OOPS!

Oops! I sent out our Christmas cards with a donation slip and of course I misspelled the website for donation purposes. The right website is www.lam.org. Please forgive my oversight!

We are listed under the donations tab at:

https://www.lam.org/donate/missionary.php?misid=761416

For all of our friends and family joining us on this journey thank you!

Here is an update on our giving...We have reached 10% of our total monthly giving goal!

Just a few untouched pics from the last couple of trips

Pics are on their way

Pictures are on there way. So many beautiful ones don't I know which ones to post. So many harrowing ones- I still don't know which ones to post. Rob was in Costa Rica to document the lives of the women and men working on the streets. I have been asked more than once what it feels like to have my husband walking the streets at night with prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers and addicts. I response was simple,"There is nothing to be seen there that hasn't been seen in the rooms of a recovery meeting."

Rob exchanged a cigarette for a picture. Played the guitar of a man dressed as woman trying to making ends meet. An unorthodox way of documenting the lives of the hurting but like I said earlier- if it makes you uncomfortable it is suppose to.

After reviewing the pictures with Rob I spent some time taking it all in and got to thinking- Who hasn't walked the streets with the hurting? You may not know it but you have. Every day, every chance meeting, every moment either spent in the present or worring about the past or future is an opportunity to either create an authentic moment with another one of God's children or to turn your face away.

How can you support us? Pray. Pray for the ability to stay present. For our protection. To leave behind yesterday and create new moments and opportunities today. To not carry the burden of others back into the safety of our home, our retreat, our resting place. The work awaits all of us but for the moment we want rest.

Dear Friends

How blessed I am. Rob has been in Costa Rica for the past 4 days. I have found rest in our quiet home. The subtle diffence between loneliness and solatude has been re-awakened. We all need solitude. Time for mediation, rest, long bubble baths and time with girlfriends. I was overwhelmed this afternoon as a dear friend called me in crisis. She is experiencing similar (yet not the same) challanges that Rob and I have faced in our marriage. To be able to speak confidently and authentically that God not only heals but fully restores broken friendships, marriages, child parent relationships, etc. brings me to tears. To know that a higher power is caring for us even when we don't deserve is humbling. I am filled with gratitude that today I can speak without shame of our struggles and may they bring hope to others.

I am anxiously awaiting to hear Rob's voice for the first time since last week. I can't wait. Give thanks for my time of solitute and his time in Costa Rica. More to come on his latest journey.

Mexico

I finally heard from Robby last night. It was the first time since he left for Mexico this past Monday. This was his first official LAM missions trip. Robby did it true to his own unique style. He decided that instead of staying with the missionaries in San Diego or just going down for a day to take pictures, he was going to stay for up to week with the men at the Rehab Center. It was important for us that Rob convey the spirit of the men through the pictures. He wanted to sleep, eat and worship with them to fully understand their lives and convey this via the pictures. Rob slept in the communal bunk area with the other men, shared in bible study at 5 am and ate frijoles for every meal. He watched as men detoxed without medication, doctors or therapists. Their only form of detox is watering down alcohol for a couple of days and giving it to the men who just enter to avoid detox related death. Rob dug ditches, poured cement and worked alongside the men. By the time he left they had renamed him, "Hermano"- brother in Spanish.

Many of them chose to share their story with Rob through their tattoo ridden bodies. Each tattoo had a story and represented a moment in their life. I am looking forward to seeing these pictures.

I was overwhelmed with praise yesterday as I heard Robby share how the Spirit was moving in this rehab center and in his own heart. How Christ was alive and well in the lives of the men. Rob shared his testimony on three separate occasions and felt the presence of God every moment of the day. Thank you to our friends and family for your prayers of protection.

The blessing for me was that I felt at peace the entire week knowing that Rob's life was in God's hand and he was doing His work. I rested even though apart from my partner.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog,"Authentic Mission". The purpose of this blog is to journal my personal experience as a wife, lover, best friend and greatest fan of my authentic partner in life, Robby. Robby's life has been authentically raw to say the least. He is a survivor of trauma, addiction and mental illness. His story is raw. If it makes you uncomfortable it is because it is meant to. We have no filters as it would take away from the miracles only our Higher Power, Jesus Christ, could accomplish in and through us. We are blessed with the pain and harrowing memories of the past as it calls Rob to share his story with others like him.

Our call today is to minister as part of Latin America Missions. Rob will be reaching a new generation through web, newsprint and photography. Our hope is that Rob will be able to convey the message of Christ and salvation via art and media.

This journey is not one we took lightly as it called us to abandon many of our worldly possessions and financial security. The risk was not so much in abandoning our past but remaining in it.

Join us in prayer we as we move forward in this exciting journey. Dear God, may no day be forgetful!