Hello, everyone!
Here are some updates about what God is teaching me and what we’ve been doing for the past week and a half!
Because I can’t handle reading only one book of the Bible at a time, recently I have been reading through Daniel, 1 Thessalonians, and the occasional Psalm or Proverb. This morning I read through Daniel 6, which is the story of Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den. I noticed a detail I hadn’t seen before. Verse 17 says “a stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.”
So that his situation might not be changed. The stone was sealed so his fate could not be altered. It reminds me a lot of another stone that was supposed to be sealed forever: the stone rolled over the tomb of Jesus. Isn’t it comforting to know that any stones that are placed in our lives and are seemingly SEALED by those around us mean nothing to our God?! God will either provide a miracle behind the stone or He will just roll that stone away!
As I am writing this I am praying that you know the God who has sealed you in the Holy Spirit, the God whose seals can never be broken, and the God who can break any seal made by this world. And because we serve a God who can break all seals, may we never “seal our lips” about the miraculous works He has done in our lives (Psalm 40:9). I just wanted to share that little nugget with you all today! Hope it blessed someone!
God has definitely been doing some great works through our team and within our team here in Cartagena this past week. We have continued doing ministry, which has gotten even busier because Alex realized we were capable of teaching English classes on our own. Here is a photo of an English class (with Karen, Alex’s daughter) I taught this week about the ocean and the conditional tense in English. I’m loving this student teaching experience I’m getting!
Also this week was Chrissy’s birthday, so Alex took us to Playa Blanca to celebrate! The beach is about an hour away from Cartagena, and it was so beautiful (even though it rained half the day). This is Team 3125 with our host mom, Mercy!
I have loved getting to know my team better and God has really been using them to break down walls in my life and show me His love. This week my team prayed over me and spoke words into my life that perfectly matched things God spoke to me over a year ago. They would have no way of knowing God had said that to me, so the Spirit’s work was obvious. I am so grateful for their obedient hearts and abundant love as they serve me how Christ would.
Furthermore, Hannah is part of an up and coming part of the World Race called Beauty for Ashes, where there are specific outreaches planned to show women how loved they really are. I am so proud of Hannah for being bold and inviting two of the girls from our English class to come to an event she planned. Hannah made a fun game for us to play, translated an entire story into Spanish, and had a powerful activity where we drew our view of God and then talked about it. One of the girls we invited cried with us as she shared part of her story with us and we talked for hours. It was so incredible and I am honored to have been a part of this! Props to Hannah for being bold and bigger props to the God who honored that boldness and broke some walls in these women’s lives!
Finally, yesterday we were surprised with a fun gift after church. There has been a couple here from New Zealand for a few days who are supporters of the Alex Rocha Foundation. They sponsored a bus for us to take a lot of the kids in the community to the kite festival yesterday. The kids had a blast and so did we! According to my parents I have flown a kite before when I was young, but I don’t remember it so this was a new experience for me! What better place to do it than in Cartagena, where flying kites is a cultural norm?
There is a video below about our day and it also shows what we did last night: we made a surprise dinner for Alex and Mercy – so so fun!
Since we are trying to keep our packs light and we don’t really have much room to store things, we can’t really get souvenirs. I wanted a little piece of each country with me, though, so I decided to get a painting in each country. They are flat, I have a love for art, and they are perfect for decorating when I get back.
This morning I got a super amazing gift from a super amazing person! Last week I met Alex’s friend, Yerro, who made a bike for the kids at the Youth Center. We started talking and I found out that he is an artist. I showed him the only picture I had of a painting I had made (the cougar painting in your classroom, Mom), and we bonded over our love of painting. I asked him if I could hire him to paint me a custom-made piece, and he happily agreed, even being so generous as to give me a discounted price because he wanted it to be a gift. This is the painting with which I am absolutely in love!!
If you don’t know, horses and wolves are my two favorite animals. Yerro knew that, and he painted me a gorgeous horse. What he didn’t know is that blue and green are my two favorite colors, as well! That was God’s gift to me through Yerro’s gift. I told him I would send him a photo of his painting when I get home and frame it. He posted a picture of it yesterday on his Facebook and everyone was commenting on it trying to buy it from him…I felt so special that it was specifically made for ME! :):)
Some updates and prayer requests:
1. We leave our ministry with the Alex Rocha Foundation on Wednesday. The rest of the teams on our squads that have been in other cities are coming to Cartagena, and we will have a five-day debrief in the Old City. We will have six debriefs this year, and they are where World Race staff come out and pour back into us. I’m so excited to see the rest of our squad and have some rejuvenation before we head to our next assignment! Please pray for rest and encouragement for my squad and me at debrief.
2. After debrief, we head to the States! It was the cheapest to fly back to the US before we go to Guyana, so we are flying into Fort Lauderdale and then taking a bus to Miami and then flying to Guyana. Welcome to the World Race. We will then spend a couple days in Georgetown, Guyana, before our host picks us up there and takes us to Corriverton, Guyana. Please pray for safe travels to the next country!
3. We do not have team changes this month, but we are joining another team for ministry next month! We will join team Wild Abouts (you can view their team by clicking the squad button on the side of this page if you are on a computer). Guyana is our first Expedition country, so a few of our teams are trying to find new ministry hosts and some of us are trying out some ministry hosts for the first time. We will be the first Word Race team(s) our ministry has ever hosted, so please pray we make a good impression both for the World Race and for Christ and that we can leave this new host better than we found them.
4. Please pray we all are open to what God wants to do in and through us this next month and beyond!
Guys! I can’t believe it! We are finished with month one of the World Race! Thank you so much for being on this journey with me and for your continued support and prayers! I love you all!
Tera
