This month we´re in an area called La Quinta, outside of Jinotepe in Nicaragua and we´ve already been extremely blessed by our contacts and ministry this month. We have several differnent options for ministry and most days we leave it up to the Lord as to what we do. It usually involves heading into one of the nearby ¨barrios¨ (Spanish for neighborhood) where we´ve met and been able to pray for/ help several people. One day this led Brenda and Dan to a house in the area where they met a woman with a contagious smile who invited them into her home, even though they speak no Spanish and she speaks no English. This morning they returned to Manuela´s house and invited Kyla and me (the Spanish speakers) to come along. We immediately saw the welcoming, contagious smile we heard about and she was so excited to see them again. We visited with her and got to hear a little about her family and prayed with her about some specific needs, such as the new house they are building, her mother-in-law´s sickness, and having enough money to provide food for their family. She told us we are welcome in her house whenever we would like and we said goodbyes. I realized a few things on our walk home... 1. This type of situation would never happen in America... showing up at a random person´s house, being invited in and offered everything they can give, praying with them and it being welcomed... people in the third world are so much more generous and trusting! we have a lot to learn from them... 2. I am no longer (and haven´t been for some time) shocked or surprised by the extreme poverty that often surrounds us... I´m still trying to decide whether that is good or bad... on the one hand, I know it´s because I can look past the material and see the person and their heart underneath it all. Also, they don´t view themselves as living in poverty because it´s all they know and they think that´s just the way it is. They know how to be happy with what they have, as little as it is, and depend on the Lord for absolutely everything. It´s a great lesson in faith! On the other hand, I don´t want to become desensitized to my surroundings and accept that this is the best they can be or do... I have a lot to think about before returning to the states in 20 short days. I can´t even imagine the reverse culture shock that awaits. So much has changed in me and in my perspectives of things and I want to be able to incorporate these changes into my life at home. As you can probably tell, these are just random thoughts... usually I write out blogs beforehand and put more thought into them, but my computer doesn´t want to turn on anymore so this is how it´s going to be I guess. :)
So we just completed our first week in the Guatemalan jungle in a village of about 250 people called Tabacal. We are back in civilization for the day to stock up on necessary supplies, such as food, water, and insect repellent and then we´re back out there for at least another week. In the past week, I´ve taken one shower, if you could call using an outdoor spicket while wearing your swimsuit with approximately 17 Guatemalans watching you a shower, gotten more bug bites than I have in my entire life up until this point, so many that it looks like chicken pox, used an outdoor ¨bathroom¨ that consists of four wooden posts with black plastic covering 3 sides and part of the roof, which also usually includes an audience, and finally truly experienced what we thought the ¨World Race¨ would be like when we signed up. We are sleeping on cement floors in our tents in a church building, cooking over open fires with mess kits, and having a blast! I have never sweat more or been dirtier or smellier but I am absolutely loving my life right now! I´m pretty sure I could officially go anywhere and do anything now (with the Lord´s strength of course, not my own!). God has been showing us more each day just how His heart loves and reaches out to these people and how they are not forgotten by Him. All of the people in the community used to be living in the jungle with no houses or food for over a year when the government found them a couple years ago. Since then, they have loaned land to the people to build homes and grow crops,etc. They have also built a pond for tilapia and allow the people to raise and sell it to support their families. It has been a such a blessing to serve here and I´m already in love with the people too, especially our host family. The pictures below are just a taste of the different ministries we´ve been able to serve, some of which I never would have pictured myself doing, but which makes it all the better!
Some of the girls whose fingernails and toenails we painted about 20 minutes after arriving in the village.
Our host family´s new home that we´re helping to finish.
The mother, Juana, and 3 of her 4 daughters on a hike through the jungle to pick beans. One entire day of our ministry was devoted to hiking an hour and a half to pick beans in a corn field on a steep incline, carry back the heavy bags on our backs, and then the rest of the afternoon shelling all the beans. And usually Juana does that with just the little girls... I will never take grocery shopping or supermarkets for granted again!
