What’s up world? We are back baby, fresh out-the bush! We got wifi for the first time all month, last night. GO EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This month, six out of seven teams lived together on a beautiful compound out in the bush of Somewhere, Ethiopia. When I say bush, I mean bush. The compound was surrounded by beautiful views of rolling hills and wide grasslands that stretch all the way to the horizon. The closest grocery store was about two hours away. Because of transportation costs, we did two grocery runs for the whole month for all six teams. The rest of our food was purchased at an amazing, hectic and sometimes overwhelming market that was a ten minute walk out of the compound. We purchased fresh vegetables, bread, flour and sometimes coke from the local market. We had to get really creative when cooking our meals (and by we I mean my teammates, I spread peanut butter and that’s about it).
The compound was owned by Hopethiopia. Hopethiopia provides homes for orphans and jobs for women. It consists of one big building where most of our squad slept (bunkbeds, western toilets, large living room) and seven other smaller buildings where the orphans and house moms lived.
In the mornings we did hard labor around the compound. We cut grass to make room for the kids to play, made bricks that helped build a new disability center or watered the garden.
In the afternoons we spent time with the twenty four children and seven house moms. We played soccer with the children, taught them English, drank Ethiopian coffee with the house moms or planned events for everyone to enjoy. We had soccer tournaments, movie nights, bible story lessons, field days, scavenger hunts and a lot of other random fun.
On Sunday’s we attended a local church. Church here is a Holy Spirit party. Dancing, singing, shouting, crying. We had the amazing privilege of preaching and leading worship when asked.
The seventh team that was not with us this month was assigned Unsung Heroes. They searched for new contacts for Adventures in Mission to link up with in Ethiopia.
I want to share a powerful testimony of the Holy Spirit’s power and the Lord’s faithfulness that took place on January 1st, 2018! My team leader, Andre Gonzales, is from Costa Rica and has had some trouble getting past immigration. She was not allowed into Thailand at the beginning of month three and had to travel back to Nepal to reevaluate her visa situation. We knew that getting into the Ethiopia was going to be another challenge, so in Vietnam she began preparing and we began praying.
When our team got up to the immigration booth, one by one each of us were cleared and walked around the back to receive our passport and visa, except Andre. Andre’s visa was denied and she had to go back behind the line and wait by the door. Two of our squad leaders and one logistic coordinator walked back with her, trying to figure out what to do. When I was told Andre couldn’t get through, I immediately walked back around the immigration booth and thought, I am not going through without her. I stood near the booth with her in my eyesight and watched as she and the three leaders started making phone calls.
That sight was the strangest thing. On the world race, your team becomes your family. You fight for them, you cry with them, you are connected to them. That moment felt like something out of a movie. Picture that moment in a war movie or something when a family member is forced to separate. One looks at the other and says I won’t leave you, but the other says confidently, you have go on. (Yes, it was absolutely that dramatic).
Andre became a close friend of mine the first week we were put on a team together. It felt wrong to leave her there. I stood there for maybe five more minutes until Brad, one of the squad leaders, walked up to the front of the line and said “Kim go on through, we will stay with her.” I didn’t want to leave, but considering I had all of my team’s money I figured I should go through. I prayed as I handed my visa to the immigration officer and walked through to baggage claim. There more I prayed, the more peace I felt. She will get through, she will.
After we gathered our bags and waited for our ministry host, things started to feel off. Two of our leaders asked us to gather overnight clothes and toiletries for Andre out of her pack that we had collected for her. It seemed as though she would not be joining us after all. We were told that the most probable situation was she would have to fly to Kenya for a couple of days to wait on her visa and then return to us. We did not like that idea, but we trusted that maybe the Lord had a work for Andre to do in Kenya.
As time passed we kept receiving more and more discouraging information. Kenya denied her visa three times. If she could not find somewhere to go soon she would be deported back to Costa Rica and traveling anywhere after that would be extremely challenging. There was a good chance she would have to return home to Costa Rica for our two months in Africa and then join us again for month eight in South America.
This did not make any sense to us. Andre’s heart was full of love for Africa. She started praying for the kids and the house moms we would meet in Ethiopia by name during our last week in Vietnam. Fundraising was a huge battle for her and she just became fully funded. Andre also chose this route specifically because the Lord put Rwanda (our next country) on her heart. She is a powerhouse of humble, selfless, gracious, deep, loyal, Christlike love.
