Newsletter - May 2012: Where are they now?

Dear Family, Friends and Partners in Ministry,

We are approaching our first anniversary back here in the US, so we wanted to catch you up on our lives. The house has become home, the once new streets and stores are now all familiar. Life has changed in some ways, but stays the same in others.

Mexico--We continue to minister and serve in Mexico through the Instituto Laurens, the Methodist-affiliated school where both Jon and Jeanne taught (see: El Intituto Laurens ). In April, Jon was asked to come to Monterrey to be a part of a Bilingual Science Teachers Training course. What does Jon know about science?? Ha,ha... Not enough...but his session with these young teachers was all about the practice of teaching, so he brought to them his passion for teaching and 'methods of pedagogy.' Also, science teachers at the college where Jon teaches here in McAllen donated over $3000 worth of books, CDs and DVDs to be given to the student teachers. More recently, Jon was invited to be one of four presenters at their XVI Annual Education Seminar--a gathering of student-teachers and bi-lingual teachers from over a dozen schools in the metro-Monterrey area. Jon's presentation was entitled, "Forming Critical Readers" and he was able to draw from experiences in Venezuela, Mexico and US as he shared with the 60+ educators.

McAllen--Jon has just completed his first year of teaching full-time with South Texas College. It was a wonderful year, and several deep, life-changing relationships were formed with students.

Jesse finished up her semester at Austin Community College with a 4.0 and will begin studies at Texas State University in the Fall as an English/Spanish double major...planning also to seek 8-12 certification for teaching. She is doing great…and is so excited about her upcoming changes. We are so happy, too, that she will spend the better part of the summer at home with us!

Megan finished her last year of high school as a dual-enrollment student at South Texas College. During the Spring semester she was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, received the Valley Scholars' award (a scholarship for future studies), and has been named to the President's Honor Roll for maintaining a 4.0 for two consecutive semesters. In the Fall, she will begin studies towards becoming an R.N. In addition to her academics, Megan is very involved in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship through campus ministries, and has served as a campus Bible-study leader and went to the Yucatan (Mexico) on a mission trip with 30+ students. She was one of the translators!

Andrew has adapted very well to life in the US, especially to school here. In the recent awards ceremony at his school (B.E.T.A.), he received an award for having the highest grade in his pre-A.P. Math class, and he was named to the Honor Roll. Just this week, he was elected to be Vice President for the rising sophomore class...so he is excelling in both academics and socialization!

Jeanne—last, but absolutely not least!--manages to keep all of us on our toes...and at the right places at the right time. She has devoted this first year in the US to setting up our home and to making sure the children got all they needed for the transition to American society. As the children get older and are home less and less, Jeanne has decided to enter the working world (outside the home!) once again, most probably in an educational setting. Please pray that the right doors open for her….

At this time, Jon is on 'voluntary leave of absence' from the NGC-UMC due to Discipline requirements for oversight--while Jon and the family remain in ministry, while we are with The Mission Society as ‘mission affiliates, we do not have a person or entity to whom we report directly or who oversees our work. Until we resolve that administrative issue, Jon has to remain on leave of absence.

And, that is ‘where’ the Herrins are! As Christians, we are light and salt wherever we find ourselves. As we straddle the border and as we straddle religious and secular places of life and service, we understand more than ever how important it is to allow our faith to guide our lives and to shine through our speech, our actions, our reactions—through all aspects of our lives.

With great thanksgiving for your prayers and gifts and concern….
Jon, Jeanne, Jesse, Megan and Andrew

See recent postings on these websites:
http://herrin-horizon.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-does-god-really-want.html http://herrinmission.blogspot.com/2012/05/airports-or-bus-stations.html

Airports or Bus Stations?

While I sit in el Central de Autobuses (the main bus station) in Monterrey, I realize just how different bus stations are from airports. Yes, they are both about transportation…even ‘international’ transportation. One is cool, modern, clean and predictable…and one is hot, aging, dirty and full of life!

When I arrive at the station to wait for the bus that would take me back to McAllen, Texas, on the border, I find a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant whose tables spill out into a large, open area where people are coming and going. A young man named José takes my order (enchiladas suizas and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, thank you)…and I sit back to watch the world go by.

