Here are a few things we’ve been up to this month:
24 HOUR
PRAYER – yup, Team Beloved and Team Deep Waters took various
time slots to pray throughout the day and night leading up to Easter Sunday…
what a way to bring in such a day of victory!
EASTER
SUNRISE ON A MOUNTAIN – legit! A previous blog from Aly explained a
bit about this, but seven of us got up at 5am to hike up a mountain (that
conveniently has a cross at the top – thanks, God!) to marvel at the beauty of
the Lord and celebrate His divine resurrection. We worshipped, sang, danced,
frolicked in the grass, took communion together (along with some new friends we
met up there), broke a bottle of praise (well… it kinda rolled down the
mountain, but God understands!), prayed together, read a bunch of Psalms, and
stood in awe and wonder at God’s creation as the sun rose over the mountains, a
nearby volcano, and the whole city of Antigua. PRAISE THE LORD!
I kept getting crazy bursts of the Spirit while up there and
sprinting around… I just couldn’t help it. HE IS
RISEN!! THE VICTORY HAS BEEN WON!! CHRIST LIVES AND REIGNS FOREVER! PRAISE
JESUS!! I almost skipped home
there was so much joy and Spirit flowing through my bones. I couldn’t help but
tell everyone I saw on the streets that day,� Jesus vive!� (Jesus lives!) or “Jesus
te ama!� (Jesus loves you!) It was as if I couldn’t even control myself and it
just came out! I love the Lord. 🙂 So yea, it was definitely one of the best
Easters of all time. GOD IS GOOD!
KIRSTEN AND
I HELPED MAKE SOME TRADITIONAL EASTER ARTWORK ON THE STREET! That’s
right, it was time for another Easter procession so the locals were out with
their colored sawdust, flowers, vegetables, and other materials they use to
make beautiful works of art on the cobblestone streets. Kige and I were walking
by and decided to take a chance and ask if they needed any help… they said YES!
So Kirsten started for awhile and then I joined in… sprinkling sawdust where
they told us to create a beautiful design. It was SO FUN! (I’ll try to post
some pictures of it soon). We got to know the artist and his family (they were
SO sweet!) and they graciously invited us into their restaurant after the
procession to hang out and enjoy the best nachos I’ve ever eaten along with
coffee and soda… all on them! Wow. What a treat and a divine encounter! Kirsten
and I just looked at each other at one point as we sat there and said, “These
are the moments I’m going to miss.� I love random connections and adventures…
praise the Lord!
RUNNING ALMOST
DAILY – woo! It’s so nice to have other people who like to
run with me this month! Praise God! Aly and I have been getting up early almost
every day to run around the beautiful streets of Antigua; we rarely retrace the
same path so we’ve been having a good time exploring and discovering new areas.
It’s also been a blast to hike up the mountain often and do a few sprints with
Justin here and there. Good times. 🙂 Being active and experiencing God’s
creation is good for my soul. 🙂
LIVING
SIMPLY WITH OUR FOOD – Yup, you heard right. We are eating SO
FRUGALLY this month and I love it! (Meals in Antigua are super expensive since
it’s such a tourist city, but fear not! We know how to do it.) Beans, eggs, tortillas,
pasta, and cereal… yum! We just bought all our food for the next seven days
(that’s twenty-one meals) and spent the equivalent of about fifteen dollars per
person. Fifteen dollars! For a week of food! That’s less than a dollar per
meal! Insane! So yea, it makes me happy. Scrappy living… living simply. 🙂
WORKING
WITH A SWEET ORGANIZATION: La Asociacion Nuestros Ahijados (The GOD’S
CHILD Project) – this place does SO MUCH! We took a tour at the beginning
of the week of their center and were in awe at all the projects they have
running in just a short span of 20 years – it’s incredible. Just to give you an
idea: they have two schools, support programs and life courses for moms, a
rehabilitation center for malnourished babies, a sex-trafficking prevention
program, numerous social workers to keep tabs on the families, food and
vegetable donation and distribution services, a full clinic and laboratory, and
they’re starting a prosecution unit for victims of domestic violence. Good
stuff!
The other day we did a bunch of social work visits to talk
with families they’re supporting and we had a lot of fun. We walked around a bunch
of mountainous communities that totally reminded me of Los Pinos in Honduras
and made me miss it! We got to know our social worker – Carlos – along with the
families and children. So sweet! We’ll also be working with/ loving on the
malnourished babies as well as helping distribute food in the coming week. Good
times! (We work with this organization every morning we go to the hospital… so
pretty much every other day that we’re not teaching with Luis.)
ENJOYING
TIME WITH LUPITA AND THE GIRLS AT THE HOSPITAL – this has actually
turned into something I truly look forward to – PRAISE THE LORD!! It amazes me
how God has turned something I felt completely inept and apprehensive about
only a week ago into something I get all giddy inside about now. WOW! GOD IS SO
GOOD!! B.Cox and I are usually together with these chicas and we’ve begun
taking music in to sing and dance with them! It’s been awesome! The time simply
flies when we’re there and I’m always surprised when it’s time to say goodbye. Lupita
actually started speaking the other day!! I was so excited! It wasn’t very
clear, but I kept asking her how old she was and listing different ages and she
kept saying, “Noâ€� to the wrong age! I think I figured out that she’s 20 –
sweet! It was just super exciting to see her communicating… praise the Lord! We
continue to snort together and crack one another up… her joy is contagious. I always tell her how precious, beautiful,
and loved she is by God and I continue to pray for and speak life over her. Praise
Jesus for this beautiful friendship that is just continuing to grow!
INCREDIBLE
IMPROMPTU CONVERSATIONS WITH HOSTEL EMPLOYEES – Wow. I am in complete
awe… yet again. God is so ridiculously AMAZING!! This just happened a few
minutes ago and I’m still in wonder. I was simply sitting down here in our
hostel, about to finish up this blog to post it, and one of the hostel
employees walks by and says hello. He introduces himself, asks me my name, and
if I speak any Spanish. I tell him “mas o menos� (more or less), and we
continue to talk for the next hour. GOD
IS SO GOOD! Alex tells me all about his life and asks me about mine; he
tells me about his faith (he’s a Christian too and loves World Race teams… he’s
been working with them for the last five years!), his family (his wife and his year
and a half year old son – little Alex), his church in the pueblo he’s from and
how he’d love to have World Race teams come minister there, and all about the
ways the Lord has been divinely providing for and leading his life. SO COOL!!! He then opened up about some
of his struggles and the ways he’s being challenged right now; God gave me
words of encouragement to speak into him (in SPANISH), and then we prayed for one another – right here, in the
hallway of the hostel, shortly after meeting for the first time. I LOVE the way
God divinely ordains moments like these and truly connects members of His body
through His Spirit!!! I’m so incredibly blessed by this divine encounter and
the ways God never ceases to amaze me!! And use us all!! Again and again and
again!! Aye de mi! I am so in love with JESUS!!!
“Shout for JOY to the LORD, all the
earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the
harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of
the ram’s horn – shout for JOY before the LORD, the King” (Psalm 98:4-6)
p.s. Final debrief
starts on May 8th (the whole squad will be traveling here to
Antigua) and we all fly back to the States (LAX) on May 12th. That’s in
exactly two weeks. CRAZY!
I can’t wait to see all your beautiful faces when I get home… THANK YOU for
your abundant support, encouragement and LOVE! I am so grateful! 🙂
