anna baur

The past week has been crazy!  I have had so much fun hanging out with friends at things like the “Goonie Grill-Out,” when we grilled at Chad and Melissa’s along with our friends Oscar and Maria, and the Genesis Kayak trip, as well as our quadruple date, which included Mikey and me, Chad and Melissa, Bryce and Renee, and Tiffany and Brooks (the four oldest Baur siblings + significant others).  It has been so great!!!

Beyond all of that fun, God has also been revealing a lot of life-changing truths to me.  Those of you who keep up with my blog know that since returning from Mexico, God has really been doing a lot in my life.  As a result, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and some of it isn’t easy.  But the good news is, through all of the struggling and growing, God has shown me His strength.  I love the song “Everlasting God,” that says “strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.”  And I have been waiting on Him…to show me who He is, who I am, how I should look at the world and it’s problems, and He has given me strength to sustain me.  Today in church, Pastor Fred mentioned Ephesians 3:20, which tells us that God “is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”  He is the one who has the answers.  He is the one who loves beyond reason, beyond pain, and beyond circumstance.  He has not and will not abandon me or give up on me, or you.  His love never ends.  His strength bears all things.  His power moves mountains.  His light pierces darkness.  He is truly an awesome God, and I will wait on Him.  That doesn’t mean I will stop asking questions or needing His strength desperately.  But it does mean that when the world is breaking my heart, when the sickness and doubt and pain so prevalent in our lives seem to pervade everything, God will be my fortress, and I will try to look at that pain through His eyes, because He can bear it and He alone can heal it.

Yesterday was Mikey and my first anniversary!!!  It is so insane to think that a full year has gone by since we said “I Do,” but it has!  I feel like we just got married, and compared to the rest of our lives, we are still newly weds.  But it’s been A WHOLE YEAR! :) We’ve done so much, including traveling to Chicago and twice to Mexico.  We’ve gotten Oliver.  Mikey started working only at the church.  I got a job in a lab at school.  We’ve had so much fun and learned so much over the past year, and we wanted to do something fun to celebrate!  We have a trip to Atlanta planned for August, because that’s the best time with work and everything, but we still had to fill the actual day with good memories!  So we decided to take the day to relax and enjoy being together!

We got to sleep in because it was a Saturday.  It was lovely! Then we went to brunch at Cracker Barrel, which was delicious! And we got to play that funny little peg game, which Mikey beat me at by leaving only two when I always leave three.  (Even though he left SEVEN on one attempt!)  After brunch, we headed out to IOP, carting along the surf board Brian Jarvis lent us for the day.  We spent most of our time out in the water.  The weather was PERFECT, sunny and warm, but a little overcast so it wasn’t sweltering.  Mikey surfed for a while, but the waves were kind of small, perfect for learning.  So he reviewed the basics with me and taught ME how to surf! It was so much fun!!  He was a wonderful teacher, very patient and excited.  Whenever I did anything even a little bit right he pointed it out and gave me things to work on, but to be honest, once the wave actually came, I think I forgot everything!  But I caught a few waves and definitely learned a lot!  And one of the best parts was that Mikey pushed or pulled me on the board so that I didn’t have to paddle so much.  He said it was so I can get the hang of surfing before I work on paddling, but I think we should just always do it that way! :) haha  It was so great getting to share in something he loves so much, and we had a blast! After a few hours, we went home and chilled for a bit, worn out from the beach.  Then we went downtown to Rue de Jean for dinner, which was AMAZING!  They had the BEST potato truffle soup, and Mikey loved the shrimp pasta he got.  It was an amazing anniversary and a wonderful celebration of our year of marriage!

Yesterday, Mikey and I returned to the US from a 7 day mission trip in Oaxaca, Mexico.  The past seven days have wrecked my heart, opened my eyes, shifted my focus, and renewed my faith.  In short, the trip was life-changing!

We arrived in Mexico last Saturday, and after a two hour drive, we made it to a beautiful missions base in the town of Roca Blanca.  I almost felt guilty because going into the trip I expected to work really hard and rough it, not to get to stay in such a stunning place.  But there we were, on the verge of the week, and I found myself looking forward to what was to come but not expecting much.  Over the past year, my faith has been rocked by some drastic changes in my family, and I’d been trudging through, either ignoring or not realizing how my own faith, my own perspective was shifting.  I knew God was big, but I wasn’t really expecting big things.  God didn’t take long to change that.

In the first two days, we attended two church services, each at least three hours long, and one praise and worship service that lasted over two hours.  Our hearts were full of praise, and the joy and lack of self-consciousness of the Mexican people in these services changed my view of worship.  They were truly free, some standing, some sitting, some kneeling, some jumping or dancing in the aisles.  But all were praising God, transfixed by His beauty and love, adoring His hugeness and power.  Those services set up my heart for some major changes.

During the week, we did VBS’s for the children in the towns we visited, and we visited some local schools to share our dramas and testimonies.  We also did house visits, bringing food and offering our help with any chores the people may need done.  I learned how to wash dishes Mexican-style, with powder soap and cement basins.  We swept; we picked up trash; we played with children.  Almost every home we went to welcomed us warmly, offering us their only chairs, their food and water.  They smiled and listened patiently.  And many of them gave their hearts to Christ for the first time.  One of the most amazing visits was when our team went to the home of a man who was extremely sick.  He and his wife were elderly, and his wife told us he used to be a laborer but suddenly became very weak.  By the time of our visit, he could only lay in bed.  He was emaciated, basically skin hanging on bones, and he could barely speak. Our team spoke to him about God’s love and provision, about how He is bigger than sickness and death, and about how He will always be with him.  Danbi, our translator and the coordinator of our trip, told him that accepting Christ was the only way he could have life after death, and he prayed to receive Christ into his heart.  During the prayer, he and Danbi (and many of the rest of us) were crying or near tears.  The moment was so touching, to know that his sickness couldn’t fully take away his life or his hope!

Another family we visited consisted of a single mother and her three children.  The family was extremely poor, even by Mexican standards, having lost their home and most of their possessions to a fire.  They normally bought coconuts and resold them for some income, but lately they did not have enough money for even that.  They had little food and no shoes.  Mikey and I felt a special connection to this amazing family, and it broke our hearts to hear the mom speak of her desperation to care for her family and herself.  We were so blessed to be able to return the following day with some of the Toms shoes Genesis bought for us to distribute.  We only had shoes that would fit the mom and the oldest son, but she was so grateful for anything we could offer.  Mikey and I are hoping to return to Roca Blanca eventually and see how she and her children are doing.

Mikey and I each also got a chance to contribute towards what we feel God is calling and preparing us to do.  Mikey played guitar and sang a song in Spanish at one of the services, and he shared with the group that the opportunity reminded him of why he has such a love for spanish.  God was preparing him for that moment and more to come.  I also got to help in a medical clinic during our last day of ministry.  Maria and I were the “dream team of vitals,” taking weight, temperature, and blood pressure of everyone who visited the clinic.  It was an amazing opportunity to minister to the people in a way that really provided what they needed and showed them God’s love.

By the end of the week, I couldn’t deny the greatness of God.  He had so far surpassed my expectations for the trip that I was overwhelmed by His power and His truly personal love for each of His children.  This revelation has started a journey with Him that I hope will never slow down or end.  I’ve realized again how loving and good He is, that He will never leave or forsake me.  He has brought light into my life again and called me to shine with His brilliance.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of the light.” -Ephesians 5:8