A young lady passes—perhaps 18- or 19-years old—with her long, black hair carefully ‘fixed up’…her ‘nice’ jeans on…and a bouquet of flowers in hand…smile on her face. She walks hurriedly towards the arrival area. A mother passes…with six children in tow, all brightly scrubbed and neatly dressed in clothes that have been washed many, many times. One of the Federales (national police) walks by…and he catches my eye because I saw him the day before at another site in the city—he looks ‘hard’…pock-marked face, eyes that betray a distrust of everyone and everything, hand on his semi-automatic pistol. He walks purposefully through the crowds.

An old cowboy comes strolling through the masses…the real deal; not a pretend cowboy…because his boots are worn and dusty, his pants rumpled and stained, his leathery, cracked skin betrays years of outdoors…and in his hand he carefully cradles a small but beautiful cake—perhaps on his way to a grand-daughter’s birthday or first communion. Three businessmen in their business suits laugh loudly together, slapping each other the back…saying their good-byes as they head for different buses, headed back to their home cities. An indigenous woman passes by, and the look on her face is fierce, defiant…perhaps for all the insults and discriminations suffered in the streets day after day.

The older couple walking past, hand-in-hand, are tourists…Mexican tourists seeing their country by bus, perhaps visiting family in various cities; they walk as if there is not a care in the world. A man in his mid-40’s (looks like he’s 60 already) comes to me and asks for help getting home—he was living in Laredo, Texas, but the ‘migras’ caught him and deported him, and now he wants to go home to San Luis Potosi. I give him some money and wish God’s blessing on him as he journeys. A young lady—18? 20?—sits nearby; she is dressed in “la moda” (she is ‘in style’!)…has her make-up just so…carries a new ‘smart phone’…but the look on her face belies misery, emptiness, sadness.

After I eat, I move to the waiting area where rows of chair back up to and face each other. A man sits there across from me, maybe 34-years-old? He looks worried…his suitcase has a wheel broken off. His guitar case stands in front of him. In his lap, a boy—perhaps 4-years-old?—lies in a deep sleep, sweat running off his forehead. Over the scratchy intercom/sound system, I hear “Stranger in the Night,” instrumental, saxophone…so soothing, so amazingly out of place.

In the bus station I see “life”…life as it really is—the happy and the sad, the light and the heavy, the plenty and poverty, love and love-lost. The smells of the taco stands, the exhausts of the too many cars in a too big city hang in the air, and odors of bathed, perfumed and unbathed all mingle and merge in one place…and as I sit surrounded by this writhing sea of humanity, breathing the same air with them, I feel more alive than I have in a long, long time. Yes, give me a bus station, right here on tierra firme, anytime…over an airport.

El Central de Autobuses is become a microcosm of Monterrey, perhaps of Mexico. As I sit I realize that God has created and even now loves all of these people. And, I realize that many, all too many of this tapestry of people don’t even realize these two truths. I am reminded that we as God’s ambassadors must wade into the smelly, mixed-up, damaged, angry, hurt and wondering lives with Good News that can be an eternal ‘tipping point’ for these loved people.

I smile tentatively at the fellow with the child asleep in his arms and ask him how old his son is….

Jon, May 2012

Gratitude...

The morning sun rises to greet the new day.  Gentle winds blow in off the Gulf.  Birds sing, celebrating the new day and joy of life.  All of these work together on my mind and my soul to bring waves of peace and contentment washing over me.  I am so amazingly blessed in this life, yet I have neglected of late to give thanks, to say how grateful I am for all that God gives me.

Thank you, God, for my very life ~ that I may know and experience You and Your Creation;
for my wife ~ my very best friend who is always beside me;
for my children, who bring me so much joy and fill me with hope;
for our home ~ a place of love, laughter and escape;
for work that both allows me to live out my strengths and gifts and challenges me and grows me;
...and for all the other elements of life that You provide through love and livelihood ~ friends, neighbors, co-workers, a car, clothes, maple syrup, education, computers, coffee, cell phone, fans, running water, paper and pen...and every other thing that brings joy to life. 
May my first glimpse of the sun each day remind me to give thanks to You for all the blessings I have received.
Amen.

Newsletter - March 2012

 

Dear Family and Friends,

          Yes, it has certainly been too long since we’ve written.  Some of you may have already consigned us to your “Where are they now?” list.  Fair enough.  But, we are still HERE and life goes on.  And, now it’s time to catch you all up on our lives….

         Jon continues to teach at South Texas College—the job that God so graciously provided AFTER we had moved here and settled into life.  He has about 60 students in his various classes…and he so enjoys teaching them college writing.  Of course, he weaves in his own life experiences…and remains ever open to any conversations that students are willing to have (see the latest blog: http://herrinmission.blogspot.com/2012/03/marias-primer-paso.html). 

