Update

I thought it would be good to give you a little update on what's going on here in Mexico!

Things have been super busy the last few weeks, and it's only getting crazier from here!

In the prison we have been crocheting scarves with the girls to give to homeless people for Christmas in  a place we call Zona Norte. It's a very very bad area and there are a lot of prostitutes and homeless people. We have a few different ministries that work in the area to bring the kingdom and dad's light into the darkness there. So Chrissy, the girl I run prison ministry with and I have been crocheting Christmas scarves for the homeless people in the park! Here is a picture of the second one I finished:

It's been really amazing to just sit with the girls and get to know them while we crochet together. One of the girls named Lily, has really begun to open up to me. She told me her story and has shared her life with me. She is so precious and that bond is growing deep.



Last week I was given the opportunity to be a part of a team that fed over 500 people in that same part of town called Zona Norte. We made Thanksgiving dinner for them and had face painting, live music, and games with the children. It was an amazing day! Here are some pics from that:

We built four houses this last weekend, it was an amazing time! I loved being able to be a part of serving the teams that came from all over the states to participate! 

This next month is going to be crazy busy! I leave in two days for a week long mobile team. We are going to drive down Mexico and visit some churches. This is the highlight of this year for me. 

I love being led by the Holy Spirit, and this is what this week is going to be all about. 

We are driving around and just letting God lead us as we talk to many young people about the kingdom of God, and inviting them to join us for DTS schools and to be a part of the ministries that we are doing here. I can't wait to get back and tell you guys the amazing stories that happened!

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, it was amazing this last week as the team was here for building houses. My friend Pepe and I put on a little worship service for them one night after they got back from the build, and half of the people that came weren't Christians. We didn't hold back though, we entered a very Holy Spirit led worship time, and simply worshiped our daddy uninhabited. The holy spirit's presence came in the room so powerfully, the few people that weren't believers began to weep as they felt their spirit's being touched by God. It was so powerful and exciting to see people who do not know their creator, experience him so powerfully. God is alive my friends, and very much wanting to show his face to this broken world. That is what this next week of mobile team is going to look like. We are going to unleash papa's love and spirit to all we meet. I am so excited!

I love all of you guys and thank you so much for your support and prayer. Stay tuned for some awesome stories!

The human point of view

This morning I woke up, checked my facebook just like I do every morning before I leave the comfort of my warm bed, to this message from my favourite person in the world:

Mark 8:33

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

This verse stuck out to me this morning, because Peter is upset with Jesus for saying he will die and stuff, and Jesus rebukes him. Isn't that so true how we can get worked up over our view of things without understanding God's purpose behind it.

I think that's where the trust comes in. Where we can simply say, Ok, God... you know what you're doing.

I ponder that for a moment, and smile... "Yeah, that's so true" I think to myself, and then I hop out of bed to start my day.

I begin to rush to get ready, because I have to leave in 20 minutes to get to the American Consulate appt that I've waited almost two weeks for, to replace my stolen passport. I print out two different types of directions to ensure that I don't get lost, even though I think that is not necessary since I have passed by this consulate five times since living here.

I leave thirty minutes earlier than I need to (you know, just in case) and start my car ride with a prayer: 

"Daddy, please just help me get to the consulate without any trouble. Keep me accident free, help everything go smoothly, help me find the consulate. Love you, amen"

I'm nearly to my destination when I suddenly realize that I think I may have taken a wrong turn... But no... I've been here so many times! How could I have missed it? I start backtracking...The time starts getting away from me... ten minutes till my appointment. Oh no... where did I go wrong?  The more I try to correct the wrong turn, the more lost I get. I now have no idea where I am. an hour goes by... And I know that it is unlikely that I will be able to even get into the consulate now, as it is by appt only. 

I start to cry... And pray: "God... why is this happening? We've driven past this so many times. I need you to help me get un-lost and find this place. They close in thirty minutes, maybe they'll take pity on me!  Holy spirit I just ask that you would guide me. Show me where to turn. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where it can't just be stories or theories, I need your spirit to guide me!"

Then suddenly I feel an urge to go down a small street that looks like a dead end (as so many streets in Mexico do) and it leads to the main road leading in the direction I am supposed to be going in! "THANK YOU JESUS, keep guiding me! Help me get there!" I'm super excited at this point, until I feel him telling me to go down this other street and after I turn on it I realize I have just driven into the Otay border line to go back to the United States. If you have ever lived in Mexico, or traveled back and forth, you know that once you make a wrong turn like that, you are stuck. There are huge cylinder blocks that barricade you from going anywhere but forward. There are several cars already lined up behind me. Whether I like it or not, I am going to the states.

I start tearing up, and I call my mom. "mom, can you get online and check to see if there are any passport agencies on the other side of this border. I doubt they will let me do it there, cause the passport was stolen here in Mexico, and online they said I have to go to the consulate here. But I should at least try now that I am going there anyway, and cause I won't be able to get an appt at the consulate for another couple weeks."

