What did we do all day long in Mexico

During Intake the importance of personal prayer time is repeated over and over again. In the Soul of The Apostolate, Jean-Baptiste Chautard shares this, "Spirit of Light, imprint upon their minds, in characters that can ever be erased, this truth: that their apostolate will be successful only in measure that they themselves live that supernatural inner life of which Thou are the sovereign PRINCIPLE and Jesus Christ the SOURCE."  In other words, our prayer life must match our outward activity we clam to do for the Lord. Here at the Big Woods and at their mission house in Mexico is a simple chapel. From early in the morning and through out the day, missionaries take advantage to set their time apart and pray.

chapel in General

We are required to spend at least an hour in prayer everyday.  Even the children pray at least a half an hour in the chapel.  Besides our own personal prayer time, we have prayer together as a community using the Christian Prayer book of the Liturgy of the Hours.  During this time we pray for one another's needs, families, concerns.

Anne in the living room at General

After morning prayer and breakfast  with all in the community we meet for the Si Senor talk.  I'll share more about our talks in another post.  During this time the resident missionaries are busy with "Door ministry".  People come to the door with a variety of needs. Some need money to pay for a prescription, some need food, some need prayer.  All who come receive prayer and hear a word from Scripture and the missionaries try to help them in what ever way they can. Even our children learned quickly that they could pray for those who come to the door, even if they could not speak the same language.

Lunch time is looked forward too by everyone as it is the biggest meal of the day and the best.  The Mexican family who comes to cook for us prepares simple yet delicious meals. Marta cooks far more than we could eat so that she can bag up meal size portions and these are given away to whomever comes to the door in need of food.  There were more occasions than not when an extra family ate with us as well.  

Afterward lunch a variety of ministry opportunities are available.  Some stay at the mission house for Door ministry, some go on are home visits and some go to the Rancho ministries.  Home visits are to those who are homebound.  They receive a sack of beans, lard, sugar and oil.  We visit with them, share scripture and pray with them.  Many of our kids said that the home visits blessed them the most.  Living conditions were simple at best and inadequate at worst.  Yet, we did not meet anyone who did not have joy nor who did not let us feel  how much our visit meant to them.  However, it was in the Ranchos where I felt most how desperate the need is for missionaries.  Surrounding General our 50 some Ranchos.  When we bring donations of clothing it is to the Ranchos that we bring them as they usually do not have a heat source and the high desert mountain area they live gets very cold at night.  They are hungry to learn more about God.  The God who says He loves them and desires to bring them peace and life.

At a Rancho, which can be anywhere from 10 houses to 500 people, all are invited by us ringing the chapel bell.  The bell is rung two more times 15 minutes apart.  This gives them time to stop what they are doing, change into other clothes and come to the chapel.  We begin with singing

Then we give our testimonies and then one of the seasoned missionaries will share the Word of God.  The people of Mexico are truly hungry to know more about God.  We really can not express in words adequate enough to convey the need for more missionaries.