2nd Corinthians 13:4-5
“For to be sure, he (Jesus) was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?”
We’ve had such a full schedule here in Esmeraldas that I’ve sort of stopped taking so many pictures because it’s been such a blur. We’re paining in the bad neighborhood, we presented in a women’s rehab center, we got invited to a town about a half hour away called “Attacomas” where we worked in a elderly care facility, we presented for a young political activist group, we also spent a morning working with infants, and those are just the activities that involved working with MIES. We also were doing church stuff too, like visiting people in their homes and praying for them, making appearances at birthday parties and leading youth-groups. Yes, this week I’ve definitely examined myself to see if I’m in the faith, and I haven’t failed the test. Just like last week I’m convinced that God is with me because physically I’ve been able to push my limits of exhaustion further than I know they can go. Like the verse says, I know my limitations and weakness and it’s only by God’s power that I’ve been able to continue working as hard as I have and complete the full schedule of things we’ve been given to do here.
God’s definitely been moving in cool ways this week Our MIES liaison that we partnered with when we arrived here became a Christian and wanted us to do our presentation in all these new places that we couldn’t have otherwise. The local news station did a story about us that aired on the evening news and resulted in a increase of visibility and support for the neighborhood we were working with. I asked our liaison if getting the news to do a story on a volunteer group is a typical thing (because we’re not the first group that’s tried to help out this gnarly neighborhood) and she that they’ve tried to generate publicity before but this was the first time they we able to get them to do a story. The day after we were on the news we were painting again in the neighborhood and all of these agencies were coming in and doing inventories and seeing what was needed and I heard the ladies working there saying “All this because some missionaries came to paint!”. We received an invitation to do our presentations in Attacomas and this local political candidate let the YWAM team sleep some rooms of a giant hotel that he owned right on the beach. Even though it was almost midnight and we had a big day in the morning that didn’t stop us from staying up to the wee hours of the morning eating huge skewers of meat and swimming in the warm ocean water.
A re-occurring theme of verses that I keep receiving in my quiet times is that we get stronger as Christian in the opposite way that you might get stronger weight lifting. When I rely less on myself, less on my own abilities and admit that the only way I’m going to be able to get through something is with God then He’s always faithful to support me.
Galatians 3:3-4
“Are you so foolish? After beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing – if it really was for nothing?
I don’t think I could learn this lesson so fully in a country that spoke English and even though I’m definitely still struggling super hard with the language I do know that I’m making progress. I’ve started picking up broad strokes of sermons and prayers, but when trying to follow other people’s conversations my head’s still swimming. We’re one month into to this outreach and I like seeing how God has showed up, how He’s been faithful, and how He’s used me and the team, but at the same time I don’t know if I can really say I’m having “fun”. I’ve definitely had fun at times, but I can’t seem to shake this feeling that this time is mostly about building character and growing. Part of me is excited about getting better and better at Spanish and growing closer to God but the Devil never takes a break and sometimes I catch myself just wanting to go back to the comforts of home. Our MIES liaison’s mega-babe daughter was also flirting with me pretty hardcore this week and it was some temptation that I sure was expecting, but it was just a test that I passed and I just used the opportunity to talk to her about God and talking with her all the time even helped my Spanish.
When I look back on this time when I finally return to Santa Cruz I´ll no doubt have nothing but positive things to say about it. I´ll have even more stories and testimonies when I come back in December but when you´ve living it it´s really hard. I´m 26, this is the time in my life when I should be having adventures and though I´m having success I´m still in a foreign country, surrounded by strangers, where I don´t speak the language, living out a backpack, and working really really hard. Sometimes these blog entries have to be nothing more than event updates and Bible verses because when I try and reflect on what I´ve been doing my brain can feel like it´s in a state of shell shock.
Yes the date and time of this picture are correct, and after it was taken I jumped in the ocean and swam around for an hour. (Liaison´s daughter to the right)
The City of Esmeraldas
The youth group took us to the beach last Saturday and we took a boat and swam around this big rock. I´m definitely enjoying the weather here when it comes to swimming in ocean water right beneath the equator.
The coastal city of Attacomas.
I´m getting pretty used to sitting like this is the back of trucks. I´m thinking doing a series of videos called ´historia de detras de la camion´ or ´tales from the back of the truck´.
A couple of shots taken at the women´s center we went to.
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