Blurb of my journey...

I have always had a heart for justice.  I feel like my story is similar to so many others - I've heard the stories, seen the statistics, seen the faces, encountered God's heart of compassion, and become undone so many times with a desire to fight for justice on the earth.  But to be honest, actually knowing where to go from there stopped the momentum of my heart.  It just seems so big!  Yes, I believe God can use me in spite of all my weaknesses and feelings of inadequacy; but how can I fight in an army if I don't even know where to enlist?  Because of this, I put many of those dreams and desires on the shelf, thinking it was for "another time."  "One day God will use me to fight injustices."  "Sometime in the distant future I will get vision for what I can do."

Needless to say, when I was presented with the opportunity to actually be on the ground level, working with victims of injustice, I was scared out of my mind.  That dream had felt so safe from a good distance away.  But now I had to make a decision - Am I willing to go after the things the Lord has put on my heart?  Or am I content having the dreams and prophetic words written on note-cards for me to pull out every once in a while in order to stir up my spirit?  Am I willing to let prophetic words make me feel good about myself, or will I let them move me to action?

I love how raising awareness on social justice issues has swept across the States.  It is so powerful for people to really see what is going on in our world.  But when are we going to go past the "raising awareness" stage?  We love being inspired.  Those inspirational movies that move you to tears, stir up your spirit, and make you think, "Yes!  I can change the world," often rise to the tops of the charts.  Why?  We all want to know that we could actually make a difference in this world.  We want to know that we have purpose.  But so often, once those strong emotions simmer down, we let ourselves off the hook by the comforting thought that someone else is out there doing it.  Or, like me, we consent to waiting until the perfect opportunity to be dropped into our laps.  When will God's people decide to not sit around waiting for an opportunity to arise, but decide to BE God's justice and fight for others?

There is not a lack of opportunity.  Even with the internship I am now apart of here in Ecuador, we have never been waiting for an opportunity to minister.  Ministry is everywhere we go.  I have been blown away at how when we say yes to the things that God has put in our hearts, He is so faithful to open doors and release crazy favor.  I expected for hard labor and months of sowing before we were able to reap any fruit, but the harvest is plentiful NOW!  Lives are being radically transformed everywhere we go.  This is our time to say Yes to the burning in our hearts.  Let the God of the harvest send you out!

The God We Serve

How great is the God we serve?  How is it that He could be so concerned about the one who is dying in a hospital bed that He would move mountains just to touch them, when there are countless people in their own death beds all over the world?  Would He really leave the 99 to restore the one?  Our streets are full of faces, all who have their own stories of brokenness, pain, poverty, injustice.  But our God is not overwhelmed or intimidated by such immeasurable depravity.  He is never so preoccupied by the numbers that He would fail to stop for the one.

This past week I encountered this God that would move mountains for the one.  Our team drove through the winding streets of Quito, passing by the buildings, the faces, the traffic, the scenery that I have come to love.  But none of that was on my mind.  We were headed to one of Quito's government run hospitals, used for those who are unable to pay for hospital visits, to pray for a pastor friend who was sick with cancer.  During our drive to the hospital we spent time contending for Pastor Fausto's healing, stirring up our hearts in expectation.  I could feel the doubt drain out of the car as we made declarations as daughters of the Most High King.  We will not put up with injustice!  We claim our inheritance that was fully paid for at the cross!  In that moment, all I really knew was hope.  However, I was unaware of what the situation fully entailed.

We stepped into the crowded hospital.  So many people waiting - waiting in their seats, waiting in stand-still lines, waiting behind desks, waiting behind doors.  It didn't take us long to find who we were looking for, Pastor Fausto's beautiful wife, Lilianna.  Right away I recognized her face.  I had met this couple before when I had come in the spring.  They run a feeding program for kids in the South of Quito, where the poorest of the city live.  For many of these kids, it is their only meal a day.  And they are many.  Over 100 of the same children come... every day.  The Fausto family has been serving these children every day for the past 7 years, no vacation, no sabbatical from years of hard work.  On days when they haven't had enough food, their own family has given up their own meals instead.  When I came in the spring, I was so impacted by their lives.  They are the epitome of servanthood.  There is no glory in what they do, it is simply loving children with what they have.  This became for me an incredible example of living a laid down lifestyle, an example that I have gone back to many times over this past year.  

And here she stood, this woman who has given everything for the sake of love, now in one of the most difficult kinds of crisis that any person can possibly face.  I could see the exhaustion in her face, yet the evident strength, as she told us that her husband was in his last stages, according to the doctors.  Mountain number one.

As we followed her through the crowded hallways, Mela explained to me that it is nearly impossible to get visitors into the hospital rooms.  Because it is a government run hospital, it is highly regulated.  If you are lucky, you can get one visitor in, but you have to go through paperwork and get special permission.  And there were five of us, three being Americans.  On top of that, this hospital had been known to be specifically closed to people who wanted to pray.  Mountain number two.

