Hey everyone☺️
For the past 2 weeks my squad has been in Guatemala.
The Word I would use to describe these two weeks would be redemptive.
Crazy at times. Calm at times. Stressful at times. And breaking at times.
In order to reach breakthrough, there needs to be something to break-through. I reached the point where the wall fell this week. I reached the pulling out of the last Jenga piece. Without that, I couldn’t play again. Without the collapse, I couldn’t be rebuilt.
On the 7th of October my squad and I hopped on a bus in the wee hours of the morning, and drove 18 hours from Comayagua, Honduras -> El Salvador -> Antigua, Guatemala. 🇭🇳🇸🇻🇬🇹
We spent the night of the 6th worshiping and praying a fresh release of the Spirt over each person on the squad. Some fell asleep in the Lord’s presence as we listened to the many others singing praises unto the king. Hours went by and each was content just be with the One we’re here for.
I’d say that set us up for what was to come. But did we know what was to come? No.
Having the opportunity to stay in Antigua for the day after we got to Guatemala, it was used as our sabbath. Serve Hope cafe is one of my favorites. It’s a prayer house, worship room and place of peace for me. The view as one sits on the roof shows the volcanoes all around, the flowers surrounding, and much of the town. For our sabbath I spent some time there, with a couple girls on my squad. I just remembered how the Lord used that place for me last time I was here.
The next day, our teams split up for the week, and I took mine to the city of Chimaltenango and my co-lead took his team to the lake in San Pedro.
To take my team (Nahar) from one place to the next was a crazy story. Who knew what was to come?
Still, through the bus ride, the van ride, the being dropped in the middle of the road, the random man’s help, the hours of walking with all of our belongings, the trying to find Burger King, the lack of address, the sick teammates, and the locked door, I found myself seeing the gifts of the Spirit being used in my team, God’s intentional hand, and I found myself appreciating the challenge of simply needing to figure it out.
I had a thought as we were walking down a random street in the dark, trying to find our way - if I were on my first race, I would have just followed my leader, and everything would be fine because I trust she’s got us. Now, I am the leader.
This was a crazy thought and it made me chuckle.
I think it shows how we’re supposed to be before the Father. Fresh and innocent, following with confidence, knowing He’s got us.
While in the city of Chimaltenango, my team came to some wild encounters. We met a grandma who needed healing, so, praying for that, it happened.
We met a man named Horhé who fit the image one of my girls saw. We shared the Gospel, and a little hard truth in love. We met Maria on the street corner and went to buy clothes. We ran through the rain licking ice cream as rain drops filled our mouths instead.
We were brought to flower shop after flower shop and I got the cutest little pot you’ve ever seen. We made friends with the baristas and ate as a family and painted cards for those all around. This week of ATL ministry (ask the Lord) was full of surprises because we serve the God of abundance.
Truly, this was a time of many learning to hear and follow the voice of God, walking in street evangelism and many new relationships.
After our awesome week, both teams met together, once again, to have a week of debrief - processing through our time in Honduras and our week in Guate.
For me, this looked like one on ones ( intentional time spent one on one with the people on our squad ), many D squad crossovers and a few coffee dates, everyday worship room crying out to the Lord, late nights on the roof doing the same thing, sitting under and giving teachings, family dinners, and coming to a point of breakthrough.
I’m not going to lie, these past few weeks have been really hard for me. They’ve been good, and still hard.
My health has been a pretty constant struggle and my heart felt an ache.
I was craving spiritual stamina, but I didn’t know what that could look like. I felt the invitation but didn’t really know how to open it.
I got to step aside and cry before one of my coaches who was here for the week and tell her of all the things spinning in my mind and rushing from my heart. Just simply getting it out brought a release I needed. She prayed peace over me and I felt that run through my body in a way I haven’t in a long time.
After that, I went to the roof, in a spot secluded just for me and the Lord, and sat writing a love letter I felt the Lord speaking as the Groom to His bride. I watched the stars and finally understood that spiritual stamina is to come and rest in the secret place and to take Him with us from there. That place of coming home with Him to receive Bread and Water, to be fueled in order to keep going.
The next morning I got to share this with our squad, then was led in a time of worship. Later that day we had a teaching from our mentor on being with the Beloved. Then we spent more time in worship. Then, after a girls dinner out, our whole squad joined for a worship night at the prayer house. I felt a breakthrough being spoken over that night and was prayed over by a girl who works for the AIM base here in Guate. Would you believe she spoke out every prayer I’ve been praying for the last 2 months? Nothing left out. Every heart cry and every word spoken. The Lord truly does hear our prayers. We do not pray to a God with deaf wars. Be confident in this.
All this to say that we serve a good God. My squad has been praying for testimonies, and wow, just being in the presence of our Great King is a testimony 🙌
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My song for the season in Guatemala:
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Truly, what a gift it is to be in this place, at this time, with these people.
We’re currently traveling, and in our 65th hour. Only a couple more hours to go until we reach our new home in Indonesia!
Crazyyyyy…. we’ve been in 6 countries in the last 2 weeks😝 (Honduras, El Salv