Mexico Report 2011

Pinky’s Purpose

April 5^th 2011

Dearest Supporters,

I was praying this morning thanking God for you. I was thinking about it and I realized I don’t know how to say what you mean to me, you mean the world to me. Then I smiled, you change the world with me, that’s how special you are. I am so blessed to have every one of you, the active Family of God! I could not do any of this without you.

I wanted to let you know what YOUR PRAYERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! I have been uplifted and empowered and stretched and moved by God working through your prayers! It makes such a difference, water in a desert kind of difference. We are fighting a battle and we are not fighting alone but we often feel like we are. We are made to fight together, to be together, to be the hands and feet of Christ, the living and moving Body of God! Prayer makes such a difference, joining together makes a difference. You make a difference!

So I’m really happy to be able to write you and tell you about my trip to Mexico over Spring Break. Going to Mexico was amazing, a really special time of service, learning, and fellowship. There was forty-eight of us from Sutherlin Family Church that drove in seven different vehicles down to Baja California, Mexico. It took over 24hrs of driving with only breaks for food and bathroom to make it to the Missions to Mexico base. I remember crossing the boarder was so thrilling to me, the air smells different in a foreign country! The roads and dirt look different, the house structures and people and animals that are all around, it was just so wonderful to reach Mexico, to see that country and be blessed to serve there.

We had five days of work and ministry in the community. Each morning we had chapel together as a team, a time of worship and going through the Bible and seeking the Lord together. Then we would drive out to the work site and from there we would divide into different groups that had different types of ministry. There were prayer groups that went out daily and went to the people’s homes and into their homes, talked to them about God, gave out Bibles, and would lay on hands and pray for them. This was a sweet ministry full of the moving of the Spirit as well as the hardships of spiritual warfare and something that impacted the team members and locals heavily. James 5:16 NLT “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” Another group stayed at the work site and ministered by doing manual labor, I did this four out of the five days. Digging postholes for the fence around the compound, or building the parsonage we were making for the local church. I learned a lot more about construction, which was really exciting for me. J I finally, after years of nailing, learned how to nail properly, I was very happy about this and nailed board after board on the parsonage all morning till my arm was worn out and refused to nail properly anymore.

The afternoons were spent at the church doing VBS with the kids! I love kids as everyone knows and it is always a joy to spend time teaching and singing and playing with them. We did puppets and songs and Bible verses and Bible stories and craft, a variety of activates that we pray left the kids with a better picture of God. My favorite part of VBS was watching the American youth from my church, most of which this was their first mission trip, interact with the people and the children. They made friends and connected to the people and the kids loved them, I loved watching their hearts expand and grow in love for the children and for God. It was really special to see God working in their lives as they chose to serve and love others!

The evenings were a time for a little rest, some fellowship, a delicious meal and often a time for another chapel. Wednesday night, however, we got to attend the Mexican church service. This was a night that touched all our lives. We were with the kids doing VBS and the adults were in the service, but at the end we, the team, were asked to go out and pray for the people of the church. They were at the front of the church and we went down and prayed for them. Laying a hand on a shoulder and praying out loud, as is the custom, then going to the next person. The Spirit was moving in a powerful way and I felt it as I went from one lady to the next, three in all. As I prayed for strength for them and love and to share with their neighbor and comfort and passionate faith, I was filled as I prayed they would be. The third lady, as I prayed for her, my hand on her shoulder, it began to shake. She was crying, this beautiful short older lady and her shoulder went up and down and I prayed out loud in the Spirit for everything that was on her mind and every struggle and hardship. I prayed till the time of prayer ended and she turned, and I reached out and hugged her, a sisterly hug and it was so special! We all sang together a song about us being one in the Lord, and then we went around and shook hands and hugged the people of the church, in unity, realizing we are the church too. That was such a wonderful picture to me. To see two cultures, two languages, two people, joined in the love of Christ and realizing despite any differences we are ONE body in Christ, we are not separated by these things and we will be together in heaven one day, the same church of Christ!