But no matter how many mountains or how big the mountain is, our God is able.  As we hurried to keep up with Lili, we were each praying for favor, an open door, anything so that we could get into pray.  Lili found a guard and told him what she wanted to do.  He told her that he would have to talk to the head of that floor.  We followed him up to our floor.  Within moments he came back to us - "You have 5 minutes."  We couldn't believe it!  This was unheard of!  But there we were, inside the hospital room, with Dear Pastor Fausto there in his bed, smiling at each of us with that unexplainable joy that marks those who carry the everlasting hope.

As soon as we had each given him a kiss on the cheek and a gentle embrace, we began to contend for his life.  The moment we began, Holy Spirit was present.  We released life, we bound the spirit of death, we declared the power of our King, we spoke words of the Father's heart over his life.  It was incredibly beautiful to watch God's spirit minister to this couple who had given their entire lives to Him.  In the midst of such incredible injustice and suffering, the both of them sat there lifting up worship to their Savior, thanking Him for His faithfulness in their lives.  I held on to Pastor Fausto's hand and as I did, my heart was moved at how steadfast these hands had been to love the poor and the orphans.  Even though this revelation was so simple, it ignited something inside of me.  I could feel God's love and pleasure for this man's life.  It overwhelmed my entire being.  Nothing could stop the emotion that rushed the gates of my heart.  My heart broke and I wept, not in despair, but in such a love and hope that I cannot explain.

After 15-20 minutes our guard finally cut off our time.  We had just witnessed an impossible 5 minutes turn into an encounter with the power and love of our God.  He had moved mountains to touch the one man who lay dying in his hospital bed.  This is the God we serve.  He is so much better than we could ever imagine.  His love overcomes every obstacle.  His power overcomes all of our inabilities.  He is a Father.  And we are His kids.  He will do everything to remind us of that truth.

We have not heard anything yet of how Pastor Fausto is doing.  But we are fully believing for a miracle, a complete healing.  Please pray with me for justice to be released and life to be restored! 

Five foot ten and blonde - No place to hide!

A month into this crazy adventure and I am trying to find my way around in this beautiful culture.  Every day I pray, "Jesus I want to know Spanish soooo badly!  Help me in my weakness."  It's not that I can't communicate - we have so many people around us who speak English.  I just really want to be apart of this culture.  I don't want to be the forever American who gets by with limited language abilities.  We have been taking spanish classes 4 times a week which is very helpful.  On top of that, I have been trying to read books in spanish, watch movies (lion king, 101 dalmatians, finding nemo...) in spanish, pray in spanish, even think in spanish.  Whatever it takes!  I know that I am growing each day, it's just not as microwave-ably fast as I would like.

Ecuador vs. Chile!!!

So there's my frustration.  That aside, I have been having so many cultural experiences.  Last night I went to my first real South American soccer game!  It was a pretty big match - Ecuador vs. Chile in a preliminary game for the 2014 World Cup.  I must say, South Americans are extremely passionate about their soccer.  The constant singing and dancing, balloons flying everywhere, the sea of yellow, blue and red, and the shower of beer over everything after every goal was a sight to behold.  Fortunately, Ecuador won 3-1, otherwise I would have been afraid for my life.

Other cultural experiences have included (but are not limited to) having a dance instructor come to our house to teach us salsa dancing, learning the bus system through many missed stops and having to run, push, and hold on for dear life, exploring the streets of downtown, getting locked out of our home with no way to contact our family, and trying to find safe places to go on jogs.  I must say, even with my deep desire to be apart of this culture there are some conspicuous things that I simply cannot change.  Being 5' 10", having long blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes makes it nearly impossible to blend into the crowd.  Most of the time I am oblivious to the attention I draw, but there have been plenty of times when it has been impossible to ignore.  I've been thinking about buying a hat...

Beautiful Down Town

We have also been getting more and more vision for the ministry here.  It is taking time, but I am more than happy to give myself to this process.  We decided to give up teaching at the school because of how it was taking away from our focus on the ministry.  However, the last day Lynda was able to lead one of her students from the senior class to the Lord!  What an awesome way to end our time at the school.  We also were able to pray and prophesy over the director of the school, calling forth the children as world changers, and encouraging her in her role as an influencer to the students.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity of speaking at a non-Christian school.  We had a connection there with one of the teachers and they opened the doors for us to share with the kids whatever it was that God put on our hearts to share.  We spoke to 2 groups - the middle schoolers and the high schoolers - all together about 120 students.  All three of us felt like we were to talk about the Father heart of God and what it means to be a son or daughter.  We each were able to share from our own testimonies.  It was beautiful how each of our stories flowed into each another and presented a different aspect of God's love.  To be honest, I wasn't sure if we could expect much response - these were teenagers and most of them were unchurched.  We were told that many of them came from broken families and were normally cynical when other people shared any kind of hope with them.  So all this to say, I was blown away when I asked if there was anyone who wanted to experience the Father's love and more than half of the room stood to their feet.  It's hard to even describe what I felt in that moment as we helped these kids ask to receive the love of God.  Hands were extended as if to receive a gift, eyes were closed in sincerity, and soft ripples of weeping were heard throughout the room.  Afterwards, we got to hold some of the ones who were profoundly touched as they continued to weep.  Some of the kids came up to us and told us that even though they didn't believe in God, they felt love like a heat inside of their hearts.  I was undone!

