Wow, I received more love and kindness on that last blog post than I ever would have imagined, so much prayer and love from people around me here and back at home. I believe those prayers were powerful, and beginning two days ago, I woke up feeling new! I am not worried anymore, and I trust that I WILL BE OKAY! What was cause for fear and destruction I will use as an opportunity to be strong and to take ownership of my life and body!
John 14:27: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
I am incredibly thankful for how well I was/am loved through this diagnosis! Thank you to everyone who prayed and reached out. How could I choose sadness when I’m so loved by my God and the people who know me? I won’t!
Last night, we sang Here I Am to Worship acapella at a nice and beautiful outdoor event in town that was celebrating 500 years since the Protestant Reformation. The event was amazing! There were about 20 musical performances and all were fantastic! Such a nice time of worship and community. A woman named Yesenia wanted to talk with me, and we went back and forth with my terrible google translations and growing knowledge of Spanish. While we were talking, another woman named Graciela prayed over me tearfully saying that God loves me so much, I am his treasure, and that he wants to use me for miracles, that He is giving me the gift to heal others saying when I pray, the blind will see and the deaf will hear.–very large statements and I accept the calling. She spoke all of this in English even though she speak Spanish as well. She used to live in California which is how can she knows English so well. Right after, Yesenia told me that her boyfriend next to her is blind. I had not seen him yet, but I faithfully asked if we could pray for him (Guillermo) and we did. He has only been blind for less than a year, and he told me his testimony of great joy, faith, serving God, being a pastor, and believing that his condition is not reason to worry but to trust God more and to show others of God’s mercy. He believes he will be healed. In God’s time. Meeting them was a blessing for me. I am encouraged by Guillermo’s joy to live life, and serve God despite the illness. I will do the same!! Also I prayed for Yesenia who wants to have children, and has had two previous miscarriages. I believe she also has polycystic ovaries. Her beauty, faith, hope, love, and joy changed my evening.
To sum up this past week in Chile:
Me, Cristina, and Wendy have been at the high school speaking English/Spanish with the students. We went to the English institute some evenings. My whole team has been singing worship on Sundays. We went out to pray for people and had our friend come to translate. Also we have enjoyed some wonderful hiking and sight seeing. Also our host family is absolutely great and I have never known people like them before. I love living life with them.
