Day in the Life

 

At last! I have computer access long enough to post a blog. Praise Him!

Where do I begin exactly… I have been in Ejido Buenos Aires for nearly 4 weeks now and so much has happened. We arrived on September 23^rd and entered into a time of solitude on the Thursday the 24^th. What a time it was! Solitude is a spiritual discipline that I have never quite developed. I have had time alone with the Lord, time set aside, yet I have never entered into solitude where I remove myself from all distractions, and devote myself to being with Him. We had no cell phones, no computers, no technology at all. We didn’t speak to anyone else. I found it incredibly difficult at first since I was surrounded by people, yet we couldn’t talk. It was almost like a punishment. Yet after the 40^th hour or so, I began to understand what it was to be still in the Lord. I was able to be peaceful in Him, so hear His message through His word more clearly. I saw Him in everything around me. Even the steam off my coffee showed His beauty as it danced and swirled away into the air. I was able to let go of all my anxieties from home, my baggage and give it to Him. I wish it could have gone on longer, that I could have stayed in solitude with Him for days. Once I truly gave myself to it, I was content. Yet come Saturday afternoon solitude ended and training began. After experiencing solitude with the Lord, I find myself yearning for it from day to day. It is what He had intended for us in the Garden of Eden, to be with Him, no distractions, to walk and talk with Him. I know it is a discipline, but it is one that I am working on, praying over, and growing stronger in through God.

Since then, life has been so busy. We are reading 3 books right now, “Exiles” by Michael Frost, “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster, and “Across the Spectrum” by Gregory Boyd and Paul Eddy. As we study these books as well as digging into the word, I am growing in my faith, opening myself up to Christ’s call for me, understanding what He truly asks of us as Christians and missionaries, and being challenged to defend what I believe and know is true. It is exciting and exhausting all at the same time. God is meeting us in exciting ways. The Spirit is visibly moving within each of us. Our community is growing stronger through our faith in God. We have already been through trials greater than I had fathomed yet I am so grateful for them because it is through them that we are growing. From sickness and team struggles to fighting as God’s army in times of spiritual warfare, God has revealed His power and glory over and over. I am in awe of Him and praise Him!

We are also working in the community. My team’s host family, Gris and her two children, Estralla and Oscar are wonderful. We have not met her husband yet since he works all day. We are still struggling through the language barrier since only three of us speak weak Spanish and Gris speaks no English, but I know God has plans here and trust it to Him. We walk to Gris’ house at 2:30 Monday through Friday and spend time sharing our lives with her. I ask for prayers as we continue to visit Gris. Pray that we can overcome the language barrier and open up to her on a deeper level. Besides our host family, we have visited an orphanage, done prison ministry, and are helping MTI (Missions Training Institute) build their new facility in Matamoros. God is doing great things there through MTI and I feel blessed to be even a small part of it.

This past week we were blessed to have an organic gardening guru stay with us and teach us what he knows. Camp Holder helped us build compost bins, plant carrots and radishes, and taught us how to worm noodle. We are having a contest to see which team’s vegetables can grow the largest and have the most weight. The winner gets $200 extra for our outreach ministry at the end of training. You better believe that our plants have been covered in prayer daily! We also play Beethoven for them daily, sing to them, speak love over them, and have covered the plant box with words of encouragement and scripture. Don’t laugh… they are growing! Camp is one of the coolest men of God I have met and has an incredible ministry back in Chattanooga, TN. He has grown an organic garden at his church and the food is free to the community. It is such a great way to show Christ’s love to all and gives him a chance to share his faith with non-believers outside of a church setting. We learned so much from him about gardening, but more so about walking in faith. Thank you Camp!

Each Saturday, we go to either Harlingen, TX or Matamoros, MX and spend the day enjoying each other’s company, and often relaxing in a movie theatre to enjoy the air conditioning for a while. I am especially looking forward to next weekend’s trip to Harlingen when I will get to spend a little time with my grandparents. It will be so good to see them. The following weekend, my mom is coming to visit, and the weekend after that, Dad, Dee and Ryan are coming. I am so blessed to be able to spend time with my family before I leave, and have them see what God is doing here. 

Apart from that, life is going well. The food here is wonderful and we even have air-conditioning in our room now. (to help keep the bed mites at bay… I’m not complaining though!) I haven’t been too homesick just yet, praise God, but know that I am thinking about everyone and keeping you in my prayers. After this weekend, I will have a little computer with me and will post more frequently with pictures.  I know this was a very brief overview of the last few weeks, and I apologize for that. Please leave comments and I will give more details when I can!

I love you all and pray that God is blessing you. I pray that you will seek Him daily and that He will reveal himself in new ways to you as He is to me. 

Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved.

                   -Ephesians 2:4-5