Amigos!

It is so encouraging to really see the truth of this statement - "Everyone wants a king like Jesus!"  People are so ready to encounter real love.  Everyone is longing for relationship with the Father.  Most people don't realize that they have that deep desire, but it is inside of everyone.  We were created for intimacy!  So when people experience the love of God, they can't help but respond.  I know that ministry often looks like being faithful to push forward even in the dry seasons, when there is no fruit and hardly any response.  But I also can't help but believe in the God of the suddenly moments.  I truly believe that the harvest is plentiful.  For me and my team, I feel that it is a matter of leaning into the Spirit and finding where it is that He is calling us to be laborers in the field.  I know it can be anywhere, but I also know that He is strategic with purpose in everything He does.  So send us out God!

From inside a museum

20 days and counting.  Since the last time I wrote we - all three of us gringas -  have moved homes.  We were previously living in a home that was 45 minutes out of the city.  As we began to see what our weekly activities are going to be, it became more and more apparent that we wanted to live in a place that would be more centrally located.  So our wonderful leader Sabri found us a home to live in that is right in the middle of the city.  Talk about another level of immersion!

The city of Quito is an artist's palette - so many textures, shades of colors, mixtures and combinations.  Some of it detailed and ornate, some abstract, some foreign and obscure, but all so beautiful.  I feel like my 5 senses are in overload as I take in my new surroundings.  The fragrant and pungent smells of so many different kinds of fruits, meats, vegetables, and fried foods as we walk through a local market.  Being pressed against countless strangers as we fight for a place within the bus.  The sound of an entire class of 5th graders playfully chatting in their language as they also pile onto the bus.  The honking of cars driving by and the city fumes in our faces as Lynda and I jog for the first time in the city, trying not to get run over by aggressive taxi drivers.

First meal in our new casa

As for the house we are now living in - it is the beautiful home of a couple, Roberto and Mari, in the adjacent grandmother apartment.  I must say, our apartment has the most character of any home I have ever been in.  It belonged to Roberto's mother who passed away this past year, and it is easy to see that this woman was not a simple lady.  The house is full of books, antiques, quirky utensils, secret passageways, mysterious locked closets, and more paintings than you can count.  It is an enormous living space with three bedrooms, 2 living rooms, an enormous kitchen and a dining room with a beautiful grand piano.  My favorite part, however, is that either the mother or someone else in the family had an obsession with animals.  I literally feel like I am living in a museum.  Every corner you turn in the house you are met by another snarling animal head, mounted at eye level.  We have yet to name our new pets, but that is forthcoming.  Also, part of the personality of the house is the German influence.  Both of Roberto's parents came from Germany, so everything within the house has that beautiful European flavor.  Each day we are getting to know our house a little better and discovering new treasures.  I'm pretty sure each room could be in an I Spy book!

The beautiful ladies I work with

This past week we have visited some of the places that we are going to invest a lot of time into this year.  On Monday we went to a girl's youth prison, where girls ages 13-18, who have been convicted of various crimes, live for 4-6 months.  And Tuesday we went to a foundation for girls, the same age, who have been rescued out of prostitution and live there for 6 months.  There was a team here from the states who, at each place, did a skit for the girls and then talked about how God has created them perfectly and without flaw, that He has created them to be beautiful.  Afterwards we did an "Extreme Makeover" where we gave them each a dress, did their hair and make up and painted their fingernails.  These girls truly were beautiful!  You could tell that for some, this was truly healing, to be touched, to have their hair brushed, and to have people looking at them with love.  But it was so hard to see so many of them look at themselves in the mirror and then use a clothe to wipe off all the makeup, or to hear them say how shameful they felt.  You can see that these girls need so much more than a one time event where they get primped and pampered.  They need a steady voice in their lives that speaks truth into who they are, and to have a real love encounter with the Father.  I am so excited that we will be spending time with these girls every week and actually have the opportunity to be God's love to them.

On Tuesday we also went to a boy's youth prison.  There we spent time worshipping and then praying for healing - physically, spiritually and emotionally.  It was amazing to see many of these boys respond with sincerity as they stood for healing for their hearts, or a desire to have the protection of the Father.  I got the opportunity to pray with my friend Debbie over this one guy.  She got a word for him that he had given up on God, but that God had not given up on him.  I had an impression that he was feeling squeezed or suffocated by certain things in his life, but God wanted to bring him freedom.  He told us that yes, he had stopped trying to follow God and that he was feeling completely suffocated in his life.  We prayed for him to get free from whatever that was.  Afterwards he was like, "I am ready to follow God, I feel peace, etc..."  It's amazing to see how hungry these kids are and open to the Father's embrace.  Again, I can't wait to be able to spend time with these boys and see God's purposes unfold.

Prayer Updates for you amazing Prayer Warriors whom I love dearly!
- Grace to daily grow in the language.
- Strategies and Ideas on how to really reach the hearts of the people we are ministering to.  Specifically the children and youth.
- Favor and open doors wherever we go.
- Continual financial provision.  I'm having to come up with $700 a month for living.
- And as always, more of God's love in and through me, to break chains and release people into their destinies.

Thank you all!