Ingrid and Lucrecia helping us shell the 3 feed bags full of beans that we picked. They are such hard workers!
Lucrecia holding up dinner before it enters the pot! No, this is not a rubber chicken, I wish it were! Nothing phases them!
The youngest daughter, Haide Marisola, whom we´ve nicknamed ¨Cheeky¨. She´s a fiesty one but really hard to get angry with because she knows how to turn on the charm!
Our team with Martin, Juana, and their four beautiful daughters in their new house. Don´t mind the dirt and sweat...
Well that´s all for now! Thanks for all the prayers and support! I´m still about $1,000 away from reaching my support goal so if you feel like giving, the Support Me tab on the left is the easiest way to do so! It goes to a great cause, I promise!
Before moving on
to telling about this month's ministry, I need to mention someone from last
month that made my heart happy and made me really excited about our last two
months of ministry. Her name is Susana, a six-year-old girl from the Potter's
House where we worked, and she is such a sweetheart. She lived in Spain for the
first five years of her life, her mom is Spanish and her father is Romanian. At
age six, she is fluent in two languages and knows bits of a few others as well.
She is an only child who loves to sing, dance, and clean (yes, clean... I asked
twice to make sure that's what she said). I was able to communicate with
someone this month on a level that went much deeper than the usual "how are
you?" and "I am fine" that we usually learn in the native language. I was
finally able to put my degree and eight years of Spanish to use with Susana and
we both loved it! I loved it because I was finally able to communicate with
someone on a more personal level and because she was my liaison with the other children
since I could tell her something in Spanish to translate to the others in
Romanian. She loved it because it was a special thing she could share with me
and she knew the other children couldn't understand us when we used Spanish. So
this is just one story and one example of the ways God has touched my heart
through His children around the world and taught me how to see and love the way
He does.
We are now in Guatemala and I am in love already! And I can understand
and communicate with more people than our contacts/ translators for the first
time in ten months! The people and culture and colors are all so cheerful and
inviting. We have been in Antigua for debrief with the squad and some temporary
ministry while waiting for contacts to be set up. We've had some intense
worship and teachings, climbed an active volcano, and gotten to catch up on
what God's been doing in the past month within our squad. Tomorrow my team will
head out to the jungle to an indigenous Mayan village of about 250 people for a
few weeks where we will be finishing up some houses that have been started by
previous teams and helping out wherever else we are needed. We will be living
very primitively (finally putting some use to our tents!) with a family and be
fully immersed in the culture, learning to cook, etc the way they do. I am
excited to get back to "roughing it" after being pretty spoiled/blessed in
Europe for three months. I have found that people in the third world are so
much more content and joyful. It seems that the less you have, the easier it is
to be happy... funny how that is... if only everyone could realize that... but that's
another blog, another day!
The other night my team and I had the opportunity to meet
with an American missionary here in Timisoara, along with a team of young
people that he is taking to Kenya later this summer. They wanted to gather
together for fellowship and to "pick our brains" about Kenya, having
heard that we had recently visited there. None of us really knew what to expect
of the evening and it had been a long day at the children's center that day. I
didn't plan on talking or engaging much, but the evening turned out much differently
than I expected. We all told a little about ourselves and explained our trip
and what we've been up to for the last nine months and got to hear about their
upcoming trip as well. We shared a delicious dinner together and the questions
started rolling. They were definitely prepared and covered just about anything
I could think of: about Africa (Kenya)
in general, the culture, team norms/ dynamics, food, health, everything! The
questions were challenging and really made us think at times, which turned out
to be an excellent processing time for me. I'm not the greatest with processing
information/ experiences in a timely manner so it was really good for me. At
the end of the night, I'm not sure how much they got out of it, but I know I
was definitely blessed. It was so good to be able to reminisce and share
stories with people who genuinely cared and who would soon share a similar
experience. I think I speak for many on our squad when I say that we were ready
to be out of Africa by the end of our time there.
