Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Reasons to be grateful and praise God:

In the past 24 hours I safely traveled from Costa Rica to Honduras.

My landlords drove through an extremely foggy night at 9:30 p.m. to pick me up at the bus stop, getting home at 10:30 p.m. when they had to work early this morning.

Lourdes and Jairo were cleared to leave Honduras and move to the US.  We have been praying for this for months!

I entered my house to find that my landlords left bags of groceries on the table and inside of the refrigerator.

This morning I received an email from my cousin's wife which said that her friend who has 11 tumors and appears to be dying of cancer has accepted Christ!  We have been praying for this.

My friend Arlene told me she found the perfect person to hire as a teacher in her school.  Another thing to check off my prayer list.

My church in the US sent a letter saying that they are eager to know how they can work side by side with my church in Honduras.  They asked me to be a liaison.  They had a meeting at 4 p.m. today and later sent a really powerful letter for me to translate and forward to the elders of my Honduran church asking how they can best support us.

My friend Kerri and her husband have both been out of work for a few months.  However, today Kerri learned she was hired for the job of her dreams!

What an amazing 24 hours!!  (Worthy of 2 posts)

The most exciting news ever!

I am so excited to share the most exciting news ever!  I was not able to blog as I like to while I was in Costa Rica serving with the team.  At first we didn't have internet.  Then I was simply too tired.  We would come home and I'd go straight to bed, then wake up and head out again.  The team did so many awesome things that I couldn't share with you.

One of the things I wish I had written in the moment was when my cousin, Doug, and his wife, Debbie, shared that they have a friend who is dying from cancer.  He is their neighbor in Costa Rica.  He was in Panama receiving treatment, so the male side of the team all lived in his house during their mission.  We prayed for Marc for several days.  Finally on the last night we broke into groups and prayed all through Marc's house.  We prayed outside, in every room, and all gathered on the roof at the end where we sang songs of praise and worship.  We joined hands and declared God's presence there.

Debbie had been planting seeds for a long time.  Marc had gotten down to 100 pounds and was clearly dying.  She and Doug were really anxious for Marc to be saved before he passed.  Debbie has given Marc a bible and talked to Marc about God, but he always made it clear he was not interested.

After the prayer in Marc's house the cleaning ladies said they felt a difference there.  I know that as we finished our time of prayer in the house I was speaking to one of the girls on the team and both of us felt very positive about how God would work there.

Last night Doug and Debbie saw Marc.  He told them he accepted Christ as his savior!  He said that he couldn't wait to tell people.  The man who was treating Marc in Panama told Marc the only chance he had to heal was through God.  Marc told Doug and Debbie that he believes in the trinity, just like they do.  He got up and danced to show them how much better he is feeling.

I am amazed at all of the good news I am hearing today.  God never fails to amaze!  Today I also received an email from Lad, the Assistant Pastor of my church in the US.  He said that K2 is starting a new team to work together with my church in Honduras.  He said I will be to contact person here in Honduras.  He asked what we need, what our goals are, and how K2 can help us achieve the goals.  Sounds great!

Also, Lourdes and Jairo had a successful meeting on Tuesday and plan to leave for San Jose, California, in about 2 weeks.  That is really good news for them, although I will miss the Sarmientos very much.

My bus ride yesterday was relatively uneventful.  All in all I was traveling for 21 hours.  It was a super long day.  But I'd do it again.  Costa Rica was great, serving with the team from Virginia was a very special experience.

PS:  I came home to a table and fridge full of food.  My landlords rock!