Welp, as I was reading my last post that was nearly 2 months ago, I realized it has been too long since an update. So, here it goes! Last update was in Uruguay in Montevideo. I am currently in Filidelphia, Paraguay. We had quite a process getting our visas for Brazil when we were in Montevideo so that prolonged our stay there. The embassy was on strike and it took almost an extra week for us to get everything done. We were given a free place to stay an hour away from Montevideo in a beach town called Cuchilla Alta. It was a wonderful week of rest as half the team went ahead into Porto Alegre, Brazil to make it on time to minister at a church there. Those of us that stayed back had a great time of rest, hanging out and cooking alot of great food as we took advantage of having a great kitchen and some down time.
It was here that I heard word from my parents that they had a couple week window that they had been praying about using to come see me and the team! I was blown away by the possibility of this happening and the Lord caused everything to fall into place with visas going through, plane tickets, time off of work, my mom´s foot healing supernaturally fast after her surgery, approval from the church leadership and my leaders. Praise God! They met us in Curitiba, Brazil where we went to the One Thing Conference held by IHOP International House of Prayer from Kansas City. We met the rest of the team there as well and enjoyed a few days of great worship and receiving at the conference. I can´t tell you how much of a blessing it was to have my parents apart of the team for a couple weeks. They fit right in and became a ma and pa immediately to all the team. They brought so much joy and love with them and the whole time I couldn´t believe that the Lord had brought them to me! God is so good. It couldn´t have been better timing really. Dad preached one night and they got to travel with us, stay with us and get a great perspective of what our lives are like. They were quite flexible, up for anything. They were such a blessing to have. From Curitiba we headed to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil where the spiritual leaders of one our teammates live. We ministered at their church and the Lord showed up and brought such joy and freedom to that place. The pastor have us free tickets to the famous huge waterfalls that were beyond words. I will post some pictures from there. So stunning and soo much water! It is such an honor to be able to travel the world and see such natural and spiritual beauty in each place.
From there we headed into Asuncion, Paraguay. The Lord lined up contacts like he always does and the team was able to do some ministry in a local prision, hospital and church as well as some ministry on the streets. I was able to take a couple of these days to just be with my parents and spend as much time with them as I could for the time went by so fast. We blessed and sent them off and they also prayed over each of us. My Dad looked at each of us in the eye and called us out by name releasing the Father´s love and blessing over each of us. Let´s just say there were alot of teary eyes including my own. Such a bitter sweet goodbye but I am so honored and blessed that my two families were able to connect and my parents now have a more clear idea of my life here. I feel so much closer with them and was so blessed to share my parents once again with many other brothers and sisters. We headed from there to Filidelphia, Paraguay where there was another Mennonite connection from the church we were in Montevideo, Uruguay. We arrived on a Saturday by bus and had a service that night at their church as well as the next morning. The Lord showed up so strong here as there was a spirit of freedom that broke out as the Lord spoke to so many and healed so many. I always cherish the services that end with a crazy dance party ..woot! Thank you, Jesus. We got to minister to a daycare of children that mostly don´t have fathers at home and it was so great to see our guys playing with them and the children coming alive to the father´s love. For some this was the fist time a loving male has played with them. We also went to a surrounding village where there are 2000 indigineous from four different tribes. We got to speak to the kids about hearing Gods voice and pray over them. We came back to that same village a couple days later to love on the familes. I was able to announce on the local radio, for that is how they commmunicate in the village, that we want to pray for the sick and share the love of Jesus. We split up into groups and went around to the houses to love on people. My team only made it to one house for their was much pain there. They had lost their child the week before, one daugther suffers from demonic dreams and attacks, the mother has heart issues, and they have a paralyzed son. We got to pray over them and break off the spirit of death and welcome joy into that family. By the time we left we saw smiles and hope and felt the joy of the Lord with this precious family. We later gathered at the center of the village and loved on the children with chalk, balloons, nail polish, balls, and ribbon for the the hair of the girls. We just wanted to love on the kids and release the joy of the Lord. The girls LOVED the ribbon for it was a perfect way to love them with touch and smiles and words of affirmation as we got to tell them how they are beautiful princesses of the King.
We were blessed with a beautiful place to stay in the middle of nowhere that is a christian camp or retreat with a lake, zipline and a waterslide. It was so peaceful and such a blessing. We stayed there 5 nights as a team. We had lunch at a missionary´s house named Hedy who went to the church we ministered at. She told us her incredible story of her work in the dark dangerous places of Sudan, Somalia, and Kenya. She is such a brave courageous lover of Jesus who has seen so much persecution. Her husband was shot in front of her when she was three months pregnant. He jumped in front of her in order to protect her and the child. Her daughter is now six and I have the joy of spending time with her. Her name is Shekina which means the glory of God. I was so moved and broken by this testimony and I felt the Lord tell me to stay there longer and serve this woman. The team was planning to go on the next day to Bolivia but Melissa also felt led to stay back. So we sent the team off and knew we would be here at least another week.
It has been an incredible week as we have been able to make dinner, watch Shekina, wash her feet and pray over her and bless her even financially for she longs to be back in Africa but she has been back here for stability for Shekina. We spent a couple days in an indigineous village working with a doctor. We got to follow him around the hospital and help with whatever, pray for the sick as well as do rounds in surrounding villages. We went out to a call one night with him to a kid who was bitten by a blackwidow. I was able to start an IV on the kid and help get him back to the hospital. It was a great couple days learning how bush medicine works. I am excited to see what kind of doors the Lord opens down the road with more training for this sort of thing.
We also go to minister at a completely indigineous highschool and pray over one hundred or so students. It was a really precious time. They Lord has just flung open the doors right at the right time as we have taken each day in faith for it is hard being away from the team and not knowing when we will back together with them for sure. We also got to speak life into a group of maybe 80 more students at a camp we volunteered at for a couple days to help Hedy out. The speaker didn´t show up so I got to speak on dreams and pray into the dreams of all the students. It was so wonderful!
Last night Melissa was able to do a spontaneous class on the prophetic with some of the women here. It was such a great time of activation and encouragement. Tomorrow we head back to Asuncion where we feel to rest and soak in the presence of God for a week or so before heading to Foz do Iguacu to meet the team again at our cars. We plan to do no ministry for several days. We may end up visiting a Lepor Hospital but that is still up in the air.
I am so hungry for more encounters with Him. I long to see His face and dwell in greater realms of peace and revelation of His love. I want to be more like John who took time to lay on Jesus´chest and hear his whispers and his heartbeat. I don´t ever want to miss a beat or ever be numb to the things that are on His heart everywhere I go. The quote lingers in my heart,
YOU CANT WIN WHAT YOU DON´T LOVE.
I never want to serve out of religion or fear of man. I only want my actions to be an overflow of what is on the Father´s heart.
I love and miss you all dearly and pray that you can freely dance to His heartbeat.
Undone in His love,
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