The wild brumby runs free... an update on the past month

I’ve been busy! Sorry that I haven’t been very active in updating my blog – I hope to work on that! It’s been great to receive emails and remain in contact with friends and family back in Australia. I’ve also been excited to hear news and updates from other friends who are leaving to work in other countries - God is faithful and keeps on providing the resources again and again for his love to spread around the world!

The last month has been full of more new experiences, challenges and fun times. I took the following picture that describes my life at present when I was feeling a little bit arty or something.

1. The bible – God’s word has been my guide and sustains me in my relationship with God
2. The Cross of Christ – that’s the reason I’m here – the cross of Jesus Christ has changed history and gives us the opportunity to have a restored relationship with the Creator God and to discover a full and meaningful life now and forever
3. 501 Spanish Verbs – yes, there are many more than 501 but I’m still learning and speaking Spanish. I’ve been really excited that I can now converse pretty comfortably in Spanish and my Mexican brother told me (in Spanish) “you’re speaking really well, a lot more clearly and rapidly than before – it’s good!”
4. I took the photo in Mexico… i.e. I’m in Mexico

Earlier in the month, we had a break from our youth ministry for about a week and I had the opportunity to head to the beach for four days! YAY! Being close to the beach is one thing I really miss about Australia so this was a real treat. I went to a beach called San Blas which is in a state called Nayarit on the west coast of Mexico. It was about 7-8 hours drive from Queretaro on a freeway with lots of toll gantries! We passed Guadalajara and Tepic on the way as well as seeing signs to the town of Tequila (that’s really where Tequila comes from!).
San Blas was great – very quiet (tranquilo) and not full of foreigners (apart from me!). We ate on the beach, listened to some roaming musicians for the birthday of one of our friends and played AFL footy on the beach! I managed to go for a surf even though the waves were a bit small.

Me, Alma Rosa and Sarahí

Yes!!!! The Wild Brumbies continue to run free!!!

Some authentic Mexican tunes!

Footy on the beach - they're not bad... I'm gonna start and AFL development squad...

Amidst all the fun, I have actually been doing something! We have started working as a team to form the way forward for our ministry. It’s helped a lot to have the team working together at the church to improve our communication and sense of community. At present we are working hard to build up a strong group of young Christians and involve them in reaching others.
We’ve had various activities in the church that I’ve been involved in and guess what… one of the other team members has blogged about that so I’m going to link to that to save me some time! You’ll see some photos of Conectate and Universitarios. I helped to run games at Conectate (a day to connect with a community group in the church) and also I’m a leader in the uni students group. Click here to go to Jessica’s blog post…

I’ve made some cool new friends like Bruno who I have been catching up with over the past few weeks. I’ve also been catching up with some young people from the church and I’ve made some friends with whom I can play music which is really awesome.

My real passion here is to see young people encounter Jesus in an authentic and relevant way, see their lives transformed by God’s power and invite others to meet Jesus. It’s so cool for me when I see young people who are passionate about God and who live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in way that is truly relevant in their life (fully Mexican, in all areas of their life). This is how I long to be – not simply a missionary whose job it is to share the gospel of Jesus, but a radical disciple of Jesus who lives in Mexico and invites others to come and meet Jesus in their context and culture.

Global Grounds moving party!

Once we decided to move the location of Global Grounds we just HAD to have a party! So, we asked some friends to play music, invited people and had a rockin' night of celebration on the 28th of March!

Global Grounds has moved!

It as been a big month of change for the ministry to university students here in Queretaro. Over the past months, the team has been grappling with some difficult decisions. The rent and other costs for the Global Grounds café location have been very high and the income (from sales and donors) insufficient to sustain operations. We made the difficult decision to relocate the café to the church premises to assist financially as well as to refocus the ministry and seek God for the best and most effective student ministry possible. Global Grounds has been an amazing space to hang out, build relationships, drink coffee and explore faith in Jesus Christ. We want to continue to create spaces where we can engage with young people, make disciples and equip leaders for the kingdom of God.

In the new café location, we have created a new, relevant space for young people to enjoy that is well connected with the church community. We are also taking a fresh look at how we reach out to young people with the message of Jesus Christ in relevant, authentic ways and make disciples who will be leaders for the kingdom of God here in Mexico and around the world.This time of refocus and change is challenging, however, I can see amazing opportunities for God to work through this change and help us build a strong, effective and sustainable ministry with uni students.