Little update on outreach:
There has been a lot of fighting going on at the border between Haiti and the DR. People are being killed and it doesn't seem to be improving. As we have a few Dominicans on our team, the fear of this fighting is very real. As scary as this is for us North Americans, the reality for them is a lot more frightening than it is for the rest of us. The history of the fighting going on right now goes back hundreds of years. Pray for resolution. God seems to be closing doors and our options in Haiti suddenly limited. God has other plans for us. In Haiti, our plan was to be working with Justice Water which is an awesome movement that we are learning about all this week. As it stands now we will not be entering Haiti, we will be going with Justice Water to another city in the DR called Barahona. So ours plans have changed, but our God hasn't. We are excited and know that God will move where ever He takes us. His thoughts are higher than ours. (:
On January 8th we will be flying to Brazil. There we will be staying in a Favela in Rio at an orphanage. We are going to be working with street kids, with the local church, and with ministries there. We will be there for a month. We have spent time looking into the culture, what they believe and why, and their government issues. There is so much corruption and injustice and so much goes unnoticed. Only to the world does it go unnoticed- God sees, knows, and created every life in that city. I am praying God gives me His eyes for the people in every place we go on outreach. I know He loves them so much and is broken at what is going on there.
As far as teachings so, there has been way more than I could ever write down! We had one week called the Divine Plumbline based on Amos 7:7. We talked about the importance of knowing the TRUTH and how it sets you free. Each one of us have had words spoken over our lives- whether words of life or words of death. It is so important to know where the truth is and if there is no truth to be found in the words of the people around us- do not let those things take root in our hearts. God revealed so much to us and we really dug deep into our hearts that week and spent time searching for God's truth. The reality is there is a war going on around us- but fear of that war is a choice. Satan wants to run our lives by guilt and shame. Shame says, "I made a mistake." Guilt says, "I am a mistake." Shame says I don't like who I am; guilt says I don't like what I do or what I have done. The truth is, God forgives our wrongs and He doesn't make mistakes. We talked about the importance of humbling ourselves and how the world looks at humble people as less. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Let's be humble. None of us are good enough anyway. Only God can judge.
The next week was awesome as well. We had team building. It was probably one of the hardest weeks so far, but we definitely came out much stronger as a team. Our speaker Tim on the last day said, "My job is done, but your guy's job is just starting." It's true- we've got two months of outreach left! Trust is the foundation of a team. My generation is the most judgmental and critical generation yet. At the same time we desire to be accepted and loved and feel part of a family. Another huge problem with my generation and with Christians as a whole is we don't know how to say "I'm sorry", "I don't know", or "I was wrong." We are so prideful. We struggle with taking responsibility and we blame everyone around us. If you don't like what you've done in the past; take responsibility and change it for the future. Each one of us has a past, but by the grace of God we don't live there anymore. Life moves forward.
If we continue to bring our past into our present, we put out future at risk.
I'm ready to move forward, who's with me?
Just amen.
God bless! Hugs.
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