Three months was wearing and we were ready for something new. Not that it
necessarily left a bad taste in our mouths, but we were ready to move on. It
was really good for me to be able to recollect the positive things and all the
ways we saw God work. To explain how we shared the Gospel with people who had
never heard the name Jesus before- to remember the children from the orphanage
we got to visit a few times- to recall the crazy, long walks through the desert
doing "hut-to-hut" evangelism. It was also fun to hear stories of my teammates,
since we were on different teams back in Kenya, and hear how their
experiences were so different, yet they were bringing kingdom in their own
ways. We all agreed on our walk home that the evening was a great success- both
individually and for our team. We were able to share how we live life in
community, discuss/ solve problems, and learn how to love and serve each other
better each day. It was a great encouragement to me and yet another example of
how God can take any expectations we might have of something and completely
shatter them (in a good way!).
Much love.
Oh, and I'm including a few of my favorite pictures from Kenya (I'm not
sure if I've posted these in previous blogs or not), in case some of you were
not following my blog at that time or didn't see them.
So right now I'm in Brasov,
Romania with
Kyla and we are on a unique mission to arrange a gathering that will take place
here in September of past and present racers along with coaches, staff, etc.
The event is the beginning of an annual event where all alumni and Racers on
the field will come together for three days of intense worship and impartation.
With all of that in mind, we have quite the task ahead of
us- arranging lodging, meals, meeting places, transport details, for 200+
people for 5 days. I am now aware of how hard our logistics team works each
month to arrange our accommodations and ministry options and have an even
deeper appreciation for them (thanks Dennis, Erin, and Jake!) And while we've
already seen the Lord's favor on us and this task, we would appreciate your
prayers in getting this accomplished before we leave here on Monday to fly to
meet our team in Central America.
Even though this is quite the task, we've also been able to
have some down-time while we play the waiting game with contacts, possible
leads, etc.We've had the blessing of
sleeping in and going to bed whenever we want (which has been about 10PM both
nights we've been here!) and planning our own schedule. We were amazed this
morning at how long we slept and then realized that we're just making up for
about nine months of lots of running and constantly going and not enough
quality sleep. So the rest is definitely a blessing, as well as abundant time
to spend with the Lord, either in the Word or in prayer for the rest of our
team still serving in Timisoara
for the week, and time to catch up on blogging. So consider that a warning for
several blogs to come to this week!
Quick support update: I still have a little under $1,000 to
raise for my funds to be complete (and so I can make it home!) so if you know
of anyone that wants to support a missionary, send them my way!
So the town we are in this month is actually called Timisoara, but before we arrived we could neither remember it nor pronounce it so we gave it the name Timi Suarez, which it will probably remain forever to us. We are spending another month in the beautiful country of Romania, this time right on the Western border. Our ministry this month is working with a couple of organizations, all having to do with children, so my heart is about as happy as it can be! It's been a while since we've been able to do solid children's ministry where we can actually invest and return more than once so I am very excited about what God has in store for us here. One of the ministries is The Potter's House, and we work with children from low-income families or single parent homes. They provide meals for the children as well as help with homework, English lessons, Bible stories, and of course, lots of fun and games! The other ministry we're working with is called Manna, and they have centers where children with mental/ physical disabilities receive the care and attention that their parents are unable to provide. So far we've taken a couple of visits to the zoo with them and next week we'll be visiting the mall and the pool... tough life, huh? We are beyond blessed this month, both with our ministry opportunities and contacts, who serve with Greater Europe Mission (GEM) and are absolutely incredible! They have opened up their home to us and have made us feel so welcome already. They are such a blessing to us and especially to the people of Timisoara. I cannot wait to get to know them more and their hearts for this place, which is already contagious to us. That's all for now, more to come soon!
Much love.
P.S. My fellow teammate and sister, Brenda is still in need of support money (approx. $1,500) so if you would prayerfully consider supporting her or know anyone that wants to support a missionary, she'd be a good one to invest in!
