Body of Christ

I (Julie) love when God surprises me with an unexpected beautiful moment and He prompts me to slow down and savor the moment.  During the summer, we can get so busy with the logistics of having so many mission teams in a short period of time that we don’t get to see the normal programming that is happening each day.  We were purchasing all of the food we needed for the soccer week day camp and delivering it to the community center.  I was pretty focused on getting the supplies into the kitchen but as we walked past the palapa I saw Maria….standing up in front of 31 other mom’s reading a Bible.  The sight of her reading made me stop what I was doing because a year and a half ago she admitted to one of our tutors that she couldn’t read very well and wanted to sit in on her children’s tutor time so she could get better at reading.  I paused for a moment and then went back to work unloading the food from the van.  But God had more for me to see that day….more than just the tasks that I had planned.  Ximena, our Tres Reyes Program Manager, came to me to ask if I could help pass out Bibles to the women who have been coming to the weekly Bible Study.  The team from Ohio brought the Bibles down for us from the US office but I couldn’t remember how many we ordered or if we’d have enough for everyone.  While Ximena & I were moving the Bibles out to the palapa I was praying that we’d have enough for every woman.  We got a great discount on the Woman’s Devotional Bible in Spanish and Elizabeth who is the Psychologist, and also teaches the Mom’s Bible study, wanted to make sure each woman had her own Bible.  She was very excited about the devotionals that the women could read on their own within the Bible.  Elizabeth’s enthusiasm rubbed off on the women and they eagerly came to the front table to receive their own Bible.  The women hugged us and were so grateful.  They took the Bible and were clinging to it.  That visual picture will stay with me, and I remember thinking….this is why you brought me here today God…..for this moment.  For me to see how hungry the women are for the WORD of the LORD.   Every woman got a Bible that day all 32 of them.  We didn’t have any extra, but we had just enough! 

32 women with their new Women's Devotional Bibles

For me (Erick), it was a Saturday Bible class with the teens that stopped me in my tracks. When mission teams are here, they typically sit in and help with the Bible classes on Saturdays. And during this time, I usually move around from class to class to observe. On this particular Saturday, one of the teachers invited Julie and I to come to the first part of her class to see three of the teens play their recorders. It was cool to see their pride and confidence as they played and the other 12+ teens watched and listened. But that wasn’t the best part of the class. The lesson for the day was from 1 Corinthians 12:4-29 where Paul is telling of the importance of all parts of the body of Christ. Each member of the body has a unique and valuable role. The teens took turns reading various verses, and when one stumbled on a word, another would help him. I loved seeing that grace and kindness. When they finished reading the verses their assignment was to choose a part of the body, draw it, cut it out, and place it on the Cuerpo de Cristo (Body of Christ). Each teen took the next 15 minutes or so creating their own version of the eyes, the nose, the hands, the feet, the head, the arms, the legs, etc. These human body parts represented their part in the Body of Christ. As they completed their part, they each went up and taped it to the body. As you can see in the picture, their individual renderings of their significant part made for a very unique looking body. And that is the point. They are each unique. And together they each have an important function to play in the Cuerpo de Cristo. After everyone had taped up their part, they each went up and signed their name by their body part, creating a sense of ownership and responsibility for their specific part of this beautiful body. When I went up to sign my name by my part (the intestines), I was moved by the idea that 15 teenagers, Mexican and American, all shared the responsibility of creating this body. And each of them has a duty and privilege to use their unique gifts and talents for the glory of God and for the good of His Kingdom. On this day, we were literally His Hands, His Feet, His Eyes, His Legs, His Arms, and even His intestines. Tears were streaming down my face as I watched these teens, worshiped their Creator, and prayed for their futures.

Teen Bible class in Tres Reyes with mission team members from Ohio
The video below is one of the Mom's saying her Bible memory verse.