Good News

I'm so excited to tell everyone my with recent news! Like I said before, I'm not going to be returning to YWAM just yet, so since then I've been persistent in asking the Lord what He has for me now and to open my eyes to new opportunities. Very soon after that, I received a call from the parents of two of my good friends informing me that they were taking a team to Haiti on a missions trip and were praying about who to take and decided to ask me. It literally couldn't have been better timing. Since then, everything has happened so fast and has been so smooth and I'll be going to Haiti March 22 through March 30! I know it's just a short missions trip but there is no doubt in my mind that God is going to rock my world and all those that are a part of my team. I feel so blessed to be a part of this and to be able to lay down myself for nine days and allow the Lord to do His work through us.

I feel very strongly that the Lord has given us the verse John 14:12, "I (Jesus) tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." I feel like God wants to see a mighty work done in Haiti, things that you don't normally see, the impossible to become a reality. All it takes is our faithfulness to Him and to His people and I believe we will see this come to pass.

What we will be doing:

1.  Build a roof on a school building (which needs to be completed before the upcoming rainy season) – the K-12 school has 1,500 students with only two small buildings 
2. Work to restore the security wall around the orphanage that was damaged during the January 2010 earthquake 
3. Help our team dentist with dental work on the Haitian children 
4. Host a basketball clinic and tournament to bring joy and hope to the children and young people of Haiti 
5. Host a seminar for schoolteachers, as they have little or no formal training 
6. Spend time loving and helping the children and staff at the orphanage

I don't know who is reading this, but I would like to be bold and ask you for your support in two ways, by prayer and by donation if possible. I don't want you to think that this is about me in any way, this is way above me and anything I can or will be doing, but completely about God and those people we will be ministering to. If you would like to support us in these ways, thank you for blessing us and being a part of what God is doing in Haiti. If you desire to support financially, you can make checks out to: 

Cherry Hills Community Church (or CHCC)
Write "DTW - Haiti" in the memo line of the check
And mail it to my home address:
Mary Jo Aguilera
9618 South Townsville Circle
Littleton, Colorado 80130

Thank you again for taking the time to read this! If you have any questions email me at mj-aguilera@hotmail.com

First Love

This is about to get real, people.

Like I said before, I'm going to take a step out of my comfort zone and be vulnerable, share personally what God is doing in my life and what I think He would want me to share with all of you. So I guess you should know that God has totally wrecked me recently. Some of you know, others don't, but I was planning on returning to YWAM (Youth With a Mission) this April to staff the PhotogenX DTS. That's kind of my dream; traveling (missions) and photography, so I was really looking forward to it. But it started to approach quite quickly and I still hadn't heard back from them as to whether I was accepted or not. So of course I started to stress and worry like I so love to do. When I get an idea in my mind, I'm very persistent and diligent in seeing it come to pass, so much so that I put a lot of pressure on myself and if it doesn't work out I feel like I've failed miserably.

I suppose you should all know now that one of my faults is perfectionism. If you suffer from this, its a terrible burden. I am my own worst and hardest critic. So like I said, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure this would happen, especially because I had already begun to tell people that I was going back and there was no way I would allow people to think of me as fickle and indecisive.  I finally came to a point where I simply couldn't handle the pressure any longer and I just cracked. And yet I'm so glad that I did. God started to reveal things to me as I began to open up. I realized that because I'm a perfectionist, I feel that I have to do something HUGE in order to benefit the Kingdom of God. I become so discontent in the mundane things of everyday life and instead of finding God in those days, I surpass them thinking something greater is to come. But here's the great thing about God, He loves to use the simple things to bring glory to Himself. God convicted me of thinking being here was 'beneath me' or not good enough. And even more so, God convicted me of being so entirely concerned with what I was doing in order to serve Him, that I looked past God Himself entirely. What a tragedy, that I could forget the very One who gives me purpose and gives me life! How selfish and prideful! But after revealing my wrong doings, He brought me back again to Himself, drawing me even nearer to Him. Because that is what it's about, never what I'm doing, in fact, it has NOTHING to do with me at all. It's all about God, it's all about relationship with Him, intimacy with Him. And again He reminded me that out of right relationship with Him, everything else will flow and "work together for good to those who love God, to them that are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
 

So needless to say, I'm not going to YWAM this time around, but that doesn't mean I'll never go back, there are always opportunities for that. I'm taking a step of faith and seeing what God has for me here and now, day to day. I trust Him and I know that He'll use me wherever I am in my life as long as I never forget my first love.

Again, if you have any inquiries, you can ask anonymously on my formspring.

Here I am

If you're reading this, I really appreciate it. I was a bit hesitant in starting this blog, but I feel compelled to do so even if I come off as a fool. The thing is, I have thoughts (crazy, I know). Sometimes these thoughts just can't be contained, yet there has never been an outlet other than my dear old journal. But what benefit does a journal have if left on a shelf for ages? It's not that I think that my thoughts are grand or superior, I just believe they're not for me to hoard.

In starting this blog, I hope that one person, just one, may gain a little wisdom, a little truth, a little life. That goes to say that this isn't just for believers, as most of you know I am. I want this to be an open forum for anyone to extract from my brain why I believe what I believe or where I stand on different subjects. This takes a lot of vulnerability on my part, and guess what? I hate being vulnerable. But more than my loathing of vulnerability, I believe it to be of upmost importance to be real and raw, especially being a believer. I enjoy writing, therefor I should write, its as simple as that. I believe the Lord gives us certain desires not to throw away or hide, but to bring to the world. Clearly I'm not the next C.S. Lewis, but if I'm not going to share my thoughts, who is? I believe the time has come to overcome our fears and insecurities and pursue the things that we desire, otherwise our world will be dull and bland. I think you'll be amazed at the life you will start to create in the world around you.

So with that said, if you've read to the end you're incredible. Also, I've started a formspring. If you don't know what that is, it's just a website where you can anonymously ask me questions. So please ask anything your little heart desires and I'll do my best to respond to those questions that you're just itching to ask.