Prayer that sticks with you

We had the pleasure of working with a Canadian mission team a week ago and our family has been so blessed by each of them. The Lord truly shined through this team. We had a night of worship with them that has stuck with me so much that I think about it daily and it has encouraged me, pushed me, and grown me. Sounds crazy! How can ONE night of worship do this for me? Well because the Lord was there and the Lord spoke, that is how!

First, we made a fire pit on the top of the soon to be AMAZING mission house of pastor Hilmar's. The view  wow! Look around and you can see the volcanoes and the mountains and also the lights of the city. To be able to see this beautiful country, to be able to live in this breath taking place, that is a blessing in itself.  It is a constant reminder of how much more beautiful our God is and how GOOD of a God we get to serve that he would let us be in a place that literally takes our breath away.

So we had a fire and great conversation with the team as everything was coming together. We roasted marshmallows. We laughed...A LOT. Then the singing started at first the Guatemalans singing praises in Spanish and then the guitar, a bucket for a drum, and an egg like maraca joined in and we sang some English worship songs. All the songs really shouted out the greatness of our Lord. Something that I really loved was that this team had learned parts of some songs in Spanish, and as they sang these parts all the voices were joined as ONE. What a picture of Him! Apart from the language barriers and the cultural differences there was ONE voice, ONE heart singing of the Lords holiness and becoming ONE to solely glorify our Lord.

Then someone asked for a person to pray for this time. Every word of this prayer brought so much truth and so much of Him! As she prayed she spoke of how they did not want their time here to be an experience, but how they wanted more of Him. How they wanted their gifts to be used. How for those that did not speak Spanish may be used for His glory and how in the short time they were already here they had seen this. She thanked the Lord for the great blessing it was that He was already using them and how good of a God he is.  She asked for healing on those they had already met and prayed for.  She spoke their belief in His healing and His desire for healing in His children and how much they loved Him for that. She continued in praying how our cup is filled by Him alone. How if our cup is not full and if we are feeling empty it is only because we are not going to Him to be filled, and we are taking our cup away from Him. Because when we are letting Him fill our cup it will not only be filled but overflowing! So that the excess, that constant overflow from our cup will bless others. (Praise Him for He is sooooo good, so good. He has designed such a beautiful life, such a magnificent plan, and we get to take part in it! HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, SANTO, SANTO, SANTO is His name.) She ended her prayer by thanking him for this place, for these people, for this time, for His love, for His goodness.   Wow the power of prayer! I have been left in awe of Him, in awe of His faithful followers, and in awe of His plan because of this prayer.

                I have been tired because of cultural changes, language learning, sickness, and waking up three times a night with my baby for the past month. However, because of this prayer I am learning, I am being challenged to go to the Lord in my tiredness and draw from Him. To put my cup under His stream. For it is not of my own strength that I will be reenergized.  I fail often, I get frustrated a lot, but I am learning to go to His good fountain. I am finding that my cup being empty is only from my own choosing. He is teaching me, and that is all that I can I ask for.  

                As I was praying yesterday at the soon to be feeding center I heard the Lord say, " I said your yoke would be light, but not because your circumstances would be light, not because you life is light, but because of me. Because of me your yoke will feel light, because of my strength holding your yoke, it will be light. Because you come to me, because you know me, because you love me, your yoke will be light. BECAUSE I FILL YOUR CUP YOUR YOKE WILL BE LIGHT!!!"

Amen y amen




By Morgan



P.S.
P.J said he would really like to hear your thoughts positive or negative. We feel encouraged by knowing what you all are thinking

GOD IS HERE!

I have learned that to do ministry you have to prepare yourself otherwise you will fail. Like quitting your job in advance, selling everything, putting your affairs in order, etc. In addition, there are some stepping stones: education, support raising, broadening your contacts. These things will save you headaches in the long run. All of this is good and reasonable, but let me ask you something was Moses ready? What about David? Or Steven the first martyr?  We as believers have to believe in and follow the ways of the Lord. We have to let God prepare us to do His work.  That means to shut up and start listening and believing what the bible says. All the great men of the bible did not prepare themselves, but God did it for them.

This past week I have been struggling with health issues and anger because of these two reasons I  said and thought stupid things to my wife and I could have hurt my first ministry that is my family and second the ONE for Guate. ministry. This is not from a lack of preparation but a lack of listening. I am telling you this so that you know that in every ministry the devil will try to get in and cause chaos and division. We as christians are accountable to tell you what is going on in our ministry. Telling the good things, how good we are doing  and "how many people we are helping" is the easy part, but telling you our pains, our frustrations, our mistakes that we are making in the organization can be hard and can cause doubts to you as a reader and/or supporter.  This is the reality of a ministry. Things will be bad sometimes and we may have doubts, but our Father is working on us every single day and preparing us every single day as He did with the saints. Now, we are healing and we ask for prayers for continued health. (P.J)

This weekend we were able to be a part of a wedding and as I watched the people cooking, cleaning,  and decorating I saw how much JOY there is in the process. I realized that I LOVE watching the process of something coming together. I love it way more even than the finished product. Although the finished product is beautiful I would not have had as much joy if I had not seen the laughter, the apprehension, the smiles, the togetherness of the process.

As I reflected later on this I thought about the Lord and His work in each one of us. As he is teaching us, preparing us, correcting us, he is joyous! He loves to see the process of his children coming closer to Him. Yes the end product will be wonderful, great, and beautiful, but he is taking JOY in the process of our souls! (Morgan)

So here is what our process has looked like so far:

The provision of the Lord never fails.

 We came here January 21st with no jobs to acquire income, no food in our bellies, no roof over our heads, no transportation, and no bed to sleep in. People told me before I came, you are too young, you are a dreamer, you don't have money, you need a lot (ALOT) of money, you need a place to stay, ect. However, we continue to hear Him say, "you have a choice faith or fear and that is it". Let me tell you where we are now. We came and God provided a house for us.  Hilmar gave us one of his rooms the first week we were here. Remember the saying "my house is your house"   here they really mean it. Hilmar took the room of his kids and gave it to us. Now five people were sleeping in his bedroom. God was there. The next week we moved with his brother, Dennis, and he gave us a room in his house. Now, we are going to rent the upstairs of a house that Dennis is building when it  is finished, and he is giving us a good deal.  God was there. Every single day since we came we have had a roof over our heads, food in our bellies(three times a day), and a bed to sleep in. God is here.

Then came the sickness. The family we are staying with as well as us have been sick with flu like symptoms. Morgan only being sick for one day thankfully, but Kala and I being sick for more than a week now and at times with a fever of 102.7 . We prayed and prayed to God to take her fever away because we did not know what else to do and we saw His provision as he took her fever away that night and now she is eating and drinking again! Praise the Lord!   I am getting better but still have a lingering cough and Kala is getting better more and more every day. If you ask where is God? Well, God is here. 

In addition, we are going to meet with some families this Saturday as we prepare to start the feeding center on March 1st. By the way we did not even have a feeding center, but by the provision of God we met a family with the desire to serve their community and they gave us the place for free. God was still there. Please be praying for open hearts as we get to know this community and that the Lord will speak.

 We are learning to take joy in the process no matter how difficult the circumstances are. One more thing choose faith not fear today. 

P.s,. no picture this time everyone is looking pretty rough after the sickness!