Howdy Y'all

Howdy!!!

It has been quite a while since I have written to my humble readers. What a busy year it has been! As many of you know, I have been a student at Texas A&M University this past year. I am proud to announce that I survived Freshmen engineering weed-out classes (maybe not the best GPA but God is faithful), and I am officially a declared Biological and Agricultural Engineering major with a emphasis in Environmental and Natural Resources and to top it all off a Spanish minor. What will I do with this one may ask? That has yet to be completely determined, but I have a slight idea. I would like to do work somewhere involving clean water sources both for drinking and agricultural purposes. They say 1 out of every 6 people does not have access to clean drinking water and According to the World Health Organization, diarrheal disease accounts...for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year. It was estimated that 88% of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and is mostly concentrated in children in developing countries (per the source of infinite human knowledge.. Wikipedia). So there seams to be a problem, and I have been thinking that maybe I will be able to use some of the things I have learned at TAMU to help others. We shall see were God leads me. Oh and I still want to serve the Orphaned child and I feel like these two can fit together somehow. I cannot help but be overwhelmed with the parallel between bringing clean drinking water and the water of eternal life Christ has to offer to people in need.

Speaking of orphans, this summer I am not able to go to Monterrey, Mexico to work alongside Back2Back Ministries due to a few things...

a.) school is expensive and Jesus told me to go to school and try to get out with as least debt as humanly possible. So I will be working 40 hours a week at H.E.B for now. Not the most stellar dream job but it pays the bills and has been a good company to work for the past 3 years.

b.) Summer SCHOOL.... Yeah I know lame. But I figured it be best to get a few classes out of the way. So this summer I am taking Engineering Physics 2 (HARD) and Biology (EASY). I am taking classes for eight hours a day on Mondays and Wednesday at the Rio Grande Campus of ACC which is right next to that forsaken place known as UT or TU. (This is purely a attempt at humor for my fellow Aggies. Therefor if you are one of my Longhorn family members or friends, do not get offended. I realize UT is a good school and great place to receive a decent education. But A&M is better... just saying.) Rio Grande Campus of ACC has to be the most ethnically and culturally diverse place I have ever been to in my entire life of 19 years and 26 days.

OKAY so back to the fact that I will not be able to go back to Back2Back back in Monterrey, Mexico where I would really like to go back to in order to get a chance to serve back2back with Back2back Ministries and be able to be back to serving the children and youth of Monterrey. Basically I just really want to go back. (the play on words was completely unintentional ;)) I really miss the people that mean so much to me there:both interns, staff, joven, and children alike. They are in my prayers and thoughts constantly. It has been hard to me to accept the fact that I will not be there this summer. And even harder for me to accept the fact that I will be in Austin this summer just doing the mundane tasks of work and study. But God has other plans then mine. God sees the bigger picture. And even the mundane things such as school and work and eating and sleeping can glorify God. So here I am Lord, use me this summer. I trust in the fact He has a plan for me this summer even if I may never see it. It has also been good to be able to see friends and family in Austin this summer and spend lots of time with them. This has truly been a blessing.

In order to survive this summer with a good attitude and heart, I am gonna need to pray and pray a lot. I have been very bad at prayer through the years. I prayed only when I felt like there was nothing else I could do and if I remembered to at dinner and bed time. But prayer is so essential to the Christian life. I once read on a billboard for a church, "Prayer is the simple acknowledgement of the existence of God". Prayer is just that, and so much more. Prayer is the humbling of yourself and in response the glorification of God. We need to be dependent on God and prayer brings about that dependence. We need to pray to survive. So pray with me this summer. I challenge you to spend a hour in prayer a day. Grab a friend or a family member if you need someone to pray with you. "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." You will surely not be disappointed. You surely will not be left the same. You surely will be transformed.

James 5:13-20

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

What a summer! It is hard to believe that over 10 weeks ago I missed my first flight to Monterrey and was frantically searching for a new one. This has been a great summer filled with many exciting adventures. I never thought it would be hotter in Austin then it was in Monterrey this summer. In total it rained 4 of the 8 weeks I was there. This remains very odd in comparison to last summer when it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day.

I let time slip away from me and realized that I have not finished my final blog entry for the summer. The past two weeks back in Texas have been filled with reuniting with loved ones, packing for school, and leaving again. I am now sitting in my room in my new house in College Station, Texas. I started work at my new store (H-E-B on Texas). Soon I will be leaving for a freshmen camp known as Impact. This camp is specifically designed to show students how they can be involved in reaching their campus at Texas A&M University.

