationships take time. They take energy, work, and patience. In fact: 

     "...it may take years to help people overcome their problems. There will likely be lots of ups and downs in the relationship. It all sounds very time-consuming, and it is. 'If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday' (Isa. 58:10). 'Spending yourself' often involves more than giving a handout to a poor person, a handout that may very well do more harm than good." (When Helping Hurts).


--Nathan

Adios Honeymoon Phase

You want to learn about yourself? Like, REALLY learn? 

Move to another country.

Throughout the months leading up to leaving for Mexico, all we heard were statements such as:

      “That’s so awesome that you are willing to do that. I could never do something like that.”
      “I am just so impressed by you guys! Living out your calling! Wow, what a dream!”
     “Geez, that takes some real heart! God must have made you pretty special!”

Of course we always replied with a humble “It’s not us, it’s God!” kind of response. But I think I let more of those comments go to my head than I ever would have realized.

Subconsciously, I must have thought I was pretty awesome. I must have somehow built up in my mind that God had called us to go to Mexico because we had superpowers and talents far beyond the average human. Well my bubble burst, my parade was rained on, and Nathan’s ear drums were severely damaged when I saw the first cockroach in my new home. After a rant that went something like:

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! KILL IT!!!!!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!!!!!  CHOP ITS HEAD OF WITH A BUTCHER KNIFE!! TEAR IT LIMB FROM LIMB! I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DO JUST GET IT OUT OF HEEEEEERRRREEEEE!!!”

I realized I wasn’t as awesome as I thought I was. And Mexico wasn’t going to be a magic fairytale land where I tell children about Jesus, they grab onto that truth, and we can ride off into the sunset on unicorns sharing a chocolate sprinkled ice-cream cone and singing songs about the sunshine.

Truth is, there are a lot more stray dogs that chase and nip at you than there are unicorns (believe it or not). There is more sadness than singing. More ants than sprinkles. And a lot more bean and egg tacos than there are ice cream cones.

The honeymoon phase is definitely over. And that left me feeling somewhat hopeless as to what the heck God was thinking when he asked us to move here!!

But I was comforted by a few simple words written by Stuff Christians like blogger Jon Acuff. 

“I often feel that I am in the midst of a great adventure from God. We talk about “calling” in our culture a lot, and going on “missions” for God. Sometimes, though, I put tremendous pressure on myself to make sure I don’t mess up that mission. Deep down, I secretly feel that if I fail, God’s design for my life, my community, Nashville, the world, etc. will not come together.

But here is something I recently wrote on a note, for me, that might also be a note for you:

The success of God’s plans are not dependent on my ability to execute them.

He will not be handcuffed by my failures or unleashed by my accomplishments. He is bigger than that.

The next time the enemy tries to tell you otherwise, remind yourself that’s a lie. God invites us into his story out of love, not employment. The pressure of perfection is off. We’ve got a perfect God.”

Every day is not going to be daisies and lemon drops. It is going to be hard. And quite frankly, it might suck at times.

But we are still certain that this is where we should be.

For such a time as this...


                                                    -Whitney

Outta my lane!!

Agressive and defensive.

No more cautious and courteous driving

Two words that describe how you need to drive in Mexico.   

Stop signs? Mere suggestions. Lanes? Who has a lane. Speed limit? Forget about it. As our initiation to our new home, we were immersed onto the roads immediately upon arrival. Weaving in and out of traffic, we successfully made it to the grocery store and back! We even found mostly everything we were looking for--minus a few staples of ours that are more difficult to find such as brown rice, liquid coffee creamers, adobo seasoning, etc.

Other new things we've learned: you order 30 centimeter subs from Subway and not a foot long (we need to learn the metric system ASAP--how much is a half kilo of turkey lunch meat? Or 200 grams of almonds?), eggs aren't refrigerated at the grocery store, the attendant at the gas station pumps gas for you, you tip the grocery store bagger, if you don't want the whole cantaloupe or watermelon--you can buy just half of it (they'll cut if for you), and grocery store receipts will scare you at first glance. On our first trip to the store to stock up on food and necessary supplies, we spent $1,596 pesos. Did we just spend all our money!?! 

Nope. Fortunately, that translates to around $122. 

What does our daily life look like right now? We have done more than just go to the grocery store, we promise! :) We started training last Wednesday for the different areas of ministry here. Because of the core focus on relationships and going deep with the children, there's much to learn, but it's all so worth it. 

We had our first all day experience at a children's home today. We were there when they woke up for school at 5 a.m., helped get them ready for school, worked with them through homework and chores afterwards, ate dinner, and rewarded them with some late night swimming at the pool. Ever wondered how many teenagers can fit in the back of a 2005 Honda Element? At least 11. 

And so it begins. 

Let's Caravan Together.

It's real. 

The heat. The sun. The long drive. No faucet water. No flushing the toilet paper. We're in Mexico. 

After driving 28 hours over 5 days with a car filled with everything material that we now own, we are officially in Monterrey, Mexico--our new home. Several incredible families were so generous in letting us sleep in their homes at various points along the way. More than just giving us a bed and a room for the night, they gave us more food than we could handle. Thank you! 

Click here to see their photo journey.

Yes, llamas make incredible company. 

Not only did breaking up the trip help make the drive much more enjoyable, we had two tiny traveling companions with us the whole way (llama photos).

The border crossing went slowly but smoothly (gracias a Dios)! From McAllen, Texas, it's about a 3 hour drive to Monterrey, where we arrived Sunday at 7 pm. Now that we're here, we're spending the first couple days getting settled in and adjusting to our new lives. On Thursday, Whitney and I will start training for our job roles. 

Since September is a big transition period for many people here at Back2Back, we're in a temporary home for the rest of the month with 2 other staff members. On October 1st, Whitney and I will move into our apartment where a staff family moving to Mazatlan is currently living. Once we get into our new place, we'll be sure to update you with photos so you can see what it's like. 

So the moral of the story is: we're exhausted from the long drive and adjusting to the culture shift, but we couldn't be more excited to be here! God has been opening doors for a long time and preparing a way for this to happen. We have so much to be thankful for and are ready for all that God has in store. 

Thank you for joining us and stepping out in faith as we pursue this vision together. 

-Nathan