Missionary Journal Day Five….

Day 5 Life of a Missionary

On Day 5 the sun came out early and it was a glorious day!

We went out to the Sola Gracia Mission site where the groups who do work over the Border come. We greet the ladies from the retreat last year. They are so happy we bought coffee (from Seattle) and goodies and lunch. We plan on a whole day of counseling and classes and scrapbooking and Bible class.

We start up our counseling classes hitting on topics such as child rearing, parenting, safety, depression and anxiety. These are challenges that I see as common in all cultures where the Life of a Missionary goes.

The Missionary today that is serving us is Doctora Vicky- a beautiful woman of God inside and out. With her husband Gustavo, they are critical Missionionaries at the church; and Gustavo is the director of the Bible Institute. They are passionate about Jesus Christ and ready to serve at moment’s notice. They inspire folks and are humble givers. The other Missionary involved today is Melissa who keeps up all relationships with the spiritual leaders in Tijuana. She faithfully meets  with the leaders and drives to the Bible Institute. Melissa blesses everyone with her presence.

We have a parent and child- grandparent /child lesson today. This lesson is to demonstrate positive parenting skills for babies and toddlers and give tips on parenting. I use my clinical techniques of Floor Time. At first, as Evi says, these ladies probably think I’m a little “loco” to sit on the floor with their babies. However, after soothing the babies, as Melissa said, “In two minutes, Kathy, as a total stranger, had the babies crawling all around her and playing; then in 3 minutes, they were calling her “mommy;” and in about 10 minutes, one is sound asleep in her lap.”

I wish we had a video tape of this session! It was so clear how the grandparents and parents could use some of these skills at home. I was so proud of one mom who played with her baby and told us, “I don’t know what to do with him at home- I never talk to him.” She learned a new skill today and I am Praising God -We had a God moment there!

After our class, the ladies and children were gifted with the gifts from All Saints. The angels, pictures of Jesus, journals, pens, etc. The Missionaries took some of the dresses for their Day of the Child Event. This year each Mission is offering their own Day of the Child Event to draw more children to the church and hear about Jesus. I am silently praising God because in the next few days there will be 4 Day of the Child Events at the different sites- rather than One! Just think How magnificent God is and can grow His Kingdom!

We ate delicious lunch and special Mexican cream cheese dessert. We enjoyed each other and chatted, drinking Coffee from Seattle. The ladies then began to create their scrapbooking projects – complete quiet- noo sound in the house- they loved them!

By this time it was 6pm and Melissa and I needed to start our travel back over the Border. The ladies were going to stay and have Bible class. What devoted women of God on such a lovely day!