Hey everyone!
I haven't updated in a while now and I felt I needed to send out an update for mexico!
About a week ago I returned from 10 days of one of the most life changing experiences I have had yet.
I was given the opportunity back in September of 2014 to be apart of a pioneer team to go visit David Hogan and his ministry in Mexico. The ministry has not had a visiting team in about 15 years and has had 100% of the teams that had come leave before the trip was intended to be over.
When David Hogan came to speak at Harvest School 20, while I was on staff, he felt God tell him he needed what we had and we (Iris Ministries) needed what what he had. Thus began the journey of preparing a well seasoned team to visit him and his ministry.
It was a complete honor to be apart of such an incredible amazing team of leaders and world changers. I was totally humbled.
Now I want to be totally honest with you all about my thought process and how God so completely offended my mind to grab a part of my heart I hadn't been able access until now. That being said please do not jump to conclusions or judge where I was at as I tell the whole honest story.
When we arrived on the ranch, Rancho Liberdade, where the main base of the ministry is as well as David's home it all came as a bit of a shock. All the missionaries who live there (about 7 or 8 families with kids) came to greet us. Stoically they stood behind Hogan with their families as he gave us the welcoming and introductions. He then lead us upstairs where he gave us the more in depth plan and over prepared us for the possible dangers we could get into.
Excitement was stirring as they divided our team with theirs and sent us in groups of 4 with different families. My group, was put with an amazing couple called Isaac and Hannah and there 3 boys, Landen 10, Luke 7, and Jud who was 1. We packed our bags into Isaac's truck and headed for there home where we dropped our bags then quickly headed out again to have service at a small church about 2 hours away... We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into.
The reason it was all such a shock was because we didn't understand why it felt as if the women were all so oppressed by the "Macho Man" culture that seemed to be in full display. No jewlery, no make-up, only skirts and t-shirts at all times even in their homes. For a lot of us this felt like a stripping of our God given rights to show our individual personality. It seemed so wrong and we quickly let our minds be offended by the culture of men doing it all and women staying quiet, serving the men, and taking care of the kids. However, there was a greater work playing out that I had yet to see.
The day to day life of a missionary there is not what most people are looking for when they see the power Hogan and his family walk in. It is a revelation of true humility and sacrifice that the western world just has no grid for. They have gone weeks with no food or money as a family with young kids. They have buried their loved ones and best friends. They have sacrificed simplicity to the fullest amount and completely surrendered their ways for the culture they are ministering to.
The first 2 days I didn't know why I was there. I was confused and honestly ready to go home. I became prideful in my thinking, saying " maybe I am here for their sake to show the women how they shouldn't be treated the way they are." I began to talk to God and was quickly rebuked for my judgements. He told me " He paid for this trip and I was going to enjoy it no matter what." He asked me to stop judging what I thought was going on and just watch." It didn't take long for me to quickly repent. Over the next several days I watched how well they all loved and how well they all served. God began to show me where I was wrong. He told me "these women have learned real sacrifice and they walk in it everyday. By serving, submitting, and honoring not only the culture, but their husbands as well. They understand sacrifice and really dying to self."
From then on I sat back and listened, asked questions, and watched as they lived out daily life and allowed me to follow
along. I was humbled and in awe.
along. I was humbled and in awe.
They have over 600 churches they have helped plant within a 6 hour radius to Hogan's ranch and they try to visit each one at least once a month as a ministry. This means services almost every single day, and not necessarily near by.
One night in the mountains, as we are all sharing a meal before bed the pastor and another native are laughing about something and Isaac begins to translate for us. Isaac said the men were laughing out of joy at how blessed they are because they were remembering times, when they were young, when they had so little and used to eat handfuls of dirt just to fill their stomachs with something. He said the men were glorifying God for how well He takes care of all of us.
We all just sat in awe as if understanding something for the first time and amazed at these men and what an honor it was to sit in their midst.
As a team we got to be apart of a couple of conferences the ministry held with the native people. The first one was cold and freezing and we were fed pig head wrapped in a tortilla. Which we had to eat in order not to offend the natives... Yes after 15 years without eating any meat I had some form of pork, beef, or turkey almost every single day. But if that is all God asks me to do in life, eat some meat in order to love a people group... I'd say I've had it pretty easy. Of course other team members and missionaries helped when they could and the rest of the time God's grace kept the gag reflexes down so I was very blessed. 
The second conference was the most humbling of the two. Our team got to be apart of the integration of a church building in a city that 5 years ago didn't have single Christian inhabitant. David went there with another native pastor handed out two tracks to a couple of drunk guys and was stoned out of the city and 5 years later my team and I get to be apart of history. 
Not to long ago I posted a picture on facebook and Instagram of an older woman on her knees in the church building where the ceremony was being held. The caption read " I have often felt the tangible presence of God, but not so often have I felt the tangible power of God," or something like that. The real power of God was so strong in that building almost everyone one, over 200 natives, our team, and Hogan's team, was in tears of reverence, almost no one could stand properly, and people were worshiping God on such a deep level as if they were standing right in front of His throne!
It was so incredible and humbling.... To look at a man, that so many people revere, in tears at the magnitude of the power and greatness of our God. I have very few words that can even come close to the magnitude of unworthiness I felt to be in that place yet a holy sanctification that you could tangibly feel in the room. 
Those two days of the conference changed my life forever. If I had been stuck in my western mindset of how things should be done and had kept that judgment in my heart I believe I would have missed the very thing God sent me there to receive..... Day after day we heard their stories listened to David Hogan talk about what 40 years of ministry to one people group has brought. We got to plant a stake (the stakes from harvest school that are interceded for, for months and then planted all over the world on extended outreaches) in the ground of the churches and homes and tell a people group that their testimonies have impacted nations around the world. I got to see first hand how a man can raise up a family of believers who follow him into the darkest places.
It all came back to three things....
1.The amount of time he has spent in prayer.
2.Reading his bible.
3. Relentless obedience...
A real relationship with God is not something you want to mess with or be flippant about. It can change your life forever it can make you seem like the craziest person on earth, but it is worth it. We care to much about what other people think of us. When really the people who are the craziest and surrendered are the ones that are looked up to the most.
I can tell you real Love is not afraid to bleed.
Thank you all to everyone who has supported me and prayed for me... I would not be the woman I am today without you all... I am eternally grateful.
Love,
Rachael Michelle Singleton.
