Can God use a cattle herder?

Yesterday Nicole (my roommate) and I were talking about how the Lord likes to use ALL the experiences that we’ve had for his glory. Nicole said that since she’s been here the Lord has used her love of music, baking and the English language. As I started rattling off my random list: Youth minister, Barista, EMT, can salsa, knit, and sing. And then I blurted out, “And I can work cows! But God has yet to use my cattle herding skills for his glory here in Ecuador.” We laughed and I didn’t have a second thought about it… until this afternoon.
Five of us girls decided to go to Vilcabamba to climb Mount Mandingo. About half way up we run into 3 bulls, a cow and 2 calves. The girls start freaking out about what we do about this situation since they are RIGHT in our path and don’t look like they’re planning on moving anytime soon. So what do I do? Do what I would do if I were helping my friend’s family move cows… made some fun cow movin’ noises and moved those lovelies right down the path until we could get by.
It wasn’t until we were walking down the mountain that I remembered what Nicole and I had talked about… I laughed to myself. God doesn’t waste a single gift, talent or skill that you randomly pick up on a ranch in North Dakota.

Small problems make big blow up…

It always starts out with something stupid doesn’t it? For me, it was an annoying customer that turned into me losing it… not to the customer, mind you, but I felt like I lost face with some of my volunteers and employees. I apologized and all, but still felt really stupid.
And then came the real blow. I got home and Satan began with his lies… you can’t do this. Why would you even THINK you could manage a café? You’re so stupid and worthless.
Did you know there is a reason that God never meant for us to be alone? Because you need other people in your life to speak those words of truth into your heart when Satan is coming at your with both guns blaring.
So listen to the words of truth… in your weakness, He is strong. He knows what He’s doing and He doesn’t make mistakes. You serve a faithful God. Listen to His heart for you instead of Satan’s lies.
That may just be me speaking truth to myself, but if those are words that you too need to hear, know that your Father stands with open arms ready to give you a hug when no one else can.
“I love you O Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” –Ps 116:1-2

Why do Christmas songs sound like Funeral marches?

So if you're wondering, YES I did make it back to the States... and since I've been here I've discovered that my Latin influence runs deeper that I thought.
Because it is Christmas time, I've already heard about a million and one Christmas carols and I thought to myself the other day, WHY do a lot of the carols sound so sad and depressing. I mean, think about it... start singing some Christmas songs in your head. It came upon a Midnight Clear... What Child is This... and finally Silent Night. And I kinda laughed when I thought about how "Silent" that "Night" actually was... let's see, we have a virgin mother giving birth in AWFUL conditions, barn yard animals, a TON of people in the small village of Bethlehem, shepherds, a HOST of angels singing... does that night sounding silent to you? It sounds like a Loja FIESTA to me!!
And as I thought about a Latin fiesta, I thought now THAT is what our Christmas carols should sound like. I'm convinced that the angels singing sounded more like salsa music than opera!
With all that said, I realized that sometimes I forget how truly exciting the birth of Christ was (and is). This is not something to solemnly speak words to, it is something to yell from the rooftop: "MY SAVIOR IS BORN!!!"
So how silent will this night be? It depends on how loud you proclaim the Savior's birth.

End of the first year...

As I sit in the Quito airport waiting for my flight back to the States, I think back on the past year and all that God has done. It truly blows my mind.
God has given me to the opportunity to share Jesus, to make friends, to learn Spanish and to live as a Lojana. As I left Loja for "home," I felt like I was leaving my home, my family and my life to come "home" to my home, my family and my life. I cannot explain to you the way my heart is broken to leave these people (even if just for a month!) and how my heart is bursting with joy to see everyone in the States.
Yesterday my friend grabbed my hand and said, "You have changed my life, seriously," and I just wanted to burst into tears, fall on my knees and thanks Jesus for this opportunity to serve these beautiful people. May GOD receive all the glory for the things that have happened this year and may HE receive the glory for what WILL happen this next year.
Thank you for walking with me this year, praying for me, and keeping up with my funny, tearful and crazy stories.

Tigrillo....

So my friends have been bugging me for about a month to go and eat “tigrillo” with them. They have been trying to convince me that tigrillo is a small “tigre” (tiger). I did not believe them, not for a single second, UNTIL my friend’s dad wrote her an email and said that when he put that word through a translator, that it came up with this small cat.
SOOOO I was convinced that we were going to eat this small cat thing. I figured, I’ve eaten everything else, why not?
We get to the restaurant and my friend, Paul says to me, “You have to tell them what part of the tigrillo you want… head, heart, legs.” And I figured legs sounded safe to me. The lady came up to take our order and Paul “Un tigrillo entero” (the whole thing) and I thought to myself I don’t want the whole thing, so I said, “Un medio… solo las piernas.” At that moment, my friends DIED laughing as the woman gave me the weirdest look I’ve ever received. I suddenly realized that they had been playing a joke on me the whole time and later found out that tigrillo is just banana, eggs and cheese. I still have no clue why they call it tigrillo, but my friends sure got me that day! (Payback is the picture that I have just posted... haha)

Come to me as little children...

I have been amazed by children this week... first there was a 2 year old hailing a cab (that made me laugh) and then there was the little one year old singing and waving her hands during church (now THAT is undignified worship!)
But nothing could prepare me for the story that my friend Andrea told me about her 7 year old son. They were in the house the other day; Andrea, her son Nicolas, and her mom when several men with knives came into their house to rob them. As they are taking their money, laptops, televisions, anything and everything worth something, her 7 year walks up to one of the men holding a machete, hugs him and says, "Jesus loves you." And then walks back to his mom and sits down. Andrea told me that she is convinced Nicolas is the only reason that these men did not kill them. As the men are packing up to leave, this little 7 year old says one more time, "Jesus loves you and I forgive you."
I wish we all could know Jesus' love and forgiveness like Nicolas.

hold out your hand

"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he replied, "Go out into the darkness & put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light & safer than a known way."
-- M.L. Haskins

Look what the Lord can do...

