Afterthoughts on Mexico

Well, we have been home for about three weeks, and it feels like a lifetime ago that I was in Barradise.
The Lord was so gracious to us in our time there. We had to battle stomach bugs, fear of scorpions, and the possibility of persecution.
I'll give a brief overview of life in La Barrra, we slept in tents in a banana field, in Oaxaca state Mexico. We were there for 7 weeks and lived amongst the people of La Barra De La Cruz.
Hallie did well, she started teething as soon as we drove into the village but she adjusted very well to the situation there.
We went to the beach every once and a while, it was really beautiful and all, but it wasn't the main point of interest. We baptized one believer Eva there, and that was incredible. It was crazy that we didn't do anything as far as sharing the Gospel with her. When we showed up the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and God had opened her ears. It was humbling watching God make it so we and she had nothing to boast in.
Essentially, we just spent time talking on hammocks with the adults and playing with the kids. We really enjoyed singing with the kids, they were really fun and had so much energy. We shared the Gospel with several people and had some incredible conversations with them, but to our knowledge no one else confessed to be a Follower of Christ. When we left La Barra there were two women believers, Eva and Inocenta, both of whom where changed by God before we got there.
One thing I really noticed when we got back was that we live so lavishly and we don't consider God's Glory more important than our comfort. It was crazy to think that so many of us desire the Glory of God, but we don't live in such a way as to allow ourselves the opportunity to live with Christ as the center.
We also show that we don't really believe in the sovereignty of God for our lives, we talk about it, but we don't believe it. I really learned a whole lot about that. I know that I really don't show that with my own life and that really convicts me a lot.
We also really enjoyed the company of our Sister in Christ, Cara Bebee...we love you lady! Anyway, I realized that we don't put enough of our energy into pursuing fellowship with other believers and that is obvious by our walls and distance from other people. If you have ever experienced sweet fellowship you know how vital it is for daily life. Anyway, we have so much fellowship here at home and were blessed with sweet fellowship there. We learned to pursue fellowship even more passionately when we returned. Also, we learned that it is important to understand where people place The Gospel and Theology. There is only one truth in Scripture, there is only one Gospel, and if we think that there is this general Gospel, then we really haven't come to understand the depths of our depravity, the grace of God, and the life of Christ. Even to just say that Jesus died on a cross for sins is cutting so much of the incredible Grace of God out of the picture. Needless to say, we learned a lot about not just the Gospel, but the importance of theology as it relates to the Gospel.
Another issue, that really effected my Sister in Christ, was the lack of Church involvement. The Church is supposed to be actively involved in missions, it benefits the church, and it benefits the believer...which in turn benefits the people being evangelized to. We were amazed at the distance Cara felt from her church and the lack of pursuit of Cara's well being from the place that said they would be sending her. It is vital that we re-examine our lazyiness when it comes to sending missionaries, and claiming to "support" them.
Regardless, we are home now, and have a new passion for the Church of God and the Body of Believers.