The last few days have been crazy and hectic. Launch was very intense and it seems like we were all together for a lot longer than just 2 and a half days. Yesterday the entire squad hiked up an active volcano in the city of San Francisco, Guatemala (seriously…that’s the name of the city). We got to roast marshmellows in the lava at the top, which was amazing! I rode a horse up and it was scary at times when I thought the horse was going to loose his footing, but overall it was a very enjoyable experience. The views of the green landscape with the volcanic rock and the views of other volcanoes in the distance were indescribably beautiful. I was told that the volcano we were going up last errupted in May of this year. As we were ascending up it though, I couldn’t help but notice all the flora that was springing up through the black volcanic rock. I kept thinking “Doesn’t everything get completely destroyed with erruption and all that terrifying lava?!?!� But then I thought of how that’s how the World Race is going to be. There will be times when everything seems to be destroyed and falling apart, and just when you think there’s no hope…Jesus comes and brings new life and new creation in you and in your ministries. I mean, if the Lord was able to create a world where plants can flourish through rock and ash, can’t He also create a world where can come transformed and changed after going through abandonment and brokenness?
Jessica and I riding a horse on the top of an ACTIVE volcano!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!�
That is what this year is going to be like for me. There’s so much “baggage� in my life (self esteem issues, anxiety, conflict management problems, etc. etc.) that I need to get rid of and I know that the less of “Angie� that’s in me and the more JESUS and KINGDOM is in me, the more transformed I will be and the more renewed I will be.
We just made it to our ministry location! For the next month (until November 2nd) we will be in the city of Panajachel, Guatemala working with “Mi Reto� Ministry. Mi Reto is Spanish for “my challenge�. We will be teaching English, working with local families in their church, doing service projects such as construction and welding, as well as prayer ministry and leading healing services. I am so excited because Pastor Ben’s ministry mission statement is “Matthew 25� and that is exactly what I was praying we would be doing! Pastor Ben is such a treat, and so fun. I barely know him and I already love him. He has tattoos all over, and wears a cowboy hat wherever he goes. I’ve decided he looks a lot like a combination of Indiana Jones and Crocodile Dundee, and it’s AWESOME.
One thing I want our entire team to remember this month of ministry, and the next ten after that, is something Caroline told us all at Launch a few days ago. She said, “…the same Spirit that had the power to raise Jesus from the dead also lives in YOU. So why don’t you start living like it?� Talk about hearing words straight from heaven. I know we will be against all kinds of odds this month. We have a very limited budget to live off of. We get three dollars a day for food, and we’re staying at a house that we are also helping to build for 3 dollars a night per room. With our very limited budget, we also will be doing physically challenging things (manual labor), mentally challenging things (teaching English to people that barely know any), and spiritually challenging things (fighting against attacks from Satan, spiritual growth and growing in the power of prayer, etc.). Pastor Ben said there is a lot of spiritual warfare in the area, and a lot of witchcraft, but I know their power is NOTHING compared to the power of the living God, Yaweh. He will protect us, hold us, fight for us and keep His army of angels around us this month and this year. I declare in Jesus name that we will be Jesus to every single person we love on, pray for, and minister to. I just can’t wait to share stories that the Lord has in store for us.
Please continue to keep me, and my team Lovebound in your prayers. Pray for my family, Mary, Bob and Sarah. I appreciate all your love and support, everyone! I miss you all terribly, and I can’t express how much your prayers and love mean to me. They have the power to move the very mountains we climbed yesterday! Remember, the same Holy Spirit power that raised Jesus from the dead is also living in YOU. Are you living like that?