          Besides teaching at the college, ministry and service continues in Monterrey.  The John Wesley Seminary basically maintains an open invitation for whenever Jon can be with them, and the Methodist school/Teachers' College (El Instituto Laurens - LEB) is happy whenever we can both be with them.  Just recently, we received an invitation to spend a weekend at the teachers’ college to help train public, bilingual science teachers.  Now, we're not science teachers, but the director of the program wants us to talk about methods for teaching the English components of a science course.  Okay…we’ll give it a try!! Ha,ha…  Then, Jon was also asked to come a give a presentation at the 15^th Annual Education Seminar sponsored by our Methodist school in Monterrey.  This year, the seminar will take place on the campus of the huge public university—la Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León (UANL).

         Jeanne has continued to press on at the home-front making sure that this first year of transition goes well for all of us.  The home is set up now--for the most part--and we are all settling into our lives here.  Until Megan got her license in January, Jeanne was the principal taxi-driver.  Jeanne has been very active in the PSTO (parent, student, teacher organization) at Andrew’s school, and she has been scouring the internet for scholarship opportunities for our children as they attend or move towards college.  And, she manages to keep us so very well fed—not “fat and happy,” but “fed and happy.”  After this summer, Jeanne hopes to find either a full-time or a part-time job—please pray that God reveals the right kind of work and then opens the door for it all to happen!

         Jesse is in Austin, Texas, and will begin her junior year this Fall at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.  She is very excited about this move.  She will be taking a bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish with teacher certification in both areas!  The girl aims high...and she has every reason to!  And--selfishly--we are so happy that Jesse can come home every so often for a visit...to take a break from school and work.

         Megan is a dual-enrollment student this last year of high school, attending the college where Jon teaches.  She is doing very well in her studies as she takes her first steps towards the RN program.  In fact, she has done so well that she was inducted last week into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society!  Go, Megan!  Besides her studies, she is very active in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship…and even went with ICF on a mission trip to the Yucatan (Mexico) for Spring Break.

         Andrew is doing very well in his first year of American high school.  As of the writing of this letter, he has all A’s!  He is involved in the drama program at the school, and plays the drums in a little band some friends and he have put together.  Andrew is still adjusting to life here.  He still misses his friends in Monterrey, but he and his sister have been able to visit Monterrey by bus…so they get to see old friends every now and then.  Meanwhile, Andrew forms new friendships here…and he seems genuinely happy with life.

          Well, there you have it!  Life is good.  We are finding our way in this new world…and God remains both good and faithful.  We're going to close this letter with the closing paragraph of Jon’s report to the Annual Conference:

  “The first few months back in the US were a time of real soul-searching as I tried to figure out who I was and what I was to do.  I was patient and God is faithful:  for now, it seems that I am to be a local teacher (with amazing opportunities to share my life with the 97% Latino student population) and a missioner to Mexico.  This life and work does not fit the neat holes of conference forms...but when has God limited God's self to our forms?  I thank God for experiences past...and look forward to what God will have for me, for us--my wife and myself--in the days and years to come.”

Thank you all for your prayers and friendship through the years--we would love to hear from you when you get a chance.

May God’s Grace and Peace be yours!

Jon and Jeanne

     Jesse, Megan and Andrew

María’s ‘Primer Paso’

As I walked from my office at the college towards my classroom, the wind was blowing hard from the southeast as it always does here in the Rio Grande Valley. As fate and Murphy’s Law would have it, my classroom is about as far away from office as possible on our campus, so the walk doubles as exercise for me...and doubles again if I’m walking into the wind as I was this day. Usually I walk it alone, but this day was to be different.

As I left my office building, I saw Maria, a student in my class, walking across the parking lot ahead of me on her way to our classroom. I easily caught up to her with my long stride. As I joined her, I remarked about the amazing morning weather, the beauty of the sky and so forth. Then I asked her, “So, how is the semester going for you?”

She responded, “Well, it WAS going okay, but this week has been bad.”

She became quiet.

“Bad how?” I queried.

That was all she needed. Her uncle was supposed to be receiving his daughter (Maria’s cousin) home for the first time in over 20 years...but he had done “something really stupid” and now he was in jail somewhere in west Texas...and her cousin had come in yesterday from Minnesota...and her uncle is in jail and can’t even see his daughter...and the family is upset...and the cousin is upset—“It’s been a bad week.”

