New plans...

Change of plans….

Last night was a really interesting experience interpreting for the Friday night church service…. It was one of those nights where everything was going wrong with worship and lots of technical difficulties and everyone up front knew it, but we faked it and smiled and stalled so no one in the audience knew. Gotta love those moments. Everything went well with interpreting, it’s all calm and quiet and everyone is listening and the speaker pauses to let me interpret… but then come the announcements which is always chaos. Whoever has an announcement to make for their school or ministry stands up and yells it out, and I have to interpret them from up front… which makes it a little difficult when everyone is laughing and clapping at what they said in Spanish, and when I interpret no one can hear and all the English speakers and straining their necks to read my lips. It’s chaos, and I can barely hear sometimes. Which makes for some interesting interpreting. Like when one girl stands up and announces she cuts hair (“corte de cabello”) and cracks a joke so everyone who understands Spanish is laughing, but I can’t hear her finish and I interpret that she is going horseback riding (“andar de caballo”) and the bilingual people who hear me start cracking up and it’s even more chaos. Or like when everyone is tired of standing up and sitting down, and someone starts praying for the offering, and they say something like “I know you’ve gotten your exercise for the night, but let’s stand up again to pray” (exercise = “ejercicio”), but I am trying to fix my broken microphone and think she’s praying and getting all spiritual and passionate, and I say all passionately “Ohhh yes Jesus we exalt your name” (the words for exercise and exalt sound similar) and Lindsey starts cracking up in the front row and so I lose my concentration even more… good times. My vote is that we make a newsletter or something for the announcements. Please.

Ok so two weeks left of this school, which is CRAZY. I have loved living here during this school way more than during the DTS, I think because I am used to how things work here, the things that were weird and hard for me before (like their lame washing machines that don’t really wash your clothes, or eating the same thing every week over and over, or the strict schedule), and my Spanish is better, and I love my leaders this school (didn’t really connect with my DTS leaders as much). This time has been so much revelation, so much healing, so many promises from the Lord… He has really revealed Himself to me in new ways and I feel closer to Him than ever. Having His Word as the guide and the foundation to everything in my life and the final say on all my decisions, big and small, has really changed the way I think and my priorities.

Something else new is… I’m going to Bolivia! After a LOT of prayer and even fasting, I decided to finally listen to what I knew God was telling me a while ago, and I am going on the outreach with my school from January to mid-March to Bolivia. I LOVE my team, I am really excited to go to Bolivia and work in the home for abused children there, and with the YWAM base in Santa Cruz, I’m excited to see the next step of this process and I know it’s not over yet. Yes, I am coming home for Christmas for 2-3 weeks (Dec. 15^th-end of Jan.)… but no, it’s not over yet. It’s been the most amazing time of my life here, in friendships, in learning Spanish, in investing in the base and the kids here, in discovering so much more of who I really am, who my God really is, what He’s done for me and who I am in Him. The last thing I was to do is cut this process short because it wasn’t in MY plans to go on the outreach. Isaiah 42:6-7 were the verses that really sealed the deal for me… “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.” This verse is not just for the outreach but for my life! When we have the truth and light of who God is and the freedom we have in Him, when we are healed and whole, we can bring this freedom, light and healing to others and restore relationships, families, cultures and nations. I believe that, and I want to fulfill my part in that calling.

Please pray for me to finish strong, to keep focused and not be homesick (I CANNOT listen to Christmas music here yet or I wont make it!), to soak in everything God has to teach me now (it’s not over yet!), for finances, health and travel in preparing for the outreach (for every team and every student and leader). Also pray for all the couples here who are getting married in the next two months (there’s 4 in my school, and my friend Maia is marrying her Brazilian love Beto in two weeks – crazy).

Thanks for your support and prayers!