July 4th we went surfing! The beaches here in Mazatlan, Mexico are different from the east coast. Most of the beaches here are rocky with sea urchins nestled in the rocks. Sea urchins are golf ball sized creatures with one and half inch spikes coming out at all angles. If you step on one you will know immediately. Fortunately for us, there are a few beaches without these dangerous rocks and menacing sea urchins.
One of these beaches is called, “Los Pinos.” To get there, we drove 20 minutes by Auriga; which is a medium sized pickup truck with a seating area in the back that can fit about 8-10 people. We had a great time surfing and I even managed to stand up on the boards a few times, like the others, to ride a wave. Surfing looks easy but that’s just because the guys who do it are all experienced. It’s actually a great workout and requires a lot of speed and balance to actually get up on the board to ride a wave.
This is my good friend Juan who also went surfing.
We started back class Monday morning with our guest speaker for the week, Jeff Rodgers. Rodgers is actually the nephew of Loren Cunningham, who is the founder of YWAM. He was a fantastic speaker and brought up some amazing points that I will never forget. He is a media specialist and uses his gifts to make documentaries and movies about issues and struggles around the world. His documentaries are so effective that some countries such as Panama have changed their adoption policies as a result of his film. Rogers believes that his films glorify God and that God has given him these abilities as a way for him to bring justice and unity to people around the world. One thing that I loved about his topic, was that he encouraged us to accept the gifts that God has given us without shame. A lot of times, our culture tells us if we receive a gift that we owe the person who gave it to us. God wants to give to us our gifts for us to enjoy and use the those gifts to glorify Him more.
Rogers also listed out some steps to intercessory prayer that I found very interesting and biblical. He encouraged us that before we pray, to remember that we are not under condemnation. Therefore, we should let go of any feelings of shame or guilt. Romans 8:1 says Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. And Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free and to stand firm in that freedom. These verses are so encouraging to me because it reminds me to be free and understand who Christ is to me and the world.
We were also encouraged, that when we pray, to submit our imaginations of God so that we can have His thoughts and be free from distraction. I thought that was a very interesting concept. Rogers also had us do an exercise where we were still and quiet as he read out from a physician’s point of view what Jesus Christ endured for our sins. This was a bit overwhelming to think about the amount of pain and stress that Christ was under during this time, from that perspective. I am so thankful that a Christ endured this pain for me, because I know that I could not have done that. This changed the meaning of the words Jesus spoke at the end, “It is finished” for me and I now have a more in depth understanding of the authority in each of those words.
The weekend has been full of fun experiences. However, there have been a few in my class that have been feeling under the weather. I think most of the sickness has come from the change in climate. We only run the air conditioner at night when we sleep and it works very well. We go from extreme heat to cold temperatures which is not always good for your body. Also, the air conditioner filter had not been changed in a while. I noticed that when I went to change it but they don’t have extra filters here. So I cleaned what I could to at least get the clumps of dirt and dust out. I too have felt a little sick from all of this but I am feeling a bit better today.
Saturday I had my weekend work duties which entails helping serve and prepare breakfast lunch and dinner and cleaning the base. Although this is a huge task that takes all day, I enjoy it and even more than that I enjoyed helping to cook dinner for the first time. We ate tacos de biztec. Biztec just means beef cut in strips. Cooking with the team was a great time and I am sure that I will be doing that again soon. After dinner, around 21 of us went a played night soccer around 8:30pm. Even though I don’t have a lot of experience, I played stout defense and had a great time Hahaha.
This Sunday has been a relaxing Sunday. From eeating some Swiss bread that my fellow Swiss classmates prepared this morning to watching black panther at one of our leaders apartments. After I came back, I practiced some guitar because I am auditioning for the worship team on Tuesday. I am looking forward to this and hope I make it so that I will be able to practice and bring glory to God through music. I am about to eat dinner now and look forward to updating you all next week.
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