Since I said I was going to start posting on this blog every Monday, I thought I'd better start with a dream I had when I was young. This is one of those special type dreams that seems so real that when you wake up it feels like you're in a new place. I had this dream during our engagement. It is a dream that I will never forget.
In my dream I was walking in one direction. A stranger stops me, points to the ground, and says, "He needs your help." The man leaves me as I continue to stare at the empty ground wondering, "What the heck!" Suddenly, the ground starts to rumble and then sift into the shape of a man. The man takes me by my hand and leads me in the other direction to a church rooftop. We stay there a moment gazing into the darkness until finally a beautiful sunrise reveals the land. After a short while, the view of the land turns into more and more when I realize He is showing me the world.
I had never spoken of this dream at first because I remember waking up and feeling different. I didn't understand what the dream meant or who the man was leading me. I felt a peace that I had never known from a sleep like that. All the pieces started coming together as my relationship with Jesus grew stronger and stronger.
Jesus is the man! He took me by the hand and led me to the rooftop. He was showing me the world and how many people there are that don't know about Him. He needs my help. He is taking me in a direction that I wasn't planning on going. I know, however, that when I reach the end of the journey I will know Peace.
I remember my last days as an aircraft painter at Spirit Aerosystems. I was half-joking with my friends that I was going to be taking a new job. I didn't want to say too much too early. Some would ask, "Is it with Spirit?" I answered with a quick yes thinking that my new boss is the Holy Spirit. "Oh! So it's an international position," they continued. Yes, again. The whole time I knew that my new "dream" job was working with the Holy Spirit in foreign lands as a lay missionary for the Catholic Church.
Below is a song from Rich Mullins called "I'll Carry On". It is one of the best songs that I've ever heard that best describes my call to missions. The beginning is very touching so listen closely. God bless you.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/c-rCF9GsAlQ?rel=0
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Strength in Waiting (part2)
The post before this one was supposed to have appeared last week. I got too busy and soon I put it on the "back burner". So, this post is an update of the happenings after the waiting had come to a pressure point.
Last week I had come to a point where I felt as if the Lord was telling me to not pray for the sale of our home in Kansas anymore. I had a sense of peace knowing that from here on out the Lord was going to start the "sale" process and that I needed to concentrate on other things. That Wednesday when we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet we offered it up solely for the sale of our house while letting go of any anxious thoughts. I had felt a lot of pressure weighing on my mind about this (and other worries like the upcoming travel expenses, the waiting for an official invitation from the Philipine Bishop, etc.) for the last few weeks and could feel the weight of waiting bearing down. Sometimes when God quietly works out His miracles, one can feel like he is alone or away from God. I did not expect what was going to happen within the next 24 hours!
Stacie and I sat down one night a few weeks ago to figure out our taxes and to see what kind of refund we would get. I was surprised at first how much we were getting back but with the addition of Julian and other factors it was easy to see why (well, for Stacie, anyway). While the waiting period began after the "Send-off" Mass in December, I had begun to think what would happen to this money. The thought of it being garnished to make future house payments was making me upset at times, especially since I was already applying it to our mission travel fund. Instead of being patient and strengthened at that time, I was worried and anxious. Not at all how Jesus taught us to be.
Fast-forward to the day of my prayer during the Divine Mercy Chaplet. That night while I was checking e-mails and such, my realtor, Sheree, and I started to "chat" online. I asked her a few quick questions about our situation regarding the tax refund and the short-sale process with our house. She informed us about how any money that we have and use for our mission is ours and cannot be taken away. What a relief!! My prayer to offer everything completely to God was being rewarded that very day! Early the next morning, we got an email confirmation of when to expect our refund- January 28. Also, a missionary friend of ours, Sid, came running to our house with a piece of paper in hand- the Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro had finally written his official invitation. Everything was starting to take shape and God's hand was in it the whole time. My spirit was leaping and I was feeling the weight of waiting lessening. God is good!