Some of you may recall a blog I wrote while in the
Philippines about 7 months ago. It was about a boy named Romel who lived in the
children's home we worked with. I briefly told his story and how he had
captured my heart. Well I wish I could say I've had experiences like that in
every country, but unfortunately I have not. I think something inside of me
realized that it would be way too hard to get that attached and invested in
people and then leave them less than a month later. How can we be expected to do
that 11 times within a year? I don't think any heart could endure it. So since
then, my heart and mind have become somewhat desensitized to most of what's
been going on around me. Don't get me wrong, I've definitely had amazing
experiences and have had my heart hurt for people I've met. It hasn't become completely hardened. But I have not allowed it to fully break for them because
the pain seems too much to bear. Now, in month eight, it's all catching up with me and I realize that if
something doesn't change, I'm going to miss out on so much that God wants to
teach me. Sure, I'll still be useful and able to serve, but God wants so much
more for me than just "showing up". And so do I. The refining process we all
desired in the beginning requires going through the fire. This is part of the fire
I have to endure. So last week I told God I wanted it all; no matter what that
means or how much pain it brings. And He has already delivered. Seven months of pain, suffering, and desperation has caught up with me. When we pray
for God to break our hearts for the things that break His, I don't think we
fully realize what we're asking. There is no way our minds can grasp just how
much He hurts for His children and in the last week I've seen only a glimpse of
what that looks like. And I've probably cried more in the past week than I have
thus far on the race. From an eleven year old boy who's father refused him
after having him about a week of his life (after missing the first 10 years),
to a fifteen year old boy almost dying of bone cancer who experiences extreme
pain just walking (which he can't even do on his own), to an entire home of
mentally disabled young women who cringe and tense up when receiving hugs
because of past abuse, neglect, and abandonment. All of this in a week... It's
already taking a toll on me emotionally but I've decided it's so much
better than not feeling at all. I feel more alive and more real than ever and
even though it's painful, the joy comes with the morning, right? So I'm holding
out for the joy that comes from all of this mourning.
Several
of my teammates and squad-mates have written blogs in greater detail about
these people and their stories that I hope you'll read. See Sara Choe's "I
dunno " blog on Marius, Tangi Holmes' "Forgetten Daughters" about the young women, and Brandon Clayton's "As tears burn my eyes " for Pavel's story.
"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Galatians 5:22-23
So about six months ago at our debrief in Hong Kong, our coach, Gary Black spoke about the fruits of the spirit and how we go through stages to reach each fruit. We first learn love, then joy, then peace, and so on. He described it as a hill with love at the bottom left and leading up to kindness at the top and then descending on the other side down to self-control. He described each fruit and what it entails to have complete patience, goodness, gentleness, etc. He said that after kindness one usually flies down the mountain towards self-control; that growth is much faster because all that matters is kingdom at that point and you can't die because you're already dead. Dead to yourself and all selfish desires and fully alive in Christ and what He wants to do in you. The way he described someone who has "goodness" is that it radiates out of them and you can just see it by looking at them. Goodness along with gentleness are fruits he said we usually see in grandmas; people who's hearts are so pure and gentle that there is no offensive way in them.
Marius Catalin
Mihaela
So you might be asking why I'm writing about this now, six months later. The reason is because I met someone this month who I believe fully embodies just about every fruit of the spirit. We are working at Casa Shalom, an orphanage/ children's ministry in Bucharest, Romania with Becky Walsh. She has been involved in overseas missions for over 20 years in Germany and Romania. We have only known her for eight days, but I am in awe of the way gentleness and kindness just exude out of her in everything that she does. Her heart is so pure and full of love from the Lord and it is contagious to anyone around her. The spirit of peace and love in this place is so strong and it is because of Becky and the love and heart she has poured into this ministry for so many years. She desires reconciliation and second chances with families for each of the children she has taken in and has only two children left who have not been reunited with parents or relatives. They will not allow her to keep only two children so the two remaining boys (ages 10 and 11) will go to another private home towards the end of this month or early in June. We also have three teenage girls here visiting for the month who used to live here that now live with their families. We have seen the fruit of Becky's labor here at Casa Shalom. It is so obvious that these children have grown up under her love and care. They are so sweet and helpful and loving. The way they worship and pray and cry out to the Lord on behalf of others is so passionate it convicts me. It has been such a blessing for us to be able to serve here by doing whatever needs to be done around the house. From landscaping, to construction, to playing with and investing in the children here, to having our own bike repair shop, I've been able to see kingdom here in Romania unlike in any other country we've visited.
