Countdown Begins

In two weeks, I'll be waking up in Bogota.

In two weeks, I'll have to get used to showering with warm water again.

I'll have to get used to the hustle and bustle of the city.

No more naps after lunch.

No more mosquitos (which I've become immune to).

No more flipflops and board shorts.

Sigh. How bittersweet it will be.

This week we're getting ready for the annual medical brigade that is being held in a riverside community called Macedonia.

There 3 teams involved: US, Cali, and Bogota.

We will also have several police officers, doctors from Leticia, and many other people from different positions in government here come along for the week long brigade.

We leave the 24th (Sunday) and come back on the 29th (Friday).

Then I have 2 more days in the city that I've come to fall in love with.

Now, as we prepare the logistics for the brigade, CONFRATERNIDAD is taking place a few blocks from the YWAM base.

It is an event with one purpose: showing different cultural aspects of the 3 countries that come together in Leticia-- Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.

Political borders are forgotten as all come together to celebrate the unity of the three very different cultures.

BUT, it's not as sweet and nice as it sounds.

People come together to drink.

That's really what it's all about.

Leticia's youth takes advantage of the darkness night provides and the huge attracted by the event to go out and party like there's no tomorrow.

Tourists are known to come during this time of year for one reason alone: prostitutes.

It is during this time that prostitution rises up from being an "underground business" to something known by the tourists walking the streets of the city.

And the fights.

Fights to the death.

Fights encouraged by the alcohol in one's system.

They fight because they think their country is better.

They fight because they believe that Leticia should belong to their country.

They fight out of pure stupidity.

You know what scares me the most?

When in the middle of the night, you hear loud bangs from the corner of the street. One shot is enough to know that a drive-by has taken place. One shot is enough to get you on your knees and leads you to pray for protection like never before.

This is Confraternidad.

Borders may be forgotten.

But differences definitely aren't.

So I ask that you pray.

Pray for everything that is going on this very second and what will be taking place next week in Macedonia.

Pray for protection over the people in the festival...pray that the Lord gives them a clear mind, despite the alcohol, so that the choices they make aren't too influenced by the 20 something beers they drank.

Pray that the girls be kept safe. That God works in the hearts of the tourists and the locals and helps them see that their biggest desire is for Him alone. And that's the one desire they should really follow.

Pray that we keep our eyes on Jesus, in the midst of the chaos all around us.

Heavenly Father, You are good. May we fix our eyes on You like Moses did when he lead your people out of Egypt. Your Word shows that it was because he kept his eyes on You that he felt no fear. Be the center of our lives. Help us let go of everything else and hold on to You alone. May what we do and say be influenced by the love that we experience from You each and every day. Above all, Lord, may your will be done. Amen.

Different/Constant

We were called to be different.

To act different.

To be the difference.

But it is only after you decide to embrace your difference that you will shine a different light unto those around you.

How do you come to be different?

By reading God's Word. It will never fail to transform you...to make you different.

That's what I've doing a lot lately. Sumerging myself in the Word of God. Allowing it to reach parts of my heart that to me, were unreachable; allowing it to teach me things that I thought were incomprehensible; allowing it to change me, to mold me to be more like Jesus.

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Saturday night, I had the chance to talk to Viv Afanador for a couple of minutes.

Here in YWAM, you have many people around you that encourage you to seek the Lord more just by the way they act. But there isn't really ever enough time to sit down and share your heart with someone; to sit and just talk.

So the night that Viv called, I got the chance to share my heart with someone.

Man, how I needed it.

Things that I shared varied: serious things, funny stories, things that I've been having to face.

Despite the difference between these stories, one thing remained constant: Jesus.

I love the truth that I see when I look around me and see how everything is changing, how even I'm changing, but God remains the same today as He was yesterday and as He always will be.

Lord, continue to mold me; to transform me to be more like your Son.

May I see you as the true constant in the midst of a constantly changing world.

May we always remember that you are our portion.

May we always hope in your unceasing love.

Amen

Be Still

Medical brigade.
How exhausting it was.
How beautiful it was.
10 days in the jungle, moving from village to village to serve people. To give them more than just medicine; to hand them the Remedy.

There were so many circumstances in which God's glory was revealed.

A perfect starry night to start things off. The light given off by the stars accompanied by the sound of guitar strings filling the air.

Having us be in the exact place at the right time to help a woman in need. A woman who lost a baby but gained Jesus.

Yet, there were moments that I just couldn't do it anymore.
I strongly disliked having days where I couldn't move because of a headache.
Days that I couldn't use my right hand because of a spider bite.
Days where I physically had nothing else to give.

But it was those days that I can now see how we should be still and just know that God is.

Today, I got back from a community about 3 hours away from Leticia by boat. I went with 2 other girls that will be helping out at the base until Sunday.
After taking charge in the kitchen, I knew that I was doing way too many things.
Running from one side of the community to be with the kids while the rice was cooking and then having to run back to the kitchen so it wouldn't burn.
There was way too much on my plate.
As I hopped up onto the kitchen (it was elevated a couple of feet), the board I landed on broke, causing my right leg to go straight through, leaving my knee with cuts and bruises.
At the moment, I can't walk without it hurting.
Want me to bend my knee?
My eyes will water from the pain.

I had to sit down and let others work too.
I had no other choice but be still.
I had no other choice but open my heart to the lesson God has been trying to teach me for so long.

And as hyperactive as I am, sitting still is quite hard.
Yet, I know that learning how to let God just be is extremely crucial.

As I sat down instead of making lunch today, a breeze brushed my face and I heard the slightest whisper: "Be still, Beloved."

At that moment, I knew. I knew that God was, is, and is yet to come.
I knew that His being didn't depend on what I did or didn't do.
He just IS.

Be still and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10