Visiting one of the plant churches in the area
Building relationships in the park
Spending time with the youth&young adults of the local church
Praying over the park
This past month in Ecuador God has been revealing many things in my life through the ministries I was involved in. The first thing that he has revealed to me is that I cannot let my fears get in the way of what God is going to do or doing. Satan has a way of trying to cripple us with our past and making us doubt what God can do. A fear that I know is not true but I allowed myself to believe in high school was that because it took me longer to learn/comprehend school subjects I made myself believe that I was not smart enough or even good enough.
This was all lies that Satan was putting in my mind because I am good enough and I do have a purpose in life. This month has been incredible because I have been pushed out of my comfort zone to share my testimony. This was not just me sharing my testimony but me being raw and real about what struggles I go through and may be going through in life. This was a struggle because vulnerability is not something that comes easy to me but my teammates were such a huge encouragement to me this month in pushing me to be real about being vulnerable.
This month I also got the opportunity to go to one of the church plants that the pastor we were staying at planted. At this church I shared about my passion for social injustice and how I care so deeply for stopping it and how Gods heart is for justice as well.
This month through being deeply involved with church ministries at the church, visiting plant churches, and going to Lumbaqui while the pastor was at a conference God really showed me how important relationships are to Him. While I was in Lago Agrio, Ecuador I started to read through the book of Matthew and it was so relevant for the place I was. Jesus ministry to people while he was here on earth was so relational and intentional. I want people to look back on my life and say that thats how I lived.
I don’t want to live in fear of my past struggles. Colossians 3:2-4 says,” Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also you also will appear with him in glory.” While being in Banos, Ecuador on debrief reflecting on what I have experienced this past month I have realized how much I want to seek after God with all my heart and leave all my fears behind. Jeremiah 29:13 says ,” You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” I want to seek him with all my heart even if it is battered and bruised because when I do he says I will find him.
