Three Days In!

Right now I am sitting in the courtyard with Annie and Rebekah, accessing the wireless internet for the first time. Even though wireless is always available, I never seem to be able to make time for it so far. Still, it's just the beginning of getting adjusted.

We (Rebecca, Rebekah, Annie, Rachel, and I) arrived in Acapulco Friday afternoon. When we got to Casa Hogar, all the kids greeted us at the gate. That night was a flurry of learning names and practicing Spanish. We all struggled a little more with our Spanish than we anticipated. Still, we're learning!

Saturdays are our days off, so we started out by hanging out with the kids, a little orientation, and then one of the girls who's been here a while took us out in Acapulco and showed us the ropes. Now we know which buses to take, which not to, and other things like that!

Sunday we took all the kids to church. I opted not to grab an English translation device for the sermon. It was so hard! I am learning a lot though. It took me a while to break through with some of the kids, but they're all warming up and helping me improve my Spanish! I have heard a few of their stories, and the more I hear, the more I rejoice in our God who brought them here. For many of them, Casa Hogar was where they came to know the Lord.

Today, I was helping translate for a short term team that was here working with construction. Oh man! Talk about tiring! Please pray that the Lord will help me communicate well. I'll be working on my tool vocabulary!

Well, I need to head to bed. I will try to update this weekly! I hope you are all doing well!

In His love,
April

Training

This whole week so far was "prefield." Basically, the majority of the MTW interns met at a camp ground and went through training. We talked about everything from culture to health. It was definitely helpful, and good just to meet all sorts of people being sent all over. It's crazy to think how much bigger the picture is than I realize- God is going to do so much this summer!

Five out of eight girls that will be working together this summer were at prefield. We're already getting along well. We spent the last night just reading through the whole book of Philippians, sharing, thinking out loud, praying, and the like with a few other new friends. Wow, how cool is it to just "casually" read the Bible with brothers and sisters!

Our flight leaves at 12:10 this afternoon. Woohoo! I am scared (the kind of scared that makes your stomach tickle but says "bring it on") and excited. Who knows what will happen this summer. Whatever God plans to do, it will be wonderful to be a part of it.

Well! I have to finish packing and make sure that my suitcase isn't overweight! :) I hope you are all well!

Leaving!

I fly out at 6:25 a.m. tomorrow morning! Woohoo! I am so excited. Training will be in South Carolina until Friday, and then we're off to Mexico. Please be praying that we will learn a lot in training and be prepared well (as well as we can be.)

Guys, this is nuts. Oooh I just can't wait to see what God will do!

Prayer Requests

Here are some great ways to be praying for all of the interns at Casa Hogar:


1. Please pray that we would have pure motives in our ministry. To spend a summer in ministry is a privilege, but it is really easy to think of it as “our” work when it is HIS work. This is not about whether or not we can be “successful” missionaries; it is about obediently following His call. Pray that He will remind us of that constantly.

2. Please ask that God would use all of us interns to reach the children as well as to make an impact in the lives of the short term teams that come to visit. Ask the Lord to guide us by His Spirit as we jump into a new culture and try to minister. We're out of our league, but we're not alone!

3. Ask the Lord to make us all humble! We are interns because we need to learn how to do mission work! Please pray that we don’t think we are capable of doing this on our own. At the same time, please pray for confidence despite the many mistakes we are bound to make.

4. Please pray for our safety in travel and over the summer.

5. Please pray for our health! Mexico, I am sure, will bring on a whole new set of germs to fight off. Please ask for health so we can be putting our full energy into ministry. Please also pray for my knee (I have a torn meniscus). Please pray that it does not hinder my work too much and pray that the Lord would heal it so I do not need surgery when I get back! (I need to remember that His power is made perfect in weakness!)

6. Pray that He will be glorified!!!!

Goodbyes

Only three days until I leave! I cannot believe it. Last night I drove up to Oostburg to see one of my best friends in all the world: Kelly Smies! Normally I spend a good number of summer weekends at her place, but obviously that won't happen this summer. We had a good time. Today, while she was at work, I laid on the beach and read a book that I needed to read for work next year. I love when I can combine work and play!

Now, it's down to business. Whoo. Here goes, three days.

Prayer Request!

Hey everyone,

Well I had my physical therapy appointment today. Honestly, it was a little discouraging. Basically, my physical therapist told me that realistically I am going to need surgery when I get back. This injury is definitely going to leave me with some limitations, which will be hard. I won't be able to run around with the kids. If you guys would be praying for me - I am feeling really helpless and honestly just frustrated.

When we started out on this journey, Mission to the World's manual warned us that there would be opposition to our going. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be this strong. Yet, it is when we are weak that we are strong, right? I just need to keep retelling myself that.

Of course, I'm still praying that the Lord will heal it. All things are possible.

Even though I am a little discouraged about my knee, I am still SO excited that I leave soon! I can't believe it! :) It is going to be such a wonderful time!