Thank you for praying for us, our dear benefactors, as we prepare for our mission trip to the Philipines. The date is now set for departure on February 28th. We are currently going through our things again and making sure we only take what we think we really need. Our daughter, Meredith, is insisting that we allow her to take only three shirts, a pair of shorts, one dress, one skirt, and one pair of pants, after reading that Jesus said to take nothing for the journey. She even feels guilty taking that! When we left Kansas in September, I thought that we arrived in Louisiana with little to unpack. God is so good to us and we always have more than we need when we trust in Him. Please continue to offer up your prayers for us and also help with our mission travel expenses. Maddie, our oldest, is hard at work crocheting rosary pouches (several different colors are available) as a fundraiser. Meredith has laminated, hand-drawn holy cards for sale with prayers on the back. Thanks again especially to those who are donating to us monthly. This will provide our daily needs as we build God's Kingdom. Several $5 or $10 per month contributions can go a long way. Please consider making your tax-deductible donation today. God will bless you one hundred-fold :)
"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."-Philipians 4:6-7
Last week I had come to a point where I felt as if the Lord was telling me to not pray for the sale of our home in Kansas anymore. I had a sense of peace knowing that from here on out the Lord was going to start the "sale" process and that I needed to concentrate on other things. That Wednesday when we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet we offered it up solely for the sale of our house while letting go of any anxious thoughts. I had felt a lot of pressure weighing on my mind about this (and other worries like the upcoming travel expenses, the waiting for an official invitation from the Philipine Bishop, etc.) for the last few weeks and could feel the weight of waiting bearing down. Sometimes when God quietly works out His miracles, one can feel like he is alone or away from God. I did not expect what was going to happen within the next 24 hours!
Stacie and I sat down one night a few weeks ago to figure out our taxes and to see what kind of refund we would get. I was surprised at first how much we were getting back but with the addition of Julian and other factors it was easy to see why (well, for Stacie, anyway). While the waiting period began after the "Send-off" Mass in December, I had begun to think what would happen to this money. The thought of it being garnished to make future house payments was making me upset at times, especially since I was already applying it to our mission travel fund. Instead of being patient and strengthened at that time, I was worried and anxious. Not at all how Jesus taught us to be.
Fast-forward to the day of my prayer during the Divine Mercy Chaplet. That night while I was checking e-mails and such, my realtor, Sheree, and I started to "chat" online. I asked her a few quick questions about our situation regarding the tax refund and the short-sale process with our house. She informed us about how any money that we have and use for our mission is ours and cannot be taken away. What a relief!! My prayer to offer everything completely to God was being rewarded that very day! Early the next morning, we got an email confirmation of when to expect our refund- January 28. Also, a missionary friend of ours, Sid, came running to our house with a piece of paper in hand- the Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro had finally written his official invitation. Everything was starting to take shape and God's hand was in it the whole time. My spirit was leaping and I was feeling the weight of waiting lessening. God is good!
Thank you for praying for us, our dear benefactors, as we prepare for our mission trip to the Philipines. The date is now set for departure on February 28th. We are currently going through our things again and making sure we only take what we think we really need. Our daughter, Meredith, is insisting that we allow her to take only three shirts, a pair of shorts, one dress, one skirt, and one pair of pants, after reading that Jesus said to take nothing for the journey. She even feels guilty taking that! When we left Kansas in September, I thought that we arrived in Louisiana with little to unpack. God is so good to us and we always have more than we need when we trust in Him. Please continue to offer up your prayers for us and also help with our mission travel expenses. Maddie, our oldest, is hard at work crocheting rosary pouches (several different colors are available) as a fundraiser. Meredith has laminated, hand-drawn holy cards for sale with prayers on the back. Thanks again especially to those who are donating to us monthly. This will provide our daily needs as we build God's Kingdom. Several $5 or $10 per month contributions can go a long way. Please consider making your tax-deductible donation today. God will bless you one hundred-fold :)
"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."-Philipians 4:6-7
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| Rosary pouches-$5 ea Holy Cards-$2 ea or 3 for $5 |
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Strength in Waiting
Whew! With Christmas officially over, we are now even closer to our mission posts. The Eckstines and Sid are REALLY close as they get ready to leave for St. Lucia in the Carribean on the 19th of this month. Others will head back to the mission house at General Cepeda in Mexico. Susanna, Teresa, and we are headed to the Philipines in late January but only after receiving an official invitation from the Bishop. All we have to do now is wait and wait and wait...aaagh! This is hard to do after gaining the full momentum from our first short-term mission trip to Mexico and the completion of our Intake program in early December.
We had an awesome "Send-off" Mass at Our Lady of the Bayous in the first part of December. Family Missions Company allowed a break to all of the missionaries to visit family and friends over the holidays. Most everyone left Big Woods and soon the Alvarez clan was left with a few of the other "seasoned" missionaries. Odilio was feeling a strong call to return to Kansas but with little cash on hand it was going to be almost impossible--ok, it was totally impossible. We had enough gas money to get to maybe Shreveport and back (as long as there were a lot of downhills on the way back). Anyways, we decided to pray one night when the call seemed so strong and real. We said,"Lord, this is going to be totally up to you if you want us to go because we see no way for us to do it on our own. You must provide if this is Your will." We'll just sit back and wait.