Maria poured out her heart over the seven minute walk to our classroom. This really surprised me since she is the quiet sort. She is usually in class, but doesn’t say much. She turns her work in, and she comes and goes, but we’ve never really said too much to each other...in spite of my attempts to draw her into classroom discussions and general chats about weather, weekends and what not. This day was different.

I listened earnestly, encouraged her as I could, and we finally arrived at the classroom. Maria seemed half attuned to the lecture and the following discussions...and I knew why. It didn’t matter—I was simply grateful that Maria had opened up to me, had shared something so personal from her life.

Class ended and out the door we went. Maria was the last to leave the classroom before me and seemed to walking a bit slowly, as if waiting for me. As I fell into step beside her, I again encouraged her about her family and told her that I hoped all would turn out well. A silence fell and I asked her what class she was headed for next.

“Anatomy and Physiology.”

“Oh,” I responded. “Are you going into nursing or something?”

“No, I’m going to be a dietician.”

Maria is not skinny. And, well...let’s just say that she’s a little short for her weight.

Now, I am no fool. There are some things a male just does not discuss with a female. There is no way that I was going anywhere near that sort of conversation! But, I was the fool after all because I wasn’t driving that conversation. Maria wanted to talk...and talk she did.

She began to tell me of her struggles with diets, how none of them have worked; she told me of her Mom and how she loves to cook ‘Mexican style’ with lots of tortillas and meat and oil and refried beans. She told me that her father has recently been diagnosed with diabetes...the adult onset type that came from his diet. She told me of how she has tried to exercise and how hard it is...and how she has stopped eating chocolate...how she wants to eat more fruit but her Mom doesn’t encourage her.

As a sane (and frightened!) man, I listened and nodded and encouraged her. We finally came to the library where she was going to study and I paused to allow her to go on in so that I could make my way to my office. But, she stopped and turned and talked, and talked, and talked another five minutes. Finally, she had to go and I had to go, so I offered my paltry, parting words of encouragement (“Persistence, Maria...you hang in there!”) and we went our separate ways....

We all have those times in our lives when we ask, “Is it worth it? Does my life really make a difference? Am I getting through at all?” We may go weeks, days—even months—with silence as the only response. I had been having those feelings as of late, wondering if anything in my life—my teaching, my attitude—was having an effect on anyone in my classes. And, then came Maria this day—a 19-year-old young lady who had no reason to share with me these intimate, private parts of her life, yet she obviously had seen something in me that gave her the confidence to open her life to me and invite me to have a glimpse into her painful and troubled world.

When I taught seminary in Mexico, I would tell my pastoral students that what Maria had done is called a ‘primer paso’...a sort of a ‘first step’ in the formation of something beyond the “hihowareya? relationship.” If someone will allow us access to this deeper part of their life, then perhaps they will one day bare their soul...and the emptiness of it. When that happens, we may have the chance to share with them what has filled our souls, what has changed and shaped our lives beyond measure.

I give thanks today for those ‘primer pasos,’ those first steps that others have taken in opening their lives to us. What an honor to be trusted with such a part of their lives. Now, I hope we may be ready to share with them—at just the right time—the Author of Life who fills us and gives our lives structure, meaning and purpose.

Salvation, Eternal Life: Simply Symptoms of Something Greater….

When we lived in Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, Mexico, we were blessed to have a large sports park about two blocks from our home. Most mornings, you would find me there early walking around that park—exercising and having my “quiet time.” On that hard packed dirt path each morning, I would walk super fast, almost to the point of running, doing what I could to maintain my physical health. What any on-looker would not see was that I was also working on my spiritual health--talking to the Lord, running by Him all that I had thought about, things I had read in the Scriptures, sermons I had heard from pastors, and things I had read in books. That time was so important as I made sense of the world, of my life and ministry, and I as strived to understand our God as best as I could.

On one morning, back in September 2009, I had been wrestling especially hard to reconcile some things that I was encountering in the church we attended with some passages of Scripture that “had hold of me and wouldn’t let go.” The church leaders were really talking up “salvation”…just really driving home salvation as the end-all in life. All of their preaching was centered on salvation…the discipleship groups were hammering salvation…everything was about salvation and going to heaven.

Now, I’m all in favor of salvation…and I like the idea of heaven. No problem there. But, what I had been struggling with was whether salvation should be the primary message of the Church. Should our first and foremost message be a message of salvation…or are salvation, heaven and eternal life all secondary, more symptomatic than primary?

