We said goodbye to our squad yesterday. It was a bittersweet, even though we had only
been together as a squad for less than a week we all got super close to each
other as well as grew together with our God.
Launch week was amazing, God is continually showering his love on me and
revealing more of His character to me through His word and through the people
he has placed around me. I love These people, they have shown me so much love and bring me so much Joy!
Surrender, abandonment, these are two things we are learning to Joyfully do
every minute. For we know not the plans
that He has for us, but we know he loves us and we know he is continually with
us and grooming us into His image. I am
all in, whatever He wants to throw at me, I know I could never be fully ready
or prepared but with Him and through Him and I beyond ready to tackle the un-tackleable.
day during worship I was on my hands and knees completely giving up,
surrendering all I had, no expectations, no fears, no desires, other than His
own. He lives inside of me, this is a
truth I know but I often do not let Him out fully. During this time of surrender, I let the Holy
Spirit out; I let my prayer language out. I had never understood when people would tell
me about the closeness and freedom they feel when speaking in tongues. I finally understood, I had never felt so
close to God as I did in that moment. I
could hear his heart beat beckoning; I could hear His spirit calling me. The walls are breaking down, we are dying to
ourselves, and we are dying so that we may live in Him. He has completely captivated me; I am falling
more and more in love with Him every single day. I never knew death could be so
sweet, I never knew surrender could feel so free.
Yesterday we went to our first
Ecuadorian church. The passion that
filled that room was shaking the walls, bringing them down for our Lord. You couldn’t help but have Joy and Love
exploding out of you. After church we
were leaving and this woman ran out, chasing me and told me that God had given
her words for me. Her words were so
encouraging; they really spoke to me, and spoke straight to what God had been
teaching me and showing me about myself.
She also told me that God had anointed my hands as healing hands, that
He had given me the gift to heal people and that with my hands I would heal many. She told me to continue to worship through
the hard times, to worship, worship, worship.
We are becoming aware that that is what we will need to cling to through
these next 11 months, clinging to him, clinging to his truth and what he has
promised us.
We
are in day two of our ministry, the first full day of work. We are staying at a home and working with an
organization called Dios Del Amor, God is Love.
When we were first introduced to our host we learned quickly that there
was a definite language barrier and communication might be difficult. Gustavo, the man who gave us this contact
gave me a reassuring hug and said have faith, have faith. I heard God whispering that to me as well,
have faith my daughter, this has been well planned and orchestrated by your
Father. Trusting, my Qodesh family went off with two
men, new friends, new family. We were
welcomed with hugs, kisses. Even through
the language barrier these warm embraces communicated Love, showed us Christ’s
love. They gave my family a room to
ourselves, we have 5 beds on the floor that provide us with comfort and warmth
we were not expecting. Their hospitality
is almost more than I can bear. If you
want to know the true meaning of family, just come and live here for 5 minutes. We all feel like we are already a part of
their family, they love us as their own.
Its hard to describe where we are staying, the outside walls are all
white and there are three houses, the church and a school all connected as if
it were one house, its like a little community.
The most amazing thing is that everyone who lives here is all
family. I am learning so much already
from them, learning how to receive, learning how to give, learning how to love,
learning what family means and learning about our Christ familia. We are beyond blessed and know that this is
going to be an amazing month. We are
building a church that we broke ground on today. We will also be teaching class, bible
studies, doing skits for the children, preaching and ministering to the
community. I love everyone in my family
and excited for what God has in store for us this coming up year. Praying for everyone at home and that by
reading our stories and what God is doing through us, you will feel just as
much a part of them.
We got the opportunity today to
pray for a man’s back. He has three
herniated disks on his spine, he has had them for a year and was bed ridden for
over 2 weeks. He needs surgery but he
is trusting that the Lord will heal Him.
I fully believe that He is healed.
He said it feels much better and that the pain went away and I know that
it will continue to feel better as the days go on. God is working, Heaven is coming down, walls
are breaking, fire is raining down from heaven bringing Jesus to this earth with
power and Love.
Also the food here is amazing,
and I am working in the Andes Mountains! It is the most beautiful sight outside
my window and I still can’t believe that I am actually here and that this is
just the beginning. God is such an
artist, such a painter, a sculptor and he has carefully designed the beauty
that surrounds me. This is the beginning of a most wonderful adventure for our
Savior. And Spanish is becoming easier
and easier to understand and it has only been 1 day. Praise the Lord! He is beyond good! 
