I’ve been away from home now for 25 days. I’ve felt almost every emotion imaginable. I’ve become used to our “normal” day and the way we live here in Iluman Ecuador. I have been falling more in love with my Savior, and have been going deeper into the Love of God! Part of that growth is due to the fact that we have plenty of spare time to spend getting to know our Jesus better.
Our contacts this month have not been very involved. They have given us great housing arrangments, but not much as far as ministry to do.
Freddy (the handy man who is doing the concrete and tile work) is here at the church all day every day. We help him out as much as we can. And there have been a few very full days of hard concrete work. But now the manual labor consists of sweeping a room and grouting the cracks between the tiles for maybe an hour or two a day.
All of us have been disappointed and discouraged by our lack of ministry. We came hoping to do big things and having lots to do each and every day. But our contacts have not given us much. For a while we were stuck in a rut, thinking there was nothing to do. But God was working in our hearts. A few days back we had a good team meeting and discussed our situation. To be honest at that point I had pretty much given up on ministering to others much this month and was just looking forward to next month, which we know will be a total change in pace and packed full of ministry (I’ll share details later). But God was making it clear to me that it’s not next month yet, I’m here in Iluman Ecuador today, God has a plan and a purpose for me right here and right now!
Just leaving home and coming to Ecuador is not enough. Ministry does not just happen. Oh, I was a willing missionary, and I have been crying out to God to do something because if He doesn’t make the way then I CAN’T do anything. I was confused and frustrated because, honestly, I had more ministry opportunities back home then I do here. But I realized that I had the wrong prospective. I thought God was going to lay it on Huberto’s heart to give us something to do. And so I was waiting on Huberto (our contact) to open the door for us into ministry. In the mean time I felt helpless because I saw nothing I could do without knowing Spanish.
But God was showing me that HE is the one who will make a way for His work to be done, even when there seems to be NO WAY. But for Him to use me I must go! Not just go to Ecuador, but in Ecuador I must go out of my home, and go to the people around me. I must PRAY, and desperately seek God and desire Him to work through me. I must put myself out there for God to use! I must attempt the impossible to see God show Himself powerful in and through me. I must open conversations with people for God to speak through me. I must expect Him to do Big things!
“Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the it shall be opened unto you.”
“Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
I believe this is an important lesson our team has learned (and is still learning) this month! Often times we must be the ones to make ministry happen because our contacts will not give us much to do. And in months, like this one, when we are totally helpless being thrown into a country where we know nothing, we have even more of an opportunity to see God show Himself in crazy ways!
“2Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
This month God has been specifically working on the individual members of our team, bringing healing, growth, and change. We’ve gone through some tough stuff and have come through it stronger. We have all had our own ideas of what ministry looks like. We each have our strengths and weaknesses. But God is bringing us together as one body with one mission! I continue to pray that our differences will not divide us or get in the way of our ministry together. I hope that our differences will be used, as they should be, to allow our little body to work together correctly and get Gods work accomplished.
In the last few days we have seen God open doors. I’ll give you a few names to be praying for: Maria, Marta, Michaela, Ideiah, and Heidi. These are 5 individuals we’ve had the chance to start relationships with.
“Ephesians 3:16-21
That he would grant unto you, according to the riches of his glory, to be STRENGTHENED WITH MIGHT by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ my dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to Know the love of Christ, which PASSES ALL KNOWLEDGE, that you might be filled with all the FULNESS OF GOD. Now unto Him that is able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL that we ASK or THINK, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen!”