These were the questions that were roiling in my mind. Personally, there was something that seemed a disconnect in pushing salvation, salvation, salvation. And, pushing salvation as the key to Heaven…seemed too much like selling “fire insurance.” So, what was the real problem? Where was the disconnect for me? What was missing in this message that was being preached and taught and talked about? Something was missing.

No. Someone was missing. Where was Jesus in all of this? As I walked those laps around the path, as had my little talk with Jesus, things began to become clear. I remembered that passage from John’s Gospel—“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (17:3 NIV). Eternal life, salvation and heaven are not something we can separate from the person of Jesus—in fact, they are “symptoms” of knowing Jesus! What that comes down to, what that means is that if we want salvation, if we want to “be in heaven” someday, we have got to want to know and to be in relationship with Jesus.

So, don’t tell me I need salvation…show me that I need Jesu—really need HIM. Don’t try to get me to buy “fire insurance” that will get me into Heaven; show me how knowing Him will begin an eternal friendship that will see me though my hardest times…even through the veil that separates this life from the next. Jesus Himself said it best—“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 22:13, NIV). If the Scriptures say He is first and foremost, perhaps we should, too.

Now, coming to this realization as I walked that September morn was not earth-shattering nor did it undo or negate all the theologies of the Christian Church. What this realization did for me was to help me begin to keep first things first. Do I want to know the gift of salvation that God offers humankind? Then, I have to get to know and spend my life knowing Jesus. Do I want to spend eternity with God in His Kingdom after this life? I better get to know Jesus—His words, His actions, His passion and His purpose…because the only way I’ll be with God forever is to live each day with Jesus on this side.

Knowing God in Jesus Christ IS salvation, IS eternal life, IS the key to God’s Kingdom. Let’s keep first things first….

Jon

What does God REALLY want?!?

When my wife laid out the question in the middle of our lunch-time discussion last week, I knew that it grew out of our own frustrations…and gave voice to the frustrations and earnest desires of many, many more.  When we sit in church and hear the preacher…then we listen to various and sometimes competing messages of contemporary Christian music on the radio…and we sit with our Bibles in hand, and still we come away asking that very question—”Okay, so what does God REALLY want from me?  What does He REALLY expect of me??”
The question—at least in our conversation—was centered on what the Christian life should look like.  What should our lives look like on a day-to-day basis??  How does God expect us to live?? 
All too often, we seem to receive these convoluted, complex designs for Christian life.  Some of the recipes for faithful Christian living call the ‘faithful’ to a life of incessant religious work—at the church every time the doors open, mission trips every chance possible, or whatever pet project the church leadership wants to push.  Still other plans call for seemingly unending self-reflection and self-examination—an exhausting way of life that calls every act or thought in question as believers strive to live perfect lives…according their understanding of the Scriptures.  These plans and others that are set forward—intentionally or not—tend to be complex, exhausting, frustrating…or all of the above.
Is this what God REALLY expects of us??  Does God really want us to come to the end of the day frustrated and exhausted??  Hmmmm.  My reading of the Scriptures says otherwise.  As I read, I see those delicious words of Jesus, as refreshing as a mountain stream on a hot day:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt.11:28 NIV).  I like the way the Message puts it: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest….”
As Jeanne and I talked about what God really wants from us, really expects of us, another passage came to mind that allows us to recover some of the balance we need in life.  The Old Testament prophet, Micah, lived in a time when people were following all kinds of ideas about how to please God, when people were wearing themselves out to make things right between themselves and God.  The prophet proclaims these consoling words:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  (Micah 6:8 NRSV)
There we have it!  Do what is right, fair, just…love kindness—be a people of mercy and grace…and walk (not run, not park), day by day, step-by-step, with God.  That’s it.  We each get to fill in the blanks for ourselves.  For some, that doing of justice may mean taking to the streets in protest…or it may mean simply doing the right thing by family members and neighbors.  Being a people of kindness, of mercy and grace, probably means everywhere, all the time, with everyone (family included!).  And walking with God…well, it reveals that our relationship with God is a journey—we haven’t arrived yet.  And, it’s not a race—we don’t have to run ourselves ragged.  We can relax and enjoy the sights, sounds and experiences around about us as we walk forward into the future with God.

The longer I live this life, the longer I live the faith, the more I’m convinced that God wants us—no, EXPECTS us—to live life to the full, to enjoy this life…and to help others to do the same.  That full and truly enjoyable life begins when we decide to walk with Jesus.