There was so many God-touched and God-filled times through that week, but I think the sweetest one of all, was the last. On Friday night, the night before we left for the States, the whole team sat down for debrief, a time of reflection and voicing the things that impacted us most through the trip. The memories that stood out to us most, many were happy to share what had touched them in this way. Asking what God was teaching us that week, that was a little harder to voice as most of the lessons were very close to our hearts. I nearly instantly knew what I wanted to share about what God was doing in my heart that week but I waited to share. It was so close to me that I was afraid I’d just brake down and cry. Many people spoke before me about the lessons and what has changed in their own lives through this week, it was such a beautiful time of fellowship and heart and full of God’s goodness. Sitting there together, all forty-eight of us sharing our hearts and how God was working on us, every person who spoke increased the depth and closeness of the team. There was a time when so many of us were crying, the struggles on our hearts, the goodness of God, “when people are healed they cry” my Uncle Paul says. We joined together in prayer for the struggles, lots of our youth felt so alone in the struggle to follow God in the school and they were really hurting on this point, so we adults put them in the center of a circle and we all gathered around them, as the Body of Christ should, supporting, encouraging and we all prayed out loud, voicing our request to the Lord for these precious youth that have such a hard battle to fight each day. We joined together with them, supporting them in their faith. It was such a great picture of love!

I was crying, most of us cried at some point that night, and I realized I had to speak, to share, cry or not. I wanted to voice what God was doing in my life through this trip to Mexico. So I finally spoke, and I did cry, and then I laughed as a team member shot the tissue box across the floor that had been passed from crying person to crying person. I talked about how in Malawi I encountered hardened missionaries. People who had grow hard because of the hard things they had gone through, who seemingly had lost sight of the real purpose they were there. I encountered a lot of harshness in the people as well, the cruelty and abuse and brokenness that went on to make more pain in otheres. I talked about this and cried and said how I didn’t become hard because of hardness. I wanted to remain soft and loving throughout all the hardships I’ll face. I then talked about Todd and Lesty, the missionaries at that base, and how watching them serve has been such a great encouragement. The openness and honesty and heart shown in their lives, the fact that they grow weary and tired and get discouraged but they still love and share their lives and keep going, I want to be a missionary like that. I learned a lot from them, just watching them and how they love!

Another lesson I was being taught was that my differences are an asset. While in Malawi I worked so much to be like and understand the people, which is good thing, but I forgot that I had something to offer, that my differences are part of my gift. That was really encouraging to me to realize my joy and childlike wonder and love for play has been and is a gift that I can use to minister to the people around me not just in the States but in Africa and Mexico too.

We traveled back to the States and I think all of us were a little sad to go home though we looked forward to seeing our families. In the church parking lot all the team members driving off one by one and some in groups, I just didn’t want to leave the parking lot because I didn’t want to leave all these wonderful people that I had gotten to know and love! But it was time to go and I said goodbye and was happy to be received happily home. I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I learned in Mexico and how God is moving and working. I’ve been seeing the amazing importance and impact of the gospel! Something I haven’t really seen the power of before. I’m growing! I’m getting new insights and direction and God is showing and teaching me new things and reminding me of old lessons, and making alive things that I’ve just know before. I’m excited to see what He does! Mexico was a great experience and time, but God is the one who moves! We can do all these things but unless God makes them grow, we labor for nothing. So we pray that God has used our efforts to not only touch us but the people of Mexico.

Please keep praying for me concerning future ministry and encouragement in daily life. I did have an interview for Africa Inland Mission (AIM) and their TIMO program on Saturday and it went well. Please keep praying.

Thank you all so much for what you are doing

You are changing the world!

