hangin out with our teens

sé

Wow! I’m really bad at this blog thing I just wanted you to know that i know…that you know, that I know :)   Incase you were thinking, “wow! he’s really bad at this whole blog thing. I wonder if he knows.”  :)  Well…I know I wish it weren’t so. I need  some accountability. If you’re reading this and you want to call me on, shoot me an email (missionaryjohnpaul@gmail.com). But really, it’s a lot of work to keep up with this whole blog thing. I know i need to do it. ALL FOR HIS GLORY! How selfish of me, to keep to myself all that GOD is doing here. There is some glory to be gotten! ¡TODO PARA SU GLORIA!  

JESUS BE PRAISED!

¡Las Misioneras!

Glory be to GOD! Last thursday two of our missionary sisters arrived in Mexico. We are exited for them to be here. They will be living in General Cepeda (around 45min from Saltillo) for three weeks. We are blessed to be able to join with them in ministry over there in G.C. and here in Saltillo. Please keep Erin Ugran and Joanie Thompson in your prayers as they have given their lives over to the work of proclaiming Christ among the peoples of the earth. GOD BE PRAISED!

¡Gloria a DIOS! ¡comienzo hablar español!

Dear faithful friends and family,

GOD is good! I have been back from language school for a little over three months now and by the grace of GOD I am finally able to speak a little Spanish. Two weeks ago I was blessed to give two different talks (completely in Spanish) to the young people in our parish. How great is our GOD, to have saved a wretch like me and to have put me where HE has me. I could never have imagined. Please keep my missionary brothers and me in your prayers, that God might bless us with a miraculously quick learning of the Spanish language. GOD be praised!!!

Life Teen Family Mission

Life Teen Family Mission Trip, December 2008, General Cepeda, Mexico

Life Teen Family Mission Trip, December 2007, General Cepeda, Mexico

San Isidro

November 2008, Desert Rancho in Mexico, Preparing for a night of prayer, testimony, praise and worship.

CHECK OUT THE “PAGES” SECTION!!! (in the top right corner of the page)

TO HEAR MORE ABOUT WHAT GOD IS DOING IN MEXICO!!! GOD BE PRAISED!!!

Isaiah 40:3

March 2009, Desert Rancho, Preparing to share the Word of GOD.

Oh LORD, We Ask For The Nations!!!

PRAYING FOR SALTILLO

“YOU SAID”

by Shane Barnard

You said, Ask and you will receive
Whatever you need
You said, Pray and I’ll hear from heaven
And I’ll heal your land

You said Your glory will fill the earth
Oh, Like water the seas
You said, Lift up your eyes
The harvest is here, the kingdom is near

You said, Ask and I’ll give the nations to you
O Lord, that’s the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands will see
Your light, as it rises on us

O Lord, we ask for the nations
O Lord, we ask for the nations
O Lord, we are asking for the nations

This song should be the cry of our hearts as son and daughters of the FATHER. Let’s pray together:  

Oh GOD, that every knee would bow before YOUR THRONE! that every tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD! Oh that the nations would WORSHIP YOU FATHER! we earnestly beg You to send out laborers into Your harvest. We ask You to begin with us. Fill us up and send us out. AMEN!

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore beg the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” -Luke 10:2

 

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

January 2009, Mission base in Saltillo, Mexico, Kissing the sacred ground
upon arrival to the new mission post.

Well here I am again sitting in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. I’ve spent many a days’ here dropping off, picking up and flying out. I’ve always enjoyed this airport and have had many divine appointments here. This time as I sit in front of Gate E27, flight 5940 non-stop to Monterrey, Mexico there is a new feeling. I’m ready to go but slightly nervous of not knowing what’s to come. I already miss my family terribly but am exited to see my brothers and sisters in Mexico. I know this is where Jesus wants me to be and the promptings of the Holy Spirit are strong. I must go! I have to go! How can I stay and do nothing when whole nations are hungering and thirsting, not just for food and water but for the hope in an eternal home and that there is a God who loves them with an everlasting, infinite, and passionate love. Pope JP2 cried out repeatedly (almost 20 years ago) in his encyclical “Redemptoris Missio” that the mission of the church is “urgent”, and that “we must commit ourselves whole-heartedly to its service.” Jesus is calling me. I must respond!

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

As I sit in the terminal I think to my self, “In less than three hours I will be in Mexico”. A rush of emotions comes over me. “How can I do anything? I am just one little person. I’m only 20years old. What makes me qualified to take on such an important task. This is what the church refers to as her ¨greatest and holiest duty”. I feel so small, so insignificant. Wait…. the truth is that, I am. It’s ok that I feel that way. It’s important to recognize that none of this is possible without the grace of God, because the temptation is to think that I have done any of this by my own abilities or talents, or that it’s me who this mission depends on. No! It’s not my mission. It’s the mission of the Redeemer. Whew! That is a great thing to know, because it takes so much pressure off of me.

I often hear it said that ¨God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. ¨What qualified David when he took on the giant? Or Joshua when he led the Israelites across the Jordan River? Or Peter, when Jesus gave him the keys of the kingdom? Or Mary, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her asking her to mother the Son of God? God calls us and because he has called us we are qualified. I would be lying if I told you that I understood this completely. God’s ways are so far beyond what I can understand or comprehend. Every time we think we have figured Him out we have only but scratched the surface. We must have faith! Without it we can do nothing.

So Yes! I will take a leap of faith and be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirits, doing all I can the best I can, leaving the rest in the hands of God. I know that it won’t be easy, Jesus never promised that. What He did promise was this: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”-Matthew 28:20  THANK YOU FATHER! Thank You for calling me to be Your missionary son.

AD GENTES (to the nations)

And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? Rom. 10:14-15

My year at Covecrest has come to an end. I have spent the last year discerning my vocation through prayer and formation. I have learned that the entire journey is the destination.  St. Therese of Lisieux once said, “My vocation is love”; this past year has taught me how to love. One’s vocation does not start in the future, it is in the here and now. If the vocation is love, then the question is “How do I love the best?” If the time is now, than the question becomes, “How do I love best in the present moment?”

“One mission field would never be enough; all the world, even its remotest islands, must be my mission field. Nor would my mission last a few short years, but from the beginning of the world to the end of time.” St. Therese of Lisieux