It has been a somewhat smooth transition back into the real world here in Los Estados Unidos. For the first week, I was a little worked up and worried about losing sight of my purpose here in the states. When you wake up every morning with a specific routine of service, it is pretty easy to serve whole heartedly and keep the purpose of why your doing it intact. However, at home I do not have the luxury of a schedule telling me how I am going to serve God today. It requires a lot more discipline. However, I trust in the Lord, that he will provide me with opportunities to serve Him daily.

Another thing I have had to battle through involves serving others here at home. In a society filled with so much material possessions and wealth, it is very hard to see peoples true needs. Our spiritual and relational have nots are often masked by our material possessions. In Mexico it is very easy to see were peoples needs are because of the high level of poverty. Therefore, I can easily see that need and then make an effort to meet it. However, back home, if I never see the need, how am I ever going to meet it? This requires us to be vulnerable with others, opening up to them with the hope that they to will open up and share their burdens. Once those needs are exposed, we can meet those needs relationally and serve them. I have yet to make much of a effort towards this in my spheres of influence in Texas. However, I am trusting that with Christ I can have success in this at my new campus, work, and ministries at Texas A&M. These are the things that have battled through my head the past couple of weeks. Without Christ I can do nothing to impact others significantly. However, with Christ I can effect others and in return be effected. I am ready to join arms with Christ and take victory in this.

I would like to take time to thank each and every one of you who supported me through prayer this summer. I know that the days in which I felt like I could do no more, when I was run down to the bone, it was the prayers of the faithful that pulled me through. You have all been a inspiration to me in the spirit. If you would like to continue to pray for Monterrey and Back2back, here is a list prayer request to go out into the next year.

- That God would continue to bring about a spiritual renewing at the Children's Homes and poor communities which Back2back serves in

- That the staff would continue to pursue and follow the Holy Spirit daily

- That the people of Rio 3, who lost their homes and everything they owned to the flood, would find both spiritual and physical shelter and that Back2back would be intentional and effective in meeting those needs

- That the Mexican students who live on campus at Back2back would continue to fall more in love with Christ and be inspired to make a impact for Christ on their culture and community

As for me.....

-That God would continue to inspire me to reach my campus and that I would charge forward with bold persistence

-That I would not lose sight of the orphans cause and my purpose in Christ

- That if God so desires me to serve again next summer, that He would provide the money and recourses for me to do so

- That I would find opportunities and communities in College Station that would enable me to continue to practice and improve my Spanish.

I would also like to give a BIG shout out and thanks to all of those that supported me financially this Summer. I would not have been able to have had the experiences in Mexico that I had if it were not for your prayerful financial support. Many peoples lives were effected by Hurricane Alex and you enabled me to be their to be able to serve them in the aftermath. You enabled me to be able to grow a close relationship with Children and tell them that Jesus loves them when it feels like no one even knows who they are. You enabled me to build bonds of friendship with Mexican students in the hope of Christ would become real to them just as He is real to me. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. May God revolutionize your life for Him this school year.

Dios Te Bandiga

Andrew Dixon

God is Still God.

Sorry its been awhile since my last blog post. I have not been very intentional in making sure this gets done. Every time I make my way to start writing I get distracted and thrown off course. We have had a good couple of weeks of American groups coming down. The past two weeks have been filled with whole digging, dirt moving, cement pouring, and rebar bending fun.

I would like to take this time to share some statistics with you about the orphans in the world. These number have been running through my head the past few weeks and at some points overwhelming me.

--There are approximatively 148 million orphans in the world according to the World Health Organization

--Only 8 million of those 148 million orphans are in a institution (who knows how many of those institutions actually meet their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs)

--That means there are 140 million children roaming the streets, serving as slaves or prostitutes, fighting wars as child solders, and who knows what else

--There are about 250,000 child solders

-- 90% of orphan girls fall into black market prostitution

That is a BIG problem which needs a BIGGER solution. For someone, who has felt a call in their life towards the plight of the orphan, those numbers can look awfully daunting. I often get caught up in the numbers. I look at those statistics as they permeate them in my mind, and I quickly lose heart. I begin to let doubts and conjectures slip into my head. What can one person do for such a big problem? How can my life and work even make a chip off the block? The truth of the matter is I can do nothing to fix the problem. I can do nothing to provide a adequate and feasible solution. I can do nothing. I quickly let this problem and lack of my ability to fix it consume me and dishearten me. Whats going to happen? How is this OK? Who will love them? In all this thought process somehow I easily forget one simple thing. God is still God!