I saw the tears streaming down her face. Can God really do something this amazing this quickly?
Last week we partnered with one of the local churches, Semilla de Mostaza to do a youth camp. We invited a whole bunch of our friends who don’t attend church and combined them with the youth from Semilla totaling 45 people.
I invited all the girls from my bible study, and one of my friends Maria de los Angeles invited her friend Anita. Anita NEVER wants to come to any “Bible” type things so I was really surprised when they showed up at El Sendero to pay her $15 to go. Even as she was handing over the money, she looked leery about the whole thing. I found out later that Anita told Maria that if she didn’t feel right, she was going home. And Maria told her that if she didn’t have a good time she would pay her $15!
Maria confessed to me today that the entire weekend she was praying for Anita. She said, “I just keep praying over and over, ‘Lord touch Anita!’” And touch her he did… the last meeting we had, Claudio, the speaker gave the gospel and sure enough, I looked up and Anita was standing with tears streaming down her face. Maria assures me that she is different. Anita is not the same person she was a week ago. She now has a relationship with Jesus.
The prayer of a righteous man (or woman) is powerful and effective.

One life touching another

I love stories… and I realized today that Jesus does too. I’ve been reading in Acts and was brought to tears as I read about how an angel of the Lord rescued Peter from the jail. God really CAN do this. It is not beyond his reach. I remember telling one of my friends one time, “If God wanted a frog to jump out of my ear, I believe that it would.”
I have seen him move mountains, I’ve heard of his wonderful acts not only in this day and age, but in the past. When I read Acts, I don’t just see history, I see testimony after testimony of how awesome our God is and what he can do. But for some reason we are all so afraid of telling OUR story or the stories of how God is working today.
So here’s my story for the day, I pray that you are encouraged and see that YES God is working and moving in the world and in Loja.
I’ve written about him before, Gabriel. I met him about 8 months ago in the café. He looked like a normal 16 year old kid, just hanging out and doing his thing. But if you talked to him, you quickly realized that he had more problems than he knew what to do with. That was then, and this is now. I haven’t seen him for a good couple months, but yesterday he walked into the café and looked like he’d come straight of the streets… dirty, bloodshot eyes, and a half of an earring hanging out of his left ear. We began to talk and he quickly got to the point of what he wanted… to forget, to numb the pain and to try and fill the void that was consuming his soul. He said that God couldn’t love him because of what he’d done, of who he was.
My heart hurt for this kid… I didn’t know what to say except that he was never too far for God not to love him. He told me that I didn’t know… that I hadn’t been there. Just then, my friend Romel, who HAS been in that place walked in. I told Gabriel that maybe I didn’t know but I know people who have been worse off and the Lord has met them right where they were.
What came next was such a beautiful thing I almost cried. I introduced Gabriel to Romel and after some small talk, Romel began to share his heart with him. “I know the drugs are good.” I thought this was a little bit of a funny way to start, but he continued, “But they will never fill. When you decide that you want help, here are all my numbers. Call me. I don’t care if it’s 3am. I don’t care if you have no where to stay and you have to sleep on my floor. I will pick you up from wherever. You just call when you’re ready.” I don’t know what will happen with Gabriel, but one thing I do know, I saw the Lord use one kid’s life to touch another hurting life.
THIS is the body of Christ. THIS is mission. THIS is how God works. THIS is God’s story… never underestimate the power of an Almighty God!

Numero Tres... a story can change a life.

So many people are scared to tell their story... it's either "boring" or "too bad"... it's either "no one cares" or "people will be talking about me for weeks"... and that's what Satan wants. He wants to use a part of your past, your present or the fear of the future to paralyze you... why? Because he knows that TESTIMONY is powerful.
Think about it... the man who was blind from birth being healed by Jesus on the Sabath; the Samaritan woman's testimony to her city of who Jesus was; the paralytic walking. Seriously, if you think about it the list goes on and on. And people were moved to ACTION because of their stories of the REALITY of Jesus.
Part of the "program" that the team put on while they were here included testimonies; from the team and from Ecuadorian Christians. One of these was from my friend Romel. I love how he starts his testimony, "I'm famous. If you say the name Romel Torres in Loja, everyone knows who you're talking about. They will say yeah, he drinks, does a ton of drugs, gets with any girl he can and is known for starting fights. So when they hear what God has done in my life they don't believe it."
And then there's Jack... hearing how God brought him from homelessness and alcoholism to walking with the Lord blows my mind.
But some of my favorites are people like Diego. Diego is a volunteer at El Sendero and he always tells me that he has a boring story and that no one wants to hear it, but watching him this weekend at the El Sendero/Semilla de Mostaza camp was truly a blessing. He shared a devotion about the Samaritan woman and how she was trying to hide who she was, just like he used to hide who he was. He was always trying to show people the part of him that he thought they wanted to see. But then realized that his identity lies in Christ.
How many of us need to learn that lesson? My identity is not my ugly past, my ok-looking present or what I think might be my awesome future. My identity lies ONLY in the fact that I am a daughter of the King. Nothing more, nothing less.
Don't be afraid to share your identity... don't let Satan paralyze you with fear or pride. Let the Lord use all that you have and all that you lack for his glory... SHARE IT!
Gracias amigas para compartir sus vidas conmigo! (Thank you friends for sharing your lives with me!)