His Timing is Perfect

"I can hardly believe that I have only two weeks left in México. There were days in the beginning when I thought I wasn't going to make it at all; that I would never last for ten weeks, but now here I am with only two weeks to go, and I have to admit that I am feeling very torn inside.

We spent last week helping Pastor Mere in Fresnillo with her VBS that she was running, and it was wonderful to see her again. She is an incredible woman who has started church works and feeding programs in four different communities or colonias in Fresnillo. We had worked with Mere on the very first trip to México, and I couldn't understand why it didn't work out for us to see her until almost the end of the trip, but I can see now that by working with her at the end of my time here, that I understand and am able to communicate so much more in Spanish, and our visit was so much better than it would have been at the beginning of my trip. God's timing is perfect, and I am learning to trust that.

On Friday we planned to help with VBS in the morning, and then to do an outreach that night with singing and a movie. We were just finishing up with VBS, and I was so looking forward to going back to Tim's house for a nap because I was so tired, and for something to eat because I was so hungry. Pastor Mere came over and said to Tim and I "I've just been talking to Martha, and she told me that her little sister Edith had been taken to the hospital earlier in the week with severe breathing problems and had to be given oxygen. She is staying at Martha's house and she has been asking to see Kellie."

Martha is a very good friend of mine that I met on my first trip to México, and Edith is her little sister. She is 21, but I say little because she is so tiny! I met her when I came to México a year and a half ago, and I loved her from the moment that I met her. I call her my "little doll." Life has not been easy for Edith, she has suffered much in her 21 years.

Tim said to me that we could go to see her, and that I might want to spend the day and stay with her until the outreach that night. My first thought was "I am too tired and too hungry to do that," so I told Tim that we could go see her, but that I wasn't sure if I would stay.

We arrived at Martha and Paco's house and I could tell immediately by the look on Martha's face that she was very worried about her sister. I asked her how Edith was doing and she said "She is very depressed, and all she does is sleep all the time." She led me back to the bedroom, and at first I thought that Edith wasn't there, but then I saw that she was curled into a little ball on top of the bed, asleep. I went and sat down beside her and said her name. She opened her eyes and I said "Edith, what happened?" These big tears started to roll down her cheeks, and I just started to cry along with her. I knew in that moment that I couldn't leave.

Tim and Melissa came and spoke with Edith for awhile, and then we prayed for her. She was able to share some of the problems that she was having. She asked if I would stay with her, and when they left, we had a meal together with Martha and Paco.

After she ate, Edith was very tired and said she needed to rest. We went and sat down on the bed and I put my arm around her and put her head on my shoulder, and for two hours I prayed for her and talked to her about how special she was, and that the wounds that she had received in her life were very real, and they were very important to God. I told her that God was able to change things in her life. That things could be different. I could feel the tangible peace of God fill the room as we talked.

We had to come back to Fresnillo the next day, so we stopped in to check on Edith again. This time she was up and around and getting ready to go out to church that night. She looked much better, but I know that there are many wounds in her life that need to be healed. I pray that the healing process has begun for her.

When I first came to México I desperately missed everyone back home, and I was counting the days until I would be back home again. Now I have been here long enough that my heart is going to be torn when I have to leave my friends here and go back home.

The other day we stopped in to see Ernestina, the lady who owns the ranch and who is going to give Tim and Lalo a piece of land for the children's home. She was so glad to see us, and when I told her that I would only be here for a few weeks more, she said "Are we going to see you again?" I was a little surprised as I heard myself say "Oh, I will be back again for sure." Tim said to her "She's been here four times already. México is in her blood now." I think he is right.