Monday, August 17, 2009

Mi Casa Es Su Casa







My House Is Your House...

That is a saying that you will here time and time again here in Mexico. When people tell you that their house is your house, they truly mean it! Often when we meet a new family they will tell us where they live and that at their address is where our house is. The beauty of this common phrase is that when people say it they mean it. Life starts in the home, revolves around the home, and is the center of everything. While in the States it is not as common to open up your home to a stranger or even to your friends anytime of day or any day of the week, here it is different. Here you always welcome people into your home and you always offer them a snack, drink, or a meal when they are at your house. It doesn't matter if you have little to offer, you offer it. And people congregate, celebrate, and talk and talk in each other's houses.

Therefore, we realized that the best place to minister was in the home. Bible studies in our apartment, meals, fellowship, counseling sessions all of this can be done out of our home. As we've opened our home more and more, we've found a great joy in doing so. And if most of life takes place in one's home, why not teach people how to live in a home rather than in a church building? So far this model is working, and God is teaching us how go beyond what we are used to and open our hearts and home even wider. We've learned that our possessions are not ours, and neither is our apartment. Rather they are all God's and they are belong to others as well. Our house is your house!

A pastor friend in Kentucky told us that once a week he had dinner at his house and invited people to come and fellowship together. Another friend in the States used to have community dinners in his inner city house. After realizing the need for more fellowship, discussion, and a safe place to learn and grow, (not to mention that many would be blessed by a free meal once a week), we have decided to hold an open-house dinner weekly. We will start this in September and many from our home group have already expressed interest and a desire to help with the dinner. Please be in prayer as we share a meal with neighbors, friends, and whomever wants to come.


Some people here in Mexico who have done an incredible job of opening their homes are our neighbors. Since we moved here they've made us feel at home and have gone out of their way for us numerous times. Without them we honestly don't know how we would have made it through the year. Jennifer starting having breakfast with the women neighbors this year and they will continue to meet this year as well.

Pictures:

-At a Ranch with our neighbors, eating and getting to know each other better

-Some of the women of the apartment building getting together for a birthday

-Celebration of new church in the nearby city of Irapuato. Dafne and her daughter dance as part of the celebration. Afterwards we all shared a meal together. Our fellow missionary friends Dany and Carminda helped this church get off the ground this year and it is a wonderful Christian community that is based on meeting in homes.

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