In my gut something kept yelling, this is wrong. It wasn’t just a sorrowful feeling, it was a call to action, a call to fight. Our teammate Taylor, also a logistics coordinator, said it would have to be a miracle that she got into Ethiopia.
At that sentence something in my spirit jumped. I felt the Holy Spirit to prompt me to fight for her. A verse that has really been highlighted to me this season has been Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
The battle was not her visa, the immigration officers, life circumstances etc. Something was keeping her from Ethiopia, I could feel it. She was meant to be here. The next day the Holy Spirit kept me in constant prayer over her. He asked me to invite our whole squad to pray and pray confidently.
That night she did not arrive, but neither did Brad or Cristin (the two squad leaders who stayed back with her). We knew at least she had not been deported. Taylor told our team the airport let her stay one more night and there was a meeting with immigration and our ministry host the next day. I laid in bed that night and felt something shift.
That morning the Lord woke me up at 6:45am. I woke up and heard loud and clear: I want you to fast and I want you to pray, she is coming today.I laid there and listened longer and that message only became louder and more clear. There was this small whisper behind the command that said, if you listen and obey Kim, you will see this promise fulfilled. There was obedience behind the promise.
I was reminded of Solomon’s story that I have been reading in 1 Kings. The Lord asks Solomon to obey his commands numerous times.
1 Kings 6:11 If you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all of my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your Father.
1 Kings 9:4 If you walk before me faithfully with integrity of head and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Isreal forever.
He promises to bless Solomon’s kingdom if he chooses to obey. The Lord’s covenant with David was not contingent on Solomon’s obedience, but God invited Solomon into the blessing if he chose to obey.
I said, Okay Lord. Let’s go. I will do it. Just for kicks, I asked Him really fast: Can I have coffee? He said: No, nothing but water today. Anything and everything was worth it at that point.
That morning we worshiped altogether as one big group. The songs we played were all Andre’s favorites, interesting. When we started playing the first one, I was brought to tears praying over her. Something was moving I could feel it. The Holy Spirt prompted me to publicly declare that she would arrive that day. I followed his lead and announced that God told me she was coming and that we would see her today. I praised God in advance for his faithfulness. My hands began to shake a little after I prayed.
Being bold in listening to the Holy Spirit is new for me. Being completely honest, it was uncomfortable to boldly declare that. I was relying solely on faith that God had spoken that to me. These were my honest thoughts in that moment: Yikes, there it is. I hope I heard that right. I really hope she comes here today. Lord, fulfill that prayer.
As I sat in God’s presence and asked for more of Him and less of me, the assurance became clearer and my fears were quieted.
My thoughts changed to:
I don’t care how I am perceived, make me a fool for your sake Lord. I know you spoke to me and I will obey. Spirit lead me, I will follow no matter the cost. More of you, less of me.
Seconds later my heart and hands settled and a peace flooded every part of me. We continued to worship and I felt myself somehow leave the room. I looked out the window and knew I would see a car pull up today.
Worship ended and all I wanted to do was be in God’s presence. I grabbed my guitar and walked outside. I closed my eyes, strummed a quiet song and sat with God. Fifteen minutes later I heard rejoicing coming from inside. I stood up and walked to the door just as my former teammate Katie ran outside and yelled, “KIM! WE JUST GOT A CALL. ANDRE GOT HER VISA. SHE WILL BE HERE IN TWO HOURS.” I dropped to my knees and covered my face as more squamates ran outside and crowded me. Amen.
The Lord not only worked a miracle for Andre but also was so incredibly faithful to me. I was so overcome with his power and glory all I wanted to do was worship all day long. Andre, Brad and Cristin pulled up in a red truck a couple hours later and were greeted by hugs, rejoices and the biggest amen I have ever felt.
I was amped after that. God is amazing.
I was so thankful that God invited me into the fight for Andre, allowed me to share in the blessing of that miracle while teaching me how to walk in confidence of his voice. I had been praying that I would hear a clear prompting from the Holy Spirit for a couple of days and God allowed me witness a miracle.
In that moment I experienced a new depth of the Father’s love, a new connectedness with the Holy Spirit’s power and a new appreciation for the work that Jesus did on the cross.
He. Is. So. Good.
