My Thanksgiving holiday was stuffed with people, food, and decking my
halls. Oh, how I love the decorations. Yes, I’m a saccarine sucker when
it comes to these things.
We got our Christmas tree–Hans is his name. He’s donned with blue lights and ornaments. But more on that later this week.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Maria.
Maria
received her masters at Dallas Theological Seminary and works in Dallas
at a ministry called Buckner Community Outreach. Born in Mexico, her
family moved to Chicago when she was a child. Years later, she ended up
at seminary. I’ll let her tell you the rest of the story.
Folks, if you’re in a rush, please, at least scan down to the question where she tells you about her favorite part of her job.

Maria, tell us a little bit about your ministry.

I
oversee a Buckner community outreach program in the Vickery Meadow
community of North Dallas. This community which has a 3 mile radius is
one of the most dense communities and has struggled with crime and
poverty. We have after school programs for children 6-18 and see about
85 children everyday. We support the children’s families by offering
their parents classes in ESL, computers, parenting, and marriage. I
personally see a lot of famiiles in crisis and help them access the
help and support they need. The children participate in lots of awesome
activities and are able to be exposed to much that they would normally
not be able to. We work closely with local churches and help them
engage in this community. Currently about 80-100 people from this
community are attending Park Cities Baptist Church. This church sends a
shuttle every Sunday.

What brought you to
Buckner specifically? Was there an "ah-ha" moment or was it a journey?
Were they any inadequacies/past experiences/obstacles that you had to
overcome to get there?

I
started working at Buckner my last year at DTS. I was looking for an
internship and at the same time was looking for a church to serve and
really plug into. It was very creative how God answered that prayer. My
job at Buckner served as my internship and I worked full time. God led
me here because of a need for an internship but now I see that this is
what God has called me to do. God led me to Park Cities Baptist Church
and I am a member there. My two worlds merged together. I have the
privilige of worshipping with the children and families I serve in
Vickery Meadow. I love seeing my kids in the halls of the church and
have seen some of them be baptized.

My biggest obstacles has
been in overcoming my insecurities, past hang-ups and prejudices and
needing to develop a different way of seeing myself. When I first came
to seminary I went to pursue a counseling degree. God led me in a
different direction and I never thought I could do what I am doing now.
I look at myself and wonder how I got here but at the same time can see
how God had been preparing me for my ministry all of my life. It all
makes sense to me now. My background is very similar to the children
that I serve and I have had to let God minister and heal me so that I
can offer the same hope and comfort to these kids. Yet, I can tell them
that God helped me to overcome all obstacles and he will do the same
for them. With God nothing is hopeless or impossible.

What is your favorite part or what you do?

I
love praying. I pray with the children when they are hurting and I see
God filling them with his presence and that changes them. I have seen
countless number of children with huge burdens on their shoulders and I
have seen God lift those burdens. I then see them light and free, the
way children should be.

I also pray for needs in the program or for families and God provides abundantly every time.

What do you feel is your biggest battle?

My
biggest battle I guess is pride. When things go well and God is at work
I want to take the credit and glory instead of Him. Then I think it is
me doing all the good and I stop depending on Him. Also, when things go
well you receive attention and praise and then my motive in what I do
is to receive more of it instead of serving Christ. In order to serve
others I have to continually be more like Christ and that means
sanctification. This process is often very painful and at timesI don’t
want to keep going. But the only way for God to continue to use me is
to continue to cleanse me. Ouch!

How can readers support this ministry if they feel led?

We
have many volunteer needs, especially people who want to tutor and
mentor kids. We have lots of awesome volunteers who share their talents
with the kids such as playing an instrument, sports, or knitting. By
doing this you might help a child discover and develop a talent that
they did not know they have. This changes their life. We need people to
invest in youth.

Maria, thanks for sharing
and for your time. Hearing about your ministry excites me. I have
recently taken up the habit of knitting and am working on scarves to
donate to a local ministry, but maybe it would be more fun to make the
scarves with them. What a great idea!

Heather is a missionary in Kenya along with her husband, Brian, and
their kids. They have been involved with church plants, setting up
church training, establishing primary schools and water wells, working
with an orphanage, and engaged with AIDS/HIV victims.
That’s a busy day.
I
asked Heather to share her struggle in her ministry. I’ve learned one
thing about missionaries: they’re everyday people with everyday
struggles and doubts who have chosen to follow God’s calling anyway.
Thankfully, Heather is willing to open up about her struggle and doubt.
I’ll let her say the rest…

Today
was our 7th anniversary in Africa. We arrived here, sight unseen, on
November 5th, 2000. I still remember landing and being certain that I
would surely die the second I stepped foot on African soil and breathed
African air.
I had seen CNN. I knew what Africa was like.

I
crammed my little 5 year old Jordan’s anti-malaria pill down his throat
as we taxied to the gate. He spit most of it back up which assured me
that he, too, would probably be dead before week’s end.

Um, I’m not exaggerating.

When
I say that I had EVERY fear in the world about coming here, well – - -
I can’t say it any more clearly than that. But even though I didn’t
want to come here nor would I choose to stay here should God give me
the green light to turn this work over to someone else and head back to
the States (um God???), I can definitely say that I have seen a side of
God here that I never expected to see. Not because I didn’t complain.
Nor whine. I did. I remember one person who used to support us (she was
actually our largest personal or church supporter at that time by far
since we came here on a shoe-string budget) who wrote to us after we
were here a year and said that I should stop whining because I wasn’t
making the name “missionary” look good. That person no longer supports
us here. But, thankfully, God does. Not that God likes for us to
complain – He doesn’t. He says not to do it. But God is patient,
forgiving and gracious with us and He takes our doubt and complaints
and during those, He teaches us contentment, peace, surrender,
discipline and diligence – but mostly He teaches us His faithfulness.
He teaches us His forgiveness. I still complain. I admit it. I wish I
didn’t. But I do. I still get scared silly. Illness scares me. Danger
(thugs, roads, Africa) scares me. The threat of disease scares me. Lots
of things scare me. Making a wrong decision scares me. Choosing to
partner with a wrong person scares me. But hopefully my fears and
complaints are less than when I first came 7 years ago. And they are
now coupled with a hopeful assurance that God will walk me through them
to teach me something and to make me stronger and more humble.

Thank you, Heather. I pray that God continues to work in and through you.
You can visit their family website or Heather’s blog (doesn’t she have a great name, folks?).
If you’re interested in the ministry she does with the orphanage, go to their website, Adopt-a-Legacy, and find out how you can help provide basic needs for a child and education.

One
more thing–in case you haven’t noticed, I’m horrible at titles. I can
sit down and write prose for hours and hours, but ask me to come up
with a couple words in a title and I’m paralyzed. If you have any
suggestions for an alternative to "Mentor Monday" I’d love to hear
them. Leave them in the comments. Thanks!