So we've been out of India for a
couple weeks now and I realized I haven't written much about it.
India turned out to be one of my favorite months of the race thus far
and was beyond any expectations I ever had of India. We spent most of
our ministry time visiting the homes of church members to encourage
and pray for them, as many are not able to attend church because of
persecution from family members or friends. The Christian population
in that region is only 0.3% so it is extremely difficult to be a
believer. Though they are small in number, their faith is very
strong. We left every house feeling more encouraged than I think we
were able to encourage them so it was great to see the body in action
in such a way. My faith was strengthened so much by hearing their
testimonies and what they've gone through just to be able to
worship the Lord and call upon His name. My prayer life also
increased significantly in India. I experienced more excitement and
passion in prayer, especially when praying for others and seeing the
immense faith they had that it would come to be. One thing we really
wanted to communicate when them, however, is that they do not need us
there in order to lay hands on someone and pray. We are no better
qualified or able than they and we encouraged them to keep in the
habit of gathering together and praying for one another after we
left.
Please pray that the progress I made in
India would not be lost and experiences forgotten because as I write
this now a few weeks later, I realize it's already happening and
the fire that was there is starting to fade.
We are now in Ukraine and have already
finished our first week. My team is in Lugonsk, a town of about
500,000 people 20 miles from the Russian border (we're actually
further east than Moscow). We are working with an American couple who
has been in Ukraine for a few years now working with university
students, orphanages, and camps in the area teaching English and
spreading God's love in a place that needs it so badly. We have
been blessed to meet several students already and establish
relationships outside of the classroom. We have had them to our
apartment for movie night and got to see the city with locals as our
tour guides and several questions have already been answered to start
planting seeds. Many people here simply don't recognize their need
for God and the complacency here is heartbreaking. Please pray that
these seeds will continue to grow, that the people of Ukraine would
feel the need for Jesus like never before, and to realize that
something is missing.
1. Gorgeous mountains! (we're in Shimla in Northern India and it is abundant with God's creation! so beautiful! it also means there are more hills than San Francisco and walking is the primary mode of transportation so we will be in excellent shape by the end of this month. Yea for healthy lifestyle!)
2. Freezing cold weather! (ok, so the 50's is not exactly freezing, but it gets down into the 30's at night and after 3 months on the equator it's pretty chilly! but also very refreshing! and it's kind of expected from the mountains...)
3. European influence (the buildings, etc are all very European influenced and it is a very touristy town for skiing, etc)
4. Animals everywhere! (Shimla is full of wild, evil monkeys who throw rocks and pick-pocket innocent bystanders and tourists. No joke, we've actually seen it happen! We were told not to make eye contact with them and the only way to get them to go away is to pretend to pick up a rock to throw at them. There are also more stray dogs than anyone can count and they accompany us home all the way up the hill to our hotel every night. Cows are also in abundance as they are very important to the culture, etc and any dumpster is usually complete with a cow eating out of it.)
One thing I did expect in India, however, is to see God move and break our hearts for his people here and that is definitely happening! Our ministry involves house-to-house visits each evening to visit church members and encourage them in their faith and preaching in seminars, youth meetings, and church on Sundays. The Christian population in this area is 0.3% so many face persecution and even ostrcization from their families for becoming a Christian and proclaiming the name of Jesus. It has been such a blessing for us to hear their stories and encourage them in whatever they are going through. Though they are small in number, the faith of Indian believers is very strong and we have been so encouraged to hear what they go through and give up to believe in God. It has shown us how much we take our faith for granted in the U.S. being able to believe and do whatever we choose. They are so hungry for the word here and I have a new appreciation for it and passion to bring it to them like never before.