Much love,

Pinky

Glazner

A Challenge

January 24, 2011

By Pinky Joy

 I went to Missions Connection over the weekend in Portland. It was a wonderful time of learning, growth, and fellowship with missions-minded, God-seeking people. We had speakers from around the world that spoke to an audience of about a thousand people. It was Saturday morning and I was tired and not fully paying attention as this tiny little Asian man got up on stage to speak. His name was Dr. Daniel Oh and he holds degrees in Thermal Engineering, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry. Dr. Oh began to share and he was talking about Moses and about Bible this and that as I tried to write down my notes from the night before in my journal, still paying only partial attention. Then he began to tell a story of a chain of events starting in prayer for people to be called to missions, then some went, and in North Korea someone was touched, this Korean man went out and ministered, then he gave his life for Christ, he was martyred. There was a silence, “that Korean man was my grandfather” Dr. Oh said. I was paying attention now. He went on to say how he and his family had become missionaries to Indonesia and how today he and his family still serve. Three of his four kids are missionaries all over the world, he and his wife are still very active in ministry, it was amazing! What a legacy and a divine chain of events that led him there to talk to that church full of a thousand people. He shared about Moses and went on about the challenges and how God overcame them, sending Moses to minister to His people. But through all this one thing stands out in my head far above all the rest. Dr. Daniel Oh said to immerse, to saturate yourself in the Word. Dr. Oh said that he personally spends at least four hours a day in the word… Think about that for a moment. 

Now every single one of us can say “well there is no way I have time to spend four hours reading, I have lots to do.” It’s not practical in our world; it’s an extreme to spend that much time on anything spiritual or eternal. The average Christian spends an hour and a half in church weekly, possibly double that with a Bible Study or a volunteer position at the church, that’s around four hours a week and that even we often postpone or skip or not appreciate. But it’s not about the time necessarily it’s about the priorities. If work is on the top of the list that comes first, if family is that does, if self is, that comes first. It’s what we prioritize that we make time for; it doesn’t have to do with the clock. Now I’m not saying that all of us should dive into the Bible four hours every day, most of us can’t pay attention that long as is. Here is what I was challenged by.  Matthew 7:7-8 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will fine. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” NLT Dr. Oh wanted to know God and God’s will and to be filled with God’s love, direction, and purpose. He went and sought God through His word. He wanted to know more about God and His nature and so he acted on that by seeking Him out in His word, four hours a day, saturating his life with the words God spoke to us! This also reminded me of my little brother and James 1:5 “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.” My brother asked for wisdom but not only did he ask but he looked in the Bible for that wisdom, in proverbs. He read a chapter of proverbs every day, month after month, he’s been doing this for around two years now, reading it once a month, that’s twenty-four times in two years! He asked God for wisdom and he sought it out, he investing in finding wisdom, he acted on his prayer, he sought God through His word and God answered his prayer in abundance, and my brother continues to seek God’s wisdom. This then reminds me about planting and reaping, if you put a small amount of seed in your garden, your crop will be small, if you plant a lard portion of field you harvest will be bigger! The small garden is probably a lot less work than the whole field, but the harvest that comes from the field is much larger than the garden. If we invest in growing in the Lord and serving Him and becoming more like Him, if we plant a harvest for eternity rather than the fleeting things of this world, imagine the vastness and beauty and quality of that harvest. It’s what we invest that will return to us. If we invest in things, for example, we will find a way to get lots of things, if we invest in people, we will have lots of relationships and connection with people, if we invest in the Lord, WOW just imagine! Galatians 6:7-8 “A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” NIV

Four hours, that’s a lot of time. But imagine if your training for something, a race, a job, about anything, you could easily spend four hours a day in that area. If you’re In school, or training for a sport, or developing a skill, four hours a day is a dedicated sacrifice to accomplish that goal. Most of us spend up to four hours a day on unproductive things, television, shopping,  video games.  Hebrews 12:1-2 “ let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” We are running to win! No second place, no barely making it, we want to train and pursue and strive for the Kingdom of God, living for things far beyond this world! Training and running to win! I want to run to win, that I will be a faithful servant of the Most High God! So this has been my challenge, investing and training in the things of God, in seeking Him in a passionate way. Not letting anything weigh me down, to invest in things of eternity while I am here on this earth. I pose this challenge to you as well, how can you better seek God and invest in eternity? I will be honest I don’t know if I’ll ever read the Bible fours a day, but if I do I’ll have to work up to that, exercise and strengthen that muscle. I do want to invest more time and energy and heart in knowing the heart of God! I want to see God in the Word and I want to pray with power for all people!

As always, thank you letting share! :)