Thursday night I went to Casa Hogar Douglas to help entertain the kids while some others began the process of bathing them. If there is one children's home, that I have interacted with and connected to on a deeper level then any other it would be Douglass. We put on a movie to watch with the kids while the care givers began marching them in for a shower one by one. One little girl, named Fatima, has really stolen my heart. She ran up to me and jumped into my arms. Throughout the entire movie she was lounging in my lap as if I was her leather recliner. Occasionally she would grab me head, bring it down to hers, give me a kiss on the cheek, and proceed to tell me thank you for everything. I have experiences few actions of gratitude that have moved me more.

As I sat there with that precious child, who preceded to tell me every single thing about the movie we were watching, my frustrations, doubts, and anxieties towards the orphan's cause and my role in it began to melt away. For the first time in awhile, I began to realize and understand the idea of starting with one child at a time in the effort for the orphan's cause. Thats all I can do, and with Christ love that little effort, that one step, becomes something so much bigger and grander then I could ever of imagined. God loves these children. For some wild reason which I am not strong enough to understand, He wants to use me. He will move. I will do little. He will do a lot. God be glorified. The world be changed. I am more then okay with this. Use me! Send me! God is still God.

I challenge you to not lose hope in the Sovereignty of God when you see trials of many kind in and around your life. I challenge you to not let your trust fall when you see the pains in this world. May you have 'faith like potatoes'. You may not be able to see the potatoes as the soil, water, and sun do their work, but the potatoes are growing. You may not always be able to see God move in, around, and through you, but God is moving. Trust in God and rely on Him. God is still God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Roman 8:28

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything... But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind

James 1:2-4, 6

May your afflictions be eclipsed by His Glory.

Love,

Andrew Dixon

Back to the Normal

Just wanted to time to say thank you for all of your prayers during the storms, and to let you know that the rain has stopped. Things are beginning to dry out here, finally. We have spent the past week just repairing our property and serving the Rio areas. The groups came in today. It is good to get back to the normal schedule. The new interns for July are here. They have a great heart and serve to there fullest extent. I am very excited to get to know them and work with them these next three weeks. Tomorrow I head off to Rio 1. My prayer this week is that God uses me tomorrow and the rest of this week in a way He never has before. That He would stretch me and bring me to a new point. That I would work outside of my comfort zone for him. I have three weeks left here in Monterrey. I am really excited to see what God does in these last three weeks.

Continue to pray for..

flood recovery for the rio areas

the abandoned children of Monterrey.. for there hearts to continue to be healed'

God Bless,

Andrew Dixon

Hurrican Alex -- Monterrey Mexico

So if you are wondering were I have been for the past several days, I now have the chance to tell you. I have been fighting through a hurricane, getting sick because of one, and cleaning up after one. Hurricane Alex hit Monterrey, Mexico on Thursday July 1, 2010. By the time it hit Monterrey, Alex had actually been downgraded to a tropical storm. However, I have never seen a tropical storm bring so much rain in my entire life. Withing 36 hours Monterrey had received 40 inches of rain. This is not good at all for a city thats has the water retention of desert. Everything started to flood. The city lost one of its most major highways to the river. The downtown area has close to 20 ft. of rain in the streets. Almost all of the homes here on our campus have received some flood damage. The most catastrophic and depressing part of the storm was the people who lived in the poor Rio areas completely lost their homes and everything in them. There are about 20 estimated deaths so far. However, by the grace of God all of the Children's Homes were spared.

People searching for items to rebuild their homes with in the Rio 3. That river is normally dry.

The storm began on Wednesday....... We went out into the Rio areas and did what little prep work we could before the storm hit. After 4 hours of rain we had to make our way home, and within only 4 hours, we were driving through 4 feet of rain in some areas along the major highway.

The real storm began on Thursday. By late Thursday morning we were building trenches around campus trying to save the homes from the water. We were blowing holes through the walls surrounding our facility in order to relieve the water pressure building up on the other side and to let it escape out of our property.

