Hello from South America!!! It has been one full week since we set out on this grand adventure. I feel like Carl and Russel on Pixar's UP, traveling in South America with Paradise Falls as their "mission". Their adventure didn't turn out at all as they planned; they encountered so many mishaps on the way, yet every setback along the road actually made it the beautiful story that it is. Although I didn't get to travel via balloons attached to my house and I have yet to meet a snipe... my own story has taught me similar lessons. It's so easy to get caught up in what my "mission" is and how my picture perfect experience looks like, but often when that happens, I can miss many valuable experiences that are happening all around me. We talk about how the Cross was always Jesus's mission, but if that's the only thing he was ever focused on, the blind man would never have been healed, the dead girl would never have been raised, the crowds would never have been fed... He could have come, gone straight to the Cross and got it over with as fast as possible. But He didn't. He embraced every moment and what the Father had for Him in that moment.
I think the hardest moment to hold onto that truth was when I had already missed the first day of going out and was listening to the doctor tell me the news: I have a throat infection and will have to stay at home for at least two days, but if I'm not better by the, it could be to tonsillitis. Noooooooo!!!!!!!! :( Of course I was declaring healing over myself and having all of my team surround me and agree. But the reality was, I was stuck at home. But what started as a disappointment and lots of frustration, turned into a day of blessings. I was able to able to rest, connect with my host sister (who was also stuck at home with an infection), got incredible quality time with Holy Spirit, and got to process through what God is doing in my heart. But then, surprise surprise, I felt so good the next day that I was able to go with the team.
Every day has been completely different. It's been like trying a sample chocolate box, so many different flavors of ministries here in Quito, Ecuador and all so uniquely beautiful! One day we spent doing construction and cleaning at Casa de mis Suenos - House of my Dreams. This is a new ministry that is starting that will be a home for girls coming out of sex trafficking. It was an amazing opportunity to get to pour into a place that is going to be so full of new life and hope for these girls. Another day we spent at a feeding center. The people who ran the ministry had faithfully fed 100 kids every day from this village. Their servants hearts blew me away! We did VBS style meeting with the kids, teaching them about their importance and identity in Christ. I came so alive in that setting, playing with the kids, singing Spanish songs, eating with the people, helping in the kitchen. It made me think of Juarez and all my trips with IFM.
My favorite day so far, I went with a group from the team way out into the country to a town called Ambato. We went to visit a house of 6 elderly brothers and sisters. They had lived there their whole lives, having been abandoned by everyone else because of mental disabilities. Of the 6, only two can speak and communicate to a degree, only three can walk, and only one can work in the garden. No one is there to take care of them. They wear clothes that would be better to throw away but we didn't because they are so attached to their clothes from wearing the same ones for months on end. They live in houses that are full of filth from living with their farm animals. It was such a tragic situation but these people were so beautiful. It was such an honor to be able to go in, deep clean their house, shake out their clothes and bedding, shower them, cut her their hair, trim their nails, and then sit and smile with them. The love they have for each other will forever stay with me. Although we didn't see any healing when we prayed for them, I could see the joy and the life in their eyes. I know Jesus is constantly with them, taking care of them, holding their dear wrinkled hands in His own. His heart is for the least of these and these people truly were. The other part of the team had an incredible day of hearings and over 15 people getting saved and experiencing the presence of God! I rejoice in their testimony and wish I could have been there, but I wouldn't have traded this day for anything in the world.
I am now spending two days in the rain Forrest. Hasta luego!
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