I am not good at receiving gifts, but last night God showered me with them through the people we have grown to love and call family these past three weeks. He’s teaching me how to receive and is reminding me that He is my Father and wants to bless me abundantly.
Normally the church we have been working with (Vision Mundial para la Familia) has a service on Thursday nights, but this week that service was a surprise going away party for our team. After being held in waiting at Juan Carlos’ house (Americans are always early), we were brought to a darkened church and then surprised with confetti and lots of hugs. They danced for us, they sang for us, they fed us delicious food (including 24+” pizzas—not exaggerating). It was overwhelming and we felt so loved. But that was just the beginning.
The pastors (Juan and Ester) washed our teams’ feet, blessed us, and prayed over us. As my other teammate, Abby, put it, we ugly cried, and it didn’t stop the rest of the night. While Pastor was washing my feet, God just gave me the word “receive.” So I did. Little did I know what would happen next.
One by one, each member of the church came up and gave us gift after gift, note after note, encouragement after encouragement, prayer after prayer. They gave us their absolute best. What a perfect picture of what the community of Christ is supposed to look like. What a vision of how much God loves us. They have shown our team sacrificial hospitality at its finest.
I left the church that night physically and emotionally exhausted. I have been fighting a cold for the past few days, and after not sleeping well the night before, I came to the church really worn down. The massive amounts of crying didn’t help either. But my heart has never felt fuller. To steal a line from Cory Asbury’s song, “I may be weak, but your Spirit’s strong in me.”
To say we are sad to leave this place is an understatement. We’ve considered staying several times–there are birthdays to celebrate, a family to move into a new home, more hospitals to visit. But I really believe that God’s purpose for us in Ecuador has been fulfilled in the short time we’ve been here, and it’s time to move on. God has big things planned for Peru, and our selfish desires cannot get in the way of that. VMF, we love you more than words can say and will be back for a wedding very soon!
N Squad leaves for a 30ish hour bus ride to Peru tonight. Pray for health and positive attitudes as we adjust to living together in much, uh, more primitive conditions next month. Oh, and we won’t have internet, so I will update when I can. Sending love from Ecuador!
Fundraising update: I am about $1,700 short of meeting my next deadline, which is at the end of March. You can donate here.