These are some of the picture of the water runing through our property. It only got worst that night. Several of us stayed up all night long working on water control for the sake of the property and those staying in it. Several sink holes formed that night, some as deep as 5 feet.

Above are the picture of the two bridges that we have to cross in order to leave our property. We were at one point afraid the bridges would collapse and we would be stuck. There is about 5 feet of water rushing over the first one. Both of these are normally dry creek beds.

Above are two picture of the floods affect on the city. That river normally has little to no water in it. The road that was taken out is how we used to get to the airport. Now we have two go a roundabout way that takes an hour or longer.

For those of you that knew I was sick for a few days with a infection or something from the water, thank you for all your prayers for they have healed me.

We have so much to give thanks for done here even after this massive amounts of rain.

-- No drought this summer.

--The children's homes were spared by a miracle of God.

-- No lives lost among those that we serve.

--The people of Rio 3 were able to find physical and spiritual Shelter in the church.

--Several people in Rio 1 were spared and are now choosing to serve others in greater need.

--We have our health.

--We have our shelter.

--God is still sovereign and He is still the God of this city.

Please continue to pray for the people in the rio areas who have lost their homes. We have been running both clean water and food to those areas. Continue to pray for their safety, food, health, shelter, and clean water.

If you would like to donate to the flood relief through the ministry that I work with down here, you can do so by following the link.

http://www.back2backministries.org/index.php/internationalMinistry/story/96/international/

Oh hey its raining again....

Thank you for your continued prayers and Support,

Love,

Andrew Ryan Dixon

P.s. Here is a video showing some of the devastation in Monterrey..

It's pretty crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3rpPkIO1x4

p.s.s. Please pray.... Bonnie may be coming our way

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/gulf-of-mexico-faces-possible-tropical-storm-or-hurricane-named-bonnie/19541747?icid=main|welcome|dl1|link4|http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/gulf-of-mexico-faces-possible-tropical-storm-or-hurricane-named-bonnie/19541747&sms_ss=facebook

There Go the Little Things

Sorry, it has been awhile since I last wrote. It is because I have not had a day off since the last time a wrote a blog, almost two weeks, and I have been supper busy. I was even having trouble fitting in a quite time. It seamed that every time I tried to sit down with God to read, write, or pray, something would always come up and stand in the way. Satan was definitely trying to attack my schedule. He even broke to alarm clocks to prevent me to wake up early and do it like normal :). All that is fixed now. I found a new way to get myself up early and have time to get in the word. Please continue to pray that my time with God continues to stay very intentional while I am here cause without that so much falters.

The other reason I have not written in awhile is God has been pretty much teaching me the same thing for the past week, and it has taken me the past week to process it and actually figure out what He is trying to say. So it starts here with the little things. For the past week I God has been reviling to me 'the little things' and the importance of these. What does this mean? Well I will get to that or at least try to, but even I am not completely sure.

It all started with just short little voices or intentional understandings from the Holy Spirit.

The grander of Breath and Life.....

We are sitting in one of the Hope program houses (the homes where teens who grew up in the children's homes have a chance to pursue a high school and college education) celebrating one of the staff kids birthdays (Kinsey Couch). We gathered together, Mexicans and Americans alike, as one family celebrating the life God gave one individual. I have never been one to take a birthday as a big deal. However, this time the Spirit gave me a new meaning for birthdays. They are no longer chances to eat cake and play games. A birthday is a celebration of life and breath. Standing in the house I came to the realization that I to often over look the importance and the heaviness of the simple fact that I have both breath and life. It is often viewed by me and I know many others as a LITTLE THING. The Spirit spoke to me and said this is a little thing to you, take notice to the little things, meditate on the little things, understand the blessings of the little things.

The importance of shoes... zapatos.....

I was standing worshiping God last Monday night during a beautiful Monterrey summer sunset. I was perfectly comfortable in my lovely leather flip flops standing on sharp, hard rocks. I was completely unaware of the protection which my shoes gave me and the comfort they instilled on my feet. As the Spirit continued to lead me further and further into worship, He asked me or commanded me to take off my shoes. I, being a intellectual being immediately said, 'Why would I do that God? These Rocks are sharp which would cause some slight discomfort in my fleshy feet'. He quickly and directly responded, 'Just take of your shoes'. So reluctantly I took my shoes off and immediately God spoke. These shoes are a blessing. Millions of people in this world live their life without this blessing. The Spirit spoke to me and said this is a little thing to you, take notice to the little things, meditate on the little things, understand the blessings of the little things.

