Journals
Posted on October 7, 2021 El Roi – The God Who Sees Me
Jae Stockton
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Dear Beloved Friends and Ministry Partners,

Greetings in the name of our sweet Lord, Jesus from the beautiful country of Mexico!

Praising God for His goodness and faithfulness!  It has been an interesting few weeks full of mixed emotions and sentiments; and praising God in the midst of those emotions and sentiments.  They’re emotions of thanksgiving, joy, feeling happy, sad, overwhelmed, pain, frustrations, grieving.  I am praising God in the midst of all because I know He is walking with me through this journey, and He is deepening my walk with Him.

 Update:

I just finished the first level of Spanish Language School.  Honestly, I feel like I’m not ready for the next level.  I find that learning another language is not so easy.  I was overwhelmed.  As I chat with Adalia, my area director, I was sharing with her how I feel and what I’m experiencing with school; I know that she knows very well what I’m experiencing right now.  She said, “Jae, you’re doing what I’m expecting you to do.  You’re doing great!”  At first, I was confused.  How could I be doing great if I’m overwhelmed and felt like I wasn’t getting it?  And as she explained it more to me that being here in Mexico is more than just learning the Spanish Language, but being with God’s people, the Mexican people that I will be serving alongside with and with those who needed to hear the Gospel and being immerse into their culture.  In the midst of our conversation, Adalia also said to me, “You have learned so much already and I am not even talking about how much Spanish you have learned, but about yourself.”  Adalia was right.  It is more than just learning the language.  I believe that it is also finding the heart of God through His beloved people. 

Sunday Worship in San Martin, Oaxaca, Mexico

I miss my family so much.  I miss home!  And, of course, I miss my doggy Dori, but there is nowhere else I wanted to be right now, but here.  Being here is an answered prayer.  I praise God that He has fulfilled His calling in my life.  Living here in Mexico feels like being in my birth country, in the Philippines.  Beautiful and the climate is very much the same.  Hot and humid!  The Mexican people are very warm, kind, loving, and compassionate like the Filipinos.  I’m still in the stage where I struggle to convey what I wanted to say, but I find the people very patient trying to understand me and very helpful to get me to express what I wanted to say.  A lot of times, I get so embarrassed and frustrated when I think I know the word and couldn’t complete my sentence in Spanish, or I would say it incorrectly.  It’s a very humbling experienced.  However, I can tell that the people I’m encountering with are happy and appreciative that I am eager to learn their language.  Through this experiences, being here alone as a single woman and couldn’t speak the language in a foreign land, I believe that God is deepening my walk with Him.  God is teaching me His ways.  He is teaching me patience, courage, and humility.  Gently, He is stripping me off of the things that is not of Him.  He is still shaping me, refining me to what He wants me to be.  

       Joy in the Little Things

In my quiet times, I cry out to Him.  I feel that I am struggling and overwhelmed, but I serve a very loving God that in the midst of all, He brings joy in my heart in my daily walk with Him; from learning the language, cooking a favorite meal, seeing those chickens with their chicks, goats, donkey, turtle, dogs, and cats everywhere on the streets brings me joy; being on the beach relaxing and cooling off from the scourging heat and humidity in the river with school mates, meeting new friends and building new relationships.   Though most of the time the internet is so slow, I continue to praise God for this limited communication, I’m still able to talk with my family, my IM (International Ministries) family, my MPT (Mission Partnership Team), and a few friends back home brings joy to my heart.  I praise God for my host family, they treat me like family; and took care of me when I got sick.  In the midst of all there are so much to be grateful and thankful for. The little things and big things.  The important ones and not so important.

                                I am Blessed!

 

 

 

In the midst of all, through the Name El Roi, we discover that in our lowest moments, someone sees us.  God sees my struggles.  He hears my cry.  In Geneses 16:13, after the Lord sent an angel to encourage Hagar, we find these words: “Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, Who had spoken to her.  She said, ‘You are the God who sees me.’  She also said, ‘Have I truly seen the One who sees me?’”  We are never alone because we serve a God who sees us in the little things and big things, and in the important ones and not so important things in our lives.  We can rest knowing God is never unaware of what we are going through.  I see God everywhere!  I praise Him for sending me here and for all these experiences.  I praise Him for refining me and for preparing me for a much bigger things in the future.  It’s always my prayer that through these experiences that I would glorify God.  That through me, Jesus will be known.  That I would have the boldness to share the Gospel and to love and have compassion to His beloved people.  And I know He is faithful to hear the desires of my heart.  He sees me… and YOU.  He sees us!

I praise God for you!  I am so ever grateful for your partnership in the ministry and with your prayers.  Your prayers and sacrificial financial gift is what’s sustaining me here in the mission field.  Thank you!  I am just in the beginning of this journey, and I pray that you will stay with me.  Through you, God has fulfilled His calling in my life.  We are just starting!  There is much more with God’s plan.  It’s always my prayer that God will bless you, provide your every need and to heal you physically.  May God bless you abundantly and may He hear your prayers.  Thank you for your prayers and for partnering with me in the ministry.

Your prayers are bringing God’s goodness on this wonderful adventure.  Thank you!  Please continue praying for me and my ministry as I pray for you.

  • Please pray for the MTS (Masters in Theological Studies) Program’s professors and students.

  • Please pray for Mexico and our ministry partners.

  • Please pray for IM staff and Missionaries.

  • Please pray for my parents for physical healing and protections.

  • Please pray for my MPT (Ministry Partnership Team).

  • Please pray for my study and health.  Also, that I may minister and bring blessings to the school community and my neighbors.

  • Despite of the very limited internet reception, still praising God for the capability to communicate with family and friends back home.

  • Praising God for the privilege to serve Him and His faithfulness in my life.

  • Praising God for His provisions and protections.

  • Praising God for your partnership in the Gospel and for believing in God’s calling in my life.

If you have any questions or just simply wanted to say “hello” please feel free to email me or you can message me on Facebook Messenger.  I would love to hear from you.  A few people were asking for my mailing address.  The mailing system here in Mexico is not so reliable.  According to some students, it takes two to three months before they get their mail from family and friends in the US.  They said that Amazon is much faster with sending packages!  LOL.

May God bless you and keep you.  Thank you for journeying with me!

Yours in Christ,

 

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