She checks and gives me a number to call. So I call this agency and a woman picks up "hello, I'm hoping that you guys might take walk ins?" she is obviously annoyed at me and says "No, we are appt only, all passport agencies are. We won't have anything until the end of next week" 

I start to pray:

"God? What happened? I prayed before I left for protection and favor... why did EVERYTHING go wrong? What am I missing here?  Why didn't my prayer work? No, I choose to believe that you care about me, that you didn't just abandon me. That you really are alive and able to guide me and help me in these small things. I don't understand this, I don't. But I trust you. I'll just get some in n out when I get to the states, and make the best of sitting in this border line for the next hour."

I get across and start driving to find an in n out, when I see a postal annex and get an urge to go ask if they do passports. (strange... I know) But, I go inside and walk up to the guy behind the counter. "This might seem like a strange question, but do you guys do passport services?" he laughs at me and says "no... we don't." I tried not to show my disappointment as I turn away to leave, when he says "I just went to get my passport done at this place downtown yesterday. They do it in three days" my eyes widen "Do they take walk ins?" He frowns, "I don't think so... but you could try. Let me print out the directions for you" So he prints them out, and writes some notes on the front page, including that it is on the 10th floor of the building. 

So I figure, I have to try. I get there and go to the 10th floor, and am stopped by the guard, who asks if I have an appt. "No, I don't..." he looked at me and said, "do you have all your documents and your passport photos?" I say "well, I have everything but the photos" he smiles at me and says "walk two blocks north to the UPS office and get them taken, come back, and I'll get you in"

I do it, the process goes smoothly and they didn't even give me trouble that it was stolen in Mexico and that I'm technically supposed to get this taken care of at the consulate in Tijuana. The man behind the counter informs me that I can pick up my passport on Friday at three, and to have a wonderful week. 

So what I would have originally had to wait three weeks for, I will now have in three days. 

But wait, my story gets better. 

So I drive to go to the in n out by our San Diego office, and pass by the line which is all the way out to the street... I decide it's way too long of a wait, and that I'd rather first go check my mail at the office before leaving back to Mexico. I get to the office and a staff girl from our base an hour south of where I live is there waiting. Her day didn't turn out quite like she planned, as her friend from Washington is at her base in Mexico while she is stuck at the San Diego base without a way back until the end of the night. To add to the injury, she is hungry and craving (drum roll please) IN N OUT.

I smile to myself, and say "guess where I was just about to go?" She squealed in excitement, and even more so when she realizes that I can take her back right after in n out, so that she can hang out with her friend that came all that way to see her. 

Maybe God's plans were even bigger than me and my passport! ;)

I amazed to see how he connected every detail in this day, how nothing worked out according to my plan, yet it turned out better than I could have planned. 

Our human point of view, our plans, our way... It is not always his way or the best way. Trust becomes more and more vital in my life. Living out what I read, what I hear, and what I myself have taught is becoming more and more frequent. 

I asked him to take my world apart, and day by day he does that. And takes scales off of my eyes so that I can see his hand clearer. Little by little my trust is more deeply rooted than it was the day before. 

The more I learn to trust him, the thicker the fog roles in which takes me to new levels of child-like faith. The more tragedy and pain I experience, the more I see his gentle and loving hand extend toward me. The more I choose to believe even in situations that seem like he has abandoned me, the more he delights in showing me that his way was the better way.

I look back now, on my life, and see where every turn I have made, when I have asked him, he has guided me. And every wrong turn that I have made, he has been faithful to guide me back to a path that is even better than before. 

My pappa is always there, and I'm learning to see him.

Imitating Christ

We all love the image that Christ portrayed... The love and self-sacrifice that he displayed for all to see. We love it, but do we honestly really want to imitate it?

If we really think about the words our precious Jesus said, do we really want to follow them?
He called us to die to ourselves... The most unnatural thing a human could do. Purposely put others before yourself, and love even those who persecute you.

I have taken a good hard look at myself the last few days as the Holy spirit has been stirring this question up in my heart. Do you really want to look like me, Charissa? Do you really want to live your life the way that I lived mine?

In the depths of my heart I know that is my longing... To pour out my life and honor my father. But it's the day to day dying that catches us all off guard, and that we often fail to look like our lover in.

Respecting someone who is treating us wrongly, serving someone even when we are tired, thinking of others before ourselves... They can be unnatural thought patters, but we are called and beckoned by our saviour to make them natural thought patterns. For it to become our unconscious response to what the world hands to us...


As I look at myself I see that I am not living like my Jesus in everything... I have so much need for growth in my every day dying to myself, and living like my Jesus.

We are in a race, and I want to finish well... We do not know how long we have on this earth, and this earth is not where I glory is, but there in heaven with him.


I want to commit to this race, to the dying... That every day the world and those around me would see Jesus in me. Those who love me and those who hate me alike, would see him in every action I take, in every word that I speak... That I would take the initiative to serve, to be a bondservant to my master... To be my fathers daughter, and look like him in love.


He came to show us the model of what love looks like, and he is love, and we are made in his image! We are his children, and as his children we get to look as much like him as we allow him to do in us. I want to be my fathers daughter, and to be my savior's bride... And give not just my life, but my comfort, my time, my energy to show every person that comes in contact with me the love of Christ.


Go hard or go home.