The fresh smell of a new clean shirt.....

So it was Wednesday and I was serving in Rio 1 again. It was the end of the day and we had some donations to give out. So we set a system for which the donations would be handed out in both an affective and fare method. Everyone would receive a brand new shirt which had been printed and brought down by one of the groups. Almost every time someone would come through the line to receive their new shirt, they would smother their senses with the scent of fresh vibrant linen as they held their face against the new shirt. God spoke to me and told me that I better like the smell of my clean shirts because they are a blessing. The Spirit spoke to me and said this is a little thing to you, take notice to the little things, meditate on the little things, understand the blessings of the little things.

As you can tell God continued to pound into my head the importance of the little things. He wants me to pay attention to them, ponder them, understand them, and know that they are blessings. It is so easy to get caught up in life and forget how blessed we are in so many different ways. My application for this was to walk through my day and find one common or little thing in my life and thank God for it and be aware of its existence as a blessing. It is unbelievable the things God has showed me that are blessings. I had never spent time to thank him for most of these things.

However, the most important thing that God was trying to teach about the little things was involving the works that he does in me. To often have I diminished the importance of God's early works in my life because I feel like He has so much greater things in store ahead. I think 'oh well the things that happened in high school were okay, but God is really going to move when I am in college' or 'college will be a good time to serve Him, but when I am graduated and have a job I can really make a difference in the world'. You get the point. To often I ignore or diminish the little works or the beginings that God does in my life.

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.... Zechariah 4:10

I often daily take God's daily works in my life and diminish them to minuscule things. As we can tell by the this verse in Zechariah it is these small things which bloom into grand God glorifying stories.

I challenge you to rejoice in the small works God does in you for it is from these small works that God brings about grand stories.

Thanks for your continued prayers.....

Andrew

Hunger.... What do you hunger for? --- Jesus Christ

Hello all!!!

I have not really had the most exciting and adventurous past few days. I worked on the campus here at B2B on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was staff development day and intern day out which was fun. Saturday was more work on campus and a pool party on campus for two of the children's homes we serve where I diligently stood above a grill and cooked 432 hamburgers with my intern friend Reed. It was just the routine. Did not really get a chance to hang out with a whole lot of kids. These past few days it was extremely challenging for me to keep a good attitude on my shoulders. However, with all that to say, I still experienced God this week.

The theme this year for Back2Back is hunger. I definitely came here hungry. I was hungry for a great summer. I was hungry for lots of Taco Fedeys. I was hungry for Vita's cooking. I was hungry for a good time with some cool kids. I was hungry for relationships. I was hungry for Mexico. I was hungry for the next fall. However, while some of these are righteous things, none of them where what I am supposed to be hungering after. The theme for Back2Back this summer does not have to do with hungering after our finite desires and wishes. What then shall we hunger after?

Hunger for.....

³² Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. ³³ The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”
³⁵ Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. ³⁷ However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. ³⁹ And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”John 6:32-40 (NLT)

So as I came here this past week, I experienced a not so immediate wake up call. I slowly realized that I am not hungering after the right things in life. I continued to hunger after other things more then Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus should be the very center of my every will and desire, but He was not. One's hunger for Christ should a exponentially increasing desire, but mine was not. Well its another part of the journey of my faith.

On top of all that, one of the devotionals this week talked about the importance of focusing on and hungering after Christ in our struggle against sin. So often we put more attention onto stopping the sin instead of focusing on Christ which remains pointless because we are powerless to have victory over it. We must focus on Christ. In order to have true victory over our sins we must have Christ. I have experienced this true victory. Through prayer my chains have been broken, and by faith I focus on Christ with a exponentially increasing desire as I follow the path He has for me walking away from my sinful past. By the grace of God, this is the life I have chosen. This is what I hunger for, never looking back.

Do you HUNGER FOR THE ONE WHO GIVE LIFE!?

As the weeks go by, I will need more prayers then ever.

Please pray for the following...

--energy

--growth in my Spanish... for God's supernatural power to come through and help me with my Spanish

--Peace among all interns and staff

--Growth together for the interns

--Opportunities to show the love of Christ to the children.

--the abandoned children of Monterrey, Mexico

Dios Te Bandiga!

Andrew Ryan Dixon