Greetings! My name is Wyatt. I have a longish history with Project Mexico as a volunteer and as an intern. This Summer, I am returning to this amazing place for my 4th internship. It has been a struggle, as it is for many, to figure out what exactly it is I am supposed to be doing on earth and where I stand spiritually. Project Mexico relieves the confusion that both these struggles cause for me. I am able to concretely live out God’s Will and stop wondering what it is I am supposed to be doing with my life because I’m busy doing it.
I always want to have direct experiences with Saints and God. I mean direct. I want to see and hear them in front of me because, for some reason, I think that unless I see something, it’s not real. I’ll ask during prayers or while I’m out walking my dog in the morning, which is when I feel particularly brain dead, “God, where are You? What am I supposed to do? Why is life so hard? St. John (Maximovitch), help me!”
Well. Guess what, Mr. Wyatt. The answers are constantly surrounding me. Read the Bible, read and learn about the saints, pray, serve others, go to church, venerate the icons, and receive communion.
It’s not that hard.
The last two years, 2023-2025, have been particularly challenging, mentally and physically. I have a permanent health issue that bothers me on and off and since 2023, I’ve been mentally assaulted by very strong spiritual warfare. It’s been kind of wild, I’ve never been shaken quite like this before. I’ve had a lot of tricks played on me by demons, I think. I also may have gotten some non-tricks too, though, it’s hard for me to tell, even through talking with several priests and friends about it all.
Most of the spiritual warfare I have been hit with revolved around a girl. Classic. The number one way to mess with a man’s emotions and/or entire life is to place a woman in front of him. That or some good food. I never managed to obtain a date with this girl, but she gave me a lot of trouble, and the demons had some fun messing around in my head with the thought of her. I really thought that it was God’s Will for me to marry this girl. She’s not Orthodox, which was the big kicker because I’m a little bit dead set on marrying (if I can ever manage it) an Orthodox woman because to help build a strong family, I would say that the parents need to be on the same page, Faith-wise.
I was so upset that it wasn’t working out that it got really hard to do the little things in life, the little God’s Wills. I was stuck on the future, big picture, God’s Will, i.e., career path and how the heck am I going to marry this girl and had to fight extra hard to accomplish the small things. Project Mexico takes away the big picture and helps me focus on the little things. The little Wills.
All in all, Project Mexico tends to reveal my inner being. It helps me focus on God’s Will and shows me where my spiritual state lies. Through its simple living and intensely concentrated population of strong Orthodox Christians, it tends to show me if I’m on the right path. If I could put it into one short fictional, comedic yet serious sentence, it would be something like this: “testing testing, 123 how is your spirit? Do you still love Me, Wyatt? I still love you. Build a house.”
I can build a house.