December 5th ushered in change. It took our old teams and changed them into something completely new.
No longer am I part of Fuego De Dios, I am now proud to be a part of Team Siloam.
I've stolen the portion below from Francis, as he wrote it so eloquently (and it's getting late!)
we spent time together talking about what God was doing in each of us and reflected that we had each shared something about the ways that we were being drawn deeper into freedom from things by God – whether that be from expectations, from fear, from pride, from spiritual attack or otherwise.
We started thinking about a team name that would reflect deepness and thought of a wellspring, and so we came to the story of Jesus healing the blind man. Check out John 9 for the full story, but in it Jesus challenges the cultural belief that it was this man’s fault to be in the position he was in and showed that he should be helped. He puts a mud paste on the man’s eyes and tells him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, where the man is healed. As such, we want to be a group who challenges cultural assumptions of the poor and needy, helping them where others nearby aren’t. We want to be Jesus to them in that situation and direct them to their healing in Jesus, the Water of Life. The man who is healed subsequently speaks out for Jesus to all around him, which we want to be doing, but also have those we influence do as we move on.
Not only that, but the word Siloam means “sent”, which of course we believe we are this year. We have been called by God to this year and to these places, and we have been sent out by our churches, families and friends.
We look forward to walking into the next 8 months together, having had the last month to get to know each other by being in the same ministry. Please pray for us as we step out, that we would bond together, grow together and bless everywhere we go.
I am so glad to be a part of this new team. We are going to make magic happen! Miracles are going to be a regular part of our day – it's going to be awesome. We begin our journey to Mozambique tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning. It's roughly a 36 hour drive, not including stops and a "layover" in Johannesburg, getting our visas at the border, and travelling to our specific destination. But, after 50 travel days, this should be a piece of cake – not to mention that some of the other teams have an additional 24 hour african (bumps, potholes, pee on the side of the road, share you seat with chicken's) bus ride after the 36 hour one. Suckas! : ]
Please be in prayer for Siloam as we get to know one another more deeply and strive to keep pushing forward and not retreat back to the places we've come from in our last teams. Pray for guidance, peace, joy and that we would seek Christ and his plans in place of ours. That we would pursue vulnerability and openness with one another. That we would be open to all the things God is going to allow us to be a part of, that our stories would be unbelievable and that we would be an Acts community to the fullest extent.
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