Safety. Every parent worries about providing a safe environment for their kids, right? Yet we are taking our kids into a country where drug cartels and child traffickers run rampant! What must we be thinking!?!?!
Honestly, we aren't worried about safety. Don't get me wrong, we are aware of the risks and will be vigilant to take extra care when we are in Mexico, but not every single town in Mexico is bad. One of the bad things about the internet is that news travels almost instantly across the world. But usually it is the bad news that is considered more "newsworthy", so that is all we predominantly hear.
There is a map on the Travel.State.Gov website that color codes areas of other countries according to how safe/dangerous they are. Much of Mexico is colored orange, which stands for "Reconsider Travel". Some of the country is even colored red, which stands for "DO NOT TRAVEL". But we will be living in the Baja California peninsula, which is colored yellow for "Exercise Increased Caution". So we will be in one of the safest parts of Mexico. (I put a red circle on the map indicating approximately where we will be).
Not convinced we will be safe? Ask yourself what IS safe anymore. I wonder what our own country would look like if the government color coded every part of the US according to safety. It doesn't take much reading in the news to figure out that even small town America isn't always "safe" anymore. I think many places in the US would probably be colored yellow. If I read all of the news coming out of nearby Portland, OR, I would probably color that area yellow. Yet I go shopping there all the time. Most of the families around here do! We just exercise more caution. Which is exactly what we will do in Mexico.
Still think we are crazy? Well, maybe you will be reassured when I tell you that we are moving to an agricultural area rather than a big city. The orphanage compound is in the northeast corner of the town and is surrounded by fields and hot houses. (I've circled the compound in the picture below) It's rural and quiet, much like where we live now. Granted, it looks like the actual town is larger than what we are used to here in Trout Lake, but it is by no means "city living" either. It looks like a nice quiet place for kids to come and heal from the trauma that they have endured.
You want to know the real reason why I am not overly worried about safety? I believe that God is big enough to know what He is doing in sending our family down there. That doesn't necessarily mean that we won't be exposed to danger (although I hope we can avoid it), but it means that I can have peace even when faced with a dangerous situation. I honestly don't think we will need to worry too much about safety where we are going, but it helps to remember that God is always with me. It helps to know my Bible too and to recognize that sometimes God uses sad times to bring about great things. Sometimes God provides supernatural protection, like he did with the 3 men in the fiery furnace. God completely protected them from being burned up. Not a single hair on their heads was even singed! But God doesn't always provide that level of protection. What about Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his own brothers and then spent years in prison for something he didn't do? God protected him even then and esteemed him in the jailer's eyes. Years later, Joseph was placed second in command in Egypt, lower in status only to Pharoah. It was because of Joseph's position in Egypt that his father and brothers survived the 7 year drought. God had a plan to use even the difficult times in Joseph's life in order to save an entire nation.
So whether God gives us supernatural protection down there and we remain untouched by the dangers in this world, or allows us to be exposed to dangerous events in order to bring about something good in the future, I rest in the peace that God is watching over us and will never leave us. Where we are going is relatively safe, all things considered. But the bigger takeaway is that no matter that happens, I have peace. Do you?