Not long after our family prayer, Stacie got a call from back home. Her mom, Debbie, wanted to know what our plans were for Christmas. There was nothing really to say except that we were going to plan on a quiet and simple holiday meal together. Surprised that we hadn't made any travel plans, Debbie informed us about a good friend of hers that wanted to give to us. It wasn't an ornament or a fruitcake, but a gift card with enough money for gas to and from Kansas! No, way! Yes!!! We hadn't told any of our relatives about our urge to travel back home but we knew that it was all God. Amazing!
We ended up arriving in enough time to rest and go to the Midnight Latin Mass at St. Anthony's in Wichita. It was SO good to see our friends there again. We even had kept it a secret that we were in town for a few days because our girls wanted to surprise the Leybas (operation: success). We were so blessed with the many invites for lunch and dinner(special thanks to the Swans, Leybas, Reals, Hardys, Habashys, Hauges, and Canos) that we only had to cook once! Needless to say, our schedule was booked every day we were there. One of the sweetest blessings came from our good friends, the Swans, and their 9yr old daughter, Anne. She was so excited to give us our gift when we visited and made sure that was the first thing we did as we entered. Anne had carefully inserted $20 each into two beautifully hand-made cards--One for "Mr. Odilio" and the other for "Ms.Stacie". She offered up some of her Christmas money for our Mission- specifically to go toward our plane tickets :).
So, here we are again. We're back at Big Woods and just waiting. We are slowly trying to incorporate the mock schedule we have set for our life in mission. Please continue praying for us to be patient as we wait for the miracle that God is sending our way to be able to purchase our plane tickets to Manila. Waiting is hard but the glorious reward is worth it!
Isaiah 40:31 "but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
We had an awesome "Send-off" Mass at Our Lady of the Bayous in the first part of December. Family Missions Company allowed a break to all of the missionaries to visit family and friends over the holidays. Most everyone left Big Woods and soon the Alvarez clan was left with a few of the other "seasoned" missionaries. Odilio was feeling a strong call to return to Kansas but with little cash on hand it was going to be almost impossible--ok, it was totally impossible. We had enough gas money to get to maybe Shreveport and back (as long as there were a lot of downhills on the way back). Anyways, we decided to pray one night when the call seemed so strong and real. We said,"Lord, this is going to be totally up to you if you want us to go because we see no way for us to do it on our own. You must provide if this is Your will." We'll just sit back and wait.
Not long after our family prayer, Stacie got a call from back home. Her mom, Debbie, wanted to know what our plans were for Christmas. There was nothing really to say except that we were going to plan on a quiet and simple holiday meal together. Surprised that we hadn't made any travel plans, Debbie informed us about a good friend of hers that wanted to give to us. It wasn't an ornament or a fruitcake, but a gift card with enough money for gas to and from Kansas! No, way! Yes!!! We hadn't told any of our relatives about our urge to travel back home but we knew that it was all God. Amazing!
We ended up arriving in enough time to rest and go to the Midnight Latin Mass at St. Anthony's in Wichita. It was SO good to see our friends there again. We even had kept it a secret that we were in town for a few days because our girls wanted to surprise the Leybas (operation: success). We were so blessed with the many invites for lunch and dinner(special thanks to the Swans, Leybas, Reals, Hardys, Habashys, Hauges, and Canos) that we only had to cook once! Needless to say, our schedule was booked every day we were there. One of the sweetest blessings came from our good friends, the Swans, and their 9yr old daughter, Anne. She was so excited to give us our gift when we visited and made sure that was the first thing we did as we entered. Anne had carefully inserted $20 each into two beautifully hand-made cards--One for "Mr. Odilio" and the other for "Ms.Stacie". She offered up some of her Christmas money for our Mission- specifically to go toward our plane tickets :).
So, here we are again. We're back at Big Woods and just waiting. We are slowly trying to incorporate the mock schedule we have set for our life in mission. Please continue praying for us to be patient as we wait for the miracle that God is sending our way to be able to purchase our plane tickets to Manila. Waiting is hard but the glorious reward is worth it!
Isaiah 40:31 "but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint."
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| Samuel, Josh Leyba, Abe, Joseph Leyba |
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| Maddie, Claire and Anna Leyba, Meredith |
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| Fun with cousins- Kylie, Alli, and Justin Real |
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| Intake 2010's last Mission Formation together |
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