I'm in His hands.

ONE WEEK!

In one week and a few hours, I will be on my way to the airport! It's hard to believe. I have a lot to accomplish in this week, but very doable. Please be praying for my knee. I have a physical therapy evaluation deal on Tuesday. If you guys would just pray that we would be able to figure out exercises that are doable in Mexico, that would be great! (Prayer for healing would also be appreciated!)

Well, I will blog more soon, I just wanted to give a quick update.

Relief!

I went to the doctor yesterday, following an MRI the previous day. Turns out, it looks like I did tear my lateral meniscus in my knee (and apparently must have originally strained my ACL too... I am SO glad it didn't tear!) Good news is (and I don't understand all of this) that it is torn different from what is normal and it may be healing itself. I get to start out with physical therapy, go to Mexico, and then re-evaluate when I am back. I still may need surgery eventually, but for now I am worry free!

It will limit how much I can do in Mexico to an extent. Basically the doctor said that any kind of squatting down or sharp turns have the potentially to lock my knee up and cause me a lot, lot of pain. So, prayers would be appreciated that I have no problems and things go smoothly!

It looks like my first PT appointment will be on Monday. We'll see how it goes!

I've started re-memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 in Spanish, and it's a lot of fun. It's cool memorizing verses in Spanish, because since I have to translate it in my head I think a lot about what the verse is actually saying. I don't know if that makes sense.

Well, 10 days!

Rediscovered

I got back home to find my room a mess. Of course, I was to blame for some of it, but it seemed to be the place to throw things when no one wanted them. I decided it was time for some deep cleaning! I rolled up my sleeves, literally took everything out of the room, and dusted and vacuumed and dusted some more. Then began the even more interesting process: de-clutterizing! (Yes, that's a word.)

I am now (three full trash bags later) half way done. I have to admit that I did get a little distracted. I was sorting through my old file cabinet and stumbled across my high-school testimony. Reading through it, as well as some of my other writings, I was convicted by my inexperienced high school girl words. As I reread those words from what seems like forever ago, I could hear the passion.

While I certainly have grown in many ways, my passion is not at the level it used to be. I think I have forgotten how drastically God changed me back in high school. I think I have lost the kind of awe that makes me cry when I read my Bible. Don't get me wrong, I love Him very much. Yet, I am just like the Israelites: I need a constant reminder of the amazing things God has done.

Oh, Abba, You are so faithful! Set my heart on fire, work by your Spirit so I may love You more fiercely! You are all that I am.

Friends, you can be praying: I have an MRI coming up this week to see if I injured my knee worse than expected. Pray that it is fixable but not a big deal!

HE is faithful!

Home!

I am home in Wisconsin! I just got back this afternoon. Now, a few weeks of packing and knocking off my colossal to-do list - and then it's off to Mexico! :)

Nothing to incredible to report. Exams were hard, but I did well enough on them all. I am thankful! Now, time with the family! I hope you are all well!

Stammering Tongue

There's a hymn, and I don't recall which, that talks about how our "stammering tongues" can't really express how incredible our God is. Every time I sing it, it really makes me think. The thing is, I don't really have a full enough understanding of just how true that statement is. I have the "head knowledge" that what Jesus Christ did for me is beyond words, but I don't really feel the weight of that truth always. I guess, if we really did, we would live a lot differently.

The other day, I was in Starbucks on an abnormally cold April day. There was an old homeless man sitting there with a blanket. I know that the better thing to do is to get homeless people connected with organizations that can really help them, but I couldn't do that for this guy at that moment. I didn't know where to send him, and I didn't have the time to drive him. (I was studying for my first day of exams.) So, I decided I would just offer to buy him a cup of coffee. Sure, it would not solve things, but a quick act of compassion accompanied by the Gospel (in my mind) is better than nothing.

As I sat down, handing him the piece of banana bread and coffee I had bought him, I began to talk with him. I am not sure if he had some mental problems or not, he was a lot older. I'm not going to lie, that was probably the least eloquent and most stammered version of the Gospel I have ever shared with anyone. He did not respond to it, but he thanked me for the coffee. After a friendly goodbye, I left, a little embarrassed at how terribly I had butchered my story - it all came out, but not very smoothly. However, the Lord totally used it to chide me. He reminded me that He saves souls, not me. It's not the eloquence of my words or the compelling way I tell the Gospel. Gospel is gospel. Sometimes when I share it, it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. However, my job is not to change hearts, it's simply to open my mouth and tell people what Jesus has done for me.

All of this, of course, made me think about Mexico. If I can't share the Gospel in English, how is it going to go in Spanish? Of course,I could almost hear the Lord laughing at me. That's not your problem, April, just go and be faithful. Haha, it's funny how often I need to be re-reminded that He asks my obedience, not my success.

The love of Jesus does not rely on the well-worded testimony of April Hoekstra to spread itself around the World. The Spirit is at work, where I can see and where I can't. Praise God!