Gary's first Mexican sermon!

I would probably need to write ten blogs to describe everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks. There's so many interesting details that have occurred as we have moved into our house, like the yellow bird sitting perched outside of the arched doorways while the sun peeks over the hillside as I am writing this. There's so many new sights and sounds. So many things we love about this place and so much to discover.

 As a woman, who is trying to make this Mexican house our home, Gary's words yesterday were music to my ears. He walked into our bedroom with a big smile on his face and said, "I just love our home!" That meant so much to me because I've tried so hard to make it a warm and cozy place for our family, even though we only have a couple pieces of furniture and have to eat comida on the floor! (We are having a handcrafted table made, which is taking a little extra time to complete.) We are all sleeping on mattresses on the floor and there isn't such a thing as a lamp or a nightstand in the house! Gary's office is totally empty, except for his book boxes and our clothes are stacked on the floor of our closet.


I think the thing that makes our house home, is the fact that we are all together and the atmosphere of our home is loving and peaceful. Yesterday as Gary was studying for his first Mexican sermon, I had the worship music softly playing as I cooked enchiladas and sang quietly to the music. Every time he walked into the kitchen, even though he was deep in thought and prayer, we would smile at each other and say a loving word or two. Nathaniel was building with Legos in his room and Bethany was creating a stop motion Lego video in her room. The whole atmosphere of our home is warm and loving so it isn't such a big deal to eat on the floor and not have lamps or desks. We are just so thankful to finally be together again, after Gary lost his home office with USDA nearly three years ago!


Last evening Gary preached his first sermon in Mexico! We had been praying for days that God would anoint Gary's message with the power of the Holy Spirit, for even though Gary is a very talented teacher, the only thing that can change a heart is God's power working in someones life. Clever words and a well thought out message might get man's applause but it will never change a person's heart. We have learned, in our many years of ministry, that the only sermon worth a "hill of beans" is one that has the power of the Spirit behind it. So we prayed and prayed and prayed and relied upon God like never before!


The evening was cool and festive. We had no idea what was going on all day but there had been the loud pops and bangs that are the precursor to a major evening fireworks display. Little did we know that Gary's sermon would be punctuated with the climax of a local fiesta including a very loud band passing by the church and fireworks going off every couple of seconds! The Mexican people in the church did not seem to be taken aback  by the boom of the fireworks or the volume of the marching band that would have rivaled John Philips Sousa! It was a challenge for Gary to preach above the festivities going on outside, as well as learn the flow and rhythm of speaking with an interpreter. But thankfully, Gary relied totally upon God and the result was an incredibly anointed message that touched people's hearts and ministered to everyone in the room! The pastor of the church was very pleased with Gary's message. Gary got an "abrazo" of "Well done my friend" at the end of the message from the pastor. We realize that God has opened a door of ministry much sooner than we could have imagined and we are eternally grateful for this opportunity.


This is the reason that we are here, to teach and preach the Gospel of grace to the Mexican people. Yes, we love Mexico! It is God's love and grace that has called us to a country that we would naturally enjoy but it isn't the reason why we are here. If we were miserable in Mexico we would still be obedient to the call of God and teach and preach to the Mexican people. Thankfully though, we love Mexican and her people as well as our surroundings.


We celebrated the evening by having ice cream and my home made chocolate sauce and then we all tumbled into bed after an exhausting but very good evening!


It is difficult to describe the complexity of emotions that I have, as Gary's wife, when he teaches. The foundation of our marriage is the teaching and preaching of the word of God. Many years ago, before we knew each other at all, I went to a singles retreat where Gary was teaching and preaching the word of God. This was during the end of the summer after I had led my first mission team to Mexico City! Gary and I didn't really know each other personally but what we did know of each other was ministry and missions. I was the missionary and he was the Bible teacher.

During the Autumn season when we began our friendship and dating time, the foundation of all that we talked about was centered on our call to ministry. While the Pennsylvania countryside burst with fall colors, we would sit and talk for hours about our passion for the word of God and our deep calling and desire to share God's love and grace with the hurting people around us. Nothing made sense of our relationship outside of the knowledge that God was bringing us together for the purpose of sharing the message of the gospel of grace to a lost and hurting world. 

So we joyfully got married and prepared to "hit the ground running" and be missionaries to Africa in the beginning years of our marriage. And then.......for the next 16 years all hell broke loose in our life, the doors to ministry were eliminated, and we were left to learn to love each other without the foundation of ministry that had formed our love and relationship. This was not an easy path for when a couple comes together with a specific purpose, if that purpose disappears, they have to learn to love each other outside of the very reason why they got married!

A couple who enjoys nothing but hiking and skiing together must learn a whole new way of loving each other if one becomes a paraplegic in a skiing accident. A man and woman who love to travel to exotic places and see the world need to discover a new aspect of their relationship as a set of twins and a local business tie them to one location. A romance that begins over a passion for music and art must do a radical change if they suddenly are thrust into helping the poor and destitute in the hills of West Virginia. This is the type of major and shaky change, our relationship went through, as Gary and I learned to love each other without any hint of the passions for ministry that brought us together and made us forsake all others as we said our wedding vows that beautiful November day in Pennsylvania.

It is impossible to describe the early years of our marriage in this blog. I did write an "abridged" version on our website if you are interested in reading more. www.theswordmaster.org Suffice it to say those years were not easy. But they did form the spiritual foundation of who we are today as a couple and as a family. God perfects his people through suffering and we now know that the many years of intense suffering was preparing our hearts and lives for our mission work in Mexico!

To say the least, when I hear my husband preach, there is a complexity to my emotions that encompasses all that we've been through together these past 17 years. This is what brought our hearts together in marriage. Yet, Gary's ability to hear from God and preach the word powerfully, certainly isn't the only reason why I love him. I have learned to love him when he was unemployed. I have learned to love him when he was doing computer graphics for a software company in Boulder. I have learned to love him when he was a tech writer for USDA. I've learned to love him when we garden together, when he writes music, when we hike together and when he tries to sing with a toothbrush in his mouth! (He doesn't sing in the shower but the minute the toothbrush hits his mouth he bursts into song!) I've learned to love him in the good times and the very difficult times. Our love is rich and full and contains so much. Now when I hear him preach, it isn't the only thing in our relationship but it is the magnum opus of our life. Our ministry is the culmination of our relationship, not the sum of it. I am a very proud wife and the love and honor I feel for him when he preaches is indescribable. But I also feel that same depth of pride and love, when he is snoozing on the couch or repeating the same joke for the 100th time! He is my husband and I am so very grateful for every aspect of our life together!